The stream of information coming out of ArenaNet continues unabated as game designer Jon Peters delves into healing, death and player roles in Guild Wars 2 today. He actually reveals a few surprising bits of information such as the lack of harsh death penalties and dedicated healing professions. Also covered are player roles in Guild Wars 2 and how it differs from the rigid holy trinity class structure of most MMORPGs today.
It’s a very interesting article and builds onto the extensive information that ArenaNet has previously revealed such as the design manifesto, combat system and elementalist profession, dynamic events system #1 & #2, the personal story system, the warrior profession and traits system #1 & #2 and the recent pieces on non-combat activities #1 and #2. The new reveals seem shocking at first, but ArenaNet seems to have good reasoning for them and I think it might actually work out well if they don’t skimp on combat difficulty and Realm vs Realm combat.
Anyhow, either read on below for a quick overview of all the new bits of information, or head on to the official Guild Wars 2 website for the full story and new game media. Also keep an eye on the ArenaNet company blog for their regular Guild Wars 2 related updates and subscribe to GameDrone if you’re interested in staying up-to-date with the latest Guild Wars 2 information in a concise format!
Death
- ArenaNet has attempted to make dying a more appealing prospect by taking a good look at how other genres handle this, most especially shooters.
- Players enter a downed mode upon losing all their health, which is very similar to Left 4 Dead’s incapacitated state.
- Any character, regardless of profession or level, can rally a downed player by interacting with them.
- Downed players can continue to attack with a downed skill set, which is weaker than the normal skill set. They’ll rally if they manage to kill an enemy. Warriors might throw rocks in this state, whereas an elementalist can use Grasping Earth to lock a foe in place.
- Some professions have skills that can rally downed allies, such as the warrior’s “I Will Avenge You” shout which rallies any nearby downed allies if the warrior kills an enemy.
- Players who are downed several time will take longer to revive each time.
- Should you be killed while in downed mode then you can opt to wait to be resurrected by an ally, or to resurrect at a waypoint.
- If you choose to revive at a waypoint then the world map will pop up and you can select any discovered waypoint to resurrect at for the price of a small amount of gold.
- The only death penalty in Guild Wars 2 is that minor gold fee for resurrecting at a waypoint. There will be no equipment degradation, running around as a ghost, experience point deduction or statistics debuff.
Death takes on a more cooperative spirit with the new downed state. Very similar to Left 4 Dead.
Healing
- There will not be dedicated healing professions in Guild Wars 2, contrary to the original game.
- ArenaNet’s first reason for this departure from the ‘holy trinity’ is that healers don’t enjoy watching health bars go up. They enjoy protecting their allies from harm and being there when they’re needed, so the support classes in Guild Wars 2 are designed around that rather than formulaic healer concepts. Having played a healer class in numerous MMOGs, including Guild Wars, I’m inclined to agree.
- Secondly, the dedicated healer classes stand in the way of tactical combat in MMORPGs. Think back to 4v4 Random Arena in Guild Wars 2 and how any match-up involving monks could easily be called before the match ever started, even those with 1 monk on each side. Yet random 4v4 matches without any healers tended to be hard to call and more tactically involved. That’s exactly the experience that ArenaNet is looking to push to the forefront.
- Lastly, it’s a pain having to wait for a healer before actually getting to play. Any seasoned MMOG player can attest to this fact – so it’s good to know that it will not be a problem in Guild Wars 2.
- The dedicated heal skill slot is partially designed to alleviate the loss of dedicated healers, but mostly to make all professions self-reliant.
Healing will not be a dedicated role for any profession in Guild Wars 2
The Trinity
- The holy trinity of DPS/Heal/Tank will not be present in Guild Wars 2, mostly due to the lack of traditional healer and tank classes.
- Guild Wars 2 will utilize a build system very similar to Guild Wars in that every profession can spec for just about any role. It’d be a classless system were it not for the different ways in which each profession handles each role.
- ArenaNet foresees three primary roles that are actually fairly similar to the holy trinity of (MMO)RPGS, but with a few slight twists. Their names are damage, support and control.
- Damage is pretty much self-explanatory and identical to the DPS role in the holy trinity. Players can deal damage over time, area of effect damage or fire off projectile attacks, as well as numerous other forms of damage dealing. And these damage types aren’t mutually exclusive, for instance, it’s possible to fire an AoE projectile attack which applies damage over time on affected targets. This damage is dealt in different ways by the various professions, by means of different weapons and/or skills.
- Support is centered around pro-active buffing, damage mitigation and cross-profession combinations. It also includes a few actual healing spells like the elementalist’s healing rain, but ArenaNet is adamant that the focus lies on actual support abilities like the elementalist’s Windborne Speed buff. The warrior has similar support skills such as “On My Target” which increases damage on a specific target and “Call to Arms” which buffs the armor of nearby allies. The same holds true for other professions.
- Control is essentially the crowd control you know from traditional MMORPGs, but significantly more important given the lack of tanks. Some abilities that fit into this role are cripple, knockdown, immobilize and stun. It stands to reason that every profession also has a means of doing this, considering the fact that this was also the case in Guild Wars.
- A few other support abilities were mentioned: an elementalist’s Firewall or Static Field can improve the ranged attacks of allies. An ice spell might be used to freeze enemies, but the same spell can also be used to give allies Frost Armor to protect from incoming attacks. The warrior profession also has further support skills such as the Banner of Wisdom which increases the magical attack power of his/her allies.
- The idea here seems to be that players can determine their own role regardless of their profession. This allows parties to form much more easily than in traditional MMORPGs.
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