Curse

Jaide · Sep 28, 2007, 08:23 AM // 08:23

I'm not much of a monk player myself, (I used to be a raid healer in WoW; I enjoy stepping away from that role in GW) but I noticed around here that people really put down use of Healing Breeze. Why is that? What's so bad about that spell? Please forgive my ignorance if it's something obvious, but I have my monk heroes use it all the time, and it's saved party members on numerous occasions, and it's a very nice security to have.

Please enlighten me as to why Healing Breeze is not a good spell to carry, and what would be a superior substitute, in your eyes.

Utaku · Sep 28, 2007, 09:22 AM // 09:22

1- Regeneration is not the best way to heal, because it can be completely negated by heavy degen, and simply because it heals overtime while most of the time, you need a straight heal.

2- Healin Breeze is an enchantment, and can be stripped easily. Sometimes it can kill the character it was supposed to heal, when things like [skill]shatter enchantment[/skill] are around

3- Healing Breeze is energy intensive. When a monk spends 10 energy on one spell, target gets Divine favor healing once, whereas with two 5 energy spells, DF bonus gets applied twice.

4- Very often, Healing Breeze means over healing, because the second monk will cast a straight heal to top up the red (or purple) bar.

A superior substitute to healing breeze is a low cost skill that heals directly.

[skill]dwayna's kiss[/skill] can heal for a lot when facing degen hexes. Having some party wide enchantments like necro orders or Aegis helps a lot.

Think of:
[skill]dismiss condition[/skill]
[skill]cure hex[/skill] [skill]remove hex[/skill] [skill]holy veil[/skill]
It's usually better to remove the cause of the degen than healing through it.

And finally, damage reduction if very efficient, bring a prot monk.

Jessyi · Sep 28, 2007, 09:49 AM // 09:49

By now I think people hate the people who like healing breeze more than they hate the skill itself, though it's a close race.

People seem to like breeze because they think of it as a pseudo-protection, like a baseline enchantment that's going to make their target more resistant to damage and give allied healers and protectors more time to respond to damage being taken by that player. Technically, that's true but it's morbidly expensive, doesn't actually reduce any damage being taken and it's generally too slow to react to any real damage and it's overkill when there isn't much damage being taken.

The argument that shatter hex makes breeze useless is a common one, but it's wrong (though the people who say that stuff mean well). Any enchantment can be shattered - the question is, is that enchantment powerful enough to merit the risk? Something like protective spirit definitely is AND generally speaking you will go to the trouble of putting a cover enchant over top of it like shield of absorption or shielding hands. You could put a cover enchant over healing breeze, but it would still be garbage. Prot spirit on the other hand actually prevents damage. So does shield of absorption, or shielding hands or reversal of fortune. All healing breeze does is heal, and it doesn't do it well. In every instance where an enchantment will have some synergy, say...mysticism on dervishes or using contemplation of purity or any other number of possibilities, the bottom line is that you're going to find something else that does a better job, which usually means it actually buffs a character's defense, or negates damage, or is more versatile in some other way. Healing Breeze is none of those things.

What people hate the most about healing breeze is that there is absolutely no arguing that there are better skills available, and yet people argue it anyways, be it out of ignorance (which is forgivable if they actually bother to check out the alternatives and change their mind) or stupidity (which people generally don't forgive)

Yeah.

-Jessyi

Dr Strangelove · Sep 28, 2007, 04:10 PM // 16:10

It's 10e for a heal that won't save anyone's life, bad idea.

Zodiak · Sep 28, 2007, 04:20 PM // 16:20

If you still REALLY like Healing Breeze then I would strongly suggest you switch to something like

[skill]watchful healing[/skill]
Watchful Healing

Sure it can only give +4 health regen, compared to the 9 of Healing Breeze, buts its half the energy, 5e instead of 10e and its good enough to fight most forms of degen, other then multiple degen or really heavy single degen skills.

Plus it has the added benefit of giving the target a decent heal if it gets stripped or removed.

This can also give Players that have the ability to remove enchantments themselves to A) get the healing regen and B) remove it right before it ends to get the heal.

So if your still big on HB, try carrying Watchful Healing instead.

Another benefits being that its linked to Divine Favor, which alot of monks run higher Divine Favor then they do Healing

This also greatly benefits Protection monks that could also bring it if they wished.

Antheus · Sep 28, 2007, 04:22 PM // 16:22

Healing Breeze falls under suboptimal skills. It has its specific and specialized use, just like most skills.

But it is the first skill a monk gets in PvE. So they use it, people survive, monk is happy because they are useful...

But then, then reach level 20 areas. But since they've been using HB for so long, they continue to do so, not realizing how poor that once godly heal became.

In low level areas, a monk can use HB to give 3 party members almost constant 5-8 pips of energy. They'll likely have no divine at all, have no use for protection, and simply swear on seeing the bars creep upwards faster than mobs can push them down.

