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One way to breathe a new life into multiplayer shooters could be removing any guns from healers.

Make them potent, but vulnerable!

Why is it important:

  • Players that don't like shooting, but love teamwork would finally be represented (yes, I'm speaking of your girlfriend!)
  • Having to protect healers would benefit more organized teams, rewarding teamwork
  • Healers would have a more dynamic gameplay revolving around avoiding damage: stealthy movement, ability to quickly traverse dangerous zones, coordination with fellow teammates are all required to benefit your team as a healer

What might need to be tweaked:

  • Healers should be made into the only revivors, and we should either punish death more (which we'd better be careful of if that's a dynamic game) or give buffs on revival
  • Healers should get more movement abilities to increase survivability. They may also get speed boost when running towards teammates (similar to Conduit Savior's Speed in Apex Legends)
  • Team compositions should accommodate for several healers as to not introduce a single point of failure

Overall, I think it could introduce a new dynamic to team arenas and skirmishes, as winning now requires more coordination within a team and better understanding of everyone's roles.

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[-] Deceptichum@quokk.au 80 points 1 month ago

Fuck no.

As someone who loves maining healers, I would never play one again if my only hope for defence was my team mates.

Healers are already are hard role due to lack of support and cover, making them more dependent on it would be worse

[-] BruceTwarzen@lemm.ee 25 points 1 month ago

You'll just die all the time because hardly anyone would help you, and as a bonus you get yelled at by your team for not healing them. Sounds like fun.

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[-] Tarogar@feddit.org 46 points 1 month ago

I enjoy playing support classes, you want me to stop Playing support classes? Make it so that they are utterly defenseless and rely solely on others to stay alive.

Ultimately, it will play absolutely terribly if all you can do is run away unless you are playing with a well organized team. And then you may find that all your team mates get to have all the fun in the game while you get stuck with only the boring stuff.

No thank you.

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[-] WoahWoah@lemmy.world 32 points 1 month ago

So basically Mercy from Overwatch? I think most games have versions of this type of healer. Medic in TF2 etc. They basically have guns that can't do much other than be used to shoot your teammates in the face to get their attention.

[-] SkyezOpen@lemmy.world 10 points 1 month ago

Have you never seen a battle mercy wipe an enemy team?

[-] skulblaka@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 month ago

Mercy got that Glock delivered straight from the angry hands of God and it shows

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[-] Feathercrown@lemmy.world 8 points 1 month ago

Medic mains when their "useless" ubersaw crits for the 12th time in a row

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[-] jlh@lemmy.jlh.name 28 points 1 month ago

Medic in TF2 is a pure healer. The only time their weapons come out is if they get separated or get surprised by a spy. In high-level play, basically never.

[-] kn33@lemmy.world 8 points 1 month ago

Same with Mercy in Overwatch. She has a little peashooter pistol but is effectively defenseless. This already exists.

[-] Valmond@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago

There are pure healers in wow too for example.

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[-] LodeMike@lemmy.today 14 points 1 month ago

Team Fortress is built off the idea that no class can't do something, some just do it way better.

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[-] 2ugly2live@lemmy.world 12 points 1 month ago

The only reason I start shooting is if my team isn't doing their job. You want me to go out there and heal with no protection from the enemy? They already focus on the healers as it is, and we get left behind often. I honestly would never play healer again. All the stuff you're explaining already happens. My goal already is to avoid damage, my team is already supposed to protect me (and when they don't/can't, I have a weapon for that).

~~also, not only "girlfriends" dislike shooting, there are plenty of guys who are main healers~~

[-] Allero@lemmy.today 3 points 1 month ago

Girlfriend joke was just a light pun :D

I respect healer main guys, and often am one :)

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[-] lord_ryvan@ttrpg.network 11 points 1 month ago

Sounds like you want OG Mercy from Overwatch, who didn't work out btw

No, FPS players tend to be the “killer” type of player who play to score and win, they are rarely the “socialite” type of player who are in it for teamwork.
Simply put, this is the wrong audience to implement this idea in, there are gaming communities where this works but FPS just isn't one of them.

[-] BruceTwarzen@lemm.ee 3 points 1 month ago

Since so many people played the original overwatch at it's prime, it was a good way to see what people played and how. The dps queue was sometimes 30 to 40min, while as a healer you got into a game instantly. When Ana dropped, people just played ana and didn't heal people, because she had a sniper rifle. When moira dropped, people just played her as a dps who could heal herself. Support is very niche already, making it more niche, and only a handful of people would even consider support.

I think the finals did a good job in giving the medium class a healing beam. It's supper powerful on it's own, and if your team dies, you can still whip out a very good if not the best gun.

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[-] HipsterTenZero@dormi.zone 11 points 1 month ago

This is coward talk. Healers should be given silver bullets for their guns with badass names like "Spectre Covenant" and huge medieval maces.

[-] nevemsenki@lemmy.world 9 points 1 month ago

Battlefield does most of this, except medics csn defend themselves because people already rarely play support. As seen by the endless rage and whining, the ad-hoc emergent teamplay doesn't work as often as it does.

