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Guild Wars 2: Heals for Everyone!
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
In the third installment of his Guild Wars 2 column, MMORPG.com writer Bill Murphy takes a look at health and healing in Guild Wars 2. Without the need for a dedicated healer, without having to stand around advertising for a healer to run an instance, the game is, according to developers, more fun and the healing wealth is spread among all character archetypes. Read all of Bill's thoughts about health and healing.
Their solution to this age old problem is so simple yet terrifying to the stalwart players among us (myself included): let’s just ditch the notion that every MMORPG needs a dedicated healer. What could go wrong, right? And really, the more I think about it, the more I start to realize that ArenaNet might be right. Maybe you don’t really need a healer in your game to hold everything together. Maybe each class can contribute to the support of the party, with some classes being capable of a bit more certainly, but mostly the idea is to spread the wealth in terms of supporting the group and keeping each other alive.
Read Heals for Everyone.
Comments
Diddy did it. And by Diddy I mean Swtor.
I think its a cool idea how ever people are going to want, I guess I should say "More Deticated healers" to group up with.
I don't care about innovation I care about fun.
I just know some people will complain :P
the reason why I enjoy Anets take on the (sometimes sore) subject of healing is that now it can promote teamwork and creativity with how people build their characters. Elementalist can focus on Dmg or turn to support.
The class combos are going to be key, and the ability to not always be required to have a certain class with make it so no class is under represented and all classes will be able to fit into groups
I hope it works out for them because the genre really needs something new and different from the norm, BUT as someone who enjoys playing healer classes, this above all else will keep me from buying GW2.
so...
Oh man my build is gunna rock in the new one!
I just hope that this is not going to bring wammo wars. I hate wammos!!
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Fallen Earth has already done this. heals for everyone. It is not as good as it sounds.
90% of haters are begging for love. 10% just want a little attention -- Paulo Coelho
^^ this. I also love playing the healer role in just about every game I come across . I also enjoy playing the tank so I can go either way on that subject. Apocalance nailed it imo. I never really enjoyed being the damage dealer, dps, what have you becuase I enjoy the feeling of accomplishment I get from being a good tank/healer and the idea that something I may have did kept a group alive. A game that is gonna give everyone a chance to maybe do something in a given encounter and possibly keep a group alive and pull through a rough patch gets a thumbs up imo. I plan on playen the game and I plan on testing a few things out with the skill lists and see how it goes but be assured that I will happily be the guy that gives up a few damaging skills/talents to maybe throw in something extra to offer to the healing side of the group. If the game is designed so there isnt a "Healer Class" so be it becuase as much as I enjoy it, I do like the idea of not being forced to stand around in the back of the group watching health bars more than the encounter.
RIP Jimmy "The Rev" Sullivan and Paul Gray.
We've seen Fallen Earth's take on it, now let's see GW2's take on it.
This is not a game.
The companions have always been a big question mark over the grouping element of this game. Now you don't need a heal class, this is a solo rpg with a couple of chat channels so players have the illusion they are playing together.
Love the idea, about time IMO. I think TOR will do something similar too.
In other MMO's I usually took a healer class or a tank class because they were always in short supply. Personally, I would prefer to take a dps class like the elementalist but it was always a royal pain to find a group that had everything. Wasting hours typing LFG is not my idea of "good times". Anet has proven they want to resolve this problem and I really really hope that they've balanced it out well. I want to unleash fire from the heavens, not stand around waiting for that critical player component to come along.
All of my posts are either intelligent, thought provoking, funny, satirical, sarcastic or intentionally disrespectful. Take your pick.
I get banned in the forums for games I love, so lets see if I do better in the forums for games I hate.
I enjoy the serenity of not caring what your opinion is.
I don't hate much, but I hate Apple© with a passion. If Steve Jobs was alive, I would punch him in the face.
Think of it this way: It's a win-win situation:
If it works, it's an evolution from 2 sprites standing in front of each other until one or the other's energy bar is depleted first to adding the "holy trinity" with all the consequences of tanks queuing mobs, healers topping up energy bars and dps depleting energy bars, being stationary, to a more dynamic and visual and participatory combat (is the guess here).
Alternatively, if it does not work, we'll be more grateful to the "holy trinity" than ever!
But it's time to move on...
As for grouping, numbers (not being 1v1+x generally) and concerted offense/defense is always stronger in groups; with the bonus of cross-profession skill combos and reviving downed-members.
