MMO Antiquities – Plate Healers
It is high time I brought something to the attention of everyone. It is an injustice that I’ve known about for some time but said nothing. I was hoping that someone else would come forwards and bring it to light. Nobody has as of yet and I suppose it is time I stop being a coward. Someone needs to ask, “Developers, where have you hidden the clerics?”
Long ago there was a game called Dungeons and Dragons. You might have heard of it. I’m told it and games like it inspired most of the MMO genre. In that game we had things called clerics. They were primary healers and they wore full plate. I don’t mean simple pretend full plate either. They wore the same full plate that warriors and paladins wore and could take a beating!
EverQuest had clerics and, for the most part, treated them correctly. They were unfortunately saddled with complete heal which messed things up but otherwise they worked out. When World of Warcraft came out, however, they disappeared. Clerics were replaced with the notion that healers should wear cloth or light armor. Medium armor was a stretch and often penalized whoever wore it. The only thing close was the paladin and I say loudly, that isn’t a cleric!
Where have our true plate healers gone? Were they shelved because of our tendency to “avoid doing anything like EverQuest?” Was it a stylization issue? Perhaps there is a balance metric that has developed? I’m not sure. All I know is that the plate healer as a primary healer started down hill after EQ1 and died after WoW.
It is time we bring them back. I want to return to a time when the primary healer could stand shoulder to shoulder with a main tank and do their job effectively. I am more than willing to trade flashy nukes and crowd control for tank-grade plate and primary heal abilities. I promise you that doing this won’t create the tedium of the EQ1 cleric. EQ1 clerics were tedious due to complete heal. If you take out that component you can still develop an interesting class. In fact, I dare say, it is a test!
I challenge any developer out there to re-imagine the cleric for a next generation MMO. Take the basic idea of full plate and primary healing and run with it! Think of the possibilities! Think of the fun players will have by not having to cower in the back and be defended. Imagine the synergy of clerics having to, gasp, rely on others for some of their damage while the others rely on them for healing! Revolutionary I know.
Please, think of the clerics. They used to be important. Now they’re locked up in someone’s basement just waiting to get a shot at the big leagues again.
Tags: Cleric, Ferrels MMO, MMO Design
[...] MMO Antiquities – Plate Healers is Ferrel’s way of trying to remind the industry that the cleric has been around a long time and needs to make a return. It is okay to put a primary healer in plate! [...]