Am I a healer?

I have just started playing, and my character just hit level 16. I am playing a controller with Plant as primary, and Empathy as my secondary power.

Here is the question. Am I a healer?

Healing is what I wanted to do, but I am learning that Defenders do that, so what exactly is my character? Am I primarily a support class? A weak healer used when the real healers are not available?

I figured I should get this figured out before I work this character up to level 50. If I am going to be useful, then I will definitely stick with this character, but I do not what to be looked at as a weak healer.

I tried skimming through the FAQ’s but most of them (if not all) focus on the primary powers, and not the secondary powers. I can check the Defender forums for tips there, and I will, but what I am looking at is healing as a Controller, and if that is a viable option.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Yes.

you are as good as a defender with empathy because you can heal a little weaker than them but you will prevent damage with your primary
i, myself, find plant is a real good primary for emp because you have a sleep, confuse and regen power which will stack with emps regen power and the more reactive playstyle a emp has to do.

Well first off welcome to the forums. To answer your question you are not a Healer, you a Mezzer and a Buffer. You see, unlike other MMOs Healing is a very weak form of damage mitigation in CoX. It's useful up until about the mid-20s at which point people start slotting SOs and the value of healing as a form of damage mitigation drops off sharply while other forms of mitigation become much more important. Healing still has it's place but good buffing can easily render it unnecessary.

Now this isn't to imply that Empathy isn't a useful set, after all it only has four powers that are really heals. The critical power for Empathy in the higher levels is Fortitude. The provides a strong damage and defense buff to one character. A good empath can keep this going on at least 3 characters at once and by careful selection of who needs it can prevent a lot of incoming damage as well as increasing outgoing damage. Additionally Empathy has four other useful buffs. Clear Mind provides mez protection and can theoretically be kept on the entire team 100% of the time (although in practice this frequently isn't the best use of your time). Regen Aura and Recovery Aura are both very powerful team buffs that can keep your team healthy and moving without any intervention from you but unfortunately aren't up all of the time. Finally Adrenalin Boost is a lovely buff that provides a huge recharge boost to a single character (it also boosts regeneration and recovery) which can, if used sensibly, allow characters with game altering powers to use them a lot more often.

Now to answer your questions regarding Defenders versus Controllers. In theory Defenders are a hybrid (De)Buff/Damage class while Controllers are a hybrid Control/(De)Buff class. This should mean that defenders get better damage and buff powers while Controllers have worse damage and worse buffs but the ability to lock down a spawn providing 100% damage mitigation. However in practice while Defenders do get better buffs than Controllers they are only slightly better and Controller damage at high levels is equal to or better than Defenders (particularly for Fire and Plant Controllers). It doesn't really make a huge difference in a team setting so I would say play a Controller if you prefer to deal damage less directly and are willing to wait a bit for it to get good and play a Defender if you prefer more direct blasting.

However whichever way you go do not pigeonhole yourself as a "Healer", healing is the least of your powers and while it has it's place skilled use of your other abilities renders it unnecessary.

No...your a Controller.

Theres no such thing as a "Healer" AT in this game.

You are whatever you want your character to be. With Empathy as a secondary, you're than adequate for the role of "healer," and with your primary, you're more than capable of fulfilling the role of a "controller," which is to say you are capable of locking down an enemy force, either one at a time, or all at once (barring recharge limitations) and make progression safer for your teammates while they do more mundane things like blow things to smithereens, or get punched in the face repeatedly.

This game isn't as cut-and-dry when it comes to class "roles" as, say, World of Warcraft raiding, etc. At any time, given the proper powers at your disposal, you can weave in and out of back-row support and front-line scrapping. But for what it is you've made it obvious you want to do:

YES, you CAN be a healer, and a damn good one, too!

You will take slightly longer to mature than your blue-shield counterparts, yes. And they will hold the monopoly on largest green number ever, but Controllers aren't left in the dust. Your innate modifier will make your class a non-issue once you're able to spare some good quality enhancements.

I recommend you take advantage of the second build slot you unlock at level 10, however, and set that one to focus heavily on your primary for those ill-fated moments where you must solo. Unfortunately, you can't give enemies healing poison.. yet.

