Bodyguard Mercs need a slight buff.

[midnyt]

Keep in mind the context. He confirmed that there is an 8 man limit on Sage/Sorc AoE, and made no mention of raising the 4 man cap on Scoundrel AoE when discussing the changes to Kolto Cloud. His comments suggest that they consider the far lower healing (1/2 and 1/3 of sage for Commando/Scoundrel respectively) and the player caps to be compensation for the fact that Salvation has a cast time and requires people to stand in it.

 

Anticipate the KB/KM cap rising to 4, with the possibility of decreasing the healing done to match KC/RN.

 

Don't get me wrong, 4 is a needed upgrade, but setting it at 8 and having it heal for 1/2 the amount of Salv like it does now would allow us to fill the raid group heal assignment competitively. Too much ambiguity and public denial of the existence of the problem in that response to hope for any more than a 4 man cap, potentially offset by reducing the healing to match the Scoundrel 4 man AoE.

 

4 is all we need brother! Anything more would be awesome but most of us, I assume, are happy with 4

 

That's 1 less person I have to heal while we run down the platforms on Soa

[RuQu]

4 is all we need brother! Anything more would be awesome but most of us, I assume, are happy with 4

 

That's 1 less person I have to heal while we run down the platforms on Soa

 

Honestly, I would be perfectly satisfied with 4, on one condition:

 

Smart Healing.

 

Why is this not already in place? It is an AoE with a low player limited target on the ground, and it doesn't have smart healing? That's kind of absurd.

 

Smart healing is irrelevant for Sages who can hit the whole Ops group, but if I'm only hitting 3-4, they really had better be the 3-4 who need it most.

[midnyt]

Honestly, I would be perfectly satisfied with 4, on one condition:

 

Smart Healing.

 

Why is this not already in place? It is an AoE with a low player limited target on the ground, and it doesn't have smart healing? That's kind of absurd.

 

Smart healing is irrelevant for Sages who can hit the whole Ops group, but if I'm only hitting 3-4, they really had better be the 3-4 who need it most.

 

I agree with this 100%. It's hard to optimize the effectiveness of KM when 5 of your Ops-mates are clumped together and 2 of them need heals badly but when you launch your KM it hits the ones with full HP then you are left to QQ

[RuQu]

I agree with this 100%. It's hard to optimize the effectiveness of KM when 5 of your Ops-mates are clumped together and 2 of them need heals badly but when you launch your KM it hits the ones with full HP then you are left to QQ

 

Honestly, while 4 would be awesomely convenient for flashpoints so you can heal/shield everyone, I wouldn't even have complained in the first place if it wasn't for the lack of smart healing.

[stposiedon]

i recently debated rerolling a sorc heal after gearing up a merc bodyguard. guild realized they cant run merc/op heals for EV and so I was forced to lvl a sorc or leave guild. I really want to play merc heals, so I went to look for a new guild. Didn't realize that everyone else needs sorc heals also bc of the aoe.

 

you can run as many calculations as you want, but its 10x easier to do soa hm/nightmare with a sorc healer than w/o just bc of the LACK of aoe heals from the other classes. Not saying sorc is OP or anything. Id rather lose some of my single heals to buff up my aoe. Take away my 4 set and replace it with a 20% increase to kolto missle healing and push it up to 4 targets with smart healing. just something so i dont have to play sorc heals haha

[rheia]

I'll wait and see how they'll scale kolto missle, hoping for the best. It just galls how much easier and smoother hm ops are with a sorcerer + any other healer. 2 mercenary healers on a hm op is equivalent to smashing your face against the wall a few times before calling it quits and rotating a different healer for one of them :/.

[Ewert]

I'll wait and see how they'll scale kolto missle, hoping for the best. It just galls how much easier and smoother hm ops are with a sorcerer + any other healer. 2 mercenary healers on a hm op is equivalent to smashing your face against the wall a few times before calling it quits and rotating a different healer for one of them :/.

I reckon you are talking of 8man ops, since it's the norm to have 2 in those. So, hmm, if 2 merc healers in hm op is smashing your face at the wall ... What is it then since I solo heal both hm ops? Cutting my fingers off? Castration?

