My experiences so far as a 57 Warden on the Beta server

So level 57 now on Beta.. I'm posting this from work so sorry, no screenshots of spells, I'll try to remember to do that when I'm home but I never think to look at boards when I can actually play.

Also I'm still wearing my tier 5 armor... so keep that in mind. I haven't gotten anything better so far (my bad luck I suppose) then the rare/treasured armor i have in all my slots from t5. (but keep in mind, lot of loot has been broken til recently and I haven't been able to do any real raiding so far, oh yeah, and my luck sucks when it comes to randoms, heh)

At level 57, I have 3 Nukes, 2 Dots, 5 Regens, and 3 Heals on separate timers, not counting anything thats gray. (hope I got that all right, just going from memory and counting on my fingers type stuff. )

Solo, we're [expletive ninja'd by Faarbot] good still. Have been since 50. Any warden thats getting thier butt kicked soloing just hasn't figured out how to make good use of thier spells yet.

In a small group, we make a good team member with solid healing ability, decent dps now (well sorta), and umm, well our buffs are sorta lame, but they aren't useless by any means. (definately our weakest point imo right now tho)

In a full group, still good to have around, can keep up with the healing on most difficult encounters with fairly little trouble. (agro can be difficult to mange however depending on who your tank is, but thats more due to mobs chain stunning/stifling the tanks then anything else)

In all its a little bit more work but I can still do the job as well as the next guy imo in most situations.

Now here is where we start to fall short, any situation where there is multiple high volumes of damage coming in. Our regens fall Far short of reactives or wards. They simply don't keep up with the higher influx of damage as well. (the Devs don't seem to understand this either and base thier play tests off single strong opponents.. argh)

I'm assuming raiding situations will be similar, but we'll still be a strongly desired class imo if for nothing else then our new best friend.. The Tree. It is without a doubt my favorite spell right now, the Tree kicks [expletive ninja'd by Faarbot], lol. We may not be able to heal as fast as a Templar or others (in some cases, but in most we're just as good) but we're no slouches.

(it does suck being more towards the back of the pecking order for healers opposed to the top tho. ) But the difference is so small now between them all I can't see most noticing. Actually if you really want to get into it, Templars aren't as good as Mystics.. doubt that means people will skip the Templars tho.

Let me try my best to describe the spells I'm using right now. I appologize for not having exact numbers, i'll work on that I promise!

Hoar Frost (think thats how ya spell it) a Nuke that does roughly 500-600 dmg and double that against anything of elemental nature.

Sylvan Streams - upgrade to Sylvan Waters, heals for 600ish at adept 1. (i think, its about 200 more then Sylvan Waters heals for at adept3.)

Upgrade to chloroplast (forgot name, argh) heals for about 195ish a tick at adept 1.

Upgrade to chlorostorm (heals for about 140ish a tick at adept 1)

Still have our tier 5 DD, doesn't share timer with Hoar Frost so you can cycle between the two. (Yay)

Upgrade to our DoT, does 200ish a tick i think..

Our Friend, da Tree Heals everyone around it for about 130 a tick (at app1) (can't find this [expletive ninja'd by Faarbot] spell higher then app1 so far, which sucks because I personally feel its the best [expletive ninja'd by Faarbot] spell i have.. Even at app1 ! ) The ticks are fast, seems like once a second but maybe slightly slower. And it lasts for a minute and doesn't seem to cause much or any agro. This spell plain rocks.. (hugs da tree)

Yeah, you'll all be huggin yer tree too so don look at me like that.

Our pack of wolves DoT (the only other spell I sitll have at app1) and probably one of my favorite spells still) The dogs do some damage, at app 1, depending on your target they range anywhere from 30ish dmg a hit to 80 dmg a hit. Theres 4 dogs hitting at about once a second. (maybe slightly less) They add up fast, I want an adept3 of this spell sooo bad. Them and my durn Tree.

