I kind of just started a warden on a PvP server. I’ve been playing for a few weeks now and as of yet have not had much luck playing my class. I was wondering if anyone would be willing to share their pre 30 PvP strategies. So far I find the idea of a PvP fight really fun. Just the other day I was finishing an old quest in the Peat Bog, think that’s what it’s called, and ran smack into a group of three orange freeporters. I loved it! I mean I knew I wouldn’t have a chance in beating them but I was still going to run as best I could. In the end I died. While thinking about what I could have done to live I realized I had not even casted one heal on myself! I was so into running that I didn’t keep a cool head and heal, much less use my other abilities. That got me to thinking about general strategy and how that strategy changed depending on the type of class I’d be going up against.
You hit the nail on the head here ...'Don't Wig Out' is pretty much the primary rule for PvP healing (and fighting). Focus is more than just an attribute you can improve in your casting...it works as a strategy for the person behind the keyboard as well. I apologize in advance that I'm not going to give a potential opponent chapter and verse explaining my strategies As a fellow Warden, however, best advice I can offer is: Make sure you know your spells and all your abilities. Upgrade the ones that would be most helpful to your play style as high as you are able to afford. Although many situations are 'the same'...PvP is often making instant decisions on the fly ....which is why it's so much fun. The only answer for that is: you know what you can do and you adapt and overcome quickly cause you are familiar with everything you can do. Welcome to the Pack .. This is a supportive community of which I am glad to be a part.
Don't run from your enemies, run with the pack. Remember that when you get jumped by multiple FPs or Qs, your absolute best friend is your emergency AOE root. You'll get it around level 16 I believe. You hit that right away, move back, heal yourself and then decide whether it's fight or run time.
Doing the aoe root will just get you engaged into pvp and you no longer have out of combat run speed. Not to mention that they're more likely then not to resist the aoe root since they're oranges.
As a healer I would always group.. I use my root alot in pvp, mostly for runners :smileymad: but also to seperate enemy groups. Or to keep the scout/fighter from moving up behind me. Needless to say, healing is essential. Using your cure is also something most people forget. Once you get 35? i think you will get duststorm making life fighting scouts and fighters alot easier.. Upgrade spells & gear. And again.. Healer is a groupbased class or atleast thats how I have played it.
Duststorm is 45...close. I often solo, even as a healer. Usually it's when my regular group isn't on yet and I'm out harvesting and praying for those elusive rares. Then I just harvest and do little solo quests. If I see a Q, well...why not? I will agree with the above...keep your cool. If you panic, you will lose. If your opponent is a melee, try to root him and back off to nuke a bit. You will still take a few thrown weapons or arrows most likely, but it's not gonna worry you (one fast heal and you are fine). I like to snare them right after if I can....the longer you avoid their damage, especially if they are scouts, the better. If it's a caster or a ranger, move in and melee while casting. Wizards are a joke for us, and Conjys aren't much tougher (provided you manage to root that pet). My big worries are Illusionists and Swashies. Swashie interrupts are devastating, especially combined with the debuffs and damage. Illusionists seem to keep me mezzed, stunned, stifled through the majority of the fight. Where a Swash nearly always beats me though, Illusionists are a pretty fair fight. A close third is a monk...I have slightly better than a 50/50 ratio with them (bear in mind, I'm only sitting on a 6:1 KvD ratio...nothing all that uber). In groups, and even is solo PvP against scouts, Group Heals are your best friend. The don't reuire targeting. Learn to love them. I'm a bit spoiled in my normal group though, as I usually have a Defilier, ShadowKnight, Necro, Coercer and occasionally a Bruiser with me. I imagine, or would at least like to, that Duststorm will change my tactics some. However, what I do has worked for 39 levels now so far.
