I don’t have much time for blogging this half of the week, but there is a nice fundamentals-article at Guild Wars 2 about death and healing. They will be using a Borderlands style near-death status where players will be weakened when down on the ground in appropriately named Downed Mode, but if they can kill off an enemy in time they stand back up with renewed vigor. Alternatively, allies can help the player back up to her feet. “Death,” which happens after failing at Downed Mode can still be countered on the battlefield with rez skills. Otherwise the death penalty is going to be gold to pay the warp fee to go to the nearest known waypoint. It’s going to be really interesting to see how players act in a large herd when an unpartied ally goes down.
The other bit is on the replacement of the “holy trinity” with focus on Damage, Support, and Control. I think their main goal in this vernacular gymnastics is to get away from all the prejudice involved with Tank-Heal-DPS roles. For starters there will be no healer class. The monk is dead. Thank you, ArenaNet. It only took 6 years for you guys to listen to me. I kid, a little… instead the “holy trinity” becomes inherent to each profession. I love utility classes that respond to the battlefield instead of having a set role the whole time. My favorite class in an MMO, the Captain in Lord of the Rings Online can do Damage, Support, and Control. The problem is he can’t fill the role of any one of them to the degree that is sometimes required. The Captain’s “balance” is in the fact that, for example, when he helps Support, the Minstrel can focus a little more on Damage.
At Kotaku, ArenaNet dev favorite Izzy says:
“All the healing that happens in the game – the main meat of healing is your personal heal skill. You are in charge of your health. Other people can help you and support you say by pulling a creature off of you, or provide minor healing, but nothing as effective as you do yourself. “
It’s interesting that they are taking the risk v. reward away from groups, and putting it back on the player. If the player goes agro/DPS crazy then they may very well pay the consequences. It’s on them instead of forcing a healer to “do better.” With only two official classes, Elementalist and Warrior, and two unofficial classes, Necromancer and Ranger, out of the 8 total, it’s still hard to get a clear picture of how this will all work. Hopefully the flow and feel of the game will be a lot more apparent in just over a month when fans play Guild Wars 2 at Gamescom and PAX.
–Ravious
if challenge had a taste, you’d be quite delicious