1.2 Healer Change Q&A Response and Feedback

[Jay_Stocker]

i dont believe anything he says or trust him anymore.

[Dramion]

After raiding the other night I have unsubbed and written them a long explanation as to why. The drastic changes they have implemented are a dangerous design strategy and leave me with little faith in the design team for this game. I still have about 90 days left and will only be logging on to do operations on our designated raid nights so that I don't let my real life friends that I play with down.

 

It only took 1 raid night to feel how hard the hammer really fell. After reading about the changes I had prepared myself for the fact that I was going to mashing RS a **** ton and heat management was going to be a nightmare. Even with that in mind I was still very surprised and very frustrated at how difficult it was to heal content that I was appropriately geared for.

 

If we had other healers that would log on regularly, I probably wouldn't even bother and would just DPS until my time expires, it would be a lot more fun.

 

Speaking from a sorc point of view, I was thinking the same way and tried the new Operation, we cleared the new operation with 2 sorc healers in full rakata. After raiding KP NiM (Jarg/Sona-MUCH easier), I have came to believe that I over reacted to he changes and I have now adjusted to them. Our burst dps heal is terrible as 60% crit on a spell that only crits for 3k is terrible but it is doable.

[XtremJedi]

There's a major difference, for some people, between something being doable and wanting to do it.

 

If you really want to do it, then you can heal all of the content with all of the healers, I'm absolutely certain of that. I'm sure that they tested this to be certain and it ws achieved. But whether you'll really have a fun play-style while doing it, is perhaps a different question.

 

Gamers will often put up with a lot and try hard to find work-arounds for stuff. How much you like and are enjoying the rest of the game will have a large effect on how you take on changes. How much the changes alter the very things that you like about the game, will have a bearing too. How much experience you have with MMOs can work both ways - some will see the changes and recognise patterns they've seen before in games and didn't like... others will see the changes and use their experience to make do and mend by adjusting their play anyway.

 

Different people will thus experience it differently.

 

X

[RuQu]

There's a major difference, for some people, between something being doable and wanting to do it.

 

If you really want to do it, then you can heal all of the content with all of the healers, I'm absolutely certain of that. I'm sure that they tested this to be certain and it ws achieved. But whether you'll really have a fun play-style while doing it, is perhaps a different question.

 

Gamers will often put up with a lot and try hard to find work-arounds for stuff. How much you like and are enjoying the rest of the game will have a large effect on how you take on changes. How much the changes alter the very things that you like about the game, will have a bearing too. How much experience you have with MMOs can work both ways - some will see the changes and recognise patterns they've seen before in games and didn't like... others will see the changes and use their experience to make do and mend by adjusting their play anyway.

 

Different people will thus experience it differently.

 

X

 

And we should also distinguish between being able to do it, wanting to do it, and enjoying doing it.

 

The oft-cited 1-button spammable 100% heal would make all content doable, but it wouldn't make it very fun, and it would have a questionable influence on how many people wanted to do it.

 

Making healing fun might increase the number of people who want to do it, but it says nothing about how doable it is or what percentage of the population that wants to heal would succeed with any given enjoyable design.

 

The Developers have control over two of those: whether it is doable and whether it is enjoyable. The first is easily measured with their metrics, the second is more subjective. People can be encouraged to heal through incentives (ie LFG bonus rewards) and by how effectively they tune the other two, but it is not a factor they can directly control.

 

In Patch 1.2, they made healing less doable and less enjoyable (as reported by many, although this obviously is subjective and not universally true). The forums accurately predicted (see Reedyn's survey thread) what the Devs should have known, that doing so would make fewer people want to heal.

[ChaosLenny]

I love this thread and I'm glad I'm not alone. I'm sick of hearing dps say stop complaining, they have no idea what it's like to heal.

 

When I first read the patch notes I was like 'okay I'm reading it wrong'. Then the patch came out and was shocked. Played a couple of WZ & HM. What dawned on me is this had not been play tested. I actually experienced 'nerd rage' and lol if I am not a parent with a house payment:) I cancelled and I believe in a forum comment told Bioware where they could stick their vanity pet & free month. I had a couple weeks on my sub left and I have friends from way back that I play with. I've logged in pvp'd out some new gear and did the new flashpoint.