[-] Rhoeri@lemmy.world 9 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Was with you until you thought you were speaking of my girlfriend being a support role.

Dude, I’d be willing to bet she’d eat your lunch in a multiplayer shooter.

Maybe lose the sexist shit and I’d say you’ve got something here!

[-] Allero@lemmy.today 15 points 1 month ago

Sorry if this sounded offensive, I thought it could be a light pun. My apologies.

In any case, I know plenty of girls that would absolutely kick my ass in shooters and that actively take offensive roles. I never meant to say all girls are opposed to taking a gun!

[-] Rhoeri@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago
[-] DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social 3 points 1 month ago

Nope, I'm cancelling OP. He's cancelled. He'll get the paperwork... Eventually.

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[-] fl42v@lemmy.ml 9 points 1 month ago

Wouldn't shooting them violate some kind of convention (like Geneva, idk) in this case?

[-] Allero@lemmy.today 2 points 1 month ago

If shooters were played by Geneva convention, where would be the fun? :P

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[-] Hjalamanger@feddit.nu 2 points 1 month ago

I feel like there's already lots of things in lot's of games that violate a variety of conventions

[-] fl42v@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 month ago

buT THInk aBOUT wHaT KINd oF exAMpLe it pReSenTS TO THE cHILdREN

[-] Another_earthling@lemmy.world 8 points 1 month ago

I like the idea from a roleplaying-POV.

However, as someone who loves to play medic since BF2, I can tell you that I'd stop playing supportive (medic) if they'd remove the guns from the class. It sounds like it's just half as fun.

[-] TommySoda@lemmy.world 7 points 1 month ago

That would just make them even bigger targets than they already are. And now they won't have a way to defend themselves? That sounds like a nightmare. I used to play Overwatch and would always play support. There's no way in hell i'd trust my team to help me if I'm being attacked. They're probably just gonna jump ahead and say "I need healing!" fifteen times and call me a trash healer as I get the shit beaten out of me with no way to fight back. If this is how support roles worked nobody would play them. I already get left to my own devices as the rest of the team ignores me getting attacked in the back line. It's already a thankless and painful role to play and this would make it unbearable.

[-] _stranger_@lemmy.world 7 points 1 month ago

What If "healer" was assigned at random at the start of a match of no one picks it, healers weren't on either team, land were scored separately by how many people they revived?

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[-] Shanedino@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago

This almost seems like healers would become the main focus of the game. Some might like it some may not. But it would change things. It almost seems like you want healers to be so core that you will basically auto lose a fight due to a lack of revival and sustain. So if your healer gets caught out of position or sniped you just have to back off or otherwise just lose. To me that does not sound like a fun game loop.

A better option would likely to be have a multitude of different style of healers that can fulfill multiple different styles of gameplay. Sure have one that can only heal and not dps and has to be protected by teammates, but also have a healer that can Frontline and half allies when they do melee dmg. Have are healers, have single target healers. Have dot healers, have burst healers.

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[-] Moonrise2473@feddit.it 6 points 1 month ago

It would exclusively work for competitive eSports.

Many people play just for fun, don't want to focus on teamwork

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[-] Surp@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago

So you're respawning and no DPS are near you and you encounter an enemy DPS in a narrow corridor. No thanks.

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[-] OhStopYellingAtMe@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

If healers are unable to harm others, then maybe add a scoring system which penalizes people for harming/killing healers. Taking “kills” away or whatever.

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[-] Dasus@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

Nope. Favours pro play and is absolutely shit at lower tiers.

This is why Mercy has a gun and why tanks in mobas have to have a bit of kill potential. It'd be incredibly frustrating to want to play a healer like that and your team being completely dogshite without you having any ability to affect enemies.

AugustUwU, a Riot developer talks about that a bit on some of his videos.

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[-] Kolanaki@yiffit.net 3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Dude, in even MMOs or other party-based games healers can defend themselves.

But also: ARMA 3 with the DLC that adds in the humanitarian aid and rules of engagement stuff. Medics aren't allowed to carry weapons, IIRC, and all the milsim servers tend to enforce real life rules like that. You could be a NATO medic and not even be given a gun.

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[-] SkyezOpen@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

Play squad or Arma.

[-] Etterra@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

Don't most medics have a sidearm? I know there are/have been pacifists & conscientious objectors in those roles in the past. But I don't know what standard issue is for medics.

[-] Spacehooks@reddthat.com 2 points 1 month ago

Dreadnought had a support cruiser what was like that. Wasn't super boring either.

[-] Allero@lemmy.today 3 points 1 month ago

I'm still so sad to see Dreadnought gone.

Its pace is first a bit slow for folks used to fast-paced shooters, but it is actually genious. When you get used to it, you just see this is how it should be, always.

Putting tactics before pure reaction.

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this post was submitted on 30 Sep 2024
90 points (73.9% liked)

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