Is it worth carrying on with Op healer?

[willyshoot]

I am level 47 op healer and "feel" the the class is just not there as a healer. This isn't some mega rant but I just feel like my hps is about 20% lower than it should be to be effective. 1v1 I literally have to pop every single thing I have against jedi's and run for the hills and if I am very lucky I will get away as they will get bored or not want to leave the objective.

 

If any instas are down I know I am toast.. and if I get a debuff I am gonna snap like a twig. Maybe it's me as I am 24med 14leth and haven't gone full heals. Would going full med help dramatically? Or should I just park healing for a bit of just go dps?

 

I'd say my mainn gripe is no real big heals to burst through that huge dps - especially after being stunned. If I have to cast a 1.5/2s heal I WILL be interrupted.. pointless even standing still to try it.. so if my TA's aren't popping it's game over.

 

Also.. I'll be low on health.. debuffed and my heals are 0.. 0... 0...1.... 2... dead. I try a toxic scan but it makes no difference. is there a trick to this bit?

 

So... should I go med or switch full dps?

Edited February 17, 2012 by willyshoot

[Oghier]

Anybody's guess. I wonder the same thing about my healing operative, at 50/53 level/ valor. There are some basic contradictions with our class design that may hamper us long-term.

 

In most MMO's, balance changes over time. We have no idea whether BW even considers balance an issue, however, or whether and when they plan to begin addressing it.

[AgrippAA]

if you arent enjoying the class then try something else - i personally do believe sorcs have a slightly easier time due to a number of tools at their disposal that an operative doesnt have. That said there are just some situations where you are going to get killed regardless of what happens, no matter how good you are with the class.

 

Im sure you'll have alot of people offering advise or derision based on what you have posted but simply put the class may not be for you - the classes strengths and (many) flaws will work for some people but not for others.

Edited February 17, 2012 by AgrippAA

[tatatan]

Hi,

i'm 50 and i have 18/0/23 build. I have TA from KP when in longer range and even more TAs when in close from Shiv.. I keep both dots up and then Cull. Cull does nice dmg. When chance, use in middle of fight Flash bang, or Debilitate, hide, hidden strike, backstab and Cull, this will cost the opponent some reasonable HP.

I'm having lots of fun with lethality (actually i never played stealth so i dont even noticed nerf) . Operative is very versatile and i love it.

cheers,

[stephenjohnp]

It'd be best if you rolled something else. Operatives are the worst class in the game. It's just going to get worse.

[Attaraxia]

You'll want to wait for someone else's opinion regarding dps.

 

For healing:

 

It's entirely possible to heal all end-game content with an operative. The problem is not in our inability, it is in our lack of flexibility, our overwhelming dependence on a single move to break out of a cold start, and our lack of anything truly unique and useful to bring to the table.

 

In short, we are okay. The problem lies in the fact that nobody else is just "okay", and sorcs are "good". We can heal content, we can make up for some weaknesses in the raid makeup, and aren't QUITE bad enough to be a weakness ourselves. Our numbers are not terrifyingly low, and we're not unplayable, or so difficult as to be not worth playing.

 

However, dear not-quite-50, we're not very competitive with the others. We're that guy in class who puts his best effort in, does all his homework, and studies in his spare time only to get a C for the year. There is a guy in this particular class who doesn't study, doesn't do homework, and still walks away with an A every time because his "natural gifts" are just better than ours. Sure, we passed the course... but we won't be getting the job if we find ourselves competing with said 'lucky' student.

 

In real life, that would be a situation one couldn't do anything about. This, however, is a video game, and with a mere two, maybe three weeks of playing, I can BE the guy getting an A without effort. Since I, as a healer, have a significant impact on the success my group of friends sees in PvE and PvP, working my butt off to get a C when I could coast and get an A is just... not wise.

 

If I were you, I would reroll to a sorcerer, and shelve your operative until it becomes more competitive, keeping in mind that this may never happen. I love my operative dearly, to be honest. The story was excellent, the VA is excellent, the playstyle is everything I wanted... but I am not content to be mediocre.

[efylinx]

Caveat: I'm not 50 yet, but I have both an op and sorc in their late 40s.

