I ma pretty sure less than 1% would ever consider healing as AOE. . .

I don't think stifling criticism is the answer. Instead focus on reporting inflammatory responses and avoiding feeding trolls. Or perhaps offer response to critique to build a discussion. Even discussions with a potentially insulting premise (for example, this one is accusing devs of not thinking about a solution properly before trying it) can have some valuable feedback and result in an overall positive impact on game growth.

 

As a "healer" who successfully functioned as a pure healer in many dragon raids in R28 I have been critical of the healer class. I already had to just click on the party member manually to heal. I do not like this idea at all of AOE, we need targets. Now, I dont mind at all if they created a *new* spell that was AOE. Bring back our targets. Im still planning on building a classic Cleric. My char will be GM with a 2H blunt, gm heal and heavy earth.

Meh to the people calling him a whiner...

 

I suggested this in another thread just now, I'll post it here for the purpose of discussion:

"Buff" spells that are able to be cast on other players (including heals) should be tagged as Non-Hostile. Non-Hostile spells should prioritize friendly players near your crosshairs instead of enemies. If no friendly players are found within an acceptable range of your crosshairs/within range of the spell, it defaults to casting it on yourself. Basically it uses the same "magnetic" targeting system used for enemies, but instead prioritizes players. This way you don't have to worry about swapping between a friendly/hostile targeting mode.

This would allow Shroud to keep its current healing glyphs functioning the way they are and provide healers and support players the ability to buff and heal allies easily with the new targeting system. Without having to press a key to swap between friendly and hostile targeting.

 

Are you going to be flagged now if a PVP flagged person happens to be in your AOE range? Or a rival guild member?

 

Don't think I'm stifling anything, and it is a one sided post with a one sided poll. I don't mind that 1 spell was made aoe. If that was the path they plan on taking all beneficial spells would be aoe. And my post wasn't directed at just OP. It is across the board to everyone that as you say,

lets focus on positives not flame the negatives. If we as a community cant come together to force a positive end result, with positive feedback, how can we even begin to form a new community with the new commers and make a lasting game? My main concern is this, the closer we get to final wipe, the more eyes that will be on the game. The more negativity they see in the forums the lower the reviews will be and the more new players that will be scared off.

 

First off it is not a one sided post or poll

The choice was now going to be AEO healing.

The question was why not have some kind of focused targeting healing - they are going to try some kind of soft targeting soo hope it works

But AOE healing should not be the answer to not being able to target someone to heal.

If the community comes together and says they do not like something like we have then they adjust, it is the few who want nothing but a FPS style game that are perfectly fine with the targeting system as it is.

There are some major adjustment that have to be made and are being addressed only because the community has spoken up, to thwart a straight up FPS game.

 

There are some interesting responses in this thread....

Here's my take on it -

My typical playstyle is dedicated healer. In order to be a successful dedicated healer you need an arsenal of tools in your tool belt - direct heals with differing ranges and strength, heals over time, AOE heals, and various buffs/debuffs. In group play, you need to have the ability to select the appropriate type of heal to keep your group going and to manage your aggro related to mobs.

If changing primary healing spells to AOE casts is the proposed "solution" to healing, then there's still a lot of work to be done.

1. In most of the major "boss" fights in game, there is some sort of powerful AOE damage/stun effect that discourages players from grouping up in battle. I found Healing Touch already to be the least useful spell in my arsenal for group healing...only suitable for small group fights with lower level mobs or personal healing. This is purely because the range on the spell practically forced me to stand under a troll or daemon's feet to successfully heal anyone who is/wasn't ranged.
2. Multiple AOE spells (or all AOE spells) "dumb down" healing. For general fighting, all I would need to do is stand amidst the fray, pick the most focus efficient spell, and "spam" the same heal over and over. Additionally, while everyone was training Healing Touch before....everyone will really get it now. You don't have to distract yourself with who in your group is taking damage to use the spell....you just send it off. If everyone has that AOE spell, why does anyone need to be a dedicated healer?
3. How do you balance the new AOE heals? Is the focus cost the same if you heal one additional target? Two? What about 7 other party members? Will the healing effectiveness be altered based on the number of targets in range? These things could make healing either pointless or overpowered depending on how you tune it.

