AKA a dissertation on PVE nightblades that aren't damage dealers. So much is focused on DPS when the weakest point in this class are the tanks and healers. Things were okay...and then we started taking nerfs left and right, and at this point I cannot find a lot of reasons to even defend playing this class a healer or tank. And I happen to main a nightblade healer, so that's pretty sad.
Reasons to play NB healer: We get some really nice passives that help with our healing done. We have really good ultimate regeneration so lots of warn horns.
Reasons to play NB tank: Until Elsweyr goes live we have good survivabilty. We have really good ultimate regeneration so... lots of warn horns.
Unfortunately that is all I can come up with. As healers we have no unique synergies (seriously, I pull out Blood Fountain and an apology letter if I am with an Alkosh tank). Our burst heal is really strong but it misses if there are other people or pets in the way and recasting it quickly can actually kill us. We used to do a bit of damage but that's gone. Even Templar's giant round equivalent to Path actually does damage AND has a synergy. Two of our main, class healing skills have been nerfed really harshly and the other is unreliable. As tanks and healers both we offer a total of one group buff (besides Major Expedition which is virtually useless in PVE) and it's an ultimate...so I think that War Horn is generally better.
I want this class to be good, I want people not to groan when they see they ended up in a random with a support nigthblade, and I believe it has the potential. The healing passive makes it seem like it should be a great healer and all the defensive buffs we have make a surprisingly good foundation for a tank. Unfortunately, it seems that these roles take backseat (or ejection seat) to the nightblade DPS. When the DPS over perform, it is the tanks and healers that take the hardest hits. So here are some suggestions, compiled in one thread. Is nigthblade the only class that needs help? No. I think sorcerer needs help in group utility and I am sure that DK and Templar feel they need help being DPS because they have so much that is based around group play. This is a result of the four classes starting with more narrow roles than we want them to have, than the devs say they should have, and than what has been designed on newer classes. It's time to act on it. I want all of us to be valuable and important in group content, regardless of role. This is an MMO, after all. But since I main a nightblade, I can only offer insight on this class. It is up to you to offer it for the others.
Dark Cloak.
This skill needs a front loaded heal to keep nigthblade tanks competitive in very difficult content. Ideally something like 12% of max health in first tick followed by slowly getting the other 20% needed to round off to 32% total over the remaining 7 seconds. I don't use this skill for the healing unless the situation is dire, such as when tanking a trial or recovering from a very hard hit, and in those cases no one wants a heal over time.
Alternatively, if DPS using it for a burst is a problem, scale the healing percentage of the first tick based on how many pieces of heavy armor are being used by 1% per piece. There is already a passive in this skill line that scales on heavy armor so there is no reason not to do this. For example: no heavy is still 4.5%, 1 is 5.5%, 2 is 6.5%, etc. 5 would give you 9.5% and the max would be 11.5% for all heavy. This would keep the skill as proposed for DPS so mostly just a defense buff for them, but allow it to function on tanks as an emergency heal as it was first meant to be last year.
Funnel Health.
Increase the damage of this skill to make it worth using again because right now it is weaker than Mutagen. It should do closer to the level of damage that Swallow Soul does because healers using it will not be pulling the damage numbers that a DPS is. It should still do less damage than Swallow to make it undesirable for DPS, maybe 10-20% less damage, but keep the increased healing percentage (percentage can be modified if needed, but just make sure it heals for a solid about). It only ticks every other second, it really should be better than it currently is.
Healthy/Shrewd Offering.
This skill should be guaranteed to hit the lowest health ally within range and not require aiming. Sacrificing health should always result in a successful heal, and this isn't a skill that will be spammed anyway (like Breath of Life of the Twilight) cause you'll die. It should also NEVER hit a pet (bear, clannfear, scamp, twilight) because they don't even die in dungeons/trials anymore and I'm sorry but the healer is never concerned about healing them.
(Also Earthgore should not proc on pets, especially now that it only hits one target, but that's a whole different pile of salt.)
Refreshing Path.
Ideally add damage back to Refreshing Path. Not a lot, less than Twisting, but some damage. Maybe slightly increase the damage of Twisting Path, since it is very low right now compared to similar skills from other classes, to encourage DPS to chose that one.
Change Major Expedition to Minor Vitality for all allies on the path (both morphs). Tank and healer can buff group this way. Even a DPS can help the tank and stamina DPS who would likely be standing on Twisting Path. Remove the damage mitigation from Grim Focus to make up for this change because 15% mitigation is ridiculous, but also give the PVPers Major Expedition on something cause I know they like it.
Mark Target.
The skill should apply a different debuff than the tank has, maybe Minor instead of Major Fracture/Breach, or something else that can help the group like Lifesteal instead of healing only you when the target dies. Tank or healer could use this to help the group. It totally fits with the deal damage to heal idea. I don't mind if this skill isn't free if it offers something more interesting. It should absolutely be purgable in PVP if it isn't. And I mean with Purge.
(Purge needs to be examined because there are a lot of things it can't purge.)
Nightblade Synergies.
Currently these are only on ultimates and both require you be at the location. Boring?????
Take the synergy from one of them (Soul Leech makes the most sense I think) and put it on Cripple. Allies within range of the afflicted enemy can use the synergy. If the synergy as it appears on the ultimate is too strong for a regular ability, weaken it. Path would work for a synergy too, and in that case maybe take the Hidden Refresh synergy from the Shadow ultimate instead. The main use is having a synergy that doesn't cost ultimate.
