I don't think they made other healers irrelevant. The other healers have plenty of options other than healing to benefit a group. If paired with a shaman, they should be offered a reprieve from healing so they could assist with utilities. I'm not saying that Pre-ToV the healing wasn't out-of-whack, but the shaman's were doing their job the way it was intended. If you find yourself grouped with a shaman and are constantly needing to heal then something is wrong. Wards should prevent the insignificant damage leading up to a spike hit.
Well being optional only makes it better for the individual playstyle. But looking at the single target shaman ward saying its 3000 with the base heal crit of 1.3 minus the .5 nerf makes it 3450. A .25% nerf reduction would put it at 3675 and the full 1.3 is 3900. How much longer is this ward going to stay up? vs Cutting the damage taken out of the ward to half?
No. Grouping with a shaman shouldn't mean the other healer doesn't need to heal. Grouping with a shaman should mean that the tank doesn't spike as hard when he spikes, so that healing is easier. If what was happening prior was that the other healer didn't have to heal when grouping with a shaman, and that was 'fine', then why is it not 'fine' now for you to group with a cleric/druid and you no longer have to heal because THEY are doing all the healing. You are now free to take care of the utility aspects. The reason people don't want that is people don't make healers to be 'utility'. They make healers to heal. They find healing fun. When they can no longer heal because the other healer in the group is preventing 100% of the damage the entirety of the time, they are forced to do other things other than heal, which isn't why they made the character. Hopefully you see that the prior mechanics were anti-fun for all other healers.
What utility do you recommend I take care of with my defiler? My debuffs are unnoticeable except for Malicious Spirits, which I can keep up about 1/3 of the time.
That's the bloody POINT. Healers don't make healers to play as utility. They make them to heal, so wards making it so the other healers can perform 'utility' is a bad mechanic.
I wouldn't mind getting some of the utility that the clerics and druid have. My point was that they have been given a lot of utility over the years that my defiler lacks.
Oh my garsh the sky is falling. Ok so by that logic , the devs should take away everything you have but Malicious spirits and increase its potency?/duration/ or what?
There is only so much heal that can go on within the construct of how the 3 types of heals work. So utility is the next option ... unless you think maybe 1or more of those heals should be fundamentally changed.
I agree with the ward mechanic .... but speak for yourself on why someone rolls a healer .... I love utility (warden main)
What are you suggestions for fixing it then, Dark? As it sits defilers are the absolute worst healer. It was unfun for others to not be able to heal, well now the tables have turned, but with the exception that we don't have utility. The current design isn't the answer. Defilers are worthless in the content you're running. Let's see some constructive feedback.
And I find it highly unlikely a CB penalty removal is going to fix this issue whatsoever. We need compensated with DPS or utility if we're not going to gain any healing potential. HPS of 2k more than the inquisitor who's producing 500% more dps isn't exactly balanced.
Why are you asking someone who doesn't even play a shaman what their suggestions are for fixing something they clearly do not understand cuz don't play the class?
This mechanism is already running. I agree with you in general: heal is a heal, but other healers are already too many. Why do we keep talking about defiler? Utilities mystic <<<<<<< utilities such inquisitor or warden, although it all - meleehealers. This difference - in the convenience of their use. That is the "quality of life". If Stampede "run under stun", it damage ->>> zero. While instinct or fanatical evenly in fight. It's all just one example. Necessary not only to fix wards, but also fix utility BOTH shamans (and not only defiler), in varying degrees of course.
Over the years, clerics and druids have been given utility to make up for their secondary and tertiary roles in survivability, especially for tanks. They were also given very powerful raw healing abilities because, in the rare instances they DID need to heal, they had to be able to do so effectively. Now that all healers have damage to heal, a rebalancing is in order. The raw HPS of a shaman right now is fine. The lack of utility and saves is what isn't fine. Buff shaman saves and utility and there won't be a problem. Maybe put some lingering damage reduction on their wards or something.
groupheal shaman is fine? not in the ACT, but in real-virtual-life? Heal parse NEVER be complete indicator (unlike dps parse). And if someone does not understand it and leads it as the main argument ... And. IF HPS of shaman approximately equal druid or cleric HPS, their utility must be equal PS: Tank is a tank
From my point of view Defilers Tendrils, Harbringer and Bane of Warding are underpowered. Dog should cure more reliable and his proc'd wards should use the pre/past heal on wards from AA.
Radi, you clearly failed to grasp what I was saying. Yes, heal parse is not the only indicator because it doesn't include saves or utility. The only reason inquisitors are so pervasive is because of their utility and that they could solo heal any group except a tank group. Easy to play and powerful. Half of that is because, again, most content would never break shaman wards and they didn't even have to heal.
I disagree. If two healers are grouped together because the content is difficult then both healers should see action, but if it is content that could normally be solo healed, then the shaman will lead the parse and block the other healer from healing. Why? Because wards prevent damage from coming through. You obviously don't understand the functions of the different healers. Yes it is the responsibility of the shaman to block spike damage, but consequently, that also means that the majority of other damage will also be blocked in order to accomplish this. I'm not saying this makes shamans better than the other healers, but that is how the mechanics function, and should function. It's really a simple concept: Wards block damage. Shamans keep wards up to prevent damage from coming through. If no damage is coming through, then there is no need for healing. This is the way the class is designed. If a non-shaman healer really doesn't like it then they should avoid grouping with a shaman. Simple as that. If they are placed in a group with a shaman during a raid then they should discuss it with their raid leader. However, I can tell you, if a raid leader paired a non-shaman healer in a group with a shaman it is because they want the healers utility and secondly to pick up the slack. If the content is so incredibly easy, that the shaman is holding the group just fine then, then the group/raid leader should reconsider having more than one healer in the group. Nobody should find themselves bored. It really isn't the shamans fault that content is too easy. Also you're forgetting an important difference. Prior to ToV, if a non-shaman healer found themselves in a group without a shaman they would function the way the class was meant to function. Currently, shamans are having difficulty functioning the way they are supposed to, and that is the reason for these discussions. We aren't looking to be better than any other healer, or for an OP class; we just want our class to function the way it was meant to. Honestly, I think your idea for lifting the crit bonus even up to .75 is a reasonable solution, at least at first. However, I think in the long run Niel's idea is the best. It would allow other healers in the group to stay busy, prevent spike damage, and keep the shaman busy and functioning.
