A Healer's 1.2 Grievances: The story of why healers are upset

[Bukrik]

I read through most of this and noticed, no one really listed their specs..

 

I think bioware balanced the healers based only on the healing spec meaning they assumed every point would go into the healing tree so those who still spread their points across other specs may not be getting the full strength of what bioware wanted in the healers.

 

I may be wrong, but I don't think the game is very friendly to cross speccing players anymore....

 

just my 2 cents

[ssbi]

To be honest healing it's not a problem, the damage which we have atm is.

 

As op healer, what i think is, that finally dps got what they wanted so much, ability to kill a healer w/o any skill involved.

 

I ll tell u what have been a while ago compared to what happens now.

 

Before: 1. Pro sent mara could bring a preassure on healer through intterupts CC's by complitly disabling healer buying a time for a team to kill the rest of the healer's grp and doing decent dmg to that healer.

2. Pro Op scoundrel could just burst healer so he would worry just about himself.

 

And they were fine with it, they laughed in ts, had fun. w/e. they are not even on forums now.

 

Before(2): 1. Bad mara sent running around a healer with simple slash attacks then dotting them, getting his dots cleansed, watching a healer casting, with the hope of " im gonna kill you before you finish Your heal CHARGE!" he ended dead with no effort for a team. Then he ll go to forums and say -they healers are OP, sents need buff.

2. Bad scoundrel,op won't burst the target to the % of HP which would make a healer to panic w/o interrupts involved obviously, then he gonna shut down the game gonna come on forums and say Im operative/scoundrel you nerfed us to oblivion BUFF us.

 

Supported by the eletiests ( not pro's u know what i m saying allright ) who teamed up with bads on forum QQ threads, cause how the hell they are so legit and can't kill that stupid healers ? = they are op.

 

So what we have now, ppl die in 2 globals or 5 globals with healer burst healing them, same with guard, changes the amout of globals needed to kill a target.

 

Those patches never going to affect hard core pvper's who ll just going find a way to get advantage of it, and even healers in that threads gonna find a way through, u know why? because they have a goal to keep their team mates up, to be useful in pvp, not just to run like a morron from a respawn with a stupid smile on the face and yell : Im gonna kill you all.

 

I m not here to whine, just saying pure facts, i ll never have a problem to heal, my playstyle just started to be sneakier then before, am here just to say that i m with you my fellow Healers.

 

/cheers feel free to troll

Edited April 13, 2012 by ssbi

[SliggXx]

Anyone focused down by 2-3 people is going to die if no one peels them off. You seem to notice that.

 

Thats the way the game works people. Healers aren't supposed to tank multiple people and laugh about it.

 

They should be able to if guarded and the opponents are taunted AND the healer is being chain healed.

 

Are you really of the opinion that any 3 man dps team that turns its sights on a target should be able to kill the target without question?

 

This is why no one takes you seriously.

[Dietra]

I read through most of this and noticed, no one really listed their specs..

 

I think bioware balanced the healers based only on the healing spec meaning they assumed every point would go into the healing tree so those who still spread their points across other specs may not be getting the full strength of what bioware wanted in the healers.

 

I may be wrong, but I don't think the game is very friendly to cross speccing players anymore....

 

just my 2 cents

 

I think I mentioned that I'm fully specced in healing tree as sage... and also which of my abilities got a bit downsized :-). Just saying .

Besides that... I think I've already said all in different posts...

Unless you want a full list of the healing tree abilities of the sage?

[SliggXx]

I read through most of this and noticed, no one really listed their specs..

 

I think bioware balanced the healers based only on the healing spec meaning they assumed every point would go into the healing tree so those who still spread their points across other specs may not be getting the full strength of what bioware wanted in the healers.

 

I may be wrong, but I don't think the game is very friendly to cross speccing players anymore....

 

just my 2 cents

 

You are wrong.

[Dralic]

If they wanted to make healers a little more vulnerable they went way too far, at least in the case of Sorc. Not only did they bump up DPS, but they decided we needed to have our quick cast taken away from us in a game with about 5000 ways to interupt someone. It's not so much people doing alot of damage I don't like, it's that fact that if someone's attacking me I can't use my main heal.

