Aha! My suspicions were correct: Guild Wars 2 will have no dedicated healing class. This is kinda significant to me, as my most successful character in Guild Wars is a monk: a healer. This change was somewhat telegraphed when they revealed the details of the Elementalist class last month, by having a skill slot that was only to be used for a healing skill or spell.
Simple systems like this, along with cross-profession combos, and the dedicated healing skill slot, help free players from the MMORPG shackles, and let us break the mold even more. We’re making players more self sufficient, but are also providing appealing ways for them to effortlessly work together to create a more inspired moment-to-moment experience. That is why Guild Wars 2 does not have a dedicated healing class.
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 2 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.
We’ll see. I admit that there are less-than-exciting aspects to running a healer, but one of the upsides is that you’re always in demand for missions and quests. For former schoolyard geeky team-rejects like me, this is a not inconsiderable benefit.
I do acknowledge the truth in the comic that accompanied the article:
Click on thumbnail to enlargeUpdate: Interview with GW2 Lead Designer Eric Flannum (whose name is spelled in a couple of different ways in the article . . . perhaps a translation/transliteration issue, as Dieses Interview gibt es natürlich auch auf Deutsch).
Update the second: PC Gamer summarizes the healing and dying changes:
The tank stands in the front. The healer stands at the back. The damage dealers stand in the middle. So it has been for generations. Guild Wars 2 is making the latest and greatest effort to change that, PC Gamer can reveal, following an exclusive interview with game designer Jon Peters and lead designer Eric Flannum of ArenaNet. The biggest changes? Tanks are gone, healers are gone, the Death Penalty is gone, and you can still kick some arse while you’re lying on yours.
A link to the same article from Penny Arcade and Quotulaciousness? Not an everyday phenomenon…
Comment by Liam — July 9, 2010 @ 22:40