I'm shelving my Blood Mage for now

[Excelsio]

Hi,

I'd first like to say that I think Vanguard is an **absolute masterpiece**. I've played most of the MMOs that have ever been created, starting with EQ1 and UO, and Vanguard absolutely is IMO the best MMO ever made. At the moment, it's got some bugs that need to be fixed, but once that happens I can see that it could have a subscription rate in the millions. Thank You to all of the people at Sigil for your hard work and creative brilliance.

As I mentioned in another thread, the Blood Mage is the first healing class that I've ever gotten in to in any MMO. I usually play DPS casters. However, I don't need to be at the top of the DPS meters, and I think that what Blood Mages sacrifice in raw damage is more than made up in the damage mitigation (healing) that they bring to a group.

My main in EQ was a Necromancer, so the Blood Mage style was already familiar to me.

Unfortunately, after having made it to 18 with my BM, I've realized that the class is actually pretty weak and doesn't live up to its promise. I've given this a great deal of thought and analysis, and here's what I've realized:


1) The drains don't do anywhere nearly enough.

If my group is in combat that's 'under control', the main tank is usually taking papercut-like damage. In this case, it's much better that I spam Bursting Cyst to add DPS to take the mobs down quickly, and popping off an Infuse Health if the 'paper cuts' have accumulated to where some real healing is needed.

The drains are inefficient in this case, because although it would keep the main tank topped off with health, my DPS would be low and that would mean that battles would become more protracted. Longer battles then mean that even more healing (and energy) becomes needed, along with the increased possibility of adds.


If my group is in combat that's in 'oh crap' mode, I need to stand there and be a healbot in Sanguine Focus. In this case, the drains don't do nearly enough healing. Plus it's a 2 second cast time vs. 1.5 seconds for Infuse Health (which is huge in a battle). And, the drains have a (ridiculously) high resist rate. Standing there spamming Infuse Health means that I have 0 dps.

So, in either case, the drains are useless. The drains are 1 of the 2 primary reasons that I choose this class.


2) Blood Mages burn down their energy bar very quickly, and then become ineffective healers when it's needed.

Mental Transmutation just can't keep up with energy expenditure. Spamming MT every 10 seconds during a battle, and still the energy bar goes down very quickly. Maybe this will change at higher levels when characters have a lot more health, therefore giving back more energy per MT cast; but, at level 18, it's nowhere even close to what's needed. And, it's gotten worse after the increases to energy cost of the healing spells.

This is especially bad in this very common scenario:

My group is fighting a battle that's under control, and I'm spamming Bursting Cyst with an occasional Infuse Health on the main tank. All of a sudden, we get some adds and we have to go in to 'oh crap' mode. The problem is that now I'm very low on energy because of having spammed Bursting Cyst at the start of the Battle. Because I now have low energy, I'm not able to be an effective healer for my group, and we wipe-out.

Because of the above, does that mean that my Blood Mage should stand back and do nothing (or very little), to conserve energy just in case the battle goes bad? The other healing classes don't have this problem, since they can contribute significant DPS without comprimising their ability to heal if it becomes needed in a crunch.

As an aside: I expected that Blood Mage should be a lot like an EQ Necromancer, with 'unlimited' mana through health to mana conversion, and with the need to replenish his own health by draining mobs of their own health.


3) Blood Mage survivability is extremely low.

The other healing classes can contribute significant DPS, and can still be effective healers too. And, their survivability is very high. The Blood Mage sacrifices a **huge** amount of survivability and in return receives...

nothing.


So, my Blood Mage is on the shelf for now. I really hope it gets some **very serious buffing** in the future, as it's really needed, and I'd love to play Blood Mage again.

[hawnz]

i understand what you're saying, but i have to say that infuse health is the last thing you should be using to heal your MT. it's extremely inefficient compared to our blood gift line and HOTs, which is what you should be using if not vein.

health to energy comparison:

blood gift 2: 1134 heal - 217 energy 5.23 health/energy
infuse health 3: 709 heal - 197 energy 3.6 health/energy
flesh mender's ritual 2: 2400 heal over 20 secs - free (just have to be at 3+ blood union)


so let's say you need to do 8000 dammage worth of healing to the tank over the course of the fight.

spamming infuse health = 11.3 casts = 2226 energy
spamming blood gift 2 = 7.1 casts = 1541 energy
opening with flesh mender's 2 and then spamming blood gift 2 = (1)+ 4.9 casts = 1063 energy
opening with FM2 + BG2 spam + FM2 when it refreshes + BG2 spam = (2) + 2.8 casts = 608 energy


see what i'm getting at? for those "paper cut" fights, the free cost fleshmender line is all you need. the first one is basically completely free, cuz you can pre-build your blood union before the fight starts. any following uses you just have to use your blood union for heals instead of scarlet ritual, and then go back to DPSing.


i'm not saying BMs don't need a boost, just that spamming infuse health is the least efficient way by far to heal, and i woudn't want you to base your quitting the character on that.

[QuidProQuo]

Too bad the Blood Mage is a really intresting class if I didn't like melee so much I'd probably play one.

[Gord]

I don't see where Blood Mages are as "gimped" as some people say. It's just a different style that you need to get used to. The only thing we might be lacking a bit is utility, and I'm not so sure we lack that either.

