Curse

Iraja · Jan 10, 2010, 02:43 PM // 14:43

...when I figured out what to do

Hello,

Let me introduce myself with some background. I used to be a wow player. I quitted a while ago and have been looking for a decent mmorpg ever since. I always wanted to try out GW but due to not being able to play it on my mac, I had to pass. Recently a friend wanted to start playing GW again and dragged me into it. He bought a copy for him and me that will be arriving this monday. So I hope that by then I'll have some answers on my questions.

As this is the very first time that I will be playing this game, I am a newbie, so don't shoot me off when I say things that aren't right:P

I've allways been a fan of healing groups and so far I've read that the monks are the best primary proffesions for it, correct?. (reason why I posted in this sub forum )

Now, what makes a games very interesting for me is a challenge. The harder, the better. By hard, I don't mean gear requirement, but just the difficulty of a fight, and the correct use of spells. What also interests me is a versatile class with lots of different spells (i.e 8 I supose in gw) that should be used in the right situation.
This leads me to a few questions:

- I would like to have the most difficult, versatile, challenging and powerfull toon there can be. Which secondary professions should I take and is monk as primary profession indeed that one I'm looking for?

-I'm a pve player, so dungeons are heaven for me (I'm more a teamplayer than solo player, I like to keep everyone alive even if someone else is screwing up (and letting him think that he rocks)). What build should I use?

- The pvp action in wow was kind of crap for me, mostly hated it. But from what I've been reading, it sounds that GW's pvp is alot more fun than wows. If I would chose to go that direction, what primary profession/ secondary profession should I take, and what kind of build should I have? Again versatile, challenging (difficult to handle) yet powerfull are required.

-Are there things I need to know specific to the monk? or to healing in general?

These are the few questions that came up so far ^^

Thanks for the reading (sorry about the long post) and hoping for some answers

Greetings,
Iraja

hel · Jan 10, 2010, 03:38 PM // 15:38

I would recomend the site: www.pvx.wikia.com

Yasmine · Jan 10, 2010, 04:15 PM // 16:15

The current best healers are actually considered E/Mo with Ether Renewal elite skill. However it seems it's also harder to get into teams with an e/mo compared to a regular monk, also I'd say playing a monk would be more challenging (but that's a personal opinion) and allows you to play healer from the start (instead of needing to get ER first). The monk is a bit more versatile too. I don't really understand what you mean with "powerfull" and can't comment on pvp. Also, when I say "healing", it's short for "healing/protection" as both healing and damage mitigation are very important, although probably you won't use protection prayers much at first.

Gennadios · Jan 10, 2010, 04:28 PM // 16:28

No such thing as a best build, and 90% of the skills you'll be relying on won't even be available until you complete your first campaign.

As a noob, take the opportunity to get to know the skills that trickle you way and get comfortable with the class. It's not every day you get to spend an inordinate amount of time in a low level area and not feel like you're wasting time.

Word of Healing is a very high powered healing elite and it's available in every campaign, capture that at the first opportunity, although you're still a week or two from that opportunity.

Ele is the best secondary if you're going for healing, Glyph of Lesser Energy will be your best friend for energy management.

Also, don't use Healing Breeze after level 10. People will just laugh at you.

Iraja · Jan 10, 2010, 05:41 PM // 17:41

First of all, thanks for the quick replies, they do help alot.

On the questions:

-Powerfull is for me: the best possible versatile healer in a dungeon system (with the max amount of people) I'm not too sure if there's a focus on single target healing and multi target healing in guildwars though

-Healing as in keeping people alive. This means that shielding, adding defensive buffs to prevent damage etc is also included. In other words my main objective is to keep the people in the group going

Cheers,
Iraja

paddymew · Jan 10, 2010, 05:53 PM // 17:53

If you want a challenge as a healer, you could try asking your tank to bring the Frenzy skill

Monk would probably be a good choice for you, since it has both healing and short-term defensive buffing. An example of this would be the popular 'hybrid' monk build, which contains both skills from Healing Prayers and Protection Prayers.

J I L T · Jan 11, 2010, 05:31 AM // 05:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by Iraja

First of all, thanks for the quick replies, they do help alot.

