Been gone for a few months... is it safe to come back?

[Grus]

I havent played since probably begining of March.  Main is a 24 Mystic.  Is it safe to play Mystics yet or should I look elsewhere?  In other words, have they done anything to fix us yet? 

[Terq]

<P>Short answer is no fixes yet, but at level 24, I doubt that you would see it yet.  </P> <P>Combat revamp is still supposedly in testing, and according to latest Dev comments, should go out to the test server soon (hopefully before update 13).  At that time, it has been stated that wards will take mitigation into account, and we "should" be in better shape.  </P> <P>If you are only level 24, I would say go ahead and play.  Combat revamp hopefully should be in place before you notice the shortfalls that are there currently.  </P>

[Banditman]

Many Mystics have managed to make it to 50, broken and all.  Play or don't. <div></div>

[Nature]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> Banditman wrote:<BR>Many Mystics have managed to make it to 50, broken and all.  Play or don't.<BR> <BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE><BR> <DIV>Yeah, but at what cost. Mystics eat power like a fat kind at a pizza buffet. Kills take forever, thus prolong the leveling process. I assure you, other classes can kill mobs faster than even the best geared mystics. Since haze version 2, dont expect to easly find a group. Plan to be LFG for hours on end. At 24 your best bet is to re-roll a templar.</DIV>

[Arfiniel]

<P>I disagree about rerolling, especially if he / she is only level 24.  As someone posted, by the time the OP levels to the level that there is a noticeable problem, the change will be ready to go into effect.</P> <P>And I felt the same way - that I was useless and should reroll yada yada - until recently.  As it turns out, there are so few level 50 mystics (quit out of frustration, rerolled, or just got a life <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> ) on my server that I find myself in high demand by the high-end guilds and heavily recruited even though I am guilded.  Ok sure they want me for the MT group for my buffs, and for debuffing, but just wait till my wards get fixed.  They will bow to me like the goddess I am !!!  :smileyvery-happy:  And if you think mystics are in demand now - broken and all - just wait till we're fixed.  Man I am getting so excited about the fix just sitting here typing about it.  If you go look at my previous mystic-related posts you'll see how down I was and constantly boo-hooing over this or that.  Now I'm excited.  There is a light at the end of the mystic tunnel.</P> <p>Message Edited by Arfiniel on <span class=date_text>07-15-2005</span> <span class=time_text>07:44 AM</span>

[Banditman]

<span><blockquote><hr>Nature wrote:<div></div> <blockquote> <hr> Banditman wrote:Many Mystics have managed to make it to 50, broken and all.  Play or don't. <div></div> <hr> </blockquote> <div>Yeah, but at what cost. Mystics eat power like a fat kind at a pizza buffet. Kills take forever, thus prolong the leveling process. I assure you, other classes can kill mobs faster than even the best geared mystics. Since haze version 2, dont expect to easly find a group. Plan to be LFG for hours on end. At 24 your best bet is to re-roll a templar.</div><hr></blockquote> Get in a group.  Do your Manastone Heritage. The only classes that kill significantly faster than a Mystic are classes from other Archtypes.  Within the Priest Archtype, we are right where we should be with respect to damage dealt.</span><div></div>

[Owlbe]

<DIV>Just a different opinion since mostly everyone is telling you to stick with it....</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I rerolled to a druid from my mystic (lvl 36) and the druid is superior in almost everyway.  Damage, healing, taking damage, & utility the druid is better.  Only maybe debuffing does the druid lack what the mystic has.  I have faith that Sony will fix things but as of right now the mystics are so far behind the druid and I'm not even going to mention how far shamans are behind clerics that shamans would need HUGE boosts to get them to par which I don't believe is going to ever happen.  I think the preists improvements and nerfs in the combat changes will effect all the healers as a group and boost them up and down accordingly but imo it won't be enough to balance shamans out or enough for my tastes anyways.  I think wards are a flawed concept that don't work well so IMO I say jump ship and reroll.  2-3 weeks will get you a nice druid/cleric or whatever you want to play of comparable level with casual playing.</DIV><p>Message Edited by Omegarhino on <span class=date_text>07-15-2005</span> <span class=time_text>02:42 PM</span>

