Shortening Casting Speed

[Jexi]

<p>I  maxed the AA that speeds up casting. I maxed eveything that gives me a heal crit. Is there any gear I could find that increases casting speed or reuse timers? People die when we hunt if I am the only healer. I am level 76 now. This problem has been plaguing me a long while and I almost quit playing Templar and went Warden.</p>

[Karrane1]

Dont get down on yourself so quick!! There can be alot of other reasons why your groups are having trouble.... What is their gear like? Are you trying to go for instances that are normally hard for you and just using 1 healer? Are ppl not paying attention to their own aggro? THere is alot of gear out there that gives heal crits. Just make sure that you keep your heals and buffs to at least Expert level and your skills are at max. <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> Good luck!!

[Enoa]

<p>Templar > Warden in almost every category of gameplay.</p><p>Specific to your request for 'cast haste' the cloth robe from shard of fear (off Terror) is still one of the best chest pieces around for our class.   Epic and mythical weapon have a cast haste proc as well.   If you are desparate for reuse the cloak from boss of Unrest is hard to beat.  There are alot of nice cloaks around for you at level 80.   Before that level the Unrest one is hard to beat. </p><p>Only advice i can give you to help ... keep your group and single target reactives up at all times and curing is good.  </p>

[Perrigrin]

<p>Another couple questions to ask:</p><p>Are you using your reactives, ALL your reactives, to their full potential? You can cast the group reactive before the pull if your other group members are pulling aggro. Essentially the only person you should have to cast your single targets on is the tank, and then use your Meliorate to spot heal other group members. Make sure you've got your Glory on the proper people, and use as many of your mob reactives as you can during a fight (the ones you cast on the mob, and it will heal the party as the mob strikes).</p><p>Are your spells at expert or above?</p><p>How high is your heal crit, and do you have any items that have "overloaded heal" on them?</p><p>Pay close attention to group set up. If the tank doesn't have a proper hate transfer that equates to a very busy Templar in the group lol.</p><p>How many AA's are you working with right now, and where do you have them placed?</p><p>Keep your chin up! The cleric-type healers are not an easy class to play. For a long while there it was hard for us to be the only healer in a group because of slow cast and reuse times. Keep pushing yourself, and keep trying new zones. And once you hit level 80 and get Repent, OMG are you going to love that spell <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" /> You can do it!</p>

[Jexi]

<p>The problem with  putting the reactives up  before the  pull or right on the  pull is that the mobs all kill me immediately. The things they are killing  are level 80+ & I am 76. And generally what occurs is that I can't get a heal  off right on  the first try & tank is dead. He takes  so much damage on the initial pull I can't heal in time. Then I am dead. I tried  throwing Santuary out  first but its not much help. The  other players in the group are 80 and I am lowest. hehe The people in the  groups have mastercrafted gear to level or drops, but few have any mythical or shard type stuff. When  I play with a specific tank that has epic  weapon  its a  smooth  fight except when they overpull. That's about the only time we are successful. I tend to like my Warden better  because of  the quicker  heals, but this is my main.</p><p>In AAs I have the INT line & STA lines almost maxed. I have all the cures in the Templar line almost maxed. I started this character when there were no AAs in game so I have only 87 AAs and  never went back  to mentor  on old content. Still working on  that.</p>

[Enoa]

