Now that patch 5.4 is not bringing any large changes to healers we are unlikely to see much in the way of changes until the next expansion. Beyond the promise of a 4th healer to bring the class in line with tanks there have been increasing comments in the community that the two pronged approach of healer balancing focusing on
-lower skill ceilings and floors -balancing raid DPS and personal DPS
Is leading to incredibly boring rotations with a glut of oGCD spells that are roughly interchangeable and a focus on raid balancing is making levelling a worse experience for newer players.
As of right now the 3 healers are generally in the position of
WHM- main regen healer, generally strongest pure healer in the game and also the one that can out DPS most tanks and a few DPS classes, conversely offers no raid benefits beyond a single target shield and single target mitigation both gained at very high levels, as such is generally also the best dungeon healer. Most also consider it easiest to play overall and generally fits the lore of its job well. It’s most recent balancing change focused on afflatus misery being used as a ‘refund’ mechanic for using GCD healing which the community generally approves of
SCH- long since lost of its identity as the DOT pet healer the scholar is pretty much the shield healer right now, it’s resource management system aetherflow is currently used to power many of its oGCD healing or can be drained for extra DPS (a change that has happened twice this expansion) fairy management is still present and recently changes were made around how much you need to interject to cast the fairies spells. The scholar is currently the least played healer with most complaining of its incredibly boring DPS rotation and the uselessness of AF stacks 60% of the time.
AST- AST can technically play both sides of the healing with its sects but unless you play specific content and your second healer is a WHM nocturnal is essentially never used. Generally the weakest pDPS and highest rDPS of the healers owing to its card mechanic (many changes in 5. Patches people have been divided on) AST generally fills the second healer niche responding to what the other healer is doing and buffing the party. Generally has the best oGCD kit and the most complex play style.
This seems to be the balance square has found for the healers though as stated above balance seems to be given priority over making the playing of the classes more fun, particularly squares complete avoidance of giving the WHM any sort of utility appears to be hamstringing how they balance the other two classes (particularly SCH since they have to balance shields against regen and how SCH originates as a DPS), the scaling of buffs in AST as the raid achieves better gear also appears to hamper its single player experience as combust and malefic have terrible potency owing to their weave windows and the raid utility AST gives (as of mixed healer sets AST has both of the top 2 SCH has top and bottom WHM has both of bottom). SCH also suffers the most from having nothing to do when you don’t need healing, WHM has lillies and AST has cards but since AF is only used for burst healing (rarely needed on SCH due to fairy) or a paltry DPS increase via energy drain that square has removed once before.
Do you think overall this balance is good, if not how would you seek to improve it or otherwise make the healers more fun to play, and also how would you possibly fit a fourth healer into this mix as square has repeatedly said they will not add another healer till the current 3 are balanced.
submitted by /u/Supersnow845
[link] [comments]
Continue reading...
-lower skill ceilings and floors -balancing raid DPS and personal DPS
Is leading to incredibly boring rotations with a glut of oGCD spells that are roughly interchangeable and a focus on raid balancing is making levelling a worse experience for newer players.
As of right now the 3 healers are generally in the position of
WHM- main regen healer, generally strongest pure healer in the game and also the one that can out DPS most tanks and a few DPS classes, conversely offers no raid benefits beyond a single target shield and single target mitigation both gained at very high levels, as such is generally also the best dungeon healer. Most also consider it easiest to play overall and generally fits the lore of its job well. It’s most recent balancing change focused on afflatus misery being used as a ‘refund’ mechanic for using GCD healing which the community generally approves of
SCH- long since lost of its identity as the DOT pet healer the scholar is pretty much the shield healer right now, it’s resource management system aetherflow is currently used to power many of its oGCD healing or can be drained for extra DPS (a change that has happened twice this expansion) fairy management is still present and recently changes were made around how much you need to interject to cast the fairies spells. The scholar is currently the least played healer with most complaining of its incredibly boring DPS rotation and the uselessness of AF stacks 60% of the time.
AST- AST can technically play both sides of the healing with its sects but unless you play specific content and your second healer is a WHM nocturnal is essentially never used. Generally the weakest pDPS and highest rDPS of the healers owing to its card mechanic (many changes in 5. Patches people have been divided on) AST generally fills the second healer niche responding to what the other healer is doing and buffing the party. Generally has the best oGCD kit and the most complex play style.
This seems to be the balance square has found for the healers though as stated above balance seems to be given priority over making the playing of the classes more fun, particularly squares complete avoidance of giving the WHM any sort of utility appears to be hamstringing how they balance the other two classes (particularly SCH since they have to balance shields against regen and how SCH originates as a DPS), the scaling of buffs in AST as the raid achieves better gear also appears to hamper its single player experience as combust and malefic have terrible potency owing to their weave windows and the raid utility AST gives (as of mixed healer sets AST has both of the top 2 SCH has top and bottom WHM has both of bottom). SCH also suffers the most from having nothing to do when you don’t need healing, WHM has lillies and AST has cards but since AF is only used for burst healing (rarely needed on SCH due to fairy) or a paltry DPS increase via energy drain that square has removed once before.
Do you think overall this balance is good, if not how would you seek to improve it or otherwise make the healers more fun to play, and also how would you possibly fit a fourth healer into this mix as square has repeatedly said they will not add another healer till the current 3 are balanced.
submitted by /u/Supersnow845
[link] [comments]
Continue reading...