Blood Pact management and use of rituals is a big key. Instead of spamming Cyst, try using the taps to build BP and pop the HoT. Build the BP back up and use Cyst, let the DoT run it's course. Build the BP back up and use the rituals while the DoT is running. Build the BP back up and hit Cyst or the HoT again.

To play effectively a BM has to balance his health, the tank's health, Blood Pact, his energy, and group health as a whole. Once you figure out how to best accomplish all of that, the BM can be very effective. No, the increase to energy cost didn't make it any easier on us but I haven't had any issues to speak of yet.

[Tatt]

I have to agree with the original poster.

I've been wanting to start another toon, and Im leaning towards Shaman. I will see with my own eyes if my hunch is correct. That bloodmages are the weakest class of the healers.

When you combine dps, survivability, utility and healing ability... bloodmage comes dead last (and not by a small margin).

Now this is only my opinion formed by playing a bloodmage, playing with other healers, and reading the spell/ability lists and forums.

I'm gonna start some new toons imo.

[Seiryu]

i agree with hawnz. the majority of my healing in a group at level 38 is done with flesh menders ritual. honestly if you are the groups only healer you have no business burning away your mana nuking in a a sitution where you might get adds you cant controll. also with the recent up in mana cost of heals which didnt effect entwining vein that is a very good option for healing mana efficiently if you still want to do damage. Typically in a group i heal in offense stance ( gelenia ) making blood union no issue and causing entwining vein to heal more effectivly, there arent many times when its best to use sanguine focus from what ive experianced. in my opinion the people complaning bloodmage is underpowered arent playing strategicly enough. its a much more in depth class to play than most healing classes and you always have to be thinking about whats most eficient to do in terms of your health / mana / heals you need to put out. if you want a easy laid back healer to play dont pick bloodmage you almost always have to be doing somthing different. and i have had no problem ever keeping my mana up with mental transmute. it would be even easier if vitalizing symbiote worked /grumble

[Excelsio]

honestly if you are the groups only healer you have no business burning away your mana nuking in a a sitution where you might get adds you cant controll.

So, what you're saying is that if there's even the *possibility* that combat could get out of control, that a Blood Mage should just hang back and not nuke at all -- not add any DPS -- just in case he might need to go in to healbot mode?

I thoroughly disagree with this. None of the other healing classes have this constraint -- they can contribute significant DPS, and if things get out of control, they have not comprimised their ability to switch gears and start being an effective healer.

[Excelsio]

i understand what you're saying, but i have to say that infuse health is the last thing you should be using to heal your MT. it's extremely inefficient compared to our blood gift line and HOTs, which is what you should be using if not vein.

health to energy comparison:

blood gift 2: 1134 heal - 217 energy 5.23 health/energy
infuse health 3: 709 heal - 197 energy 3.6 health/energy
flesh mender's ritual 2: 2400 heal over 20 secs - free (just have to be at 3+ blood union)


so let's say you need to do 8000 dammage worth of healing to the tank over the course of the fight.

spamming infuse health = 11.3 casts = 2226 energy
spamming blood gift 2 = 7.1 casts = 1541 energy
opening with flesh mender's 2 and then spamming blood gift 2 = (1)+ 4.9 casts = 1063 energy
opening with FM2 + BG2 spam + FM2 when it refreshes + BG2 spam = (2) + 2.8 casts = 608 energy


see what i'm getting at? for those "paper cut" fights, the free cost fleshmender line is all you need. the first one is basically completely free, cuz you can pre-build your blood union before the fight starts. any following uses you just have to use your blood union for heals instead of scarlet ritual, and then go back to DPSing.


i'm not saying BMs don't need a boost, just that spamming infuse health is the least efficient way by far to heal, and i woudn't want you to base your quitting the character on that.

I actually do use Flesh Mender's Ritual. Combat for me usually goes:

1) Start off in Focus of Gelenia
2) Union of Blood, +2 blood points
3) Cyst, +1 blood point
4) Shift in to Sanguine Focus, cast Fleshmender's Ritual on the MT, shift back in to FoG.
5) Continue to nuke with Cyst.

The problem with your math above is that Fleshmender's Ritual only lasts for 20 seconds, with a 60 second refresh. So, that's 40 seconds where another heal is needed.

Blood Gift, while it does have an excellent energy to health ratio, also has a 3 second cast time. In an out of control battle, that's far too much time to spend on healing one person, when usually multiple people need to be healed very quickly and responsively. Therefore, Blood Gift is worthless in an 'oh crap' battle.

[Gord]

I believe the point is a BM can add damage both without using energy and while healing. Use all of the tools given to you, especially the Blood Union.

[Seiryu]

i wasnt saying not to do dps. do as much as you can, but im saying you should never get yourself low enough on mana that you cant survive any situations you might encounter

[hawnz]

I actually do use Flesh Mender's Ritual. Combat for me usually goes:

1) Start off in Focus of Gelenia
2) Union of Blood, +2 blood points
3) Cyst, +1 blood point
4) Shift in to Sanguine Focus, cast Fleshmender's Ritual on the MT, shift back in to FoG.
5) Continue to nuke with Cyst.

The problem with your math above is that Fleshmender's Ritual only lasts for 20 seconds, with a 60 second refresh. So, that's 40 seconds where another heal is needed.

