Does a melee Mystic HAVE to have a mirror to be an effective group/raid healer?

[CimTaurus]

<p>I am a level 80 Mystic, 127 AA's and have always played a melee spec.</p><p>Recently a few members in my guild asked me when i was going to get a mirror so that I could spec for healing.</p><p>I have read through many of the AA posts in here and I still feel a bit lost.</p><p>From what I can tell there is very little change I can make to my AA's that would give me any advantage as a straight healer.</p><p>I am not an experienced raid healer. I pretty much soloed or duo'ed all the way to 80.  I have only been on a handful of raids and then as a secondary or tertiary healer.</p><p>My question is this: Other than the TSO ward buffs what AA's are truly beneficial to a raid Mystic?</p><p>Keep in mind this is for group and raid play, not solo or duo - I got that one down <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p>

[Banditman]

<p>Yes, especially at very low AA count as you are.</p><p>Prior to TSO, there probably wasn't a huge difference, but with TSO, there can be some rather dramatic differences.</p><p>What would I recommend?</p><p>I like STR line for dogdog.  He can be helpful in raid situations where fights are longer and he has time to really proc his Ward often.</p><p>I like AGI, but only so far as getting Heal crits, especially when AA count is low.</p><p>I like WIS for Ritual of Alacrity.  No, I can't use it on myself, but there are 23 other people who greatly appreciate it.</p><p>The Rez line is situationally useful, I've actually saved a couple wipes with Spirit Dance.  It's not something you'll use all the time, but when you do use it, there are some benefits.  The extra range on rez can also be helpful, again, very situationally.</p><p>The problem you're going to run up against is that until you get into the 170's for AA's, some of the really GOOD options aren't going to be available.  The level cap is the easy part of leveling a character, it's the AA's that are the real problem.</p><p>Kindred Restoration is (now that it's fixed) a really good AA.  The boost to your group heal is pretty huge.  The extra HP on your ST and Group buffs are nice.  Supplication of the Fallen is nice when you're just learning an encounter, especially if you are a Tinker and can FD on a wipe.</p><p>At super high levels of AA's (185+), the differences between a "melee / solo" build and a "group / raid" build are not always large, though in the Shaman tree, I still swap STA for WIS.  However, at lower AA levels, there are a lot of hard choices.</p>

[Lord Hackenslash]

<p>honestly there is very little difference between the 2 specs. In all reality if you take 4/4/7/8/2 agility and the melee line in the mystic tree, then take litany of combat and.( dont remember what it's called but its on the shaman TSO tree that increases our base melee damage. not in game atm) you can put all the rest of your points towards buffs and heals and do fine at either. really you want to make a macro to swap your gear as this will make the big difference between heals and dps.</p><p>Skip the Stamina line if all you want is double attack, the DA from chieftain and litany of combat will give you 55% alone add to that the tier 3 ability from TSO and your epic and DA caps easily. in raids I hit 114 DA and except my epic, none of my gear has it. thats without the stam tree and no illusionist.</p>

[iduckie]

<p>There isn't much of a differance imo..</p><p>I normally raid in my Melee spec because it gives me more Heal crit then my non Melee spec. (Odd I know but I have my own reasons, muahaha)</p><p>Having a Mirror is nice even if you don't use it often.</p><p>It's 10gold in fuels to get the Mirror made.. Even if you don't use it it's still a nifty lookin house item <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/e8a506dc4ad763aca51bec4ca7dc8560.gif" border="0" /></p>

[Odys]

<p>Not much differences for me, i skip totally the res line in both cases. Indeed with 1 hander the bucler attack is nice, but i prefer now a 2 hander.</p><p>In both case i have dog haste to max , dog immunity and dog ward. I also have agility till max (we get heal crit and melee crit).</p><p>In group i also have wisdom till the last talent since the buf you get is quite nice to put on about anyone in the group.You also get a buf for your next healing spell that you can trigger from time to time.</p><p>When i solo i have like zero in wisdom.</p><p>In solo mode i have ancestry and master of arms.</p><p>In group i have the rezz line (that is at zero when i solo), so i can rezz to half life/mana anyone in 2 second with a 100 meter range.</p><p>The main difference are then : In group i have 1 more buf (ritual of alacrity), 1 fast strong ressurection, 1 heal a bit faster.</p><p>With the the guild door to my home (and my home door to the guild) going and touching my mirror takes 1mn, the only bothering thing is that i need to rebuf , to recall my wolf and to reuse my harvesting tools.</p>