Need help with a Healer Revamp

[Ambroas]

Ok so I'm working on ideas for a Healer revamp and I don't want it to come off overpowered or under so I figured I'd give out where my initial ideas are taking me and see if anyone wants to sugguest anything.

First- Get rid of the light and make this a true support all class.  This may have been effective in the past but now with a smaller playerbase there are too many times when a Healer is the only goodie on and that just sucks.  Making the class neutral will allow them to support all forms of life and if they HAVE to have the battle against the undead they can do so still without being good.  Watcher does it against Demons/Undead and such while remaining neutral.

Second- Give this class buffs, not buff the class.  We're all aware of the consumable hoarding in the game, there's literally a consumable for almost every spell a Healer has so why not beef them up a bit and decrease the effectiveness of herbs/consumables by reducing the span that they're effective for and/or put on a timer for using them.  As a true support class the buffs and healing of this class should completely outshine any simple herb you'd find lying around in the dirt of a forest.

Third- New types of buffs, sure we can give them haste, slow, fly, sanc, bless and such but what we really need are some class specific buffs that aren't found anywhere else as well.  Ideas here are ones such as:

Regen- Simply enough, it gives a large bonus to hp regen or mana, the healer must select one of the two depending on the person. Will be considered effective healing with heal for emergencies.
Life Support- When placed on a character it will receive a large amount of healing when dealt a deathblow.
Beef Up - Increases the hit/dam of the subject
Booster - Increases the stats of a target, not 21 str +2, raises max of the stats themselves allowing them to have 23str
Double attack - Give the target a chance to have double round in combat (also considered this to be 1 round effective, making the next round be a double)
Cross - Target takes extra damage for a time
Link - Allows the healer to take a portion of the damage another would receive
*I'll be trying to come up with more of these

Fourth- Remove divine retribution and instead give them a summoned spirit bodyguard that reflects their religion in appearance.  This bodyguard will try to find the healer if seperated (like a stalking npc does).  Then they can take their buffs and place it on him for combat, I even considered the idea of summoning different things for different scenarios. One magical, one physical, one a tank to absorb health.  One idea I'm considering is that while this is strong the npc wouldn't be able to land a killing blow on a target this would keep up with the idea of preserving life not ending it.  The healer could have a restriction against killing a foe that is mercied, neither of these would go towards the undead.
 

[the_nightmare]

Lets leave the healers as they are please? The thing that really needs revamping is lotus scourge and death kiss.

[Kyzarius]

Wow those are all some slick ideas.  I will try to brainstorm something to add. 

[mya]

Healers lost their reason to be. No one seeks resurrection, they are PK restricted, and our Pbase is to small to keep a healer occupied/having fun.

I would say, leave them as relic of FL past and lets worry about something more important.

[Magick]

Perhaps a solo healer, Mya.  But a caballed healer is usually plenty occupied.  Fun is subjective.

[Ambroas]

16 hours ago, mya said:

Healers lost their reason to be. No one seeks resurrection, they are PK restricted, and our Pbase is to small to keep a healer occupied/having fun.

I would say, leave them as relic of FL past and lets worry about something more important.

That's why I don't want their only focus in the lands to be to sit and wait to resurrect someone or to kill one of the 1-2 undeads we have active.  What's more important is your opinion just like Nightmare's that ninjas are.  Personally I view Healers as the class that needs the most work and it's also the one I'm most likely to play as a main once it's fixed.  As a Healer basically everything is set up for years ago and the class just doesn't work with the current system which is why no one plays it or only does for a short time.  A PK restriction doesn't bother me, I like support characters and this is the only pure support but I don't like useless ones which is what healers are most of the time.

The issue with healers is huge, an entire class that basically has nothing to do but sit around and wait to offer a resurrection that most people don't need or want.  I've already given my idea for ninjas which is they and thieves need to be fused together into one class with skill trees.  You could go lotus or death kiss with them fixed, have thief traps and such too.  I believe the issue with them is too small of a playerbase, people rarely stay in town, people are too aware, people stay in areas or move through areas you can't hide,  people log off when they see a thief, and the players have just gotten smart to a lot of the methods used by these classes.  Fixing them would probably require more than just changing 1/2 skills IMO.  What do you believe would be a good fix to them?

 

[tassinvegeta]

(peeks in)

 

Someone say ninjas?  

[Ambroas]

New Ideas, I'm not sure that I'm skilled enough to come up with a class skill/spell list so instead I'm going to keep submitting ideas like this:

Scribe- The healer is able to scroll down 5 spells onto a scroll that when used will instantly cast those spells onto the person.  Scroll will be considered a rare item.

Token of protection- A Healer may give a token to others that when used will request that the healer gates to them to assist, if the owner dies the healer will also be notified and if they accept will gate to the corpse.  Downside here is a thief can steal it and use it, healer thinks it's his friend and goes to be blackjacked or gates to a corpse with a badie near it.

NEW RESURRECTION: As these new healers are neutral and protectors of ALL life let's give them a new resurrection.  The healer gets the same benefits as before, the person who died however should receive something.  So let's give them the blessing new life, trying to decide what will be good here.  I'm considering it to be a holy blessing to protect them in both defense and offense while they rearm themself or if they're attacked quickly. 
Option 1:  -100ac, +20 hit/dam or something.  HP/Mana/Moves regen as well.  Could put a cap on the ac/hit/dam though so it doesn't get crazy.  Say they died and didn't get looted you don't want someone with insane gear and a +20 buff.    
OPTION 2: It will provide a long lasting protective aura that gives a smaller bonus to ac/hit/dam and blocks damage like journeyman.

