Why is this happening?  Blizz has done a lot to ensure there are plenty of healers in the game, and have even given players the ability to dual spec, so they can both heal (when needed) and DPS/tank/whatever when healing isn't required.  I lot of players – like Gina and myself – *can* heal, we just don't want to. 

My personal theory is that the overall shortage of healers, both in WoW and in most of the other MMOs I've played over the years, is a matter of simple, fun reducing mechanics.  If healing classes were made a lot more fun to play, more people would be playing them.  I believe it's because that healing is boring and unfun (see that?  Made up my own word there!) that many players of classes that can heal, simply don't embrace their healing side.

Consider:  if healing means standing in the back, throwing heals onto the tank (and everyone else as needed), that's not what many people consider fun.  If healing was, somehow, exciting and fun, more people would probably do it.   There are examples of this in past MMOs, and the classes that managed to make healing exciting were popular.

In my experience, this whole “making healing fun” concept has only been accomplished with true hybrids.  By true hybrid, I'm referring to a class that can do two things at once.  I played a “Battle Sage” in Acheron's Call II, and I was both tank and healer.  Yes, I tanked and melee'd fairly well, but the occasional group heals I was able to spam out were appreciated by all.  If we had a dedicated healer in the group, so much the better. But if the group consisted of myself, another healing hybrid, and a bunch of DPSers, we would still do OK.   I also have some similar recollections of hybrid classes – generally ones with supplemental, AoE heals, being fun and popular in other MMOs I've played.  These were active, fun classes to play, and players weren't relegated to the whole “just stand in the back and heal me when I need it” thing.

A more recent example is the shaman in Warhammer online.  The shaman can cast both healing spells and nukes at will.  Gearing isn't an issue; the same gear that helps him heal, helps him nuke just as well.  Further, the more heals he casts in a given encounter, the better those healing spells become.  If, instead, he throws a lot of nukes, each one hits successively harder.  (Just an FYI, the shaman is a very fun class to play).

There are other examples of this kind of thing, but they're not common.  Designing full time, dedicated healing classes is the norm.  Why?  Why aren't more classes in more MMOs be more like Warhammer's shaman? 

More than anything else, it's the talent trees.   Sure, it can be argued that WoW (and other contemporary MMOs) *does* allow some fun/nukage mixed in with the healing, but that's not widely true.  To be a really good healer, you have to spec for it.  While this boosts healing, it limits DPS.  In fact, the trend of introducing talent trees into MMOs is, overall, one of the most limiting factors for healers.  It forces them to become healers *exclusively.*

This is easily remedied.  A very few, but very fun offensive skills thrown into the healing trees would certainly make them more appealing.  Also, some design decisions that made the transition between healer and nuker (or healer and DoTer, or healer and tank, etc) smooth, instantaneous, and enjoyable would make being a healer a whole lot more fun, and we'd see more players who found it enjoyable.   

Of course, opinions vary, and that's what the comments section (see it down there?) is for.  As for me, it's time to sign off.  If you enjoyed this morsel of online speculation, feel free to join us over at WanderingGoblin.com, where we engage in this kind of nonsense each and every day.  For now, ciao!

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