Just started playing again, need some help.

[Hagga]

Hello. Haven't played for 2 years. I have a level 50 Warden I want to play again.She will be grouping with my 33 Swashbuckler.I am only concerned with healing, buffing, and debuffing.I have a couple questions.Is the awful agro problems still in the game? Used to be my Warden always ended up getting agro all the time.Maybe I'm not remembering correctly but I thought there used to be one of the Warden spell choices that was available nowhere else I think it was a choice at level 34.What AAs should I be taking considering I will never be solo and will only be in groups? Why don't I look like a wolf anymore? I remember 2 years ago everyone wanted not to look like a wolf but I miss it.Can you please give me some tips on how to get the most out of my Warden?Thanks

[xandez]

<p>imo aggro probles as they were close to beginning are now gone... atleast i usually dont have any problems </p><p>if your gonna duo with your swashie, you mentor i assume, the it maybe would be best for you to tank? Wardens get pretty decent mitigation and scouts do better dmg from flank/back</p><p>AA lines... well, gonna be lazy and ask you to search through these forums, since there are many many discussion about AA:s and what is good for what etc...  i personally love the melee AA:s and imo, they are quite nice even if you dont solo. If you like spell casting more, then pick those AA:s accordingly. There really isnt that much choice to be honest... just pick what you feel best to you. If it doesnt feel right, just respec and try something else.</p><p>The wolf thingy... you propably have the /hide illusion on... hit your persona screen and look if the box is checked, im pretty sure it is if you dont appear in your wolf form.</p><p>How to get most of your warden... imo, is to enjoy playing it! <img src="/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />Seriously, you really cant mess up AA:s, atleast permanently... so feel free to play with em some. Also, if you get decent gear updates and spell updates (lets say at least ad3 for the important ones) then you on the money!</p><p>++Xan</p>

[Hagga]

Thanks for the reply.I spent some time today browsing the forums. I've seen some posts making it sound like Wardens are almost broken now?I used to be a raid healer and was always in the main tanks group, of course after 2 years I can't remember why, but Wardens were in great demand. Are we not needed anymore? I have been reading about Warden AAs the last couple days but most people are talking about AAs to help a Warden solo. I didn't know if there were specific AAs that would be best to help with Wardens being better healers.I've never used this Warden as a tank she was leveled to 50 with my Paladin as tank so was going to use the Swashy as tank and Warden as the added DPS and healer like I have been doing with my 40 Templar.I like my Templar to duo with my 40 Guardian but the Templar reactives do not seem to work good with the Swashy.

[Fromingo]

<p>Wardens are not broken.  We rock for healing solo and groups and even raids.  The only problem with raids is healing is not all that matters when high end guilds choose group set up.  They like healers that can contribute awesome buffs/debuffs/dps.  Wardens don't really have awesome raid buffs,  nor killer debuffs and our DPS is nice but there are other healers with better DPS.   Wardens really had a lock on 1 MT group slot but recent hate changes made many guilds want more aggro there instead, for all but named fights, so many wardens are finding they sit more. </p><p>Good group AA's are str, agi or stam lines IMO.   Warden lines that are good are Renewal, Wardens lines with 5 points in Enhance Spirit of Wolf from movement lines.   The movement line might be good too for enhanced roots for crowdcontrol but I don't have it and my roots work fine for CC in groups when I rarely need to CC that is.  </p>

[Skivley101]

<p>Ya swashie probably not the best choice to duel box with the warden , But if your really set on doing it & tanking with your swashie , Then the str line on the druid tree for the heal proc ... switch to warden tree, take spores and bat upgrade, Then the Trauma cure for boosting mit maybe put enough to get the group cure enhance. </p><p>But like Xan said , If the warden is mentoring , would probably be a better tank up to the point the swashie stole the agro. You could make it work , but it will be more work than a different combo IMO.  </p>

[MullenSkywatcher]