[Nature]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> Banditman wrote:<BR><SPAN><BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> Nature wrote:<BR> <BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> Banditman wrote:<BR>Many Mystics have managed to make it to 50, broken and all.  Play or don't.<BR> <BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE><BR> <DIV>Yeah, but at what cost. Mystics eat power like a fat kind at a pizza buffet. Kills take forever, thus prolong the leveling process. I assure you, other classes can kill mobs faster than even the best geared mystics.<STRONG><EM><U> Since haze version 2, dont expect to easly find a group. Plan to be LFG for hours on end.</U></EM></STRONG> At 24 your best bet is to re-roll a templar.</DIV><BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE><BR>Get in a group.  Do your Manastone Heritage.<BR><BR>The only classes that kill significantly faster than a Mystic are classes from other Archtypes.  Within the Priest Archtype, we are right where we should be with respect to damage dealt.<BR></SPAN> <BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE> <P><STRONG><EM><U>Since haze version 2, dont expect to easly find a group. Plan to be LFG for hours on end.</U></EM></STRONG> I guess you missed that part of the post. So i would like to make that bold and underline it so everyone can see. I dont see myself at zero power and 20% health tapping a manastone for power when it would probably mean certain death. </P> <P>I can only guess you havnt used any dps parsers, becuase anyone that has will know what im talking about. Thats not between archtypes, thats within archtypes even. Ask any guildie or friend that has another healer type to kill some mobs with you and experiment some with a parser.</P><p>Message Edited by Nature on <span class=date_text>07-15-2005</span> <span class=time_text>06:37 PM</span>

[Strayker Lyteha]

<P>The way life has been for me I have learned to take what you get and go with it.  The number of people I see going on and on about the "problems" of the mystic is almost laughable.  It would be great if they would increase some of the benefits of the mystic, but I have made it all the way to level 34 and about to hit level 35 with my mystic with no notice of what the mystic is "missing".  </P> <P>If you came into the game with a pre-conceived notion of how the mystic should play then that is your fault for expecting too much.  I have read another post where people were calculating numbers and giving DPS or DOT rates.  Hmmm...I wonder if I would be level 34 if I had spent all that time doing all those calculations?  They were also comparing these numbers to EQ1.  Folks, this is EQ2....a total revamp of the game.  </P> <P>And in roleplaying thoughts, a moon exploded totally destroying Norrath and completely restructering the whole concept of life in the game.  Obviously, the explosion affected the stats on characters, but I can still solo with my mystic.  </P> <P>Get over yourselves and play the game with what you have or just don't play a mystic.  You would probably sit around and find things to complain about on every character though.  You probably go around counting windows on big buildings and complain that they aren't clean.  Nothing like a bunch of whiners that look for everything to complain about. </P> <P>I enjoy playing my mystic greatly and have been told many times that I play the best mystic people have ever grouped with.  I guess all the negative attitudes abound in your playing skills.  So, to help you learn the proper way to play a mystic.....attack from behind so you don't take parry damage, use one of each buff with different symbols (I use Olurans Ward, Ursine Elder, Spirit of Rhino, Runic Shield, and Prophetic Guard), use your wards instead of heals because preventing 750hp of damage is the same as healing for 750hp but the cost of power is much less to cast a ward than it is to heal for 750 HP.  Only use your heals in emergencies.</P> <P>When in group don't expense much power with your DOTs or DDs as those are mostly for you to use in solo encounters.  When you are in a group your primary objective should be to take care of your group with wards and heals and secondary objective should be to slow and debuff your enemies.</P> <P>If you are a secondary healer due to there being a cleric in group then you should throw in an occassional DOT, but always participate in the attack.  I know you may think you don't help much, but at 15 to 20 HP per hit in the course of a battle you will contribute around 200 hp of damage.  In a close battle that 200 hp could come in handy.  On top of that, with Runic Shield you get Blessed Weapon and with Ursine Elder you get Maul damages.  Those hit for 120 to 180 roughly and I have proc'd those as many as four times in a battle as well as Badger's Vitality buffs the entire group.</P> <P>Finally, let the warriors use their HOs and watch for your opportunity to cast a spell to aid in the HOs.  If they aren't using HOs then ask them to and if they don't then use your own.  Have fun playing a mystic and stop all the crying.  Find a character you love to play and figure out all the benefits of the character.  If you concentrate only on the negatives of anything in particular then you will only get negative results.</P>

[zaneluke]