All Materia: Allows a healer to take any buff spell and commune it as an all spell.  If this is too much then I would still hope they can get mass sanctuary.

Greater sanctuary: Works just like regular sanc but being masters of defensive magic the aura from a Healer is stronger.

Saving Grace: Prevents all incoming damage to the subject for 1 turn, long wait time to cast again.

Free movement: removes lag on the subject, you know so mechanus doesn't bodyslam you to death.

Ok this one can be solved two ways, if a Cabal Healer doesn't have a pet and standard is under attack he can be defeated by dirting healer then fleeting to come back to fight for standard while healer is blind, blind healer again on the hour and repeat.  Because of that I suggest either a weak aoe or a spell the protects from dirt kicking either through preventing or removing. 

More to come, let me know if I'm getting OP here.  The general idea though is since this is the only pure support that if they ally with someone they should be able to increase damage given, decrease taken, give side benefits and more.  They have to be more useful than having an extra high damage melee in the group or else they'd never even be asked to assist.-

[Aulian]

On 9/4/2016 at 3:47 AM, Ambroas said:

 

New Ideas, I'm not sure that I'm skilled enough to come up with a class skill/spell list so instead I'm going to keep submitting ideas like this:

Scribe- The healer is able to scroll down 5 spells onto a scroll that when used will instantly cast those spells onto the person.  Scroll will be considered a rare item.  - Similar to what a BMG gets at the moment.

Token of protection- A Healer may give a token to others that when used will request that the healer gates to them to assist, if the owner dies the healer will also be notified and if they accept will gate to the corpse.  Downside here is a thief can steal it and use it, healer thinks it's his friend and goes to be blackjacked or gates to a corpse with a badie near it.  - Lifetime? How long does it last. Not a bad idea. 

NEW RESURRECTION: As these new healers are neutral and protectors of ALL life let's give them a new resurrection.  The healer gets the same benefits as before, the person who died however should receive something.  So let's give them the blessing new life, trying to decide what will be good here.  I'm considering it to be a holy blessing to protect them in both defense and offense while they rearm themself or if they're attacked quickly. 
Option 1:  -100ac, +20 hit/dam or something.  HP/Mana/Moves regen as well.  Could put a cap on the ac/hit/dam though so it doesn't get crazy.  Say they died and didn't get looted you don't want someone with insane gear and a +20 buff.  - This isn't a bad idea. But I would suggest that it only works until someone attacks another player     
OPTION 2: It will provide a long lasting protective aura that gives a smaller bonus to ac/hit/dam and blocks damage like journeyman.

All Materia: Allows a healer to take any buff spell and commune it as an all spell.  If this is too much then I would still hope they can get mass sanctuary. What like stone skin?

Greater sanctuary: Works just like regular sanc but being masters of defensive magic the aura from a Healer is stronger. -Hrrm I don't know about this one.

Saving Grace: Prevents all incoming damage to the subject for 1 turn, long wait time to cast again. - As long as this is a healer only effect and can't be cast on others.

Free movement: removes lag on the subject, you know so mechanus doesn't bodyslam you to death. - Just no. Bash and Bodyslam is a mechanic in the game with an intended effect. Might as well be able to grant people magic immunity. 

Ok this one can be solved two ways, if a Cabal Healer doesn't have a pet and standard is under attack he can be defeated by dirting healer then fleeting to come back to fight for standard while healer is blind, blind healer again on the hour and repeat.  Because of that I suggest either a weak aoe or a spell the protects from dirt kicking either through preventing or removing. 

More to come, let me know if I'm getting OP here.  The general idea though is since this is the only pure support that if they ally with someone they should be able to increase damage given, decrease taken, give side benefits and more.  They have to be more useful than having an extra high damage melee in the group or else they'd never even be asked to assist.-

 

What is your vision for this class? Are the good or neutral? If only good then they can only join Knight  or Savant - that makes the entire goodie population of FL at a massive advantage. 

[Ambroas]

@Aulian My vision is for a neutral healer that supports all life, the class would be a true support class not like what we have now where almost all of their buffs can be gained by herbs so they aren't really needed for anything.  That way neither side has a great advantage, everyone could receive the buffed resurrection and benefits.  A Healer may side more with one person over another based on rp but why be biased in who they are willing to save?  The temple healers aren't so why would the healers who roam outside of the temples do it? 

I want to increase the effect they can have on a group because now personally I'd rather take a ranger or warrior with me than a healer while exploring and that just seems wrong and pointless to the class.  While I don't want them able to deal as much damage as a melee or mage I'd like for them to be able to buff those people to a point where their damage output is much higher while still offering defense to the group. 

The greater sanctuary is a pitch to increase the power of the buffs of the class above that of herbs/vials to offer more defense.  And I don't understand why they can't cast stone skin on others personally but if there's a reason then yes the all materia was for buffs they could place on others such as armor/bless/sanctuary etc.  This is for mana conservation and to be able to reapply buffs fast.  I would like for the class to offer more than clerics in the buff category so that they have their own benefits to offer.

Maybe the class is a relic of the past but almost every game has a good support class and some games have more than one.  I personally like to play a support in the back providing buffs and such to my team with strategy.  Oh and the neutrality of the healers is why I sugguested removing divine retribution and instead replacing it with a summoned divine guardian who they could use their buffs on for PVE.  I'm not quite sure yet if it be better to have it as a NPC that follows or be more like a spirit that is always with them and strikes out when they are attacked.  On one side if they flee they loose their only source of damage on the other it might be OP to have a spirit always floating near you that you can buff and can tank.