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The Healer class ... how to get more people to play them.
XApotheosisX
Member Posts: 277
one things for sure in most MMOs ... when you are grouping you will spend many hours saying "Looking for Healer!", well unless you are one of course.
Although I don't have hard numbers in front of me I am sure most would guess that healers in general are one of the least played classes in MMOs. And before you say "quit complaining and Roll one" .... these are my following characters
level 70 inquisitor in EQ2
level 50 Friar/Healer in DAOC
level 24 Druid in WoW
Master Combat Medic in SWG
level 43 Defender in CoH
So as you can see I rolled my fair share of healers, I've had to since everyone else rolls a DPS class.
So back to the title of my post "how would you get more people to play them". Too some they are fun and fine as is, but to the majority of MMOers they are dull and frustrating. The only game where i saw an over abundance of Healers is In CoH ... why is this?
Is it because they were also pretty darn good DPS as well, is that the answer? give them good DPS and good heals?
or do like WoW where (at least in the case of the druid and Paladin) they are hybrids so they can do other things besides "just heal".
or you could do like Warhammer online is doing where one class must "build up" thier healing power by doing damage.
so what do you think?
Comments
I used to enjoy playing a healer class. However what got to me was the complaining when people died. Nevermind that our group got mobbed by 5 extra NPCs or someone else pulled something while the group was in a fight already. Another case is when the group feels they are unbeatable and the tank pulls a mob that is 5 or 6 levels aboue everyone in the group.
I go on but you get the idea.
I am the same way, I can get 100 compliments but it seems like those one or two "omg we died" kinda makes me go "WTF, I've kept you going 4 hours today and you die once and now I am the bad guy?"
See we healers don't need that crap, we play the game as a healer to keep you alive; that gets kinda dull 3-5 hours into a run.
I myself usually just log off and go caster or rogue when that happens *almost every mmo I play have those two classes and you can be sure I'll have those classes high level*
In FFXI it kept me from levelling whm past 46.
I'd get compliments almost 99% of the time, then the puller would drag 3-4 baddly conned meanies to eat us, "OMZ We died" .
Enter the hybrid. Making a class with both healing and some offensive abilities does make the role of playing one more appealing. I played a druid in WoW and I really liked the class itself (I hated trying to get it geared but thats another story.) This class, as with many hybrids, was not without problems though but they were mainly due to other players lack of game knowledge. There are just so many dimwits out there who cannot think outside the tank + healer + dps group breakdown; they can't think outside the box to realize that two or more hybrids can accomplish the same duties as two or more 'pure' classes.
Since you can't really take the dimwits out of the game I think one solution is to continue to offer hybrid skill sets and to also minimize the amount of healing necessary in the game.
i pplay a healer class but i 2 box so i don't group much, just my healer and DPS.
I will agree with the second poster on this thread.
It is a pain in the ass when you get blamed for someone else's mistake.
I love hybrid healer classes. DAoC Warden is my all-time favorite class so far(EQ2's Warden/Fury is a close second).
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psyconius Cthulhu
Gothika Studios
Saga of Ryzom has a nice system where casting healing magic gives XP to the healing skill. Carried further, a character with the healing skill-set should get nice XP for good grouping or other means besides "hack and slash." Perhaps even passive means, as in other clerical tasks (if healing is divine based).
Perhaps a better way would be more healer "bling" as in clothes and item styles so they have more customizations.
Since it is easier to destroy than create, or kill than heal, a game could have some diplomatic or other skill set that benefits more from a healing-type character. Thus a low level healer is more regarded than a higher level "tank" so that the healer is a necessity for certain tasks (as a group without the healer has no "clout" to get the task or quest).
It comes down to game design and player attitudes. There should be some aspects that favor the "under dog" class. Then don't group with that player that controls a DPS toon irresponsibly . . . . they'll get the message.
As for dual boxing a healer and DPS toon to PL that DPS toon, that's another challenge for game designers and a bane for quality social roleplaying in a MMORPG.
Whether or not you acutally like Guild Wars as a game those are the only two healing classes that are significantly different in operation than other games past and present.
Guild Wars monks are 10 times more interesting than healing in WoW or EQ and have many more options. Of course Guild Wars classes opreate off of a an "energy" rather than "mana" model, so they can be far more busy and faster paced.
Note: healers are still relatively rare in GW they are just more fun to play. Most people want the thrill of agression not the steadiness of defense. I will say that i think the healer types are a bit more common. But the attraction of agression will never flag.
