I am healer: breaking healing's spell

Imagine a fantasy MMO that completely shirked the idea of healers, healing potions, and healing in general. Instead of dedicating hundreds of player hours to perfecting these combat crutches, why don't game designers finally throw aside the long-cliche notion of healing, and design their games more like real life? This is the question at the heart of a recent blog post by Kendricke over at Clockwork Gamer. If you follow Kendricke's line of reasoning - the heroes in most major forms of media survive not by having one of their cohorts plant themselves in the back of the room and lob magic spells that regenerate cleaved flesh, they simply avoid damage. Wouldn't this make a more exciting product for players in the long-run, and free developers from the "tank/healing/dps" trap that has held them for so long?

The answer, naturally, is that of course it would be an improvement, but only if the developer gave the idea due diligence. EVE Online is an example of a game that doesn't rely on the healing crutch, but it was something that was really built into the foundation of its gameplay mechanics and lore. Warhammer Online's approach to having combat healers is slightly more suspect, because it seems like they're trying to have their cake and eat it too; how long will it really be before these healing/damage hybrids become completely co-opted for healing? Kendricke's take on the subject is definitely worth checking out, even if you're not typically the guy who gets suckered into healing as some of us do.