I don't play a healer but I know why our healers play them because they explained it a few times. They like the idea of supporting people, surprisingly many of our healers are female and a few have children, although some are male. I think people who play healers like the idea of having a role of caring for others.

i play healer sometimes but only because i hate waiting for a healer :| hate healers

I've played a healer in every MMO I have ever played since 1999. I play them because....

- I enjoy helping others (Something nearly extinct in today's MMO's unless there is something in it for the other player).

- You can always find a group as a healer. (Or can heal yourself at least because few look for groups outside of high end raiding since in most you can solo to cap anyways)

- Being needed.

- Someone's gotta do it. (Since most want to be the 1337 DPS and try to outdo each other in damage instead of anything else)

It's really sad because I remember in EQ quite a few people played healers. Anymore, healers are a rarity...like tanks, because as stated above..most players now want to stand out and be the top DPS...or "top" in any other category they can. They treat MMO's like console games and expect achievements and make it a rat race to outdo each other. I just feel today's MMO generation has this self entitlement attitude and expect as much as they can get, with as little effort put forth as possible. This is my opinion anyways after 12+ years in the genre.

Originally posted by Goatgod76

I've played a healer in every MMO I have ever played since 1999. I play them because....

- I enjoy helping others (Something nearly extinct in today's MMO's unless there is something in it for the other player).

- You can always find a group as a healer. (Or can heal yourself at least because few look for groups outside of high end raiding since in most you can solo to cap anyways)

- Being needed.

- Someone's gotta do it. (Since most want to be the 1337 DPS and try to outdo each other in damage instead of anything else)

^This because I like to get !@#$ done.

In PvP, I like killing dps classes as a healer, specially a crowd-control hybrid healer ^_^

watch dps classes frustrate themselves trying to kill me

dps classes getting over-confident and tunnel-visioned into killing themselves slowly

watching me heal and cut their hp 1% at a time until it's too for them late to notice they've lost...

Healing is boring... when you're always the last man standing. Make sure you have the right background music!

QUEUE MUSIC!

>>>>>>>>Benny Hill Theme Song<<<<<<<<

Originally posted by bestiacorpus

QUEUE MUSIC!

>>>>>>>>Benny Hill Theme Song<<<<<<<<

This is what I could hear in my head playing nearly any MMO now. That or music used in films prior to sound in them. Everyone races to cap so they can complain there isn't enough content. Silly.

LF tank, LF healer, that's why. They're needed, guaranteed a spot in parties and raids. There's usually an abundance of DPS and while doing the tank bit, keeping agro on the bit and 'Bring it on!' can be quite heroic, the healer usualy plays the whack-a-mole game. If playing a full healer was actually fun, more people would be doing it.

They play healers because they're needed, like the tank. Try an instance without those and see how far you get.

People play healers because they like taking caring for others and like the idea of other having to be grateful for saving their butts.

It's one of my main critiques against GW2. I like to play healer. Not always but regularly. It is a good role to fill. You keep the people alive and fighting, everyone loves a good healer. ^^

Originally posted by Elikal

It's one of my main critiques against GW2. I like to play healer. Not always but regularly. It is a good role to fill. You keep the people alive and fighting, everyone loves a good healer. ^^

 True, but everyone will love a good guardian too. A character that will be able to prevent damage to them instead of having to heal them after being beaten close to death. You'll also keep the people alive and fighting and they'll love you for it. There are alternatives to playing the healer.

Originally posted by Granrey

Just curious, I 've been playing MMO for couple years and as weird as it sounds. I have never asked the question to the healers.

 edit:

why do they find it fun?

I don't enjoy being the leader all the time, but I enjoy having a pivotal role in a group and a notable contribution.

Personally I don't get why people like being DPS... /assist pewpew on auto follow? Easy mode tbh.

Each to their own I guess.

I find that playing a healer you usually attract more friendly people.

You are apreciated more then the average DPS, and if you do your job well even more so then a tank.

Besides that.. I simply enjoy doing it.

Its pure fun to have one of my team mates getting hit by 4 enemies, and im outhealing the damage, and after 5 minutes when they are dead, they realize i had to die first, IF THEY COULD hehe

For me my first roll is typically a tank and my second roll is generally a healer. I find that in most games they are the most challenging aspects of group play. It's not really about helping people for me though I do love to help my friends, the type I help I do would be just fine as any class.

Mainly I find DPS classes just boring. You sit there and do your rotations and watch the numbers fly. With tanking and healing you have to react to the situation and be in control. Otherwise your party fails, plus I know a lot of tanks and healers suck and I don't so I love all the compliments I get for not being one of those people that simply rolls healer or tank so they can get party invites. Healing takes a certain amount of finesse and concentration which is another attractive attribute to me. Plus not having to sit around trying to get a group is a bonus but that's a reason way down my list, I would still choose those two classes even if I had the difficulty a DPS generally has.

Originally posted by fenistil

@OP

 

Why people play tanks, dps ,support ,cc , etc classes?

 

edit:lately games don't have dedicated cc or and support classes though :/

True, CC is nowadays majorly ignored. Another aspect of the present games' dumbification (if such word exists, lol). Kill order and target selection mattering? Why? Let's just spam AOEs.

Anyway, I agree with you. Why play any role? mmmm.. cos you like it?

I do a lot of PvP, and DPS are pretty much a dime a dozen.

I have found when i play a healer, i "win" more than i lose, that being open pvp with others, battlegrounds, rvr, whatever. I really enjoy winning the big picture, than i do beating down a  random dpser.

As someone said earlier, its quite hysterical watching two people try and beat someone down while i am off in the background healing them. You get a lot of words of thanks for stuff like that. On the opposite end, when you get noticed, and continuosly focused fired can be a drag, but i think of it more as a compliment :)

As far as PvP goes, it rarely takes long to get a group.....

So i play a healer

A good question I think.  I played my very first healer in SWTOR, so I can't give you a history of my healer experiences.  However, I'm finding I enjoy it more than what I would have thought.  I usually play damage based mages.  I like standing in the back pounding things.  I didn't really think I would like healerr, but I thought I'd give it a try.

One of the fun parts for me, is trying to keep a party alive when it gets close.  Juggling between healing 3 near death players, while they battle on, being mindful of each little drop of health, husbanding that last bit of mana for your few last spells, can mean the differrence between defeat and victory.  

It's kind of a MMO'er rush on trying to do that juggling act.  When you're the healer, and there isn't really a challenge, you're just sort of tagging along because it's part of the trinity, it's not that great.  But come the big battles, its on.

As someone who has always played healers, my answer is simple. I'm a control freak who wants my limited game time to be productive. That means I'm going to be the one to keep my friends alive so we can get through whatever content we're working on as smoothly as possible.

Dying is a pain in the ass. I'd rather not do it, if possible. If that means that I'm the one keeping my guildmates alive, so be it. Besides, it's fun.

One-third of MMO players are females ... healing is one-third of the trinity roles ... anyone see a co-relation?

Originally posted by Sanity888

One-third of MMO players are females ... healing is one-third of the trinity roles ... anyone see a co-relation?

Now that you mention that. Some of the healer guys are strange.................

Originally posted by Sanity888

One-third of MMO players are females ... healing is one-third of the trinity roles ... anyone see a co-relation?

Stereotype much?