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I was super excited to read about this game UNTIL........
dreamer05
Member UncommonPosts: 679
I was a huge fan of the original GW. I loved the variety in classes and the different pvp combat systems as well as the pve missions. When I started reading about GW 2 I became very interested and very excited since I haven't found a new MMO I have enjoyed in quite a while, but my issue is......... Why no healing class???
I am so thrown back as to why they would want to alienate a class that a lot of people love playing.
I was just completely dissapointed because healing classes are the only classes I really enjoy playing and have no interest in playing a game with no healing class.
How do all you other healers feel?
"God, please help us sinful children of Ivalice.."
Comments
Personally, I hate healling, so I'm afraid I cannot offer any sympathy.
The devs have addressed this, however, in trying to create support classes that will appeal to healers while requiring them to take a more active roll in combat encounters. No more sitting back and spamming a couple of buttons.
Yes as a former hardcore-healing raider it is my favorite class and it is sad in some ways that there is no dedicated healer in GW2. But for the 5% of us that actually enjoy doing nothing but healing (cause in reality very few people enjoy healing 24/7, hence the constant need for a healing class in every mmo guild/clan/w/e), there is a 95% pop that want's to do nothing more than dps like everyone else and not only be wanted because of their ability to heal. They are trying to stop the typical, "no we have no more room for any dps just room for one healer." With this new thing they are trying where every class contributes with some time of healing ability to keep the party alive I think is awesome. I can't wait to try it out because no more will you need to only just heal. You will have to work as a real team to stay alive.
Veritas Vos Liberabit- The truth will set you free.
I was also the designated healer for my raiding days in WoW and for my group of homies that played mmos with me. But I can honestly say that it got boring for me. Being a healer mean being more observant and sitting in the background watching bars. I for one have found more joy from being part of the action. I welcome GW2 and their no healer policy. I cannot wait to dive in.
"Small minds talk about people, average minds talk about events, great minds talk about ideas."
I think those people who like nothing else but healing probably won't enjoy the game. However, if you enjoy other supportive activities I'm sure there is a role for you. Think of it as having more group synergy instead of having one or two group members being drastically more important then the others.
This is why i loved my Pally in Vanilla WoW... you couldn't main heal... you couldn't main tank... but you were still useful as hell to have in a group. You backed up the tank, you stepped in to help when the main healer was falling behind... you boost everyone in the group, and you're there to save the day. A support class designed correctly can be amazingly satisfying.
Ah yes, I too played a pally in vanilla wow. 5 minute buffs, fun times. Offtopic though ;-p
I'm a hardcore healer, love it more than anything, but I think what a lot of healers aren't realising, is that casting heals was just a means to an end.
I love to save my party from dying. You don't need a heal button to mitigate damage, I was in the same camp as op until I played Age of Conan, where they removed effective healing and replaced it with teamwork, positioning and crowd control (so you could mitigate damage while your heals came off cooldown (I had a lot of stuns due to playing Tempest of Set)) (to any wow players, i used my Priest abilities like psychic scream and shackle undead all the time)
It was awesome, and it seems this is the direction ArenaNet are going in GW2, Honestly if anything it gives us more choice for which class (necro and elementalist are looking very nice for support and still more to be announced). I was mesmer/monk in gw1 and with lots of interrupts and a few heals I stopped my party's lifebars from going down. (on hit heal enchantments, interrupting damage, knocking down/slowing melee etc.)
We support specialists will have plenty of party saving support skills if we spec for it. You'll just have to use your head.
That's why I'm looking forward to playing support in GW2, it will be so much more satisfying to beat a difficult encounter.
<Welcome to my world>
I definitely know I'm in the lower percentage of people who prefer to just be pure healing, and the only other group role I really enjoy is crowd control so I haven't been able to read so far what classes may or may not have this ability but just reading the class list and not seeing any type of healing class at all I can't see myself playing it. Even having a healing class that simply buffed and had some minor healing would be better than no healer at all in my opinion.
"God, please help us sinful children of Ivalice.."
My main classes in EQ and WoW were both healers. I can honestly say that I'm not worried about being unable to roll a strictly healer class. I welcome the ability to do other things besides heal. And who's to say you can't just stand back and heal? There could still be a need for that in some circumstances, I imagine. My biggest concern is that most players who will be able to heal, won't simply because they don't want to, even if it means making everyone else on the team work harder.