<p>Fromingo is right, the warden class isn't broken, its just not as useful on EoF raids as other healers.  Group, Solo, and KoS raids and below are fine.  You won't steal aggro from your swashie if you play it right, go down the buckler line (AGI) on your swashie, you'll get double attack to compensate your DPS and be able to tank fine duo, swashies get taunts as well as detaunts, so you have a lot of flexibility.</p><p> My recommendation for all PvE boxers is to go STR/STA in the KOS lines as that gives you a nice boost in melee dps and healing (group heal proc on 4th STR line is significant).  EoF lines you should match the combat art tree to the bottom with 75% crit chance, increased SoW, spores, spirit of the bat, and then it wont really matter where you put your points as the EoF AA lines are subpar for PvE after that.</p><p> This is one setup that a lot of wardens go but you can alter it and/or respec if you find you want to change to another line.  The reason I recommend this setup for boxers is that you wont be able to root/nuke easily unless you use your bow on the swashie, which is a waste imo.  Having the group heal proc off your auto attack, switching to dump your CA damage on the warden and then switching back to swashie makes it easier while boxing, and swashies don't have as many positional attacks as say a brigand, making it closer to a standard tank/healer setup, also easier to box.</p><p> Don't get down on the warden class for soloing or grouping.  Its only EoF raiding that I feel wardens don't make the grade and that opinion isn't shared by everyone.</p>

[Arielle Nightshade]

<p>Also, if you stopped at 50, that was about the Dreaded Combat Revamp (tm)...when it WAS broken.   Only a very few Wardens alive today said they loved it - the rest of us cried then started Parsing and beating Devs up.  Ok, not me, I wasn't parsing, but I was cheerleading the parsers and offering 'well it seems like...' and cookies while they worked.  (hey, some people play 'well it seems like...'!!!)  </p><p>I think you've probably already seen how much nicer it is.  We were, in part, listened to for fixes.  We still have some issues and a giant RoK Wish List - but by and large, the class is really fun to play.  </p><p>Templar and Swash isn't an impossible combination, but you are healing in a way that Swashes don't get hit.  If you are going to 2 box that - tank with your Templar and DPS with the Swash is my advice (I have a 70 Templar, I can tank a lot better than I can heal someone with reactives that isn't really getting hit...but when they do /whistle...)   </p><p>There is a thread with a similar issue on the Templar forums - not sure if you are the author.  Kendricke offers a really good strat for that duo, if you want to take a look at it.   Like I said, not impossible, but there are some duos much easier than that one.</p><p>Welcome back to The Pack! </p>

[Hagga]

Yes it was me that made the post in the Templar forums and there were a lot of good tips in there.Since Monday was a holiday I started 2 boxing my Warden and Swashy exclusively.The is a far better match with the Swashy.I started killing named mobs in Varsoon with my Templar I would almost die every time then while fighting a named with 6 skellies in the group I died. I grouped with my Warden and it was an easy kill. I have only come close to dying once since Monday and it was when 3 group ^^^ eyes in Runneyeye attacked me.Perhaps I'll use my Templar when I start leveling my Guardian but for now with my Swashy it will be my Warden all the way.The only problem I have is deciding where to put my AA first I did the movement increase now I'm doing increased spirit of the bat.

[Skivley101]

<cite>Hagga wrote:</cite><blockquote>Yes it was me that made the post in the Templar forums and there were a lot of good tips in there.Since Monday was a holiday I started 2 boxing my Warden and Swashy exclusively.The is a far better match with the Swashy.I started killing named mobs in Varsoon with my Templar I would almost die every time then while fighting a named with 6 skellies in the group I died. I grouped with my Warden and it was an easy kill. I have only come close to dying once since Monday and it was when 3 group ^^^ eyes in Runneyeye attacked me.Perhaps I'll use my Templar when I start leveling my Guardian but for now with my Swashy it will be my Warden all the way.The only problem I have is deciding where to put my AA first I did the movement increase now I'm doing increased spirit of the bat.</blockquote><p>How many AA's do you have? (im just wondering since your 50) you should go run discoveries/mentor names .... for a few hours if nessacary...turn combat xp off.</p><p>15-20 will get you placed into or towards a nice ability ....</p><p>to get the str line auto heal maxed is 21 pts ... which would be the best thing for duel boxing imo.</p>

[Oakum]

