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Originally Posted by Kolle Is there already a write up somewhere about how the gameplay is in VG concerning healing and support? What can you share with us about that? Some specifics I'd like to know:
-Do all support healers get effective group heals |
Today in beta, the Cleric, Disciple, and Bloodmage all have group healing abilities. The Shaman does not (well, until a combination spell at 40 that includes it) but last I heard, we're planning to give him one at lower levels as well soon.
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Originally Posted by Kolle -Will raiding as a healer involve having huge lists of names that you must click on manually
-Will there be any innovative targeting functions |
Yes and No. While you will still click on names for traditional healing, there are some new features available too.
Here's one feature that we haven't talked about too much yet, that I think is going to be interesting on raids. The blood mage has the ability to establish blood pacts between players. A "solo" blood pact makes it so that whenever the target of the pact takes damage, a percentage of that damage is redirected (and modified up or down in quantity) to the bloodmage, who takes it instead. A "group" blood pact does the same sort of thing, however, when a group member takes damage, they share it with everyone else in the same group. Now, the bit that makes it really interesting is that the damage from a "solo" pact can trigger a "group" pact. So you could have a bloodmage in a group put a solo pact on the main tank (in another group), and also establish a group pact with his group. Every time the main tank takes damage, some of it goes to the blood mage, who takes some of it, and redistributes the rest of it to his group.
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Originally Posted by Kolle -Will you allow mods that allow healers freedom to work in other things such as offensive moves while easily covering their healing role |
If by mods, you mean scripted UI functionality, then no. While you can mod the UI to position things as you like, you cannot do the complex scripting you find in some games. However, some healing classes are generally heavily involved in combat. I frequently play a cleric, and have a number of melee moves that are important to use in combat. One attack allows me to restore some mana (letting me heal longer) and another (the finishing attack of a two step attack chain) lets me stun the NPC for a moment (preventing damage). There are other attacks as well, which mean the only times I'm usually really in 100% healing mode is a) on an incoming pull, before crowd control has taken place, or b) when we've just got too many, and we're about to wipe.
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Originally Posted by Kolle -Are there any features that allow healers to keep everyone alive while having the option to look at the dungeon as you crawl through; in other words you don't have to stare at everyone's health bars or risk losing them |
The above features allow you to do this to a degree, but watching player health and responding to it droping is a part of the gameplay a healer in Vanguard experiences.