ViolentP
Member
I...what? I'm not exactly sure if your analogy works here.
Whatever the case, let me expand on my own point, which I believe is harmonious with that of the OP's. The problem with healers and healing is that it's a boring simplification of what a support class should be.
One of the reasons healers are always in the minority in MMOs is that its incredibly difficult to make the player feel powerful or cool as a healer. Like how many people honestly would rather be the person in the white dress and a staff, rather than the lady in the dragoon armor and cool spear, or the guy who beats things to death with his fists? While the player might feel good handling the mechanical difficulties of playing a healer well, that feeling rarely translates visually to the screen, where your character just waves her wand around and a bunch of green numbers appear over your friends' heads.
How much cooler would support characters be if you kept the depth and difficulty of healer style gameplay, but moved the focus to mitigation rather than healing? Take the controller class from City of Heroes; rather than healing, you are summoning cold storms to slow enemies down, freezing the ground to make enemies slip and be unable to attack and turning yourself into a walking tornado and running into enemies to knock them off course. You're still doing the same thing a healer would do; you're keeping your team alive, but you're doing it in a much more engaging manner. You still get the satisfaction of being the backbone that keeps the team together, but the game also allows you to feel powerful as an individual warrior, seperate from your team.
The whole mom thing was a joke.
I get what you are saying but that lack of excitement is sadly par for the course. Without that healer, no one lives which is why healers also get certain preferential treatment especially in MMOs. Healers are the IT of games. When everything goes right, people ask why a healer is even needed. When everything goes to shit, people always ask why they have a healer if they aren't healing.
While it may not be the funnest role to play, I do find it to be the role that demands the most respect.