23,452 Mercs... still haven't run into a Heal spec yet..

[Jaysun]

OK the title is a bit of a stretch...

 

I'm not here to tell you how to play your class.. but since I started my PT.. you can't shoot your blaster or toss a Jawa in any direction without hitting a Sorc and/or Merc..

 

the issue is.. after 33 levels and fairly active pvp (28 valor or so) I've run into 3 - I know its 3 because I remember each healer Merc.. twice in PVP once in PVE..

 

I played a heal spec Merc to 44 in last beta build or 2nd to last forgot.. anyway.. my point is why aren't more Mercs healing?

 

even if you're spec'd DPS and the team needs an off heal, anything helps but I've been in groups with 2-3 Mercs and not one tries to heal..-unless they are about to die, at that point its too late since we're all dead..

 

I understand how underwhelming Merc healing can be and its sorta like playing a Mara/Sent only for a Healer as heal Mercs-the good one-need to be very active; managing heat, keeping the team alive and DPSing/CCing..

 

I'm contemplating rolling one simply because you just can't find one, even though Mercs seem to be as prevalent as Sorcs..

 

I don't get the 'healing on a Merc is boring' argument because healing on a Merc is anything but.. and the 'but Sorcs and IA's heal soo much better than us' is really a lazy excuse

 

I've always found that healers tend to level easier and get groups quicker...

 

case in point the other day on Tat I invite 3 Mercs to a Heroic group thinking 'OK I have a 33% chance that one is a healer..or course they are all DPS.. what a surprise!

 

so I say

"hey since you're not all spec'd to heal with 3 CC's and off healing we should be ok..."

 

3 wipes and not a single heal-unless they were trying to save themselves.. I /logged

Edited February 1, 2012 by Jaysun

[khythos]

Upfront info: I'm a casual player, definitely not expert in anything, and have only been playing SWTOR for a little bit (was busy playing another game where I took many arrows to the knee).

 

I've leveled a toon of each class up to 11 or 12, then decided to keep going with BH Merc arsenal build, currently level 20 or 21 so still pretty fresh.

 

So to the point of OP: I've mainly soloed through the PVE content so far and have only grouped a few times for heroics on the second planet, and even though not intending to be the healer, nor advertising myself as such, and currently not specced accordingly, I've ended up being the healer for the group, not even worrying about my DPS. To me the fact that my class has some innate healing ability prompts me to use it when necessary.

 

I even pop heals on other players that I pass just because.

 

Have yet to group with someone in the group actually designated as the healer, but even if there was a healer in the group, why not help out with the occasional off-heal?

[TEHDARKNEZZ]

I met one guy whos name was Doc. He healed a **** ton.

[Hytek]

The reason to your problem is rooted in most people being low IQ egomaniacs. It's a fact in MMO's as it is irl.

 

I play a bodyguard/arsenal merc and do mostly healing in warzones. Without even trying it's not hard to be top healer and that's coming from a hyrbrid spec merc in the 30'ies. Indeed very sad ;(

 

What 99% of the playerbase fail to realize is, that PvP isn't all about DPS. Anyone having played Huttball should know this or at least have learn from trial and error, yet hardly anyone seem to have had such an epiphany.

 

I do both DPS and healing simply because it's what wins games AND I earn many more medals=recommendations+valor being versatile playing a hybrid role. If only more people playing healing capable classes could see this

[Mamm]

Mercenary is not healer. Yes, merc can heal, BUT what interesting playing guy with BLASTERS, ROCKETS, and other blowing stuff and be silly healer? Pffft, mercenary is killer, not healer.

[TrueCaios]

simplest, least arrogant *****ish explanation: most people don't choose to play a cool power-armored dual wielding ****** to heal people. it has nothing to do with competence.

 

be thankful at the way healing is incorporated into different classes so that there is at least a potential for more people to pick that role even if they don't choose to play that way. were this done in the traditional fashion where healing is relegated to your stereotypical white-robed nurse/priest types, there'd be far fewer players currently who even have the ability to be a healer.

