Why do you play a primarily damage dealing class?

[PanikSpreder]

Some people enjoy the responibility of being really good DPS. Making sure you are doing as much damage as possible without pulling aggro, hitting your interrupts every time needed, not attacking CC'd targets, CCing targets if you can, and keeping yourself alive and easier to heal by using your own abilities and awareness.

 

Precisly this. I enjoy playing a DPS spec'ed character due to making it easier on the tanks/healers by doing those "extra" things other DPS'ers might not.

 

A bad tank/healer might break a group, but a bad DPS might break the spirit of the other players. I'd rather be playing the ones that will surprise people in a positive way rather then always having to be flawless when tanking/healing due to other peoples "demands".

[Qonor]

Before WoW, I always played single-player RPGs as a thief. I wanted a return to that, hence the assassin. I was a tank and healer in WoW for five years and miss it a bunch though.

[StewyG]

I have a variety of different roled chars. I like all of the roles and switch between them all the time. Currently i am playing a gunslinger and so far has been the most OP class cuz of a tank companion and my crazy dps. I prefer dps for pve and for pvp but for operations and hardmodes i like healing and tanking. Holding the responsibility of healing or not letting the healer or dpsers get targetted makes it more fun unless your group is a bunch of complete gamers that have a bunch of rules for how you tank or heal or do this or that. Its fun when your group relaxes about how you play unless of course you are causing the group to die every other mob.

[LuBearr]

I used to always play as a tank in other mmos... got jealous of the guys sitting in the back getting ridiculous crits. I now have an assassin dps and vanguard off-tank. I think prefer them more because I personally feel that it takes a little more engagement to really play it well.

[xGBox]

DPS, in my opinion, is the easiest role out of them all. All you have to do is press a few buttons, dodge a few things, and have complete faith that the tanks and healers will keep you alive. That's it.

[IronFirewind]

Because playing a healer in PvP is the most thankless and soul crushing thing you will ever perform in your life where everything you do is wrong no matter how good you are or how hard you try.

 

This is coming from someone who used to work a a chef.

[hadoken]

I've been playing support roles for close to 15 years now.

 

These days I'm more interested in slicing things apart...with a lightsaber (or two).

Edited March 5, 2012 by hadoken

[Ulmius]

I used to always play a tank. It's what I did. In wow after tanking for a few years on different tanks I was growing bored. I liked being the tank and pretty much the leader of any group, but I was starting to get bored and wasn't sure why. After completing raids I realized it was the same thing... Tank things, use my cds, etc, but after completing the same raids over and over again, I was missing something. After talking a buddy of mine I realized what it was. Lack of competition to keep things fresh. He was telling me the thrill of always being able to compete with others when it came to dps. It sounded fun so I wanted to try it out and rolled an elemental shaman after completing bastion of twilight during cata.

 

I leveled up my new shaman and was lucky enough to be in the same raid because one of the dps wanted to switch to his tank so we essentially switched roles. I have to admit, at first it was a bit daunting being outdone by the others in the group. But after getting some gear, I started to compete with them and soon after when I had equivalent gear, I was beating them. I was hooked, competing for top dps was fun and breathed life into the game. I continued to play till dragon soul came out and completed it while continuing to be top dps and to be honest, it never grew old. Competing with others in the raid group for top dps is just fun to me. Especially when you've completed the same raid over and over again, it gives you something to shoot for every week. My roommate wanted to make the switch to this game so I went with him.

 

On this game I made a sniper because I enjoy dps. While fun... I have to admit, it's not nearly as fun as it was in wow. It's not because wow was better, but it's because I don't have that sense of competition that I once had. I'm finding myself completing the operations on hard mode and I'm having that same feeling I had on my tank. It's just becoming stale after beating the same raids over and over again with nothing being new, it's the same thing every week. I know people don't like damage meters for their own reasons, but I have to say that for me, it makes being a dps feel stale when you don't have them. Yes, I kill my mob first on the council fight so I know on that fight I'm top dps, but it's that one fight. That is literally the only fight where I get that thrill of competition and that feeling of excitement when I raid. All the other fights are like, eh - whatever, let's just kill it so we can move on and log out.

 

So basically, the one reason I play dps is something I can't experience in this game at the time. In the future I'll be able to see it with that parse they are releasing but it'll be a pain having to upload my log somewhere along with the other dps to compare our data. I don't even know if I'll still be dpsing by then anyway. But whatever, we'll see.

