All healing corruptor?

Yea, there's a time and place for everything. Even on a MM, most groups I roll with steam over everything. Then they get the big head and want to jack up the difficulty. Then I find myself ignoring my henchmen while I sit on the brute's head spamming twilight and running back and forth doing combat reses when the brute seems ok.

I can see a use for an all healing corruptor on teams doing nothing but purples and AV's. But it's really a pigeon holed character. I'm still of the philosophy that the best defense is a good offense in this game. There's enough secondaries on red-side between corruptors and masterminds that healing should not be such an issue if everyone who has a heal is using theirs as they should. Every group I get in, there's at least two other people who have heals in their secondary besides myself which makes an all healing corruptor redundant if not useless in most cases.

Yea, there's a time and place for everything. Even on a MM, most groups I roll with steam over everything. Then they get the big head and want to jack up the difficulty. Then I find myself ignoring my henchmen while I sit on the brute's head spamming twilight and running back and forth doing combat reses when the brute seems ok.

I can see a use for an all healing corruptor on teams doing nothing but purples and AV's. But it's really a pigeon holed character. I'm still of the philosophy that the best defense is a good offense in this game. There's enough secondaries on red-side between corruptors and masterminds that healing should not be such an issue if everyone who has a heal is using theirs as they should. Every group I get in, there's at least two other people who have heals in their secondary besides myself which makes an all healing corruptor redundant if not useless in most cases.

I will say that a petless Mastermind is not going to be nearly as effective as a Corruptor with the same two or three attacks. Masterminds have much lower modifiers for their debuff powers, not to mention their heals, and their powers (usually) cost more Endurance. So of the two choices villain-side which are CAPABLE of being a dedicated buff/debuffer, the Corruptor is the better choice. It may not be as good as an Archetype which has buffing as its Primary, but until Going Rogue comes out that's not an option.

I say let people play the concept they want to play. On the other hand, the person described in the OP was clearly fishing for complements, and working off of the common belief that healing is the most important aspect of buffing. This is an attitude that is brought here from other MMOs, and many of the players still believe it. So I suspect this person was not building his character to be effective, but merely to satisfy the perceived need for a "healer", and take advantage of that.

In concept, though, a Corruptor with only his Secondary isn't all that different than a Defender with only his Primary, and THE LATTER is usually believed by the common player to be the expected standard. The Defender Secondary is believed to be weak and useless, and thus a Defender who blasts is wasting Endurance and not protecting his team well. Corruptors only have ~15% more damage than that, plus Scourge, and so their damage is not THAT much greater. They do not do the damage of a Blaster, and only really do about as much damage as a Dominator, since Doms got their damage raised outside of Domination. So while a Corruptor who has only his Secondary powers will be weaker than a Defender that has only his Primary powers (about 75% weaker, with some variations) I don't think it's safe to say that those powers will be useless.

The problem is that it's difficult to weigh the contribution of damage dealing to the contribution of buffing and debuffing. How much damage you deal directly can be traded for an amount of damage you heal, or an amount that is deflected by your shields? A Brute or a Stalker can do more damage than you can, but no one on your team can heal more than you can. So it might seem like an effective trade, to do less damage but provide more team defense. Of course, I'm talking about contributing with ALL the capabilities of your Secondary, not just healing. You should be expected to provide offensive and defensive buffs, and debuff as well, if you have those abilities.

It's certainly true that a Corruptor is not as good as a Defender with his Secondary, or as good as a Blaster with his Primary, and so the combination of the two is always going to be better than concentrating on just one. On the other hand, that's true of Defenders as well, despite the perception that concentrating on only their Primary is exactly what they are supposed to do. A Defender can be built which makes itself into a pretty hefty damage dealer, however, as well as being able to provide some smaller amount of support, so it certainly seems to me that a Corruptor could concentrate on healing and buff/debuffing, while using his blasts only the minimum required to make efficient use of them.

Of course, if you truly wanted to support the team, your best bet would probably be to go with a Mastermind, and slot your Primary for protection instead of damage. Even though the actual buffs would be less than a Corruptor, your pets taking damage for the team would provide even more mitigation. This is much the same as a Controller, who can protect the team with the holds in his Primary as well as his Secondary. While Defenders and Corruptors may be better with the Buff/Debuff set than their blue or red-side teammates, that doesn't mean they're the best at "pure" team support. Which is what I think the concept of the "pure" Defender, that doesn't take any attacks, or the "all healing" Corruptor misses. By trying to just be support you're ignoring half your AT.

Hope that wasn't too much a wall of text for everyone, but I've thought about the support oriented Corruptor before. Even wondered what we should call it, like "Offender" for the damage oriented Defender.

Not going to pull apart that wall...

MM's typically cost more end but they usually also have the end to waste. Don't think anyone ever mentioned going petless to do it either. Ignoring them for a couple of minutes while you patch up the group isn't all that difficult to do. Basically, unlike a corruptor you can still be laying waste with your primary powers unattended while you patch in an emergency. That's not to say they're better at it, it just means they can suffice in a pinch without much sacrifice on their part.

But anyway, The point was not that MM's can do the job better or even equal. The point is, there's enough healing power between two AT's and even Doms with some of their primaries that a Villain side dedicated healer doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

My bad, I didn't see someone bringing up a petless MM and all the idiocy that would entail.

I actually have a Pain/Elec corr designed for healing, of course with dual builds it isn't an issue of should I be healing, but rather, if the team needs a healer. Everything redside is offensive, so it's actually rare to see an all heal Corr. Again, I understand that the guy was fishing for compliments, but it's no different than a tank or Brute boasting about their durability.


To each his own and all that, really if bothers you that much, just kick him, or tell him to leave.

What stands out to me is that he appears to really think he's doing it right. It's one thing to do nothing but heal because that's your concept. It's gimping you, but I can have some tolerance for somebody not being as useful as they could be for concept reasons. It's something far less tolerable if they're doing it because they're just lazy and can't be bothered to get out of healbot mode. And worse still, albeit at least correctible, is doing it because you seriously think that dedicating yourself to nothing but healing is the most effective way to play a Corruptor.

Only one of those three options is at all tolerable to me. The second option would be met with a kick from the team, and the third with some (hopefully tactful) education on just what a Corruptor can really do when he uses all his powers. Of course, sometimes it's hard to tell the three apart, which is why I'd tend to err on the side of tolerance or correction rather than hard-line kicking anybody who doesn't use all their powers to my satisfaction.

This thread is like flogging a dead horse.

Most good teams don't need heals at all due to control, buffs, debuffs, or a well played brute acting as the agro magnet and in these teams a "pure healer" is useless. The remaining teams that find heals useful usually only need spot heals not a dedicated healer if the "healer" has nothing to do in between spot heals he is pretty much next to useless. In pugs I expect to see the occasional deadbeat healer just like I expect to see the obnoxious tank that insists on "herding" every single spawn or the stalker that "scouts" paper missions and informs the team he found the boss room, The MM with no concept of what doorway his pets are blocking etc. etc.

why would any AR/ corr not spam full auto?! god I love that move =D