 

Now that the anger is gone:)...I can say this honestly after trying different content and seeing my sorcerers performance. Can you still heal post patch...yes you can. Is it fun?...no not at all...it's frustrating and stressful. If I miss a heal we just might not make it, I have no real ability to 'push' as a healer too. It also very difficult to turn a battle in pvp, a good healer can shift a fight. One of things that attracted me to being a healer is if I do my job well I can make up for others. I'd also like to add in the pvp I've done since the patch I have to worry about pulling medals, rather than focusing on keeping my team alive. That's a poor choice for a healer to have to make.

 

Today I was on for about a half hour, to say hi to my friends more than play at this point. In that time I que'd for a wz and then dropped cause the feeling was...eh. I don't pay fifteen bucks a month for eh. One thing I've noticed too is since the healing nerf my guild has gone from active playing every night to a ghost town of making alts and such. Sorcerers and Mercenaries are just not having fun anymore (if you are that's awesome but I'm speaking to what I've seen)...do I think I'll be using any of that free month I seriously doubt it...folks in guild were talking about Secret World tonight more than playing TOR.

 

Like I said earlier in this post I was furious with the patch...the main reason is I really want to like TOR, I enjoyed leveling my sorcerer, I enjoyed (to an extent) grinding out battlemaster. I enjoyed going on my semi-casual pve guild runs. Now it's eh and that's sad. This has had a side effect of seeping into my guild and they are not having fun either.

 

Sorry this went long just my two cents. In my opinion the only people who really complain about healers are dps classes in pvp because they can't kill them. I think prior to 1.2 that had a lot more to do with tactics and skill rather than op'd healers. I'd also say that has a lot to do with pug dps too...my dps classes love me and were upset with the nerf because I can't keep them alive like I used too.

 

I hope folks at bioware actually try play testing some of this stuff before they implement it. This patch killed the game for me, and again I find that sad because one minute I was enjoying it and preaching how awesome 1.2 is going to be to...well writing overly long post:)

[Xaearth]

When I first read the patch notes I was like 'okay I'm reading it wrong'. Then the patch came out and was shocked. Played a couple of WZ & HM. What dawned on me is this had not been play tested. I actually experienced 'nerd rage' and lol if I am not a parent with a house payment:) I cancelled and I believe in a forum comment told Bioware where they could stick their vanity pet & free month. I had a couple weeks on my sub left and I have friends from way back that I play with. I've logged in pvp'd out some new gear and did the new flashpoint.

 

It actually was tested to an extent on the PTS. The problem with said testing was three-fold:

1) Any complaints about PvE endgame were answered with "No, healers are fine, the encounter may be overtuned."

2) Any complaints about the changes to class balance were answered with "You can't judge the patch notes without testing, there's under-the-hood changes to almost every aspect of the game."

3) All PvP testing was focused on rated warzones, with very few PvPers actually copied to the PTS.

 

#1 was an obvious cop-out, especially when you consider that guilds that had NMM KP/EV on farm reported they were unable to complete the same encounters with Merc healers on the PTS.

 

#2 was a piss-poor attempt at a jedi mind-trick. He got those of us actually interested in quantitative testing, game math, and theorycrafting focused on looking for changes that weren't there instead of giving him the proper feedback that involved long strings of censored words.

 

#3 was just plain stupid.

[ChaosLenny]

It actually was tested to an extent on the PTS. The problem with said testing was three-fold:

1) Any complaints about PvE endgame were answered with "No, healers are fine, the encounter may be overtuned."

2) Any complaints about the changes to class balance were answered with "You can't judge the patch notes without testing, there's under-the-hood changes to almost every aspect of the game."

3) All PvP testing was focused on rated warzones, with very few PvPers actually copied to the PTS.

 

#1 was an obvious cop-out, especially when you consider that guilds that had NMM KP/EV on farm reported they were unable to complete the same encounters with Merc healers on the PTS.

 

#2 was a piss-poor attempt at a jedi mind-trick. He got those of us actually interested in quantitative testing, game math, and theorycrafting focused on looking for changes that weren't there instead of giving him the proper feedback that involved long strings of censored words.

 

#3 was just plain stupid.

