1.2 Healer Change Q&A Response and Feedback

[RomerioLopez]

I agree with the general sentiment of this thread, and am worried about the long term implications this will have on the game.

 

Regardless of how 'soft' the trinity is supposed to be, to play the game in any sort of group environment, we need Tanks, DPS and Healers, in roughly a 1/2/1 ratio.

 

In this thread, we don't just have Sage's worried about their class. But ALL healers. Once the number of active in game healers drops below a critical mass, groups stop forming, players struggle to find activities and the numbers start to drop off.

 

I would like to add my voice to the call for data. You say you have targets that you would like the classes to reach. Please tell the community these targets, and we can help you adjust our classes to meet them. Rather than just a big swing of the nerf bat wherever it is easiest.

 

We are in the current situation because of your original inability to balance classes properly. Why do you think this would have changed with your second swing of the bat? Hybrid spec is a result of people doing something that was unforseen. These proposed nerfs have many unforseen (By the developers) implications. As a community, the Healers are pointing these out to you, and I implore you to listen. An MMO without healers is a dead MMO.

[wrotruck]

I agree this Kihra’s line of thought and what concerns me is that our role is now going to be reduced to healing and healing only. Given our current toolbox, the “healing only” role is going to become very, very boring. I always assumed that the limited toolbox meant that Bioware wanted us to add utility with our stuns, CCs, interrupts, some DPS etc. One of the things that I like about SWTOR is that, up until 1.2, healing has not just been finding the best stick to play healing “whack-a-mole” but rather we are more rounded contributors to the group.

 

So, in many ways, I agree with X. They are taking a fun and dynamic style of game play and making it boring. I won’t leave the game over it but, if healing becomes drudgery due to over managing a resource pool on an unchallenging rotation than I will probably stop healing and play another Sage spec or switch to an alt.

 

Maybe I am wrong and my perceived utility has come from being OP. Personally, I don’t have experience with the other healing classes to compare, but I would hate to think that all of the fun that I have been having with my Sage (yes, this is the most fun I have had with a healer in a MMO) was not the intent for all of the healing classes…

[RuQu]

I agree this Kihra’s line of thought and what concerns me is that our role is now going to be reduced to healing and healing only. Given our current toolbox, the “healing only” role is going to become very, very boring. I always assumed that the limited toolbox meant that Bioware wanted us to add utility with our stuns, CCs, interrupts, some DPS etc. One of the things that I like about SWTOR is that, up until 1.2, healing has not just been finding the best stick to play healing “whack-a-mole” but rather we are more rounded contributors to the group.

 

So, in many ways, I agree with X. They are taking a fun and dynamic style of game play and making it boring. I won’t leave the game over it but, if healing becomes drudgery due to over managing a resource pool on an unchallenging rotation than I will probably stop healing and play another Sage spec or switch to an alt.

 

Maybe I am wrong and my perceived utility has come from being OP. Personally, I don’t have experience with the other healing classes to compare, but I would hate to think that all of the fun that I have been having with my Sage (yes, this is the most fun I have had with a healer in a MMO) was not the intent for all of the healing classes…

 

 

As someone else said, these changes will take the "Combat" out of "Combat Medic."

 

If our heat management was too high, shorten the enrage timer or up the HP of bosses slightly, so it requires DPS out of the healers. I enjoyed the fact that I was using Full Auto (almost ammo neutral with its cast time) regularly and with Muzzle Fluting making them free, I would hit a few Charged Bolts if I still had time at the end of SCC and everyone was full health. It was fun to feel like I was contributing to killing the boss, and was a welcome change to the standard "healing as whack-a-mole" paradigm.

 

If you have it tuned so a boss needs 1000DPS from all the DPS, and 750DPS from the two tanks, adjust it so it needs 250-500 DPS from the 2 healers to meet the enrage timer. Then the healers will be adding more abilities to their rotation and have to balance their resources around the extra damage abilities.

 

This would make for very dynamic healer play, as the best DPS ability for a given moment will depend a lot on how their resources are looking. It would also be more punishing on Sages/Sorcs since they have no free DPS ability, and would make them want to consider the Concentration talent for extra Force regen from Disturbance casts, but taking it would require trade-offs from some utility talents.

