GC's happy with healing in Ulduar
by Mike Schramm 
May 8th 2009 at 2:00PM
Ghostcrawler has appeared in two different threads talking about healing today, and the gist of it is that he's happy. He's happy with healing and the way it works in Ulduar: there's a good variety between boss fights and phases, there are intense moments and pauses in the action, and he says they've got things to a point where they like them. Later, he says that while in Naxx, you don't really have to warn the healer too much (you can basically tell them to heal the MT and leave it at that), Ulduar requires healers to get into the rhythm -- sometimes go all out, and sometimes hold back. He does say that too much mana is still an issue for them, and if anything gets nerfed in that department, Replenishment will. But he doesn't expect too many nerfs for a while.That doesn't mean, of course, that the big healing update is out the window -- GC still hints that there are more changes in store for healing, and we'd bet coppers to gold that there are both mechanic changes and possibly even a hero class due for healers soon. But for now, healing is where they want it in the current content, and it sounds like most players agree.
Now, there's just PvP...
Filed under: Druid, Paladin, Priest, Analysis / Opinion, Blizzard, Instances, Raiding, Bosses
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Darknoob May 8th 2009 2:04PM
The spirit regen was way OP. For God's sake the whole raid could stand on green and still survive.
Togusan May 8th 2009 2:55PM
Well, im running out of mana and im a druid. I guess it could be because in 10 man ulduar we run it with 2 healz. Freya in this configuration was a nightmare but we did it.
Ignis seems way to hard still withn only 2 healz.
AyaJulia May 8th 2009 2:59PM
It's a known fact that healz are inferior to heals. That's probably what you've got wrong.
Togusan May 8th 2009 3:03PM
Actually, Yeah i'm not the top dog healer, but i'm pretty good. Still i wouldn't want a mana nerf, i don't see it necesary. And yeah, now i need to move here and there in fights, something i didn't do in naxx.
alittan May 8th 2009 2:14PM
I'm curious as to what Hero Class they could make that involves healing.. I figure it would have to do with the expansion that they'd make next, be it Emerald Dream or The Maelstrom, because Wrath and Death Knights clearly fit together, what with the whole undead theme. Arch Druid as a hero class seems kind of dull - Since there's already normal druids -, it'd have to be something entirely new.. Seer? Meh.
zappo May 8th 2009 2:17PM
Medic. Then gnomes could have healers too.
Deadly. Off. Topic. May 8th 2009 2:24PM
Hmm, I’m gonna try to think outside the box, but maybe create a class called: Divine Aegis - Both heals and does Melee damage.
OR better yet, make Naru a playable class. LOL>
Marc Sadowski May 8th 2009 2:41PM
Monks! Make them a class. I know it's not a popular idea. I thought they were cool ever since Scarlet Monastery.
Just my opinion.
Ikarus May 8th 2009 3:11PM
They could always introduce a new class/concept to the game. The lore isn't locked. I imagine something like a "dark mender" along the lines of a shadow priest but with more emphasis on healing. Vampiric attacks that heal not just the group but specific targets. Maybe something like combo points from attacks that store up life-force energy from the enemies attacked that can be release to heal targets or groups. Like runic power works for DK's. Just a thought
ChiperSoft May 8th 2009 3:51PM
I too vote for a medic.
I'd actually like to see a Tinker class, with Melee, Ranged and Medic talent trees. Have the class use stuff that it loots of bodies to perform spells/abilities. Make it even more interesting by letting Tinkers convert gray trash loot into usable reagents.
Come to think of it, that could probably work as a new skill too.
PeeWee May 8th 2009 4:10PM
The short answer is: There is no need for another class.
Blizzard have already shown quite well how horribly hard it is to balance the existing classes already, adding more to the mix will only stir up more QQ and make people whine even more.
DeathPaladin May 8th 2009 4:21PM
@ChiperSoft
Or, even better idea, instead of making a new class and/or profession around gadgetry, they could breathe some new life into engineering.
To move more in the direction of the discussion about a new healing class, it's hard to find something that wouldn't be muscling in on another class's style. Death Knights did that a little with Warriors and Paladins, but I think there is enough stylistic variation that most people don't consider them to be just "Warlocks in Plate" or "Shadow Paladins"
Plenty of people have pointed out the problems with introducing Archdruid. Medics or Tinkers would have an interesting situation where their play style could conflict with professions instead of classes (I'm thinking First Aid or Engineering). One possible suggestion I haven't heard is Plagueshifter, though the problems of that is that Plagueshifters are Horde and are pretty similar to shaman.
