Choosing a new class (preferably a priest) to duo with a warden?

Discussion in 'General Priest Discussion' started by ARCHIVED-Xanvarin, Apr 5, 2012.

  1. ARCHIVED-Xanvarin Guest

    Most of the time I duo with another warden and we use a SK merc (or two) for our tank(s), but we do have friends that play Berserker, Shadowknight, Paladin, Ranger, Beastlord and Wizard, so we ocasionaly have a group that includes 1 or 2 of those. My playtime is roughly 30% solo, 60% duo and 10% group of 3 or 4.
    Even though I have been playing EQ2 off and on since release, I never really paid too much attention to heal stacking until recently when I realized that regen spells seem to replace each other instead of stacking with each other. Considering that my adventuring partner and I both prefer druids (she plays a warden and with the addition of mercs, my warden has also become my current favorite character and my fury is now my second favorite character) and are just now getting into more difficult content (the overlap was never really much of an issue til we started doing zones like Sebilis and Chardok (and I immagine it will only get worse with SF and DoV content)).
    I don't want to put any pressure on her to change her class, but after realizing how poorly two druids stack, I want to consider new options for classes to duo with her. In general, the things I like to do in a duo or group are to focus on healing and buffing. I like to have a mix of fast casting spot healing and good efficinet stronger regen heals and both my druids were within my comfort zone of what I want out of a healer in that regard. The buff spells of both druid types were adequate to me, but I would be even happier with more buffing options.
    I've played a shaman (mystic) to low 40s and so far that class is not a good choice for my playstyle, but I'm assuming things change a lot in the 50s and up for them. Although the ward spells should theoretically be very effiencent, my actual experience has been that even with master spells, I just cant keep a tank alive as well against the same content as either my warden or fury (I think at least some of that has to do with their AA trees being heavily focused on melee with very little in regard to makign them stronger healers). The actual healign spells also have longer cast times that give me no quick spot healing option to buy time to get a larger heal/ward off in emergencies where a squishy type gets agro (which happen quite often in dungeons). I played an EQ1 shaman, so I'm very partial to spells like Avatar and Torpor and consider those class defining abilities (which I don't yet have access to) and I don't think I'd be as happy with the spell choices of a defiler from a role playing viewpoint), but I do wonder if their spells and abilities might be a better fit for me (I want to heal and buff, so the melee side of the mystic is really wasted on me)
    I have a baby inquisitor that I started but he is only lvl 12, so I have no expereince with what that class (or templars) can do at upper levels. My original intent was to get a ton of AAs at lvl 12 before grinding levels, but AoD added several good ways for even pure healers to get decent exp at any level so I may start leveling him again - especialy if a inquisitor (or templar if I betray) will be close to my preferences and work better with a warden.
    Before the addition of mercs, my main was a necro (it gave us a tank we needed, and I still had some limited healing ability). I don't dislike the class and it does work fairly well with a warden, but I have gotten a bit bored with it, and I feel like I need a break from him for a while.
    I'd like to get some thoughts on what other druids (either warden or fury since they are very similar) would consider their ideal duo partner and merc setup to be (assume up to 2 mercs are available) as well as general healer comments on the playstlye of non-druid healers at upper levels (especially how they fit into the role of secondary healer/spot healer - keeping the squishys alive when they steal agro from the tank)
  2. ARCHIVED-Demon Cleaner Guest

    New 90 Defiler here... (I literally just hit 90 this morning!). Please bare with me for a little story time.
    Just to add to what you said about Shamans. Back on release, I rolled a Mystic cause I saw they got Torpor as a heal in their 50s. I played a Warrior in EQ1 and I always liked having a Shaman in my group. Slows and torpor just made fights so much easier.
    Well, much to my chagrin, they are a bit slow as healers until they get to about 50-60. I know this doesn't sound that great, but it really makes a difference when you start getting Torpor, etc.
    I cancelled my sub around 40, came back a year or so later.. then I stayed Mystic until 58.. cancelled again.. add 2 or 3 years of hiatus, then I just recently came back.
    Anyway. I was a little disappointed with the way Mystics went after the "Mystic" AA tree was introduced. I didn't like being a melee healer. It made me feel like I was playing a Scout.
    I did a bit of resarch and started reading about Defilers. How were they the "Defensive" Shaman, and the Mystic the "Offensive" one, yet they had Torpor?
    I betrayed to Defiler, dinged 60 in the process, and haven't looked back.
    That being said.. Defilers are SLOWWW. My experience is that if I didn't have a Mercenary, I'd probably fall asleep trying to kill something.
    But, in groups, I absolutely love it. It's so much fun, and I feel like I can take on anything with a good tank. It's near impossible to run out of power with Cannibalize (Old school EQ1 ability) and Soul Cannibalize (a DoT that also leeches power). You also get a debuff called Bane of Warding, that basically makes the target have a chance to ward it's target (your tank) -- really helpful on hard ^^^ named mobs, etc.
    I feel like I didn't really bloom until I got to 80 and got Deathward. Then when I got enough AAs and I got Ancestral Channeling (available to both under the Shaman tree), I just feel like a very powerful healer.
    Shamans have more potential than any other healer in my opinion. You are warding and basically _adding_ that ward as more maximum health. It's all about pre-warding, knowing when you have time to cast a group ward, when to re-ward before the old one breaks. It's a completely different mindset. It really messes with your head as a healer, because it goes against everything we've been told for 10+ years of MMOs.
    Sorry, I can ramble. Enjoy the wall of nonsensical text
    Lyset 90 Defiler
    Crushbone
  3. ARCHIVED-Oakum Guest

