Experiences of a Sorcerer Healer Leveling a Scoundrel alt

[SySnootles]

Hi,

 

As the topic says, my main character that i´ve played through pre-launch has been a sorcerer healer. I only go with healers in every mmo i´ve played because, because it´s the only role i feel that is not static no matter how many times you do the same encounter.

 

I can safely say that i´m pretty good playing a sorcerer and have played most level 50 content with the exception of operations without feeling that the sorcerer and the healing mechanics it provides as a class were in any way challenged to their fullest.

 

That being said, i decided to try the republic side of things and started a smuggler with the intention of specializing in a scoundrel healer. At the moment i´m level 24 and questing in taris (bonus series) and have run groups through esseles, hammer station and athis as a healer.

 

Overall its an immensely fun class to play while playing solo, it´s fast paced, has nice animations and the story is really great (coming from the inquisitor one)...

 

The problem comes with healing in groups. Every time i do something more challenging like an heroic 4+ or a flashpoint i feel like im pushing it with the scoundrel, like it takes twice the amount of effort to do half the amount of healing output of a sorcerer for example.

 

I never felt "comfortable" or at "ease" with the scoundrel healing.

 

My questions to the scoundrel healer community are these:

 

Is this just a phase during leveling until i get all my abilities?

 

Is the scoundrel on par with other healers? because it doesn't feel like even remotely on par with the sorcerer.

[MaglorArcanist]

Hi,

 

As the topic says, my main character that i´ve played through pre-launch has been a sorcerer healer. I only go with healers in every mmo i´ve played because, because it´s the only role i feel that is not static no matter how many times you do the same encounter.

 

I can safely say that i´m pretty good playing a sorcerer and have played most level 50 content with the exception of operations without feeling that the sorcerer and the healing mechanics it provides as a class were in any way challenged to their fullest.

 

That being said, i decided to try the republic side of things and started a smuggler with the intention of specializing in a scoundrel healer. At the moment i´m level 24 and questing in taris (bonus series) and have run groups through esseles, hammer station and athis as a healer.

 

Overall its an immensely fun class to play while playing solo, it´s fast paced, has nice animations and the story is really great (coming from the inquisitor one)...

 

The problem comes with healing in groups. Every time i do something more challenging like an heroic 4+ or a flashpoint i feel like im pushing it with the scoundrel, like it takes twice the amount of effort to do half the amount of healing output of a sorcerer for example.

 

I never felt "comfortable" or at "ease" with the scoundrel healing.

 

My questions to the scoundrel healer community are these:

 

Is this just a phase during leveling until i get all my abilities?

 

Is the scoundrel on par with other healers? because it doesn't feel like even remotely on par with the sorcerer.

 

Depend in pvp, it's good.

You can simply heal and run over and over spamming hot and instant single heal, when people chase you, when you have a upper hand and constantly have up pugnacity.

Usually you use little your 2 casted heals, who can heal even a 5000 if crit.

 

On pve i don't know, but remember, you can have around 3 people with 3 Hot on all the time, and all this hot can regen a UH for you.

And with emergent emergency you regen istant an UH when heal a target with less than 30% healt, it's mean you can virtually keep alive for n+1 time a people under 30%.

 

Slow-release + colto cloud + emergency medpack + pugnacity all time up, and you have 3 hot tick the same time all the time.

[Magerquark]

healing is really a pain until you get your emp (emergency medipack) with level 30 and your free uper hand on mates below 30% hp. emp is a really wonderful skill it adds so much more dynamic to your healing. However it is still really challenging to keep your group allive.

Many pple in this forum post hate comments against alacrity but i personaly think that it is a stat that makes your healing so much easier. Your uwm will allways be your bread and butter heal skill to gain upper hands. alacrity will boost this skill so much and will give you more uh as a result. I addition to that it lets your scan tick faster and therefore regaining more energy

 

resume

 

It is getting better with emp and better equip later on in the game but its still challenging. I love the class

Edited January 26, 2012 by Magerquark

[Valsdad]

I find the management of two resources to be an un-needed and overly complicated for the sake of being complicated mechanic. Not to mention that you can't even spend all of your upper hand procs because you'll gimp your throughput. So I find myself constantly tracking my screen going from my buffs to my target's buffs to my Ops health bars and clicking through them to make sure they have SRMP.... I feel like I'm in a circus spinning plates on sticks.

 

I rolled my scoundrel for the sole purpose of healing, but sawbones is just too annoying for me to enjoy. I love challenging game play as much as the next guy, but I hate complication for the sake of itself. I'm 100% scrapper on my scoundrel and don't plan to make this character a healer in the foreseeable future.

