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Mouseover Healing


Malicity

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Really? You cannot heal without it?

 

Its like that one extra little click is too much for some people...

 

Really? like it affects you how I heal.

 

I can heal without it, I find it a better play experience to heal with it.

 

How about between every attack you have to re-click the target? See how tiresome that gets.

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I didn't realize MMOs were a sport.

 

It's funny you should mention chess. I have a cousin who plays chess competitively. He's damn good at it. But he has cerebral palsy. He doesn't have the manual dexterity to pick up a chess piece and move it without knocking other pieces over and ruining the game. So in tournament games, he has an assistant - he calls out the move he wants to make, and the assistant moves the piece and records the move on his scoresheet.

 

Does that "make chess easier"? Technically, I suppose. But no chess player in their right mind would argue that it matters. Chess is a game of the mind, and the board is only a physical representation of it - the real skill being challenged in chess is not in moving the pieces, but in deciding where to move them.

 

MMOs are, similarly, games of the mind.

 

Well said.

 

The difficulty in MMOs should be in choosing the right skills and the right time, not the interface itself.

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Here's my solution.

 

I have a Logitech G500 Mouse. It comes with software that allows you to re-assign what happens when you press any button on the mouse(ie. left scroll, right scroll, sensitivity up, sensitivity down, etc...)

 

I just make my left scroll hit the letter 'g' for instance. And then I bind the heal spell to 'g'. To get really fancy I make a macro with the logitech software to Left Click -> Then type 'g'. That way it clicks on the person before pressing 'g' to heal.

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I agree that the genre has evolved were things like this should be standard. And to all those whining about a healbot....you whine about needing healers well make it more enjoyable to heal. It's boring to sit staring at unit frames the whole time. It feels like playing excel spreadsheet. Mouse-over casting isn't noobish, or heal-bot, it just lets you focus your eyes on the action and heal based on the flow of battle.

 

 

same reason buff's need to display over characters heads in the field of play. The more things you put in the field of play rather than the UI the more immersed you are in the battle and not feeling like you're just watching numbers.

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I know I am repeating my self, but after reading all these replies I came to think that most people here are simply too lazy (or plain stupid) and dont realize that...

... you can already have mouse over healing! and click casting healing! and a Stable Target!

 

A) As I previously said there is software you can bind macro to mouse buttons (and keyboard keys) to automatically (1)click to select target (2)hit key to activate ability/heal (3)delay/wait till ability/heal casting time ends (4)Esc to disselect target. You just need 15 mins to set it up Max. (read my 1st post in topic).

 

B) The game already has FOCUS target frame for ***** sake just enable it from game config menu; Then select your target and hit alt+f. This will give you an additional focus frame on the right of your screen that doesnt change(when switching targets). You can use this for what ever purpose you like tank, Boss, CC... you name it.

 

with this method I am already using mouse-over and click-casting over the game's default focus & raid frames that are already unbelievably good for healing (and not only).

 

Till the time developers implement it by default you just need 15 mins to have this all working(repeating my self again) Jeez!

 

.

...oh yea and sorry for my bad English.

Edited by Cyberkensho
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I know I am repeating my self, but after reading all these replies I came to think that most people here are simply too lazy (or plain stupid) and dont realize that...

... you can already have mouse over healing! and click casting healing! and a Stable Target!

 

A) As I previously said there is software you can bind macro to mouse buttons (and keyboard keys) to automatically (1)click to select target (2)hit key to activate ability/heal (3)delay/wait till ability/heal casting time ends (4)Esc to disselect target. You just need 15 mins to set it up Max. (read my 1st post in topic).

 

B) The game already has FOCUS target frame for ***** sake just enable it from game config menu; Then select your target and hit alt+f. This will give you an additional focus frame on the right of your screen that doesnt change(when switching targets). You can use this for what ever purpose you like tank, Boss, CC... you name it.

 

with this method I am already using mouse-over and click-casting over the game's default focus & raid frames that are already unbelievably good for healing (and not only).

