Grouping

In most MMOs you have the option of participating in PvE (player versus environment) where you group together with other players to tackle the dangers of dungeons and the mechanics of boss battles. Usually each character class/archetype fits specific niches or roles in a group that are required to take down specific challenges.

In most MMOs there are three roles that must be filled:

1) Tank - These guys are usually the heavily armored warriors who make sure that the enemies hit them instead of the squishier characters like clerics or mages. They often specialize in defense and health stats so they can absorb the blows of the bosses and survive long encounters.

2) Healer - This role is usually filled by a cleric or priest like character. Their only purpose is to keep as many people alive as possible by casting healing spells or damage absorbing buffs. They also provide other types of buffs to strengthen the team as a whole. They usually specialize in magic regeneration and intelligence to make sure they have the necessary mana to keep up the heals and the power to make the heals count.

3) DPS (Damage per second) - These classes vary anywhere from spell casting mages to thieves with fast slashing daggers. Their main purpose is to hack and slash the enemy until it is dead. They usually forego armor and health for stats that improve their damage (which is why a tank is needed to absorb the hits). They are called "Damage per second" classes because their goal is to always maximize their DPS to make sure the boss goes down before the tank dies or the healer runs out of mana.


These are the common archetypes that are used to almost every MMO.
Except RIFT shook things up a little bit. While they do have the common archetypes in the game they also have many "hybrid" specs/souls that you can choose. There is the bard who provides group buffs and area of affect healing while doing damage. There is also the chloromancer who puts debuffs on an enemy that lets people heal themselves as they do damage. These classes perform multiple roles at a diminished capacity but it creates room for a more diverse group structure.

Say, for instance, you have both a bard and a chloromancer in a group. Neither can solo heal very effectively on their own but if both are doing their damage/healing attacks then the need for a solo healer evaporates. A good bard/chloromancer combo is actually more effective than a solo healer and can do more damage.

Since it is still early in the game's life it is difficult to see whether or not this class system will work but I am optimistic that RIFT, if nothing else, will change the ways we view conventional group deposition and shift how other games in the market view class archetypes.