Warfront Healing.....does anyone do it?

[Choomba]

Please, please...for the love of all that is good and true...elaborate on this. The healers I know, Sawbones included, are burning out quickly. It would be great to learn a few tricks before we give in to our hatred and reroll as tanks or DPSers.

 

Agree

[Khoko]

The UI is awful for healers.. I heal all the time in PvP.. What bugs me, is the lack of appreciation & reward that I am doing so.. My Commando is by far my favorite heal style so far. We so greatly need a better raid frame with ToT and mouse overs... why its not in the game is beyond me.

[syntxerr]

scoundrel(sawbones) is awesome in pvp, healing/dps/survivability it got it all

 

I'd like to hear some more on that as well.

 

From my experience, disregarding of Wawrzone, since it applies to all, a Seer is much better off than a Sawbones. Granted, you might end up Force starved from time to time, but there is always opportunity to regen.

 

Now why is that? Sawbones got much more on the run abilities over a Seer and that is true. However, reality is that a Seer end up being much more mobile than a Sawbones. Those shields are incredibly strong, especially when talented, Rescue is a life saver in Huttball and those 2.5 second heals don't really seem to be a problem at all, because of said shields and nice talents like force speed to catch up.

 

On top of all that, there are lots and lots of utility abilities. Knockbacks, slows, CCs, 4 second stuns. Combine those with shields and an occasional force speed and you get incredible mobility and become nearly unkillable on top of all that.

 

Our three minute cooldown Vanish is a joke compared to 15 second knockbacks and 30(?) second force speed. And as long as Vanish is on Cooldown stealth is pretty useless.

 

From my personal experience, a Seer has a much easier time surviving a whole Warzone match than a Scoundrel. I also alomst never reach the healing done of a proper Sage. They are just that good at dishing out lots of heals and absorbs.

 

It also seems that a Sage can be that much more useful in a Warzone. Knockbacks, long range interrupts of enemy healers, occasional DOTs... all this adds to a much more agressive playstyle and higher contribution to overall Warzone goals while still topping the healing.

 

Perhaps I'm doing something wrong on my Sawbones, but that's my experience so far.

 

Another problem I often see is that those HOTs simply don't cut it. 18 seconds is a very long time in PVP. When compared directly with the shields, the HOTs seem very weak as they have very little effect when a player is taking damage. I believe they would be much more useful if their duration would be cut in half so that we get double the amount per tick over half of the duration.

Edited January 2, 2012 by syntxerr

[Holytoe]

healers are always rare, in any game... even more so in pvp.

 

pvp healing is a PITA. as soon as someone sees you healing, you become public enemy number 1 (im talking decent players... the *******s won't notice you healing and even if they did they're so useless they couldn't do anything about it).

 

bottom line, people are, by and large, dumb. healers don't heal others, dps'rs don't interrupt casters or protect their healers. etc etc.

 

pugs just plain suck, and you should never expect anything out of them except self-preservation. you want healing, your best bet is to queue up with some buddies, so you have a healer to watch your back and so he has a damage dealer to watch his.

 

Aside from always upgrading your healing gear, this above is the answer to your healing pvp issue. Yes, healers always get aggro once identified as a healer. That alone is a reason to hang out with healers... the enemy will come to you as well as keep you alive if you keep them alive. Get out of range and not so much. So keep your healer on a short leash.

[choboon]

healers are always rare, in any game... even more so in pvp.

 

pvp healing is a PITA. as soon as someone sees you healing, you become public enemy number 1 (im talking decent players... the *******s won't notice you healing and even if they did they're so useless they couldn't do anything about it).

 

bottom line, people are, by and large, dumb. healers don't heal others, dps'rs don't interrupt casters or protect their healers. etc etc.

 

pugs just plain suck, and you should never expect anything out of them except self-preservation. you want healing, your best bet is to queue up with some buddies, so you have a healer to watch your back and so he has a damage dealer to watch his.

 

Which is why i quit pvp with my healer and make an alt for pvp now. (Vanguard)

Sad truth.

