An idea for taking the healbot out of the runepriest.

[Orock]

Anyone who has followed this game closely can tell you the runepriest has no gimick when it comes to there healing. This can be good and bad, good if someone wants to make a total healbot and babysit others. Bad if someone was looking for a diverse support class, and instead feels pressured in pugs to stop wasting there ap on things other than healing them. This is not my idea, I saw it on another board on this site, and if I could remember where I would give credit its due, but again I feel that this idea is good and unique, so worth discussion on a board that see's more traffic than the dwarf class boards are known for (HINT HINT topic moved happy mods).

Basically set there heals apart from there buffs and other abilities with a long timer. Something like 20 seconds or so if say they had a weak heal, strong heal and group heal they would all be on 3 seperate 20 second timers. Right there you eliminate heal spam expectance from the public. But now we add in a stipulation, if you take any actions other than auto attack, it cuts these timers by 5 seconds per action. So you could throw out a strong heal to a group member under assault, throw him a buff, stack a rune on the ground for aoe buffage and a rally point, and throw out an offensive nuke. This itself would take 8 or more seconds, but it would recycle the heal 2x as fast, and give you something else to call yourself other than healbot 5000. Now lets change it even more, and say evey attack the runepriest takes shaves off 4 seconds of timer as well. So 2 meelee dps hungry for squishy healer blood (I know there probably least squishy of the healer classes) are now allowing him to spam heal himself, possibly outlasting there ap, or stalling enough until his group can come and mop themselves up.

Its an idea that fits with the spirit of the play in this game, that support can do other things than heal, and is a unique mechanic to boot.

If you feel like commenting, please contribute more than thats stupid...4567890, and dont chime in with outcrys of "heracy, this game needs a pure healer class, because I want to be a healbot"

[Perfecktion]

Sounds like a good i dea to me, would definitely make the class more attractive to people who dont want sit and heal spam, and also opens up the use of their other effective spells

[Czzarre]

Unfortunatly, I worry that no matter what...the min/max culture in MMORPGs will make anyclass with the ability to heal into a healbot

Torrential

[Tro]

nice but would they be instance casted?

[Loekii]

Unfortunately, I worry that no matter what...the min/max culture in MMORPGs will make any class with the ability to heal into a healbot


I agree.

For the most part, I use it as a yard stick. It is a good indicator if a weak group, imo.

[Orock]

No not instant cast, just shave off the timer so they can be cast in more rapid of succession, and since its been penalized to 20 seconds cooldown from whatever they are now (heard 6 seconds not sure tho) make them more powerful, or cost less ap.

And yes min/max building has always been the bane of a game that is suposed to involve a balance of classes.

[Thor123]

Shamans have to do damage to be an effective healer. Runepriests well they really do not have to do that. However I will be up on the front lines along with my fellow Iron Breakers and Sword Masters. This is becasue the runes I place are only good for a buff in a certain radius. I can also place buffs on others that are either timed when put on or can be triggered.

This way the Runepriest can do some damage while running around casting heals and buffs and setting runes. It would take the whole concept out of being a Runepriest if I was not up in front. The runes would be useless since more people would benefit from them if they were all closer.

Out of the support classes Runepriest are the ones that will be healing most of the time. I am fine with that since I am use to is and I have played a healer in every game I played. If I wanted to do damage I would make a class that did that. I am not expecting to be able to kill 2-3 people at once, but with a 1vs1 challenge we would have to see.

[Tro]

Shamans have to do damage to be an effective healer. Runepriests well they really do not have to do that. However I will be up on the front lines along with my fellow Iron Breakers and Sword Masters. This is becasue the runes I place are only good for a buff in a certain radius. I can also place buffs on others that are either timed when put on or can be triggered.

This way the Runepriest can do some damage while running around casting heals and buffs and setting runes. It would take the whole concept out of being a Runepriest if I was not up in front. The runes would be useless since more people would benefit from them if they were all closer.

Out of the support classes Runepriest are the ones that will be healing most of the time. I am fine with that since I am use to is and I have played a healer in every game I played. If I wanted to do damage I would make a class that did that. I am not expecting to be able to kill 2-3 people at once, but with a 1vs1 challenge we would have to see.

oh yeah i thought i heard that the Runepriest's Runes grow in power as they dps. not the heals. so their utility scales with damage unlike the WP's heals scale with dps

[Orock]

Shamans have to do damage to be an effective healer. Runepriests well they really do not have to do that. However I will be up on the front lines along with my fellow Iron Breakers and Sword Masters. This is becasue the runes I place are only good for a buff in a certain radius. I can also place buffs on others that are either timed when put on or can be triggered.

This way the Runepriest can do some damage while running around casting heals and buffs and setting runes. It would take the whole concept out of being a Runepriest if I was not up in front. The runes would be useless since more people would benefit from them if they were all closer.

Out of the support classes Runepriest are the ones that will be healing most of the time. I am fine with that since I am use to is and I have played a healer in every game I played. If I wanted to do damage I would make a class that did that. I am not expecting to be able to kill 2-3 people at once, but with a 1vs1 challenge we would have to see.


