Tuesday, October 27, 2009

My feelings on Chanters thus far.

I know I am not necessarily an expert on this game they call Aion yet, nor am I a certified authority when it comes to the Chanter class, but at this point (Kheivalo being almost 29) I feel I may just be qualified to give my impressions of the class as it stands thus far. 

So far I am very much digging on this elusive little creature they call the Chanter, although many forum goers seem to be attempting to make you believe they suck.  While I personally can see where they would draw their opinions from, I believe the Chanter is one of those classes that may not truly be understood until the newness of release has long since fallen away. 

They seem to be a class that defies classification at this point, and that tends to make people pass them over for many things.  We do not heal nearly as well as a Cleric, we do not destroy nearly as well as a Sin or Glad, and while we are somewhat defensive (having arguably the highest parry rating in the game, and near highest armor rating) we are not tanks by any stretch.  What we are however, is the best buff class on the block, having the only rank 2 version of the priest buffs as well as the ability to stack 3 (eat your heart out paladins) auras at a time.  I have heard many a crying Chanter argue at the added utility of even all three mantras, but even so I think looking at just our buffs does not do our class justice.

While buffs alone may be our only distinguishing feature, I believe that a feature many crying Chanters overlook is the utility that comes from the jack-of-all-trades class.  That doesn't get us parties I will admit, it doesn't give us the ability to absolutely smash people to bits like a damager, or any of the other traditional roles, but what it does give us is a taste of all three, which can get really annoying for other players.

In pvp I consider myself a buzzing mosquito in the face of something larger.  I won't die, and I probably wont kill them (malaria ftw), but I demand their attention.  While their attention is focused on me it can't be focused on my friend casting his spell, or my other friend sneaking up behind you with his butter knife dipped in anthrax.  I make you mad and I get away with it in many cases, and meanwhile I make it easier for my friends to poke, prod, and generally f%^k with your day.  The beauty of the chantersquito as opposed to the common templarsquito variety is that if you ignore me, I will heal your target and smack the crap out of you.  I go down tons faster than a templar but I will kill you a lot faster than a templar too, which makes me much more dangerous to ignore.

Considering the mosquito is one of the worlds leading causes of death, I believe my life as a chantersquito is not nearly as gimped as many would have you believe.

Welcome to the bottom of the aionic barrel=)

Ok, so I have never in my entire 20 year span of playing games and having an opinion (and before the age of five I don't believe you have much of an opinion other than "I freaking love juice" and "Dora the explora is the s%$t") decided to voice them publicly. But, as the popularity of blogs has increased, I have found myself spending a much larger amount of time surfing the web reading blogs from other people (and even commenting on them), that at this point I figured I might as well get my feet wet and try becoming a member of the blogging community.

To say a little about myself, I have been gaming for as long as I could hold a controller and mash buttons in a repetative fashion for hours on end. I in no way claim to be a gaming god, to possess leet skillage, or even to be in the top tier of game players worldwide. Frankly I am one of those kids they tried to cram medication into so they would sit down and shut up long enough to teach them to stop putting things into electrical sockets and that tinker toys do not in fact constitute part of a balanced meal.

That being said, if you care to hear the musings of a slightly-special (the scary kind) 25 year old MMO addict, while he grinds mobs on his awesome Chanter (yes, I am a class-supremacist fo sho) and day dreams about battles between ninja kittens with flame throwers and robots made from giant jello boxes with lime green bones and gelatenous lasers....then welcome!