 

If kolto missile gets 4 targets + smart targeting, that's pure Win-sauce. If it gets 4 targets, that's something. If it gets 8 targets and nerfed heal value, thats kinda okay but I'd prefer even 3 targets with smart healing or just plain 4 with full healing.

 

Aside that ... well I just must be doing something horribly wrong, having 21% alacrity (omg!), and successfully solo-healing through hm ops ...

 

PS. I have muzzle fluting. And lack 2% total healing talents. And don't have maxed vent heat talent. Double-omg.

 

PPS. IMHO, bodyguard is excellent except for AoE healing, which is sorcs win-button, and since our AoE healing is getting a look-over, I'm kinda wishing I rolled an ops healer since I like underdogs...

[gedorm]

Agreed I don't get the complaining about merc healing. It's a great main healer spec and we've done all hardmode ops with 2 merc healers when our sorc wasn't available.

[STD_Skindancer]

does merc bodyguard even have a combat rez? has this been brought up if not?

[Vicsaurus]

Honestly I think merc healing is pretty OP and fine just the way it is

[Ewert]

Honestly I think merc healing is pretty OP and fine just the way it is

I actually had a different word for "excellent" first but I changed it. Only bad thing is no 5k heal medal easily in warzones, hah (I have actually gone fast warzones without even breaking 4k sometimes, lol).

 

And to the previous poster, no mercs don't have combat res. Then again, any sorc or ops can do it even if they are dps.

[TempestasSilva]

I reckon you are talking of 8man ops, since it's the norm to have 2 in those. So, hmm, if 2 merc healers in hm op is smashing your face at the wall ... What is it then since I solo heal both hm ops? Cutting my fingers off? Castration?

 

Its called experienced and over geared. Just because you and your crew are in mostly Rakata, that does not mean you are amazing or BGs are OP. Most groups doing HMs are not even in full Columni and while you may not find it true, I'd have an easier time with an lower geared, inexperienced sorc as the 2nd healer than a better geared and experienced Op/BG. Again, it is doable, we normally do Op/BG, just easier for either if the other is a sorc.

 

The coming buff will help Flashpoints more than Ops. Adding another target to KM is better than nothing, but if the amount is nerfed...well I dunno if that is an improvement. Its not like the KM heals are huge now. For Ops, I'd rather have a 3+ smart component than 4 and no smart. Especially if they cut the amount healed per as would be fair considering they didn't mention buffing OP Heals but maybe they will considder the "front loading" enough.

 

 

And to the previous poster, no mercs don't have combat res. Then again, any sorc or ops can do it even if they are dps.

Again, not a big deal in even 8-man Ops, but FPs its more frequently a problem.

 

It would still be nice to get some more utility (interrupt/combat rez/etc.) and have Alacrity (which they obviously want us to have) affect our regen in some way.

 

Overall, as midnyt and I have repeatedly said...its not like BG is broken...Ewert is proof of that. Solo healing HM Ops is pretty cool, regardless of gear. All we have been saying is it could just use a couple little buffs.

 

The bad news IMO is:

For example, Sage/Inquisitor healers are currently able to exceed our intended healing performance at times by affecting multiple heals with the same Conveyance/Force Bending buff. Game Update 1.2 will remove the ability to do so.

I don't know what this means, as I am not very familiar with the class, but I did not want Sorc nerfed.

[Bloodcharged]

And to the previous poster, no mercs don't have combat res. Then again, any sorc or ops can do it even if they are dps.

 

People actually take DPS OPs to raids?

[_droider_]

Its called experienced and over geared. Just because you and your crew are in mostly Rakata, that does not mean you are amazing or BGs are OP. Most groups doing HMs are not even in full Columni and while you may not find it true, I'd have an easier time with an lower geared, inexperienced sorc as the 2nd healer than a better geared and experienced Op/BG. Again, it is doable, we normally do Op/BG, just easier for either if the other is a sorc.

 

The coming buff will help Flashpoints more than Ops. Adding another target to KM is better than nothing, but if the amount is nerfed...well I dunno if that is an improvement. Its not like the KM heals are huge now. For Ops, I'd rather have a 3+ smart component than 4 and no smart. Especially if they cut the amount healed per as would be fair considering they didn't mention buffing OP Heals but maybe they will considder the "front loading" enough.