Blood Gift, while it does have an excellent energy to health ratio, also has a 3 second cast time. In an out of control battle, that's far too much time to spend on healing one person, when usually multiple people need to be healed very quickly and responsively. Therefore, Blood Gift is worthless in an 'oh crap' battle.

why not build up blood union to max before the fight starts and dump a fleshmender from the get go? that way you can not worry about the MT much and focus on keeping the rest of the group alive until the pull is under control? if you find yourself having to constantly heal your entire group, i'd say you need to find some better groups. that's more about poor aggro control or lack of crowd control than issues with bloodmage healing. no healer is proficient at constantly having to heal the entire group. group heals are expensive and slow, and spamming quick heals is very costly as well.

are you using blood feast on everyone (including yourself)? this gives me a continuous gain of hp throughout the fight, basically healing the HP i lose from transmuting.

(in FoG the entire fight)
pre-build 5 blood union
pull comes in
toss fleshmender 2 on MT
union of blood (now i'm back at 4-5 BU)
infuse health if any squishy players get aggro
MT (now i'm back to 90-100% energy)
scarlet ritual - 1bu
vein - 2 bu
+1 BU from FOG
vein - 3 BU
MT - back to full energy
bursting cyst - 4 bu
bursting cyst - 5 bu
fleshmender 2 - 2 bu
+1 from FOG
MT- back to full energy

etc etc

[Koba]

When grouped you have time to build 5 BU before the pull? Most groups I am in are chain pulling and you dont have the time to do that.

[Ferrer]

That bloodmages are the weakest class of the healers.

When you combine dps, survivability, utility and healing ability... bloodmage comes dead last (and not by a small margin).

This got a good chuckle out of me because as an int (and spell damage) spec'd and geared bloodmage tossing out nukes, dots and lifetaps, I regularly outdamage dps'rs several levels above me. So DPS is definately up there, esp. for a hybrid healer.

I agree about suvivability, BMGs are squishy. Combine cloth armor, low HP, and constant draining of HP for spells and forms, you walk a fine line as a BMG. I view this as a challenge and it only adds to the enjoyment of the class.

But healing ability, all equally spec'd and geared healers do the same amount of heals. Healing with a BMG takes a little more thought than just being a healbot CLR or SHM, (not that there is anything wrong with those classes). If you are a WIS and VIT spec'd BMG, you can't expect awesome results with your lifetap based heals. If you are INT and WIS, don't expect to be primary healer in a raid. You get good results if your heal according to your skill distribution and equipment foci.

Throw in all the interesting stuff like symbiotes, pacts, rituals and the like and you get a very interesting, utilitarian class that is sometimes difficult to play, but when played well it is a sight to behold.

[furbal]

Im playing a blood mage i found that the main problem is agro if you get it your good as dead, no amount of healing will help you against 2+ mobs beating on you since your cloth.

Fleshmender should also effect the bloodmage because of this we have VERY low survivability we need some way to dump agro, i can't count the number of times i died cast 1 simple heal and having 3 mobs attack me instantly after.

Best fix for bloodmage is a new ability that ties you to mob through veins self only every time mob hits you you suck X amount life from him.

I find that bloodmages are to crunchy and will be changing to something else as well unless they improve our survivability.

[Karandor]

Im playing a blood mage i found that the main problem is agro if you get it your good as dead, no amount of healing will help you against 2+ mobs beating on you since your cloth.

Fleshmender should also effect the bloodmage because of this we have VERY low survivability we need some way to dump agro, i can't count the number of times i died cast 1 simple heal and having 3 mobs attack me instantly after.

Best fix for bloodmage is a new ability that ties you to mob through veins self only every time mob hits you you suck X amount life from him.

I find that bloodmages are to crunchy and will be changing to something else as well unless they improve our survivability.

Yeah when I grouped my cleric with a BM I often had to grab aggro off him. Clerics get a pacify spell and I really think BMs should get something similar.

[Koba]

BM's get a spell called Numb that lowers agro. Needs to be used before getting agro to really be of use. If I am having to use regular heals I throw it in every few cast. Just using HoT's and Vein don't really need to use it. I equate it to using a spell Wizzy's had in EQ that reduced agro. Needs to be used before getting agro.

[Helichrysum]

not to change subjects, but i'm a newbie bloodmage and was wondering how you "pre-build" blood union to 5 before a fight? I thought they could only raise blood union by being in combat, and then once the enemy is dead, the blood union disappears.
While in the Focus of Gelenia stance, as long as you have an npc targetted, you will generate one blood point every 5 seconds. You do not have to be in combat, and the NPC does not even have to be attackable.

While any group with a decent puller would never give me the luxury of BU5 before every incoming, it is certainly worth trying to achieve if you can see where your next pull is coming from. I only wish there was a way to maintain a BU with a mob after you switch targets to another mob.

[treyalsup]

19 BMG here.

One thing that helped me alot after the recent increase in heal costs was to put infuse 2 back on my bar. Its much more efficient than Infuse 3 and still heals over 1/2 of most players' bar.

With BMGs its not always best to use every upgrade. I'm considering using some of the lower drains as well since often all I'm really doing is building blood union. Why pay alot of mana for that?

