I'm a group healer in MMOs. That's what I love. Keep your DPS meters, explode-y spells, bows and arrows--I just love keeping groups buffed and healed. It's been my thing since Dark Age of Camelot. EQII looks pretty darned complex--anyone care to help me head in the right direction for a group healer class? I'd prefer the "good" faction, but if the better class for my playstyle is absolutely on the other side, I'll go there. And please keep the answers and reasons fairly simple--I'm awfully new to EQII terminology and mechanics. Thanks, all! /salute
Druids (Fury/Warden) have Heal-over-Time heals (for the next X seconds you are healed for Y every Z seconds). Clerics (Templar/Inquisitor) have Reactive Heals (the next X times you are hit, you are instantly healed for Y). Shamans (Mystic/Defiler) have Wards (blocks all damage up to X amount over the next Y seconds). There are other differences as well. The straight up heals and group heals have different cast times for each of the base classes, and the buffs vary wildly between them. If you want to dps also, Fury is pretty good, and I hear a melee-spec Warden can be as well. Personally, I think they are all good, esp. if you are solo/group oriented. For raiding, someone else will have to chime in
It depends on what you wish for Raiding to roll the appropriate healer. Inquisitors: Frequently you will find yourself in the OT or Scout group to buff their damage and you may be paired with a Mystic. Templar: For some raids you will be in the MT group given your group-death save is very useful for protecting the MT. Fury: Are difficult to manage power on but buff mage dps quite well and are able to put out their own numbers. Warden: Nature Walk is great for named that like to root you. Frequently found in the OT group to keep the OT moving and able to do his job the HoT's also ensure the smaller incoming damage from many adds is coverd. Defiler: Has the highest wards and is usually in the MT group (possibly there is another in the OT group) good defilers are quite appreciated. Mystics: Have the best ward+dps buff combinations and are amazing in the OT/Scout group when paired with Inquisitors you can get some nice buffing going on. Basically a raid has 2-3 Plate Healers, 2-3 Chain Healers, 2 Leather healers this covers 6-8 Healers in a raid depending on the fight most guilds have 12 healers to cover when someone cannot make it to the raid. Hope that helps answer the raid questions .
If you want to be heals only with little personal dps and ok utility try templar or if you want to dps the mobs but still heal while doing it inquisitor (clerics)...druids have group ae prevent and multiple cures with their hots and shamans generally are the top healers due to their wards-defiler for main healing and ok dps or mystic for the battle priest lines (like fury or inquisitor)...decide if you want to solo group or try when leveled to get a riad slot each choice there can help you pick a healer class that suits your playstyle.
From your post description of your gameplay I"ll immediately point you to the Templar. Traditionally goodie-two-shoes (although now neutral), almost completely focused on healing. They do very little effective DPS and their mob debuffs are mostly the kind that force heals to the tank, although they do have a long duration stun too. Templars are reactive healers; unlike a ward which blocks damage, a reactive spell instantly replaces damage with a heal. But this means that if your target has 10000 health and is hit by a mob for 10001 health they still die. But you also get a ward spell at higher levels to help you keep them alive....and you specialize in keeping the tank (the fighter who takes on the mobs) alive. You have no other role in a group nor are you expected to..... as an Inquisitor I also am a melee DPS who buffs my group's melee DPS but am also a reactive healer. The other class that fits your playstyle but is evil only is the Defiler. Wards for the group and tremendous debuffs on the enemy. Can break control effects on self (voice of the ancestors). Slow casting. Its good equivalent is the Mystic, which is melee oriented and still a good healer but its slow casting and lack of ability to remove control effects from self might frustrate you.
If you're not going to venture into raiding I'd second the choices for melee spec'd warden and inquistor both, they're both fun classes that will grow as you earn more AA. They're also both neutral class choices allowing you to betray and remain such class if you wish to. Templars are also a great choice for healing if you're not looking to swing a mace, just remember they'll be a little tougher to solo with if you cannot find a group on your server.
I am a casual player, and do small grouping with my son and hubby. Played an inquisitor to 95. And found that she is very useful in many areas, but it can be tough keeping up with really rough damage like the giants in Kael Drakkel do. (Nasty aoe damage that.) So am now bringing up a pure healing templar. If you want to do complete pure healing, and only want one healer class, play a templar. All the other healing classes are basically off-healers with unique specialties. Need for those specialties will will vary from dungeon to dungeon.
I'm going to have to disagree with you here... none of the healers are 'off healers' with unique specialties. All healers have their strengths and weakness. Defilers are just as 'defensive' as templars, as are wardens. Mystics, inquisitors and furies are the more 'offensive' halves of their pairs, but they can all do the job. Every single healer has a different 'optimal' way to heal (some more different then others), but templars are, by no means, the only 'real' healer.
If you don't want to be expected to DPS, pick a Templar or (less-so) a Defiler. Flavours of the day are Insuisitor and Warden, but both are expected to deal a lot of DPS. Fury is definitely not for you. Mystic is also good, but again some DPS is expected. For simplicity and being "good", i fully support the recommendations above to choose Templar.
Phaedros said healing AND buffing. Can't go wrong with a shaman (defiler/mystic). In terms of healing 'big deal' stuff in raiding and heal the people getting whooped on the most shaman is the way to go. Also have some very nice buffs. Melee DPS classes LOVE a mystic. They are generally in high demand from what I have seen. If you aren't going to be doing any high end min/max required content I'm sure you could easily get away with being a bit lazy on DPS if that is a major concern.
I agree with Leeroy. My first thought for you is Templar. Every healer 'group heals' so I'm not sure what you mean by that exactly, but it sounds like your preference is to focus mostly on healing. Take a look at the shaman classes, as well (Defiler and Mystic) - try one and then do the betrayal quest and try the other. I'd save trying the druids (Warden/Fury) till you've tried the other 4 (Templar/Inquis, Defiler/Mystic). Although druids are great healers and really fun to play - you really do 'sound' like you are accustomed to a Cleric-style class (Templar or Inquisitor in our game) and might like that the best. I do urge you to give them all a try though. With a year's subscription, you sound like you are not in any particular hurry - so there is time to find what you would like. All of them have their challenges at the lower levels, though - and, as you would expect, don't get powerful with a ton of abilities until later. All of the healers can heal equally well in most settings. It's when you start cutting-edge min/maxing for buffs and pushing a heal/dps combination that you start getting the 'less desireable/more desireable' paradigm. Just try them out, but I say start with Templar
Looks like Templar it is. Thank you SO very much for the feedback. Nice to have so many good responses and not a single snark. Big +1 for the community here.
And if you want to play a pope-pink-caramel class ... take the Inquisitor, a class to which you will have a lot of options at a minimum cost of brain