I actually like the steadiness of defense. I am perfectly content sitting back and healing my friends and/or group
- defensive tank skills ( and taunts)
- dps moves
- crowd control ( buffs, debuffs, mezzes, etc)
And then have some way everyone can heal both themselves and/or others. Disperse the 'healing' task around.
Why?
Because for all of the above types of skills, they all involve interaction with the enemy. There are numerous different kinds of enemies in MMOs (pve and pvp) and they all work differently. A class totally focused on the current group allies misses that interaction. That's why healers are generally boring. Everyone else interacts with the enemies, figures out what works and doesn't work when fighting them.
Now I'm sure someone may come after me and say "blah blah, you are oversimplifying it." .... and maybe I am a little. Perhaps a healer class in some game has to heal effect X because a mob does a lot of X type damage, and another mob might do type Y etc. But MOST of the time the healer is just keeping that tank from hitting zero hp and the whole group wiping...
A similar question, why so many rogues and rangers in most games, instead of let's say mages? in almost all games, the mage is dps king, wearing cloth, easy to kill, but cranking out the most dps. Why more rogue types? Because battle is positional and that's just one more element involved in playing that gives the player more to do, more to think about, making it more engaging....
The majority of gamers want more involvement and challenge and encounter-interaction. The healing task gives the least enemy interaction imo.
I've always liked the D&D Cleric. Heavy Armor, Undead killing (undead leading), battle ready, holy (unholy) warrior. The added differences of the various powers granted by deities gave them some individuality and character as well.
One could argue whether their primary role is healing or a combination of battle and healing however. The infamous battle-cleric debates.
I believe that in DDO, for example, they are one of the more populous classes.
The real trick is to create a game where a dedicated healer isn't a necessity. The choice of becoming a 'healer' then becomes a character concept driven desire.
There are many people who like to heal. The problem is when they get crapped on because someone messed up. The solution is not to take healers out, but give them XP for healing and give them non-aggression quests, or aggression quests they can handle (in WoW my priest has gotten raped so many times by quests that a warrior could handle at my lvl, but I could not).
I find it amazing that by 2020 first world countries will be competing to get immigrants.
Classic D&D cleric was teh awesome. I wouldn't mind playing that kinda cleric in an mmo. Paladins are similiar, but they kinda lack the same feel as the cleric. I have actually seen a few original ideas to the healer debate lately. 1 game has no healer; instead they have medic abilities anyone can use. Patch up your own wounds go to the hospital when its serious. Then there is GE's stances; you can switch your primary healer to a decoy.
its slightly reasonable, as there will be conflicts inside the group. personally I just leave the group right off the bat whether I'm a healer or not. also if the rest of the group has been sitting around for the 2 hours, its a very simple choice from the other peoples perspective.
as a matter of fact I have seen this a few times in WoW. the healers themselfs ended up being below average but passable.
I find it amazing that by 2020 first world countries will be competing to get immigrants.
I do really appreciate the healer class and it's really amusing to play it in CoH, but ethier way i dont play it much even thoguh it's one of my favorite classes. I'll tell you why, because it just get's boring after a while when you just stand there healing your teammates and not be appreciated for saving thier asses. Then sometimes you just wana be the one out there fighitng and saving the day. But ethier way i'd probably play a greenskin:warlock for the healing type in WAR because i'll have to fight inorder to heal.
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He's not dead... he's electroencephalographically challenged.
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Currently waiting For:
1st.WAR
2nd.AoC
3rd.GnH's
4th. Sword of the New world: Granado Espada
I hear a lot of gripes but very few solutions ... and removing them out is not one of them :P
personally I like what COH/CoV did
they seemed to make healing easier and painless especially with the PBAOE heal, people use to just macro it so it fired off no matter what. Also giving two of the 4 archtypes a healing spec is a good thing, as well as a healing alternate powerset that ANYONE could take.
My problem with my Inquisitor in EQ2 is that all i can do is heal, now i know what your thinking "of course if you dont want to heal then don't be a healer". and thats not what i mean, my DPS is pitiful a level 20 could probably outdamage me I have to run from most fights if i get an add because it takes so long for me to kill anything.
Like one guy said it sucks being in a raid fighting a cool mob but you don't get to see the fight because 1) all your graphics are turned down so you don't lag and 2) all you are watching is HP bars.
i think the best option in my opinion is to make them more hybrids .... can heal but also can do other things solo or for the group.
