So tell me...

[Haz]

What exactly are we supposed to do in a group? I was thinking about making a Mystic but I'm totally confused on what we are supposed to do in a group. Do we just heal or use wards? Or something else? Can someone clear this up for me?

[Baccalarium]

Ward,  make tank say things like, "See these mobs aren't even hitting me,  I told you we didn't need a healer.    " Depending on what other spells you have (torpor rocks)  you may or may not have to supplement wards with a few heals. On harder content throw your debuffs on the bosses and get comments like "They must have nerfed this mob,   I sure remember it being harder." Unfortunately your debuffs don't show up in parses, and despite the fact you let your group bypass about 20% of the mobs hit points by use of stamina debuffs,  the group will never know. Melee spec'ed mystics seem to do well beating on the mob some while they're at it.

[Nilgiris]

<p>Mystics are so-so healers compared to Temps or Furies, but our main strength comes in our buffs (STR, STA), resist buffs and during fights debuffs. We can debuff attack speed, STA, DPS and more. We can also Ward the MT and group. We're good all around to have in a group.</p><p> Plus our ghost doggie can also cast beneficial spells on your group during fights.</p><p><b>Baccalarium</b> hit it on the nose with the parsing. The <b>main</b> things we do like debuff will never show in a parse so it may appear we do nothing but cast heals and wards. We're the rock of the group / raid though as I've heard many-a-raid-leader say that a Shaman in a group/raid makes all the difference -- especially on harder hitting named mobs or encounters.</p>

[SonnyA]

<p>A mystic does three things</p><p>1. Heal and cure</p><p>2. Buff and debuff</p><p>3. Beat the mobs to a pulp with their whacking sticks</p><p>Very valuable to any group.</p>

[Sojournsoul]

<p>So-So Healers?!  Obviously you're not playing your character correctly or have never played with a Mystic that knows how to play thier character. I would put us up against any other healer in any situation and bet we would come out on top.</p><p>Spiritkin, Level 70 Mystic</p>

[Finora]

<cite>SonnyA wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>A mystic does three things</p><p>1. Heal and cure</p><p>2. Buff and debuff</p><p>3. Beat the mobs to a pulp with their whacking sticks</p><p>Very valuable to any group.</p></blockquote><p>Precisely =) And we do those things quite well too.</p><p>I only know 2 healers (the characters themselves, not classes hehe) that can out heal me sometimes (one's a warden and one's a templar) but neither one can debuff how I debuff nor do they seem able to put the great healing numbers without loosing much DPS like I can. </p>

[Raji]

<cite>Sojournsoul wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>So-So Healers?!  Obviously you're not playing your character correctly or have never played with a Mystic that knows how to play thier character. I would put us up against any other healer in any situation and bet we would come out on top.</p><p>Spiritkin, Level 70 Mystic</p></blockquote> Shaman are only so-so healers. However, because of us, heals aren't ever needed--we mitigate near 100% of all damage.

[thedu]

<cite>Raji wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Sojournsoul wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>So-So Healers?!  Obviously you're not playing your character correctly or have never played with a Mystic that knows how to play thier character. I would put us up against any other healer in any situation and bet we would come out on top.</p><p>Spiritkin, Level 70 Mystic</p></blockquote> Shaman are only so-so healers. However, because of us, heals aren't ever needed--we mitigate near 100% of all damage.</blockquote> <img src="http://granades.com/images/wehastrouble/wehastrouble07.jpg" border="0"> 100%??!? [Removed for Content]

[Raji]

It was an attempt to be amusing. Wards don't actually heal, they negate damage......

[dieschatten]

The importan thing is to debuff the mob i think. You prevent much DMG when mob is contant debuffed. Than you can prevent the dmg from your Tank or group by Wards, the heals are crap <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> Than Bolster is cool for pull. 25% more Hitpoints is good because the tank becomes much more dmg at pull. When the mob is debufft from everyone in the group / raid the mob becomes easy. sorry when you dont understand my english but i think you would understand my german not 1 word ^^

[rvbarton]

<p>In group play, I alternate between warding the main tank, and debuffing...  </p><p> i.e.:</p><p>ward tank</p><p>debuff slow</p><p>ward group</p><p>debuff mitigation</p><p>ward tank</p><p>or some variation, depending on a mob.  Ideally, I would prefer a back-up healer to handle initial damage so I can concentrate fully on debuffing said "beastie".  Mystics are invaluable to groups/raids for their debuffs, but this isnt' to say we dont govern the playing field with our wards.  </p><p>I have played a mystic, a warden, and a templar, all to level 40, and I choose my mystic to continue playing.  Mystics just rule!</p><p>imho...</p>

[Ordate]

<p>There are so many factors to "what do you do in a group" no group is ever the same.  Even if you have the exact same make up of classes you could have different levels of combat arts/spells/equipment as well as where you hunt.</p><p>If I am in some place like mistmoore castle I do a lot of warding/debuffing/curing/and dps where I can, but the dps is an afterthought.  If I am say doing unrest, the tank isnt getting hammered or constantly loosing agro to the wizard, then I dps as much as I can.  If the tank is truely crappy, Ill [Removed for Content] off an add debuff it and tank it while tossing wards to whoever the other mob is on (the pug that I am thinking about when writing this, I and the wizard tanked most mobs - but we were both raiders and well geared)  So really it depends on the situation, what your gear is, what your groups gear is, and where you are hunting.  If you can dps without much loss to the group dps.  The most important thing to learn is when to do what.  And honestly there is no straight easy guide to such.  It is something that comes with time and experience.</p><p>Ordate</p>

