Why healing?

[Reincar]

I keep reading topics here and I keep noticing one thing. Alot of people are saying that the enchantress is mainly for healing, but why, just because we are given healing and buff spells are we automaticaly required to focus on healing and not dmg? I feel that if this class was made purely for healing they would not have been given dmg spells. Just like a pries in WoW, they are given the option of being shadow spec (even though they might not be the best dmging class) but at least they have the option. I just know that when i lvl i will focus on buffs and dmg and less on healing. Yes i will use heal, but i wont focus. Any people out there agree with me? or am i the only one who thinks this way.

[SnowGoon]

i rather have a bear with me, that takes the lead agro, i then come in de-buff and use spells, if i get hit a i heal, if he gets hit i heal him, its not like its much effort..

[Silverage]

My Enchantress has 1 point invested in Heal and the rest invested in spells that do damage.

[Pharcyde]

My Enchantress has 1 point invested in Heal and the rest invested in spells that do damage.

Max out heal and only put 1 point into revive. You need the faster cool down times because if you take a agro you can save yourself with heals. Plus if your on a boss you can heal your tank after each hit if you do it right. Meaning his hp will never go below 50%. All around helper.

[Lapinsalaingr]

that s a team work. your bear can tank, you can heal. one without the other doesnt work.

[Inching]

I keep reading topics here and I keep noticing one thing. Alot of people are saying that the enchantress is mainly for healing, but why, just because we are given healing and buff spells are we automaticaly required to focus on healing and not dmg? I feel that if this class was made purely for healing they would not have been given dmg spells. Just like a pries in WoW, they are given the option of being shadow spec (even though they might not be the best dmging class) but at least they have the option. I just know that when i lvl i will focus on buffs and dmg and less on healing. Yes i will use heal, but i wont focus. Any people out there agree with me? or am i the only one who thinks this way.

i agree with you

[shadywack]

Combined with an archer's rooting spells my mage does enormous amounts of damage. Far more than the bear can do. If there's no archer present I'm usually the main death dealer while the bear is a distraction. With nightmare, weaken, and lightning I almost double the effectiveness of an archer too.

Healing is almost a back seat. Really I just use it to keep the meatshields/bears alive so that my mana doesn't drain so fast.

[BlueStarBurst14]

Sigh. You can focus on healing, AND focus on damage. It's not like they only giv you 10 skill points. And once you get to the alien oasis campaigns, you will need a quick heal. Unless you want to die instantly.

[Varking]

Healing is so easy that it never becomes a true focus. Plus, people should be popping potions as well to help out.

[j46g629h]

I keep spamming healing not only it has short cd time also helps yourself and your team, so why not healing?

doing that doesn't mean you are a support character but much better than you just use normal attack during other damage skills cd

so please healing

[Run Noel, Run!]

Healing ftw.
We need more than 1 point to heal anyone over level 10.
Naturally. Unless you wanna wait 5 mins to heal full hp.
GL.

[Lesrider]

I use less pots with my Mage than my bear or bird bc of heal. Why wouldn't you want to invest points in it and use it as much as possible? I don't get where this question is coming from. Be glad you have that skill and that it's so useful. Yes, teammates should also use pots to help, and not rely solely on the Mage. But if you want your team to succeed, healing and/or reviving are musts.

[Pharcyde]

I use less pots with my Mage than my bear or bird bc of heal. Why wouldn't you want to invest points in it and use it as much as possible? I don't get where this question is coming from. Be glad you have that skill and that it's so useful. Yes, teammates should also use pots to help, and not rely solely on the Mage. But if you want your team to succeed, healing and/or reviving are musts.

I have the opposite problem. I burn through thousands of potions simply because I'm impatient and tank :p.

[Lesrider]

True, now that I have a dual wield, I do sometimes use more pots. But only if I'm the only Mage/pally/tank in the group. If there's one more, I can get by with very few pots. Or if there's a proper bear tank, that can help too. Then I can be Mage instead of pally.

[bjordan]

Major noob question, but my main is a bird and I just started an Enchantress with the intent of doing a pally style build. How do you heal other players? Since you can't select them I'm confused. Does heal, heal everyone near you?

[Lesrider]

Yes, heal (and revive, which you'll get later) are Aoe spells. Just tap them and they effect everyone near you.

