Re: PTS RP/ZEAL changes from Update 2024-08-18
Posted: Thu Aug 22, 2024 7:09 pm
I think this patch is a step in the right direction, but fails to address the fundamental issues with heal RP/Zeal. I won't comment on the DPS changes.
RP/Zeal shine in smaller scale gameplay where you can use your entire kit to its fullest and is most engaging.
However in oRVR, a lot seasoned players find them tedious and underwhelming in large scale combat. Too much time is spent manually buffing your party, and a typical big fight is tossing some hots, dropping your rune/ritual and spamming aoe heals until the fight is over. Other healers have more active gameplay and win the mini game of top heals in a WB. Its impossible for RP/Zeal to keep up with other healers due to their strong out of WB healing, even if you factor in their protection contribution.
Part of other healers numbers is due to blessing of grungni/blessing of chaos giving a fairly reliable 25% healing buff to everyone in their party. This makes having a RP/Zeal in each party mandatory or optimal in an organized WB. I don't think its ideal for the game to have "must-have" classes.
Here are some suggestions:
Oath Runes/Marks: Add a group version of each ability to potentially lessen the amount of casts needed. There is nothing worse than buffing your party and then getting moved to another group or changing zones and having to do it all again. Maybe you get lucky and 5/6 people need ini buff and 1 strength, thats 2 casts vs 6. Huge for QoL.
Rune of Serenity/Leaping Alteration: Rework to be the rune of battle for healing. Cast it on a friendly target to pulse heal 24 targets around that person for X amount for X number of ticks. We would want to keep the CD low enough so that you want to keep as part of your rotation, not a cast it once per fight ability. This will help close the healing gap between the other healing classes. Classifying it as a direct heal or not is debatable because of the potential passive buffs that can be applied.
Blessing of Grungni/Blessing of Chaos: I would suggest removing this tactic. As I stated prior, this makes RP/Zeal mandatory. I would suggest increasing the base heal for all classes to compensate (unlikely) or increase the scaling willpower has on healing. Increasing the scaling of willpower also opens up the opportunity to spec into that stat more than it is today and give experienced healers a risk/reward option for talismans.
RP/Zeal shine in smaller scale gameplay where you can use your entire kit to its fullest and is most engaging.
However in oRVR, a lot seasoned players find them tedious and underwhelming in large scale combat. Too much time is spent manually buffing your party, and a typical big fight is tossing some hots, dropping your rune/ritual and spamming aoe heals until the fight is over. Other healers have more active gameplay and win the mini game of top heals in a WB. Its impossible for RP/Zeal to keep up with other healers due to their strong out of WB healing, even if you factor in their protection contribution.
Part of other healers numbers is due to blessing of grungni/blessing of chaos giving a fairly reliable 25% healing buff to everyone in their party. This makes having a RP/Zeal in each party mandatory or optimal in an organized WB. I don't think its ideal for the game to have "must-have" classes.
Here are some suggestions:
Oath Runes/Marks: Add a group version of each ability to potentially lessen the amount of casts needed. There is nothing worse than buffing your party and then getting moved to another group or changing zones and having to do it all again. Maybe you get lucky and 5/6 people need ini buff and 1 strength, thats 2 casts vs 6. Huge for QoL.
Rune of Serenity/Leaping Alteration: Rework to be the rune of battle for healing. Cast it on a friendly target to pulse heal 24 targets around that person for X amount for X number of ticks. We would want to keep the CD low enough so that you want to keep as part of your rotation, not a cast it once per fight ability. This will help close the healing gap between the other healing classes. Classifying it as a direct heal or not is debatable because of the potential passive buffs that can be applied.
Blessing of Grungni/Blessing of Chaos: I would suggest removing this tactic. As I stated prior, this makes RP/Zeal mandatory. I would suggest increasing the base heal for all classes to compensate (unlikely) or increase the scaling willpower has on healing. Increasing the scaling of willpower also opens up the opportunity to spec into that stat more than it is today and give experienced healers a risk/reward option for talismans.