"Healing beams" for the Medic/Engi

[Xyntech]

Not a fan of healing beams, but this one looked surprisingly inoffensive compared to TF2 or Firefall. It didn't seem to me that it was locked on either.

I just hope it doesn't heal players very much while they are actively taking damage. Maybe a 1 second delay before it starts healing someone after they took damage.

One thing is for sure, the point blank healing of PS1 medics was a bit stifling. I don't mind the idea of a ranged healing beam, as long as it can't be used in the TF2 medic buddy style, with Heavy Assault or MAXes running around with a medic beam constantly up their ass.

Like I said, it didn't look that bad to me, but I'm more concerned with the gameplay ramifications. As long as it doesn't play shitty, I could be okay with it.

[SKYeXile]

KILL THEM, KILL THEM WITH FIRE!!!!!

[Rumblepit]

Originally Posted by Death2All

First of all, I know this is an early alpha build and nothing is finalized. Just want to get that out of the way before someone instantly dismisses they entire thread based off of that rationale alone.


With that said, what did you guys think of healing beam that was being used during one segment of the live stream? Unfortunately there isn't a VOD up anywhere so I can't show the exact spot where it was, only hope that someone else caught it as well.


Personally, I find healing beams to be lame. Really lame. I'm all for speeding up the gameplay, but I think healing beams just over simplify it to the point that it's boring. Also, healing beams sort of enforce that whole "pocket medic" mentality that you see in games that incorporate them. I don't really feel they have a place in the game.

I'd like to see a more meaningful healing system where it feels like you're actually healing the guy in some shape or form, not just pointing a beam at them and watching their life bar go up gradually. I'm not sure exactly how to capture that. In PS1 you had to stand still if you wanted to be healed/repaired which I feel did a good job at enforcing that elusive teamwork aspect that everyone loves (not sarcasm). You had to actually sit still like a good patient and cooperate with the medic/engy that was repairing you. Not exactly that meaningful, but I'd like to see some spiritual counterpart to that over the boring healing beams of doom.

Again, we have no idea how exactly they work, some further clarification would be nice, but I don't really expect to get any.

over simplify it to the point that it's boring???? really???? you know he is aiming that beam right? this dose take skill and when done right a pocket medic that has good aim can give A heavy assault a big advantage, racking up assist and exp.

[Runlikethewind]

I'm fine with a heal beam. My experience was that the PS1 system worked well in an organized squad but not so much if you where just running around randomly trying to heal or revive, players needed to know you were there. I could see a system in which the heal beam worked most quickly at point blank not moving and then less effectively when you began to add distance and movement. Medics could then cert to increase the distance they could heal at the cost of something else. And as has been said already, the beam fits with the lore and the PS1 mechanics so its legit in my eyes.

[raidyr]

Originally Posted by Rumblepit

over simplify it to the point that it's boring???? really???? you know he is aiming that beam right? this dose take skill and when done right a pocket medic that has good aim can give A heavy assault a big advantage, racking up assist and exp.

I'd really rather not see the term "pocket medic" become a regular part of the Planetside lexicon.

[Stew]

Healing beam Lead to Exploits and Lame gameplay experience i think medic should only have healing ministation thats can be deploy or also a healing radius while activated they heal people around them or healing bubble shield things like that But NOT a healing beam thats can lead to Firefall like Medic + dreadnaught thing its really lame and OP Medic + MAX Will become this exact same lame thing team fortress like !

I will prefere planetside to tend more on Battlefield medic style than on FF , TF , GA type of games !

Medic to me is suposed to be the revive guys Not the healing minion for a MAX !

If theyre is a healing beam AS soon as the people get hit the healing process is stop and do not restard before 3 secondes !

[Crovus]

While I would prefer some other healing device for medics as long as its not a leash I'm ok with it.

[Red Beard]

As long as the subject has to hold still while being healed, I don't think it's a big deal frankly...maybe a slight delay before healing takes place. On the other side of things, if I see a medic following him around I'm just going to kill the medic first.

