Roles in Groups

After reading a few articles today about people complaining about the dps of their classes I am once again reminded why I prefer the certain games more than others. Games like WoW limit classes to three roles DPS, Tank and Healer. Even though WoW has a lot of classes with interesting abilities you are shoved into those 3. You are constantly reminded by a DPS meter either one you have installed or someone linking the the DPS stats in chat. You are rated at how good or bad your DPS is. No matter what class you are or spec if you are signed on as DPS you are expected to have close to the same DPS as the others classes specs. The way dungeons and raids are designed in WoW it is rare that it would be expected anything more of you than how high you are on the DPS meter.

This is why I prefer games like LOTRO where dungeons and raids are designed more around roles and abilities. Besides the standard 3 roles mentioned above you have the Crowd Controller and the Group Buffer/Debuffer. It is not just the work of the tank anymore to do all the crowd control and it is suddenly not just about the dps meter but how useful you are to the group. Take for example the captain class it's damage is so so but look what it brings to the party. As it fights it gives buffs or short heal over times which eases the stress on the healer. He also comes handy with those ever useful combat rezzes. You get the Loremaster who is able to Crowd Control large amounts of enemies. Allowing you take on smaller groups at the time which eases the stress on the tank. She is also able to provide some much needed power to classes running out of power like a minstrel. And so the list goes on.

This in my opinion makes a game more fun to me.