So like that, it came to my ears that there would be PvP players around here, well usually, I get into a flame war saying that PvE is better and it trolls for hours. But since I like you, and especially since I'm getting a lot of fun in warzone on TOR, I'm going to give you a little happiness in this new episode of Ready for the release? with a little shelling all that is most amateur of PvP as a healer in The Old Republic.
I want to warn you first, and to guard against hateful comments: I am a big quiche in PvP. I played around thirty / forty warzones in beta which allowed me to give me a little idea of what is happening at this level in SW: TOR, but I am far from being a reference. Overall, on WoW, I was losing chain BGs and once I got up to 1k5 odds in an arena but my mate preferred, following this traumatic experience, to live far from men in a cave in Nepal. In short, you get it, take the following with a grain of salt. And if you are a pro at dislodging your contemporaries on mmo, I'm sorry but I'm perched, na! Go troll someone else. No but oh!
PvP in The Old Republic
Overall in TOR, PvP is pretty similar to what it is in a lot of similar mmos (who said WoW-like?). In PvP server you can hit the villains from the fourth planet where you will start to meet them (ie around level 20) and then until death follows. In PvE server, well you can't, unless you are tagged in PvE. So much for wild PvP. Well I'm exaggerating a bit, in fact the fact that there are a lot of World Bosses and whatnot favors this practice rather, let's add to that the fact that we cannot in SW: TOR really camp bodies since it is well done, and it gives the potential to small nice sessions.
There is one important thing to know about PvP in The Old Republic: Tanks are good for something and are going to be your best friends! Indeed, if they do not have a capacity to depop guys that makes you dream, they have in return two completely crazy skills: their taunt reduces the damage on all the targets of their opponent except themselves for a few seconds and they have a shield that redirects 50% of damage taken by an ally to themselves. In short, they have a support / defense function that will make you dream. And as a healer, you are going to want and love their protective shield!
Ah yes, I report it directly as long as I think about it and before I am asked the question in the comments: there is currently no arena in the WoW format of the term in SW: TOR. There it is.
On the big zone PvP side, we have two things announced at the moment (and probably no other surprises in this area between now and the release): Illum and the Outlaw Den on Tatooïne.
- The principle of Illum is that it is a very large PvP area with lots of objectives to complete to gain control of the various areas and by extension of the planet. It never really stops and when you control it, it gives bonus PvP points earned in the War Zone. There are vehicles, bases, big guns, rare resources and it can accommodate hundreds of players without limit. Republic versus Empire if you hadn't understood.
- The Outlaw Den starts from a different premise. It's a closed area in Tatooïne where the principle is simple: once inside, your only allies are the members of your group, all the others are bad guys, and you have to get them wet. No particular objective except to take advantage of the resources and NPCs in the area as long as they are not in an advanced state of death. In short, an outlet that should make more than one enjoy happiness!
Well that's all well and good, but I haven't tested it, and it's not what will be the most practiced in terms of PvP in the game, which will interest us today and which I will roughen with the chisel of the From a heal's point of view, these are War Zones or Warzones. I will go into the detail of each of them by explaining how it works and how in my opinion a healer should approach each of these areas. But first, let's see the few basic principles of these Warzones:
- You fight 8 against 8 and can only join these areas with a group of 4 players maximum. You will therefore necessarily have at least 4 randomly chosen players with you.
- You cannot choose which war zone you will land in.
- A game lasts between 15 and 20 minutes depending on the war zone.
- Warzones grant experience, credits, courage points and PvP rewards.
- At the end of the game you can vote for the best player on your team, which will earn him a percentage of additional rewards.
- There are bonuses hidden in the recesses of the zones to get small buffs during the game: sprint, heal and damage increase.
Aldérande: go tag brothel!
First of the three, Alderaan is a point control war zone. Side scenario, you land on the planet at the same time as villains of the opposite camp and you fight for the control of the zone while trying to dislocate the large landing craft of the adversary. To do this, you will descend to the ground on a motorbike and try to keep control of the ground base on which there are three large ground-to-air cannons.
