Future of Healers in SoR... Worst job on Atys?

[ptooie]

I spent a good 3 hours today playing a character, posting in regional chat if "anyone need a healer?" and got zero response. I even stated several times that I'd work for free, no dice.
I sure wasn't feeling that sense of community everyone talks about when they post about this game.

I can't advance the welcomer quests or gain skill points in magic without a party to join. Can't join a party because everyone is to busy power-leveling.

So the future looks bleak for healers from where I'm sitting and you know you going to need us later...

"HealerHere" the only 20 fight/20 craft/ 0 magic character on Atys.

[korin77]

Its easy to advance in magic without a group. in your fight group theres a magic start skill that requires 50 points. Take that and you get the equivalent of an Acid spell that starting magicians get. Using that spell on monsters will get you magic xp.

[bobturke]

In beta I never had trouble finding work as a healer.

Perhaps its the limited number of players in game so far.

Also noobland has far less need for healers than mainland.

[wendelius]

I spent a good 3 hours today playing a character, posting in regional chat if "anyone need a healer?" and got zero response. I even stated several times that I'd work for free, no dice.

I can't advance the welcomer quests or gain skill points in magic without a party to join. Can't join a party because everyone is to busy power-leveling.

I had the same issue when I realised in-game that 1 pack of magic at char creation meant only the Heal Other spell. Impossible to advance without a group.

Fortunately, a higher level took me under his wing and I spent an hour healing him while he hunted Kipees.

I'd recommend explaining why you're looking for a group (since healers are not really a necessity on starter island) and you should find someone willing to help.

[korin77]

As I and others in other posts explained earlier, if you start with just 1 pack of magic you will only get heal others. This however doesn't make it impossible to level up magic. If you don't want to go and find someone to heal just level up 5 levels of fight, harvest or craft. Use that 50 skill point and spend it on something called Magic Start. It is just a different name for the Acid spell you get when you start with more packs in magic. Casting that spell to kill stuff will net you magic xp and make it much easier to level up magic levels.

[edoughty]

My overall goal is to primarily be a healer as well but for the time being, I'm leveling as an offensive mage in noobland. I started with 3 packs in magic since I don't plan to craft or harvest with this character and fight is easy to level even with no packs in fight.

I leveled fight up to 6 and bought my health training (Con 1 + 2, Metabolism 1 + 2, Self heal) in that line. In the magic line I invested in Intelligence 1 + 2, Wisdom 1 + 2, Sap Self Heal and have stayed with my original line (acid) for dmg and only purchased 1 upgrade to this. I'm saving all my other points until I get ready to go to the mainland and try to become a real healer.

So far, this is working out great. I'm 14 magic, 6 fight.

So I guess my advice would be if you want to be a healer eventually and you aren't that far along with this character, I'd reroll with 3 packs of magic at the start.

[Virgil]

So I guess my advice would be if you want to be a healer eventually and you aren't that far along with this character, I'd reroll with 3 packs of magic at the start.One thing to keep in mind is that the healing abilities don't split off from offensive magic until skill level 20. Until that point, even using the offensive spells to advance is the same as your character learning to be a better healer.

Taking on a role in Ryzom often has a lot more to do with what your character is wearing and what skills you're using than what you have access to. It's more about focusing than having your character being limited.

[jumbala]

Are you sure Virgil? My good friend that I play SoR with had his offensive and defensive magic abilities split at 21 (meaning, if he uses a heal and his acid rain in the same fight, the dmg is going to be split between offensive and defensive magic advancement).

Not that I'm questioning a GM mind you. sigh I'm going to log in with pink-dyed armor now.

[ente33]

I, too, only took 1 magic pack, though I knew I would only get Heal 1. I, also, did not get any responses when offering my services as a healer. When I saw someone else asking for the same, it occured to me to try another tack. I asked if anyone wanted to pair up and take turns fighting and healing each other. That worked for me :) You may find many in the same "Heal other" boat. Take turns :)

[Virgil]

Are you sure Virgil? My good friend that I play SoR with had his offensive and defensive magic abilities split at 21 (meaning, if he uses a heal and his acid rain in the same fight, the dmg is going to be split between offensive and defensive magic advancement).

Not that I'm questioning a GM mind you. sigh I'm going to log in with pink-dyed armor now.Yes, that was my mistake. I was thinking about something else while typing and put that number in instead :)

Sorry about that, it's fixed now though.

