Combat Medic: Better since 1.2?

[RuQu]

Just returning to the game after about 10 months.

 

What's the state of the CM?

 

Is KB at least smart healing now?

 

Any significant changes to our ammo management and priorities?

 

Any changes in demand for CMs in groups?

 

What are our major problems these days?

[Soobydoo]

Yes, yes, and yes....however you are still the worst healer in pvp; pve you do fine in. They have upped your utility quite a bit with your Koto grenade or missile now can now show enemies, also they gave you a kick. These are great improvements, however you still have few tools of escape. BW did say, and was data mined, that the trooper is getting two other defensive cool-downs in the next expansion. Over all i think they are playable now but just have a much steeper learning curve then the rest.

[RuQu]

Well, I've always been a PVE guy, so those concerns, while a problem for the class, aren't a problem for me.

 

To be clear, was that a yes to smart healing?

[Furiel]

State of the CM - honestly not much major has changed since 1.2 for the CM. Commandos got an interrupt and they nerfed cryo nade range from 30 to 10m. Those are the only real changes that have been made that I can think of that really have any effect on the CM.

 

Kolto Bomb still does not smart heal. No patch notes on it and I don't think they would stealth change something like that, nor have I observered it doing so.

 

Priorities and ammo usage hasn't really changed for me at least. However CM is my rarely used OS so there may be more nuanced changes I have noticed.

 

ROTHC is seeing some changes with increased survivability CDs for the trooper as already mentioned, nothing really has been learned though about what, if any changes to CM. For the most part we are still where we were at 1.2, able to heal the content, very strong ST healers but weak AoE.

[RuQu]

Disappointing, but not surprising.

 

The lack of smart healing a year after launch seems absurd, though. A genre standard since what, 2004?, and sort of important for a 4-capped AoE in 8-16 person settings...

[SpaniardInfinity]

Just returning to the game after about 10 months.

 

What's the state of the CM?

 

Is KB at least smart healing now?

 

Any significant changes to our ammo management and priorities?

 

Any changes in demand for CMs in groups?

 

What are our major problems these days?

 

Long time no see, RuQu.

 

Basically, here's the long story short of the last 10 months: we are in the same state as post-1.2. The only change to Combat Medics since then was in 1.4 (?) where our Hammershot can trigger Trauma Probe, providing a very counter-intuitive manner of healing ourselves with Hammershot. Our Kolto Bomb can also apply slows to up to 5 targets, and we finally have an interrupt. Not sure if you know about the in-combat revive, too (it's a shame I have to list basic healing utilities among our recent class upgrades).

 

There have literally been no other changes. The same problems when you left are the same problems they have. The last major class balancing was -- you guessed it -- Patch 1.2 (April 2012). There have been some changes to the other healers (mainly in utility, not in healing output) since then, but that's for someone with more familiarity with those changes to discuss.

 

There's also been some unofficial patch notes floating around for the expansion this spring (which will probably be the first class balancing in almost exactly a year), Trauma Probe may get 3 buffs (additional stacks, more healing per charge, and a faster rate of charge consumption); Kolto Bomb may leave behind pool of kolto that heals allies standing inside of it (a "mini-Salvation" if you will); and the Commando knockback if spec'd will heal for an amount. There are no numbers associated with any of these changes and none of the patches notes have been confirmed by Bioware, they are based on datamined information from the PTS so take them with a grain of salt.

Edited February 19, 2013 by SpaniardInfinity

[RuQu]

Long time no see, RuQu.

 

Basically, here's the long story short of the last 10 months: we are in the same state as post-1.2. The only change to Combat Medics since then was in 1.4 (?) where our Hammershot can trigger Trauma Probe, providing a very counter-intuitive manner of healing ourselves with Hammershot. Our Kolto Bomb can also apply slows to up to 5 targets, and we finally have an interrupt. Not sure if you know about the in-combat revive, too (it's a shame I have to list basic healing utilities among our recent class upgrades).

 

There have literally been no other changes. The same problems when you left are the same problems they have. The last major class balancing was -- you guessed it -- Patch 1.2 (April 2012). There have been some changes to the other healers (mainly in utility, not in healing output) since then, but that's for someone with more familiarity with those changes to discuss.

 

There's also been some unofficial patch notes floating around for the expansion this spring (which will probably be the first class balancing in almost exactly a year), Trauma Probe may get 3 buffs (additional stacks, more healing per charge, and a faster rate of charge consumption); Kolto Bomb may leave behind pool of kolto that heals allies standing inside of it (a "mini-Salvation" if you will); and the Commando knockback if spec'd will heal for an amount. There are no numbers associated with any of these changes and none of the patches notes have been confirmed by Bioware, they are based on datamined information from the PTS so take them with a grain of salt.

