The sad state of BG healing
by Mike Schramm 
Oct 10th 2007 at 7:22PM
The pic above, via The Nameless One on WoW Ladies LJ, shows you just how bad the state of battlegrounds healing is. In a WSG where she was healing, she topped the healing meter, and second place went to a Warlock. Drain Life and healthstones for the win. They're already OP-- do we really need them topping healing meters, too?
Of course, this is just one screengrab from one match, but it's true that healing in the BGs is just plain sad. And it's not surprising why-- there's a huge focus on DPS and taking the other side down in BGs, and there's almost no reward at all for healing. Out of the eight stats listed on that screen, only one of them has anything to do with healing (OK, bonus honor and HKs might get a nice boost if you're a good healer, but at this point, odds are they'd get an even better boost if you're DPS). Healers get all of the damage (since healers are targeted first), and none of the glory.
I'm not sure how we can fix this, either-- tracking "average lifespan," as a way of recognizing healers who stay alive? Providing bonus HKs, just for healing? Providing better PvP healing talents and gear? Personally, I love healing the BGs-- I love sitting behind a tree and keeping my faction alive long enough to take the flag or kill the other team. But right now, it's pretty much its own reward. When a Lock takes second place to a Priest in PvP, you know players need a little more incentive to break out the Greater Heals and Healing Waves.
Of course, this is just one screengrab from one match, but it's true that healing in the BGs is just plain sad. And it's not surprising why-- there's a huge focus on DPS and taking the other side down in BGs, and there's almost no reward at all for healing. Out of the eight stats listed on that screen, only one of them has anything to do with healing (OK, bonus honor and HKs might get a nice boost if you're a good healer, but at this point, odds are they'd get an even better boost if you're DPS). Healers get all of the damage (since healers are targeted first), and none of the glory.
I'm not sure how we can fix this, either-- tracking "average lifespan," as a way of recognizing healers who stay alive? Providing bonus HKs, just for healing? Providing better PvP healing talents and gear? Personally, I love healing the BGs-- I love sitting behind a tree and keeping my faction alive long enough to take the flag or kill the other team. But right now, it's pretty much its own reward. When a Lock takes second place to a Priest in PvP, you know players need a little more incentive to break out the Greater Heals and Healing Waves.
Filed under: Priest, Warlock, Analysis / Opinion, Blizzard, PvP
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Jackie Oct 10th 2007 7:29PM
I'm still waiting for all the paladin out to realize in battleground, their job is the heal, not wipe a big two-handled mace and pretend they can actually do damage.
Btw- that's one of the reasons why alliances loses.
Charlie Oct 10th 2007 7:31PM
I love healing BGs.
There's really nothing more entertaining when someone crits me, and I'm allowed uninterupted casting for 6 seconds, and I just heal everyone around me.
I quite fun to laugh a rogue who can't kill me because he keeps critting me. By the time it takes to kill me, there always another ally there to help out, and kill him. Alot of the time i have a mix dps/healing gear and i can take out the rogue with just smites, sw:p, and wanding. How embarrasing is it when you get killed by a freaking smite? lol.
plixer Oct 10th 2007 7:31PM
actually, if I manage to keep a good number of people alive I get whispers saying things like 'thx for teh healz' and what not... and it helps to practice keeping people alive, for arenas.
plixer Oct 10th 2007 7:32PM
oo and its also fun following around a good arms warrior, and keeping him alive while he kills EVERYBODY
Tim Hettler Oct 10th 2007 7:40PM
Provide bonus honor for "assists". You receive a percentage of honor from a kill by anyone you've healed in the last X seconds.
kristoffer belau Oct 10th 2007 7:44PM
Ever played Team fortress 2?
Ever played a medic?
That's how you fix it.
Epiny Oct 10th 2007 7:44PM
I play a holy priest in BG's. I am usually top 3 for HK's, sometimes first. Healing in BG's is fine. So I get lots of bonus honor.
Second, you make your team exponentially better by healing them. A MS warrior is tough, a MS warrior with a healer is unstopable.
L2bgheal
Dro Oct 10th 2007 7:59PM
Do it Battlefield 2 style.
Healing points/kill assists.
Erika Oct 10th 2007 8:04PM
But dont make it where you get uberheal except for the standard bubbles and the like. IF you want to be a ghostbuster use this.
http://thottbot.com/i23821
Pharmacy Oct 10th 2007 8:08PM
I'm my battlegroup (Vindication), there doesn't seem to be any lack of PvP healing. I even thought that we (the healers) were too many at times.
