Healing

[Yorks]

Hi Everyone,

Quick general question about heals. Out of all the 'healing' classes is the operative the best choice? I picked this class mostly because I was a rogue in WoW with a priest healer as an alt. So it's a perfect fit for me. The one thing I did enjoy a lot about being a healer priest in WoW was, that in general, you were the preferred healer. Is this the case with the the Operative? Or are we like a healing Shammy in WoW where you could take them but things get hectic...

Thanks!

[efylinx]

The game is still in its infancy to start talking about overall "preferred" healer. However, it seems Sorcerers have an easier time with healing (mostly because of their resource management system being simpler to handle than ours). This however does not mean we are bad healers, and once you master healing as an Op you'll fill in pretty well in any group/raid.

 

PS: I've got both a a healing Sorc and a healing Op in their 40s, so I cannot comment on end-game.

Edited January 23, 2012 by efylinx

[Absalon]

Game companies now-a-days try to make each class within a role unique but equally able to do the job. I haven't played the other classes, but as a 50 OP medic I haven't seen any bias for or against the class. And at no point have I felt like I couldn't get the job done as main healer.

 

I think you really do yourself a disservice by looking for the "best" or most desired class. Perspectives change and what was the FOTM can quickly become 2nd fiddle. Find a class that you enjoy and play it to the best of your ability. The rest will take care of itself.

[OldSwab]

I see multiple sorcerers (I think?) with 300K+ healing in Huttball. I work my *** off to break (barely) over 100K as a fresh 50 (last Fri) in a good game that goes the distance.

 

Leveling with the same 4-6 other guild folks, I main healed every flashpoint at least once and a number of heroics successfully except for

one of the last heroic bosses on corelia that required an interrupt of a one-shot-one-kill that we kept missing.

 

 

 

The only dps skills I stack (iirc) are corrosive dart, because I like to keep dots ticking on as many PvP targets as possible when I'm not in a position to heal.

 

We're going to start running some HM flashpoints this evening. For top-end gear, I've gotten two of the medic champ pvp armor pieces and bought a centurion medic knife. Also, there are lvl 50 darkside V relics with 43 endurance and clickies for a ton more power that should prove useful mid-bossfight. The rest of my stuff is mostly 50-modded gear acquired via leveling/GTN.

 

A good tank makes fights a lot easier for you. People not standing in fiery puddles will also help. There was one heroic on Correlia

where enemies were dropping from the ceiling and started shooting who ever the happened to be closest to.

That, and similar fights, are where we can run into problems--we just don't have much in the tank if thing break down into a salvage situation. There have been times when I've (almost) been glad someone went down, just so I could focus on the tank and 1 more, lol.

 

Hmm, last tip--going with biochem will benefit you as a healer because you can craft your own reusable medpacks/armor boosts/stims. Insta-cast, they don't cost you any power, and it allows you stay focused on party healing. That's 25% less power and time if you don't devote (much) effort on your self.

 

If you're main healing for challenging content (i.e., over your level/HM/etc.), I would stress that everyone SHOULD have a personal medpack slotted on their skill bar as a backup.

Edited January 23, 2012 by OldSwab

[Phanatik]

i leveled to 50 with my sorc and now in the 20s with my op. I feel more like a healer as a sorc then my op. However i am really having fun as an op.

I def work harder as an op and can not put out the same numbers. I have to be more patient and resourceful in pvp.

 

I still feel like a fine healer though and i enjoy feeling like i always have to be on the move. Even though i am just as mobile as a sorc.

[Autreki]

I have yet to find a flashpoint i cant handle as the main healer. (i am currently lvl 45)

 

I am mainly spec'd to heal so i stick to healing in both pve and pvp

when properly timed and well used Tactical Advantage will always be up! so your usage of energy is null with your "bigger" heals but if your TA goes away you are going to be eating that energy FAST!

