Why SO many healers?

I’ve been thinking about this a while, but there is a huge number of healers lately.  I’ve been playing dps during the AV wargames just because so many people log on as a healer. I can play multiple roles.

Back in Cataclysm, for example, I could barely log on without being asked to heal a dungeon, or a raid, or pvp.  But these days no one seems to care I healed heroics, challenge modes, or have impressed people with my pvp healing in anything from arena, rbgs, random bgs, to world pvp.  Why is that?

Well in my opinion it’s because it’s just too easy.

For instance, I watched a monk not die to multiple players just by standing in one place and casting their protected heals in our face.  Didn’t even move, not once.  Most healers can do the same thing, but unfortunately I haven’t played anything but holy/disc this expansion.  I do have all the healers but I haven’t played most of them.

The other example of it being ‘too easy’ is that nothing works together.  A resto druid use to put Life Bloom on someone, and keep it rolling with a direct heal.  It doesn’t work like that any more, you just keep casting it when it falls.

You also use to have to keep Harmony up to boost your heals by hard casting every so often, which when keeping lifebloom up, you were doing that anyway.  Well, that’s no longer a thing either.

On top of THAT you use to only be able to use Swiftmend when Rejuv was rolling on a target.  Guess what?  That’s no longer a requirement.

For a disc priest you no longer have to bounce Prayer of Mending around, you don’t have to plump up Spirit Shell, Grace does something else entirely, you no longer have Wings.  Rapture doesn’t do what it use to, there’s no Inner Focus, no Divine Hymn, no Psyfiend, Tendrils, no Spectral Guise, no Mind Spike, Mind Sear.  You don’t have to think if you cast Penance you get Grace which gives you haste for your next spell.  You don’t have to know that Prayer of Healing applies Divine Aegis on a crit.  You basically just mash buttons and people are healed.

I think that’s a big reason why I’ve been sticking to dps.  There’s still some complexity to it. Cast Frozen Orb to get instant Blizzard to general Frost Lance procs.  Rotate frost nova with ice nova with blinks to kite people. It’s just more engaging.

First Order

I realized I’ve been neglecting my druid, and WoW in general.  I haven’t raided for a really long time, but I still had pvp both in the world and with SPM.  Well I left SPM and with this expansion, world pvp hasn’t really been viable. Healing at the start of the expansion was really difficult as heals felt weak but it’s better now.

I also fell out of groups in general.  Time Lords has no activity, no one logs into the Gnomish Inquisition on Sargeras, and I have no guild with my MW on Thunderhorn.  My friends list is basically nothing for the first time basically ever.  I’m not terrible sure how this happened either, being a healer use to mean being asked to join activities constantly, but no longer.  I think that’s why I started playing my mage because you can at least get things done as a dps.

So, my first order of business THIS week is to find a guild that does things.  Then, get the frost weapon skin from the mage tower one way or another.  Also gear up Coquette and try to get that beautiful ice blue feral skin.

Great Truths on a PvP Server

 

I’ve been playing on Sargeras a whole lot lately, because I love playing fire or frost mage.  But, there are a couple of truths in world pvp in particular, that end up as pixel gut-feelings I’ve come across.

On Argus with a clump of good quests to be done? Yep, a group of horde will be trying to kill Alliance.

That single hunter isn’t going to attack you, but when a healer comes to help them, you better believe they are going to attack you.

Need to do a critical quest, like Timewalking turn in for the MoP dungeons? Yep, gonna be 40 horde camping the ever loving fuck out of the quest giver area.

You see a class that needs ramp-up like a frost mage these days, ramping up around your general area? Yeah they are going to try to one-shot you with glacial spike. When spriests had orbs it was a similar thing.

 

Oh and of course, your fellow Alliance probably won’t give a shit either.

 

Bioware DIALOG OPTIONS!!

OMFG, what else can I say?  I really don’t get the SWTOR dialog options sometimes.  I got presented with a dialog choice with Talos, my cute little nerd for “are you flirting with me?”.  I was excited because I thought I’d say that all flirty and get flirty options back.

 

 

But NO!!!  Instead when I selected “are you flirting with me?”   I said “I’m sorry Talos I like you but I just don’t think of you that way” WHAT???? WHAT????!?!?!?!  GOD DAMN IT!!!

 

I’m so bummed the game just basically shoe-horns you into a relationship with Andronikos.  I don’t even really like him.  He’s a pirate, I don’t like that.  He was constantly blowing me off.  I don’t like that.  I can pick almost any dialog option which ends up with him snuggling me like I smell of jelly beans.  Fuck off, Andro?  He literally asked when we were going to get married.  Uh, never, thanks.

 

 

 

 

All the Skill

As the new characters are rolling out, it feels a bit like some others got left behind.  That’s not to say they aren’t good, just that others are better.  I’m sure this is an unpopular opinion but I think Pharah needs some minor buffs.  She’s the only character that freezes in place during her ult, which means she’s a complete sitting duck and almost never gets her entire ult line off.  Someone even made a joke video about that, in fact.  Justice rains from AAH!  Justice AHH!  Justice rains AHH!  If she gets out the entire line, the other team is objectively terrible, imo.

McCree is somewhat close behind because he glows and moves slowly but, his range is much better so he can be almost anywhere and after the slight charge up, he fires immediately.

The other thing is, why is she able to kill herself with her rockets or her ult? No one else is like this (other than Soldier and his rockets, I think).  Junkrat was inexplicably made safe from his own bombs and D.va was made safe from her own ult (which she should have been).  But turn to get someone and accidentally hit a skinny road sign? Cool, you just killed yourself.

I tried looking back through the patch notes, but it feels like Widowmaker got buffs. I went all the way back to April but I didn’t see anything.  It feels like her non-snipe damage went way back up, since she can often melt me as D.va when I’m in her face.  Additionally it feels like it takes way too much to kill Widow, since I’ve hit her with Pharah, or D.va, or have been spraying bullets right on her when she had 1 sliver of health and she still didn’t die.  Add that to rapid fire sniping and wtf really? Oh and plus the grapple.  I meant to do a test game with a widow just standing in place and see how long it takes me to kill her.  I feel it’s way longer than other classes especially because of her small hitbox, which I’m almost guessing was possible made even skinnier. When I’m Pharah I try to counter Widow  but it feels like even if I hit her with a rocket, it barely does anything.