[Derajdefyre]

If you are an enchantress and you are not using your heal spell you are awful. Period. There is no debate here. This is not an opinion, it is a fact. There is absolutely no reason to neglect the heal spell. It is not a matter of focus. There are no specializations or talent trees. You can max out heal and also max out damage.

Heal also is the ONLY way to remove debuffs. Try playing frozen nightmares with a good enchantress then play again with one who never uses heal or debuffs. The enemies will destroy you because the enchantress buffs and debuffs are game changing abilities and the enemies will freeze you in place, making your tank unable to tank and your dps unable to run.

A good enchantress uses ALL her abilities. People who tell you that you are a healer are also wrong. You are a healer, buffer, debuffer, crowd controller, and yes, damage dealer (not necessarily in that order). You don't need to max out heal immediately, but it would be a good idea because it is one of your better abilities. Choosing to not use it is like a bear choosing to never use stomp or beckon.

[Lesrider]

When I played as my bear (before the recent updates), I was so glad to be able to stomp away my frozen status from Plothozz. But somehow he always froze me right after stomping and healers just never seemed to unfreeze me much. Bird can also unfreeze themselves with one of their screams. So at least not wholly dependent on mages there.

Now that Plothozz doesn't seem to freeze anymore, I haven't noticed. And I play my Mage now, so I'm always healing like crazy anyway.

[bjordan]

Yes, heal (and revive, which you'll get later) are Aoe spells. Just tap them and they effect everyone near you.

Thanks for clearing that up!

[GoofyYno]

Healing is so easy that it never becomes a true focus. Plus, people should be popping potions as well to help out.

besides heal and mana, what potions are you referring to?
I thought the extra potions (besides those 2) you buy were not able to be saved.

[Lesrider]

He was talking about health and mana pots.
Sometimes people rely TOO much on mages healing and think they don't need to use any pots. Mages can reduce the amount of (health) pots you need, but it's not fair to the Mage if you don't use pots when you're about to die. Mages can't cover ALL the healing neeeded, especially if there's only one Mage to cover 5 people.

Plus, in a heated battle, mages are often popping mana pots to stay alive/use skills. It's not fair to a Mage to expect them to pop even more mana pots at that point just to save you a few health pots.

[GoofyYno]

cool. I'm there. just didn't want to be mssing another tool.

[addiekai]

I guess what was missing here is the class tree, where you can specialize in certain aspects of your class.

Take for an example an Enchantress. In other games, you can go for classes like Warlock (Elemental Damage dealers) or Clerics (Support class).

I guess (and hope) they would come up with this in the future :)

[Lesrider]

Eh, I like my Mage being able to both heal and do damage. I never liked classes that just heal -- I find them boring and would never choose to play. The only reason I like being a Mage on PL is because you get to do both. I hope they don't change that.

[Axavier]

Healing and damage!! I have no problem charging into a room letting off a combo of freeze, lighting & fire followed by a quick cast of healing, weakness and drain - auto attacking with my cosmo wand and popping a couple potions... works great!! :)

Axavier-- Lvl 50 PureMage
10833 kills -- 411 deaths

[FluffNStuff]

Healing and damage!! I have no problem charging into a room letting off a combo of freeze, lighting & fire followed by a quick cast of healing, weakness and drain - auto attacking with my cosmo wand and popping a couple potions... works great!! :)

Axavier-- Lvl 50 PureMage
10833 kills -- 411 deaths

weakness after?

[FluffNStuff]

Combined with an archer's rooting spells my mage does enormous amounts of damage. Far more than the bear can do. If there's no archer present I'm usually the main death dealer while the bear is a distraction. With nightmare, weaken, and lightning I almost double the effectiveness of an archer too.

Healing is almost a back seat. Really I just use it to keep the meatshields/bears alive so that my mana doesn't drain so fast.

The 'distraction' is what is keeping you alive, so be nice and keep it alive.

[Derajdefyre]

I should also say that the purpose of playing a video game is to have fun, so if NOT using heal is fun for you then it is your right. Just don't expect to ever win at any challenging content and don't complain when you earn a bad reputation and people start banning you from their games.

[addiekai]

Playing how you want the game doesn't constitute you to doing what other people want you to do.

If you want to hang back and support, it's your choice. If you want to get down and dirty with the rest of them it's your choice as well.

[chrononh]

I played both bear and mage, and one thing I learned in three months of playing this game is that there are certain expectations when you join a group game. To be a good bear tank, you have to be willing to take aggro and lead the charge. To do this effectively, though, you need a good Mage who will keep you alive. Before they nerfed AO3, bad teamwork will always result in a wipeout because bears can not pop pots fast enough to stay alive.

