and this has relevance related to the claim that wow is older than half of those games how? I mean, if you're disagreeing with his usage of the games, or something respond to him, I just pointed out a specific flaw in his statement.

swtor is just finely suited to his condition... the game itself. The interface? not so much, it's a bit clunky. I'm sure they'll get around to fixing it though, it's just not a priority on like with "OMG the game keeps crashing" sort of stuff.

That's not really helpful advice for the guy I know who has one usable hand, can heal really well in wow due to mouseover healing, but is pretty much out of luck doing so in games without them. Healing skill = knowing what heal to cast and casting it just at the right moment. Healing skill <> overcoming an unnecessarily clunky interface UI issues like this are an accessibility issue, and I really have 0 respect for any game developer that thumbs it's nose at the disabled like that.

Model T fords are still around and they were released in 1908 That doesn't mean that it's still relevant as a car... just that it still exists...

that really has nothing to do with whether more than half of those came out after wow or not... which is what I disagreed with, and pointed out

Because they both exist now, and compete for players now. It's a clone of a lot of mmos. It cloned far less from any particular mmo than any mmo that was released after wow clones from wow. it seems that you (and the other folks who get touchy about comparing X game to wow) do...

THe lack of dual spec does not force people to go out of your small group; in fact, the lack of dual spec encourages people to stick to a small, consistent group. Likewise, having dual spec does not discourage people from going outside of their normal group of people to fill out a group; in fact, it encourages people to do so. If me, and 2 of my friends are on, but our tank friend is on, then we're limited to only inviting tanks. If we can dual spec, then I can switch over to my tank spec, and the healer can switch to a dps spec, allowing us to invite a tank, healer or dps. That massively increases the pool of possible players we can invite. The 2 parts of this statement dosn't really have anything to do with each other either. Even back in EQ1 it was common to get into a group and not chat a bit; certainly if you had a competent puller there wasn't time to for anyone to chat. Nor are all lfd groups in wow totally silent. the issue is the content: if the game is paced so that the players have to take regular breaks, there will be chat, and if not there won't be. Whether the group is formed automatically or not is irrelevant.

AOC yes WAR yes EQ1 no (16 March 1999 vs 29 November 2004) EQ2 no (8 November 2004 vs 29 November 2004) SWG no (26 June 2003 vs vs 29 November 2004) DAoC no (October 10, 2001 vs 29 November 2004) 2/6 is less than half

Dual spec doesn't allow you to do that. You still have to choose A or B. But, just like in the real world, I can take a step back and go through the other door later. Just like we can in the game right now, by respeccing.

no, if you think that, then clearly you have no idea what dual spec is. Dual spec increases the number of people that you can group with. It encourages you to group with more different people rather than locking yourself into a specific 4 man group that always groups together.

Not at all. THey want to pay for it. They just want a flat fee rather than a scaling per use fee. This already exists in game. I can level in one spec and then switch to another at any point. Exactly, that's why people want dual spec. They want to be able to go and meet people in-game and stop acting like a basement dweller, even if 2 of nice people you just met are both healers, or both tanks. Dual spec means that I have a reason to get out and meet people, otherwise I might as well just stick with my solid group of 4 people and never group with anyone else.

I don't think he was asking you.

prettier != gameplay.

Not true at all. If you spend 90% of the game soloing, and you're enjoying yourself, then you should continue to solo. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that. Just because it isn't the playstyle that you prefer, that doesn't make it wrong. Because he prefers playing a dps spec, but is willing to play as a healer occasionally if it's needed. Seems pretty obvious to anyone who's actually willing to look at other people's playstyles as valid choices instead of "your doign it rong!" This doesn't make any sense. There's already dual spec in the game: you just go respec, since you can do that as much as you want. There's no hindrance that is involved so there's no reason to add that. Obviously Bioware intends for the choice of spec to not have a lasting consequence. The issue is that it currently carries a per use cost that people find unreasonable; they're asking for a flat, one time fee option. This seems perfectly reasonable to me.

No, I'm sure you're using abilities from action bars. Action bars are for baddies. If you were someone who really wanted a challenge, you'd use everything from the ability window /nod </sarcasm off> So? You are not forced to use addons, so you can continue to heal without addons even if they exist in the game. Addons, even in wow, don't heal for people. They're simply an alternate UI; they're no different than using the group window for targeting of the function keys for targeting instead of clicking on the actual characters. When someone uses one of them in wow, the addon isn't healing. So even if you use an addon, you're the one healing, not the addon.

interesting... that's almost the mirror situation of what the OP is reporting...