One of the strongest traits of WAR for me has got to be the WAR-team's stance on hybrids/healers. They have stated on multiple occasions that there will be no "heal-bot class"; a class defined by players as a full-time healer and nothing more.

Many would be skeptical about such a statement, as obviously many game companies have made such claims (most notably Blizzard), only to not back them up.

I believe that the measures in which Mythic is implementing will ensure that there will not be any heal-bots, as long as they remain true to the mechanical trend they have been showcasing with all of their healer classes. Take, for example, the Warrior Priest: in order for the WP to heal, he must gain Rightious Fury, which is obtained through striking the enemy with a rather large hammer.

Do you guys think Mythic will do hybrids right, or is it just wishful thinking?

quote Chaos Seraph

It can't work.

If they give the hybrids completely equal damage AND they have any form of capability that gives healing, then it leaves the non hybrids severely lacking(...)

I would agree with that. However, I think what you got from their stance on hybrids is different from what I got out of it. I don't think they're giving hybrids the same offensive capabilities as pure classes, I am pretty sure what they are doing is linking the mediocre offensive abilities with the supportive abilities (such as buffs and heals). This way, instead of being a full on buff-bot/heal-bot, one has to go on the offensive as well.

Really what I see it as is a safeguard against the creation of such dull and tediously unfun roles within the game. But with such a safeguard will indeed come some balance issues, as you say. Let's just hope they can manage to work those out.

This message was edited by August on Jul 11 2007.

What's wrong with heal-bots? If you enjoy healing then it shouldn't be a problem, and if you don't then don't play that class.

Very few games actually provide any sort of depth in healing. I think the only game that I have played where being a heal-bot is fun was Guild Wars.

My problem with other games isn't so much the classes that are completely designed to be nothing but healers, but more-so the hybrid classes that are forced to abandon all of their offensive power in favor of doing nothing but healing. Not only is this age-old design flaw seemingly avoided in WAR, but pure healing classes altogether won't be making an appearance within the game.

Personally, I find such a concept to be awesome. But to the people who do like playing the heal-bot/buff-bot roles, I'm sorry to say that this game is simply not for you.

Hybrids are possible if the healing requirement is not too high, but if the healing requirements are not high then it reduces the challange a bit, hybrids can work but I would imagine one class will be forced into becoming a pure healer... Infact in FFXI hybrid healers work well for Ninja Tanks so it is possible... but that's because Ninja from FFXI take little to no damage... the challange is the Ninja keeping their illusions up long enough for the party to destory the creature else that hybrid healing then comes into play... so it can work... but White Mage still existed as a dedicated healer... dedicated healers will still exist I think.

I am actually gunna guess for Order, Empire will stand out as the healers =/... tho interesting name for a class... (warrior priest that is). Not sure about Destruction tho, being they are suppose to be the evil side I would think they are likely to process less healing then order I guess... but we will see if classes are paired or not. I am hoping not because then it'll make the two different so gives the option of switching and getting a different experience... but meh.