[iduckie]

<p>Heh... Mystic posts have to be one the most amusing posts I've seen in awhile...</p><p><span style="color: #ff00ff">Out of all the healer classes I've played I think the Mysitc is awesome if you aren't a healer type person...Like me!</span></p><p><span style="color: #ff00ff">Okies our job in a group or any is to keep your group ALIVE!!! Yes just like any other healer class you'll play...AND ! YES we are a Healer type character and YES we DO Heal...</span></p><p><span style="color: #ff00ff">"Wards" are a temp buff  that absorbs a amout of damage that your target is taking.. When the buff falls it pop's a small heal ! poof!</span></p><p><i><span style="color: #ff00ff">(Most of us use Wards on the Person whom is tanking in our group.. But it's up to you whom you ward)</span></i></p><p><span style="color: #ff00ff">Also "Mystics"  heals leave the target with a short Hitpoints buff along with it's one tick Heal!</span></p><p><i><span style="color: #ff00ff">(Most of us use Heals to heal those whom are losing Hitpoints ./wink )</span></i></p><p><span style="color: #ff00ff">Shamans ARE well known for there Debuffs and of course along with here of so loved Buffs!!</span></p><p><i><span style="color: #ff00ff">(MOST!!! of us use Buffs to toughen up our groupmates, ourselfs and even our pets!!</span></i></p><p><i><span style="color: #ff00ff">Debuffs are often used on Rough n' Tough mobs to make them weaker)</span></i></p><p><span style="color: #ff00ff">Your job as a Mystic -</span></p><p><span style="color: #ff00ff">Buff, Ward, Heal  and mmm Debuff!!</span></p><p><i><span style="color: #ff00ff">Honset doesn't change much between solo'ing, grouping, raiding or even dueling if ya ask me..</span></i></p><p><i><span style="color: #ff00ff">Hope that helped a little itty bitty bit.. Let us know if you do decide to make a Mystic I'm sure we'll give ya some pointers <img src="/smilies/e8a506dc4ad763aca51bec4ca7dc8560.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></span></i></p>

[profe]

<cite>Sojournsoul wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>So-So Healers?!  Obviously you're not playing your character correctly or have never played with a Mystic that knows how to play thier character. I would put us up against any other healer in any situation and bet we would come out on top.</p><p>Spiritkin, Level 70 Mystic</p></blockquote> I second that. A top mystic simply outheals every other class! <p>I cannot stress this enough, but the secret to shaman healing is debuffing, debuffing, debuffing. Wards are first in line to reactives and straight heals. Therefore, the longer your wards last the more likely you are able to reapply new ones before the previous ones fall. And if your wards stay up enough, the other healers will look quite silly on the healing parse when you do more than the others combined.</p><p><i>Easy tip</i>: The most effective time to cast a stamina debuff is when the mob is at 100% health. This is because it takes away maximum health. If you wait until the mob has, say, 50% health remaining, taking away some of its maximum health does nothing because it will still have 50% of its original health after debuffing. It's just too bad that nifty priest nuke of 1 million health (stamina debuff on epic mobs) doesn't parse. <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p><p><i>Significantly advanced tip</i>: A way to increase the duration of your group wards (which helps to bridge the gap between reapplications) is to apply single wards to others likely to receive damage. Let us assume a perfect environment such that the MT always maintains hate. In this case the group ward then becomes an added bonus on top of the single ward for the MT. However, when others do get hit (and they will!) either directly or by AOEs they often do not have the same mitigation against that incoming damage. Your group ward falls so much faster when others are taking the damage! The ideal scenario is where the MT has 100% exclusive access to the otherwise public group ward, but you can only hope to accomplish this if the others are depleting their private single wards first.</p>

[Raji]

Its just a shame you simply have to maintain the stamina buff the whole time for it to be effective. Back before LU13, you could stamina debuff, do one damage, and then allow the debuff to fade. then HP would drop by like, 40%. Was an awsome trick. At this point, I wonder if mystics have enough power to actually keep up at upper end, cause I find myself dropping power FAST if I've got a group that needs heavy warding.

[Finora]

<cite>Raji wrote:</cite><blockquote>Its just a shame you simply have to maintain the stamina buff the whole time for it to be effective. Back before LU13, you could stamina debuff, do one damage, and then allow the debuff to fade. then HP would drop by like, 40%. Was an awsome trick. At this point, I wonder if mystics have enough power to actually keep up at upper end, cause I find myself dropping power FAST if I've got a group that needs heavy warding. </blockquote><p>I very very rarely run low on power. We are running with a couple more healers than we used to but even before they returned I rarely had power issues. We aren't hard core, high end raiders or anything but so far, I've not seen power as an issue at all.</p><p>As the sole shaman on raids I'm also perpetually keeping up debuffs as well as doing my MT healing and stuff.</p><p>I actually currently have the most power of any priest in my guild I think.</p><p>If are find you are using lots and lots of power, make sure you pick up some FT items and adornments. Use your manastone & vessel of fyrun. If you are a tinker keep some overclocked manastones on you (those things are pretty darn cool). Get some power regen potions, ifyou are in a guild that is high enough even buy one of those lore clicky power regen things. There are lots of options to keep you in the power. There are also the helms and the pants, neither of which I've been lucky enough to come across yet.</p>