[MrContact]

Well resource management as a sawbones is pretty hard compared to the 2 other classes. First of all we have 2 resources to keep in mind. Both energy and Upper hand, and watching the UH procs is pretty annoying atm because its hidden among the rest of the buffs, as well as keeping Pugnacity up. So the current UI makes it harder and more annoying to play sawbones.

 

Energy management is more difficult than force power and theres little room for error. We only have Cool Head to either recover from mistakes or be used as a boost to burst healing. When its on cool down we are pretty much screwed when problems occour.

 

However I do also find it incredible fun. Even when class has its annoying flaws and ppl says that sawbones is the weakest healing spec.

[Larce_Apollo]

Sawbones is kinda gimped until 30+ tbh. After that you will see a big difference, because by then you should have enough points invested in the tree to see a big boost in healing and energy management.

 

I find the 2 pool system to be easy to manage and "child's play" compared to other MMOs I've played in the past, quite easy for me at least to do.

[MelliMelon]

I'm guessing you figured it out by now with the helpful posts above, but yes, EMP is where we start to shine. We may have it a bit harder to heal groups, but stacking HoTs on everyone makes it much easier.

 

Why choose a scoundrel healer? The answer is mobility, I believe. We can run around with instacasts!

 

It's fun, and I don't find it too difficult. I enjoy the challenge.

[Valsdad]

Sawbones is kinda gimped until 30+ tbh. After that you will see a big difference, because by then you should have enough points invested in the tree to see a big boost in healing and energy management.

 

I find the 2 pool system to be easy to manage and "child's play" compared to other MMOs I've played in the past, quite easy for me at least to do.

 

Annoying != Difficult

 

Upper Hand healing is complex just to be complex, conceding though, that some folks enjoy that kind of thing.

[SySnootles]

Thanks for all the feedback. Indeed the classes looks like it involves much more attention than what im used to with my sorcerer, and i dont know yet if thats a good thing or a bad thing.

 

A more adjustable UI, especially the chance to move your procs and hots to center stage on your screen would make for an easier time.

 

Another question to all you scoundrel healers out there. Have you done every HM (non bugged) flashpoint out there and how was it healing through them?

 

It all fun and games when something is complex but rewarding, but spending an hour as an extremely busy and stressed out healer is not my idea of fun

[thecoffeecup]

I know exactly what you mean OP. I would classify myself as a veteran MMO healer (at least I've done it for years including plenty of raid content of course).

 

I felt utterly worthless with a < level 30 operative healing, and it's the weakest I've ever felt healing with any class in any game. The energy mechanic just didn't seem to allow the kind of output that was needed. Granted, I was in a REALLY crappy Cademimu group where people's understanding of tactics was running around with a headless chicken and doing ANYTHING but tank the boss.

 

You can go below 60 energy to save someone, but now you're in trouble, because your regen is lower and the incoming damage is the same as before. So you need to blow your cooldown. But two emergency saves, and you have to sacrifice someone.

 

I know it gets better with the level 30 talent. But still, low-level healing felt horrible. At least the instances are mostly easy at that level though.

 

At the same time, it seems like the sages/sorcerers have very little trouble healing. It seems like they do better healing in DPS spec too. Again, I know this changes. Just talking about low-level healing here.

Edited January 26, 2012 by thecoffeecup

[MelliMelon]

Another question to all you scoundrel healers out there. Have you done every HM (non bugged) flashpoint out there and how was it healing through them?

 

I have done 3 HM flashpoints: Taral V, Maelstrom Prison (Given, two of the easier ones), and Esseles (one of the harder ones, so I've been told, don't flame).

 

It's tricky, but it's nothing that I can't handle. There was never really a time when it was only my fault that we died (we got through all three first try (with deaths ofc)). Often times the fault is with the other classes and we just get blamed for it. Learn the situation and decide whether to rotate HoTs or burst heal one target, etc. I didn't really have any TERRIBLE problems. However, sages/SI's are better suited to PvE since I don't ever have to run away so our "speciality" serves no purpose.

[Klind]

Another question to all you scoundrel healers out there. Have you done every HM (non bugged) flashpoint out there and how was it healing through them?

 

Howdy,

 

I did my first Heroic FP last night in sub par gear (Long story short I rolled a tank for my guild but when our healers didn't level fast enough I powered through to level another 50 so we could instance).

 

In mostly greens, questing rewards, and Comm buys I had no problem at all. We did False Emp, and though we bumped into a couple of enrage timers, it was nothing we couldn't handle with a quick change of tactics.

 

In all honesty the HM was less then taxing on any of us.. It was fairly easy. The hardest time we had was on the bonus boss but again that was due to his AoE Enraged blast just one shotting our DPS.

 

I haven't played a SRC or Sage, but I tend to agree they appear to have it easier then us ATM...... but in all honesty if the rest of the FPs are as easy as False emp, we have no problem doing it at all.