Vault-Tec analysts have concluded that the odds of worldwide nuclear armaggeddon this decade are 17,143,762... to 1.
I like playing Healer, but not for the healing. Sitting back and hitting my hotkeys gets kind of boring. What I like about it is after a fight getting thanked because I healed someone right when they were about to die. So I also liked it when I was fighting right up close with someone and stunned the enemy about to take out the last chunk of my ally's health. I love that Guild Wars 2 is giving you the potential to play various classes and build them in a way that depending on the circumstances you can support you allies in a variety of ways. Buffing, Stunning, Healing, Interupts, I can see all of those easily making a character that is a fairly dedicated Supporter. But I cant bring myself to feel too upset about the loss of the ability to be a pure heal slave. Still I hope you find a class and build that works for you in the game.
I'm sure there will be one support class in GW2. It hasn't been announced but i'm almost positive because every game needs one and I can't see them adding additional buffs to every class so that every class buffs something.
Then again this could be it exactly what they are doing....We will have to wait and see. There are still a few classes that haven't been mentioned.
Anet knows that they have a lot to show for with the release of this game and I'm sure they are trying everything to make sure it lives up to how good GW was. They mention this a lot and is the main reason why they aren't beta testing till the game is near complete.
Veritas Vos Liberabit- The truth will set you free.
Because we are all tired of the same damn group setup.
If you want a healer play any of the lame tired format MMO's out. I am sick of devs rehashing the same formula.
If they make it possible to have a dedicated healer, then they will exist for no other reason than efficiency. Specialization in groups tends to make things work much better. The most successful group will have more specialized members within them.
You may not NEED a dedicated healer, but you will likely be better off using one.
Ask yourself why you really love healing (as I do), and then ask what mechanics are ArenaNet building into the game to give this same experience. The answer is that they analyzed what made healing satisfying and instead of limiting that experience to a class that becomes a bottleneck for the game, they implemented new ways for healing/support players to enjoy that same feeling of caring for/healing/supporting/buffing etc their team. This new role will add unique value to the team, while at the same time not limiting group options without it. It is a stroke of genius and frees players to enjoy the game without artificial limitations, such as "hey we can't do anything until we find a healer and a tank." Wait until you try it first. It will be wonderful to be healing and supporting my team the have a monster come to close and smack it in the face. I love the idea that I can heal and focus on that in terms of specialization, but I can still, and must, add value to the other elements of an encounter.
I find it sad too. Nothing more interesting than playing a support class/healer class in a mmo. Games without it, doesn't really interest me at all.
Healing doesn't really always mean that you need to sit back and just heal now or then, and do nothing in between. That's really a bad design for healers in the first place (and WoW does the healing job as boring as i can find it, since the way you need to save mana inbetweens heals). Interesting healing classes I found, is in CoX, Vangaurd, AoC, EQ2 and GW (not limited to).
But, its up to them to design the game. It really doesn't matter for me.
--
Leemeg.
Someone is missing the point.
"God, please help us sinful children of Ivalice.."
I love playing healers in most games. I just like being a support class a "helper" of sorts. I have to admit it is making me ponder what class i woudl most enjoy. I have played other classes and enjoyed them so i do not always have to be the healer, but it is by far my favored class.
I never found healing boring except for extremely long rotations in EQ1 raids, and those were specific raids, most of the time i found them fine. For me the most exciting part of being a healer was in small groups when everything was fast pace and you had to pay attention to everyone in your group. I hope certain support classes still have a least some of that.
So while the lack of a healing class is kind of making me ponder what i want to play; I am hopeful i will find the proper class for me. From the Comic Con discussion in NYC it sounded like there are 4 more classes they will reveal. Since I didn't play GW1 right now i am kind of just waiting to see what the choices are.
"Because we all know the miracle patch fairy shows up the night before release and sprinkles magic dust on the server to make it allllll better." parrotpholk
Because healing is but one aspect of SUPPORT which has replaced straight out healing from other MMOs when it comes to GW2, mainly because GW2 tries to do away with the holy trinity system (DPS-TANK-HEALING) in it's strict and traditional format and instead aims to incorporate something more general so that this and that profession won't be absolutely mandatory, especially because WAR showed this was a problem in PQs and dungeons when you're advertising those as "simple and easy to jump into... if healer and tank are around, otherwise you're screwed".
