Misuse of the word "Healer"
By
Acyl,
Posted on: 2009-05-15 19:43 in Archetypes and Powers General Discussion
I can't resist stirring the pot.
Some say "healer" isn't an adequate term, and to use "Defender" instead.
This leads me to ask: does a Trick Arrow Defender share more in common with a Defender, with a Controller, or with a "healer"? And which category does a Controller with an /Empathy secondary fall into--does the word "Controller" sum up what the team is getting when they invest in adding this hero to their team?
One of these again? The word is "empath", everyone understands, nobody gets their feeling hurt.
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I can't resist stirring the pot.
Some say "healer" isn't an adequate term, and to use "Defender" instead.
This leads me to ask: does a Trick Arrow Defender share more in common with a Defender, with a Controller, or with a "healer"? And which category does a Controller with an /Empathy secondary fall into--does the word "Controller" sum up what the team is getting when they invest in adding this hero to their team?
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Support.
Dr. Todt's theme.
i make stuff...
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One of these again? The word is "empath", everyone understands, nobody gets their feeling hurt.
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Sometimes, just sometimes, I want a person on my team that is good at restoring HP. Empathy is probably the most often thought of powerset for this, but thermal, dark, kin, and maybe even storm can satisfy this.
Whether or not some people think the function of restoring lost HP is unnecessary or undesirable, others do not. For those people, this function is very much in demand. When this happens, they ask for a healer...
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Calling everybody who looks for a "healer" as ignorant, incompetent or lazy is indeed a generalization on a grand scale, and a blatant attempt to insult in this case. It is lame and shameful.
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Looking for a healer in this game is ignorant by definition. It's like going into a hardware store and asking for a tool. Or a bag of potato chips.
It is insulting.
It is shortsighted.
It shows a lack of knowledge in the game, and a lack of interest in gaining that knowledge. (If that's not ignorant, I don't know what it.)
It demonstrates a person has an inflexible mindset.
In short, a person wanting a "healer" is a poor player.
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My thoughts exactly.
Elec/Cold Troller AV/Pylon/GM/TF/SF Soloing Antics
everytime...he gets me everytime.... DAMN U BOOMIE
-- _Ilr_
Take the Magic: The Gathering 'What Color Are You?' Quiz.
I'm sort of confused.
People seem to be misconstruing the word 'ignorance'.
It's not a bad word, people. It's just used (like many other words, such as 'love', 'hate', and 'bacon') poorly by people that don't fully grasp that the word itself is only valid in that context because it's been misused by so many people over the years it's assumed that's how it's supposed to be used.
Newbies are ignorant. People that don't want to learn are ignorant. People that know and don't care can be considered functionally ignorant for all intents and purposes.
Newbies can be taught, and hopefully in the most polite, respectful, and informative manner possible so as not to hurt their feelings. Newbies are people, too, they're just learning the ropes. That's all. We're all newbies in relation to some factor of the game - it's our job as quality players (I'm assuming that at least half the people reading this can say they're a 'quality' player, at any rate) to make the learning experience as smooth as possible for new people, and correct them on the proper terminology - and why it's used instead of other things - so that they don't feel as awkward in the community, or catch heat for just plain not knowing any better.
People that don't want to learn should be informed in a similarly polite, and respectful manner. Eventually, it will stick, and they may or may not choose to actually use what they've learned. It's their choice, though, and they should be allowed to make it.
People that know, and don't care that they're using improper terminology and inefficient tactics? Are both lazy and ignorant, and perhaps incompetent (not always, though), and while they should be educated as to this fact in as polite a manner possible, but without forcing it. They can and should be allowed to choose to be a lazy, ignorant person.
...For the record, I rarely, if ever, practice what I preach. If you're going to make a comment about hypocrisy, please don't. I'm well aware, and frankly my dear, I just don't give a damn. 
Take that as you will. 
Or a player requesting a "healer", may play games like; FF series, WoW, Diablo, Lineage, Guild Wars, etc. We all know what people mean when they say their looking for a healer. Somone who mitigates lost life points. You can call the class what you wish, but veteran players know a healer AT when they see one. 02 boost is a great heal with a decent CD(4 secs). An average player knows that defenders buff/debuff and you guessed it heal. So, including Storm, thats 5 sets that come with a heal. Leaving 4 other sets that debuff/buff. One would assume when someone asks for a "healer" they mean the 5 I mentioned (Emp, DarkM,Kins,Storm,Rad).