 

That's exactly what I meant by it not being play tested. When they play test something they should have some leet folks and some casual folks. PVE & PVP, with the simple question did you enjoy the changes and work with that feedback. I can't believe anyone who played a sorcerer healer said...oh yeah I love this. I haven't played a mercenary so I really can't speak to how bad they got hit but from what I've heard it's horrible. So I can't imagine mercenary play testers saying this is a needed nerf. Nobody wants a class nerf but the folks I know who play the classes are like *** really? I'm not to shabby as a healer myself and I can make it work but it's not fun, and game and fun should mean the same thing:)

 

I believe you said it best sir with #3 'just plain stupid'

[XtremJedi]

...folks in guild were talking about Secret World tonight more than playing TOR.

 

Aye, a lot of people from ToR seem to be leaning toward The Secret World. I have a mate playing beta on TSW and he says it has a story-line that seems twisted and cool, really interesting character development, interesting missions with puzzles and clever twists.

 

Early days, but I pre-ordered it just on his say so.

 

X

[RuQu]

Aye, a lot of people from ToR seem to be leaning toward The Secret World. I have a mate playing beta on TSW and he says it has a story-line that seems twisted and cool, really interesting character development, interesting missions with puzzles and clever twists.

 

Early days, but I pre-ordered it just on his say so.

 

X

 

I really like TSW's take on class design. Seems very reminiscent of the original SWG class design (which I loved) or EVE's (which I've never played but seriously considered a few times).

 

I read a review the other day by someone who had some hands on time with it. Not sure where or I'd link it. They said the gameplay was still awkward and a bit clunky, thought it's still early.

 

After this debacle, I'm not ready yet for another game that puts story before gameplay, which is why I'm going the TERA route for now. Certainly going to be keeping my eye on TSW, though. It shows a lot of promise, but I've been burned before...

[ErrantMercenary]

I didn't catch it for a few days because I don't follow the Commando forums as closely as I follow this one, but I wanted to share with all healers the following exchange from a thread asking why Combat Medics/Bodyguards did not get a free respec, when every other class in the game did.

 

Since I am not a subscriber, I will note for sake of advocacy that the OP was belligerent, unhelpful and probably a great deal meaner than they needed to be concerning a very small quality of life issue. However, the developer response that followed is worth reading. Presented with minimal comment, and as always, I spoiler things to reduce post footprint:

 

The developer's first response:

 

Free respecs are only given when the structure of the skill tree changes, such that if you were to log in and NOT receive a free respec, your character would be broken.

 

For example, if you used to have 3/3 in a skill box, and we changed that skill so that it now required another skill that you didn't have, or we changed it so that it only had 2 points and you now had 3/2, you'd have a broken character. And that would be bad.

 

We don't give out free respecs based on an arbitrary judgement call as to how many changes were made; we give them out so your characters will continue to work. Hope that makes sense.

 

 

RuQu weighs in. Again in the name of advocacy I'm going to point out that his last sentence was probably the most snide thing I've ever seen RuQu post. And it's not that bad.

 

There is a good deal of logic to this statement.

 

However, many of us have played other games in this industry and it is fairly common practice to give a free respec when you gut someone's class. The idea being that if someone isn't happy with the changes to (Combat Medic for instance) they can then choose a different path (ie Gunnery), with no penalties.

 

You guys hit the Commando/Merc ACs with some pretty massive nerfs across the entire class, it should have been expected that a significant number of both Gunnery and Combat Medic Commandos would be planning to reroll.

 

Then again, those of us paying attention to the changes outside of our spec knew better, perhaps you did to. Perhaps you felt there was no point refunding Commando skill points because you realize that there is no point playing a Commando in 1.2?

 

 

 

The same dev responds, here's where it gets good:

 

I know that as an individual, it's easy to rationalize this line of thinking, but understand that we cannot make everyone happy.

 

If we made judgement calls for who to give respecs to, and a class did not receive a free respec after a change, we'd be accused of "neglecting" that class (just like in this thread!). If we made judgement calls for who to give respecs to, and a class did receive a free respec after a change, we'd be accused of admitting the spec got "gutted," to use your words. And why wouldn't players think that - we just handed them free tickets to go elsewhere, right?

 

The only fair, honest, and logical way to give free respecs is to base them on technical necessity.

 

 

Or, Commando skill points weren't refunded for the reasons I've already given and elaborated on.

 

Also, devs get standard-issue troll resistance when they join the biz, just FYI.