 

Are we better healers than Sorcerers and mercenaries? i dont think so

Can IAOP at some point be effective healers? YES! and that is for PVE and PVP

 

I for one am having fun with the class but honestly, i cant wait to be done so i can start on a new character and try that sweet SORC healing spec

[Yalingto]

What really bugs me is as I am casting kolto infusion which requires a TA is that when the TA goes away while im still casting it doesnt cast which is so frusturating as it only happens in those crucial PvP moments. BW better fix this.

[Marcato]

Are we the best? No. Sage/Sorc currently take that title and quite easily. We're not impossible or broken or anything but a Sorc will handle hard modes better than an Op partly because they don't have to throttle healing as much due to energy and they have a bigger set of tools to work with -- an amazing AoE heal and great mitigation shield among them. They also have an easier time contributing some extra damage in a group whereas, because of energy, I can maybe muster a DoT once in awhile (for bosses). I've seen more fights that favor sorcs for dispelling as well.

 

That said we're certainly capable of handling just about everything in a flashpoint well enough. Things get a little more rough in operations when you scale up the size and the difficulty. Our single target, to me, feels pretty strong with enough crit/surge but not as strong as a merc/commando. Currently the class is kind of sitting in a state where it has no defined specialty. HoTs are rather weak and expensive, single target requires frequent Diagnostic Scan to support, and our 31pt while efficient is pretty underwhelming and hard to fit in for regular use.

Edited January 23, 2012 by Marcato

[Yorks]

I picked the operative because it would be the absolute perfect match for me. It was the best for me because I had a rogue main and a healer alt in WoW. First and foremost I wanted to have fun, the question I had is secondary...are we the best healers? It's looking like sort-of based on these awesome responses! I am currently only lvl 35 and have been going up the healing tree. So far I have a few basic heals and I do seem to have a hell of a time keeping up Kaliyo..which leads me to the next question...do we get a tank companion?

[Marcato]

I picked the operative because it would be the absolute perfect match for me. It was the best for me because I had a rogue main and a healer alt in WoW. First and foremost I wanted to have fun, the question I had is secondary...are we the best healers? It's looking like sort-of based on these awesome responses! I am currently only lvl 35 and have been going up the healing tree. So far I have a few basic heals and I do seem to have a hell of a time keeping up Kaliyo..which leads me to the next question...do we get a tank companion?

 

Kaliyo is a tank companion. One of two, and probably the better of the two. However, you've reached the point where mob difficulty starts to go up quite a bit (post 30). As a healer you'll definitely want to ditch Kaliyo for the companion you get on Hoth.

[lynspottery]

Hi Everyone,

Quick general question about heals. Out of all the 'healing' classes is the operative the best choice? I picked this class mostly because I was a rogue in WoW with a priest healer as an alt. So it's a perfect fit for me. The one thing I did enjoy a lot about being a healer priest in WoW was, that in general, you were the preferred healer. Is this the case with the the Operative? Or are we like a healing Shammy in WoW where you could take them but things get hectic...

Thanks!

In my personal opinion, I do not believe the IA Operative to be the best healer. I run a Sorc Healer and have no issues healing a group, but cannot, for the life of me do the same with my IA Op healer. At this point in the game I am thinking of completely ditching this IA and starting a different character all together.

 

I feel the IA is in need of a lot of work on the part of development and so far it feels like I am micro managing my IA Op. I hate to micro manage anything...takes the fun away from gaming for me.

[OldSwab]

I'm going to update this to say that we ran a 50 flashpoint yesterday, the False Emperor for the first time as a group of fifties. My understanding is that it was one of the easier ones. It was pretty much yawn for healing. The last boss has a mechanic that we did not figure out until after we called it and consulted the Google Sage. We're going to try it HM this evening after we finish it off in easy mode.