[PeachyKeen]

I play a sage 31/6/4, war hero, BM geared, healer and pvp for several hours a day, almost everyday. In 1.2 my ability to keep my teammates and myself alive has diminished by a significant percentage due to both the class and expertise changes.

 

One bonus about not having cross server PvP is that the active community knows the names of the players that present the most threat. I know my premade friends/enemies and the people who usually come after me. I also know who my healing competition is on both factions and the ones I spoke to yesterday are just as peeved as I am about 1.2 or chose to respec to dps.

 

vs good players

 

- Before 1.2 I could usually keep myself alive unguarded vs one good dps, if I didn't get help dealing with this person they would eventually win out as my resources depleted. All the while my ability to heal my team was greatly diminished if not stopped entirely. CC use, interrupts, the enviornment, traps... hounding you at every corner across the map. It made the role of healing your team a challenge as it should be.

 

vs scrubs

 

- Freecast unscathed in a corner or alcove all day long, no use of target markers, focusing, or calling out healers names. Zero use of interrupts or knockbacks to stop casting. Even with 2 poorly played dps on you it was easy to juke them out or "pillar hump" them with their slow reaction times. If you were guarded and getting taunts from a tank it was a joke the two of you could hold 4 or 5 scrubs easy for several minutes at a door or turret.

 

The changes brought forth by 1.2 make it easier for scrub dps to kill people, especially healers. Naturally it also makes the people who were already skilled dps into something really scary that there is no counter for as a healer.

 

So who do you balance for in a game?

 

The people who know that they are doing, or the people who don't have a clue?

[johnbgood]

Until a healer can kill a dps then a dps should not kill a healer. It should take 2 or 3 people to kill a healer since all they can do is heal.

 

Look at the forum posts. Whats the complaints? People die to fast. Well guess what if heals were good then no one would be complaining.

 

If healers were still useful then we would have only people cryng about 1v1 aganst a healer and no game balances around 1v1. Right now the game is purely 1v1 balanced.

 

No one has fun dying ain wz. Dying means no medals, dying means no use of full cycle of cds, dying means rezong and runnig, dying means ur not helping ur team.

 

Ive said it over and over its more fun to have a 8v8 where 1 or 2 deaths are what changes the outcome or a 1 to 1 hutball match. No one has fun being rolled and dying 20 times and losing 6 to 0.

 

The only way u can have epic battles and feel like ur contributing is by staying alive. When u cant or no one can keep u alive the game bcomes annoying.

 

Heals should always be OP the issue is BW cant mke it based on skill but rather nerf it to be harder and weaker. The whole point is a healer hould keep up multiple people but hve multple spells that work off each other. Right now healers have a couple spells and even played perfectly cant keep resources up or healing up. The games being dumbed down because the developes are lazy.

 

Look at wow healers have multple spells and abilities that work together. Withoug things like cleansing being important or intrupting being importan or no dispelling all we hve is heas so either heals need to be OP or we need methods to keep people up without heals and negate damage. I dont care if its cds or mass dispel or heal that heal both people same time whatever. We cant not have anything but heals and then the heals we have be short lived due to resources and weak due to scaling coefficients.

 

Healers need a buff a big one. Period. For the sake of everyones fun.

 

<3

this

[NathanielStarr]

I think what people are not realizing is that Tanks are now necessary in pvp! They were turning into DPS types and now they'll have to adjust their builds/tactics so that they can protect people!

 

You have to admit that Tanks didn't have to protect healers (or anyone for that matter) because the healers could take care of themselves. So what use were Tanks in PvP?

 

If you don't admit that Warzones were turning into a contest of healers vs. healers then you are deluding yourself. Maybe the dps vs. healing needs to be adjusted, but this is a move in the right direction.

 

Also the healing change was needed for PvE. It's been said so many times that SWTOR is too easy and people have claimed to leave for that very reason. Well Bioware found that the reason it was too easy was because of the healing.

[Karizza]

I played for 5 matches on my Consular and Scoundrel healers. Life expeectancy for me was about 15 seconds into joining combat and trying to heal. DPS was taking my characters down in under 8 seconds. No I could not keep myself or any others up in the wz's. And yes I am completelt BM geared.

