"Please give it a chance": After 3,200 mixed Steam reviews for his new MMO, RuneScape creator explains the soft-reset class design confusing some players

gamesradar.com:

The launch reception for Brighter Shores, the new free-to-play MMO from original RuneScape creator Andrew Gower, has been mixed but slightly positive, with 3,288 Steam reviews sitting at 67% positive at the time of writing. 

One sticking point has been the game's class or profession system, which basically gives you a fresh profession each time you start a new episode of content. This runs counter to the account progression in most MMOs, including the cumulative levels of RuneScape and Old School RuneScape, so Gower himself wrote up a massive Steam blog post explaining the ins, outs, and benefits of this system, as well as how early access player feedback has inspired changes. The headliner, I think, is this subhead: "Please give it a chance." 

"First, I would just like to reassure you that your hard work leveling up your professions is definitely NOT wiped, reset or made irrelevant when you go to a new episode!" Gower begins. "When you reach episode 2, Hopeforest, four new professions are introduced: Scout, Woodcutter, Gatherer, and Carpenter. Your existing episode 1 professions remain untouched and are still useful anytime you are in Hopeport. You will find that you still regularly go back to Hopeport and use and further progress those professions. However, whilst you are in Hopeforest you will predominantly be relying on your Hopeforest professions, which can feel a bit strange to start with." 

It's less of a reset, then, and more of a new beginning, with each episode letting you choose new professions to focus on. Gower says there are a few reasons for this, starting with keeping Brighter Shores fun "for players who want to play the game many hours a day AND for people who might only be able to play a few minutes a day."

"When we introduce new episodes we want them to be fun for everyone," he continues. "But if there was a single combat profession across the whole game, and the monsters in episode 5 started at level 100 for example, then all the players who play