Title. I think we can all agree that healers hold too much weight on a team in a BG. As such, I’d like to propose a method to permanently reduce their importance by means of introducing competition. No this does not mean we’re gonna nerf healing numbers or let the reins on DPS go. Rather this method just makes a healer’s tools for survival useless to their team and themselves.
I’d like to propose the distribution of Shadow Duel as a baseline ability to some classes but with Lay on Hands levels of strength so that it may not be used in arenas. Same rules as sub’s Shadowy Duel applies with the added conditions of there is no time limit, the only way out is with the other player’s corpse or a hearthstone, and that the fighting area is about the size of a Ring of Peace so one person doesn’t kite the other forever.
As for which specs/classes to give it to. It comes down to Monk of DK for thematic and practical reasons. The DPS specs’ healing for both of those specs aren’t negligible, but are dicey enough to keep things up in the air. If I had to choose between one or the other I’d give it to monk because they have one spec that the ability will more or less be useless on unless there’s the niche scenario of a potato MW sniping out a better healer and keeping both of them in limbo forever. Just know that i’d rather both classes have it for wider and faster mass distribution and a faster effect on player behavior in game.
Bonus: This is also a silver bullet for multi-boxers.
Edit 1:
So after some time to get this thread going it seems that the big reasons why people are opposed to this idea are that either.
A. It’d work.
B. It’s unnecessary as there are already tools in the game to deal with healers.
C. It’s not the course of action to take.
I can understand those that stated C. If I had to choose between if Blizz actually fixing specs/classes or putting this in, I’d choose to have Blizz actually fix the specs/classes. However, that’s a big if, and this is an ironic out.
I can also see the perspective of those that stated B, but I do not agree with them that it’s enough. While there is an abundance of CC in the game, it is in my opinion that they are just dice rolls if at all based on the scenario. I consider myself risk averse, so I proposed this to avoid dice rolls. Just straight up do you have the numbers/combo?
And then there are the people who stated A and/or rather more or less memed and proposed a lot of hyperbole. To which I say, thanks for the bumps?
Edit 2:
More feedback to work with.
It seems many are under the impression that the goal of this proposal is meant to let dps 1v1 healers to death at their leisure. I can’t blame them for thinking that given the nature of the spell I proposed. I understand healers aren’t meant to be 1v1ed. They’re designed that way.
However, I’d like to clarify that the idea isn’t for a dps to 1v1 a healer resulting in the healer’s death. The target is the death of a healer’s time. The idea is to let dps put healers through what healers put dps through and vice versa with the goal of potentially letting a dps leash a healer for entire BGs similar to what healers do now.
It’s a little funny to think about. People don’t bat an eye when a good healer takes up a significant amount of a team’s dps time to either put down or just keep pressured. However, when I propose an idea to let one dps do the same thing to one healer by forcing them into a different scenario, people freak out.
