Requesting QoL change for healers

Discussion in 'Time Locked Progression Servers' started by Gnomie, Sep 4, 2022.

  1. Gnomie Denser than most

    We already know that there is coding in the game to allow healing target of target (Like paladin / Beastlord heals).

    Is there any chance for this change to go in for all healers? I think Clerics, Shaman and Druids might get it much later on, but why not just have this be the base for all heals, even at early expansions?

    It would make playing a healer much more enjoyable, rather than clunkily having to change targets to nuke, melee, dot, etc.
  2. Wulfhere Augur

    There are downsides to friendly target type that will get your target (tank) killed.

    If your target is the NPC and you are casting a heal, the NPC may switch targets during the cast time. When this happens (and it does) you end up healing the wrong target and your intended target (the tank) may die as a result of not getting that (those) heals.

    Longer cast time heals allow you to interrupt yourself and re-target manually (same as before any change) to insure your target. Quick casting heals are just lost opportunity. The change was meant to add QoL to paladins and especially Lay on Hands but because of this random behavior it doesn't help reliably.

    I posted before that a way to fix this is to include the target info with the spell cast sent to the server and lock in the intended target at cast time (what the player sees and intends). As it is we have the the NPC deciding who gets the heal and that's less then ideal and more aggravating at times.
    Meridian and Waring_McMarrin like this.
  3. Pappasalt Augur

    Take EQ2 target through target system...add here...gg
  4. Waring_McMarrin Augur

    Not to mention this only works if you are trying to heal the mobs target. If there are other members of the group/raid that need healing and are not the mobs target you will be switching targets anyway.
  5. Bobbybick Only Banned Twice

    I think those are both good arguments for why sometimes you want to target a player specifically, but what downside is there for beneficial spells to at the very least default to a mob's target if cast on an NPC? The current behavior is that the spell just gets eaten and nothing happens other than the caster losing mana.

    I think there are maybe a handful of events that need you to cast beneficial spells on an NPC (that isn't charmed) and for the other 99.9% of the time it is a useless action.
    Skuz likes this.
  6. Waring_McMarrin Augur

    What about events/raids when you want to buff NPCs that will be assisting you during that event/raid? Or a raid where you have a reason to heal an NPC to keep from loosing? While there might not be a lot of those events I don't see a reason to make spells not hit their target only unless that is part of the spells design from the start.
  7. Wulfhere Augur

    Right and another good counterpoint. Friendly target heal does not work in these situations if the NPC in question has a target e.g. Tris Wallow raid in DoDH.

    I agree that the feature is worth asking for, but there are a few gotchas to having it to beware of.
  8. Gnomie Denser than most

    I do agree with a lot of what you're saying. Having played a paladin, I will say i've had my Lay Hands hit the wrong target a few times. But for the most part, it works pretty well.

    I do still target people individually if i want to be sure that a heal lands on them, but it is a really nice QoL feature vs. playing a cleric.
  9. Bewts Augur

    Gonna be honest… with like 15 years behind the controls of a main raid cleric having access to implied healing functionality through other games as well…

    The more skilled cleric is going to be the one that doesn’t use implied healing and directly targets those who require healing.

    Running a bank of /Target hotkeys and making sure they’re (1) up to date and (2) regionally located next to your healing hotkeys for those times you’re caught between the mouse and the number pad is far superior to implied healing when things “really matter” such as a rounded tank, a botched tank switch, dealing with waves of adds with multiple tanks actively doing tank things or people simply calling for heals when something is not going right.

    Implied healing is great for /yawn type encounters be it the script or your guilds familiarity with the content, but for the hard stuff or true mess ups… implied healing is gonna wipe you faster than skilled, attentive and prepared healers ready to switch targets and do healer things.
    Meridian and Wulfhere like this.
  10. Aenoan Augur

    I'd actually be really keen on something like this as a hybrid healing, even if eq could just adopt and design their macro system (which is does need).

    Being able to utilize mouse over spell casting as well.


    "/stopcasting
    /cast [mod:alt,@player][help,nodead][@targettarget,help,nodead][] <insert healing spell>"

    Just an overall better code and game design. In other many other MMOs being able to continue dpsing your target and then heal someone is really nice.
    Honestly even without changes. You can heal player_1, switch target to npcs while the spell is being cast as long as the cast is not interrupted or stopped, it will still land even if someone other than the person you are already healing pulls agro.
    I think OP is just asking we get to do similar but have the enemy targeted. I hope anyway, haha. I did not get my coffee yet. Even if its not, it kinda should be.
  11. Waring_McMarrin Augur

    I don't think they will ever allow us to cast a heal on someone who isn't our target or our targets target unless there is a big shift in design philosophy on the team. They seem to be wanting to limit spells that target your target already and this is a big change in direction.
  12. Donroy Elder

    +1, hard yes.
    I’ve thought this should be a thing for years. EQ2 did it well. Do that.
  13. Vlorg Augur

    I would propose mouseover healing like modern MMO UI allow,

    but then I remembered EQ have up to 72 people in a raid.

    and nobody want to watch 72 health bar on their screen.
  14. Mrjon3s Augur

    The real QoL change we need is earlier group avatar and ferocity for shamans and beastlords.