Even if you hated healers before 1.2, the game is worse without our subs

[noladev]

This is an open letter to the "healers are fine" crowd:

 

I will acknowledge that the trinity model of healers being able to heal through multiple dps is frustrating for dps players (especially pick up groups.) This model is characterized by healing acting as a force multiplier and dps being simply force additive. It lends itself to pug scenarios where the matchmaker is determining the % chance of success before the match starts. Killing healers in this model requires a coordinated team capable of using interrupts and cc to lock down healers. Important to note: While healing through dps to keep themselves alive a healer has 0 dps and cannot contribute to success by an other means besides tanking damage from focus fire.

 

Despite this, games with this model still almost always have dps as the most popular role in pvp and organized teams do not stack 50% healers or anything of the sort. These games can be frustrating but are not "imbalanced" at the highest levels of play. At the lower levels of play killing healers can be nearly impossible due to lack of proficiency with interrupts and inability to utilize CC/burst to prevent cross-healing(which means two healers can stay alive forever.)

 

SWTOR chose to balance the game based on the lower levels of play. Healers can be bursted down by one DD character and here are the consequences:

 

1.) Healing without a pocket tank is ineffective and more importantly not fun.

If healing is not a force multiplier in and of itself what is its purpose? If you can only cancel out the damage of one dps attacking you (at best without a tank) then simply adding another dps instead of the healer is just as effective if not more.

 

2.) The skill requirement for dpsing in pvp has been lowered

PVP is a zerg fest where whoever does the most damage wins. There are games like GW2 where healing can be successfully de-emphasized from the ground up but SWTOR lacks the skill based mechanics to make this viable(this game is a cycle rotation til you win kind of party in pvp). To make matters worse, some dps like marauders have great survivability.

 

3.) Gutting the healers so unapologetically has led many of us to re-roll, re-spec, or unsub contributing to the zerg fest TTK scenario destroying the game's pvp today.

 

TLDR; Bioware should not have caved to forum QQ with huge sweeping changes. Healers needed a tweak not a gutting. Incremental changes tested by the live community over time could have delivered a balanced game without slapping healers in the face.

[Xaearth]

In b4 the busy "Nerf Marauders 1!!11!!1!" crowd takes a few seconds to type out "L2P. Good healers adapt.".

 

I have to admit though, the lack of foresight into the potential changes in the metagame from both the dev team and the majority of the vocal playerbase is... leaps and bounds beyond any lack of fundamental understanding of class balance I've seen in any MMO to date.

Edited May 14, 2012 by Xaearth

[noladev]

In b4 the busy "Nerf Marauders 1!!11!!1!" crowd takes a few seconds to type out "L2P. Good healers adapt.".

 

I have to admit though, the lack of foresight into the potential changes in the metagame from both the dev team and the majority of the vocal playerbase is... leaps and bounds beyond any lack of fundamental understanding of class balance I've seen in any MMO to date.

 

To be honest I think this issue can be traced to Bioware's lack of experience with online games and the fact that many in this community are not seasoned MMOers.

[NoTomorrow]

healers are doing fine, i've seen 4 healers teams defending voidstar no problem.

What you fail to understand, is that healers, compared to dps ,need no coordination to focus healing, their skill is reactive, you just have to look on ops bar on who is hurt and suddenly all healers know who to heal.

 

It takes way more effort for dps to organize and focus fire. And its a dynamic thing, you cannot just throw arround target marks at the beginning of the game. So pls, stop begging for healer buffs. You dont need them.

 

Unsubbed because of sorc nerfs? lol.

Edited May 14, 2012 by NoTomorrow

[Hediori]

healers are doing fine, i've seen 4 healers teams defending voidstar no problem.

What you fail to understand, is that healers, compared to dps ,need no coordination to focus healing, their skill is reactive, you just have to look on ops bar on who is hurt and suddenly all healers know who to heal.

 

It takes way more effort for dps to organize and focus fire. And its a dynamic thing, you cannot just throw arround target marks at the beginning of the game. So pls, stop begging for healer buffs. You dont need them.

 

While I'm not going to disagree with you, I am going to point out that good healers know who to heal, and when to let someone die in favour of using CC, or to save someone else. It's not alwyas as cut and dry as "Just look at the ops frame and spam heals"

[noladev]

healers are doing fine, i've seen 4 healers teams defending voidstar no problem.

