I feel like I'm missing something key. Are we the only ranged class with no free ranged attack? Heck, every other healing class I've tried has a free (admittedly bad) ranged heal. From what I can tell, consumption is just terrible, and only gets worse as our health pool increases. The other classes have something to use when their resources are out, are we really supposed to suddenly shift into melee range to attack something?

 

Feeling a touch confused on class design for this point compared to the other healers/ranged dps

The guide makes it seems as if there is a resource neutral rotation that you can switch into when necessary. You'll take a dps hit, of course, but will be able to continue ranged dps without completely depleting your force. Obviously we don't know how a raiding situation will work out. How long will fights last, how long will end game sorcs be able to do their full dps rotation before going oof (out of force?), etc, so I don't know how this will really work out. I'm certain melee won't ever be the answer, though.

I am at a loss, so I have a few questions? What level are you? IF you are a Sorc did you pick up the 100 extra force pool talent? I know it is not in the healing tree but it is 2 points on the first level of another tree SO PICK IT UP.

 

With that said, I have a hard time figuring out HOW you are running out of force. I have played a Sorc for 1.5 years of testing up to the last day of beta weekends and had few instances where I would fall below 1/2 (300) force. Yeah, you have to play smart, you can't just willie-nillie spam your abilities, and yes, as a healer you are going to have to spend some early talents into the lightning tree to pick up some more force pool and the ability to regen force faster after using damaging abilites!

 

ALL IN ALL my advice... stop complaining and figure it out... might take a little work but figure it out. I healed through the entire game from 11-50 and even in the toughest of spots I never once had a problem with force pool. You just have to be smarter than the average Sorc.

I am at a loss, so I have a few questions? What level are you? IF you are a Sorc did you pick up the 100 extra force pool talent? I know it is not in the healing tree but it is 2 points on the first level of another tree SO PICK IT UP.

 

With that said, I have a hard time figuring out HOW you are running out of force. I have played a Sorc for 1.5 years of testing up to the last day of beta weekends and had few instances where I would fall below 1/2 (300) force. Yeah, you have to play smart, you can't just willie-nillie spam your abilities, and yes, as a healer you are going to have to spend some early talents into the lightning tree to pick up some more force pool and the ability to regen force faster after using damaging abilites!

 

ALL IN ALL my advice... stop complaining and figure it out... might take a little work but figure it out. I healed through the entire game from 11-50 and even in the toughest of spots I never once had a problem with force pool. You just have to be smarter than the average Sorc.

I'm going to go ahead and second everything he said minus the whole playing for a year thing, which I have not.

That being said, I've been playing for a few months now and haven't experienced this issue.

The classes that have a "free" heal, as you said, also have drastically more limited resource pools, and much reduced burst potential.

It's a trade off, and it's intentional.

If Sorcs could do everything the other healers could do, and also have infinite force, and also have a free spammable heal, there would be no reason to heal on anything but a sorc.

Different classes are different.

Welcome to MMOs.

Thanks for the responses. Although I'm not sure why we had to be tart about it, instead of just saying work with it, once you figure it out you'll notice that Sorc healers on top of their game shouldn't run OOF.

 

But thanks for the input

I am at a loss, so I have a few questions? What level are you? IF you are a Sorc did you pick up the 100 extra force pool talent? I know it is not in the healing tree but it is 2 points on the first level of another tree SO PICK IT UP.

 

With that said, I have a hard time figuring out HOW you are running out of force. I have played a Sorc for 1.5 years of testing up to the last day of beta weekends and had few instances where I would fall below 1/2 (300) force. Yeah, you have to play smart, you can't just willie-nillie spam your abilities, and yes, as a healer you are going to have to spend some early talents into the lightning tree to pick up some more force pool and the ability to regen force faster after using damaging abilites!

 

ALL IN ALL my advice... stop complaining and figure it out... might take a little work but figure it out. I healed through the entire game from 11-50 and even in the toughest of spots I never once had a problem with force pool. You just have to be smarter than the average Sorc.

 

You don't pvp much do you

Thanks for the responses. Although I'm not sure why we had to be tart about it, instead of just saying work with it, once you figure it out you'll notice that Sorc healers on top of their game shouldn't run OOF.

 

But thanks for the input

 

I am sorry you read my post and felt that I was being tart. It was not my intention but I can see with the way I phrased things how it may have come off that way. I am not one to be condesending (sp?) or rude to people I don't know but it is hard to meter your emotional inflections when all you have is text to work with.