 

 

A few pages later, a lot of people call him on the "Respecs were handed out a technical basis" (Shadows got a free respec despite mostly visual changes and no change to the structure of their talent tree) inconsistency, and others point out what we already know: If RuQu is a troll, the best the rest of the community can hope for is to be the toejam of a troll.

 

I said I'd do this with minimal comment, but here it is: This is the tone they've set. As always RuQu put it better than I ever could, so back to the spoilers one more time

 

 

1) To assume that critique is trolling automatically creates an us vs them mentality that discourages constructive dialogue. It also primes you to resist what you are hearing, instead of listening.

 

2) This brings us to the larger problem, and in a way to the first statement in the quote excerpt. One of the biggest problems that the Healing community (by which I mean the active posters on the healer forums and healer AC subforums) has to do with a lack of communication. We don't feel like we are told what we feel we need to know, and we certainly don't feel like we are heard. Part of this is likely due to "us vs them" mental resistance that comes from defining criticism as trolling.

 

I realize that you and the other Developers have spent a lot of time and effort on this game, and, more recently, on this patch. But bear in mind that many players and community members also have a substantial investment in this game and its success, and while you are paid for your time with SWTOR, we pay for the privilege.

 

We do not make recommendations and criticism to weaken the game. That is in no one's interest. We make recommendations and criticism to strengthen the game, and to make it more enjoyable to play. We protest changes that we think will decrease our enjoyment, because when we stop enjoying it we will stop playing and (key point I think you guys miss) we want to keep playing. Some suggestions will be bad, some critiques poorly thought out/irrational/invalid even. Others, however will be good suggestions and valid/rational criticism.

 

You would do well to not lump all of that together as trolling. While some people will always complain about anything you do, I can assure that this current backlash is not that. If you can start communicating with your community more, and treating the community with respect and partners in the common goal of creating a great game that is fun* to play, you just might be surprised at the results.

 

*On the topic of fun:

The current healer design is pretty un-fun right now, and 1.2 made this situation worse, not better. The Healer community would love to engage in a dialogue about how to improve healer gameplay, and I don't mean making it EZ-mode. A link on the Launcher could bring in commentary from non-forum users to expand that dialogue and not have it be entirely the sub-community of forum users.

 

To be clear, this is explicitly non-trolling. Us healers want to have fun. Your current group setup (4/8/16 player groups) call for a 25% healer population, which is larger than WoW calls for (20%) and WoW often sees a healer shortage with more interesting healer mechanics. This will likely become a long-term problem if not resolved, but any resolution should really include feedback and input from healers. After the massive nerfs to healing in this patch, initiating this dialogue soon might go a long way towards alleviating some healer discontent.

 

 

To answer a question you may have: Why would I post this? Because I want healers providing valuable feedback in this thread to know the attitude they're facing. They aren't ever going to admit any semblance of wrongdoing, so just try to be careful about how you provide your constructive criticism, lest they dismiss it out of hand as the ramblings of a child.

 

All the best to you healers who remain, hopefully I'll see you again on other frontiers, or maybe back on this one, if things change.

[Xaearth]

To answer a question you may have: Why would I post this? Because I want healers providing valuable feedback in this thread to know the attitude they're facing. They aren't ever going to admit any semblance of wrongdoing, so just try to be careful about how you provide your constructive criticism, lest they dismiss it out of hand as the ramblings of a child.

 

This is really the biggest problem with the dev team. And I can't say that I blame them.

 

No developer wants to admit they were wrong. It's bad for business and bad for their own job security. I'm sure we could count on our hands, if not one hand, the number of instances a MMO dev team has actually admitted any incorrect design decisions or poor judgement calls, at least not while said dev team was still employed.

 

But this dev team especially has forced themselves into a corner with one word: metrics.

Admitting they were wrong means admitting their precious metrics were wrong, and, after all the hype about having more and better metrics than any other MMO in the industry, that's going to mean pink slips, lots and lots of pink slips.

[RuQu]

I'm sure that's not the snidest thing I've ever said around here. That was just a little sanity-saving sarcasm.

 

I think there is a thread around here somewhere where I essentially called someone an idiot savant whose area of unexpected brilliance was "being wrong." Hell, I think someone even put that in their signature for a while.

 

To be fair, he was exceptionally good at being wrong and I like to give credit where it's due.

 

*shrug* We can't all be perfect all the time, and I'm not a paid CSR. In fact, at work they hide me from tour groups because I have "an unfortunate habit of honesty."