Some tips for efficiency in groups
1)let the DoTs do the work
2)ergo: don't cast cyst at less than 3 BU
3)scarlet ritual is huge damage at the expense of BU but you want to use it once on each mob- your going to lose that blood Union so use it.
4)MT early and often. Getting Blood Feast really changes everything. Its a pain to be constantly recasting but its so damn good.
5)Use smaller infuses- espcially when you are the 2nd healer in a group.
6)Don't be afraid to leave a target a little early. After I've scarlet ritualed a mob, if it is still at 10%-20% health, I know its going to go down, so go ahead and union that second mob and then wait for the MT to get on your target and you can cast that 3 BU cyst and you are in shape to vien/MT/despoil etc.

[Seiryu]

true about the blood union but later on your going to be using 2 every 2 minutes for ritual of awakening so factor that in also hawnz

[furbal]

Another reason why im going to shelf my bloodmage is finishers i have NEVER seen one and im lvl 11 almost 12, i think the devs forgot to give us one lol.

Bloodmage seems like a half finished class it got potential but without survivability its just not going to be played.

They lowered our damage output, upped or healing costs thus lowering our survivability in multi-mob pulls.

Life husk just does not cut it, need a way to hot ourself so we can survive taking a beating.

Blood mage has lowest survivability of all classes i have played most of them.

[Koba]

Another reason why im going to shelf my bloodmage is finishers i have NEVER seen one and im lvl 11 almost 12, i think the devs forgot to give us one lol.

Bloodmage seems like a half finished class it got potential but without survivability its just not going to be played.

They lowered our damage output, upped or healing costs thus lowering our survivability in multi-mob pulls.

Life husk just does not cut it, need a way to hot ourself so we can survive taking a beating.

Blood mage has lowest survivability of all classes i have played most of them.

We have the best HoT in the game, it is called Blood Feast. We have a finisher, Scarlet Ritual. Not sure what you mean by lowered our damage. I think are damage is pretty good for a healer class. The BM is not for everyone and is the most complicated healer class to play well. Just find it odd that you are giving up before the BM really starts to get fun. You talk about getting agro while grouped but who groups at level 10-12? I can take on 3 or 4 Three Dots of equal level at the same time. Just takes knowing all your abilities and how to use them.

[Seiryu]

btw koba. our hot is not called bloodfeast.. our hot is transfusion of serak and flesh menders ritual.. our finisher is also not called scarlet ritual its blood tribute. but we do have a finisher .

our survivability is not bad , at level 38 my self buff which is upgraded in 2 levels gives me almost 1000 ac. the only person in my group with more ac than me is the tank. if you build yourself for ac and hp your fine. hp is energy for us in the long run anyway. i know its hard to find light armor with anything besides energy and spell damage focus but it can be done. id like to see more hp / heal focus / const heavy light armor out there. it seem 90% of the healer gear in game is medium. our survivability also greatly increases when we get sheltering rune at level 42 but if your not willing to hang in there till the class gets good its not for you anyway.

[treyalsup]

btw koba. our hot is not called bloodfeast.. our hot is transfusion of serak and flesh menders ritual.. our finisher is also not called scarlet ritual its blood tribute. but we do have a finisher .


Metinks you missed Koba's points.

[Koba]

/thanks Treyalsup

Ok, if we want to get technical Blood Tribute is really a chain. We don't get a finisher like a lot of the other classes get, but Scarlet Ritual works very well as one and you don't have to wait for a crit to use it. I wish we had a finisher but was happy when they added Blood Tribute. Now if they can just get it to work and shorten the re-cast time on it then we would be rocking. Or did they fix it in the last patch? Never got a chance to try out.

In the normal sense Blood Feast is not a HoT (as in so much healing per tick like Transfusion or Flesh Menders). But it does heal you over time, just based on the damage of the people you have it cast on. There is not a HoT in game that can heal for more then Blood Feast (yes it does depend on the dps of your group but I am in love with this little 10 minute buff).

[Khaunshar]

Sure, Blood Mage is squishy, hard to play, takes some brains and especially, takes some focus on what kind of style you want to play.

I play the blood union/lifedrain heavy style, not the healbot style. I'm level 26, almost 27 right now, and easily heal an entire group on my own in the CIS on multiple 28-32 4dots. And to add to the bragging, I dont have CIS armor yet.

So no, blood mage isnt crap, but its not overpowered. You get power, but you have to work for it.

Ive never needed more than life husk + numb to get rid of aggro. HoTs dont draw aggro worth jack, so thats a way to heal on the initial pull too.

