How good are Wardens at offense, defense and buffing?

[Darcn]

<DIV>I hear all this talk about our heals being over-powered, but wonder if that necessarily makes the warden (as a subclass) overpowered.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Seems like our offense, defense (armor, at least), and buffs are all mediocre (medium to poor).   </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>When you combine great heals with what is otherwise a mediocre subclass, I think you get a good, perhaps above average subclass, but NOT an over-powered subclass.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Anyway, if they balance priests, I hope they balance ALL aspects of priests and not just single-shot heals.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV>

[Machismo_Chap]

I don't think we were overpowered, i honestly didnt see my heals overpowered, but then again i rarely grouped with another healer with the exception of a Defiler or Inquisitor once or twice. I'm only lvl 25, so my comments may not be entirely valid on what is "overpowered" or not. But I saw a tradeoff, our DD's arent the best, and we drew alot of aggro when "overhealing" atleast I did anyway lol. I like that tradeoff, i dont mind drawing aggro, I'll give the tanks a run for their money <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> If It's something I can't handle, I Subterfuge and pray for the best =)I'm a little afraid of whats going to happen to our heals, but i don't count on it affecting us completely to the point we're gimped <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> the cup is half full for me on this one

[Eneg]

Offense: dont know. Never compared my DoTs and DD's to other classes. I guess Shamans win that department.Defense: how you can say we have poor defense is beyond me. My defense is better than medium armor wearers and very very close to heavy plater healers.Buffs: I think our buffs are excellent in regards to defensive buffing, and that's what we specialize in.My educated guess is that they will remove the HoT component from the Effloresce insta heal line. Which is fine. On the other hand, if they touch NC itself, I will be angry.

[Darcn]

<P>Enegar - good points.</P> <P> </P> <P>My comment about defense was directly related to light armor - the worst of all priests.  I guess our agility buff kinda makes up for it.</P> <P>As for buffing, HP and AC are certainly not our strong point and personally I'd prefer either to STR.  But you right we're not bad, but I don't think that we're the best buffer of the priests - not even close.</P> <P>We get virtually no debuffs - I'd kill for an attack speed slow.</P> <P>All and all, I think we're medium buffers and mediocre at defense compared to the other priests, that's why I'm not sure having a bigger heal should be such a big deal.  </P> <P>Of course I'm not sure - that's why I asked the question in the first place.</P> <P> </P> <P> </P> <P> </P>

[KageMirai]

<DIV>We get our one debuff that lowers agility and speed (also get a group version of it).  Sure, we may not have the best armor being that we can only wear light but we can hold our own if we need to, Dust Cloud works wonders.  Our selling point is our heals and HoTs.  My Verdant Rapture at Adept 1 heals over 800 HP and gives a nice HoT that does nearly 200 a tick.  I can understand how that might be a little over powered being that a 50 inquisitor friend of mine, her big heal just heals for just over 800 I belive at Master 1.  I like our buffs and I always use Numbing Spores on the tank, has a chance to give a HoT when hit.  I don't know much about the comparison of our DoTs and DDs to the other classes.  I agree with Enegar with the fact that we specilize in defensive buffing.  Compared to the other classes though we're pretty much pure healers so that's our selling point.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>~Kashka<BR>Lucan D'Lere</DIV> <DIV>49 Warden</DIV>

[Tripper]

<P>Well, My wife plays a mystic level 37 and a good friend of mine is an inquisitor level 38..I, as a level 36 warden out heal, out solo and out dps them both.  Shaman do have some decent dots, but I can chain my nukes and ho's for more dmg.  I always prefer to have another healer just because it's nice.  I don't really care if I am the main healer or not, as long as the other healer understands that my heal+HoT's and my HoT's will keep just about any tank up for any 1-2 group stuff we do..so they don't need to heal unless the tank is below 40% or so :p  but that's just my play style.</P>

[Shennr]

<P>As far as the DPS and soloing goes, we were great in the 30's. There is no Upgrade to Summer's Flame though and the upgrade to frost at adept 3 barely does anymore dmg. Leveling up to 50 though priests have cought up to us and some passed us.</P> <P> I have 4 soon to be 5 pieces of lvl 50 armor, 2 other lvl 35 fabled armor, and the rest all rare made items and clerics in my guild still get hit for less then I do. The only thing that is really effective for us in soloing is our HoTs but the little dinky chloroplast does 168 per tick at adept 3 and have to rely on the instants to heal myself since HG stuns us when we keep it on ourselves. </P> <P>I am not a complainer though cause I have a warlock friend and we just duo everything.</P> <P>Our defensive buffs consists of Agi but furys troubadors and dirges all give more then us so we are not exactly specialized in that area. </P> <P>Our HP buffs give 1/3 as much as the clerics can give to the MT and I dont know how much AC they actually give either.</P> <P>Our debuffs consist of 44 agi debuff and an elem resist debuff that I can't get to stick half of the time because it is such a low lvl spell.</P> <P>The buffs that I do like are the ones that have like a 5% proc of healing a NC type of heal. Not the Instant heal but just the HoT that NC has. We have Tranquilizing spores, Spirit of the Oak, and Woodone's something or other which is a trait skill that all have a chance to proc it. That in my mind is one of the reasons why Wardens are so effecient. and it halfway makes up for our crummy Chloroplast. </P> <P>Our Instant heals are needed so that we can heal that extra HP that is hit when we dont have slows or HP/AC buffs that other priests specialize in. This is where we shine even though the proc heals dont stack, nor the Instant heals HoT's stack when we have to recast it. In fact the 2 big heals that we have that are not on the same timer both have the same HoT on it that makes it unstackable so making it even harder to achieve our max heal amount. However These heals are definitly made to Spot heal.</P> <P>Think of a raid instance or an encounter with AE's hitting the group. You want a quick instant heal on the player so they dont die in the next hit and an HoT to finish filling up their health while you focus on the MT. That is what I love about our heals, we can spot heal raids very effeciently.</P>