Operative Healers: Are you pleased or displeased?

[MurseSteve]

I will tally results in this post.

 

I am currently a 41 operative healer. I am pretty underwhelmed by our Recuperative Nanotech. I held out steadfast for it. I was really hoping things would get better with it. I feel for it's cost, it's not worthwhile. I can do better healing by using Inject + surgical spam while running 2x kolto probe. I have no need for RN. It's garbage. Who cares about a heal over 15 seconds for a piddly amount when I can KI + SP for 3x the health they would be healed in two global cool downs.

 

IMHO, something needs to be done. Sith Inq's have a better (the best) toolset for healing. In fact, it seems they thought up every cool healing ability in the book and gave it to them.

 

If Operatives are supposed to be the HoT class, then make us so. Currently we're lacking burst heal or ways to protect our team mates from incoming damage - making HoT's worthless. In WoW (omg I said it) resto druids have an instant cast that consumes the HoT immediately for a large heal. (glyphed to not even consume the HoT!) We need something like this. Or, we need shield probe to absorb more, be on a shorter cooldown and castable on friendlies.

 

I feel like an unfinished class at the moment.

 

Operative community, what are your thoughts? Are you pleased or displeased with your current class.

[steinsgate]

On the whole, I'm enjoying healing. I feel a little defenseless in pvp if I don't have guard on me, but I would assume the other healing specs would have similar complaints. I wouldn't really call us an 'unfinished class,' that award goes to the warrior/knight.

 

I like the concept of RN, but the implementation could use some buffing. I was thinking maybe letting RN proc tactical advantage would be nice, along with a high-medic tree talent increasing the max number of TA stacks to three (with the %damage gain adjusted down accordingly). Either that or just increase its throughput and lower its energy cost.

Edited January 16, 2012 by steinsgate

[Obbu]

What would be really cool would be if the 4 'hits' of RN didnt all go off, the primary target carried the two hits with him, and spread them onto targets as they moved into range.

 

Would be kinda fun for both parties imo

[Sangnz]

I'm mostly pleased.

 

RN needs something, right now it is SUPER situational, trying to get a full group to stand close enough so it hits everyone is pretty much impossible, coupled with its high cost (most expensive heal) means it is rarely used which from a design perspective is pretty poor for the top end talent.

I would like to see it go one of two ways

 

Leave cooldown/cost as is but have it heal over a shorter duration, there is no point keeping the duration longer than the cool down, due to our mechanic it is impossible to cycle RN as cool down is up so make it a big burst hot that heals for the same amount over 6 seconds.

 

The other direction is is leave it all as is but it costs TA instead of energy, allowing use to work it in rotationally.

[Wolfenhausen]

I'd rather have it targettable.

 

In an Operation environment that will be very useful for melee and group healing and still falls in-line with the rest of the healers' abilities.

[KnightKlaw]

Considering the rest of the play style as the operative has, it seems to me that the operative is almost expected to be standing amongst the melee. It's probably not very useful in flashpoints or even 8 man operations, since the ability is only worthwhile if you hit max targets... but in a 16 man flashpoint, you'd probably have at least 4 melee dps in that group.

 

Overall I expect people are right when they say Sorcs/Mercs are the better healers right now... but I wouldn't be surprised if we get something neat.

[Youmu]

I can't help but to look at the greener pasture that the Sorcs have with their bubbles and unlimited target AoE heals. It just feels that I have zero utility skills on top of my way too situational 31pt heal.

 

Maybe it's just how it seems, I haven't played Sorc, and I played around with Sage back in permabeta, back when the bubble stunned all the mobs around the bubbled player when it ran out (it still is there, but earlier in the beta, the stun ability was in the heal tree instead of the DPS tree), and it seemed so much more powerful in all situations.

 

But, I didn't enjoy playing Sorc at all. Operative gameplay is so much more fun with the variety you get with stealth and backstabs. Certainly not thinking of rerolling, but I can't just shake the feeling that I'm being less than optimal for a raid situation, and that I'd be so much more beneficial if I was playing a Sorc instead.

 

Uhh, so. I guess that leaves me a bit displeased.

Edited January 16, 2012 by Youmu

[riseth]

I'm pleased with it for the most part, although a few things need work IMO.

 

 

1.) RN. We talk about this lackluster skill every day, I won't waste my time talking about it too. We all know the story by now.

2.) Make alacrity more desirable for us. 'Medic' epics/gear in general all have the stat on and yet it doesn't affect our 'main' type of healing (yes, I said it. HoTs) Either have it have an effect on the ticking time between HoTs, or maybe lower the GCD. No need for both, but 1 of them would be welcome.

3.) Shield Probe. This is a little personal thing here, but I'd love to be able to Shield other people. Probably through a talent so it's not a total cookie-cutter copy of Sorc-bubble, if that wasn't possible maybe increase all healing DONE by the op when he has Probe activated, would give us a micro-cooldown and help out with some of those sticky situations.

