Personal note to RockX

[Timmer01]

This is for RockX, the developer who worked on Captains for the Helm's Deep class overhaul.

I was in Beta and in B1 I was so upset with the changes I considered leaving the game. It got better, largely because you were serious about communicating with the players (including the more hostile ones) and by the end of Beta I was largely placated. I'm not saying even now that I prefer the changes to what was before; I spent a big chunk of my LIFE getting my Captain set up the way I liked and it was a huge adjustment for me.

However ...

I'm having fun playing the Captain, Rock. Some of the trade-offs I'm actually quite happy with. More than happy, even: the change to Cry of Vengeance in the latest patch is freaking AWESOME. Love it, love it, love it. And when I first read that one of the trait trees was for tanking I thought I had to be reading it wrong. And guess what? I'm running yellow line pretty much exclusively right now. Having the forced taunt and the ability to stand my ground (and protect my wife's characters) is very gratifying.

So this is just me saying thanks. You did good. Real good. Tell Turbine you should get a raise, okay?

[Hluodowig]

Captain changes were awesome, now we can dps nice (although need serious balance) and had a big boost our tanking skills

[Elrantiri]

One thing is the current "awesomeness" that we can survive pretty much everything and kill everything in some 3-12 man instances, but ignoring the numbers causing this (outgoing dmg, incoming dmg and heals) and focusing on the actual gameplay (rotation, skills, usefulness) I really like how the Captain has turned out. The trait trees actually gives you some choices in regards to getting certain buffs (RC +5% dmg, RoutC -attack duration) and skill like IHW, ToN and Gallant so you can make meaningful choices in the trees regardless of specialization.

[Arabani]

Well, I like changes in general, but healing line is the most outdated here. I'll explain.
Yellow captain is a real tank now, he can feel a guard\warden spot easily. And he also buffs a group.
Red captain has nice dps too, It may be not as good as Hunter or RK, but Captain brings buffs. He can buff, he can dps. Everyone wants a captain in a group
Healing captain....yes, he can heal prety well, but you won't see him as a main healer in raids. Every time, in every raid he just paried with Mins or RK. There is no point bringing HoH captain in raid. Red or yellow one is enough to help the real healer, and they have better personal dps and dps buffs. It's dps who win the fight, not tanks or healers.
So, among three specs, HoH is the only one that doesn't have a spot in raid. Imo this should be fixed, if you've made Capatain a tank or dps, you should make him a main healer too, he should fill Mins or RK spot. Imo, get rid of outdated morale cost for heals. A healer should not harm himslef. Make him able to self heal with direct heals. And the most important thing-give him "real" big direct heals and something special to keep a tank alive. I would sugest a reactive heal: a heal that has some triggers, which heal the target every time it takes a damage. People who play eq2 or swtor are probably know what I'm talking about.
I love HoH captain, but it lacks direct healing, especially when you can't mele, and it's the main reason we won't have a healer spot in a raid. Please change it I don't want to see mins or rk in my group, or play in red line))

[Elrantiri]

Healing captain....yes, he can heal prety well, but you won't see him as a main healer in raids. Every time, in every raid he just paried with Mins or RK. There is no point bringing HoH captain in raid. Red or yellow one is enough to help the real healer, and they have better personal dps and dps buffs. It's dps who win the fight, not tanks or healers.
So, among three specs, HoH is the only one that doesn't have a spot in raid. Imo this should be fixed, if you've made Capatain a tank or dps, you should make him a main healer too, he should fill Mins or RK spot. Imo, get rid of outdated morale cost for heals. A healer should not harm himslef. Make him able to self heal with direct heals. And the most important thing-give him "real" big direct heals and something special to keep a tank alive. I would sugest a reactive heal: a heal that has some triggers, which heal the target every time it takes a damage. People who play eq2 or swtor are probably know what I'm talking about.
I love HoH captain, but it lacks direct healing, especially when you can't mele, and it's the main reason we won't have a healer spot in a raid. Please change it I don't want to see mins or rk in my group, or play in red line))

