Yeah support builds are easier done in guilds that use Teamspeak. When you have an established group of people you play with then they start to learn how to respond to your build and you can actually kind of customize the support to the group's needs. And then Teamspeak gives you a way to quickly communicate with people what you are doing so they can respond appropriately, or lets them communicate with you when they need a certain kind of support you offer.
I like that at least the thread starter was smart enough to separate healer and supporter into their own roles. I tend to run as Healer or Support in practically every major game I play. I keep a tank and a DPS on the side just in case...
Its not really the DPS that I am after.
I am after the mentality of being able to focus more on the party that I have. For example, in the first Guild Wars I liked playing Minion Master Necros, and when I was asked "How is it that you survive and I don't?" I ended up saying honestly "Its because my minions are my party and all my skills in my bar are really about summoning minions and preserving/blowing them up....etc"
I find to be a good support or healer, one has to have the mind to find a use for everything one attains regardless how small it is, while of course being able to view the battlefield for everyone else. Support can either be "offensive support" or "defensive support" but both have common ground that usually support is all about giving each member the means to do their job a little better or give them the opening that they need to connect their attacks and win.
I do the best I can, and if I lose and a flamewar results in game. That is what insta-blacklist is for. I never let anyone ruin my day anymore in these games.
I had to go with all of the above here... As much as I love being the tank and love being the healer. No one role could ever satisfy me 100% of the time. Also depending on the game itself. Only game from my list that I haven't played tank or healer has been Wildstar. I went out of my way to go dps straight through for the first time with this game. Never did so in the past, always tank or healer.
Nowadays I have trouble playing trinity based games in favor of the skill-based sandboxes/survival games. I'm burnt out on dungeons and raids.
Support is my preferred role first learned from my days in DAOC which had many awesome classes to choose from.
Healer is 2nd as a role I picked when I realized they were so necessary yet eschewed by many, so I did it as a way to help out my guildmates mostly, take one for the team as it were.
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
I suppose that even though I picked tank, my true favorite role is Tank/Healer, an EQ2 Paladin for example; not a WoW Paladin that is a healer in heavy armor. I really like tanking, but I also like variety. An EQ2 Paladin is an excellent tank (their secondary aspect, Wisdom, adds to their magic resistance, so against some foes they are better tanks than guardians, and their heals help generate threat), but can also off tank, off heal, do some melee DPS (lots vs undead) and some ranged DPS (lots vs undead).
Some of my best memories of EQ2 were being in a boss fight playing off tank, gathering the adds, and using my heals to help keep the melee group alive.
If I was playing BDO, I would pick a Valkyrie, even though I prefer to play male characters. That playstyle is right within my favorite type.
The world is going to the dogs, which is just how I planned it!
I usually end up being tank in a game that uses trinity, because other players seem blind most of the time and miss adds or pull too much:p It also lets you set the pace, which I really like. But I have to add that I don't usually play trinity based games very long, because tanking is seriously boring in most implementations. I just do it to see the instances once, but I don't do gear treadmills beyond that.
A friend of mine that I play MMO's with usually ends up as healer (doesn't like melee or to set the pace) and if we are both in a team, we can usually do anything with a PUG(provided the village dps idiot didn't join us).
I am rather tired of the static roles of old trinity games. GW2s idea that you switch in the middle of combat is good but sadly does the actual mechanics in the game not work as well as it should.
I am far more into the tactics of pen and paper roleplaying games like Shadowrun and R.I.F.T.S that doesn't actually have defined roles as such but takes a lot of co-operations and fast decisions to ace a fight.
MMOs that try without the trinity sadly often just cut down to simply keeping the DPS and skip the rest and that is worse then even the most rigid trinity game.
MMO combat should include timing, the tactics of co-ordinating your team in response to threats as well as different strategies for different situations.
MMOs do tend to build on D&D which in itself is one of the less tactical pen and paper games, even games like Runequest and Warhammer fantasy RPG from the early 80s takes far more co-operation and skill for the players.
I think future MMOs should rethink the entire combat mechanics, group dynamics need to be more floating so the players need to react more to mobs or PvP teams in different ways depending on the situation.
Theres a reason why people play dps but dont really like dps too much. In terms of raids, if your a tank or healer your expected to show up because its harder to find someone to fill in for. If your a dps signing up for raids, your easily replaceable if you don't show up. People who cant get on as often usually go dps out of respect for the rest of the group.