 

at any rate, dual-specs will probably change this at least a little.

Edited February 1, 2012 by TrueCaios

[Loladarulz]

Yep people pick merc for dps and specc him for dps. When I have to heal my eyes hurt from looking others lighsaber users slowly cut the monster to death and my uber dps go to waste - so I choose not to heal because its such a waste. Thats at least while leveling.

 

When I get to 50 I might switch to healing. BH must be healing specced to heal properly, otherwise he is sloooooooooooow and ineffiecient.

[Puzzlybox]

OK the title is a bit of a stretch...

 

I'm not here to tell you how to play your class.. but since I started my PT.. you can't shoot your blaster or toss a Jawa in any direction without hitting a Sorc and/or Merc..

 

the issue is.. after 33 levels and fairly active pvp (28 valor or so) I've run into 3 - I know its 3 because I remember each healer Merc.. twice in PVP once in PVE..

 

I played a heal spec Merc to 44 in last beta build or 2nd to last forgot.. anyway.. my point is why aren't more Mercs healing?

 

even if you're spec'd DPS and the team needs an off heal, anything helps but I've been in groups with 2-3 Mercs and not one tries to heal..-unless they are about to die, at that point its too late since we're all dead..

 

I understand how underwhelming Merc healing can be and its sorta like playing a Mara/Sent only for a Healer as heal Mercs-the good one-need to be very active; managing heat, keeping the team alive and DPSing/CCing..

 

I'm contemplating rolling one simply because you just can't find one, even though Mercs seem to be as prevalent as Sorcs..

 

I don't get the 'healing on a Merc is boring' argument because healing on a Merc is anything but.. and the 'but Sorcs and IA's heal soo much better than us' is really a lazy excuse

 

I've always found that healers tend to level easier and get groups quicker...

 

case in point the other day on Tat I invite 3 Mercs to a Heroic group thinking 'OK I have a 33% chance that one is a healer..or course they are all DPS.. what a surprise!

 

so I say

"hey since you're not all spec'd to heal with 3 CC's and off healing we should be ok..."

 

3 wipes and not a single heal-unless they were trying to save themselves.. I /logged

 

Merc healers are great in PvP. I might even go as far as to say they may be the best PvP healers. It just hasn't gotten too much attention because, like the above posters have said, they rolled a Merc Bounty Hunter because Boba/Jango Fett lit people up and looked ****** doing it.

 

I hear NM Raid level merc healing tapers off...

 

but i've healed all of the HM's and NM EV just fine.

[Hytek]

A full bodyguard merc is the single most powerful healing spec in the game. If you rolled a merc as main DPS, then you're doing it wrong and shouldn't post in this thread in the first place.

[Kveldur]

Been playing bounty hunter bodyguard spec since early access and pvp´ed a lot, for the first 4 weeks I was the only healer on the server and we had about 65% wins against republic but after that i started to get whispers from several ppl that went the tracer spamming way about my spec,gear, stats and so forth.

Now in like every warzone there are at least 1, 2 or ever 3 BH healing, would prefer to be the only one healing since I havent met another BH who has mastered his class, everyone else overheats way to early and dont use their supercharged gas properly and so on.

[Angryorc]

As a merc, I always heal! Atleast a bit

 

Huttball you say? instead of rushing for the ball, I spend 10 more seconds in the fire and pop relic + adrenal and get 2.5k and 5k heal upon start and later for 75k healing done.

 

And as you said OP, you're what? half way-ish to 50 and you complain about all you ever seeing are arsenal mercs? Well.. then get to 50 and play even more so you see the whole picture.

 

I agree, there's not an amazingly big crowd of Bodyguard healers around but they are there.

And making a thread about this.. while it may or may not just be something special about your own server is kinda useless.