 

 

 

Again, not a big deal in even 8-man Ops, but FPs its more frequently a problem.

 

It would still be nice to get some more utility (interrupt/combat rez/etc.) and have Alacrity (which they obviously want us to have) affect our regen in some way.

 

Overall, as midnyt and I have repeatedly said...its not like BG is broken...Ewert is proof of that. Solo healing HM Ops is pretty cool, regardless of gear. All we have been saying is it could just use a couple little buffs.

 

The bad news IMO is:

 

I don't know what this means, as I am not very familiar with the class, but I did not want Sorc nerfed.

 

I feel weird saying this to you, given your contributions in the forums thus far, but...what?

 

Healers are supposed to complement each other. There's nothing wrong with Sorc+BG combo; in fact, it probably couldn't get any better. The problem is Sorc, not Merc. It means Sorc needs the dial turned down a little, and we're already seeing that in the coming 1.1.5 patch (unless it was already in 1.1.4, idr).

 

With all things equal, all healers should perform equally with respect to their role (BG tank healer, Sorc AoE, Op...?). Such is not the case right now because Sorc can easily get it done without quality gear, while Merc struggles a bit (let's not even mention Op).

 

Take this with a grain of salt though, because before I got any columni (full now with 1/2 rakata atm) I was able to heal HM FPs and even successfully participated in a NMM16 Op. Granted it was difficult at first, but it teaches you how to play your class. So you either struggle and learn, like I did, or you struggle and fail (at which point you come to the forums and scream for buffs like the OP). If you do learn, you become so much better at it; and when you finally do get geared, you're going to be a forced to reckoned with. Some classes' potential scale linearly or slowly flatten out as the gear gets beyond a certain point. BG Merc breaks that mold and seems to scale almost exponentially IMO; especially in PVP.

 

I hate to use the biggest cop-out statement, but just like the floods of people ************ about Marauder being ****, it really is a l2p issue.

[RuQu]

I feel weird saying this to you, given your contributions in the forums thus far, but...what?

 

 

 

 

 

I don't see anywhere in Tempest_Silva's post that he says BG+Sorc is a bad combo. The problem is that Sorc+X is always a better than any other combo.

 

Healers are supposed to complement each other. There's nothing wrong with Sorc+BG combo; in fact, it probably couldn't get any better. The problem is Sorc, not Merc. It means Sorc needs the dial turned down a little, and we're already seeing that in the coming 1.1.5 patch (unless it was already in 1.1.4, idr).

 

Also, let's address the niche healer fallacy real quick. We have heard zero word from the Developers (despite repeated requests) that confirms that that is their design intention. In fact, the response in the Q&A two weeks ago to my question suggests that they do not intend to have "Healing Niches." The Sorc is not meant to be the raid-group healer while the Merc is the tank healer and the Op is the "lol, you brought an Op?" healer.

 

To steal from a post by bobudo, there are three ways to balance healing:

 

1) Make everyone the same.

2) Niches

3) Same results, different tools/styles.

 

WoW went with 1) in Cataclysm, normalizing all of the healing classes so they all had a slow efficient heal, a fast expensive heal, a HoT, an AoE, and one or two class-defining unique tricks. It's not a popular route, though, because it makes everyone feel the same.

 

Niches only work if you have a niche for everyone, group sizes that accommodate that number of healers, and a you then accept that you have to "bring the class, not the player." If Sorcs are needed for healing the raid group, and Mercs are needed for healing the tank, what are Operatives needed for? Even assuming they had their own niche, you would then be forced to bring one of each or you would be missing a niche. This leads to problems when the class balance on a server is off, such as the extremely low number of Operative healers at the moment. It is also contrary to Georg Zoeller's response, at least as I read it.

 

3) is the optimal choice, but is also the hardest to balance. Okay, Sorcs can AoE heal 8 people. If we are capped at 3-4, let us cast it twice as often (and give it smart healing). Now we can AoE just as well, its just done differently. Sorcs can cast a bubble to prevent damage, Mercs can cast a reactive heal to respond to automatically, and Operatives can cast a HoT that lasts a reasonable time (unlike our 2s HoT). Now just balance those (cause they aren't).