 

If you're min-maxing and looking for the easiest healing experience with maximum output, then I agree sorcerers have an easier time. Resource management is child's play, and the healing rotation is confined to 2 buttons (with rare exceptions).

 

However if your intention is to have fun (we forget it's a game after all), then play what you actually look forward to playing. Op healing isn't bad per se, we just have a steep learning curve for achieving an optimal healing rotation (and our resource management is doubly tricky considering the energy regen rate and TAs).

 

Personally I prefer my op, the sorc dps and healing experiences are a snooze for me. Ops keep me on my toes, giving me a more challenging and fun experience.

[willyshoot]

Cheers for the answers guys... as I suspected the Op is sort of just not quite good enough. I always feel like I am working at 100% to just get by in pvp... nothing spectacular.

 

My numbers are ok but in honesty I think that is because people tend to fight the person who is fighting them.. it is rare for me to be healing someone and the opposition leaves him alone and comes after me. Just bad people at pvp. I think if you come up against decent people your life as an Op is painful.

 

I'll get the dude to 50 and use him now and then in raids.. and reroll something else. I enjoy the game and the story line will keep me interested for another.. I didn't want to as when I chose an Op I was hoping they'd be different but not in a bad way!

 

It's just a shame that Op seem to be the kid BW picked last for their team.

[Oghier]

It's just a shame that Op seem to be the kid BW picked last for their team.

 

That is literally what happened. Operative medics were a relatively late development to the character classes. If most of our abilities seem oriented toward a sneaky burst-DPS, that's because they are.

 

Finish the storyline. They did an excellent job with that aspect of Imperial Agents.

[AJCleaver]

The thing that people always seem to overlook when talking about operative healers is that they aren't worse healers, they are simply just HARDER TO PLAY. You can heal hard mode and nightmare operations just fine, but it takes a LOT of practice and fine tuning with your talent tree, and spatial awareness in boss fights.

[Chipdouglas]

I made my operative with the intentions of being a healer and just ended up staying concealment. In operations and in pvp I do ok as a healer but it is definitely lacking compared to the other healers so I just go dps to be more useful.

 

I think they will eventually buff it up a bit though.

[OldSwab]

I found my heal spec operative to be a lot of fun in WZ's after you get some gear. My top rounds (mostly champ stuff and still missing several pieces) are 150k, and a sorcerer can double that in his sleep. So, it's not easy for us and I won't pretend that it is.

 

But we do have our utility. If you can't keep up with the ball carrier, toss a couple of KP's on them as they charge the goal line. Flashbang and then fighting unsupported melees inside your orbital strike is great for kills/damage. Use your slows and darts to interfere with caps, in addition to the stun and daze. If you load up the talents, the dart is nothing to sneeze at in damage, and it acts as a "no you don't" for 18s on the door in Voidstar, for anyone you hit with it. In a good round of Voidstar, you will feel like you contribute a great deal between your heals, damage, door defense, sneaky door taking, and generally harassing the other team, baiting 1v1 and 1v2 fights where you self heal and chuckle.

 

I'm having problems main healing. In a group with an assassin tanking and two mercs for dps, I could not keep the assassin alive, and with one of the mercs helping with heals, we couldn't kill him fast enough. This was the BT droid boss in the engine room.

 

I did heal the KP Operation with another Op medic in HM, and we ran the first two bosses of EV normal a couple of days ago with an 2 Ops and Sorc all heal spec'd (they thought I was DPS so I went with it...).

 

Hardmodes are doable, but you really rely on everyone else being at the top of THEIR game and on top of THEIR gear to make you a viable healer--much more so than a sorc.

 

Edit: I have found biochem to be indispensable to me as a healer in both WZ's and PVE. In WZ, the reusable medpacks and armor are THE difference between getting away to heal yourself and getting sent back to the medcenter, and the reusuable cunning and power stims (adrenals?) are a quick ticket to your 5k single-hit damage and laying down some heat when your team needs firepower more than heals.

 

In PvE land, while you really shouldn't be getting hit all that much, being able to use a medpack on yourself saves you from burning more power. And you already know what a fickle...witch Power is for operatives.