Some type of Runecaster would probably be cool, but their runic system would have to be different from Death Knights, since a healing class with an infinite resource pool would defeat the point of having any other healing class, and completely contradict Blizzard's goal of having resource management be a concern for casters.
Rollo May 8th 2009 9:47PM
We don't need another healer tree. Either make fights more fun, or perhaps revamp healing mechanics a little. A new, fun, healer is needed? What message does that send to the healers currently in the game?
Marc Sadowski said...
> Monks! Make them a class. I know it's not a popular idea. I
> thought they were cool ever since Scarlet Monastery.
Holy priests are traditional priests, shadow priests are cultists. Discipline tree should have been the monk tree, an unarmed combat, cloth armor tree. That would have been awesome. :-D
Alittan May 9th 2009 4:42AM
The various choices blizzard would have are usually close to too close to the actual classes that are already available.
Acolytes, Disciples, Monks, and other Holy Warriors are too close to Priests, Spriests and Paladins.
Archdruids, Dreamwalkers, Plagueshifters, etc, are too close to Druids and their kind of "disease removing skills/nature preservers/tree hugging skills"
Shadowhunter, Witch Doctor and the likes, are a lot like Shaman. Granted, Shadow Hunters use a different kind of way to obtain power.
Medics and Tinkers are basically Engineers, not a whole new class. the skill the goblin in Area52 used to revive another goblin was clearly an Engineered weapon, and so pointless to make a new class for.
The only healing classes that I see that COULD be implemented (not saying they have to, I thinkt hat if they revamp the current healing mechanic, enough people would regain interest in rolling a healer), are either a:
- Shadow Hunter (They are masters of voodoo magics who can use their spirit-powers to both heal their allies and place curses upon their hapless enemies. The Shadow Hunters walk the line between darkness and light in hopes of salvaging the future for their savage brethren), which kind of reminds me of a hybrid between a resto-shaman and a warlock, and could be used by the horde
- Runemaster, which would use kind of the same mechanic as the Death Knight when it comes to skills.
crsh May 8th 2009 2:18PM
I agree the spirit regen was over the top, but I feel like they've gutted a little too much of the healing classes in general (ie. not just the regen part).
I find it funny how GC is tapping himself on the shoulder like that, I can't exactly forget how he's done a terrible job at 1) acknowledging players' feedback and 2) improving the perception that Blizzard has zero vision for most healing classes (there's rather large gap between paladins and the other healing classes).
Pat May 8th 2009 2:26PM
He's not patting himself on the back, he's saying that the developers are happy. He is not the sole developer. Also, he's doing a terrible job of acknowledging players because that's not his job. He is a dev, not a comunity manager. Talking directly to the players is actually a stupid thing for devs to be doing.
dtm May 8th 2009 2:24PM
I feel it was not spirit regen that was OP, but Replenishment instead. It seems to me that Replenishment was OP, so Blizzard's solution was to adjust the product instead of rethinking the assembly line.
Jon Do May 8th 2009 2:25PM
Yay for GC?
epsilon343 May 8th 2009 2:32PM
Oh please Ghostcrawler, take even more mana from me. I just can't *WAIT* to have to let people die because you think healers are having it too easy and decided to kill regen even more...
And just as a note, I've cleared a large portion of Ulduar25 and while mana hasn't been much of an issue outside of a particularly nasty attempt on Hodir, I feel like we're right on the cusp of being able to just throw heals without care and OOMing halfway through the fight.
Instead of focusing on mp5 and our mana pools, maybe they should look into making healing more fun. Right now as a Resto Shaman I have 4 healing spells and 2 cooldowns, plus Earth Shield. As a healer I have absolutely no involvement in downing the boss. Now I know that if I wanted to DPS I could just go Elemental but it'd be nice if healers were given spells or something that would allow us to be a part of the boss fight, such as a spell that could be cast that would siphon life to a player in my raid group. I don't know...
Kylesmom May 8th 2009 2:35PM
My god, your spec is for healing, then heal, otherwise respec and quit QQing. Whats next, I wanna tank, dps and heal at the same time, come on blizz wtf!?!?!?!
Sweet jebus, ignorant statements.