If you find it insulting, than sour grapes for you, the world keeps going on. If you find it shortsighted, then you have a huge problem having something to do with either your pride or your ego. And if you think its "inflexible"....oh wait your playing an MMO with rules...
Lastly keep in mind that the person requesting for a healer is doing just that, asking for what some might consider a healer, he isn't labeling the entire defender populous Healers. "Sometimes the ego of a few need to be out weighed by the needs of many."
"If you can make a girl laugh, you can make her do anything"
"You're like Giraffe's, the way you look down on me, with your vegetarian scorn."
How is it not shortsighted? I looked it up just now to be sure.
'Unable to understand things deeply'. 'Not given careful consideration'. 'Lacking foresight or scope'.
I'd say ignoring every other tool that the person in question (once again, more then just defenders can fill the Support role) to focus on one tool (healing), when a lot of those tools can prevent the need for healing when applied properly is rather short-sighted, and says more about the people that stamp their foot and try to claim that it's not a silly notion in this game.
And that's all it is. A silly, misused term that's rather ignorant ('destitute of knowledge';'unconscious or unaware';'foolish or silly') in it's attempt to pigeonhole (stereotype) entire sections of the playerbase.
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Lastly keep in mind that the person requesting for a healer is doing just that, asking for what some might consider a healer, he isn't labeling the entire defender populous Healers. "Sometimes the ego of a few need to be out weighed by the needs of many."
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I'm tired of being nice about it. No, it isn't "doing just that." Usually, it's some nimwit kicking my Dark Defender/Corr/MM off a team because they saw a "healor" in broadcast. After that happening a half-dozen times, I get sick of the idiocy.
When a low-level player on my team mentions healers, I give them a polite introduction into why buffs are more useful, and how healing is far more limited in CoX than in most games.
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Lastly keep in mind that the person requesting for a healer...
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... thinks healing is better than buffing, debuffing, and hard and soft control. Better enough to overtly discriminate in team building.
... is occasionally right. Though on such occasions, they tend to use the word "empath" instead of "healer," e.g. Hamidon raids.
... usually is a perma-newb who will stubbornly continue to believe their team wipes are caused by needing more healing. Plenty of people out there will never figure out that this game is different from whatever RPG they think they're playing.
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In fairness, I overtly discriminate in team building, too. I actively recruit debuffers over controllers, buffers, and healers. If you're Trick Arrow, Radiation Emission, Storm Summoning, or Dark Miasma, I want you on my team now. Empath? Meh. If I can't find anyone else, fine. Hope you can blast.
But at least I realize it's personal preference -- matching teammates up with my own playstyle, and rewarding players with less popular builds who might be having trouble finding other teams. It's not because I think debuffing is so much better than other forms of mitigation.
Well, maybe just a little better. 
I applaud Rigel for acknowleding that his pereference as opposed to the general healer hate that gets placed on most competent empathy defenders.
I still don't hate Empathy/* or */Empathy characters. :/ I have one myself. And a */Pain Corrupter.
Still find the term 'healer' ridiculously inaccurate, though.
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Lastly keep in mind that the person requesting for a healer...
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... thinks healing is better than buffing, debuffing, and hard and soft control. Better enough to overtly discriminate in team building.
... is occasionally right. Though on such occasions, they tend to use the word "empath" instead of "healer," e.g. Hamidon raids.
... usually is a perma-newb who will stubbornly continue to believe their team wipes are caused by needing more healing. Plenty of people out there will never figure out that this game is different from whatever RPG they think they're playing.
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In fairness, I overtly discriminate in team building, too. I actively recruit debuffers over controllers, buffers, and healers. If you're Trick Arrow, Radiation Emission, Storm Summoning, or Dark Miasma, I want you on my team now. Empath? Meh. If I can't find anyone else, fine. Hope you can blast.
But at least I realize it's personal preference -- matching teammates up with my own playstyle, and rewarding players with less popular builds who might be having trouble finding other teams. It's not because I think debuffing is so much better than other forms of mitigation.
Well, maybe just a little better.
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Or maybe they already have plenty of buffs and debuffs, and are running invincible missions, which can make having a person with a heal power very welcome, and it may just darned well be transfusion that they are looking for. Quite likely they just want a defender/controller who can throw out some hp. It is a nice thing to have, and not unwelcome. When somebody asks for a healer they don't necessarily need an empath. I have given a shout looking for somebody with a heal power when the team had damage mitigation but no heal powers.
