State of melee healing
A redesign is announced so I want to recall my experiences with melee healing in current state, with the ab ex mode some time ago and a vision for the redesign. Considering what Azarael already wrote about his plans for the Class.
First of all, in my opinion melee healer is a class where you can’t reach perfection, due to offensive/defensive target switching, movement, positioning and ability choice being so important you can always get a little bit better. That’s what I love on it.
Current state of melee healing is that you range from a strong, Top healer, as long you can hit a weak target, to a useless wasted slot when being kited or perma cared by a deftank. So with a good positioning, fast target switches (offensive & defensive) and good movement you can achieve a lot, but you can still be countered quite easy. That’s why nearly no group has one (not talking about hybrid class in a DD slot).
The ab ex mode had two approaches to this non reliability. On the one hand introducing a willpower buff to make cast heals useful, but only while engaged in close combat. On the other hand, improving the melee heals, that the defensive values of the target got irrelevant to the heal output.
Some will remember that ab.ex brought us a lot of melee healer rendering their group unkillable and topping the healscores by spamming transfer essence /sigmar’s radiance on the next best tank. Nearly none of them ever using a healing cast or pondering about not slotting damage tactics. Just because spamming was the most effective playstyle. I tested skilling Dark Rites & Sacrifice, using melee only to keep the buff and essence up while doing the main healwork with casts. Worked pretty solid but was not getting close to the output of transfer spam.
Azarael gave a glance that he wants to reintroduce the single target (small 10ft ae) melee heal which was removed back on live, what I like a lot.
There is also the discussion about lifedrain am/sham with the result, that heals have to be always the same, what I wouldn’t sign for melee healer.
Taking all this into account I want to present my thoughts and visions of melee healing.
Vision of melee healing
In my opinion making the class capable of casting useful heals is the way to go to make the the skill reliable.
To keep the melee healer as frontline, with high dependency on movement, targeting and skill choice I think there should be :
1.following grading in heal:
Best heal output when hitting a target with low armor in the back
Good heal output when hitting a moderate target (Medium armor or having caught a challenge)
Good heal output when casting heals without healreduces(in/out)
Low heal output when hitting hard targets (Guarded, Defftank …)
Low heal output when casting with healreduce (in/out)
2. melee healing skills with the following grading
Best healing output with the returned single target(small ae) ability
Divine Assault / Rend Soul good for focus heal, even on targets with higher defense but with cooldown and need of soul essence/fury.
Transfer Essence / Radiance good enough to counter some ae but not to keep up against single target focus
3. The possibility for the player to adjust to the situation, his playstyle or group setup with his stats and his tactics.
Possible Solution
Str -> Willpower buff
To achieve this the ab ex strength to willpower buff is a perfect solution.
- The normal healskills can be used, which allows the player to adjust his chars via existing skilltree
- Existing damage & heal abilities can be used
- Existing tactics, (damage increase/reduced heal, willpower) can be used to layout char for more melee healing or more casting
- The player has to stay close to the frontline but don’t has to be in the thick of it all the time
- Stats are still important, no flat numbers
Adjustment of healing numbers
Additionally, the melee healing abilities need a little improvement. The returning ability (single target small ae) had 100%/150% of damage healed, but no additional flat value. Having that ability as main melee healing ability it also needs a flat value.
Numbers must be tested but I thought about something like:
Healing Output:
Soft Target
single target heal 1200-1300
group heal 700-800
Rend soul per hit 1100
Medium Target
single target heal 900
group heal 500-600
Rend soul per hit 900
Hard Target
single target heal 600
group heal 300
Rend soul per hit 800
More important than the exact numbers are the proportions.
I would also keep the possibility to be blocked/parried to encourage target switching and positioning. I would suggest, that in case of parry/block only the flat value of the ability is healed without +%damage.
When taking damage debuff for melee healer into account that should be something like
single target 500 flat heal + 300% dmg
Transfer/Radiance 300 flat heal + 200% dmg
Rend soul 500 flat heal + 300% dmg (spirit)
All of this together would encourage to look for suiting targets or use cast heals otherwise.
Damage reduce
The reliable melee healer should not be a top DD, but his damage should make a difference. This would make it an important decision for the healer if he assists or is looking for a soft one in the current situation and separates him from pure casthealers. Guess the 50% Damage Debuff from Ab. ex was ok to achieve this.
If i wasn't able to give you a clear view on my opinions due to my english feel free to enquire
Thanks for reading, hoping for a reliable, demanding melee healer
Greetings Starilas