On the questions:

-Powerfull is for me: the best possible versatile healer in a dungeon system (with the max amount of people) I'm not too sure if there's a focus on single target healing and multi target healing in guildwars though

-Healing as in keeping people alive. This means that shielding, adding defensive buffs to prevent damage etc is also included. In other words my main objective is to keep the people in the group going

Cheers,
Iraja

Most monks skills are single target so the focus would be single and this is especially true for protection prayers. Since you want versatility a hybrid build is what you're looking for. This is the standard hybrid build http://pvx.wikia.com/wiki/Build:Mo/any_WoH_Hybrid though I personally don't like it. Also you can't get too versatile in your builds because you'll end up with a weak and complicated build. Like you can't expect to do spike heals, damage reduction, condition removal, hex removal and party wide heals all at the same time and be powerful at them.

One thing to keep in mind about GW is that defense is something that even non monks can and should contribute to in fact other classes can actually provide better defense in some cases. For example it's much better for a ranger or mesmer to interrupt an elementalist casting meteor shower than for the monks to heal/reduce the damage. So if you want a challenge tell everyone else to just go all out damage so you can do all the work.

And fyi only Eye of The North has dungeons for the other campaigns you'll have to settle for the 1 or 2 elite areas they have respectively.

Iraja · Jan 11, 2010, 09:24 AM // 09:24

I'm slightly getting the idea that I can choose whatever second profession I want. In other words that there is not one that will contribute to an advantage in the healing.

If I would be choosing on focusing on single target, I heard you had a choice between protection and healing, am I correct? What would be then more suited for me (not always pushing the same button => versatile, challenging and powerful in dungeon system). I don't need to do any sort of dps, my friend will just do the job, I'll keep him alive :P

Thanks for the given and upcoming answers!

Greetings,
Iraja

Nechrond · Jan 11, 2010, 09:40 AM // 09:40

If you want a REAL challenge, go Mo/Me and use Inspiration interrupts as energy management. Not recommended unless you have the reflexes of a mongoose.
Taking Ele as secondary for Glyph of Lesser Energy is easier and much more reliable. I'd try that first. Also: Healing prevents good players from dying, but it won't save bad players. If you want to be able to save players who screw up, you'll need prots.
To do what you want to do, hybrid healer/protter is probably the only way. That means you won't have many attribute points left for your secondary profession - just another reason to go /ele, since GoLE works at 0 attribute investment.

The Josip · Jan 11, 2010, 10:24 AM // 10:24

As for PvP, dont be concerned what's best there as you can instantly make max lvl character for PvP with pretty much everything that PvE char will have. In other words, if you're not satisfied with some PvP char, delete it, and create another PvP-only char.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gennadios

Also, don't use Healing Breeze after level 10. People will just laugh at you.

No. That would be Mending. I played with Breeze a bit for the fun of it, and cost/heal ratio is very good if used properly. You could say that there are better options, and I use them myself most of the time, but Breeze is not a skill to laugh at. It has its use. The main problem is that beginner monks will use it as a standard 'heal' when what is needed is actually a spike-heal skill. But that's another story.

Nechrond · Jan 11, 2010, 12:06 PM // 12:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Josip

I played with Breeze a bit for the fun of it, and cost/heal ratio is very good if used properly. You could say that there are better options, and I use them myself most of the time, but Breeze is not a skill to laugh at. It has its use. The main problem is that beginner monks will use it as a standard 'heal' when what is needed is actually a spike-heal skill. But that's another story.

Semi-agree. If you pre-HoT a target with decent damage mitigation, whether he does the mitigating himself or leaves it to a protter, you won't have to heal them much during the battle, saving you valuable time and energy. But in most cases Vigorous Spirit is a better choice than Healing Breeze, because it saves more time and more energy while providing almost equal HoT.

glacialphoenix · Jan 11, 2010, 12:42 PM // 12:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by Iraja

If I would be choosing on focusing on single target, I heard you had a choice between protection and healing, am I correct? What would be then more suited for me?