I also love PvP healing. Granted it may not seem rewarding to other classes, but having other REAL people whispering me and saying "Zomg great healz thankz!" is infinitely cooler than being on top of some board with stats. When I was on my mage, no one would ever tell me "Wow nice fireblast!
hpavc Oct 10th 2007 8:22PM
In AV healing is usually a millions or per healer for the first few. Though the numbers I have on my client I can never true up with the scoreboard.
WSG is tough to heal in, the damage there is so intense and separation is so easy.
PhyerFly Oct 10th 2007 8:30PM
When I go into a battleground, I don't expect to be healed. Period.
I would gather that a good percentage of the people playing in my battleground are PvP specced which for most classes means they can dish out damage. Why shouldn't they?
I PvP because I get tired of pressing the same 3 buttons to DPS in raids and 5-mans and I know that healing classes get tired of the same thing. Taking a class with some healing ability and making them play healbot in the middle of a 40 man skirmish just doesn't sound like fun to me.
ESPECIALLY when the people you're healing aren't looking out for your well-being like they are in PvE content where they depend on you.
Want to be healed in PvP? Form a pre-made team and protect your healer.
Healzor Oct 10th 2007 8:37PM
This isn't an issue for our battlegroup anymore, hell usually I have to go dps because their are too many healers in AV.
However, I will not heal ret paladins because they refuse to even heal themselves, I hope you all die.
And I will not heal that noob in greens and blues with less than 6k health, you deserve to die too.
dekulink Oct 10th 2007 8:37PM
@1: You realize you're the exact stereotype people joke about when talking about healing? Be thankful I don't know your character, I'd never heal you.
A lot of the time healers don't get the respect they deserve (Such as Jackie in number 1) We're keeping YOU alive so that YOU can have fun killing people.
Zanjati Oct 10th 2007 8:39PM
@1 - Maybe more Paladins would heal if they weren't left to die by DPS classes lusting after that "killing blow." BG healing is no fun whatsoever - you're consistently focus-fired with no way to defend yourself. Healing can make or break victory - you'd think more warriors, rogues, and hunters would realize this instead of leaving "healbots" to their death.
Varatil Oct 10th 2007 8:57PM
My advice to fellow BG healers, find someone on your server to keep as your personal DPSer. It's a lot easier then just randomly healing anyone in sight who in two seconds might be off trying to get a killing blow. Make sure they can keep a mean rogue/warlock/other form of healer killer off you for a few seconds (Epiny and Plixer are dead on, healing an MS warrior, Awesome.
But I do like the idea of getting bonus honor for healing, assists have already been mentioned. I have this idea where if you rank high on the healing charts or you pass certain threshholds you get bonus honor. Only this would probably lead to Dps'ers wanting the same thing and then the focus might shift from objectives to doing more damage.
Tridus Oct 10th 2007 9:30PM
Hell I've topped the healing meters in a BG as a Ret Pally, simply by actually throwing some heals on the T3 geared Warrior (who started protecting me once he realized I was healing him, and we tore a path of destruction through the place). Of course that was at 60, but this was a problem even back then.
The problem is that the people most likely to heal in BGs are the same people who heal in raids and heal arena teams. Even those people tend to get sick of healing and want to do something else. BGs are good for that. AV especially since you can't join as a team, so its a faceless PUG thing with people from other servers. You don't feel the same obligation to be a team player that you do in a guilded AB/WSG team.
How do you fix it? People need to guard their healers. People with heals need to realize that you can both be Ret and toss some heals.
Above all, everybody needs to get past this "I'll do what I want, and you'll do what I want" mentality. What should matter is winning, and people who can act like a team are the ones who win.
> Oct 10th 2007 10:05PM
@1 paladins shouldnt be the answer of lack of heals. Priests/Shamans and druids must share the wight of it. DOnt make a scapegoat out of the class. If you paladins to heal then u should pressure the other classes just as bad as paladins.
Paul Beard Oct 10th 2007 10:16PM
Healing in a pug makes you a target. Omg the pally healed lets jump on him before he makes a difference.
The other factor is if I am playing non a pug its because I dont want to heal.
I heal in raids, I heal in arena, I heal in organised BG teams, I heal in AV. Healing some warrior who is just farming kills in mid and who's only thought when I am attacked is yay they are attacking the paladin and not me is pretty pointless.
Phaidon Oct 10th 2007 10:33PM
I heal anything that moves in BG's, and being a holy priest, it's rather easy and rewarding. I get tells all the time about what a great job I'm doing and how I just saved their A$$. I never get anything on my enhance shammy about a great windfury double crit, so i would have to say that being a healer in the BG's is both rewarding, and not in a sad state, cause if you're in my BG, you either died cause you were out of range or killed tons cause you never died.