 

Till the time developers implement it by default you just need 15 mins to have this all working(repeating my self again) Jeez!

 

.

...oh yea and sorry for my bad English.

 

Using third party software to automate tasks in the game is a bannable offence?

 

Aside from that, do you not think it would be alot easier and smoother to have this implemented ingame instead of having to use third party software.

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I am a "main healing" noob with SWTOR - I have been healing in other games, but never in raids or large party situations other than Planetside, which has an entirely different system so it is not particularly relevant to the discussion.

 

I find that, with the 4-man groups, there is no real need for mouseover healing. Sure, it would make my life easier and I might be a better healer if I had the option, but I am fat enough and lazy enough as it is, without the game giving me another crutch.

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I am a "main healing" noob with SWTOR - I have been healing in other games, but never in raids or large party situations other than Planetside, which has an entirely different system so it is not particularly relevant to the discussion.

 

I find that, with the 4-man groups, there is no real need for mouseover healing. Sure, it would make my life easier and I might be a better healer if I had the option, but I am fat enough and lazy enough as it is, without the game giving me another crutch.

 

There is more to the game than 4 man flashpoints.

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Using third party software to automate tasks in the game is a bannable offence?

 

Aside from that, do you not think it would be alot easier and smoother to have this implemented ingame instead of having to use third party software.

 

Well for once logitech and Razer give drivers and software to bind and to macro for their input devices; that is the kind of software I mean, I dont mean anything illegal like a bot or something (NO auto tasks that is). Its easy to find software to bind for any mouse or keyboard for free over the net.

 

Ofc I do agree with you, it would be better if In-game.

 

I am just pointing (a bit too intensively) to a temporary alternative to mouse-over, one easy for everyone.

Sadly it seems though that most people do not even know (from what I get to read in this topic) that there is a focus and stable target frame already ingame (they keep talking about loosing their target when they heal having to reselect and all that kind of ********).

Edited by Cyberkensho
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after playing a bit (lvl 27now) my ONLY gripe with the ui is the buff timers.

 

it is ridiculous to mouseover the buff icons to see the exact time left on a hot espesially since the icons are so small and the fase out effect of them running off so vague.

 

apart from that, with raid frames and enabled numbers for hps it is ridicusly easy to just click and heal, but monitoring hots on 2-3people is atm impossible.

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Real healers actually use commands, a blindfold, and a single-sleeved jacket.

Those keybinds are way too convenient.

 

Type the following to become a true healer worth his salt:

 

/select nextfriendly

/cast "Healingspell"{rankofspell}{spellmodifier}

 

THEN we can talk how good you really are.

Now of course, that's probably too hardcore and you're going to whine that having a nicely laid user interface isn't superfluous.

Well... know that it is!

 

When I was young, we had 14k modems, no mouse and we were healing gods. Blindfolds were mandatory: seeing the screen would have made healing way too casual friendly.

 

You have it easy nowadays. You've no idea.

 

 

Reasoning by absurdity to reach the unreasonable.

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I was an end game healer in my last MMO... our guild was server first all the time, etc. and for some reason, I was the favorite healer. I was also a favorite healer in PvP (I always found my favored status interesting since everyone thought I was so knowledgeable but truth is I healed more by instinct and feel and less on theory-craft. I couldn't theroy-craft my way out of a barn with no walls! I used to go to the forums and see what other people were doing and then try our their builds and ideas to see if it fit for me. )

 

Anyway, I never used mouse-over healing and did just fine. I kind of had a knack for just knowing what skill to use when... I could predict damage and base my heals on looking at the debuffs, the boss position, target or target (or in the case of PvP knowing the personality and fight style of the opposing players).

 

Anyway, all that said, I really don't have a problem with adding mouseover healing as long as raid leaders or healing class leaders don't "require" it for raiding. That's my only real concern with this issue.

 

Just wanted to throw that out there... oh, and yes, I also miss target of target (I'd love to see it, but I suppose I can adapt).

Edited by Jilla
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Anyway, I never used mouse-over healing and did just fine. I kind of had a knack for just knowing what skill to use when... I could predict damage and base my heals on looking at the debuffs, the boss position, target or target.

