Single targeting allies is a design mistake and Guild Wars 2 does not support it

[Lucinellia.9247]

The most recent patch introduced additional hot keys and bindings, presumably with the purpose of making Specter support more palatable. Sadly, the game cannot support the play style of Specter support and Arenanet should reconsider the entirety of allied targeting.

 

UI

Guild Wars 2 does not have a UI that allows for single target healing and ally targeting to be effective, which is a prime reason as to why all prior support specs did not use ally targeting. To understand the areas in which Guild Wars 2 is lacking, it is informative to compare with single targeting healing in other MMOs and I'll briefly mention how things tend to work in World of Warcraft as an example.

 

In World of Warcraft (and other MMOs), a healer will have access to a range of UI options that are completely absent from Guild Wars 2. These UI options and elements are essential for ensuring that single target healing is enjoyable.

 

1. Macros.
In other MMOs it is possible to write a macro that enables certain types of targeting which allows for greater awareness and ease of play. A good example of this is a target of target macro. This means that if a healer had a boss targeted and their current target took a heavy amount of damage, an ability triggered with a target of target macro would receive the effect of the heal. This allows for very quick and responsive healing. As Guild Wars 2 does not have a macro system, the support Specter wishing to use single target healing is going to have to select the target through the UI or world. This is very poor in terms of gameplay.

 

2. Raid frames.
Raid frames in other MMOs allow for an absolute wealth of information that is sorely lacking in Guild Wars 2. Raid frames can also be customised via the UI, allowing for informative feedback on who is receiving certain healing effects.

https://media.forgecdn.net/attachments/250/479/raidframeindicators.jpg

As seen in these raid frames, individuals under the effect of two different heals are noted by centre icons. There are also other icons at the side, allowing the healer to track the application of other boons and these can even be configured to show conditions or encounter specific effects. Guild Wars 2 is entirely lacking this information which makes tracking aspects such as boons on allies very tricky.

3. Movable raid frames.
In other MMOs, raid frames can be moved. This is quite essential because it means a player does not need to move their mouse large distances to change between placing an AoE in the world, perhaps under their character, and selecting a target for healing. As an example, that these forums do not like, please see https://i.imgur.com/AIf6mA4.png.

Meanwhile, in Guild Wars 2, the raid frame is very distant from the UI which means a support Specter will have to move their cursor large distances if they wish to select a different ally (and no, the recent bindings added do not aid in this, see UX below) and then place Wells so that a group can receive alacrity. This is compounded to an even more miserable playing experience when trying to target a particular ally through the raid frame, realising you need to Siphon the boss for boons and then place wells. See also the UX sections.

4. Mouseovers.
A complete mainstay of healing in most other MMOs is the mouseover or mouseover macro. This setting, or macro, allows for an ability to be cast simply by moving the cursor over an intended target's raid frame or character in the world. This reduces the amount of clicking involved in healing. Instead of healing being move cursor, click to target, press heal, move cursor, click next target, it is simply move cursor, press heal, move cursor. Guild Wars 2 is entirely lacking in this area which makes single target healing even more cumbersome.

5. Sufficient information.
There are many examples where the Guild Wars 2 UI prevents Specter from receiving sufficient information that is otherwise available to all other support options. A good example of this is in monitoring a boss's CC bar. For any other healer it is completely trivial to be aware of while healing. A Specter, however, will be targeting an ally and, due to the UI of Guild Wars 2, will not be able to see when a breakbar is occurring making abilities such as Headshot much more difficult to use. No other healer has to deal with this limitation and it is entirely a relic of the desire for allied targeted healing.

UX

1. Targeting allies is a mess.
We were informed that a reason for Endless Night no longer being able to pierce and hit multiple allies was that Arenanet did not want Specters clicking through the UI. Despite this, we received hot keys for ally specific targeting. These are sadly ineffective, in exactly the same way raised regarding the "target next ally" keybinding following the last beta.

