EZ Mode Classes, Complex Classes, and Resentment

[Dogbert]

All "complexity paywalls" do is drag me kicking and screaming to the days of Phantasy Star Online, and ever since the 2000s almost everything related to the Asian school of game design sucks a barrel of Chocobo cocks.

I'm not a fan of "having to earn my fun," and that's exactly what "complexity paywalls" is all about.

What I would do instead, if I ever saw myself in need of catering to both the Scrubs and the Stop Having Fun Guys demographics, is having "kiddy versions" of each class. The kiddy versions would be narrow-focused, specially assembled kits that would bend the rules a bit (like ignoring requisite X for trait Y) in order to grant competitive results within their respective areas with a sheet as simple as possible.

Now, in order to avoid the PSO syndrome, I'd make sure that the kiddy classes are one-dimensional enough to make them unappealing to the more hardcore players. Also, notice that I described their performance as "competitive," as in "not the best." Within their scope, kiddy classes would be guaranteed never to suck, but bronze medal is as far as they get, so if Timmy likes the game enough and wants more mileage, then perhaps he likes the game enough to commit to the full game and graduate from the kids' table.

[Parthenon]

I'm not a fan of "having to earn my fun," and that's exactly what "complexity paywalls" is all about.

...

Within their scope, kiddy classes would be guaranteed never to suck, but bronze medal is as far as they get, so if Timmy likes the game enough and wants more mileage, then perhaps he likes the game enough to commit to the full game and graduate from the kids' table.

So you both hate and want people to put in extra work to have fun?

[Laertes]

Power =/= Fun, except for the sort of people you probably don't want at your table anyway. For me, fun is a matter of meaningful choices made every turn; other people may have fun with different things.

Dogbert's idea is a good one, I think. You might even have a gradient of difficulties within each class, so you had the kiddy version, the moderate version, the advanced version and the expert version.

[MGuy]

I think an example is needed, a clear cut example or more detailed description of what EZ mode classes are or what that even means. As it stands it seems that people have different ideas of it and I am having difficulty myself conceptualizing it. Like Sorcerer is an easier version of Wizard and nominally is about as powerful but Wizards can do more stuff with their spells and can get more 'spells known' than a sorcy. I can see someone playing either with no problem.

[deaddmwalking]

Sorcerer would be 'easy mode' if the spell selection were already done for you. It 'plays easy', but it requires a lot of rules mastery to make effective.

A cleric is 'easy mode' for character creation (you pretty much can't go wrong, but it's complex to play (having the ability to completely swap out your entire prepared spell list daily means lots of options).

A true easy mode class would combine those - most of the options are pre-selected and class related ability choices are constrained during an encounter to a small, manageable sub-set.

[TiaC]

So, Warmage, Beguiler?