oh forgot to say however its necessary to easily and spontaneously be able to find a group because somehow I always
end up to play irregulary.
Also i often end up playing solo, well I do not know much people playing mmorpgs and i tend to overlook conversion when iam focused on playing and although its sad iam unskillful in social interaction(meaning somehow i am not good in crossing the border between knowing someone and becoming deep friends)
Well but thats not the point the point is to play a supporter you
must have someone to support.

Im a dead fan of single player RPG - where Fallout 2 always will be the no. one game. I've toyed with the idea of letting the group in an SP RPG be a gathering of people instead of being the welded tight unit known as 'the party'. The idea is basically that if you encounter a man with a broken leg and he asks you - the player - to treat his broken leg, but you aren't a doctor, then you can say "Naa, can't do it. But I have a guy here with me who can..." Then it will be that doctor guy who gets to be the hero of the day, and gets all the credit, and marries the daugther and all that. Your charachter will have to step back and play the part of the modest sidekick for a while.

With this setup there will be no 'Hero Charachters' and 'Support Charachters', only charachters and their own set of skills.

I too love playing support characters, because it is a wonderful change of pace from the other main role of "kill, kill, kill." The main game I played with support characters was Return to Castle Wolfenstein, and in it I switched between shooter, sniper, and medic roles. As the shooter, I'd go for kills and try to complete the objectives, subconsciously competing with my own teammates. The other two roles I think of as support because they weren't in the thick of battle. We all should know what snipers do, and as a medic I'd revive fallen teammates and give live teammates medkits to replenish health. The change of pace and objective were what made the support roles compelling. I wasn't in direct battle(if I could help it) I had more of an assurance of living, and I was sure my efforts helped my teammate. To summarize, for me, the changes of pace and objectives are my main reasons for playing support characters.

In Team Fortress (the original class-based action) I've seen varied use of the support roles. Lots of shit-disturber players enjoy playing spies and demolishers, and engineering is a popular role too. The only support class in shortage is usually Medic, because playing medic is so simple and dull.

FPS games have it tougher, as they have to make it _fun_. Combat in RPG's is never fun (its the work, the level-up treadmill) so being a medic doesn't really change that.

Quote:

Original post by Pxtl FPS games have it tougher, as they have to make it _fun_. Combat in RPG's is never fun (its the work, the level-up treadmill) so being a medic doesn't really change that.

That is completely debatable. Some people enjoy levelling up and RPG combat, and few RPGs have the exact same battle system. Can you really put a dull, turn-based RPG like Golden Sun in the same class as an innovative game like Tales of Symphonia?

In regards to the question, I almost always play support characters in online games and MUDs. However, it is essential that the character or class I play have some sort of 'solo' ability at the same time. For instance, in many MUDs, the Cleric profession specializes in healing and protective magic, but has offensive spells as well. Those offensive spells pale in comparison to a dedicated offensive spellcaster's library, but they are still nice to have. I think that without this aspect, even fewer people would want to play a passive/support character.

One example where support characters work well is Enemy Territory. The medic class is technically weak (starts with only one clip of ammo, no special weapons or combat powers) as a fighter (the primary job in a team FPS). However many advanced players, as well as some people who start, choose to be medics and enjoy it. I think one of the reasons for this is in how you make the support classes special and reward them for their effort. For example medics in ET die far, far less often then their counterparts (when the players are good this difference can be huge). As a medic builds up experience helping other players they themselves become incredibly powerful because of their self-healing ability, which allows them to survive battle after battle. Their constant involvement in the action (rather then the stop start of respawning) makes it a very fun and rewarding class to play.

In general I would say that support classes are best designed for advanced players and players willing to experiment. In general a party doesn't want a newbie healer who is just going to keep healing himself at the slightest damage and doesn't know how or when to buff or heal other players. Support classes should be "hard" to play at first, being purely a helper who doesn't directly win the battle but helps other players. As they grow however support players should become increasingly powerful, and capable of causing a major tip of the scales. Rather then being someone "who was there" they should be able to see that they directly affected the outcome of the battle. I would almost say that at higher levels support classes should be allowed to become almost abusive in their power to alter the battle.

