A Chanter and a tank rolled into one? Oh hell yeah, sign me up! I've always dreamed of doing four times the work to carry an entire group of AFK pet classes, rogues, and wizards who are basically playing idle clicker simulators. Nothing sounds more thrilling than sweating through every pull while everyone else tabbed out to YouTube still somehow walks away with the same loot. Truly the pinnacle of "classic" MMO design - surrounded by human macros.
Honestly this sounds ideal for me. I'm a control freak and prefer to take on as much responsibility for group success as possible.
I'll likely play Inquisitor and Druid, but man do I hope they fix Druid mistakes from EQ. So far it's looking like the same problems exist, but it's early so I'm hopeful.
Early EQ Druid was always the least desired group/raid healer because they didn't actually do anything that anyone needed. Sure, Cleric was the best healer, but that wasn't the only issue and that was really all that got corrected by the second-rate 'Complete Heal' Druids got eventually. They were always billed as 'jack of all trades, master of none' or good 'secondary healers', but none of this was true in practice. At the top-end min/max attitudes persisted and a Druid was almost always overlooked as a main healer, and certainly passed over in favour of DPS as a secondary healer/support. Outside a few situations (AOE or Charm groups), group composition followed a simple formula:
1. Tank
2. CC
3. DPS
4. DPS
5. DPS/Support
6. Healing
Druids were only ever in the running for spot #6, but the devs position seemed to be that they should be considered for spots 3-5. This never happened in practice, mostly because Druids never got the tools for it to make sense.
I'd like to see Druid being the Priest providing the best caster buff support, similarly to how Shamans provide the best melee buff support (haste) and Clerics do the same for tanks (ac/hp). Ideally I think it'd be wise to give Druids the only +casting speed buff that can be cast on others. I think right now that's given to Bards and Wizards. I'd remove it entirely from Bards since their group desirability speaks for itself without that tool, and I'd make the Wizard version self only. Make it whatever Druidy class fantasy flavour you want - Wisdom of the Owl, Sap of Eternity, Ten Thousand Fireflies.... I dunno.
The team has already stated how they are managing all healers being competitive for group spot #6, but given the current kits I still believe people take Shaman or Cleric over Druid in almost every situation. Especially if a group already has a Wizard for evacs. I think the goal should be to make them competitive for group spot #5. Make it so every caster in the group would welcome a Druid in a support role that makes them better at their jobs, rather than a missed opportunity to add a pure DPS class or a class that pivots into support better (Shaman, Bard, Necro).
I'm not going to suggest this in the Monsters & Memories Discord because suggesting nerfs to classes probably wouldn't be well received, but
Nick
lurks here, so I figured I should take a shot. It was never just about Complete Healing.