Wow… you guys are absolutely fantastic! I appreciate the direct and honest replies.

And yes, since I have come from Everquest, and then WoW, my mindset might be a little more focused on a specific job (i.e. healing). It is refreshing to find out that CoH is very different in that regard.

I have read everything that was written before this post, and all of it was helpful.

Once again, my thanks!

Regards,

Welcome to City of Heroes !!!

Welcome to the forums.

As others have said, while you can play your character as a "healer," we suggest that you do not limit yourself by that mind-set. Your primary is very powerful as a way to control groups and reduce (and sometimes eliminate) incoming damage from foes. Stopping the damage before it happens is far better than healing it after it happens. In the "City," buffs and debuffs are usually more important than heals.

Controllers are unique in the "City," in that neither powerset is focused on damage. Both Primary and Secondary are focused on "support," while all other ATs have either a primary or secondary focused on Damage. (Masterminds have a primary focused on their pets and a few damage powers, but those pets are focused on Damage). In some ways, this makes Controllers seemed destined to be a weak support AT, but in fact, many controllers can do good damage and can solo quite well. Controllers are one of the hardest ATs to play well, as using the powers to best effect takes some special strategy. This also makes them more fun, as you don't spend your time running through the same attack chain all the time. You have to adjust your strategy to the type of foe and the environment and the make-up of your team.

I suggest that new players should try out lots of characters. Controllers in particular have very different playstyles for every combo. A Plant/Emp will play differently than a Plant/Kinetics or a Plant/Trick Arrow. An Illusion/Emp plays differently than a Plant/Emp.

I do play Plant/Emp, it's like this, there is a time and a place for everything, ya just got to find that out. When to control, when to buff and hopefully barely have to heal as a result.

Danny, Welcome to COH!

Coming from WOW and Everquest, I think you will find the COH roles a little bit different. As others have said, pure healing isn't the be-all and end-all of "support". While you certainly can play your hero as a "healer", you'll be missing out on a lot of his or her potential.

At the lower levels, you'll find yourself acting like a healer more often, and as the game gets more challenging, you'll find yourself using a wider variety of skills to help keep your team fighting crime. As other heros fill out their personal defenses more, they will rely on your direct heals less. As their powers increase, your buffs will become proportionally more powerful. The heals in empathy are relatively lower level; the buffs are more powerful.

As the strength of enemies increases, the value of your controls will go up. Many higher level mobs have special abilities that are quite dangerous. For some groups, LTs can be more of a problem than bosses. With a quick hold, you can *prevent* a lot of mayhem more efficiently than you could react to the damage via healing the aftermath. Plant has a wide variety of tools to deal with different sorts of threats.

As someone who enjoys playing controllers and defenders, my guard goes up when people talk about "healers". If a team is looking for a "healer" it makes me wonder what their attitude is, whether they understand the limitations of that approach in COH, and whether or not they are looking for someone to serve as a crutch for their own limited playstyle. Yes, in some ways controllers and defenders are "support" classes, but on the other hand some of the most effective teams are made up *entirely* of controllers and/or defenders. COH is flexible, and if you enjoy focusing more on support you can do that well with a controller or a defender. But you can also do *so* much more.

Few quick pointers:

In some MMORPGs, there are three trinity roles (DPS, tanking, or healing), and to make game balance easier for the devs, the devs make non trinity roles (buffing, debuffing, mezzing) just about useless. Not true here. Buffs, debuffs, and mezzes work great in this game, as you'll find out when you're cycling well-slotted Fortitudes on 2 or more teammates, watching their DPS go way up, and the amount of hits they take go way down.

In some MMORPGs, players are expected to get a tiny edge in one of the three trinity roles by ignoring any and all other roles, including non trinity roles. Not true here. You've got a primary powerset and a secondary set. You're pretty darn good with both, whether you specialize or not. You've got enough power choices and slots to go around. Not much point specializing when you can do almost everything well: control from your primary, DPS from Containment, buffs and heals for others from Empathy, self-heals and self-regeneration for being able to take some hits also from Empathy.