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Lastly keep in mind that the person requesting for a healer...
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... thinks healing is better than buffing, debuffing, and hard and soft control. Better enough to overtly discriminate in team building.
... is occasionally right. Though on such occasions, they tend to use the word "empath" instead of "healer," e.g. Hamidon raids.
... usually is a perma-newb who will stubbornly continue to believe their team wipes are caused by needing more healing. Plenty of people out there will never figure out that this game is different from whatever RPG they think they're playing.
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In fairness, I overtly discriminate in team building, too. I actively recruit debuffers over controllers, buffers, and healers. If you're Trick Arrow, Radiation Emission, Storm Summoning, or Dark Miasma, I want you on my team now. Empath? Meh. If I can't find anyone else, fine. Hope you can blast.
But at least I realize it's personal preference -- matching teammates up with my own playstyle, and rewarding players with less popular builds who might be having trouble finding other teams. It's not because I think debuffing is so much better than other forms of mitigation.
Well, maybe just a little better.
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Or maybe they already have plenty of buffs and debuffs, and are running invincible missions, which can make having a person with a heal power very welcome, and it may just darned well be transfusion that they are looking for. Quite likely they just want a defender/controller who can throw out some hp. It is a nice thing to have, and not unwelcome. When somebody asks for a healer they don't necessarily need an empath. I have given a shout looking for somebody with a heal power when the team had damage mitigation but no heal powers.
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Short of Hamidon and the high-end strikeforces, I have yet to see a situation in this game where more buffs/debuffs would not be preferable to heals.
If you've capped +DEF, +RES, and the equivalent debuffs on the enemy, and you still need heals, you're doing it wrong.
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People seem to be misconstruing the word 'ignorance'.
It's not a bad word, people. It's just used (like many other words, such as 'love', 'hate', and 'bacon') poorly by people that don't fully grasp that the word itself is only valid in that context because it's been misused by so many people over the years it's assumed that's how it's supposed to be used.
Newbies are ignorant. People that don't want to learn are ignorant. People that know and don't care can be considered functionally ignorant for all intents and purposes.
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Your half right ... People who don't know how to do something are ignorant of that something. I don't know how to perform open heart surgery, so I'm ignorant of that.
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*snip*People that know and don't care can be considered *snip*
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That is the definition of stupid. Those two words, ignorance and stupidity, are often thought to be mean, evil words when most of the time they fit. If you think about it, everyone on this planet is, at one point in their life, ignorant and/or stupid.
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Lastly keep in mind that the person requesting for a healer...
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... thinks healing is better than buffing, debuffing, and hard and soft control. Better enough to overtly discriminate in team building.
... is occasionally right. Though on such occasions, they tend to use the word "empath" instead of "healer," e.g. Hamidon raids.
... usually is a perma-newb who will stubbornly continue to believe their team wipes are caused by needing more healing. Plenty of people out there will never figure out that this game is different from whatever RPG they think they're playing.
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In fairness, I overtly discriminate in team building, too. I actively recruit debuffers over controllers, buffers, and healers. If you're Trick Arrow, Radiation Emission, Storm Summoning, or Dark Miasma, I want you on my team now. Empath? Meh. If I can't find anyone else, fine. Hope you can blast.
But at least I realize it's personal preference -- matching teammates up with my own playstyle, and rewarding players with less popular builds who might be having trouble finding other teams. It's not because I think debuffing is so much better than other forms of mitigation.
Well, maybe just a little better.
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Or maybe they already have plenty of buffs and debuffs, and are running invincible missions, which can make having a person with a heal power very welcome, and it may just darned well be transfusion that they are looking for. Quite likely they just want a defender/controller who can throw out some hp. It is a nice thing to have, and not unwelcome. When somebody asks for a healer they don't necessarily need an empath. I have given a shout looking for somebody with a heal power when the team had damage mitigation but no heal powers.
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Short of Hamidon and the high-end strikeforces, I have yet to see a situation in this game where more buffs/debuffs would not be preferable to heals.
If you've capped +DEF, +RES, and the equivalent debuffs on the enemy, and you still need heals, you're doing it wrong.