Not really complaining that they can do other things, just trying to keep it from becoming THE healbot that people expect it to be. These changes would still leave a viable and fun class, while making it more unique and also taking some of the fuel from the fire of the shut up and heal community. What do you do when your low on time and jump in a pug, laying down buffs and whatnot getting in some meelee, when all of a sudden one or a few people start complaining and telling you not to get into meelee you will just be killed, stand back and heal them? You may be fine with it for now, but it begins to grate on you, and takes the love of your class and burns it away.

[pzykozis]

Well with rune casting (without runes you'd surely be only running about 50% effectiveness anyway) and destroying the runes and giving new ones i suppose they wouldn't have enough time to healbot. I would assume that any intelligent person would want the buffs from their support friend when going against a group that HAVE been buffed and are being healed etc. To me I see it working like this: when the game first opens up you have people playing the healbot in groups but as the game starts to age alittle people realise with abit of theoryhammer that really its inefficient to to purely make your runepriest healbot because your missing out on dps and the rotational or situational master runes buffs.

[Loekii]

What do you do when your low on time and jump in a pug, laying down buffs and whatnot getting in some meelee, when all of a sudden one or a few people start complaining and telling you not to get into meelee you will just be killed, stand back and heal them? You may be fine with it for now, but it begins to grate on you, and takes the love of your class and burns it away.

I find another PUG.

It is one thing if my actions have caused a problem, and quite another for someone to tell me how to play my class without ever seeing me play.

In Pugs, I let people play how they want to play, until it actually becomes a problem. That is when you bring up the discussion about whats not working, rather than before.

If someone is nagging about how I should play my class, then I usually politely excuse myself from the group -- trying to respect their different playstyle as well.

I have even left groups when they have been over zealous with other members of the group.

Personally, I prefer to play with people that play are able to play outside the mold, rather than reliant on playing cookie cutter -- too predictable and too inflexable to adapt to surprises, imo.

[VanCrackin]

I only read title, but I think many people are forgetting that some players would prefer healbots.

I know my girlfriend would just be annoyed if she had to run up and do some superficial damage to a target in order to heal me.

Yes. My girlfriend is willing to be my own personal healbot.

For those of you wondering, if I piss her off, she lets me get in over my head and then refuses to heal.

[Terranigma]

I only read title, but I think many people are forgetting that some players would prefer healbots.

Agree even though I bet no one could care less whether your girlfriend likes to heal you or not. My bad, I've been honest, mh.

We got 6 supporting careers and 5 of 'em force the player to play a bit more aggressive in order to be capable of doin' the healing job well. So I don't think it's that bad havin' a class which just can be played as the players want and not the designers - You can deal damage if you want but you aren't forced to do so. Right now, the Runepriest is the most appealing supporting career for me because of this single reason.
I like to play a healer because I like to heal and right now, the Runepriest is the only class which doesn't got any obstacles to do so. I like the class how it is and hope it won't receive any The-Runepriest-Has-To-Charge-His-Healing-Abilities-And-Because-Of-Some-Reason-No-Normal-Player-
Can-Understand-He-Needs-To-Deal-A-Needless-Amount-Of-Damage-So-That-The-Player-Can-Pretend-To-
Do-Something-Else-Than-Just-Casting-His-Heals-Even-Though-He-Knows-That-His-Group-Couldn't-Care-Less-
Whether-He-Deals-His-Insignificant-Amount-Of-Damage-Or-Not-Because-He-Is-The-Main-Healer-And-Some-Righteous-Fury-
Or-Waaargh!-Won't-Change-What-He-Is-And-What-He-Has-To-Do.

And that's healing. Not dealing damage.
So I hope the Runepriest will just be a simple, funny healin' class.

[Loekii]

Would you please delete the last line so it doesn't break the thread?

[Terranigma]

Would you please delete the last line so it doesn't break the thread?

I've invented something much better - breaks!
;)

[Loekii]

Still broken. Will you please break it more? Maybe put it into an indented paragraph by itself?

[Kilrogg-WHA]

It's not broken for me. What browser are you using?

[Loekii]

Its the magnification I use. The normal wrap around formatting is fine (ie page 2), but Page 1 goes off the screen.

[Lucrece]

While some people may like healbots, the developers have made it clear that this won't be the game for them. They are against healbots.

In fact, support characters aren't mere healers; they are designed to be hybrids, combining offense with support. If we let the Runepriest become a mere heal/buffbot, essentially breaking Mythic's promise of no healbots, then what can possibly reassure one that tanks will not fade away into mere armored DPS careers of other MMO's?

We have to hold Mythic accountable to its promises and advertisements.

[Bhanqwa]

This,
While some people may like healbots, the developers have made it clear that this won't be the game for them. They are against healbots.

In fact, support characters aren't mere healers; they are designed to be hybrids, combining offense with support. If we let the Runepriest become a mere heal/buffbot, essentially breaking Mythic's promise of no healbots, then what can possibly reassure one that tanks will not fade away into mere armored DPS careers of other MMO's?

We have to hold Mythic accountable to its promises and advertisements.

and also the fact that having a true healbot would make it much harder for the other supportclasses to get groups.

[Dorian]

This,


and also the fact that having a true healbot would make it much harder for the other support classes to get groups.

