Pre-2.0 we were second only to Sorcerers, but I believe that was also situational. I'd argue we had more mobility, useful for certain fights.

Post 2.0 we haven't changed much, but I've not personally had enough healing experience in an Operations environment with both classes to say if the old order still stands or if there's a change.

All the healing classes should be roughly equivalent now, but with their own niches.

in some fights it becomes stressy because applying medical probe(the on ewith ticks) to everyone and spamming the main heal consumes a lot of energy.

with 2.0 we improved the activation of TA/UA ,like 2 stacks coming out of stealth, one stack with aoe heal and they buffed kolto infusion so i think we have a lot more of resources for endgame.

I have a scoundral and a Sage. Pre 2.0, I think the Scoundral was better in most situations other than AOE in 16 man ops. Even 8 man raid healing I out healed my sage most of the time.

Since 2.0 I haven't got my sage to 55 but I haven't had any problems with my scoundral. I think we got a buff and are better but I think the Sage and Commando buffs were larger so I think they are all pretty solid in most situations.

To answer your question, Yes, Scoundrels are competitive. Played correctly, I think they have the ability to be very good healers with more utility than the other two.

All 3 classes are perfectly viable PVE healers. Mercenaries probably had the most noteworthy drawbacks prior to 2.0, which haven't really been entirely addressed, but that just means that the skill floor is higher.

Operatives have an easier time than ever before of group healing due to improvements to their HOTs and changes to energy management (no more TAs spent on Stim Boost instead of healing).

When people said Sorcs were the best PVE healers, it was due to the act that they had the best single AoE heal (puddle), arguably the highest single-target throughput as well, and a massive well of resources to blow through in emergencies.

Operative's AoE healing got a boost, their single-target healing got a boost, and their energy management got a boost. Sorc got boosts of its own, but both classes, and Merc as well, can absolutely tackle any content successfully without any issues.

rofl my operative/scoundrel pwn any other healers on my server. in hm s&v last night I pulled 3.2k hps in mostly 63mods. and as soon as I get my gear where I want it expect to break 4k hps without breaking a sweat.

Here's a great example of the kind of healer you don't want to be.

I think we absolutely are. You can come into combat now with 2 stacks of upper hand, letting you use kolto pack as a regular part of a rotation instead of a one-off skill. I always keep kolto pack on cooldown in a fight and that alone (combined with keeping pugnacity and disappearing act on cooldown) lets me continually keep upper hand at 2+ while being able to heavily use kolto pack and emergency med pack independent of actual energy reserves.

Maybe not everyone feels the same, but post 2.0 I use disappearing act as energy management skill moreso than 'get my *** out of trouble' skill. If you stagger pugnacity and disappearing act, you have an immediate 1 or 2 upper hand boost every 60 seconds, which is a huge energy advantage IMO.

rofl my operative/scoundrel pwn any other healers on my server. in hm s&v last night I pulled 3.2k hps in mostly 63mods. and as soon as I get my gear where I want it expect to break 4k hps without breaking a sweat.

All the overhealing! http://i0.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/001/987/fyeah.jpg

All the overhealing! http://i0.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/001/987/fyeah.jpg

you guys are funny, no **** thats over healing no fights programmed require that much hps unless your other healer dies. point is its possible. OP was asking if they are viable healers in PvE and if you have the potential to crank out 3-4k hps without much effort I would say thats very viable

believe me if you only look at HPS commando wins.

you guys are funny, no **** thats over healing no fights programmed require that much hps unless your other healer dies. point is its possible. OP was asking if they are viable healers in PvE and if you have the potential to crank out 3-4k hps without much effort I would say thats very viable

Now now n8 no need to brag about the hps,

I think all healers are viable at endgame, the learning curve for a merc healer seems a little steeper but make excellent tank healers. Sorcs have to manage their energy in longer fights and with their puddle allow for better groupwide healing (as long as the DPS stand in the puddle), Operatives are in between but when played correctly can handle either tank healing or party healing and yes n8 is a good operative healer, albeit with a slight ego

Have to say from my view point we're very competitive, the only healers I've run ops with have been Sorcs, and hps wise, I'm quite a bit above them due to mobility and hots I would like to see an overhealing meter however, I find a Sorc/Op team to be really balanced, I only have resource issues when we get some weaker pugs, and that's mostly due to our duo of sin tanks being a bit spikier. And I can provide them(sorc) with hots when they have to use consumption so they can worry more about the ops health than their own.

