This is something that has been lacking in DCUO for a while now, certainly from an elite/elite plus side of things. Many of the recent alerts (including elite and elite plus) you can run without a healer, and in the raid usually a solo heal is fine, or 2 healers spamming EOG if this is still applicable. (Heck you have players on test beating some bosses in the new elite raid without a healer) It would be great to have mechanics that either encourage pure healing or 2 heal setups (more so the latter). This may apply more to elite or elite plus but could also be an idea to a lesser extent in normal content as well. For example: 1. Heal debuff mechanics: These can range from AOEs that give you a heal debuff, to having to adhere to mechanics that if ignored give players a significant heal debuff, together with some kind of damage over time mechanic. 2. Heal swap mechanic: This would require a 2 heal setup. Similar to some recent bosses like Neron in NUE or One Who Laughs in SWE+ except for healers. So for example, the boss would point at a healer and give them a red aura. If that healer uses any healing abilities, the abilities will reverse and give the group a massive raidwide DOT, likely resulting in a wipe. However that healer can move around and not heal, while another healer in the group heals the group through other mechanics. Following this, once the red aura has expired on the first healer, the boss will give the other healer a red aura and the roles will reverse. - Alternatively the healer will just not be able to use their abilities, while a boss casts a considerable damage over time on the group. The other healer would then have to heal through the damage. 3. Heal check mechanic: Not too dissimilar to surviving a Lazarus Pit Water proc, except it would be a mechanic in the fight. One (or more players) would receive a curse and have their health taken down to low. They would have a skull icon above their head with a timer (how long would depend on the difficulty (normal, elite, elite+). The heal/s would then need to heal that player to full before the timer runs out, or the affected player will be KO'd. 4. Heal stack marker: Similar to the Rebuked Isolation marker in SWE, except that it requires 2 heals only to stack together in a certain timeframe. If they don't stack both healers are KO'd, leaving the rest of the group with a temporary but heavy DOT and heal debuff. The above examples can be coupled with other damage over time mechanics to add difficulty. These would help make content in the game a little more interesting without necessarily throwing in one shots in the process. Thoughts?
I agree. My Main is a Healer, and has been in mothballs for the entirety of SttS. It'd be nice to see content at normal difficulty that is made considerably easier with a Healer (enough to compensate for the DPS drop), but is still playable without. There are so many Artifacts and Allies that grant strong shields now that the Role is in danger of being permanently sidelined. Superman and Clarion on Tanks are the most noticeable here in my experience. I don't think they need adjusting personally, but they are making a big difference to the need for a Healer.
I do have a question. How would this be communicated to the players, so that they know the instance needs more healers? My initial concern is that players won't know, then go into instances with the traditional number of support roles. Not realize what is happening, then rip into the healer for not doing their "job". I'm not opposed to creative ways to encourage more healers in raids. I am just concerned about how that gets communicated to the many, many players who never come to the forums.