 

A word on gear--I took the advice of someone else on the forums and scrapped my speeder plans. I bought several purple mods for my orange moddable armor, a new orange (iirc) bracer, and augmentable belt, and a new barrel. I spent 100K on a augmentable implant, and I happened to get a Champ implant from a lucky bag, for my third Champ piece including 2 armor for the bonus there. I pushed power, techpower, and cunning on everything I could augment, implant, or jingle above my head. I bought two 52 End/+240 Power clicky relics for ~12K each. The auction house had a good day; Speeders 'R' Us will have to get in line. I also picked up a Centurion medic knife a day or so ago. I want to see just how far I can push the heals.

 

The new gear makes a huge difference in Warzones, for sure. I was the top healer at 146K for the first time ever, came in 2nd on team for first time ever, and I was tossing grenades/scatter in groups and hitting corrosive dart for kills. If you pick your targets carefully, you can sneak in a few from-stealth attacks for your DPS/single kill/2.5K medals. There's six that should be pretty easy in a semi-balanced WZ, plus if you are the clear healer, you'll likely get a comm from a grateful player who is on his ninth WZ looking for a first win.

 

I'll let you know how the HM goes this evening if you're interested.

 

I'm enjoying the pvp as a healer much more than flashpoints. So far, flashpoints are 90% snooze KP and 10% "can we interrupt this boss? what do we click? when?" while trying to keep folks alive as we figure the bosses out.

Edited January 24, 2012 by OldSwab

[Pagy]

as you get gear, the op healer becomes easier, but it is still a lot harder than the other healing classes.

 

I've done every hard mode so far, the only fiights that give me fits are the first 3 droids in directive 7, and the boarding party final boss.

 

otherwise healing is fine... just unnecessarily hard at times.

[uruz]

Hi Everyone,

Quick general question about heals. Out of all the 'healing' classes is the operative the best choice? I picked this class mostly because I was a rogue in WoW with a priest healer as an alt. So it's a perfect fit for me. The one thing I did enjoy a lot about being a healer priest in WoW was, that in general, you were the preferred healer. Is this the case with the the Operative? Or are we like a healing Shammy in WoW where you could take them but things get hectic...

Thanks!

 

I see a lot of us were rogues/priests - makes sense why people would pick an Operative healer. I'm just wondering when we'll be able to start pick pocket

 

I'd say Operative healer is similar to the disc healer in WoW - great single target healer. You might find yourself panicking when trying to group heal, but it's manageable if everyone in the group knows their abilities and is aware of their surroundings.

[Yorks]

as you get gear, the op healer becomes easier, but it is still a lot harder than the other healing classes.

 

I've done every hard mode so far, the only fiights that give me fits are the first 3 droids in directive 7, and the boarding party final boss.

 

otherwise healing is fine... just unnecessarily hard at times.

 

YES please update me! I am very interested to hear how this turned out.

[DrekorSilverfang]

Hi Everyone,

Quick general question about heals. Out of all the 'healing' classes is the operative the best choice? I picked this class mostly because I was a rogue in WoW with a priest healer as an alt. So it's a perfect fit for me. The one thing I did enjoy a lot about being a healer priest in WoW was, that in general, you were the preferred healer. Is this the case with the the Operative? Or are we like a healing Shammy in WoW where you could take them but things get hectic...

Thanks!

 

I've been playing all 3 healing classes and can say without hesitation that ops are currently the worst healers. They are viable and can complete all content but that doesn't change the fact they are lagging behind. Although that will likely mean buffs in the future(or getting excluded from operations... who knows!).

 

Sorcs are far and away the best healers and are without equal.

[Allfader]

Let me tell you as a level 50 Raid healing Operative that each class has it's niche. Sorcs have stronger aoe heals, Mercs have big heals, and Ops have strong direct heals with great resource management. Anybody who says that Ops are bad healers are either low level (below early 30's) or just a baddie. None of them suck, at PvE or PvP.

 

Also, if you're trying to make comparisons to wow, you're wrong. Ops are not like Priests, or Shammies, or Druids, or Paladins. Neither are Sorcs or Mercs. That's like comparing a Bard from Rift to a Marauder just because they both can give an extra buff in combat.