 

In other words, it would be far more interesting than the current round of nerfs, both in skill choice and gameplay. It would add skill rewarding challenge instead of simplifying things.

[JLapp]

My thoughts on GZ's comments: It is nice to see him saying something...I guess, but he doesn't really say anything that wasn't implied from the changes (i.e. they thought healing was too powerful).

 

Now in PVP I will probably agree with the thought. I mainly do PVE stuff but recently started PVPing with my Rakata geared DPS commando. Even a poorly geared healer was very difficult for me to take down 1 on 1....guarded there was no chance. Only real option was to take them by surprise...get a couple hits, stun and hope I could finish him before he could start healing himself. I did some PVP on my 50 sage in daily commendation gear and was surprised at how well I was doing, averaging around 300k healer in each and usually dieing to much better geared people or multiple people targeting me. I never really had force issues unless we were dominating and people ignoring me since I would end up in combat for a while...most often I could just spam heals until I died, jump back in a do the same.

 

Long story short....I can see how the changes make sense for PVP.

 

 

PVE is where my main issue is with these changes. My first attempt through Karaggas I doubt I would have been able to get past Jarg/Sorno with these new changes. I was having to spam heals pretty much the entire time and got down to like 31% force a little ways in. Was able to maintain it for the most part but still ended with basically no force left and one person dead. We certainly could have done better but most of the group had been through there and knew what they were doing. Normal mode you should be able to absorb some mistakes, but I don't know that will be the case with the new changes.

 

I've played a Tank, DPS (both melee and range), and a healer through at least normal mode operations. The healer, as the game currently is, was the hardest to play and manage everything. These changes are going to skew that even more.

 

In another post on the PTS, GZ has said that top end healing made top end content too easy. While that may to true, making changes that impact all content doesn't seem like a reasonable solution. He says it is easier change a class than change "all end game content"...All end game content isn't an issue IMO. Normal is fine, Hard is probably fine, and Nightmare is a joke (primarily on EV). 16man vs 8man is way out of whack and they have said they are changing that.

 

Also I'll say that I strongly dislike large balance changes. I see no reason they couldn't have made a number of minor nerfs to these classes over the past few months since release and seen how they stack up to these "targets". Changes this big make me think we are going to have the same issues, just on the other side of "target performance." With all the changes going into this game at 1.2 I don't see how they can possibly think they are going to expect something more balanced at the end.

 

I like they comment that they are making adjustments but honestly I don't know I have a lot of faith in the changes they are making to this game. I just see it being something like "Hey, we gave merc/commandos an in-combat rez and didn't change anything else...we cool right?"

 

Anyway, that is my way too long of thoughts on everything. We'll see how it turns out but right now I am very skeptical.

[JLapp]

I agree this Kihra’s line of thought and what concerns me is that our role is now going to be reduced to healing and healing only. Given our current toolbox, the “healing only” role is going to become very, very boring. I always assumed that the limited toolbox meant that Bioware wanted us to add utility with our stuns, CCs, interrupts, some DPS etc. One of the things that I like about SWTOR is that, up until 1.2, healing has not just been finding the best stick to play healing “whack-a-mole” but rather we are more rounded contributors to the group.

 

Agreed. I loved the fact that if I was keeping everyone up enough I could switch switch to the boss and throw a dot or some pebbles at him and switch back to healing. Now my force will likely be too valuable to waste on the boss.

[TempestasSilva]

First, let me say thank you to GZ for addressing the issue. It really should have been discussed in a blog post when the notes were released. That would have calmed a large part of this storm. Now that this much is settled, I will gladly remove my boycott, signature, although I will not be renewing my subscription until I have reason to have confidence in the direction of these game again. Increased communication will certainly help with that.

 

Agreed, the biggest problem was the lack of communication. Based on the communication before the patch notes, Sorcs were at least expecting a nerf. We were expecting a buff. Not hard to figure out why there is so much emotion, irrational outbursts, and general despair.

 

So they should have warned us ahead of time. Then they should have released this Blog post with the patch notes, and now they should be responding to our concerns.