 

Hola, Spaniard. Still fighting the good fight after all this time?

 

I guess we will have to wait and see if the KB mini-salv addresses any of our concerns (player cap?) or adds in smart-healing. The Concussive Charge change is actually one of the suggestions we made way back in 1.1. It will be curious to see how useful it is, and how that affects the cooldown.

 

How did the verdict on TP's new cost come out? Still worth keeping 100% uptime in PVE?

 

What exactly has happened in the past 5 patches if not fixing class problems? I see a cash shop and a Group Finder queue...is that it?

[SpaniardInfinity]

Hola, Spaniard. Still fighting the good fight after all this time?

 

I guess we will have to wait and see if the KB mini-salv addresses any of our concerns (player cap?) or adds in smart-healing. The Concussive Charge change is actually one of the suggestions we made way back in 1.1. It will be curious to see how useful it is, and how that affects the cooldown.

 

How did the verdict on TP's new cost come out? Still worth keeping 100% uptime in PVE?

 

What exactly has happened in the past 5 patches if not fixing class problems? I see a cash shop and a Group Finder queue...is that it?

 

Yeah, someone's got to keep the troops going strong.

 

The increased cost of Trauma Probe still continues to confuse me. Either one of two scenarios play out:

- if you are under the content's gear level, you will most likely be under too much pressure to worry about keeping Trauma Probe on your target, or

- if you are at or above the content's gear level, you won't even notice the change because Trauma Probe is more of a cushion than anything meaningful.

 

I would say the same about ammo management. I've found that if you stay above 6 ammo consistently and have plenty of Aim/Power, the ammo management is relatively trivial (assuming you are geared for what you are doing). It's a completely different story otherwise if you aren't quite geared yet.

 

I haven't changed my rotation much at all. I make more regularly use of Kolto Bomb and tend to shy away from Medical Probe unless in an emergency or heal intensive phase. There are actually very healing-light phases (assuming your teammates are obeying mechanics) where you can heal the entire phase with only KP and HS. Field Aid has become a much more important tool as well, since many operations (especially the hardmodes) have mechanics revolving around DoTs or other debuffs that must be cleansed.

 

And yeah, that's about it. 1.3 balanced the tanks a bit for AoE threat, 1.4 tinkered with stealth, 1.5 and 1.6 had no significant class changes that I can recall. The game went free to play after 1.4. Most of the time has been spent condensing servers from the 100+ they had at launch down to about 20 worldwide.

[RuQu]

Looks like I need to dig Field Aid out of wherever it has drifted to in the bottom of my pack.

 

Anything a rusty Commando needs to know to heal any of the newer flashpoints? My old guild died after 1.2, so not likely to be running Ops any time soon.

[SpaniardInfinity]

Lost Island is the last flashpoint added to the game and for a healer, just make sure you are ready to cleanse. There are some really wicked DoTs that can kill someone very quickly if you aren't on your toes about it, particularly from trash mobs. There are also some tricky mechanics in the boss fights so if you are pugging it with groupfinder, it may take a while to clear it with randoms.

 

The rest of the HM FPs are all fairly straightforward; I'd say if you've done one you've done them all more or less.

 

Good luck and hope to see ya around, what server are you on now'a'days any way?

Edited February 19, 2013 by SpaniardInfinity

[JimmyTheCannon]

Looks like I need to dig Field Aid out of wherever it has drifted to in the bottom of my pack.

 

Anything a rusty Commando needs to know to heal any of the newer flashpoints? My old guild died after 1.2, so not likely to be running Ops any time soon.

 

Regarding Lost Island - the first boss hits like a truck (at least initially; the best way I've seen to deal with that is for the tank to be ready to start with a defensive cooldown, though).

 

The second boss is a LOT of movement and a pain in the rear. You're going to have to triage heals a lot, because if the tank dies on that one everyone's screwed even with a battle rez.

 

Third boss, if done right, isn't too difficult for a healer, but you're going to have to heal through some unavoidable damage in a repeated phase (when he jumps onto the pillars, he starts spitting at random players and you have to just heal through it).

 

Fourth and last boss - how much you have to heal is going to depend *entirely* on the tank and DPS (and yourself) avoiding mechanics. The boss throws out sticky grenades that a smart tank can largely cause to be ineffective(by LOSing - but if the DPS are standing in front of the boss when this happens, they'll eat them, too, and that's bad), and there's also AOE stacking dots that people are going to have to move out of that will then need to be cleansed. Luckily, it's Physical (I think), so any DPS with a cleanse can remove it themselves.

