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Kolto Burst


LordFell

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I am not currently on the PTS, but this is an ability I feel needs to show up on the PTS for some re-testing.

 

The current meta has Medicine Operatives doing mad, AoE healing by simply using Kolto Injection on themselves. For the unaware, Medicine Operatives have a Utility that modifies Kolto Injection to heal up to 8 allies.

 

Now... normally a Utility takes a base ability and improves the way it functions between 50 and 100 percent. I'm thinking of the Utilities available for Dark Infusion on the Sorcerer tree. One is Rally, which changes it into a power that heals two targets instead of one (100% more powerful) and Lingering Corruption which adds a HoT to Dark Infusion that adds about 50% more healing. In comparison, the Operative utility Kolto Burst, gives the ability 8 targets, makes it literally 800% more powerful. I don't know who looked at this and thought it was balanced, but it obviously needs to be reworked.

 

My thinking is, that for a reasonable change to the Medicine Operative is to take an ability from Nano Healing and swap it with Kolto Burst. So, Nano Healing would instead heal up to 8 targets (instead of 4, which is a 100% improvement to power) and Kolto Injection would gain an ability that increases healing done to the target by 20% for 15 seconds (Nano Heal has a similar utility).

 

I think it's better to be pro-active about this kind of wild imbalance instead of just waiting for the Nerf Bat to come down.

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Part of the issue is that Sorc's AoE spread got nerfed from the original PTS to live for some reason, and the Mercenary's AoE equivalent is locked to an ability with a cooldown which drops a puddle that one other player has to actively walk into.

 

Another problem is that the operative's level of healing is straight up necessary in some forms of content.

The one balancing factor is that you do need to be in melee range and stand still for 1.5-2 seconds for most of the casts.

 

One solution could be to add a rate limit to kolto injection's AoE heal.

 

The other option is to buff the other 2 healer disciplines to reach similar levels of healing.

 

The best solution imo is a combination of both solutions:

Operative receives a rate limit to kolto burst of a few seconds / 2-3 gcds. This forces operative players to use their other AoE abilities and also gives more incentive to using kolto probes - which I honestly barely bother to maintain 100% of the time at the moment.

 

For Sorcerer, a buff could come in the form of allowing resurgence to spread to 8 players again instead of 4 and maybe a buff to revivification.

Rally could also be buffed to heal up to 4 targets rather than 2. This would be less than the operative's 8, but with the benefit of being able to be used at range instead of needing to be within 8 of all targets.

 

For Mercenary, the healing puddle gimmick was interesting in theory, but in practice is just way too impractical.

Having Healing Scan affect multiple targets (2-4?) with a morph is the obvious solution - and it even has it's own rate limit due to healing scan having a cooldown outside of it's burst window. Healing scan is a stronger heal than both kolto injection and dark infusion, and retains the Merc's identity as the best limited target burst healer.

 

With these buffs, Operative would be the strongest melee range AoE healer (though adding a rate limit of a few seconds would still be good). Operatives would also be incentivised to use more of their healing arsenal when playing.

Sorcerer would be a bit worse but with AoE usable at range and might not even need a rate limit.

Mercenary would have the best burst AoE healing and since it already has a rate limit and frankly garbage ability morphs compared to both other healers, it has the most room for buffing imo.

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With these buffs, Operative would be the strongest melee range AoE healer (though adding a rate limit of a few seconds would still be good). Operatives would also be incentivised to use more of their healing arsenal when playing.

 

Sorcerer would be a bit worse but with AoE usable at range and might not even need a rate limit.

Mercenary would have the best burst AoE healing and since it already has a rate limit and frankly garbage ability morphs compared to both other healers, it has the most room for buffing imo.

Well... really, Operative/Scoundrel is the ONLY Melee Healer; Sage/Sorc and Merc/Mando are at range healers.

 

You've also nailed one of my big problems with Operative Healing right now. Before I knew about Kolto Burst, I was using the one that applies DR to the target, and using my full spectrum of abilities. Healing that way, was more interesting because you're using all your tools. However, healing that way also makes Operatives kind of weak.

 

Then I watched a video about Operative healing, learned the trick about Kolto Burst.... and now Operative Healing is incredibly potent, and cripplingly boring. This specific ability needs to go, and the kit needs a polish to keep it competitive.

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Then I watched a video about Operative healing, learned the trick about Kolto Burst.... and now Operative Healing is incredibly potent, and cripplingly boring. This specific ability needs to go, and the kit needs a polish to keep it competitive.

 

I was actually doing a story mode ops yesterday with a few newer players in the group who didn't know that you're supposed to group up, so I actually got to use my other abilities more :D

 

Something definitely needs to change, but I'm hesitant to say "just nerf operative" because harder content is already far too difficult for most players even with operative healing. Further, I know for a blatant fact that if operatives get nerfed, the devs won't pay attention and readjust for many many months if they go too far. I'm pretty sure one of the sorc healing morphs that I have complained on the forums about for nearly a year at this point (early 7.0 PTS testing) is still unchanged and NEVER taken.

 

As such I'd much prefer the other two specs receive more substantial buffs and a short time limit to the effectiveness of kolto burst spamming + incentive to use the operative's other abilities.

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Kolto burst very much outbudgets every alternative in the row and arguably any alternative in any class. Multiplying by up to 8 the power of such a core skill is too much.

 

I still believe that this kind of output should actually be the inherent output of every healer, topping up bars is a struggle that is very unsatisfying in SWTOR when you compare it to other games, it's sluggish and unrewarding, having this talent makes it actually bearable even if it feels absolutely broken.

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