<p>So i've got my mystic working towards 80. He is 65 atm and I think i have a pretty good feel for where i want my AA's and how to play a mystic. So if someone could just take a moment to clarify a few things for me that would be great. I dont plan to raid with my mystic so i don't need to be uber healer. I have planned my AA's around grouping and some soloing. I do want to be able to main heal for tso zones but not necessarily raids.</p><p>Where should i place my lvl 74 Master 2 choice? I'm combat spec'd and plan to stay that way so that for the most part rules out 2 of my choices.  Curious what everyone chooses? Assume i have no master 1's waiting for me in the bank.</p><p>Plate tanks - I just can't quite figure out healing these. This is my first healer in eq2 so I may not be used to healing in eq2 but i spend most of my time in a panic'd healing trance trying to keep plate tank up. Is this normal? Should i really be chaining both my wards and both of my heals just to keep the tank alive? Blue or green con mobs seem to be little trouble. Preward, throw debuffs, refresh ward, Heck i might even get to swing a hammer a few times. Its all at a fairly relaxed pace. Then there are the white/yellow cons...These are hard to impossible. They seem to shatter my wards before i even know it. I have no time for debuffs. Wards drop almost as soon as they come up.</p><p>Now if i understand the healing mechanics right, mystics are not ideal plate healers. I can accept that. But shouldn't i be able to atleast function? Being "panicked" all the time is not fun.  HELP!</p>

<p>well... if your tank sucks, then yeah, you are going to stay in panic. But otherwise shouldnt. Mystics' spells are slow to cast, so make sure to preward. Grp ward (that shouldnt give you aggro on pull), single ward, then let the tank pull, see what's needed. if grp ward is still on, put in debuffs (depending on grp whats needed, survival ? then dps/attack speed debuffs, grp is doing fine ? then STA debuffs). Then you can start renewing your wards.</p><p>If something crappy is about to happen, then by the time you get through the possibilities you should have the wards up again. It's like grp ward, st ward, small heal, big heal, st ward, grp heal, (torpor?), and ... hm... yay... isnt one of the wards up again ? and keep going. Also you could fire in the spirits deaggro ability. That should give you some breathing room while the mobs stay mezzed. (it's wild AE skill so careful with it, dont bring in more using it) Having STR AA line and sending in the pet should also trigger some extra wards for the group members nearby.</p>

<p>ok when you say tanks sucks, you mean gear wise? Keep in mind we havent reached shard lvl stuff yet so i'm guessing his avoidance is low.</p><p>Explain to me exactly how wards work.</p><p>Mob attacks:</p><p>Checks dodge/parry first - Shield block too?</p><p>then starts chewing on wards?</p><p>then checks mitigation and starts damaging the tanks right?</p><p>So even if my tank gear is uber elite his mitigation doesnt come into play until well past me getting paniced i cant keep a ward up.</p><p>Spirits is an intresting idea. Never thought of using it for that purpose. I typically run with a zerker and a warlock though so i doubt i'll ever get the full 6 seconds of use out of it.</p>

<p>It sounds as if your tank is under-geared, in offensive stance or perhaps mentored down and wearing one of those pita jewelry items that add to dps but damage the wearer.  Outside of that, you shouldn't have too much trouble keeping any tank healthy for white and yellow mobs.</p><p>As far as shaman not being ideal for healing plate tanks, that's not really an issue in my experience. (My mystic is the same level as yours but I also have a defiler and an inquisitor.)  It's more a matter of leather tanks benefiting from chain healers than any issue of which type of tank is easiest for the shaman.</p><p>Personally, if I am healing a tank I don't know I always inspect them to get an idea of what I am in for.  If I have more hit-points than the guardian, I prepare for some of that panicked healing. Heh.</p>

<p>The days of certain healers being "better" for certain tanks are long, long gone.  Wards now take the target mitigation into account, and have for . . . an extremely long time.  In short, the more mitigation your tank has, the more valuable your Wards are.</p><p>Shaman (both classes) are in every way as good at healing a tank as every other healer out there.  There is almost nothing you can't do as a Mystic.  Certain things will challenge you, such as healing AE damage to your group, but you CAN do it.</p>

<p>That is great news. I'll go beat my tank into getting new gear.</p><p>So about the m2 choice? I'm thinking ancient mettle would be more useful. Thoughts? Or does slothfulness really come into play later. ATM its a fun spell to play with but i cant seem to work it into my rotation very well in a group.</p>

<p>Everyone I know takes Mettle.  Slothiness was never very valuable, and until the mechanics it uses are changed, likely never will be.</p><p>I do hear that some Mystics in PvP use it, and I suppose I can see how that might work.</p>

<p><span style="font-size: 11px; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Raz_wolf wrote:</span></p><blockquote><p>ok when you say tanks sucks, you mean gear wise? Keep in mind we havent reached shard lvl stuff yet so i'm guessing his avoidance is low.</p></blockquote><p>yeah. I have seen some wacko "tank" (SK? dont remember) who used some lvl 47 treasured or even worse chain item at lvl 70+. Guess how fast the grp went down in Karnor's Castle...</p><p>anyway, make sure your tank is up to date, has some decent plate armor (or leather for monks).</p>

<p>I remember back in the day when I was learning how to play a Shaman I had the same issues with having trouble keeping my groups alive.  In addition, I didn't understand how mitigation and stances made a difference in how a tank takes damage, plus they have + mitigation temporary buffs they have to cast, so it is not all about the healer being uber, it's a group effort.  Learning how to cast your wards and heals is like playing a sport.  You have to develop the muscle memory to be really good at it.  I would also suggest checking out an alternate interface like <a href="http://www.eq2interface.com/downloads/info4633-ProfitUIRebornUpdater.html" target="_blank">ProfitUI Reborn</a>.  You can actually see the health of your wards as they get damaged so you have a better idea as to when to replace them.</p>

<p><cite>Banditman wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>The days of certain healers being "better" for certain tanks are long, long gone.  Wards now take the target mitigation into account, and have for . . . an extremely long time.  In short, the more mitigation your tank has, the more valuable your Wards are.</p><p>Shaman (both classes) are in every way as good at healing a tank as every other healer out there.  There is almost nothing you can't do as a Mystic.  Certain things will challenge you, such as healing AE damage to your group, but you CAN do it.</p></blockquote><p>Just make sure you are in my FAVE instance group...SK, mystic, Coercer, illy, dirge, Troub = YUMMY <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" />.   Trouble with group heals nonsense <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p><p>Actually though a couple things make a difference.  First it makes a difference with Profit.  You can seen the life and duration of your wards so you are casting them when you need to.  Gear.  When their is no casting speed buffs find gear that buffs casting speed.  You are almost high enough to wear a crimson robe of alendine.  Also remember that you do NOT need to put your ST ward on the tank.  If he is doing fine with GRP ward, and yes I like torpor, and spot heals, save the ST ward for a squishy that seems to spike, either from AOE's proc gear whatever.  Also focusing on group heals and wards helps with certain proc items.  Some of them where it says "will proc a ward (heal whatever) on target of heal" will proc on the entire group.  Its actually a bit more complicated than one thinks.  I found that out when my main went from a zerker to a Mystic.  But once you get it down [Removed for Content] its fun</p>