[Somewherehiding]

I'm a level 40 trooper commando, specced fully into the healing tree

 

Warzone healing is pretty fun, as long as you are in the right positions. When people say "try staying behind as a healer", they don't mean it literally. Find the best vantage point, where you can escape or push people away easily too.

 

At the moment, I heal around 150-200k, and have less then 10 deaths each round. If the healing is heavy, I don't bother healing the low level players, but make sure the higher level players stay alive. They do the most damage, and are prioritized.

 

There's usually one (maybe two) more dedicated healer on the team when I PvP, which seems to be enough most of the time. Even with just one good healer, a lot of key battles are won, unless the other team is clever enough to send one on me to keep me distracted from healing teammates.

 

At the moment, I am really enjoying the noobiness of the players. The trend is that people give up trying to kill me since I am too frustrating to kill... so they target other classes, and allow me to heal them up

 

Edit: Oh, and one more thing

I NEVER use hammershot. That's as bad as holding a huge, neon sign saying "target me, I'm a healer". As a commando, I can stay in the battle, looking nothing like a healer in my heavy armor and carrying an assault gun, making very discreet healing animations... With my spec, and a proper healing rotation, you rarely run out of ammo.

Edited January 3, 2012 by Somewherehiding

[MatchlessGlory]

I heal as a Commando in PvP and do quite well. Healers lack instant heals badly in this game so I recommend grabbing Biochem for the Rakata Medpack. (which is pretty bs)

 

Outside of that it's fun. If you can find a tank buddy to guard you it becomes awesome.

[MatchlessGlory]

The UI is awful for healers.. I heal all the time in PvP.. What bugs me, is the lack of appreciation & reward that I am doing so.. My Commando is by far my favorite heal style so far. We so greatly need a better raid frame with ToT and mouse overs... why its not in the game is beyond me.

 

I wanted to comment on this. Healers do NOT get the rewards we deserve. it's irritating that in order to get any medals I have to dps. Which encourages me to play poorly at times.

[LordTyrantXerxis]

I'm usually one of three that's healing. I'm definitely never the only one healing on my side, and there's usually at least one or two on the opposing team who beat me on total healing. That being said, on Civil War and Huttball, it can be hard to keep up with everyone, and there's only so many places I can go. It could just be that you have bad luck of picking locations where healers aren't. Check the post-game healing meters, as they'll be a much better indication of whether or not "no one" is healing.

 

 

 

9 times out of 10 I am the only one healing... the other healers that are actually healing are healing themselves and that's it.. I go in and can get close to 200k healing (lvl 33 here) and not even get an mvp vote.

 

The attitude on my server in WZ is pretty bad. Most of the people will LoS you or run out of range and then *****. I usually go in and pick the highest lvl person in the WZ and pocket heal them. We still lose, but at least that one person appreciates my help.

[Somewherehiding]

The attitude on my server in WZ is pretty bad [...] I usually go in and pick the highest lvl person in the WZ and pocket heal them [..] We still lose

 

I don't know if it's because I'm tired, but I found this funny

[LordTyrantXerxis]

I don't know if it's because I'm tired, but I found this funny

 

 

Glad you liked it.

[WebMajestic]

Lets not forget if you want medals etc you will do better just dpsing and killing people.

 

Myself I think I will step away from my healer for awhile, and let bioware work on UI and I hope macro/mod support. I enjoy pvp healing, but the way it is atm its not worth the hassle imho.

 

While I agree that there are issues with PvP healing in this game, I have to point out the fact that if you need macro's and UI mods to successfully play your healer... You. Are. Bad.

[TheReflection]

In WZs I support my guildmates with healing, and I have to say:

 

A single healer against the enemy's no-healer force wins the game majority of the time.

 

As a healer you can duoble or triple the value of DPSes just by keeping them alive.

 

1heal + 1dps > 2dps every time. Well unless the 2dps are really good and they are a sage and a trooper nadpä safapohpahfpagd.

 

What I meant to say is: Healing your mates in warzones is both fun and effective.

