Current Doctor Issues, Concerns and Suggestions

[Remedie]

Sheffy, excellent list.

The top two are my biggest concern atm, especially now since the latest patch.

The healing aggro is insane. I have developed a style of playing at alien raids, heal and run! This isn't ideal though. I know people die more due to me running out of range so often. I just don't see why healing one person draws aggro of every alien there. I would like to see this calmed down a bit.

Higher team heal would rawk! As a result of the healing aggro at alien raids, I have been using Conglomerate Health Plan again. I have to say, as a 220 doctor only healing 600-1100 a cast, it's pretty pathetic. It doesn't have to be an incredibly high heal, but at least 4 times that would be nice.

Now I have an issue with something that was not mentioned. The alien doc perk line Embrace isn't all the great. Why modify MM without BM? I mean maybe back in the day before symbiants I could understand this. My BM was always a good deal higher than MM, but with symbiants I am completely balanced in those skills. (Actually I have 4 less in BM.) As a 220 doc, Embrace is almost completely useless to me.

[Sheffy]

Heal aggro is apparently already addressed on Funcom's internal test server (not Testlive), so we should be seeing something on live in the near future making it a bit less unbearable. Nothing's official yet, but more than one Funcom employee has mentioned that some tweaking has been done.

As for Embrace, I'm afraid they won't be adding BM to the perkline. This was made very clear by the perk designer during Beta--giving lower level Doctors yet-another-perkline to increase their BM skill even further just wasn't going to happen. Embrace was designed to give the higher-level SL/AL Doctors a way to even out their MM/BM skills.

I realize not all Doctors are in that boat, but if you have 2 sleeves of boiling blood, the beast helmet, a star of recovery, 2 Tier3 pads, Sent pants etc.. you'll have significantly higher BM than MM, and this perk was designed to keep all those items from being useless (since if you don't have the MM to meet your BM skill, there is little point in having such high BM..).

For those needing more BM from AI perklines, Champion of Nano Combat is available, or you can get all sorts of nanoskill adding items/armor.

As for things presumed to be bugs, such as the 203/207 DoT reqs, please see our bugs list, as it is listed there and is likely a bug, not really a concern.

[Drsmart]

Doctor Profession Issues/Concerns

AOE Heal perks aren't well balanced
Our AOE Heal perk recharge times were changed from 1 to 10 minutes in the final phases of SL Beta. While we can understand 1 minute being too low, 10 minutes is off the scale at lower levels. Suggestions: find a "middle ground" for BGH recharge, or merge the 4 AOE heals into a single AOE heal with a fast recharge.
This is really only an 'issue' sub-200. If 210+ Docs had BGH recharge lowered significantly, it would be quite overpowering.

I also have an concern about the AoE heals. It uses too much time to "use" it (too long cast time). it takes approx 2-3 sec from when you press the action for it to "work". And those seconds are vital if you are ie. in heal recharge.

Great list btw, Sheffy!

[Sheffy]

I also have an concern about the AoE heals. It uses too much time to "use" it (too long cast time). it takes approx 2-3 sec from when you press the action for it to "work". And those seconds are vital if you are ie. in heal recharge.

I totally agree the perk execution time on BGHs feels longer than it actually is. Whether its lag or just a perception issue, it certainly doesn't feel like a 1 sec execution time. But it is (I just tested them). I checked most of our other perk specials and I haven't found one that has an execution time under 1 sec, so I'm not sure its something we can even ask for. If anyone knows of any perks that execute immediately, please let me know. The only thing I can think of that is instantaneous is certain Shadowbreeds, and my guess is Funcom intentionally designed perks to have a minimum execution time of 1 second.

Edit: Added it anyway. What the hell, right?

[Drsmart]

Edit: Added it anyway. What the hell, right?

hehe, right!

[kranden]

Old issues/suggestions post located here for reference and comparison purposes.

[u][b]
Doctor Profession Issues/Concerns
[list=1][*]Heal Aggro
Heal Aggro, specifically during alien attacks, is off the charts. A Doctor can do minimal healing during an alien invasion and end up with half the aliens chasing him. This needs to be looked at asap.
Supposedly tweaked on Funcom's internal server. Waiting for details and official word. Changes to hopefully hit the live servers soon.

[/url].

I know how u feel sheffy as an agent i pull agro from even using LE as an agent. Its just rediculus ;p

[Sheffy]

I removed Heal Aggro and Weapon Selection from our list. Both have been addressed with Alien Invasion. Thank you Funcom for a speedy fix with heal aggro!

[Biochemyst]

I removed Heal Aggro and Weapon Selection from our list. Both have been addressed with Alien Invasion. Thank you Funcom for a speedy fix with heal aggro!

I'll agree on the Heal Aggro.

But weapon selection? Perhaps you could illuminate the younger docs as to what are the good choices for doctors among the AI weapons? This isn't an argument -- more of a request for information.

Based on what I've seen, the good AI weapons appear to have requirements that are all-but-impossible to meet, and inferior to existing choices. But I haven't investigated it that deeply.

