A tough choice must be made and I'm looking for advice...

[Hess]

<p>Well I currently have 2 mains I switch back and forth on and both have finally hit lvl 90.  One is my Warlock and the other is a Mystic.  Each have around 200 aa (Mystic is at 212 and Warlock sitting at like 197) and both are geared like crap.  Most of the gear is Legendary stuff from zones like Library and faction items I have bought from running the quest lines with both toons.  I want to start raiding on these toons but I am terrified that the gear is not going to stand up in the zones.  I know both of these classes pretty well and I have spent the plat to get most of my spells to master quality and I do have a few Fabled items on each toon from lucky drops but I know I am going to have to grind Marks and Seals and was wondering which toon would be the best to grind them on.  Truth be told I favor my Mystic.  I love healing much more than DPSing but I am starting to think that the Warlock may be the better choice due to the sit back, stay out of the way and drop bombs aspect of the class.  It just seems like the easier/softer way I guess.  Any thoughts?  Do I stay with my favorite main and sit terrified out of my mind that my group is going to drop like a bunch of girl scouts beacuse I got blasted by an AoE on the healer or...  Do I let him collect some dust, gear the Warlock first then throw marks and seals at him to get his gear up second?  Oooo and I guess I should throw in there I will mostly be in pick up raids since my guild mainly runs heroic content.  Thanks in advanced...</p><p>~Hessin or Rhigun~   </p>

[EQPrime]

<p>Play the mystic if that's the class you prefer.  Get brellium resist jewelry to help survive aoe damage (for resists and crit mit), and adorn even your crappy gear with as many +hp adorns you can get until your gear gets better.  The white +hp adorns can go on gloves, hat, earrings, and bracelets.  Make sure you've specced your character traits for raiding.  Always choose Trauma mitigation for the mitigation options and choose 2.5% max hp for the hp options.  For the stat choices either take stamina or wisdom (I would go stamina probably).</p><p>I see people asking for healers in pickup raids fairly often so I would imagine it wouldn't be hard to find a spot.</p><p>Also, if you're the worst geared member of your group, you can single target ward yourself before AoEs (and even torpor yourself if necessary) to help survive.  Just make sure to not ignore the rest of your group while you're busy keeping yourself alive. <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p><p>A couple of last tips -</p><ul><li>Remember to use Prophetic Ward on any fight with noxious aoes.</li><li>Make sure your cure stuff off your group.  Nothing stands out more in a raid to me than a healer that doesn't cure anything and has group members dropping due to DoTs.</li></ul>

[Banditman]

<p>First off, the choice between Warlock and Mystic.  It's really pretty simple.  Play what you want to play.  In the end, that's what you've got to do.  The Mystic will probably be a more desired addition to a raid, because frankly there are too many DPS classes for the number of raid slots.  If you enjoy the Warlock more, play the Warlock.  Because you enjoy the class, you'll push yourself to be the best, and a strong Warlock is a pretty capable class.</p><p>Now, as far as your expectations, and the expectations of others, here's what you have to look forward to.</p><p>As a Warlock, obviously you'll be expected to pump out pretty big numbers.  What you bring to a raid is very little aside from your personal DPS.  You should expect to be buffed accordingly.  With no Troub or Illusionist in sight, your DPS will suffer.</p><p>As a Mystic, you'll be expected to heal.  Most typically, you'll be in some sort of tanking group, probably off tank.  You'll be expected to keep that tank at the ready for grabbing a mob, as well as contributing your debuffs to the raid.  While it's nice to get some buffs like Coercive Healing or Wrath's Blessing, don't count on it, especially in pickup raids.  As a Mystic, you are probably NOT going to be a very strong group healer.  It can be done, but it is not easy.  You really do need another healer in your group to help deal with large amounts of incoming damage to all members, especially at a lower gear level.</p>

[Gahnand]

choosing mystic can easily be a frustrating start for a new raider since you will be raiding with less experienced people. Even as you approach the top tiers of skill, so many people are completely blind to what we bring to the raid. You're going to have forgo the utility and strictly focus on heals. If you want to make life easier on yourself, betray to defiler. You're not going to be able to take advantage of the mystic abilities without running a high risk of ppl dying and ppl being confused as to why you failed.

