Will Healers Still be Forced to DPS in 4.0 Due to Lax Content?

[TaleraRistain]

There are plenty of older MMOs like that. EverQuest was famous for the tank being just a tank and a healer being just a healer and the CC classes being all about CC. It's funny but DPS wasn't even part of the Holy Trinity. It was tank, healer, and crowd control. I like some things that have changed since EQ time but I'm not convinced this trend of just zerg rushing everything is the way to go.

[Acidblood]

... Of course that quickly got derailed into an rather pointless argument over if healers should dps or not which wasn't what the thread was about. Seriously this discussion is getting old. Its not like either side is changing the others mind and its not like either side can force the other side to change their play style. People who don't want to dps will still not dps no matter how much people hate at them. People who kick healers not dpsing will still do it regardless. Both sides will fume and be salty about the other and in the end all this arguing will achieve nothing.

With all that said, I think the OP's point is something worth discussing. What should be the direction of healing gameplay in this game. Should SE be designing healers to be more like support dps rather than trying to fit them into a design the gameplay doesn't support? Or should they move back towards a healing model more similar to other games?

From the standpoint of being able to solo, healers need to be able to do a decent amount of DPS (lest they become a serious chore to level), but personally I feel their primary role should always remain healing with a certain amount of support (including shields, mitigation, HP boosts, etc. as purely reactive healing gets rather boring). Whether they should have any ability to boost party damage is up for debate...

That said, I've been thinking it could be a good idea to give healers some well-designed mechanics that actually encourages them to Always Be Casting.
For example, each healer could have some sort of resource that builds based on healing done (over heals don't count), damage done, and / or support given. This resource could then be spent to increase their own, and / or the party’s effectiveness, thus making an active play-style unquestionably 'the way' healers should be played... or are people still going to ignore this?

As for the content thing, I would love to see more challenging 4-man content, especially a true 'Expert' mode for dungeons... but that's another discussion. Failing that, would it work to revert Cleric Stance to an actual stance, having it as a flat boost to damage (and / or support) (e.g. +20%) at the cost of healing potency (e.g. -30%)? The idea being that in less demanding content you could actually heal it in Cleric Stance, adding a small challenge back to healing with the bonus of a boost to damage and / or support.

Edit: PS. This is how I think WHM should have been designed for 4.0

[Mahkii]

I am fairly confident that quests from level 60 to 70 in 4.0 will require you as a healer to DPS if you do not already have someone else doing it for you.

[Cynfael]

The grass is always greener elsewhere.

Some games where healers are powerful in every way but direct damage have players complaining of being healbots and/or buffbots since attempts to keep buffing classes active usually involve having them hit the same buttons every 30 seconds, 2 minutes, or what-have-you.

In games where crowd control is powerful, you might end up with some CC classes that are incredibly desirable but a horrible pain in the ass to level without help since their game-breaking CC is balanced by their tedious or non-existent damage capability.

Then we have FFXIV, where some players complain that they don't have enough healing actions to do, but don't care to hit stuff.

Don't get me wrong; I think there is room to improve the healing and overall support dynamic, but we're not starting from a horrible place. Could be a lot worse.

[Acidblood]

Hmm I am not wondering if the title is a bit misleading. No one knows if it will be "Lax" or not yet. Not even those who had media tour exposure. From the perspective of someone who heals sometimes I never feel like I need to DPS to keep myself busy (unless its SCH pre-50, lucky d00ds.) It's all about comfort, and shouldn't be about expectation in my eyes.

The problem is that, even if it doesn't start out being easy (can we please get some dungeons that aren't already 30 ilvls behind on day-1?), just by the nature of vertical gear progression, and the total lack of supplementary mechanics such as crowd control, that is where the difficultly level is always going to end up.... and as such, simply by the nature of healing (and to a lesser extent tanking), as the difficulty lowers, players in those roles are going to be forced to chase an alternative playstyle as a means to being challenged (i.e. maximising DPS).

[Ilenya]

Square should try to make a unique trial based on heavy healing requirement.
An Extreme for example.

I say try. Make a test with it to see how the players can handle this.
It could be nerf afterward if it's too hard.
But they should definitly try something entirely design for healers.

Just to see how it would feel and what the community could say about it.

For what it's worth, there have been some pretty healer focused fights. Unnerfed Pharos Sirius being the first that comes to mind. Not in regards to the output of damage, but because of all the stuff they had to focus on.

Odin Trial is pretty damage heavy if people aren't on the ball, too, at least when I ran it last.

[gumas]

The only way i can see for healer becomea pure healing class without everyone nitpicking about them not dpsing at all is by increasing their skill mana cost.

All healing skill mana cost is triple and offensive skill is double, there now you just cant spam holy or heal anymore because you really need to watch your mana management

Whether or not healer want to dps or not, from the very first thread about this debate start, my 2cents will stay same, are they doing their core job as in make everyone stay alive properly? If yes then shrug it off, people has their own way to play games. Its like playing fps game, you cant ask casual to play like they are in competitive match not because you cant, they wont care. There are thousand players out there find your own community circle, those people belong in their own circle let them be.

[Cynfael]

The only way i can see for healer becomea pure healing class without everyone nitpicking about them not dpsing at all is by increasing their skill mana cost.

All healing skill mana cost is triple and offensive skill is double, there now you just cant spam holy or heal anymore because you really need to watch your mana management

Technically I suppose you're right, but that's a horrible, fun-sucking option.

[Aramina]

The only way i can see for healer becomea pure healing class without everyone nitpicking about them not dpsing at all is by increasing their skill mana cost.

All healing skill mana cost is triple and offensive skill is double, there now you just cant spam holy or heal anymore because you really need to watch your mana management

Whether or not healer want to dps or not, from the very first thread about this debate start, my 2cents will stay same, are they doing their core job as in make everyone stay alive properly? If yes then shrug it off, people has their own way to play games. Its like playing fps game, you cant ask casual to play like they are in competitive match not because you cant, they wont care. There are thousand players out there find your own community circle, those people belong in their own circle let them be.

That would also be a good way to cut the healer population. That scenario sounds dreadful.

[Clethoria]

There are plenty of older MMOs like that. EverQuest was famous for the tank being just a tank and a healer being just a healer and the CC classes being all about CC. It's funny but DPS wasn't even part of the Holy Trinity. It was tank, healer, and crowd control. I like some things that have changed since EQ time but I'm not convinced this trend of just zerg rushing everything is the way to go.

This was how I saw mmos as a whole when I first got into them. I always wanted to play healer but leveling was a total pain because you got almost no damage skills, and all you had was garbage. RIP if you aggro-ed more than 1 mob. XIV gives you more to work with, but at the same time- I'll always be biased towards if someone is taking damage, heal them. If no one is taking damage, buff them. This is where DoTs would come in handy the most since your ailment would stack on with the rest and you can keep that glittery green flowing.