Been Thinking

[Bithnar]

I have been thinking about making either a Fury or a Warden.  Talk to me.  What is great about the Warden class?  What can furies do that you wish wardens could do?  What can Wardens do furies cant?

[Isard]

<p>I believe the rapid response to your post may say it all.</p><p>Wardens are good healers.  Maybe not THE best, but almost.  We have a few decent buffs. And ummm... well, did I mention we heal really well?  As compared to a Fury I don't know.  I've never played a Fury.  They smell funny, like a litter box.</p>

[redde]

Furies are excellent soloers because they have pretty high dps as well as the ability. A fury's healing is slightly under par compared to most of the other healers, but to compensate for this their dps is off the radar (again, compared to other priests).

[Valena]

<p>I wish I had Hibernate .. it seems like a "free" heal to me as you cast before combat and it procs after 10 (?) sec of so whilst you are getting beaten on.</p><p>Our Mitigation buffs make us good soloers - we can go toe-to-toe with most mobs as we have much better mitigation than our leather would suggest, plus the extra avoidance from lighter armour means we don't get interrupted too much.</p><p>Spores and our damage shield mean we can jump into groups and enjoy getting beaten on - the mobs heal us and harm themselves.</p><p>Melee - GREAT fun! You can't beat seeing a Fae with a great big 2 handed hamma dealing mayhem!</p><p>We are also good healers if you have reasonable reactions. I'm always in the top 3 in raids and often first, it just depends on what you are fighting. I've tried all 3 healer archetypes and find the Druid most fun, but I do envy the Defiler debuffs.</p>

[Veedublya]

<p>Personally I like wardens better than furies, i dont have a fury myself but my RL buddy does and have played his fury a decent amount and i'm not impressed.</p><p>Solo'ing: We are almost equal in my opinion. The difference i noticed between the two is wardens are not as powerful as fury's so they will burn down the mob way faster, but warden's are much more defensive with our AGI buff, can up our mit by what? almost 500 with our AA? add sandstorm to that and we will get hit a hell of alot less than a fury so we wont need to heal as much. Also wardens have hands down the best roots in the game, the one thing that sets wardens apart from furies is we can farm nameds like a [Removed for Content] wizard, I farm alot in Bonemire and ToS and my fury buddy has to tag along with me cuz he cant root/nuke worth crap so he has to bum off of my roots, i know my fury buddy wants to betray to a warden just for that reason alone.</p><p>Raiding: Warden's definately have more powerful heals then fury's, however they make up for it with better dps buffs for their grp and their dps. Furies can be put in any and fit in perfectly where as wardens are more of an MT/OT healer. Furies can also dps far more than wardens, furies in my guild can <u>consistantly</u> parse 1500-1700 dps as where wardens can do 600-800. Sure you may hear a warden on here saying he can dps over 1k, but not consistantly, that was a 20 sec multiple trash mob fight.</p>

[Kaku99]

<p>From a healing perspective, Furies are roughly equivalent to wardens.  Spkie damage is where Furies shine.  They can deal with large health drops better than any other priest class.  During the few, long drawn out battles, Warden healing is superior.  </p><p>Soloing, Furies can do significantly more overall damage than Wardens can.  Against single mob encounters, Wardens can compete with Furies.</p><p>From a buff perspective, Furies can make a DPS caster group much more effective with their group intelligence boost.  Warden's group buff wouldn't be missed much (wisdom) as higher level players already have pretty good resists.</p><p>At this point in time, Wardens are in need of a fix.  We were overlooked in the EoF AA department while other priest got something that actually made them better players.</p><p>If I were starting a druid today, I'd pick Fury.  From a raid perspective, druids don't stack well.  A Fury is more versatile than a Warden.  The melee option is often not viable as mobs have AoEs and the raid leader doesn't want healers in range.  Furies can still contribute significant damage from a distance.</p>

[Bloodfa]