<p><cite>Jexi@The Bazaar wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>The problem with  putting the reactives up  before the  pull or right on the  pull is that the mobs all kill me immediately. The things they are killing  are level 80+ & I am 76. And generally what occurs is that I can't get a heal  off right on  the first try & tank is dead. He takes  so much damage on the initial pull I can't heal in time. Then I am dead. I tried  throwing Santuary out  first but its not much help. The  other players in the group are 80 and I am lowest. hehe The people in the  groups have mastercrafted gear to level or drops, but few have any mythical or shard type stuff. When  I play with a specific tank that has epic  weapon  its a  smooth  fight except when they overpull. That's about the only time we are successful. I tend to like my Warden better  because of  the quicker  heals, but this is my main.</p><p>In AAs I have the INT line & STA lines almost maxed. I have all the cures in the Templar line almost maxed. I started this character when there were no AAs in game so I have only 87 AAs and  never went back  to mentor  on old content. Still working on  that.</p></blockquote><p>Well maybe you are trying content that is too tough for the group or maybe everyone in the groups sucks.    If you are dying on the pull because you are pre-healing ... that's the tanks fault.    He is probably proxy pulling stuff that doesn't need to be proxy pulled or slow to generate agro.    Occasionally a CC effect will cause the healer to be smacked on the pull as the tank is stuned etc... on those fights an intercede on the healer and quick curing will go along way.   If you're tank is undergeared you will always struggle.   I routinely box a pally (with 3 pieces t2 shard gear and mostly ROK gear) with my templar... and just with templar buffs alone I can do all of upper seb without casting a single heal for example. </p><p>You are extremely AA deficinent.    While you're still level 76 go back and do all the KOS (some will be grey at this point) and Loping Planes Quests... then head back to ROK / TSO and do all those solo quests.  Enchanted Lands and POF mentored named runs are almost a must (6-10 aa probably in those two zones alone). </p><p>Cures AA lines sucks for the most part.    Blessings line in EOF> cures and even Smites > cures.   Even dumping your first 70 points in KOS tree (INT/AGI/STA or INT/AGI/STR) would be better than doing cures imho.  </p><p>Keep at the templar .. it's the strongest healing class in the game and really easy to play you'll soon discover that once you're group has some aa/gear.    Wardens are one of the worse healing classes in the game atm... but i suppose they are better than furies.   Get your Epic weapon at 80, Get the SOF cast haste robe, get the DF/NHT blue shiny reward for a cast haste ear and you'll be casting so fast you'll delete your warden : P</p>

[MoonSorceror]

<p>As for casting speed gear, the aforementioned Crimson Robe from SoF (10% spell haste) is the way to go. Having Cleric Int tree helps too. Plus some lower percent spell haste on various shard set and jewelry items. If you've got an Illusionist/Coercer in the group you're solo-healing, make shure you get Time Compression or Coercive Healing from them.</p><p>Yes, the Unrest Cloak with 10% reuse is great too - but I'm not shure wether I'll see it on my templar as seldom as Unrest is done nowadays...</p><p>If you get aggro due to pre-casting your reactives - get another tank or teach yours how to play. For clerics this is quite standard procedure and without it's hard to get a tank back into green due to long cast times. Another trick to survive occaional taunt resists is to position yourself around 10 meters behind the tank precast reactives and press Harmony on pull. Normally it will not go off with the message "No targets in area of effect" but if some mobs run through to you due to healing aggro it helps you to get rid of them asap - that is, if your tank doesn't sleep and starts taunting...</p>

[Perrigrin]

<p>If you are level 76, and your group is fighting content that is level 80+, I'm thinking that the content you're trying to fight is a little too powerful for your particular level. Even if all the others in the group are level 80, it's still going to be hard for a Templar at 76 to keep everyone up as a single healer until you get higher level and more AA points. I know how it is to be behind on the AA's, I was level 40 something before they introduced AA's into the game, so I had a long long game of catch up to play. After lvl 75 though, you could run grey shards every day and get massive AA exp from them, and build up your shards to get your gear made at lvl 80.</p><p>As others have said, if you're precasting your reactives and you're dying on the pull, that's something the tank is going to need to work on. He should be able to generate at least some hate while the mobs are on the way in. Even if he's body pulling, once the mobs get close to the group he could throw his group taunt and that wouldn't be an issue for you.</p>

[Keitha]

<p>Being a new healer to EQ2 myself I can't offer any specific advice but having been a healer for many many years in another game I can offer some basic healing advice that seems to be universal.</p><p>Being a healer is tough. If your tank is too weak gear or skill wise the group dies and it appears to be your fault. If agro ping pongs due to bad agro control the group dies and it appears to be your fault. If the content is too tough for the group make up then the group dies and it appears to be your fault. The point is don't give up, 9 out of 10 times it is not the healers fault. I am lucky, my husband is the tank and knows how to play one well and we have a connection that makes things run smoothly. When I play with  other tanks I do notice a difference and sometimes it is very diffecult. When groups go bad I have to force myself not to blame myself or feel inadequite. In times like that just remember as long as you are doing your best to better your toon skill, aa and gear wise and are learning from mistakes then you are doing great.</p>