 

 

 

I have yet to try Hard Mode Operations on the PTS, but I can tell you with certainty that all of the healers will be able to handle Story Mode difficulty just fine, since we've been through all of them...

 

So let's put to rest the myth that healers are going to struggle with Story Mode. They won't. The casual healer is going to be fine with the new content.

 

On existing Nightmare Modes

 

Here is IMO one of the biggest flaws of the game. "Its easy." Yeah, surprisingly, when you overgear the content, its easy. When you are in full columni, normal mode is easy. In full rakata HM is easy. NMM I have no experience with, so I won't go there.

 

People like Kihra don't intend to sound elitist or like the dolts who say "L2play". But that is how it sounds to someone like me. Telling me everything is ok because you and your guild who do nightmare modes currently have no trouble healing story mode is less than re-assuring. And its not your fault.

The gear in this game was jacked up from the beginning. Who used Tionese except to maybe grab a set bonus until your comumni dropped? How many people grabbed PvP gear when they hit 50 to start doing normal mode operations? If normal mode had droppped tionese, HM dropped comumni, and NMM dropped Rakata, I think there would have been a lot less "This is too easy".

 

But it seems like instead of fixing that they want to make it worse with all the added augments and then re-balance the game on the backs of the healers.

 

That is so wrong.

 

If their metrics showed that the healers in comparison to each other needed re-balancing (and I am sure they did), thats cool. But to say some of us were too good so we need nerfs is not.

 

Also, to take a game with very funky resource systems that already causes frustration and use those to balance things is also a bad idea.

 

I think heat as it stands is a fine DPS resource and mechanic. If I burst and need to slow down a bit for my resources, thats cool...I dont HAVE to hit the boss with a Tracer Missile right now. But it is not such a great healing mechanic. If someone is low on health, I have no choice but to throw them a heal, even if it throws my regen into bad jujuvile.

 

People already come to the forums with heat problems and we have to teach them how to make the best use of the resource. There are only going to be more problems if the 1.2 heat changes stay. And, since most of the SWTOR population does not read theses forums or even really pay attention to the patch notes, this will be a bigger problem when 1.2 hits if left unchanged.

 

 

But honestly, and I say this for the good of the game, you have got to do something different with healing.

 

I don't know who dreamed up the current system, but it is flawed, deeply so, in it's simplicity and low potency; the person currently running the show on healing needs to take a backseat (if that's you, sorry, but you're evidently not a healer). The person driving the healing system in the game needs to be a healer; someone who understand our motivations and needs.

 

See, the enjoyment factor for a healer is very binary: Fun when we can keep people alive, not fun when we cannot.

 

That's why fun healing classes in other MMOs (and the Sorcerer/Sage to a lesser extent) have a diverse set of tools and mechanics to work with; the skill of the player is in knowing what to use and when.

 

But your system - especially with the 1.2 changes - doesn't do this. Your system doesn't ask healers to make any choices; your design for healing has us watching bars and deciding whether or not to dump our resources or keep hitting the same 3 - 4 buttons in a row over and over.

 

TL;DR It's good that you're demonstrating that you are hearing the outcry, but it's time to step up to the plate and do something more imaginative with healing.

 

This, truly this. They have taken an inflexible resource system and removed more flexibility. In 1.2 merc healing is going more to a fixed/forced healing rotation than allowing us to choose what and when. The difference between a good healer and a great one should be which one makes better choices, not which one presses the buttons in the right order to keep from screwing their resource management.

 

 

I guess what I mean is that your baseline healing throughput with your core heals could remain reasonably low, but you could have a lot of interesting longer-CD abilities that supply mitigation or burst healing capability. Then you'd be more powerful in terms of your ability to respond to the demands of the encounter without really affecting your normal healing rotation

...

I feel like healing classes across the board are missing all sorts of interesting buttons like the above. Where are Tranquility, Spirit Link, Lay on Hands, bubbles, Rallying Cries, Hand of Sacs, etc.?

 

Totally agree and this set of changes moves in the opposite direction even if they give us a battle rez.

 

 

TLDR: Revert the resouce management changes, fix the gear levels, and give us more options to use our brain, not less.

