A few Noob Questions About Merc.

[Draeb]

Ok I'm coming from DCUO where things seemed a little more straight forward and I've never played WoW but, I've played SWG.

 

The role things seems some-what straight forward in this game but then again I kind of learned something today. Well, I think I did.

 

 

Ok so I thought I was going the straight up DPS/DD role but today in an instance/flash point I ended up doing more of a hybrid DPS/Healer which was unintentional. My question, is that normal? To be spec'd somewhat for DPS but then doing some healing? Can there be hybrid roles? Can they be effective as a Merc?

 

 

We complete the Hammer Station but I'm not entirely sure which role I did best. I have no barometer to judge by. We had an official healer with us, maybe he carried the heals mainly but I'm not so sure.

 

 

Are there DPS' out there who also help with emergency heals? Or do they not really bother and just focus solely on DD?

 

 

Anyway, this is my first post and I'm liking the game. It is a little confusing atm, but I think I'm catching on.

 

 

I might not be very straight forward in what I'm asking, so if you can anticipate what I'm really trying to say or could just simply fill me in, I will greatly appreciate it.

[Silomatic]

I'm actually spec'ed BG, but heres how I feel about the subject.

 

While you may indeed be spec'ed into one of the dps trees you still get a healing skill. If you see something getting out of hand and the main healer is struggling, then yes I would for sure lend a hand.

 

As far as the "hybrid" thing goes, yes there are plenty of Mercs running around that fit into this role.

[Draeb]

This is good news because I was thinking that I had the wrong setup. In DCUO healers had a % decrease in damage output and it's throwing me off just a little to know that I can heal and dps at the same time.

 

I'm only lvl 18 and I'm thinking that in the later levels more strictly based roles will be key. But I don't know. Could you hybrid dps/heal in WoW or SWG?

 

 

Also, if I were to go hybrid dps/heal should I start focusing on more energy/heat stats?

[Gorlough]

Hi,

I can understand your confusion about this, as most MMOs don't favor hybrid specs at all.

Here in SWTOR we've got another situation at hand. The fact, that advanced classes do get some basic skills for all spec trees (like heals or tank stances) gives you the option to do emergency coverage of those roles. You may be completely specced for DD, but you still have the option to switch to tanking or (in this case) healing, if things go very wrong.

This gives you a lot more versatility, but also needs some serious decision making at the point _when_ things go wrong.

It solely depends on you to decide, whether you continue doing damage or switch stances (cylinders) and start emergency healing.

I did even come up with a hybrid build for leveling up in a 2 man groupm being able to switch to a half-valid healer role, when needed (and not giving up too much of my damage potential). So far this worked out very well (being level 38 now), including doing flashpoints and 4 man heroics on level just with my wife and our companions.

 

So, yes hybrid specs are very valid during leveling, at least. I guess for operations this might not be true at all, but for hardmode flashpoints, you might also be put into this position again.

Even while you're not specced hybrid, you can throw an emergency heal now and then, when needed.