[MarcusDenFete]

I've googled and googled.. What is a "smart heal"?

[RuQu]

I've googled and googled.. What is a "smart heal"?

 

Smart healing means that a heal with limited targets will select who to heal based on a priority of lowest health first.

 

So Kolto Bomb targets 4 people. If you throw it in a group of 6 people, 2 healthy, 2 injured, and 1 near death, a smart heal ability will heal the 3 injured and 1 near death. A non-smart (dumb) heal ability will decide some other way, in the case of SWTOR it is based on distance from center of the ability. So if the two healthy people are in the center of where you cast it, it will waste 2 of it's 4 targets on those two who didn't need it, and possibly not heal the near death player at all.

 

This is an obvious problem when people cluster up during certain phases of fights, because it is highly unrealistic to expect most groups to quickly and efficiently sort themselves around based on health levels so you don't toss Kolto Bomb into a mixed group of injured and not.

[MarcusDenFete]

Okey thanks!

[SPrime]

Just returning to the game after about 10 months.

 

What's the state of the CM?

 

Viable healer in PvP/PvE

 

Is KB at least smart healing now?

 

No smart healing. IMO this is not needed. KB was buffed in 1.2. In vanilla I did not even use this because it was garbage. Picked up 3 people and could only crit once. Now can crit on all 4 heals.

 

Any significant changes to our ammo management and priorities?

 

No changes ammo management is working for hardest content in PvE. In PvP it is irrelevant, since it really depends on the other 7 people you are grouped up with. Also depends on the other 8 people you are up against.

 

Any changes in demand for CMs in groups?

 

No change in the we need a sage healer mentality. But like I said all healers are viable in PvE. I have been able to convince a lot of people that requiring a sage for the hardest content is not required. In Ranked everyone wants scoundrel healers. This has not changed since they added rank queues

 

What are our major problems these days?

 

The major problem is that on a learning curve Sage is easiest to use then scoundrel. Commando has the least forgiving ammo system. One thing people should get in the habit of is popping emergency power cell when you have to cast a full ammo medical probe. Also during heavy damage phases ammo management goes out the door. Just be ready to pop recharge cells. To me if people did this they would know commando healers are viable for anything

[haksilence]

Just wait until 2.0 commandos are getting a plethora of game-changing buff. Commandos will still be the most complicated by far but are put right on par with the other healers if not a bit ahead in certain aspects. I absolutely cannot wait for 2.0 where commandos would no longer be considered the mentally handicapped step child of other healers. 4 trauma probes? KB has a HoT? Changes to kolto residue and the SCC kolto bomb so that the bonus effects hit everyone in the area? I'm jumping out of my skin waiting for this.

[RuQu]

Just wait until 2.0 commandos are getting a plethora of game-changing buff. Commandos will still be the most complicated by far but are put right on par with the other healers if not a bit ahead in certain aspects. I absolutely cannot wait for 2.0 where commandos would no longer be considered the mentally handicapped step child of other healers. 4 trauma probes? KB has a HoT? Changes to kolto residue and the SCC kolto bomb so that the bonus effects hit everyone in the area? I'm jumping out of my skin waiting for this.

 

Where did you see 4 Trauma Probes? Latest trees I've seen have still had a limit of 1 active at a time.

[haksilence]

There is no question that commandos are viable. I personally have healed all content on all raid group sizes on all difficulties excluding NiM Ec 16m. But there is also no question that current commando healers are the weakest healers out of the 3 ACs

[haksilence]

Where did you see 4 Trauma Probes? Latest trees I've seen have still had a limit of 1 active at a time.

 

my fault i missread the skill trees in my sleep deprived stupor TP now gets 3 more charges* which is alot less impressive

[SPrime]

Personally out of the 3 healers I like the commando the best. Those who say that we are a single target healer should give the class a try. Over 2 globals you can do quite a bit and remain ammo neutral. I don't think commandos are gimped. I just think there is a large learning curve to be effective.

[RuQu]

Personally out of the 3 healers I like the commando the best. Those who say that we are a single target healer should give the class a try. Over 2 globals you can do quite a bit and remain ammo neutral. I don't think commandos are gimped. I just think there is a large learning curve to be effective.

 

I'm pretty sure I'm okay with the learning curve...

[SPrime]

I'm pretty sure I'm okay with the learning curve...

 

I did not say anything like that against you. I am saying the mindset when people are making groups is that we do not want a commando/mercenary healer. I've beat the hardest content as a commando. So I am saying that the current build is viable. I be even cleared content when the other healer is a commando. Which everyone says it is a no no. The reliance on a big aoe heal, which I say is cool but only effective over a long period actually gimps the group.

Edited February 25, 2013 by SPrime