Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Why gnome warrior is an oxymoron. . .

So I've been thinking about this for some time. I have many experiences both fighting with and against gnomes on all of the various servers I'm on. For every time I've seen the gnome rogue jumping around stun-locking me (if you've ever played on a PVP server, odds are, its happened to you too), I've ran a dungeon on alliance side and had a gnome warlock or mage providing more than adequate DPS. This isn't about my experiences in the game at all. Blizzard has said gnomes are allowed to be warriors. My point in all of this is that Blizzard is just plain wrong for allowing this in the first place.

Put Wow out of your head (more difficult for some of us than others). For myself, I derive enjoyment from games where I can either imagine myself in the shoes of the protagonist or admire them for some trait or aspect they possess. I would never presume to tell someone what they should enjoy about a game, my arguement is one of common sense. Put yourself in the mindset of a 3-4ft tall being in a land of magic surrounded by monsters intent on your demise. Your race is mechanically inclined, legend has it you even spring from mechanical beings. When presented with an imminent threat, your first instinct would be: A) blast him with a spell, that'll show him! B) Have your summoned imp blast him with a spell while you add one for good measure! C) sneak behind him and stab him in the back really good while he's not looking or D) stand in front of him, knowing that he is almost certainly bigger and stronger than you (unless he's a murloc, not getting into that at the moment) and beat on him till one of you dies. I would submit to you that if your answer was D, you probably wouldn't be exceptionally long lived (again, putting Wow aside).

This is the core of my problem with gnome warriors. Why on earth would you stand in front of something bigger and stronger than you and fight a war of attrition when your racial trait is increased intelligence!?!? This is not an intelligent tactic. I would submit than any of the other above options would be superior. My arguement is not one based around game mechanics, or balance, or ensuring that each race has equal selection, it is one of common sense, and in my mind, gnome warriors just don't make sense.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

While I agree with you.. I think there are some Hobbits out there that would disagree...

Baaahhh Hobbits... wouldn't know a Gnome if it stabbed them in the back

Cap'n John said...

I agree, Gnome Warriors don't make sense, which is why I RP'd an insane Gnome Warrior with a penchant for two-handed axes who never backed down from a fight. Lots of fun :D

But I had even more fun on my Gnome Rogue ;)

P.S. sorry for the late commenting. I just found your Blog through someone else's Blog :)