So what are people's ideas for how an Apothecary would play into the game play experience? Would they be considered one of the "Hero Class Units" so that there would only be one per squad (ex. Librarians)? Are they just Tactical Marines with a white coat of paint and the single ability to pick up a brother from the "downed" state? or do they have any form of ranged healing? Not sure how any typical MMO style healing could work for this type of game, even the Planetside 2 model of healing, blindly running around chasing friendlies down with a "heal gun" does not quite fit for Superhuman warriors on the battlefield.
Great questions. Honestly, not sure. I am almost certain they'll have an in-combat heal of some sort, but I hope it is not a ranged heal - that should be for Librarians that spec a certain way (i.e heal/buff, defensive or offensive).
Oh! did not even think of giving Librarians a heal. I think theirs should be like a straight mental heal, like blocking the pain type thing. Does not actually "heal" the Space Marine per say, but it prevents death as long as the ability is being channeled. Or maybe like an ability that deflects blows off squad members as long as its being channeled, obviously leaving the Librarian in a "weakened state" just like in many of the lore sources. God damn the possibilities of this game are making me so psyched lol. As for Apothecaries I still can not think of a "true to the lore" version of them on the battlefield with this game play style . I feel like in every scene that I have seen Apothecaries depicted, they did nothing more then take care of fallen brothers, either administering the "Emporer's Peace" with their Carnifex and collecting up Progenoids. Or stabilizing brothers and preparing them for transport to safety.
This is Warhammer. They shouldn't save people, they should harvest the dead (gene seed) giving buffs. Honestly I don't like healing mechanics in MMOs, or at least the healing of the average group has to be less than half the damage output of an average group. Stalemates are boring!
Gotta remember tho, especially for Blood Angels the Sanguinary Priests do more than just remove your gene seed and administer pain relievers. They also inspire those around them and in the case of Blood Angels give them Furious Charge and Feel No Pain. All on the tabletop of course but they do quite a bit.
Weren't Apothecaries at one time allowed to be put into any SM squad whether it was a Devastator, Command, or Tactical squad?
Only in some chapters using the trait rules. OMG could player/guild created chapters eventually be implemented in this game?
I think they should be like combat medics, they dont necessarily heal per say, they give stims to get people off the floor long enough to kill some more to win the fight and maybe...just maybe...survive long enough to get to proper medical attention in a hospital/field hospital. When players HP reaches zero they should go into a downed/wounded state... That said, the medic classes can apply combat stims, like a rez except it has a timer until it wears off and they drop again. Way to stop debuffs like bleeding that slowly drains HP, or being slow from wounded legs, etc. depends on whatever weapon is being used or abilities that cause these effects. Oh also in the spirit of Apothecaries harvesting geneseeds, allow Apoths (or all equivalent healers) have an ability to recycle a players body when they really die (not just downed) that decreases their respawn timer.
I am in LOVE with this idea lol. Pretty much everything you said sounds amazing, just straight pumping out combat stims to temporarily put players back into the action when they drop into a "downed" state. And if they are executed and an apothecary manages to get to a players body and acquire their gene-seed it drastically shortens the respawn timer of the dead player! LOVE it!
Apothecaries usually have 1 round to save a life, so the idea of a Marine going down instead of dead for a few moments would be nice for the Apothecary idea to do what it does.