4.)Diagnostic Scan. Castable while moving, that's all.

 

 

 

Can't think of any more right now...

[Fonzdude]

id like some sort of defensive ability to put on tank/healed target like an Armour increase or critical heals apply a bubble shield or additional hot or something

[Macheath]

I'm disappointed in some respects. It seems as though this class doesn't have a ton of healing abilities to begin with (no healer does in TOR, which is generally disappointing) but more than that, it seems the Operative also has some pretty useless heals. I have never found a need for Diagnostic Scan, Kolto Infusion is not worth using at any point in your career, and RN, as others have pointed out, is both situational and underwhelming even in those situations.

 

I think we could use a few changes to our healing abilities. First, add something to Kolto Infusion. They could decrease the cost, but that doesn't seem very inventive. I'd rather see this heal buff our target with a small damage shield, or something like that.

 

Second, turn Diagnostic Scan into a group heal, allowing it to heal up to x players around your target. Small as it is, this healing would add up, and help take care of the melee DPS in your group who are taking damage from AoE affects. The Bard in Rift had a similar heal, a heal that was meant to both quickly build combo points as well as provide small AoE healing to support your group. It worked well.

 

Third, either shorten RN's duration, so it heals "faster" (but for the same overall amount), or increase the amount it heals each tick. I'd also like to see it's radius increased. This is not a terrible ability as it is now, but it is not worth that 31st skill point, especially for those of us on PvP servers where hybrid specs aren't such a bad idea. Currently, it's really only affective to help heal the melee DPS in your group, and almost useless in PvP due to how spread out everyone usually becomes. In a game with PvP in mind, AoE heals need larger areas.

 

-Macheath.

[Bialnutt]

I'm pleased with it for the most part, although a few things need work IMO.

 

 

1.) RN. We talk about this lackluster skill every day, I won't waste my time talking about it too. We all know the story by now.

2.) Make alacrity more desirable for us. 'Medic' epics/gear in general all have the stat on and yet it doesn't affect our 'main' type of healing (yes, I said it. HoTs) Either have it have an effect on the ticking time between HoTs, or maybe lower the GCD. No need for both, but 1 of them would be welcome.

3.) Shield Probe. This is a little personal thing here, but I'd love to be able to Shield other people. Probably through a talent so it's not a total cookie-cutter copy of Sorc-bubble, if that wasn't possible maybe increase all healing DONE by the op when he has Probe activated, would give us a micro-cooldown and help out with some of those sticky situations.

4.)Diagnostic Scan. Castable while moving, that's all.

 

Can't think of any more right now...

 

Make a spec'd diagnostic scan have X% to refresh all HoT's on a target would be amazing IMO combined with your suggestions

[Cathaia]

I am quite happy I picked the Operative as my (first) healing char (history shows I'll end up healing on all chars that can anyway). It is a nice change of pace to mix around a bit with playing offensively as well as plainly healing in a group setup, plus going away from the simple "heal until your secondary bar is drained" scenario makes it more fun for me.

 

While I agree the amount of different heals is really low so far, I don't mind going with it as it stands. There is always room for improvement in a game that has just been live for a month - other games didn't offer that much more diversity in spells for a long time either, and we all know balancing is an endless game for Devs to play, so I am looking forward to changes to the existing spells as well as possibly new ones.

[BeetotheKei]

I really love the operative play style in general but healing output/varity of healing spells is just bad compared to the other healing classes.

People already starting to recognize this and so prefer BH And Inquis for healing duty in Fps/Ops...

I hope Bw will make some decent changes soon.

[alexishomer]

it's pretty bad.

 

pve - when we are at our lowest rank of energy regen level, it takes 10 secs of energy regain to get enough energy to cast our main heal. AND, it only takes 3 casts of that main heal to get us to the lowest energy regen level.

 

pvp - yea, with the pvp healing debuff, our main heal heals for less than 2k. one tick of HoT heal for about 400-500, etc. AND, you had been not get beaten on.

[andrantos]

I typically don't player 'healers' but I am enjoying my medic quite a bit. It still allows me to enjoy some melee dps capability in solo and in some groups depending on how much healing is needed.

 

I was in one pug the other day, and I was grouped with 3 assassins. At first, I had a hard time because each was trying to tank any adds. Keeping them all healthy was tough (and that usually meant grabbing aggro myself by accident). So we wiped a couple times. By the end of the heroic, I was able to keep all 4 of us healed up - it was a struggle but I was getting it done. This was at level 23, so I did not have the instant.

 

It doesn't seem like the medic comes into its own until 20+ when more support abilities and speced skills become available. I do feel DS is fairly weak - though I haven't invested into any of its related skills.

 

My biggest problem is finding a keybind configuration that feels right.

[Zerikin_Loukbel]

The core healing abilities work fine. We just lack utility because all of our CC and most of our DPS require us to be with 10m or less. RM does seem kinda lame compared to the sorc version, in fact sorcs seem to have been given all the cool toys.

