What Things Would You Like To See Given There Are No Primary Healers?

[Andius 906]

As someone who very often plays a healer, no primary healers is kind of a sad thing to see from some aspects it does open up a lot of options.

 

For instance health stealing and health regeneration. How much do you care about those kind of things when most of your health is being spewed at you by a dedicated healer? How much do you care in a single player game or MOBA where you don't have that?

 

Lets talk about mechanics we'd like to see that are actually relevant because of the lack of primary healers.

 

I'll start.

 

Werewolves should be able to feed on the corpses of most fleshy creatures to regenerate health like in Skyrim, and possibly even have some bite based attacks that steal health from the opponent mid-battle.

Edited March 14, 2015 by Andius

[Adall 3,895]

Crafted bandages and potions.

 

Buffs and debuffs that deal with damage transferring and mitigation.

 

Abilities to escape a fight, or coordinate with friends to help you escape using in game collision detection, like a screen in sports.

 

Certain regenerative over time effects on cool downs.

 

Meatier characters in general that don't die in ten seconds.

[Jirue 21]

Strategic structures that regenerate nearby troops. Would add a significant building to protect in large battles.

[raeshlavik 915]

I think a lot of it will be dependant on the speed and flow of combat.

 

If combat is frenetic frag fests where life expectancy is measured in milliseconds, then there will need to be some fancy mitigation going on to keep the fight interesting.

 

If things are a bit more realistic, where the damage wears away armor to the point where someone can get in a coup de grâce blow and end someone - before you or they run out of stamina to keep swinging and blocking at any rate - then healing is best left to a more realistic battlefield triage sort of deal where combatants have to tactically fall back be healed / recover / rearm if they survive the fight.

 

Me personally, I would like option two.

Edited March 15, 2015 by Raeshlavik

[M0rdred 577]

Meatier characters in general that don't die in ten seconds.

 

Especially this, I hate games where you die in 0.0000001 secs.

[krevra 850]

I think a lot of it will be dependant on the speed and flow of combat.

 

If combat is frenetic frag fests where life expectancy is measured in milliseconds, then there will need to be some fancy mitigation going on to keep the fight interesting.

 

If things are a bit more realistic, where the damage wears away armor to the point where someone can get in a coup de grâce blow and end someone - before you or they run out of stamina to keep swinging and blocking at any rate - then healing is best left to a more realistic battlefield triage sort of deal where combatants have to tactically fall back be recover / rearm if they survive the fight.

 

Me personally, I would like option two.

I hope its not call of duty or chivalry, dont get it wrong i love chivalry but in a mmorpg i dont feel its very fun imo. That being said damage mitigation will be vital, having your own healing skill i think will be important and having skills that can heal your group a little bit i think will be important, i REALLY enjoy the way GW2 did it to be honest, imo its the best combat system i personally have ever played, its just they give WvW no real love and everything else is just meh.

[doc gonzo 3,087]

 

these...

 

 

 

 

                                                                                          

[krevra 850]

 

 

these...

 

 

 

 

                                                                                          

 

LMFAO omg, i laughed so hard IRL. Frakking DBZ man XD Please no senzu beans ACE!

[aChris07 73]

I understand what you mean, I too have played support and healer classes in several MMOs before. However, I've played GW2 for a while and I can tell you there's much you can do to support other than just filling a red bar, and more fun:

1) CC (stuns, knockbacks)

2) Damage prevention (barriers, anti-missile shields)

3) Terrain manipulation (Forcefields, walls, pits)

4) Buffs (and debuffs for the enemies)

Edited March 15, 2015 by aChris07

[Andius 906]

I think a lot of it will be dependant on the speed and flow of combat.

 

If combat is frenetic frag fests where life expectancy is measured in milliseconds, then there will need to be some fancy mitigation going on to keep the fight interesting.

 

If things are a bit more realistic, where the damage wears away armor to the point where someone can get in a coup de grâce blow and end someone - before you or they run out of stamina to keep swinging and blocking at any rate - then healing is best left to a more realistic battlefield triage sort of deal where combatants have to tactically fall back be healed / recover / rearm if they survive the fight.

 

Me personally, I would like option two.

 

Option 2 sounds fun in a siege battle where you may actually bring along a supply tent / med tent. When you are out in the wild I hope there are some options easier that having to fall all the way back to the nearest armory / hospital.

 

That could actually be really fun if there were reasons to make camp to tend your wounds or build an underground hideout in an area you frequently make attacks in.

 

Just saying most of the battles I see myself taking part in don't have 100-500 people on each side. They have 1-5.

 

It really depends highly on natural regeneration though. If your health recovers fully a minute or two after a fight every time then there is no point having any kind of wound treatment beyond usual healing capabilities. I'm personally hoping there are some characters that regenerate health very fast but then again my favorite wound system was in Wurm Online, where you would actually bleed to death from untreated wounds of a certain severity.