This does not mean that mages are useless otherwise. As a Mage, I learned to spam heals while dealing damage. Lots of damage. Healing does not only keep your bear alive, it also keeps you healthy to continue with the carnage. The AOE spells that mages have are very effective, and the combos with the other classes can really do damage big time.

And as some have pointed out, mages are absolutely essential in Frozen Nightmares. My level 50 bear tank and two level 30 mages can clear the entire series of maps as long as they continue to heal.

In any case, when playing bear in the lower levels I always make it a point to thank the healers.

[Axavier]

weakness after?

Yes I typically go in and hit hard... then the weakness will hit them as they come in close as well as the drain spell which helps recover hit points followed by another heal and pots as needed... by that time I am charged for the next round of the combo!!

[Derajdefyre]

Playing how you want the game doesn't constitute you to doing what other people want you to do.

If you want to hang back and support, it's your choice. If you want to get down and dirty with the rest of them it's your choice as well.

Yes, you can play how you want if you think it is fun. But ultimately this is a group game and if you are not a good team player who uses all of your skills effectively then people will not want to play with you. Thus, when you earn a reputation as a person who does not play effectively and no one will play with you, don't complain.

[FluffNStuff]

Playing how you want the game doesn't constitute you to doing what other people want you to do.

If you want to hang back and support, it's your choice. If you want to get down and dirty with the rest of them it's your choice as well.

True, and it's not just for mages!!
If you don't want stay behind the tank so you avoid agroing up the mobs, it's your choice!
If you don't want to use weakness or lightning for combos, it's your choice!
If you don't want to use roots for the mage to lightning strike, it's your choice!
If you don't want to hell scream when the mage casts weakness, it's your choice!
If you don't want to use heal, it's your choice!
If you don't want to cast nightmare or break armor, it's your choice!
If you don't want to taunt because you prefer the mage's and archers getting the agro, it's your choice.

But never forget:
If someone does not want you in their group, well that's THEIR choice.

[FluffNStuff]

Yes I typically go in and hit hard... then the weakness will hit them as they come in close as well as the drain spell which helps recover hit points followed by another heal and pots as needed... by that time I am charged for the next round of the combo!!

Ahh, you need to read your skills better. Weakness has dodge reduction, which greatly adds to the chances your combo will actually hit. It is actually more useful then the damage reduction.

[chrononh]

True, and it's not just for mages!!
If you don't want stay behind the tank so you avoid agroing up the mobs, it's your choice!
If you don't want to use weakness or lightning for combos, it's your choice!
If you don't want to use roots for the mage to lightning strike, it's your choice!
If you don't want to hell scream when the mage casts weakness, it's your choice!
If you don't want to use heal, it's your choice!
If you don't want to cast nightmare or break armor, it's your choice!
If you don't want to taunt because you prefer the mage's and archers getting the agro, it's your choice.

But never forget:
If someone does not want you in their group, well that's THEIR choice.

I think it will actually be instructive for new mages to start a new char and play the other classes, especially the bear. THEN they'll really appreciate what it's like to play with a good Mage.

[Axavier]

I think it will actually be instructive for new mages to start a new char and play the other classes, especially the bear. THEN they'll really appreciate what it's like to play with a good Mage.

Absolutely!! I played for quite a while with a Bear and Bird... I just prefer the Mage at this point :) My style... that is the beauty of the game!

[Lodenk]

I think that the other thing that we really need to consider here is the NULL effect that healing has on the enchantress. I am at 5/5 healing, I keep it on CD, I spam all my spells and still never run out of mana. Honestly, other than ego, there is no viable reason why you are unable to heal and dps. More over, I consider healing a DPS spell as it keeps my groups up keeps their DPS high. I am very rarely running around kiting trying to kill the last mob becuase my group died. Why? I heal.

Seriously its one spell, has no effect on your DPS rotation, getting into a good habit allows you to put LESS points into STR and go pure INT becuase you know you'll always be a full HP, and you'll have a tank to take aggro.

[Pharcyde]

I've stated this a million times in this section of the forums and I will state it again.
Healing costs 16 mana, I regenerate 20 mana a second. basicly to me healing is nothing, its like taking a penny out of bill gates saving account.

[Klober]

Healing costs 16 mana, I regenerate 20 mana a second. basicly to me healing is nothing, its like taking a penny out of bill gates saving account.

