So Drustvar has a BGB ranking now…and I dont get it.
Supposedly Prevokers and Disc rule according to forums…
But by a wide margin MW’s are heavily overrepresented… like 50+ compared to any other healer at around 20+ or less at over 1600.
Is it just because the season is so new? Because MW’s have traditionally been good BG healers?
I want to play a healer, but its hard to get a baseline of whats good or not I suppose so early in the season ( and Im not a FoTM type, but want to make a reasonable pick). I have a druid at 80 but realize Im not so keen on preemtive HoTs, especially with dispels, and not a huge fan of constantly form changing. Looking for just a straight up healer type of toon.
First of all, a lot of people levelled a MW at the end of DF because they were predicted to be S-tier in RBGBs. They’re certainly not quite as strong as they were, post nerfs, but they’re still very strong RBGB Healers. Both Pres and Disc also do very well in RBGBs; however, less people prepared one for RBGBs, which is partly why you’ll see more MW and less Pres/Disc at least initially - even with Pres/Disc being S-tier/A-tier Healers at the moment.
Secondly, MW, historically, has always been a decent BG Healer. Even when it’s at its worst, it’s still decent in a BG environment. MW is a very safe pick, and a lot of people made sure they had a MW ready for RBGBs.
mw is the best bg healer. they have been that way for multiple expansions in a row, even when dog tier in arena. mobility > healing output when the maps are larger than a 5ftx5ft arena box, though mw usually has the highest single target output as well.
disc(holy) has one major weakness in bg’s. moving objectives. if they are isolated they are nearly held hostage with cc and slows. if they get in the wrong position they can be out of the fight for a long time just from one dps messing with them. if the enemy team has multiple dk’s you can actually be deleted from gameplay if they are smart.
Not currently. It’s very strong, yes, but not the best. Pres/Disc are outperforming in pretty much all PVP formats currently - not so much because they’re “OP,” but more-so because other Healers were not buffed to compensate for changes made during DF.
Mostly due to Revival, which has been nerfed twice over - once directly with the cleanse cap, and a second time when they nerfed the Peaceweaver PVP Talent; also, being able to blanket a raid in EF buffs for double mastery proccs helped their performance a lot (EF has been removed from the game).
Another thing: MW defensives were gutted as well with talent tree changes a while back. They’re a lot squishier than they were back in early DF when they had a metric ton of defensive options. This is one of the reasons why FWs have all but disappeared in PVP. Too squishy now, with no real compensation.
Another thing: Have you seen Cocoon lately? Yeah, me neither. The moment it hits a target, it gets chewed through almost instantly.
The reality is Castweaver and FW have fairly significant weaknesses which are often overlooked by people who judge their performance too loosely (i.e.: by HPS alone). Their historical performance is tied to the contexts and conditions of the time in question. Right now? They aren’t actually doing that good at the top end, where the game is balanced. Their performance is pretty middling.
Yeah, currently, Disc is a raid boss that can do just fine all on its own. They can even kill multiple attackers. While they may lack mobility, they more than make up for that weakness in other ways - like being a raid boss that should probably drop loot with a chance for a Glad mount when they’re finally killed.
In summary: MWs are very strong BG Healers (always have been and likely always will be) due to their design; however, currently, they are not the best. They’re still good, and will always be a safe pick for BG environments, but they’re hardly the best at the moment.
FW has been all but eradicated (there goes MWs short-lived damage contributions); Revival has been gutted (DoT classes will reign in BGs now) and EF removed; MW lost a lot of survivability due to the loss of defensive options, which makes them an easy target; they’re one of the only Healers that can still be kicked in 2024; they are forced to stand in place while healing (ironically); and they are easily pressured by melee standing on top of them.
Their high HPS and mobility doesn’t make up for this quite as much as people think it does. There is a reason why MWs are seeing some significant changes coming in patch 11.0.5 - mostly centred around ranged damage contributions. Which will be nice.
What CC? Incap/Song, broken in seconds by any old moron? Sweep/SHS/Disable, requiring you to practically be standing on your target as a squishy Healer?
Uh, yes. Every cc is broken by stupid teammates so that argument isn’t valid when comparing class kits. Incap is an incredible cc, its instant, ranged, and lasts long enough to cap a node. If they trinket incap you can then sweep/song and cap. Point is for a healer mw CC is great, I think resto Druid is the only healer with better CC.
And yes, utility wise I was mainly referring to RoP. It’s up there with ice wall for some of the best BG utility spells in the game. Also crackling lightning knock backs are asinine to play against and very good for node capping. Yes, I know you can’t get RoP and song together.
Not true. Only soft CC is, which some classes have more of - like Monk, for example.
That’s great. Except that most of the time you’re not facing one person at a node.
“In these perfect conditions, if you burn all your CC, you might get a node” = MW CC is good, apparently.
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To say that MW utility is a strong selling point, it needs to actually be better than the utility of other classes - which is very debatable. RoP is versatile, and CJL knocks are annoying, but that doesn’t make them very good in the utility department.
Yep. I mean, MW was always going to be a safe pick, unless they got completely gutted going into TWW. Lots of people levelled a MW near the end of DF for RBGBs in TWW, and, so, it’s not too surprising that we see lots of MW being played currently. There’s your participation.
This doesn’t mean that they’re the best, though. They were in DF, before the nerfs to Revival/Peaceweaver and the removal of defensive options.
Which Healer isn’t?
Just because someone can match numbers in a game doesn’t mean that they’re the better pick.
In many cases, the reason you’re matching numbers at all is due to a multitude of factors (e.g.: gear disparity, player skill, case-specific BG factors), and not necessarily because a class/spec is on the same (or better) level/tier. If you compare a good Hpriest and a bad Pres/Disc, the good Hpriest will make Hpriest look better than it really is, and the bad Pres/Disc will make Pres/Disc look worse than it really is.
This is why the game isn’t balanced around low-rated/non-rated content. Bad players can make even the best thing appear to be terrible; likewise, good players can make even an under-performing class/spec look much better than it really is.
Most tuning is based around high-rated 3v3s - mostly because high-rated 3v3s is a more controlled environment (i.e.: there are less complicating factors), with classes/specs being piloted by some of the best players/pitted against some of the best players and, so, are being played (presumably) to their fullest potential.
While high-rated 3v3s doesn’t always translate well to BGs, in general, it has proven to be a reasonably accurate gauge of what is possible for a class/spec in a more balanced conditions.
Some are more involved than others. 90% of the time I’m playing MW I’m literally just using 3 mouse keys (4 if you count statue placement every so often).
Which not to derail my point, I’m not trying to slur MW players (my alt that I haven’t played this season is MW), I’m just saying it’s a low learning curve with high sub-optimal play output healer so it’s favored by a lot of people.
I mean, if we’re being honest with ourselves, most Healers are like this. They have a handful of spells they use constantly, and the rest are more situational.
I didn’t think you were.
I can agree with this, to a degree; it’s certainly easy enough to learn how to put out high HPS as a MW. Press your buttons, basically.
IMO, the real difficulty with MW is playing it to its full potential. This is the irony of a “Simple” Healer: It’s a bit more nuanced than it seems.
Edit: Just thought of it… MW is like the Hunter of Healers. Easy to pick up and play, and do reasonably well on, but difficult to truly master.
