Why SnB WP feels unplayable

[Mortgrimm]

I really hope the devs take all the really good suggestions on board and think about a "Shield re-patch". I enjoyed this build until the second patch so much and i´m not alone. Would be nice to get the shield build back on track.

[DirkDaring]

I really hope the devs take all the really good suggestions on board and think about a "Shield re-patch". I enjoyed this build until the second patch so much and i´m not alone. Would be nice to get the shield build back on track.

I would like to think so, however if you look at the votes, one of the Devs here, and who plays Shield spec WP, thinks the changes are great, and voted that they are fine.

viewtopic.php?f=15&t=60275

[Rydiak]

Just to throw in my two cents here, I feel the gameplay is fine (if not improved from how it was before) but I have suggested a couple numerical tweaks to the balance team which I hope they will agree with.

[kpihuss]

Just to throw in my two cents here, I feel the gameplay is fine (if not improved from how it was before) but I have suggested a couple numerical tweaks to the balance team which I hope they will agree with.

I appreciate the note, but I don’t think the “gameplay is fine” conclusion matches what we’re seeing in the playerbase. Post-patch, shield healer representation in RvR/scenarios is close to nonexistent. That kind of adoption drop usually signals more than just numbers—it signals that the loop (risk/reward, reliability, responsiveness) no longer feels comparable to the previous version. I’m glad you’ve suggested numerical tweaks, but I believe the gameplay/feel is also a core issue here.

[Rydiak]

Grace was extremely good at only a couple things before and absolutely trash everywhere else. I feel like Grace is now good everywhere, with very little in the way of downsides compared to before. If you were used to how it felt in those areas where it was god-like before then yea I can understand how you'd feel it isn't good now. It is a difficult spec to play well and completely different from the other caster healers, but I do not find its performance to be bad at all. Your mileage may vary, of course.

[kpihuss]

Grace was extremely good at only a couple things before and absolutely trash everywhere else.

That’s why we shield healers played the spec.

We’re not cast-healers, and we don’t want to be cast-healers. We want to be lifetapers.

If you read the comments from other former shield healer players, you can see what we want: being in combat should be the way we heal ourself and teammates. Strong heals, decent damage. But when we’re out of combat, we should suffer the consequences of being out of combat—just like a Shaman will run for it when melees get on them, because every class has its strengths and weaknesses. And I don’t think there’s going to be a patch that gives Shamans melee tools… because that isn’t their playstyle.

The shield healer playerbase is asking you for this. Please listen to them.