You don't have to pick one or the other - you can mix - as people have mentioned, hybrid heal/protter. Of course, you probably don't want to do this until you have sufficient attribute points to actually make splitting them worthwhile.

khezial tahr · Jan 11, 2010, 04:35 PM // 16:35

To start out, it'll be best to focus on one thing over both. I'd start with healing. It'll be easier to start with that. As you level up and the areas get harder, not to mention the elites become available, you'll get bored with watching the red bars. About that time you should start working more and more with protection skills.

The hybrid builds (prot and heal) allow for some of the best flexibility in the game (for a Monk). Since you're new to the game, it's best to build your way there though. That way you have a better knowledge of the skills, and situations. That makes for a better monk.

J I L T · Jan 11, 2010, 08:23 PM // 20:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by Iraja

I'm slightly getting the idea that I can choose whatever second profession I want. In other words that there is not one that will contribute to an advantage in the healing.

If I would be choosing on focusing on single target, I heard you had a choice between protection and healing, am I correct? What would be then more suited for me (not always pushing the same button => versatile, challenging and powerful in dungeon system).

You're right there isn't really any secondary that makes a huge difference in a monk's healing they're mostly used for energy management.

Here are some general differences between healing and protection.

Healing
*skills usually cast more slowly than protection
*healing is reactive
*it's generally seen as easier
*very few choices for hex and condition removal (depending on the campaign you have there may be none at all)
*healing is slightly more important because it actually prevents death while protection just slows it down

Protection
*faster casting
*majority of skills are enchantments (they can and will be removed)
*you have to be proactive and watch the battle to be really good (you watch the enemy and your allies so you can predict who will take damage before it happens)
*damage reduction becomes more useful and even necessary as foes get stronger and deal more damage faster
*there are sources of damage that can't be protected against at all, life stealing, degeneration and health lose, so there are situations where a protection monk is next to useless

There's no way of knowing which one you're suited for until you try them. Protection is more difficult so it's more likely to give you the challenge you want. It would help people help you if they knew which campaigns you have because each one offers different skills.

Cuilan · Jan 11, 2010, 08:46 PM // 20:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by Iraja

I've allways been a fan of healing groups and so far I've read that the monks are the best primary proffesions for it, correct?

You say you prefer PvE, then I suggest skipping monk entirely unless you find a specific build you wish to use. E/Mo Ether Renewal/Infuse/Bonder and finding a group as one isn't hard. The build is a bit tricky at first though, because you're a newer player and the build tends to be pretty busy (which is a good thing).

http://pvx.wikia.com/wiki/Build:E/Mo_ER_Infuser
Experienced users won't agree with certain things on that page, but that's the basic idea.

The Drunkard · Jan 12, 2010, 12:08 AM // 00:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by Iraja

I'm slightly getting the idea that I can choose whatever second profession I want. In other words that there is not one that will contribute to an advantage in the healing.

If I would be choosing on focusing on single target, I heard you had a choice between protection and healing, am I correct? What would be then more suited for me (not always pushing the same button => versatile, challenging and powerful in dungeon system). I don't need to do any sort of dps, my friend will just do the job, I'll keep him alive :P

Thanks for the given and upcoming answers!

Greetings,
Iraja

It depends. In HM and elite areas, a prot monk/ele is a must because the damage output is too high to just heal through. Protective spirit or shield of absorbtion are the most popular prot skills atm. In all other cases you can get by with pure healers without too much of a hassle.

PS. you're going to be pushing the same buttons again and again because you only have 8 skills.

AndroBubbles · Jan 12, 2010, 10:13 PM // 22:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nechrond

Semi-agree. If you pre-HoT a target with decent damage mitigation, whether he does the mitigating himself or leaves it to a protter, you won't have to heal them much during the battle, saving you valuable time and energy. But in most cases Vigorous Spirit is a better choice than Healing Breeze, because it saves more time and more energy while providing almost equal HoT.

Well, we can count Breeze at 14 healing prayers.

9 health regeneration for 18 seconds (if you bother to use an enchanting mod) brings it to a net total of 324 health for 10 energy. If you use it appropriately, it's not a horrible skill at all. That said, you will probably end up using direct healing even after you cast it, and if the regen caps out and damage is switched to another target, you're just wasting energy.