 

Anyways 5 games was enough me to decide to move on to Diablo 3 when it releases 5/15 and play another beta of a game coming in the future. Melee DPS is way over the top. Healers really can not function well anymore since 1.2. I have played 2 classes to 50 and geared them and now dont even feel like logging in to play.

 

If and when things get balanced I might consider playing again but right now it just isnt fun anymore. It has become the melee dps zerg and enjoy it for what is worth.

[Csontzuzo]

only mazohists play healer now:-D only playable pvp class is now juggernaut, nothing else:-D or perhaps not the only one, but bioware clearly buff and nerf classes blindly.

[ACTroyan]

I think the Expertise changes are what sets everything off... i agree that a healer getting bonus healing, damage and absorption isn't fair but instead of adjusting it so you can choose damage or healing bonus they just nerf one side =( sad panda!

 

The way the DPS were expressing the unfairness in the forums is that the damage reduction and damage bonus mitigated each other and nothing mitigated the healing...

 

But what mitigated the healing was that he/she was HEALING not DPS'ing, so why should a dedicated healer not get the same bonuses to potency as the DPS?

 

So now not only did healers get nerfed in healing expertise bonus, EVERYONE gets a damage reduction nerf as well? this compounds the issue of dedicated healer's survivability further than other classes, because now Healers cant heal as much AND can't take as many hits(but gets bonus to damage which he/she is not specced for), where a DPS can not take as many hits but damage is way higher (which is a DPSr's purpose), and a TANK is probably the least affected because both damage and survivability serve equal purposes. basically it is pushing classes to DPS instead of heal in tight situations and the logic is beyond me.

[Phaedrynn]

To be honest healing it's not a problem, the damage which we have atm is.

 

As op healer, what i think is, that finally dps got what they wanted so much, ability to kill a healer w/o any skill involved.

 

I ll tell u what have been a while ago compared to what happens now.

 

Before: 1. Pro sent mara could bring a preassure on healer through intterupts CC's by complitly disabling healer buying a time for a team to kill the rest of the healer's grp and doing decent dmg to that healer.

2. Pro Op scoundrel could just burst healer so he would worry just about himself.

 

And they were fine with it, they laughed in ts, had fun. w/e. they are not even on forums now.

 

Before(2): 1. Bad mara sent running around a healer with simple slash attacks then dotting them, getting his dots cleansed, watching a healer casting, with the hope of " im gonna kill you before you finish Your heal CHARGE!" he ended dead with no effort for a team. Then he ll go to forums and say -they healers are OP, sents need buff.

2. Bad scoundrel,op won't burst the target to the % of HP which would make a healer to panic w/o interrupts involved obviously, then he gonna shut down the game gonna come on forums and say Im operative/scoundrel you nerfed us to oblivion BUFF us.

 

Supported by the eletiests ( not pro's u know what i m saying allright ) who teamed up with bads on forum QQ threads, cause how the hell they are so legit and can't kill that stupid healers ? = they are op.

 

So what we have now, ppl die in 2 globals or 5 globals with healer burst healing them, same with guard, changes the amout of globals needed to kill a target.

 

Those patches never going to affect hard core pvper's who ll just going find a way to get advantage of it, and even healers in that threads gonna find a way through, u know why? because they have a goal to keep their team mates up, to be useful in pvp, not just to run like a morron from a respawn with a stupid smile on the face and yell : Im gonna kill you all.

 

I m not here to whine, just saying pure facts, i ll never have a problem to heal, my playstyle just started to be sneakier then before, am here just to say that i m with you my fellow Healers.

 

/cheers feel free to troll

 

Holy hell, my head hurts after reading this...

[JulianLafontaine]

I don't know how pub heals go, put it on to begin with. My main and pretty much the only toon I play with is my sorc healer. I got into WOW late and loved the idea of being the healer so my first toon I made here was a healer. Right off the bat I noticed being a healer was BA and was def more appreciated. The longer I played and speced more into healing tree the more I noticed I had glitches that helped and since I learned a good healing routine, I was able to deal massive healing and stay alive under serious duress. The glitches absolutely needed to be fixed and new healing routine I'm working on seems like it will be ok, not great, but ok. I agree with main point that healers used to be more appreciated and more a main part before. Now we are more squishy and can't heal as well, which would be fine if teams worked as teams, if healers are not protected (allies) or are not targeted (enemies). We as healers get hit too fast along with not healing as much, so we are not the spotlight anymore, I can live with that, healers are usually in the background not getting credit. However I fear healers giving up and not continuing the fight if others do not pay attention. Now it is the most important to keep an eye on your friendly neighborhood healer and give them atleast a verbal good job if not the MVP vote, you don't damage if you're dead, and we cant heal unless we are alive as well. That being I wont give up and will still be healing.