What you fail to understand, is that healers, compared to dps ,need no coordination to focus healing, their skill is reactive, you just have to look on ops bar on who is hurt and suddenly all healers know who to heal.

 

It takes way more effort for dps to organize and focus fire. And its a dynamic thing, you cannot just throw arround target marks at the beginning of the game. So pls, stop begging for healer buffs. You dont need them.

Begging for healer buffs? Good sir, I have unsubbed and have pre-ordered GW2 and diablo 3.

 

I am merely sharing my thoughts on how this game went so terribly wrong in pvp. Its all my sub is good for now after all...

 

I understand that cross-healing required less coordination then DPS. Which is why i acknowledged that pugs and lower skilled players found it impossible to deal with healer heavy teams. When both sides are coordinating at a high level however, healing was not overpowered and certainly not to an extent to justify gutting the role.

[karnyboy]

Merc healer, that is all.

 

Wait I meant, Paladins...wait a sec..I meant BH.....really.

 

 

/thread

[noladev]

Merc healer, that is all.

 

Wait I meant, Paladins...wait a sec..I meant BH.....really.

 

 

/thread

I don't get it

[TheronFett]

Healing is fine.

 

The good ones are still getting it done, as I see them consistently putting up big numbers in PvP. I'm sorry, but healing was overpowered prior to 1.2. Players want to kill each other in PvP, not have to burn through 50k HP because a target is constantly being healed.

[noladev]

Healing is fine.

 

The good ones are still getting it done, as I see them consistently putting up big numbers in PvP. I'm sorry, but healing was overpowered prior to 1.2. Players want to kill each other in PvP, not have to burn through 50k HP because a target is constantly being healed.

 

Spoken like a true dps. Enjoy the empty servers. Sad but true.

 

Edit: Also, the big numbers: Yes, i was still putting up the same numbers I was before the patch in pvp. The difference? It was almost all self-healing after 1.2.

Edited May 14, 2012 by noladev

[HurricaneXXIV]

This game was rebalanced around 1.2 rated warzones. That means they expected a team working together with guards, taunts and cross heals. In this scenario the game is extremly balanced.

 

When you have the people who would be playing rateds vs fresh 50's because rateds are not out healers are being blown up. There is large gear dispartiy, skill gaps and team work is lagging in a lot of games.

 

If rateds and cross queing was out a lot of the ************ would be solved.

[noladev]

This game was rebalanced around 1.2 rated warzones. That means they expected a team working together with guards, taunts and cross heals. In this scenario the game is extremly balanced.

 

When you have the people who would be playing rateds vs fresh 50's because rateds are not out healers are being blown up. There is large gear dispartiy, skill gaps and team work is lagging in a lot of games.

 

If rateds and cross queing was out a lot of the ************ would be solved.

 

Well pulling the content from the "content patch" and leaving the nerfs was a poor marketing decision at the very least.

 

To be honest, its very difficult to tell what classes what have been overpowered in the pre 1.2 baseline until 8 man queuing was added. I have a feeling people would have been surprised to see what classes were stacked..

[DeltaEkotte]

What you fail to understand, is that healers, compared to dps ,need no coordination to focus healing, their skill is reactive, you just have to look on ops bar on who is hurt and suddenly all healers know who to heal.

 

The common belief is that healer is the hardest class to play when in fact it is very easy, make party frames show as ops and increase the size and you know who needs heals, then its just point and shoot. The only hard part is when everyone starts taking damage and you have to react. A few times as healer my group failed a boss and one of the dps started blaming me for not healing him bla bla bla when in fact he had broken 2 of the cc's while the boss was still alive, to cut to the chase from what I have seen, groups fail more because of dps error than healer error.

[noladev]

The common belief is that healer is the hardest class to play when in fact it is very easy, make party frames show as ops and increase the size and you know who needs heals, then its just point and shoot. The only hard part is when everyone starts taking damage and you have to react. A few times as healer my group failed a boss and one of the dps started blaming me for not healing him bla bla bla when in fact he had broken 2 of the cc's while the boss was still alive, to cut to the chase from what I have seen, groups fail more because of dps error than healer error.

 

If you are talking PVE its a bit off topic...As far as pvp goes I don't think anyone can make the argument that dpsing is hard anymore.

