Ask The Devs #11 - Healing

[tusker]

There is no druid "opness" at the moment. Clearly you don't play a resto druid at all.

Anyway this Q&A was a let down.

What? Although I might not consider Resto Druids OP (they need some love for PvP probably) they have basically been the best PvE healers the entire expansion, sometimes by a wide margin. You can't deny that.

On the other hand, for example, all Shaman specs struggle in PvE and their redeeming value is Resto for PvP.

/facepalm they aren't op guy, they have no way of reducing dmg on heals targets, so all they have is raw throughput.

So Resto Druids are apparently bad because they have no way to reduce dmg? That's about the dumbest thing I've ever read. Their throughput is ridiculous also. Are we even playing the same game?

[Meejum]

While not the "end all be all" of current class rankings it also cannot be ignored that every other healing spec is about the same on stateofdps and druids are 10-12% ahead in 25 man raids, closer to 20% in 10 mans, although pally catches up a bit. I see the same in my raids, druids are dominating the meters. (That said healing meters aren't everything but in big damage phases a Druid definitely pays off)

State of DPS is completely unreliable as an actual gauge of anything really. For quite a long time, guild have cheesed fights just to get people ranked. One healing a fight with a blood DK and two shadowpriests can get any healer ranked really high in the old tier. Desired DPS get PIs and tricks. The newest iteration of scamming for high ratings is turning the log on for the last 30 seconds or so of a fight, blow all CDs and use your big spells.

Even if people weren't cheesing fights, all druid "OP" throughput means is OP overheals.

[lmenvs]

/sigh. This was very disappointing. I call do-over.

[MasterOfNone]

I very much like their proposed solution for pushing DPS failures, and have long felt something like that should be in the game. If a purple pool is ticking for 50k every 3 seconds, it seems as though melee usually have no problems chilling in it and letting the healer heal through the damage. But as soon as the tank yanks the boss out of their range, it's amazing how quickly they reposition themselves out of the danger zone. It's actually something I've been employing in my own tanking arsenal, particularly on trash. Danger zone appears nearby and I'll pull the boss 30+ yards away from it; everyone shouts and moans at me about losing a few DPS, but no one takes any ticks of damage as they all move out of the pool and scramble to catch up to me.

True, but think of this. burn phase of boss requires max dps (with fire or w/e on ground) and all of your melee are standing in it getting penalized dps. will you make the timer? will boss enrage? doesnt seem viable to me. in some situations maybe so, but i propose a 20g loss for every heal i cast on people who refuse to move out of shit on the ground lol j/k

[Suikoden]

What? Although I might not consider Resto Druids OP (they need some love for PvP probably) they have basically been the best PvE healers the entire expansion, sometimes by a wide margin. You can't deny that.

On the other hand, for example, all Shaman specs struggle in PvE and their redeeming value is Resto for PvP.

There is a lot to deny. At the start of Cata resto druids were HORRIBLE with AoE heals. They had to buff the hell out of efflo just to keep us consistent in hardmodes and 25s. It was not surprising for higher up guilds to bench druids for fights like nef. Ever wonder why exactly they revamped our mastery? We have been decent tank healers but a pally would do much better.

Let me also ask you this: Why in the hell would you think resto druids do not need a dmg reduction cd? Blues even confirmed we need one at some point, problem is nothing has come to fruition yet. ....Have we been playing the same game?

[Zardoz541]

So Resto Druids are apparently bad because they have no way to reduce dmg? That's about the dumbest thing I've ever read. Their throughput is ridiculous also. Are we even playing the same game?

I think you misunderstood what he was saying. Other healing classes have the ability to mitigate damage somehow, to prevent it from happening (shields) or reduce it by some percentage (barrier, pally hand).

Druids have no mitigation. We can't stop incoming damage from happening. So, to balance this, we put out more raw healing, because we *have* to. Those are the tools given to us.

He never said, directly or by implication, that druids are "bad" because of this. I have no idea where you got that impression.


TL;DR - Druids can't stop people from taking damage, so we have to be able to just suck it up and heal through it.

