I've heard TK was one of the funnest DPS specs in the game to play, but I'm kinda tired of DPS. I haven't really focused on playing a healer since vanilla WoW when I played a paladin so I'm kind of interested in that, plus I know you can solo a lot of heroic quests and finding groups for FPs is easier. I've just heard healing in this game is kinda boring.

 

Oh, and this is mainly for PvE.

Edited November 7, 2012 by Kurugi

Also can I pretty much take my melee abilities off my hotbar?

Its been my first serious healer in an mmo, and I am enjoying it very much. My DPS was kind of boring playwise, but I thoroughly enjoyed that class's storyline, and that what kept me playing. Like you said, soloing heroics is possible and still offers a challenge vs. getting your *** pounded being a dps while trying to solo the same stuff. Theres a difference between impossible and challenging.

You also stated that fps are easier to get into. Idk if you ask me, healer is fun and enjoyable. You have to manage more during raids, fps, operations, etc.. So the only time I ever feel bored is if someone is way overleveled for the missions at hand, be it me or another player.

I use the 4 hotbar set up and still have my melee binded ;however, I hardly use melee. As a healer, you won't be using your lightsaber very much, unfortunately. Disturbance is more powerful and easier on your force pool, also ranged; however its channeled.

I've heard TK was one of the funnest DPS specs in the game to play, but I'm kinda tired of DPS. I haven't really focused on playing a healer since vanilla WoW when I played a paladin so I'm kind of interested in that, plus I know you can solo a lot of heroic quests and finding groups for FPs is easier. I've just heard healing in this game is kinda boring.

 

Oh, and this is mainly for PvE.

 

Healing is not boring at all, but that depends on what you like and on the group you are healing, of course.

 

And yes you can take your saber strikes off your hotbars. You will never, ever use them.

If your Gonna do PVP do not go SAGE. Bioware will not give the sage any damage burst. When you get to 50 you'll be mad at spending all the time developing a player, to get killed in 3-4 hits, even with your shield.

Healing is not boring at all, but that depends on what you like and on the group you are healing, of course.

 

And yes you can take your saber strikes off your hotbars. You will never, ever use them.

 

I've healed up to Athiss. It's alright but a little mundane, but I think that has more to do with the fact I don't have all my tools yet so it feels kinda boring when I only have deliverance, benevolence, and my bubble.

 

I'll probably stick to the TK tree up till the 20s or so just cuz spec doesn't really start to affect your playstyle till then.

Healing is not boring at all, but that depends on what you like and on the group you are healing, of course.

 

And yes you can take your saber strikes off your hotbars. You will never, ever use them.

 

Nonsense! I use double-strike now and then - to gleefully finish off a tough marauder that's been on me during a wz

 

As the the OP - a hybrid healer spec is the most useful sage build atm - and it uses Egress and Bubblestun.

Edited November 8, 2012 by Ycoga

Nonsense! I use double-strike now and then - to gleefully finish off a tough marauder that's been on me during a wz

 

As the the OP - a hybrid healer spec is the most useful sage build atm - and it uses Egress and Bubblestun.

 

I said in the OP this is for PvE. Hybrid build with bubble stun is for PvP.

I've heard TK was one of the funnest DPS specs in the game to play, but I'm kinda tired of DPS. I haven't really focused on playing a healer since vanilla WoW when I played a paladin so I'm kind of interested in that, plus I know you can solo a lot of heroic quests and finding groups for FPs is easier. I've just heard healing in this game is kinda boring.

 

Oh, and this is mainly for PvE.

 

If you're gonna premade pvp then go heals. If you're pugging you're gonna rage quit. Before the nabs jump up yelling bs, try it and remember I warned you first. It's way too squishy.

 

Pve it's quite fun.

Edited November 8, 2012 by BoDiE
Read the op again

I said in the OP this is for PvE. Hybrid build with bubble stun is for PvP.

 

AOE heal is only needed in operations, rest of the time use the hybrid.

 

Besides there was no explicit question in your first post anyway, you can't complaing about peoples' interpretations of your statement.

Atm sage dps is by far not the most optimal but still decent enough for most raid groups. I must warn you though if you choose the healing route that the sage healer is much better suited for a support healing role. In our ops group we always have 2 sages that are in charge of aoe healing the melee and ranged (we sort out who is focusing who before each fight) while also putting up bubbles and our armor increasing hot on the tanks. The way our resource works is just much better suited for support healing rather than single target tank healing because it is very easy to screw yourself over surge healing a tank through a burn phase.

to the OP:

 

healing does get better as you get higher. at lower levels you pretty much have a fast heal, a slow heal, and a bubble. at level cap your heals are much more interactive, and you have to make many more choices on how to cycle heals and which one to use your Conveyance buff on. so it's fun. So far I've enjoyed both my sage and my merc's healing styles. My agent is fun too, but she's not max level so i cant' give you an experience from that. but as a tank I love all 3 healing specs in my runs.

 

The thing I enjoy most about the healing classes in this game is that they all have a very different approach to their healing. My merc has to constantly manage heat production, and relies on fast medium str heals with timing their damage reduction screens in, and their default auto shot is always going when nothing else is going on. My agent is juggling HoT's, and being ready for throwing in her big heals when necessary. My sage has a variety of different heals ,but no auto attack heal like my agent or merc, so she is constantly having to decide how to weave in the different heals to maximize throughput vs. force savings, etc. so they are all fun to play really.

 

you can probably get away with DPS spec for a long time OP. Telekinetic spec has amazing force efficiency, even with heals, and I've healed FP's before in TK spec with no issues. I only switched over to healing spec in my mid 40's so I could get used to it. I mix up the two wt 50...since all 3 specs for the sage are viable as healer or DPS in all the current content of the game. Plus, since the gear requirements for healing vs. dps are pretty similar, you don't have to have a completely different set of gear for your sage just to heal (most content...). so sage is a great class to mix up DPS and heals on. Having free respecs is a serious boon for this btw.