 

NOTE: While obviously scewed towards Bodyguards, I mean it to apply to all healers. If Sorc's needed nerfs to make their output more in line with the others, so be it. But doing it by messing with their resource mechanics was not the best way.

Edited March 26, 2012 by TempestasSilva

[prochuvi]

Good luck with your try to balance heals,im out of this game for real this time.

the game isnt bad but you cant call it a 10.It had too much bugs at the begining but they are working on them.

We havent dual spec still,the change of orange gear that now gonna be the best gear is the worst change on all the mmorpg history,the dps balance is a mess because we havent logs and they are doint it by the number of crys.

Heal wise:scoundrel and trooper were told that they were getting a buf to aoe heals so they can heal on aoe(now only the sorc can aoe heal), but the result is: scoundrel have 4 target cap still and the trooper is bufed from 3 to 4?meanwhile the sorc have 8 target and heal more.

The sage have infinite recources on the 1.2 yet, but om the other hand now the trooper isnt playable and it is very boring spaming hammer shot.

The utility?how can be posible that 2 of 3 heals have combat rezz and one no?

This is imposible.

Because every class have interrupt and troopers not?.

Again it is imposible.

Why one class have all the utility(sages)when other havent utility?(trooper).

So im really sorry for the game because i hoped that i was playing it for years but the bad balancing of dps and heal,the no dual spec and the orange gear of 1.2 have killed it for me.

 

see you on other game and good luck with changes.

Edited March 26, 2012 by prochuvi

[wrotruck]

good luck with your try to balance heals,im out of this game for real this time.

the game isnt bad but also isnt a 10,too much bugs at the begining but they are working on them.

but we havent dual spec still,the change of orange gear that now gonna be the best gear is the worst change on all the mmorpg history,the dps balance is a **** and they only d it by the number of crys on the forum.

heal wise,scoundrel and trooper was told that they was bufing our aoe heals so we can heal on aoe near to the king sorc but the scoundrel have 4 target cap still and the trooper is bufed from 3 to 4?meanwhile the sorc have 8 target and heal more.

the sage have infinite recources on the 1.2 still but now the trooper isnt playable and it is veyr boring spaming hammer shot.

and the utility?how can be posible that 2 of 3 heals have combat rezz and one no?this is imposible.because every class have interrupt and troopers not?again it is imposible,why one class have all the utility(sages)when other havent utility?(trooper)

so im really sorry for the game because i hoped taht i was playing it for years but the bad balancing of dps and heal,the no dual spec and theorange gear of 1.2 have killed it for me.

 

see you on other game and good luck with changes

 

Wow! Quick some get some heals on the English language before he gets any more DPS on it!

 

Seriously, I'm sure you have a positive contribution to make but it would help a lot if you could put it in a form that we can read and understand. (e.g. Sentence structure, grammar, and punctuation.)

[Xaearth]

First off, I just want to say that, seeing this answer to healer concerns in Q&A does not in any way encourage me to continue bothering with this failed mess rather than getting back to Kid Icarus: Uprising. That's... disappointing and sad.

 

That's why fun healing classes in other MMOs (and the Sorcerer/Sage to a lesser extent) have a diverse set of tools and mechanics to work with; the skill of the player is in knowing what to use and when.

 

But your system - especially with the 1.2 changes - doesn't do this. Your system doesn't ask healers to make any choices; your design for healing has us watching bars and deciding whether or not to dump our resources or keep hitting the same 3 - 4 buttons in a row over and over.

 

Op/Sc healers were already strictly in the 3 button healing boat before hand, but by increasing the resource penalty on the other classes, you've now made healing an exceptionally boring task. No amount of encounter mechanics is going to change that.

 

This is what really boggles my mind about SW:TOR.

 

As much as we rag on the WAR team for their poor and often misguided efforts at class balancing, this is one thing, if I remember right, they didn't have trouble with.

 

Each healer class was fun and engaging in its very own way.

 

Sure, as balance continually shifted, there tended to be a healer that wasn't quite as competitive as the others, but people stuck with their "underpowered" healer because they liked the mechanics, they liked the way the abilities interacted, they liked what they could do with that particular healing kit that the others couldn't quite pull off.