Some hints:
a) use lowest level "Union of Blood" to get the 2 BU points. The damage isnt worth it.
b) Switch to Sanguine for any HoT, as the size of the health tick is determined on the moment you cast it.
c) Infuse Health is the WoW flash heal. Its bad. BAD. And thats why all those BMGs fail: they thing they should healbot. Other classes can do it, go play them for easy heals.
d) Blood Gift in Sanguine is not just insanely efficient, its also predictable enough to use on a tank. Often, a lesser rank suffices if you have a ranger or monk tanking.
e)Blood Feast can be cast on ANYONE, and it has no range. Some days, I have 10+ people feeding me health in a crowded area.
f) Buffs: We have buffs that turn a bard into a tank. Always full buffs on everyone. I am amazed how few people buff the entire group and KEEP THEM UP after they wear off.
g)Pacts can be detrimental. Only use them when the incoming damage is too much for you to heal on the tank. Thats usually never the case btw.
h)If you want to drain heal, practice it, and spec for it. Get +damage focus, +Int, +vitality (for mana reg) and forget this stupid spellcrit. This isnt WoW. Crits are unpredictable aggro, and our chain sucks.
i)Ritual of Gelenia is incredibly powerful. If you cannot figure out why when you click on it, play something easier
j)Constrict with high Int = 30/45 seconds of melee mob mez, 40% chance of holding through a stupid melee attacking it. Got add? Life Husk, Root, MOVE, Numb.
k)Bursting Cyst and Vein create excellent weaknesses for the best (currently) DPS melee to exploit. Ranger chains are predictable to a T, no point in letting 600+ damage per 3dot fight go to waste thats added aggro on the Ranger.
l) Fleshmenders is your friend, your ally, your life. It heals on the cast immediately. Dont use it on a tank with full HP.
m) use your racial. If you got a crappy one, tough luck. Dark Elf racial is insanely powerful for drain healing, but useless for pure heals. Goblin racial helps with healing, Kojani is downright overpowered in all regards and can singlehandedly turn a fight from wipe to victory.
o) MOVE. You are squishy and taste well. No point hiding somewhere the tank cant see you. Move to a place where any adds that get on you can unmistakingly be seen as such.
p) Get buffs. Many buffs. From everyone. If they run out, get them anew. We live on anything that raises our HP.
q) Bursting Cyst before BU 3 is wasting a lot of efficiency. Dont open with a nuke if you go for max efficiency.
r) Symbiotes. Use Symbiotes, love symbiotes. The next BMG that tells me "but plated is just 1 damage" I ll just put on ignore right away. If you dont know what your spell does, and rely on the tooltip, play a cleric.

And that didnt even delve into the topic of pacts, dispel and charm.

This class is insanely busy if played even near potential. 90% of the playerbase plays it like an evil-looking healbot ala WoW. Cry more, nub.

[Koba]

Nice post. I cant believe all the people that need it spelled out for them tho. Yes the BM is a complicated class (guess that is why I am so in love with it) but a little playing around with your spells is all it really takes to figure the stuff out. Also a good keyboard setup with marco's helps a lot. You should not have to look at the keyboard or have to think about what key does what. Once you get your keyboard layout memorized it all becomes 2nd nature. This is the first class I have found that compares to the EQ bard with what they can do in the hands of a skilled player willing to push the limits and beyond of the class.

I do disagree with one thing you posted. After you get Blood Feast there is no reason to not have Scaring Pac on the MT at all times. The damage from the group will take care of healing any damage you take from it. Just be ready to break it if you get agro from an add.

[sephira]

Hi,

I'd first like to say that I think Vanguard is an **absolute masterpiece**. I've played most of the MMOs that have ever been created, starting with EQ1 and UO, and Vanguard absolutely is IMO the best MMO ever made. At the moment, it's got some bugs that need to be fixed, but once that happens I can see that it could have a subscription rate in the millions. Thank You to all of the people at Sigil for your hard work and creative brilliance.

As I mentioned in another thread, the Blood Mage is the first healing class that I've ever gotten in to in any MMO. I usually play DPS casters. However, I don't need to be at the top of the DPS meters, and I think that what Blood Mages sacrifice in raw damage is more than made up in the damage mitigation (healing) that they bring to a group.

My main in EQ was a Necromancer, so the Blood Mage style was already familiar to me.

Unfortunately, after having made it to 18 with my BM, I've realized that the class is actually pretty weak and doesn't live up to its promise. I've given this a great deal of thought and analysis, and here's what I've realized:


1) The drains don't do anywhere nearly enough.

If my group is in combat that's 'under control', the main tank is usually taking papercut-like damage. In this case, it's much better that I spam Bursting Cyst to add DPS to take the mobs down quickly, and popping off an Infuse Health if the 'paper cuts' have accumulated to where some real healing is needed.

The drains are inefficient in this case, because although it would keep the main tank topped off with health, my DPS would be low and that would mean that battles would become more protracted. Longer battles then mean that even more healing (and energy) becomes needed, along with the increased possibility of adds.


If my group is in combat that's in 'oh crap' mode, I need to stand there and be a healbot in Sanguine Focus. In this case, the drains don't do nearly enough healing. Plus it's a 2 second cast time vs. 1.5 seconds for Infuse Health (which is huge in a battle). And, the drains have a (ridiculously) high resist rate. Standing there spamming Infuse Health means that I have 0 dps.

So, in either case, the drains are useless. The drains are 1 of the 2 primary reasons that I choose this class.


2) Blood Mages burn down their energy bar very quickly, and then become ineffective healers when it's needed.

Mental Transmutation just can't keep up with energy expenditure. Spamming MT every 10 seconds during a battle, and still the energy bar goes down very quickly. Maybe this will change at higher levels when characters have a lot more health, therefore giving back more energy per MT cast; but, at level 18, it's nowhere even close to what's needed. And, it's gotten worse after the increases to energy cost of the healing spells.

