The developers of Fantastic Pixel Castle, who are currently working on the project Ghost, remain true to their communicative line and wanted to know this time from the MMORPG community who prefers to heal, tank, or deal damage, and why. The players’ responses range from remarkable to disturbing.
Which roles are particularly popular among players? Although in our experience there are clearly more damage dealers than healers or tanks in most MMORPGs, surprisingly many players stated in the discussion that they prefer to move through group content as a medic or punching bag on two legs.
The developers of Fantastic Pixel Castle summarize their findings in this post on X as follows:
So… we have noticed some trends in the responses:
Tanks: I like leading raids and protecting my groups!
DPS: I like achieving big damage numbers and feeling powerful!
Healers: I DECIDE WHEN YOU DIE …
Healer main characters, are you doing well? Would you like to talk about it?
- Nanocyde writes on X: ‘I like the godlike power I have when I can choose people for my group and/or my raid. Sometimes you just have to leave stupid people standing in the fire so they realize it’s burning.’
- JoshD has no heart for certain damage dealers, via X: ‘As a healer, I will always vehemently protect my tanks, but DPS need to be aware that it’s okay to do a little less damage if it means getting out of the damn fire.’
- MaPauline Parisot explains on X: ‘Healer is definitely the best role. If designed well, it can be tricky and extremely entertaining. The challenge of keeping everyone alive is exciting. But the most important thing? Being able to decide who lives and who doesn’t, hehe.’
The MMORPG project Ghost currently only has a prototype; here you can see gameplay from the very early version:
The Power Over Life and Death
Are there also life-affirming healers? Quite a few actually. Many players explain in their responses that they appreciate the role of healer especially because so much responsibility rests on their shoulders. They not only need to cleanse, buff, heal, but of course also play the mechanics of each fight correctly.
When healing, there are often opportunities for optimizations to increase one’s efficiency. For example, someone who knows a fight inside out can time heals so precisely that they hit the ally exactly when that ally takes damage.
Additionally, as many players further state, one can significantly influence the success of many groups and raids because one is often able to compensate for the mistakes of others – for example, by keeping alive players who overlook a damage area or play a mechanic incorrectly.
That the day-to-day life of a healer can also have an unpleasant, frustrating side is aptly shown by this message: Healers in World of Warcraft despair: ‘It’s really bad out there.’.
What role do you prefer in MMORPGs? And how important do you find it that online role-playing games offer the Holy Trinity of tank, healer, and DPS? Let us know in the comments!
What do I need to know about Ghost? Project Ghost is being developed by the studio Fantastic Pixel Castle, founded in 2023 and is intended to be an exciting mix of theme park and sandbox. The team of veterans is led by Greg “Ghostcrawler” Street, who was involved in the development of WoW and the LoL MMORPG.
A special feature of the project: The developers are already allowing the community to influence and give feedback during the conceptual phase. Since it only started in 2023, there is accordingly a long way ahead of the team.
Fresh sounds also the concept surrounding the blue and red zones, which are intended to be the core elements of the MMORPG besides a central hub:
- The central city, which serves as a social hub, base of the factions, public sanctuary, trade center, and venue for seasonal events. You must help rebuild it.
- The blue zones, which are procedurally generated, invite exploration (sandbox), are private for each player or a group, and affect the world.
- The handcrafted red zones, which are public and offer much of the content known from theme park MMORPGs.
At the end of 2024, very early gameplay was shown for the first time, including a fight against a world boss. Please note that the final assets are not yet used here. The finished game will look very different. More about this here: Former WoW lead shows gameplay of his new MMORPG that is supposed to do everything better