 

If they made 10-19, 20-29, 30-39, 40-49 and 50 only pvp brackets and made a battlegroup / pool of servers that could play with/against eachother it would be another tune, but that's not the reality just now.

 

As arsenal you can get off about 6-7 heals depending on cooldowns before you're useless.

Throwing out offheals here and there... nuuh! not gonna happen.

[ssgrif]

I have a sorc for healing. I use my BH Merc for all out dps, although the inner healer in me always chucks a few heals out there once in a while if I feel it might help. slow crappy heal is better than no heal at all.

[thamightyboro]

Becuase its pants possibly.

 

 

I tried it out other day for a 8 hr period doing absolutely nothing but heal it is so horribly underpowered compared to a sorc that its just pointless even trying along with again being very static, make a skill with the trees that allows casts on the move for it and it could be fun otherwise boring and underpowered compared to other healers.

[HopeSlayer]

I off heal when I can, but like how I put it to one group member I had who questioned my healing methods I simply said, "In the time it takes me to heal you from half health to full I can have an elite more then half dead....without you even touching them. You really want to complain about my healing or help kill the *****!"

 

I make pew pews....not heal boo boos.

[Puzzlybox]

Becuase its pants possibly.

 

 

I tried it out other day for a 8 hr period doing absolutely nothing but heal it is so horribly underpowered compared to a sorc that its just pointless even trying along with again being very static, make a skill with the trees that allows casts on the move for it and it could be fun otherwise boring and underpowered compared to other healers.

 

Have to spend more time with it. Not going to say that it requires a tremendous amount of skill.

 

But it does require a different playstyle than what a person converting over from DPS for 8 hours would do. And it does require a bit of finesse.

[TrueCaios]

A full bodyguard merc is the single most powerful healing spec in the game. If you rolled a merc as main DPS, then you're doing it wrong and shouldn't post in this thread in the first place.

 

if it's "doing it wrong" then the game is messed up and needs to be fixed. luckily that's not the case. imagine if the best force builds required the use of tech weapons instead of lightsabers. if you only see the game as a way to turn numbers into other numbers in the most efficient manner, it shouldn't be an issue, but then you might as well just play Progress Quest. there's nothing wrong with people actually wanting to use their guns to shoot things, especially if they get two of them. let the DPS people DPS and stop trying to plug every class into a narrow view of what a playstyle "ought" to be and everyone might have a little more fun.

 

at any rate, back to my powertech. probably will roll a healing merc at some point, though, since every time I see the animation for tracer missile I die a little inside.

[Rhaphael]

I think one of the main reasons is Merc's first companion is a healer companion. Because of this, speccing healer yourself is actually counterproductive. Also since we don't get our 2nd companion until Tatooine (~lvl 25) most people will be used to using dps specs by then. Mako simply does too good of a job for the Mercs to need to learn about healer specs.

 

I also originally planned to go healer spec, but with a healer companion it's much more effective to just go dps spec and use your (unspecced) heals in emergencies only. Once I get Torian on Taris (almost there) I plan to try out a healing spec again.

 

I did heal (in dps spec) on Tatooine on several Heroics, and I kept the group up without difficulties. Another confirmation that healing specs aren't really needed until endgame.

Edited February 1, 2012 by Rhaphael

[GrandsonOfSam]

I think one "reason" for Mercenaries not speccing healing from the start is, that their first companion is a healer...

 

I have a healing specced Commando and Sage, as it was the obvious route for those classes.

My Shadow is tank specced, but as he doesn't have a healing companion yet, he is struggling very badly. Two tanks may be the worst possible duo for leveling... At least that is how it feels to me.

On my Mercenary though I went DPS from the start, as playing a healer with a healing companion with minimal DPS felt wasting my potential completely.

 

I will most likely re-spec my Mercenary to healing later on when I get an actual tank companion, but at least until then, it will be full out DPS. I can understand people not speccing for heals at lower levels, and when they would actually benefit from a healing spec, they have already gotten used to full out DPS.