With more individual choice eg both ranged and melee options, self-healing and all the other gambits of out-smarting the enemy ("control" aspects) not just in one or two classes, players might find they actually have a more flexible and varied group combat experience anyway or make a build that leans towards rock-paper-scissors if they prefer (traits, weapons)?
This is talking up the pros of not having a healer.
Talking up the cons of having a healer: 1. Waiting to find a healer 2. Having a good healer 3. Specialist roles are not combat context sensitive (tank stuck up a castle wall in pvp) eg the article above. 4. Watching Energy bars more than screen combat animations.
Hope they pull it off.
http://www.gdcvault.com/play/1014633/Classic-Game-Postmortem
I get the impression you haven't been brought up to speed with what GW2 has got and what it hasn't. First off; no more companions,second off... here is a link; http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/287180/Everything-We-Know-about-GW2.html
This is not a game.
Keep in mind, ANet's blog mentioned no dedicated healing class, but they also stated their strong focus on Support, it being more proactive than healing which was reactive.
In a sense, this was already possible in GW: you had earth elementalists and protection monks, that didn't focus on healing but on damage prevention, making the damage hits a group got far smaller, sometimes even negligible for short periods.
So, while there'll be no dedicated healer role, it's very well possible that you're going to find dedicated support roles in GW2 teams.
The ACTUAL size of MMORPG worlds: a comparison list between MMO's
The ease with which predictions are made on these forums:
Fratman: "I'm saying Spring 2012 at the earliest [for TOR release]. Anyone still clinging to 2011 is deluding themself at this point."
Sig-nah-turr
"We got rid of the trinity." How'd you do that? "Now everyone can heal." Sounds like you just took the mechanic and spread it thin. "Well no, there's one class that can do it better than others." I see, so they're healers. "No. They're.." -mind asplode-
Except that it doesn't even sound good.
While it might be okay for pve (which can be designed around whatever), this is a pvp game, and it's going to absolutely wreck that aspect. When people get focus fired, you NEED someone standing back ready to click that prot/heal to keep them from dying. So, when the spike is called...sorry, your can't-wait heal/prot is busy for a second and you died. Bummer about your bad luck.
Unless, of course, it's just going to turn someone into an infuse with a bar full of don't-use.
No, this whole thing sounds like a lead balloon of crap, and it's not flying.
I wonder would just be easier to have healing potions be the method of healing? Let players craft the desired potions they need. The skill for those enjoying supportive role would be things like wards, buffs, debuffs, auras, etc.
Actually you are telling us you love looking at red bars and that your mission is to keep them at 100%. GW2 will feature healing as well, but not in the way it used to be. In GW2 healers won't be "keeping bars at 100%", but will actually support their group by protecting them from harm, unlike in other MMO's where they don't protect their party but watch them die until they bring their red bar back to 100%.
Why not make a new ip? I don't think anyone wanted this type of game as a gw1 player.
Seems like most of the people routing for gw2 disliked gw1
Playing: Rift, LotRO
Waiting on: GW2, BP
Ouch, i really think healign classes should be. They are not in this game (don't say yeah but. they are not).
But i happy to hear they were smart about how they basiclly divided the healing classes between a few other classes. (Make not every class a healer, but a few classes have secondary roles that must be used together as the healer).
"Society in every state is a blessing, but government even in its best state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one ..." - Thomas Paine
The more i read, the more news we get from GW2 the more awesome it becomes. This game would be so awesome and a breath of fresh air from all the cookie cutter WOW clones.
No, he's telling us he won't be buying the game because they don't have the class he likes.
Imo, they do have the healer class.
@Murashu, you only have to buy the box.
"We got rid of the trinity." How'd you do that? "Now everyone can heal." Sounds like you just took the mechanic and spread it thin. "Well no, there's one class that can do it better than others." I see, so they're healers. "No. They're.." -mind asplode-
Nope.
I like GW, and am absolutely fascinated by GW2. And I know of other GW gamers that are eagerly looking forward to GW2.
Sorry, seems you're a minority. But that's alright, after all, GW will still be kept running.
The ACTUAL size of MMORPG worlds: a comparison list between MMO's
The ease with which predictions are made on these forums:
Fratman: "I'm saying Spring 2012 at the earliest [for TOR release]. Anyone still clinging to 2011 is deluding themself at this point."