[QUESTION] PQ's Healing/Contribution

charl8tan

Fledgling Freddie
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This may have been posted elsewhere, checked a little but couldn't find anything (maybe I fail completely, it is well known and most likely documented somewhere).

I've experimented with this a few ways and basically (and I could be wrong) I don't see any encouragement to actually heal.

I've done some with groups of friends, where I am literally the only healer present (we're talking no other healing abilties in the group, just tank and pure dps WH's, BW's etc). Now when it's all over, my contribution is like 95 or something (the lowest out of all present), the tank is 500 and the dps in between. That's with me just healing everyone, by that I mean I am constantly healing, not stopping and standing around like a lemon.

Now, when I mix in damage my contribution goes up, normally to the mid range where the damage dealers are, but again the tank is quite happily sitting on max. But when I go pure damage, only doing "Force Transfer" as healing and not even bothering with hots/shields etc, I can get max myself...(in this test there was another AM present who did the main healing, he got 150 contribution or something)

Seems somewhat unfair if you ask me. Without the healing we wouldn't have been able to complete the PQ at all (likewise without the tank it wouldn't happen), so surely their contribution should be more equal (certainly not one of them being right at the bottom of the list).

The main problem that stems from this, is simply that I won't heal at PQ's unless it's absolutely required, and then only on the tank. Why should I "waste" my time healing people when I get bugger all from it?

I'm wondering if any other healers have noticed/looked into this (or would be willing to check it as well) as it's more than slightly annoying.

Also (in relation to this) if you heal people randomly at PQ's (as in if you are not grouped with people there) you gain 0 influence, however damaging the mobs does net you a % of the influence that mob gives based upon your damage done. Another superb healing encouragement there I think.
 

Soazak

Part of the furniture
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I guess the main incentive is that your group doesn't die..

But i've noticed similar things, but sometimes I will turn up at a PQ half way through stage 3, throw a few heals and still win a loot bag at 1st/2nd/3rd place, this happens quite a lot. Sometimes I will be there the full duration healing and DPSing like a monster and finish last :l


It would be nice to see the contribution factors compared. Healing definatly does something though.
 

Mabs

J Peasemould Gruntfuttock
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when im main , or only , healer at a PQ (zealot btw if that matters?) i tend to come about 1/2 to 2/3 of the way down the contribution list. if i try to DPS (i did say TRY :p) and heal a bit, i get a shite load more. so thats counter intuative and, imo, broken
:(
 

charl8tan

Fledgling Freddie
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So far I haven't received anything from healing (the 95 contrib I talk about is most likely from my "Force Transfer" dot draining health into my friendly target). And as for the incentive, well that's my point, with friends and so forth of course that is there, but with random people? I'll do enough to keep the tank up but why should I even bother helping the others when it nets me absolutely nothing? Yes you could say this is selfish (and it is I admit it), but isn't it also selfish of the DPS to expect heals which will up their contribution whilst loweing the healers (as he can't "DPS" himself during that time)?

Likewise even with friends it gets more than a bit tiresome constantly doing PQ's only to end up bottom with no loot bag/the worst quality bag just becuase you are a healer. I would definitely like to see something regarding the contribution factors, definitely a bit tired with watching people go AFK for things and get 300+ contribution higher than me really.
 

Aurelius LH

Fledgling Freddie
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As with Carlos, it sometimes feels rather too random who gets what.

I get pretty decent scores from mainly healing - including one first place and a nice purple item drop. As Archmage, the best way to go that I've found is to set the heal over time spells running on the tanks, throw a few DOT instants on the enemies, then return back to healing. Almost always end up with a decent score, the spells work faster and better because I avoid too big an imbalance in the types of magic used.

Only downside is a lot of mobs seem to really HATE healers and come after you even after only mild healing has been cast. Still, as long as there are only one or two, an Archmage can survive their attacks pretty handily while the tanks drag back their attention again.
 

Mabs

J Peasemould Gruntfuttock
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r. I would definitely like to see something regarding the contribution factors, definitely a bit tired with watching people go AFK for things and get 300+ contribution higher than me really.

lol tell me about it. cant beat people on vent going "wooo purple/gold loot bag !" which you wouldnt have got if i hadnt been healing EIGHTEEN PEOPLE. oh the joys :(
 

Adoctor

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I gotta say I agree completely, there are no additional bonuses for healing.

