Recently, my husband and I rolled a Woodelf Warden-Ranger pair on the Freeport server (i.e. non- pvp). We are both altoholics, and I usually play a scout and he a priest. For the sake of well-roundedness and for the challenge, we are switching rolls. (We mostly duo and are not concerned about functioning in a raid.) Back in the bad old days, the first couple of years of pvp, we played on Vox and our favorite pair was our Brig-Warden -- almost invincible. As far as temperament and play style, he doesn't like to move around a lot and have to do things fast, and I don't like to stand in one place and have to do things slow, as we might say to each other. I marvel at what it takes to be a good priest and how well my husband does that. But I digress.... Does anyone have advice for someone like me, who has played for years but never really gotten the hang of being a priest? What about grouping with a ranger? Seems like one of the most difficult pairings. Can I hope to tank? Do I need to? I want to go melee spec, and I also want to help my partner as much as possible. I know he will need to get position and range to be most effective. As for the heals, should I make separate heal macros for each of us, or assist him, or F1 and F2 to switch to whoever needs a heal? Is it ever right to put two different heals in one macro for efficiency or to cut down on the number of different spells on the hotbar? (We both use a Logitech G15 keyboard and rely a lot on mapping our hotbars to the extra keys.) You may wonder why I don't ask my husband for this advice and basically do what he does. Well, I know from experience that I can't mimic what he does. I want to come up with a hotbar setup I am comfortable with without reinventing the wheel. So, I'm curious what veteran Wardens out there have to say about a Warden-Ranger duo in which the Warden is a Brig at heart!
Warden + Ranger sounds like a fun combo, to me! As a Warden, I'd say that you'd certainly want to melee spec and tank (assuming you can keep agro from the ranger). If you prefer a class that moves around and does a lot of things, then Warden is the priest for you. You should be up in the mob's face, smacking it around, while simultaneously healing and curing. If your husband can control his agro well enough, the two of you will kill most Heroic-and-lower content with ease and alacrity. I tank solo/molo as a warden regularly (my merc of choice is the wood elf melee DPS fellow) so I can vouch for the Warden's ability to take a hit decently well, especially with a high DPS partner to make the mob dead promptly. On your "partner needs to get into position" point--if you're tanking, then mob positioning is your job (as much as agro control is his job in your team). Let him stand at a point where he'll have clear line of sight and be in range, and then move the mob and turn it so it's facing away from him. The mob will want to take you apart at first, so it'll go where you go. And one major edge that your pairing has over my molo technique--your teammate has a brain, so you won't need to hit the 'merc attack' button or rely on daffy merc assist settings. Heal macros, for a duo (that I assume will be done with you both in the same house/room) will probably not be strictly necessary. Keep the MOB targeted, and heal the mob's target. Which will probably be you, much of the time--or all of the time if you two work out a good system of agro management. Warden heals cast and cycle so quickly that you probably won't need to bother with putting two of them on the same macro; but that may end up being a personal preference point. Good call on the come up with a hotbar setup that works for you. My wife's key setup on her Monk is incomprehensible to me, but works for her. Find what fits for you and do it; the class will likely fit how you like to play very well.
Thank you, Gealaen, for your quick and detailed response! This is very encouraging. You've given me an intriguing idea: /hubby attack button seems to work just fine, but how to make a /hubby backoff? ;-)
marilla wrote: You're welcome! I could make some "suggestions" for '/hubby backoff' button, but I'm not sure who'd hit me first--my wife or the MOD hammer. Something along the line of "well-timed partial tunic removal" might get him to stop attacking for a little bit, at least. My wife and I usually just say something like "watch agro" to each other (we usually play in the same room) or some other suitable instruction. Having an IRL partnership can make in game effectiveness higher!
Thanks so much, Arielle! There's a ton of good advice in your reply. This will be very helpful to me as I sink my teeth into my new class this weekend. (Oops. Looks like I logged in with a different username. This is the OP, Marilla.)
I play a ranger and have been duoing with a warden for a couple years now. I tank 99% of the time and we do fine. We have no problem doing Lyceum and Covenant District by ourselves, though we are em raid geared. I use my bow when tanking, I just have to move around and get the right spot a lot on the mobs with big hitboxes. We box a pair a bards when we want it to be easier. Occaisionally we have picked up a person from chat for extra dps. After their initial shock at our set up and after we successfully pull it off, they usually walk away impressed and tell us to look them up again.