 

~Klind~

[MelliMelon]

I haven't played a SRC or Sage, but I tend to agree they appear to have it easier then us ATM...... but in all honesty if the rest of the FPs are as easy as False emp, we have no problem doing it at all.

 

~Klind~

 

I've heard Taral V and False Emperor are the easiest, but still, healing a HM FP with crappy gear is commendable!

 

@OP Yeah, even with disadvantages (or maybe there aren't any), using your head can get you through most situations.

[Larce_Apollo]

Annoying != Difficult

 

Upper Hand healing is complex just to be complex, conceding though, that some folks enjoy that kind of thing.

 

I didn't say I enjoy it, I find it stupidly easy compared tot he older MMOs and healing/pool management. That's just me though.

 

I will say Kolto Pack is a useless POS and a liability in PvP.

[kuey]

More than complex I'd say UH is too reliant on luck for healers. I have been caught in situations where, even with 4 ppl with full SRMs stacked, it flat out refused to grant me UH to the point where I was constantly whipping out my long casting UWM to get myself some UH for EM (thank god for alacrity boosts).

 

Short story, it's a very "iffy" system that, whilst working 80% of the time, has the potential to really mess you up big time. Whilst I don't mind luck when it comes to crafting items and such, I feel its out of place in such a key aspect on gameplay (luck in dmg wise won't kill a party, but luck to heal does).

[SySnootles]

I will at least level as a healer up to 50, to get a hang of all the healing mechanics, and play around a bit on the level 50 content before i decide if i want to continue with the sawbones spec.

 

Stats wise i´m coming from a class that tends do disregard alacrity in favor of power, crit and surge. Being the scoundrel so focused on hot´s, is alacrity worth it or should i focus on crit and surge?

[DunsparrowSolo]

I am a geared-to-the-teeth Scoundrel healer. I am an extremely talented player and have healed in multiple MMOs, using similar heal mechanics (Druid in WoW, Warden in Rift).

 

I have also run Flashpoints with other healers at my same gear level, while I was DPS, and closely observed their effectiveness compared to my own. I have run Kragga's Palace and almost every hard mode FP. I am not blowing smoke or exaggerating.

 

The Scoundrel is the worst healer in the game, and its not even close. We do the least healing output (or HPS) even though we are a HoT-based class. We have no reactive heals, no shields and only one instant, which is incapable of keeping a tank alive.

 

In every other MMO, HoTs do very good HPS, at the expense of not being able to burst heal. Its a risk to rely on HoTs and problems arise if someone starts taking damage that doesn't have full HoTs or if the damage output exceeds your HoT heal amounts.

 

Scoundrels in FPs have all these problems. Our HoTs are not enough to keep the tank alive, so we have to constantly heal the tank, in addition to keeping our HoTs active. This is doable, but most bosses have AOE damage attacks or randomly drop aggro, or some other method of dealing damage to other party members.

 

When the party takes damage, it is very expensive in both time and energy for the Scoundrel to heal them. If you spend much time on the party, the tank will die. If you don't heal the party quickly, the party will die. If you heal too much, too fast, you'll burn all your energy and everyone will die.

 

Kolto Cloud is honestly terrible. It has 100% uptime and does about 300 HPS. 300 HPS will not heal through the party damage on any tough hard mode boss. This means you need slow-release medpack and/or direct heals on them as well, which takes time and energy.

 

Healing as a Scoundrel is doable, barely. It is not good, and it is not easy.

 

In PvP, Scoundrel healers are better. You can be a pest, between your hots, defense screen and emergency medpack. However, its still weak and still melts under any kind of focus fire.

 

Scoundrels need a major boost in their sustained damage and sustained healing if they are going to be viable. After the Scrapper nerfs, we'll honestly be a joke. Luckily, hardly anyone plays the class, so most people can pretend nothing is wrong.

[nvmvoidrays]

I am a geared-to-the-teeth Scoundrel healer. I am an extremely talented player and have healed in multiple MMOs, using similar heal mechanics (Druid in WoW, Warden in Rift).

snip.

 

yeah. i'm level 33 and a half and i've noticed this when healing. dealing with AoE damage is awful. some AoE damage? not too bad. a big burst? ohgodwhy.

 

i, too, played a restoration druid in WoW from vanilla 'til ulduar before quitting. i was expecting a sawbones to be similar to a restoration druid, but it falls laughingly short of the mark.

 

SRMP needs a serious throughput buff. two stacks at 33 heal for about... 300-ish damage. its enough to outheal 1-2 standard/weak mobs dps... but anything else? lolno. hell, the sage/sorcerer has a better HoT. sure, it doesn't do as much healing... but it gives a 10% armor buff and also grants them a benefit to their next heal and if you're fast enough, you can get two cast benefits from the buff. all SRMP has over the sage HoT is a little more healing and being spammable.