All the tanks get +300 to +500, I've never got more that +95 and thats with constant healing.
 

Mabs

J Peasemould Gruntfuttock
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a thought occurs..

in daoc there was something odd with spreadheal, you didnt get RPs for it, or it didnt count for healing done, or something. aaanyway...

are people using single target or aoe/group heals for PQs ? wonder if its similair ?
 

Aurelius LH

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All the tanks get +300 to +500, I've never got more that +95 and thats with constant healing.

I'll bet the tanks are using a mix of offensive, defensive and disabling/DoT moves. There's no 'pure healer' class, I'm absolutely convinced that using a mix of all the ability types is key to scoring higher....
 

Adoctor

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a thought occurs..

in daoc there was something odd with spreadheal, you didnt get RPs for it, or it didnt count for healing done, or something. aaanyway...

are people using single target or aoe/group heals for PQs ? wonder if its similair ?

Only single target heals for me.
 

Dredge

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On my sorc: Dot everything, 500 bonus. Job done.

I suspect it lends greater weight to the more targets/players affected. So now I dont bother trying to kill one thing, I just make sure EVERYTHING that is remotely being looked at by my group has a dot or quick damage spell on it. And I usually come out on top.
 

logoth

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I'll bet the tanks are using a mix of offensive, defensive and disabling/DoT moves. There's no 'pure healer' class, I'm absolutely convinced that using a mix of all the ability types is key to scoring higher....

LOL

especially on pqs when you NEED to spamheal tanks or they die... and if you arent grouped and you heal, you get ZERO influence, as that is co9mpletly dependant on % of hp you destroyed. only contribution you get is that part group splits equal
 

charl8tan

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Aye, I'm hotting up anyone that is on the receiving end of damage, constantly throwing out hots/single target big heals if required. When I get a spare moment I throw on my dots too (though that is infrequent at best as let's face it, not many people were retarded enough to go healer on Order....CURSES!).
 

scorge

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On my sorc: Dot everything, 500 bonus. Job done.

I suspect it lends greater weight to the more targets/players affected. So now I dont bother trying to kill one thing, I just make sure EVERYTHING that is remotely being looked at by my group has a dot or quick damage spell on it. And I usually come out on top.

not sure how the mechanics work, but teh more targets you hit, heal the more your score goes up..... at least i think so.Then again wheni aoe on PQ's i still dont get the top score, sometimes around 100 highest i have had is 300.

:m00:
 

boogie

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As a zealot myself, I do recognize the problem, but it's easy to get an higher rank.
When I'm healing in a pq (me, doing damage?), I try to switch targets often to dot them. I don't know if it helps, but I often have top 3-5 contribution using this method.
Note: only have played till chapter 6 yet :p
 

charl8tan

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Well this is the thing, I see lots of comments from Destruction "healers" stating they just damage as well as healing, but most frequently on Order we don't have the time to do damage at all, as the tanks (or some idiot DPS pulling aggro) will go byebye if I interrupt my healing at all. Distinct lack of healers I'd say combined with a crapski contribution calculation for healing.
 

Flimgoblin

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on my shaman I use the hot and the 1s cast heal+hot rather than the big 3s cast heals - this gives me time to do other things in between heals (such as firing dots and lifetap dots or even the odd focus nuke, but I am a smitor after all :p)

Actually, disregard the above, I don't heal, honest, don't tell anyone.
 

charl8tan

Fledgling Freddie
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Again! Another Destruction with time to do anything other than healing BLEH!

As I say, I use my instant hots, 1s heal+hot and still must use big heals or the tank bites the bullet. Clearly this is only a major problem (at the moment) for Order, but is also clearly a general failure in the game mechanic.
 

Mabs

J Peasemould Gruntfuttock
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it depends on the healer tho, some are "healers" some are more "hybrid" :p
 

Flimgoblin

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Again! Another Destruction with time to do anything other than healing BLEH!

