Improving on the solid foundation that is the Combat System

[Crissa]

you need someone to be able to buff/debuff if you want a monster with insane resistances/armor; you need someone to heal effectively if fights are prolonged; you need someone to be able to manage multiple mobs if you want group encounters; and you need a pure tank if you want to have creatures that hit for very high damage.

...But none of this means that players have to be specialized in these tasks, only that the team needs to carry enough into the fight.

The whole idea of tanking as a solitary thing and not something you mix with DPS is silly theatrics made for simplifying a game. Or to only heal. You just need enough of each for the fight.

The tank could be the healer. There's no particular reason not: Healing provides global threat, exactly what a tank wants. The only reason not is so that in PvP the healer can be taken out by crafty players. Enemies aren't so crafty.

We don't play classes in PG, we play skills. And we don't level skills if we're not playing them. Making a skill not useful to soloing (craft or combat) puts an extra burden on those who want to level it.