oh no now we have to rely on healers!!

Agreed. I play sorc healer and usually run EV with another sorc. We AoE every few platforms and is not issue at all. I'm curious how this will effect the other healers that don't have the AoE's we have, legitimately asking here, haven't ran it with anything but two sorc healers. Do people usually medpac the way down if the AoE isn't available?

PvP wise this will drastically reduce the value of medpacks, the in-combat out-of-combat mechanics do not work correctly anyway, often you stay in combat while there is nobody around for minutes, often you will stay in combat as a stealth class even when using cloak screen/force screen etc. (yes even if you remove all effects prior this happens a lot).

The cd reduction will not help since you will not reliably be able to leave combat.

All in all this promotes mindless damage and aoe spam over usage of utility and resources, guess people that where to greedy to buy wz medpacks qq`d hard enough, or some precious 31 talent point tank shadow could not kill a hybrid operative due to medpacks.

In PvE this will make medpacks next to useless since you will be in combat for the whole fight anyway, so it comes down to 1 medpack per person per encounter.

Obviously consumables mess up the balance they are to much of "wild card" since clever usage and timing and cred/comm investment pays off to much. The general direction seems to be to streamline the game towards average numbers and reduce the impact of player timing and decisions.

Well, let`s hope they do not take the same stance on class stories.

Agreed. I play sorc healer and usually run EV with another sorc. We AoE every few platforms and is not issue at all. I'm curious how this will effect the other healers that don't have the AoE's we have, legitimately asking here, haven't ran it with anything but two sorc healers. Do people usually medpac the way down if the AoE isn't available?

i'm an op healer and run with a sorc healer, he aoe heals on the downtime on the platform parts, while i pop my HoTs on people as we platform. It works perfectly...

Making the medpacs variable more controllable for endgame content is a necessary precondition for the creation of tighter, more closely balanced fights.

We don't want medpacs to be as important as class abilities, and we feel they should not become part of rotations. On longer boss fights, this is a trend we've seen happening, and we've counteracted this. Obviously, where needed, boss mechanics would be adjusted to account for this, but we don't really anticipate much impact for that on existing content.

New content (such as Operation: Explosive Conflict and Flashpoint: The Lost Island) is significantly tighter balanced already, with this limitation in mind.

A positive side effect is that the cost of running endgame content is somewhat reduced by this change.

We are still in discussions to restore pre-level 50 medpacs to their previous condition to avoid negatively affecting the PvE game during the leveling process for people that heavily rely on medpacs.

@OP: This is a good change. I'm a Biochem and I still think it's a good change. The longer the fight is, the more times you can use Medpacs and fights shouldn't be balanced around how many times you can use a medpack.

WoW does this now as Illidan fights were like 20 minutes so it go stupid for people to have to use 5+ healing pots every attempt as their trying to make progress.

Sure, having infinite Rakata Medpacs are great, but it sucks for non Biochem toons who have to either buy or have someone else make them pots.

And let me just point out:

 

Every crafter other than Biochem is getting a big "buff" in terms of making their crafting more viable and useful, etc., in an effort to start up an economy.

 

In contrast, with THIS change, BW IS NOW NERFING THE HELL OUT OF DEMAND FOR BIOCHEM PRODUCTS. Nerfed hard.

 

As I've said before: the trifecta of 1.2 unsubbing...sorc healer who took biochem and ended up on a low pop server.

Wait, so you are saying Biochems are currently mass producing med packs and selling them at blazing rates? I've never ONCE bought a Biochem med pack... The only things I get from Biochem are Stims and Adrenals... But Med Packs? I just use the junky ones I get while doing my dailies. They're enough of a heal to get me out of an "oh crap moment."

I can understand the change for PVE fine...no issues there...

 

But ooc mechanics in PVP are broken..I've played entire hutball matches without dying and without ever leaving combat... a 6-10min game where I can only use my PVP medpack once?

You exit combat in PvP 8 seconds after the last hostile action. DOTs do not refresh this status.