Never had a problem playng my mystic. solo or group. Did all hert but lightstone, ghoulbane and mask. Have almost all of my spells at 50 up to adept III and master. never do anything but be in maintank group for raids. Just do not listem to people who never brought thier mystics up all the way...................................... <div></div>

[Nature]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> zaneluke wrote:<BR>Never had a problem playng my mystic.<BR><BR>solo or group. Did all hert but lightstone, ghoulbane and mask. Have almost all of my spells at 50 up to adept III and master. never do anything but be in maintank group for raids.<BR><BR>Just do not listem to people who never brought thier mystics up all the way......................................<BR> <BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE> <P><BR>I shelved my mystic at 36 when it started becoming apparent after haze version 2 that wards were broken or something was lacking with them. After Haze version 2 it really showed up when i would have to almost spam my ward or heals and be oop when grouped and being the only healer in group. Templars have NO problem being the only healer in a group, test it sometime. Most people dont have adept3's in there 30's. Most are busy grinding and the plat doesnt start coming till later in levels say mid 40's when i started working on my adept 3's. I have all my mem'd spells on 4 hotbars at adept 3 or better and i level'd my alt conjuror from 20 something to 50 when i shelved my mystic at 36 after haze version 2 was introduced. I also have an alt troubador thats level 40 now. I can tell you that with haze version 1 we didnt have to blow threw power on heals, wards or both and could focus on dps and the occasional heal hen soloing or grouped. Now yourwill spend lots of time soloing, harvesting, or tradeskilling, because you will be lfg for long periods of time. Dont listen to me. I have no clue what its like for a mystic at end game. But if you want a prespective from someone who shelved there mystic and has another archtype at end game and working on a second while still having the mystic shelved then thats your choice. Listen to someone else. I enjoyed my mystic during haze version one. I now find the game with haze version 2 going either slow, slow, or even slower. It gets boring, VERY BORING. Until the revamp combat changes or preist balancing is introduced i dont see it changing any. I still try to level my mystic from time to time and maybe some day will have it up to or near end game, but not at its current state.</P>

[Mystiq]

<span><blockquote><hr>zaneluke wrote:Never had a problem playng my mystic. solo or group. Did all hert but lightstone, ghoulbane and mask. Have almost all of my spells at 50 up to adept III and master. never do anything but be in maintank group for raids. Just do not listem to people who never brought thier mystics up all the way...................................... <div></div><hr></blockquote>Yeah I'm a MT group raid Mystic also, and life is good by those standards. Would I want to level up my Mystic from the beginning all over again, after all the changes that have happened since I dinged 50? Hell no. I have a lot of respect for any Mystics leveling up currently, or that have leveled up in the past few months. I see fewer and fewer on my server every day. </span><div></div>

[Geilt]

<div></div>I was disheartened and concerned with the mystic changes at first, but decided to keep playing. Now Im having great fun in raids, groups, two boxing my guardian and even soloing (Any priest owns in harclave solo I believe) <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />. Either way, its a playable class. There may be a lack of balance, and difficult times, but its a challenge and it has been great so far. It reminds me of rogues pre kunark and damage fix. There was 3 lvl 40 + rogues on Xegony back when i played EQ1.  All 3 of us hit 50 around the same time, and we were the only 50's for a long time. Felt good that you can have the skill to play a class in a game no matter what its status is. Unfortunatly when i moved to another server with my guild I rerolled and then my good old rogue got a major revamp but was left unplayed lol! Such is life, Stick with something and be commited, shows good character both in game and out. <div></div><p>Message Edited by Geilt on <span class=date_text>07-17-2005</span> <span class=time_text>08:41 PM</span>

[Dr^Ney]

I havnt once encountered people thinking twice about inviting me just because i am a mystic, and I dont encounter problems getting into pickup groups using LFG.I am currently lvl 44 and was in my 20'ies when the haze nerf set in.I must admit that killing mobs aint the fastest, but heck I am a healer i didnt expect to be able to kill fast. I have fun playing my mystic, if an upcoming patch makes my toon slightly better so be it. I know we burn power fast when playing the only healer, and that it's sometimes a problem. But this problem i didnt encounter until my late 30'ies. So if you are 24 go ahead and enjoy your mystic and hope for the combat revamp to hit in soon.

