Game Mechanics: Some are better than others?

[Frith-Rae]

Ahh the "dancer class" - healing through DPS.

Its a cool healy mechanic - one that was used very well by a class in Warhammer and I belive RIFT also has a magey-class that works the same way.

SW:TOR has healing classes that can definintley DPS as well without switching specs - but not "healing through melee/attacks."

And I believe - though it is not set in stone yet of course - that the new MONK class for WoW will be healing through melee DPS as well.

Its a mechanic I really enjoy actually. You dont stand back and heal, you get yourself into the middle of the fight - start swinging - and then heal through auras/totems/AOE stuff.

[Dhalin]

Ahh the "dancer class" - healing through DPS.

Its a cool healy mechanic - one that was used very well by a class in Warhammer and I belive RIFT also has a magey-class that works the same way.

SW:TOR has healing classes that can definintley DPS as well without switching specs - but not "healing through melee/attacks."

And I believe - though it is not set in stone yet of course - that the new MONK class for WoW will be healing through melee DPS as well.

Its a mechanic I really enjoy actually. You dont stand back and heal, you get yourself into the middle of the fight - start swinging - and then heal through auras/totems/AOE stuff.

They have to be careful with that though -- there needs to be drawbacks.

If you can take a Monk or Dancer-type healer with you, who puts out some DPS (not as much DPS as actual DPS though), then the question becomes "why bring an older type healer instead of this new type healer? The older type healer puts out NO DPS at all!"

Especially when it comes to Mana.

Right now, many boss fights in WoW is a race of Healer's Mana vs Mob's HP -- if you kill the boss before the healer runs out of mana, you live. If the healer runs out of mana, you die. The only exception to this rule, is if the healer or tank dies due to fight mechanics.

If you have a healer that does not use mana, but rather a resource that is earned or replenished through melee combat rather than a resource that you start off full and slowly tick down as you use abilities (like mana), then you have a vastly superior healer in nearly every boss fight.

But yet if you weaken Monk's heals to account for the fact they use a renewable/theoretically infinite resource, then they stop being viable healers and you won't see them healing raids, or maybe even heroic dungeons depending on how weak their heals are.

Also, what about PvP? Healers in PvP rarely win 1v1 fights because they put out no DPS, but yet they rarely die in 1v1 either, it becomes an endless match. A monk-type, however, is sure to win if he can put out some DPS but keep himself healed endlessly, kinda like the problem they are having with Blood Deathknights right now -- A Blood DK is a tank, who does nice damage, who also heals himself with his most damaging attack (Death Strike). They had to nerf an entire tank mechanic just to deal with it (and in the process, ruined two other class's tank specs in PvP).

I think Blizz is walking a tightrope with this one.

The reason why Dancers worked in FFXI, is because Square-Enix never pretended to have anything as "silly" as class balance (lol) and there's little to no PvP in FFXI.

That, and endgame mobs are notoriously hard to hit. If you can't hit anything, you won't build TP and definitely won't be dancing much.

Not to mention, you can change your class at will in FFXI with a quick trip back to your Mog House. You can't change your class in WoW.