[DoK/WP] Willpower based melee healing

[altharion1]

Willpower based melee healing

(Note: for ease i'll write this from a DoK perspective, but obviously all changes would be mirrored to WP)

These comments are based on 2 weeks of running a sword+chalice melee healing build. 700str + 600 WP. Taking khaines vigor and up to empowered transfer.

The Issues

1. The healing DoK is currently a low skill, back line group heal spammer (tbh boring af). This goes completely against its design. It lacks the CC, group utilities and healing output of Zealots and Shammies. And finds itself out of the healing meta.
2. Currently, to reach effective healing output with melee skills you must have high damage. This ends up completely removing the ability to back line heal. It must be understood that to heal effectively within a group at some point you will need to sit back and spam casted heals. ie kiting, too much pressure in the melee train, vs range groups, no targets to melee heal on.
3. The current healing output from a sword+chalice melee healing build 700str + 600 WP is slightly lower/similar to a pure heal spec build. But the risks are much higher, the spec is squishier, puts you in dangerous positions, vulnerable to range dps, cooldown increasers, CC and MDPS focus. Thus there is no significant advantage over pure healing to counter the risks, therefore no logical reason to spec in a melee healing manner.

The Proposal

- Change the Empowered Transfer tactic to add the following effect: willpower/healpower will effect the healing output from Rend Soul, Transfer Essence and Devour Essence. Increases cooldown on blood offering to 40 seconds.

Numbers wise you'd need somewhere a long these lines (for example at 700 WP) to make it viable:

Transfer Essence: striking your target for 100 damage. Should yield a heal of 750 to 800. Around the same as a standard group heal. The downside is that you have to melee heal, therefore it puts you in a dangerous position and the ability could be parried or blocked, vulnerable to cooldown increasers etc etc. The upside is that the heal is not affected by heal debuff and is faster than a group heal, spammable every GCD. (this skill becomes your go to group heal)

Rend Soul: striking your target for 100 damage per hit, should yield a heal of 950-1100 per tick. The downside is that you have to melee heal, therefore it puts you in a dangerous position and the ability could be parried or blocked, vulnerable to cooldown increasers and can be interrupted. The upside is that the heal is not affected by heal debuff and provides a large single target heal.

Devour Essence: striking your target for 150 damage per hit, should yield a heal of 200-300 per tick. This becomes your long cooldown, big heal, when your healing target is surrounded by 4 players.

Benefits

- The healing output from melee healing would be significantly increased, making it a viable alternative to the standard pure heal build. While maintaining the ability to back line heal when necessary.
- This encourages the DoK to play more in line with its original design (a front line offensive healer), while not compromising its ability to heal efficiently and effectively compared to other backline healers.
- Having to put so 12 points in Sacrifice would limit what you could take from the pure healing tree and would use a tactic slot, limiting the use of too many good tactics.
- The pure DPS DoK is not affected.
- The change to blood offering ensures that when you select a melee healing spec you would have to melee heal when possible to be most effective, as you'd only be able to backline for limited periods. Adding an increased skill level to the class
- As Rend Soul, Transfer Essence and Devour Essence are not undefendable then target selection to heal from would be vital. Adding an increased skill level to the class
- Overall better rewards considering the risks of being in melee range.


Conclusion

- A simple single tactic change to make melee healing viable. Prevents the need for a complete class redesign and limits confusion due to the inability to change tooltips.
- This would be less power than fury of da green as that skill is ranged! Relatively no risk.
- Changes the DoK into a completely different kind of healer from Zealot and Shammie
- Increases skill level for the class
- Takes it closer to its original design
- Does not affect or buff the DPS dok. It will have no willpower
- Has an interesting risk v reward mechanic
- The pure healing spec remains the same for those who prefer it.
- It would have an interesting effect due to the large numbers of WLs atm. With all these pets running around you'd be feeding the melee DoK really good melee healing targets.

