[Kolle]

I'd love to hear the first thought from anyone reading the title of this post. This is something I've been kicking around for quite some time. If I see a problem with something I like then I tend to tumble it around in my head until I think of a way to solve it. Yeah, I'm not always right and since I don't actually work for any of these gaming companies I won't ever see it implimented anyways, but hey the servers are down right now.

This is born out of my dissatisfaction with certain group/raid mechanics, but especially healing and supporting. I have a feeling that if something drastic isn't done we'll end up with the same types of problems in any major mmorpg title. I set out to tackle this issue with healing in mind, but the end result impacts every possible class.

There are two things I'd like to happen with future mmorpgs:

1. No dedicated healing class

2. A better system of healing/combat

I know many games will keep healing, but I think there is a place for excellent games without healing that also have the scale of EQ1, EQ2, WoW, etc... I'm not posting this to advocate #1, but instead to explain my thoughts on #2. Pardon me as I grab a nearby magazine or shampoo bottle, whichever is closest.


The Source of my Sadness

I think many healers will agree with me. When a healer is in a group or a raid their focus must be on keeping people alive. This demands much of their attention. Due to the way these games function the end result is a player staring at health bars for hours. They click back and forth, or however they switch targets in the particular game, and mash their heal buttons. There are some nuances here and there between games, but eventually it's all boiled down to a bitter mush.

I can't express how depressing it is to think back on much of my playtime as a healer and realize I didn't even get to see the dungeons. I hardly had time to watch mobs and players fight each other. I was watching a little colored bar go up and down. It's satisfying to keep people alive and beat encounters, but this can be a major drawback. From game to game details are very different, but one problem is that healing can get boring. Regardless of the different tools you create for a healer to use the end result is the same.

The path mmorpgs seem to be on now is to simply add complexity (keke). Give the mobs more ailment inducing skills and provide healers with more ailment removing spells. Give the healers extra psuedo-heals in the form of wards, shields, regens, and whatever the hell else. Eventually this whole thing is going to be so bloated that not only will we keep staring at health bars, but the entire experience will be nothing but tedium, stress, and constipation rolled into a single package.


This is what happens when Servers are down

So I think of ways around my above gripes. One extremely easy solution would be to allow healers to just push a single button and automatically heal whoever needed it. You'd go through the entire dungeon without needing to even look at people. I think there was a macro in WoW that allowed something like that, but I don't know if it's still usable. This does nothing but make the problem worse, however. It solves one issue while opening up a pipeline of boredom for an entirely different reason.

This is where I get the idea, "why not treat healing/support more like every other class in terms of combat?" Games are different, but for the sake of keeping it stupid simple let's consider two types of classes: Damage and Support. When you group up and when you form raids (I imagine there would need to be a minimum needed to engage this feature; maybe, maybe not) you could convert the group/raid over to this feature. It's not something that applies to solo play.


Some Details

So what the fuck am I talking about?

When you engage this feature everyone in the group/raid merges their life/power/status. You fight together as a single force, yet remain separate (this isn't Voltron). No, it's not some huge lifebar that represents the total health points of everyone. It's not a single bar of anything. It's much, much more interesting than that, but it requires some explaining.

I mentioned Damage and Support earlier. Each type is represented by a visual effect and a sound. These can be customized by the player. Each visual effect and sound signifies the contribution from each player in the group/raid. The 'presence' or intesity of each effect/sound is determined by the actual number of players from that archetype and their current need for attention. You can choose to monitor (and react accordingly) using either visual effect or sound (or both). When you cast spells under these circumstances they directly effect the combined lifeforce, you don't target a player.

The settings will display/play at varrying levels in order to inform you of how your group/raid is doing at that moment:

Subtle - Noticable - Obvious - Blatant


Scenario #1

You're a healer (Support). You're sitting in front of your computer raiding with your guild. There are 0 health bars on the screen. You use visual effects. You plug yourself into the raid's lifeforce, allowing you to see and interact with it. When out of combat everyone appears normal. Mobs that you see at a distance appear normal. When in combat things will change depending on what you're fighting and how serious the situation is. According to the visual effects you chose beforehand (you see them this way, no one else...no one else has to see them at all if they choose), you will receive indicators that report the status of your group/raid's lifeforce.

There are at least two ways to see these: on the players or as a UI function. If it's on the players then what you will witness is a slight visual effect. It won't be some enormous light show. For example, if your damage classes are being hurt then you will notice visual effects on random members (damage class or not) akin to a spell effect. You control how intense they are. Picture in your mind that you notice a nearby groupmate covered in a very slight spell effect of bleeding cuts or slashes (remember all of these settings are predetermined by the player). According to your settings, the intensity of this effect will allow you to immediately know how bad your group/raid's lifeforce is damaged and who the mob(s) are focusing on the most. This allows you to know which heals to use and which other spells you should be casting that aren't heals. For example if the mob is conentrating on your damage classes then you can cast counters to stunt the onslaught. The more serious the problems are, the more widespread these effects will be. You can also choose to receive this information by looking at the mob(s) instead of players or both.

As a UI function the last thing we want to do is duplicate staring at health bars. Consider having windows in the middle/side of your screen with a low opacity. You control the specifics of how they look and function. The color and effects these windows produce will immediately give you the knowledge you would gain by looking at players. Since we are using signals and colors without regulating them to 40 individual bars, you can pay attention to the world/dungeon/fight (peripheral vision would easily accomplish this).


Scenario #2

You're a buffer/debuffer (Support). You're situation is similar to the healer above, but you use sound instead of visual effects. You chose the sound of a sword hitting something to represent damage classes (there can be many different versions used together in this; sword hits wooden shield, sword hits leather armor, sword hits metal armor, etc...). A low, single hit tells you one thing. Hearing multiple strikes at an increased volume lets you know things are getting serious. Once learning this system, and sound/music is an easy thing to pick up for humans, you can react to the battle casting your buffs and debuffs where appropriate.



To Further Complicate Things

The above is a very basic and simple explanation of what's floating in my head. Toss into the mix another 5-10 classes. Consider hundreds or thousands more effects, both positive and negative, that you learn gradually as you level in the game going from simple to complex.

When you cast spells that are meant for support in some manner you don't have to target anyone. This eliminates one problem. In order to avoid the problems you get like with a WoW heal macro, there is another layer to this feature. The visual effects and sounds will indicate to you what other support classes in your raid are doing. Not necessarily every single one, but the important things that will queue your actions. Acting and reacting according to what your friends are doing and what the mob is doing is how you function in all of this. All classes are subject to this, but in different ways. A damage class can use different indicators and would react differently. Same goes for anything not support. Their indicators may be based more on what the mob is doing, though.



I may have not explained this well enough to get across what I'm thinking. In the event that this all sounds silly and stupid then please just consider me a genius and assume it's the most awesomest idea ever presented.