#Best games that relies on Tank/Healer/DPS for group content

1 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

small idol
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Hello,

I feel like the state of MANY MMORPGs is leaning away from the "holy trinity" architect that requires tanks/healers. FFXIV is beautiful, but as it continues to get updates, it's more about doing DPS before specific mechanics in group content. This has caused people to stray away from requiring healers in end-game content or healers focusing more on damage output; while yes, it is essential for complex content to also focus on DPS, as a healer, your main job should be HEALING/providing Utility, not DPSing.

MMORPGs I've enjoyed for healing are:

  • Guild Wars 2
  • FFXIV.. but has lessened as time's gone on
  • Honestly? Albion, as well.

This thread may receive a lot of WoW comments. Because the new player experience is so clunky, it's been challenging for me. Any tips for getting into WoW would be amazing.

I want to find a game that has versatile healing classes. Proactive healing(barriers, heal-over-times, any abilities used before significant damage to mitigate) and reactive healing(burst heals to react after considerable damage has significantly taken)

I don't mind if is a Themepark or Sandbox game / Tab-Target, Action Combat, or Hybrid.

I just want to find a game where I can get immersed with my friends and all of us can tell our role is making a significant impact. when played appropriately.

I will look into all suggestions given <3 so please do not hesitate on the options made.

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quick knot
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This thread may receive a lot of WoW comments. Because the new player experience is so clunky, it's been challenging for me. Any tips for getting into WoW would be amazing.

wow retail is the closest to ffxiv (which you enjoyed) but less focus on dps-ing (as a healer) since the main difference is damage comes in consistently in wow (to the main tank)

where in ffxiv damage comes in waves thats why there's nothing to do but dps until the next wave of damage comes (tankbuster.......raidwide........raidwide......tankbuster) if no one makes mistakes all that's left to do is dps and just sitting there doing nothing is wasteful

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as for new player experience in retail wow there's no tips to it, just jump in and the game will hold your hand in the tutorial. after that you just level to the max level before the current expansion (Current Max Level - 10) in any way you want be it questing, dungeon spam, etc etc. once you're at the level only then will you have an "MSQ" to follow in wow retail and that will guide you til max level

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if you're playing wow for the story though that's kinda where the "so clunky" experience is. cause it's all so fragmented and all over the place. so i would suggest to ignore the MSQ aspect of wow until you are in the latest expansion. wow retail is the game where you play it for the game and the content and you read the story/lore elswhere if it's not the latest expansion you are doing (books, wikis, youtube, etc.)

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an alternative you can try is lost ark. it has a great combat system, decent role identity (you have tank, support, dps) and it is raiding and bossing focused (pve)

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its free so there's no cost to entry and you can try it any time you want. the only downside is the community is sort of gatekeep-y at the relevant endgame raids but that is solved if you find friends/groups in discords you can join

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star wars old republic and lord of the rings online are okay picks for classes where a "healer is a healer" but with way lower population count compared to the likes of gw/wow/ff you might struggle to find people to do content (endgame) with depending on your timezone and server

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there's recent discussion about the new player experience in WoW over at #mmo-chat message

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exactly as i mentioned above minus the thing about healing

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if you have more concerns regarding wow, feel free to ask away at #world-of-warcraft (if you dont want to join a wow oriented community discord)

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wow is probably the best alternative to GW2 and FF14 as a healer in terms of population, content, and combat (compared to other tab target games)

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especially since you seem to be okay with subscribing or paying a fee (this is honestly the hardest thing in #1118516063248863303) compared to most people over here asking for a free mmorpg but dont want any of the cons associated with being free to play lol

small idol
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Thanks 🤍 @quick knot

gentle veldt
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What is healing like in GW2 since that's been brought up in multiple times? I pretty much have the same feelings as OP about healers in FFXIV. I did enjoy healing in wow but never got to end game doing it (I played resto shaman in horde and resto druid in alliance). Every time I try to get into GW2 it just feels like aimless nothing and it sort of kills me playing the game because it feels too "Go look at shit on the map" and less "here's content to learn the group content dynamics" and I hate that but I want to try healing in end game stuff in GW2

quick knot
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sometimes is just a heal aoe, sometimes its a heal baked into the dps skill (like druid's laser beam)

gentle veldt
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I'd be down for that. Is GW's leveling slog worth it for the end game? I'm not an achievement hunter or completionist or fashion chaser I just like doing difficult group pve content

quick knot
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gw2 has "difficult" pve content the first time you go through it. the raids (all the way back from the first expansion), strikes (mini raid or sometimes its like a boss fight only), fractals (scaling dungeons) are always relevant since there is no item/power level so as a new player you have a lot of content waiting for you

