Today I wanted to discuss a little bit about the healers in the game, mostly about the art and how they will differ from the creatures. Keep in mind that details may still change over time as they get released and as we start balancing and fine-tuning things in the closed alpha.
Artwork
This has been one of the more difficult aspects to find the right artist for, we didn't want to overburden the creature artist so had to look elsewhere for the healers. At the same time we wanted to make sure that the style is still somewhat similar and not too different, we hope to release some sneak peeks with the community soon. The angle will be body a small degree to the side with face towards the camera including upper body and head giving us that profile pic view.
Similar to other profile pic projects this one Holozing asset will be cosmetic only, i.e. healers won't have unique stats from each other apart from the classes having unique stats from one another. So the same class, will always have the same base stats at a certain level, the thing that'll set them apart from each other will be the gear and items they have equipped/carry.
As the very brief lore in the whitepaper mentions, the game takes place in the near future so the clothing will be a bit futuristic but not too much.
Once we have our 3 healer base characters created in both genders, the fun part begins and this is where we'll want the community to get involved and help us come up with great ideas for accessories/headwear/tattoos/clothing. This means we'll be taking suggestions from the community as to what to include and have artists draw out and fit into all 3 classes but not necessarily all as there may be assets that would only fit certain classes. Let's get into classes for now so we can paint you a better picture.
Classes
We will be starting out with 3 healing classes for alpha and beta, we've decided on the classes being called "... of the light", "... of the ocean" and "... of the forest", meaning that when you're playing the game and you face another player you'll meet their Hive username as "Acidyo of the light" referring to which healer they are currently playing.
As some of you may have figured out by now, the classes will be related to some of the creature types, forest will fit in with grass and bug-type creatures, ocean with water and ice creatures whereas light will go with fire and electric creatures. More on that in another post, though!
Stats between classes may differ slightly, some could focus a little more on having max mana while another could have higher generation and another higher healing power.
One thing to keep in mind which will be important as you play is that healer XP and creature XP will vary quite wildly, we expect a healer to level up about 3x slower than creatures. We want players to have a wide range of creatures and what we consider to be a full roster of at least 3 in their party as they progress within the game. If your creatures are higher level than your healer than they may not like listening to your commands so don't try any nuzlocke challenges :P. Another thing we'd like to mention is that there will also be something called "Account XP" where if your healer is higher level than your account XP you won't be able to use it in the game, this is primarily to avoid people being able to instantly purchase a max level healer and creatures but have to play the game to get there, both to avoid instant "pay2win" and at the same time it working as a tutorial run where you learn about the game, creatures, synergies, type vs type, etc and don't end up making newbie mistakes that'll cost you. (like choosing easy PvE fights on your high stat creature you may have bought and wanting to talk to the manager after a weak level up).
Rarity
Okay let's go back to the artwork a little bit again, similar to other PFP projects there'll be rarities with healer assets, skins, backgrounds, etc as well even though it's purely cosmetic. The pics will primarily be used on the website and in the loading screen when you get in a PvP challenge along with usernames and potential titles. You will of course also be able to use it as a verified profile pic on front-ends like @peakd!
Healers will also be tradable so if you get a skin/look/accessory you're not a fan of you may put them up for sale or trade with other healers on the markets.
The "skins" mentioned above should be noted that I mean literal skin as in skin-color and cosmetics, where as to items you can equip & carry won't reflect in the game and profile pic early on in Holozing as that would be a nightmare for the artists and our young project. The 3d depictions of the healers will be quite limited to their class in the game until we become bigger and can start customizing that based on what items you currently have equipped.
Rarities in items however won't be purely cosmetic (since they won't reflect on the cosmetics at all early on :P) and they will have different stats from each other. There it will be a mix of items inspired by world of warcraft with a hint of diablo-like range (but not as crazy), for instance you may find max level healing gloves of legendary rarity but the same set may be a bit more legendary when someone else crafts/finds it, i.e. it might have slightly higher/lower stats or more of the stat your healer really wants/prefers even if those gloves can only be equipped by a certain class.
Other
What more can I say about healers, I started off writing this post mainly with the artwork in mind but guess I snuck in a few spoilers along the way. Something else to say about them compared to creatures is that they will have the same abilities as other healers in the same class as well, there won't be rarity range there but there will be an evolving factor of the abilities. Lastly, let's just say the same class of a healer doesn't necessarily have to be equal to another even if they have an identical level and wearing the exact same items, maybe someone can figure out what that may mean in the comment section. ;)
Keep in mind that a lot written here may still change for the live version of the game or not be implemented at all so either don't get your hopes up or don't get disappointed by reality cause you read this post. :D
but thanks for reading! Until next time!
Images created with Midjourney for this post alone and don't necessarily reflect on the game.