All alone

Well, things finally worked out that the spouse suggested I should leave for my own sake and I couldn't disagree with her. It's a quiet little way for it to go down, but there it is. Now I'm living in what we'll charitably call an artist's commune in a small "studio apartment" which is actually just a very nicely decorated shed with an extension cord. The spiders have been pretty friendly, but the wasp keeps coming back even after I've tossed her out on her butt like, three times at least.

Actually I was thinking about the different roles in the game I've been playing, Arena of Valor. It's a MOBA on my phone that I've been pretty consistently into for a few months now, which is a weird amount of dedication for me to one game these days, especially a mobile one. I guess it's the competitive angle, I haven't really been enjoying a online team deathmatch kind of game since Halo: Reach and AoV finds me at a time in my life where being able to take a game on the go has been pretty crucial.

But yeah so team roles; the insidious thing is each character is assigned a "class" even though each one is a: split into two sub-classes that overlap and means that you get characters who say 'mage' but mean 'warrior' but that wouldn't be on theme or whatever, and b: each character is ALSO assigned by default to one of the map 'positions', which are just a gentlefolk's agreement to the general dispersal of players during the 'laning phase', or before either side's bases have started taking serious damage at which point it's more of a roaming free-for-all that hopefully sees some team cohesion.

So I typically pick my character after a few other people have in an effort to support the team by taking whatever class didn't get picked. This is fine, I have half a dozen characters I rotate through and often find that some of my best matches are taking a character I haven't used in a while and jumping into a game semi-cold.

Anyway aside from realizing I need to make my character picks based on whatever map position I'm in first, and who everyone else picked as a secondary concern (and I mean everyone is good with Valhein right?) but it got me thinking that this could be a good way to frame how each of the classes will work in my Innistrad game. Lets see,

Fighter: High health, armor, and base attack ability. Lacks high burst potential. Could make excellent archer with consistent long range hits, as well as being able to target enemy back row.

Specialist; Depending on build, can be master of environmental factors or high burst damage. Sneak attacks require careful positioning, synergies' with Skill Checks which allow you to bypass the normal DC of a task.

Magic-User: Highest damage and utility potential but also the squishiest. Depending on spells found though could play in just about any fashion, but this also requires finding the right magic.

Cleric: More durable then the Magic-User at the cost of some spell casting ability.

Artifact Creature: Highest durability of any class but lower damage output. Higher carry weight also means ability to carry more gear, which can offset damage reduction.

Spellshaper: Similar to Magic-User, but has higher HP and can ware armor while using magic. Requires more XP then any other class.

Rebel: Durable and mobile, but lacking the utility of the Specialist. Stealth abilities are good but only work in the bush.