 

Kreisha (Sword of Ajunta Pall)

[nallard]

To say more about the mechanic change to the Combat Medic:

 

Someone up on page 12 or so (servers down forums explode with posts) said that commandos have no mobility. This is just not true.

 

Hammer Shot, Kolto Bomb, and Bacta Infusion can all be done on the run.

We do have a skill that turns a cast with a channel time into an instant cast.

 

If you have your progression set right you can throw a full batch of heals while only having to stop for 3 seconds.

 

Trauma Probe can be cast on someone in advance, so that's a periodic heal every 1.5 secs they have in their pocket, and it lasts for 5 minutes. It's a fire and forget skill you use even before combat starts.

 

I think the ammo changes were fine. It makes you have to play smarter and manage your ammo better, which is a welcome change. It raises the bar for skilled players who I'm sure are up for the challenge.

 

I disagree with the nerf to healing PERCENTAGE. I think overall the sage / sorcerer had the advantage over the combat medic in terms of raw healing, based on the AOE heal and their neverending source of force power (now wiped away in 1.2).

 

But I thought the combat medic had an edge in the areas of mobility and SINGLE TARGET heals. Being able to use Bacta Infusion instantly and on the move was the bread and butter.

 

With the percentage nerfs to the progression openers (Supercharge Cells / Kolto Bomb)you just don't nerf one skill, you nerfed the whole tree. You hit the base of the pyramid. You hit the foundation. Whatever analogy you want to use.

 

I think if you undo the percentage changes but keep the ammo nerf changes, the commando will be right where it should be.

 

 

 

I'm going to have to disagree with you on the mobility issue. Combat Medics are very immobile relative to the other two healing AC's and to the mechanics of the dps classes.

 

We don't have any reliable separation. If there is a z-axis (huttball) then we can create distance with the kb, otherwise it's not particularly good. Except for Scoundrel/Operatives all of the melee classes have either pulls or leaps to keep us engaged, as well as stuns and slows to keep us from escaping. We have one stun and a cast-time mez.

 

Our instant heals (the core of your argument that we are mobile) are very weak or on cooldowns. Hammer Shot is okay at topping someone off and is better than nothing if you're having ammo problems, but it won't effectively heal someone under pressure from a dps. Kolto bomb has always been more useful for the buff than for the actual healing it does. Bacta infusion is a pretty weak heal and the 17 second cd (with set bonus) means that you can't really heal while on the run. You're not going to be able to extend anyone's life with hammer shot, kolto bomb, and a medium heal every 17 seconds. And, yes, Tech Override makes one cast-time ability instant, but it's on a 2min cd.

 

Both scoundrels and sages have heals (or bubbles) that they can cast on the move that are a core part of their rotation. In addition they have far more cc abilities as well as escapes. Commandos are easy to catch and keep pinned in one place because we have to stand still at some point and heal either ourselves or others.

 

You're right that with all of our cd's available we only have to stop for 3 seconds, but what if you're under pressure? How will you escape? What if your cd's aren't up? We have small windows of mobility, but most of the time we're going to have to sit and cast something.

 

I think the class changes to combat medic were probably fine. What's so damaging to the ac is the change to expertise. We had to be a little bit tanky because we couldn't really escape once we were engaged. Pre-1.2 we were probably a little too tanky, but post 1.2 we melt too fast. Now a good marauder or powertech will stomp a combat medic's face in with ease. And you have no chance of getting away.

 

On top of all that, the changes to expertise means that burst dps exceeds burst healing by a significant margin. Given equal gear and a similar skill level, I don't believe it's possible to keep a target (or yourself) alive through burst damage. My experience yesterday certainly bore that analysis out. And before the l2p people get in, neither my nor the people I play with are bad players.