While I agree with this to an extent I can't say I do 100%. Only because it really depends what the other support classes can bring to the table in terms of buffs/debuffs/damage/aoe or whatever, and how potent these other aspects are. Obviously if they are negligible then I would completely agree with you. If they are significant, I would only partially agree with you. Time will tell though. Having said that I would prefer if the RP does not turn into such a class. Not only would it be going against Mythics words, as Lucrece said. It would make the class lose alot of appeal to me. Which is something I am struggling to hold on to.

[Dunhill]

Anyone who has followed this game closely can tell you the runepriest has no gimick when it comes to there healing. This can be good and bad, good if someone wants to make a total healbot and babysit others. Bad if someone was looking for a diverse support class, and instead feels pressured in pugs to stop wasting there ap on things other than healing them. This is not my idea, I saw it on another board on this site, and if I could remember where I would give credit its due, but again I feel that this idea is good and unique, so worth discussion on a board that see's more traffic than the dwarf class boards are known for (HINT HINT topic moved happy mods).

Basically set there heals apart from there buffs and other abilities with a long timer. Something like 20 seconds or so if say they had a weak heal, strong heal and group heal they would all be on 3 seperate 20 second timers. Right there you eliminate heal spam expectance from the public. But now we add in a stipulation, if you take any actions other than auto attack, it cuts these timers by 5 seconds per action. So you could throw out a strong heal to a group member under assault, throw him a buff, stack a rune on the ground for aoe buffage and a rally point, and throw out an offensive nuke. This itself would take 8 or more seconds, but it would recycle the heal 2x as fast, and give you something else to call yourself other than healbot 5000. Now lets change it even more, and say evey attack the runepriest takes shaves off 4 seconds of timer as well. So 2 meelee dps hungry for squishy healer blood (I know there probably least squishy of the healer classes) are now allowing him to spam heal himself, possibly outlasting there ap, or stalling enough until his group can come and mop themselves up.

Its an idea that fits with the spirit of the play in this game, that support can do other things than heal, and is a unique mechanic to boot.

If you feel like commenting, please contribute more than thats stupid...4567890, and dont chime in with outcrys of "heracy, this game needs a pure healer class, because I want to be a healbot"

This is actually one of the more creative ideas i have seen yet and do fully support this being implemented.

Just to make sure i get this straight:

Your heals all have cooldowns on them. Each time you cast an offensive spell, it knocks a few seconds off the existing cooldowns.

Brilliant.

Im being serious and not trolling btw. I like it.

[Dunhill]

While some people may like healbots, the developers have made it clear that this won't be the game for them. They are against healbots.

In fact, support characters aren't mere healers; they are designed to be hybrids, combining offense with support. If we let the Runepriest become a mere heal/buffbot, essentially breaking Mythic's promise of no healbots, then what can possibly reassure one that tanks will not fade away into mere armored DPS careers of other MMO's?

We have to hold Mythic accountable to its promises and advertisements.

This is very true. While i can see some people's reasoning on why they like the fact that runpriests have the capability to be healbots (zealots too it seems like) that goes against the idea that EA had originally intended for any class they put in WAR.

[VanCrackin]

Agree even though I bet no one could care less whether your girlfriend likes to heal you or not. My bad, I've been honest, mh.

We got 6 supporting careers and 5 of 'em force the player to play a bit more aggressive in order to be capable of doin' the healing job well. So I don't think it's that bad havin' a class which just can be played as the players want and not the designers - You can deal damage if you want but you aren't forced to do so. Right now, the Runepriest is the most appealing supporting career for me because of this single reason.
I like to play a healer because I like to heal and right now, the Runepriest is the only class which doesn't got any obstacles to do so. I like the class how it is and hope it won't receive any The-Runepriest-Has-To-Charge-His-Healing-Abilities-And-Because-Of-Some-Reason-No-Normal-Player-
Can-Understand-He-Needs-To-Deal-A-Needless-Amount-Of-Damage-So-That-The-Player-Can-Pretend-To-
Do-Something-Else-Than-Just-Casting-His-Heals-Even-Though-He-Knows-That-His-Group-Couldn't-Care-Less-
Whether-He-Deals-His-Insignificant-Amount-Of-Damage-Or-Not-Because-He-Is-The-Main-Healer-And-Some-Righteous-Fury-
Or-Waaargh!-Won't-Change-What-He-Is-And-What-He-Has-To-Do.

And that's healing. Not dealing damage.
So I hope the Runepriest will just be a simple, funny healin' class.

Aw cute. Apparently we aren't allowed to use examples on the forums anymore. But you sir made a funny. :)

[Mustard]

So, according to the OP, you want to nerf rune priests, before they even come out?

Sorry but i dont see how putting heals on a weird cooldown system is anything but a nerf.

[Dunhill]

So, according to the OP, you want to nerf rune priests, before they even come out?

Sorry but i dont see how putting heals on a weird cooldown system is anything but a nerf.

If you would read other discussions we have on this board (particularly this (http://www.warhammeralliance.com/forums/showthread.php?t=25922)one) you would see the concern we have with this class. We are worried about it becoming pigeonholed into a healbot class, despite what EA mythic says about them. The big argument is that the other classes have some sort of mechanic where it becomes necessary for them to do damage and cast offensive things in order to be effective healers. At the moment, the runepriest does not.

