Curse

unclee · Jun 03, 2005, 04:51 PM // 16:51

I know exactly how the healers feel.

I'm a R/Mo 20 and a team entered the mission at Thirsty river while I was selling items at the merchant.

When we get to the mission, Im the only one with a Mo (sub) class. The leader says I'm the healer.

I knew we were going to die but what the hey ... I will try anything once. Then when we were obviously defeated they started yelling at me. 31 energy cannot keep a group alive, especially one of idiots haha.

Night · Jun 03, 2005, 05:53 PM // 17:53

The one thing that amazes me is the number of players that can't/don't help keep themselves alive. I need to be healed maybe once or twice a run. I tell the monk (or healer as I have a guild mate that is a necro prim w mo sec and he heals about as well as any monk I have come across)that if I can't heal myself and may die,I'll give em a heads up "I'm gonna die." That way the monk can focus on others until I am in dire need. With healing signet and the 115 health it gives me, I can usually give the monk a reprise.

I am baffled by the number of of Rangers and Warriors that refuse to bring healing signet and Troll Ungent signet with them. I am amazed at the number of Elementals that won't bring that one spell that heals x percent per spell mana cast (the name escapes me) or necros that won't bring the soul harvest for a quick health boost or heck blood pool.

I have yet to see a healer go into a game empty handy and never attack a Mob so why do folks refuse to give their monks a wee bit of help and at least attempt to keep themselves somewhat solvent only need a major heal every now and again?

Personnaly I think each person should be forced to take himself solo (no henchies or anything) in each area and before he/she can progress must face enemies in which they must stay alive a certain amount of time. Maybe then they'll realize the need to be as self sufficient as possible to help the team.

Drakron · Jun 03, 2005, 06:10 PM // 18:10

Actually I rarely use that spell as a E, I usually hold long enough a beating so the ones hitting me die because I do.

Casters sould be in the background and keep in mind that healing signet brings a defence penalty and sometimes its not a good idea to use it, of course monks sould not be just "medic!" but its going to depend on team composition and tactic to see what role sould monks be playing.

The only time I talk about res is when I dont want to be res'd since I am in a mob field of view.

EvilWizard · Jun 03, 2005, 06:52 PM // 18:52

"Hey whats that yellow dot moving way far ahead of us...." Posted this before but I'm really sick of the stupid ppl who just run off ahead of the entire group and rush into battles and then yell at the monk for not keeping them alive. Another dumb move is the ppl who don't understand the advantages to pulling (Duh!).

Eclair · Jun 03, 2005, 07:05 PM // 19:05

I've stopped using aura of restoration for a long time. One problem is not enough skill slots. Plus, enchantments get shattered really easily later on, so I stopped bothering with them except for armor of earth. +62 armor is far more helpful in keeping me alive than 30-40 hp heal when I cast spells, because usually when I really need those heals, I probably won't have the mana to cast any spells to save my butt.

trackxyj · Jun 03, 2005, 07:12 PM // 19:12

As a R/W with lvl 11 wildness survivals, I single-handedly blocked the first attack wave in north gate of stormkeep for a long five minutes. lol. that definitely impressed my team.

Night · Jun 03, 2005, 07:45 PM // 19:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eclair

I've stopped using aura of restoration for a long time. One problem is not enough skill slots. Plus, enchantments get shattered really easily later on, so I stopped bothering with them except for armor of earth. +62 armor is far more helpful in keeping me alive than 30-40 hp heal when I cast spells, because usually when I really need those heals, I probably won't have the mana to cast any spells to save my butt.

Which is fine provided you are in the gaggle of mindless team members shouting "Noob Monk" or "Why didn't you heal me?" shouters. If the damage you bring in the fight is more than enough to handle anything then you don't need it. I was referring more to those Elementals that seem to die often and blame the monk for not healing them in a timely manner.

Aura of restoration last 60 seconds and should be cast at the beginning or near a beginning battle. It has saved me more than once.

Scturi · Jun 03, 2005, 08:10 PM // 20:10

[flame]Dude... what did you expect when you signed on with that many warriors?[/flame]

Seriously though I feel your pain. I have pretty much stopped playing with warriors unless they are my guild mates. Otherwise the "best and only way" to handle a quest is by rushing stupidly into large groups aggroing everything that moves. As they slowly takes small chunks out of the enemy while you spam all you mana into healing there dumb ass...

Dumb monks anyways.

[joke]Q: How many warriors does it take to screw in a lightbulb?

A: None. The monk does it for him, then Resurects there dumb ass after electricuting themselves.[/joke]

Jun 03, 2005, 08:36 PM // 20:36

I've had a lot of instances w/ noobs and healers as well, but i also have had healers in my party that are complete ###holes. Like in the Duke's Daughter mission, our monk knew where to go and I seemed to be the only one following him, so instead of just going on with me and leaving the other idiots to die he signed off. When he got back on i asked where he was and he said "find it yourself mother****" I can understand when your party is being dumb, but come on, thats just rude.

Drakron · Jun 03, 2005, 08:43 PM // 20:43

Quote:

Originally Posted by Night

Which is fine provided you are in the gaggle of mindless team members shouting "Noob Monk" or "Why didn't you heal me?" shouters. If the damage you bring in the fight is more than enough to handle anything then you don't need it.