Well, the few times I've not been allowed to mainheal raid as Captain is because the raid leader doesn't know about the HoH changes. When I get to be mainhealer in raids (such as BG T2HM, had 1 RK healing in other fellow), healing is no problem at all.
As for 'hurting himself' I don't see the problem (which is a problem? xD) because our HoTs from Inspire, Valiant Strike and RC easily outheal the few dents we get from Gallant and WoC.
As for direct heals that is really not the way of the Captain. Captain has always been about HoTs and lots of them, and those HoTs have seen a big improvement given the now higher crit multiplier and crit chance. With that said, I do agree that another single target skill would be useful, and I think something like Kolto Shell in SWTOR: http://www.torhead.com/ability/8S6ZOo5/kolto-shell (I guess this was what you were thinking about too?) would fit in very well with Captain healing. I'm just not sure how we'd get that without replacing something else :/

[RockX]

Well, the few times I've not been allowed to mainheal raid as Captain is because the raid leader doesn't know about the HoH changes. When I get to be mainhealer in raids (such as BG T2HM, had 1 RK healing in other fellow), healing is no problem at all.
As for 'hurting himself' I don't see the problem (which is a problem? xD) because our HoTs from Inspire, Valiant Strike and RC easily outheal the few dents we get from Gallant and WoC.
As for direct heals that is really not the way of the Captain. Captain has always been about HoTs and lots of them, and those HoTs have seen a big improvement given the now higher crit multiplier and crit chance. With that said, I do agree that another single target skill would be useful, and I think something like Kolto Shell in SWTOR: http://www.torhead.com/ability/8S6ZOo5/kolto-shell (I guess this was what you were thinking about too?) would fit in very well with Captain healing. I'm just not sure how we'd get that without replacing something else :/

I'm also rather fond of reactive healing. It's certainly something worth considering for the future.

[Arabani]

Great! Thank you

[xiansoul]

I would also like to give kudos for the Captain changes. I've been playing this game off and on for many years. I love playing the paladin style classes in every game that I can, but I would always get frustrated with how powerless I felt as a Captain. Don't get me wrong, they could survive lots of stuff, but as a solo experience I always felt weak. I somehow got my captain to level 62 before giving up due to every enemy taking half a minute or longer to kill while grouping with hunters that would kill things in two or three hits. After this update I can't stop playing. My captain finally feels like a man that should be leading charges on the front lines and directing armies while calling out formations and tactics. My archer feels like a capable travel companion. I no longer feel the pressure that I once did to "just go HoH lol". Thank you for bringing the feel of a stalwart soldier back to an old player.

[Lobla]

After playing with my beloved CPT for the last few weeks i can honestly say i hate the changes.... i've played CPT pretty much since beta, completed near enough all of the raid content on level and would like to think i'm pretty competent player.

The new trait tree system funnels you down specific lines without the ability to chop and changes certain skills for a given situation. I have for sometime been a rainbow traited CPT for PVE Raids, 2 Red, 2 Yellow and 3 Blue, with the relevant cap stones for the required boss / instance.

Now instead of being a jack of all trades i'm a master of one which i loath as its taken away the individuality of the class. The idea of a CPT main healing a raid i find ridiculous as it negates the need for a actual healer class Mini/RK. Having a DPS CPT takes away a DPS slot, a CPT tanking takes away a GRD/WRD slot etc etc, don't even get me started on the lose of certain skills.

I'm a firm believer classes where created for a reason, a CPT is there to compliment other classes, not take over another classes role.

The fact CPTs are now for-filling these roles suggests to me that the content we have available now is nothing more than a face roll. I couldn't ever imagine a CPT main healing Hele, BG, OD, ToO on level.

It seems every class has had it's "need" taken away and replaced with a medium to keep the care bears happy. I guess i'll just thank the council for raising this at the time - not to mention the CPT saw more feedback during beta of HD than any other class.

Sigh.

Lob

[Blastoyz]

I'm also rather fond of reactive healing. It's certainly something worth considering for the future.

It's really good see to a dev communicating to his respective player base and to see them happy.

But it's disappointing to see the complete and utter opposite for some other classes.
Ps I agree it's in a very nice spot.

If I had one constructive criticism it would be the loss of some versatility/adaptability the cappy had before whilst in the middle of a fight.


WTB more RockX pst.

[Aedfrith]

The bladebro bug is still there - can't have more than one per group even if more than one cappy...