 

You say:

With all things equal, all healers should perform equally with respect to their role (BG tank healer, Sorc AoE, Op...?). Such is not the case right now because Sorc can easily get it done without quality gear, while Merc struggles a bit (let's not even mention Op).

 

Close, but wrong. With all things equal, all healers should perform equally. Period. Full stop.

 

Take this with a grain of salt though, because before I got any columni (full now with 1/2 rakata atm) I was able to heal HM FPs and even successfully participated in a NMM16 Op. Granted it was difficult at first, but it teaches you how to play your class. So you either struggle and learn, like I did, or you struggle and fail (at which point you come to the forums and scream for buffs like the OP). If you do learn, you become so much better at it; and when you finally do get geared, you're going to be a forced to reckoned with. Some classes' potential scale linearly or slowly flatten out as the gear gets beyond a certain point. BG Merc breaks that mold and seems to scale almost exponentially IMO; especially in PVP.

 

I hate to use the biggest cop-out statement, but just like the floods of people ************ about Marauder being ****, it really is a l2p issue.

 

Gimped comes in two flavors, and is not necessarily complaining. There is the comparison between two people attempting the same thing: My 5' tall wife is gimped at running compared to 6' tall me, cause she has tiny little midget legs. She lacks the tools (long legs) to accomplish the task (running fast). In a vacuum, she wouldn't notice the problem (probably wouldn't breathe either...), but with me around she sees the difference. If SWTOR was the first MMO ever, and had no Sorcs, this is how people would view Mercs. However, we know what AoE is, we know of the other tools in the Sorc toolbox, and, while we can get the job done, we know we could do the job better with the right tools. You can hammer a nail with a shovel, and dig a hole with a claw hammer, but you can do both jobs better if you had the right tool.

 

The other form of being gimped is when compared to encounter design. This is independent of other class abilities except in the fact that encounters appear designed assuming those abilities exist. Easy example, hiding behind pillars on first boss of EV. 8 people clustered up is ideal for Sorc AoE. What happens if we toss down a Kolto Bomb (Missile)? It will heal 3 random people, and not necessarily the ones we want. And with people clustered tight, we have no way to try and influence who gets it. We are forced to single target everyone back up, because KM, our AoE, is useless for an ideal AoE situation. We lack the tool for that job, but we can see it is someone else's toolbox. Now, to avoid giving everyone identical tools, if they simply added smart healing, we could AoE behind the pillar and know the lowest would always be healed. That alone would go a long long way. That is an encounter, designed around one class' ability, that makes the other classes feel gimped for not having a given tool.

[TempestasSilva]

I feel weird saying this to you, given your contributions in the forums thus far, but...what?

I just try to help, if I am wrong on facts, tell me I am wrong and preferably back it up because everyone benefits and I hate people spreading bad facts. If I am guilty of it, all the worse and stop me ASAP. If your opinion is different than mine, as in this case, I'd love for you to express WHY. And you did, so all is cool, no worries about offending me, I have pretty thick skin. Even with people I regularly disagree with like Ewert, as long as it does not turn to insults, all, is cool. In fact, as much as I disagree with Ewert, he usually explains his reasoning so its valuable. The biggest disagreement we had was over the location of where he was expressing his opinion. Anyway, my point is that just because I try to help people here, I hope it does not cause people to hold back their opinions or correct me when I am wrong. I am not special just because I may be more visible.

 

Now on to your differing opinion...

 

Healers are supposed to complement each other. There's nothing wrong with Sorc+BG combo; in fact, it probably couldn't get any better. The problem is Sorc, not Merc. It means Sorc needs the dial turned down a little, and we're already seeing that in the coming 1.1.5 patch (unless it was already in 1.1.4, idr).

Actually I totally agree, so I must not have been clear enough. As RuQu said, Sorc+BG is a great combo. And the problem is Sorc+anything is good while any non-sorc combos are weaker.

 

With all things equal, all healers should perform equally with respect to their role (BG tank healer, Sorc AoE, Op...?). Such is not the case right now because Sorc can easily get it done without quality gear, while Merc struggles a bit (let's not even mention Op).

Again I dont think we differ here, maybe just expressing it differently. Sorc is every bit as good of a raid healer as BG is a tank healer (I am not familiar enough with OP healers to intelligently. comment). The Problem IMO is that when they do the opposite roles, Sorc tank healing, vs BG Raid healing, Sorc can still get it done, where BG struggles quite a bit.

