Hellloooo! I am returning to the game after about 657 years and i was going to get a few suggestions as who is in the best spot as far as healing right now. I really like to play a sorc but the operative is cool too but im just getting some opinions!!

How about you play what you enjoy? The "best" is relative at best and subject to change from update to update. All 3 healers have strengths and weaknesses, so at the end of the day, it doesn't matter.

How about you play what you enjoy? The "best" is relative at best and subject to change from update to update. All 3 healers have strengths and weaknesses, so at the end of the day, it doesn't matter.

 

 

Yeah thats true.

As the other guy said, play what appeals to you. I'm a tank main, but have decent experience with sages and scoundrels (sorcs and operatives).

 

Sages have better burst, higher force cost on healing but not difficult management as the regent is proceed off a main heal.

 

Operatives are hot based healers, with minimal burst. But massive aoe. The lack of burst can hurt with current spikey levels, but if you learn to work with it, it's perfectly competent. The recent tactical advantage nerf does drive me insane, but again it's doable.

 

Mercs I know the least about, other than they're a spikey, CD based healer. They also have among the best DCDs.

I have made it a personal goal to learn all three healing classes. They all bring some group utility to the mix so the only disadvantage is when a group stacks too many of the same type. I've mained a seer sage since beta but almost nearly as long I've had a medicine operative too. Operatives are great if you play solo a fair amount since stealth allows you to bypass a lot of trash during heroic planetary dailies and such. You will definitely be grinding quite a bit of solo content to gear yourself up and the stealth will make your life easier.

 

Although I've been trying learn bodyguard commando, I don't know it nearly as well, so take my thoughts with a grain of salt. I do feel like it has a larger kit of tools for dps, especially since its ranged and one of its key dps abilities can be channeled while moving. Sages can't do that with any of their dps abilities except instant project and operatives best damage abilities have 4m range. The need for healers to do significant dps is arguably extremely low for most of the pve content in the game currently. That is to say, except for MM ops, some VM ops, and rarely MM fp's, it isn't necessary for the healers to contribute much to overall dps of the group. But, commando/mercenary heals are very cast heavy, depending on procs to instant-cast, and I presume this is the tradeoff for being able to do more damage.

 

If you know any of the dps versions of any advanced class that has a healing discipline (for example, ruffian scoundrel, or arsenal merc) then it makes sense to try to learn the healing discipline of that class first. That way the abilities and utilities are similar, and it makes it easier to switch between gear sets and roles in say veteran flashpoints or story/vet uprisings. I guess if doing decent damage to meet a tight dps check as a healer is important to you, or your progression ops team, consider commando/mercenary. If you are looking to breeze through solo content, consider scoundrel/operative. But I still love my sage.