A Templar Workout

[Zabumt]

<DIV>Okay, in the past, I've said that Templars are by and far the best healers in the game.  The problem, most xp groups don't need the best healers in the game to do what they do.  Any priest can keep a tank alive against yellow con opponents if they're within level range of the group and the encounter.  There's no reason to pull oranges or reds because the efficiency drops dramatically when groups start pulling those types of encounters.  I still believe that argument... but it changed today slightly.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Today I get into a group that's heading to Living Tombs.  No, not the best xp in the world... or so I thought.  But hell... they didn't want my Wizard for dps so I volunteered my Templar after not having played him for quite some time.  Almost forgot how much I enjoyed playing him in a good group.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>So, the group is me 52 Templar, 54 Monk (tank), 50+ dirge, troubador and paladin.  We head to the priestess area in Living Tombs.  This is where the fun begins.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>The monk is going nuts pulling even/yellow-con encounters to himself.  At times we had 3 encounters on us simultaneously.  I'm talking chain-pulling here in the highest degree.  No stop for a break at all.  Sometimes, the entire group is taking damage from AE melee and aggro.  THIS is where we reign supreme.  As a solo healer in this seemingly insane group, I was not only able to keep the group alive but keep them alive without using much of my power to do so.  Granted, the dirge and troub helped with that hehe.  But still, I don't think any other priest could've done the job I was asked to do and get it done with no deaths.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>My combination of Glory of Combat on two of my faster melee classes, fate line on nearly every mob that died and of course my Mark and AC debuff (especially on triple-up encounters that take longer to kill), individual/group reactive, 2 single-target heals and my group heal made this group a huge success.  I'm talking 20 percent of 52 gained in less than an hour?  Maybe about an hour is more accurate.  Of course, I had vitality... or at least I think I did with this wierd vitality thing going on.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>So, my opinion has changed to...</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>If you want a healer for an insanely fast xp group pulling multiple encounters simultaneously, go with a Templar.  They won't let you down if played well.  Almost sounds like me back when I was a Wizard in EQ just before AE groups became a big thing.  If you want a healer for your standard pull one encounter at a time, mostly yellow triples type group... any healer will do.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>We seem to excel at healing the ENTIRE group.  I can't believe the amount of group heal spam I was getting with this group hehe.  It was fun for the first time in a long time.  I'm glad a group got together and challenged me with the task of keeping them alive.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV>

[Buckelnase]

Interesting read and thanks a lot for it! I am not much into numbers, I try to follow the threads in the forum where people compare different healer types, but playing only one char I have too few insight into other classes to really judge if they are right or not. I am pretty sure that all those talking about Templars low dps-delivery has some point - at least even without calculating it I recognize that I am only soloing when I want to finish a (mostly green or blue con) quest, killing some grey mobs. Everyting else I *feel* is just taking too much time. But when it comes to healing - I love my Templar toon. I have a similar feeling like you everytime I enter the Scornfeather instance with a guild group - we have some really good guild tanks which pull at a very constant and amazing rate, and switching between individual (mostly direct heals) and group heals etc. at a constant high pulling pace really is something I love and where I feel it does matter *how* you click the hotkeys. <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> Reading the Templar forum I sometimes get the feeling I should be embarrassed that I still stick with my Templar and haven't rolled something "better" in the mean-time. But when playing even after combat revamp I never had this feeling. Nice to read that others still have fun playing their Templar, too. <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> <div></div>

[AzraelAzgard]

<P>Multiple mobs is where we shine, its reactive heaven as you can let tank drop then cast reactive and the 5 heals go off in a second and 400 healing is triggered by a hit of like 50.</P> <P>Where we dont keep up so well is hard slow hitting mobs allthough we can keep up pretty well its just costly in mana. Both reactives on tank so every hit is a 600 to 800 heal and then spot healing with fast and large heal will keep them up fine, you will just go oom quicker than a Druid and they also have a larger manapool too when they are the most efficent healer ><</P>

[KingOfF00LS]

<span>Sounds like you had a lot of fun.  I dinged twice in Cazic Thule myself last night (yes, I'm a low level [Removed for Content] :p )<blockquote><hr>Zabumtik wrote:<div>As a solo healer in this seemingly insane group, I was not only able to keep the group alive but keep them alive without using much of my power to do so.  Granted, the dirge and troub helped with that hehe.  </div> <div>  {snip} </div> <div>My combination of Glory of Combat on two of my faster melee classes</div> <hr></blockquote>Your story is great, and I'm glad you had fun.  Just remember that not everybody has the dirge and troubador in their group, and none of us lower 40s (and on down) guys have Glory of Combat, so it can be hard to relate to the differences when grouping sometimes between levels. </span><div></div>

[Timaarit]