We are just coming up with ideas on making our offensive and dps things a necessity so we arent yelled at when we use our AP to pop a damage spell just because we want a little more action in our career than "and i heal, and i heal, and i heal" as quoted by paul barnett.

Thinking more of this subject, i came up with an idea myself that is sort of interesting. Howabout making the runepriest the opposite of the other classes in that we need to heal in order for our damage abilities to be any good. Such as healing builds up something that makes our damage spell shorter cast times, higher damage, and lower AP cost.

I can see tho, however, this would make soloing stuff pretty hard.

[Archive]

While I can agree that we should probably have some sort of mechanic to prevent Runepriests from being full-time healers, I think cooldowns would be a step in the wrong direction. As it stands now it looks like all support classes can heal whenever they want, but only Runepriest always cast heals at full effectiveness, and quite frankly, I'd rather not be the class playing on easy mode. Heck, one of the main reasons most people play Dwarfs is because of the feeling of always being outnumbered, and the difficulty that entails, so why make our jobs easy?

The reason I don't like the cooldown timer idea however is that it would mean that we wouldn't be able to heal whenever we want/need. If the idea was ammended to be a sort of sliding scale where a heal cast after a short rest were at full effectiveness, but a rapid succession of heals would be reduced in strength unless we also cast offensive spells in between as you discribed, then I could see the cooldown system working.

I however have a different idea on what we could do however. One of the common reasons given for people wanting to play Runepriests is the ability to cast buffing runes on allies. So I think the mechanic we should have should be similar in style to the Squig-Herder and Warrior Priest, in that we need to do non-healing things to power up our healing spells, but instead of doing damage, we should be "forced" to cast buffs. For this to work well, I think we would have to have shorter duration buffs, so we have targets to buff (as it stands there is a limit to the number of buffs we can have cast, and the limit is rather small), but I think it is a compromise that most people will like.

Other support classes should be satisified, because Runepriests won't be able to steal the show with their healing spells, and Runepriest should be satisified because we will still be focused on helping our teammates more than any other class. And to top it off, we even end up mirroring Zealots even better, because much the same way that they need to be afflicting enemies and using debuffs to heal their allies at peak capacity, Runepriests will be required to buff their allies more so than ever to heal at peak capacity.

As far as I can see, everyone wins, but what do you guys think?

[c_vadnais]

the problem with "healbot" classes in other games is the fact that they lacked any reason to DPS. If they did anything other than sit back and heal they'd run out of mana and the group would get angry with them for not being able to heal. I dont think we'll have this problem in WAR since the support classes seem to have far more offensive abilites than what we consider the "typical" healing class. I know if I make a support class i'm going to try to kill stuff as well as keep my group alive.

[Dunhill]

the problem with "healbot" classes in other games is the fact that they lacked any reason to DPS. If they did anything other than sit back and heal they'd run out of mana and the group would get angry with them for not being able to heal. I dont think we'll have this problem in WAR since the support classes seem to have far more offensive abilites than what we consider the "typical" healing class. I know if I make a support class i'm going to try to kill stuff as well as keep my group alive.

This is the issue were talking about though. Please read the previous posts. There really isnt any reason a runepriest should be doing anything but healing on groups other than just out of boredom. The other careers at least have the necessity to dps for benefit of their healing. Runepriests do not have this.

[Mustard]

I beleive they put in 1 healer without a DPS mechanic for each side. Rune Priest and to a slightly lesser degree Zealot, )whos buffs and stuff also give the enemies a disadvantages as well.) For those players who want to just heal.


I know what youse are saying. But leaving everything the same but making healing spells un spammable is a retarded idea unless they get better heals because of it.

Think about it.

RP at the moment can do spammable heals or spammable DPS whenever they want.
What this thread proposes is Spammable DPS but no spammable heals.

Am I the only only that thinks having both whenever you want is a good thing?

If this is an issue about other players forcing you into a healbot role. Screw them, play how you want.

[Dorian]

You can't just tell people "Screw You" in every group that tries to force you into healbotting Mustard. Especially if that is what you are being expected to do when you are invited. That is a one way ticket to a very lonely, slow, unproductive experience in the game. While I don't agree with the mechanic that was suggested, I hardly think it to be "retarded". If done right the mechanic could work very well. You should try an be more open minded and respectful of peoples suggestions rather then just bashing them from the start. No one is calling for a nerf, whether you see it as such or not, is your problem. The majority of people, including myself even though I disagree with the idea, don't see it as a nerf. Please take others opinions in to regard before posting. Especially on the Dwarf forums as everyone who is a regular here prefers a more respectful mature forum.

[Mustard]

Sorry if my posts came out as an immature attempt to put down another persons idea or bash anyone.
I was just using heavy Aussie slang, without really realizing it which in a lot of cases, does sound rude.

While yes, one cannot just say "screw you" to everyone that asks you to heal (I even like healing in MMO's) but if you really don't want to become a heal bot. It is after-all your gaming experience. If someone wants to play a support career with a focus on offense and a bit of healing on the side thats fine.