 

But most importantly, being a RvR focused gameplay, they knew the choices they could make with the abilities at their finger tips can and did make the difference over the FotM rerollers that didn't understand the intricacies of their class.

 

SW:TOR? One healer has no intricacy at all. Another just had any semblance of intricacy ripped out, roasted, and eaten with fava beans and a nice Chianti. The third, the one with the most "intricacies", had its resources shafted so that choosing how to use them becomes a resource vs reward question.

 

For crying out loud, I want to heal, not mimic my dearly departed grandmother's knit one purl two.

[Masturomenos]

Hey quick question how much money and time was given designing kolto shell and then time spent balancing it etc? Im sure a team worked on it like any spell for any class.

 

How many people will ever use kolto shell again in a raid except at the start after 1.2? Raise ur hands. I wont since with heat cost to that and other spells it will be aburden the way it will work.

 

How many will ever use it in pvp? Raise ur hands. I wont because it will be a burden nd cost heat and dont forget snce dropin combat mechanic is broken it will also keep u in combat after u try to get away and rest ur medpack or use self heal.

 

Thats just one of many spells gutted from just the BH class that is obsolete in 1.2. We can go over more but even one ability becoming useless is a fail by the devs just one forget about entire classes.

Edited March 26, 2012 by Masturomenos

[Noyjitat]

Should of just buffed the weaker healing classes and added a new operations/flashpoint difficulty that is harder than nightmare.

 

Some of us were enjoying the game the way it was and were having fun. For those that found it too easy a harder difficulty would of been the solution.

 

Can't say I'm surprised though. I've seen developers take the easy and lazy route in nearly every mmo I've played and choose to simply nerf stuff rather than add harder difficulties or buff things that are underpowered.

 

/logic need not apply here

[wrotruck]

I get what they are trying to do and I think their goals are right for the game. It's just the methods that seem to need a little work. In the last Q&A GZ talked alot about the numbers and the metrics but nothing about preserving what players loved about their class. That concerns me more than the current changes. It is my fervant hope that the Bioware development team is looking beyond the numbers and seeing the players.

 

I'm waiting for the next Q&A which is supposed to be completely dedicated to the 1.2 changes. I'm hoping that we'll get a look at their thinking behind all of this and how they think it will affect the players. If it looks they care more about the numbers than the players, I'll probably throw my hands up. But until then, I'm trying to stay positive and give them as much constructive feed back as possible.

 

Perhaps if we continue to offer better ways and solutions, one will get through...

[oredith]

If it looks they care more about the numbers than the players, I'll probably throw my hands up. But until then, I'm trying to stay positive and give them as much constructive feed back as possible.

 

Perhaps if we continue to offer better ways and solutions, one will get through...

begs the question, how much does subscription numbers impact design decisions.

 

i won't even begin to guess at how many people have canceled their subs due to the 1.2 PTS notes, but i'm certain it's more than double digits - because i personally know enough people who canceled after reading the notes.

 

the sad part is, devs don't even have to be new and inventive. they just have to pick the right suggestions from the forums. there's absolutely no shortage of them. RuQu gives plenty.

 

alas, devs in general seem to think they know better than anyone else.

[KraGiEFunctional]

I think the whole healing nerf isn't that big of a deal. I have been trying out instances without using the Innervate->Consumption combo in some HMs, and it's not that big of a deal. At the moment, it looks like healers are going to be a problem, but I think it's going to put more pressure on DPS to burn the mobs down faster to avoid having a 5 minute encounter spamming heals.

[oredith]

I think the whole healing nerf isn't that big of a deal. I have been trying out instances without using the Innervate->Consumption combo in some HMs, and it's not that big of a deal. At the moment, it looks like healers are going to be a problem, but I think it's going to put more pressure on DPS to burn the mobs down faster to avoid having a 5 minute encounter spamming heals.

it's more than just a matter of number games, which is what some of what's been mentioned.