[Acherom]

I hear all that you are saying about checking the post scores. In my original post I mentioned part of this. I'm seeing extremely low numbers averaged by all the players in the matches these past few nights. Where 1 player (myself or another) could easily put up around 50k-60k in a match, the combinded total of the "healers" on my team is usually less then 20k.

 

There just seems to be seriously a disinterest in healing overall. I will admit that during many of the matches that i noticed this behavior, the majority of the played classes were Counsulars. I don't know the word got out to all the new players about Shadows being the OP class (at the moment them and sorc are basically beasts), but everyone seems to be rolling them. Not even 1 smuggler that could heal in the last 3 nights was around. Commando's are few and far between as well.

 

I think alot of what I'm seeing is that there are NO healers present in the matches.

 

I'd like to toss my voice out there as an outlayer. I heal every time I step into a warzone, and average 240K healing done in a given match.

 

Matches only ever play out one of two ways: The healing completely turns the tide of the fight, and we dominate.

Or... my team is just so immensely squishy that it wouldn't matter if I did two million healing: everyone just goes splat.

 

I imagine that this will change as my expertise rating goes up: but at the moment I don't seem to be able to out-heal damage from 2 to 1 situations (without the teammate realizing that he's being supported and playing accordingly).

 

On the positive side; people seem to appreciate healing a bit more here then previous games I've played, as I also average 3 MVP votes per game.

[caveslug]

While I agree that there are issues with PvP healing in this game, I have to point out the fact that if you need macro's and UI mods to successfully play your healer... You. Are. Bad.

 

 

Yes the typical response "you bad brah"

 

I want macros for mouseover healing, can I and do I click and cast yes. Does it make healing in pvp less fun yes.

 

Do I want UI mods yes, so maybe we can get someone to change the UI so we can see buffs and debuffs. Maybe its just me, but even with the raid frames expanded to a larger size. I can't make heads or tails of *** buff and debuffs are on people. I guess I need a 50+ inch monitor.

[Halibutk]

I rolled a healer (Jedi Counselor Sage) to heal in PVP and provide healing for PVE with friends. I enjoy healing in PVP and it is a challenge and you decide who lives and who dies.

 

I am only level 27 and lately I usually am the only healer based on charts. Rarely do we have another helping in healing. Between my Force Shield and healing spells I can usually keep someone up if I focus on them. That means the rest of the team taking damage suffer except for me throwing a force shield their and a healing instant. That is fine I enjoy the challenge.

In a heated game I will put out over 300k in healing. Typical game between 160k and 240k. Still I manage to dish out 50k in damage through instant dots and occasion throws.

 

What has me distressed is the lack of thanks I get. When you see 8 players and I am the only person has more than 100k healing , chances are I saved your *** a couple times. Im not asking for much just a few MVP votes. Im happy with 2-3. Ill get one mvp vote usually but usually its someone else that gets 4-5 votes because he had top damage or most kills etc. Not to be conceited but that person usually got that because i focused healing him.

 

The only solution i have is to stop healing. On my server When in pvp que you usually get put in with the same 5 people game after game. So if this goes on too long Ill switch to DPS and every time we just get destroyed. They are then begging me to heal again. I say for a few mvp votes I could be heals again.

 

Keep your healers happy with a few MVP votes.

[LordTyrantXerxis]

I actually had a guildy talk about how he was unstopable in a wz and I responded with you're welcome and he had no clue what I was talking about. He didn't even give me an MVP vote...

 

 

/shrug.

[Nefesh]

I've found once you hit level 40+ your healing goes up quite a bit.

 

Sawbones healing is pretty cool I think - You can start out in stealth, use hots to heal peeps and make sure to get back in stealth as often as possible. If the opposing dps don't know where you are until after they got a teammate in their face it is much harder for them to target you.

 

Smuggler heals have a bunch of cooldowns as well that are effective

 

CC

- Flash Grenade (aoe stun)

- Dirty kick - You know you love it

- Tendon Blast - slow

- from stealth - tranq shot

 

Def CD

-Armor - absorbes inc damage for 15 seconds

-Dodge- Doge all damage for 3 seconds (a bit buggy)

-a third one (cant remember name) removes all movement impairing effects

-the ability to go into stealth during combat

 

I try to always use my big heal coming out of stealth and keep as many hots as I can on anyone who is taking any damage - I also try to lay down my aoe damage ability (the one where the ship drops a bomb on peeps) right in front of me so imps have to take daamge to get to me.