Edited February 18, 2012 by OldSwab

[Autreki]

PVP healing you will not really put up decent numbers as a fresh 50, get at least some centurion gear and play around with your spec... just keep in mid that currently sorcerers and bounty hunters can easily surpass your healing numbers but not your mobility.

 

I am a full healer and can deal efficiently with some burst damage i am a full spec healer and if i am on my toes, i can probably heal through most damage out there unless i get stun-locked lol

 

PVE healing, you have to keep those HoTs going, you let a few go off and your energy will be screwed! you will have to learn energy management BIG TIME or you will never have fun with the class

[Tamanous]

If only because so much is broken for Op healing I would say yes. There is NO WAY Bioware can ignore us much longer. I suspect that so much in on their plate that they simply cannot focus on entire class restructuring at this moment.

 

They WILL later though. Every single mmo launch I have been apart of since 1999 has had class post-launch restructuring but this often happens past 6 months and even closer to the one year mark. Often it is a one class at a time sort of deal too.

 

We will only get one-off changes for the time being like everyone else when it impacts specific game components hard (ie. pvp, raids etc) like we have been seeing.

 

For now all the players gathering data is a good thing. Prove we are lesser healers or lesser sustained dps'rs and eventually it will be addressed. One thing to be aware of though is that big changes doesn't mean improvements in all areas. They work off of data mining and number caps so expect one area to be improved and another impacted in a way you wouldn't even have imagined. Sucks but is universally true in all mmo's.

[uruz]

As a level 50 op healer - I'd have to say our class is great at single target healing - but difficult to manage for group healing. If everyone in the group plays it smart and knows the OP healer's limitation - then it's manageable.

 

However, it's amazingly frustrating when the crap hits the fan.

 

Level up to 50 and respec to whatever healing spec you like [there are numerous resources available] and see how healing goes in Black Talon Hard Mode a few times in a PUG. If you find healing to still be painful, then switch up to DPS spec and just roll with it until our class gets a little more loving.

 

I honestly feel like I'm a rogue with remote healing packs I just throw at people...

[MrDeas]

STOP!!!!!!!!!

 

Before you delete your char, they're going to buff Op/Scoundrel healing in 1.2

 

The time has come for Ops to rise out of the oppressed

[Dammascus]

I did my first 8man operation this week. The only thing I wish we had better was AOE healing.

 

I dont like ours for 2 reasons....

 

1) Its based around US! We activate it and its an AOE where ever we are standing. So we need to be in melee range for tanks or ranged needs to be around us.

 

2) It takes a long time to actually tick a heal. I activate it and then a second later a heal pops off..and its only like 3-4 ticks.

 

I know the amount healed can be fixed, so Im not complaining about that. Just those two mechanics cause the biggest issue, so I dropped the talents. And to be honest....I enjoy having the stim boost talent from lethality more.

[bobudo]

The thing that people always seem to overlook when talking about operative healers is that they aren't worse healers, they are simply just HARDER TO PLAY. You can heal hard mode and nightmare operations just fine, but it takes a LOT of practice and fine tuning with your talent tree, and spatial awareness in boss fights.

 

No, they are objectively worse healers. We have the math on this (sorry!).

 

To wit, the best played Operative healer will never be able to outperform a skilled Sorcerer.

 

It's not right, and it needs to be fixed. We've got a rather large discussion going on about how to fix it over in the healer forums, but we've also collected all of our ideas in the Healer Request Compilation. Check it out and give us your ideas so that we can make this class equal to the others.

[bobudo]

1) Its based around US! We activate it and its an AOE where ever we are standing. So we need to be in melee range for tanks or ranged needs to be around us.

No, it is targeted. You can cast it on any person in your party and it is 10m around that target. Mind you, that still doesn't make it good enough.

 

2) It takes a long time to actually tick a heal. I activate it and then a second later a heal pops off..and its only like 3-4 ticks.

 

I'm hoping they change alacrity to have an effect on HoT tick time; that would be really nice.

[Sookster]

STOP!!!!!!!!!