Well IMO really simple, there would be no heroes without them, in every game Ive played, MMO's for example, supportive classes are the backbone of the group. Tending to everyone, making sure they get out of the fight or any other problem with so little as possible scratches and such, and I find it interesting to play them as well, its an interesting role to play as are many. From a gaming perspective and a role playing perspective...

First, let me say that I love this topic. I used to have discussions about this into the wee hours of morning back in college. In fact back in my UO days, I used to the feared sledge medic Thermodynamics. (strange how that name stuck) I used to go into battle with a friend who lived a door down in the dorm. We would shout back and forth to each other and type messages at the same time. He was a fighter mage and I was a mace healer. He would heal me every time I got down to 60 percent health. I would bandage him every time he got to 25 percent. I remember one time he got hit right before my band aid kicked in for him and he went literally from zero hit points (he was sweatin) all of the way up to 80 hp. Five seconds later he was at full health. The great part was the complete difference in our styles of combat. He would quickly nick them to death with his katana. I would have one swing for every four of his. However, when my swing connected, the enemy went down. (for a change, I would sometimes switch to a war hammer and a buckler) I remember picking the sledge by asking my friend who had already been playing for a while, “What weapons do you see being used the least?” he told me mace weapons in general were not used and especially the sledge because it was so slow. Right then and there I said that would be my weapon of choice. Either one of us alone would have had a much tougher time, but together we were unstoppable (heh at least we thought so). But the point of this reminiscing is that I had some of the most fun playing a character who primary role was support (he also did lockpicking). Granted this was MMO and single player is different.

Support can also take a variety of forms. I would consider a small fighter in a battle containing large capital ship, to be a support role. I always thought it would be interesting having the view of a zergling in a zergling rush where you were but one of a horde and your brethren were dying all around you as you charged the bunker.

Being a single player game however changes things. I didn’t like escorting ships in Escape velocity. The reason: if they died and I tried it again, the unit I was escorting flew the exact same path, into the same darn troubles. When I played with real people, things were different. Generally, if a person died, they would not make the same mistake again. The same cannot be said about a scripted NPC. I did not like escorting NPC’s in UO because they were inherently helpless when someone attacked.

I guess what I am trying to say is that, for me at least, I not only liked being needed, but I also enjoyed doing something different, better than everyone else. I don’t enjoy babysitting which is what single player support roles sometimes feel like. I knew that my group in UO would be able to have fun if I wasn’t there. When I was in class, they would still go out and kill stuff. When I did play, it just made the group that much better. I think I read this earlier in the post: “BASF: We don’t make the things you use, we make them better.” I agree.

I don’t know what to suggest for your game, I just wanted to reminisce. Thanks.


Single player support roles will be difficult, no doubt, but I think it is also a fairly unexplored area.

On a side note- I would like to see research be a support role. I always thought it would be interesting to base a game role around research and invention. Engineering too. Like being Jordie on Star Trek:TNG.

Enough

In every game I've seen with support characters, they were played. Not as much as the rest generally, but played. Especially if switching between classes is easy.

Regarding puzzles: I play a ton of Puzzle Pirates [google]. Nearly everything there is support characters, and it regularly has 1k active players.

Hearing Thermodynamis reminescence I remembered an supportive role i realy would like to play that of the guide reough other dimensions.

You know like your party has to go in some twisted bizarre labyrinth like dimension and you know without the guidance of
the one who knows that dimension you would land in some kind of dimensional vortex which rips you apart.
Or you know without the forcefield the inhabitant of that dimension emitts some dark chaotic force would suck your life slowly out of your body or consume your soul.

So when monsters attack you , you have to protect this supportive charackter under all circumstances to stay alive.

It would give you a kind of trickster feeling being an coboldlike
creature living between the dimension in corridors and placed with such strange realities that normal people would be lost but you can se clearly the passagways. Your able to reach and escape places some might not imagine and survive in places that seem like hell to others. Even if i would not be able to fight in any way this would give me a great feeling? I mean its like beeing that grinning cat from alice in wonderland that can appear and disappear everywhere and gives advice and directions.