[ayne31]

in my opinion the strength of SoR lies in the fact that you are not forced to restrain yourself to a certain role.

in my case this was the PRIME reason i started this game. I am a long-time EQ player and I was SICK of having my cleric treated as THE healer, my paladin as THE tank and my ranger as *well - you dont fit into any role EXACTLY*.

no offense meant, but people who prefer playing archetypes should better wait for WoW or EQ2.

PS: starting the small magic pack with heal-others only should be corrected and probably will be in the long run

[wendelius]

As I and others in other posts explained earlier, if you start with just 1 pack of magic you will only get heal others. This however doesn't make it impossible to level up magic. If you don't want to go and find someone to heal just level up 5 levels of fight, harvest or craft. Use that 50 skill point and spend it on something called Magic Start.

That's obvious. I just didn't want to have to spend those hard-earned 50 points for that pack when what I was after was Cold 1. :)

[ptooie]

Thanks for all the feedback folks I didn't see a troll among you!

But I think most of you missed my point(I probably did not make myself clear)

It was the lack of community spirit "help the new guy" that bothered me morst.

I fully knew what I was getting from taking just 1 magic pack.This character was gonna be heal/craft only.Not sure what the arcetype fella was saying.

I've got another character that I solo with, this one was for group play and I thought man everyone likes to see a healer want to party up. I don't like the idea of grouping and bringing nothing to the table.I even named her "healerhere" so my intentions would be painfully obvious.


There seems to be a strong aversion to partying in SoR so far. The rareity of good high quailty materials seems to have forced a lot of people into a solo mindset.They seem to think they are going to get short changed somehow.

I'm more solo inclined myself from the start, but I do sometimes want to meet new folks and just have a change of pace.

This is my 1st MMORPG and so far I'm having a blast, but it looks like I'm going to have to join a guild or something to get any kind of structured play happening.

[korin77]

Thats it exactly, most people don't want to share loot, not when they can kill things pretty fast with relatively little risk, partying would require tackling harder mobs and the risk factor is high especially when you get jumped by more creatures. spending 50 points in fight means you didn't have to pay for that spell from magic, so in a way it was saving you magic level points.

[Virgil]

PS: starting the small magic pack with heal-others only should be corrected and probably will be in the long run
Yes, it will be changed soon, for exactly this reason :o

Because you only get xp healing in a group, Patch One contains a change in the starting pack for Magic users. You will not get the heal spell. Instead you will receive the acid damage spell. This will allow you to gain some experience on your own if you choose.

[jumbala]

I think a lot of people are missing out by avoiding grouping. A friend of mine and I duo constantly, and we are chain killing mobs that are 3k xp towards our primary ability unsplit. The game is very rewarding towards a group against the correct difficulty mob.

As far as splitting the loot goes, I would RATHER a crafter take it, just so I know I have someone to harass down the road for my Q30 - Q40 - Q50 weapons/armor and beyond :D

[m3zcl4n]

I'm actually having a blast as the healer in my group. Grouping rocks! Granted, its easy for me because i brought some guildmates along from a past game, so I have a group ready at all times. But i can attest to the fact that healing as a prof can be enjoyed in this game. Find some buddies, and have fun watchin them get whacked!

[ayne31]

Because you only get xp healing in a group, Patch One contains a change in the starting pack for Magic users. You will not get the heal spell. Instead you will receive the acid damage spell. This will allow you to gain some experience on your own if you choose. Now this is what I call customer care :)

[zeihgre]

Heh why didn't you start in tryker lands! I would love to duo/team up with a healer. Being built for battle, I would love a healer to take on the 3kxp mobs, rather than killing the 1-1.5kxp critters.

Yes this game does allow you to do everything. But then that is more of a single type gameplay. I helped fund a couple people to make me my armor before leaving newb land. I helped them with the daps for practice, and they made me the choice q20 weapons/armor for me. In each of our primary skills, we were 41+, with the armor crafter actually being 50. While on noob land. Met some great people, had a nice sense of community, and we all helped each other out.

Not that the people who want to be self reliant shouldn't be so, but some people are looking for a community, and want to help out and work together for the greater good of the whole, if'n thats alright :rolleyes:

Zzei

[pandorae]

Partying will be essential to your progression in the game. Get used to it now. The healer will be your best friend!!! I cannot encourage people enough to take a healer out and help them level early on. This will lead to stronger bonds with your community and ... good karma.

As far as healers and drive-by's go, you will always be able to count on Praetorians to do anything in their power to heal and revive if at all possible. This is one of our standards, and I strongly encourage other leaders and officers to adopt this policy for the good of the community! The earlier we begin a communal culture, the better for us all!

