While I don't think that it's fair to say that it will happen with the next expac or the one after, the possibility for one is there. It may not be specifically what people think it will be though. If they make one, it will probably not be a pure healing class, thus not taking healing roles away from the current roster. Instead they'd probably go with a buff heavy class that accentuates the current healers or a dps/healer (or tank/healer) option that allows for a reasonable amount of passive healing while fulfilling another role.

Some have suggested a bard class which could be something like this by either providing a light healing role through their dps or significant buffs that focus specifically on improving the current healing roles.

Either way, I do agree that a heroic healer class would not be a pure healer but that doesn't mean that it won't have some kind of healing benefit.

you couldnt possibly make a healing class that doesnt work on mana

no one wants mana, everyone would reroll >>

rage, energy, and runic power are ridiculous b/c nothing stops them except ..dead

With a good tank as a resto shaman I can do about 800-1400dps overall. I do realize shaman are probably the most offensive healers.

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Q u o t e:
I could totally see several ways to design a new healing class that used mana in a different way or didn't use mana at all. You are right that it might not appeal to players who hate healing, but it might appeal to players who just haven't found a class that heals in a way that is fun for them.

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Gnomish battle-healing mech. You know you want to.

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Q u o t e:
You are right that it might not appeal to players who hate healing, but it might appeal to players who just haven't found a class that heals in a way that is fun for them.

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Do you really think there are significant numbers of the latter group compared to the first? I've never played an RPG of any type where any significant number of players wanted to play a healer. Never. I have a hard time believing they all just happened to have unappealing healing mechanic designs.

Most people who play these games simply don't want to heal. No changes to the mechanics behind healing is gonna fix that IMO.

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Q u o t e:
Do you really think there are significant numbers of the latter group compared to the first? I've never played an RPG of any type where any significant number of players wanted to play a healer. Never. I have a hard time believing they all just happened to have unappealing healing mechanic designs.

Most people who play these games simply don't want to heal. No changes to the mechanics behind healing is gonna fix that IMO.

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Well, that's why I think if it is a healer hero class, it'll be a healer/caster dps hybrid. Something like shadow/holy mix in one tree, mage/resto druid in another, warlock/resto shaman in the other. Depending on spec it would be more of a healer and if you put points another way in the same spec it's dps.

You could also have a runic type system where you do "specials" to gain power and then spend the power you just gained on other moves. Some of your debuffs/damage/healing moves give you power to do other damage/healing abilities. I can see how it would function even if I'm abysmal at describing it. :(

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Q u o t e:
you couldnt possibly make a healing class that doesnt work on mana

no one wants mana, everyone would reroll >>

rage, energy, and runic power are ridiculous b/c nothing stops them except ..dead

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Yeah....this ^

Speaking of "mana" and "not working", can we get a comment on Viper Sting and Priests?

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Q u o t e:
Well, that's why I think if it is a healer hero class, it'll be a healer/caster dps hybrid. Something like shadow/holy mix in one tree, mage/resto druid in another, warlock/resto shaman in the other. Depending on spec it would be more of a healer and if you put points another way in the same spec it's dps.

You could also have a runic type system where you do "specials" to gain power and then spend the power you just gained on other moves. Some of your debuffs/damage/healing moves give you power to do other damage/healing abilities. I can see how it would function even if I'm abysmal at describing it. :(

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You're describing the healers in (amongst other games) Warhammer. They always end up being horrendously broken in PvP... one direction or another.

Moreover, I can't even begin to imagine how they'd work in a much faster paced game like WoW. The kind of healing people keep talking about with a DK style rune system or something similar to the Malygos Drakes just does't work with the way damage and healing work in WoW right now.

Healing isn't DPS. You can't do rotations. If a tank gets hit hard, you need to be able to heal them right now. You can't sit around for a while doing little heals or DPS abilities while you save up power for a big heal.

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I think some players like death knights just because they are new and different. I think others like they because they have been OP a lot. :)

But I also think some players just like the way they do damage. They like the way the rune and runic power and disease mechanics play out.