The Ally Targeting mode simply removes the ability to target enemies. As previously mentioned in the UI section, this puts a Specter support at a massive disadvantage relative to other healers as information is obscured from them. It also doesn't encourage gameplay that isn't switching between targets for single target healing, as the entire purpose of this UI toggle is to seemingly make it easier to target allies!
However, it even fails at that! The target ally toggle still allows for the selection of minions, spirits, clones and similar. These are not targets that a Specter will be (intentionally!) trying to heal. This is a lingering issue from the target next ally hotkey which still cycles through unwanted targets such as mini pets and clones. This is a really poor user experience. While the situation of single target is already hampered by the UI elements discussed previously, targeting an ineffective target even when trying to use the provided crutches is highly frustrating, despite being in a mode that removes the information associated with enemy targets because they are deemed not important for single ally target healing. I feel this is very indicative of the massive UI and UX problems associated with single target healing - we get these band aid fixes and they aren't fully considered from the perspective of how someone that is single target healing plays. 

It really feels like the developers, in implementing the ally targeting mode, have completely forgotten that many of the skills a thief will want to use are enemy targeted, for example headshot, enemy siphon and the majority of shadow shroud.

2. A single target healer still wants to single target heal.
This will be noted further in terms of the balance discussions, but for a single target healer to be useful, their strongest heal needs to be a single target, otherwise the entirety of the design principle is quite useless. As such, support Specters will still be trying to single target heal, even with the UI and UX issues outlined, which only exacerbates problems. Given that Endless Night remains the strongest support button that Specter has, the gameplay is still going to involve targeting allies. This will also allow for a high degree of quickness sharing (certainly on the rest of a subgroup) despite the attempted nerfs. This also applies to Shadestep resurrection on allied Siphon. This is an incredibly strong ability, yet it feels balanced by how cumbersome it is to be constantly clicking on different allies on the raid UI. 

3. The amount of cursor movement is too high.
Related to the issues with a single target wanting to single target heal and the need to target allies, Specter involves a lot of cursor movement and retargeting in order to heal and provide boons effectively. To share Swiftness and Fury, a Specter will want to use offensive Siphon (because allied Siphon still does not have interplay with abilities like Thrill of the Crime) and this necessitates starting with the enemy targeted, casting Siphon and then placing wells into the world. Following this, a Specter is going to heal via single target healing, because this remains our best option for healing due to the strength of Measured Shot and Endless Night. This means clicking the raid or group UI to find a target to apply healing to. This is a huge amount more commitment to heal and put out boons compared with any other healer.

 

Content

1. Current content does not need a single target healer.
This was quite clearly exemplified by the example use cases of a support Specter being given with the latest balance update. The ideas put forward for support healing were a 2v2 occasional PvP mode and playing open world with a friend. Given that both of these game modes have been successfully played by people with current elite specs and builds, that is highly indicative that there isn't really the content available for support Specter to have this defined niche. Furthermore, existing endgame content - such as raids, fractals and strikes - have all been successfully completed with no dedicated single target healers and, in fact, have been completed with solo healing and no healing. There are no damage patterns in the game (currently) that would necessitate a dedicated one-person healer.

 

2. Damage patterns negate much of support Specter design.
Since healing in the game is not a triage environment, and other healers are able to get heals onto their allies with little more than a single button press, this means that Specter is at a disadvantage while healing via either Consume Shadows (the Specter needs to wait 5 seconds without no access to healing abilities) or via single target healing which is much less responsive as the Specter will be determining which ally to heal, selecting this ally via the UI and then using a heal. This is a high overhead that thoroughly reduces the flow of gameplay and makes support Specter feel very awkward to play mechanically, especially compared with other healers.

 

3. Guild Wars 2 is a fast paced game. Specter is not a fast paced healer.
As noted in the points on damage patterns and UX, Specter is laborious to play with the different types of targeting involved and decision making with respect to targeting that other healers do not need to do. This would be a handful in a standard MMO, with a GCD and balanced around slower abilities. However, Guild Wars 2 is a fast paced action-combat orientated game which makes the slower pace of Specter in terms of execution much more punishing. Specter is a healer that would work beautifully in a game such as WoW. It struggles in GW2.