- Pandorae
- Comitatus Praetorian

http://complabs.nevada.edu/~sansonem/pand1e.jpg

[wicker]

We had healers all day and they were invaluable. Would could just keep killing and killing. He got tons of healing XP and shared the loot. All teams should have a healer. Most people look for them. They are a great asset.

[ptooie]

Wow! I glad this post generated such an informative and adult discussion.
I'm going to get on and give her one more try.
Out of the 300 people who read this surely someone will help me get her rolling.
I asked for community and ya'll didn't let me down!







"Healerhere on Matis"
"Rockfarmer on Fyros"

[kisedd]

Wow! I glad this post generated such an informative and adult discussion.
I'm going to get on and give her one more try.
Out of the 300 people who read this surely someone will help me get her rolling.
I asked for community and ya'll didn't let me down!







"Healerhere on Matis"
"Rockfarmer on Fyros"


Whenever I hear someone is just starting out in healing I'll drop what I"m doing and offer to help them level up a bit to get their first non healing skills. Groups early on tend to be small affairs. A couple friends gonig out and exploring. Larger groups tend to come into play at a bit higher level. Healers and other defensive magic is invaluble. I've also seen things like this happen in other games. At the time someone asks about something or needs something nobody may be on that can help out.
I watched a guy spam region chat about a staff. Finally he asked all the crafters what they were making that they coudn't make him a staff. They all spouted off the things they made. Had the guy logged in maybe 20min earlier, there was a guy spamming that he was selling staves. It doesn't take much to create a bad experience when things don't go according to your expectations. Sometimes if things don't work out the way you want, try again later or think of other ways to get what you want. Maybe a more personal approch when things in the chat channel dont' work out etc.

[ayne31]

I guess SoR reflects a more realistic approach on grouping than the classic MMORPGs (apart from CoH ;)) in that you are not forced to group to get along near settlements.

But once we are not RL 30 secs away from the next camp but 6 minutes this will change I am sure.

Back to the healers - I still dont understand why so many people are looking for a label. Personally I am quite fond of the fact that at lvl 1-30 people have rather generic titles (although offensive mage tells QUITE a bit) and I hope I wont see too soon that the zone chat is spammed with "healer with SAP700/heal8 LFG!". if that happens we (yes I mean WE) would rob SoR from what it sets itself apart from all the other games. :(

[svayvti]

Yeah, the forced teaming of 1 magic pack sucks. It is good to team.. but being forced to is a bad idea. Glad to hear it is being changed rather soon.

Anyways I would advise in vicinity rather than region that you'd like to heal people. A healer in region is who knows where and who knows how much trouble to get into a team. A healer who is right there... is rather useful.

and I can understand that different people prefer a different playstyle. Some people want to do it all for instance, some people just have fun being the healer.

If you're on Zorai mainland you can send me a tell to team, if you're still on the newbie island then maybe you might want to reroll with 2 or 3 magic packs if you wish to be able to solo raise magic to where healers are in more demand?

[kisedd]

You aren't forced to team. You can just take figth to 5 and buy acid 1 and do it all solo. Compared to other games though it is an odd way to start with just healing.

[jivalax]

We have a few dedicated healers in the guild. They are invaluable, we couldn't do what we do without them. If you want to be a healer, a guild is a great place to go. There will be no shortage of fighters needing your services, just be sure you get an equal share. You will level quickly, and it should be a profitable profession.

[Fred1l1]

Healers are definately needed and welcomed, a great healer can keep a fighting team going for a long time without rest.

[wicker]

Well today I went from level 40 all the way to level 60 melee. There is no way we could have done that without healers. Two of them kept the team alive all day. They had all kinds of wicked cool spells. No way we could have taken on the powerful enemy we did without constantly being healed.

[moriant]

I think once you find a couple of groups in game and people get to know you as a healer you will have no problems getting groups.

Everyone I've come across has loved having a healer. Being able to heal HP, SAP, and STA is just incredible in terms of keeping downtime to almost nothing.

[svayvti]

You aren't forced to team. You can just take figth to 5 and buy acid 1 and do it all solo. Compared to other games though it is an odd way to start with just healing.

but then you aren't leveling magic. So with 1 magic pack you are FORCED to team in order to level magic skill.

[pandorae]

Not after patch 1. Then the 1 pack mage gets acid instead of heal.

http://complabs.nevada.edu/~sansonem/pand1e.jpg