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Maybe they don't want to wait for just the right defender who can cap everything with just the right amound of buffs and debuffs, and a frickin heal of any sort will cap their hp just fine and dandy. There is no reason on Earth to just avoid heals for the sake of avoiding them, and debuffs with a heal is a nice quick way to get rolling without advertising for a ________ (insert your desired favorite AT here).
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02 boost is a great heal with a decent CD(4 secs).
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((0.o))
...
My Stormie has O2 Boost, but it's just as much for the stun and end drain protection. IMO it's really rather mediocre as a heal. So if O2 Boost is a great heal, then my Dark Miasma users must have a heal that is nigh-godlike.
i play many support characters, but not healers. While i tend to favor debuffing types, i have alts with every support set, including Empathy. None of my characters are healers because it is the least significant aspect of their capabilities, so it's silly to call them that. i also don't call Tankers knockback resisters.
Just my 02 cents.
Dr. Todt's theme.
i make stuff...
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Short of Hamidon and the high-end strikeforces, I have yet to see a situation in this game where more buffs/debuffs would not be preferable to heals.
If you've capped +DEF, +RES, and the equivalent debuffs on the enemy, and you still need heals, you're doing it wrong.
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Maybe they don't want to wait for just the right defender who can cap everything with just the right amound of buffs and debuffs, and a frickin heal of any sort will cap their hp just fine and dandy. There is no reason on Earth to just avoid heals for the sake of avoiding them, and debuffs with a heal is a nice quick way to get rolling without advertising for a ________ (insert your desired favorite AT here).
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You persist in your delusion of claiming I avoid heals. I could claim, and with more validity, that you are avoiding buffs. When I look for a defender/controller/MM/Corruptor, I am looking for heals. And buffs. And debuffs. And blasts. And control. And soaking ability. And more.
But YOU are defending the term "healer." You would exclude a TA player, or a Kin who skipped Transfusion. Exclude a FF or Traps character. Sonic or Ice. Sets with powerful abilities that could shift the tide of battle before the heals (that don't help much against alphas or lag) you so desire.
You are excluding, not me. You are promoting the use of imprecise terminology from other games, a trait that demonstrates either an unwillingness or inability to adapt to a system that is not the triad of tank-healer-dps.
I like that people are talking about the undesirableness of "healers" as if no of us has ever gone into the sewers before. Do some quick math on the value of a heal versus the value of a buff at that level, and tell me that there aren't occasions when a "healer" is highly desirable if not outright required to keep the team running. Evem if healing becomes gradually less needed as the game progresses, it doesn't start out that way.
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I personally don't classify anyone by anything except archetype when I look at broadcasts. I've been on too many teams lately where the leader picks up a "healer" and the team falls apart because everyone thought this player rolled an empath.
Usually when I'm leading my own teams I skip over the "healer" broadcasts because anymore it doesn't tell me anything. If that same person was to say "lvl XX archetype" they stand a much better chance of getting picked up because it narrows down what you can expect from them. As Virtual_Gamer pointed out, a "healer" could even refer to a scrapper. Again, very misleading.
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Okay WHEN I even bother to broadcast I have a Macro set up:
XX level Ill/EMP Controller LFT Heals, Rez, Buffs along with Stealth and recall friend.
I do this with almost all of my characters varying the message depending on the AT. That way any team leader knows WHO I am, WHAT I am, and WHAT I offer the team. My search comments are pretty much identical to that as well.
Oh and while I also play, Stormies, Thermals, Etc can someone please tell me when EMPS got such a bad name? and if so why do I normally get 2 to 3 BLIND invites a night asking me to join someone's team? A GOOD Emp (Defender or Controller) offers a lot more than just heals (at least they better). Next time your battling a 52 level or better AV start screaming for Fort or Clear Mind to your Stormie and see how fast you get it LOL
�We�re always the good guys. In D&D, we�re lawful good. In City of Heroes we�re the heroes. In Grand Theft Auto we pay the prostitutes promptly and never hit them with a bat.� � Leonard
�Those women are prostitutes? You said they were raising money for stem cell research!� � Sheldon
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You are promoting the use of imprecise terminology from other games, a trait that demonstrates either an unwillingness or inability to adapt to a system that is not the triad of tank-healer-dps.