[RuQu]

This is really the biggest problem with the dev team. And I can't say that I blame them.

 

No developer wants to admit they were wrong. It's bad for business and bad for their own job security. I'm sure we could count on our hands, if not one hand, the number of instances a MMO dev team has actually admitted any incorrect design decisions or poor judgement calls, at least not while said dev team was still employed.

 

But this dev team especially has forced themselves into a corner with one word: metrics.

Admitting they were wrong means admitting their precious metrics were wrong, and, after all the hype about having more and better metrics than any other MMO in the industry, that's going to mean pink slips, lots and lots of pink slips.

 

One example of Blizzard admitting mistakes in game design. I've seen numerous others over the years. Like the one linked, they usually come around expansions as they look back and comment on what they thought was a success and what was a mistake from the previous expansions content. I've seen others though, such as involving the difficulty of initial gearing during Cata and the difficulty of initial healing in Cata. They don't always say the word "mistake" but they do admit the facts of the situation, player response, and then they change to resolve the problem.

 

I think a big part of the problem is cultural. People don't like admitting mistakes, and our job culture often lets people shuffle them under the carpet or obfuscate the situation until the blame is uncertain. In jobs where this isn't possible, like ship-driving (part of my job) and flying, admitting mistakes isn't just common, it is a matter of life and death. If I make a mistake, I expect my bridge team to call me on it, and asap so I can fix it and not kill 55 people.

 

So I guess it's a matter of employment culture and risk/reward. If they admit a mistake, they risk losing their job vs hiding/denying it and keeping their job, albeit with a lower quality product. If a pilot/mariner makes a mistake and admits it, they live vs hiding/denying it and dying.

 

It seems like someone's boss needs to add incentives for faster reaction to mistakes, and/or harsher consequences for allowing a mistake to continue due to refusal to admit there is a problem.

[ErrantMercenary]

But this dev team especially has forced themselves into a corner with one word: metrics.

Admitting they were wrong means admitting their precious metrics were wrong, and, after all the hype about having more and better metrics than any other MMO in the industry, that's going to mean pink slips, lots and lots of pink slips.

 

I think we disagree in that I do think there is a way to admit you're wrong to the player community in a way that actually improves customer relations, but so far, whenever you ask a dev why anything happened

 

This is pretty much the only answer we get

[Masturomenos]

Healingis broken in the game. This is the most unbalanced its been since beta. Also with healing being broken then other issues classes have are even more visible now since they cant be helped with their inefficiencies by healers keeping them up.

 

Anyone for server mergers should hate whats happened to classes in 1.2 since the point of transfers and mergers is because not enough peple are playing on the server. 1.2 made healing useless which created less players and made certain specs useless which created less players. Pretty much 1.2 did the opposite of what it should have. So to say its working then say the servers are empty makes no sense.

 

In a game which main focus is legacy a system benfiting people wth alts should mean that if i have 4 toons all should be viable. However after 1.2 having 4 alts doesnt mean i can play all 4 it means i have to play 1 of the 4 whichever is buffed since the others are not viable. Healing has come down to one class that can be viable maybe. Sorcs and bh specialy are useless.

 

Come ranked wzs ull see when teams looking to win may include on healer if non at all. Teams should have minimum 2 to 3 healers if the game was working since th game should be won with tactics,cc and good play rathr then who can push the most cds and win a zerg fest.

 

All games are going away from the fast kill fps model and i played in beta and continued because this game was the best at the model of play revolving around playin smart and takingtime to kll people rather the everyone dying in 3 to 5 seconds. Now in 1.2 the exact opposite has been acheived only 2 to 3 specs not even classes are viable and healers cant even kee a dps up when focused by another well geared dps or two poorly geared dps.

 

Less and less people are pvping and pve is still not a challenge. Its no longer about learn to play development has gone backwards we are now facing issues that were solved at release and should have been left along. Your supposed to buff dps ok but not nerf healing as well that makes it like itis now no fun.

 

Im plying a fotm because playing my bh healer in good gear is not viable compared to playing my assassn tank in bad gear. The issues re with design and need to be fixed.

[Xaearth]

I think we disagree in that I do think there is a way to admit you're wrong to the player community in a way that actually improves customer relations, but so far, whenever you ask a dev why anything happened

 

This is pretty much the only answer we get

 

You're assuming EA cares about customer relations.