Couldn't have put it better myself. I may have to use that as my signature! ;)

[StompArtist]

True, and it's not just for mages!!
If you don't want stay behind the tank so you avoid agroing up the mobs, it's your choice!
If you don't want to use weakness or lightning for combos, it's your choice!
If you don't want to use roots for the mage to lightning strike, it's your choice!
If you don't want to hell scream when the mage casts weakness, it's your choice!
If you don't want to use heal, it's your choice!
If you don't want to cast nightmare or break armor, it's your choice!
If you don't want to taunt because you prefer the mage's and archers getting the agro, it's your choice.

But never forget:
If someone does not want you in their group, well that's THEIR choice.

WOW. Awesome statements. Thanks for this.

[Duke]

Yeah, with my mage, I'm chucking out random Heals all of the time, and during a boss fight, I spam it continuously while I'm working the other combos. It's such a low mana cost compared to regen rates at higher levels that I don't even bother to check if anyone needs a heal -- I just toss one out anyway

[lordme]

When I play my Mage, I spam heal even no one in the party is hurt. Reason? Simple : correct me if I'm wrong, from lost expedition and onwards, the mobs do debuff, which means they stop your health and mana regeneration. Mage's heal can get rid of this, have you ever tried surrounded by mobs and all of sudden your mana instant dry out? Cuz you are not healing, plus heal can 'unfreeze' you. I hope this answers your question and heal. If your tank goes down, you are unlikely to survive as well.

[omnipresence]

... plus heal can 'unfreeze' you. ...

Really!?? I wish I had known this when I was playing in the Lost Expedition. :o

[Duke]

Yeah, Heal removes a variety of debuffs. Even break armor, which goes back as far as Dark Forest or Balefort.

[Retributionzx]

Depending what campaign for me depends on if you require a Magr I find out mages are helpful in healing to ao2 but from that everyone else just dies in a few hits so healing ain't big for me I find pots are better n more reliable then someone else I only require Mage now for faster xp or reviving though of your deciding to have a damage dealer class I recommend avians. I find them alot strong in dmg compared to everyone else.

[omnipresence]

... your deciding to have a damage dealer class I recommend avians. I find them alot strong in dmg compared to everyone else.

I disagree. One on one, yes but a mage can AOE multiple npc's at the same time resulting in much more damage being dealt than an avian. I can clear out multiple guys at the same time with my mage while the avian is only clearing out one.

[Blaquehaaart]

You don't need to heal...people that say so are selfish players. Everyone can heal themselves by spamming pots...it's not like there is a cool do on them. This game doesn't require that people play any type of role or understanding of how their character works...it's waaaay to easy.

Now if there was a max level elite dungeon, and your where the only healer, than yes, you should heal, just like a tank should tank, and dps should manage their damage output.

But, as this game stands, you can effectively spam aoe through dungeons.

[omnipresence]

You don't need to heal...people that say so are selfish players. Everyone can heal themselves by spamming pots...it's not like there is a cool do on them. This game doesn't require that people play any type of role or understanding of how their character works...it's waaaay to easy.

Now if there was a max level elite dungeon, and your where the only healer, than yes, you should heal, just like a tank should tank, and dps should manage their damage output.

But, as this game stands, you can effectively spam aoe through dungeons.


The point made earlier is heal gets rid of debuffs. I'm finding it very nice to clear root type effects to keep our party moving.

[Wysee]

Since i'm not maxed out, just level 29 i'm not sure how it is in the higher dungeons, but right now i find no problem in healing.
It takes little mana to do and really, no attack has any cast time so just do something else instantly after :)

Oh, and actually didn't know it would remove dots. Can come in handy, haha ^^

[Echelong]

Mages main role is an extensive one since we have to heal, Nuke mobs with AOE and buff/debuff every chance we get. Sure people can do fine with pots but we have 2 buffs that help a lot and then the debuffs that not many players invest in them. It is not a simple class to use unless you have the right gear to counter the mana drain or spam mana pots.

[omnipresence]

Mages main role is an extensive one since we have to heal, Nuke mobs with AOE and buff/debuff every chance we get. Sure people can do fine with pots but we have 2 buffs that help a lot and then the debuffs that not many players invest in them. It is not a simple class to use unless you have the right gear to counter the mana drain or spam mana pots.

Agreed. Which is why it's always nice when you have 2 or more mages and each take different roles.