Someone pointed out this Powerpoint slide to me from last year’s Blizzcon – a Blizzard designer pointing out that Paladins were intended to be an easy class to play in that game. By contrast, one can imagine Rogues being designed with the frenetic script kiddie in mind.

Needless to say, this slide only confirmed what many fans on the boards were saying (usually when slamming the design team and razzing the Paladin). Still, I thought this was interesting – previous to when I first heard this, I hadn’t really put much thought into using classes as a difficulty setting. Most standalone games have a difficulty slider, of course, but MMOs can’t as easily have one due to the persistent and competitive workplace.

Of course, the issue is that there’s nothing in the UI that lets you know you’re making a difficulty decision. When I chose a Paladin for my first WoW character, I didn’t know I was choosing something that was easy to play. However, by the time I got to making a rogue, I was aware enough of the classes to make the distinction that rogues were more challenging to pull off.

So what do you think? Assuming you can swallow the concept of classes, is using a player choice like a class as a difficulty slider a good idea?