Best choice for a melee/healer?

[Agas]

Hello all, I've been doing a LOT of reading and playing lately trying to find something that I enjoy.  I really want some form of a hybrid character, a character that fights with melee weapons but has magic to support and aid the fight. Now I have tried both a Shadowknight and a Paladin, and while they are fun (I actually can't decide between the two) I also want to try a healer based character as I have been hearing that Wardens and Mystics can be both be built as viable melee characters. I am looking to get some information, suggestions, feedback, etc on which way to go between Mystic and Warden. I will be soloing 90% of the time so what is important to me is to be able to experience as much of the game as I can with the character solo. I prefer questing to grinding. I like to explore and the ability to travel fast and SAFELY is important as well. I also like characters that are flexible and allow you to approach fights differently if one tactic isn't working.  Characters that essentially force you to press the same sequence of buttons for every fight even if you're losing don't interest me much.  I like to be able to die, then say "Hmm..ok how can I do this differently next time?"

[Kimage]

<p>forget Shaman if your going to solo - we have a very painful soloing expierence.</p><p> Wardens are capable soloers but the Fury is more dps oriented btwn the druids. Personally I love my Warden though and would never switch to a Fury.</p>

[Agas]

<cite>Kimage wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>forget Shaman if your going to solo - we have a very painful soloing expierence.</p><p> Wardens are capable soloers but the Fury is more dps oriented btwn the druids. Personally I love my Warden though and would never switch to a Fury.</p></blockquote> I tried a Fury early on and I didnt' like it being more casting focused.  I do want to be a at least non-laughable meleer, and my understanding is that Wardens can be somewhat decent in that department with the right AAs.  I also heard the same thing about Mystics which was why my interest in the Shaman as well.

[Arielle Nightshade]

Try an Inquisitor.   Thank me later.  <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

[Veedublya]

Nod Arielle, Inquisitors are the best healer melee dps

[Arielle Nightshade]

<p>Also, I just completely love the lore of being an Inquisitor.  You can really flesh out an RP character with that class.   I betrayed from 62 to 70 to try Inquis, but like Templar buffs for raiding (personal choice...there is NOTHING wrong with Inquisitor abilities or buffs...) so betrayed back.</p><p>The DPS was incredible.  I watched a guildmate...probably one of the best played PvP Inquisitors I'd seen...completely pwn a very surprised Warden - who was not very used to losing a 1v1 duel.   I also dueled an excellent PvE Inquis in a duel that lasted for a solid half hour.   It boiled down to who had that last little bit of power left.</p><p>Once you have the melee AA's you will be very pleased with a soloing Inquis.....until you get those, though, DPS is Cleric-like..meaning DPS isnt a Cleric's forte.  From the standpoint of having a PvP Defiler, too, I heartily suggest that you don't roll one of those unless you are fairly sure of a constant group..or don't mind leveling reeeeel sloooow.</p>

[Agas]

Arielle Nightshade wrote: <blockquote><p>Also, I just completely love the lore of being an Inquisitor.  You can really flesh out an RP character with that class.   I betrayed from 62 to 70 to try Inquis, but like Templar buffs for raiding (personal choice...there is NOTHING wrong with Inquisitor abilities or buffs...) so betrayed back.</p><p>The DPS was incredible.  I watched a guildmate...probably one of the best played PvP Inquisitors I'd seen...completely pwn a very surprised Warden - who was not very used to losing a 1v1 duel.</p><p>Once you have the melee AA's you will be very pleased with a soloing Inquis.....until you get those, though, DPS is Cleric-like..meaning DPS isnt a Cleric's forte.</p></blockquote>Ok I have to say that an Inq was the last thing on my mind when I was trying to work out a melee/healer.  I'm surprised, but i'll definitely take a look.  Though I have to admit that I was leanign towards a Warden because thier utility side would make exploring much nicer which is something I like to do.

[Arielle Nightshade]

<p>If you think you are going to primarily solo...Warden is VERY nice to be able to get around Norrath quickly.  With portals and Spirit of the Wolf, you don't spend a lot of time riding around or waiting for the boat.</p><p>That said...riding around and waiting for the boat...is where a LOT of cool things can happen, and you can see a lot of the game you might otherwise miss if you didn't have to ride (or run) through some of those areas.</p><p>The nice thing about both classes is you can level one to 20ish fairly quickly, and see what you think.  Heck, you can even have BOTH!  <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p>

[Valena]

<p>The thing that keeps me playing my melee Fae Warden is that it is fun. Being able to zip around at 60% runspeed, jump off cliffs and portal to get anywhere quickly is just too good to give up. I also love the melee part: doing T7 Writs I tend to round up 5-6 Gorgs at once and go mad. There's very little risk and it's very satisfying to take on so many in one go. Root and nuke is just so boring compared to that. I have stoped levelling my 70 Conji as it takes so long to get anywhere to do quests / hand in quests / get next part etc.etc. compared to the Warden.</p><p>Travel is very safe. We can train just about anywhere with our runspeed and mitigation buffs, plus the emergency heals in case we do take too much damage. Worst case we can evac and start again. </p><p>We also have great soloability. Our mitigation means we can happily get beaten on as our Spores heals us and damage sheild kills the mobs. We also get less interrupts as we wear leather. Others mention Inquis but their plate must mean they get more interrupts on their heals when we do if being beaten on.</p><p>So we may not be the best dps, we may not bring the most to raids in terms of buffs, but I think that we are the most fun class to play.</p>

[Tash 1]

<p>For melee feel free to try out the templar class to. Clerics have a very different play style from druids but I enjoy my templar just as much as my fury.</p><p>Templar dps or not? <a href="http://youtube.com/watch?v=ChylLTTvj9A" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://youtube.com/watch?v=ChylLTTvj9A</a></p><p>/Hugs Tash</p>

[Oakum]

<cite>Veedublya wrote:</cite><blockquote>Nod Arielle, Inquisitors are the best healer melee dps</blockquote><p>Yep, I grouped with an inquisitor doing an EoF instance. The tank was decently geared and not much healing was required. Both me and him were mostly DPSing. He was regularly pulling aggro from the tank. Even going all out during a fight when he was AFK, I couldnt pull aggro meleeing. I do not remember the exact number from the parse but it was like a third or more DPS then what I was doing.</p><p>Now that is unbalanced IMO since both druid classes trade higher armor for leather to balance out us doing more DPS then clerics and shaman but thats not the concern of this thread. Inquisitor, the wardens wearing plate without regens FTW. </p>

[Veedublya]

<p>Im considering betrying my templar to an inquisitor, looks like a fun class to play</p>

[Arielle Nightshade]

<cite>Veedublya wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>Im considering betrying my templar to an inquisitor, looks like a fun class to play</p></blockquote><p>Do the betrayal then post back about how much you loved it..../snicker.</p>

[roces9]

Wardens are really *fun* to play. Sow, Evac and Ports make it easy to get around and withe the Melee AAs you can do some good damage and have chances to proc group heals and cool stuff like that. Definately a very competant soloer and a great healer.