This is especially bad in this very common scenario:

My group is fighting a battle that's under control, and I'm spamming Bursting Cyst with an occasional Infuse Health on the main tank. All of a sudden, we get some adds and we have to go in to 'oh crap' mode. The problem is that now I'm very low on energy because of having spammed Bursting Cyst at the start of the Battle. Because I now have low energy, I'm not able to be an effective healer for my group, and we wipe-out.

Because of the above, does that mean that my Blood Mage should stand back and do nothing (or very little), to conserve energy just in case the battle goes bad? The other healing classes don't have this problem, since they can contribute significant DPS without comprimising their ability to heal if it becomes needed in a crunch.

As an aside: I expected that Blood Mage should be a lot like an EQ Necromancer, with 'unlimited' mana through health to mana conversion, and with the need to replenish his own health by draining mobs of their own health.


3) Blood Mage survivability is extremely low.

The other healing classes can contribute significant DPS, and can still be effective healers too. And, their survivability is very high. The Blood Mage sacrifices a **huge** amount of survivability and in return receives...

nothing.


So, my Blood Mage is on the shelf for now. I really hope it gets some **very serious buffing** in the future, as it's really needed, and I'd love to play Blood Mage again.


Poor bloodmage. But you are not a bad class, the community is erm... dull. Every healer ingame who is worth its salt might agree when i say that this game is designed to have two healers in group. Only this way healers are able to play their part as it should be. We dont have DPS to solo, we have DPS to balance out the fact that every team needs two of us and we therefor are able to fill in the missing DPS.

Right now on my server 9 out of 10 teams are not worth to bother with. People cant get their old games out of their mind. I gave up completely to try to play group content.. Since i didnt play WoW i cant tell if those are all WoW spoiled players or if i am just unlucky and always run into the noobs. /shrug Actually i dont care why those people are selfish retards.

I think i ll shelf the game or solo until people understand that it needs two healers, that healers are not their bots, that a tank has a shield, that a ranger is not a tank, that rushing is stupid and that tanking needs more then a plate armour. Like pulling to a safe spot and so on.. and so on.

Healing and tanking are two jobs that have to be done with responsibility. Right now i have the problem to meet people who dont know the meaning of this word.

So again, your bloodmage is an awesome class, you are just in the wrong team(s).

/rant off

[CrimsonEdge]

Poor bloodmage. But you are not a bad class, the community is erm... dull. Every healer ingame who is worth its salt might agree when i say that this game is designed to have two healers in group. Only this way healers are able to play their part as it should be. We dont have DPS to solo, we have DPS to balance out the fact that every team needs two of us and we therefor are able to fill in the missing DPS.

Right now on my server 9 out of 10 teams are not worth to bother with. People cant get their old games out of their mind. I gave up completely to try to play group content.. Since i didnt play WoW i cant tell if those are all WoW spoiled players or if i am just unlucky and always run into the noobs. /shrug Actually i dont care why those people are selfish retards.

I think i ll shelf the game or solo until people understand that it needs two healers, that healers are not their bots, that a tank has a shield, that a ranger is not a tank, that rushing is stupid and that tanking needs more then a plate armour. Like pulling to a safe spot and so on.. and so on.

Healing and tanking are two jobs that have to be done with responsibility. Right now i have the problem to meet people who dont know the meaning of this word.

So again, your bloodmage is an awesome class, you are just in the wrong team(s).

/rant off

While I agree with just about everything you said, I don't agree that groups need two healers. I've never been in a situation, full group or not, where I've needed two healers. Of course I'm only 21, so this may change.

Our healing efficiency coupled with the fact that we get insane HOT's and a good hp to mana ability AS WELL as a dmg to hp buff that you can put on anyone and everyone makes us an insane class.

I also forgot to mention that our pacts are TOP notch in low to medium damage situations where you don't have to worry about healing heap loads (or if you have a backup healer... or if you are the backup healer). I experimented with this skill today and found it to be simply amazing.

I see far too many BMG's spamming our small heal like this was DAOC. Our small heals simply aren't efficient. Yes, they DO have a place in combat, and that's when you need faster HP's than you need total hp/mana efficiency. At 21 in SF (Sanguine Focus) my big heal heals for about 1,300 while my small heal heals for 800-900.

Also also, stance dancing is incredible. Starting a fight in FoG, getting a dot on the MT's main mob and casting a Vein lets you put that HOT on the MT. After you get 3 dots, put that HOT on the MT and go back to full HP OR spot heal with vein OR do some DD and get your dottage back up so your OVERALL healing efficiency is better.

There's so much to do with this class. Balancing HP/Mana/Aggro/Damage/being awesome that it isn't for everyone. We aren't an insane damage dealing class. We aren't anywhere near the best DPS. We also aren't the best healers heal for heal. What we bring to the group is pretty obvious:

Decent buffs
Great heals
Decent damage
Great group survivability
Some utility stuff

And by decent damage, I mean my epic hits are hitting for 1.9-2k now on a consistant basis. My normal crits are almost 1k all the time. My normal hits are about 500sh.

Idols make a lot of difference.

[sephira]

While I agree with just about everything you said, I don't agree that groups need two healers. I've never been in a situation, full group or not, where I've needed two healers. Of course I'm only 21, so this may change.



You are playing always with the same tank and maybe a good tank ?

Once your tank knows how to do his job with a [insert your favorite healer here] its doable with one healer. He knows how you are working.