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you're awfully worked up about what amounts to little more than a term of convenience
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I like that people are talking about the undesirableness of "healers" as if no of us has ever gone into the sewers before. Do some quick math on the value of a heal versus the value of a buff at that level, and tell me that there aren't occasions when a "healer" is highly desirable if not outright required to keep the team running. Evem if healing becomes gradually less needed as the game progresses, it doesn't start out that way.
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You can't look at just one part of the game in a vacuum. That's somewhat silly, especially when considering a fair number of Support (Radiation Infection, Thernal Radiation, Dark Miasma, Kinetics, Empathy/Pain Domination, Storm Summoning, Poison) all get a power with a Heal component before level 4, and a number after that fact (Traps, Cold Domination*) get something to affect HP values as well before 20. Infact, out of the entire game, only three sets (Force Fields, Sonic Resonance, Trick Arrow) focus entirely on non-heal forms of support and mitigation.
Is it really worth excluding a whopping 3 sets, to use your pet stereotypical term? Especially considering that even on a typical Sewers run that a Force Field or Sonic Resonance Defender can protect an entire team from taking as much or any damage at all, even with the lack of slots at those levels? Fun fact here, is that as far as some Buffs go (I can verify for a fact the values in Force Field and Sonic Resonance), they provide the exact same base values regardless of your level. It's only what you have slotted that really matters. A factor of 15% additional defense (Cold Domination, Force Field) to multiple areas (including positionals) is a major buff for some sets, whereas a 20% Resistance buff may not seem like much, but it may be enough to keep your preferred aggro-management specialist (That's a fluff term I'm using only specifically for this discussion; In the sewers, it doesn't really matter who, if anyone, is tanking) up long enough to survive the alpha and pop a green. Or for someone with a heal to prop him up (fairly good odds on that if you recruit enough support).
And what about the Villain game? Why do we automatically pretend that 'healer' mentality doesn't exist redside? Especially with the addition of Pain Domination to that part of the game. That's foolishly shortsighted (Yay, new favorite term!) for making a sweeping generalization about how bloody important heals are to the game.
They're not. They're a tool, same as any other that a Support character gets. And they're nowhere near as special, or as much of a force multiplier. I prefer to recruit based on what an entire AT brings me, not on what one tiny aspect of what they do is. If I have a team mostly full of blasters and one lone tanker or scrapper, I'm going to probably prefer a Controller. If I have a team of mostly brutes and dominators, I'm likely going to think about adding a corrupter. If my team consists almost entirely of SoAs and stalkers, I may actually prefer a Mastermind. If my team is mostly melee-oriented, picking up a defender seems the best choice.
But in a pinch? It doesn't matter, I'll grab someone and make it work. My preference of support is not necessary, and neither is healing.
(*Clarification: Frostworks technically affects HP values, and mitigation values, directly by increasing the pool available. The more HP you have, the more valuable every point of Resistance, Defense, and Regeneration you get has.)
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I like that people are talking about the undesirableness of "healers" as if no of us has ever gone into the sewers before. Do some quick math on the value of a heal versus the value of a buff at that level, and tell me that there aren't occasions when a "healer" is highly desirable if not outright required to keep the team running.
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Deflection Shield and toggle debuffs neuter Vahz. Sewers suck for XP anyway.
And the only reason buffs aren't good at low levels are because they're not unlocked yet.
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And the only reason buffs aren't good at low levels are because they're not unlocked yet.
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I think that was the point of the statement.
Until level 12, every Empath is a healer whether they like it or not
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5/9 (yes, i was wrong about Emp's total number of +regen buffs, didn't account for AB). Resurrect isn't a heal.
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Healing 100% of HP and restoring the dead to life isn't a heal?
OK.
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Scroll up and read some more. It won't hurt, I promise.
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I read what you wrote above. It's the same tortured logic that the anti-healer forces have been using for 5 years. Empathy is a set focused on restoring life, i.e. healing. That doesn't mean that that is all it can do, it's just what it's focused on.
But that doesn't work in the anti-healer playbook so we take ridiculous logical leaps to avoid calling something that heals a heal.
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I'm what you'd call an "anti-healer", but I explained why the Rez is a heal. Twice. I even asked her to go back and read my post, but it appears that never happened.
Or I'm ignored. /shrug Doesn't really matter to me in the end.
Main Hero : Annilixxion -- Lv50 Blaster
Main Villain : Menkaura -- Lv41 Mastermind
@Laxx
"You will bend to my will, with or without your precious sanity." --Dragon Mage