1.2 Healer Change Q&A Response and Feedback

Should of just buffed the weaker healing classes and added a new operations/flashpoint difficulty that is harder than nightmare.

Some of us were enjoying the game the way it was and were having fun. For those that found it too easy a harder difficulty would of been the solution.

Can't say I'm surprised though. I've seen developers take the easy and lazy route in nearly every mmo I've played and choose to simply nerf stuff rather than add harder difficulties or buff things that are underpowered.

/logic need not apply here

I get what they are trying to do and I think their goals are right for the game. It's just the methods that seem to need a little work. In the last Q&A GZ talked alot about the numbers and the metrics but nothing about preserving what players loved about their class. That concerns me more than the current changes. It is my fervant hope that the Bioware development team is looking beyond the numbers and seeing the players.

I'm waiting for the next Q&A which is supposed to be completely dedicated to the 1.2 changes. I'm hoping that we'll get a look at their thinking behind all of this and how they think it will affect the players. If it looks they care more about the numbers than the players, I'll probably throw my hands up. But until then, I'm trying to stay positive and give them as much constructive feed back as possible.

Perhaps if we continue to offer better ways and solutions, one will get through...

begs the question, how much does subscription numbers impact design decisions.

i won't even begin to guess at how many people have canceled their subs due to the 1.2 PTS notes, but i'm certain it's more than double digits - because i personally know enough people who canceled after reading the notes.

the sad part is, devs don't even have to be new and inventive. they just have to pick the right suggestions from the forums. there's absolutely no shortage of them. RuQu gives plenty.

alas, devs in general seem to think they know better than anyone else.

I think the whole healing nerf isn't that big of a deal. I have been trying out instances without using the Innervate->Consumption combo in some HMs, and it's not that big of a deal. At the moment, it looks like healers are going to be a problem, but I think it's going to put more pressure on DPS to burn the mobs down faster to avoid having a 5 minute encounter spamming heals.

it's more than just a matter of number games, which is what some of what's been mentioned.

in order to achieve the numbers BW wants, Bounty hunters basically have to spend more time hitting our rapid shot (auto attack, basically). it's boring.. doesn't matter if it's workable, i'm personally not gonna like playing when i just have to keep hitting autoattack

While I love the idea of healers needing to dps, they would need to fix operatives for that. I don't relish the idea of being within 10m of the boss to do my dps, and I don't relish the idea of having to crouch in order to snipe (our only 30m dps ability other then auto attack...well we have corrosive dart to, but that does pitiful damage, and I put it up already anyway :P ).

"Fix Operatives" has been the most common suggestion all along. Fix their healing and make it interesting, if they want us more resource pressed by needing healers to DPS then fix Operative DPS.

Apparently fixing Operatives is a really, really hard thing to do because they are avoiding it at all costs.

I think there's a disconnect between the devs and the game. It really seems like they've gotten so sucked into metrics and community feedback that they aren't playing their own game on live servers--and if they are, the design team must not have an even representation of all the classes.

I see things like the lack of a merc combat rez and wonder why it's even a matter of debate. With the 5-minute debuff after a combat rez, it's really hard to imagine giving the third healer that ability. Just give them the damn spell already. I can't conceive of a situation where mercs having brez will trivialize content.

That's just a healing example. There used to be a 20+ page thread of operatives requesting a gap closer. The most common response was "stealth is your gap closer," despite the fact that assassins have stealth and sprint and a ranged stun and more and better cc/utility in general than operatives. But since concealment operative hate is ingrained in the vocal community at this point, we'll probably continue to see nerfs. After all, GZ's legendary "teams of operatives stunlocking players to death" can't be allowed to continue.

When I was first waffling on what healer to roll, I knew I didn't want to be a force user (ironic seeing as I did wind up rolling a Seer). What finalized Combat Medic for me was the ranged DPS aspect. I just couldn't see myself wanting to get into the fray while healing, especially while leveling with a companion.

I think they have the right number of abilities, beyond 8 or so and you start to see abilities that are too niche and become hard to balance. The problem is the lack of interest. Auto attack heal is boring. Rejuvenation is a chore to get Conveyance. Benevolence doesn't scale well enough for its cost. Trauma Probe is as fun as casting the class buffs.

Personally, I'd like to see the DPS only ACs get the in-combat rez. When I raided in WoW it was always the resident Moonkin who was the dedicated battle rezzer because you can usually afford a momentary DPS loss more than an HPS loss.

The difficult part about this is that they have not shared with us the performance targets that we are exceeding or how they are have intended for the different healing classes to work. This being the case, there is almost no way that we can do more than just make stabs in the dark about how balance should be achieved.

However, it seems to me like they are in a "no win" situation. The conversation goes like this...

Bioware: “Healers should do nothing but heal.”

Community: “Great! Please give us an interesting tool box and healing mechanics that aren’t mind numbing boring to play.”

Or Like this...

Bioware: “We want healing to be dynamic and offer utility beyond heals to the entire party”

Community: “Great! Please bring all of the healing in line and give Scoundrels and Operatives the same ability to weave in DPS and other abilities.”

Either way, they end up with a pretty big over haul that they have to fit into their metrics.

Maybe there is a even a third option that I am missing. Maybe there is even more to it than that what I'm putting forth here. But, we have no way of knowing that unless they share more information with us. Again, It is my hope the 1.2 Q&A will bring that kind of insight or at least a little more then we have now. But regardless, if Bioware can’t show me that they are interested in a healer’s quality of life as much as or more than their metrics, I am probably done with healing. Not because of the changes but because I play the game for enjoyment and what they are doing with healing just isn’t fun.