Got an upgrade to our dmg shield... umm.. only one upgrade to a buff so far.. (yeah i know.. i'm worried too, and its not even a good one. ) Oh, but I guess I should count the upgrades to our breath water (YES, ANOTHER /cries) and an upgrade to our Instinct line. (raises skills by 21 at adept1)

Upgrade to our group heal also, forget the numbers on it, its pretty decent tho.

I know i'm forgetting stuff, but I'll try and remember later. I'm so bad at remembering to do this stuff once I get home tho.

Hope some of this helps.. and if you have any questions feel free to ask and i'll try to answer.

Thanks for theses informations !
I have a few questions:
Do you still use Duststorm ? In what situations ?
Wich spells would make us still be wanted in raids ? (except the Tree wich will be our best spell in raid if it is really a zone heal)
Is there enough people to raid on the beta server ?
How many wardens can you see on the beta server ?
Have you ever group with a fury or discuss with a fury about the changes of our classes ?

In advance thank you very much for your answers.

Remembered another spell I forgot (yeah and i'm sure theres more I forgot too)
We get another upgrade to our "Save on Death" line. this one scales up to the point where you pretty much never have to worry about that person dying. I used it 3 times yesterday and 3 times the person was saved. (Yeah I know, we where over our heads a little testing out a new zone.. but hey.. nobody actually died died. )

(remembers someone saying how useless that spell is. )
Message Edited by Ravenmist on 08-24-2005 08:23 AM

Thx Ravenmist )

Hmm... Nobody tested Protecting grove in a Raid configuration ? It is intented to be a Raid heal over time or just a simple group hot ? hmm It's certainly a spell lv 60 for warden (after beta) imo so a Raid Hot seems normal. No ?

Buffs : Do you think ours Wis buffs (100+) improve greatly resists btw ? 1int = +2 damage... 1 wis = +2 resistance on all resists ?

Damages :

3 Nukes, 2 Dots, 5 Regens, and 3 Heals on separate timers
I'm talking in T5 for simplify :

3 Nukes : Cold DD, Cold DD + DD Elemental, Cold AE.
2 Dots : Cold Dot and a Stinging Swarn upgrade.
5 Regen : Chloroplaste, Hiero Gene, Protecting Grove, Chlorostorm and ?
3 Heal : Sylvan water, Verdant Rapture, Group Instant Heal
Message Edited by Zelya on 08-24-2005 05:41 PM

Note that I said I was listing spells are not gray, stinging swarm is gray. The Dots are the Cold DoT and the Wolf Pack. Could still cast stinging swarm if you want tho.

Gotta run, will try and finish answering stuff when I get back.

In theory someone random could run up under your tree during a fight and get benefit from it..
Amazing if its true in Live :smileysurprised: :smileysurprised: :smileywink:

THE spell : Protecting Grove, trademark Warden (C) :smileyvery-happy:
Message Edited by Zelya on 08-24-2005 06:16 PM

Is the experience gain increased in beta? How long do you think it will take an average player to get from 50 to 60? One that has a job and doesnt play 24x7.

Thanks

There is an increase on Beta so I really can't say, I can say 50-51 flew by (could do it in one night probably on beta) and i expect it will go fairly quickly for all on live, probably faster then 49-50 went, slows down tho atfter that even with the gain, 57 is at a crawl even with the bonus.. soloing a small group encounter barely makes my xp bar flinch.
Message Edited by Ravenmist on 08-24-2005 12:05 PM

This is very encouraging. Thanks so much for posting. I've been playing a toon on test for the past couple of weeks, and I've been worried about high things get at the higher levels. It's good to see that we still have a lot of stackable regens and what not. At 20, not a whole let stacks (cause you haven't gotten a whole lot to stack yet)

Thanks alot for all that awesome info Ravenmist!