I totally get it that things end up having different values and uses in PVE as opposed to PVP. I don't really know how to fix that, but I also don't want either being nerfed because of the other. Feel free to chime in with your own suggestions, I'm just trying to put out ideas for helping nightblade tanks and healers do more in group content for PVE. Thanks!
Reasons to play NB healer: We get some really nice passives that help with our healing done. We have really good ultimate regeneration so lots of warn horns.
Reasons to play NB tank: Until Elsweyr goes live we have good survivabilty. We have really good ultimate regeneration so... lots of warn horns.
Unfortunately that is all I can come up with. As healers we have no unique synergies (seriously, I pull out Blood Fountain and an apology letter if I am with an Alkosh tank). Our burst heal is really strong but it misses if there are other people or pets in the way and recasting it quickly can actually kill us. We used to do a bit of damage but that's gone. Even Templar's giant round equivalent to Path actually does damage AND has a synergy. Two of our main, class healing skills have been nerfed really harshly and the other is unreliable. As tanks and healers both we offer a total of one group buff (besides Major Expedition which is virtually useless in PVE) and it's an ultimate...so I think that War Horn is generally better.
I want this class to be good, I want people not to groan when they see they ended up in a random with a support nigthblade, and I believe it has the potential. The healing passive makes it seem like it should be a great healer and all the defensive buffs we have make a surprisingly good foundation for a tank. Unfortunately, it seems that these roles take backseat (or ejection seat) to the nightblade DPS. When the DPS over perform, it is the tanks and healers that take the hardest hits. So here are some suggestions, compiled in one thread. Is nigthblade the only class that needs help? No. I think sorcerer needs help in group utility and I am sure that DK and Templar feel they need help being DPS because they have so much that is based around group play. This is a result of the four classes starting with more narrow roles than we want them to have, than the devs say they should have, and than what has been designed on newer classes. It's time to act on it. I want all of us to be valuable and important in group content, regardless of role. This is an MMO, after all. But since I main a nightblade, I can only offer insight on this class. It is up to you to offer it for the others.
Dark Cloak.
This skill needs a front loaded heal to keep nigthblade tanks competitive in very difficult content. Ideally something like 12% of max health in first tick followed by slowly getting the other 20% needed to round off to 32% total over the remaining 7 seconds. I don't use this skill for the healing unless the situation is dire, such as when tanking a trial or recovering from a very hard hit, and in those cases no one wants a heal over time.
Alternatively, if DPS using it for a burst is a problem, scale the healing percentage of the first tick based on how many pieces of heavy armor are being used by 1% per piece. There is already a passive in this skill line that scales on heavy armor so there is no reason not to do this. For example: no heavy is still 4.5%, 1 is 5.5%, 2 is 6.5%, etc. 5 would give you 9.5% and the max would be 11.5% for all heavy. This would keep the skill as proposed for DPS so mostly just a defense buff for them, but allow it to function on tanks as an emergency heal as it was first meant to be last year.
Funnel Health.
Increase the damage of this skill to make it worth using again because right now it is weaker than Mutagen. It should do closer to the level of damage that Swallow Soul does because healers using it will not be pulling the damage numbers that a DPS is. It should still do less damage than Swallow to make it undesirable for DPS, maybe 10-20% less damage, but keep the increased healing percentage (percentage can be modified if needed, but just make sure it heals for a solid about). It only ticks every other second, it really should be better than it currently is.
Healthy/Shrewd Offering.
This skill should be guaranteed to hit the lowest health ally within range and not require aiming. Sacrificing health should always result in a successful heal, and this isn't a skill that will be spammed anyway (like Breath of Life of the Twilight) cause you'll die. It should also NEVER hit a pet (bear, clannfear, scamp, twilight) because they don't even die in dungeons/trials anymore and I'm sorry but the healer is never concerned about healing them.
(Also Earthgore should not proc on pets, especially now that it only hits one target, but that's a whole different pile of salt.)
Refreshing Path.
Ideally add damage back to Refreshing Path. Not a lot, less than Twisting, but some damage. Maybe slightly increase the damage of Twisting Path, since it is very low right now compared to similar skills from other classes, to encourage DPS to chose that one.
Change Major Expedition to Minor Vitality for all allies on the path (both morphs). Tank and healer can buff group this way. Even a DPS can help the tank and stamina DPS who would likely be standing on Twisting Path. Remove the damage mitigation from Grim Focus to make up for this change because 15% mitigation is ridiculous, but also give the PVPers Major Expedition on something cause I know they like it.
Mark Target.
The skill should apply a different debuff than the tank has, maybe Minor instead of Major Fracture/Breach, or something else that can help the group like Lifesteal instead of healing only you when the target dies. Tank or healer could use this to help the group. It totally fits with the deal damage to heal idea. I don't mind if this skill isn't free if it offers something more interesting. It should absolutely be purgable in PVP if it isn't. And I mean with Purge.
(Purge needs to be examined because there are a lot of things it can't purge.)
Nightblade Synergies.
Currently these are only on ultimates and both require you be at the location. Boring?????
Take the synergy from one of them (Soul Leech makes the most sense I think) and put it on Cripple. Allies within range of the afflicted enemy can use the synergy. If the synergy as it appears on the ultimate is too strong for a regular ability, weaken it. Path would work for a synergy too, and in that case maybe take the Hidden Refresh synergy from the Shadow ultimate instead. The main use is having a synergy that doesn't cost ultimate.
I totally get it that things end up having different values and uses in PVE as opposed to PVP. I don't really know how to fix that, but I also don't want either being nerfed because of the other. Feel free to chime in with your own suggestions, I'm just trying to put out ideas for helping nightblade tanks and healers do more in group content for PVE. Thanks!