To the OP, I think the real question is, "how do you intend on playing?"

 

I play PvE with my Sage and focus on Healing (primary), damage (secondary), and crowd control (third). I use Qyzen as a tank and my role is to support him. When I send him into battle (Attack Target), I give him Force Shield every time.

 

If it is multiple enemies; after sending Qyzen, I send him against the strongest and work my way at attacking the weakest with telekinesis attacks (Project & Telekinetic Throw). While attacking, I also monitor Qyzen's health and watch for any other enemies that may wander into the fray.

 

If it is a single enemy; after sending Qyzen, I do my Damage Over Time (DOT) attacks and may follow with a few telekinesis attacks. My attacks depend on the level and rank (Strong, Boss, etc) of the NPC.

 

Qyzen will use his "taunt" abilities, but if one or more NPCs get close to me, I use Force Wave. If Qyzen is engaged with a difficult NPC and I see another one wandering in, I use Force Lift to give Qyzen time with his current enemy.

 

When in a group, my fighting style reflects the same as when playing with Qyzen.

To the OP, I think the real question is, "how do you intend on playing?"

 

I play PvE with my Sage and focus on Healing (primary), damage (secondary), and crowd control (third). I use Qyzen as a tank and my role is to support him. When I send him into battle (Attack Target), I give him Force Shield every time.

 

If it is multiple enemies; after sending Qyzen, I send him against the strongest and work my way at attacking the weakest with telekinesis attacks (Project & Telekinetic Throw). While attacking, I also monitor Qyzen's health and watch for any other enemies that may wander into the fray.

 

If it is a single enemy; after sending Qyzen, I do my Damage Over Time (DOT) attacks and may follow with a few telekinesis attacks. My attacks depend on the level and rank (Strong, Boss, etc) of the NPC.

 

Qyzen will use his "taunt" abilities, but if one or more NPCs get close to me, I use Force Wave. If Qyzen is engaged with a difficult NPC and I see another one wandering in, I use Force Lift to give Qyzen time with his current enemy.

 

When in a group, my fighting style reflects the same as when playing with Qyzen.

 

This does work very well. The play style reminds me a bit of a Lore Master from Lord of the Rings online (if you played it). The fights might last longer but I enjoy controling the flow of battle with this play style....

 

.....and there is ALWAYS room for a healers in groups

Ive got a 50 sage healer and a 49 kinetic hybrid pvper.

 

Both have there strong points.

Once you get a bit of gear and you gear your dps companion up to columni gear(whatever her name is) you can steamroll any quest with ease. Even 4+ heroic quest in Black Hole area is easily solable, you have a lot of survivability.

I find pvp pretty horrible with the sage at that bracket, but I'm still jaded from the nerfs we got a couple of months back.

 

Admittedly my lvl 49 shadow kinetic-hybrid build is twinked to the max (18k hp in wzs at lvl 49 is *** hax) but I have a lot of fun with her. Can do good to very good dps in aoe or single target, great survivability, and if it gets too much for me I can vanish and bugger off. I initially started her as a infiltration build which was fun as well, but very squishy. Kenetic-hybrid build is so much more fun cause you can stay alive a lot longer.

Endgame healing with a Sage feels a bit like a combination of Holy Priest and Healing Druid from wow.

 

You'll mostly be using Shield, Rejuvenation (HoT) and Healing Trance (channeled heal), and ofcourse your aoe heal, which in many situations is enough combined with shielding

 

Those 2 heales you mentioned you won't use that much (rather not actually) later on, because they are too expensive in power to what you gain from it.

 

And the self heal that they added is awesome, it's free i rarely have to use a heal on myself besides that self heal.

 

overall, i love healing on a sage and prefer it above dps (my main is a sage healer

As respeccing costs no credits any more. Why not spec situational?

 

Samples:

OP Heal: http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#600GrrRrd0dGzZf00MZ0M.2 for max healing/self healing

DPS PVE/PVP: http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#600G0bZcZcMfRsrkbfz.2 with max AOE can suffer energy problem without PVE DPS set bonus

Hybrid DPS/Heal for soloing/FPs: http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#600GhMRrd0zZcZcMcRszz.2 all you need

Hybrid Heal PVP: http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#600GhMRMdMzZfcoMbMdZ0M.2 http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#600GhMRMdMzZfMMMbMdZ0M.2 heal, stun and run

Hybrid DPS PVP: http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#600ZfMMMbMdZcMfRsMkM.2; tools and never OOF

 

As you can see, there are a lot of options and the good thing ist you can go for one gear for all of these, when you go for the combined 2 pieces set bonus from healer and dps gear.

 

Have fun .

Edited November 30, 2012 by Vanarion

I enjoyed playing my DPS sage quite a lot. But, as has been remarked elsewhere in this thread, it boils down to what kind of toon you enjoy running. I like DPS so that's what I went with.

Also can I pretty much take my melee abilities off my hotbar?

 

You can pretty much unequip your lightsabre - or you could if you didn't need it for the stat bonuses from it. Wipe them off, even if you are caught in melee you're better using your non-lightsabre abilities.

If you're gonna premade pvp then go heals. If you're pugging you're gonna rage quit. Before the nabs jump up yelling bs, try it and remember I warned you first. It's way too squishy.

 

Pve it's quite fun.

 

I agree. I've been a healing Sage since launch I love it for PvE. Salvation is amazing! PvP is a different story though. If you queue solo, your team will be disorganized, the opposing team will mark you and you will have your *** handed to you. HOWEVER, if you queue with guildies who can work together then Sage healers rock!