The question of "need" depends on several factors, Aura of Restoration is not by itself a healing ability and many elementars will simply exaust energy at start with heavy power spells (Firestorm, Meteor, Fireball, etc..) and are being healed they dont need it, when they do they likely are in low energy and firing Flare.

Quote:

I was referring more to those Elementals that seem to die often and blame the monk for not healing them in a timely manner.

Well death is bad for classes that depend on energy, the death penalty also affects the energy bar and spellcasters live and die with their energy poll, other classes can depend on armor and weapons but any spellcaster knows his wand or staff is more for bonus that damage.

Of course anyone knows that dying is a very destinct possiblity, monks can be blamed if they go around being a "smite" monk as the spellcasters are being hammered by melee enemies ... a monk cannot be blamed if a spellcaster decides he is a warrior and he is the first to engage the enemy with a -32 penalty as everyone else is still catching up.

Quote:

Aura of restoration last 60 seconds and should be cast at the beginning or near a beginning battle. It has saved me more than once.

As you are casting Aura of Restoration I am casting Firestorm at the enemy spellcasters/archers and so helping the fighters to finish off their enemies.

Aura of Restoration sould be casted when there is energy to spare since it can help soaking inicial damage but as I pointed out before its not by itself a healing spell and the times were its more needed we likely lack the energy to cast spells that do the healing we need.

Eclair · Jun 03, 2005, 09:26 PM // 21:26

I only have 2 direct damage spells, maelstrom and crystal wave. Maelstrom is for disrupting caster bosses and mobs (especially those annoying monk ones) and crystal wave is for the finishing blow on a group of already weakened mobs. I pack 3 wards, ward against harm, ward against elemental, and ward against melee. These spells help keep the entire party alive, rather than healing me for a bit of health when I don't need it and not kicking in when I need it the most.

Ironsword · Jun 04, 2005, 11:00 AM // 11:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spirit Firefly

Almost as funny as watching my group try to work the teleporter in crystal desert i went to make my dinner came back 20 mins later they were still tryin to work it out. They wouldn't listen to me when i told em that pressing the switches randomly didn't work and that they should follow the lights.

some of these people never played simon says before lol i had the same problem and when i tried to do it for them they still insisted on hitting switches randomly i laughed my a** off after i got over being mad at them

Dreamsmith · Jun 04, 2005, 01:10 PM // 13:10

AoR provides plenty of healing when you don't need it, and far too little healing when you do. It's not entirely useless, but replacing it on your skill bar with some other skill will probably keep you alive longer. It's not that it can't save your arse, just that in any situation where it actually did, something else would have probably saved you more easily, or prevented you from really getting into trouble to begin with.

Anything that either kills your opponent more quickly (thus preventing damage), hinders its ability to attack (thus preventing damage), or delays it in some way (thus preventing damage, at least long enough for the monk to give you some love) is probably a better choice -- in all three cases, the damage you can prevent this way is probably greater than the healing you'd have received from AoR.

Unless you're good at it, healing yourself isn't helping the monk half as much as preventing yourself from getting too hurt or just backing off when you are (although the latter isn't really an option when you're being focused on in PvP, but the former certainly is -- I'm much rather try to keep someone alive that's using a defensive stance rather than a healing signet or the like).

As a monk, I say to elementalists, don't bring AoR, bring a ward, or just more damage and kill things quicker. To warriors, don't bring Healing Signet, bring a nice defensive stance. To rangers, for the sake of all that is holy, don't bring Troll Unguent, bring Whirling Defense. I can keep you alive A LOT better if you use Whirling Defense than if you try to screw around with Troll Unguent. I can keep you alive better than you can heal yourself if you can just buy me a couple seconds. As a monk, you can give me no better gift than a couple of extra seconds. In a truly pitched battle, time is an even bigger enemy for me than energy depletion. Sometimes I have all the energy in the world, but people just die too damn fast, and when I am running low on energy, buying me time is buying me energy.

(Necros and mesmers, go ahead and bring life sucking skills and Ether Feast, as these are useful above and beyond their healing potential, and they don't take forever to cast, unlike HS or TU, both of which make my job as a monk harder rather than easier.)

fireflie · Jun 04, 2005, 04:20 PM // 16:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by shazbawt

The Video Speaks for itself but here is some background

After about 10 wipes and 2 hours of treking, we finally made it to the objective.

At this point rezing ppl was better than healing them cuz they just kept going off and dying

Blame yourselves and your strategies, not your healers.

Death due to newbieness

As a monk, I totally agree about players having to have better strategies. However, while I was watching your video, I notice you did absolutely nothing except cast one healing breeze on yourself. If you knew that your team was about to attack (as you wrote 'this will be fun

') why didn't you at least cast some protection spells? Or even a DOT healing spell on the front line?

But then again you wrote you were rezing ppl so...

Plus what were ppl's DP at? I noticed you didn't have any...