[TempestasSilva]

at work they hide me from tour groups because I have "an unfortunate habit of honesty."

I may have to steal that and put it in my signature.

 

I think WoW went in many wrong directions, but one thing which they started several years ago which was right to have a Dialog with the community. Not just press releases, but actual back and forth on issues and they actually asked for, received, and used feed back, parses, logs, etc. from the comunity.

 

What we have here is a failure to communicate. Just sticking with the healer issue:

 

1) We were told prior to 1.2 to expect that the Sorc/Sage would get nerfed a little, and the other two healers would get a slight AoE buff.

2) 1.2 comes to the PTS and BG/CM healers are nerfed more than Sorc/Sage.

3) The community rages with lots of questions about what metrics showed, and most importantly why the nefrfs were implemented in a way that changes how the class plays and not in a fun way.

4) Bioware releases a statement that healers were too good and content was not hard enough so they had to make changes. They will watch the testing on the PTS and see what adjustments need to be made.

7) The community responds with examples from the test server and descriptive feedback about why the way the nerfs were implemented was bad.

8) Bioware gives BG/CM a Battle Rez and proceeds to go live with 1.2 and no additional changes.

 

Its absurd.

 

From what I see in combat logs, the healers are not performing similarly, And the worst part is, that we don't even know what was intended by the Devs. Not originally, and not with the nerfs. Maybe BH is supposed to be the healer that plays like a DPS being a slave to the optimal rotation? If so, Excellent job...very well done. Wish I would have known sooner.

[RuQu]

What we have here is a failure to communicate.

 

"Some men you just can't reach. So you get what we had here last week, which is the way he wants it... well, he gets it. I don't like it any more than you men."

[pennstatety]

Speaking from a sorc point of view, I was thinking the same way and tried the new Operation, we cleared the new operation with 2 sorc healers in full rakata. After raiding KP NiM (Jarg/Sona-MUCH easier), I have came to believe that I over reacted to he changes and I have now adjusted to them. Our burst dps heal is terrible as 60% crit on a spell that only crits for 3k is terrible but it is doable.

 

I should have specified a little more, I play a Bounty Hunter healer. While not speaking from a standpoint of experience with the class, what I've read leads me to believe sorc/sage healers will adapt and be ok. We raided regular mode of the new Op, and I feel I'm appropriately geared (4/5 Rakata, rakata offhand, columi everything else) and I felt woefully inadequate, and that's putting it lightly. You ran the new Op with 2 Sorc healers (still probably the best overall healer) in basically the best gear available, so it's not really a surprise that you were able to clear the content without too much difficulty.

 

Summary, sorc healers got nerfed, but they'll get over it when they realize they're still best healers and we stupidly overpowered to begin with, so now they're probably pretty close to balanced. Bounty hunters were pretty balanced and got nerfed to hell and back, and now suck.

[zerre]

Actually I tend to agree with you.

 

to OP's Bioware Interview.

 

All I seen after reading it was the following.

 

 

Translation

 

F-U Player base you will do what we say. I hate healers because it takes nearly 15 seconds to trash them. Also I like PVP and my Marauder is only getting 50 kills a WZ. I want MORE!!

[SpaniardInfinity]

I should have specified a little more, I play a Bounty Hunter healer. While not speaking from a standpoint of experience with the class, what I've read leads me to believe sorc/sage healers will adapt and be ok. We raided regular mode of the new Op, and I feel I'm appropriately geared (4/5 Rakata, rakata offhand, columi everything else) and I felt woefully inadequate, and that's putting it lightly. You ran the new Op with 2 Sorc healers (still probably the best overall healer) in basically the best gear available, so it's not really a surprise that you were able to clear the content without too much difficulty.

 

Summary, sorc healers got nerfed, but they'll get over it when they realize they're still best healers and we stupidly overpowered to begin with, so now they're probably pretty close to balanced. Bounty hunters were pretty balanced and got nerfed to hell and back, and now suck.

 

For Combat Medics, I can confirm that there is room to adapt. You can clear the content. You can be successful. Managing your ammo is possible. Whether or not I had fun doing it is entirely independent of that. Specifically for CMs, I've always believed we've had one of the more challenging resources to manage (albeit the random chance of Smugglers is worth noting) and after 1.2 I fully believe it's the toughest to manage.

