Personal opinion about bodyguard.

[ClinkJ]

Bodyguard is not bad but has a little problem.

 

PvE

 

1. have some problem doing aoe heals. but not extremely bad though. (Main problem)

 

2. don't have any traits(=skill tree) to improve core skills for heals.

 

3. unlike dark heal, healing scan has long cooldown. that means, we have some problem doing smooth heal.

 

4. some healing skills aren't efficient. (ex : kolto shell, kolto missile, emergency scan)

 

PvP

 

1. lack of offensive CC but need to consider that BH is heavy armor class.

 

2. need some increase movement skill which have under 1min cd (ex : rocket jump in wow?)

 

 

 

Personal Solution

 

1. kolto shell : increased healing amount, changed aoe heal. like "http://rift.zam.com/en/ability/1862475833/Orbs-of-the-Tide"

 

2. kolto missile : like revivification(sorc aoe heal), affect all allies in targetted area.

 

3. healing scan : decreased cooldown 9 to 6. 9 sec is too long

 

4. tier 6 skill tree : unlike other classes, tier 6 in bodyguard has only one choice. need to fix to two choice. (ex : warden 3/3, noname which improves kolto shell or supercharged gas 2/2)

 

5. emergency scan : increased healing amount, considering 31 skill and long cd, 4k will enough

 

6. need to skill tree which improves supercharged gas (need more managing heats!)

 

7. Heat Damping : Reduced activation time conccusion missile 2 to 0

 

8. Added a Unload with dcent healing amount, when combat support cylinder is active.

 

 

Any suggestions?

Edited January 29, 2012 by ClinkJ

[elacourse]

PvP

 

1. lack of offensive CC but need to consider that BH is heavy armor class.

 

Electro Dart opener, they pop their cooldown escape, instant cast concussion, they are stuck. Ran into a pub trying to get a missle at central (I'm heal spec) and used this, got the box and had a DPS show up to kill her before the concussion wore off. Tagged for kill cred.

 

If they are a spaz, they are going to pop their CD when you dart them, if they don't, me as a healer, I high tail it out of there as best i can or try to hold off for reinforcements. The options are there, we have the ability to CC a single target pretty good.

Edited January 29, 2012 by elacourse

[KujinRen]

Mercenary healing is pretty good. While I agree that Kolto Missles could use a little buff, we do pretty good with healing, even some decent AoE healing.

 

Healing Scan has a 9 seconds cooldown but Supercharged Gas is used pretty often which removes the cooldown for the duration. That doesn't mean that we spam Healing Scan mindlessly though. Using Healing Scan causes the next Rapid Scan to only generate 9 heat making the heat generation very manageable. It would go something like this:

 

Healing Scan > Rapid Scan > Healing Scan > Rapid Scan > Healing Scan > Rapid Scan before Supercharged Gas dissipates. It works great for not only tanking healing, but group and raid healing if used properly. Building charges in between Supercharged Gas is quite fast as well.

 

Being aware of Kolto Shell remaining charges and using Kolto Missles helps a lot as well. Kolto Missles also serves to leave residue to increase healing received by targets and gives them a slight buff.

 

Emergency Scan is pretty sweet on top of it all as well. My only complaint is lack of in-combat resurrection.

Edited January 29, 2012 by KujinRen

[DarthVarrak]

^ This person knows.

 

Also, don't forget Healing Scan provides a small HoT for the duration that it is on cd and provides a small defensive buff as well. All in all our heals not only heal, but we also provide a few quality of life buffs with our heals.

[Aedn]

Merc/commandos are the best single target healers in the game bar none which makes them decent pve healers, but excellent PVP healers. Thats without spending 31 points in bodyguard, which only improves healing significantly. To top it off, you can create a spec that basically renders you nearly unkillable with a little skill when facing multiple opponents.

 

Using a 26/15 bodyguard/arsenal build, you turn into a brutal attrition fighter who can stand around all day and fight multiple opponents.

[DanjaHokkie]

Only things I agree with, is that Kolto Missle should heal all those in the blast area. and second, Kolto Barrier needs to add either a defensive bonus on top of the healing, or increase the healing done to the target with the Kolto Barrier on them. I get that it is a free (no cast cost) ability. But if the charges can only go off every 3 seconds and only 10 charges, in a fight where a boss can actually be taunted, that shield can die off rather quickly. Its "ok" at its best becuase it also heals for less than the Healing Scan HoT.

 

Other than those 2 abilities, i have no issues. And I dont PvP so i have nothing to comment on that.

[spreadz]

Dont even think Kolto Missle needs a huge boost, Just hit all in an area would at least make it comparable to Sorcs ring heal thing.

 

 

Shell would be nice if it just increased healing a bit on that target but this isnt a world ender leaving it how it is.

 

All i know is that it takes near all of a WZ team to take me down. That gives my team alot of time to do what needs to be done regarding capping, running or blowing up a door.

 

If your full healing spec'd you have to know that a 1on1 will take a while against anyone. On the upshot you should never die. I find people just run away after a while coz they get fed up with getting nothing out of me. Think of it more of a support class and it makes sense.