Of course you will probably not get into serious raiding teams (depending on the utility non-healbot specs offer, eg. shadow priest's in WoW were very sought after) but it will be fun, and how you want to play.

Sorry if my posts come out as "flammable" I really did not realize that the words i use could be considered offensive etc.

[Krom]

Isn't this is the exact mechanic in place for Shaman (and the other three hybrids).

It's not the cooldown that decreases though, it's the casting time. These are in effect the same thing, as they place emphasis on dealing damage. If you want that mechanic, roll those classes.

....

What kind of response is this?

DoK and WP both have the same mechanic. You hit guys with melee attacks so you can heal.

Grudges and Hatered?

Momentum and Rage?

Spam too many spells and you'll hurt/kill yourself? (Bright Wizard and Sorc)

Please tell me you were trying to make a legitimate point, but that I somehow missed it.

[Knolle]

Eh,
I don't know about you lot, but I haven't played the game, so I cannot say.
Personally, not having as a restricting mechanic as, say, the Warrior Priest (prime example when it comes to this, as it seems), would be more of a plus than an actual burden, wouldn't it?

The thing it depends upon wether a Rune Priest can muster any offense depends, in the end, solely on his resources rather than on a unique mechanic. I certainly do not know how fast AP regenerates but if it is fast enough, what reason would a Rune Priest have not to spend his leeway with damage dealing or other support spells?

I figure he and his counterpart, the zealot, should much rather be balanced about the idea of "you could do this stuff or you waste your time" instead of "you have to do this or you're wasting your time".

And even if, it's not like anything remains static in these games.

[Mustard]

Going with the above comparisons of classes:

WP and DoK: Melee support classes that use MDPS to gain righteous fury or essence to fuel their heals.

Shaman and Archmage: Ranged Support classes that both have healing restrictions based on damage. (cant use specifics as archmage has hardly any info)

Thus, Rune Priest and Zealot require no mechanic, Classes for the players that enjoy only healing. There needs to be a class like this.

[RedAries]

The issue is actually the reverse. Because in this game AP regenerates quickly it creates a slightly different mechanic. The only other game I know of that does this is Guild Wars.

In short, there is no reason for a Rune Priest to stand back and wait to heal except if they are lazy and not using their full potential. AP regenerates. If you're sitting at a full bar and no one is hurt you could blast something or you could idle.. but if you are idling you are not fully supporting the group.

This is the issue were talking about though. Please read the previous posts. There really isnt any reason a runepriest should be doing anything but healing on groups other than just out of boredom. The other careers at least have the necessity to dps for benefit of their healing. Runepriests do not have this.

[Berjus]

A similar idea would be instead of a long cooldown, give the heals a long cast time that gets reduced as the RP performs offensive/support actions. Maybe the large heal has a 6 second cast time. Thats pretty annoying to spam. Every offensive spell you cast would shave half a second off that cast time, capping at probably a 1.5 second cast or so. I'm kinda channeling a WoW spell gimmick from here on out, but it would probably be a buff that refreshed every time you cast an offensive spell, but only had a duration of 8 seconds or so, so once the buff is maxed out you get about 6 big heals out of it before you have to go back to nuking/buffing.

probably not the best idea, but an idea nonetheless

edit: oh apparently thats already in the game. brilliant minds and whatnot? i guess thats what happens when i reply to the OP without actually reading all the replies, oops ^^;

[Kimmurial]

Im planing to roll a RP when the game comes out, a offensive support/offhealer if its possible...

I played a raiding 70 holy paladin in WoW (dwarf of course) and being a healbot was a rewardless/ getting all the crap from people role, and i burned out and quit the game 2 weeks ago (Blizz made the game worst and worst also, so the more reason to leave)

So if RP ends up being primarly a healer with all 3 carreers, im rolling something else :(

On another note, i find the OP idea good but a little flawed, if your group is fighting and you arrive late and need to heal someone in the front line, having to run into the action and getting some damage in there to be able to cast another heal fast wont be productive...

Also, as a healer, you have to be able to switch targets very fast and if between 2 friendly targets you gotta hit ennemies, your gonna have a headache

i hope they dont limit us with the playability of this class !!!

- Kim

[Trite]

I beleive they put in 1 healer without a DPS mechanic for each side. Rune Priest and to a slightly lesser degree Zealot, )whos buffs and stuff also give the enemies a disadvantages as well.) For those players who want to just heal.


I know what youse are saying. But leaving everything the same but making healing spells un spammable is a retarded idea unless they get better heals because of it.

Think about it.

RP at the moment can do spammable heals or spammable DPS whenever they want.
What this thread proposes is Spammable DPS but no spammable heals.

Am I the only only that thinks having both whenever you want is a good thing?

If this is an issue about other players forcing you into a healbot role. Screw them, play how you want.

I agree. I vote for no restricting mechanics. I'm actually interested in RPs mostly because of the lack of any class mechanic. Just don't play with the people who want you to be a healbot, if you don't want to.

[Yavvy]

I only read title, but I think many people are forgetting that some players would prefer healbots.Paul Barnett: There will not be namby-pamby healer-only classes. There is no sitting at the back going, 'and I heal, and I heal, and I heal, and I heal, and I heal' - because it's boring. I'm really sorry. If you're really one of those people who just like being a medic, who like sitting at the back not doing anything. Going 'and I heal, and I heal, and I heal' -go away.