There are therefore three points to keep as you see it on the map, the principle being that in a quite logical way controlling 2 out of 3 is enough to ensure the victory. The republic begins in the south and the empire in the north. The right cannon is normally more easily accessible for the Imperials thanks to a small sprint bonus well placed on the map and at a more advantageous distance, reverse for the left cannon. Obviously, the middle barrel is equidistant and overall the area where it sinter the most. Other details to know about the map: ramps allow you to quickly pass from the central cannon to those on the side, but not the other way around. Finally, an underground passage which passes under the central circle makes it possible to connect rather quickly (there again there are sprint bonuses which popent) the guns on the left and on the right. So much for the geographical presentation of things.
The cannons are controlled by clicking on them, then you have to stay 10 seconds to hack the turret without being interrupted to take control (any damage stops you, of course). Then, well they do the job passively while you defend the point. The advantage is therefore quite clear in defense since it is quite simple once a point has been taken to defend it as long as the forces are balanced. The whole issue of the war zone and controlling at least two points and managing to defend them, succeeding in taking the third is a significant bonus since it will give you a tasty lead, but overall it's still quite risky. There you have it, the groundwork is in place.
Now let's move on to what interests us, how do you handle this as a healer? Overall, your job should be to defend, defend, and rarely attack. It's not your job to tag the points, and if you find yourself doing it, you have every right to swear at your coworkers and pour yourself a beer again. When the housework is done and it's tagged, you need to stall your little regen. Your normal position should be in the center, because this is usually the most difficult point to hold and also the one that allows you to quickly move to the sides. And above all you must never be alone, you always need a target to heal otherwise, well frankly you are useless. Your job is clearly to stay the course since a point is hardly captured until all its defenders fall / leave elsewhere (let's try to forget the option: do shit). You are therefore in an optic to maintain your squad as well as possible to keep (or take) your point at all costs. When you are more in attack, do not hesitate to do a little assist dps so that the targets fall quickly, in defense on the other hand, save your resources as much as possible while keeping your friends. Ideally, try to play with a tank in defense, its protective shield placed on you and its taunt will ensure both of you can take a long time and serenely a point while waiting for the dps to come to clean up. The plan is to play it cushy by breaking the attempts to tag on the barrel of the bad guys with control while keeping your friends alive so that they can give in the butcher's shop quietly. If you can keep a peon chopping flow active and the opponents start coming back disorganized and separated, you've won!
Alderaan is not my favorite Warzone, but overall I've never been a big fan of point captures. After that still offers a healer a frankly intense job and good challenges in defense to keep up with a big enemy focus. What will be more frustrating is that if your colleagues don't do the job of attacking and focusing dps, or even thinking about letting one person per point in defense, you might get quite angry. But hey, in the end, they'll worship you when they see your heal done on the scoreboard.
The Nether Star: plant me the damn bomb!
For this second Warzone, we are on an attack-defense. An old Imperial ship with overly kikoo tech in its central processor is discovered, depending on whether or not you get to the scene first, the Empire or the Republic is defending or attacking. It is in two rounds, the second group which attacks having to achieve either a better time or a better progression than the other. In defense, you must protect the ship's computer while your engineers retrieve the data. Three sets of two doors separate this objective from the attackers, to bring them down they must plant bombs. Between the first and second doors, they must lower bridges and between the second and third drop force fields to progress.
What is important to know with the Nether Star is that the attack phases are very fast and that the advantage is given to the attackers. The latter indeed repop directly and can return to the marav while the defenders when they slam sometimes find themselves behind a force field which only opens every 10-15 seconds. In short, if the defenders are rolled over on their heads, the attackers normally have plenty of time to drop their bombs. There are two doors per "phase" and it is therefore necessary both in attack and defense to navigate between the two to be effective. For bombs, it takes about ten seconds to land one in attack, and half the time to defuse it in defense. They explode after about twenty seconds to open the passage to the rest. In short, it's a war zone where everything goes very quickly and where every second gained is ... well a second gained.
