03 Oct 2005 at 03:52 - 118
Alright. But still, at least when I go into Random Arena, I take some skills that will keep me alive. I always pack Aura of Restoration, for instance, which I might not take on a HoH team if I knew my monks could handle the extra healing. I like to use Water Trident and snares over, say, Ward Against Harm, which I take into the FoW.
As for them being uninspired... well, only mesmers (and arguably necromancers) are truly original. Wizards, fighters, clerics, and archers are all pretty standard stock. As I've said, mesmers are sort of illusionists, a subdivision of wizards, and necro's are, well, necromancers, another subdivision of wizards. I'd be hesitant about rejecting a class purely based on originality, although of course that always does add to a class's merit. But then, you do have to be careful that something doesn't seem outright ridiculous in context.
I'd say that rogues would be closest to mesmers in function, but different enough that there wouldn't be much overlap. If we're saying (although this is still oversimplifying) that warriors are for taking damage, ele's for dealing damage, necro's for debuffing, monks for healing/buffing, and rangers are all-around... I guess you could say mesmers are for preventing damage, but it's hard to come up with a standard niche for them. Still, almost all the classes overlap into the others' niches... even monks can debuff (Pacifism, say), deal damage (Smiting), and take damage (Shielding Hands, Mark of Protection, etc.). I mean, I could link to that old topic I made with a bunch of Rogue skill suggestions, but I don't feel like it. It's buried in the Sanitarium, if anyone cares.
Basically what I'm saying is, yes, there'd be overlap, but there's already overlap-- which is good, because it means versatility-- and hopefully the overlap would be minimized, because even though the end result might be the same, the method would be quite different. (After all, necro's and ele's, even warriors, end up dealing damage, but they have very different ways of accomplishing it. It'd be similar for mesmers and rogues.)