[Lexster]

Don't need no stinkin healers. Aint nobody left t'heal. Take your healz elsewherez.

[Naizgrel]

pre 1.2 healers were not fine, i once 1v1 a commando healer, i was doing everything as a merc to kill him, interrupt stun knockback, but nothing, he eventually won healing himself, tell me, is that balanced?

[Xaearth]

The common belief is that healer is the hardest class to play when in fact it is very easy, make party frames show as ops and increase the size and you know who needs heals, then its just point and shoot. The only hard part is when everyone starts taking damage and you have to react. A few times as healer my group failed a boss and one of the dps started blaming me for not healing him bla bla bla when in fact he had broken 2 of the cc's while the boss was still alive, to cut to the chase from what I have seen, groups fail more because of dps error than healer error.

 

It's a simplistic way of looking at it...

But healing in this game is almost as simplistic as you can get, thanks in no small part to "metrics" and the dev team's apparent inability to balance the game without knee-capping any significant application of skill on the player's part.

 

That said, that **** don't fly in PvP.

Between a neutered resource for Merc/Commando, loss of Sorc/Sage proc'd "flash" heal, and Op/Scoundrel lolHoTs, healing in PvP has become srz bznz.

[bustaflex]

Ive been healing since day one on my BH and my Trooper. Not going to lie, was super easy and I put up ridiculous numbers when under geared and even bigger numbers when geared. When 1.2 came I complained until I learned how to heal with the nerf. I still put up big numbers when I'm not getting focused or if I have guard on. But we needed the nerf. Before, healers could survive on their own without anyone else, I know I could. Now the nerf causes you to act more as a team instead as 8 people killing folks. The nerf does suck but you have to adapt to the change.

[nDjiin]

Spoken like a true dps. Enjoy the empty servers. Sad but true.

 

Edit: Also, the big numbers: Yes, i was still putting up the same numbers I was before the patch in pvp. The difference? It was almost all self-healing after 1.2.

 

Then what do u propose as a fix to this (I agree that the healing system didnt work prior to 1.2 but also that healers are an integral part to a fun wz, and we need them to stay and not unsub / reroll)..

[noladev]

pre 1.2 healers were not fine, i once 1v1 a commando healer, i was doing everything as a merc to kill him, interrupt stun knockback, but nothing, he eventually won healing himself, tell me, is that balanced?

 

I assume you didn't read my post. I never said some adjustments weren't needed. I only cried foul over the extent of the nerfs.

[EsteRJ]

Healing is harder. If you're a Sorc, try the Hybrid (21/20/0 - ish) that changes things!

 

Nevertheless, healing is more painful now and you might say, it requires more skill. I'm doing fine and am having fun. Of course I mostly play with buddies. PuGs can be great, too - but mostly aren't. Especially if you made yourself a name on your server. Since that means you'll be the focus target of everybody and his neighbors

 

On the other hand, I use those occasions as survival training.

 

You just have to make the most out of the given situation.

Edited May 14, 2012 by EsteRJ

[kitsinni]

People who quit a game because their character was adjusted a certain way are not worth having around in the end.

[noladev]

Then what do u propose as a fix to this (I agree that the healing system didnt work prior to 1.2 but also that healers are an integral part to a fun wz, and we need them to stay and not unsub / reroll)..

 

At this stage (bear in mind I am unsubbed so this is only my opinion for fixing the game for the rest of you) I think they need to roll back the 1.2 nerfs and buffs and replace them with some smaller more incremental changes and see how it goes from there.

A rollback would go a long way for frustrated healers.

 

I think people also underestimate the psychological impact of having to continue to heal the same QQers that got us nerfed to begin with...but thats a seperate matter.

[noladev]

People who quit a game because their character was adjusted a certain way are not worth having around in the end.

 

"adjusted" and "gutted" are very different things. If Bioware has the same attitude as you that explains the subscription freefall currently being witnessed.

[Xaearth]

People who quit a game because their character was adjusted a certain way are not worth having around in the end.

 

People who blindly follow a dev team that shows time and again that they don't have a clue as to the slightest basics, much less the intricacies, of class balance... well what can the rest of us say, enjoy it while it lasts.

 

If you can't see that nerfing burst across the board, complaints about healers being "OP", significant nerfs to 2 of the 3 healers, and now massive QQ about certain DPS being overpowered might just be the least bit related, you're as clueless as the dev team.