 

Currently I've been staying ammo neutral by using Supercharged Cells to get ammo periodically every time its available (ideally every 15 seconds). It works, you stay ammo efficient, but it is so user unfriendly I can't help but think it's unintended. Cancelling the ability is simple, but the possibility of accidentally clicking off the wrong thing (like my healing stance) drives me up the wall (why can't I lock certain buffs like class buffs, my present stance, stims, and sprint/speeders?) I actually caught myself thinking on several occassions how nice it would be if I could cancel an ability by hitting its keybind again while its in progress.

 

The class definitely doesn't feel like it carries its weight any longer. You can do it, but I am sure someone else could do it better. And its all because of ammo, which confuses me somewhat. Bioware claimed we were "overhealing". Unless that means the same thing as "overly-efficient", I am still scratching my head as to why they changed ammo management so significantly. Yes, it technically reduces our healing. There are countless other ways of doing so and Bioware's neglect to consider this feedback, or at least showing some good faith towards healers, is frankly shameful.

Edited April 21, 2012 by SpaniardInfinity

[Masturomenos]

Unfortunately in mmos its not if you can do it tht gets u a spot in a raid or a wz. Its if another class does is better or easier then thats the class they take. Bh heals can do it just worse then any other healer. So why bring one?

 

Im still waiting for bioware to explain y to bring a bh healer over a sorc or op. Can they answer that atleast?

 

Aoe no

Efficiency no

Mobility no

Interupt to help dps and tank no

Group buff worst of the bunch

Single target tank spam no

Etc no

 

Unless rapid shot looks good on videos to you then there is no reason to take a bh over another healer. You need to play perfect to maybe accomplish what a op or sorc can do while watcing youporn in the backround.

 

Not saying that sorcs arent broken either they are gummy bears in pvp and ops arent some great design either. However they arent the worst designed healer that award goes to bh heals.

[Ewert]

You can clear the content.

Have you healed stormcaller side on 8man hardmode solo, no crosshealing?

 

Anyways, the notion that the best way to use our burst healing mechanism now is to actually cancel the buff right away is naturally beyond ridiculous to be thought of as an intended method. Not to mention I severely doubt it actually helps you heal any more, you just most likely have a very good raid group.

 

Reason being, the efficiency of HS+HoT is wayyyy better than unbuffed RS, as it is also markedly better than even buffed RS itself. You are also reducing your bonus to healing markedly overall. All for 8 heat per 15 seconds more, that is 30*5+8 vs 30*5+16, as in approximately 5% more heat to be used for healing (if we take 15 second cycle for canceling the buff versus 30 second cycle of using it). Healing Scan + HoT is over 10% more efficient than _RS WITH BUFF_, and massively more efficient than unbuffed RS.

 

I call "feels like it but it's not real".

[Ewert]

However they arent the worst designed healer that award goes to bh heals.

And this design error is ridiculously easy to prove to anyone with a minimum of math, logic and spreadsheeting skills.

 

HS+HoT spam + Rapid Shots is more efficient than HS(+HoT)+RS comboes (+Rapid Shots for heat neutrality).

 

Yes, during gas it is literally, mathematically WORSE to use our previous class mechanic of comboing HS with RS, just HS different targets for the 3 or so heals you can actually do during gas, and forget RS unless your tank is in trouble.

 

That speaks plainly and bluntly that the heat change to the comboing of the two heals is JUST PLAIN BROKEN.

[RoadRash]

And this design error is ridiculously easy to prove to anyone with a minimum of math, logic and spreadsheeting skills.

 

HS+HoT spam + Rapid Shots is more efficient than HS(+HoT)+RS comboes (+Rapid Shots for heat neutrality).

 

Yes, during gas it is literally, mathematically WORSE to use our previous class mechanic of comboing HS with RS, just HS different targets for the 3 or so heals you can actually do during gas, and forget RS unless your tank is in trouble.

 

That speaks plainly and bluntly that the heat change to the comboing of the two heals is JUST PLAIN BROKEN.

 

 

^QFT

 

The fact they went live with it like this speaks volumes about this dev team. They're the same clowns that screwed up companion's so you have to un-equip and re-equip earpieces and implants for them every time you re-summon a companion. They cant even get the simple stuff right and they want you to believe they have a plan... Lmao

Edited April 22, 2012 by RoadRash