[Boshlord]

to continue the story ill write about my own experience as a healer since this game has came out. First of all I as well have played the entire game as a corruption sith sorc and it seems all good things come and go. When i hit 50 it was about 2 weeks into the game but still there was an array of other level 50 operatives and mercs and many of the other classes who put out insane numbers early in the game. My gear never became good (or what i considered good) untill i got a full champion gear set (for 6 extra expertise im not a big worry over BM gear). For a long time this meant go in and do my daily so i can have a chance at gear and never got a piece from the bag untill i already had the piece from straight buying it. I struggled for about 2 weeks but i enjoyed PVP healing because looking at numbers you can figure you were able to cancle out another players efforts ( heals > damage done by an opposing member). While I would read comments of terrible nerfs on my healing class as well I never thought any of them were detrimental to my class (no more free consumption, sure fine i can manage), however at this point i was unaware of just how much damage would change. Being a healer walking into a warzone yesterday in the same gear realizing it was impossible to keep ANYONE alive. People dropped no matter how much healing i put on them. The name of the game is try and let this person get a kill before they go down. Yes I was targeted some but it didnt matter like before because my team was dieing with or without me there. Also when i was targeted i noticed there was nothing keeping me alive being in light armor and having so much extra damage being thrown my way even against only 1 DPS. At this point i had to start making concious decissions if it was better to allow a team mate the few seconds of extra time so they might actually get a kill and sacrifice myself or heal myself keeping the DPS from moving onto the next target and start wreaking havoc elsewhere.

 

Now back to pre 1.2 i would genuinely like how even DPS and healing could be. There were times in huttball were i pulled a maurader or assassin off to one of the expertise powerups and have 5 minutes of fighting with them because i knew it was even, i couldnt do enough damage to pass their self heals and they couldnt do enough to pass my heals. seems fair to me that 1 person should = 1 person (assuming all else equal). But now its 1 DPS > 1 healer/tank. When they upped the DPS from skills and nerfed healing and then on top of that made damage the biggest part of expertise it showed were favoriteism is lieing in 1.2. If any part of expertise should outshine another it should be damage reduction because not everyone in a warzone will do damage or heal but everyone will take damage. I kind of thought this was the idea of adding medals for things like protection and healing but when these are reduced and damage is increased it makes it hard not to jump on the bandwagon and respec to do 5X more damage then possible before.

[switar]

I play a lvl 50 commando . heal spec . I did just fine pre 1.2 i was getting 75k to 90k heal and maybe 60k damage..nothing to write home about but i felt as if i was contributing.

 

Point is if you are spec'd full heal and have decent gear , 1 v 1 should be a stalemate ..period. Otherwise who wants to get flippin owned every day.

 

Games need balance...movies dont.

 

Wise. I must add that both DPS or healer are played by people who honestly paid same 15$/month. So there should be no "DPS must kill healer" agenda. Instead balance means that everyone must get some fun for their money.

DPS class pressing healer exclusively makes that both are playing. But if healer spends like 3-10 seconds dying then 1.5 minute to respawn,walk, find some place where something happens then die again in 10 seconds - there is no fun in that.

Personally i think imbalance is why we don't have Arena, 2v2 situation will too clearly show what is wrong. WoW walked a long road, we are here with SWToR and we are in some ways betatesters.

[Metalmac]

i think the expertise changes are what sets everything off... I agree that a healer getting bonus healing, damage and absorption isn't fair but instead of adjusting it so you can choose damage or healing bonus they just nerf one side =( sad panda!

 

The way the dps were expressing the unfairness in the forums is that the damage reduction and damage bonus mitigated each other and nothing mitigated the healing...

 

But what mitigated the healing was that he/she was healing not dps'ing, so why should a dedicated healer not get the same bonuses to potency as the dps?

 

So now not only did healers get nerfed in healing expertise bonus, everyone gets a damage reduction nerf as well? This compounds the issue of dedicated healer's survivability further than other classes, because now healers cant heal as much and can't take as many hits(but gets bonus to damage which he/she is not specced for), where a dps can not take as many hits but damage is way higher (which is a dpsr's purpose), and a tank is probably the least affected because both damage and survivability serve equal purposes. Basically it is pushing classes to dps instead of heal in tight situations and the logic is beyond me.