 

4. Even open world will be a struggle - and this really highlights how GW2 is not designed for this gameplay.
Allied targeting mode was introduced seemingly with the idea of making it easier for Specter to target and heal allies in open world and similar modes. However, this will limit a Specter from targeting an enemy to even apply occasional conditions or CC. Absolutely no other support faces this problem if they wish to try and heal effectively. This is compounded even further by Specter being a single target healer and therefore reliant on raid frames, which are entirely missing when playing emergent, open world content. In a group that gathers to take on a champion, a Firebrand healer can be sure that they will be applying healing to some allies, boons to their allies and will also be able to monitor the enemy for using things such as CC. Simply by using their AoE abilities, they are contributing well. A Specter, by contrast, is going to struggle to determine which allies should be healed and which should be focused on for single target healing because a UI providing information is not present, through-world targeting of allies in Guild Wars 2 is cumbersome and, if playing in allied targeting mode to try and better fulfil the role of an ally targeting healer, they are going to miss essential information about the enemies. No other profession or role needs to deal with this and the content less generally accessible for Specter support as a result.

Balance

1. A single target healer still wants to single target heal.
Yes, this is the same point as in UX because it really is that important and it definitely feels like it isn't being considered. Specter is stated to be a single target healer because of the misguided notion that Thieves are masters of single target (this is faulty and useless design, but a discussion for another day). 
We were told that Endless Night was nerfed because Arenanet did not like the notion of Specter clicking different allies to apply a single target heal. Yet, if Specter's strongest healing is a single target orientated chain, players are still going to do single target healing by selecting different allies! If this wasn't the case, Specter would not be a single target healer.

 

2. AoE healing will always be preferable.
This relates to the points raised under content. As there is no content where single target healing is necessitated, AoE healing will be preferable because it is easier to use and provides a wider benefit to more players.
 

Single target healing does not work in Guild Wars 2

This is for a multitude of reasons, as noted above, and I hope Arenanet start listening to the consistent player feedback that is raising this as an issue. 

The UI is not designed for single target healing. It lacks essential targeting and customisation options, clarity of information for tracking and crucial details about bosses are missing when playing the game via single target ally healing. Even attempts to improve the UI, such as those in today's patch, fall incredibly short of being useful. In fact, changes such as the ally targeting mode are a hindrance to playing the game at any reasonable level in challenging content as it limits information.

The UX is poor. Single target healing requires far higher effort, awareness and mechanical ability compared with AoE healing. Despite this, and especially after the quickness nerf on Endless Night, there is very little reward for doing so. The moment to moment actions for Specter include enemy targeting, using abilities on enemies, AoE targeting in the world, player targeting, shadowstepping to players and using single heal abilities on players. This is a lot more commitment than alternative healers and support, who can often access their full arsenal of abilities without changing targets and, sometimes, with as little as one button press. 

 

The content does not support single target healing. There is no niche for a single target healer beyond some odd concocted examples where current AoE healers are able to excel. There are no bosses that have proven challenging because we do not have Specter healers in game currently. There are no strikes or Fractal CMs unbeaten because this niche is not filled.

Balance does not support single target healing either. AoE healing is preferable and matches current damage patterns better yet Specters will still single target heal for as long as this remains better (even when it is terrible to access and play)

 

The intentions for Specter appear very confused. We are told that Specter should focus on barrier and alacrity, yet the best way to access much of this barrier is via a single target heal and this has been actively discouraged by nerfs to Endless Night, yet encouraged by UI changes and overbearing alterations to Consume Shadows.

I implore the developers to seriously reconsider if they wish to go this route. Support Specter will be played by very few people as it is awkward and frustrating to play for very little reward. There are elements of an interesting support spec present. The idea of being able to tether to allies to apply healing while DPSing is a good one. This could be made even better by having a trait that allows tethering to an entire sub group or four nearest allies for the application of healing via DPS while accessing alacrity as is done so currently. This could be interesting, it could even be fun to play, which would be a massive improvement over current support Specter which is frustrating, cumbersome and constantly fighting against a game that simply does not support it.

There are very many balance issues with Specter, but the actual inherent design and how that fails to be supported by the very essence of Guild Wars 2 content and UI is far, far more glaring and a larger imposition for the success of this elite spec. Support Specter is utterly miserable to play, certainly at least in PvE content, with its current implementation.

Edited November 30, 2021 by Lucinellia.9247
Formatting

[MadameBerry.8562]

I don't have anything to add except for agreement on all areas. I was so excited for the idea of a support thief, but this is not it.  Not when GW2 lacks the fundamentals that make single-target healing in other MMOs work.

[Lucinellia.9247]

Yes, I really don't understand how Arenanet expect support Specter single target healing to work when so much that is necessary in other games (damage patterns that ensure tank healing is important, a decent UI, reasonable UX via macros) is just completely absent. It is such a shame.