 

A few additional points I have to add are... Look at your abilities and the talent tree. Be ok with putting talents into other trees beside your healing tree to get your started. Early game you are going to be worried more about the speed and frequency of your casting instead of how much it actually heals. Knowing that you can afford to put points into talents that increase your force pool, regen rate, and cost reduction from the lightning tree (all of those are in the first two tiers). Dark Mending is great to pick up early but the other teir 1 talents in the healing tree are not so necessary early on.

 

Next, as a healer and a Sorc healer at that you need to learn your role. What do I mean by that? Aren't all healers the same? The answer is no they are not and you need to realize that. Sorce healers are reactive healers. This means you do NOT heal anyone unless they are below 60 or even 50 % health (this is my rule, I don't heal unless they are blow half). Your heals are big and you can cast a lot in a row because you have a large starting pool but remember the goal of reactive healers is not to keep people at FULL health it is to keep them alive, at worst, and HALF health at best. This is where you thrive. BH healers are completely different. They are proactive healers. They want to start casting heals early and they want to get into a rythm so their target getting healed very seldom falls below HALF health because if they do a BH healer does not have the OMG SPAM HEALTH heal abilities due to the low resource pool and slow regen rate of their pool. Also, don't worry about healing EVERYBODY. The tank keeps you alive, not the DPS or the OFF HEALER, its the tank. DPS and OFF HEALS need to work on not pulling agro so much or, in the case of the off heals, healing themselves. So only heal people other than the tank if the tank is above 50% health and you have plenty of force left. If you are the off heals you don't have to worry so much but remember you are still a reaction healer so don't heal them unless they are below the 50-60% mark. The simple way to think of this is it is not your job to keep them at full it is to keep them off the floor.

 

I really do recommend Subversion in the Lightning tree. It is a great talent because shock does not cost a lot of force to begin with and the boosted regen is nice. Plus this game really does mean for healers to be contributing to damage during most fights so this talent gets you in there and gives back to you as well.

 

You don't pvp much do you

 

As far as PVP I never tried to heal much in PVP because it took away from the AMAZING damage you can do in PVP as a Sorc. So to be honest, no I don't know what it is like PVP wise. I am admittedly not much of a PVPer and doubt I will be in the future.

My advice:

Electric induction (% less force spent on healing/damage) and Reserves (+force pool) are both great, early talent points outside corruption. Will of the Sith (+% willpower) helps a lot later on.

 

Subversion can only occur from lightning strike now (for healers anyway), takes too long to cast in my experience, and I'm not willing to spare more than 1 skill point from my present build, leaving it at a 50% chance of increased force regen. Not sure the skill always worked like that.

 

Consumption is very nice with 1 point in Innervate (a good instant heal in-and-of itself), 2 points in Force Surge, used after a Resurgence (with requisite 2 points in Force Bending) gives it a +25% crit chance (typically pushing it past 50% when you are level 36 - first level you would have all those skills). An innervate crit not only gives a quick heal, but makes your Consumption free of ill effects.

 

Dark Heal is fast, but force inefficient outside force bending effects.

 

The advice above on reactive healing is very good.

 

Your free attack is melee, unless avoiding AOEs, that's what you have. There is no aggro range issue in this game.

 

Use your utility abilities to reduce the NEED to heal (whirlwind, electrocute, shock, jolt).

Cast static barrier before the fight.

Use Revivification sparingly, and only when the group needs the heal, not just the tank.

 

Hope that helps.

I was totally thinking this all week. Mainly when a mob is on a slither of health but dont want to cast anything and waste force, have to run over and smash it with my lightsaber. We totally need a ranged replacement for lightsaber strike.

I was totally thinking this all week. Mainly when a mob is on a slither of health but dont want to cast anything and waste force, have to run over and smash it with my lightsaber. We totally need a ranged replacement for lightsaber strike.

 

So let your CC kill it off? Or shoot out a quick blast of lighting. By the time you loot the bodies you will have it back.

 

I personally like running up on the last mob and smacking it with the lightsaber.

 

I have no issue with this.

The question really is not running out of force. It's why don't we have a ranged, 0 force ability. The 0 force ability seems odd for a Sorc, but it's perfectly natural for an Assassin. The sorc needs a 0 force ranged heal (or dps).