Operative as HEALER and Tactical Advantage

[Alvys]

Hi There!

I'm lvl 21 Operative and i'd like to heal with this splendid class!

 

What do you think about Operative-Healer? how is it ?

 

(Opinions about PvP are welcome!)

 

 

And ...What do you think about duration time of "Tactical Advantave"? Dosen't it too short ? :/

 

Thank you!!

 

Alvys

Edited December 29, 2011 by Alvys

[Nimbuz]

it's fun to heal as an operative, and TA's is not a problem...just make sure u pick up incisive actions 1st tier in the medic tree, and medical engineering 4th tier

 

imo they start to become really fun to heal with when u get surgical probe

[Holohona]

Once you pick up the Medical Engineering talent, TA duration becomes less of an issue. Especially if you keep KP rolling on a few group members.

 

That being said - IA healing is a juggling game. Trying to keep 1-2 TA up, Keeping Stim Boost Active, keeping 2 stacks of KP on your tank/companion.

 

It's a lot of fun once you get comfortable with how the abilities work with each other.

[BobaFaceroll]

Yeah, getting TA stops being a problem. The real trick is knowing how to use it efficiently while maintaining at least one stack for emergencies. It's a fun juggling act.

 

Remember, in an emergency you can always take a few steps to close distance and smack someone with Shiv to get TA. You may be a healer, but if AoE damage isn't a concern there's no need to stay out of range and be a "pure healer".

[spythe]

Not gonna lie its a pretty terrible experience til you get surgical probe(30 talent), that completely changes the class for healing. Keep 2 stacks of HOT up and keeping TA up is not a problem at all.

[Alvys]

Thank you all for your reply!!

And how is in pvp ? Do you have any trouble with energy rate ?

[VladeMarkov]

Not gonna lie its a pretty terrible experience til you get surgical probe(30 talent), that completely changes the class for healing. Keep 2 stacks of HOT up and keeping TA up is not a problem at all.

 

I kind of liked the challenge really. I have SP now, but before it was always a balancing act with energy and heals, especially with certain flashpoint bosses. Finally surviving the boarding party on the raiders flashpoint felt like a real accomplishment to me.

 

Now as for leveling, I have always leveled a healer so maybe I am use to the slower killing, but out of all the healers I have leveled OP has been the most entertaining. As a healer we don't usually get stealth type skills, so I am really enjoying those skills the most. I think it is just a matter of keeping your companion geared a feesibly possible. Find a good balance to dps and heal on mob encounters and learning a good rotation (one that works for you not what you see in forums) to balance heals and energy in group situations.

 

In closing I really enjoying leveling as a healer: groups always need them, it is easy to do those 2+ heroics solo and the OPs medic has a nice challenge to balancing resources and heals properly that is fulfilling when you get it down.

 

Also it does get way easier with Surgical Probe.

[Tuckervb]

I kind of liked the challenge really. I have SP now, but before it was always a balancing act with energy and heals, especially with certain flashpoint bosses. Finally surviving the boarding party on the raiders flashpoint felt like a real accomplishment to me.

 

Now as for leveling, I have always leveled a healer so maybe I am use to the slower killing, but out of all the healers I have leveled OP has been the most entertaining. As a healer we don't usually get stealth type skills, so I am really enjoying those skills the most. I think it is just a matter of keeping your companion geared a feesibly possible. Find a good balance to dps and heal on mob encounters and learning a good rotation (one that works for you not what you see in forums) to balance heals and energy in group situations.

 

In closing I really enjoying leveling as a healer: groups always need them, it is easy to do those 2+ heroics solo and the OPs medic has a nice challenge to balancing resources and heals properly that is fulfilling when you get it down.

 

Also it does get way easier with Surgical Probe.

 

IM going to second this. I've always heal my main as a healer. In beta i had an iquistor and leveling it felt like a disc priest with a tank pet for the most part. An OP feels very orginal for me. Stealth cover, TA procs, most interesting and power resource regen mechanic I've seen. Its fantastic. Also story quest makes me feel like James Bond, instant win.

[Arrys]

IM going to second this. I've always heal my main as a healer. In beta i had an iquistor and leveling it felt like a disc priest with a tank pet for the most part. An OP feels very orginal for me. Stealth cover, TA procs, most interesting and power resource regen mechanic I've seen. Its fantastic. Also story quest makes me feel like James Bond, instant win.

 

It feels alot like levelling as a WoW druid at release to me without having to pop out of cat or bear to pop a heal and get back to doing damage. With significantly better damage and a pet to boot.

 

I actually love how seemlessly we can integrate damage and healing, energy allowing, into the playstyle including doing a no pain energy dump to close PvE encounters as regen between fights is so beneficial. I really really don't miss having a mana pool.

[gredobaggins]

I really really don't miss having a mana pool.

 

Amen.

[marshalleck]

Amen.

 

Second, third, and fourth that!

[Fubbik]

Healing as OP feels a bit like old school EQ to me (dungeon crawling, not raiding). Keeping some HoTs up, trying to stay as close to full as possible, letting people take damage and not do anything about it until energy permits, and saving resources for those "oh crap" moments. It's a juggle and not for someone looking to press 1-2-3 and get by with it.

 

I still don't have the SP which I assume is gonna make it a lot easier, but once you get the HoT at 20 you have enough in your arsenal to be a competent healer fur sure. I definately do not agree with a post above saying it's terrible pre-30

 

Gonna love getting SP though so I don't have to deal with the stupid cases where a heal stops casting 0.1 sec before completion because the TA timer ran out. They should really change that to checking on cast, not after...

Edited December 30, 2011 by Fubbik

[Neofrost]

I love the healing. With no shields it can be a pain with latency / reaction style healing. TA procs need to last longer. It would solve a quality of life issue or two when leveling. I have a an energy neutral global cool down rotation figured out for sustained healing. Its working great, and with a little crit, big damage is easy to manage. The aoe healing is pretty spendy at 30 points, considering you only have 40 to work with, may always have to follow it up with a diagnostic scan... haven't needed it much though with all the hot and instant healing available... perhaps in 8 mans :-)

 

I will try to post a guide later. Have fun :-)

[Kezrik]

Regarding PvP:

 

I have a level 25ish Trooper healer and 25ish Operative healer and the Trooper can throw out about 3 times as many heals as my Operative when he blows his 2 ammo cooldowns. I can literally stand there and cast 15 heals with no pause on someone if needed before ammo is gone. With my Operative, there is no way I can achieve that amount of healing in the same time frame except with 10 HoTs running, which doesn't save someone being attacked. It is easy as Operative to just cast the HoT on everyone and top the healing charts, but it is much harder to keep someone alive when they really need it.

 

Hopefully at level 30 it will change with Surgical Probe but it will make TA management harder. I am forced to burn every TA now for the energy regen and it doesn't help much but it's still required. Diagnosis scan is our other energy generator but in PvP it is not good at all for healing or for energy generation due to the fact that you have to be stationary, need line of sight, people run out of range, and it doesn't heal for squat. I will keep leveling both but it appears to me that the Operative is better off being a hybrid in PvP rather than a full time healer.

 

The stealth sleep dart is awesome but you have to be pro-active with it since the target can't be in combat. Some of the other tools are great which makes me think that the Operative is best suited to be a hybrid, throwing around his skills and toss the HoT around constantly as well.

[Zerikin_Loukbel]

Surgical probe changes everything. You can do injection, probe all day. That combo only gives you -4 energy every 3.5s assuming you had stim up. Giving you about 10 casts before you get below 60.