Thursday, November 09, 2006
A Comment on World of Warcaft
So, if you're like me and 6,999,998 other people, you play WoW. My
account is actually on hold right now until The Burning Crusade comes
out - I dislike raids and got tired of doing the same 5-man stuff
umpteen times. Over the past couple of months, I've had the opportunity
to try both Guild Wars and City of Villains. By and large, I think WoW
stomps both of these in terms of gameplay, variety. polish, etc. But
the one thing that both GW and CoV pwn WoW in is healing.
WoW emphasizes group play, which is great - it creates a cool social
dynamic and adds a lot of depth to the experience (yes, of course it
has it's downside, too). However, the single most frustrating aspect of
group play, imho anyway, is the way that healing is handled. Healing
isn't fun and, while this is based purely on anecdotal evidence and my
own experience, most people would prefer NOT to play a healing class.
If that's the case, then why on earth does Blizzard continue with the
existing healing mechanics?
Both GW and CoV have self-heal mechanics in place. CoV does it
particularly well - every class has a self-heal spell, and healing
consumables are not on any cooldown or timer. When the boss hits you
for 500, you can pop inspires as fast as you can mash the hot key. That
said, classes exist in CoV that can spec primarily into healing, and if
you happen to have one of those folks along you can tell the difference
- things go much more smoothly. But my point is that you don't NEED a
healer in order to play the game and accomplish anything beyond solo
farming.
I doubt the healing mechanics will ever change in WoW since it might
negatively impact the end-all, be-all raid game. But it sure would be
nice for everyone if they'd make focused healing less essential in the
overall game mechanics.
So, if you're like me and 6,999,998 other people, you play WoW. My
account is actually on hold right now until The Burning Crusade comes
out - I dislike raids and got tired of doing the same 5-man stuff
umpteen times. Over the past couple of months, I've had the opportunity
to try both Guild Wars and City of Villains. By and large, I think WoW
stomps both of these in terms of gameplay, variety. polish, etc. But
the one thing that both GW and CoV pwn WoW in is healing.
WoW emphasizes group play, which is great - it creates a cool social
dynamic and adds a lot of depth to the experience (yes, of course it
has it's downside, too). However, the single most frustrating aspect of
group play, imho anyway, is the way that healing is handled. Healing
isn't fun and, while this is based purely on anecdotal evidence and my
own experience, most people would prefer NOT to play a healing class.
If that's the case, then why on earth does Blizzard continue with the
existing healing mechanics?
Both GW and CoV have self-heal mechanics in place. CoV does it
particularly well - every class has a self-heal spell, and healing
consumables are not on any cooldown or timer. When the boss hits you
for 500, you can pop inspires as fast as you can mash the hot key. That
said, classes exist in CoV that can spec primarily into healing, and if
you happen to have one of those folks along you can tell the difference
- things go much more smoothly. But my point is that you don't NEED a
healer in order to play the game and accomplish anything beyond solo
farming.
I doubt the healing mechanics will ever change in WoW since it might
negatively impact the end-all, be-all raid game. But it sure would be
nice for everyone if they'd make focused healing less essential in the
overall game mechanics.