 

Hybrid it with Arsenal and your a mobile wrecking crew.

 

I think its nice that all healers seem to function slightly different making them better in certain situations. Otherwise you might as well have 1 healing class...

[Eroa]

Agree with several people here in this thread.

 

The one thing I would have liked to change, is kolto missile to hit all in its area, or... at least make it not able to heal people in the area with full health as it does at the moment.

[Tombic]

I have 50lvl bodyguard merc and 25lvl coruption sorcery. My sorcery already has a lot more utilities for pvp game play.

 

Sorcery can bubble multiple players on a run wihtout cd which is far better then mercanary 31pt emergency scan with 21sec cd (comparable for single target healing, but bubble absorbs more)

Sorcery reduces big heal(dark infusion) cast to 1,5sec with 6sec cd. Mercanary cant reduce big heal cast time. He can take alacrity talents which cuts 10% of cast time after crit.

Sorcery can increase crit chance of next 2 healing spells 60%, almost 100% with decent gear.

Sorcery can interupt enemy heal or damage ability, which can be huge in pvp

Sorcery has better mobility which helps for survivability or positioning in pvp( easier knockbacks from ramps, ball carrying in hutball, going los... just to say few)

Sorcery dispell has minor heal included which is nothing gamebreaking but nice to have

High level sorcery can pull target to himself. I find this amazing ability in huttball.

Sorcery has bigger resource pool which allows longer spam heal then mercanary or even in assisting in dps.

Mercanary perhaps has better survivabilty then sorc, but if people dont defend healers they both going down very fast. Only thing mercanaries are better is a flat damage reduction on kolto missile with sgs which is ok in pve and hard to use in pvp when target already under fire. For pve mercenary healer is really exciting and new design of healing, but in pvp it lacks a lot

[Dartagon]

Your typical rotation for PvE should include all of your skills.

 

Healing Scan > Rapid Scan > Emergency scan > Kolto Missile.

 

Repeat. Once you have your 4 pc you can smoothly rotate emergency scan out when its on CD.

 

Always remember to use your CDs in tight heat situations, thermals sensor overload and that other one.

 

That rotation should be able to out heal anything in the game and not overheat yourself.

[_Nyth]

Bodyguard is not bad but has a little problem.

 

PvE

 

1. have some problem doing aoe heals. but not extremely bad though. (Main problem)

 

2. don't have any traits(=skill tree) to improve core skills for heals.

 

3. unlike dark heal, healing scan has long cooldown. that means, we have some problem doing smooth heal.

 

4. some healing skills aren't efficient. (ex : kolto shell, kolto missile, emergency scan)

 

1. AoE healing is indeed a bit lacking. It would be good to know what way Bioware wants merc healers to go. Do they want us to use a combination of Kolto Missile with single target heals; or do they want us to focus on kolto missile. Because I can heal 2-3 people in an AoE situation just fine by doing a rotation like:

 

Kolto Missile > Healing Scan > Rapid Scan > Rapid Shots > Rapid Shots

 

This is almost a heat neutral rotation (41 heat generated / 40 heat dissipated); and as long as I make smart use of Kolto Shell and juggle the single heals to whoever needs em it works.

 

2. Care to give some examples. Because as far as I can see we got some interesting talents. For example one giving Healing Scan a HoT, or making the next Rapid Scan cheaper after casting Healing Scan.

 

3. I quite like how the cooldown works out; especially because the 9 second cooldown isn't TOO long, but its also long enough to make the effect of Supercharge very noticeable and effective.

 

4. Not efficient?!

The only one in that list I agree with is Kolto Missile, that one can use a boost. But the other 2 abilities are free, so saying they are inefficient leads me to believe you don't know what efficiency means. They might not be good enough, but they are pretty efficient; both for the time invested (1 GCD) as well as the heat invested (0 heat).

 

PvP

 

1. lack of offensive CC but need to consider that BH is heavy armor class.

 

2. need some increase movement skill which have under 1min cd (ex : rocket jump in wow?)

 

1. Again this is either a miss wording, or you don't understand what offensive CC entails. We got 2 very potent CC; a ranged instant stun and a ranged incapacitate. Those can be used very offensively.

 

2. This I somewhat agree with. Kinda wish we had a heroic leap (warrior in wow). Problem with WoW vs TOR is that the latter has a lot of battlegrounds which work in multiple dimensions. Most of WoW's BG are kinda flat; being able to jump freely in TOR has some severe implications.

 

Personal Solution

 

1. kolto shell : increased healing amount, changed aoe heal. like "http://rift.zam.com/en/ability/1862475833/Orbs-of-the-Tide"

 

2. kolto missile : like revivification(sorc aoe heal), affect all allies in targetted area.