You're playing very unusual games of Huttball if you never drop out of combat. Especially given that the ball resets to the center after someone scores, moving the action quickly.

Agreed. I play sorc healer and usually run EV with another sorc. We AoE every few platforms and is not issue at all. I'm curious how this will effect the other healers that don't have the AoE's we have, legitimately asking here, haven't ran it with anything but two sorc healers. Do people usually medpac the way down if the AoE isn't available?

Well, mercenaries, sorcerers, and operatives have their class heals. They ought to be helping with the healing. It's not like they use their resources for anything else during that phase.

I like this change, although my raid char has biochem. If we can pop a heal every 90 seconds, we will do it. So what are the developers to do? They could increase the damage to compensate, but then the players would see themselves forced to min-max their characters. Or they could remove a problematic game mechanic right now.

It's like designing a boss around dispelling priority but allowing addons to automate the process.

And you are constantly entering an exiting combat in PvP.

 

Also, in PvP, your group does not put you in combat if they are in combat. This is obvious, because you can, for example, meditate or stealth during Warzones while fighting is going on elsewhere.

 

The restriction is "per fight", not "per warzone", or "per flashpoint." PER FIGHT.

 

There is an icon which appears above your action bar. Its a yellow eye when enemies are near, and its a red "gun" in a circle when you are in combat. When that red gun disappears, you are no longer in combat. The medpack lockout it tied to that red gun (to being in combat). If you are "in combat" and you use a medpack, and you remain "in combat" for 91 seconds, your medpack will be locked out, unable to be used again. However, the SECOND you exit combat, the lockout is removed.

 

This affects Boss Fights in PvE, not PvP at all.

i simply made this response based on the previous posters comment about 90 sec pvp fight, admittingly you raise a valid point, its not per wz, its per combat engagement ...it will only affect pve which my powertech did every world mission and all his class quest, purely pve until 50, and i dont recall ever needing to use more then one medpak per encounter. now as far as bosses, i think this is a good change, as it will focus on healers more and making those encounters more strategic. But will just have to try it out and see.

I didn't see this in the patch notes. Will go back and look.

It seems to me that this is just another thing to add to my list when I tell BW why I'm cancelling my account.

I play primarily solo. A change like this hurts the solo player immensely. And if they change it for pre-50 for pve people leveling, what happens after they raise the level cap and add more content? Same dilema for casuals and pve people.

They want to keep making this game harder and harder for the pvpers and the hard cores, fine. I won't be here to see it.

ps: edited for clarity and in view of Georg Zoeller's post

another reason to quit this game and not look back when D3 comes out

Unless you are in the beta... you are in for a surprise...

I didn't see this in the patch notes. Will go back and look. Is this yet another "stealth" change they threw in and "forgot" to mention in the notes?

 

Well, either way, it seems to me that this is just another thing to add to my list when I tell BW why I'm cancelling my account.

 

I play primarily solo. A change like this hurts the solo player immensely. They want to keep making this game harder and harder for the pvpers and the hard cores, fine. I won't be here to see it.

Funny, I hardly ever needed a Med Pack leveling my Sentinel and I've never done Solo content that the fight lasted long enough to use two Med Packs...

i'm an op healer and run with a sorc healer, he aoe heals on the downtime on the platform parts, while i pop my HoTs on people as we platform. It works perfectly...

I do understand the problem with this though. On Soa we have an ops healer and a bh healer and they struggle to get everyone up to full health between platform jumps. While 2 sorcs can do it while snoozing.

That's not a problem with medpacs... that's a problem with Bioware still not understanding that Sorcs Healers for PvE are still the best because of their AoE.

@OP: This is a good change. I'm a Biochem and I still think it's a good change. The longer the fight is, the more times you can use Medpacs and fights shouldn't be balanced around how many times you can use a medpack.

 

WoW does this now as Illidan fights were like 20 minutes so it go stupid for people to have to use 5+ healing pots every attempt as their trying to make progress.