 

It is Bioware's stated goal that all healers should be viable. That does not mean exact copies or even non-specialized. But right now they are not equally viable.

 

Take this with a grain of salt though, because before I got any columni (full now with 1/2 rakata atm) I was able to heal HM FPs and even successfully participated in a NMM16 Op. Granted it was difficult at first, but it teaches you how to play your class. So you either struggle and learn, like I did, or you struggle and fail (at which point you come to the forums and scream for buffs like the OP). If you do learn, you become so much better at it; and when you finally do get geared, you're going to be a forced to reckoned with. Some classes' potential scale linearly or slowly flatten out as the gear gets beyond a certain point. BG Merc breaks that mold and seems to scale almost exponentially IMO; especially in PVP.

 

I hate to use the biggest cop-out statement, but just like the floods of people ************ about Marauder being ****, it really is a l2p issue.

 

Again, I think we mostly agree. BG is not broken. We can heal adverse conditions like the Steps of SOA and Annihilation Droid's Missile salvos, it just takes more skill and gear than it should. Yeah, you learn quickly how screwed you are when you are heat locked as you try to heal too much in AOE situations so it makes you L2play or fail.

 

I think what got lost along the way, is that the OP, myself, and others are simply saying that we could use a slight bump. We don't want massive buffs or to become as good at AoE healing as Sorcs. And we don't think BG's are broken. But when I heal an 8-man EV and find it MUCH easier to heal teamed with a Sorc than I do with an Op, something got screwed and is not balanced well. And I think the people who got the shortest straw are those who don't raid. I think we may be the worst healer in a 4 man with all else being equal. I am lucky to have only done 1 HM FP and skipped to Operations. I am now doing HM Ops in 1/2 Columni w/o even a 4-set bonus and usually healing with a Op healer. I can do it. And I didn't want Sorc's nerfed.

 

And what of Op healers? If we are to all be niche healers and BGs are meant to completely suck at AoE heals, what is their niche? If we are the tank healer and Sorc is the raid healer, what are they?

 

Again nothing is broken, but it isnt right either, so asking for minor buffs to make things better is reasonable IMO.

 

Also IMO, I don't think we disagree much, if really at all. It is probably more the case that my point got lost in my rambling and you misunderstood me. If I am incorrect and we do disagree more, please try explaining again, sometimes I can be thinck headed as well as thick skinned.

Edited February 28, 2012 by TempestasSilva

[TempestasSilva]

The other form of being gimped is when compared to encounter design. This is independent of other class abilities except in the fact that encounters appear designed assuming those abilities exist. Easy example, hiding behind pillars on first boss of EV. 8 people clustered up is ideal for Sorc AoE. What happens if we toss down a Kolto Bomb (Missile)? It will heal 3 random people, and not necessarily the ones we want. And with people clustered tight, we have no way to try and influence who gets it. We are forced to single target everyone back up, because KM, our AoE, is useless for an ideal AoE situation. We lack the tool for that job, but we can see it is someone else's toolbox. Now, to avoid giving everyone identical tools, if they simply added smart healing, we could AoE behind the pillar and know the lowest would always be healed. That alone would go a long long way. That is an encounter, designed around one class' ability, that makes the other classes feel gimped for not having a given tool.

 

While all of what you said is valid, I wanted to highlight this part as I thinkk it rmakes an excellent point that is seldom brought up.

 

Bioware controls both class balance AND encounter design. Right now 1 of three healers excels at AoE heals and 1 excels at single target. (The third is a gimped version of both? Or perhaps they are the utility healer? Lets not go there.)

 

So if you are then designing the encounters shouldn't there be as many times that the single target healing is a strain as when AoE is? But its not balanced like that.

 

So, It may be a case where the Encounter design is flawed more than the class balance. <shrug>

[Ewert]

IMHO fp should not be a problem, 4 targets to heal can be done easy enough even with our 3target missile + single heals. Only 8+ as in operations is where our raid healing is lackluster, even though it IS enough. It just ain't AoE, it's fast single heals kind of stuff...

