Note: This article was originally published prior to WAR’s launch.
There’s one way I’d describe WAR’s classes: Amazing. Simply amazing. The classes, even though there are twenty (20) of them in the game as of launch, are all very varied with distinct play styles and ways they accomplish their roles in combat. Even the “mirror” classes between Order and Destruction play very, very differently from one-another. While a healer is an archetype that is supposed to “keep the group alive and healthy” the way you go about it as each class is quite different.
While a Runepriest is focused more on heal over time spells and damage, the Archmage is more of a direct healer with lots of debuffs and a little crowd control. The Archmage is best off balancing its damage/healing output thanks to the High Magic mechanic, while the Runepriest is effective doing either as the situation dictates, providing a more steady output of damage/healing, but less burst effectiveness than the Archmage. While the Runepriest has lots of heal over time spells allowing him to be more proactive a healer, the Archmage has more direct healing effects that don’t linger. The Archmage by default is more offensively oriented, while the Runepriest is more of a defensive type.
Another example of this sort of distinction would be the Chosen and the Ironbreaker. Yes, both are tanks, but they perform their roles, again, in a very different manner from one another. The Ironbreaker uses his “Grudge” mechanic to help build up power for special attacks and enhance his normal ones, unlocking some abilities only once he’s accumulated enough Grudge. He also is able to buff his Oath Friend in the group (a buff he casts on a groupmate that gives him Grudge every time they’re hit, and makes many of his attacks buff the Oath Friend and himself, instead of just being self-buffs). Additionally, he has some crowd control, and is extremely durable in combat while being able to continue attacking for extreme lengths of time thanks to the Grudge mechanic. Balancing your available Grudge with the abilities you can use that deplete it, or keeping it around to boost your normal abilities, is a nice tactical decision to make as to when to use it or keep it.
The Chosen, on the other hand, has auras that pulse around him, and is more focused on offense than defense to help his team. While the Ironbreaker can go up to the front lines and do some good damage and crowd control, he does very well staying closer to his support. The Chosen’s auras are powerful, such as resistance debuffs or damage, and make him a target you want to take down for sure as they are more than an annoyance. He sacrifices defense somewhat for this, and durability, but gains quite a few special tricks to make up for it. So, even though both are tanks, they really do things differently to achieve the same end result: harry the enemy and damage them, while protecting your support and trying to force the enemy to focus on you rather than them.
Overall, I have not encountered a class that really didn’t mesh with me except for the Engineer, which mainly is because I played classes similar to it in other games so much that I wanted something new. I tried every class to the end of Tier 2/beginning of Tier 3, as well as most of them with pre-made templates that gave Rank 40 plus Realm Rank 30-40 for many of the focus tests as an Elder beta tester. Between that and having played Dark Age of Camelot since its launch for over six and a half years, I can say with confidence that while there are fewer classes, the hybridization is just right to make them all fun and less straight-forward.