Official Blizzard Quote:
Spells, auras, abilities that buff, help, directly or indirectly heal yourself and party members, these are all good mechanics to helping cooperation in multiplayer games. And we'll certainly have some of them.
What we don't want though is a situation where you'd say "Ok just sit back and keep us healed." Everyone should be fighting, everyone should be DPS, and the buffs and bonuses that come from certain classes should simply be situational and/or beneficial "icing on the cake".
Blizzard has stated from the beginning that they are making Diablo III with cooperative play as its main stage. With cooperative play comes forming parties or groups. However, unlike a very famous Blizzard MMO, players will not have to worry about looking for a healer to form a party and complete certain obstacles. Blizzard wants every class to be able to destroy the demons of Hell whether they are in a group or the player is enjoying Single Player.
While no class is dedicated to healing or support, this is not to say that each class is not without some skills to help out themselves or their group stay alive as Bashiok mentioned. The Barbarian has skills like Strong Constitution and Death Proof to help keep him alive along with a slew shouts and battle cries to help out his group. The Witch Doctor has Jungle Fortitude to give him some extra HP and has Horrify and Mass Confusion to aid his allies. From the few skills revealed for the Monk, it is easy to see how he can help his group stay alive with Inner Sanctuary and Radiant Visage. Even the offensive heavy Wizard has Conjured Health to gain some need HP and Slow Time to help party members.
Along with no healing class, Blizzard has also removed the accessibility of potions for the player. They have created many more mechanics to help characters to constantly stay in the action of this game. Health Globes will help player heal as they continue to fight. The have also added checkpoints for when you do die and a co-op resurrection system. While some Hardcore Players may face a harder challenge without potions and no healing class, it is the challenge that keeps people playing Hardcore.
So for all of you who continue the fight against healers in Diablo III, you can rest. There will be no healing class in Diablo III.
That's how Diablo 3 should be. If you want to play a healer, you can, but it's not required.
Also, no friends are NEEDED in Diablo, but it is helpful and more fun with other players.
So the way to do it is to make it helpful, but not necessary.
Thank you Blizzard for not expanding this idea beyond D2's Paladin Holy Bolt.
Even through titan quest is not a great game overall they did some extremely good points. and i totally agree with you on this one.
Some trees in TQ had a healing ability. It was not possible (or profitable) to be a healer, since you could easilly manage to have other offensive or summing skills. Heal are only one of the dozen skills you get in your build. You skill have alot of space to develop your offensive side.
I think the Witch Doctor should have one healing skill. It would fit him pretty well because of the lore and the fact that he plays with summons, so you have good targets even in solo.
But in all seriousness, some people have yet to concede that Blizzard has denied the healing class. There was a thread discussing a healing class that popped up really recently.
this is true. There were still many people who still thought it was possible for Blizzard to include a healing class. It was important to make this post to show definitive proof that they are not.
I should have known better than to try to use sarcasm on the internet. I was joking, I know there is no news coming out of blizzard and I'm glad you guys report every little tidbit of information that sneaks out of Blizzard.
I though I was pretty obvious on the sarcasm but it is hard to pick up over text and I guess there are some people who are critical of what the news team puts out. I hope you didn't get too offended when you thought I was being serious.
Sadly, I do enjoy sharing any and all information on this game. Even if it is something we all (maybe not all) "knew" that there was not going to be a healing class.