This is more or less accurate, yes. It's three abilities, though, primarily Kolto Probe, Kolto Injection and Surgical Probe. We don't really stray from it, because it's the most efficient heal 'rotation' we have.

Most Operatives/Scoundrels do not want to be Sorcerers. There seems to be some sort of disconnect for people desiring to be competitive versus people wanting to be identical to another class. I haven't followed a few pages of this argument for a bit (I've been doing other things, of late), but a lot of the people posting here have been regulars. So, let me be clear. I have never seen any dedicated Scoundrel or Operative player asking to be identical. Nobody is complaining about certain challenges/stylistic differences that exist. It's the fact that we're not equal in any manner of the word. That, from a mechanical standpoint, we're sorely lacking as a class. That is not an argument, it is a mathematically proven fact. I just really hope you aren't one of those people who is sticking with the class expressly because of its status as the underdog, as being more "challenging", and thus entitling people who hang onto their's as being somehow superior. I'm an Operative, I'm a good Operative (my hardmode+ raid still doesn't believe me when I tell them my spec is weak), and I'm tired of the discrepancies. Don't assume that because you're happy playing a sub-par class (and I assure you, it is sub-par) because of its supposed challenges (I don't find the Operative all that challenging) that we all ought to be, too.

While I acknowledge RuQu is an authority on these boards, I would say that others have also made a dramatic difference in bringing enlightenment to the Healing forums. Bobudo, for example, comes to mind. He was one of the key people, if not the most knowledgeable, that started informative discussions about Op/Scoundrel healing, and was one of the biggest collaborators for RuQu's Thread of Awesome.

A very large amount of our feedback has been exceptionally constructive. Positive, though? I'm not sure I understand the positive aspect? That said, as for WotLK content... I suppose that depends on the content you were running. If you were pushing heroic mode content in a progression raid, it was not face-roll two button spam. Running five-man heroics? Sure. Absolutely. But, the actual hardcore raid content was not face-roll, nor could you get by pressing a mere two buttons, no matter what class you were. I currently raid hardmode content as an Operative. That said, I've had people die or take avoidable damage on boss fights that were completed successfully. I don't think there's an expectation that you can't make a single mistake or you automatically fail. Nightmare mode closes that gap even farther, and makes an underwhelming class stand out, one that can't perform to the level of a class that fulfills the same role. Don't mistake me, either. There are a number of people who just howl and wail about how terrible the class is without suggestions of how to fix it, or why it is they feel that way. But, there are a much larger number of people who have offered feedback on exactly what the problem is, and ways to correct it. You have, however, come to a forum that has been waiting amidst dev silence for well over a month. It's more than a little understandable that some of us are just tired of sitting on our hands and being polite. It hasn't gotten us anywhere, despite loads of threads that are helpful in nature, and not derogatory at all.

This. So many times this. Or at least, I'm hoping this is the case.

This is accurate, though I still firmly believe that all healers should be competitive, regardless of circumstance. Even so, I think it's unreasonable to expect that people will never make mistakes. Even the greatest players make mistakes, especially when they're learning the content. And no, the Op/Scoundrel really has no way to make up for people making mistakes besides hoping that if someone does take avoidable damage, that it doesn't immediately kill them or that they're not going to be pummeled in between when they've taken damage and when the Op/Scoundrel can get a heal off. It's not a good place to start to assume Operatives/Scoundrels are fine just because they can complete content with enough effort/error correction and a group that never makes mistakes. Everyone makes mistakes. It doesn't matter how good a player is, their performance is not perfect all day, every day. And then the Operative/Scoundrel is left holding the bag... Things can go very wrong, very quickly. This is even more obvious when the person who makes that mistake is your Sorcerer healer buddy. When the one person who makes up for your glaring deficiencies is dead.. Healing the raid becomes a lot more "interesting". Oh, and RuQu, I don't think you're the one making these assumptions. I just used your quote to express why I think people who do are wrong.

Agreed. I really thought he was interesting. Especially since he's a fantastic change from the overly sappy, overly emotional romance options that are open to female characters on other classes. It takes time to romance Vector. He's intelligent, analytical, and cautious. In the end, it's all worth it, but I won't spoil it for you. He's easily my favorite romance, favorite character, that I've encountered in the game. They did a great job with him.

