Posted by: Snafzg
On: Mar 13, 2009 at 09:16am
WAR; the game that was going to cure the back line, boring healer problem. Well, as all healers know, that didn't really materialize. Instead of going in to detail about how it didn't, let me just say that there is a solution: make healing as sexy as damage. There are two options to implementing this.
Before I go in to the two ways, one point must be made: healers' damage must be based on Willpower from now on. Other classes get to make an offensive and defensive set of gear for PvE and PvP, but the healer must stack 3 sets if he wants to do damage and must mix and match if he wants to heal and do damage. Not every healer wants to do damage, but in order to bring some flavor back, the option must be available. It would also save dev teams time since higher level healer armor will, by default, be better for healing and damage as they already have more Willpower. Healer DPS should not be minuscule. The key to balancing healers doing dps is to make burst dps windows very small but sustainable dps high.
For making healing more appealing, I think the first option is the more interesting of the two. It will be more difficult to implement, but I think in the end would make healers more interesting and change the way developers look at healer archetypes in future games. As we look at the release and hype of the Choppa and Slayer, they get an incredible amount of people excited, but why? Is doing damage in MMO's really that much more appealing?
I say no. It's not that pressing a healing button is less fun that pressing a damage button; it's that the methods of doing damage are more interesting. The implementation is more interesting. Let's go back to Slayers, for instance. Slayers, like many classes in this game, get an ability that reduces incoming healing by 25%. The healing debuff is exactly the opposite of the Zealot's Blessing of Chaos, which increases all incoming heals by 25%. That one tactic is, arguably, the best part of the Zealot and Rune Priest. So, why not make other healing abilities that are the inverse of an interesting damage ability? Sorcerers get an ability in the Agony tree called Shades of Death. Any time the target of that spell gets hit by anyone they take damage. So, the inverse [which would fit perfectly in to the Zealot/Rune Priest single target tree (hint, hint)] would be that any time someone heals your healing target that your target gets extra heals from that ability. All of the sudden, healing just got a lot more interesting. Another ability that would be amazing would be a defensive pull. Why not give Shamans and Archmages an ability in the healing mastery that lets them pull an ally to the back line? As a healing purist, this method is my favorite. On my healers, I have no desire to do damage. I just want to save lives in an interesting way.
The second possibility would be much easier since the mechanics and many abilities are already in place. It would also require tweaking to the delve numbers and that healers' damage be based on Willpower instead of Intellect. Before the nerf cries, I just mentioned the delve numbers would need to be tweaked meaning testing would need to be done. The key to balancing healers doing dps is to make burst dps windows very small but sustainable dps high. The easiest way would be to look at the abilities you already have with their current numbers and figure out how much damage you want healers to do. Then, work backwards to determine what amount of Willpower and mastery points will get you to that number. The abilities are already in place and the 5 point mastery tree ability in the Archmage's Isha tree is the perfect example. At level 40 with 15 points in Isha, that ability delves for 199 damage to your target and 199 healing. The way to make this useful is to not give these spells a 1:1 ratio. Isha is the healing tree so make the healing portion substantial and increase the damage so its worth the global cooldown (GCD) and AP. It has to be a better heal than the other options available. The heal portion doesn't have to suffer just because it does damage, too. The game is not based around 1v1. Moreover, heals in the mastery tree should be a better alternative to core heals. Other abilities need to be looked at independently depending on their effect and mastery tree, but there needs to be a change in mindset that because a class can heal, it should not do any damage or if a heal has a damage component, that is should not be as good as another heal. Right now, there are way too many abilities that are never used once a player reaches 40 and healers are the only archetype to suffer from this.
