What are the major differences in the different priest classes? I've never played a healer in EQ2 but I've played one in other games & I'm looking to make one. Any suggestions? Also I'd love to be able to solo quest and stuff & be able to actually kill crap when I do. Any recommendations on what I might like?
That question is very open to interpretation as it is relatively vague and non-descriptive. It is akin to asking what kind of car should I buy, You will get some solid bullet points, and you might possibly find some of them to be informative. Overall you will mostly end up with subjective conjecture from players of varying degrees of expertise. In the end, after reading these aforementioned posts, I suggest the following. Take what is said with a grain of salt. Try each Healer class via the "Try a Heroic Character Option" form your own opinions. If you still find yourself undecided, use the experience you gleaned from trying out the different classes to form new questions. Make the new questions more concise and detail oriented. Don't be afraid to take your time here. I've played most of the healer classes and there have been only three that I really loved and wanted to stick with. One of them was my main for the better part of six years. This is kind of like looking for a new bed. Keep weighing your options until you find the one that fits you best, is most comfortable for you, and that you can see yourself sticking with it for a long time.
major differences are that at first at least druids are quick healer who cast rejuvenation spells clercis are slower casters and their heals are buffs which procs when the target is damaged shamans are warders and .. at first, slow healers too. they prefer to prevent damages clerics do mostly arcane damage, druids do elemental damage and shamans do noxious damage ? druids don't have much debuffs, but shamans are master debuffers I think then some healers are more offensive like fury and inquisitor and some more defensive like warden and templar that's some differences, some are better solo healers while others might struggle, and all depends on your playstyle for channeler, can't say anything, I don't know the class at all .. all i know is that it's a pet class and I've been told to have a good trained construct u need time to level it up .. all I know (and they use bows)
Any healer can solo heal a zone but dps will suffer one shots and die, nothing you can do about it unless you're a shaman. Usually with a decent tank and if you know your class the group will not wipe and can do the zone. Channeler's are not really a pet class in the traditional sense. You don't need to level the pet, just find shards (kind of like a beastlord does to find its pets) to give it more abilities. The class doesn't have a ton of buffs, mostly to HPS and mit. But it has a lot of utility if you know the fight and plan ahead and does good aoe dps. The channeler HPS is second only to shamans right now. The pet intercepts damage, that is its main job. It doesn't draw agro, can't die, procs some heals or dps depending on the way you set it up. You have a spell bar kind of like a BL that you have to set up before the fight. You can put a really nice ST Ward or a group patch heal or reactive on that. Your normal heals are pretty much all aoe or group wide.
If you want the easiest healer to actually prevent damage, go defiler. Very strong in most current content. Can also put out a lot of damage. If you enjoy doing your job well without needing a ton skill or timing, go defiler. If you enjoy the thrill of timing and complex play, then go channeler.
OK I guess I should clarify what style of healing I'd prefer to do along with being able to quest by myself if I need to. Basically I'm looking for a strong healer who does direct healing. I'd rather not play a healer class responsible for having to keep a debuff up on targets and stuff like that. I like to heal and just heal when I'm on a healer. Any recommendations based on that?
the most straightforward healers are druids. but healers don't just heal. U have buffs debuffs, wards, attacks. you're not just a healbot. Debuffs are important to cast too, coz if u make the mob weaker .. your job is easier. if u're a fury or inquisitor, you will attack the mob coz some of your damage spells also heal. druid have a buff called infusion, it damages mobs around you everytime you heal and on the other side u can also have a passive that heals your group when you damage the mob. plus at some points your group doesn't need much heal so u can dps but the "pure" healers, the ones that are more defensive, would be warden, templar, and for the shamans I don't know, but I think defiler is more offensive than mystic but I could be wrong
Thanks Earar. That helps a lot. And I remember years ago I was dating someone who played a defiler and it was more offensive/defensive type of play style. That's all I remember about the class though.
I'd argue this as only shaman can solo heal. Personally, if I know people are going to die if I'm solo in a zone, I say I can't solo heal it.. because my job is to keep people alive. If I can't do that, I can't solo heal.
If you're looking for a straightforward, foolproof class where you can spam heals and win everything, you want to be a defiler. There is absolutely no question, defiler is the strongest class for solo healing pretty much everything right now, bar none.
You have to have a pretty thick skin if you choose to roll a defiler. The other healers will beat you up and steal your lunch money.
Defiler is strong right now, inquis is strong right now. Druids are gay. Templar, idk, people complain more than they compliment, and mystic is a defiler but worse.
no gays are not druids I hate this expression. what does it mean that gays are weaker versions of people ?
It was an ironic use, entirely for the purpose of the OP, who is titled GAYmer and who's every post prior to this one was about something homosexual. I don't believe in it as an expression either.
So I settled on making a templar and am now lvl 45 with him. I have no issues with healing or dispelling but my only issue with the class is it takes FOREVER to kill things solo even if its something way under my level. I finally broke down & bought all of my master/grandmaster spells last night for my current level. Is this going to be the case with the class the whole time I play stuff? On another topic, if I were to make an inquisitor would it's dps be melee based mostly or could I be castery dps with it when I solo play?
I would recommend using a merc to help kill things faster. They are quite powerful at lower levels. Another option would be to avoid the solo grind by running agnostic dungeons and rely on the dps classes to kill things for you. You may also want to look at your aa spec and pick a couple more dps spells off of the cleric tree until you level up enough to get more dps spells. You can have up to 3 aa specs saved at any given time, so you can put together a dps solo spec to use when you don't have groups without messing up your main spec. With an inquisitor, there are aa that change your caster spells into melee combat arts, so most inquisitors have traditionally played as melee healers.
