In video games there's little worse than coming to the realization
that your chosen MMO class doesn't work very well after weeks of play,
so to ensure I wasn't wasting my time entirely this December when The
Old Republic launches I've been playing a Sith Sorcerer in the latest
beta phase. A few months ago I decided I wanted to try a healing build
in the final game, and this way I could at least test the class out to
make sure it was enjoyable.
I don't build healers in every MMO I play, but do often tend to gravitate toward the role because I suspect that with The Old Republic, like other MMOs with rigid class roles, the class will be under represented in the general population. It probably has something to do with the fact that picking a healer means you won't get to beat up on The Old Republic's most dangerous dungeon bosses with lightsabers. The healer hangs back from the group, perpetually ignored while things are going well, and tends to be instantly chastised for any misstep.
Though healing mistakes are much more obvious than screw ups by pure damage dealers, and the healer is likely to be the subject of many more nasty phrases tossed out by random party members than anyone else, I know that when the game launches, I'll never have a hard time finding a group. Unlike what other developers are doing with class structures, like ArenaNet's approach in Guild Wars 2, in The Old Republic, a dedicated healer is absolutely required to get through tough content.
You may notice the Sorcerer is not one of the Empire's four base classes. It's an offshoot of the Inquisitor class, and from what I can tell is vastly different from the Assassin, the other specialization Inquisitors can choose. The differences seem so drastic, in fact, that in-game players identify as their advanced class, not their base. When broadcasting to chat fields that I'm looking for a group, I type in Sorcerer, not Inquisitor.
The Sith Sorcerer isn't the only class with healing abilities on the Imperial side, but is my class of choice because, well, quite honestly I just like the idea of being able to shoot lightning out of my fingertips. If I dumped all skill points into my Lightning tree I could be pretty damn lethal with electricity too. The skill tree opens up at level 10, and after that you get one point per level to distribute across its three branches -- a standard system for a post-WoW MMO. You can spread points across all three, but because you'll never be able to fill out the whole tree, it makes more sense to specialize in an area in order to unlock the most powerful abilities.
Each branch of the skill tree offers new abilities in addition to those offered by class trainers for your base and advanced class. All Sorcerers get heals, for instance, but only by building out my entire Healing skill tree can I learn Revivification. This is the ultimate heal, so I presume because of its position on the tree, which lets me lay down an area of effect heal, and any party members that stick around the healing area after the cast get the benefit of additional healing for a short while. A useful skill to be sure, especially in later game Operations meant for more than the standard four person group.
Right now my character is level 20 out of a possible 50, so a lot of my time is spent staring at my skill tree and fantasizing about how much more effective I'll be later on. Still locked is Innervate, a channeled instant heal combined with a heal over time effect, as well as plenty of other passive bonuses that give increased healing and critical effect chances. Around level 20 I finally unlocked Resurgence, an instant cast combined heal and regeneration spell, which when added to my healing abilities makes the prospect of healing a little more interesting.
Before 20 healing wasn't very exciting, as I had two basic heals – one on a short cast timer for a small effect, one on a longer cast timer for a more significant heal – and a Static Barrier ability that let me cast a protective shield around a target of my choosing to temporarily eat incoming damage. Mechanically there just wasn't much to it: select teammate with falling health, cast a healing spell, repeat, and make sure Static Barrier was active on the tank whenever possible. Things got a little more complicated once I dove into the second major Flashpoint, the Hammer, where the first big boss tended to randomly target party members with a sweeping beam attack, as well as spawn groups of less powerful monsters that would roam around and attack everyone. Resource management was much more essential to achieve success.
Sorcerers use Force to cast spells, a resource that regenerates during a fight and needs to be very carefully monitored. Without Force, the Sorcerer is dead weight. I just learned Consumption, a skill that trades health for Force, but aside from that -- based on what I've seen so far -- there's no easy way to replenish Force. Perhaps there's a recipe in the Biochem crew skill, The Old Republic's equivalent of a potion-making profession, that I haven't noticed, but even if there is, it seems one of the Sorcerer's primary concerns will be boosting the Force regeneration rate statistic as much as possible.