Edited March 15, 2015 by Andius

[Archiebunker82 346]

I enjoy my healing classes it makes me sad when there isnt one because it limits my enjoyment.. However i wouldnt be against having classes that heal based on damage done, our the shaman/runepriest idea in warhammer. Yet Friars and warlock style from daoc come to mind as well.. but i really prefer a soild healing class that can turn the tide in battle. 

[bairloch 2,136]

I'd be fine with no in combat healing. No life steal. No potions.

 

If you get hurt, you drop back to the back lines. Find a hospital tent and head inside. A player medic there bandages and sews you up, restoring your damage taking potential, and you head back to the front lines.

 

Possibly include a fatigue mechanic where not everything gets cleared up from the medic. Praying at a temple, resting in an inn, or carousing in a tavern restores it the rest of the way. Again, that's out of combat.

[Maverick827 21]

I'd like to see them change their minds.

 

A lot of games lately are reducing or even removing the healer role, and I think it makes them an overall weaker game.

[achesoma 117]

I'd like to see a Controller(CC, CC-counters, buffer, debuffer) role take the place of healer. A PvP-trinity if you will; Offense/Defense/Controller). I feel that would fit the pvp dynamic much better.

[Adall 3,895]

I'd like to see a Controller(CC, CC-counters, buffer, debuffer) role take the place of healer. A PvP-trinity if you will; Offense/Defense/Controller). I feel that would fit the pvp dynamic much better.

 

I think that is what is planned.

[Andius 906]

I'd like to see them change their minds.

 

A lot of games lately are reducing or even removing the healer role, and I think it makes them an overall weaker game.

 

I think that has largely to do with the fact that it's pretty uncharted territory in MMOs. Even most of the really innovative titles like EVE and Darkfall had powerful healers (though everyone in DF could play every role so there were no dedicated healers outside newb groups.)

 

Just because it' hasn't been done well doesn't mean it can be done well. I say look to singleplayer games and MOBAs and you'll find a lot of ideas as to how to do engaging combat without dedicated healers.

 

Look to those and give us some varied methods of survivability from the health stealer to the dude that stacks the hell out of his DPS, lifesteal, and nothing else and then things that regenerate health as a % of their total health and stacks the holy hell out of that (Passive tanking drakes anyone).

Edited March 15, 2015 by Andius

[CAWCAWCAW 66]

If there is no doctor elf than maybe we will have psychotherapis elf. Sometime when people are soldier forever it is just kill kill kill, and it is hard to not kill problem when this is bad. I have friend like this once and he say if you do not have psychotherapis for a soldier then he will just go crazy and not be a good soldier, which is why psychotherapis was good for him. My friend say he was not crazy though, but he is also in prison so I do not trust him all fully.

[tierless 831]

(pauses, puts on sunglasses) Primary Healers.

Edited March 15, 2015 by Tierless

[primal 4,095]

I can definitely see this game having a support role that's CC + group buff. Although it's not technically a healer, it helps your friendlies regen. Think somewhat WHO Disciple or GW1 Necromancer.

 

 

Group buffs for life on hit, faster health regen, or damage mitigation. Enemy debuff that makes them bleed and 200% more leached. Not directly healing, but definitely helps in recovery or staying in the fight.

[oridi 2,565]

I'd like to see them change their minds.

 

A lot of games lately are reducing or even removing the healer role, and I think it makes them an overall weaker game.

 

You'll see in some of the dev conversations and the FAQ's that ACE has the POV that healers are not being used because of the balance they're aiming for for PvP.  The idea of a dedicated healer standing to the side and pouring health into a player in a PvP battle makes it become a battle of the healers rather than actual combat PvP.  Or at least that is how I interpreted their response.  They're not going for the Trinity of dps tank heals for that reason.

 

Here are the FAQ's that relate to healers.  They're under the combat FAQ's.

 

5. Does the game use the “trinity system” of class balance (tank, DPS, and healer)?

No. Some elements, yes, of course. But overall, not really. 

We have characters that are more offensive. We have characters that are more defensive. We have characters with support powers. But we made the game purposefully light on in-combat healing, to make it more deadly. 

 

And remember, we’ve opened up the character customization options (through Promotion classes and Disciplines) to make each character a “mixed bag” of skills and powers. Each archetype starts with pre-disposition towards a certain playstyle, but after that, the game system really opens up and allows you to adapt your character any way you like.

6. Why de-emphasize combat healing?

Combat healing effectively adds a multiplier to each combatant’s effective hit points. A defender isn’t just managing one health bar, his “effective” health pool is = his personal health bar * powers driven by the mana pool of every healer actively supporting him. This makes a lot of sense for games that focus around PvE combat where the monsters have thousands of hit points – especially raids.  It makes less sense in a game focused on skill-based player-versus-player combat.

7. You don't have Healer? That's what I play!

Our intent is for the support archetypes to have key buffs, debuffs, and physics related powers at a cost of damage or defensive capability. That isn't to say there won't be healing.  There will be options to pick up healing powers (Discipline Runestones). We just didn't want to make the traditional fire hose style healer that most "trinity" combat systems use.