I don't think the actual role within a group makes much difference in terms of popularity.
The biggest reason there are so many DPS players is aesthetics. If you look round at all the big movies, tv shows and books, the focus is almost always on the killing. People want to be Legolas and kill stuff with a bow. They want to be Aragorn and charge in with a massive 2h sword. They want to be in the thick of the action, and the design of DPS classes almost always encourages that mentality.
The second reason is then speed of leveling. In the majority of MMOs, playing as DPS is by far the quickest and easiest way to level. You have one task: deal damage. You deal the most damage, so everything is quicker. With the solo design of most content, you rarely need any advanced tactics. There is definitely a high dropout rate amongst the casuals when playing slower classes like tanks and healers.
Currently Playing: WAR RoR - Spitt rr7X Black Orc | Scrotling rr6X Squig Herder | Scabrous rr4X Shaman
I'd like to be the one who keeps the group together and helps the less experienced players doing their job as tanks, healers or dps. Playing a support role makes you a master of none of them but gives tools to assists anyone in need of a slight help.
I love healing. I started healing in my first MMO, WoW lol, around 2007 or so. I initially had played ranged dps roles but that got boring in raids. So I tried healing and never looked back. I loved being able to save the day because I hated dying more than I enjoyed doing damage so that's initially what I loved about the healer role. But it's also far more interesting, busy, and dynamic. It really keeps you on your toes and is very rewarding when done well.
After playing Aion I found a love for pure support roles as well like the Chanter, and for the Asian styled healer classes like Cleric. They rely less on silly procs, stacking buffs, and all the other random gimmicks WoW styled Western games rely on. Instead the skills are very basic in design and they tend to introduce other cool clenase, buff, cc, etc. skills on the healers that Western games don't, along with giving them this feeling of power and importance beyond what Western developers do. Koreans really love their healers lol. But the healers in those games rely on strategy in combat, learning to adapt on the fly, and being good in the execution instead of relying on strict healing rotations and specific stat and talent builds. It makes for much more fun and dynamic healing.
Then TERA came along and mixed the full support and full healer into one with both of their healers and I loved it even more. Healing is fun because you're needed and powerful, but more so because you're in control of a fight. You also have a unique perspective of a fight and tend to know better than anyone else who in your group is good and who is bad.
It's too bad so many games lately either have no healers, or healers that just aren't up to my standards. I'll play them, but it's not as fun.
I love all roles but something about filling those little green bars really ticks the right boxes in my head, although i vastly prefer attrition to reaction.
Wow, I could have sworn I'd replied to this thread not so long ago, but I see that the most recent post is April 30th, so, I guess I could not have. Well, I'll just post again.
Can't see the choices, something odd on my browser or the site or something? So I'll just say ranger type. DPS from a distance. If there is not a ranger class, some mage class with spells from a ways away. Zap the enemies before they can zap me.
This forum is broken. It is time to move to proboards, because they're broken.
I like supporty roles, but not the stand back and healing kind, more like how the old Lore-Master in LOTRO worked, or maybe an Enchanter in EQ. Or something more offensive but still supporty, how i play my Hunter Ranger in Neverwinter. CC etc, over just pure healing, i loved the old Lore-Master in LOTRO for the main reason they could do abit of everything.
Rocking last places on the dps charts is my favorite role. So much unfulfilled potential, no one knows what to expect of me next, a surprise waiting to happen.
Absolutely great role for PvP. Min-maxed heals gets targeted and burnt down first in every fight by competent opponents. You want to pull aggro in PvP? Be the healer. So a tank/heal can survive long enough to generally get off more healing than a min/max healer as well as being a tank that can actually pull aggro in PvP. Really it's one of three forms of PvP tanks I actually find effective.
1. Healer/Tank 2. CC/Tank - (A tank that wades into enemy ranks and throws out massive amounts of crowd control. Effective because CC is non-damage dependent.) 3. Brawler/Bruiser - (Half DPS, half tank. A good role for breaking enemy frontlines.)
I couldn't give a shit about the role if i don't enjoy the class. I love thief-type classes so my answer would have to be DPS. Healing is boring in 99% mmorpgs and tanking just drains money.
Comments
Its not really the DPS that I am after.