Our hots require such little resource, we have such mobility with a practically spamable instant heal for 3-5k and our large heal can be anywhere from 5-10k allowing for a large burst of healing in one cast (upto 15k if both heals crit) not to mention we heal while we regen.

I have to say in comparison to my sorc healer I feel a million times more confident I can keep everyone alive on my operative. I've yet to see my merc in 55 HM so we'll see what their comparison is when I get around to that.

Have to say from my view point we're very competitive, the only healers I've run ops with have been Sorcs, and hps wise, I'm quite a bit above them due to mobility and hots I would like to see an overhealing meter however, I find a Sorc/Op team to be really balanced, I only have resource issues when we get some weaker pugs, and that's mostly due to our duo of sin tanks being a bit spikier. And I can provide them(sorc) with hots when they have to use consumption so they can worry more about the ops health than their own.

 

Our hots require such little resource, we have such mobility with a practically spamable instant heal for 3-5k and our large heal can be anywhere from 5-10k allowing for a large burst of healing in one cast (upto 15k if both heals crit) not to mention we heal while we regen.

 

I have to say in comparison to my sorc healer I feel a million times more confident I can keep everyone alive on my operative. I've yet to see my merc in 55 HM so we'll see what their comparison is when I get around to that.

I am always asked to switch to my 55 scoundrel for 55 HMs. We nearly always run a sage/scoundrel combo. Two of either one, or adding a commando into the mix makes it significantly more difficult for us.

I found that getting comfortable with PvP as a scoundrel healer helped me a lot in OPs, given that PvP forces you to become comfortable with the mobility aspect of it.

go sawbones. scoundrels are excelling all the places the sages has difficulties. And no that does not mean the sages are bad. they are still amazing it just means the two classes compliment eachother perfectly.

in the new ops it is an advantage to have one sage and one scoundrel or if not otherwise possible then a mando. The reason for this is the tech and force dispels/cleanses.

Healing wise the scoundrel is faar superior in healing when groups are spread out. if people are grouped the sages salvation will in many cases take care of the group so during those phases you can switch to tank healing or pre- hot/cast for coming phase burst damage.

in pvp even the delevopers mentioned scoundrels as being too good at survivability and otherwise really strong healers.

i can highly recommend the scoundrel as it has several great points.

- mobility

- spike damage reduction through hots

- decent aoe heal

- stealth rezzes

- ability to both tank heal or switch to raid healing depending on the fight and phase.

rofl my operative/scoundrel pwn any other healers on my server. in hm s&v last night I pulled 3.2k hps in mostly 63mods. and as soon as I get my gear where I want it expect to break 4k hps without breaking a sweat.

just 4k?

I am always asked to switch to my 55 scoundrel for 55 HMs. We nearly always run a sage/scoundrel combo. Two of either one, or adding a commando into the mix makes it significantly more difficult for us.

 

I found that getting comfortable with PvP as a scoundrel healer helped me a lot in OPs, given that PvP forces you to become comfortable with the mobility aspect of it.

I second this...I have a 55 scoundrel,and we always run with myself and a sage healing. Any different combo makes it a lot harder. I almost got to the point of quitting my guild because I always got a guilt trip for wanting to try an alt instead of healing for the night.

I also second the PvP comment. Getting good at PvP keeps you from getting used to set rotations, and forces you to be more aware. Once you get used to not standing still for more than 2 seconds, it makes playing a lot better.