It's pretty evident that if you prefer playing the so called "healbot" GW2 won't be a game for you.
the classes in gw defined the way you play, not what you play. A warrior can be dps, tank, support. Elementalist is not just a dps class, try hitting an elementalist with some earth enchanment on him. its about how you build your deck with what you've got.
I expect something similar with gw2... minus monks.
I need more vespene gas.
The point is, every class is a support class in GW2, if you build your skills and gear that way, you get 5 skills of your choice and 5 based on weapon (the weapon / skill / elite combinations will no doubt be very deep with each class having around 100skills at launch if I remember correctly.
I still wager that most healers like being the linchpin supporter of the party more than standing at the back and playing whack-a-mole
<Welcome to my world>
the ranger class can do useful party buffs when they have a horn equipped, as well as crowd control and healing. they havent released 4 other classes though, but from what you described a support-focused ranger would probably be pretty satisfying for you and sounds like a huge team asset!
one of the classes yet to be released has a concept art image of a woman in plate with a mace. i would strongly suspect some sort of paladin/defender type class.
Well, in SWTOR there will be a healing class, so play that instead if it bothers you. I intend to play both games. I can emphasize in that I love DPS Magic Classes. When I first played Lord of the Rings Online, there really wasn't any (except the weak Lore Master which was more of a pet class). I forced myself to play a hunter dps instead and enjoyed myself, but it wasn't really the same. Then they finally broke down and created a Rune Keeper and I loved the class, just not enough to play through the same content all over again.
I never played a healer. Then just this week I created an Arch Mage in Warhammer. I love the range DPS attacks mixed in with the healing. I am constantly doing both (60% healing, 40% dps). I think that really adds to the dimensions in that classes need me for healing, but I can still DPS quite strongly when I want to, very often being the knock out punch on a kill. Very similar to a Rune Keeper and the Paladin. I dont think I could ever be a pure healer class, but I love dual classes.
However, I do agree it is over kill to have no need for a more focused healer in that everyone will be able to if they choose. Regardless, for me personally the duality of the classes in this game sit perfect with my own play style.
There Is Always Hope!
Dear Dreamer05:
I have played a healer class in all the MMO's out there and the type of healer class i prefer to play is the type that i can mix my healing skills with buff and Damage Dealing skills - so basically a hybrid of Heals and DD. From what I see in GW2, the water elementalist has the same basic, where you can heal yourself [and as a bonus allies] and do damage to the enemy. However, I am looking forward to playing the ranger in GW2 beacuse of the pigeon summon death thing.. ( I love it! )
Also note that I do sometimes do pure heal when i want to level up quicky by grouping with others however it does frustrate me when people start acting stupid and pull a shit load of mobs that I am unable to heal over... in GW2 I see that this could occur (?) but under more controled situations?
There's going to be healing classes; they've just worded it fancy so now it's classes that can heal.
A lot of games have done this so far, say that they don't have healing classes, but in reality the classes just have a little more dressing on it and a lot of HoT spells get spread amongst diffrent classes.
All in all it's the same system just done a little different. Be thankful for the attempt at variety.
"Everyone take a deep breath. It's going to be OK.
We have lots of people in our studio that enjoyed playing monks in Guild Wars and healers in other games. We examined what it was about the healer archetypes that people really enjoyed, and we took a look at what it was about those archetypes that made the game less enjoyable. Then we created professions to appeal to those types of players.
Support players want to be able to say, "Remember that one time when I saved you from certain death?" They want to stand in the line of fire and block attacks. They want to surround their allies with a swirling dome of air that keeps enemy projectiles from passing through it. It's not about clicking on a health bar and watching it go up, it's about being there for your friends when they need you."
Straight from Anet, there will be support professions, they haven't forgotten about people who like to play support classes. The only thing they are doing different is they don't want people waiting around looking for a healers, so they basically made it possible for ever profession in the game to fill a support role. Even the really Core classes that you think would fill dps roles will be able to be built for full time support. there are also rumors that one of the new profesions will be a support focused profession according to one dev. Anet also didn't want anyone standing in the back all the time casting heals they want support to be more proactive and less reactive, we will only find out if that is true when the game is released.