 

All things that need an upgrade in the current UI. Buff/Debuff timers? Nah. Being able to look at your environment? Nope, the UI is static.

 

 

Anyway, all that said, I really don't have a problem with adding mouseover healing as long as raid leaders or healing class leaders don't "require" it for raiding. That's my only real concern with this issue.

 

That's player based, and has nothing to do with the requests being made of BioWare to add basic functionality to the UI so that healers can scratch "Interacting with the game" off the list of challenges they face when doing their job.

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I feel the need to bring up the fact that operation frames are pretty great, somewhat customizable and movable, and can be used in place of regular party frames. :)

 

The Buff/Debuff display still sucks though. :p

 

 

Mouseover healing is not something I feel Bioware needs to add to the game itself, anymore than they should add built in clickcasting.

 

But giving us the ability to use UI mods... that is coming, yes? *daydreams*

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I just read back a little and saw something I really take issue with.

 

You think the job of a healer is more difficult than the job of a dps player based on the fact that we have to click between targets? Dps players need to target swap, too. o.o And the simple fact is, you don't need to target swap after every heal all the time. Sometimes you do, sometimes you don't. Just like sometimes a dps player will need to target swap, and sometimes they won't.

 

I mean sure, it's on a healer to be more aware of other players and this we are paying attention to other unit frames and the environment around not only our character, but the other characters as well. That is all part of being a healer. It's a multi tasking kinda gig. And speaking to that, for my purposes and preferences the overall UI is far too large and takes up way too much screen real estate. The ability to scale it IS a basic function that should be included.

 

I'm all for UI customization. It was one of the things I delighted in with WoW - not only for functionality but also for aesthetics. UI modding is just plain fun.

 

Still I don't see how we need something so specific as mouseover casting built into the UI. I would much rather see them open things up to allow player created customization.

Edited by qqemokitty
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All things that need an upgrade in the current UI. Buff/Debuff timers? Nah. Being able to look at your environment? Nope, the UI is static.

 

 

 

 

That's player based, and has nothing to do with the requests being made of BioWare to add basic functionality to the UI so that healers can scratch "Interacting with the game" off the list of challenges they face when doing their job.

 

Yeah... I haven't gotten very far to see how the UI really works. I am only level 12 on my hunter (and level 11 on my smuggler and 10 on my agent). I haven't even grouped yet (I mean other than informal pugs on the starter planets). I am kind of nervous to try out healing and have been shying away from groups for the most part. I like to have a better feel for things before I jump in and I don't have that "Feel" yet.

 

I know the idea of requiring mouse over is a player based thing. I just wanted to chime in to say I support the idea of mouse over if that's what makes fellow healers enjoy the game, but I just don't want to to become "Required" by other players because I don't know if I want to use it. Then again, I suppose you could argue "how would they know?"

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I just read back a little and saw something I really take issue with.

 

You think the job of a healer is more difficult than the job of a dps player based on the fact that we have to click between targets? Dps players need to target swap, too. o.o

 

I had to smile at this. One reason I like healing is, frankly, I find it to be the least stressful raid job for me (fits my playstyle). In the last game I was in, in the hardest raid, there was a specific order people had to hit targets based on the target's debuffs... and everyone had to switch at the right time. Or some bosses would heal the "damage" instead of taking the damage if you hit them at the wrong time. I didn't have to worry about any of that. I just healed people and buffed the raid--with occasional cc if needed. Sometimes I would ninja a killing blow on a boss--just for giggles, but mainly my job was support the raid.

 

Although I do think that people notice more if you slack off or screw up healing than they do if you DPS.

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I had to smile at this. One reason I like healing is, frankly, I find it to be the least stressful raid job for me (fits my playstyle). In the last game I was in, in the hardest raid, there was a specific order people had to hit targets based on the target's debuffs... and everyone had to switch at the right time. Or some bosses would heal the "damage" instead of taking the damage if you hit them at the wrong time. I didn't have to worry about any of that. I just healed people and buffed the raid--with occasional cc if needed. Sometimes I would ninja a killing blow on a boss--just for giggles, but mainly my job was support the raid.