 

this!

Well thought out and factual.

[FullMetalSith]

i as a lvl 50 healer have some complaints but it's not about the typical healing nerfs or dps buffs etc etc..instead my complaint is this..why is it that i can heal the crap out of my entire team, sheild them keep them alive to get the 40+ kills and sometimes get only 1 vote?

 

i was in a huttball game yesterday where i had 264k healing done, scored 3 goals, had several medals and objective points yet i recieved 1 vote..instead the majority of the team voted for the guy who had 42 kills, 0 goals scored, and 0 objectives..

 

my biggest complaint i guess is that sure getting kill credits for healing people is nice but teammates should remember to thanks those of us keeping you alive to do your tons of dmg and get lots of kills..

 

it makes no sense that a player like me who actually plays the warzones as intended and not as a personal team death match should be lacking in mvp votes. i personally vote for other likeminded players who do the game objectives and i wish others did the same.

[Lacedemon]

Never understood the how people struggled to kill healers pre 1.2 As a Jugg I could burst down healers (especially sorcs who'd i'd crit for 6k+) before they knew what hit them:

[Doomsdaycomes]

It’s nice to see some thought being put into a thread rather than hyperbole and emotion. Let me put some thoughts into this:

 

When a healer and a DPS are equal and the result is a stalemate, then nothing gets accomplished. This means that the status quo is more likely to remain (i.e. whichever team holds the objectives are given a dramatic advantage in keeping them). Taken to the extreme, each war zone becomes a 30 second foot race to the objectives with the team that starts with the more players almost automatically winning, and 12 minutes of meaningless hopeless stalemate thereafter. To some degree we’ve seen that prior to 1.2.

 

Damage needs to exceed healing in order to break the stalemates and give opportunities for change; a fluid and dynamic battlefield fortunes swing and tactics, coordination, and some amount of luck are meaningful variables.

 

Does this mean that the healer is a defunct class, or should be? No, but some offsets need to happen to make this latest change balanced. DPS should rule the day in the short term; being able to be destructive for short periods, but unable to sustain the damage for longer periods, and needing time to recharge and support from a healer to get ready for the next short period. Unfortunately the “rest” functions in the game serve as both, and DPS characters can refill their ammo and heal their wounds all too quickly on their own. That is the mechanic that is unbalancing the classes in my estimation.

 

As a dps character, I should be able go in and be destructive, and one-on-one be a threat to any class. But if after that engagement I am left vulnerable and needing the support of a healer, I would have to be wise and tactical about it, and certainly appreciate my healing friend. Then as a team we’d be more potent in the long term, which is what the tactics of a well-designed environment would demand.

 

To bring balance and tactics back, I would:

• Remove the “rest” functions from PVP zones. Let the slow regeneration, med packs, and most importantly healers be the function that sustains fighters on the field.
  
• Adjust the respawn times to give more meaning to the lives on the field. If you have to wait a bit more each time you die, you’ll think twice being reckless, and tactics of a well-balanced group will rule the day once more.
  

 

This is one of the few posts in here I've seen with any meaningful, thoughtful content. In fact, I feel sort of stupid for not thinking of it first. I agree the rest function should be removed in pvp, which would make healers much more of the support class they were meant to be.

 

(don't agree with the longer spawn times. Can't tell you how frustrating it is to miss the spawn door by half a second, and then wait the full time as it is. Individual spawn times set to 10 seconds or so might work.)

[switar]

i as a lvl 50 healer have some complaints but it's not about the typical healing nerfs or dps buffs etc etc..instead my complaint is this..why is it that i can heal the crap out of my entire team, sheild them keep them alive to get the 40+ kills and sometimes get only 1 vote?

 

i was in a huttball game yesterday where i had 264k healing done, scored 3 goals, had several medals and objective points yet i recieved 1 vote..instead the majority of the team voted for the guy who had 42 kills, 0 goals scored, and 0 objectives..

 

my biggest complaint i guess is that sure getting kill credits for healing people is nice but teammates should remember to thanks those of us keeping you alive to do your tons of dmg and get lots of kills..