I am after the mentality of being able to focus more on the party that I have. For example, in the first Guild Wars I liked playing Minion Master Necros, and when I was asked "How is it that you survive and I don't?" I ended up saying honestly "Its because my minions are my party and all my skills in my bar are really about summoning minions and preserving/blowing them up....etc"
I find to be a good support or healer, one has to have the mind to find a use for everything one attains regardless how small it is, while of course being able to view the battlefield for everyone else. Support can either be "offensive support" or "defensive support" but both have common ground that usually support is all about giving each member the means to do their job a little better or give them the opening that they need to connect their attacks and win.
I do the best I can, and if I lose and a flamewar results in game. That is what insta-blacklist is for.
Nowadays I have trouble playing trinity based games in favor of the skill-based sandboxes/survival games. I'm burnt out on dungeons and raids.
Healer is 2nd as a role I picked when I realized they were so necessary yet eschewed by many, so I did it as a way to help out my guildmates mostly, take one for the team as it were.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
Some of my best memories of EQ2 were being in a boss fight playing off tank, gathering the adds, and using my heals to help keep the melee group alive.
If I was playing BDO, I would pick a Valkyrie, even though I prefer to play male characters. That playstyle is right within my favorite type.
The world is going to the dogs, which is just how I planned it!
But I have to add that I don't usually play trinity based games very long, because tanking is seriously boring in most implementations. I just do it to see the instances once, but I don't do gear treadmills beyond that.
A friend of mine that I play MMO's with usually ends up as healer (doesn't like melee or to set the pace) and if we are both in a team, we can usually do anything with a PUG(provided the village dps idiot didn't join us).
I am far more into the tactics of pen and paper roleplaying games like Shadowrun and R.I.F.T.S that doesn't actually have defined roles as such but takes a lot of co-operations and fast decisions to ace a fight.
MMOs that try without the trinity sadly often just cut down to simply keeping the DPS and skip the rest and that is worse then even the most rigid trinity game.
MMO combat should include timing, the tactics of co-ordinating your team in response to threats as well as different strategies for different situations.
MMOs do tend to build on D&D which in itself is one of the less tactical pen and paper games, even games like Runequest and Warhammer fantasy RPG from the early 80s takes far more co-operation and skill for the players.
I think future MMOs should rethink the entire combat mechanics, group dynamics need to be more floating so the players need to react more to mobs or PvP teams in different ways depending on the situation.
The biggest reason there are so many DPS players is aesthetics. If you look round at all the big movies, tv shows and books, the focus is almost always on the killing. People want to be Legolas and kill stuff with a bow. They want to be Aragorn and charge in with a massive 2h sword. They want to be in the thick of the action, and the design of DPS classes almost always encourages that mentality.
The second reason is then speed of leveling. In the majority of MMOs, playing as DPS is by far the quickest and easiest way to level. You have one task: deal damage. You deal the most damage, so everything is quicker. With the solo design of most content, you rarely need any advanced tactics. There is definitely a high dropout rate amongst the casuals when playing slower classes like tanks and healers.
After playing Aion I found a love for pure support roles as well like the Chanter, and for the Asian styled healer classes like Cleric. They rely less on silly procs, stacking buffs, and all the other random gimmicks WoW styled Western games rely on. Instead the skills are very basic in design and they tend to introduce other cool clenase, buff, cc, etc. skills on the healers that Western games don't, along with giving them this feeling of power and importance beyond what Western developers do. Koreans really love their healers lol. But the healers in those games rely on strategy in combat, learning to adapt on the fly, and being good in the execution instead of relying on strict healing rotations and specific stat and talent builds. It makes for much more fun and dynamic healing.
Then TERA came along and mixed the full support and full healer into one with both of their healers and I loved it even more. Healing is fun because you're needed and powerful, but more so because you're in control of a fight. You also have a unique perspective of a fight and tend to know better than anyone else who in your group is good and who is bad.
It's too bad so many games lately either have no healers, or healers that just aren't up to my standards. I'll play them, but it's not as fun.
"God, please help us sinful children of Ivalice.."
Can't see the choices, something odd on my browser or the site or something? So I'll just say ranger type. DPS from a distance. If there is not a ranger class, some mage class with spells from a ways away. Zap the enemies before they can zap me.
This isn't a signature, you just think it is.
1. Healer/Tank
2. CC/Tank - (A tank that wades into enemy ranks and throws out massive amounts of crowd control. Effective because CC is non-damage dependent.)
3. Brawler/Bruiser - (Half DPS, half tank. A good role for breaking enemy frontlines.)
After that is the most mobile healing class.
― George Carlin
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