With Mythic's original intention for healers in mind, I think we have two different means to the same end. One, is that to get ideas for interesting heals, do not look at the three types of standard heals (Direct, HoT, AoE), look at offensive abilities and find the inverse of those abilities. Not only will this make healing more interesting, it will also make each healer more unique. Two, there needs to be a change in mindset that healers shouldn't do damage and that healing spells that can damage are overpowered. Quite simply, no ability in this game is overpowered if it's added to both sides [see:instant rezes]. So, all it will take is going through existing spells and mastery abilities and make it worth using. To make it enticing, make healers like every other class and give them one main stat: Willpower. Mythic was able to make Ballistic Skill apply to Strength for Shadow Warriors and Squig Herders, so mirroring this for healers shouldn't be hard. I challenge anyone to find a Rune Priest that uses Rune of Fortune, a 2s cast that does 348 Elemental damage and heals the target for the same amount when Grungi's Gift heals for 202, is insta cast, and can be given an extra 15% crit with one tactic. However, if this ability was made a 1s cast and given bonuses to its damage and heal component from Willpower, then you suddenly have a very compelling damage and heal ability. If you want to use the current delve for abilities, there should not be a full Willpower to Int conversion, it should be scaled down (~ 4 Willpower = 1 Int). Obviously, if this were done the 25% more damage for 20% less healing tactic would need to be removed or changed, in my opinion, to something that would help survivability. Archmages and Shaman already have a built-in mechanic that will encourage damage and with some tweaking (two damage spells gets you the full healing bonus), you will see people actually using the mechanic the way it was intended.
Addendum: I would like to plug something I read on Mythic's forums written by Dr_Faust about changes to the activatable buffs Zealots/Rune Priests give. Since the stat increases from the buffs do not stack with pots or any other buffs and pots' buffs are going to persist through death, I see these buffs becoming even less useful after 1.2. It would be very cool to make the activatable buffs do something more interesting like a temporary speed buff, a short duration aoe detaunt, or maybe a small punt.
I wrote this piece for the WAR community and the devs, so please pass this around. If you have some ideas or want to add something, please contact me at our guild website, www.feariseverywhere.com. Remember that Mythic is making this our game so embrace it and take the time to come up with your own creative ideas to improve things. Thanks for reading and I'll see you in the trenches!
Thanks to Mythic for a fun game where devs listen and players become junior developers; thanks to Widespread Panic guild for making this amazingly fun and for your input on this project; thanks to the WAR community, especially bloggers like Syp and Snaf, for your ideas and enthusiasm. I hope there is much more to come.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Aikau has played healers in MMOs since EQ1 beginning with a Druid and Cleric in EQ1, a Friar and Minstrel in DAoC, a Priest and Druid in WoW, a Conqueror in AoC and currently a Zealot in Warhammer Online. He also has a strong preference towards competitive PvP. Aikau was the captain of a top 20 5v5 arena team in WoW for two seasons and, currently, is the GM of the second highest ranked guild on the Iron Rock Server, Widespread Panic.
Before I go in to the two ways, one point must be made: healers' damage must be based on Willpower from now on. Other classes get to make an offensive and defensive set of gear for PvE and PvP, but the healer must stack 3 sets if he wants to do damage and must mix and match if he wants to heal and do damage. Not every healer wants to do damage, but in order to bring some flavor back, the option must be available. It would also save dev teams time since higher level healer armor will, by default, be better for healing and damage as they already have more Willpower. Healer DPS should not be minuscule. The key to balancing healers doing dps is to make burst dps windows very small but sustainable dps high.
For making healing more appealing, I think the first option is the more interesting of the two. It will be more difficult to implement, but I think in the end would make healers more interesting and change the way developers look at healer archetypes in future games. As we look at the release and hype of the Choppa and Slayer, they get an incredible amount of people excited, but why? Is doing damage in MMO's really that much more appealing?
I say no. It's not that pressing a healing button is less fun that pressing a damage button; it's that the methods of doing damage are more interesting. The implementation is more interesting. Let's go back to Slayers, for instance. Slayers, like many classes in this game, get an ability that reduces incoming healing by 25%. The healing debuff is exactly the opposite of the Zealot's Blessing of Chaos, which increases all incoming heals by 25%. That one tactic is, arguably, the best part of the Zealot and Rune Priest. So, why not make other healing abilities that are the inverse of an interesting damage ability? Sorcerers get an ability in the Agony tree called Shades of Death. Any time the target of that spell gets hit by anyone they take damage. So, the inverse [which would fit perfectly in to the Zealot/Rune Priest single target tree (hint, hint)] would be that any time someone heals your healing target that your target gets extra heals from that ability. All of the sudden, healing just got a lot more interesting. Another ability that would be amazing would be a defensive pull. Why not give Shamans and Archmages an ability in the healing mastery that lets them pull an ally to the back line? As a healing purist, this method is my favorite. On my healers, I have no desire to do damage. I just want to save lives in an interesting way.