[GhettoPrince]

everything is done with nano robots anyway, who cares? It gives you a fun and easy way to play a medic, which is the important thing, and it gives everyone a visual cue that there is a medic , which is the other important thing.

I don't think people should have to hold still for it , either, it isn't surgery.

Seriously, playing a medic in planetside 1 was a HASSLE, you had to get people to stand totally still, you had to spam a giant red white and blue "HEY! DONT RESPAWN! MEDIC REVIVE!" kind of macro every 20 seconds...just so much bullshit.

[Death2All]

Originally Posted by Rumblepit

over simplify it to the point that it's boring???? really???? you know he is aiming that beam right? this dose take skill and when done right a pocket medic that has good aim can give A heavy assault a big advantage, racking up assist and exp.

In every game I've seen healing beams they've had a lock on mechanic where you simply put your crosshair over the friendly then click and then you're locked on until you let go. In TF2 there's even an option to keep the healing beam on until you click the mouse button again, thus making it very simple, thus making it boring.

I was expecting some dumb counter arguments, but "it takes skill" caught me off guard. Good work.

The impression I'm getting from most people is that they're neither for nor against healing beams, it all depends on how they're implemented, which I think I can agree with as well. So long as you can't heal a target while moving, or you can't heal them at a significant enough speed that it would impact game-play, I would be fine with it. Some people have also brought up that it could've been a possible certification with various trade offs such as reduced healing speed or what have you.


I just don't want the game to degenerate into MAXes being accompanied by pocket medics with their leashes wrapped around them as they wreak havoc. Yes, it promotes teamwork, but I don't think that kind of teamwork has a place in PS2.

[Furber]

It definitely beats requiring your target to stand still in order to heal them

[Brusi]

Making the heal-gun usable only when stationary (as in Planetside) really reinforces the downtime healing aspect as well. A medic gun that can point-blank single shot HoT would be a good way of doing it too.

I really don't want to see heal heal-beams. Only ranged healing/repairing should be very limited and in the form of thrown/deployed devices, accompanied with believable sci-fi fluff.

[RodenyC]

Guess I'm in the minority but I rather liked the way medics played in PS1.If a player didn't want to take the time to stay still ,then said player doesn't need to be healed. Healing beans just remind me of tf2 and how dumb down it is. That's because it's suppose to be a arcadey game. PS2 is not suppose to be a arcadey game. I'd rather have it PS1 style then dumbing it down to moving heal beans and dreaded med packs .

[Malorn]

I like the idea of tradeoffs and making healing an active thing as opposed to a passive them. Between shields and gradual healing you also have triage decisions.

Regardless of how the heal beam works out it seems obvious to me that thier intent is to make healing active. The heal beam gives you a bit more flexibility so you don't necessarily need to be standing right next to someone as well as making it obvious who is doing the healing. We don't know what sort of great combos there are, but in PS1 you did have people who would crounch behind MAX and use them as shields while keeping them repped up. A rep beam seems like that would be a plausible strategy for PS2 and allow the engineer to be more mobile and not necessarily directly in the line of fire.

Maybe it plays out well and maybe it doesn't, but I like the idea and the tradeoff associated with it. There are a lot of things which cyco mentioned that could be significant factors into how effective it pans out.

- range of the beam
- rate of healing
- whether movement affects the healing rate
- whether range affects healing rate (might reward you for being closer)
- what sort of customizations there are on the beam (maybe you can get a different medgun that heals AoE around you but shorter range and for less HPS - they have talked about healing grenades too).

There's lots of ways this could go. Dismissing hte idea outright seems silly to me. I"m much more interested in understanding their goals with the design and giving feedback on how well the design meets those goals. Hopefully they start sharing that information with us more candidly once we're under NDA in the beta.

[Coreldan]

Having a healing beam doesn't automatically mean yet that it can 1) be used in combat 2) used while moving 3) used while taking damage (either the "victim" or the medic).

I dont mind a fancy animation like a healing beam, but I'd sorta hope you can't do the TF2 kinda pocket medic shit.