[Wilin]

<p>Play smart. Know your limitations. Concentrate on heals and cures. Hope your guild doesn't put you in a no-win situation. You'll be fine.</p>

[Arcanemundi]

<p><cite>Hessin@Oasis wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>...I want to start raiding on these toons but I am terrified that the gear is not going to stand up in the zones.</p></blockquote><p>You are right.  The main stat you will want to focus on is critical mitigation.  Whenever my guild gets a new Shaman recruit, they often die to the AEs until we can gear them out.  Some new recruits get hyper-focused on warding themselves to survive the AEs, and as a result their group winds up dying.  It can be very frustrating for everyone.  The key is to be patient and just to hang in there.</p><p>I agree with EQPrime when he suggested you craft and wear resist jewelery, and adorn for HP.  You can even adorn the resist jewelery with resistance adornments to maximize their benefit.  Ask your fellow raiders what resistance levels you need for elemental, noxious, and arcane damage for particular mobs, and write it down in a notebook so you know what resistance jewelery to wear next time.  18,000 resistance is a good number to shoot for.  </p><p>I believe you also can buy several red adornments that have 5% crit mit per adorn.  So when you get your red slot gear, you can maximize the crit mit it provides by using the red adorns.  If you get your mitigation under control, then you will be able to focus more on keeping up other players.   Mystics are excellent healers, and we have several buffs that really amp up groups and individuals.  Debuffs are very important too, so try to get them out.  Once you get your gear figured out, you will really enjoy raiding.</p>

[Hess]

<p>Well I thank you guys for the advice.  It does look like it will be easier on my ego and the rest of the raids I get into if I stick with my Warlock and gear up my Mystic second... which is a shame.  My Mystic is my favorite by far but I also don't want to be the reason my group is wiping.  What brought this plan to mind was a rough night of raiding early in the weekend...</p><p>Pick up raid was asking for one more healer and I figured I would throw my hat in the ring.  I was the last invite and filled up the third group which was mainly scout DPS, an SK tank, and a Defiler who wanted main heals.  Looked great for me, figured I would fill the gaps with cures, wards, and heals while debuffing and focusing on DPS.  Game plan was to stay out of the way, follow directions, get some sweet loot, and learn a little.  All went well untill about the 4th named.  We were getting blasted with a knock back AoE that was chewing through wards like they were nothing and getting thrown all over the room like bouncy balls.  My group was suposed to be catching the Heroic spawns that ran twords the named and if they reached their destination would become Epic.  We just couldn't stop em.  Group three down again and again and again.  Now I know it was a pick up and maby some of us in that third group were a bit undergeared (me for sure) but It semeed to me we just didn't stand a chance.  The AoE would distroy the group wards, throw our group all over the outside room and aggro the heroics.  At that point we were too spread out and group would go down.  Shortly after finally killing this named the raid tried on 2 more named but we were unsucessful and the raid shut down.  Could not help but think man this would be so much easier if I was only concerned with position and dropping bombs and let the big boys handle the heals at least untill I have enought marks to put me in tier 2 gear.  So I guess that is the next question... Will the tier 2 mark armor be enough with the suggestions you guys have offered me to feel a little bit more comfortable with my survivability in raids or will I still be a long way off?    </p><p>Thanks in advanced...</p><p>~Hessin~</p>

[Banditman]

<p>If you are basing your experience on a night of raiding when you were in group with another Warder you are making an unfortunate decision.</p><p>Being in a group with another Warder is absolutely terrible.  Neither of you is really equipped properly to deal with healing a group, and you were probably overwriting each other constantly.</p><p>You need to be in a group with a Druid or Cleric and see the difference.</p>

[Wilin]