1HE -- I don't think an Alien Axe that can beat Gelids is wieldable by a Doc. Certainly not self-buffed equippable for swapping with Pensive/Pillow.

Pistols -- Haven't looked at it too too deeply; could really use some guidance/info on this. But are the alien pistols really that much better than a Flux/PoP/CDR at equivalent req's? Or is there something I'm missing?

Shotguns -- I have seen many docs running around with alien shotguns, but the report appears to be that they're not really that much superior to a Maw, especially at the levels when a doc can equip a Maw.

Bows -- Have heard little about this.

2HE? 1HB? Melee Energy? Ranged Energy? Talk to me ye docs with alien gear -- what's really been good? I want the meat of real utility, not the hype of carrying some new textures.

Given that the three top weapons for docs these days are Gelids, Maw, and JAME, what alien weapons are truly competitive with those? (Again, I believe being able to swap into pensives in the field self-buffed is key for a Doc weapon.)

/bio

[Sheffy]

Well, I think the idea here is weapon versatility. All alien weapons have pretty decent minimum damage, and most are fast weapons with nice critmods. None of them have profession requirements, and all come in QL ranges of 1-300, meaning Doctors of all levels (especially low level) have decent weapon options, regardless of weapon skill selection.

With our historically low attack ratings, we can't be using the top QL weapons in any of the weapon lines even at 220, but if we want to twink for it (implants instead of symbiants, a full set of commando's or mercenary's armor etc) we have the option of increasing our weapon skills pretty significantly to use higher QL weapons and so more damage, with a pretty hefty tradeoff (losing symbiant and nanoskill mods).

I'm not even really sure what types of weapons Doctors would be asking for. The bullet in our list was always intentionally vague, but I assumed it was simply requested to have Doctor weapons that do great damage and have great mods. I don't think this is something Funcom is interested in giving Doctors, and the pensive is the best we're going to get regarding nanoskill mods on a weapon--its just going to do very minimal damage as a tradeoff.

If the community wants Funcom to add more weapons specifically for Doctors, I'll be happy to add it back. But if I do, I'd like some reasonable ideas on what people are expecting from Funcom. I'm just afraid we're getting into the "We want our cake and to eat it to" realm.

For what its worth, I have no armor that adds to shotgun, and I don't use shotgun implants, and I'm using QL202 Kyr'Ozch Shotgun - Type 1 with a 15% critscope and aruls aba bracers and it blows the Maw out of the water in damage over time.

[Nesina]

Well RK1 has atleast 1 doc with an Improved Nano now

[lunette]

I totally agree the perk execution time on BGHs feels longer than it actually is. Whether its lag or just a perception issue, it certainly doesn't feel like a 1 sec execution time. But it is (I just tested them). I checked most of our other perk specials and I haven't found one that has an execution time under 1 sec, so I'm not sure its something we can even ask for. If anyone knows of any perks that execute immediately, please let me know. The only thing I can think of that is instantaneous is certain Shadowbreeds, and my guess is Funcom intentionally designed perks to have a minimum execution time of 1 second.

There is one perk special that is as good as instant, the Shade's Exultation special. Is possible, works great. Would be awesome on some of the doc heal specials.

[Sheffy]

Ahh yes, thanks--and Turnet just pointed me to Close Call (one of our AI perk specials) which used to have a 1s execution time but now has a 0.01s execution time. That would be so nice for BGH.

[Sheffy]

I re-added the team heal issue from 18 months ago to our list. See this thread for details. Funcom stated they would likely make a change to make the top team heals more effective. This hasn't happened.

[Sheffy]

Recently removed from list

• Heal Aggro
  Latest patch addressed this in a big way!
  
  
• High SL heal requirements
  AI items and perks help fill this gap.
  
  
• Pharma Tech tradeskill uses
  PT is now used in a number of tradeskill processes in AI, including the creation of the new armors and city buildings.
  
  
• Weapons
  AI brought us tremendous versatility in viable weapon selection.

[Turnet]

Personally my current biggest issues are:

Support Symbiants:
Currently im using a grand total of 7 normal implants, simply because the symbiants werent at all designed for docs. Evades and weapon skills are the major issues. What good is 30 new weapons with AI if we have absolutely no way of getting skills high enough to use them. I know some people will say, but docs shouldnt do damage, and i partly agree what they rarely realize is that +250 weapon skills will give doctors almost no damage gain from that alone. All it would allow is for us to use some of the new weapons with marginal gain as we still wont be able to use ql300 AI weapons.

Alien perks:
The alien perk lines give close nothing to docs, especially when they fix the bugged resists on the perk actions. I wrote a long post in beta about it as some of you might remember. I'll post a link to it if needed Sheffy. The nano skills are nice, but lets face it we dont really need it, and all it accomplished was to make me wish even more i made an atrox doc.