 

Sure, having infinite Rakata Medpacs are great, but it sucks for non Biochem toons who have to either buy or have someone else make them pots.

this is like me saying Cyber techs should only use a reuseable Granade once per combat.

PVP is might effect player made ones, however you should also note from today's patch, which is a nice buff PVP side :

PvP medpacs now have a 1.5-minute cooldown (down from 3)

*Now by saying this I am merely pointing out the patch notes, not advocating one way or the other, and I would appreciate no one attacking me because I pointed out the PVP medpack change. Thanks.

And let me just point out:

 

Every crafter other than Biochem is getting a big "buff" in terms of making their crafting more viable and useful, etc., in an effort to start up an economy.

 

In contrast, with THIS change, BW IS NOW NERFING THE HELL OUT OF DEMAND FOR BIOCHEM PRODUCTS. Nerfed hard.

 

As I've said before: the trifecta of 1.2 unsubbing...sorc healer who took biochem and ended up on a low pop server.

This change actually helps BioChems in the long run.

People will now see the worth in buying the higher end more expensive medpacs. BioChems will see that its now more worth their time to craft the higher end medpacs because demand will skyrocket for them. Before we just buy stacks of the cheapest ones because would use so many of them. Now that we can only use one per Boss Fight, will make more sense to buy the better quality and more expensive ones.

PvP?

 

What PvP fights are you in which last over 90 seconds? Healer vs healer? ROFL.

 

Maybe in Voidstar, as defender, I can see you being in combat > 90 seconds if you are amazing and never die. Maybe.

 

This change is a complete non-issue for PvP. This affects PvE Boss Fights tremendously, however.

To answer your question: Perpetually in every WZ that a player isn't AFK'ing. When a player actively participates in any of the three WZs, there are few breaks in combat. Likewise in 50 WZs, death is much easier to avoid.

If you need harder content, buff the enemies. Don't nerf the players. It only sows discontent.

No that is a wrong move- when you buff the enemies you end up with huge dmg spikes which is alot worse. Do you want to see tanks go from 100% to 30% in just 2 hits?

Changes such as this are never requested by the community. However, it makes encounters easier to design around. Medpacs are the emergency, going to die, need health instantly type item. Being able to use them several times throughout the fight mitigates the encounter. This type of change was required for balance.

Ok fine.. then they can reimburse all 3 of my 50s the 2 million credits I dumped into Biochem as now with this and the long term goals to remove my reusables.. whats the GD point in having BC?

none..

This isnt just a nerf to PVE its a nerf to Biochems..

and its flat out dumb..

wait does this mean as a shadow, i can invis and leave combat and pop a medpack again?! AWESOME! GG losers!

think of the days when frozen shock water was constantly used by shadows...

you get the shadow down from 18k to 9k, you are excited.....youve never gotten a shadow to half health before...

medpack 4.5k + stealth + medpack 4.5k = *** hes back at full life!? oh noes owned by Repent again on Wall of Light

or are they using both a cooldown timer and a combat only timer?

why the unecessary mechanic?

what about all the glitchy as hell ops where you are in combat for a long time for no reason...

D:

It should have been this way from the start. It encourages better play, especially in raids. You should have to rely more on your own skill and those around you more than falling back on being able to heal yourself over few minutes.

No other MMO has inserted such a limitation and yet, people are still able to claim they're "hardcore" despite using their medpacks and going to the raid prepared with consumables. Using a medpack 2-3 times during a 5-10 minute boss encounter is hardly game breaking or significant supplemental healing...and it's hardly an indication that you're not "hardcore." Making a silly post that attempts to justify a ridiculous game mechanics change on the basis that everyone else needs to [insert chest thumping] L2P....that is pretty indicative that you're just pretending to be "hardcore."

No other MMO has inserted such a limitation.....

WoW did.

No that is a wrong move- when you buff the enemies you end up with huge dmg spikes which is alot worse. Do you want to see tanks go from 100% to 30% in just 2 hits?

they already do...

try NM mode.. or even hard on some bosses..

easy/story mode not so much..