 

i've only heard bad things about kolto cloud, so, i assume it needs a major buff.

[DunsparrowSolo]

yeah. i'm level 33 and a half and i've noticed this when healing. dealing with AoE damage is awful. some AoE damage? not too bad. a big burst? ohgodwhy.

 

i, too, played a restoration druid in WoW from vanilla 'til ulduar before quitting. i was expecting a sawbones to be similar to a restoration druid, but it falls laughingly short of the mark.

 

SRMP needs a serious throughput buff. two stacks at 33 heal for about... 300-ish damage. its enough to outheal 1-2 standard/weak mobs dps... but anything else? lolno. hell, the sage/sorcerer has a better HoT. sure, it doesn't do as much healing... but it gives a 10% armor buff and also grants them a benefit to their next heal and if you're fast enough, you can get two cast benefits from the buff. all SRMP has over the sage HoT is a little more healing and being spammable.

 

i've only heard bad things about kolto cloud, so, i assume it needs a major buff.

 

Kolto Cloud is like borrowing money to pay bills. It only delays the inevitable.

 

I really don't think simply buffing the HPS of SRMP is the answer. If that was done, it could be too powerful in PvP.

 

If they buffed the HPS of Kolto Cloud by a lot, it could fix the problems. It could allow the Scoundrel to heal a group, and it could help make up some HPS on the tank as well.

 

I really don't think a Scoundrel needs much help on single targets. It needs some energy help, and some AOE healing help.

 

I do think that Kolto Pack should be re-examined. It should either have its energy cost removed, or it should have a talent to apply a stack of SRMP. Having 2 heals with similar cast times, heal amounts, and energy costs is pointless. There is absolutely no reason to ever use this ability right now because it wastes Upper Hand.

 

Also, Sawbones needs a talent to allow 3 stacks of UH. This would give us more flexibility in our heal selection.

 

Sawbones needs a good amount of help to be as useful as Sage. Seer is an amazing healing tree with great synergy and should be the archetype.

[SySnootles]

Sawbones needs a good amount of help to be as useful as Sage. Seer is an amazing healing tree with great synergy and should be the archetype.

 

True regarding the sage, im assuming its the mirror of the sorcerer (with the exception of the current aoe heal inequality between the 2 classes).

 

As a sorcerer i´m never bellow 90% force while healing trash, even if the group is taking aoe damage, and even in hard mode flashpoint bosses it´s rare that i go low on force unless some oh **** moments occur.

 

The difference is our force bending abilities and how our heals "feed" off each other. I have heal combinations for every situation, including an easy low maintenance ability that regains 10% of my force pool every few seconds.

 

As it stands, sorcerers/sages are the standard of healing that no other class can even come close to reach... it´s a pity because smuggler is so much more fun to play with while soloing and their story is so much more amazing

[Lascero]

SySnootles

 

You played Neocron, didn't you?

[SySnootles]

You played Neocron, didn't you?

 

Nope, i´m simply inspired by the hottest singer in the known galaxy

[Nebelleron]

Hello,

 

Not geared to the teeth, but a very experienced MMO healer (well ANY game I play I go as healer/support) with experience in every WoW heal class, FFXI, and Rift.

 

Sawbones has one fatal flaw: the designers valued Mobility. Whereas the Trooper/BH has great heal with almost no mobility, and the Sage/Sorc has good of both, the Sawbones as amazing mobility but nothing to do with it.

 

We have 2 HoT (one of which isn't even useful until you get the +15% output 2 piece PVP set bonus), 2 instants (One which requires UH and the other which does nominal healing), 1 channeled heal which is ONLY useful as a tool to rebuild energy, and 2 cast heals, one of which is completely worthless.

 

I love Underworld medicine, it is a fantastic tool that lets you convert one resource (energy) into another (upper hand), has fantastic scaling and does great heal, and UWM into Emergency medpack healing is a great way to go (assuming you have the extra charge generated through either slow release or a previous underworld.) The problem is that Underworld medicine is our ONLY good heal with no "It's good but....."

 

Really, we need an overhaul of our tools. I -love- the complexity of playing the class, managing UH stacks is fantastic, and I don't have a problem tracking what HoT is on my current target. But our gameplay falls apart on healing multiple targets (quick tell me who has how many stacks of slow release) and our energy costs are prohibitive to emergency burty heal (other than >30% medpack spam.)

 

My Hard Mode flashpoints are not too bad except what I have to quickly bring someone up from eating a headshot, eye beam, whatever. If someone other than my main tank is quickly burst down, it takes me forever to get them back up and still keep the tank alive. And if I do burn through my energy bar I am stuck either praying I still have cool head up or sitting around hoping for diagnostic scan crits.

[Corran]

i have both at 50 and scoundrel healing is great if you are only healing one target but..that'sa bout it.

 

multi targets nothing beats salvation