Furies deal more damage.  Wardens heal better.  Furies get Pact of the Cheetah, enabling them to run away from a group if they're going to get whaled, Wardens get an Evac.  Furies get an Invis spell, group-wide, Wardens get .... did I mention we get better healing? <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />  Sorry, running joke between my boss and me; he has a Fury and I've got a Warden.  As for them not stacking in a raid well, I can't comment on that, as it's an alt of mine and not that high, but when grouped, taking on white-con freeps 2-to-3, we usually win.  I say it's because my heals keep us alive while he tries to act like a wizzy. <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

[Chay]

I play both, though my Fury is significantly lower in level. I prefer the Warden at the moment simply because of my play style and the fact that my Fury isn't grown up yet. I think Furies got a little more love and therefore are a bit more Raid oriented. Their healing is supposedly on par with the Warden's. Fury heals are nice for spike damage but aren't as efficient as a Warden's. Warden heals require watching the ebb and flow of the damage. Get distracted and you could be in trouble. I prefer evac, just because I'm use to it and gets me else where right now. I wish I had a mobile invis (but wish that on every class I play). I wish I had some nice group buffs or strong debuffs. I wish I had a better spike damage countermeasure (spike damage+lag+long casts=someone hurting). On both... I wish the damage shield didn't get me beat up. Its annoying. I wish there was a spell that reduced hate which didn't cause more hate. And I never have liked the name Warden. But I'm funny like that.

[Veedublya]

Fury's group invis is pointless, any class can go buy an invis totem with 5 charges for 1g. And i would gladly take 45% SoW over pack of the cheetah.

[ca]

<p>I had a warden, got up to level 45 and took a break from him for a while to level some of my many alts, when I got back there where no groups to be found so I betrayed to fury so I could solo him up, this is all pre EoF. I soloed him up to 59 and enjoyed it, he was a beast soloer and could take on huge groups of blues for mass killing, animal form was used so much it became ridiculous and I got a real nice fast scimitar to proc the heals as much as possible.</p><p>After a bit at 59 though I started to realize that there were more furys than necros running around and it was becoming hard to find groups as the main heal (I prefer to main heal, and yes Furys can MH just as well, but too many trying to be wizards have created a bad public perseption), anyway I betrayed back to Warden and WOW, I can't believe how bad [Removed for Content] the warden is now, I could always root/nuke but now I can tank, no seriously, I have tanked for 6 groups in the last 3 days, I even did a better job than a monk freind 2 levels higher than me. I found a real high hitting 2 hander, I believe max damage is 246, crits for around 300-400 per swing, ON AUTO ATTACK. I have all the CA's maxxed with the 75% crit chance and the str line set at 4488 so that adds 40% double attack and the heal proc, plus some haste items. The sloooow delay on my club makes it crit almost every single time and I am casting CAs between the swings, my AOE swing does over a thousand damage per target, my other CAs crit for over 800 and I rarely ever see a not crit hit come from them, my spores now proc constantly with the added AA. </p><p>Basically, I am happier with the melee warden as a soloer than I was with my fury caster, I have waaay more survivability, I dont have to worry about interupts and I do a ton of damage, CAs cost less than spells in money and mana, between spores, grove and heal proc from weapon I can basically ignore healing myself when solo and just pay attention to killing an entire trees worth of droags as I grind writs, all at once. Toss me in a group and anyone that has ever been with me will tell you that I can handle my business, as a Fury or a Warden, yes Furys do better spike healing, however between manastone and group HoT I can keep almost all of my mana without any breaks, except during high con nameds, then I blow my mana pretty quick, but no one dies.Ever.</p>

[Oakum]