"Many people" are in this case the devs, and they clearly DO NOT want healbots in WAR. If you want to play a healbot, find another game.

Personally, I have faith in Mythic to keep Runepriests from becoming healbots. Heck, even if they don't, I'd still group up with offensive ones out of principle & sympathy.

Nice idea, OP :)

[Mustard]

Paul Barnett: There will not be namby-pamby healer-only classes. There is no sitting at the back going, 'and I heal, and I heal, and I heal, and I heal, and I heal' - because it's boring. I'm really sorry. If you're really one of those people who just like being a medic, who like sitting at the back not doing anything. Going 'and I heal, and I heal, and I heal' -go away.

"Many people" are in this case the devs, and they clearly DO NOT want healbots in WAR. If you want to play a healbot, find another game.

Personally, I have faith in Mythic to keep Runepriests from becoming healbots. Heck, even if they don't, I'd still group up with offensive ones out of principle & sympathy.

Nice idea, OP :)


Paul over exaggerates everything.

Some people WANT to healbot.
Denying players of this means they will go elsewhere.
They want as many people to play the game as possible.
Sure the RP doesnt NEED to go "heal heal, like a pansy" but it is one of the classes that has no restrictions if you choose to do this.

[Yavvy]

As they've said, this game isn't for everyone. Some people WANT to gank lowbies, but guess what, they can't. For healbotting, it seems a bit milder - you can, you're just nerfing yourself, just like you would if you played a healer like a dpser. Sure, you can if you want, but don't expect others to want to play with you.

[Mustard]

As they've said, this game isn't for everyone. Some people WANT to gank lowbies, but guess what, they can't. For healbotting, it seems a bit milder - you can, you're just nerfing yourself, just like you would if you played a healer like a dpser. Sure, you can if you want, but don't expect others to want to play with you.

Please. dont get me wrong here. I am not trying to be an or anything. Just discussing. (if this sounds weird it is because i have trouble expressing what i think in type without sometimes giving the wrong impression.)

But the runepriest literally is a class that can healspam effectivly without NEEDING to DPS to make it better at it. Of course. if they dont throw in damage spells when heals arent needed their a bit of a bad player. But you dont have to.
Well, this is based on the info we have. of course it could all change.


Now that i just reread the whole thing again. it would appear that we just said the same thing. But i wouldnt go as far as saying no one will want to group with a dedicated healer/buffbot.

[Montz]

might be the only one feeling this way... i think the runepriest will be a worse healer than lets say WP... (givin less healing per second)... he might be able to heal only but the outcome will be low,... to be a succes on battlefield you NEED to aid with runes and do dmg.... its like lets say a hunter in wow, nobody forces you to use pets,... but....

[Eatainel]

Whoever said that the RP is intended to be a more traditional healer has it right on the noggin I think. Trying to cater to a variety of play styles Mythic has put in traditional healers/support so people who like playing those can play them. Now, I think if the runes are going to be as described, they will be a mechanic in themselves. So...you're not slashing or zapping people but you still have to do something active in order to be most effective.

[RuneShmidt]

Hi there,

I think that while the RP is not directly forced to damage to heal, that certainly does not mean that the only abilities available to you are heals.

The gimmick is in place! Yes, shocking to read, but their 'gimmick' is so solid and non-spectacular that it is easy to miss! Runes! Runes that are short lived but imbue the recipient with amazing powers. The Runepriest description describes the career as a strategic type of career that requires foresight, planning, and refreshing and altering of runes. This, I believe, creates one of the most strategic healing classes available, as they have many buffs and debuffs (read: knockback, root, disable) that they have the ability to turn themselves into a support powerhouse.

Root a melee trying to beat on your engineers, knock back a shaman trying to cast to hurt allies, change the runes so that the freshest offensive runes are on the unfettered damage dealers and the defensive runes are placed upon those targeted often! All this requires no healing and can save lives and turn the tide of battle.

Anyone, and I mean ANYONE not using all this tactical prowess will no doubt (unless they spam nukes) will have a preponderance of AP remaining, and will not be performing up to snuff as a Runepriest.

As a side note, the support class is not for everyone, and EA/Mythic seems to be trying really hard to make it so that many support classes are able to put the hurt out on people. Ever wonder why people don't like support classes? It's because not many people appreciate them.

Wonder why? Don't! I'll tell you!

-Blame. A healer gets blamed if someone dies. People are not going to look to themselves and ask "what did I do wrong?" people will look to the closest scapegoat and place blame there. A healer is always a prime target for this, since they hold the balance of life and death in their actions!

- Accomplishments unnoticed. People love hearing about how much some class nuked another, or how some big black orc completely locked someone down and they didn't even have a chance to do anything because they were so overwhelmed. Heals are unimpressive to others, but EA/Mythic has done things for that! The offensive runes that have a chance on hit to proc a nice damage nuke. (Think windfury from WoW)

-Your contribution is subtle and hard to see by anyone but you. You alone know the total amount you have healed, how many times you have peeled a bloodthirsty orc off of your ally, how many times you have empowered your allies to survive blows they could not while your attention is elsewhere.