As I say, I use my instant hots, 1s heal+hot and still must use big heals or the tank bites the bullet. Clearly this is only a major problem (at the moment) for Order, but is also clearly a general failure in the game mechanic.

what PQs are these? if it's more than one hero yeah you probably need all that - though if you can get a few healers stacking hots it should be more effective than just spamming the 3s heal.
 

charl8tan

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Well, I went with AM to be a hybrid, though I really do enjoy the healing aspect far more than I originally anticipated, though I just find myself healing like a loon as there's no-one else to do it.

As for which PQ, pretty much every that I wander up to, yes, stacking hots would be ideal, but when you're the solo healer there that's not normally that viable (not if you want everyone to live, and although they get on my tits I take it as a personal failure when some nobber dies nearby). I do love it when I see another class capable of healing, though sometimes I cry when I suspect they don't know how to set someone other than themselves as their friendly target...
 

Zagzyg

Loyal Freddie
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I think it may depend on the PQ you are running.
In most PQ's I've done, there's very little healing to be done until the final stage, and even then only if there's not many players running it. Usually the healers just all throw there HoT's on whoever has agro and nuke.

Mostly I'm throwing out DoT's on everything that moves, healing anyone who I see not on full, and green-beaming whenever something looks like staying alive long enough for me to bother with it.

I usually place in the top 3 if I was there from the start.
Not that helps, I've had huge consolation bonuses and still roll crap and get no loot. Chapter 6 I am way past maxing out influence, and I have not once won a prize there. Tier 5 I got one prize the whole time.

Basically, I only run the PQ's for fun and the influence rewards. The PQ loot is entirely unreliable, just a lottery bonus.
 

Aurelius LH

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LOL

especially on pqs when you NEED to spamheal tanks or they die... and if you arent grouped and you heal, you get ZERO influence, as that is co9mpletly dependant on % of hp you destroyed. only contribution you get is that part group splits equal

Not what I've found happens - since the main healing from an Archmage is over time, not instants, there's no point in me stacking the same spell on one character. Take two seconds to cast the instant Dots on the enemy, throw in one that mixes damage to the target with healing on your defensive target, go back to healing over time spells around the 'tanks'. They seem to stay alive just fine. Biggest problem if not in a group is targetting the tanks under a pile of incoming mobs..... not a guarantee, but if I can see them clearly, they usually don't die.

I don't join groups often, but have been in a lot of PQs - and all I know for sure is I get the results people say thay don't get.

Clearly though I'm wrong, and hallucinating about the level of bags that drop for me in the chests, the items I have, and the scores I get, or the results I see....:D
 

charl8tan

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Clearly I need to make sure I'm involved in more PQ's that have more "healer" classes present to lessen the load so that I can do some damage.

Fact still remains though, that quite clearly healing doesn't count for much in the grand "contribution" really, which is kinda fail.
 

Draylor

Part of the furniture
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Seems to work just fine to me: really dont see any difference in the results from when I play archmage vs other more damage oriented classes.

I was thinking tweaking the PQ contribution numbers so that it isnt dominated by one class/archetype had been pretty well done really.
 

TheBinarySurfer

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As a zealot myself, I do recognize the problem, but it's easy to get an higher rank.
When I'm healing in a pq (me, doing damage?), I try to switch targets often to dot them. I don't know if it helps, but I often have top 3-5 contribution using this method.
Note: only have played till chapter 6 yet :p
This i used to do, i rarely bother healing anyone who isn't the main tank or guild now, as i get f/a for it and just end up bottom of the tree.
 

Tallen

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I gotta say I agree completely, there are no additional bonuses for healing.

All the tanks get +300 to +500, I've never got more that +95 and thats with constant healing.

I mainly heal in PQ's and throw in the odd insta dot and usually come in the top 3, infact i can't remember the last time i didn't come in at least the top 5.

In large warbands i just hot everyone getting damaged and throw out a few big heals if needed, simple really.
 

Plutaris

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Happened to me today healed the hell out of the warband for a PQ and got fook all in return both as far as inf for the PQ or thanks from my warband : P
 

rynnor

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I have found a few little tricks that seem to work for me as a zealot soloing in PQ - instead of focusing on doing damage I get one of the moderately hard (usually second stage) mobs to pound on me lots while I heal up - eventually others come n kill it off but the massive amount of healing up till that point can put me in the top 4 for contribution then its just down to rolls.

Tbh tho its a hell of a lot easier on my dps tank where I can regularly come first or place high coming in after a round or two - lol!
 

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