Changelog 17/11/16

[Azarael]

You really don't have a clue, do you.

Before, those abilities would heal for a fixed amount of HP plus 150% of the damage.

Now that fixed amount of HP, which was overpowering the ability and amounted to a heal of about 800, is gone, and the damage factor has increased. The total heal is the same as before. That is a nerf, done so that Challenge, detaunts and other damage reductions can impact the ability.

Is there something you still find difficult about understanding this?

[adei]

Ok they are. Also like AM and Shaman. But if they go in dps they must loose on their healing abilities. Player alone must find balance and decide what he want to do. I know this good on my AM and this is possible without none cheanges. Ok thanks for effort, don't understand me wrong but this cheanges what you are doing are very bad. There is no one normal reason why any ability have to sudenly make 550% heals insteed 150% of damages dealt. If someone want make more heals by this ability he must make more damages, it's mean he must increass his strenght, weapon skill, cheance to critically hit, go in this spec, find someone with armour debuff etc. Cheanges like this are nothing else than cheat. Sorry but this is true. You can upgrade abilities but reducing their CD, cost AP, make them stronger or weakness but not likw that.

Please read the changes before posting something that proves you have not. The 550% was changed so that detaunts now function correctly and can act of a healdebuff of sorts for leech healing. Also more to the note that if you want to do more damage you must substitute it for your healing and vise versa, you are spouting nonsense here, considering that DoK has been able to pump our solid damage/healing for as long as its been here, and now its improved to a more reliable state ( and WP ) does not make them 'cheat' it means they are finally at a point that the melee healing viability of them has been made stable.

[Rebuke]

Good changes thanks, curious to see how grace/sacrifice will work in RvR

[blaqwar]

I'm really surprised that after all this time people still take the guy seriously, when they've given up on more reasonable people before.

Still testing the changes but only in T3, so dunno how much useful feedback I can give.

[Nyuszika]

This change is like crazy....why all dok/wp must be a dps, ohh wait u can be a 3 second healer still^^ U just make the normal DOK/WP healers to leave their role, 50% decrease of armor is not a nerf, its generaly making it unusable. Great job!

[Azarael]

This change is like crazy....why all dok/wp must be a dps, ohh wait u can be a 3 second healer still^^ U just make the normal DOK/WP healers to leave their role, 50% decrease of armor is not a nerf, its generaly making it unusable. Great job!

Grats on not understanding anything. Here's a tip: go to the char selection screen, select DoK, read, thoroughly, the description that is written there, then go and read the changes and understand that "hitting things in melee sometimes" does not mean "dps" and "frontline healer" does not mean "overpowered backline healer with 100% uptime aoe detaunt, medium armor and short casts". Thanks!

EDIT: RR58 backline DoK. What a bloody shock.

[Tiggo]

on a general note: bringing dok and wp in line with their DESIGN also benefits the back line healer classes giving them MORE purpose. I cant really see whats wrong with that.

and bare in mind: balancing to other classes will follow, this is not the ulimate end of balancing...

[Eltbus]

I've been trying these changes in scenarios (mostly) since the experiemental mode was implemented, on my 38/32 DoK trying to do melee heal, and I have to say I like it, although I'm a long way from feeling I know how to play it properly. I haven't really done any backline healing since, as I respecced almost completely into sacrifice, and have buffed a lot of strength instead of willpower in reknown skills and the like (which wouldn't be converted to strength right? Item bonueses only?), so I don't think I'd be a lot of good as backline heal currently even with the changes with item swapping. I haven't tried the pure DPS mode at all as yet.

If I'd stayed in my healdok spec I think it would be pretty much as effective as previously, I don't think the armour debuff would make that much difference (as soon as anybody seriously went for me I went down anyway, not often I stood around outhealing multiple attackers, personally), and I'd have had more willpower because of the item stat transfer.

But I really don't think the stance swapping thing is OP, because as it stands you need to spec sacrifice or dark rites, and you have morales and tactics appropriate to melee or backline, and the stance swap doesn't swap any of those things, you'd need to get out of combat or die. I think if you tried to make it so you'd be as effective in backline as meleeheal modes especially if you wanted to be able to swap at will you'd be a bit gimped in both modes - you wouldn't be able to get all the things you wanted from either path, and the choice of morales and tactics would be tricker. I'd be really interested to see a build from someone trying it though. Possibly with top notch gear and RR. It seems to me the stance swap is most useful as an escape tactic for a backline healer so they can get decent armour and AOE detaunt and on the move heals while trying to reposition away from danger.

I also think the last change was a good one, as prior to that I was able to do some good healing by just beating on tanks, and I need to look for squishier targets now to get the same effect, which can be tricky if they are positioning well. I would say though that (admittedly as still relatively low gear rr) I can't easily keep a whole party up as a melee healer without a second backline healer, and I often could as a backline healer, but that probably shows that the non experimental healdok is OP.

I do have a question though - the tactics that buff damage and degrade healing (murderous intent, divine fury) they don't debuff lifetap do they? I'm pretty sure not as my healing output looks to be about 5.5x my damage, which is what I would expect witht the 550% TE, but I just wanted to check I'm not gimping my melee heal using them.

[Azarael]

DF and MI/F don't debuff lifetap healing atm, though I have been debating it as a general change because of MDPS DoK and WP.

[altharion1]

Theoretically I don't see melee healing being competitive, but i'll wait to see if someone cracks it:

The problems being:

- Increases the chance of the healer being focused and killed due to forced dangerous positioning
- Increases the chance of the healer being CC'd
- Healer takes damage more often. Spends more timing healing itself rather than others.
- Defensive kiting is much harder as you cannot focus heal on the move.
- You can be kited and killed easily. Inability to heal when unable to hit things.
- Melee healing does not provide secondary effects. ie RP armour/healing buff, DoK/WP refreshing radiance.

You've shifted the meta to RP/AM. ZLT/SHM. I don't care if its viable in pug scs, as everything is... 6x Engi groups are viable in pug Scs.

Melee healing sounds cool. But the constraints of this game (very high RDPS damage, short time to death and the over abundance of CC and snares) mean that in reality consistent and focused backline healing may always be preferable.