[CEAF]

I agree RN in its current state costs waaaaaay too much and is far too situational in use.

 

Having said that the devs need to be careful if (when!) they modify it as AoE skills need to be kept on a short leash or they will unbalance both PvE and PvP very fast. My initial thought is that they should make RN more powerful and cost less but give it a much larger cooldown like 45s. That way when you use it in context it will be strong but you wont be spamming it as part of a normal rotation.

 

In other things, when compared to Sorc healers Merc/Op output is far too resource constrained. It's not game breaking (we can still complete content) but it is pretty obvious.

 

One way to adjust this would be to simply buff diagnostic scan to return more energy, heal for more and be usable while mobile.

[zootzoot]

it's pretty bad.

 

pve - when we are at our lowest rank of energy regen level, it takes 10 secs of energy regain to get enough energy to cast our main heal. AND, it only takes 3 casts of that main heal to get us to the lowest energy regen level.

 

 

We need something other than relying on a 2 min CD to get Energy back when the situation requires us to get low since we're already the weakest healer in terms of tools.

 

I've suggested making Diagnostic Scan an Instant Cast HoT all the time as one thing to help us. Keep the healing the same and have the talents work as they do just change it from a Channel to an Instant cast 3 sec HoT.

 

I'd also suggest making Accomplished Doc work on all our healing to help Kolto Probes and to move Lethal Dose to T2 in the Lethality Tree.

[windezz]

Change RN so that it heals half the amount instantly, and the other half via HoT as before. Should make it more useful.

 

Reduce the energy cost of Kolto Infusion to 15 will make it a very energy efficient heal. It'll make medic healing pre-30 easier, and a good use of TA other than Surgical Probes. It will also indirectly make alarcity a more meaningful stat.

 

For the amount of heal DS does, it really shouldn't be a channel. Most healer companions get a non-channel version of it already. Devs can limit DS to only one target like Kolto Shell to prevent too much energy return via talents.

[zootzoot]

Change RN so that it heals half the amount instantly, and the other half via HoT as before. Should make it more useful.

 

Reduce the energy cost of Kolto Infusion to 15 will make it a very energy efficient heal. It'll make medic healing pre-30 easier, and a good use of TA other than Surgical Probes. It will also indirectly make alarcity a more meaningful stat.

 

For the amount of heal DS does, it really shouldn't be a channel. Most healer companions get a non-channel version of it already. Devs can limit DS to only one target like Kolto Shell to prevent too much energy return via talents.

 

Even if DS was an Instant HoT we could have it on at most two players because of the short duration combined with the GCD.

 

Someone else mentioned giving us a talent to have it refresh the duration of our HoT's. I like that idea but I think that should due tied to Injection. Casting Injection refreshes the duration of all the HoT's on the target.

[Kunda]

After healing extensively in Operations and in Warzones my only gripe is really with the cost of Recuperative Nanotech. I actually think the skill can be incredibly powerful but when I find myself in a position that warrants casting it the energy hit is generally too drastic justify.

 

I find myself using the skill most often before engagements even begin in PvP to provide a small buffer for incoming damage or on melee in Operations before using Adrenaline Probe.

[windezz]

Even if DS was an Instant HoT we could have it on at most two players because of the short duration combined with the GCD.

 

I'm aware of that, but I also took the energy return talent into consideration. Not sure how much energy return is still acceptable within the whole energy management concept. Energy return on DS is limited by channel and targeting, so if it's non-channel its utility function becomes better than Stim.

[zootzoot]

I'm aware of that, but I also took the energy return talent into consideration. Not sure how much energy return is still acceptable within the whole energy management concept. Energy return on DS is limited by channel and targeting, so if it's non-channel its utility function becomes better than Stim.

 

I get that but I'd say that's something we need. Just my opinion.

[Anticlonus]

I'm actually quite happy with healing.

 

I'm only lvl 42, and I haven't gone to any of the hardmodes or the palace (obviously) but the healing I have has been more than enough for the flashpoints I join, so long as I have a tank that can hold aggro, and the dps understands when to dump or lay off theirs. (but then again, this has been a major healer complaint for a long time over different games).

 

I admit, RN does seem underwhelming, and after surgical probe, Infusion has gone from semi-useful to just taking up space. I think it should be replaced with a shield/guard ability we can cast on others.

 

I also think maybe,as healers we could get a skill that bumps our TA max by 1. But then again, except with "it" hits the fan, I don't really have energy issues in pve.

 

Overall, I'm more afraid of a nerfbat than anything else (the way they other keep complaining about conceal's dmg bursts).

[zootzoot]

 

I also think maybe,as healers we could get a skill that bumps our TA max by 1. But then again, except with "it" hits the fan, I don't really have energy issues in pve.

 

 

This is our core issue IMO. For normal damage we have infinite resources and can heal forever (but then so can the other healers). When we need to go nuts we get punished by falling into our regen black hole.