Cleric? Healer? Really?

[Fizh]

It seems that there has been alot of speculation about what the "5'th class" might be. Many/some seems to come to the conclusion that it will be a cleric/healer-type of character. Im not too fond of the idea. To be honest, I die a little bit everytime I hear people talking about a healing class in D3 :P I know that this class wont have all healing/support skills, because every class should have some offensive skills. But I just dont think we need healing in a game where damage is king. A class who supports other chars is nice, but make the skills boost our damage (like fanaticism).

Take a look at Holy Bolt for example. One of the very few healing spells in D2. Did anyone ever use this spell to heal and being serious about it? It just wasnt useful. Yes, it was occasionally used in baalruns when people had nothing else to do. But it wasnt a skill you would put your points in.

And prayer.. hmm.. I dont even want to talk about it. Its just too silly..

So my conclusion is we shouldn't heal to survive, we should kill to survive :thumbup:

Feel free to discuss whether we need a healer in D3 or not :)

[Manovan]

I think a Cleric/Zealot/Templar class could very well have some healing skills, but without being tagged a healing class. A spell which automatically damages all undead within the area could very well also heal every ally within the same area. That's a spell who can both damage and heal, and it would be useful even in areas with no undead enemies. The class wouldn't be a healing class and players wouldn't spec as healers, it would just be very group friendly because it would slightly improve other players survival rate.

[Fizh]

I like your idea about the partywide heal + dmg. A spell that does nothing but heals is a bad idea though. It would just make the combat slower. Damage skills with some supportive utility I like :) . Remember, a dead monster wont harm you ^^

[Dimmu]

Well healing spells were useless in d2 mostely because you could just TP to town and be fully healed by an npc then stock up on a plethora of potions. They said in the gameplay video that they wanted to reduce dependence on potions with health globes but maybe they were hinting at healing spells being useful. It's been talked about that TP should be given limitations and i agree. The ancients were easily the coolest boss fight in d2 because you couldn't just leave the action in the middle of nowhere to be fully healed while your opponents were left in the dust. They should implement something similiar to this for nearly all boss fights IMO. Maybe they should also make a system where you have to find/craft potions rather than just buy them at absurdly small costs, thus empowering the need for healing skills.
I kind of ranted off-topic but I'm unsure whether or not i want healing to play a big role in the game, i kind of do but it would probably just become cumbersome over time.

[Fizh]

Well healing spells were useless in d2 mostely because you could just TP to town and be fully healed by an npc then stock up on a plethora of potions.

I disagree. Healing spells were simply not powerful enough. I dont think that holy bolt would see more use if the townrunning was limited in some sort of way.

I could accept healing spells with added effects. They should be useful in both a offensive and defensive way. But I would hate if you had to rely on a healer to go through the game.

Instead of healing i would like to see some protective spells. Something like defiance or salvation just with extra flavour :) . This way you still have to play smart, instead of just waiting for that big heal when you get low on health.

[snugglson]

If there is one thing that would be too much like WoW, its healing spells. Every character needs the ability to kill stuff fast, which is why the WoW paladin is so lame. If there is anything like that in D3 I will kill myself.

[5zigen]

I figure there's going to be a priest/ cleric in the game for the sole reason that holy magic has been a staple of Diablo.

I dont think the priest or cleric or whatever will have a "healing role" though. I dont think blizzard would do anything like that. Possibly a few spells that heal but not a primary focus.

Just thought a cool name for the class could be Exorcist!

[Fizh]

I agree that diablo needs a "holy guy". Exorcist indeed is a cool name, but they can call him whatever they want as long as the main focus is on the damage, not healing..

[PatMaGroin]

Potion spamming makes for a mindless game. I would rather have a healing class than potion spam.

But the one thing I hate about WoW is you can't do certain things unless you have the right group makeup (tanks, healers, cc) and that has absolutely no place in Diablo. I'm all for a support class, but a class that primarily heals just doesn't seem very Diablish.

[5zigen]

Potion spamming makes for a mindless game. I would rather have a healing class than potion spam.

But the one thing I hate about WoW is you can't do certain things unless you have the right group makeup (tanks, healers, cc) and that has absolutely no place in Diablo. I'm all for a support class, but a class that primarily heals just doesn't seem very Diablish.