This really gives me - and other Wardens, I bet - a good idea about the game post lvl 50

And I must say, that I'm looking forward to DoF, even more so after reading your post

First Ravenmist, thank you so much for taking the time to post this. I only have one question:

It comes off that wardens have been moved way down in the pecking order of heal ability (maybe to the last spot even) albeit the differences may not be too great. What I've read thus far from beta wardens is that they love their tree and wolves. That's great and all and I also look forward to these cool spells, but what has been done to supplement the losses to healing etc for those who aren't 50 yet? It appears, for example, that furies get a 1k DD spell around level 38 which adds to the offensive nature of their druid abilities. Do wardens have a certain "flavor" of spells that are new to add to our losses? What are the new spell pre-50? While my warden is my main, I'm only 36 at the moment. I don't want to keep investing more time into him if I it turns out there are much better advantages healing + "flavor' wise in another priest class.

thanks again for you insights---

I think the Fury's huge DD spell is misleading, because from what I read a Warden's 500damage spell can be cast three times during the same time period. I guess it would mean that Fury's are more capable doing damage and healing at the same time.
Anyway.. thanks for finally some actual beta playtime comments. It sounds like my enjoyment of the class won't change much and actually I'm anxious to try out the doggies. I hope all of those spells don't get bumped up to lvl51-60 when the changes go live. Doesn't "The Tree" cause vision issues in the middle of combat. Or is the range of effect big enough to allow it to be placed further away than the tank's back pocket?
How long does power last in a battle compared to live servers? From what little I've played on test, it seems to last a lot longer. On Live, Warden DPS seems to be quite power efficient especially if doing solo HOs. I hope it's still similar on test and beta.

Thanks for the reply Croake (though it wasn't the point of my post) but are you saying its misleading in that it isn't in fact a good example of how the fury is a more offensive druid class? I thought it was beefed up and reflected that exact purpose (at least that seems to be the consensus on the fury boards). What warden spell are you comparing it to? Frostbite? It's listed (at least where I can find it) at 15secs on live (dunno the damage since I'm not able to use it yet). I haven't seen a post of it from Beta, so I dunno if it has been shortened to 5secs or really does 500dmg. This is exactly the type of info I requested though and was the original point of the post....

So I still ask, what is the unique flavor supposed to be with wardens after the revamp? And, would anyone be able to post the major spell changes pre-50 please that would help us that aren't 50 understand some of the upcoming changes


thanks---

Thank you so much Ravenmist, this is just the kind of thing I needed to see after sony changed us around so much. Would you be able to post screenshots of the new lvl 51-57 spells? Or perhaps e-mail them to me, and I'd be glad to post them. Thanks again!

Thanks Ravemnist for posting. Just a question though. While doing those tests, did you have your tree out? What happens if the tree is indeed a level 60 spell. Will wardens still be able to cope with group healing all the way to level 60 without it?

Dat nice, tankies fer da werk joo doin.

Me'z only qwestshun be, does joo tink dis gunna be as bad as all da folks keep sayin?

Me'z been luukin ta fat halfie side o tings... but afta drudgin tru da boards 'ere me'z startin ta feel like da bonez be picked clean.

Thanks allot Ravenmist! After reading your post, I'm pretty excited about DoF and looking forward to exping again.

It does look like we wont be at the top of the ladder as far as healers go, But that truly wasnt my intention when i created a Druid on November 9th.
It will just take some getting used to seeing as how I've been at the top of the ladder for healers since the game was released.

Im curious though, the Tree spell, What is the name of it and what lvl did you get it on Beta? Is it an actual tree that sprouts out of the ground? Does it move with you or stay stationary? And how big is it? (Lol sorry, This just sounds like a really cool Druid-like spell.)
It sounds like that spell will be one of the outstanding points of a Warden post DoF release, and it sounds amazing! (=

Also curious about the wolves. What lvl do you get this spell? Are they pets that come out to fight full time or is it just a spell you cast and it last about a minute or so?
And if it's a spell, what is the recast on it? I dont even need like.. exsact numbers just like.. 10 seconds or 10 minutes.

Message Edited by EQWaimzey on 08-25-2005 12:50 AM

Lot of posts and questions to answer so I'll try and get started, will go through them 1 by 1, heh, so sorry for the spam.