The return of the people who don't know what a Defender is...

I got a theory.

People like heals because they're visible -- you take damage, your green bar shrinks; you get healed, it grows. Further, there's more feedback with the green numbers popping up. And those green numbers? Unless something's changed recently (haven't been playing much), they still show perfectly healthy people getting healed phantom damage.

There's minimal equivalent feedback with (de)buffs. And with all the effects firing that you get in larger teams, it's even hard to tell which mobs are mezzed.

Heals are obvious. Other buffs and debuffs? Not so much.

Further ... some leaders set up the situation so that it's the responsibility of the healer(s) to keep the team upright, absolving themselves from taking responsibility for bad play and build choices.

Oh gods, no. NO one server has the corner on dumb players. I've run into my fair share of real gems on triumph and victory, and neither of them are terribly high pop. I had one real gem back in the day notice me healing from across the way in Talos and proceed to tear me a new one becuase they weren't doing ENOUGH. Dude, you're not even on my team, back off! I've also had people DEMAND I leave my current, SG team to join them because they NEEEEEEEEEEEEED a healer. I'll get right on that /ignore <idiotname>

Now, you will find more idiots on freedom and virtue, simply becuase you'll find more players of every stripe on freedom. Nature of the beast.

Many People dont seem to understand the value of certain buffs and debuffs on general. I would much rather make a team with several debuffers than having a " healer ".

Ive posted this before but here is the classic...

Im on my level 50 Rad/Rad defender. I join a team doing the AV arcs in PI. They are doing them at +3.Apparently they are having some trouble. I knew that because when I joined the team the leader said.. OK we got a healer.. Here is how it goes

ME:I said.. I have a really small AoE Heal... I am not an Empath...
Leader: You have a heal right..
ME: Yes
Leader: Ok Lets do this

We get on map go through a mob or two.. I drop AM and start laying down the debuffs. RI, EF, LR the standard for Rads and Im mixing in my attacks... Now mind you we are plowing through the mobs and no one has died.. In fact there has been very little damage taken

Leader: Hey what are you doing ?
ME: Excuse me.. Im fighting the mobs..
Leader: We just need you to heal..
Me: I do a lot more than heal I have a lot of debuffs and good attacks..
Leader: Look we need heals.. Defender damage sucks.. Just HEAL...
Me: You want me to just heal and nothing else ??
Leader:YES
Me: Ok no problem...

Next mob... they get slaughtered...

Leader: What happened??!!!
( and I actually typed this in game)

Me: I think I know what happened..

See you told me to just heal...

So my Radiation Infection that debuffed their defense by 50% and their To Hit by 48% I shut that off so I could heal..

My Enervating Field that increased the entire teams damage by 30% and reduced theirs by 25% I shot that off so I could heal

My Lingering Radiation which reduced their power recharge by 75% I stopped using that so I could heal.

I also decided not to use Accelerate Metabolism which increased your recharge by 30% and your damage by ANOTHER 25% since it wasnt a heal

Oh yeah and that Irradiate attack that was debuffing their defense another 50% I stopped using that..

Oh and my Neutron Bomb which is another 25% defense debuff its an attack.. so yeah I stopped using it because you wanted me to just heal....

The team got mad at him for telling me to just heal.... and he quit LOL !!!!!!

Airhammer,



I've done things like that, also. I think it's relatively common among defenders with a certain sense of humour.

I do the info-mercial thing on teams sometimes, too. I do my best not to be snarky. I was on a lowbie team with a good friend on a plant/kin and I on my Kin/ice. The team was really happy with speed boost X 2 and transfusion X 2. I pointed out the lesser known stat: the team is getting a >100% boost to damage from assault and siphon power X 2 and the bosses are not two shotting us because they are debuffed by siphon power 90%. That's how lowbies are steamrolling the missions.

Another time, a team was considering our chances because we didn't have an empath, pain, or thermal. I was on my Forcefielder with another cold defender, and another defender (can't recall which flavor, not empathy) and we had numerous maneuvers in operation. I suggested my friend check his defenses stats: > 100% to everything. I said something like: that rad heal should be plenty (maybe it was kin ) This was of course before factoring in the -recharge from psychic blast and cold powers.