<p>In my mind the big differences between the priest/dps hybrids (druids) are amount of healing and dps types between classes. We can heal slightly more then a fury but they can handle spike damage much better.  Most wardens use melee (imo) to achieve their dps (although some still nuke) and fury's use use nuke DPS. </p><p>Fury's are currently able to do a whole lot more dps with less effort then wardens BUT with a RoK coming out in november I expect/hope that imbalance will be fixed. Our melee should be able to equal a fury's nuke dps in the same proportion that the fury can heal as well as a warden. </p><p>Now to break it down to more indepth here is what I think from seeing fury post and talking to furys and looking at the parsers ect.</p><p>For solo we are pretty much equal with wardens having better mit then fury's due to self buffs so wardens survive longer when getting hit but fury's just don't have to worry about as much since they killl a lot quicker and thier root can make it so they do not have to take hits like our meleeing does. </p><p>In groups we are pretty much equal too with the exception of them handling spike damage better and us being more power efficient.</p><p>In raid wardens are MT group healers pretty much. We can be in other groups but all the other priest have equal (templer) or better (all other priest) DPS group buffs/debuffs then wardens. Fury's can replace the warden in the MT group or be in a DPS group (prefered). </p><p>Other things. </p><p>Fury deaggro is an AOE snare, snares do not slow mobs down much so it can only be used for that since if soloing they would then have to still outrun the mobs which Pact of the Cheetah makes a piece of cake. In a group or raid the mobs beating on them will head to the next person on the aggro list.</p><p>The warden deaggro is a AOE root. Useful to give the warden a running head start or emergancy crowd control while solo but in groups or raids the mobs will beat on whoever is closest when rooted so if the warden does not move then he/she will die anyway or another dps/priest who does not move after its used will become the target. </p><p>For movement spells. Wardens get out of combat SOW which can be AA upgraded to 45% and evac. Fury's get in combat PotC and invis (money saver for totems, lol). </p><p>In game druid gear with str/wis is lacking as well as the oversight of wardens can not use 2 handed swords but fury's can use one. Most druid geat is int/wis orientated so seems to support the fury class better or the wardens that can not get the CA line yet or just prefer over all lesser nuking DPS(which is good for farming 3up high lvl named) and its safety factor over the more dangerous higher DPS of using CA's. </p><p>That is a few things I can think of. </p>

[Arielle Nightshade]

<p>I've played pretty much all the healers to some decent level.  Currently I have 2 70 wardens, 70 defiler and 70 templar.   The templar was an inquisitor throughout most of her 60's..betrayed back.</p><p>Warden is the most fun class of the bunch, IMO - even including Fury.    So much about your request of discussing pros and cons of the class really depends on what you want from your gaming experience.   I like Warden in PvE because of the overall healing output and power efficiency.  In PvP, Warden is just plain ol' fun - the utility in that environment means you have a lot of survivability - which means more overall fun fights.</p>

[xandez]

<cite>cavv wrote:</cite><blockquote> <p>I can tank, no seriously, I have tanked for 6 groups in the last 3 days, I even did a better job than a monk freind 2 levels higher than me. I found a real high hitting 2 hander, I believe max damage is 246, crits for around 300-400 per swing, ON AUTO ATTACK. I have all the CA's maxxed with the 75% crit chance and the str line set at 4488 so that adds 40% double attack and the heal proc, plus some haste items. The sloooow delay on my club makes it crit almost every single time and I am casting CAs between the swings, my AOE swing does over a thousand damage per target, my other CAs crit for over 800 and I rarely ever see a not crit hit come from them, my spores now proc constantly with the added AA. </p><p>Basically, I am happier with the melee warden as a soloer than I was with my fury caster, I have waaay more survivability, I dont have to worry about interupts and I do a ton of damage, CAs cost less than spells in money and mana, between spores, grove and heal proc from weapon I can basically ignore healing myself when solo and just pay attention to killing an entire trees worth of droags as I grind writs, all at once. Toss me in a group and anyone that has ever been with me will tell you that I can handle my business, as a Fury or a Warden, yes Furys do better spike healing, however between manastone and group HoT I can keep almost all of my mana without any breaks, except during high con nameds, then I blow my mana pretty quick, but no one dies.Ever.</p></blockquote>Sounds so familiar... i used to tank instances when we trioed with my SK and Monk friends... no need to worry about aggro then, just all in and off you go <img src="/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> Of course the SK and monk were much better tanks, but its still viable <img src="/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> ++Xan

[MysidiaDrakkenbane]

We are the most cost effective healers. Low cost healing spells and all of them have HoT ability. You might give up some DPS because of it, but ask any melee warden how well they parse.