 

it makes no sense that a player like me who actually plays the warzones as intended and not as a personal team death match should be lacking in mvp votes. i personally vote for other likeminded players who do the game objectives and i wish others did the same.

 

At the end of 99% matches i play i just sort by healing and MVP first. Some people sort by medals, some by damage done, some by their own experiences like good passes or well thought leadership in Alderaan. If team lost, many don't vote, just quit. So nothing unusual, even one MVP vote is nice.

[fungihoujo]

Well, here's my experience.

 

Pre-nerf, I was a hybrid sorc. Had CL, had my hot and 1.5 second infusions, had wrath- in return, I had no bonus CC.

 

I was a hard burster, but still able to heal myself pretty well, and throw out heals decently in a match- I could often end a match around 100k healing and 100-150k damage. Even fully buffed- would never get a 5k healing medal, and couldn't even break 4k damage, might get a 3.5k crit on CL with adrenals, WZ buffs, etc... all up against a gearless clothy.

 

But, the burst was ok- for a sorc. Even then- moving from the start of the ramp to the end in huttball- couldn't kill anyone with half decent CDs. In VS/Alderaan, getting people killed before reinforcements was a challenge- we weren't overwhelming for damage, nor for pressuring healers.

 

It was fine though, I had decent survivability, and other areas I excelled in.

 

 

 

Now, since there is no hybrid- I had a choice between an awful damage spec with zero burst, or a heal spec.

 

So I went healer.

 

Due to dark infusion no longer having 1.5 heals- entirely because BW couldn't figure out how to fix their bug so they just removed the ability- my survivability is lower now as a full healer than it was as a healer/damage hybrid with next to no CC- that's unacceptable. Healers shouldn't be this squishy, but two marauders on me means dead in six seconds every time, unable to move, unable to get them off with the knockback that barely gets them out of melee range, unable to cast a single heal due to their interrupts.

 

We're taking more damage, mitigating less, and healing far far less- if we can get a heal off that is.

 

Where is healing good? When nobody looks at you, or you're being hounded by worthless classes (like dps sorcs). Even so, a dps sorc even will eventually kill me, why? Because while I can heal myself for a while, eventually I have to start killing myself to regen force.

 

So, no survivability, no longevity- I find myself in a decently long fight (where nobody's paid attention to me) hoping someone will kill me so I can get a free force regen- I've begun paying attention to the intervals where the shield drops so I can plan to die seconds before and get right back into the fight.

 

Sadly, that's a viable strategy, and pretty much what is going to be used from now on.

 

 

That doesn't even get into medals- before, with far fewer medals- I could hit 3 medals in the first minute of a match (2.5k heal, 2.5k hit, KB). Now, it'll take most of a match to get that, and for healing I'll end up with 2.5k heal, 75k healing, in a long match where we aren't being stomped, 300k healing, and it's impossible to get a 5k heal in combat.... so consumption does help for that 5k heal, which is attainable through consuming, hitting my relic buff out of combat and throwing out dark infusions.

 

 

One other thing- it's not fun. I'm spending a good chunk of the match trying to get past the recent nerfs to be viable rather than just playing as a healer- and as someone who in WoW played a priest, shammy, druid and pally healer all at max level, from BC to Cata- it's pretty clear that everything good about being a healer has been removed in this game, including ability to live and heal.

 

 

You do have SOME survivability, though no additional ability to get heals off- if you're guarded. That said, that's the case for any class- and getting to the point of being 'almost' as survivable as a dps class only when guarded- whereas most DPS classes can do perfectly fine solo as well as in groups- is beyond stupid.

[mSum]

I was able to get my expertise over 800 last night and things changed. I wasn't getting killed before I could get a heal off anymore. So yeah I think people need to realize that expertise is king right now. Two weeks from now when we are all in at least full BM gear, then we can start complaining.

[AkilZodiac]

I was able to get my expertise over 800 last night and things changed. I wasn't getting killed before I could get a heal off anymore. So yeah I think people need to realize that expertise is king right now. Two weeks from now when we are all in at least full BM gear, then we can start complaining.

 

"Everything's fine for me, so everyone should shut up."

 

Yeah okay buddy .