A way for each class to self heal would be much more interesting, robust and fitting to the diablo environments.

Besides we have those health globes now.

[CanAbyss]

I can't really see a healer coming into to game if we still have potions and healing globe things. That would just be overkill.

[Fizh]

I got the impression that those globes actually drop quite often, so maybe there wont be a need for anything else. But I think small selfheals would work pretty good also. In the d2 mod Median2008, the barbarian has a skill called titan strike. When you hit an enemy with this melee skill you get health regeneration for 10 seconds or so, you also get a temporary boost to dexterity and strength. Its a offensive skill with a inbuild selfheal and it works very good imo.

[Dimmu]

People are saying alot about a class being totally dedicated to healing. Of course that would NEVER happen because nobody would ever play that class. But having like 2 classes that do have decent healing capability isn't a bad idea IMO.
It totally escaped my mind when I saw a topic about whether or not the system of finding your body after dying should remain the standard, but remember the ressurection spell in diablo 1? I think that should make a return on a class if they do, in fact restrict TP. This would be the same class that has healing skills.
This way we would have a situation similiar to having a barb on your team in d2. Everybody wants the barb's high-level battle orders in their baalruns, but it isn't absolutely neccesary. So having this healing class join your party greatly improves your team's efficiancy, but getting through the game without it is perfectly viable too.

[phool]

Parties in games with healing classes are pretty much always reliant on healing classes. A dedicated healing class would almost certainly either be redundant or required. More or less acceptable in a coop ORPG, not for Diablo.

[saurokmaster]

I don't see point in healing class.
In fast tempo game like Diablo (what I belive it will be) healers wont be able to target their spells to quickly moving party members.

And who would use healing if melee characters can heal themselfs with life steal?

[lionheart]

If they make something around healing for a character then they better make the character able to clear the game by its own as well, and not just somebody to have along in groups.

[voraginous]

It seems that there has been alot of speculation about what the "5'th class" might be. Many/some seems to come to the conclusion that it will be a cleric/healer-type of character. Im not too fond of the idea. To be honest, I die a little bit everytime I hear people talking about a healing class in D3 :P I know that this class wont have all healing/support skills, because every class should have some offensive skills. But I just dont think we need healing in a game where damage is king. A class who supports other chars is nice, but make the skills boost our damage (like fanaticism).

Take a look at Holy Bolt for example. One of the very few healing spells in D2. Did anyone ever use this spell to heal and being serious about it? It just wasnt useful. Yes, it was occasionally used in baalruns when people had nothing else to do. But it wasnt a skill you would put your points in.

And prayer.. hmm.. I dont even want to talk about it. Its just too silly..

So my conclusion is we shouldn't heal to survive, we should kill to survive :thumbup:

Feel free to discuss whether we need a healer in D3 or not :)

Agreed 100%. We also have to think about singleplayer. What the hell use is a healing character there? :p

Generally, healing classes are dumb and boring. And I don't think they fit the Diablo series as we've seen it thus far (though healing is certainly in the lore, I mean the games have had one or two healing spells out of hundreds). I can see select rare uses of healing being cool, or maybe a heal other spell everyone can get, but a whole class about healing seems wrong. It's very MMO and not very ARPG.

Also what's with holy bolt? Noone ever EVER uses it. It needs to either be incredibly imba against undead, as in instagibs undead knights at level one, or do magic damage like hammers :whistling: Or maybe let it do damage to demons too and just not hurt animal class monsters.

Also: bring back sword/mace damage to demon/undead classes. Give us some reason to choose between a sword/mace besides our skills, but also based on the enemy we face.

[Chard]

I find it hard to concieve of a "healer" in a diablo game. I see support class, but not something where that support is healing the party in a game where there are health orbs and pots to be had. I assume pots to still be in, just not as much of a necessity as they were in D2.

[storm temple]

Maybe This type of Paladin would suffice?