The second possibility would be much easier since the mechanics and many abilities are already in place. It would also require tweaking to the delve numbers and that healers' damage be based on Willpower instead of Intellect. Before the nerf cries, I just mentioned the delve numbers would need to be tweaked meaning testing would need to be done. The key to balancing healers doing dps is to make burst dps windows very small but sustainable dps high. The easiest way would be to look at the abilities you already have with their current numbers and figure out how much damage you want healers to do. Then, work backwards to determine what amount of Willpower and mastery points will get you to that number. The abilities are already in place and the 5 point mastery tree ability in the Archmage's Isha tree is the perfect example. At level 40 with 15 points in Isha, that ability delves for 199 damage to your target and 199 healing. The way to make this useful is to not give these spells a 1:1 ratio. Isha is the healing tree so make the healing portion substantial and increase the damage so its worth the global cooldown (GCD) and AP. It has to be a better heal than the other options available. The heal portion doesn't have to suffer just because it does damage, too. The game is not based around 1v1. Moreover, heals in the mastery tree should be a better alternative to core heals. Other abilities need to be looked at independently depending on their effect and mastery tree, but there needs to be a change in mindset that because a class can heal, it should not do any damage or if a heal has a damage component, that is should not be as good as another heal. Right now, there are way too many abilities that are never used once a player reaches 40 and healers are the only archetype to suffer from this.
With Mythic's original intention for healers in mind, I think we have two different means to the same end. One, is that to get ideas for interesting heals, do not look at the three types of standard heals (Direct, HoT, AoE), look at offensive abilities and find the inverse of those abilities. Not only will this make healing more interesting, it will also make each healer more unique. Two, there needs to be a change in mindset that healers shouldn't do damage and that healing spells that can damage are overpowered. Quite simply, no ability in this game is overpowered if it's added to both sides [see:instant rezes]. So, all it will take is going through existing spells and mastery abilities and make it worth using. To make it enticing, make healers like every other class and give them one main stat: Willpower. Mythic was able to make Ballistic Skill apply to Strength for Shadow Warriors and Squig Herders, so mirroring this for healers shouldn't be hard. I challenge anyone to find a Rune Priest that uses Rune of Fortune, a 2s cast that does 348 Elemental damage and heals the target for the same amount when Grungi's Gift heals for 202, is insta cast, and can be given an extra 15% crit with one tactic. However, if this ability was made a 1s cast and given bonuses to its damage and heal component from Willpower, then you suddenly have a very compelling damage and heal ability. If you want to use the current delve for abilities, there should not be a full Willpower to Int conversion, it should be scaled down (~ 4 Willpower = 1 Int). Obviously, if this were done the 25% more damage for 20% less healing tactic would need to be removed or changed, in my opinion, to something that would help survivability. Archmages and Shaman already have a built-in mechanic that will encourage damage and with some tweaking (two damage spells gets you the full healing bonus), you will see people actually using the mechanic the way it was intended.
Addendum: I would like to plug something I read on Mythic's forums written by Dr_Faust about changes to the activatable buffs Zealots/Rune Priests give. Since the stat increases from the buffs do not stack with pots or any other buffs and pots' buffs are going to persist through death, I see these buffs becoming even less useful after 1.2. It would be very cool to make the activatable buffs do something more interesting like a temporary speed buff, a short duration aoe detaunt, or maybe a small punt.
I wrote this piece for the WAR community and the devs, so please pass this around. If you have some ideas or want to add something, please contact me at our guild website, www.feariseverywhere.com. Remember that Mythic is making this our game so embrace it and take the time to come up with your own creative ideas to improve things. Thanks for reading and I'll see you in the trenches!
Thanks to Mythic for a fun game where devs listen and players become junior developers; thanks to Widespread Panic guild for making this amazingly fun and for your input on this project; thanks to the WAR community, especially bloggers like Syp and Snaf, for your ideas and enthusiasm. I hope there is much more to come.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Aikau has played healers in MMOs since EQ1 beginning with a Druid and Cleric in EQ1, a Friar and Minstrel in DAoC, a Priest and Druid in WoW, a Conqueror in AoC and currently a Zealot in Warhammer Online. He also has a strong preference towards competitive PvP. Aikau was the captain of a top 20 5v5 arena team in WoW for two seasons and, currently, is the GM of the second highest ranked guild on the Iron Rock Server, Widespread Panic.