For a healer, the goal will once again be to hold your group while your buddies are doing the work. On offense, the strategy will usually be to put all the pressure on one gate with the majority of the squad, while possibly one or two players attempting butt-sex surprise on the other. Generally speaking, we're better off with most of the band than trying out crazy solo stuff (even if sometimes it plays so badly that we have no other choice but to play bombs, but it's not supposed to be the goal). If you heal effectively and help your buddies send the bulk of opponents back behind their force field awaiting repop, planting that damn bomb shouldn't be a problem. Then it's just a few seconds of defense to hold the time for the bomb to explode, and we start again (it is normally very very rare for a bomb to be defused, if not impossible if we play decently). When a door explodes, the defenders will be sent back to their death at their next repop point, so hurry up and clean up the villains to bring down bridges / force fields and move on (it's normally more profitable to burst the guys with your group than to try the rush for a healer, the fufu are there for that).
In defense, the plan usually boils down to stick to the fucking gate! Stick to the door, and heal all your friends the best they can until death follows. You have to hold out as long as possible and prevent anyone from approaching and having a chance to plant their bomb. Sometimes you'll be tempted to move around to push guys a little further, don't. This is how a guy in fufu is going to pass you behind your back and drop his bomb while you play nice. If your colleagues go too far and get out of range, don't follow them, they deserve death and you insult their mom copiously. Also remember to encourage your friends to take the little bonuses hidden behind the walls near the doors, it would be a shame to leave this free treatment to the attackers. When a door falls, rush forward to piss off the attackers as much time as possible by preventing them from spawning bridges or knocking down force fields. You are really trying to save time. You must of course also keep an eye on the two doors via the card and never leave one without anyone. As a healer you shouldn't be the one to initiate the movements (if the world is well done there should always be a healer per door and the dps will go back and forth, but hey we are talking about dps, if we start to trust them ...). Finally if it smells of gas and a door remains more than 4-5 seconds without anyone, do not hesitate to go there as long as it does not leave yours open. A bomb pose by a shadow / assassin in fufu + sprint mode, it goes very quickly and it hurts a lot.
This is not my favorite warzone either, but we must admit that the Void Star has the advantage of offering frankly intense games. As with Adlérande, it can be an ultra-frustrating game mode as you can lose a phase despite great performance on your part. If a door is left defenseless or if your colleagues get stuck in the opposing defense without waiting for you, it's not a pretty sight. This is clearly the war zone where individual error can cost the team the most. Although, you should never bet on the ability of others to do shit under any circumstance.
The Huttball: Go Fleshworms!
Huttball is ... it is ... I have been looking for a metaphor that is both creepy and beautiful for 10 minutes to describe the orgasm that this game mode brings to me every time, but to no avail. Frankly, the Huttball takes you, it turns you west-coast way and it puts the video on Youtube. God it's good. It takes place on Nar Shaada, planet of the Hutts cartels (you know the big slugs that you really wonder how they became crime lords), in an arena where two teams, the Froghounds and the Fleshworms s 'face off under the encouragement of completely bonkers presenters who make questionable jokes about the Hutts having no legs. To spice it up there are ramps, bumpers, acid baths and intermittent grills. In the middle there is a ball, you have to take it and go wedge a touchdown in the opposing camp as in American football. Anything goes, it lasts 15 minutes and there you are. Too much of the bullet bomb.
There would be a lot to say about Huttball because it still goes a lot outside the usual framework of the battlefield in mmorpg, there is a real wealth of gameplay and frankly varied possibilities. But hey you still have to keep it short, so two things to remember: make passes and go through the ramps to go score. Ah yes, also know that when the ball carrier slams, it is his closest opponent who recovers, and that if a pass misses, the ball is reset to the center. There you have it, you know the basics. Frankly, on the general strategy, I can hardly develop more. You will quickly discover on the ground all the tricks based on platform bump, stun in flames, etc. Observe the map during your first games to see which path leads where, it's always ugly to have the ball and find yourself in a dead end with lots of bad guys on your back.
