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So healers have been a big talking point in Smite for... well they have always been a big talking point in Smite. Anyways you've seen all these discussions in the past months, so let's just get into it.
Why should healing power be it's own stat?
- Healers in Smite are liked by a vocal group of people, and disliked by a very vocal group of people. The main issue I see with healing is that it is tied to damage. Healers then do a lot of damage while healing a lot. Or they are tanks, and are now very hard to kill because they not only have strong base heals but tank a large amount of damage. There are very few items for healers to itemize into for their healing. There is Lotus Crown, for tanky healers, and Asclepius for damage healers (but that item isn't always very popular.) Of course there is Caduceus as a catch all for physical healers. The biggest issue with healers in Smite I can see is that they don't really need to build any specific thing to better their healing... not that they really can anyway. Making healing power it's own stat will decouple healing and damage, meaning people need to make a choice to deal damage, tank, or heal.
Why would that be better for healers?
- Healers accomplish many things at once with the builds they have access to in Smite. Or they suck at everything. If healers had their own items that gave them stats and effects focusing on their healing and utility, they could actually build their god to play as a dedicated "enchanter" who focuses on providing direct empowerment, utility, healing and/or shielding to their allies. When choosing to build in this way you will sacrifice items otherwise used on damage or tankiness. There is no reason you couldn't still play your favorite healer as a damager or as a tank, just with this change when you do, your healing is going to be weaker. Healers go through a constant cycle of being very strong or very weak. Hi-Rez has tried many different things over the years, but never making healing into it's own stat to build for uniquely and independently of damage. If it was, high healing could find it's own independent niche, instead of also being tied to high damage or extreme tankiness. Yes, I'm sure there will be ways to hybridize heal/tank/damage items, but doing a hybridized build means you sacrifice an extreme.
Healing as a +1
- Hi-Rez have stated that they believe healing is a additive to a gods kit, and should not define a gods kit. While I see this being the case on some characters, it doesn't make sense to me when describing most of the characters considered to be healers. Healers are much more defined by their healing and utility then they are by any other feature. Healers have an established player base who play them because they are healers. Let healers be healers. If someone wants to play a healing character as damage or a tank that build path will not be suddenly closed off to them, but they won't have as much healing or utility as they do currently when you choose to play them that way, which is the frustrating aspect of healers for many people; having strong healing and strong damage/tankiness.
How do we achieve this?
- Healing should scale off it's own stat that directly increases healing and is not tied to damage. Adding items focused around healing with passive effects that provide additional utility when that healing is applied, and thus encouraging it to be timed well when applied, would facilitate this role.
So what roles would dedicated healers play?
- Dedicated healer builds will probably end up playing either in a role of support and/or solo. They aren't going to play that role in the same way a typical frontline guardian or warrior might, they will be backliners. "But," you say, "supports have to be tanks in Smite." Supports are tanks in Smite because they have never been allowed by items to be anything else. Healer supports work in other MOBAs because those MOBAs have items that allow it. Currently all dedicated support items are stat sticks that provide tankiness to the support and a beneficial aura to nearby allies in the form of more flat stats, other than Stone of Binding, a bridge item. Dedicated healer items would allow gods to play the role of a dedicated healer/buffer, opening up the role to more variety.
How does this help build variety?
- This new kind of playstyle will open up new ways for people to build a team. You could see a melee auto attack focused god become a viable ADC with the help of a dedicated healer support. You will see increased opportunity to play gods like Ymir and Cab in the middle lane, assisted by a healer rotating solo in the mid game. I'd love to see assassin mids also be viable in Smite as they are other games. You can still use all the old favorites in these roles, with the traditional team comps we have now. This change would not make them suddenly go away. Differently designed comps will do things differently, but not necessarily better or worse than other comps.
But will Smite players be able to build comps around this?
- Smite for a very long time has had 5 classes with 5 roles, and each of those roles plays a very particular way. But other MOBAs don't have the same rigidness. Smite doesn't have to either. Smite players can already build non-traditional comps, and a lot of gods are now designed to be or played in roles that do not match their class. We have assassins that play support, warriors that play jungle, guardians that play solo, the list goes on. This kind of change, if implemented well, will only facilitate that more.
Will more people play support? Will tanks die?
- Support is the least popular role in Smite. A big part of that is the way the role is played. Many support items gain their full effect by simply standing in the same general vicinity of their allies. This will expand the options in the support or solo role with a new type of character that actively and directly buffs and heals allies. You will have less setup but much more impact in regard to keeping someone alive beyond CC. Yes, there are guardians who can do that now, but these items will also be open to them to use this play style more if they so choose. More play styles are always a positive in my eyes. And tanks will not die, there always has to be a front and back line in every game, this change just expands they way it could be gone about.
Will this be more balanced?
- Healers will no longer be able to have the best healing and tankiness/damage all in one package. Healing is hard to balance because it's always tied to another stat, and is always too strong or too weak. Let's separate them. Healers are rarely added to Smite because of their difficulty to balance, but this change which will help to balance them. I could even see this change compounding a new class, with gods from other classes being moved over. An enchanter class focused, and balanced around, buffs utility, and healing/shields. Other MOBAs have more then 5 classes, and this type of class is very popular for people, which helps Smite in the long run. Obviously some gods, or some items may not be balanced right away, as with all new changes. But making this change now helps the game in the long run, helps correct a very old problem, and allows any outliers to be balanced independently.
TL:DR - Decouple healing from power. Allow healers to be healers. Make it so healers don't feel overwhelming when their heals are strong because are also very good at something else at the same time. Allow healers to itemize for their buffs and utility when they so choose. This will help solve an old and frustrating issue that constantly comes back up, often multiple times per year: very overpowered or underpowered healers. This change will add increased variety to the game, roles, and to team comps. This admittedly is a big change, but I think it is time. Healers are subjected to whiplash balance, and most of them being too good or very bad is cyclical.
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