New MMO from League of Legends' own MMO veteran is taking a MOBA-style approach to classes, with "lots of specialized" ones: "We can't have classes that are too generic"

Ghost
(Image credit: Fantastic Pixel Castle)

Former World of Warcraft lead systems designer and League of Legends MMO veteran Greg 'Ghostcrawler' Street has spoken about his approach to classes in his upcoming fantasy MMORPG, which he says will include "lots of specialized classes."

Street's upcoming game, codenamed Ghost, still doesn't have a release date, and no gameplay footage has been revealed, but the Blizzard and Riot Games veteran has been sharing plenty of nuggets of information over on Twitter (which previously led to him discussing what he thinks the problem plaguing MMO combat is). Recently, his focus turned to classes, which he says Ghost will have "a lot of" when it's out.

"Rather than having fewer classes with different specs, there are just lots of specialized classes," Street says, adding that the MMORPG is "very alt friendly." He continues: "This means we can't have classes that are too generic like a fighter or wizard, because we need to support 20 fighters and 20 wizards (eventually after many expansions). Think more of a MOBA like LoL, though these are your characters[,] not an already named hero you collect."

The former WoW lead notes that he's "not making most of the classes" in Ghost, but he's taken inspiration from games like Darkest Dungeon, Pathfinder, and Gloomhaven, "so you can get some hints from there." He also teases that all the classes are tied into the game's lore. More technically speaking, the team is "using the holy trinity" – tank, DPS, and healer – and Street says the MMORPG is "unlikely to have hybrid classes that can fit multiple roles, but who knows as we get crazier with it. Our tanks are less about aggro lockdown and more about helping the group survive."

He clarifies that much of this "still on paper at this point," with the actual playable classes not being super diverse right now, but that's not exactly surprising considering that the project is still early in development. That means the team may have to "pivot" on certain ideas eventually, but at the very least, this is what they are for now. 

Before Ghost's release, be sure to check out our roundup of the top 10 best MMORPGs you can play right now.

CATEGORIES
Catherine Lewis
News Writer

I'm one of GamesRadar+'s news writers, who works alongside the rest of the news team to deliver cool gaming stories that we love. After spending more hours than I can count filling The University of Sheffield's student newspaper with Pokemon and indie game content, and picking up a degree in Journalism Studies, I started my career at GAMINGbible where I worked as a journalist for over a year and a half. I then became TechRadar Gaming's news writer, where I sourced stories and wrote about all sorts of intriguing topics. In my spare time, you're sure to find me on my Nintendo Switch or PS5 playing through story-driven RPGs like Xenoblade Chronicles and Persona 5 Royal, nuzlocking old Pokemon games, or going for a Victory Royale in Fortnite.

Read more
Legacy: Steel & Sorcery
Ex-World of Warcraft designer says the stagnating "meta" in today's RPGs "really sucks," and Marvel Rivals is a good example of how to solve it
Legacy: Steel & Sorcery
AAA games may never die, but ex-WoW veteran predicts a rise in AA games like his new mini MMO: "Most AAA devs who have joined our team really do not want to go back"
World of Warcraft: Worldsoul Saga trailer still
World of Warcraft and League of Legends MMO veteran says he saw Riot and Blizzard "seemingly abandon" approaching development "from a place of humility instead of arrogance"
Legacy: Steel & Sorcery
As live service flops pile up, ex-World of Warcraft dev says his new mini MMO doesn’t need to be the next Helldivers 2 or Marvel Rivals: “It will be more of a meager, smaller start"
Legacy: Steel & Sorcery
A 13-year WoW veteran formed his own studio to make an RPG that plays like "World PvP: The Game" and feels like a mini MMO channeling "early Blizzard"
Legacy: Steel & Sorcery
13-year WoW vet left Blizzard for the indie life because "I didn't really feel like a game developer in some way," agrees it's harder for AAA giants to "maintain this connection to the player"
Latest in MMO
WOTLK
Following a high-profile guild quitting WoW Classic Hardcore, Blizzard makes the unprecedented decision to revive MMO characters that die during DDoS attacks "at our sole discretion"
Dune Awakening
Dune Awakening launches for $50 without a stay in early access, and while the survival MMO "will not have a monthly subscription" it will have "optional" paid DLC
A WoW Classic player chased by a dinosaur in a green forest
"If this is just how it is, then yeah, that's the end": WoW Classic's most famous hardcore guild calls time for now after multiple raiders lose their MMO characters to DDoS attacks
World of Warcraft
My newest MMO hero is World of Warcraft Priest 'Chimneytime,' who got an official "warning" from Blizzard for making too many people get trapped inside chimneys
Dungeon Fighter Online
One of the oldest action MMOs around gets its first level cap update in years: "The main focus of this update is to emphasize the core RPG experience - the fun of farming"
A purple scholar reads a text in a World of Warcraft library
WoW Classic might be getting a legendary weapon that's been the subject of rumors in the MMO's mainline version for 20 years
Latest in News
Destiny 2 Lightfall
When Destiny 2 "weekly active users dropped lower and faster than we'd seen since 2018," Bungie assembled an A-Team to put out some fires: "We needed to do something"
Velma, Daphne, Fred, Shaggy, and Scooby-Doo looking at a giant key which is also a clue
Netflix is rebooting Scooby-Doo as a live-action series from the producer of Supergirl and The Flash centered around a "supernatural murder" at a summer camp
Astro Bot
Astro Bot went through 23 pitch iterations before its director promised PlayStation "happy gameplay" and "overflowing charm," though it did once end with robot decapitation that made "some people really upset"
Tomb Raider
5 years after Avengers, 2 years after its last layoffs, and who knows how long before Perfect Dark and Tomb Raider return, Crystal Dynamics announces another round of layoffs
AI Limit
"AI is not as effective as it might appear": Dev of AI-focused Soulslike RPG says they didn't use any AI-generated content and it can't match "genuine creativity"
Fantastic Four: 1234 #2 cover excerpt
Sue Storm and Namor are officially both in Avengers: Doomsday, and fans are wondering if Reed Richards has something to worry about