Dredge Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 I finally reached 50 the other day. I kept questing as Merc DPS until I decided to switch to my preferred role as BH bodyguard spec. Before you fire up your Leanr2Play buttons just know that I have been healing/DPS in MMO's for many years in guilds that finish all end game content. This is not a skill issue. The honest truth is that I enjoy the healing as Bodyguard. It is dynamic and fun and you have the capability to take your group through any content. That being said, questing is a different story. No matter what companion I pick, some quests simply are not doable, others (dailies) take 5 times longer than they did as DPS spec. I have not been this frustrated for in any other MMO. Have a mob that self heals or heals it's allies? Forget it. You will be there for 5 minutes trying your short term stun, or looking for a big crit so you can kill the mob. Level 50 elite in a quest? Good luck. You don't put out enough DPS to kill it. I sure hope Bioware makes some changes soon. You just don't have the tools in the toolbag as healer spec to get much done outside of groups. Obviously dual spec (not dual advanced class) would fix this. Why they didn't put this in out of the gate is beyond me. It just makes the game a giant Beat-Down if you are trying to roll as a healer outside of groups. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teradek Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 Thats funny, im level 41 and i have not had 1 quest that i was not able to solo with mako. Pure healing spec all the way. Very easy once you learn how to interrupt heals as well as have mako stun targets for you while you dps 1. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dredge Posted January 4, 2012 Author Share Posted January 4, 2012 Get to 50 and then call me back. We are talking level 50 strong and 50 elites. I too leveled healing spec with Mako/DPS pets for a long time. No problems. the 4 seconds stun just doesn't do it. This mob has unlimited mana (power) and a heal that heals it for 50-75% of it's health. Next. Tarnish Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Exactly Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 Do merc's not have an interrupt ability like powertechs get? We get quell :http://www.torhead.com/ability/eOJ0YyOat lvl 18. If not, i can understand the OP's complaints. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dredge Posted January 4, 2012 Author Share Posted January 4, 2012 Mercs get a cc, pt gets an interrupt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frostyk Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 at 39 merc I can only stun with electro dart to stop a heal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vlare Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 Your best bet would be to try and do interupt rotations via the uppercut, stun dart and the jet aoe knockback. But that would only work if you were a partially arsenal hybrid, I don't know your exact spec. Im playing a 24/17 build that allows for this kind of rotation, but I will agree that it is VERY difficult to kill mobs that spam heal without an interrupt on a low cd. My best advice would be try to use your knockbacks as best you can in conjunction with your stun, and gear up your pets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Exactly Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 What you can do, is use mako's channeled CC ability manually for a interrupt, that should help with healing mobs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
logobola Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 Did bodyguard from the start and yes it can be a pain compared to dps classes, but that is generally the case in most games. With Gault it is lot easier least for me to take on any mob or number of mobs. For the healing mobs its timing your burst and going all out or nothing. (with 30 supercharged stacks already) Will let Gault open up and wait for the mob to use his heal, dart stop hit death from above, explosive dart, pop supercharged gas and go unload crazy on it. If it starts to heal again throwback and keep on spamming. Generally it will either be dead very close to it that a vent heat and couple more attacks will finish it off. Really I enjoy it, offers a up a challenge to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dredge Posted January 4, 2012 Author Share Posted January 4, 2012 Good advice on Mako's channeled stun. I have tried Gault as well. I do wait for 30 stacks and go nuts. I can get them down but it is just sad panda time as I have to spend double or triple the time questing for the same commendations at 50 that I did when I was dps spec. This seems completely unfair and combine that with the penalties for respeccing it sucks (and pain in the *** to move skills around after respec, etc). I am not a "wish this were wow" person but man, I do wish they would mirror the dual spec setup. Tarnish Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hugitout Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 As a Merc healer, I put decent level 50 gear on Torian and have no problems soloing. Elites that heal take me maybe 5-10 sec more to kill than non-healing ones, but me and my comp can get enough dmg in to get through the healing. I use Torian since he has his AoE fire to help keep me from getting healgro on multiple mob groups, although I imagine a geared Gault might work too. I have to spam heal and dispel Torian on some champ level mobs, but I haven't had a problem killing anything. I am almost as fast as the dps classes that I've seen questing. I also do some dps myself if Torian's HP bar and my heat bar allow it, which is the case on everything but some champ mobs. Try gearing out a good dps companion and see if that helps. I eventually plan on gearing out all of mine to try to find out which is the most effective to quest with as a healer. Good luck to you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mangarrage Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 (edited) Torian or skadge equipt are fine to run a healing spec You aren't going to get away with them wearing crap green or crap quest items at 50 but you gear them decently and they are just fine I gear Torian pretty much and Skadge is so so And Gault my buddy geared and he plays heals as well and he states that he's serious dps with good gear I do understand going from dps to heals is an extremely rude awakening, but there is actually pretty few mobs that do heal granted Ilum daily mobs mercenaries do which is a pain but not too many I can keep up Torian on an orange guy no problem and even did 2 2+ with Torian but I personally dont like the healing at all so I thik its going to be back to DPS and Mako Also keep in mind you can customize their skills as well I'm sure you knew that but their rotations are defaulted to everything and alot of their stuff is garbage Edited January 4, 2012 by mangarrage Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dredge Posted January 4, 2012 Author Share Posted January 4, 2012 So the new question is which to gear, Torian or Gault and then gear up the Melee tank as well. I bet a lot of my issue is their gear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitemane Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 Get to 50 and then call me back. We are talking level 50 strong and 50 elites. I too leveled healing spec with Mako/DPS pets for a long time. No problems. the 4 seconds stun just doesn't do it. This mob has unlimited mana (power) and a heal that heals it for 50-75% of it's health. Next. Tarnish Im a 50 merc 33 bodygaurd / 6 Arsen 2/ Pryro and I can & do solo everything on Ilum and belsavis ( the dailies x2's etc) with torian the champions with the stupid AoE and Whirling blade are a bit of a pain but save your stuns and KB and kite and its not that bad. I level'd from 1-50 as a pure healer spec too no biggie. Honestly you want to kit out torian or gault for DPS as Mako is just too slow for my liking though if you want to Not Die Evah she's a good choice. Both their and your gear matters quite a bit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitemane Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 Do merc's not have an interrupt ability like powertechs get? We get quell : http://www.torhead.com/ability/eOJ0YyO at lvl 18. If not, i can understand the OP's complaints. We used to have it up till the last beta build but it was removed. I miss it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biax Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 there is indeed a pack in ilum with 2 silver healers. I did it today as a bodyguard specd merc. It was bad, save burst cds and relics for all at the same time, use knock back to interrupt them and dart to stun them. I use gualt, I start fights off with a short burst then heal myself while Gault finishes un-interrupted. Works for me, but to each their own. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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