Edited March 8, 2012 by Ulmius

[Thankyjack]

I find my DPS (Sent) a lot more fun to play than either my Sage/Scoundrel or Vanguard.

 

It's a lot harder, though in most cases.

 

More fun would be my answer as well.

[psi_overtake]

My friends in our guild had just about every AC except 1-2. One of them was Sniper (Gunslinger), so I went with that. Luck of the draw =P

[frostlionLDN]

I honestly rolled my Merc with the intention of being a healer or a hybrid healer/dps. I've just always enjoyed healing.

 

As the game went on we had enough heals that my hybrid or any heal spec became pointless. Generally I don't play DPS, but once I went 31 points in a DPS tree I was hooked. I've now found the fine art of healing my team not through heals, but through smashing the face in of whoever is attacking them.

[CaptainKardel]

Healers and tanks dont really need to reply. So, for those of you playing dps classes, why? I have a level 50 sage healer and 33 vanguard tank that I've mostly soloed. Companions help out quite a bit, and I'm curious as to why there are not more tanks and healers when the companion system makes them easier to level than in other MMO's.

 

Not putting anyone on the spot, I dont want any flaming. I am merely curious, as there is probably an issue somewhere that BW can resolve to make our game balanced, and easier to find groups.

 

So, whats keeping you guys from running tank or heals?

 

I've been playing MMORPGs for 7 years and have played healers, nukers, CCers, tanks, and DDs. Honestly I find a DPS DD most natural.

 

DPS classes tend to be engaging in PvE, hit hard enough to easily solo most quests or even heroics and such with no problems, and since combat ends so quickly, you can level up quickly. But mainly a DD class that hits hard and can stealth (usually assassins in most MMOs) tend to be the best (or one of the best) solo classes, and are overpoweringly fun to play in PvP.

 

There's also a lot of difficulty playing a DD, which adds a challenge and more fun. In groups, you have to be capable of maximizing your DPS output while simultaneously hitting just low enough to not draw aggro and get your group wiped. There's also the fact that most groups, whether they want to admit it or not, need DPS players or battles will take forever, sometimes literally. We're damage dealers for a reason: We deal the damage and make sure the mission/heroic/instance is completed. I'm not saying we're more needed than tanks or healers; they're all equal. But a healer's job is to keep the tank alive, a tank's job is to keep aggro off of the DD, and a DD/DPS's job is to beat the instance; there are also support roles, but they're really just there to make the instance easier. There's a lot of pressure to be a good DD, so it's just as challenging as other classes in an instance.

 

So basically:

 

DD's tend to level very fast

DD's tend to be very good in 1 vs 1-2 PvP

DD's are easily capable of soloing most mobs, bosses, and instances (maybe not from the start)

DD's hit insanely fast if DPS specced

DD's are one of the most important and needed roles in an instance, being almost solely responsible for defeating mobs and bosses

[Dulwaithe]

For me, at least in pve, I find maximizing my dps to be more challenging than tanking or healing. If you're tanking and stay alive and held aggro, then you can feel pretty good. If no one died and you're healing, the same. If I'm dps'ing I always wonder whether I could of eked out a bit more damage.

[Commderben]

for me dps is easier for me and its more of my style ill be tank or dps but i love the scoundrel a lot and hes my dirtyfighting scoundrel idc about the responsiblty i m just not meant to be a healer maybe a tank but mostly dps in most cases

[MayorOfAngrytown]

At the risk of sounding mono-dimensional, I pretty much exclusively DPS in the rather few MMOs I've given more than just a cursory look. I have support alts, but my usuall thing with a game is to fiddle around with options, find the DPS I like best, then obsess over it.

 

It's mostly for the catharsis. Spending some time smashing faces in game after a long commute in crappy traffic is just what I need to wind down.

 

Having said that, I also find it just more fun than rolling my support alts. I do love a good CC toon from time to time, but I never quite got the hang of healing so I tend to avoid those so I don't screw up teams by being a tardhealer. Tanking I find interesting, but more as a mentality than a class. I guess I'd rather just lay waste to my enemies in a nice, straight-forward, my weapon -> your face kinda way.

[Frog_brains]

Firstly my main is a shadow tank, with a hybrid skill tree, i didn't do all the stealth skills,and added to my dps instead. He's at 50 and progressing well through endgame.

