Guild Wars 2 has no healers or tanks

By Oli Welsh Published 9 July, 2010

Reinventing death and combat in MMOs.

Guild Wars 2 will have no dedicated healing class, no "tanking" in the classic sense, an intermediary stage between defeat and death and almost no death penalty, developer ArenaNet has revealed.

In a radical revision of the standard combat and grouping mechanics of massively multiplayer games, every class will have healing skills, and players will still have limited combat abilities once they've been "downed".

The revelations came in a post on the Guild Wars 2 website by gamer designer Jon Peters and a PC Gamer interview with Peters and design lead Eric Flannum. Both make very interesting reading.

Key to the new philosophy, the designers explained, was redefining "healing" as "support" and "tanking" as "control".

"There are no dedicated healers that do full healing. Every profession has some form of support to a greater or lesser extent, but none of them enough that they aren't also fighters," Peters told PC Gamer.

The change is partly intended to make it easier to put groups together, and partly intended to make support mechanics more fun, ArenaNet said.

"We don't like sitting around spamming 'looking for healer' to global chat," Peters said. "That feels an awful lot like preparing to have fun instead of having fun."

"What we don't have, and what we didn't want to have, was a character who stands at the back of the party and plays the 'party health bar game' - where they just look at an interface, watch health bars go down, click on a skill, click on those health bars, and that's all they do during combat," added Flannum.

Instead, support will be "proactive". "Healing is for when you are already losing. In Guild Wars 2 we prefer that you support your allies before they take a beating," Peters explained in his piece on the Guild Wars 2 website. "Other kinds of support include buffs, active defence, and cross-profession combinations."

Tanking is "the biggest break from the traditional MMO setup", he said."Tanking is the most rudimentary form of the most important combat fundamental, control... Control is the only thing versatile enough to get away from the rock-paper-scissors gameplay of other MMOs." Warriors might block projectiles or interrupt charges rather than simply soak up damage, Flannum told PC Gamer.

When your health reaches zero, rather than dying instantly you will enter "downed mode", in which you have access to four skills. One will send out an audible cry for help and make you invulnerable for a short period of time.

"Downed skills are less-powerful skills that a player can use in a last-ditch effort to turn the tide," said Peters on the Guild Wars 2 site. "A warrior might daze an enemy by throwing a rock. An elementalist might lock down their foe with Grasping Earth.

"While you are downed, if you manage to kill an enemy, you will rally, returning to life to fight again... This potential to rally from the edge of defeat adds greater drama to combat and gives a player some tactical control while in a state where they normally have none. "

Some professions will have skills allowing them to instantly rally fallen allies. "For example, when a warrior uses 'I Will Avenge You,' and then kills an enemy nearby his fallen allies, his allies will rally. While you are downed or defeated, any other player can come to you and interact with you to bring you back to life. We call this 'reviving', and everyone, regardless of profession, can do this starting at Level 1," Peters said.

Finally, the penalties for being downed, and ultimately dying, will be minimal. "Players who have recently been downed several times will take longer to revive each time. If no one revives you, you can spend a small amount of gold to come back at a waypoint," Peters said.

"It's as simple as that, and why not? Why should we debuff you, take away experience, or make you run around for five minutes as a ghost instead of letting you actually play the game? We couldn't think of a reason.

"Well, we did actually think of a reason - it just wasn't a good one. Death penalties make death in-game a more tense experience. It just isn't fun. We want to get you back into the action (fun) as quickly as possible. Defeat is the penalty; we don't have to penalize you a second time."

Radical stuff. Guild Wars 2 currently has no release date. It will be playable at the Gamescom convention in Cologne (18th to 22nd August), so watch out for more info next month.

The Guild Wars 2 warrior in action.

Picture of Oli.

About Oli Welsh

Oli is Eurogamer's acting deputy editor and reviews editor and likes to take things one word at a time. He is among the best dressed people in South London.

Read more articles from Oli by visiting the Oli Welsh archive page.