 

in order to achieve the numbers BW wants, Bounty hunters basically have to spend more time hitting our rapid shot (auto attack, basically). it's boring.. doesn't matter if it's workable, i'm personally not gonna like playing when i just have to keep hitting autoattack

[Wilow]

 

-snip-

 

If you have it tuned so a boss needs 1000DPS from all the DPS, and 750DPS from the two tanks, adjust it so it needs 250-500 DPS from the 2 healers to meet the enrage timer. Then the healers will be adding more abilities to their rotation and have to balance their resources around the extra damage abilities.

 

This would make for very dynamic healer play, as the best DPS ability for a given moment will depend a lot on how their resources are looking. It would also be more punishing on Sages/Sorcs since they have no free DPS ability, and would make them want to consider the Concentration talent for extra Force regen from Disturbance casts, but taking it would require trade-offs from some utility talents.

 

In other words, it would be far more interesting than the current round of nerfs, both in skill choice and gameplay. It would add skill rewarding challenge instead of simplifying things.

 

 

While I love the idea of healers needing to dps, they would need to fix operatives for that. I don't relish the idea of being within 10m of the boss to do my dps, and I don't relish the idea of having to crouch in order to snipe (our only 30m dps ability other then auto attack...well we have corrosive dart to, but that does pitiful damage, and I put it up already anyway ).

[RuQu]

While I love the idea of healers needing to dps, they would need to fix operatives for that. I don't relish the idea of being within 10m of the boss to do my dps, and I don't relish the idea of having to crouch in order to snipe (our only 30m dps ability other then auto attack...well we have corrosive dart to, but that does pitiful damage, and I put it up already anyway ).

 

"Fix Operatives" has been the most common suggestion all along. Fix their healing and make it interesting, if they want us more resource pressed by needing healers to DPS then fix Operative DPS.

 

Apparently fixing Operatives is a really, really hard thing to do because they are avoiding it at all costs.

[Sinemetu]

"Fix Operatives" has been the most common suggestion all along. Fix their healing and make it interesting, if they want us more resource pressed by needing healers to DPS then fix Operative DPS.

 

Apparently fixing Operatives is a really, really hard thing to do because they are avoiding it at all costs.

 

I think there's a disconnect between the devs and the game. It really seems like they've gotten so sucked into metrics and community feedback that they aren't playing their own game on live servers--and if they are, the design team must not have an even representation of all the classes.

 

I see things like the lack of a merc combat rez and wonder why it's even a matter of debate. With the 5-minute debuff after a combat rez, it's really hard to imagine giving the third healer that ability. Just give them the damn spell already. I can't conceive of a situation where mercs having brez will trivialize content.

 

That's just a healing example. There used to be a 20+ page thread of operatives requesting a gap closer. The most common response was "stealth is your gap closer," despite the fact that assassins have stealth and sprint and a ranged stun and more and better cc/utility in general than operatives. But since concealment operative hate is ingrained in the vocal community at this point, we'll probably continue to see nerfs. After all, GZ's legendary "teams of operatives stunlocking players to death" can't be allowed to continue.

[Soshla]

"Fix Operatives" has been the most common suggestion all along. Fix their healing and make it interesting, if they want us more resource pressed by needing healers to DPS then fix Operative DPS.

 

Apparently fixing Operatives is a really, really hard thing to do because they are avoiding it at all costs.

When I was first waffling on what healer to roll, I knew I didn't want to be a force user (ironic seeing as I did wind up rolling a Seer). What finalized Combat Medic for me was the ranged DPS aspect. I just couldn't see myself wanting to get into the fray while healing, especially while leveling with a companion.

 

I think they have the right number of abilities, beyond 8 or so and you start to see abilities that are too niche and become hard to balance. The problem is the lack of interest. Auto attack heal is boring. Rejuvenation is a chore to get Conveyance. Benevolence doesn't scale well enough for its cost. Trauma Probe is as fun as casting the class buffs.

 

Personally, I'd like to see the DPS only ACs get the in-combat rez. When I raided in WoW it was always the resident Moonkin who was the dedicated battle rezzer because you can usually afford a momentary DPS loss more than an HPS loss.

