The Cheap Cost and Fast Rate of Healing

I've always disliked the spammy nature inwhich healing is used by players in MMO's. But R12 pushes the limits of that.

There's no reagent cost.
Healing with a spell is better than the expensive health potions.

And the rate of healing is crazy powerful!

I didn't realize this until I started healing my Summoned Lich. The Lich would slowly die (lose health) if left unattended, but because I also took life magic spells I could heal it and keep it alive. What I found amazed me. The cost of summoning a Lich was only 40 focus points. But the cost to heal the Lich using Healing Ray was about 12.5 focus points.

This means two things to me.

1. Why waste your focus points healing a Lich if you can just cast the same spell for a low flat rate?
2. Healing is really cheap and powerful...here's this other being that is losing health at a rapid pace, but for just 12.5 focus points I can heal 30-60 health back to it. My starting character only had 59 health!

Healing is overused in all games but especially in this one. And what I don't get is that you can heal while running, while being attacked, and while you're in the middle of combat.

I'm not sure why healing gets so much love in this game, but I hate it. I personally wish there was no healing. I mean it should be enough that players freakin regenerate naturally.

Something has to be done about healing. I suggest the following:

1. Bring it in line with the other spells and make it cost more focus to use.
2. Don't allow it to be cast while moving.
3. Don't allow it to be cast while in combat mode. Only when your weapons are sheathed.
4. Make all healing require reagents.
5. Make health potions usable by players on the run, in combat, with weapons out.

 

I dunno, I mean, mages really depend on healing, they don't have enough defense to survive on their own without the heal spell. Maybe have a penalty of some sort if someone equipped with a non-magical-weapon casts spells.

 

If magic were balanced correctly mages wouldn't need to heal themselves any more than any other character archetype.

 

Agreed with Drocis here. Healing is so cheap is mandatory... don't know why we have healing potions in the first place... why wasting precious gold everytime i want to heal myself when i can spend 5 skill points and 10 gold to heal myself everytime for free? quite the investment, i must say.

There's beauty and potential on the classless system, but if some choices are unbalanced in terms of investment vs power, everybody is going to make the same choice, and diversity is wasted.

 

Paladins? Clerics? Priests? Medics?

What does being a mage have to do with healing in this game since anyone can skill it up?

What mages don't have currently is anything. They are underpowered and not even remotely balanced for anything.

Hence why you see 85% of everyone running around in full plate with earth+fire + bludgeon weapons.

Combat has so far focused solely on melee and PvP melee - sadly so.

 

* The much more Heal is able to be used as a crutch, the less strategy there will be in battle.
* The much more Heal is able to be used as a crutch, the more the combat will be balanced in favor of that option, and the much less viable other forms of combat will be.

@Drocis,

I think we maybe need to think about protection spells, and how they can be used in synergy with healing spells in dire circumstances. If a mage can erect a temporary protective circle / barrier, immobilize the opponent, or turn invisible and hide, then that seems the perfect moment to heal in battle if you really need to.

 

I was thinking the other day that reagents solve a lot of balance issues.

If you make it so people can wear armor can cast Life magic spells, then you don't get Paladins -- because reagents aren't required, you just get a lot of fighters with Heal spamming -- augmenting the advantage they already have with armor with healing capability. Reagents create an additional barrier.

 

Same with fighters/rogue using potions, btw. If someone can successfully hide or defend himself with some type of cover (an obstacle, shield, etc). That seems the perfect time to use a potion.

 

1. Yes, based on what we know now.
2. Hmm. If mages can't cast while moving, then melee can't fight while moving either. But we know we aren't going to go in that extreme...might as well make it a full on turn based tactics scheme. But I'm currently leaning towards allowing melee or magic while moving, but at some cost/penalty depending on speed of movement and perhaps other factors.
3. No.
4. Most healing, perhaps yes. I want to leave the door open for other types of healing that do not require reagents.
5. Yes, but even then I might incur some cost/penalty while moving and other factors.

Yep, would love to see more of these non-damage dealing utility spells since they can easily be extended to non-combat circumstances which is of equal importance to me. But in terms of combat, yes, more crowd control, more protection, etc., especially if it can make use of the environment (terrain, weather, day/night, etc.) and/or situational (type of encounter, type of mob/player, what they're wearing, etc). Many creative ways to approach this.

 

Bandages will help.

I also don't like how you are instantly resurrected and healed when transitioning maps. I don't mind regenerating health, but it is probably way too fast.

Combat overall resembles WoW model too much. Monsters don't need hundreds of HP. Monsters don't need to respawn every 30 seconds. Heal spells don't need to be free.

 

Well I'm sure for those that PVP, for me I don't want to not be able to heal. I lock a heal. It is a bit irritating at times to hear all the don't have this and don't have that, well I want to have it, not everyone wants to not be able to not move or go anywhere because they can't explore or get back because no recall and no survivability, and because of all the restrictions I keep hearing about. I am mostly an RPG/crafting person. I love to fight here and there, sometimes griding, but please be careful what you wish for. I have played so many games. I am not talking from I have not played this or that because I have played them, well lots of them. Ok ranting a bit, but it got to me lol