 

Also to be fair, Commando (or Mercenary) healing compared to a Sage just feels wrong. ;-)

 

Edit: Rhaphael already mentioned the companions while I was still typing. In any case it's what I think as the biggest culprit. :-)

Edited February 1, 2012 by GrandsonOfSam

[DarthWalt]

The issue is that WoW still holds such a great place in everyones mind that they cant see the forest for the trees.

 

 

In WoW do you lvl a healer or a tank or do you lvl DPS. Well unless you like making an already pointless long and boaring gind worse you lvled as DPS then got your duel spec or respect to heal or tank.

 

 

THe difference in this game is that every class tank,dps.heals is a viable lvling spec. I have lvl a SW Mara to 50 a SW Juggy to 50 and now I am working BH Pt and SI heals.

 

 

All of them are very good for lvling. But sadly people are stuck thinking they have to lvl DPS.

 

IMO I think the idea of shooting people to heal them is about the coolest healing I have to play in any MMO. Its just neat.

 

 

The other thing is lvling in this game is fun. And being fun makes it go fast. I have never inb any MMO been able to pick a class and sit and lvling to 50 without having to take a huge brack and play an different class or faction. This is so fun I just find myself hitting 50 then saying oh man what do i wana try next. Inside of 6 months I am going to have atleast 1 of every class at lvl 50 and I feel alot of other will do the same and you see more of different classes that you might not see right now.

[oldshatterhand]

It's hard to level up as healer spec and I have no money to respec. If BW would give us dual spec, a lot more people would heal in warzones/flashpoints.

[Hokonoso]

merc dps is OP, when it's not OP then they may switch to heals, there is no reason to play a heal spec in this game if you solo as all 3 healing classes have OP dps specs for pvp, yes this was bad game design, but that is just how it is...

[Gorlough]

Honestly, I'm quite torn between the points of view.

I did level up in a hybrid spec bodyguard/arsenal and have also healed in many situations.

But after hitting 50 I went to respec to an arsenal/pyro hybrid.

This was because I figured, that not healing is the main problem - it's the utter lack of good dps in most groups. It's kind of a trade off. Heal that stupid, undergeared tank with no agro control, or blast that mob into pieces with decent amount of damage. I opted for damage, as I tend to be the last man standing anyways.

 

Seeing how poor other classes perform in their respective field pushed me away from healing and towards pure DPS.

[Ontos]

Pro-tip to OP

 

Don't group ALL BH if you find one PT, 2 Mercs already, AND the last one is another merc. State with enthusiaum, you are looking for someone with healing ability not another DPS. You are at fault for this problem, NO ONE CAN PREDICT IN THE FUTURE that since THEY WANT to be DPS that you the are going to need them to heal.

 

One person decides "I want to DPS" cannot just as easily "Oh, so NOW YOU want me to heal" when he decided last week what he wanted to do but had no way to know what you wanted (yeah, that sounds confusing). Its like saying "Oh, so you rolled Pyro but decided against Merc...so why didn't you roll Merc instead?" Why didn't you roll sith warrior instead of pyro to tank ? Oh wait...one man's choice affects your choice so now you have to choose how to best proceed and not fill every group slot just because they were present then b**** about fail groups.

[Skuldar]

I agree with the two pointing out our first companion is a healer. That's a big factor. It encourages you to spec DPS, and once you taste that power, it's hard to give it up.

 

Secondly, there's the fact that you wear heavy armor and shoot missiles. That doesn't sound like a healer to many people. You're a Bounty Hunter, not a Parole Medic. How many times did either of the Fetts whip out a medkit?

 

Thirdly, as has been widely noted, healing is one of the least glamorous MMO tasks, despite its necessity for difficult content. A subset really enjoy healing despite that, but most would rather shoot or shock things. That doesn't necessarily make the majority shallow or stupid.

[Tirithius]

OK the title is a bit of a stretch...

 

Not to numerologists because 23 is the number of destruction...