You say that but try being a guy who actually enjoys being a cleric. I'm sure they're others but i've been a healer through all of EQ and EQII. It's just what I do. I'm pretty well being turned into a potion you pay some currency for whenever you want a heal.
This may change but it's happening (and happened) in other games as well. It's a shame that whatever a player needs, we'll just put into your pocket.
I guess MMO's are going to micro-transactions, queues, and menus.
I'm 50% in your corner and 50% in the corner of others who dislike healing.
I've been a cleric/healer throughout all of my MMO career; I've taken vacations - (I boxed an enchanter in EQ and played a dps class for awhile because I was sick to death of having to show up to make CH chains happen and was wary of a repeat then they gave hunters tranq shot, wtf) but eventually I go back to healing.
I like it. Sometimes I love it. I like scraping people up off the floor. I like knowing that superb play on my end might be able to make up for shit play on someone else's end. And, I like that as a healer I tend to be a integral part to a group.
But then you have things that get added to the game that are made ass difficult for you, as a healer, to complete. In EQ this was generally in the category of soloing, or later on, doing the missions. You were being left out of content, because as a healer you were very much primed to group, but had shit all skills for the down time.
So on those times, being a healer isn't fun. I wouldn't mind a revamp in the way things are healed, but in general I don't mind it.
What I mind is that being a healer in a lot of games has always meant being content to require a group to do damned near anything. And the answer to that has always been, WELL, you picked a cleric and the cleric is a social class, THEREFORE YOU MAY NOT DO ANYTHING WITHOUT 5 OTHER PEOPLE.
That's not realistic.
But it's also not realistic to expect a group situation in all areas, especially when you're making/have made a game to cater to everyone.
I'm not sure how good of an idea it is, but I've always maintained an excellent way to making healing fun was to give fairly interesting abilities + the typical heals etc that translate into a solo situation. Much like DnD, and maybe even the much reviled 4th edition. Heals are just divine damage which you can harness against your enemies etc; make abilities also have offensive capabilities. This was done somewhat in GW2, but it can still be done without removing the trinity. (And I don't necessarily mean solely damage, but you can even take a bit from a game like LoL, where their support classes have some rather fun and unique abilities that are not about doing damage OR healing, but are something in between that are a real benefit, and are fun to use.)
I don't mind the trinity. I mind when the trinity is the only answer to every question or problem posed by the game, ala original EQ. But on the opposite end of the spectrum, it cannot be considered invalid.
