If you're a regular ESO player, there's a good chance that you have heard about the Lost Depths balance changes currently on the Public Test Server, or have at least seen some of the reaction to them in the community.
One thing we haven't really looked into yet is the impact that this update might have on healers (if Zenimax do not rethink some of the changes before the update goes live) and the implication that this could have for groups.
What is Changing for Healers in Lost Depths?
- Almost all healing over time abilities will now only tick every two seconds, rather than the situation on the live server where there is a mixture between skills that tick every second and every two seconds. This might not sound like a huge difference, however in the hardest content in the game such as the hardmodes in Rockgrove and Dreadsail Reef, there are encounters where players suffer from damage over time effects that tick for very high amounts of damage every second, or multiple times per second. The last phase of Falgravn hardmode in Kyne's Aegis could also become very difficult, as the entire group takes large amounts of damage. There is now a considerable concern among players who play in these trials that healing output may simply be too unreliable to guarantee keeping players alive, thus spoiling any chance for trifecta achievements (hardmode, no death and speedrun in the same run).
- The healing value on many skills has also been reduced, with the most extreme nerf being around a 40% reduction on the healing from Illustrious Healing and Radiating Regeneration. This basically just makes the first problem even more difficultto deal with.