During Prophecies era, HB use to be a sign of "noobness". Not definitive indicator of skill by far, but with much smaller skill set, it was an common indicator of people who played through PvE using the skills in order they received them from quests.

With all the 1000+ skills, changing playstyles and all that, HB is no longer relevant. But it's one of those skills that looks good on paper, but looking at it critically, it is simply sub-par, not because of skill itself, but because of situations it's used in, where it will consistently be outperformed by other, more suitable heals.

Generally, conditional skills with side-effects are very desirable, since their cost/benefit ratio is best.
While not best comparison, ZB heals for about the same as HB can, but only costs 3 energy and cannot be shattered. Dwayna's kiss will also provide for cheap heal which can outperform HB in hex heavy areas. And so on... All conditional, yet very powerful.

Zodiak · Sep 28, 2007, 04:42 PM // 16:42

LOL!

Sorry, I just thought something was incredibly funny in what you said.

The job of a monk:
Push red bars up faster then the bad guys can push them down

nothing wrong with what you said, just made me laugh for a moment

Jaide · Sep 28, 2007, 08:19 PM // 20:19

Thank you all for the wonderful responses! These are all very valid points, and I'm very glad I asked.

thor thunder · Sep 28, 2007, 08:33 PM // 20:33

Ok so if HB is so bad.. then what do you use when you get a party suffering form massive degen?? i use HB, WH is good too but only stops the degen while HB reversis it 90% of the time.. yes its costly but if your a skilled healer it should be no problum.. insted of spaming de hex/condition spells why not just push then thru it with one heal so you can worry about the rest of the group..? I see how its bad but i think the hate people have for it is a bit over rated the skills isnt crap just because you cant use it.. I use it in pve pretty often (tho i must admit WH takes its place quite often these days) I don't have energy problums and it works great. Sometimes i even thro on divin boon and put balathazars with the tank then i use blessed sig to keep up the energy IF it gets low and thats not very often, with DB i heal a party member for 50-100 on top of the effect of the casted skill.. mabey im weird or just noob monk but i do great in partys.. with +9 regen and a 100 hp heal to boot i have a hard time seeing somone die.

Utaku · Sep 28, 2007, 08:37 PM // 20:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by thor thunder

Ok so if HB is so bad.. then what do you use when you get a party suffering form massive degen??

[skill]light of deliverance[/skill]

Stormlord Alex · Sep 28, 2007, 08:43 PM // 20:43

Quote:

Originally Posted by thor thunder

if your a skilled healer

There's no such thing as a skilled healer.
Any idiot can make red bars go up.
The real skill is in prot.

OP - Healing Breeze is bad, for all the reasons already listed.

Tab · Sep 28, 2007, 10:11 PM // 22:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stormlord Alex

There's no such thing as a skilled healer.
Any idiot can make red bars go up.
The real skill is in prot.

OP - Healing Breeze is bad, for all the reasons already listed.

I disagree. I have beaten Hell's Precipice on my WoH build, therefore I must be good.

Coloneh · Sep 28, 2007, 10:19 PM // 22:19

If someone is dieing breeze wont save them. I would rather save my targets.

Quote:

Originally Posted by thor thunder

Ok so if HB is so bad.. then what do you use when you get a party suffering form massive degen??

[skill]remove hex[/skill]/[skill]mend condition[/skill]

Dean Harper · Sep 28, 2007, 10:20 PM // 22:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by ibreaktoilets

I disagree. I have beaten Hell's Precipice on my WoH build, therefore I must be good.

Wow, that was a noobish statement... sooo noobish...

Eldin · Sep 28, 2007, 10:21 PM // 22:21

I don't have a monk, though on my prot monk hero, generally I find:

[skill]Shield of Regeneration[/skill]

More useful.

For a healer hero though, I like to use Watchful Healing.

Stormlord Alex · Sep 28, 2007, 10:24 PM // 22:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dean Harper

Wow, that was a noobish statement... sooo noobish...

Maybe you and ibreak need to get a little better acquainted

Thanks for the laugh, man! ... I need it right now

Tab · Sep 28, 2007, 10:27 PM // 22:27

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/trolling

Age · Sep 28, 2007, 10:36 PM // 22:36

Heal Other is the same cost of energy and can heal for more with the devine favour bonus.Heal Breeze isn't bad at low lvls as a panick heal but it shouldn't be your main stable don't worry about keeping the red bars 100% anyways it is mostly used to farm with not to heal with.

Div · Sep 28, 2007, 11:42 PM // 23:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by ibreaktoilets

I disagree. I have beaten Hell's Precipice on my WoH build, therefore I must be good.

I beat Hell's precipice in HM with my WoH HB build. Which makes me the leetist and most skilled healer evarrrrrr

Icy DS · Sep 28, 2007, 11:50 PM // 23:50

Oh ya? Well I beat Fort Ranik with healing breeze, without it I would have been dped out...so it must be good...newbz...