ASHRIOT'S PROFILE

Haha, yeah I know how that is. I keep changing all my skills around almost daily--making some sort of tweak or adjustment or even revamping it all once a month it seems. After reading what Karsuman posted in the tank thread, I wanted to rethink some of the mechanics and possibly add threat and things like that. I'm excited though!

That just sounds like terrible game design in my opinion.

I feel like one of the most rewarding parts of an RPG's battles is you using good strategy. Missing simply throws a wrench in your plans, though I know that's the point. The idea is to mix up the combat just a little. Missing isn't always bad, but I feel like a game can be easily balanced around not missing. Though take a game like Final Fantasy Tactics where missing was a crucial element to the battles. You had to plan your strategy around it. Something like that would work for missing.

Another thought about missing: You could make it so that a 'miss' caused partial damage instead. Like a reverse critical; you could land a 'glancing blow' which would do half damage instead 0.

No, though that is a good idea. It's more like a character has 402/1563 current/max HP. His Power is 246. Using Healing Touch, he restores 492 HP and is now at 894/1563 HP. If this character uses Holy Symbol now, he restores 1,476 HP and is at 1563/1563.

author=Craze
That's nice but this topic is actually about healing, not getting rid of healing; how to make healing more interesting. Basically, getting away from the Curaga. Support is nice and all (<Craze> I beat Dragon Age without using a single healing spell) but not what I'm trying to get at! That said, directly mixing healing and support isn't a horrible idea.

I'm not trying to get rid of healing, I even mentioned getting away from Curaga. I'm saying healing is much more interesting as a support class with a mixture of healing and support. You said in your original post:

Fun fact: healers do more than restore health. What they do is transfer or convert resources - I prefer to generally call them "support" characters because of this, especially since they tend to add support (buffs/debuffs) to their duties.

So I thought we could explore things other than healing... But if you want healing, I got healing!

I like the concepts behind V&V a lot though. It looks like a lot of fun to play! The mixture of healing and other effects is a great idea. Question though: So, if it says 80+% healing, how does that work out exactly? Is it 80% of the char's Wisdom score as healing (that's how I do it) or is it 80% of something else PLUS the Wisdom score as a bonus? I'm just curious as I love to work with systems and math :D
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My healing spells:
(XX%) is a percentage of that character's Power score. To bring an ally back from unconsciousness, you simply heal them, though some heals cannot awaken fallen allies. Also, if you spend 1 Adrenaline, you can Rush a power to provide an additional effect.

ADVENTURER (a natural leader)

Actives:
Boost Morale. Restores (400%) health over 12 seconds. Rush: Instantly restores (120%) health and removes 1 debuff. (Great to Rush if you really need that instant heal.)
Valor Strike. Causes (45%) damage and restores (40%) health to the lowest health conscious party member. Rush: Restores double the health and can affect unconscious allies. (Great to use if you're more focused on doing damage but want a bit of healing in your arsenal.)
Heroic Aura. Drives his allies to victory, granting the party Accuracy (bonus Attack rating) for 20 seconds. Rush: Also restores (40%) health to all conscious allies. (The Rush is the heal here.)
Turn the Tides (Consumes 4 Adrenaline). Instantly grants all allies Boost Morale and blinds all enemies. (This works well with his passive, Great Inspiration.)

Passives:
Encouragement. Increases the duration of Boost Morale by 3 seconds and increases the amount of health it restores by (75%).
Natural Leader. Reduces the Stamina cost of Heroic Aura by 1. (This increases how often you can use it.)
Great Inspiration. Causes Heroic Aura to extend any current Boost Morale effects by 2 seconds (up to a maximum of 8 seconds.)

MONK (a holy warrior and priest)
The Monk uses a sub-resource called Ki energy. Each time he performs a basic attack or purifies a debuff, he generates 1 Ki energy up to a maximum of 6. There are also many passives to generate additional Ki energy.

Actives:
Healing Touch. Restores (200%) health. Consumes 1 Ki energy. Rush: Requires no Ki energy.(Useful to Rush if you need to spam Healing Touch with little Ki energy, or if you're saving the Ki energy to attack with)
Prayer of Light. A holy word restores (80%) health to all conscious allies. Consumes 3 Ki energy. Rush: Restores an additional (40%) health and affects unconscious allies. (Fantastic to Rush if you have several KO'd allies.)
Holy Symbol (Consumes 4 Adrenaline). A symbol of healing refreshes the party, restoring (600%) health to everyone and removing all debuffs. (Will affect unconscious allies.)

Passives: (Fun Fact: The monk has so many Ki related passives that it's possible to never us an ability to build Ki, just by relying on passives he'll generate enough to fight.)
Flowing Ki. Each time he crits an enemy, he generates 1 Ki energy. (Great to build up for healing or attacking.)
Ki Absorption. Gives Ki Blast and Healing Touch a 75% chance to not consume any Ki energy when used. (Another way to manage Ki.)
Ki Generation. He begins each battle with 1 Ki energy and generates an additional Ki energy every 15 seconds.
Master Healer. Increases the healing caused by Healing Touch and Prayer of Light by 20%.
Radiance. Decreases the Ki energy consumption and Stamina cost of Prayer of Light by 1.
Holy Protection. Each time an ally is attacked, he has a 20% chance (+3% per active Ki energy; up to 18%) to instantly restore (15%) health to that ally. (This is a great all-around way to keep the party refreshed even if you build the monk as a pure damage character.)

Healing is an interesting topic. While it had originally started out as a simple means to restore HP to a injured target, it has evolved into an entirely new role, as you put it, the "support" role.

As a side note, Guild Wars 2 will not even have a dedicated healing profession. All professions will have at least a single healing ability, and things like Water magic for the elementalist provides minor healing to allies. They do say that there will be a "support" role and they discuss what it really means to be a healer in a party in this really interesting article: http://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-game/combat/healing-death/

Here is a good quote: "Heal: Don't belittle the SUPPORT role by calling it heal. Healing is the least dynamic kind of support there is. It is reactive instead of proactive. Healing is for when you are already losing. In Guild Wars 2 we prefer that you support your allies before they take a beating. Sure, there are some healing spells in Guild Wars 2, but they make up a small portion of the support lines that are spread throughout the professions. Other kinds of support include buffs, active defense, and cross-profession combinations."

This sums up exactly how I feel about healing. I'm even going back into my current project and editing what I have already. I want to try to incorporate more support/defense instead of just pure healing. I already have energy shields that absorb damage, but I want to have other things such as the ability to cause a target's next hit to miss, etc.

Don't get me wrong, healing has a place and I have a great fondness for old-school RPG's with their Cure's and their Curaga's. But when creating a modern RPG, I find it much more interesting to think outside the box and try to make your healer a true support role. The healer's job is to make sure the party ends (a) alive and (b) with as many HP as possible. You can do this so many other ways than through healing!