[Vidit.7108]

In beta 3, i spent a lot of time trying to effectively heal a group with single target skills, and shifting around in shroud to other allies. It just didn't work as well as the aoe heals. 

This patch included a new UI mode I guess that was supposed to make it easier to select allies. It wasn't really helping. What became more apparent though was just how slow the single target heals actually are. They're pathetically weak for the amount of effort that needs to go into healing allies. 

I just don't think there is really a solution here that's going to make it viable. The best change they could make right now is just make the allied targeting splash heals taht hit like 3-5 allies in a radius around the target.

[Lucinellia.9247]

Yes, allied targeted heals splashing around targets to hit 3 to 5 allies would be a reasonable start. After actually having a bit of fun with the Endless Night implementation of beta 3, I was hoping that allied Sc 2 would get given more Might and splash healing, barrier and boons to more allies to make it an interesting alternative. Instead, we sadly got beta 4 Endless Night and Specter.

I am almost convinced that the allied targeting mode wasn't tested. You lose so much information and utility by using it and you still face targeting difficulties due to minions and such!

[Vidit.7108]

I think if you had started like a year ago by making the Druid staff AA ally targetable you could have had time to work it out. 

Instead it seems like they just threw this at us and want us to figure out a way to make it work. So you have a new spec testing a new mechanic with three months to go until your expansion comes out. I don't know what they're expecting but this is pretty disappointing to me at least because they made it seem like this was a big deal thing the spec could do and it just can't.

[Shalien.9018]

I agree with OP pretty much across the board.

[Velktor.1578]

Agree with everything here. As an ex-WoW healer, I can't imagine trying to single target heal in this game. It would just be maddening. They don't want people to click through the UI but clicking a UI is absolutely necessary if you're a single target healer, especially in a game like GW2 where everything is so movement and stacking based. You'll either end up chasing someone with your mouse pointer or manically trying to tab through a stack of allies to get to your correct target before they pop it. No thanks. Also, where is this necessary in GW2? Sure they might add some strikes with intense tank healing but the spec would still be pointless in the majority of GW2 content. 

 

As for the "intended use cases," open world with a friend but you can't target enemies? Forced pacifist runs? I don't PvP but I imagine in 2v2 it's generally a good idea to target an enemy every now and then for crowd control too. 

 

It's a real shame they have decided to go this way with it. It seems it would be relatively simple to fix by reducing the single target heal aspect and adding a splash heal so that it works similarly to other GW2 healers, and I really hope they reconsider for the sake of all the thief players who have desperately wanted a support option for so long. If they wanted to do an experimental build, they should have done it on something like Guardian that can already do a huge variety of roles very well. 

 

[Lucinellia.9247]

17 minutes ago, Velktor.1578 said:

Agree with everything here. As an ex-WoW healer, I can't imagine trying to single target heal in this game. It would just be maddening. They don't want people to click through the UI but clicking a UI is absolutely necessary if you're a single target healer, especially in a game like GW2 where everything is so movement and stacking based. You'll either end up chasing someone with your mouse pointer or manically trying to tab through a stack of allies to get to your correct target before they pop it. No thanks. Also, where is this necessary in GW2? Sure they might add some strikes with intense tank healing but the spec would still be pointless in the majority of GW2 content. 

 

As for the "intended use cases," open world with a friend but you can't target enemies? Forced pacifist runs? I don't PvP but I imagine in 2v2 it's generally a good idea to target an enemy every now and then for crowd control too. 

 

It's a real shame they have decided to go this way with it. It seems it would be relatively simple to fix by reducing the single target heal aspect and adding a splash heal so that it works similarly to other GW2 healers, and I really hope they reconsider for the sake of all the thief players who have desperately wanted a support option for so long. If they wanted to do an experimental build, they should have done it on something like Guardian that can already do a huge variety of roles very well. 

 

The mode for ally targeting is a toggle, so it can at least be turned off and ignored. It is why I am surprised it was even introduced. It doesn't add anything and only takes things away.

I think it is also pretty funny that even if you were to tab through allies via the next ally target, it can still target onto players that are fully dead or onto minions and NPCs. This adds to the even more maniacal energy as using allied Measured Shot on an NPC triggers the effect of enemy Measured Shot and ports the Specter backwards. 