I remember reading Vanguards Healers and thought they were on the right track (i haven't played the game so i don't know how they turned out)
Bloodmage - healer/Caster that could do great magic damage but could heal with lifetaps and what not
Disciple - a fighter that could heal his groupmates while he pummels the enemy
Cleric - heavy armored fighter that could heal as well
as well as the shaman but I don't know much about them LOL
do that plus give them more PBAOE heals making it easier overall and i think people would flock to those classes.
Ive noticed that alot is required from a healer class and if you play one your expected to do it with out any mistakes. I love any healer I have beacuse I always play a main tank but the fact of the matter is that people need to be more polite to healers.
WoW: Xanzibar - Human / Warrior - Ner'Zule
The problem I have with healing classes is with the people playing them. I love healing classes, while most people like to see big damage numbers over the heads of enemies. I love it, especially in PvP, when a groupmate is dying and just about dead and the enemy is all happy thinking he has a kill, when blam out of no where comes me and a big heal and boom my friend is full health and the enemy is dead. I love that feeling, I love the aspect of supporting other players in what they do, and controlling situations, watching for adds and preparing ahead of time.
What I dont like is when a healing class is so overpowered every one rolls one, not because they enjoy playing a healer but because it is so powerful and fotm. At the same time when the healing classes are so lacking for example in WoW, then you get all the numbnut idiotic rogues who reroll healers to get the "phat lewtz". Thus giving healers a bad name, because for the most part they suck, and they insist on dragging their rogue or other DPS class into the guild and basically hold the guild hostage to take their "alt" on raids to get "phat lewtz" also.
This is just one of those problems that can only really be solved by just not having any healers I guess.
Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me.
If the group gets 300 xp per player for killing the beast, the healer would get a max of 300 xp for keeping them healthy (has to heal at least once). If he fights, he only gets 100 XP. If someone dies, he loses XP, unless he rezzes them.
I hate being a healer. I love a good healer but most of the time the classes i like playing are buffer or CC. my reason for not liking being a healer is I space out from time to time and people die so I've never done well as a healer. Anyhow the thing that healers and buffers seem to have in common is that they are almost useless on their own. most Dps can solo somewhat by them self but from the games I've played this is not so true of healer / and buffer
So, i was thinking maybe a game could make it so a true healer could toggle or through gear or some how give up his healing ability in town and be more dps when they want to solo or can't find a good group then when their friend are around toggle back to a true healer or unequip the gear or what ever.would even take an exp penalty to be able to solo. maybe healers could have pets that take exp and or cost them money that they can only get when soloing like the Mage familiars but they just assist you to up your damage.
My biggest problem with play the buffers i have or healer i did. Is this i shout for hour "looking for group/ team what have you " and finally get one only to find out that 3/4th of them are LAME and i die 4 or 5 times so back i go to town to LFG again why because i haven't been able to solo since i was a lowbie. well 3 or 4 weeks of that all of a sudden I'm a Dps even though i would rather be a buffer. Everyone i know plays an Rpg for fun and siting for hour looking for a group is never fun.
these are just a few of my thoughts
so have at me but remember win or lose at a form argument, just being involved means you're a geek.
So what's the difference between the following two "solutions":
A. Do away with the healer class and give healing abilities to the tanks, dps, and cc people.
B. Give the healer tank, dps, and cc abilities making them more of a hybrid.
lol.... no difference. Ultimately, you end up with players healing where 'healing' is not the only thing they do, i.e. they get to experience the interaction with the different enemies in the game, do some CCing, or whacking monsters with a stick.
The other proposed solution in this thread is giving xp for healing.... not a bad idea. But sort of kills any solo-ability though doesn't it? (being able to solo 'some' being another reason healer-class populations are always the lowest). And dispersing xp for a group kill based on people doing different acts, all of which are ultimately required? Do mezzers get extra xp based on mezzing that extra add? It get's complicated and messy. (aside, probably best would be to just give xp for quests/tasks, and nothing for just killing things, healing people, or CCing mobs....) /ramble off...
- Nobody ever listens to your calls
- Sometimes nobody takes agro for you, and some even give it to you....you know who you are!
- Blamed many times for a teams lose when they get into an impossible situation
- Sometimes you can not even trust the other healers to do thier jobs, and im tired of being blamed for people who don't heal.
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