 

Before you delete your char, they're going to buff Op/Scoundrel healing in 1.2

 

The time has come for Ops to rise out of the oppressed

 

That post was poorly worded, it's not exactly clear what they meant but they said that they feel operative/scounderal's healers are ok and then contradicts themselves with saying that there will be some improvements- improvements to WHAT? We shall see.

 

A good healing operative has to go hybrid to get all the tools to manage energy consumption while a full healer sorc can maintain force (and have tons of it), something's not right between the classes and sorc/sage has it way too easy in the dps/heal/cc category that it needs to be addressed.

Edited February 18, 2012 by Sookster

[SentinelForce]

Reroll and be done with it. You won't regret it in the slightest once you realize just how gimp you were.

[OldSwab]

Ok, main healed BT HM last night so I'm going to backtrack a bit on what I'd said previously. This was our first HM as a guild with "the right" make up--jugg tank, op healer, assassin dps, and an op dps. We had failed it multiple times on separate occasions trying to go in with an assassin tank/healing op/assassin dps/op dps, as well as an assassin tank and two mercs. With one merc heal spec'd, we were able to keep the assassin tank alive, but couldn't beat the rage timer. Working as intended, lol.

 

Bottom line is that I can't keep an assassin tank-spec alive in HM as an op yet, but I can keep a jugg up farily reliably.

 

Also found out how important it is to work a little dps into the mix. We only managed to beat the rage timer on the final boss, every other fight we were finishing off the last bit with all our shields rolling while the bosses were in stomp mode. You might not think it's the case, but keeping dart on them in a close fight will mean the difference between finishing the boss while he's raged or getting finished by the boss on rage.

 

We still have a bit to go to get it down to cake farming, and we all could use some slightly better gear (the jugg just dinged 50 this week), but we are viable end-game healers. You just have to be sporting some fancy gear, work you *** off, hit Surgical Probe every time it's ready, and use your poison dart judiciously.

 

It's a stupid amount of effort/management for some fairly mediocre heals, but that's what we're stuck with atm. You can make it work if a keyboard turning mouse-clicker like me can

Edited February 18, 2012 by OldSwab

[belialle]

Bottom line is that I can't keep an assassin tank-spec alive in HM as an op yet, but I can keep a jugg up farily reliably.

 

 

 

Are you sure it's not a L2P issue with that particular tank? I have no trouble keeping up an assassin tank. Most of my gear is Centurion PvP gear, for reference. Yeah, I mostly PvP. Still, if the assassin isn't using his CDs properly, that can make things difficult -- but the same can be said of a juggernaut.

 

The only trouble I had in HM BT was hitting the enrage timers on the last boss. At least one of our DPS isn't pulling his weight. I have no way of knowing which one, unfortunately.

 

 

At any rate, I feel pretty comfortable with my operative healer. I love it, actually, and I have yet to come across any content that I can't handle.

Edited February 19, 2012 by belialle

[Blavek]

I'm a level 49 Op . Gone for 30/8 (full healer) and to begin with it was hard. Now I've sorted out my rotations and what not I feel I'm doing a much better job of keeping people up and making a decent contribution.

 

Its a bloody hard class to play I'll admit, it just takes a lot of dedication. I do agree it is slightly under-powered, but it looks like we're getting a little attention in patch 1.2 which you cant complain about. It going to take time for it to level out but if you are struggling with the class I have two suggestions for you;

 

1. Change class.

2. Research it and get your head stuck in.

 

A lot of this comes down to skill at the end of the day and a lot of the time you just need to get a little clued up on what works and what doesn't. I'm happy to assist anyone that may want some help. Just send me a PM.

[Scourne]

I have a level 47 Op healer as well. I understand your concern with the class. however, every class/archtype has at least 1 inherent downfall. One of the positives of being and Op healer is the buff we bring. Also we are one of the few classes that can heal with out using any resources. Below I'll sum up some of the healing strong points.

 

Op Healing benefits:

*Outrageous Crit chance

*4 Instant cast heals

*Multiple stuns

*Stealth abilities(stealth screen is an imediate aggro dump)

*Movement speed increase through evasion buff (if talented: this allows you to **** of the way and avoid dmg at the same time)

 

Were we lack in energy regen we make up for in things other classes just cant do. lastly id like to add 12s aoe heals!