The Holy Trinity – Requirement or Immersion Breaker?

The Holy Trinity, a very controversial topic on many forums right now. Before we start explaining the pros and cons of the Holy Trinity, lets talk about what the Trinity is. The trinity is the core elements of a well built group in past MMOs, the tanks, the healers and the DPS be it melee or ranged. These specific roles played as key features, you couldn’t kill a boss without a Tank being the meat shield, the character in the heaviest of armours taking the blunt of the blows. Then there is the Healer, no group will survive an epic encounter without their trusty Healers next to them, mending the wounds of battle as they happen, providing support for their comrades. Then the DPS, the heavy hitters, brandishing their swords and daggers, wielding a staff, conjuring a spell of mythical proportion. These are the 3 roles that would typically make a group in MMOs, then came Guild Wars 2. A game designed solely to prove you do not need the trinity. They did a decent job at it considering this was big risk for a game company, design a game that doesn’t utilize the standard mechanics that have been used for many years.

Guild Wars 2 succeeded at creating a game that doesn’t use the Trinity. Not having to spend what can be hours finding the roles you need to make a group successful allows players to spend more time doing what they want to with their time.

Does not having a specific role to play ruin the immersion of the game? some people will say that a tank takes away the immersion, having someone who is able to hold the attention of creature makes it unrealistic. In the back of my head I’m thinking, you’re a wizard throwing fireballs from your hands, while being mystically healed by another person, and you’re telling me someone holding the attention of a creature ruins the immersion?

[youtube_sc url=”http://www.youtube.com/v/zKajdCw9H3I?version=3&hl=en_US&rel=0″]

Having specific roles in a group is a necessity it helps make people feel wanted, in Dark Age of Camelot, I ran an 8man group in Realm vs Realm and we had a specific setup but each class in the group had a roll, be main CC, Healer, Purifier, many different rolls but everyone had one. In games like Guild Wars 2, there are no essential roles, everyone damages, and heals themselves, you are not needed in that specific group any more than anyone else. Games like World of Warcraft, you have the Trinity at its finest, Tanks, Healers and DPS are required for virtually everything, Everyone in the group has a reason for being there, everyone is needed.

With Zenimax wanting everyone to be social, and be involved in the game and groups they are in which adaption will they take? Currently we know that any race can be any class, as well as have a secondary type, for example, your sword and board can also master the skills of the bow.

Imagine you’re laying siege to a keep fighting off the defenders outside the door, you’re swinging your sword into your enemy, a fire storm comes raining down upon you, you throw your shield over your head and run out of the storm. Pulling out your bow and returning fire to the mage.

In that example a sword and board character was able to utilize his primary skills and than be able to step back and return fire to someone his sword would not reach. This doesn’t only work for PvP, the same can be used in a Raid, imagine the Tank is holding aggro, but a new phase switches which requires the Tank to kite the boss, all the while helping take down the adds with his Bow skill.

What is your opinion on the Trinity in ESO, do you think having a ”taunt” a way to maintain a creatures attention breaks immersion? Does ESO have the need for specific roles in groups? Let us know your opinion on the Trinity.