Storn · Jun 04, 2005, 05:09 PM // 17:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dreamsmith

AoR provides plenty of healing when you don't need it, and far too little healing when you do. It's not entirely useless, but replacing it on your skill bar with some other skill will probably keep you alive longer. It's not that it can't save your arse, just that in any situation where it actually did, something else would have probably saved you more easily, or prevented you from really getting into trouble to begin with.

Anything that either kills your opponent more quickly (thus preventing damage), hinders its ability to attack (thus preventing damage), or delays it in some way (thus preventing damage, at least long enough for the monk to give you some love) is probably a better choice -- in all three cases, the damage you can prevent this way is probably greater than the healing you'd have received from AoR.

Unless you're good at it, healing yourself isn't helping the monk half as much as preventing yourself from getting too hurt or just backing off when you are (although the latter isn't really an option when you're being focused on in PvP, but the former certainly is -- I'm much rather try to keep someone alive that's using a defensive stance rather than a healing signet or the like).

As a monk, I say to elementalists, don't bring AoR, bring a ward, or just more damage and kill things quicker. To warriors, don't bring Healing Signet, bring a nice defensive stance. To rangers, for the sake of all that is holy, don't bring Troll Unguent, bring Whirling Defense. I can keep you alive A LOT better if you use Whirling Defense than if you try to screw around with Troll Unguent. I can keep you alive better than you can heal yourself if you can just buy me a couple seconds. As a monk, you can give me no better gift than a couple of extra seconds. In a truly pitched battle, time is an even bigger enemy for me than energy depletion. Sometimes I have all the energy in the world, but people just die too damn fast, and when I am running low on energy, buying me time is buying me energy.

(Necros and mesmers, go ahead and bring life sucking skills and Ether Feast, as these are useful above and beyond their healing potential, and they don't take forever to cast, unlike HS or TU, both of which make my job as a monk harder rather than easier.)

Well said. I play a monk and sometimes folks die AS I AM CASTING A HEAL... or because i healed their fellow. FUBAR happens. Buying time allows me to correct any mistakes I might ahve made or finish the casting.

fireflie · Jun 04, 2005, 05:23 PM // 17:23

One thing players need to learn to do is backing away when they are being targeted. OR if they are about to die to back off. If people just knew how to use HEALTHY teammates as temporary shields (sounds a little funny) when they are dying it would make the game so much better for the entire team AND healer.

JYX · Jun 04, 2005, 05:25 PM // 17:25

Aura of restoration is great fun for a dual attunement build. Since those builds rely on spamming otherwise high energy spells like Stoning or Lightning Orb, and since you get the energy back as opposed to it costing less energy to begin with, each time you fire off one of these spells its a 52.5 point heal on the side...every second...for no energy. Since you're using dual attunements, the spells you're casting cost 3 energy max anyway...so you can keep spamming and healing yourself all day.

Healing Signet should be used in conjunction with a stance so that you don't get hit and suffer that 2x damage penalty. But this is 2 skill slots, maybe its worth it for you, but I would say in general, no let the monk do his job.

About the video. This is a classic edge of extinction nuke isn't it? Pity you didn't have some death nova to go with it. The premise is that someone dies, which leads to damage to everyone, which leads to someone else dying...which means more damage...until everyone is dead or close to it. Not seen that one in quite some time, made my day. If that was cast by someone on your team...You need to hang him...by his privates.

Lord Yulath · Jun 04, 2005, 05:30 PM // 17:30

Well as a just accended Mesmer/Monk i can feel the pain of monks now. For 2 of the 3 accention quests, i was the monk. I failed thirsty river easily 30-40 times because people just didnt understand that keeping with me was a smart idea. In various cases id have one other member with me when we pinged the map on where to go, and just kill the enemy priest and run, only to see the other 4 dead across the map. Then they blame me for not keeping them alive.

Healers are there for healing, but its not their job to make sure the other players are smart enough to stick near them.

Monks get a raw deal from pve players, but normally are congradulated and appreciated pvp.

liuzg · Jun 04, 2005, 06:02 PM // 18:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spirit Firefly

Almost as funny as watching my group try to work the teleporter in crystal desert i went to make my dinner came back 20 mins later they were still tryin to work it out. They wouldn't listen to me when i told em that pressing the switches randomly didn't work and that they should follow the lights.

This is the most retarded noobs i have ever heard......
Worst still they dont listen,and thus cant break away from the cycle of stupidity.

Akshara · Jun 04, 2005, 07:51 PM // 19:51

Quote:

I am baffled by the number of of Rangers and Warriors that refuse to bring healing signet and Troll Ungent signet with them.

Unless a Warrior has significant points invested in Tactics, the healing signet is a major waste of space on the bar, and can easily get a warrior killed very quickly. The base healing level for a signet is 40 pts, which is next to nothing, and the warrior takes double damage while using it... which can add up to +40 damage very quickly with mid to high level foes.

Endure Pain is a much better solution for non-Tactics warriors who have points invested in Strength, because it temporarily increases ones health at least +140 pts for a long enough period to make it through the battle, if timed well. However, it is a good idea to have some form of self-heal or buff for those times when the monk is just too busy or doesn't have enough energy. For a Warrior, that often comes best from one their secondary attributes, or through a stance.