Shaman as the group main healer

[dbparden]

I have managed to solo/duo (for the most part) my way to level 57 but now I have turned my priority to acquiring Torpor which means I have to learn to be a group player. I have recently been in a few KC groups that are really fast paced compared to the solo/duo grind. Full disclosure, I hate being a group healer! Just curious how some of you deal with these fast paced groups. When do you say "hey I am LOM" or ignore buff request? Will Seb and other Torpor camps be like KC where everyone is in a big damn hurry? When you are the primary healer what do you focus on, just heals/slows? Do you have a pet up and is he just a mana reserve or do you send him in? Stuff happens so fast if I turn my focus away for even a moment things go bad fast!

I probably should have learned to be a group player long ago but its just not my thing.........One thing is for certain I will never ever want the responsibility of being a cleric!

[Jibartik]

I just update the group with my mana a lot, but I am by no means a cleric level healer, I've in fact never played one so maybe this is bad advice, but this is how I patch heal/main heal as a non cleric priest:

"20m"

"0m"

"10m"

Most players seem to be chill and try to keep a steady pace, so by updating them constantly with my mana Im hoping that it feels to them like its their mana, and they are figuring out how to min/max it and keep the xp flowing while getting the buffs they want.

I also lie and give myself like a 0.5% of a heal or 1 heal buffer. shh dont tell anyone. [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[loramin]

Originally Posted by Jibartik [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I also lie and give myself like a 0.5% of a heal or 1 heal buffer. shh dont tell anyone. [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

You're a terrible Shaman!

You're supposed to lie and give at least one heal's worth of buffer, preferably multiple [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[loramin]

Originally Posted by dbparden [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I have managed to solo/duo (for the most part) my way to level 57 but now I have turned my priority to acquiring Torpor which means I have to learn to be a group player.

Technically this isn't true. You can level all the way to 60 solo, and then farm plat and save up until you can afford Torpor (100% solo)... but I wouldn't recommend it. Groups are fun and give you a chance to win Torpor, a Fungi, or other cool stuff that you couldn't on your own.

Originally Posted by dbparden [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I have recently been in a few KC groups that are really fast paced compared to the solo/duo grind. Full disclosure, I hate being a group healer! Just curious how some of you deal with these fast paced groups. When do you say "hey I am LOM" or ignore buff request? Will Seb and other Torpor camps be like KC where everyone is in a big damn hurry?

KC is the end of the "XP highway" of extremely popular places to level that everyone knows about. Thus, you get a great variety of players there, so I wouldn't expect all groups to be the same as the one you had. But I will say that on average your chance of getting poor players is higher in somewhere like KC than somewhere a little more challenging (both to get to and to get out of) like Seb.

Originally Posted by dbparden [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

When you are the primary healer what do you focus on, just heals/slows?

Pretty much, and of course buffs. If you're feeling overwhelmed on buffs you can always use Jaudiced Bone equipment to cast them.

Originally Posted by dbparden [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Do you have a pet up and is he just a mana reserve or do you send him in? Stuff happens so fast if I turn my focus away for even a moment things go bad fast!

In general there's rarely a reason for a Shaman not to have a pet up, if only as a mana reserve. But in a group your pet should be free DPS: if you just send him at whatever your MT is takinking, it should require no extra thought and/or healing.

Originally Posted by dbparden [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I probably should have learned to be a group player long ago but its just not my thing.........One thing is for certain I will never ever want the responsibility of being a cleric!

Grouping as a Shaman is certainly a different skillset, and you can't expect to magically be good at it overnight after not grouping for 50+ levels. But like anything in EverQuest it's not a super-hard skillset to pickup, and I'm sure you'll find your rhythm as you do more groups. [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[Jibartik]

but I dont twink so my mana bar is entirely like 2 heals lol

jk at 57 its 3 :P

[loramin]

Originally Posted by Jibartik [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

but I dont twink so my mana bar is entirely like 2 heals lol

jk at 57 its 3 :P

You: oom

Groupmate: But we only killed one ...

You: Out Of Mana!!!!!!!

[Jibartik]

Originally Posted by loramin [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

You: oom

Groupmate: But we only killed one ...

You: Out Of Mana!!!!!!!

continued: ...so lets jsut sit and chat about everquest lore for 10 minuets, please.

[You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[Danth]

Main healing with a Shaman works okay. Ideally you don't want to have to focus on much else beyond heals and slows (have someone else do the crowd control). Having an Enchanter or at least a Bard to help with crowd control and mana regeneration is obviously preferable, and there's nothing wrong with inviting a second Shaman or a Druid to be able to swap off with on healing duty as mana requires. Having a quality tank helps since as the tank gets better the amount of healing he requires decreases. Paladins are really nice if available since their buffs stack with Shaman buffs and the heals are appreciated. Jaundiced Bone armor click effects can help with buffs, and in many/most cases people don't require all buffs in the first place. No need to put Strength on that Enchanter, or DEX on anyone who doesn't have proc weapons, etc. If you're downranking slows be sure to remember that the lower-level slows tend to have short durations. If you use the level 39 slow to slow 4 things right away on a multi-pull, there's a fair bet it'll fade by the time the group gets to the last one. Chloroblast has better mana efficiency than Superior Heal so try to stick with the former as much as practical. Keep regeneration up on the tank and keep it working (in other words, try to avoid healing him all the way to full). Finally, don't overthink it. The wife on her Shaman was able to main heal Karnor leveling groups on P99 years ago back when AC did little-or-nothing and nobody had all this fancy Velious equipment that we have nowadays and it wasn't particularly hard even then.

Really the most important thing is having a group that'll work together, especially a puller. Probably the most common cause of experience groups dying on P1999 is because of dumb pullers who keep right on pulling even when the rest of the group is out of mana and pleading for a break. Communicate early and often, and if you notice your puller's ignoring all feedback and operating on pull-pull-PULL autopilot, get out while the getting's good.

Danth

[Jibartik]

Originally Posted by Danth [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Probably the most common cause of experience groups dying on P1999 is because of dumb pullers who keep right on pulling even when the rest of the group is out of mana and pleading for a break.

Danth

Yeeeh! I'm tryin to talk about this quest I did last night! [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[tylidian]

I consider myself a pretty proficient grouping Shaman, and I actually enjoy it. If I have to main heal and I am the one who is slowing the pace of the group, I start experimenting with using lower-level slows, not slowing the Spectral Callers and Curates in KC, using the Jaundiced Bone armor for buffs, etc. There are a number of different ways to balance out your mana output enough to not be the group bottleneck. I've even had a couple of groups where we didn't have any bard/ench mana regen and I was trying to main heal basement with chain pulls. That was rough... BUT a couple group mates suggested that I canni down to like 20% and they would bind wound me back to 50%. We kept doing that, and were able to make it work. It's just about getting a feel for what each individual group can handle. We shamans have SO many different ways to balance out our mana output, which happens to be one of my favorite things about the class.