[Jaddall]

Full spec OP healer is terrible in PvP

 

I generally have no problem in pve, but pvp is horrible.

 

I will say that I have no pvp prestige gear so that certainly makes a difference but at this point my ability to stay alive is zero. I can keep someone else alive but once I get off a cpl heals, I'm spotted and cannot keep myself alive. I'm watching damage tic off from 2k-4k. I cant heal past that and even if my heals could match that damage my energy would be gone WELL before an opponents ability to kill me.

 

ymmv

 

got alts, so i'll back burner this guy and go with another

[Allfader]

Full Spec Medic Op i snot terrible in PvP. I consistently post 275K healing, have put up more than 300K quite a few times, and am closing in on 400K without even being in full Champion gear. If you want to PvP as a Medic Op, learn to use your Shield Probe at the right times, keep dots on yourself whenever you're out of stealth, and use the LoS advantages in each Warzone available to you as often as you can.

[StyjoStychi]

Best healer in the game? No...

 

Viable and a whole lot of fun to play, you bet!

[Yorks]

I've been playing all 3 healing classes and can say without hesitation that ops are currently the worst healers. They are viable and can complete all content but that doesn't change the fact they are lagging behind. Although that will likely mean buffs in the future(or getting excluded from operations... who knows!).

 

Sorcs are far and away the best healers and are without equal.

 

What makes them bad? Just saying..'ops are currently the worst healers' is cool and everything but why? Since you play all three you must have more specifics?

[Pilige]

I'd say Operative healer is similar to the disc healer in WoW - great single target healer. You might find yourself panicking when trying to group heal, but it's manageable if everyone in the group knows their abilities and is aware of their surroundings.

 

I keep seeing people talk about how great ops are for single target healing but were actually really well designed for raid group healing as well....if we dont have to focus on the tank much.

 

Since my heals are usually smaller and faster than sorcs I can bounce around and heal multiple people quickly while the sorc can throw out big heals to the tank and people who get hit with spike damage. Plus Surgical probe lets me effectively split my heals between two people. It lets me keep everyone above a certain percentage.

 

The only time I really struggle is in HM flashpoints. We have problems as the only healer, situations where you get single target spike damage along with an aoe are very hard to recover from as an operative without calling on one of your dps to throw out a heal or two. Our small heals mean you have to spam on the tank to get him back up in the safe range and then heal the group, hopefully before the next aoe hits and hopefully without completely destroying your energy.

 

We seem to have more situational limitations than sorcs, but we work very well in tandem.

Edited January 25, 2012 by Pilige

[Xandire]

I have a 50 Operative, heal-specced, that I just reached a few days ago. I have decent gear but don't have any champion gear yet. I tried to heal a couple Hard Mode flashpoints and was very frazzled at the end, lol. I did fine on regular flashpoints and 4+ heroics as I was leveling but Hard Mode flashpoints can be an eye-opener. I think I'm going to need a lot more purple gear and upgrades to be viable. Someone else posted in this thread that once they upgraded all their gear they saw a dramatic increase in their healing output. So I'm hoping with better gear combined with a little more experience that the Operative healer will click for me, but I'm a little concerned right now.

And someone else mentioned that the Directive 7 3-droid boss fight in HM was very difficult, among a few other cases......basically anytime the group is taking damage, the Operative is going to be hard pressed to keep up. Ideally the tank is taking the brunt of it and so they need pretty steady/constant heals. Add in group damage and the Operative gets spread very thin. And they really don't have any buffs/defenses to offer the group as a whole to influence how much damage or healing the group is taking for boss fights.

 

I'd like to see an update from the one person saying they were going to be starting Hard Modes to see what their impression was.

[Brightglade]

YES please update me! I am very interested to hear how this turned out.