[Suikoden]

I think you misunderstood what he was saying. Other healing classes have the ability to mitigate damage somehow, to prevent it from happening (shields) or reduce it by some percentage (barrier, pally hand).

Druids have no mitigation. We can't stop incoming damage from happening. So, to balance this, we put out more raw healing, because we *have* to. Those are the tools given to us.

He never said, directly or by implication, that druids are "bad" because of this. I have no idea where you got that impression.


TL;DR - Druids can't stop people from taking damage, so we have to be able to just suck it up and heal through it.

This dude just completely summed it up for you tusker.

[Maleia]

All I saw out of this was:

We had originally planned on having bosses in later tiers scale so that players would need more crit, hit, expertise, dodge and parry for later tiers. We ultimately decided not to do this, at least for the current expansion.

Deathwell Radiance, Coin it now!~

[tusker]

This dude just completely summed it up for you tusker.

I'm aware of the lack of dmg reduction they have, there was no misunderstanding. Even though Druids might need some changes, they're in such a good spot in terms of PvE healing, I find it hard to believe anyone would even hint at the fact that they are weak overall.

Okay, so you're saying they lack in some areas, that's fine... they lack in damage mitigation, okay. So what? They are incredibly efficient. I know meters and things like raidbots only show pure heals or maybe absorbs (that don't show for other healer's performance), which is why Druids are usually on top (throughput), but even with that being said, they still perform fantastically. I have a hard time listening to someone say Druids need more help than Shamans or possibly Priests, though. Maybe you weren't saying that at all. Honestly, I was more surprised that some people seemed to think Druids needed significant help in the PvE department.

That's all.

[Suikoden]

I'm aware of the lack of dmg reduction they have, there was no misunderstanding. Even though Druids might need some changes, they're in such a good spot in terms of PvE healing, I find it hard to believe anyone would even hint at the fact that they are weak overall.

Okay, so you're saying they lack in some areas, that's fine... they lack in damage mitigation, okay. So what? They are incredibly efficient. I know meters and things like raidbots only show pure heals or maybe absorbs (that don't show for other healer's performance), which is why Druids are usually on top (throughput), but even with that being said, they still perform fantastically. I have a hard time listening to someone say Druids need more help than Shamans or possibly Priests, though. Maybe you weren't saying that at all. Honestly, I was more surprised that some people seemed to think Druids needed significant help in the PvE department.

That's all.

You have said this entire expansion that druids have been fine. There is a flaw there. Whether you wish to see that or not is not my problem. Even now druids are working under a flawed design. I've stated why that is. Not once have I said they are in a bad spot in terms of having low numbers. We are wasting so much to overhealing when that doesn't need to be.

[Zardoz541]

This dude just completely summed it up for you tusker.

I see arguments about this in chat all the damn time. Hell, even in our guild, a pally healer was furious about how even with better gear than our best druid (not by much, mind you) that the druid was still topping the meter. So we had to go back to 7th grade math class to explain it to him:

Let "Incoming Damage" = X
Let "Amount Mitigated" = Y
Let "Amount Mitigated by DRUID" = 0
Let "Amount you need to heal" = Z

You see where this goes... LOL.

[Notos]

They answer questions based on popularity; it's amazing how people still don't get that and spend all their time moaning about Blizz answering stupid questions.

[tusker]

You have said this entire expansion that druids have been fine. There is a flaw there. Whether you wish to see that or not is not my problem. Even now druids are working under a flawed design. I've stated why that is. Not once have I said they are in a bad spot in terms of having low numbers. We are wasting so much to overhealing when that doesn't need to be.

I think (?) you still fail to see my point, but that being said there's point in arguing about it. Enjoy your druid.

[Psii]

I thought this was the healer Q&A, b/c my Q&A combat log only reads: Dodge, Dodge, Dodge, Parry, Dodge....

I like you.

[F-Minus]

What? Although I might not consider Resto Druids OP (they need some love for PvP probably) they have basically been the best PvE healers the entire expansion, sometimes by a wide margin. You can't deny that.

On the other hand, for example, all Shaman specs struggle in PvE and their redeeming value is Resto for PvP.


