I prefer healing and grouping. Not a huge fan of soloing. Which one is better at healing? Which one brings better group utility?
Really depends on your personal preference, both are great. Wards are really strong, and if you go Defiler you'll have some nice debuffs. One of the really nice things about Shamans back in the day was Spirit of the Wolf run speed, but that's not a big deal anymore. They also get some fun utility things like water breathing, but not too impactful. Mainly: awesome wards and debuffs (so you'll be preventing damage from happening with some minor healing in-between). If you go Defiler, just be prepared for the pains of pre-warding aggro. Inquisitor is a much stronger "traditional" healer, i.e. they directly heal damage that's done and do that effectively. They bring some very nice buffs, particularly for melee, and can do a little more DPS than a Defiler, and have some more utility. I find Inquisitor a little more fun to play, personally, but Defilers are really powerful and are probably the better healer overall (but primarily through stopping damage from happening to begin with vs healing it directly). But I usually play tanks/DPS, so can't really give a solid recommendation if you're a primary healer type. Overall, both are amazing and will be readily welcomed in any group.
Inqs bring significantly more group utility where defiler is primarily heal focused and offers almost no utility to group. I far prefer inquisitor over defiler.
How much less can inquis heal vs Defiler? I’m good with inquis but I also want to be able to be a top game healer.
It's not so much a matter of "how much less" as a matter of wards vs. heals/HoTs. Wards will always top the heal parse, as the wards are eaten first in any combat, so your Inq heals may not even register as the tank isn't losing any HP due to the wards (if you have two healers in a group or in raid parses). To be a top game healer, it has nothing to do with the specific class, but how well you play your healer. If you choose the Inq (or any of the heal classes), get your spells mastered, figure out the best rotations to always keep your HoTs up and your debuffs going, learn how to cure, get the best gear, best food/drink, best potions, and ask questions referencing these things on discord or the forum here, addressing them to min/maxing <class> healers. Whatever you choose, have fun - and join a guild!
The problem is how someone might define top game healer. From an EQ2 cannon, I would say Inq in this regard as you typically solo heal a dps group, handle every cure thrown at you, keep your group alive, give great buffs to your group, and do some ok DPS while doing so. As a defiler, you can try to top heal parses by sitting in MT group and throwing wards as fast as you can. The other healer in the group will be carrying most of the cure weight, and you offer less to buff the group and do almost no dps. All in all on Defiler you're playing a more one dimensional class looking to win the heal parse. As an EQ2 raid leader for many, many years, I value healers that are not so one dimensional more, but I always brought 1-2 warders cause they are needed. So both are valued, make a decision around if you want to try to win heal parses or play a class with more dimension.
defiler's job is also debuffing mob. debuffing dps and haste inquisitors are also quite utility healers, buffing group, debuffing mob while healing group. so yeah a good healer is a healer who knows how to use all its arsenal .. not just the heals
Defiler's aren't really a good main tank healer in any situation unfortunately. Mystic's can put out more HPS comparatively and with the removal of Focus Effect's, the 3% extra riposte Defiler's gave to the main tank is gone. The only thing keeping defiler's in the realm of mystics in terms of avoidance report damage dodged vs wards is gone. I would suggest only running a Defiler if you really need the debuffs, if not. Don't bother. With two mystics you can bolster two people, off tank/main tank ( Or dps when the mob is zzzz). Plus you have a noxious group ward. Mystic's also give more offensive based buffs like stampede later on, bolster, etc. Why bring a "Defensive" healer like a defiler when mystics offer more heals and dps to the raidwide. This is all of course in an "ideal" situation, if you wanna play a defiler, i'm sure some raiding guild/groups would take you. If I was making a raid, I wouldn't even think about running a defiler in any situation anymore. The only moment I would possibly consider it is in RoK when deathward comes into play and you just bolster the maintank from the offtank group. That is of course assuming that turtle of a setup is required. In terms of defiler vs inquisitor this an argument that requires you to understand how wards work. Wards are calculated prior to any other heal. If this was a raid situation I would take a defiler 100% of the time but only in a main tank situation. Every other group is better off with a inquisitor. In terms of groups, play whatever you want, have the wizard tank, go afk for 20 minutes. The only time furies have an edge over inquisitor seems to be EoF at this point because of how they tuned... everything. I'd run three inquis and one templar full time. A backup warden in the maintank group instead of another dps class. I'd suggest inquis over playing a defiler anyday.
bolster and stampede aren't there yet .. are they ? stampede is also SF (like focus) and bolster is KoS ?
Bolster is KoS, Stampede is SF. I'm gonna say the elephant in the room and just say you don't need bolster realistically until KoS raids because everything prior is so zzzz.