Anyways, whenever hes picking adds and your heal pulls their aggro the team is in great danger with one healer. Noone to backup. If you go down the team goes down. With a second healer one alyways can do DPS until he has to backup. I would feel much better with a 2nd when crawling into the deep holes.

[furbal]

One way to fix bloodmage group wise is to make scarlet ritual our finisher and bloodfeast a standard spell and make scarlet 5 mins and bloodfeast what scarlet time on bloodfeast we need a group heal we can count on at lvl 10+.

Five mins is too long if your chain pulling a 5 min group heal will not cut it.

One way to not make the holy trinity is to give each class a unique needed abilty say give clerics best single heals in game, give bloodmage best hot in game then give disciples best reactive heal and so on.

The only thing i see holding bm back is lack of a group heal at 10 thats reliable in chain pulling groups.

[Koba]

The only thing i see holding bm back is lack of a group heal at 10 thats reliable in chain pulling groups.

IIRC all classes get their group heal at the same level (Think it is lvl 18). You don't need a group heal level. I am level 20 and may have used my group heal 2 times. The way it sits now group heal is to long of a cast for my taste so I don't use it and don't feel limited because of that.

[Sturmlied]

Khaunshar's post is amazing. He really knows what he is talking about.

I love my bloodmage, my group loves my bloodmage.
The class is complicated and has a completely different playstyle, thats what so appealing.

Don't be offended when I say, play a different class.
Blood Mage is a class you have to like to play and you have to learn to play it. NO other game has a class even remotely similar to the Blood Mage. Ok Necros in EQ have some similarities but they are not healers.

The Blood Mage can be a real efficient healer but not if you stand in the back and just use Infuse.

And Aggro is really not an issue. Healing with EV does not generate a lot of agro and if you use numb you should not get any.

Group heal is Level 12 I think, I turned 18 on the weekend but I got Recovering burst for a few levels already.

Direct heals on the other hand generate a lot of aggro and the worst thing you could do is is do a group heal when you have uncontrolled adds running around.

[Kiste]

Khaunshar's post is amazing. He really knows what he is talking about.
He was mostly stating the obvious, you're apparently easily amazed.

Don't be offended when I say, play a different class.
Blood Mage is a class you have to like to play and you have to learn to play it.
Don't be offended when I say that no one needs another posting that could be summed up with "learn2play n00b".

NO other game has a class even remotely similar to the Blood Mage. Ok Necros in EQ have some similarities but they are not healers.
Oh, don't be ridiculous. This hyperbole doesn't lead anywhere. Whether you fill up bars with EV or a direct heal doesn't make things radically different, it's mainly cosmetics and flavour. Even the HP management aspect becomes more or less moot as soon as you get BF.

The Blood Mage can be a real efficient healer but not if you stand in the back and just use Infuse.
Try to keep a group alive against AE mobs (mosquitos in SP, clouds in TK) without standing in the back spamming Infuse. Good luck!

And Aggro is really not an issue. Healing with EV does not generate a lot of agro and if you use numb you should not get any.
In dungeons you don't have the luxury of single mob pulls.

Group heal is Level 12 I think, I turned 18 on the weekend but I got Recovering burst for a few levels already.
Good for you! Too bad it's close to useless in the situation you actually need it, unless you have a Shaman with you. And if there's multiple mobs, you're as good as dead when you use it anyway.

[Sturmlied]

He was mostly stating the obvious, you're apparently easily amazed.


Well, there are so many people complaining about the blood mage so it's not that obvious.

Don't be offended when I say that no one needs another posting that could be summed up with "learn2play n00b".

It was not a learn2play posting. It was not my intention.
What I want to say is, that Blood Mage is not a class everybody would want to play. You have to like the playstyle.

Oh, don't be ridiculous. This hyperbole doesn't lead anywhere. Whether you fill up bars with EV or a direct heal doesn't make things radically different, it's mainly cosmetics and flavour. Even the HP management aspect becomes more or less moot as soon as you get BF.

The flavor and cosmetic is what makes the different. I played a Cleric in EQ1 for years and the Blood Mage feels completely different


Try to keep a group alive against AE mobs (mosquitos in SP, clouds in TK) without standing in the back spamming Infuse. Good luck!

In dungeons you don't have the luxury of single mob pulls.

Thats the beauty of the blood mage, EV does not create heal aggro.

When ever you cast a heal mobs around you gain aggro towards you, if you use EV you only get aggro from the dmg you do to the mob.

At least thats what my experience is.

I'm going to the Lyceum right now, there are a lot of AE Mobs and I have no Problem keeping my group alive, just with EV and Flesmenders.

If we wipe there it is because of a bad pull wit 5-6 4dot mobs

Good for you! Too bad it's close to useless in the situation you actually need it, unless you have a Shaman with you. And if there's multiple mobs, you're as good as dead when you use it anyway.

I agree, the group heal is pretty much useless.

The only situations I use it is when we are fighting a single AE mob and I know the tank has aggro locked or after a fight to get the group up to full strength faster.

[Kiste]

Well, there are so many people complaining about the blood mage so it's not that obvious.
Some of the complaints are justified. My major gripe is that I don't see what's supposed to be our benefit compared to the more surivivable Shamans and Clerics, who also have _significantly_ better utility in terms of buffs/debuffs. And in another thread, someone posted that the big cleric heals are about 20% cheaper in terms of mana. If true, that means we're inherently less efficient, too.