<cite>xandez wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>imo aggro probles as they were close to beginning are now gone... atleast i usually dont have any problems </p><p>if your gonna duo with your swashie, you mentor i assume, the it maybe would be best for you to tank? Wardens get pretty decent mitigation and scouts do better dmg from flank/back</p><p>AA lines... well, gonna be lazy and ask you to search through these forums, since there are many many discussion about AA:s and what is good for what etc...  i personally love the melee AA:s and imo, they are quite nice even if you dont solo. If you like spell casting more, then pick those AA:s accordingly. There really isnt that much choice to be honest... just pick what you feel best to you. If it doesnt feel right, just respec and try something else.</p><p>The wolf thingy... you propably have the /hide illusion on... hit your persona screen and look if the box is checked, im pretty sure it is if you dont appear in your wolf form.</p><p>How to get most of your warden... imo, is to enjoy playing it! <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY<img src="/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />" width="15" height="15" />Seriously, you really cant mess up AA:s, atleast permanently... so feel free to play with em some. Also, if you get decent gear updates and spell updates (lets say at least ad3 for the important ones) then you on the money!</p><p>++Xan</p></blockquote><p>The fun of LU-13. lol. I remember it and I will say that after we were overnerfed and the fixed a few times the balance was pretty good in t6 between all priest. Druids did more damage then other healers but had much less useful group buffs them clerics and shaman.  Fury's could do slightly more DPS then Wardens and Wardens could heal slightly more then Fury's. </p><p>Since the last two expansions and aa trees that has changed though. Wardens can heal more then other healers because we are more mana efficient and are healing when others are out of power. Fury's have some nice group DPS buffs and can outdps a warden by a very wide margin when both are DPSing and equally geared. The Melee CA line helps some but with wardens being unable to use two handed swords and lack of wis/str gear in eof, its not as much of an equalizer as it should be. No druid armor sets from EoF have str on them, just int. </p><p>IF a lot of healing is required on a raid, a warden is uaually in the MT group still. Just not in any of the dps groups unless inquistors, shaman, and furies are unavaible to fill the slot. There is usually no problem in solo healing in any groups although I found that in CMM with a less then optimum group I could keep the group up for a single encounter but if we had any adds (which we always seemed to get) we wiped pretty quick. I have never tryed with an optimum group there so not sure how that goes. </p><p>Wardens are not broke, we and our equipment just needs some adjustment and that probably will not happen until RoK. We are balance pretty much up to lvl 60 and no AA's are involved. </p>

[GinFan]

<cite>Oakum wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>xandez wrote:</cite> <p>There is usually no problem in solo healing in any groups although I found that in CMM with a less then optimum group I could keep the group up for a single encounter but if we had any adds (which we always seemed to get) we wiped pretty quick. I have never tryed with an optimum group there so not sure how that goes.</p></blockquote><p>I'm assuming by CMM you mean Castle Mistmoore not Contested Mayoung Mistmoore <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />.  With a good group Oakum, you should be able to solo heal the Castle with little trouble provided 3 things: you have a good mezzer, you don't aggro 3 encounters at once or a x2 and you are good at timing/stacking your group heals.  We did all the pages and nameds/placeholders for SOD over the course of 2 trips.  The first night I was with a well geared/trained Guardian, Coercer (she knows her stuff), Dirge, Swashy and Necro.  The following night we swapped the Necro for a Troub and had little trouble either night... well that was until we tried a x2 and got adds <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />  </p><p>Solo healing is a blast with a Warden, and I love the class.  Raids, I get bounced around a lot. I sometimes get the MT group on long tough fights, but otherwise I'm put in a dps group that is less then thrilled that I'm unwilling to betray to Fury (I didn't bust my hump to become fully mastered just to betray whichever way the SOE wind blows <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />.  Either way, I don't mind spot healing the other groups and spamming cures as needed... two things we are good at.    </p>

[Fromingo]

<cite>GinFan wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite></cite><p>I'm assuming by CMM you mean Castle Mistmoore not Contested Mayoung Mistmoore <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY<img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />" />.  With a good group Oakum, you should be able to solo heal the Castle with little trouble provided 3 things: you have a good mezzer, you don't aggro 3 encounters at once or a x2 and you are good at timing/stacking your group heals.  We did all the pages and nameds/placeholders for SOD over the course of 2 trips.  The first night I was with a well geared/trained Guardian, Coercer (she knows her stuff), Dirge, Swashy and Necro.  The following night we swapped the Necro for a Troub and had little trouble either night... well that was until we tried a x2 and got adds <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY<img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />" /> </p></blockquote>Yeah a warden can solo heal MM just fine as long as the whole group is on their toes.   I have solo'd that and even solo healed the X2's there.  Only time I remember having problems is when the tank sucked and I kept getting aggro.   <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" />