Guild Wars 2 Tackles Death and Healing

Guild Wars 2 recently published the fourth installment of their “Combat” series of articles, this time written by Jon Peters, one of the game’s designers. The article discusses death and the traditional trinity of MMO group combat roles (healer, tank, DPS).

Peters starts with some good news: “As weird as it might sound, we decided to look into what would make dying a more enjoyable and memorable play experience.” This means that the death penalty in Guild Wars 2 will be quite mild. Additionally, players will have a chance to redeem themselves before they die. A character with no health will enter “downed mode,” where they can use a limited skillset to fight for their life. Players who then fail to beat their opponent will go into a “defeated state,” meaning they are officially dead and have to resurrect to return to the battle.

Guild Wars 2 is also taking on the standard MMO group combat trinity of healers, tanks, and DPS. Peters writes, “You could say instead of DPS/heal/tank, we have our own trinity of damage, support, and control, but we prefer to think of them as the variety of elements that create a diverse and dynamic combat system that gives each player a toolbox to work with to solve any encounter we might throw their way.”

The game will buck convention and not have a dedicated healing class. Instead the focus will be on support, such as granting speed, damage, and armor buffs on teammates. Along with that the traditional “tank” concept has instead been replaced by an emphasis on controlling the opponent. Peters mentions crippling, immobilizing, and knockdowns as examples of control abilities.

Dying and the eternal quest for a group healer are definitely two of the least liked aspects of MMOs, and it’s good to see developers trying to think about the problems in new ways. Guild Wars 2 is developed by ArenaNet, and is expected to go live in early 2011.