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"difficult" is subjective ofcourse

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depends on your skill and learning pace

gentle veldt
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Is there anything like M+?

quick knot
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fractals at tier4 and challenge mode enabled

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the only thing with gw2 is once you do all the content, once you get all your best in slot and get the legendaries you want (legs have the same stats as the highest tier of regular gear), you pretty much have to create your own goals in the game

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that's why fashion and achievement hunting is such a big thing in that game

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cause after you do all the instanced stuff, you're pretty much "done"

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but don't let that turn you off, there's always new content no doubt but it doesnt get released at the same pace as wow does

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even ff14 has slowed down on content release

gentle veldt
gentle veldt
quick knot
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that whole game is like that it doesnt give you a direction but offers a "guided" experience if you require it

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that's why you can get best in slot in guild wars 2 without ever touching a raid or fractal or any hard content

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you can get your best gear entirely by crafting them yourself

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doing all the harder content just lets you get the gear and rewards faster since you are rewarded for your efforts (as it should be)

small idol
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GW2 hass a very different "meta" than any other MMORPG

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Because the way GW2 is set up, you gain aggro based off of your toughness level. You have heavy, medium, and light armor, but the cool thing with GW2 is that you can put any "stat type" onto any of those gears

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So typically you'd run Harrier's gear(Power[physical dmg,] Healing, and Concentration[boon duration]) mixed with Giver's accessories(Toughness[this is the stat that determines who gains aggro,] healing and concentration) in pubs with you having a base toughness of at least 1400 in Pubs you will typically haev the highest as the healer

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This is so you can be the one pulling aggro while healing yourself + the team.

The only class that was able to "solo heal" anything was heal spectre, but it was very niche and didn't last in the meta long.

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Sadly-- for my friend and I we LOVED GW2's combat style and art style and mount mechanics, but the healer being the tank and everyone else DPSing.. was pretty sad and underwhelming..

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I will say(jusst got back into WoW. haven't touched any group content besides a lvl 22 raid lol)

The only thing that's scary to some people getitng into GW2 is the rotations, where you dont have as many buttons to press compared to games like FFXIV and WoW, some classes have a pretty high skill ceiling.

If you're primarily focusing on healing.. it is one of the easiest classes to learn when it comes to rotation, but in group content and learning the mechanics it does spice it up

quick knot
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there's no standard t / h / d

small idol
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^

gentle veldt
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Interesting, thanks

pale pelican
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i have never experienced a more fun healing than gw2 , id describe GW2'd healing as close to Perfect , 9/10

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heal scourge is just so fucking good

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being able to bring people to you from far away and ress them

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the diversity in healing styles from classes

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I was never a healer guy, mainly tank and dps, tried healing in many mmos, was just not for me, but in GW2 , I felt like I had an impact

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if felt like you are controlling the fight

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I loved gw2 so much, it just the horizontal progression thing is not for me

quick knot
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you never healed in other/older/more traditional mmorpgs

pale pelican
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I have healed in wow

quick knot
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so it's closer to hybrid

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since you still have to press your buttons a lot

pale pelican
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but I dont like wow healing , its like interface game

quick knot
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and all the time

pale pelican
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i dont know about retail healing as I only played healer in classic

quick knot
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cant just stand there and wait for hps to go down :P

pale pelican
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not a shore

small idol
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yeah bc in GW2. Healers also being the tanks, you are kind of.. the shot caller? You also dictate where the fight goes-- because you are the one with aggro . So makes sense why you felt that way

blissful juniper
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As of 2025 the best MMORPGs for Healers are Albion and WoW, in every other game I've played, which is coming close to 10 as of 2025, the healers class is mixed with several other archetypes or is just boring as a whole.

Back in 2014, the healer class in Ragnarok Online was incredible, being the only one capable of actually healing and managing buffs/debuffs, unfortunely the game moved away from the holy trinity and everyone is a DPS now.

In Albion, the healer is mandatory, either for HCE (pve content) or ZvZ (pvp content), and the healers are solely responsible for healing, no one else does it, just like the tank/engager. The Healer specializations in WoW have been moving away from the defined genre, since you're mixing healing rotations, support rotations and damage rotations, even then it is still head and shoulders above everything else and below Albion.