We have new players and returning players now before F2P hits. I try my best to keep the knowledge flowing. And, yes, mr./ms. new person, your hero/villain buffs/debuffs stack with mine.

Last time someone called me a 'healer', I told them I was a 'buffer' who only healed when someone made a mistake.

I will admit, a few times it was my fault cus I missed the Fort or wasn't in the best position for my auras. But most times it was their fault for grabbing too much agg or get sloppy. And that is a problem with a good emp on a team, people start thinking they are Mr. TotalAwesome and start taking crazy risks.

As to a 'Masters of', Keyes or otherwise... the team leader can recruit whatever type of team he or she wishes. I think its a bit short sighted to think just because someone has some of the iPowers, it makes them a better choice over someone that does have experience in that trial. But then, if you're doing a Mo with a PUG, you deserve what you get.

Yet I never kick anyone from my team unless they are actively hurting the team by their actions. A mistake, or a series of them... even not understanding the mission isn't like someone doing some grieving on purpose. Cus once you're kick someone, you're team _is_ down one person.

But if the Team Leader quit, because they got angry because of the mission not going right. That person would get the 'DON'T TEAM WITH- EVER!' in their notes. That is just pure crap, blaming your team for some of your mistakes. Reminds me of when a stone tank in a AE farm kept agg-ing three mobs at a time... they telling us as we died yet again, his last group didn't so we must all be n00b with poorly designed characters.

We're going to see this again, in spades, when free to play is live. It therefore devolves to us to lead our teams and educate the ignorant. With going rogue and the influx of VEATs and corruptors blueside, we have to fight against defender prejudice/ignorance by being effective teammates.

Looks like thread is still going. This kind of thread always gets people going because people don't know how to just let it roll off as part of the routine. Whether in this game or in real life, you run into a variety of people. I think how you deal with it speaks more of your character than theirs.

Don't like being called a healer? Most of the knowledgeable players find such ignorance annoying. But, there really isn't much you can do about it. Personally, I hate the people who do nothing but abuse AE and often complain about it quite loudly. Ultimately, I have to accept that it is part of the game (for now) and just have to deal with it somehow.

Oddly enough, I don't seem to run into the idiots wanting a "healer" that often. I just run into the idiots who just don't seem to have a clue at all how to read and/or follow directions. Again, while I'll be driven to rant somewhere, I just have to realize it is part of playing a game that involves other people.

I just got off a "farm" team led by an Empath with no attacks. I don't really make a habit of scrutinizing other player's powers. I only really found out because the Empath said "I wish I had some attacks." Sure enough, the character only had the Tier 1 attack and a control power from the secondary.

The dual crime? The Empath was a /Sonic.

I can't sit in too much judgment though. My first character to get over level 10 was one of the 15 or so retconned versions of Oedipus Tex. Early on in the game I did indeed want to play a "healer," this being the role I usually play in other games. So I was an Earth/Therm Controller... with no shields. I did discover the error of my ways around three weeks in at level 14, and purchased a respec for $10 to fix the issue.

Anyway, exposure to previous games and their expectations can be a barrier early on. Some players will learn, others won't. I also think we may have to recognize that in at least some cases, "pure healers" arise more because people *wish* mechanics worked that way than because they think the game really does. That is to say, they enjoyed playing that way elsewhere and hope it will work here too. Attacking isn't interesting to everyone.

[EDIT: I should also add that there is a pacifist-ish build out there similar to other games: Ice/Thermal Controller. You still need to use buffs and controls, but the nature of the combo means lots of healing and attacks that are low damage enough that you will ignore them a lot.]

More players would appreciate defender blasts even when teamed if they had a higher base damage. Maybe enough people already do, although I still seem to find they are regularly one of the hardest ATs to find in the search list (although I was on a full BAF trial last night where we had 7 of them besides the one I was playing, so 1/3rd of the whole trial was blue shields, predictably awesome ensued ).