 

I"m also an altaholic, so I rolled a healer (sawbones), a ranged DPS (actually 2 a sorc on the imp side and a mando rep) and a Melee DPS Sentinal (couldn't say no to, two lightsticks

 

I've been leveling my alts simultaneously, basically I'll level 1 until i finish the homeworld and do some of the early level FP's get them to about lvl 20/21 then do the same with the next and the next.

 

I love my tank, and tank well, but i'm really starting to get into the sweet science of DPS, and DD. and i think the appreciation is coming from the fact that i'm lvling 3 DD classes pretty much at the same time. I like the variation from playing even different forms of DD.

 

My sorc and my mando play completely differently even though they are both ranged dps, and then of course my sentinal plays completely differently than my other 2 dps toons.

 

For me the appeal now is to find out how to play each DD character to the max of their ability, That's why i'm rolling with the DPS Now. I also want to prove by playing multiple DPS classes and lvling them together that one isn't superior to the other. That it comes down to how you play, equip, and spec your character that has the biggest effect on dps not the character

[AshlaBoga]

My main was a hybrid while leveling, focused on Madness-Corruption. When I got to endgame the Hybrid spec was less viable for Operations - a hybrid healer is less useful to a group that already has 4 good dps.

 

So I switched to healing during April, May and part of June.

 

Then recently with the whole Ajunta Pall --> Jung Ma I ended up joining a guild that didn't get broken by the transferss. They had a solid healer core and solid tanks so I ended up switching to dps.

 

So I guess the answer would be: Because I'm a Team Player.

 

P.S: There's no "I" in team.

[NyanC]

I've noticed that all classes still have damage as their primary thing, even the tanks and healers. I mean, what Powertech just jumps in front of bullets the entire time, even though he/she's a tank. A Commando doesnt just keep healing allies, he attacks too. An operative doesnt just.... the list goes on and on.

[Helig]

Damage-dealing classes are fastest to solo with in all aspects of the game. I levelled a tank and a healer from 10 to 50, and companions or no, DD is the fastest and most convenient.

 

In my opinion, playing support specs makes sense only if you have a reliable in-game community (otherwise you're thanklessly gimping yourself), or it serves your purpose (flashpoints\raids), if you really, really like it, or all of the above.

Edited June 28, 2012 by Helig

[shadysaxplayer]

Because pvp healing is annoying. Also I like to kill things

[-psychonaut-]

I play a DPS class just because its fun for me in PvP and PvE. I've always liked ranged DPS classes in the 10 years I've been playing MMOs but on the flipside I always have healer alts as well.

[Ardarell_Solo]

Simple and honest answer: Because it's easier. (Little) mistakes are not as fatal. I run Asa HC with my T5 slinger and it's way less stressful than doing it with my T4,5 guardian tank alt: One misplaced/mistimed taunt there, and the raid's pretty much gone. Mistakes in DPS rotation mean trouble with enrage timer at worst. But since MOX proves my average DPS is above average, that's not trackable as easily as a misplaced taunt. But please don't give me away on this ;-)

[THobbsy]

Because I feel I can have more impact on the outcome of a wz on my sniper that hit 50 a week ago, than I can on my valor-89 heals operative.

 

Also, first mmo or rpg, so I should give every thing a try

[ZeroPlus]

After having played Tanks and Healers in another MMOs I realized something: as a Tank/Healer I was never playing the game I wanted to play; I was always stuck playing other people's game.

 

"We need you to come tank/heal <this>." "But, I'm busy doing <that>." "Oh come on, you can do that anytime you want. We need you for <this> now."

 

The problem was that as a tank/healer, "anytime" never happened because someone somewhere always needed me to do what they wanted to do.

 

So with SWTOR I've gone DPS. On all my toons: Vanguard, Sentinel, Gunslinger, Assassin, Mercenary, Juggernaut, Sage (almost 50!) and Operative (sitting at 19).

 

It is fun to do what "I" want to do for a change.

[Master_Hitsugaya]

alot of people just dont want the responsibility of keeping groups alive and would just rather be that guy in the back attacking stuff. as dps all you have to do is stay out of stuff and pew pew and look at big numbers. I tanked for the last 10 or so years and had dps alts. With this game Im heals with dps alts. Needed a change.

 

Agree with the responsibility issue added on to that not as tense and is more fun/engaging in general to play.