It was not a learn2play posting. It was not my intention.
What I want to say is, that Blood Mage is not a class everybody would want to play. You have to like the playstyle.
I like the playstyle, it's the reason I still play this class despite the fact that it's a bit of a joke compared to at Shamans and Clerics (I don't know much about post-nerf discis). And I don't believe this is grass-is-greener syndrome, either. I don't want identical classes but I believe in balance in the sense that disadvantages compared to other classes should be offset with genuine advantages and in the case of the BMG, I just don't see them.

The flavor and cosmetic is what makes the different. I played a Cleric in EQ1 for years and the Blood Mage feels completely different
The EQ1 cleric was a one-button CH spam bot. Doesn't take much to make a class feel differently from that.

Thats the beauty of the blood mage, EV does not create heal aggro.

When ever you cast a heal mobs around you gain aggro towards you, if you use EV you only get aggro from the dmg you do to the mob.
Ok, look, I'm not arguing the fact that EV seems to draw less aggro. My problem is your statement that between numb and EV, there is no problem with aggro. In a multi-pull, when the tank is getting pounded, you have to mana-dump. Initially, you don't have the time to build BU to make EV viable. And you sure as hell don't have the time to Numb 3-4 mobs during the critical phase at the begining of combat. And that's when it's easy to draw aggro and that's when our surivivability deficit can, and eventually will, cause wipes.

In terms of group tactics, and this has held true in all MMOs I have ever played, safety always trumps any peripheral benefits. So maybe one class has some minor benefits... all that is gained by that is easily destroyed by even just one group wipe caused by a lack of survivability.

I'm going to the Lyceum right now, there are a lot of AE Mobs and I have no Problem keeping my group alive, just with EV and Flesmenders.
Fleshmenders is on a 30s cooldown, so It doesn't really help with AE mobs, now does it? EV with it's longer cast time and lower heal potential isn't always viable in such situations. Sometimes it is, often it's not. Certainly not when you have 2 or 3 mobs going into AE spam mode.

[riblet]

Attacks only generate agro on the mobs you hit. This is why EV is such a powerful agro management tool. It only generates agro on the mob you cast it on while healing whoever you want. Conversly, all direct heals generate agro on every mob hitting the character you are healing. So if at all possible, use EV instead of a direct heal if you have uncontrolled mobs in the pull (or uncontrolled adds).

[Tatt]

Attacks only generate agro on the mobs you hit. This is why EV is such a powerful agro management tool. It only generates agro on the mob you cast it on while healing whoever you want. Conversly, all direct heals generate agro on every mob hitting the character you are healing. So if at all possible, use EV instead of a direct heal if you have uncontrolled mobs in the pull (or uncontrolled adds).


Its a gamble and a risk. EV can be resisted, either partially or totaly.

In group settings, alot of times the party likes to fight mobs that are red, which makes resists spike up.

[Sturmlied]

Its a gamble and a risk. EV can be resisted, either partially or totaly.

In group settings, alot of times the party likes to fight mobs that are red, which makes resists spike up.

True, thats why I keep the tank at 70% most of the time. If I know get a resist I have time to react with another EV or a Blood Gift.

But there is another + for EV. You can get crits. I already hat a legendary crit with EV, talk about overheal!

The resists ARE a problem. Thats why we had the poll here and Jeters is talking to the devs.

IMHO it would be nice to have a Arcane resist debuff with a BU effect (lower resists with more BUPs)

I would also like a lifetap over time =)

[Racmoor]

True, thats why I keep the tank at 70% most of the time. If I know get a resist I have time to react with another EV or a Blood Gift.

But there is another + for EV. You can get crits. I already hat a legendary crit with EV, talk about overheal!

The resists ARE a problem. Thats why we had the poll here and Jeters is talking to the devs.

IMHO it would be nice to have a Arcane resist debuff with a BU effect (lower resists with more BUPs)

I would also like a lifetap over time =)

I'd like a group lifetap. faster casting maybe not as much healing.

Racmoor
Tobi 19 BMG

[Sturmlied]

I'd like a group lifetap. faster casting maybe not as much healing.

Racmoor
Tobi 19 BMG

Our Chain is a group lifetap so I think we will not get another one.

[treyalsup]

Our Chain is a group lifetap so I think we will not get another one.

I'd be happy if it just worked.

[Jeters]

there is a problem with how the Blood Tribute is coded....they can do a quick fix but it would NOT reflect the damage done with the spell and it would also generate the MASSIVE aggro you get with the mana group heal.

Avair is still working on it, hopefully will get in this patch.

[treyalsup]

there is a problem with how the Blood Tribute is coded....they can do a quick fix but it would NOT reflect the damage done with the spell and it would also generate the MASSIVE aggro you get with the mana group heal.

Avair is still working on it, hopefully will get in this patch.

great. thanks for the update.

[Sturmlied]

I'd be happy if it just worked.

Me too. =)

Let me rephrase that.

"Blood Tribute is supposed to be our group lifetap. But it's not working right now"

Still it does not change the fact, that I think, that we will not get a mana/hp based group lifetap.