If you're going to bring a maintenance skill, let it be vigorous spirit. Even if you only activate its heal once every two seconds, at 14 healing prayers (sans enchanting mod) you would end up with a net of 285 health for 5 energy. Energy efficiency and convenience in comparison to breeze leave for very few situations where I would deviate from it.

There are skills out there with even bigger numbers, and it's the player's job to look at those to see which ones are most effective and convenient to use.

glacialphoenix · Jan 15, 2010, 01:36 PM // 13:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by J I L T

*healing is slightly more important because it actually prevents death while protection just slows it down

That being said, though, if you're talking about HM, you really need that damage mitigation - healing prayers are useless if the high damage output from HM is one or two-shotting your squishie characters, especially since the enemy's likely to cast faster than you can. Can't heal dead people, can't heal people if you're dead.

wesman · Jan 20, 2010, 05:55 AM // 05:55

lol as you can probably guess Iraja this can be a sticky topic

The best class will always be debated... a few builds have been suggested such as the n/rt healers (infinit energy) E/mo Ether healer (spike heals/prots and energy) but frankly choosing a class based solely on one build is a bad idea. skills get "updated" a good bit in GW, which means builds can change a lot in a very short amount of time. The best idea is to chose a class that has a large number of options as far as healing/proting goes...

Well its no surprise thats a monk. with over a hundred heal/prot skills to chose from they are extremely versatile. As far as secondary prof goes thats not so important since you will be able to switch between them at a certain point in the game /Mesmer and /elementalist are the most popular though.

a lot of GW is just learning the skills and how they interact with other skills. Make sure you check the wiki list to get an idea for things... also if you like PM me in game and i will help out as much as i can

char name Lelita La Belle

http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/List_of_monk_skills

paranon · Jan 20, 2010, 08:17 PM // 20:17

- I would like to have the most difficult, versatile, challenging and powerfull toon there can be. Which secondary professions should I take and is monk as primary profession indeed that one I'm looking for?

Personally i find monk to be one of the most challenging professions in PvE, in terms of the level of skill and the difference between a good and bad player, although it doesn't matter what secondary you take at an early level, most pve monks use mo/e for energy, but you can change your secondary pretty soon into the game so it doesn't matter what you pick at the start.

-I'm a pve player, so dungeons are heaven for me (I'm more a teamplayer than solo player, I like to keep everyone alive even if someone else is screwing up (and letting him think that he rocks)). What build should I use?

There are a couple of builds that people usually run:
http://pvx.wikia.com/wiki/Build:Mo/any_WoH_Hybrid
http://pvx.wikia.com/wiki/Build:Mo/E...ding_Aura_Monk

but monking is all about finding builds that suit you, although there are only a few elites that are "accepted", you will find skills that suit you, and some that don't, don't be afraid to change a build and make it your own and don't back down if somebody tries to force their opinions down your throat.

- The pvp action in wow was kind of crap for me, mostly hated it. But from what I've been reading, it sounds that GW's pvp is alot more fun than wows. If I would chose to go that direction, what primary profession/ secondary profession should I take, and what kind of build should I have? Again versatile, challenging (difficult to handle) yet powerfull are required.
There are two main types of PvP that monks are involved in, which are the two more "serious" genres of pvp:

Heroes Ascent - groups of 8 randomly paired with each other and fighting it out to advance to the next map, most groups take 2 monks, usually:
http://pvx.wikia.com/wiki/Build:Mo/M...%27s_Boon_Monk
http://pvx.wikia.com/wiki/Build:Mo/Me_HA_LS_Monk

Guild vs Guild - groups of 8 people from the same guild (guests are allowed) fighting with another guild to gain rank and rating, again most groups take 2 monks:
http://pvx.wikia.com/wiki/Build:Mo/W_GvG_RC_Monk
http://pvx.wikia.com/wiki/Build:Mo/any_GvG_WoH

However, PvP is a very demanding area and i would recommend getting a good grasp of PvE before you go anywhere near it.

-Are there things I need to know specific to the monk? or to healing in general?

I would try and set up a key setup that makes primary use of the keyboard for using skills and (preferably) selecting party members. Using the mouse for these functions is slow and can easily result in party death.