 

The only three Hard FP fights are Mentor at the end of Directive 7, Jorol at the end of Boarding party and the bonus boss in the basement of False Emperor. Mentor is a ton of moving. Green Beam hits really hard and if you are being chased by the Claw while the beam is on someone else then that person's going to die. OP HOTs simply cant keep someone alive for the beam. Jorgol can be rough if people stack and get AoE'd. Bonus boss can be nuts when all the mirror images are up and active. Things quickly settle down as they are dropped. The enrage timer still seems a little short though.

 

 

I bought two 52 End/+240 Power clicky relics for ~12K each. The auction house had a good day

 

No dear no. You want to push Crit to 40% or higher and Surge to 86% or higher. Buy or get the Crit/Surge relic. Get the Red/Red/Red Matrix Cube and a crit adrenal. When things hit the fan, pop the relic and the adrenal and you will break 50% crit.

 

I get 5,5xx heal crits quite often and I've had 6,320 crit heal on myself both of these numbers are with the Adrenal and Relic. I have had our HoT crit for 1,120 often as well.

 

Additionally: If people will help, run some high end normal FPs for the Corellia commendations. These commendations can then be turned in for mods that will allow you to customize your gear the way you like. Also, dont forget the Ilum daily, [H] Poison Strategy (or something. Sith side, hopefully Repubs have it too). Gives a purple enhancement mod. Doing these things can take your orange gear to 126.

 

Also, the 110% speeder and level 3 speeder training isn't a necessity. With so many travel points so close, we never really have a long distance to ride.

Edited January 25, 2012 by Brightglade

[Sprigum]

Im acutely aware that sorcs especially have a much better toolset and resource system than operatives. I find myself relatively unbothered by this diatinction though, I hope balancing comes soon but i have no plans to reroll.

 

I see everyone stacking crit/surge. Which is just not a good idea as a healer. In any game ive ever played ive always used a very simple philosophy for healer itemization. Pick the item that is going to increase your healing done consistently.

 

In SWTOR I use two stats primarily:

- Cunning

- Power

 

Next I choose secondary stats:

- Crit

- Surge

- Alacrity ( limited usefulness )

 

My medic spec operative is very well geared. All 136-140 gear. I have about 38% crit, 76% surge, and 1790 cunning (with biochem).

 

My HoTs crit for about 1250, KI can do anywhere from 5500-7800 depending on if I have relics and adrenals active.

 

My diagonostic scan crits for about 350.

 

I heal hardmode operations and am at valor rank 55.

 

300 expertise seems about right for me. I wear as much PVE gear as i can to counteract the healing debuff.

 

Typical game is around 400k for me, often break 500k, and from time to time I can breach the 600k healing mark.

 

I do this solo queue rotating 3-4 stacks of probes, keep RN up on melee clusters, and busting out the big KI heals when the need arises.

 

Surgical probe where applicable and spam until you get them over 30% And the try to the long cast heal.

 

Never stop moving in PvP its our only real strength.

 

Flashbang and debilitate where neccesary. Never allow probes to drop off yourself.

 

Dispel can be used as an additional heal when talented. Only hits for about 1k crit but sometimes thats all you have/need.

 

Stimboost often, adrenaline probe BEFORE you need it! Never use it at 100 energy though. Apply shield before you surgical probe yourself. Evasion spees boost talent is higly underrated. I love it.

 

Use yourself as a distraction for the team.

 

I can often get 3-4 melee to follow me around for extended periods of time by cycling cooldowns, pillar humping, and using environmental LoS.

 

Its a lot of buttons. All my bars are full w/ keybinds. Factoring in stealth and cover abilties I dont think its a stretch to assume we have the largest set of abilities in game, even though they are on average no too impressive.

 

Recuperative nanotech is a good skill for pvp, an extra heal of the run and good for large aoe scenarios in huttball and voidstar.

 

Use orbital strike to get your kill/dmg medals and also assist the team. With relica/adrenal this can do 4k crit ticks.

 

 

Your mileage may vary