[Trathe]

<P>Well I have gained like 12 levels since the "Haze Nerf" to a total of 46 levels.  Mind you I have a slew of other alts (30 & 34 Paladins, 28 Coercer, 26 Guardian, 24 Swashbuckler, and 20 Wizard) so I guess I could of gotten some more levels.</P> <P>I am in Shadow Company whic is a RP and Raid centric guild on AB.  I play a mystic since well it gels with my RP psyche.  Ever since I saw dogdog in SP as a wee 18 warrior in EQLive I loved the shaman.  I just wished we had got dogdog instead of The Beave (sheesh what were you tinking SOE!!!).  I get in XP groups hardly as a solo healer unless the tank is a Paladin (we equal one healer then) or unless the tank is normally 2 or 3 levels higher than the mobs but then I am really not healing.</P> <P>It can be hard to get a pick up group rolling w/ just you to start in the mid to high 40's from my experience.</P> <P>I raid weekly and mainly spot heal and debuff and give the fighters and scouts a false sense of security with str buffs.  A big change did happen recently to me got Master 1 Transcedant Blessing and it heals for 842 that is only 20 less than Enlightened Healing 862 at Adept III for little under twice the power.  You may think what the heck so what?  In epic encounters it helps mana wise greatly (my guild is does not like to joust/time what ever you feel like calling it).  As long as there is more than 1 person who gets hit by the aoe which there will be this is a very mana efficient thing.  Mind ya just in Raids.</P> <P>I tell people that the Mystic class is a Love Hate relationship for me.  I love it most of the time but htere are times when I just wished SOE would speed up the balance changes.</P><p>Message Edited by Trathe on <span class=date_text>07-19-2005</span> <span class=time_text>11:24 AM</span>

[Grus]

Thanks for the responses... I have been back online for 4 days now and love the new Splitpaw expansion.  I guess I realized that I dont care if Mystics are "broken" now, I dont want to start over and am having fun playing him anyway.

[highlighter]

The good thing about being a Mystic is that you dont have to work as hard keeping the tank alive in a raid, that is what the templar is for. :smileyhappy:

[Nature]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> Dr^Ney wrote:<BR>I havnt once encountered people thinking twice about inviting me just because i am a mystic, and I dont encounter problems getting into pickup groups using LFG.<BR>I am currently lvl 44 and was in my 20'ies when the haze nerf set in.I must admit that killing mobs aint the fastest, but heck I am a healer i didnt expect to be able to kill fast. I have fun playing my mystic, if an upcoming patch makes my toon slightly better so be it. I know we burn power fast when playing the only healer, and that it's sometimes a problem. But this problem i didnt encounter until my late 30'ies. So if you are 24 go ahead and enjoy your mystic and hope for the combat revamp to hit in soon.<BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE><BR> <DIV>The problem here is you never knew exactly what we mystics were like prenerf with the HAZE line. You were fighting mobs in TS or Nek and wasnt a big deal so even if you had it just a level or 2 or 3 you wouldnt have known what it was like to go from being able to be the only healer in a group to going to the unwanted list overnight. The first haze spell you get is at 24. The end game mystics that where already in their mid to late 40's and those that are 50 probably stuck with the mystic regardless of the changes. I on the other hand took the oppertunity to level my alt and make it my main. I have 29 adedt3's and 4 masters and nice gear now and i took my alt from 20-50 when the haze nerf was introduced and your still at 44. That kinda sums up my arguement. Reroll a templar and you will get the benifits of there debuffs(which are now better than mystics now) and the mitigation of heavy plate armor and the good feeling knowing that templars are SoE's favorite subclass and SoE will always keep ever other subclass to at least equal to or below the templar.</DIV>

[Karlen]

>>>Combat revamp is still supposedly in testing, and according to latest Dev comments, should go out to the test server soon (hopefully before update 13).  At that time, it has been stated that wards will take mitigation into account, and we "should" be in better shape. <<< Any idea if this will be a straight "take mitigation into account" or will they be rebalancing how much we can ward for?  The reason I ask is that I often let wizards tank as they are pretty good at holding aggro (due to high DPS).  With a non-mitigation ward, it doesn't really matter who tanks as long as only one person does.  "Taking mitigation into account" might not help much when you are warding a wizard. On the other hand, warding fighters could become much more effective... <div></div>

[Banditman]

As just a guess, I'd say Mages will need to continue to be cautious or face the consequences. <div></div>