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Comments (46) Latest comment 2 years ago

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  • bdc #1 2 years ago

    Sounds great, we need more online RPGs to break the mould.

  • Nuronv #2 2 years ago

    I would agree, there are hundreds of MMOs out there that use the same core mechanics, if someone wants to make it big they need to break the mould

  • Kremlik Verified Co-Founder, Crash To Desktop #3 2 years ago

    The biggest problem with this game is that it can't come out soon enough.

    It's a huge step up from the first game(s) graphcally and the animations look fluid and less 'i'm using a skill', gameplay was already good and flexable in the game(s) so this one seems like it's true to form - throw in the fact that this is an open world game with more scripted open world events, hopfully it's got a more flushed out guild system this time (my only really issue with Guild Wars, is that it's very lite on the guild funtions other then the fact it's got a reason to have a guild past the grind for epics).

    This is a midnight purchase for me - if I can't get it digital first

  • wayn3h #4 2 years ago

    I hope this doesn't affect PvP negatively, as that was my primary reason for playing the first Guild Wars.

  • Azazel #5 2 years ago

    Guild Wars keeps drawing me back in now and again. Great game, can't wait for this one!

  • butler` #6 2 years ago

    Fascinating stuff. Blizzard are aware of the "health bar game" problem and are trying to enrich healers' raiding experiences but ultimately there's only so much they can without rocking the boat.

    The biggest worry with this role mash up idea is that of class homogenisation.

  • CaptainKid #7 2 years ago

    Sounds promising, I'm keeping an eye on this one.

  • Eraysor #8 2 years ago

    Nice to see them doing something different. I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with the tank/DPS/healer setup though, all three roles are great fun in WoW.

  • Raznilof #9 2 years ago

    Sounds an awful lot like like Spellborn. Innovation, when polished, is great! Looking forward to this.

  • mikeck #10 2 years ago

    I hope this doesn't affect PvP negatively, as that was my primary reason for playing the first Guild Wars.

    I hope so too. However, I think this will make PvP more refreshing as you wouldn't immediately be aware of the type of player you'd be up against. In usual PvP scenarios you can tell instantly from the character design roughly how your opponent will fight (of course better players will have multiple strategies) or at least what to expect.

  • TruSmiles #11 2 years ago

    I could never get into the first Guild Wars, despite it being free to play. But this sounds like it's going to be a must have, I'm really intrigued.

  • iamian #12 2 years ago

    I hope this doesn't affect PvP negatively, as that was my primary reason for playing the first Guild Wars.

    I don't think you're alone there either. I'd hope that ArenaNet would know not to abandon their most hardcore fans. Never got in to it myself that much but I certainly enjoyed it for a while (the PvP)

    edit: poor English
    Edited by 1 at 09/07/10 @ 11:08

  • brokenkey #13 2 years ago

    hmm. My guild used to have a pair of monks - Ying Monk and Yang Monk, who were healing and protection monks respectively (or possibly the other way around).

    I hope this doesn't mean we end up with hundreds of identical players.

  • bigbadbeasty #14 2 years ago

    "I hope this doesn't mean we end up with hundreds of identical players"

    I think it likely have the opposite effect. With only a limited amount of skills being used at once, and various roles possible by multiple classes I really can see a huge variety of options.

    Time will tell with this, but it really is looking to be the next stage of MMO's.

  • Eraysor #15 2 years ago

    Does make me wonder - why bother with classes at all?

  • TeaFiend #16 2 years ago

    Why do they keep making this sound good? I now might have to fork out for a new PC. Damn them!

  • Tiiti #17 2 years ago

    I was getting more and more excited about GW2 until seeing this "Guild Wars 2 has no healers or tanks ".

    The odd thing is I don't know why this has put me off :/

  • Koborover #18 2 years ago

    I hope the core MMO audience is acceptive of the next stage.

  • technotica #19 2 years ago

    "It's as simple as that, and why not? Why should we debuff you, take away experience, or make you run around for five minutes as a ghost instead of letting you actually play the game? We couldn't think of a reason.