Not a lot of people want to play a class in this type of obscurity. I do, though. I know that with every supporting ability I use, I enhance my group as a whole, I provide more opportunities to continue through the fight and have a better chance at winning.

I alone, as a support powerhouse, can be the lifeline for my group, and as the boat that keeps the army from sinking, we will reach our goals and defeat the enemy.

Runepriests sound pretty good to me, in fact they might be overpowered. :)

[Grudginglyyours]

Now I can appreciate the sentiments expressed in this thread, and out of all of them the last poster, RuneShmidt, seemed to have what I am guessing is the closest grip on the reality the developers are trying to make. Let me put on my flame retardant gear first for this example and here we go. Runepriests are nothing more then a reworking of shaman and paladins in WoW I think. You have have an offensive enhancement thread, defensive enhancement thread and healing thread. You will always have access to all three "trees" but will focus down on one as you advance. I could be way off but if you nerf the alittle on a pally from WoW amd leave the the individual buffs for offense then add the group enchancing totem effects to it you get what a runepriest is. Just a guess though. I could be wrong, probably am, but I think in the ideal that is what you are looking at.

[vehemoth]

I am not impressed by any of this. The Runepriest is no healbot. This is common misconception gone crazy.

If you look at the other mechanics for the shaman, archmage, warriorpriest, or disciple, when they use their offensive actions it simply makes their heals less action point costly and/or faster to cast. They don't have to do damage to heal - They can stand back and heal but the result of doing so means they will not do any damage.

The Runepriest and Zealot have something that the other classes, a network system, which means they have a lot more freetime when it comes to what they are doing. They simply analyze the situation, put down the appropriate radial area of effect spell (harbingers or masterrunes), and then put oathrunes or marks on different individuals to meet their individual demands. From there, they can use their time casting healing spells as needed and damaging spells.

Healbot, as if they are 3 button standaround clowns, is offensive and implies that they are not meant to be played by human beings. Your suggestion to put long timers on heal spells isnt going to help them - it will hurt them severely!

As a runepriest fan I look forward to putting my strategy and versatility to work. If I don't want to heal I would not play a healer, but I certainly won't let my offensive spells go to waste.

[Rokford]

Frankly, the term "healbot" is just silly. It implies a simple 1 or 2 button-pushing heal-heal-heal-heal play style.

I've played healers and DPS in many games, and quite frankly, playing an effective combat healer in PVP is much much more difficult than any DPS role, especially when you are a priority target.

Would I like to see a mechanic in place that encourages Runepriests to do damage to maximize their effeciency? Of course. The other healer/support classes have these mechanics.

Do I think Runepriests will be healbots? No. I trust Mythic to live up to their promise: There will be no pure healer classes.

[Fiale]

I agree with Runeshmidt and vehemoth, why would you want to put artificial restirctions on your Rune priest. If you want to DPS to increase your healing their are already classes you can play in the game (why the need to make more).

Putting arbitary cooldowns on your healing for no reasons is just a huge backwards step.
I start with a Runepriest walking into battle able to DPS / Buff / heal as much as I like whenever I want, then someone who objects to the mechanic wants to make me play my Runepriest in a set linear fashion of DPS first, heal second when able buff, wait for cooldown, DPS first, heal second, when able buff .... That would just be a huge nerf to the playstyle, forcing a linear mechanic and taking away your choices.

I would prefer to decide what needs to be done by my Runepriest and not have a forced mechanic. I will heal / DPS / Buff as I see fit and as the occasion requires, if the enounter is healing intensive I will heal, if lots of time and space I will DPS / Buff more.

[Duerghaul]

Would I like to see a mechanic in place that encourages Runepriests to do damage to maximize their effeciency? Of course. The other healer/support classes have these mechanics.

Im going to disagree with you there, Rok. The other classes must deal damage to heal at full efficiency, whereas Runepriests already heal at full efficiency. And in most battles in previous MMO's that I've played, the fight is already over before such a healing mechanic can be fully actualized. Runepriests can start healing at maximum right away, whereas Shamans must wait and gather Waagh before they can heal as well as a Runepriest, and by that time, they and half their part will be dead.

[Varaki]

Don't forget that the potential of other healers at peak efficiency is greater than the runepriests innate proficiency. The Runepriest supplements his rune network with other abilities, heals and the like.

I wouldnt go as far to say that the runepriest has an advantage in healing over healers. I would just say they work differently. The Runepriest has to prepare as well, in fact the runepriest requires a certain amount of preperation to be their most effective.

Wait, why does no one complain about the ironbreakers excellent ability to tank?
What about the Hammerer or Engineers ability to DPS?

[Mathis]

I agree with Runeshmidt and vehemoth, why would you want to put artificial restirctions on your Rune priest. If you want to DPS to increase your healing their are already classes you can play in the game (why the need to make more).

Putting arbitary cooldowns on your healing for no reasons is just a huge backwards step.
I start with a Runepriest walking into battle able to DPS / Buff / heal as much as I like whenever I want, then someone who objects to the mechanic wants to make me play my Runepriest in a set linear fashion of DPS first, heal second when able buff, wait for cooldown, DPS first, heal second, when able buff .... That would just be a huge nerf to the playstyle, forcing a linear mechanic and taking away your choices.

