Surprised there was no update for the new article so I'll add some stuff in myself =)
"A New Way at Looking at Healing and Death"
http://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-game/combat/healing-death/
Some quotes:
when a player loses all of their health in Guild Wars 2, they are put into "downed mode." In this mode, the player has a number of downed skills they can use to target enemies and fight for a chance to survive. A downed player can still be attacked, which will send them into a defeated state, leaving them to either wait for an ally to resurrect them or to resurrect at a waypoint.
Simple systems like this, along with cross-profession combos, and the dedicated healing skill slot, help free players from the MMORPG shackles, and let us break the mold even more. We're making players more self sufficient, but are also providing appealing ways for them to effortlessly work together to create a more inspired moment-to-moment experience. That is why Guild Wars 2 does not have a dedicated healing class.
We have lots of people in our studio that enjoyed playing monks in Guild Wars and healers in other games. We examined what it was about the healer archetypes that people really enjoyed, and we took a look at what it was about those archetypes that made the game less enjoyable. Then we created professions to appeal to those types of players.
(And my favorite part): If you have played enough Guild Wars, or any other MMO with healers, you've sat around waiting for the right mix of professions before being able to continue. Or you loaded into Random Arena and both teams had two monks (or they had a monk and you didn't), and you already knew the outcome of that game 99% of the time. But we've all had those 4v4 Random Arena battles where neither team has had a healer. Instead of not being able to kill anyone or being forced to attack the monk first, you can actually think about who to target, when to use your defensive spells, where to position yourself on the battlefield, etc. From the highest level of PvP, to the sieges of World vs World, to PvE in the far reaching corners of Tyria, that level of creativity and tactical freedom is exactly what we want combat in Guild Wars 2 to be about.
You could say instead of DPS/heal/tank, we have our own trinity of damage, support, and control, but we prefer to think of them as the variety of elements that create a diverse and dynamic combat system that gives each player a toolbox to work with to solve any encounter we might throw their way.
There's a LOT more on the damage/support/control thing, and if they really pull it off, GW2 could be the best game (or at least MMORPG) I've ever played. I haven't been this excited about a game ever. Anyone who's interested, I strongly recommend checking out the entire article, I just took out some highlights (some long highlights) but the article goes a lot more in depth about all of this.