[RingleToo]

<p>Well, I'll jump in with a couple of more bits of advice.</p><p>I like to have the group reactive up just before the tank pulls (because of its longer cast time), and then time the single reactive so it goes off after the pull. If the tank isn't already giving a "pull count", ask your tank to give a count down of at least 5 before he pulls. This will help you with timing the reactives.</p><p>If the tank can't hold aggro because of the group reactive, then your group is doomed anyway. And if he hasn't built up enough aggro by the time the second reactive goes off, then you're really, really doomed. And if the tank dies before you can cast another heal even though there are 2 reactives up, tell the group your dog just went rabid and you have to go.</p><p>Don't forget about Greater Complacency, our AE aggro reducer (well, I think it's still Greater Harmony at lvl 76). The recast time is too long, imo, so it might not be up for every pull. Hopefully, though, you won't have to use it every pull. If you do, remember that rabid dog. Sooth, single target, will work, too, if you have the presence of mind to target the mob and use it quickly.</p>

[Jexi]

<p>I hate to  sound  incredibly noobish but I don't understand any of the abbrieviations for  the  zones, gear & effects. I  figured out SoF is  Shard of Fear. But thats all that I  figured out. Also what is the  name of  the Unrest robe?</p><p>I spent a few years mainly decorating and handing in  collections. Not too much by way  of exploring. People generally drag me along for leveling and I  have failed remember most of the zones.</p>

[RingleToo]

<p><cite>Jexi@The Bazaar wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>I hate to  sound  incredibly noobish but I don't understand any of the abbrieviations for  the  zones, gear & effects. I  figured out SoF is  Shard of Fear. But thats all that I  figured out. Also what is the  name of  the Unrest robe?</p><p>I spent a few years mainly decorating and handing in  collections. Not too much by way  of exploring. People generally drag me along for leveling and I  have failed remember most of the zones.</p></blockquote><p>If your focus hasn't been adventuring, no reason you would know a lot of the adventuring terms. I know next to nothing about how to decorate a room other then sticking stuff on a wall. I've seen amazing rooms in the "homeshow" that I have no clue how they were done. So, noobish is all relative.</p><p>A lot of abbreviations and terms have been used, so if you can pinpoint the ones you don't know I'm sure we'll all be glad to help. As for the Unrest robe, I can't think its name at the moment, but someone will know.</p>

[Sprin]

<p><img src="http://www.lootdb.com/eq2/examine/441877394" width="280" height="637" /></p><p>6 set of that (excluding chest)</p><p>+</p><p><img src="http://www.lootdb.com/eq2/examine/-659458117" width="280" height="397" /></p><p>= Casting like a druid <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> </p><p>Have fun getting that stuff too <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p>

[MoonSorceror]

<p>Btw. we were talking about an <a href="http://eq2.wikia.com/wiki/Cloak_of_Unrest" target="_blank">Unrest Cloak</a> for the spell reuse, not a robe (Crimson Robe is from Shard of Fear). Should you manage to get 6 pieces of the Nem Ankh set shown above (but quite impossible to get - especially the stuff from contested dungeons was incredibly rare/expensive even back when these were still regularily run) plus the robe that'd be a really fast setup, but you'll probably run out of castable healing spells very fast without a lot of reuse items. Also nowadays I rather wear 5 pieces of shard armor plus the robe for the other goodies on there.</p>

[Zapo]

<p>Please stop recommending that Crimson Robe of Alendine. There is a better one that drops in Kurn's heroic instance and at least that one is plate and also has 10 % cast speed. If you really want that cast speed.</p><p>I wouldn't wear any of both if I had to drop a set breast plate therefore AND would loose the set bonus.</p>