 

Smart targeting, or even 4 targets, will help a ton. I mean 4 targets is 33% increase if they keep heal amounts the same, and considering sorcs can do 16 target healing, ours should heal quite a bit on the 4 ...

[RuQu]

IMHO fp should not be a problem, 4 targets to heal can be done easy enough even with our 3target missile + single heals. Only 8+ as in operations is where our raid healing is lackluster, even though it IS enough. It just ain't AoE, it's fast single heals kind of stuff...

 

Smart targeting, or even 4 targets, will help a ton. I mean 4 targets is 33% increase if they keep heal amounts the same, and considering sorcs can do 16 target healing, ours should heal quite a bit on the 4 ...

 

Sorc AoE is capped at 8, as explicitly stated by Goerg Zoeller.

 

Currently Kolto Missile heals for 52% of Sorc AoE, per person. This ratio stays the same from 1-3, and then, obviously, their HPS vs ours explodes. Considering this fact, your conclusion that because they can heal 16 (actually 8) means that ours "should" heal for quite a bit on 4 is unsound.

[TempestasSilva]

IMHO fp should not be a problem, 4 targets to heal can be done easy enough even with our 3target missile + single heals. Only 8+ as in operations is where our raid healing is lackluster, even though it IS enough. It just ain't AoE, it's fast single heals kind of stuff...

 

Ok but take a step back. I take you at your word, which is that you have Solo healed 8-HM. I also know from other posts you gear (and your crews) is mostly Rakata. I have no reason to doubt that. So IMO, you can't suck because even in full Rakata, that can't be easy.

 

So now lets step back to when you were a fresh 50 with blues, a few decent modded oranges and maybe a PvP purple or two. You are starting to do HM FPs with PUGs. If you only did guild runs then this may be hard for you to understand. Your gear blows. You have zero alacrity, set bonuses etc. The people you are with don't really know the fights, are standing in poo and taking damage they shouldn't, etc. If that situation applies and you had zero problems, then your skill must be a lot more than mine, and I think mine is at least above average. I had a few problems. I assume other had more problems by far.

 

Now this is a small sample size, but we had 5 sorc healers (mostly switched to DPS or re-rolled because we had way too many sorcs), 1 OP healer, and me. None of the Sorcs had any real problems. In fact, when Kaon Under Siege came out, I don't think I had my 2-set bonus yet and we wiped on the optional boss a ton and gave up. Our Sorc healer had no problems but he probably had at least his 2-piece by then, so maybe there was a gear issue or maybe we were screwing up the mechanics of the fight since it was new, I don't know.

 

Any thats why I said I think BG are more of a problem in FPs. In Ops, you can take a Sorc.

 

Again I am not saying you can't do it. Its just a case that if a Sorc healer can have an easier time making up for a groups mistakes than the other two classes, something is a bit off kilter.

 

Do you still disagree? If so, why?

[RuQu]

Don't you know by now, Silva? If one person can do it, no one else's problems/experiences count. Those people are so awesome they invalidate everyone else.

[SheepishOne]

I think the issue with FP healing in greens/blues comes down to a couple things.

 

1. You're in a PUG. To fix this: Play with people you can depend on.

2. Dynamics may be new. Positioning, pot/adrenal/relic/stim use, interrupts, cleanses, CD use, etc.

3. BH and OPs without decent crit+surge have to make up for it with a high cost spam heal in a landslide energy system. Sorcs don't suffer as much in this department.

 

In crappy gear you aren't just racing the Enrage, you're racing your healer's energy. Our energy systems allows for sparse mistakes and are incredibly punishing if you pass the threshold with no CD's up. It's certainly a "crucible" to start people out on trainer content, however it stresses basic concepts necessary for raiding AND awards T2 gear. If it's too tough, there's always Normal raids.

 

I understand how difficult it can be, and can surmise how hard it might be for newcomers with the new changes. The good news is that it probably lasts for less than a week or more. The time it takes to gear up in this game is pretty small in PvE, and the stat increase from T2->T3 is small as well. Very effective gear is available to every class of player. What I don't understand, however, is that people might actually be using T1 gear now. When the game came out by the time you had enough commendations for a piece of Tionese you already had close to a full set of T2. It may make content easier, but may be making it longer as well.

