So, first I did recruit a friend with some guys who already had 80's. I hit level 82, playing just 2-3 hours a night at most for the first 14 days - about 1.5 days played on character. I leveled so fast, I really concentrated only on healing, buffing, and some of the situational spells. I did pretty much all healing AA related stuff (sitting at 86AAs with 21 unspent) My question is the role end game - is EQ2 like a lot of other mmo healing classes where you stand and just heal? or is the warden in a position where I am suppose to be dpsing a lot while healing? Believe me - I understand these questions sound completely stupid - but leveling so fast I think really screwed me up more than it did help. I pretty much only play healers - and so far on the healing front the warden is an absolut blast. I guess I kinda need a short rundown of where the warden fits in. A lot of information I find is outdated. I will say this - after levelign in EQ2 ( we only grouped, so it was dungeons the whole way ) - dungeons in other games are complete crap. The vast scale and size of these dungeons was amazing.
Ten wardens will give you ten different answers. The bottom line is that you play it the way you want. My warden is a pure healer with all AA points, armour, etc., aimed at keeping people alive. In easy parts she might fling a damaging spell or two at something but that's not her purpose. Other wardens act as damage dealers who occasionally heal in between casting spells, or attacking with a sharp instrument. You play it the way you enjoy it.
Just play it by ear. If you notice someone pulled 10+ mobs then focus on healing, if your group is burning through mobs like a hot knife through butter and no one is really taking damage then I suggest focusing more on DPS than healing.
I've never been a fan of the super fast leveling RaF allows for a person brand new to the game, but what's done is done. Ask your friends if they wouldn't mind letting you get caught up some with your AA. If you get all the way to 90 and wind up with around 100 AA you won't have come close to reaching your healing potential, much less be in a position to meaningfully contribute anyhting other than heals. The main thing is play in a manner you enjoy. If you plan to spend the majority of your time with your RaF friends you can play however you like. If you plan on expanding your experience and playing with other people, it's quite possible they will have expectations of how you play your class. Chief among those will always be keeping the group alive. At max level sometimes that will mean a timely cure is more important than a heal. But that isn't too tough once you have gear and AA at max level, so just so you don't get bored you'll want to be able to do other things like DPS to contribute. Groups will expect it even.
It's a sad fact, but true: with only 82 AA's you are not going to have to worry at all about your role as an end-game warden. Torri is absolutely right. You will have a tough time in even easy dungeons. To answer your question, though, no one just stands and heals anymore. Even if you are 'pure heal' spec (whatever that is...), most dungeons and definitely raids require that you dps as much as you can while keeping people alive. To play the class well, you need to contribute everything you can do at the appropriate time - and that means you have to know what you can do. Some of the things are a little tricky, and to know everything about your class and what to use in a pinch requires a little practice. Even if you followed someone's AA spec number by number, without some experience you will not be playing the class to potential. If you button mash this class, you'll probably still be able to keep people alive, but if you take time to learn it you will find out why many of us chose it in the first place and are staunch defenders of it..through thick and thin. With that few AA you don't have a ton of situational spells, and playing with a couple of friends hasn't given you a challenge for who to buff and how best to heal a group, let alone a raid. I'd advise you spend a little more time playing the class. If you do, then the end game role will be pretty clear, IMO. My 2
As the others have said, different people go different ways with their wardens. It's important that you learn each of your spells and buffs as there's always details you may miss. When I started raiding, I learned more about my warden than I realised. For me personally in raid, when we are challenging hard mode mobs, especially those later in the zone, I focus purely on my wards and heals. With my AA tree set-up, my heals do spell damage so I'm still able to get in dps by spam healing. When we are doing easy mode mobs, or grouping in an instance that isn't too strenuous, I will focus on my combat arts at close distance, throwing in wards and an occassional group heal just to keep everyone's heal tick up. I must admit I really enjoy playing a warden. I like the combination of warding, AOE blocking, healing, rezzing, spell damage and combat art damage. It gives a fair bit of flexibility.
