Forums » Pantheon Classes

Line of Sight for heal spells

    • 46 posts
    July 1, 2019 9:48 AM PDT

    As someone who often plays a healer, there is not much I find more annoying then sending a much needed heal to the the tank (and be stuck immoble as I cast) only for them to run away to the next target, causing said spell to fail. Then hearing it from everyone about not getting the tank healed properly, cause they don't see all the failed attemps, they just see health dropping.

    Maybe there should be an invisible wall, so when an ally is the target of a friendly spell they can't go out of range, or better yet, any casting limitations should only apply to STARTING the spell, once it is started, it doesn't matter if you loose line of sight or they run out of range or whatever. If you can successfully start the spell, and get to fnish it (without of a fizzle, assuming that a posibilty), it should hit them no matter where they've gone (porting out of zone excluded).

    /rant


    This post was edited by Leachim at July 1, 2019 9:48 AM PDT
    • 888 posts
    February 17, 2020 1:12 PM PST
    My opinion on line of sight requirements really depends on three things:

    1). How fast is the pace of the action and movement. The higher the speed, the more annoying LoS requirements because your target is much more likely to break LoS.

    2). How visually busy is the game. If there is lots of effects spam or an awkward camera angle which makes clearly seeing where everyone is and what's going on, then LoS should not be required.

    3). How well designed is the GUI. A crisp GUI which makes tracking the team's HP simple is best, but if it's too difficult, I'll be spending too much time staring at the team window to properly track where everyone is at all times.

    Under good conditions, LoS requirements make healing more fun. But under sub-optimal conditions, it's just one more thing to fail or slow us down. And if we do require LoS, the target of a failed / blocked heal should hear some distinct failed spell sound. Otherwise, everyone will tend to blame the healer every time the target runs around a corner and dies.
    • 2 posts
    February 17, 2020 7:30 PM PST

    I honestly don't like LoS for heals... In most lore, there are healer spells that require LoS and heals that don't. There's also game bugs that cause LoS to really suck... I've experienced it in a few games and prefer not to deal with it ever again... Follow me into this scenario of a single experience I had while playing in an area that has trees... though there's no leaves on the trees only branches... a healers hanging around the pull spot... and tested heals on the group... everything looks good... then the mob gets moved... a branch is in the way of healing the tank... though it's not visibly in the way. Tank dies, cleric get's pissed because to them nothing should have caused it. It makes for bad gameplay.

    • 379 posts
    February 17, 2020 9:05 PM PST

    I liked how EQ only required being in range for beneficial spells (and heals). So that's the direction I would lean.

    • 1992 posts
    February 17, 2020 10:24 PM PST

    My history is mostly with all spells requiring line of sight. I wouldn't have expected otherwise without someone bringing it up.

    I think it would be fine to have some of both. I would prefer it to be some clear distinction in the type of spells which determines which ones do and don't. Rather than an arbitrary 'this spell does and this one doesn't'.

    For a healer, one breakdown I think 'feels' natural would be to have group spells not require it, as if the healer just casts the spell on himself and everyone in range gets it. But single target spells would have to have LoS.

    To me LoS means you can actually see them, so the target should have to be in your field of view. That could certainly be defined as the 180° in front of you. For the practical logistics of being in confined spaces in an mmo, I'd be ok with some minimal range like 1-3m where you could cast on someone behind you.

    • 945 posts
    February 18, 2020 9:08 AM PST

    I think there should only be physics for Line of Sight.  To explain what I mean by this I think using fireball compared to a prayer is a good example.  You can pray for someone from behind a wall and blessings/healing can be bestowed upon them from your god whereas you can't hurl a fireball at someone through a wall.  With that said, there could be types of healing that a healer is required to channel the power through their physical form instead of praying to a higher power...  So I'm ok with a mixture of some spells being LoS and some being justified as not requiring LoS as long as it doesn't break immersion by completely ignoring game physics  with fireballs through hilltops and boulders (you should be able to protect yourself from an arrow behind a large rock or tree).

    • 87 posts
    February 20, 2020 6:41 AM PST

    Darch said:

    I think there should only be physics for Line of Sight.  To explain what I mean by this I think using fireball compared to a prayer is a good example.  You can pray for someone from behind a wall and blessings/healing can be bestowed upon them from your god whereas you can't hurl a fireball at someone through a wall.  With that said, there could be types of healing that a healer is required to channel the power through their physical form instead of praying to a higher power...  So I'm ok with a mixture of some spells being LoS and some being justified as not requiring LoS as long as it doesn't break immersion by completely ignoring game physics  with fireballs through hilltops and boulders (you should be able to protect yourself from an arrow behind a large rock or tree).

    That might be hard to do in the game like i shuffle behind a pillar to evade a fireball and it might cause players to use for a exploit.

     

    I belive we will se fireballs to pass walls and hit players directly,this physic should apply to players to if you se the target when you start casting it will hit,i mean equally for all =)

    • 888 posts
    February 27, 2020 11:03 AM PST
    I like the idea of using cover to try to dodge attacks--it would make combat more active and tactical. Darch makes a good (and humorous) point about prayer-based healing. Any deity that can be blocked by a wall isn't very powerful. If VR does keep in LoS for Cleric heals, perhaps the special ability of choosing one of the gods (whom I will name "Haxxor") is that his followers aren't limited to LoS.