I also heard rumor of a "concentration ray" concept for Healing Ray whereby a beam connects you to a player you have targeted with a heal over time. I can easily say that when you already cannot target unpredictable, moving, human players with a heal - this probably won't work out. It's an interesting idea, but in gameplay I think will be useless/rarely used. Firstly, the healer is now forced to stand in one location for how long? The receiving player has to stand still while fighting. It breaks when the healer is attacked. (This one is less of a big deal because all heals with cast times should break when attacked...) Is there a significant benefit in how much it heals per second? It would have to be pretty big in order to be worth training. Difficult to use in PVE ...and likely a death sentence in PVP. *shines concentration ray at friendly target in group PVP* "Here! Come kill me!"

If a dedicated healer is a playstyle that Portalarium wishes to support, then they should take a very close look at finding a way to allow us to still utilize a direct heal in combination with all of the other ways healing is supposed to work. If a dedicated healer is a playstyle that Portalarium doesn't want to support, I hope they make that clear by saying so....so that healers like me can spend time finding a new way to play. It would be better than giving us substandard methods of healing.

I'm fairly confident that the team is taking a serious look at this and hopefully we will find a happy compromise that makes healing viable, challenging, and fun.

Have you played a healer since this latest wipe? Maybe I'm misunderstanding you, but you must realize the crosshairs ARE the issue in casting healing spells on a target right now. Human players do not move in predictable patterns like mobs do. When you target a mob to fight it, it comes running at you and gets in your face....or in the case of ranged, runs off to stand in a spot facing you to shoot you over and over again. Other players will be moving all over your screen and not standing still. So assuming you can even make this happen, what is the "acceptable range"? And what if multiple players are in that range? Who does the spell target? The one standing closest to you? Well that doesn't help either if the person standing between you isn't the one who needs heals....

 

Chris stated the intended solution if the other thread, with having party members selectable for healing targets in an upcoming patch. Im not sure how the healign touch AoE works because i havent been ablte to heal anythign but myself with it still, but i have played games that use ground-targeted AoE heals, and healing burst is and AoE heal centered aroudn the caster, i dont see much of a difference and wouldnt mind it if it worked probably

 

If it works NP but still need to be able to Target heal someone. As a healer and one person is getting beaten down I wat to heal them and not spread out my heals to another player near them that really does not need it.

I kow what they said, and if it works GtG.

But for some reason they are so adamant again allowing selected targets it is laughable.

They need to get with it and implement these "soft targets" ASAP less than 90 days to persistence.

 

How are people resurrecting other players currently? I came across another player whom I witnessed the death of at the fangs of a wolf and I attempted to res this player to no avail. . Is it part of the wonky targeting thing and It's just not possible at the moment or is there a work around? I invited the player to my party and they joined but I still could not Res them.

 

AoE healing spells should only be viable for true healers; healers that have massive points invested in the life tree.

 

I've found you have to be about 3-5 paces or more away from them. And, must be partied. Unable to rez/heal someone that isn't in your party that I'm aware of.

 

These changes are getting wackier and wackier.

We already had not one, but 2 AoE heals: (pic)


Now, for the solo warrior - instead of a simple healing touch that heals just myself (or a party member if he is close enough and was targeted - you know, when we could target another friend before the reticle fiasco) - now we have a tier 1 healing touch AoE... Really unnecessary and lame, and certainly not any solution for anything that I am aware of....

What problem does this fix, btw......??

 

I'm just going to wait and see what happens. I don't really know where all these suggests are coming from (can probably guess) but quite frankly they are truly awful.

AoE for healing touch? Not being able to heal people outside of a party? Awful new targeting system?

It's 3 months from persistence............................

WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!?!

Seriously i'm getting so grumpy and disheartened with all of this at the moment.

 

You are far from alone, E n v y

 

AoE healing actually attracts someone like myself to start playing a healer. I really enjoyed playing a Restoration Shaman in WoW, during Wrath of the Lich King I think it was.

 

the shaman in eq1 at higher levels (~80ish) was really fun, especially in bear form. lots of hots and aoe heals.

as a secondary healer, keep the aoe hots up, and the primary healer got bored FAST.