    Has anyone ever played a game in god mode? Where you can't die? Was that ever more fun than playing a game where you might die any minute and where you actually fear this?

    For me games where death counts as nothing are like playing god mode, the fear of dying is what makes a game more intense, if dying means nothing you only have your leveling progress to keep the game insteresting.

    Sure dying and getting a harsh penalty can get frustrating but I'd rather have that frustration from time to time.

    Next you wonder why you'd fight a tough enemy that may take a few minutes to defeat, that can get so frustrating, why not just get experience points for sitting around!
    Edited by 4 at 09/07/10 @ 12:02

  • Kanjin #20 2 years ago

    aha this is going to be funny

    'HEAL ME HEAL ME!!!'

    '... there's no healer class'

    'HEAL MEEEE'

    edit: typo
    Edited by 1 at 09/07/10 @ 12:11

  • sneetch #21 2 years ago

    That could be good, I hope they do deliver on their promise better than Warhammer Online did: in WAR they said they didn't want people to have to spam their heal buttons, but that's exactly what you ended up doing.

    At the end of the day, if your character has some form of healing people will want you to be a healer, if you can tank to a degree they'll want you to tank. You'll still have people who won't even attempt something unless you have a certain "type" of character along because of a perceived need.

    Still, this is sounding pretty good. I like the downed stuff especially, so many times in games like this I knew that I could take down my killer if I just had... one... more... spell! :)

  • Acrid #22 2 years ago

    I applaud these guys for what they're doing here, it sounds like a wonderful break from the bog standard MMO and RPG fare that is available.

    Colour me very, very interested.

  • RedSparrows #23 2 years ago

    Technotica - if the enemy you're fighting regens its health, the entire fight resets etc, then that's a punishment.

  • Gaol #24 2 years ago

    Sounds risky, ambitious and awesome if they pull it off.

  • hiddenranbir #25 2 years ago

    The more I read about GW2, the more I'm happy they're changing the face of MMOs. About time.

  • Sunyavadin #26 2 years ago

    Simple solution in the original GW (Before Rits were added) was just to have a Necro or Mesmer switch their secondary to monk.

    That sufficed for most areas. Hell, you could have the ENTIRE PARTY multiclassed as monk if necessary.


    What was wrong with that system?

  • sneetch #27 2 years ago

    By the way looking at the screenshots on the GW2 website, there's a downed ability where the guy throws an axe into someone's crotch. That should be banned. By international law. ;)

    No To Crotch-Axes!

  • FogHeart #28 2 years ago

    Reminded me a lot of Second Wind in Borderlands.

  • Pinky_Floyd #29 2 years ago

    Can't wait.

  • Felwyn #30 2 years ago

    it's like last resort in call of duty :)

  • dbranchevans #31 2 years ago

    First time I've been excited about an MMO for ageees (well ok I was about the Star Wars game until it looked so damn generic), and no bloody subscription!

  • riceNpea #32 2 years ago

    'pro-active' should be wiped from the face of the planet. God damn no good buzz word.

    this game should be fun. i think that's the jist of their interview.

  • hiddenranbir #33 2 years ago

    This really does make any other new MMO coming out look rather outdated and archaic. Lucky that SWTOR is SW branded.

  • suic #34 2 years ago

    Ok I am all for breaking the mold, but I think GW2 has gone a little too far in some instances. Will my words have any effect on their decisions? No. Will I still play the game? Most likely. That being said, I'd like to voice my opinion just because it isn't one that many others have. I think the no death penalty thing is definitely going too far. We have already encountered a few instances of GW2 being dumbed down so as to appeal to the masses i.e. the over simplification of the skill bar(at least in my opinion); but I feel that this is worse. In the original article, they say that the DP in the original game made it tense and therefore not fun...Since when do those two words mean the same thing!! Without tension a victory is much less satisfying. Compare a kill in a regular round based FPS versus one in Deathmatch. Deathmatch kills aren't nearly as satisfying because there is absolutely no sense of danger. That is the way it seems that they are going to make GW2 feel. technotica's comment about this feeling like god mode makes very similar and true points. A game with all reward and no punishment is a game that quickly loses its luster. You couldn't think of a good reason for DP? How about all the reasons that made it good in GW1? It kept people from taking stupid over the top risks and overall forced players to play the game more skillfully or risk reasonably severe punishment. That is plenty reason for me. I hope they will address this in some way in the inevitable follow up article, but I won't get my hopes up.