    Here is some info that may help you. One, you dont want a fury, wardens and fury's overwrite each other regens and heals, both being the druid class.
    That leaves shaman and cleric.
    Shaman was covered decently, although what the poster above left out is that all priest theoritically heal equaly, due to the way wards, reactives, and regens deal with damage, the shamans wards, which absorb damage before thier target, are the prefered healers for most groups since their is a lot less bouncing of hps. Shaman are healers and buffers, with the mystics given melee aa's to differentiate them from defilers more. One shaman debuffs damage the mob can do to the group and the other debuffs the mob in a way to let it take damage from the group. The difiler has usually been considered the best tank group healer although mystics are good too. As the primary healer of a group, you may spend most of your time making sure your wards are up along with curing.
    Clerics are healer buffers. Templers are probably still considered the best straight up healer as their buffs help the group survive the best but more people, including raids, seem to prefer inquisitors whose non healer spells buff group dps and their verdict ability (which reduces mob hp to 1 hp when used on a mob when it is at a certain percentage)and myth cure are very nice for goups at upper lvls where cures become much more important then lower lvls. Inquisitors were given melee aa's also to help differentiate them from templers.
    I might as well cover your druids to be complete.
    Druids are healer/dpsers. Wardens tend to heal a hair better then equally skilled and geared furys. Furys are more ranged aoe dps then Wardens who are more single target in their skills. Furys have a bad name as healers because a lot of people made them wanting a wizard that could heal and did not put a lot of effort into learning and having a set of gear for healing if they were primary healer and not backup healers in a group.
    One thing, at upper lvls, saving group member that draw aggro is a lot more dependant on the tank being able to get aggro back and the dpser deaggroing then a back up healer. The backup healer is best for large amount of cures being required and groups taking big aoes that need a lot of quick healing and using thier secondary abilities to protect the group or kill the mob quicker depending on whether they are a cleric and shaman, or druid and its always been my opininon that, unless their is a damage shield involved, healers should be at least autoattacking if they can survive close enough to help the group any way it can to kill mobs quicker.
    Other interrelationships between healers in theory and practice.
    As covered earlier, clerics are healer/buffers in their primary spells, shaman are healers/debuffers and druids are healer/dpsers.
    When the game first came out certain classes, like clerics, shaman, and bards were the most hated solo classes due to their lack of dps. Furys and wardens were fine and considered fun to play and solo because we out dpsed (which was what they were supposed to do being healer/dpsers) clerics and shaman and did not have issues soloing. Then with GU-13 they rebalanced all classes and made all healers viable for groups, nerfed wardens to have no utility useful for raids other then as a third mt group healer for very hard or new content and made furys useful for mage groups although they may be sat for another inquisitor to take their place from what i hear.
    The next big update to priest classes coincided, if my memory is correct, KoS coming out and they added the melee aa's in. At the same time or maybe it was a few updates later, they increased the dps clerics, shaman, and bards to be able to solo better without raising druid dps in proportion, in effect, lowered the useful distinction of the secondary side of druids. Furys have slowly been buffed up over the years since but wardens are slowly becoming the third alts listed when people are trying to find groups to join since their secondary side, dps, can easily be outdone by mystics and inquisitors when they are not casting heal spells which automatically take the a bite out of damage before regens do so they do better on both the heal and dps parses.
    Yes, the old dev teams screwed it up but I do not see enough wardens left that understand the basics of what our class and subclass is supposed to be capable of, let alone the interrelationship with other healers' classes anymore. Most have either quit the game or switched to cleric and shaman mains as healers or different classes altogether. Of course, there have always been those who think that wardens should be leather wearing clerics or defiliers in our abilities instead of druids, lol.
    That is the way that the priest classes stand now generally speaking.
  4. ARCHIVED-Orpheus666 Guest

    I'm not gonna write a novel, but I enjoy Duoing with my Fury with a warden. Yes group buffs don't really work together but surprisingly if communication is good you're able to do some fairly amazing things together.