TO be honest , been in some sort of D3 fever, hope it cools down.
Since My favorite is the paladin ,i just came up with this

Divine Purge
Level 30
Dispels Curses, and cures Diseases and poison For allies and self around 5 yards
It kinds of replace the cleansing aura.casting delay 10 seconds (for this spell only)

Blind Zeal
Level 24
Maximum of 5 Cleave (like the barbarian cleave)
but he does 5 fast cleaving motion while slightly moving forward (with a different sword play animation every time, looks likes hes doing some sword combo)
(start of level 1 at a very low enhanced dmg and speed)

Charging Smite
Level 28
Charge Into battle always hitting the first enemy in sight with a powerful bash with the shield ,requires minimum distance 5 yards.
Special:
The Enemy hit ,If smaller than humanoid size will be Be Splattered or KnockBack 10 Yards,
Humanoid size KnockBack 5 yards.The knockback enemy will push back the others enemies
doing minor damage.(like a domino effect,a possible clearance skill)
Huge enemy 25% to stun.
Giant Enemies : No Effect only dmg

(does not go through like the barb furious charge)

Repel Unholy
Level 24
When Surrounded by overwhelming numbers of demons and especially undead
the paladin utters a prayer to god then thrust his sword into the ground
(or slamming the hammer into the ground)
Releasing Holy Damage to Undead and Demon.
Special:
Depending on Characters Level , Skill Level and Enemy Level
Only Undead Either Stun for 5 seconds, Flee , only take damage
and lesser undead perish.


I got a lot of name for this one
and Fist of Heaven is just below this skill tree

Heaven's Vengeance
Celestial Fury
Calm Before The Storm
Level 65 (? who knows?)
The Paladin Get on His Knees and Pray (about 2 seconds lol)
In his prayers the sky open up
A kind of holy lightning rains down on all his enemies

(kinda like starfall but a shorter simpler version)
1 minute cooldown, mana goes to zero
hopefully mana is hard to come by so it would be used less often.

Phew i think i just Dump all my diablo3 fever on this one.
it some wut drains my diablo 3 frenzy typing this.
Hey im cured.. for now.. be back in a few days.

Curious to any of Your ideas for skills and spells
please do share it releases some of the d3 tension.
works for me.LOL

[Fizh]

TO be honest , been in some sort of D3 fever, hope it cools down.

I know what you mean :b

Well, on to the skills. The Divine Purge skill sounds useful and I think it would be more effective than the old cleansing. Cleansing would take ages before it would remove the poison and it would force you to sacrifice your first aura. Divine Purge sounds like a good utility-skill which could ease the fight for the party.

Blind zeal, just close your eyes and swing away. I like the idea :)

The others seem quite interesting too. And not as dry as some of the old paladins skill, if i may say so.

[storm temple]

Glad you like it Fizh
My my just go crazy with the caffeine and nicotine.

Start now.You're never too young to smoke

[Funkopotamus]

I used holy bolt seriously once, when I made a healadin. Most of my healing was through meditate. The game is just too fast for single target burst healing.

Now of you have healing wards or healing corpse explode or like a zeal that spews heals on striking, that would be tasty.

It occurs to me though, if you're going to get stomped into the ground and bitten in half, someone or something may have ressurect.

[ill logic]

A lack of a decent healing skill was one of my first disappointments in Diablo 2--I had chosen the Pally as my first class for that very reason. A cleric/healer class is going way overboard, but the potential is there for a couple healing skills added to a char like the Pally. Prayer and Holy Bolt sucked. They both healed too little, and HB couldn't affect your ally reliably--it wasn't fast enough to get them before they moved even though it had a radius of sorts.

There's no reason to object to this as a possible build for a char. It makes a richer game since there are people that would like to play a support role--the more builds, the better. I wouldn't mind taking a hit in my damage, in order to be able to heal myself and my ally.

And does anyone think the health globes look similar to the drops in Jade Empire?

[DeadorK]

How about not a cleric/priest/generic healer, but like an alchemist, who would be able to make potions and then craft some sort of totem that emits a healing aura, or an exploding potion that has a healing gas that is poisonous to enemies.

[Matora]

I like the thought of a holy healer, and of him hurting undead but maybe a different idea that let them put the smackdown on other monsters. An alchemist? Not a bad idea DeadorK. Throwing bombs similar to the witch doc or assassin? Maybe he could be the one to set traps as well!

If I see a dedicated healer though, yeah /wrists.