Bug report or oversight -

 

The Bounty Hunter / Mercenary / Healer ability (Kolto Shell) scales extremely poorly

 

at ~300 heal/proc for 10 charges @ 1proc/3sec

 

100hp/sec compared to the other heals is just so poor, with the only-one-active restriction, it's almost not even worth casting at the expense of a global c/d (autoattack heal is ~500 heal+crits in current t2 gear, free also, can grant the on-crit alacrity buff).

 

i realize posts like these are why the combat log isnt enabled yet, but you get this one anyway

 

thanks!

-random healer merc

It's currently bugged and doesn't have an internal cooldown, so it's actually a LOT more healing. You can literally have all 10 charges go off on a tank in a few seconds. It's not meant to be a super big heal, its complementary to our other skills. You can auto attack heal while shell is on your target, so what auto attack heal does healing wise vs. shell is kind of irrelivant.

 

It's also completely free, with no cooldown... so I think it's pretty nice actually.

Edited January 17, 2012 by Damarak

Kolto shell is pretty bad even in its broken state. It's free in heat, but it costs a talent point and eats a GCD. Since it's weaker than even non-crit rapid shots, it's an entirely optional skill in the healing tree. When you compare it to its counterpart (Static Barrier), you see that it's given to the entire AC and talent points can be used to buff it. Stronger shields, additional movespeed, etc. Shell is definitely an ability that needs to be looked at some time down the road.

I might agree that its optional except the fact that its a shell. Its not a hot, so putting it on a tank before a fight costs nothing and it ends up being like 2500 heal. Agree its pretty weak, and refreshing it is certainly more debatable but I like you you can throw it on prefight and it works like a free heal. Worth a spec point to me even as is.

Kolto shell is pretty bad even in its broken state. It's free in heat, but it costs a talent point and eats a GCD. Since it's weaker than even non-crit rapid shots, it's an entirely optional skill in the healing tree. When you compare it to its counterpart (Static Barrier), you see that it's given to the entire AC and talent points can be used to buff it. Stronger shields, additional movespeed, etc. Shell is definitely an ability that needs to be looked at some time down the road.

 

I'm sure you can work a GCD in when the tank is topped off, even if it's for a few seconds at a time. Whether it's better than pre-casting a heal while the tank is topped off (with the potentionall strafe left/right half a step to cancel the heal) is for better theorycrafters to figure out. I love the skill. There was something similar in Rift called Orbs of the Streams. Still affectionately call shells 'orbs'.

 

Yeah, it may not scale awesomely, but I'd rather have the current state than one with an ICD. Especially in PvP. I'm just starting gearing out post-50 and I'm seeing some pretty sizeable crits from shells in the PvP department

Edited January 18, 2012 by Puzzlybox

My argument isn't that it's entirely crap, it's just that it isn't very effective for the investment. 2.5k of healing over 30 seconds is minimal. It does need scaling. Even a retool on its utility. I know it's layered "on top" of everything you do, so directly comparing it to other healing abilities isn't perfect, but you can blow its total healing away with your first rapid scan.

It could do with some better scaling. But remember that it's a complimentary ability.

 

Also there are a few factors that make it uncomparable with a HoT:

 

1. It's free, which is a big deal in a resource limited mechanic that all classes have.

2. It's reactive healing, which means that it never overheals; unlike a HoT.

 

I do think Kolto Shell could do with a little more umph. Be it a bit better scaling or maybe some more supporting talents.

It could do with some better scaling. But remember that it's a complimentary ability.

 

Also there are a few factors that make it uncomparable with a HoT:

 

1. It's free, which is a big deal in a resource limited mechanic that all classes have.

2. It's reactive healing, which means that it never overheals; unlike a HoT.

 

I do think Kolto Shell could do with a little more umph. Be it a bit better scaling or maybe some more supporting talents.

 

 

What it comes down to, however, is comparison in healing ability. No argument makes Kolto Shell do respectable healing. The HoT component of the Healing Scan talent heals more than a Kolto Shell using all of the charges. The disparity only gets worse as you get more gear, as it seems Kolto Shell also scales worse than everything else, for whatever reason.

 

Hell... Kolto Missile heals more PER TARGET than Kolto Shell does total.

 

Reactive healing COULD overheal... except that the pitiful amount this one does would rarely find itself in a situation where this is the case.

 

 

We compare it to HoTs because they are the closest in mechanics. There is absolutely no reason Kolto Shell should heal LESS than a HoT you can put on multiple targets. Especially if they fix it so it really does only trigger once every 3 seconds... at which point it becomes a worthless waste of a GCD.

 

I think the last time I looked, it was doing 320 a charge for me...

My moderately geared Assassin tank buddy has 21000 HP...

Yeah... slight buff to healing potential and scaling is a pretty gross understatement. I realize that it is not a "main" healing spell, but the fact is, that with health pools that high(and as a result, incoming damage very high) a 320 heal is absolutely worthless.

I've done a bit of healing just running with a crit/surge setup and foregoing alacrity since the instant heal, kolto missile and kolto shell don't benefit from haste, and it's working out pretty nicely.

 

I don't have any real math to share but my guess is I get an average of around 4500 heals per kolto shell, my only complaint is the buff is so tiny in the buff bar! Oo

surge/power is the way to go.

 

Kolto shell is great, it's free it's automatic. Mine crits for upwards of 850 which is nothing to complain about.

Don't know how it scales yet, only lvl 31 so far, but just got the skill and absolutely in love with it. It's free, and so replaces a rapid shots, so compairing it to anything else is a bit useless, and it's more a DR skill then a true heal.

 

But I went from needing heals solo'ing 1 elite, to being able to solo groups of 4 elites.

 

Would change completely if it did have a 3 sec internal timer though.