<p><cite>Banditman wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>If you are basing your experience on a night of raiding when you were in group with another Warder you are making an unfortunate decision.</p><p>Being in a group with another Warder is absolutely terrible.  Neither of you is really equipped properly to deal with healing a group, and you were probably overwriting each other constantly.</p><p>You need to be in a group with a Druid or Cleric and see the difference.</p></blockquote><p>QFE, bad raid setup unless you guys had a PU raid full of shamen. I know PUs run with what they can get, but 2 healers in a group should never be of the same archtype unless you have no other option.</p><p>I've done HM named x4's in a DPS group with an inq, and I never even needed to ST ward. Group wards were enough to keep my group up comfortably. And besides resist jewelry, I only had 2 pieces of crit mit gear because I was playing an alt.</p><p>It definitely takes a different mentality to play a healer, but I'm used to MT/OT. As a DPS class, the raid typically doesn't succeed/fail on your individual actions. DPS is obviously needed, but it probably won't fail if you slip up your cast order or hit the wrong key at the wrong time. As a tank or a healer, one bad position or key press and everyone can die through no fault of their own. Some people enjoy that feeling of importance and some would rather not have 23 other people yelling at them when they slip up.</p>

[Hess]

<p>Ya know the more you guys post the better I am feeling about just sticking with my favorite class and just keeping the warlock around as my second main.  I guess I was just a bit discouraged after that rough run.  My raiding experince is pretty limited and has been on the back burner due to the disbanding of Oasis Open Raiding Colition.  Guess I will just pool my marks on my Mystic and try and get the gear up as fast as possible.  The resist jewlery gave me something new to try so I going to pick up a few peices of that as well.  Thanks again for all the advice<img src="/eq2/images/smilies/e8a506dc4ad763aca51bec4ca7dc8560.gif" border="0" /></p>

[snowli]

<p>Go with who you enjoy, it sounds like that is more mystic from what you write. My quick tips.</p><ul><li>Avoid raid solo healing if you can, at least initially - there are quite a few easy mode raid encounters with 3 group detrimental aoe's to cure in quick succession, with 1 group cure that's much tougher than for druids or inq's with their 2 group cures.</li><li>Make sure you macro your groupcure to announce in groupchat and your heal partner does too so you can hit jump to not waste the timer, even assign 1 healer to first & 3rd aoe and the other to 2nd aoe.</li><li>Throw out your debuffs and single target wards on harder fights especially, something like profitUI mod with a click button next to everyone's name for single target ward ( and 4 other skills and also cures ontop) is very handy.</li><li>Often it's people's own actions that use up wards, like bad positioning/jousting</li><li>when people die from dots it's their own death too, they could have pressed a cure potion and didn't in most cases, it's often not only, or not even, your fault.</li></ul><p>Focus on getting more raid healing experience, rather than always getting it perfectly right <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p>

[Gahnand]

<p>Go for stun immunity items. If you're running easier SF content, you should also be running Munzok's and Miragul's. In Miragul's get the Hoop of Hope and never take it off (figuratively, there is a T9 upgrade but you probably won't see it very soon). In Munzok's get the Ring of Emptiness and never take it off. Even at the very highest tier of raiding, I still use that ring on every single fight. Additionally, get Freedom of Mind and Freedom of Action potions off the broker. Getting stunned or stifled will be a huge problem if you aren't prepared. Obviously don't forget Relic/Symbol of Stability and Relic/Symbol of Clear Voice from the Signet Merchant in your guild hall or Qeynos Harbor/EFP. There is a lot more detailed information we have posted on the unofficial mystic board. send me a tell in game, and i'll give you the link: Unrest.Gahnand cheers</p>

[Eveningsong]

<p><cite>snowline wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><ul><li>Make sure you macro your groupcure to announce in groupchat and your heal partner does too so you can hit jump to not waste the timer, even assign 1 healer to first & 3rd aoe and the other to 2nd aoe.</li></ul></blockquote><p>This is key in many raids where AEs come in waves and you really need to coordinate with another healer to take turns with group cure.</p><p>I also find it really helps to add two lines to the start of my cure macros:</p><p style="padding-left: 30px;">/cl   (I think the full command is /clearqueuedabilities but /cl works fine)</p><p style="padding-left: 30px;">/cancel_spellcast</p><p>These will make sure that your cures go off immediately, which can mean life or death in an instant sometimes <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />. </p>

[Gahnand]

there's no need to clear the ability queue, and in some cases it can glitch up the next spell/ability casting. just use cancel_spellcast