From a healer's standpoint, it's pretty exhilarating because you're always going to be on the move to follow the ball carrier, or even carry that damn ball and go score (however, keep in mind never to play solo, the pass is the only way). key to winning this game). Remember to use your controls effectively to clear the opportune ones and protect your carrier, corner the opponent carrier or throw him back, etc. Bumps are blessed bread at Huttball, use them and fear them. Anyway, everything is played above all in the control of the opponents and the field, between a burst dps and a well placed stun, the second will always be more interesting. It is also very important to pay attention to your line of sight and your heal range. With the various overlapping platforms, there is really a way to find yourself out of reach of the rest of the world easily. It is also terribly important to keep an eye on the position of both allies and opponents as a bad placement can be fatal. A Jedi Knight / Sith Warrior below you near the goal line, a force leap over you and there he is three yards away from you to put a point. A consular / inquisitor on the platform, it is better to stick a bump to him before undergoing his ...
Ideally, work in a duo with a tank, with his shield resting on you, the ball in his hands and you over-heal on him, you should make a pair that is quite hard to stop. I saw myself in a duo Vanguard + Érudit sticking three goals in a row at 2v6 without the guys succeeding in doing anything. What happiness! There is also a way with a well organized team to place healer in a central position, and to play the pivots to receive balls and send them towards someone in attack while easily keeping the majority of the team within reach. It is ultimately the warzone where you can have the most fun and suffer the least from the mistakes of your colleagues, without being able to dominate the game if the people in front know how to play. In addition, for a healer, there is really a way to do beautiful shine actions by saving a ball carrier, carrying the ball and surviving big burst dps, achieving a good combo of player reassembly + pass, etc. . In short, Huttball is all about happiness.
Somehow it's a bit sad, because it's by far my favorite warzone, but I can't really talk about it for very long because its gameplay is variable and full of twists depending on the way it is played. play teams. I think it would take hours to list or explain everything a healer can do as awesome actions, and it wouldn't be useful since these actions are only valid in specific configurations or situations ... In short, if we have one thing to regret in fact, it's that we can't choose an eight-party tag in an operation group to do Huttball all night long.
And which healer to go PvP?
So many people are wondering that I could not decently talk about this to conclude this article. As you have seen, depending on each war zone and the various attack or defense situations, as a healer, we need to achieve a certain feat: hold on length to defend a point, burster like a donkey to support a group in full attack, save the buttocks of a ball carrier, hold his tank which is under focus because of his shield, maintain his group, attend the dps and so on. And suddenly, unsurprisingly, we realize that depending on the situation, each heal will have its strengths or weaknesses. For sure, to burn all your resources to keep a group in full rush at the Nether Star, a scholar / wizard is going to be pretty awesome. On the other hand, when it comes to holding the central point of Alderaan during an 8-minute fight, it is clearly more the soldiers / bounty hunters and thugs / agents who will have the upper hand. To make a rush while carrying the ball, a Scholar will have the advantage of speed, but a Mercenary will set the bar high in terms of burst resistance thanks to his shield. To sustain a sudden focus on a dps, the Thief will have the option of burning his advantage for a huge moment, then stalling two HoTs to ensure a big regen, while a Scholar can almost only rely on his Force Armor to provided it is available ... I could go into this kind of situation endlessly.
Before doing this guide, I thought that maybe I will manage to come out with a logic like "In the Nether Star the star will rather be such class, and in Huttball such other", but as I thought and detailed the healer gameplay in these three war zones, I realize that a conclusion like this would be totally silly. Depending on the situation, each heal has its strengths and weaknesses, and that's how we feel a balanced game. Of course in such and such a situation you will be angry that you did not choose the other class because you will dream of having one of their talents that would have saved your skin, but objectively everyone should think the same. Well, that does not reassure much in his choice of class, I agree, but hey it's cool to know that in the end we will all be big haters jealous of others, right?
