(10-27-2013, 07:58 AM)Ildur Wrote: You don't need a decade to come up with a mechanic paradigm more interesting than "Spamable Single Target Heal, AoE Heal, Bigger version of those, Debuff Dispel."
Sure. Â But not everyone thinks that the system you're describing is boring.
Quote:What I will say in defense of the system is that it works. It's not the most interesting system ever, but the lack of complexities have its advantages (for example, encounters are easier to balance).
Not just the encounters, but the classes themselves. Â In particular, it's extremely difficult to balance absorbs vs. throughput healing, which I think is reflected in how tentative SE is being with SCH.
Quote:The problem is that healing is mindnumbing unless you are fighting a boss with interesting mechanics. But if there are no interesting mechanics during that combat encounter, like most fights against trash mobs, then spamming your class' spammable heal is sometimes the only thing you are required to do.
Well, I don't find healing mind-numbing. Â But then, I pretty much just play healers. Â It's what I enjoy.
Quote:I agree that you should CC the mobs if there is no Thaumaturge or Summoner to do that (and assuming your tank can survive the burst damage while you sleep the targets), but once you do? It's back to casting Cure 1 over and over again. DPS as a White Mage is not significant enough to be worth the trouble, not to mention they don't have a mana recovery mechanic, so every damaging spell you are casting is one less healing spell you might need.
You can take risks when you are confident in the tank or when you know you won't run out of mana mid-battle. But otherwise? Better safe than sorry: don't waste your mana for damage dealing. You can never be sure that your teammates aren't going to take big hits (because of whatever reason: maybe positional lag or their cat jumped to their face for a hug).
Well, I'll preface this by saying that I personally don't see anything wrong with a WHM not DPSing (in fact, if I'm bored I'd rather the tank just pull more so I have more healing to do), but WHM mana issues honestly aren't a reason to not DPS once you have a bit of gear. Â And if there's a bard in your group, you pretty much have 0 reason not to DPS other than you don't want to. Â Which, of course, is absolutely valid.