 

Although I do think that people notice more if you slack off or screw up healing than they do if you DPS.

 

God yes. I play healers exclusively, DPSing is way more nerve wracking to me! Glad I'm not alone in that, lol. :)

 

It depends on the encounter. There are some encounters more forgiving towards dps, and some more forgiving towards healers. DPS checks, ick. :p

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I think they've specifically stated they don't intend to add mods or macros, no?

 

If that's the case, and that's fine, then some reasonable healer-friendly UI features (mouseover, clickcasting, buff/debuff filtering) need to be baked into the game itself.

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I think they've specifically stated they don't intend to add mods or macros, no?

 

If that's the case, and that's fine, then some reasonable healer-friendly UI features (mouseover, clickcasting, buff/debuff filtering) need to be baked into the game itself.

 

I thought they said UI mods and macros were planned features for a near-future update. I'll see if I can find my source. :D

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UI customization – You like choice. We hear you! SWTOR is all about choice. Being able to choose how you interact with an online game is something we feel is very important. We are going to be giving more control over the UI as an ongoing effort. This is a very big priority for us.

 

Source

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Macros are a pretty broad term for certain convenience and advanced user functions at this time. Some of those features are present as possible key binds in the game, others are not.

We’re not opposed to macros, we don’t hate them, in fact we will probably add them, but probably not for launch.

 

Source - Note: Original quotes linked from article no longer available due to pre-launch forum purge.

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I just read back a little and saw something I really take issue with.

 

You think the job of a healer is more difficult than the job of a dps player based on the fact that we have to click between targets? Dps players need to target swap, too. o.o And the simple fact is, you don't need to target swap after every heal all the time. Sometimes you do, sometimes you don't. Just like sometimes a dps player will need to target swap, and sometimes they won't.

No, I'm not necessarily saying it's more difficult. Difficulty is subjective. I personally happen to find it easier to perform well as a healer than as another role.

 

I am saying it objectively involves more physical interaction with the user interface, especially via the mouse. We do far more target switching - as a raid healer, every moment of every fight is the equivalent of an add phase. This, combined with the reactive nature of the job, necessarily ties up our mouse (and often our eyes) more than a DPSer's. And that limits our mobility and situational awareness. (I don't care how good of a multitasker you are, if you're selecting a target on the raidframes, you cannot, at the same moment, be using your mouse to move your camera around the room.)

 

That's not really something that can be mitigated - we sort of just deal. But the other annoying thing about healing that DPS don't have to deal with is that it ties up our target and (for some) focus frame with duplicate information. Mouseovers mitigate that. And they also mitigate the sheer volume of button presses (without them we're generally doing twice as many for every action, except when we're spamhealing a tank).

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I guess I am confused. If you are mouseover healing, how can you, at the same time, also be using the mouse to move the camera around, any more so than if you were using the mouse to target the player? In either instance, your mouse cursor is over a player frame. In either case, you can hold down your right mouse button to move the camera view without compromising anything.

 

Mouseover healing is (to me) the same amount of "actions" as standard hotkey healing (the method I employ).

 

Mouseover: Put cursor over desired frame, push desired hotkey/mouse button, heal casts, put cursor over next frame, rinse repeat

 

Standard: Click on desired frame, push desired hotkey/mouse button, heal casts, click next frame, rinse repeat

 

The only different is the target swap. And if there is a target I need to keep targeted, I use the focus frame. (But holy moly, for the love of all things, pretty please give me ToT and ToFT :p)

 

Also I have a migraine right now so my brain powers are a bit muffled. :p

 

I have to admit, I have been healing a long time and am very much a creature of habit in games and in life. I don't see any benefit to mouseover healing over the standard method aside from maintaining a target. Now, clickcasting actually does reduce an action, by placing the cast in the same action as the "hover" or "click on" of mouseover or standard casting methods.

 

tl;dr: unicorns, i love them.

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