  • Rack #35 2 years ago

    There are huge vast swathes of issues with having people switch to a secondary healing build but the most egregious is definitely that you have to force people who would rather be doing something else to heal. This ends up with players not taking these flexible builds because as a result they only ever get to play a gimped healer.

    Anyway I like this but I preferred CoX system of letting people be healers if they want but balancing the game so that they weren't necessary at all. In the early game people would yell "OMG just heal" but when your powers kicked in they'd come to accept the value of mitigation and control.

  • brod #36 2 years ago

    Tense experiences aren't fun? Tell that to Diablo 2 Hardcore mode players.

  • Phishfood #37 2 years ago

    Can't wait to see how group mechanics play out. I like it when a dev breaks the mold and tries something new.

  • Slipstream #38 2 years ago

    I really enjoy playing a Heal focused class T_T I'm good at keeping my team alive!

  • riz23 #39 2 years ago

    Some really perceptive observations there from ANet. GW2 seems so radical, I'm nervous but I trust them. Bring it on!

  • WinterSnowblind #40 2 years ago

    The first GW was a very challenging game, it required some real thought and actual team work and communication.

    I see no reason to believe the second would be any different. These are the same complaints people threw against the Prince of Persia reboot, simply because it respawned you instantly instead of making you stare at a game over screen, then forcing you to reload and play through segements of the game you've already seen.

    A game can still be challenging without this fluff.

  • Zaiz #41 2 years ago

    They are removing the penalty, not the problem with death. Ie, you are taken out of the game, and to revive you either get revived or revive at a shrine. Reviving at a shrine costs gold, and you have to return to the last place you were. So I understand where they are going with this entirely. And Death Penalty was just obnoxious when your team hit a hard fight and someone messed up, causing a TPK. You'd be sitting there with -15% of everything, and a fight you just lost to to try again. It really became a war of attrition waaay too quickly.

    I'm especially happy they are killing tanking, its what made so many MMOs uninteresting to me. Tank grabs aggro, holds aggro, while your team pounds on the targets. Not as hard as GW's rules that prevented tanking, ie, too many creatures with aggro on one guy and they would reacquire to other people they were aware of. This meant fights were more chaotic and less sterile.

    @Technotica

    Most games barely have a death penalty, and this one is going to have a roughly equivalent one to them, other than dropping gold costs to repair your items. GW used to have one of the nastiest death penalties in mainstream MMOs, that -15% was gigantic in difficult content.

  • felderpony #42 2 years ago

    I was thinking about death in MMO's the other day and I thought about not having a penalty for death.. Problem is, we are supposed to learn from our mistakes.. if you keep charging into a group and getting your rump handed to you, you change tactics to find out whats better.. if you die, you keep at it till you get it right. I know it can be a bind, but how do you get to be a better player if you don't learn from your boo-boo's?

  • tenofspades #43 2 years ago

    I'm curious. Roll on the open beta

  • Kami #44 2 years ago

    Sounds great actually. Not that I mind selective roles, but I'm all for new and unique takes on a tired old formula.

  • dutzan #45 2 years ago

    I couldn't agree more with the part where in most mmorpgs you have to wait ages and spam the chat for a healer. I experienced that in Guild wars to some extent, in Runes of magic, Aika and some other games I've played. Many times you wait 20, 30 or more minutes even giving up and not doing the quest/dungeon because of it. Terrible waste of time.

  • ignore #46 2 years ago

    i think most of u didnt even red the article. there are no healers or tanks there are just players who "support and control". give me a break. "some proffesions will have better heal options then others". guess who will heal then. they are trying to mask tank/dps/heal core but its not that simple. controlling.. hahhaha