New Player Questions!

[Darwinian]

<p>I played EQ1 more or less religiously and dabbled very lightly in WoW but have been away from MMOs for some time. I used to play a cleric in EQ and would like to do the same now in EQ2, and I've gotten a little ways into it but I have some ridiculously newbie-esque questions for you all to answer...</p><p>1. No more sitting during fights?! Do I stand back and heal from a distance to minimize agro or should I be in there bashing things? Does sitting actually do anything anymore?</p><p>2. Really not getting this Heroic Opportunity thing.. Stuff flashes and I click it but it doesn't seem like anything's happening out of the ordinary. How do I use this most effectively, what does it do, and how big a role does  Divine Providence play in it?</p><p>3. I'm really not interested in being an offensive type Templar.. How big a role do debuffs play? I've noticed a bunch in later levels, like Involuntary Healer, Mark of Princes, Redemptive Fate.. Are they more effective against larger encounters and more or less useless in small groups of non heroic/epic mobs?</p><p>4. Heals.. Which are good, which are bad? I'm duoing with my friend who's playing a Guardian, and I like the ones that heal as he takes damage. But is it more <span style="text-decoration: line-through;">mana</span> sorry POWER effective to use the bigger longer casting heal?</p><p>5. General play strategies for a pure healer in a group/instance setting? How do things differ in larger scale raids?</p><p>Thanks muchly in advance - just general info is more than fine, I'm sure I can piece it together. <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p><p>-Dar</p>

[Kyior]

<blockquote>1. No more sitting during fights?! Do I stand back and heal from a distance to minimize agro or should I be in there bashing things? Does sitting actually do anything anymore?</blockquote><p>Sitting no longer does anything other then making your character sit. I generally am up there with my tank bashing & smiting things but i know alot of templar's who stay max change, to each his own.</p><blockquote>2. Really not getting this Heroic Opportunity thing.. Stuff flashes and I click it but it doesn't seem like anything's happening out of the ordinary. How do I use this most effectively, what does it do, and how big a role does Divine Providence play in it?</blockquote><p>HO's are good, and do raise the DPS a decent bit, if your good at them. Some people suck at paying attention and therefore HO's dont help much, but i know that HO's do make a considerably difference DPS wise, but this is most noticed if your actually watching a parsing utility. (Such as Advanced Combat Tracker) a 10% increase on DPS can sometimes go unnoticed, but is a substantial increase in damage.</p><blockquote>3. I'm really not interested in being an offensive type Templar.. How big a role do debuffs play? I've noticed a bunch in later levels, like Involuntary Healer, Mark of Princes, Redemptive Fate.. Are they more effective against larger encounters and more or less useless in small groups of non heroic/epic mobs?</blockquote><p>Then dont be! I call myself a "Full Support Templar" because i dont & haven't specced any kind of offensive skills. Certain debuffs help in certain situations, if your clearing lots of fast kills, Involuntary Healer & Mark of Princes generally are useless, However Redemptive Fate is useful, since its 1 buff that on death procs a 1k+ heal to your group, which is pretty awesome for fast kills. I've specced my templar to focus on curing as well, and while yes, it often does feel like whack-a-mole with cures with the recent ROK/TSO Content, Templars get reactive heals with our cures, so on fights that require a lot of curing, I can cure the most, and heal the most, just because i'm curing instead. (and just wait untill you pickup something like the Rune Etched Helm & Water Sprinker gloves to go with this, Very Sexy Healparsing, without actually casting a "heal")</p><blockquote>4. Heals.. Which are good, which are bad? I'm duoing with my friend who's playing a Guardian, and I like the ones that heal as he takes damage. But is it more mana sorry POWER effective to use the bigger longer casting heal?</blockquote><p>Our profession heals are amazing, the intercessions can very quickly pull a tank from red to green. However if your looking for something power effective, your in the wrong class, Templars can mow through power like a fat kid on cupcakes. One of the things i've learned while managing power is as a templar its very easy to overstack your heals. a Level80 Group Intercession stacked with a single target intercession, will be healing the tank for roughly 2000hp (noncrit & decent gear) every time he's hit. If the tank is only getting hit for 500HP, that means your heal is eating the dmg, essentailly wasting 1500HP of a heal. (Our heals aren't like Wards, which get consumed, its just a *bam* +2000HP. if he only needed 500hp, then 1500 is overkill. Stacking our reactives is a very good way to recovery a scared & red tank, However its also easy to waste power via it. Generally managing power as a templar just comes with experience, and learning when you need to use both and when you dont. For a good portion of heroic content, our single target intercession works great, if the tank is having aggro issues, pop your group intercession to help protect your group.</p><blockquote>5. General play strategies for a pure healer in a group/instance setting? How do things differ in larger scale raids?</blockquote><p>Hm. There's already a few above, but just a few tips.</p><p>-If you plan on being a solo-healer in a group, make sure your heals are good. (I would) keep them Adept III or better, if you can afford them or spend the time gathering the rares and having a sage craft them for you. It sucks, but in the end, you'll become a very solid solo healer.</p><p>-Power Management is something learned, Not taught. This takes time to adapt to, and can change with whoevers your tank. in #4 i explained some of the basics with our heals & power. Templars are power piggies, so knowing when to use X Y and Z is important.</p><p>-Raid Fights i debuff with all my debuffs, Trash fights (anything that dies in less then 20 seconds) generally i forego all my buffs, and just use my Redemptive Fate debuff.</p>