Quote Originally Posted by Belhi View Post
I don't have a specific problem with dpsing. I do as a healer pretty much all the time anyway. Healing is under developed in this game. However I think it is a perfectly valid excuse to take issue with the fact there is so much opportunity to dps as it shows the healing gameplay is lacking and I think its fine to take issue with healers finding themselves in a situation where they have to dps to keep active in a fight but are given a tacked on dps system to do it with. They literally just removed the one interesting mechanic dpsing as a healer had.
I disagree that Cleric Stance was in any way interesting. It was a laggy toggle button with a boring effect and deciding to use it was just a question of, "Do I want to dps now?"

God what I wouldn't do for a healer whose spells aren't just "single target", "stronger single target", "aoe", though... for the healing jobs to be fully distinct from one another in style and flavor and healing spells. I know I mention WildStar a lot, but as a comparison, this is a general description of some of the main healing abilities for the three classes that can heal:

Esper: Healing revolves around generating Psi Points and spending them for "big" healing spells. Bread and butter is Soothe, a charge-up spell (press and hold to charge, can charge up to 3 levels for varying healing intensity/focus cost) that heals anyone in its long-line telegraph (can be modified to add a HoT to the targets hit). Reverie is the main spender, which is a basic AoE heal, but its potency and cost changes depending on how many Psi Points it uses (can be modified to place a beacon on players hit that increases healing taken). Warden is a ground-based aoe HoT centered around the first person it hits (can be modified to grant defense to players healed). There's also a spender that is an aoe HoT centered around you (follows you) that lasts 6 seconds. There's a single target HoT builder. There's an attack that places a healing circle around the monster it hits, plus anyone who hits the monster with it gains an attack and support buff. There's a seed-like builder that is a delayed heal on one person... and some others and many utility abilities.

Spellslinger: Telegraphs are fairly narrow for the most part, as opposed to the Esper's circular AoEs. Their main mechanic is Spell Surge, which is a toggleable status that regenerates over time and is spent by spells cast when Spell Surge is on. Casting a spell with Spell Surge on can change its focus cost, cooldown, or even how the spell functions. They have an AoE shield, and a charged conal heal (3 tiers of charge) whose cooldown changes depending on the level of charge it was when you used it. There's also an AoE buff that triggers healing when the person takes damage for 12 seconds. Runic Healing is a channeled, focused HoT. I know there are several other abilities, but I'm not as familiar with slinger healing as esper healing.

Medic: They're short-range healers unique in that they can heal player health as well as player shields (a special mechanic in WildStar that is essentially a second layer of HP but comes from a piece of gear called an Energy Shield). The way they're balanced now, it's very important to manage your Actuators to stay under a certain number so that your main heal costs very little/no focus. They've got some fun abilities like Fusion Probe that launches forward and heals people it hits, plus explodes after a bit and heals folk in range. Shield Surge restores shield instead of HP, which is especially powerful for tank healing. Barrier is a long CD ability that restores Shield to 100% and sets Shield Mitigation at 100% for you and 3 other people. A few abilities become available if you land a multi-hit (based on a stat called Multi-hit which essentially has a chance to duplicate your heals/attacks). Dual Shock does both damage and heals, but if you modify it you can convert some of the damage done to healing. Flash is a short-range AoE heal whose cooldown is reduced when you cast Emission (a basic channel that builds Actuators).

Anyway, I'll stop there cause it's getting a bit long. Doesn't cover all of the spells, nor any of the utility that the different healers also bring. But the main point is that, while there are a few similarities here and there, each class is highly distinct from one another. Their spells also have a lot more that goes into using them besides just Cure, Cure II, Medica (and the equivalents for AST and SCH). SE really designed themselves into a corner with healing by simplifying things so much that any other spell they design will have players think, "Well, I wouldn't I just use Cure/Cure II/Medica?"