[Avanya]

<p>Let me preface my comments by saying that I played a druid for 6 years in EQ1 before coming to EQ2.   I also played a cleric for raids when needed so I came to EQ2 knowing how to play a healer.  I lost interest in my monk and decided to try a healer again.  I talked to lots of people about it, got advice from a guildie fury and decided to go ahead and make a fury.  She was loads of fun to solo and group with although never the group healer since we have so many templar/inquisitors in our guild.  The AE spells are awesome as are the single nukes and encounter AE nuke.  The dmg is definintely there.  The melee buff is great....one monk in particular used to ask for it all the time.  Casters loved me for the int/powe buff.  Hibernate is an awesome delayed heal and Back to the Fray is nice giving double the heal when the group mate is below 50% health.  All was fun and games and I hit 70 finally.  At this point I started solo healing groups more and being put in the caster group on raids.  Yep, furies are great for spike dmg......but</p><p>I didn't feel like a *real* healer.  I wasn't impressed with my ability to keep a group going.  Yeah, I could do it, but I felt like I had to constantly scramble to do it.  Also, what I wanted when I started out was a *healer*, NOT a nuker who throws heals on the side.  I wanted to be able to heal a group with confidence in any instance we might want to go to.  Sooo, I made a warden alt, got frustrated because I knew I'd have to level her up pretty high in order to compare so I'd stop playing her.  This went on for a while and finally I was unhappy enough with my fury as a healer that I figured I'd just betray and become a warden.  After all, I had almost a full set of the legendary set already and lots of really nice other items.  Had a bunch of plat just sitting there to buy all the adept III's so I went for it.</p><p>Now I am a 70 warden and I am thrilled.  And no offense to furies everywhere because I DO know that they are an awesome class, but wardens DO heal better, period.  I have full confidence every time I heal a group now that I'll keep everyone going.  I find that I hardly EVER run out of power since warden healing seems to be more power efficient.  The tree and spores are just awesome as are all the hot's.  I just love to watch the tank's health going UP as he's getting beat on (with me just standing there watching and not lifting a finger hehe).  The difference is huge.  Even guild mates have commented and complimented me on what a different it is with me healing them as a warden.  I was the first person to argue back in my fury days that we could heal just as well, but I was wrong.  And I had to tell one person that after everything, he was right from the beginning about wardens <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />  The melee choices are pretty cool too, kind of something different and fun in a druid.</p><p>So....what do you want from your druid?  Both are excellent classes.  Do you want to nuke and do a lot of dps?  Do you want to be a more dedicated healer?  It's really personal preference.  Pick the style that makes you happy.  That's what I did and now I'm enjoying the game much more.</p>

[Larsbohnstedt]

<p>I'd like to /salute our humble spores.. if you've ever scrutinized a heal parse, you'll know why. </p><p>Got the master version as soon as I could, tossed some AA into them (although this may not be needed, not really sure) and have been cashing in on it ever since. They're the best.</p><p> *hugs the spores*  </p>

[Oakum]

<cite>Larsbohnstedt wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>I'd like to /salute our humble spores.. if you've ever scrutinized a heal parse, you'll know why. </p><p>Got the master version as soon as I could, tossed some AA into them (although this may not be needed, not really sure) and have been cashing in on it ever since. They're the best.</p><p> *hugs the spores*  </p></blockquote><p> Just be aware that if it procs on a body pull it will give you aggro just like a reactive or ward will. The good thing is that with our self mit buff I usually live long enough for the tank to get his taunt off and get it back when it happens. </p><p>It doesn't happen that often since it is a small percent chance it goes off but enough to notice. </p>

[Arielle Nightshade]

<p>Spores proc a fair distance away, too - or did.   I was heading to join a group (we'd already buffed in town, I was delayed)...when I got in the zone, the tank was getting hit, and spores were healing him.  (This was the distance from the Docks in SS to the top of the overlook - you take the TT rug and jump).    So that's kind of a bonus too.</p><p>In PvE, usually ...the spores go on the tank.  In PvP - they go on ME.  <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p>

[Eugam]

I have a 70 warden and a 70 mystic. And nothing on this world could make me change this <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> A well equiped and spec'ed warden is the last healer who runs out of power. Back in the old days the warden was a pure healer and boring soloer. Since we have AA and can spec melee we are even better healers and fun soloers. And only the warden gives me the feeling like i could fill the whole zone with healpower <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />