Paladin - do they have healing power?

[MightyThor]

Thinking of starting a Paladin so I've been looking over their spell lists and I've got some questions.Looks like we only get 4 single target heals (not including LoH): Blessed Aid (22), Penitent Sacrament (26), Devout Aid (36.6.), and Pious Aid (50). We also only seem to get 2 wards and 1 hp buff.Do Paladins actually have any healing power? Small heals were useful in EQ1 due to the downtime but that's not really an issuse in EQ2. How does it work out here?I'm not trying to pick holes in the class, just wondering about useful they are. I'm worried because they just look like weak Guardians.Thanks for the feedback.

[Deis of Desti]

Healing and Warding power indeed. I am actually still using the Training heal that I took, I love it. It is very cost effective, only 99 power for a 499 poiint heal. I have totally neglected Devout Aid because it costs to much and does not heal for much more than the Training one. Soon I will be getting our final heal, then I will be able to tell you better how things will go with it. As far as wards go I have Adept 1 Display of Devotion and it will absorb something like 550, i forget because I have damage hidden most of the time now.For spot healing I think we do an excellent job at it, and thanks to our healing/warding I still say I can outtank any guardian. =)<p>Message Edited by Deis of Destiny on <span class=date_text>02-03-2005</span> <span class=time_text>06:51 PM</span>

[hylozoist]

<DIV>My experience is that our heal is very useful in groups as a spot heal or soloing.  I play two healers, and our training heal is about as powerful as a the heals priest classes attain at about level 20 from their training or at adept 3 level.  While this may sound like it's outdated, it's actually fairly powerful - as I still use those old heals on those classes.  In general, it heals at least a bubble of hp.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>When is the heal useful?  It's good if you can't find a backup healer.  In addition, whenever you happen to lose aggro, it can save someone.  Even as a small heal, it draws a considerable amount of aggro.  Also, whenever you are soloing, obviously it is a lifesaver.  </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I find that penitent sacrament along with the training heal is necessary for most tough fights, because if you don't throw them off, the healers will get aggro.  (I don't really throw out my ward that often, because it is not quite as power efficient, and I can usually live without having to use Virtuous Touch).  So, it's still really just a spot heal, mostly used for tough battles.  But, a little utility can go a long way.</DIV>

[Miracole]

well, sexual healing power..j'k.yah, a good example is that when i was in zek a couple of days ago, a group of 29 and 30s going against lvl 34 group x2 mobs that you see walks around the greenhood area. right after we finished off the mob, we got jumped by a pop of 4 lvl 34s, no arrow up or anything. healer got killed almost instantly, left me (main tank lvl 31) and a couple of spell casters. without a healer and with just half of my power, i was able to live long enough on heals and wards for the dps to take the mob out. and it's been proven over and over again that our heal is a lot more useful than other class thinks.yah

[Jedite]

<DIV>Yup training heal heals 499 at lvl 40.. Devout Sacrament self heal is 755 at App1 at 40.. Pretty good IMO..</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Heard that Devout Sacrament heals 1200+ at lvl 50 but i cant confirm this.</DIV>

[Boli32]

The truth is only the pally and the main healer (if there is only one healer) know how useful pally heals can be. When your tanking you don't now.. and frankly DON'T CARE where the heals. Likewise all DPS care about is dishing out the damage and not getting hit.A Paladin on full power offers 30-60 seconds (2min max) "breathing space" if the healer goes OOM or dies. Of course it is very mob dependant but you'll be surprised how our well our heals can perfrom. We can't replace a healer but we give groups that buffer that allows them to stand and fight and win rather than run.If paladin's did had a motto it would be: "Stand Firm."

[Hawkt]

<DIV>If you healer dies, or go LD, and you have a paladin, You can finish the encounter with a paladin usually.  Also, I was the healer successfully in a group of 3 people doing Low blue yard trash in Varsooms, and it was actually pretty sucessfull, we made 30% xp in 1.5 hours of fighting.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>If you have any ideas about being a main healer for a group though, totally forget that. Not going to happen.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Although I do wonder about 2 paladins with good cordination doing some easy things for a full group at times. I think it could work for somethings.</DIV>

[Bladezil]

<DIV>Acting as MT and healer in a group with 5 other dps at level 31, we can take down level 34 group mobs (orange). Paladins are the best damage soakers in the game because of our wards and heals.</DIV>

[hieronym]

<DIV>in a nutshell yes.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>example i was playing my monk alt doing AQ4 in CoB, i was grouped with a ranger, 2 paladins and a guardian, we were all low 20's. We were like we cant do this until we get a healer but we thought we would try on a scarab and see what happens. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>We done the whole thing in a few hours even though we got a few adds along the way.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Granted it was a bit slower due to the extra power we used but we got the job done without a single death and a lot more rewarding to do that without the healer</DIV>

[Lav]

<DIV>Last night I was completing AQ4, we had a full group but no healer so it fell on my to be the healer.  I stayed back and all i did was heal and ward and it worked fine.  I was LvL 22 with Adept heals and Ward.  I know as I level up and the hitpoints get larger this will be harder and harder to do, but in the low 20's I was able to do it fine with no deaths.</DIV>

[EvilIguana9]

I find that groups are consistently surprised at just how well I can heal. Certainly not as well as a true healer, but well enough to fill in when the healer dies or in the absence of any lfg priests. There are 3 mitigating circumstances for paladins healing. 1) Efficiency. Our heals are not as efficient as a priest's, not by a long shot. We will run out of power faster. 2) Volume. Priests can heal for a lot of hps in a short time wheras we are limited by the recast on the heal and ward spells. 3) Focus. In many cases the paladin is already focusing his attention, and his power, on something else. That can impede your abilty to be an all around healer.

[Brancaleo]

<DIV>The big limit we have as healers are the casting times of our heals, wards are a bit faster but our most used heals take too long to cast to catch up with most ^^ mobs or multiple mobs damage. That's IMO the big difference from a true healer heals.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Also I find impossible to solo multiple blues and up mobs becouse during the long casting time I almost always get interrupted. For the same reason I refuse to heal and tank at the same time with multiple mobs.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> <DIV>We can avoid recast dowtime by chaining alternated heals and wards but long casting times usually waste the benefit of what we can heal for.</DIV></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV>

[Vade]

<DIV>Yes, I've found it nearly impossible to tank and heal at the same time.  It's interrupted far too often.  </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I didn't take the training heal but Devout Aid @ Adept 1 @ 37 heals 457 or so.  A direct heal (unsure of the spell name) from a Templar @ 36 @ Adept 1 heals for 550.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Again, this sort of thing shows the versatility of the paladin - as an off tank (if you believe in such things) the class is pretty much without equal.  A poster on a different thread likened paladins to swiss army knives.  It's the truth.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Vaden</DIV> <DIV>37 Paladin - Butcherblock</DIV>