Why healing?

[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.