Effectively Using Wards

[mtru]

<DIV> <P><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=#cc0000 size=3>I know that wards will heal a small amount of HP back upon expiration.<SPAN>  </SPAN>I am pretty sure that if the ward has yet to expire and I put up another one there is no heal given to the target.</FONT></P> <P><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=#cc0000 size=3>Therefore, in general, should I let my wards run out so that they will use their heal or is it better just to keep the person warded and then renew it just before it runs out so they never take damage at all?</FONT></P> <P><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=#cc0000 size=3>I find myself re-warding prior to the 30 sec duration.<SPAN>  </SPAN>But I wonder if that is (generally deemed) a waste of power...</FONT></P> <P><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=#cc0000 size=3>Thanks,</FONT></P></DIV>

[paisan]

<DIV>Yes single target wards heal their remainder when the timer expires. (Group wards do not) </DIV> <DIV>You are also correct that if you recast the ward before the previous ward expires you will not get the "Kicker" heal.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Recasting wards before expiration IS a waste of power....</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>With that said... </DIV> <DIV>1-There is a nice feeling keeping your tank 100% in the green.</DIV> <DIV>2-If you are going to be down to the wire on power your wards will be gone long before duration.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>The compromise that i have come across is now that wards stack (damage is taken from them in a 1st come 1st served basis) cast your single ward and to maintain full coverage without wasting the kicker heal use a different ward such as your group ward.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>With all THAT said... 99.9% of the time power wont be much of an issue unless fighting raid content or pushing the limits of named mobs.</DIV>

[mtru]

<P>Ah, you know, that makes a lot of sense.</P> <P>Thank you</P>

[Sillililygirl]

I like to cast single target ward on my MT then cast group ward... Group ward goes and single target ward will heal the MT (usually :p).Also, sometimes it's hard to wait for a ward to actually wear off, especially with the long cast time on the group ward.<div></div>

[Purcupile]

<div></div><p>Is there a way to see or tell that a single target ward is about to expire or wear off?  It doesn't appear in the icons that show the different spells that are in effect on me.</p><p> </p><p>Purcupile</p>

[mtru]

<div></div><p>I know that when I cast a ward on someone it appears in my maintained spells list.  I can mouse over it and see how much time is left until it expires (it is also shown by shadowing, like skill recharge).  However there is no way that i know of to tell how much protection the ward can still offer.  therefore it can just go away (absorbed all it could) before the 30 timer ends.</p><p>As far as if it is casted on you, i am going to guess, no you cannot tell.  but to be honest i do not think i have ever tried to find out.  when i am not my mystic i tend to focus more on killing than anything else...</p>

[Purcupile]

<div></div><p>When i cast a group ward it appears in my maintained spell window.  I assume that is because I am part of that group and so that window is showing the spells that are in effect on me at any given time.  I also have some vague idea about how much longer any particular spell will remain as the icon gets shadowed as time progresses and the group ward icon will begin to flash as it is about to expire.</p><p>My question is...is there a way to tell how much longer a single target ward cast on ...umm say the MT, will remain on effect or even just when it drops.  I can see the little tiny icons that my target has on him, but I haven't seen the single target ward icon.  It might be there but they are so small and jump around so fast that I haven't found it.</p><p>This would really be helpful to me, as I have begun to believe I am spaming some of my wards and thus eating up my power sooner than I should be allowing it to.</p><p>Purcupile</p><p> </p>

[thedu]

<span><blockquote><hr>Purcupile wrote:<div></div><p>When i cast a group ward it appears in my maintained spell window.  I assume that is because I am part of that group and so that window is showing the spells that are in effect on me at any given time.  I also have some vague idea about how much longer any particular spell will remain as the icon gets shadowed as time progresses and the group ward icon will begin to flash as it is about to expire.</p><p>My question is...is there a way to tell how much longer a single target ward cast on ...umm say the MT, will remain on effect or even just when it drops.  I can see the little tiny icons that my target has on him, but I haven't seen the single target ward icon.  It might be there but they are so small and jump around so fast that I haven't found it.</p><p>This would really be helpful to me, as I have begun to believe I am spaming some of my wards and thus eating up my power sooner than I should be allowing it to.</p><p>Purcupile</p><p> </p><hr></blockquote>You can't tell duration with either one accurately whatsoever.  There are situations, when mobs are low enough or the tanks has really good Mitigation and/or Avoidance, that after a few fights you will be able to tell how long wards will typically last.</span><div></div>

[Terq]

<div></div><div></div><p>The maintained spell window will give you a pretty good idea about how much time is remaining on the ward.  However, it will not give you any indication about how many hit points remain on it.</p><p>Purc - do you have the maintained spell window open?  I think that it is alt-m or something like that (Don't quote me).  It is very helpful with maintaining debuffs/dots etc.  It will show you when a ward is going to time out, but like others have said before, there is no way to tell how many HPs are left on the ward. </p><p>Note that the maintained spell window is different from the buff effect window that you described above.</p><p>Message Edited by Terq on <span class="date_text">01-06-2006</span><span class="time_text">01:05 PM</span></p>

[Purcupile]

<div></div><p>I did not have my maintained spells open...never knew there was more than the buff effect window.  Occasionally, I have seen screen shots that I could see the maintained spell window, but I thought that somehow it was the buff effect window that had been split.</p><p>Saw thing from an entirely different perspective last night.   How did I ever get to the level I have being so ignorant?</p><p>Tremendously helpful.</p><p>Purcupile</p>

[Cyanrav]

<div></div><blockquote><hr>mtrubs wrote:<div></div><p> I can mouse over it and see how much time is left until it expires (it is also shown by shadowing, like skill recharge). </p><hr></blockquote><p>I actually have my maintained spell window on non-opaque so I can always see what my maintained spells are, for me, this REALLY helps when I'm laying down DOT's and wards on myself when solo'ing, I also think this helps when I'm grouped.</p><p> </p><p>Cyan</p>

[Samani]

<div></div><p>Ya once i started up my mystic alt i found out the magic of the maintained spell window. SK dont really care about that magey nonsense, we get hit in head, we not able to look at 2 windows at once.</p><p>One thing that really confused me at first was I thought my spells wheren't working for some reason half the time. Then i resized my window and saw all those other spells that had been hiding behind my group buffs <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p><p>As to the op's original question, I think its situational. If say i am in RoV with a tank not yet 30 i tend to try and keep my wards from dropping at least till i can get my str and attack speed debuffs to stick. That being said though you will still need to find the balance between safety and power, I found myself oop many a time trying to keep my tank alive before i got a better feel for my shammy.</p>