 

But really the best thing I have found is try to recruit one or two dps and make sure to heal them as best you can. I had one bg where me and one dps fought 5 baddies and we won because their team couldnt get to me (positioning, started out stealthed etc)

 

I actually was voted mvp that match. I think that you will find the warzones are becoming more healer friendly. The UI seems to be getting better as well.

 

TL;DR

 

Sawbones healing at higher levels in BGs is a lot of fun and you will get voted mvp if you do your job and if you rally the dps to your cause

 

-edited for typos-

Edited January 4, 2012 by Nefesh

[Roizel]

I run a lvl 27 Sage and can dps for 50-70k and heal in the 160-200k range. I find I get targeted pretty quickly about 3 mins into any match when playing against premade or a good pug. I don't get any help from others and when 3 players take turns stunning and interupting me its gets pretty annoying. But if i wanted easy I would have stayed with WoW and just used healbot and eat supper while I moused over everything. The answer I am hoping lies within a guild. I have yet to join one on Ven Zallow but once I do I'm sure running WZ's with TS will be much more fun. I am also rolling a Commando to see how they can heal, I guess I just like a challange. I have yet to receive a single MVP vote what do they do for you?

[MissRandom]

I love healing in WF's especially Huttball. When you have more than 2 healers you all can take turns holding the ball the whole time and healing each other. Not only does it infuriate the other team, but since neither team scores and you end the match holding the ball, it's a default win!

[Bluetickone]

The main problem is that healing is VASTLY underpowered right now. I have basically leved pvp'ing (pve crap is too easy) and I dont understand why Bioware thinks its ok to have dps outscale healing -- meaning 1 dps can just simply dps down a healer without any strategic use of interrupts or stuns or burst. I heal, but only strategically. Blowing all your force/ammo on healing is a total waste, it would return more as dps (even in a pure healing spec!). I'd bet they change the 30 percent healing debuff to 15 soon.

 

 

Here is a good example of what not to do as a healer

 

 

 

the guy basically sits around and heals reactively, even when at full ammo/force/whatveritisforsmugglers. Much better to dps first and heal as absolutely necessary to prevent deaths.

Edited January 5, 2012 by Bluetickone

[Rimbaldo]

I've thought about going heal spec, but it seems kind of pointless. It's been my experience that absolutely no healer in the game will survive being trained by a couple people, even in Champion gear, so it seems like once people organize a bit better and start focusing the correct targets the game will turn into a nightmare for PvP healers.

[chuleh]

I'm lvl 32 atm. Since 10 been healing warzones, all of them pugs. To be completely honest, healing is a PITA. It's not the fact that you don't get medals or MVPs, it's the fact that pugs are dumb and DON'T PEEL. 70% of the people I've played with think that cause you're a healer you can heal yourself and heal them while being zerged down.

I consider myself quite a decent player, had 2 gladiator seasons as a disc priest. Always topping healing charts by a large margin, of course, I'm the only one over 200k healing, second guy is 50k. I can live without the MVP votes, without the medals and everything. I know how to LoS, kite and fake cast, but when focused and no peels, not much that I can do. So, few nights ago switched to balance and man, it's become a lot of fun. I'm getting more commendations and all I've got to care about is my own healthbar.

Most certainly I'll change back to healing once I hit 50 as I guess there will be premades, but for now, that I'm farming commendations for bags to open when I hit 50, I'll stay like this.

[Rimbaldo]

I think a lot of the reason people don't like healing warfronts is that they're expecting healers to work like they do in every other MMO, where you can tank 4 or 5 players by yourself in PvP without breaking a sweat. It's the opposite in SWTOR, a couple DPS will kill you without any problems if you don't have help.

[Schizocorpse]

Healing sorcerer here. Usually run with my mercenary m8 and spread generic doom, but end up losing sight in the hutball chaos and healing everybody.