Finally, don't fret if defenders have a higher "healing stat" than controllers. In this game, every AT has a multiplier for different effects. For "heal other" types of effects, you use the Ranged Heal multiplier. Controllers are x11, defenders are x12.5, and both increase in the same proportion as you level. So you're really not that far behind on how much you heal, and the recharge speed and endurance cost are identical.

Further, defenders and controllers have the exact same multipliers for regeneration and recovery and recharge buffs, meaning your Recovery Aura, Regeneration Aura, and Adrenalin Boost are identical to a defender's. Your Resurrect is also identical, since it recovers 100% health and endurance for your target no matter what. Your Clear Mind and Absorb Pain are arguably as good as a defender's, since the defender multipliers are pretty much overkill on these two powers.

That leaves just Fortitude, which unfortunately will never be quite as nice as a defender's. That's OK, your Fortitude is still pretty darn good, and you can lock enemies down better than defenders, so it's a wash.

First of all welcome to the forums, nice to see bew faces :-)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thirty-Seven I have one quibble with that, good sir. Healing is NEVER a form of mitigation. It does not, and cannot, prevent or reduce incoming damage. It is, instead, a form of reactive assistance. It can only be effective AFTER damage has been dealt.

I kind of agree with this. You have to be a very good reactive healer to save a squishy from an untimely death. Unlike other MMORPG's, certain AT's are extremely squishly. Like cloth caster vs end boss squishy. So to prevent those kinds of deaths you need other abilities, either aggro control, or crowd control, or powerful buffs or powerful debuffs.

Still its always nice to have someone who can heal, it keeps the team ticking and speeds progress, especially Empathy which can also keep peoples endurance high. Speeds the whole thing up.

Welcome aboard, Danny.

Yup, CoH is a wee bit different from the bog-standard MMO. There's no such thing as a 'pure' healer, or at least not an effective one.

I'll echo the 'don't neglect your primary'. When mobs are busy murdering one another, getting bludgeoned by thorn-tentacle things, eaten by your pet, being locked down and/or unable to move, or asleep, they're not going to be doing a lot of damage to your teammates.

And the buffs, are, indeed, quite tasty. Buffs and Debuffs are king in City of Heroes. A team of all-Controllers, or all-Defenders (or a mix of the two), are going to make a team consisting of Trinity 'toons look like chumps. Take a look at what a Supergroup called the Repeat Offenders have accomplished sometime.

Also keep in mind you don't actually have a "job". CoH is just not that rigid. You can contol, heal, buff and do damage. You'll need to figure out what combination of that and when to do it is mots fun, effective and satisfying for you. If you see some asking for a "Healor" for a team, you might of might not want to do that. You certainly can, but don't feel limited by other MMO naming conventions. This game does not require (but can do) the tank, heal, DPS paradigm.

It is most important to have fun and not worry about what names people use.

Enjoy!

Probably the best thing you can do to make your character effective is to maximize global recharge and recharge on your controller powers (especially Vines, Carrion Creepers, and Strangler). The more often you can use these powers the better.

If the enemies are locked down with holds or fighting your Creepers, they're not attacking the team. If the team's not getting attacked it doesn't need healing.

You should also maximize recharge on Fortitude. You should be able to keep it on three team members constantly.

I would also encourage you to try other characters with different powersets. Running an empath can get kind of nerve-wracking because you have to keep track of your team as well as your enemies. Try a defender with a debuffing-oriented powerset like Storm Summoning or Dark Miasma, or play a blaster, tanker or scrapper.

It really helps to play a variety of other characters so that you know how best to work with them. The variety also makes it a lot more interesting.

My second build (do we say build in this game? Spec? Power set allocation? … moving along..) is much more focused on my primary power set. I focused more on rooting and immobilizing my opponents in group play, and a lot less on active healing. It worked out a lot better!

And I mean a lot better. Plus it was a lot of fun too.

I get it now I think. My class (again, do we use class here? It might take a few days or so to get the language right, lol) … ahem, my class (?) is called a controller for a reason. I control the fight. Heals are useful, but it is not what I should be focusing on entirely.

Thank goodness this game allows for me to have two separate builds (?). I will probably have to ignore my first build for awhile until I can change it.

(I will need to look up when a character can and how a character can change a build)

Absolutely wonderful replies to my original post. So very helpful. My thanks once again!!!!

Cheers.