Questions regarding the playstyle of WP

[Delever]

Hello fellow order players,
After trying out my first character through T1 (SM) I decided I wanted to give my favorite looking class a try aka the WP.
There is one slight problem though. I ve been skimming through the forums and all I see are people saying that WP is only viable as a pure range healer. To be honest if this is the case I m not sure if I want to play the class anymore.
Now dont get me wrong I have no intention on playing a DPS WP but according to the class fantasy WP should be a sturdy melee healer and thats what I would prefer to play it as.
However I also have no intention of playing a trolly and unviable build.
So I m asking you experienced WPs out there. Should I give up on the class? I want to be a healer not a dps but I want it to fit into the fantasy of the WP ad a sturdy melee healer who primarily focuses on support and healing but also tickles faces with his hammer to do so.
If there is a viable melee healing build I would love that.
I gladly accept possible help and mentorship.

[Ashoris]

You can play him as a melee Healer and that is true, but in every Group a "Backline" WP is more viable.

Backline in this case means you dont rush in and you are not hitting targets. You still have to play closer to the fight than other Healers because of the grpHeal range. In some cases you are even able to heal so close to the fight that you can use your AoE skill to regenrate Fury and pump out more heals.

[Rydiak]

I am in the process of writing a Grace guide. In the meantime feel free to message me in-game or in Discord.

[Delever]

I am in the process of writing a Grace guide. In the meantime feel free to message me in-game or in Discord.

Thats great! So would you recommend me going for the class then?

[Rydiak]

Yes, I find Grace to be INCREDIBLY powerful, but it requires good gear and a lot of effort to play well.

[adamthelc]

Grace isnt terrible. If you are supported well, have decent gear and played effectively it can be pretty good. The real issue is that salvation is going to be good in every circumstance grace is good, but also it's also going to be effective in situations where grace isnt.

Grace is more fun, but broad strokes salvation is almost always going to be more competitive spec.

[Delever]

I m really liking those replies so I think I might give the class a very solid go after all

[HappyHubris]

As a newbie that plays WP (currently 34), I don't have good news for you: you will be healing with a book before 40. In RvR, you're way to squishy to be in the melee line of fire to get your healing abilities off. In SCs, you will get strong negative feedback from teammates and struggle to keep yourself alive, let alone contribute net healing to your team. And when you do try Grace WP, it's a mess, not the "smack this guy with a sledgehammer and then save your teammate with a clutch heal" you have in your head. And I'm guessing you'll get abuse for trying to Grace heal after 40 in pickup groups, too. I've seen a few guys try to run hammer/buckler in T4 SCs and they typically get harassed for bringing the team down.

It's possible that players that have invested a great deal of time into the game have maxed out their characters and formed friendships that give them a pocket tank and compatible DPS for Grace healing. You won't be that guy for quite some time, and in the meantime it's full book for you. (An exception is when you're near the level cap for a given tier - like level 26 in T2 - and outlevel most opponents. Then Grace can sort of be brute-forced into viability.)

Mechanical Issues:
(1)Most magic healing spells scale with points in salvation and WP, so you can't dash in, smack faces, and then back out to blow your stockpiled righteous fury. Instead you heal bit by bit with attacks that build RF and then dump RF into a "big heal" - primarily a channeled 3 second attack that fails if you're snared, the enemy has an escape ability, the enemy uses a defense activity, etc. (The other RF dump is an AoE heal on a cooldown that hurts you each second and also requires you to channel So you're 100% on the front lines, but instead of just focusing on outputting damage and avoiding death like a usual squishy DPS you also have to deliver burst healing on command. If your tank needs a critical heal and you just got punted away from the front line, snared, blocked by a high-avoidance tank, or otherwise unable to get your "heal smashes" off, then he's dead. You're not reliable.
(2)For some reason the design philosophy for melee WP split the buffing and healing into discrete attacks. What I mean by this is that you have your healing attacks and your buffing attacks, and if you focus on one, the other isn't happening. If you're desperately healing your group for 10-20 seconds, all of your short-term buffs have dropped off. Meanwhile a book WP would have been able to puke AoE healing and rely on his passive AoE armor buff. You have to maintain: personal blocking (every 10s), parry (15s), STR/TGH buff (20s), and healing spell thingy (20s, drains RF). So buffing eats up 4 GCDs every 20 seconds of you not healing, which is really no fun. And - unlike spell buffs - melee attack buffs can fail with dodge and other defensive attributes! This is the primary thing that pushed me away from ever seriously pursuing Grace healing.

[Rydiak]

Ignore the haters. There is literally nothing wrong with Grace outside of the gearing requirement (you can't easily get Grace gear like you can get Salvation gear).

[HappyHubris]

I'm not "hating;" viable melee healing would be a great addition to the game. This is a guy brand new to the game that needs to get to 40/40 and gear up, and you're telling him "yeah Grace is great if you run with a premade group, are 40/70 and have top-notch gear." I don't think leveling up as Grace would be pleasurable.