There's still a lot of room for me to grow as a Sorcerer, and from looking at the trainer's list I still have some cool abilities to learn, including an in-combat revive at level 50. Of particular interest is the Force Surge skill in the Healing tree, which causes Innervate critical hits to wipe out the negative effects of casting Consumption. Normally Consumption consumes a percentage of health and gives back a percentage of Force, and thereafter Force regeneration suffers a penalty. This penalty stacks too, so repeated use of Consumption, an instant cast with no cooldown, effectively halts all Force regeneration for a limited time. That's really bad if you're trying to keep a group of players alive. By putting skill points into Force Surge, which gets rid of the regeneration debuff along with the health penalty, activating Consumption results in free Force, seemingly an essential bonus for any healer in a drawn out fight.
Maybe you read that and thought, "Shut up, nerd!" But maybe you read that and thought, "Hmm, but how often am I going to critical hit with Innervate?" The Sorcerer just so happens to have an ability, learned early on, called Recklessness, that gives two chances to cast a direct heal with a boosted increased chance to critically strike. Though Recklessness is on a long cooldown timer, I think it serves as proof that, for the capable caster, there's a decent amount of depth to the healing system that'll help separate the skilled from the rest.
The Force Surge skill is way toward the end of the skill tree, though, so I won't see those benefits for a while after launch, unless I decide sleep and food and friends are for losers. In the meantime I can continue to customize my Resurgence skill, which through the skill tree can be modified to have a longer duration for regeneration as well as increase a target's armor. It also can be tied to a Force Bending skill, which has multiple side effects. These include reducing the Force required for one of my basic heal spells, reducing the cast time of another, and increasing the critical chance of Innervate, which allow for more sophisticated healing styles. Open with Resurgence to trigger Force Bending, then follow up with Innervate and hopefully land a critical heal to trigger Force Surge, which lets you use Consumption to regain Force for free without suffering regeneration or health penalties.
The Old Republic is still in its beta testing phase right now so some of the skill specifics could still change between now and the mid December launch, but what I've seen so far leads me to believe a pure healing role in group encounters can be fun. It starts off a bit dull, but considering how I also have plenty of lightning-based attacks to help me plow through traditional questing content, I don't have to run through the whole game cowering behind my Companion. The skill trees and abilities may not be revolutionary, but they do appear to be well made
I don't build healers in every MMO I play, but do often tend to gravitate toward the role because I suspect that with The Old Republic, like other MMOs with rigid class roles, the class will be under represented in the general population. It probably has something to do with the fact that picking a healer means you won't get to beat up on The Old Republic's most dangerous dungeon bosses with lightsabers. The healer hangs back from the group, perpetually ignored while things are going well, and tends to be instantly chastised for any misstep.
Though healing mistakes are much more obvious than screw ups by pure damage dealers, and the healer is likely to be the subject of many more nasty phrases tossed out by random party members than anyone else, I know that when the game launches, I'll never have a hard time finding a group. Unlike what other developers are doing with class structures, like ArenaNet's approach in Guild Wars 2, in The Old Republic, a dedicated healer is absolutely required to get through tough content.
You may notice the Sorcerer is not one of the Empire's four base classes. It's an offshoot of the Inquisitor class, and from what I can tell is vastly different from the Assassin, the other specialization Inquisitors can choose. The differences seem so drastic, in fact, that in-game players identify as their advanced class, not their base. When broadcasting to chat fields that I'm looking for a group, I type in Sorcerer, not Inquisitor.
The Sith Sorcerer isn't the only class with healing abilities on the Imperial side, but is my class of choice because, well, quite honestly I just like the idea of being able to shoot lightning out of my fingertips. If I dumped all skill points into my Lightning tree I could be pretty damn lethal with electricity too. The skill tree opens up at level 10, and after that you get one point per level to distribute across its three branches -- a standard system for a post-WoW MMO. You can spread points across all three, but because you'll never be able to fill out the whole tree, it makes more sense to specialize in an area in order to unlock the most powerful abilities.