It is completely unnecessary and it is very odd that Anet don't see this. If it had a niche, we would have known it from the content being much more challenging without a heal Specter! The 2v2 situation is also funny - it seems to presume that the Specter, which lacks self healing, isn't going to just get totally blown up first. It is almost certainly being blown up first. 

Even if it is given a use scenario, it is just so horribly cumbersome and unfun to play. Guild Wars 2 doesn't work with ally targeted healing. It is missing far too much of the absolute basics compared with other MMOs.

[BobbyT.7192]

Single target ally support is a gimmick they decided to tack on without the game fully supporting it. They gave it to thieves because lol they don't need a real espec. 

Maybe eventually they'll put in proper support for ally targeting, but by that time there might be a shiny new espec.  On a class that would do it better, then the spectre will be an after thought.

Could have had an offhand sword,...in Cantha.. thats all I'm saying  😞

Whatever, I be over here....playing condi virtuoso.

Edited December 1, 2021 by BobbyT.7192

[Meridian.9103]

100% agree. It feels like ArenaNet desperately wanted to bring in something new, but it simply doesn't fit into this game for all the reasons you said.

Especially this explanation: "This may maintain a strong all-around support role for a focused target in certain gameplay, such as 2v2 PvP or playing with a friend in the open world, while allowing Specter to still fill healing and alacrity support roles for group play." is very telling. It sounds like they just now realized that there is not much need for any kind of single target support in this game. While on the other hand, your effective group heal and alacrity abilities are build on wells and leaving shroud, so circumvent the single target aspect entirely.

In the end, Anet "mechanic creeped" Specter a lot to somehow hamfist support into the thief class, but all of this simply doesn't add up to something that's desirable in the way that Guild Wars 2 plays out.

[kash.9213]

Single target isn't that bad except in Action Cam mode and it feels like mostly scepter maybe that has a hard time zeroing in on the hitbox for targeting someone. I notice I have to have the tip of my curser just off to the side of the center of someone at times, so it might be a lag frames thing. If you've played any shooters before it shouldn't be that foreign for you.

[Doggie.3184]

Single Target can be fine for offensive boons if you wanna hyper buff one person~ although if anything about that mechanic causes Specter to have to rapidly switch target ally it'd be annoying as hell~ it should be like FFXIV Dancer's Closed Position dance partner at most. As for the healing aspect of single target support, it should be scrapped. This game just isn't designed for it.

Try it again for the next expansion after you had several years time to improve the UI and whatever trinity system you're trying to accomplish by use of dx11 or whatever you need. It's not ready for EoD release and you shouldn't have one class that's already suffered enough in it's lifetime to have it's entire burden layed upon it.

This spec had me excited when revealed but now that we've seen and felt the mechanics of this new healing/support gimmick its become disappointing.

Edited December 2, 2021 by Doggie.3184

[Blood Red Arachnid.2493]

The only place I can think of where the single-target heals would really help is against QtP.  I learned to tank it recently, and Qadim actually does quite a bit of damage if you miss the dodge.  I did it on FB, but one of the things I noticed is that Qadim's large size makes it impractical to buff teammates.  The mantras and symbols would frequently miss teammates.  Since QtP doesn't toughness aggro, it might be a better strategy to just have a DPS tank him while being buffed by a Specter.  

[Lithril Ashwalker.6230]

I still stress that they ALSO need to make scepter autoattack shoot out mini seeking orbs like the #2 of sc/p. think of Gjallarhorn from destiny 2...but if you are autoattacking an ally itll provide a hop-scotch effect and make orbs that seek enemies...vice versa for attacking an enemy...itll shoot seeking orbs to target allies...including yourself!

5 orbs max and all CAN hit the same target, gives 2x barrier of the normal autoattacks...problem with not supporting other teammates is now nearly solved if this change takes place but the alacrity application on teammates sucks compared to other classes like rev...1 boon stuck on well trait AND full well utilities is a WASTE and in the wrong direction.

[Artemis.8034]

They need to change how healing is done in this game. I heal in most games but this one just grates on me. Few options and all this stacking up bull is boring

 Would it be so bad to allow us a larger range for healing? To allow us to single target? I could go on all day about the UI, its need for mouseover and customizing , placement is dire. Why artificially make the game awkward? A good UI setup is one of the most important parts of gaming.