I could totally see several ways to design a new healing class that used mana in a different way or didn't use mana at all. You are right that it might not appeal to players who hate healing, but it might appeal to players who just haven't found a class that heals in a way that is fun for them.

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This kind of shuts the OP down, thank you Ghostcrawler. You made me realize an excellent point: Have a little faith.

Just because under the current boundaries of resources, (rage, energy, etc) a healer using resources in a different way does not make sense or work, does not mean Blizzard can't come up with new boundaries for things to work. Blizzard is pretty creative, they can come up with something, something probably pretty cool and interesting. So try to have a little faith and understand that out-of-the-box thinking is possible.

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Q u o t e:
you couldnt possibly make a healing class that doesnt work on mana

no one wants mana, everyone would reroll >>

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Going OOM is annoying, but the upside to mana is that you always have the resource until you're completely out.

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Q u o t e:
Going OOM is annoying, but the upside to mana is that you always have the resource until you're completely out.

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Yeah, cause the non-mana users all have horrendous problems in this regard, never having the resource they need... Oh wait, Blizzard made sure that never happens, and they're pretty much limited solely by cooldowns, same as mana users.

What you just said was accurate a few years ago though.

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On a side note, that's an annoyance I have with Penance. A heal that starts healing immediately is very cool for just those kind of situations, except for it having a cooldown and the necessity to cast it on cooldown to justify the spec.

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Yep.

Disc faces the same problem with PW:S due to Borrowed Time and Renewed Hope. Just like Penance, it's a great emergency tool. The issue is that much of the specc is based around the idea that it's being used every CD, rather than being reserved for emergencies like it should be.

Leads to bad things like Disc priests trying to use both spells every CD, rather than saving them for when they're needed. And even worse, Blizzard (possibly) assuming the numbers behind Renewed Hope and Borrowed Time is always happening, rather than just after emergencies.

Edit: We playing tag here? Why you deleting your posts? <.<

Hah. I just felt like sticking to what I originally added to the thread. I delete a lot of posts. Glad you noticed one.

Paladins are a hero class
Paladins are a healing class

Topic over

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Q u o t e:
Paladins are a hero class
Paladins are a healing class

Topic over

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Wow, amazing logic. You must have been on the debate team.

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Q u o t e:
Do you really think there are significant numbers of the latter group compared to the first? I've never played an RPG of any type where any significant number of players wanted to play a healer. Never. I have a hard time believing they all just happened to have unappealing healing mechanic designs.

Most people who play these games simply don't want to heal. No changes to the mechanics behind healing is gonna fix that IMO.

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I'm not sure this point is especially relevant. A raid needs a certain number of healers. So if another healing class comes out all of those healers get an extra option.

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Q u o t e:


Well, that's why I think if it is a healer hero class, it'll be a healer/caster dps hybrid. Something like shadow/holy mix in one tree, mage/resto druid in another, warlock/resto shaman in the other. Depending on spec it would be more of a healer and if you put points another way in the same spec it's dps.

You could also have a runic type system where you do "specials" to gain power and then spend the power you just gained on other moves. Some of your debuffs/damage/healing moves give you power to do other damage/healing abilities. I can see how it would function even if I'm abysmal at describing it. :(

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This is what concerns me, and why I don't want any more "hero" classes.

There already exists game mechanics, specs, and classes to do these awesome things!!! Why not have shadow priests able to control their VE so instead of little heals on everyone in the group, they are large heals on a "bacon-of-lightish" target directly proportional to their DPS.

Why do we need to introduce new classes to do this? We don't!!! Instead, put the extra time/effort that would have gone into some new class into making each spec of existing classes new and exciting. A survival hunter should have an extremely different feel from a Marksman hunter. If you're going to make a drain-healer, make it a Shadow Priest, or one of the lock trees!

I bet a lot of locks would be thrilled to have afliction suck the life from their enemies for themselves while giving their own life to heal others. Or Shadow Priests.

There are already 30 specs to choose from. 30. The effort that it would take to build a new class from the ground up would be better put to making each of those specs special and compelling.

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BTW, please buff VE. It was nerfed, citing that Blood aura thing that DK's have. The Blood aura thing was then doubled. VE was left in the dust.