Each branch of the skill tree offers new abilities in addition to those offered by class trainers for your base and advanced class. All Sorcerers get heals, for instance, but only by building out my entire Healing skill tree can I learn Revivification. This is the ultimate heal, so I presume because of its position on the tree, which lets me lay down an area of effect heal, and any party members that stick around the healing area after the cast get the benefit of additional healing for a short while. A useful skill to be sure, especially in later game Operations meant for more than the standard four person group.
Right now my character is level 20 out of a possible 50, so a lot of my time is spent staring at my skill tree and fantasizing about how much more effective I'll be later on. Still locked is Innervate, a channeled instant heal combined with a heal over time effect, as well as plenty of other passive bonuses that give increased healing and critical effect chances. Around level 20 I finally unlocked Resurgence, an instant cast combined heal and regeneration spell, which when added to my healing abilities makes the prospect of healing a little more interesting.
Before 20 healing wasn't very exciting, as I had two basic heals – one on a short cast timer for a small effect, one on a longer cast timer for a more significant heal – and a Static Barrier ability that let me cast a protective shield around a target of my choosing to temporarily eat incoming damage. Mechanically there just wasn't much to it: select teammate with falling health, cast a healing spell, repeat, and make sure Static Barrier was active on the tank whenever possible. Things got a little more complicated once I dove into the second major Flashpoint, the Hammer, where the first big boss tended to randomly target party members with a sweeping beam attack, as well as spawn groups of less powerful monsters that would roam around and attack everyone. Resource management was much more essential to achieve success.
Sorcerers use Force to cast spells, a resource that regenerates during a fight and needs to be very carefully monitored. Without Force, the Sorcerer is dead weight. I just learned Consumption, a skill that trades health for Force, but aside from that -- based on what I've seen so far -- there's no easy way to replenish Force. Perhaps there's a recipe in the Biochem crew skill, The Old Republic's equivalent of a potion-making profession, that I haven't noticed, but even if there is, it seems one of the Sorcerer's primary concerns will be boosting the Force regeneration rate statistic as much as possible.
There's still a lot of room for me to grow as a Sorcerer, and from looking at the trainer's list I still have some cool abilities to learn, including an in-combat revive at level 50. Of particular interest is the Force Surge skill in the Healing tree, which causes Innervate critical hits to wipe out the negative effects of casting Consumption. Normally Consumption consumes a percentage of health and gives back a percentage of Force, and thereafter Force regeneration suffers a penalty. This penalty stacks too, so repeated use of Consumption, an instant cast with no cooldown, effectively halts all Force regeneration for a limited time. That's really bad if you're trying to keep a group of players alive. By putting skill points into Force Surge, which gets rid of the regeneration debuff along with the health penalty, activating Consumption results in free Force, seemingly an essential bonus for any healer in a drawn out fight.
Maybe you read that and thought, "Shut up, nerd!" But maybe you read that and thought, "Hmm, but how often am I going to critical hit with Innervate?" The Sorcerer just so happens to have an ability, learned early on, called Recklessness, that gives two chances to cast a direct heal with a boosted increased chance to critically strike. Though Recklessness is on a long cooldown timer, I think it serves as proof that, for the capable caster, there's a decent amount of depth to the healing system that'll help separate the skilled from the rest.
The Force Surge skill is way toward the end of the skill tree, though, so I won't see those benefits for a while after launch, unless I decide sleep and food and friends are for losers. In the meantime I can continue to customize my Resurgence skill, which through the skill tree can be modified to have a longer duration for regeneration as well as increase a target's armor. It also can be tied to a Force Bending skill, which has multiple side effects. These include reducing the Force required for one of my basic heal spells, reducing the cast time of another, and increasing the critical chance of Innervate, which allow for more sophisticated healing styles. Open with Resurgence to trigger Force Bending, then follow up with Innervate and hopefully land a critical heal to trigger Force Surge, which lets you use Consumption to regain Force for free without suffering regeneration or health penalties.
The Old Republic is still in its beta testing phase right now so some of the skill specifics could still change between now and the mid December launch, but what I've seen so far leads me to believe a pure healing role in group encounters can be fun. It starts off a bit dull, but considering how I also have plenty of lightning-based attacks to help me plow through traditional questing content, I don't have to run through the whole game cowering behind my Companion. The skill trees and abilities may not be revolutionary, but they do appear to be well made
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