Actually, any experienced progression raider will tell you that both is necessary, or ****. Skill is meaningless if gear, spec and/or class are simply too underpowered to perform. It doesn't matter if you're fantastic at staying out of things and following boss mechanics if you cannot do your job. It doesn't matter how amazing that DPSer is if he's too undergeared or some odd spec, so the boss always hits enrage and you wipe. So, no, it isn't just about skill. It's about having both. It's about having a competent player whose class is well balanced and can compete under duress. As for claims about the theorycraft, you're right. We don't have combat logs. However, we've had several players go out and test. There was a player who had both a Sorc and an Op, geared them as close as humanly possible to one another, same stats, same healing bonuses, everything. You don't need logs if you're flat testing abilities. You can read that off your very screen when you finish casting and record it by hand, if you need to. They did, and they brought us the results. You also don't need a combat log when there are gaping holes in the toolkit of one class versus another. You don't need a combat log to understand that a Sorcerer/Sage's AOE heals eight people, and the underwhelming AOE HoT of an Operative heals only four. You don't need a combat log to know that the Sorc/Sage has a bubble mechanic that mitigates entirely a certain amount of incoming damage, and that an Op/Scoundrel has nothing comparable. You don't need a combat log to understand that, talented, a Sorc/Sage has a utility buff added to their HoT, unlike the Op/Scoundrel. Do you see where I am going with this? You don't need a combat log to know, to prove, that the Operative/Scoundrel is not a competitive healer versus the Sorcerer/Sage. And hey, if you're having fun, I'm happy for you. But, a lot of us don't appreciate the struggle and the effort we have to put forth versus a Sorcerer/Sage with an outcome that doesn't match up. Nobody wants the Operative to be easy, we want the Operative to be competitive. Which even with a great deal of time and effort involved just doesn't happen. It's not an equal exchange. As for the claims the devs make, I'd like to see their proof. I'm not going to take their word for it. We have no idea whatsoever that vague statement means. I want graphs, I want video, I want proof positive that their Operatives are so Godly compared to us poor fools on these forums who need to 'L2P' before I'm willing to concede that everyone here is just terrible. I, by the way, raid hardmode content as a Med-specced Operative. Successfully. But, every time I raid, I can't help but feel that I'm just not doing as much as I could be. As much as my Sorcerer buddy is capable of. And that is a problem.

Not being able to clear bosses in NM makes me cringe, and makes me wonder if you've done any hardmode content if you can't beat NM Soa? I will defer to Bobudo's excellent signature on this, basically. Just because something can be done (in some cases; in some cases it just can't), doesn't mean it should if there are better alternatives. Operatives/Scoundrels can clear NM content, HM content, despite failings of the class (I doubt doubles of them could, though). It certainly doesn't make it easier on the raid as a whole, but we simply don't see Operatives/Scoundrels doing Nightmare content. It isn't a simple matter of bads rerolling, or bads crying. It's ludicrous to think that the Operative/Scoundrel is so complex that a vast majority of the players who play them can't figure them out. That's just not logical reasoning. A raid not yet clearing Nightmare content might even think there's nothing wrong with the Operative/Scoundrel healer if paired with a Sage/Sorcerer if they're good enough (my raid's tank was very surprised when I briefly discussed with him the shortcomings of my spec). But, the amount of effort expended to compete is not equal, and at the end of the day, there are simply things an Operative/Scoundrel cannot do compared to the more powerful Sorcerer/Sage. This has been, time and time again, proven mathematically and through extensive testing. That testing is available if you spend any time really browsing the stickied threads on this very forum. If after seeing all of that staggering evidence you still want to claim that Operatives/Scoundrels are "fine", then you're deluding to yourself. And there isn't much to say to that beyond 'good day to you, sir'. There ceases to be a point in arguing with a person who is allergic to reason. P.S. WoW very much had this attitude, if you were a part of a progression raid. Having been a member of several progression raids, people were sat or simply not brought if their spec or gear was not ideal for the content. You can't claim everything is 'fine' when you're still splashing around in the kiddie pool.

HoT'ing everyone up is, at best, like applying a band-aid. The amount of healing that the Scoundrel/Operative does with their HoT is best used for topping off. That HoT isn't going to be saving anyone. When I actually have to heal, I'm not running around, so I'm not really sure how you can make that claim. It's not even that it takes much to manage HoTs. We have a single HoT to apply (I'm not even going to count RN here). There isn't much management necessary there. On top of that, my experiences with raiding on SWtoR have led me to believe that when DPS are taking significant amounts of damage, placing a HoT on them isn't going to cut it. And if that's all I slap on them, my Sorcerer healer friend is likely to just heal them up to full with no effort and waste the HoT. And they should. Not all incoming damage is readily obvious when it's going to occur (people make mistakes, boss mechanics aren't timed and so on), so to think you should leave someone at half health so your HoT can be "useful" is asinine. Also, if all you're doing is putting HoTs on people and nothing more, you're likely being carried or raiding in normal modes.

