I always enjoyed proactive healing more, as it came across as more nuanced and intricate.
It is about allocating resources across your group in order to achieve balance. This is more fun the larger the group is. You have to keep track of what your teammates are doing and always have to keep every party member in mind - even if you're not casting a spell on them at the moment, they probably have a ticking ward that you have to pay attention to.
This is in contrast to reactive healing, which is more about the ability to quickly respond and refill specific health bars as fast as possible. It rarely keeps the whole party in mind, focusing on members that are low on health. It's also more forgiving in terms of knowing enemy mechanics, as you can respond to what happens. As a proactive healer, you need to know what is about to happen, or else it's too late.
Reactive healing may come across as more fluid and in touch with the fight though, which is nice. It is apparent what your contribution to the fight is. As a proactive healer, people usually won't notice your contribution unless you mess up.
If its more actiony, I prefer proactive healing. If its more laid back, I prefer reactive healing. There have been a few games where I felt the methods of healing did not match the pace of gameplay. For example, there were reactive options to heal in GW2, but I never found that the fast paced, hectic combat really gave enough time to utilize them properly without substantial communication with a group. Inversely, proactive healing in games like WoW, FFXIV, and EQ2 (Shaman Wards, Cleric Reactive healing, etc.) seems too easy and out of place with the slower paced combat/scripted fights.
...Shaman Wards AND Reactive heals both grouped together? Why? They are polar opposites. And I find the relaxed pace of RHs very comforting(yeah, Inquisitor is very fun) though I like the idea of Wards very much too. I don't like Druid spam at all. Why would I cast something 20 times when I could do it in as few as 5 casts? fml
I never played a Shaman in Vanguard. Can you describe how the Shaman Healing Wards worked? That was for Bear Shaman right?
Well SOE /VG ruined lot's of potentially good ideas.The way SOE and Brad handled hate/aggro was identical and badly done.The reason is because of balance but why have ideas that need to be done poorly to keep balance.
Example reactive heals still carried the hate system with them,like in realistic terms how would something cast before battle generate hate with the mob,not possible or realistic so DUMB idea.
Then because the heal is already cast before the encounter meaning zero effort and reacts instantly is far less tactical or skillful than a healer actually having to watch and manage his healing.
I'll use an example ,Tank just used his hate mechanic...TAUNT whatever it's called,3-4 secs later as hate diminishes you decide to cast your most powerful heal drawing more hate than the Tank has,so you draw aggro and might die because you are a paper weight mage.This leads to yet another problem,healers should not be wearing metal armor ,SOE just did so much wrong with class/combat design.So by having t o manage your heals and not having armor,you have to be a better player/healer than some auto bot type design.
The SK was one design i didn't mind because he is trying to draw hate "often if tank",so his leeching type spells/abilities were a good design but still allowed for him to be interrupted so there is trade off to having some healing and wearing armor,yes an Inquisitor could be interrupted but the healer shouldn't be tanking or care free because he knows has armor yada yada enough with examples,it should be obvious.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
The problem as i see it is that too many players want the dumb ideas because they want to solo tough encounters instead of grouping.Example set a reactive heal then head into a solo battle knowing you don't have to heal yourself for 8-10 secs and with armor your good to go.The battle then becomes a simple battle of can your initial output of dmg carry you over to victory before more heals become a problem. Imo that was a design i got bored of real quick because i knew the outcome before i started the battle and nothing i could do to change it,i don't like predictable combat.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
The problem as i see it is that too many players want the dumb ideas because they want to solo tough encounters instead of grouping.Example set a reactive heal then head into a solo battle knowing you don't have to heal yourself for 8-10 secs and with armor your good to go2.The battle then becomes a simple battle of can your initial output of dmg carry you over to victory before more heals become a problem. Imo that was a design i got bored of real quick because i knew the outcome before i started the battle and nothing i could do to change it,i don't like predictable combat.
I remember being a loladin in wow. Activate retribution aura, agro loads, drop consecrate, then heal yourself through the battle....
I rather have both forms of healing in my arsenal. I enjoy being able to choose to heal differently depending on the encounter. Although reactive is probably the most effective way to deal with spike damage but wards and shields could diminish the spike and allow a proactive healer some room to still heal spike damage.
Comments
It is about allocating resources across your group in order to achieve balance. This is more fun the larger the group is. You have to keep track of what your teammates are doing and always have to keep every party member in mind - even if you're not casting a spell on them at the moment, they probably have a ticking ward that you have to pay attention to.
This is in contrast to reactive healing, which is more about the ability to quickly respond and refill specific health bars as fast as possible. It rarely keeps the whole party in mind, focusing on members that are low on health. It's also more forgiving in terms of knowing enemy mechanics, as you can respond to what happens. As a proactive healer, you need to know what is about to happen, or else it's too late.
Reactive healing may come across as more fluid and in touch with the fight though, which is nice. It is apparent what your contribution to the fight is. As a proactive healer, people usually won't notice your contribution unless you mess up.
Example reactive heals still carried the hate system with them,like in realistic terms how would something cast before battle generate hate with the mob,not possible or realistic so DUMB idea.
Then because the heal is already cast before the encounter meaning zero effort and reacts instantly is far less tactical or skillful than a healer actually having to watch and manage his healing.
I'll use an example ,Tank just used his hate mechanic...TAUNT whatever it's called,3-4 secs later as hate diminishes you decide to cast your most powerful heal drawing more hate than the Tank has,so you draw aggro and might die because you are a paper weight mage.This leads to yet another problem,healers should not be wearing metal armor ,SOE just did so much wrong with class/combat design.So by having t o manage your heals and not having armor,you have to be a better player/healer than some auto bot type design.
The SK was one design i didn't mind because he is trying to draw hate "often if tank",so his leeching type spells/abilities were a good design but still allowed for him to be interrupted so there is trade off to having some healing and wearing armor,yes an Inquisitor could be interrupted but the healer shouldn't be tanking or care free because he knows has armor yada yada enough with examples,it should be obvious.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
Imo that was a design i got bored of real quick because i knew the outcome before i started the battle and nothing i could do to change it,i don't like predictable combat.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
Activate retribution aura, agro loads, drop consecrate, then heal yourself through the battle....