[Ewert]

Ok but take a step back. I take you at your word, which is that you have Solo healed 8-HM. I also know from other posts you gear (and your crews) is mostly Rakata. I have no reason to doubt that. So IMO, you can't suck because even in full Rakata, that can't be easy.

 

So now lets step back to when you were a fresh 50 with blues, a few decent modded oranges and maybe a PvP purple or two. You are starting to do HM FPs with PUGs. If you only did guild runs then this may be hard for you to understand. Your gear blows. You have zero alacrity, set bonuses etc. The people you are with don't really know the fights, are standing in poo and taking damage they shouldn't, etc. If that situation applies and you had zero problems, then your skill must be a lot more than mine, and I think mine is at least above average. I had a few problems. I assume other had more problems by far.

 

I did run a few fp back when there really wasn't much more 50s than those in dedicated guilds mostly. In quest gear. Boarding party final fight was very touch n go for for both healing and dps, most higher hm fp just were not done due to popular opinion even in the guild that they were too hard for the gear lvl people had by then. Looking back I think it WAS mostly a l2p issue, heat management, for healing. Heck when I did solo heal hm ops first few runs, I picked up a few things more on heat management, it was only when the healing felt insurmountable that one notices the final tweaks possible to better it. No real pressure also meant missing the final small tricks.

Now this is a small sample size, but we had 5 sorc healers (mostly switched to DPS or re-rolled because we had way too many sorcs), 1 OP healer, and me. None of the Sorcs had any real problems. In fact, when Kaon Under Siege came out, I don't think I had my 2-set bonus yet and we wiped on the optional boss a ton and gave up. Our Sorc healer had no problems but he probably had at least his 2-piece by then, so maybe there was a gear issue or maybe we were screwing up the mechanics of the fight since it was new, I don't know.

Sorc has less learning curve than op or merc, I think that is the biggest thing. Granted that is based on minimal reading, but I understand sorc uses a more traditional mana resource system?

Any thats why I said I think BG are more of a problem in FPs. In Ops, you can take a Sorc.

 

Again I am not saying you can't do it. Its just a case that if a Sorc healer can have an easier time making up for a groups mistakes than the other two classes, something is a bit off kilter.

 

Do you still disagree? If so, why?

I think you just made me realize the real issue with that last comment. Group mistakes merely cause sorcs to expend more resources, possibly causing a problem if there are too many of them. For bg or op healers still learning tricks of the trade, those group mistakes can cause resource regeneration to get totally screwed, resulting in a wipe. Given that what I have read of sorc resources are true, have not played one.

 

PS. RuQu, was that at me? If so, did my math proof annoy you regarding alacrity or something?

[Ewert]

Sorc AoE is capped at 8, as explicitly stated by Goerg Zoeller.

 

Currently Kolto Missile heals for 52% of Sorc AoE, per person. This ratio stays the same from 1-3, and then, obviously, their HPS vs ours explodes. Considering this fact, your conclusion that because they can heal 16 (actually 8) means that ours "should" heal for quite a bit on 4 is unsound.

 

Well double of sorc aoe heals is "quite a bit", guess will have to settle for that. As for 8 trg limit, as I said above yeah I have not played sorcs so don't know them well. Guess the unlimited aoe healing was old bad info read somewhere at some time.

[RuQu]

Well double of sorc aoe heals is "quite a bit", guess will have to settle for that. As for 8 trg limit, as I said above yeah I have not played sorcs so don't know them well. Guess the unlimited aoe healing was old bad info read somewhere at some time.

 

I think you misread the 52%. Sorcs heal for double what Mercs do, per person, and three times what an Operative can do, per person. This ratio hold until Mercs and Ops hit their cap, and then the HPS and HPCT advantage of Sorcs explodes as they can heal an additional 4-5 people with that one cast.

 

In other words, we do "quite a bit" less healing per person on our three than a Sorc does.

 

The unlimited AoE assumption was held by most people, myself included, until the Dev Q&A two weeks ago.

 

As for my previous post, it was only half directed at you. The other half was more general. That mindset, that because one person doesn't struggle everyone who does is terrible and the classes are fine, is one we see a lot on the Healer boards, usually directed at Operatives. It's a very self-centered mindset that is a particular pet peeve of mine.