Almost every one of the statements you made about the Scoundrel is wrong, and I'm surprised by this given the amount of accurate, proven information available on this very forum. I will touch upon some of the reasons why, but for a very analytical study of each of the healing classes in the game, it has been compiled here by RuQu. That said, the Scoundrel/Operative is the weakest healing class in the game. Even a mediocre Sage/Sorcerer is likely to outperform a highly skilled Scoundrel/Operative player. The reasons, in short, to name a few are these: 1.) The Scoundrel/Operative is not a HoT class. It has two HoTs, one that requires an application of two before being mildly useful and has a chance to proc TA/UH, and the other is an underwhelming, highly limited and non-smart AOE. The former HoT does not heal a significant amount of health per tick, nor does it tick quickly. 2.) The Scoundrel/Operative has what is considered the weakest AOE heal within the game at present. It will heal up to four targets, assuming they're clumped upon cast, but doesn't differentiate between people who are lower on health than others. This means that it can land even on players with full health, rather than those without. The amount healed per tick is also extremely subpar when compared to the much more powerful Sorcerer/Sage's AOE puddle. 3.) The Scoundrel/Operative has no viable utility. We offer no sort of armor or mitigating buffs through heals or otherwise, nor do we have any abilities that offer a blanket damage shield, much as the Sorcerer/Sage does. We can't even offer reliable CC unless the NPC is a droid. lol @ group stealth as utility. 4.) The Scoundrel/Operative is often praised as being the mobile healing class. It is not. Our most consistent heal is one that is cast, requiring a minimum of about two seconds standing still. We have a single HoT that is good only for topping off, and will not save our target. Our one instant cast heal of any significance is reliant purely on a proc that is at the mercy of RNG. The only time this isn't the case is if the healed target is below 30% health, and then TA/UH refreshes itself as a gimmick until the target is above 30%. The only solid heal a Scoundrel/Operative has available is one with a cast time. Period. 5.) The Scoundrel/Operative does not have a single burst heal among its repertoire of abilities. The only thing that approaches this is an instant cast heal reliant on RNG. If a target is dropping rapidly, there is very little a Scoundrel/Operative can do about it. 6.) The Scoundrel/Operative has a very interesting resource pool to manage, but in stressful healing situations, it's very easy for the Scoundrel/Operative to blow it quickly attempting to keep their teammates up, or a tank that is taking a great deal of damage rapidly. We have only one cooldown to restore energy every two minutes, and a channeled ability that returns a very small amount of energy upon crit. 7.) Each of the Scoundrel/Operative's heals are underwhelming in the amount of healing actually done. The math in this particular arena has been covered. As for the rest, and there is sadly more, I will again refer you to RuQu's compilation of data here. In conclusion, calling the Scoundrel/Operative healer the best at any level is not only laughable, but outright delusional.

I'm skeptical about the vagueness of Georg's statements about healing improvements in 1.2, but I agree with RuQu. Play what most interests you. I've healed for seven years in WoW, and found the Operative (Scoundrel) energy mechanic quite interesting compared to just having a mana bar that needs very little micromanagement. There are some vast improvements that need to be made to the class to make it competitive to other healers, but it's an interesting concept to play, at least.

Quoted for truth.

A theme song for our movement, you say? This seems most appropriate.

I loath, I absolutely loath, when people use the argument that Operatives can clear the current content. Like it's relevant. Like it has anything to do with what is being talked about. I find Georg's post to be pretty disheartening, honestly. The vagueness of his statement and the "L2P" feel of most of it is just.. disappointing. Nobody cares if you can clear content with an Op healer, mmk? That isn't the point here. A Sorc/Op works well enough in most situations, because as I've stated before, Sorcerer is capable of covering up for the Operative's glaring gaps in function. It isn't a matter of "you can do it!" It's a matter of 'how much stress is it for me to compete in a raiding setting to complete the raid objectives compared to a much more ability-proficient healer?' You can eat steak with a spoon. Eventually. Why would you do it, though, when you have a fork and knife available? I'm sorry, but telling us that Operatives can clear current content is meaningless. It has no purpose here. It isn't that the class can't function in some... way. It's that the class isn't a competitive healer. It's a constant up hill battle. The amount of effort expended by an Operative versus a Sorcerer in the same scenario is not equal. That is the problem. How many times are raids wiping comparatively? How often are people dying on encounters? This isn't a matter of people simply being bad and whining to cover their own asses. Don't tell me to L2P. Learn to balance, not make excuses. The tone of this post is probably not kind, but at this point, I simply don't care.