I would prefer to decide what needs to be done by my Runepriest and not have a forced mechanic. I will heal / DPS / Buff as I see fit and as the occasion requires, if the enounter is healing intensive I will heal, if lots of time and space I will DPS / Buff more.
i couldn't agree more. i've been playing healers almost exclusively in mmo's since the archetype became available, and while i understand why other healing classes have "gimmicks," i would never want to play a class with one. i love being a "healbot" and i'd be disappointed if that option wasn't available.

[Dunhill]

The main concern is Runepriests being pigeonholed into healing roles. Meaning them using their AP for anything but buffing and healing is inexcusable. That they will get discouraged/ridiculed for throwing out a dps spell or dot.

Such as only getting invited to the major end game guilds with the understanding they are heal spec, and they will not do anything but that.

While this is ok for some, it is not for others. Others who see the runepriest as a caster class, not a healer class. Such as myself. Runesmiths and Runelords from the warhammer lore are not Buffbots and healers. They are those who wreak havoc on the battlefield unleashing the awesome powers of dwarf runes. This is what i wanted to play long before WAR.

The argument about wanting a 'builder mechanic' is so DPSing is acceptable and necessary, so as to us not getting ridiculed for using our AP for damage.

I know the game is not out yet, nor can it be argued to extent and finalization as of yet, but i hope my post cleared up some confusion and worry that some of us runepriests may have for this class.

[murkrow]

I hope they keep the unfettered healing capabilities of rune priest

they are my fall back if I can't spec to be a more heal focused archmage.

I don't think people need to worry about being forced to do nothing except heal.

In pvp healers will always need to be doing more than healing, they have to use CC and well timed DPS to keep the party alive and take out weakened enemies.

"healbotting" is not how pvp healing works, if you try to heal in pvp like you do in pve you will be counterspelled and have your friends bursted down.

Good pvp groups will not be seeking runepriests who do nothing but heal, they'll be seeking runepriests who do nothing but win.

[Roargh Growler]

Taking the healbot out of the runepriest is an user to keyboard error.

If i would play a rune priest, like a druid in WoW, i would multitask like a 64xmultiprocessor.

Healers have potential to pwn stuff in Big open world battles.
Since the RunePriest has the best beard of the healers, he will be extra tough, since they have another fist there.

[Wodrik]

Thinking more of this subject, i came up with an idea myself that is sort of interesting. Howabout making the runepriest the opposite of the other classes in that we need to heal in order for our damage abilities to be any good. Such as healing builds up something that makes our damage spell shorter cast times, higher damage, and lower AP cost.


I was working under the impression that this is exactly how runepriests work, not sure where i picked that up. But I'm almost positive that with full morale they will be insane nukers, and buffers.

[craptacular]

i couldn't agree more with what certain people are saying here.

why should we make the term 'healbot' which almost sounds like an insult?

continuous, dedicated healing is just a playstyle! it makes them useful in different situations, which is what mythic is intending, to the melee warrior priest or the pewpew-heal-pewpew-heal archmage

the game needs at least one class like this. i mean, there are classes that are completely dedicated to putting out continuous damage (like BW or sorcerer), so why can we not have a class that is dedicated to continuous healing?

the sad thing is i think mythic are actually going to make the runepriests a lot more middle line, and increase the damage, when i honestly think the game would benefit more from having one class that you choose to heal and buff and nothing else

[Varaki]

i couldn't agree more with what certain people are saying here.

why should we make the term 'healbot' which almost sounds like an insult?

continuous, dedicated healing is just a playstyle! it makes them useful in different situations, which is what mythic is intending, to the melee warrior priest or the pewpew-heal-pewpew-heal archmage

the game needs at least one class like this. i mean, there are classes that are completely dedicated to putting out continuous damage (like BW or sorcerer), so why can we not have a class that is dedicated to continuous healing?

the sad thing is i think mythic are actually going to make the runepriests a lot more middle line, and increase the damage, when i honestly think the game would benefit more from having one class that you choose to heal and buff and nothing else

The runepriest focuses more on oathrunes and masterrunes than blind healing. They setup a network of oathrunes (one per groupmate individual buffs with instantly triggered "break" effects) and a master rune (one at a time summonable aura beacon). The runes they choose greatly impact their groups strategy. Their other abilities are as important as well.

Healing is an important part of playing every healer. Don't misunderstand - All WAR healers are capable of healing well and the Runepriest is not going to be the best or the worst. They all simply function differently.

Additionally, taking the damage capabilities away from a runepriest is a HUGE slap to the career. They need to be able to adapt in the event of healer saturation, and the offensive playstyle will be viable as long as they don't neglect their healing capabilities.

I say you do have the option to seek a pure healer playstyle, tactics and morale set into healing, and fully master into healing, but it should not be the only option.

[tommyg]

I think this idea is pretty bad. I'd like to be able to do whatevers best for my group at any given time. If I need to spam someone with a few heals to keep them up, then that's what I want to do. You should not be forced into having to do something. If you can't balance things well then that is your problem. If people want to sit there and spam heal, that is their problem. Let people control their character, that will determine who the better runepriests are.