[Trepidation Lost.3469]

They could just make it so that clicking the skill auto targets the lowest HP ally and uses that skil on them

 

also to help with the single target aspect, make it heal an ally near your target for 50% of the original targets heal, then a third ally for 25%.
 

so it’s an aoe around your target. 
 

i think this would help a lot. 

[draxynnic.3719]

Most of the OP seems to boil down to 'UI needs more improvements to support it'.

[Alcatraznc.3869]

While in PVE it may be struggling, in PvP and WvW I can definitely see Specter work just fine. In these gamemode you dont necessarily need a big AOE heal that affect everyone. I mean like if you're doing a duo/trio roaming, why would you care that your skill cannot affect 5-10 people ?

 

Putting aside all the UI issue (these can definitely be improved ) I think Specter can give thief a good support role the class lacks

[Leo Schrodingers Cat.2497]

23 hours ago, Alcatraznc.3869 said:

While in PVE it may be struggling, in PvP and WvW I can definitely see Specter work just fine. In these gamemode you dont necessarily need a big AOE heal that affect everyone. I mean like if you're doing a duo/trio roaming, why would you care that your skill cannot affect 5-10 people ?

 

Putting aside all the UI issue (these can definitely be improved ) I think Specter can give thief a good support role the class lacks

My experience? Its pretty awful. It comes down to the issue that you're fighting against the UU and Mechanics. While it works well for other MMOs, things move extremely quickly in GW2 comparatively that misclicking an ally punishes you. If you have a large monitor, the position of the party UI punishes you for travel time. If you have keybinds for specific players, it punishes you cuz how are you going to know if this guy is 1, 2, 3 or 4.

 

If your ally runs from you, it punishes you.

 

Id rather it be a targeted AOE rather than me experiencing a frustration thats equivalent to trying to build a tent from the inside.

Edited December 30, 2021 by Leo Schrodingers Cat.2497

[kash.9213]

4 hours ago, Leo Schrodingers Cat.2497 said:

My experience? Its pretty awful. It comes down to the issue that you're fighting against the UU and Mechanics. While it works well for other MMOs, things move extremely quickly in GW2 comparatively that misclicking an ally punishes you. If you have a large monitor, the position of the party UI punishes you for travel time. If you have keybinds for specific players, it punishes you cuz how are you going to know if this guy is 1, 2, 3 or 4.

 

If your ally runs from you, it punishes you.

 

Id rather it be a targeted AOE rather than me experiencing a frustration thats equivalent to trying to build a tent from the inside.

Wouldn't you still have to search for a target with your curser? Or do you mean ground targeted? If ground targeted, would it still select a single target as your tether?

[Zacchary.6183]

On 12/30/2021 at 11:46 AM, kash.9213 said:

Wouldn't you still have to search for a target with your curser? Or do you mean ground targeted? If ground targeted, would it still select a single target as your tether?

Its these specific issues that made me drop scepter and turn into a big TD/CS shill. Its much easier to turn on big HP bars, coordinate with your team so they stick to you for healing and then use sword 2 with no target and Consume Shadows to heal than clicking through bad UI to get single targets for arguably worse overall support with a scepter.

[Valisha.8650]

upvoted

[Doggie.3184]

Almost release soon... they did say they'd change it to AoE if people didn't like it right? It's hard to believe they actually would though but personally I hate not only being limited to 1 person heals but unable to even pick myself as that 1 person. It feels like they ripped it out of FFXIV's new Sage's concept, except that game has an actual structured UI and holy trinity for it and each healer can spam multiple different heal AoE's as well anyways on top of single target...

And after how much abuse Thief has faced since release, I find it really sad they choose our class to be the experimental lab rat for a mechanic never attempted before. Like; don't we have enough broken designs already that are left unused on the backburner forever?

The Specter concept is great but the mechanics are not. Single target doesn't work in this game. Hell, you learned that by making dagger AA hit at least 2 targets, not even that could survive without aoe. Also I'm tired of things being built entirely for Spvp only, they should have a place everywhere.

[Vidit.7108]

 

16 hours ago, Doggie.3184 said:

they did say they'd change it to AoE if people didn't like it right?

I don't remember them ever saying they would change it if people didn't like it. I do remember them saying it has some AoE heals if people wanted to use them instead, and it does but they're super weak with bad healing power coefficients.