Sage changes I would make

[Velsix]

Mostly pvp and some pve applications (also applies to the sith inquisitor I just don't know their talent names). I'd also like to state that I fully understand that this is NOT the World of Warcraft, however it has borrowed enough that it can be considered very similar. Besides, why not take some tips from the most successful MMO ever?

 

A quick note on expertise: When decrease damage taken while increasing the damage done, you completely screw your PvE player base, and it effectively undoes the damage reduction side of the stat.

 

1. Sage wears light armor, so why does the heavy armor wearing commando get a myriad of damage reduction talents while the sage gets none? Don't tell me "you have force armor" because it absorbs about 1 attack (if that) and is gone.

 

2. The heals don't really do much. If I spec into the heal tree and get every talent point, my heals do 4% more than if I were to spec into telekinetics or balance. Granted cast time differences are huge, but as it stands I can spam heal someone taking damage and their health goes nowhere, usually still down. Someone out of combat takes 4-5 casts to get them to near full. As well, one channel of Telekinetic Throw completely undoes a Deliverance, which just looking at the force costs (55 vs 30) seems a bit unfair.

 

3. Balance is absurd at present and everyone knows it, and it's all because of telekinetic throw having no cooldown, being the highest damage skill, and still snares for 50% movespeed.

 

If you are going to remove the cooldown on the talent ("Telekinetic Balance" in the balance tree) you have to either A) Change that talent point to say "Your Telekinetic throw no longer has a cooldown, but it no longer reduces the enemies movement speed" forcing these players to actually USE their Force Slow ability OR B) Nerf the damage on it and leave the slow, and buff the other DoT skills damage in the balance tree

 

BioWare has adopted the WoW model of making the fast cast heals (1.5 sec, like benevolence) cost a comparable amount of energy/force/ammo as the slower cast (2-2.5 sec) yet the healing, at least for the sage, is roughly half. I understand making it less than the large heal, but their is 0 reason to cast it at this point. You honestly don't even need it on your bar as the healing it does is far too low to even really stabilize someone.

 

As it stands in warzones, my sage is 40, has been 40 for awhile now as I started to level a commando to see if healing on it was any better. When I was still playing it, there were no level 50s yet, and I was still getting destroyed by players my level. The most frustrating part of this was that I could spam cast and no one would interrupt. Why aren't players interrupting? Because the heals are totally underwhelming, everyone knows you can just dps through a healer.

 

I understand that many people like this, but it completely takes all skill out of PvP. To make PvP satisfying to the PvP player base, it needs to be a challenge, not simply "zerg here and everyone assist me". PvP in WoW was so successful because you had to think. If you just went into a raid and threw your guild at the bosses, you'd probably wipe all day, so why would it be ok to make PvP, where you can get comparable gear, a mindless button-mash-fest?

 

To win at PvP, you should have to time your interrupts, plan your CC out, and not just mindlessly dps. Otherwise, people are going to get bored with it VERY quickly. You need to have healers be big factor so that they have to be controlled. People who disagree with this, I am sorry to say, are lazy. They don't want to have to change targets. They don't want to have to think about it. They are the dps in WoW that would wipe the raid because they didn't want to change their target or move out of the fire. If you think healers were overpowered in WoW, you are dead wrong. There is a reason that rogue/mage was one of the best 2v2 comps, it just took skill; something pvp at present seriously lacks.

[Zoracc]

I totally agree about your last point regarding healing in pvp. Im still only lvl 25 and I was hoping that healing would improve at higher level. I'm sad to see your comment since you are at a much higher level than me and still identify the exact same issue I have with the current pvp.

 

Support classes like healing needs to be stronger/faster/more utility to even make a difference, I can shield, or spam heal, stun, slow and it dosnt seem to have big enough impact on the fight.

 

On a side note:

 

Are there diminishing returns on stuns?

[Henu]

all i want to say is learn to play the class, im lvl 50 seer and i get top healer 99% of the time for both teams.

If you take time and get to know your abilities you can be pain in bum for the or other team, ive had 4 Imp's trying to take me down and ill be healing myself, loosing LOS and shielding myself and that gives my team time to open doors or score in PVP.

I get invited to alot of PVP groups now because ive shown how good seer healers can be. ill average 220k healing per round and have gotten over 400k.

[mrkab]

Your post is full of inaccuracies. It is impossible to come to a valid conclusion with faulty premises.

 

1. I assume by "most damage" you mean "most DPS" and Telekinetic Throw is not that in any build. It's not second or third either, try more like 5th or 6th.

 

2. You talk a lot about Deliverance in regards to healing whereas Deliverance is hardly used to heal. A Seer uses Rejuvenate, Benevolence, Healing Trance, Force Armor and Salvation. Deliverance is used as a filler in desperate situations.

 

3. You talk about Benevolence being useless when it is one of the most efficient heals a Seer uses. That is because, of course, a Seer uses it with Conveyance.

 

4. You suggest buffing the DoT abilities. Are you not aware those DoT ablitiesare already the highest DPS abilities a Balance Sage has?

 

5. You say that "everyone" knows that you can out DPS a healer when there are numerous threads complaining that you can't out DPS a healer even with multiple DPS on it. While those threads engage in hyperbole there is some truth there. If you can't out heal someone who isn't using interrupts you are definitely doing something wrong or are drastically outgeared or outleveled.

 

Last, but not least.

 

To win at PvP, you should have to time your interrupts, plan your CC out, and not just mindlessly dps. Otherwise, people are going to get bored with it VERY quickly. You need to have healers be big factor so that they have to be controlled.

 

That's exactly what PvP is right now. There's a lot of noise mixed in with low levels stuck with full expertise high levels and other nonsense, but at it's core we win 95% of our WZs for those very reasons.

[Wykar]

Sages most definately do not need buffs.

 

As a healer I am immortal (so is my team). Healing with sage is just ridiculous with conveyance and neverending force supply.

 

As a DPS its a complete joke when I take upwards of 150k damage for no deaths due to sheer amount of CC, Sprint and the bubble of win. And mebbe a nice little medpac or two.