Strategy.. get yourself healed when you get attacked.. i.e. See if you can keep yourself alive easily. Most people open their attack with their biggest damage, so if you are alive after a few seconds you're probably going to be ok. If you can keep yourself healed fully you're in with a good shout of taking them down but that's where the "keep cool" comes in. Button mangling will see you eating dirt fast!! Couple of little tips... disable dragging icons and lock all windows. That way you won't be dragging all your icons mid battle!!! Secondly.. macros. I have all my heal spells (as a new window) set up with /target self and then the heal. That way I can click it with out having to self target, no need to fire the group heals. Thirdly, go into an arena and have some mates beat on you you'll learn how to keep yourself (and others) alive. NM
Good stuff good stuff, thanks all. I’m getting through 19 now, going kind of slow due to crafting, which I also like. I’m still getting killed more often then I kill but I’m finding a few things that help me stay alive. And every fight I find my self thinking: hmmm why didn’t I do this or that? So I know there is more I can do, if I think of it in time. I recently got myself a wand. It’s kind of fun to run when low on power and cast the wand while people chase you! I’m not sure if it will ever let me ‘win’ but I’m gonna keep trying it for a while. Nastymatt: About those macros you were talking about. I tried to set them up, I even went so far as to check the help docs about macros. They say there is no way to make a macro cast a combat art or spell? So do you have two buttons, one to target yourself and the other to cast the spell? Or is there actually a way to cast a spell via a macro?
First line: /target (self?) I'm not sure about the command to target yourself 2nd line: /useability (heal name here) make sure you use the full name of the heal
Thanks mikemcmodmike , that worked pretty well. One thing I noticed though was that the first time I hit the button it says not a valid target. Then the second time I hit it, it cast the spell. It's almost like it tries to cast the spell then targe me, but I have the commands ordered properly. Or maybe it's trying to cast the spell before the game finishes targeting me, if that makes sense. The target command was /target [my player name] and the useability command was exactly like you said. If there was a way to make it wait before casting the spell, just a tiny bit it would be even better. And I again looked up Macros in the help search thing, in game, and it very specificly said there is no way to create a macro to cast a spell! So what's up with that, I know for a fact it is, seeing as I just tried it and it worked!
/target_self /usea the exact name of the spell if you want chuck in a thrid line /usea my second best heal Knowing your target really helps.. so if you are getting jumped.. heal like hell.. keep yourself alive and take a look at them.. you'll learn what you have to do to stay alive.. i.e. don't show brigs/assissins your 4$$... ae root if it's a necro type char etc but it all comes with practice so get in that arena!!! I am on Nagefen if you want to chat.
I disagree with you and I'll tell you why. If you think you're going to be able to hold out against a high level yellow or orange assassin/brigand or necro or whatnot simply by spamming out of combat heals then you're very mistaken. I've been killed by assassins in about 10 seconds trying to spam heals. You have GOT to stop them from doing damage to you, and the only way to do that is root them and GET OUT OF THEIR MELEE RANGE. Root them again and *then* you can start healing yourself. Otherwise with your leather armor you're dead. Your root is about the only chance you have. Running won't do you a [expletive haxx0red by Raijinn] bit of good since you'll already be in the yellow at least and they'll knock you down with ranged attacks.
/target_self I'll try that tonight sometime. I tried the one line method but that didn't seem to do anything when I hit the test button. Hopefully the /target_self will work a bit better. As it stands now, I click the button twice to get a heal. But at least it's the same button clicked twice. I havn't had much luck sticking a second heal in the third line. It seems that it will cast the first and then wont cast the second. With button Q'ing I'd have though it would of Queued the second one up. I totally think the arena is a good idea! I'm going to spend some time in there for sure. I know nothing about the arena. Hopefully you don't take debt and item damage.
I killed a warden 4 levels higher than my scout because they conveniently rooted me and tried to nuke me into oblivion. By staying out of my melee range, they placed themselves right into my 'ranged' range. It was over fairly quickly - so use this strategy with care. Message Edited by Arielle Nightshade on 07-23-2006 02:47 PM
ariel, when you say "scout" i assume you mean either ranger or assassin (maybe bard) because rogues don't have a very high ranged damage.
Offtopic, but with your assassin, never leave home without arcane cure potions. You can imagine the look on the wizzies face as he drops a load in his pants, when before he gets an attack off, you have cured his root, and stabbed him in the eye.
LOL...TY. She's a scholar currently - just for that very reason I found it kind of hard after being a healer for 3049373 levels...to not have even ONE available. The potions sort of make up for it.