[Sprin]

<p><cite>Anthur@Venekor wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Please stop recommending that Crimson Robe of Alendine. There is a better one that drops in Kurn's heroic instance and at least that one is plate and also has 10 % cast speed. If you really want that cast speed.</p><p>I wouldn't wear any of both if I had to drop a set breast plate therefore AND would loose the set bonus.</p></blockquote><p>not gonna stop suggesting it because there is another one out there.. feel free to ALSO suggest the one in Kurns.. but SoF you can duo at 80 with decently geared folks and you usually get a lot of DPS'rs wanting to come along with you in that zone for the choker, so its not hard to find a group for SOF and knock it out and get that robe.</p>

[urgthock]

<p>It seems you are somewhat low in AA. I know it may be tough but at your level you really should have over 100. My suggestion is to get quite a few more aa. As for you dying on the pull, that sounds to me like a tank problem. If a mob doesn't have to be proximity pulled, this should <strong>never</strong> happen. If a mob <strong>does</strong> have to be proximity pulled, you should expect to possibly take 1 or 2 hits before the tank pulls it off you. Any more than this and the tank is not really doing a very good job. If that 1 or 2 hits is enough to kill you, then you should definitely look at your gear as well as the difficulty of the mob you are fighting, relative to your level. Templars have a ton of tricks at their disposal for healing and are one of the most powerful healers in the game, but until you get some really good gear, tanking is not one of our strong points.</p>

[StaticLex]

<p><em>Wardens are one of the worse healing classes in the game atm...</em></p><p>Wow, group with noobs much?  Come to my server and I'll show you how this class is done.  <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" /></p>

[MoonSorceror]

<p><cite>Sprinng@Nagafen wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Anthur@Venekor wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Please stop recommending that Crimson Robe of Alendine. There is a better one that drops in Kurn's heroic instance and at least that one is plate and also has 10 % cast speed. If you really want that cast speed.</p><p>I wouldn't wear any of both if I had to drop a set breast plate therefore AND would loose the set bonus.</p></blockquote><p>not gonna stop suggesting it because there is another one out there.. feel free to ALSO suggest the one in Kurns.. but SoF you can duo at 80 with decently geared folks and you usually get a lot of DPS'rs wanting to come along with you in that zone for the choker, so its not hard to find a group for SOF and knock it out and get that robe.</p></blockquote><p>Definitly Crimson Robe is still a valid option - there might be better stuff (what about links or screenshots for those elusive items, btw) but the Robe is easy to get if you heal on choker farm runs or even buy it if the option arises - got mine for 6p from a choker farming outfit who didn't want it.</p>

[Sprin]

<p><cite>MoonSorceror wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Sprinng@Nagafen wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Anthur@Venekor wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Please stop recommending that Crimson Robe of Alendine. There is a better one that drops in Kurn's heroic instance and at least that one is plate and also has 10 % cast speed. If you really want that cast speed.</p><p>I wouldn't wear any of both if I had to drop a set breast plate therefore AND would loose the set bonus.</p></blockquote><p>not gonna stop suggesting it because there is another one out there.. feel free to ALSO suggest the one in Kurns.. but SoF you can duo at 80 with decently geared folks and you usually get a lot of DPS'rs wanting to come along with you in that zone for the choker, so its not hard to find a group for SOF and knock it out and get that robe.</p></blockquote><p>Definitly Crimson Robe is still a valid option - there might be better stuff (what about links or screenshots for those elusive items, btw) but the Robe is easy to get if you heal on choker farm runs or even buy it if the option arises - got mine for 6p from a choker farming outfit who didn't want it.</p></blockquote><p>LOL, sadly enough the 3 times I have gone in to get a choker for my 3 toons i wanted it on, i got it all 3 times... not only did it drop, but I won the lotto.... and the couple of times I duo'd it with my bruiser with someone else after i got it on my bruiser, it dropped then too... but have never seen the robe drop... go figure..</p>

[MoonSorceror]

<p>Hm, on our server choker is going for 150p onwards... certainly sounds lucrative...</p>