Edited March 27, 2012 by Soshla

[wrotruck]

The difficult part about this is that they have not shared with us the performance targets that we are exceeding or how they are have intended for the different healing classes to work. This being the case, there is almost no way that we can do more than just make stabs in the dark about how balance should be achieved.

 

However, it seems to me like they are in a "no win" situation. The conversation goes like this...

 

Bioware: “Healers should do nothing but heal.”

 

Community: “Great! Please give us an interesting tool box and healing mechanics that aren’t mind numbing boring to play.”

 

Or Like this...

 

Bioware: “We want healing to be dynamic and offer utility beyond heals to the entire party”

 

Community: “Great! Please bring all of the healing in line and give Scoundrels and Operatives the same ability to weave in DPS and other abilities.”

 

Either way, they end up with a pretty big over haul that they have to fit into their metrics.

 

Maybe there is a even a third option that I am missing. Maybe there is even more to it than that what I'm putting forth here. But, we have no way of knowing that unless they share more information with us. Again, It is my hope the 1.2 Q&A will bring that kind of insight or at least a little more then we have now. But regardless, if Bioware can’t show me that they are interested in a healer’s quality of life as much as or more than their metrics, I am probably done with healing. Not because of the changes but because I play the game for enjoyment and what they are doing with healing just isn’t fun.

[Azkit]

I honestly don't see the point of releasing metrics.

 

"We want Mercenary healers to be able to cast heals 60% of the time and use the other 40% for running around and using Rapid Shots. However, Mercenary healers are able to cast heals for 75% of the time currently.

 

 

OK.. what good will that information do you?

Edited March 27, 2012 by Azkit

[RuQu]

I honestly don't see the point of releasing metrics.

 

"We want Mercenary healers to be able to cast heals 60% of the time and use the other 40% for running around and using Rapid Shots. However, Mercenary healers are able to cast heals for 75% of the time currently.

 

 

OK.. what good will that information do you?

 

It does three very important things:

 

1. It tells the Community how healing is being measured, and how BW sees healer performance.
    
   
2. It allows the Community to provide feedback on if the metric they use are proper metrics. There is a strong feeling in the Healer community that we are being designed and balanced by a DPSer who may not have a proper understanding of what it means to heal or be a healer.
    
   
3. It allows us to compare the performance we see to the stated metrics. If they say they want all DPS to be within 5% of 1000 DPS in HM Ops, a log collecting website could gather thousands of logs and show which classes fell outside of that window. Those classes would then not be surprised when the nerf came.
   

[ErrantMercenary]

I honestly don't see the point of releasing metrics.

 

"We want Mercenary healers to be able to cast heals 60% of the time and use the other 40% for running around and using Rapid Shots. However, Mercenary healers are able to cast heals for 75% of the time currently.

 

 

OK.. what good will that information do you?

 

 

So I'm a Healer Forum reading regular that's been absent on a skiing trip for the last two weeks, and while I haven't had a chance to voice my opinion, I won't waste time with it, because you've seen it before: I'm a Combat Medic and these changes are a blindside that feels undeserved.

 

 

Instead I'm going to jump into the conversation right here and address this: We need to see the metrics because we as a community have tried to be open and honest (none moreso than RuQu whom I literally cringed for upon reading the patch notes) about our feelings on how our classes are playing with regards to all facets of play: how it feels, how the numbers (that we have) shake out, and how it affects development. To that end, I cannot offer useful feedback if you simply tell me "You're healing over our targets" without telling me what those targets are.

 

Essentially, the nerfs are most insulting because it plainly displays that this communication game we've been trying to play is not a two way street. In essence, we believe that we've been striving for balance (no one's asking for free NMM wins) and an enjoyable game and offering information on how BioWare can achieve those ends, and but apparently we've been using the wrong metrics, and no one bothered to tell us. We're happy to help balance the game and help make it more enjoyable for the community, but that doesn't work unless we have at least some of the same info BioWare does. In this case we clearly did not, and our expectations were roundly shattered for it.

[Obadaya]

Commando Healer here. You know what would have been great? If they could have told us exactly how to over-perform.

[alphasoup]

Replying so I can watch this thread. Sadly, I don't have anything to add at the moment, as anything I have to say has already been said.