So Resto Druids are apparently bad because they have no way to reduce dmg? That's about the dumbest thing I've ever read. Their throughput is ridiculous also. Are we even playing the same game?

Druids are the best PvE healers for the past 2 if not 3 expansions. Who fucking cares that they don't have a tank CD, they are not a lone healer in the raid. I would swap my Guardian Spirit for their throughput any day. Seriously, they spam the whole raid and yet they have no mana issues and end up like 20 million more healing done (effective) at the end of the raid. Yes, they have more overhealing, but who cares, in fact having such a mana sustainability while overhealing so much and healing much better then any other healer, is just sick.

Holy Priests do well in burst healing, but then they spend 30% of the fight regaining mana. And burst healing is not really needed in any of the fight in Cataclysm, save maybe Chimaeron and even there the Druid shines like an asshole with his tranquility and treeform.

On top of that Druids can combat rez people with full hp, that's like a CD they are looking for. If the tank dies it's not always the end of the line and if you CR him, and he's back in the game, it's worth more as my Guardian Spirit which is nice, but not really mandatory for anything.

As said, druids shine for a long time now, the healing might be boring, but they are making the game much much easier for everyone, healing without a druid in the raid is a pain in the ass. I don't want them to get nerfed, but bring other AOE healers up to par with druids throughput.

[bohapjut]

They actually took that thinly-veiled complaint about Recuperate seriously? Why did they actually give a retard from the General Discussion breakfast club attention with that question?

likely because many other players voted for them to answer that question, i assume

[Deleted]

Urgh, no Blizzard the question about Balance druids wasn't meant for Pve, it was PvP :'(

[Deleted]

I lol'd when I read blizz' comment on homogenization; talking as if it is a dirty word when they gave holy pallys an absorbing shield mastery that smells like a disc priests spell... Gave every healer the same spellchoices (slow but big, efficient or fast but inefficient)... and pretty recently gave DKs and Warlocks a battleress which used to be a druid-only spell. Buncha hypocrites. Or maybe I misread their intent.

I lol'd when I saw two the guys arguing that druids need a tank CD. Might as well argue that a disc priest needs a smart heal then, or that holy priests need an innervate-type ability or maybe a tranquility-like ability (divine hymn is nowhere near as good), or that shamans need an aoe CD. Oh wait, that last thing happened, and turns out; they nerfed other class' aoe abilities so the encounter difficulty stays the same.

Do note, you're not the only one playing the game. Yeah. It's a multiplayer game. A massively multiplayer game even.... that probably means you need to work together. As long as you're downing the bosses together it's fine. If you're getting benched it probably isn't the fault of your 'class being shit'. Benching for that isn't gonna happen unless you're in one of those top tier guilds that wants to optimize everything so they can go through content asap. And if you are, you'd simply adapt. However if you still have issues with your class not being as good as some other classes in a niche that they're exclusively better in (while you have your own niche) then maybe... (in Darnells famous words) "IT'S TIME TO REROOOOOLLLLLLLL"

Or just maybe its time to quit! Although I wouldn't do that for something as miniscule as 'not getting a tankhealing cooldown'. I myself quit because I got bored waiting for different raid content for more than 6 months.
Think about what you're unhappy about compared to what you're happy with.

[Mitigator]

I really LOL at this question and answer. I would really like to see heals nerfed. healers are so OP in Battlegrounds it's not funny. If you come up against a team of 4 healers 6 dps its GG because your in for the longest boring battle of your life. Its who is going to run out of mana first. If you kill one you won't be able to kill the other 3 before the first one is back. it's stupid. When BG's go the time limit or arenas go on for 20+ min battles it should shoot up a red flag. 90% of the time it's not bad players it's bad design and unbalance.

[Deleted]

How is having to refresh your Water Shield any different from having to Judge every 8s to maintain mana. Bleh always disappointed by the quality of the questions chosen by the dev Q&A's

I agree, personally I would prefer having higher mana regen (or lower spell cost) and not have to Judge at all, that spell is bullshit and have caused a lot of death in the raids that I have been in (what happened to the "no one should ever die within 1 gcd this will give you enough time to heal a target and let you think more about what heal you want to cast").