<span><blockquote><hr>KingOfF00LS wrote: <span>Sounds like you had a lot of fun.  I dinged twice in Cazic Thule myself last night (yes, I'm a low level [Removed for Content] :p )<blockquote><hr></blockquote>Your story is great, and I'm glad you had fun.  Just remember that not everybody has the dirge and troubador in their group, and none of us lower 40s (and on down) guys have Glory of Combat, so it can be hard to relate to the differences when grouping sometimes between levels.</span><div></div><hr></blockquote>Also I there is no upgrade for GoC untill possibly (maybe even not then) at lvl 61, so it is not that good at high 50's anymore. It heals just as much then as it did at lvl 47. Just like healing gets more and more difficult till you get those new reactives and single heals. This is why I liked the system when spells improved with leveling. It made that whole thing steadier.</span><div></div>

[Bjerde]

You have Atoning Fate (or equiv) at a lower level.....that spell is incredible for group encounters. I would castt that first, then mid fight you get a nice group heal....helps out a lot. I agree with the above posters, Templars are great in group encounters...probably the best. With tough single target mobs, we are not very good. Reactives heal very little of the damage coming in....so we have to cast our instant heals, and wait for them to refresh while gritting teeth. So, for raiding we are not very good except for mobs with lots of adds. <div></div>

[zorbdan]

This post just illustrates the ''Situational'' nature of healing in this game. Certain healers shine in certain situations and this being the prime situation for a templar.

[bigmak20]

Been doing this myself the last week.  Mowing through group encounters non stop killing insane exp spree.  lol Seriously. A little mana regen and group MoBs to leverage Fate, enough DPS to kill fast, and GoC on multiple melee types -- that's the perfect group for a Templar.  I was starting to feel guilty since I'm sure everyone in those groups is now reporting how overpowered we are.  I could swear they started trying to die -- they didn't.  Simply the perfect Templar situation.  If you want to feel good about your Templar's healing setup that kind of a group. Upgraded my GoC to Adpt 3, I think it was a 10% improvement over Adpt 1 but I don't remember the exact numbers.

[Raan]

<P>I don't post much, but have started reading more and more lately and wanted to chime in.  My templar was my first toon and I've loved her everyday I've played her.  She impresses me all the time, bugs and all.  I don't have the gaming history nor the alternate character experience to compare her to, so I rely a lot on the boards for my information, but maybe in my case, ignorance is bliss!!  But when there are things that don't seem right sometimes, it's been fun and challenging to find out how I can still "shine" in my guild and groups and adapt to still be a healer everyone wants.  The great thing about EQ2 is that a lot of what your class is, depends on how you play it.  Instead of quitting or rerolling when a spell isn't working, or I find out that an Inquisitor has a higher heal per second ratio, I try to play my toon "better".  I crappy fury isn't as good as a talented templar at utilities or heals.    I never get turned away for another healing class, and I hope much of that is due to "WHO" my character is, not the numbers that are being parsed.  </P> <P> </P> <P>In the end, I wouldn't trade her for anything and I've had no problem doing what I want to do in this game... which is soloing, grouping, questing and raiding.... she does it all and does it well!!  </P> <P>~Raanai<BR>55 Templar of Vindication<BR>Oasis Server</P> <P> </P> <P> </P>

[SatinyCh]

<DIV>yeah those kind of groups are a lot of fun, and where we shine a lot.</DIV>

[GSOO]

Yep but know Glory of Combat doesn;t take a concentration anymore but can only be put on one ally. I have even put it on the mage pet when we have a tank (air rocks as dps healer). We have been nerfed to the point where we need to group with others....we can not kill heroics even close to our level solo...my mage can beat them down when they are still blue (4 levels below). Our method of fighting is more a rope a dope....let the mobs use there mana and then we can nuke em to death (so be it...wimpy nukes...but nukes the same). 

[Ember]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> GSOOne wrote:<BR>Yep but know Glory of Combat doesn;t take a concentration anymore but can only be put on one ally. I have even put it on the mage pet when we have a tank (air rocks as dps healer). We have been nerfed to the point where we need to group with others....we can not kill heroics even close to our level solo...my mage can beat them down when they are still blue (4 levels below). Our method of fighting is more a rope a dope....let the mobs use there mana and then we can nuke em to death (so be it...wimpy nukes...but nukes the same).  <BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE><BR>Is this something on test?  On live you can still cast it on multiple people.

[bigmak20]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> GSOOne wrote:<BR>Yep but know Glory of Combat doesn;t take a concentration anymore but can only be put on one ally. I have even put it on the mage pet when we have a tank (air rocks as dps healer). We have been nerfed to the point where we need to group with others....we can not kill heroics even close to our level solo...my mage can beat them down when they are still blue (4 levels below). Our method of fighting is more a rope a dope....let the mobs use there mana and then we can nuke em to death (so be it...wimpy nukes...but nukes the same).  <BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE><BR>GoC is castable on multiple group members I was using it tonight.  Hopefully it triggers on everyone it's cast on?  If it only works on one grp member it ends up another worthless spell since it would only make sense on a dual wielding melee class at that point.  So I would opt to buff the MT better with the conc.