I just zapped through the thread and figured i might aswell join in with a cent or three.
So, I played both WP and DoK on live, both before the RR100 patch and after, up to around rr90 with each iirc. I spent 100% of my time leveling to 40 as "loldps" aka "melee-healer" aka "outsider" and about 90% of my time in t4 as such aswell. With that said, I understand the basics of backline-healing with them just fine, its not that complicated...
While i think these classes could be so much more, its not easy to balance a hybrid like this. You gotta understand what kind of battle to balance them around(1v1,6v6,12v12, 24v24, zerg v zerg?) and at the same time make it so they are not complete monsters/**** in any of the ones you do not focus on, even if they dont have to shine there. And how/if to touch on this sort of balance i do not know.
What I do agree very much with is the change to the level, at which, we get Sigmars Radiance.
When I first picked up the classes, we got Divine Strike/mirror at lvl6, this later got changed up when they desided to make Sigmars Radiance into a better version(yes, DS was basically only better for leeching RP in PuGs) of Divine Strike and changing Divine Strike into a direct heal(which costs AP instead of RF/SE?!) Divine Mend. However the ranks for Sigmars Radiance was left at 30 and the lvl for Divine Mend was now 8 afaik.
So what could be done?
Well, I think Sigmars Radiance should keep on working just as it is now(grp heal) and not be reverted back to Divine Strike(PBAoE heal), however it need to be made available sooner.
For all i care you could just switch it with Divine Mend, but i suspect this would make many backline caster-healer doks/WPs cry, since they no longer would be top tier at both grp and ST heals.
So i figured, maybe one could swap it with Purge, since thats atleast mirrored over both classes and available at the current lvl cap. I am well aware that purge is a huge part to playing a melee DoK/WP, but in order to do that at all, you sort of need Sigmars Radiance, and you still would get your Purge soon after. However I do not really think this change ends up putting Sigmars Radiance low enough in the ranks, if you consider new players and new toons in the future.
So my final suggestion/idea is this(I might seem out of my mind and maybe i am).
Swap it with Bludgeon. Just like Purge, this ability is alo mirrored over the classes. Unlike Purge however, this ability is one of the least used buttons on the bar once we get Sigmars Radiance, it deals basically the same damage as SR and heal ur grp for 50%dmg+XXX each hit, which averages about equal to the damage dealth, at the cost of 5AP more. I cant think of anyone who will think this is a bad trade. Im aware this would bring SR to lvl1, which might be abit strong in t1(as Divine Strike was) but over all far better than having it appearing at 30, and t1 should not be the place to focus balancing around anyhow.
This would, however, also ask for Bludgeon to be changed into something useful. Idk what it would be but pretty much any change would be an interesting one. Buff the damage, make it ignore a % of the targets armor, buff the attack(s) after it in one way or the other(unblockable/100% crit/???), make it a ST 30ft 3s stagger, make it give give the WP immunity to CC for a few sec or a burst of speed, etcetc, lots of possibilities here. Ofc it would have to get a CD and/or position req accordingly. It should not be a grp buff/heal of any sort tho imo, since its still in the ego/"damage" line. I even think a 2h/sword off-hand requirement would be awsome. It should atleast be turned into something more impactful than what it is now, i think.
This would also give ppl who pick up the class for the first time a chance to see its frontline-hybrid side, before they get herded into becoming grpheal bots.
Any/all/none of the above should ofc affect both classes equally, i just talked from the WP perspective for the sake of the topic.
I might be completely out of it tho, and if so, i accept that. Im not really demanding anything, just sharing my thoughts and ideas.
Here are two links at which you can find the tooltips for the classes, both before and after the mentioned changes:
Old:
http://warhammeronline.wikia.com/wiki/W ... _abilities
Current:
http://waronlinebuilder.org/#abilities=wp;
Terribly sorry about the wall of text i just made, was not my intentions at the start, cheers to those who read the whole thing tho.
/Bejk