Alien content in general:
AI gave docs almost zero content, which is hurting when you fail to get doctors interested in alien raids. The lack of hp mods on any of the skill modifying combined armor usefull to doctors is hurting interest alot, we need that hp. Only item i use and plan on using from AI is the viral compiler which actually hurt us more than it helped, since more NR buffing items is not exactly in short supply.

General responce to some of the posters:
I hear alot of people on the boards saying how uber docs are and i keep shaking my head when i see those posts. Sure we can solo almost anything, but using 1½+ hour's to kill Smug/Eel isnt exactly fun or remotely viable so imo a very moot point.

Team play has degenerated even more with AI as the increased influx of DMS and heal perks made doctors even less desireable in high lvl teams. Most high lvl teams use a doctor for safety, but in reality we arent needed at all anymore and as such the good teams will foregoe a doc for a better damage setup.

PvP is a no win situation as killing anyone isnt even remotely possible, while being killed is a matter of pushing x buttons for quite a few professions.

The only place we are really needed these days are the big raids and aliens, one of which we have little personal incentive to attend.

Dont mind to make things sound bleaker than they are, but reality is that life as a doc isnt all its cranked up to be

Regards

Demi

[Gelanin]

Dont have a doctor myself, but i do see and notice the "challenges" doctors have atm.... and i do think there are a few fairly simple things that could solve alot of it.


1) Add Shotgun and Pistol to Support Symbiants.
2) Add Evades to Support symbiants.

Those 2 things should help docs a fair bit, both for pvm and pvp. It wont make docs uber-damage or anything, but it will help in getting on a bit higher QL weapons, and it will make them a bit harder to hit.

[Nesina]

Not a doc specific problem i guess, but kinda sad Heavy Weapons arent in any of the Comps.
It gets old buffing expertise every 20min hehe

Edit: Also the weird random shuffles of the perk window is sooooooo annoying.

[Sheffy]

Just for fun, I re-ordered the items in our list according to the results from the recent poll you all voted on. Thanks to all who voted to let Funcom know what's important to us!

[Malosar]

1) Add Shotgun and Pistol to Support Symbiants.
2) Add Evades to Support symbiants.

hehe I can imagine the response if FC were to implement both of these..... everyone would play docs and there would be outrage from every other profession.

Seriously, docs are already considered one of the most powerful professions at high levels, both in pvp and pvm because of their abilities. Whilst having those additions would certainly be welcome, in the interest of profession balance and having a toon which does have SOME drawbacks, I sincerely hope those are NOT implemented :P

1) Add Shotgun and Pistol to Support Symbiants.

Adding these gives the Doctor all the bonuses of the support symbiants PLUS the weapon skills. We have our dot lines which are quite powerful and when combines with our mediocre weapon skills, make us considerable foes. I don't use any implants and thus any weapon skills, yet I can take agro away from most professions if I want to, and thats not because of heal agro.

But since most docs would prefer this addition to symbiants, then i would say its the best one of the 2 options to consider for us.

2) Add Evades to Support symbiants.

This would be fantastic but it takes away the advantages other professions have over us. If I had high evades, then there would be little i could not solo. As it is doctors can solo much more than most other professions because of their heals and init debuffs.

[Gelanin]

hehe I can imagine the response if FC were to implement both of these..... everyone would play docs and there would be outrage from every other profession.

Seriously, docs are already considered one of the most powerful professions at high levels, both in pvp and pvm because of their abilities. Whilst having those additions would certainly be welcome, in the interest of profession balance and having a toon which does have SOME drawbacks, I sincerely hope those are NOT implemented :P

1) Add Shotgun and Pistol to Support Symbiants.

Adding these gives the Doctor all the bonuses of the support symbiants PLUS the weapon skills. We have our dot lines which are quite powerful and when combines with our mediocre weapon skills, make us considerable foes. I don't use any implants and thus any weapon skills, yet I can take agro away from most professions if I want to, and thats not because of heal agro.

But since most docs would prefer this addition to symbiants, then i would say its the best one of the 2 options to consider for us.

2) Add Evades to Support symbiants.

This would be fantastic but it takes away the advantages other professions have over us. If I had high evades, then there would be little i could not solo. As it is doctors can solo much more than most other professions because of their heals and init debuffs.

1) A doctor cant take aggro away from any high damage-dealer or tank.... nomatter how hard he tries... If you do, then those you play with are not playing at the best of the possibility of their profession.....
As for the weaponskills in symbiants... it would add about 200-250 ... bringing doctor skills to about 1500-1600 ? ... which is still WAY behind most other professions....

2) For PvM it wouldnt matter, docs can solo more or less anything today, and adding 200ish in evades wont change that... it will make it slightly faster for the docs to kill the mob though....

For PvP it would mean that not everyone almost always would hit with every bullet (Full Auto atleast), but they would still be hit quite often. Would it affect things alot, i dont think so, but its something that would help the doctors abit, and motivate them to keep on playing... and they would still die instantly against 2-3 people alpha-ing them... just like most other professions do...


Anyways, it was 2 suggestions i thought of a while back, and i still think they would help doctors without making them insanely overpowered..... hell i dont even play a doctor myself :-)