 

 

3. healing scan : decreased cooldown 9 to 6. 9 sec is too long

 

4. tier 6 skill tree : unlike other classes, tier 6 in bodyguard has only one choice. need to fix to two choice. (ex : warden 3/3, noname which improves kolto shell or supercharged gas 2/2)

 

5. emergency scan : increased healing amount, considering 31 skill and long cd, 4k will enough

 

6. need to skill tree which improves supercharged gas (need more managing heats!)

 

7. Heat Damping : Reduced activation time conccusion missile 2 to 0

 

8. Added a Unload with dcent healing amount, when combat support cylinder is active.

Any suggestions?

 

1.

Yes to the first; no to the latter. I agree it could use a tiny healing boost. But don't forget it's 100% free healing and only costs a GCD to cast.

It doesn't need an AoE component imo.

 

2.

It could again use a bit of a boost so that it becomes easier to rely on Kolto Missile and use your individual heals more as supplementation rather than the beef of your AoE healing.

I don't think it needs to affect all allies. I rather like the somewhat tactical aspect of KM in that you have to aim well. Remove all skill from the class and it just becomes a faceroll healer. There has to be a skill level.

 

3.

Nah explained above. 6 Seconds is too short. It would also mess with heat too much.

 

4.

I do think we could use a few more interactive talents; then again the tree shouldn't get too bloated. But I guess the 6th tier could do with a 2 + 3 point talent split.

 

5.

It's dangerous to mess with this. Its a free instant heal, and that is always tricky to balance.

 

6.

I agree that Supercharged Gas could use some more involvement; it's a really fun mechanic. Was kinda disappointed it didn't include Rapid Scan and/or at least Emergency Scan and Cleanse for some special effect.

As for heat management; It's not that hard at the moment and Rapid Shots ain't that bad. (It's my favorite healing effect). I'd much rather they buff Rapid shots somewhat so you want to use it more than you do now. (Although its effect is annoying for pvp).

 

7.

Could be an option, but then IMO they need to increase the heat cost. So you get something like:

Heat Damping

"Reduces the heat cost of Jet Boost and Electro Dart by 8. Increases the heat cost of Concussion Missile by 8, but decreases the cast time by 2 seconds."

An instant free Conc. Missile is simply too strong; but making it cost 16 heat means that it becomes a LOT more tactical. It's also harder for a BH to just Conc. someone and heal to full super easily.

 

8.

I like that idea myself. I think all healers could use 1 or 2 more healing skills. For bounty hunter I always found the "shoot to heal" effect SUPER attractive.

I think Unload heal and Power Shot heal (maybe replace Rapid Scan with one) are far more attractive than the scans we use now.

[Rendour]

Not really anything to do with mechanics, but I wish they would tone down the sound of rapid shots when used for healing. I know I annoy the hell of out my group when I am spamming to build/keep charges all the time.

[Wintor]

Not really anything to do with mechanics, but I wish they would tone down the sound of rapid shots when used for healing. I know I annoy the hell of out my group when I am spamming to build/keep charges all the time.

 

Yep. I love the mechanic, but the sound gets to you after awhile. Just need to make it a touch softer IMO.

[ElanTheBear]

I would like to see the following:

 

1. Kolto Shell heal at a faster rate or for more upon being attacked. Right now, it's just very lackluster, imo.

2. We need a cooldown-based quick movement ability (tied to Jet Boost maybe?).

3. Bring our Cure Mind talent in line with the Sorcerer equivalent (theirs heals for a modest amount in addition to the dispel effect).

4. Split the boring "Warden" talent into two different talents to make the upper part of the tree more interesting.

5. Alacrity needs to increase natural heat dissipation.

[ClinkJ]

- Emergency Scan with 4k heal will be good alternative sorc's shield. It has horrible CD and it requires 31 points.

 

- But i still need to buff Kolto Shell, but additional agree with considering free cast.

 

- The high priority healing issue is making unlimit target kolto missile.

[Mooby]

I'd like:

 

* Kolto Shell being agro free healing

* Kolto Shell stacks being refreshed by Rapid Shots

* Rapid Shots noise replaced with something more soothing

* Rapid Shots healing for 150% - 175% bonus healing

* Alacrity reducing the GCD on instants

* Kolto Missile being a smart heal and brought into line with Revivification

* Kolto Missile heals instantly, not waiting 1.5 seconds for the animation

* AoE version of Cure, 15s cooldown or so

* Group based utility, something defensive like the 25% AoE shield that Ops get

* Combat resurrection

* Chaff Flare not starting the GCD

 

And just for giggles:

 

* Flame Thrower being "Kolto Thrower", AoE heal, whilst CSC is active

Edited February 5, 2012 by Mooby

[Bejita]

heavy armor is not a reason to nerf a classes healing or damage, heavy armor suppose to be balanced with the sorcs bubble, but the bubble proves again and again to be superior to just a straight 10% to mitigation from heavy armor on SOME attacks

 

its ok for mercs to immobile but then to balance it they should be by far the hardest to bring down, but right now that title goes to sorcs who have more mobility, survivability, and CC

 

merc need a jet blink escape ability, and need a talent that doubles the effectivness of kolto shell on yourself or something along those lines