Problems

- Too much healing not affected by heal debuff could make the DoK immortal in small scale encounters. However, I believe 2 decent dps would still be able to burst it down. Willpower debuffs would become very important. The actual healing output would obviously need to be tested and refined. If having them not affected by heal debuff is too strong, then i'd be happy to see the base healing increase but have the healing affected by HD.
- The AoE detaunt may need to come back.

Revisions:
1.1: The tactic should also force the users melee crit to match the users heal crit.
1.2: The melee heals should be affected by heal debuff, but the melee heal abilities should be undefendable or have a reduced chance to be defended against.

[Gerv]

Moving to discussions:
Remain on topic, follow the rules stated here: viewtopic.php?f=96&t=11105

[Bozzax]

Spoiler:

You will not be able to drop strength below 700 regardless because of avoidance going crazy if you are low.

Warned due to following reasons:
Not responding to the entire proposal or the issue at hand (the impact and effect on adding a willpower based contribution to melee healing)
Cherrypicking 1 small portion of the proposal rather than debunking
No explination as to how your solutions counter or provide an alternative to the proposal or why they are a more appropriate solution.

Gerv.

[altharion1]

You will not be able to drop strength below 700 regardless because of avoidance going crazy if you are low.

Parry, parry, parry, block, block

However this is what I think I'd consider
1. Remove/lower -20% heals on DF and MI (DF first test it and test w both)
2. Increase the base heal value on ET and lower % from damage. Make a portion of the heal a 3x stackable group hot (9s) to help in downtimes (disabled, out of range, avoidance morales, absorb morales etc)

Please do not respond to this topic unless you are willing to follow the rules of this section of the forum.

The role of those responding to a topic is to reinforce or debunk the original poster's analysis of the issue and his proposed solution. Thus, broadly the same rules apply as to topic starters. Analysis of the topic starter's post must be thorough, and any solutions posted by responders which compete with the topic starter's proposed solution must be soundly based around resolving the issue in question.

When responding, be sure to use facts and support your reasoning rather than relying on the strength of your own reputation to support your post, no matter how good a player you may be.

- Where is your evidence that avoidance is such an issue for low str builds that it invalidates my proposal?
- Where is you evidence that 700 str is the magic number?
- Why is your solution better than mine?
- Why are you changing DF and MI, what does that bring to the game and have you considered the knock on effects that would have? W
- Why encourage people to take increased damage tactics but then change transfer essence to be less affected by damage?
- If you increase the base heal value of Transfer Essence you directly affect melee doks, something my solution tries to avoid.
- Why is a stackable group HoT of any use to anyone?
- If you want a true melee healer you need single target heals, group heals and a big "oh ****" heal to make it an actual viable spec. As far as I can work out you are proposing some strange hybrid DPS/heal situation. You'd need to propose some numbers on the actual heal output that would necessary to make your proposal viable.

[Bozzax]

removed

[Bozzax]

removed off topic stuff

[altharion1]

(<defensive stat>/<offensive stat>*0.075)+(<defenders increase in defence> - <attackers reduction in defence>

A bit simplified but still
700 strength - 120 from a kniggits aura vs 500 or so ws = 6%

400 strength -120 from a kniggit aura vs 500 or so ws = 13%

Doesn't look like a big diff

From experience 600-700 works while going below 500 simply makes your chance to get an unlucky streak of parry to big.

Same for a cc tank you always go for 600 or more imo to have reliability

If positioning and target selection are so difficult that people are constantly being parried and blocked then you could just attach a "~20% reduced chance for transfer essence, rend soul and devour essence to be defended" attribute to my adjusted Empowered Transfer tactic. Like the Energy of vaul and fury of da green change was like.

But I think this would lessen the skill level required to play the melee healer. Sitting in the back line slapping an enemy S+B tank to pump out massive non heal debuffable heals isn't exactly a play style i'd want to promote. High skill with high reward is much preferable, in my opinion.

We will have to disagree on the benefits of your kotbs or chosen running 600 str.

[Gerv]

Please stay on topic of the proposal and respond to the entire post or not at all, otherwise this will result in a derailed mess.

[Bozzax]

removed

[Bozzax]

off topic as well