Re: MM/HA
Jube, I've heard that idea a couple of times, so I know it sounds like a good idea: Have an SK always "bring" the ID to a specific spot where melee can find and dispatch them. The SK has the original MM (HA) and can take the hits/tap. I even suggested have a group of meleers (rogues/monks) just sit right there, wait for the ID, SK pulls and melee pop 'em.
Thing is... ten seconds is a short amount of time. We would definitely have to test it to see if that group could do it quickly enough. And, we'd lose their DPS on the Avatar -- running back and forth between the Avatar and the "ID kill zone" is definitely out of the question. Ten seconds is barely more than a tick!
10 seconds is so tiny. As I've mentioned in the bulleted reply earlier in the thread, we're losing 3 seconds just in MA transitioning, which is why we're telling people to not even wait for MA calls.
The problem with melee going to IDs to melee them is actually finding them. You'll waste 2-5 seconds just looking/moving to an ID before even getting a round of melee off. Which is why range is great, but obviously for monks it's terrible simply because your throw dps is trash (no offense, just how it is).
RE: Spreading out
Now, what we could do is, make sure the pallies (for splash) are spread out around the room, and not clustered in one place. There's a good idea. (Remember, the group heal casts from shaman and druids are slow as heck.)
And totally agree, during purple dude melee is slowed to 60%, and all you'll do close to the Avatar is get the MT in trouble if it pops on you.
Re: Group heals.
Paladins Splash works because it's 1.0 sec cast time.
Shaman have like one good group heal I know of called Progenitor's Intervention, it's 1 sec cast time, but a long ass refresh (like 3 mins, without AA focus). But useful in a pinch I bet, and from my parses, I saw some of our shaman using it. Good to see.
Druid Lunalleviation, like 4.5 sec cast time, unfocused. With the spell slow (turns into about 8 sec), you might as well be spell locked, because that's pointless. My parses are showing several of our druids using this, and my only hope is it's not during Green Robe Avatar, because they're wasting alot of time.
Clerics, I never use group heal on main room avatar. I don't even use Splash, because it's a 3 sec cast time, with slow would put it over 5 seconds. Point here is, fast fast fast casting spells only. Don't use anything over 1.5 seconds (ie, go twinheal/nuke/heal method or bust).
Healing Across the BoardEvery class that can heal, should be healing others in group to reduce healer burden. I'm not being funny here. Rangers, Beastlords, Paladins included.
You have to understand what the healer is up against in RT raid. I'll reiterate JUST the main room alone here from our strat post above:
Note the sections I've marked in RED to emphasize:
Main Room:Regardless of form, both cast:
Disruption -
18k DD + Interrupt Casting | Avatar of Ladrys | | Aura of Resplendence - AURA: 60% SPELL SLOW |
| (Green Robe) | | Purification - 29k DoT + Spell Fizzler + 50% Melee Slow |
| | | | |
| | Adds: inner darkness | | Mirror - Selfbuff: Illusion player; 40% Attack Speed |
| | (every 10-25 seconds) | | Inner Darkness - PBAE 56k DD + Blindness (40' range) |
| | (doppleganger) | | |
| | | | |
| Avatar of Sholoth | | Aura of Decay - AURA: 70% MELEE SLOW |
| (Purple Robe) | | Wave of Filth - 41k DD + Melee Silence (Random players) |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | Add: a pool of waste | | Sludge - 5k MANA DRAIN + 2k END + 53k DD + SNARE |
| | (non-confrontational) | | (chain casts while standing in pool!) |
| | (black ooze appearance) | | |
| | | | |
Ok? So now take in the red parts, and imagine yourself as a healer, while slowed and at times interrupted midcast with spell gems locked for 10 seconds; covering that damage on others, and yourself at times.
Everyone with
ANY form of a heal should be tossing it on others in your group between fulfilling your primary class role. Just because you're a DPS as a Ranger, doesn't mean you can be tossing heals around (which can crit btw), to others in your group, or in ETW who you see in trouble.
This is a LONG event (it'll be around 40 mins at least I suspect all stages included). The Main room Avatar we have to do it 4 times, with Towers inbetween. We cannot have ANYONE dead in the main avatar stage. This is why I'm stressing the importance of keeping your fellow group members alive as priority.
The moment we lose ANYONE in main room, or Tower, they're USELESS for a long ass time. They're out of mana, they're out of endurance, they're buffless. That means we have to rebuff (from a healer perspective, another diversion from our primary focus in the heat of the battle), without buffs, they're more susceptible to AEs and melee hits from mobs (remember, there are mobs in the Tower stages as well). Without mana and endurance, regardless of class, they're extremely limited in their ability to be effective. My point is, keeping people alive, is paramount.
Simply due to our raid makeup, every group doesn't have the luxury of RB from a necro. But I'm very conscious of it's usefulness and it's no coincidence that I have RB always on G1 (/blush), but I also spread it around in a way that it compliments group setups by design.
Without RB however, given the above AEs in play, I cannot stress how important it is to augment your healer in group by lending a hand covering damage others are taking. Eristie has provided good feedback so far based on his dealings with the setup he was in for our recent run. I'd like others to provide their feedback as well.
Be aware, I makeup the groups in such a way that you have other healer types beyond the priest trio (ie, Rangers, Beastlords, Paladins). If I happen to overlook a setup, make sure you say something during prep, and I'll make adjustments.
Fast Cast Heals & Twincast HealsI can't end this post without stressing how critical it is that ALL healers adapt their style of play for the environment in which they are in.
You have to abandon the notion of conventional heal methods. Consider your situation. You're up against a spell slow + interrupt. You cannot be casting a 3 second heal with a 60% spell slow and the potential of an AE interrupt to hit mid cast. When this happens, you are interrupted, your spell gems are LOCKED for 10 seconds, and you're useless as you watch your group get wrecked.
Just like that 3 second heal turns into a 5+ sec heal, where a 1.5 heal or twin/nuke
1 would have been more effective given your setup.
I realise this is difficult for many of our healers to adjust to. I've been using twinheal method for ages. But when I transitioned, it wasn't easy to abandon old methods. My only advice, as I've posted about in another thread on this subject is, to immerse yourself with the method in every facet of your play. Group, Raid, Solo (yes, solo, that's how I first started on it, albeit, harder to do with switching targets). But the point is, it takes practice.
I won't get into the differences in spell sets limiting Shaman and Druids moreso on this method. But suffice to say, in the context of RT, as a Druid or Shaman, you're far stronger healers using the fastest casts at your disposal, simply due to the two major factors in play: Slow + Interrupt. You're more likely to be interrupted with a longer cast coupled with slow, and for the times Purple Robe avatar is active and you have no slow, you can bounce back to your < 3 sec heals, potentially coupled with twinheal for some extra coverage.
Re:
Twin/Nuke comment above
What I mean by this is, you have to be aware of your group setup at the time. There's a reason why I put a necro in certain groups, with other casters that will help proc RB. Just as you can be in a group without a necro, and HAVE RB RUNNING. This is because I've assigned a necro, in another setup to /tgb YOUR GROUP WITH RB. This is to HELP YOU. But it won't help you if you don't twin! Because twin = nuke, and nuke = proc chance on RB. Just like I have a caster in your group nuking and procing RB on your group to help cover AE dmg and/or augment to help you keep your tank(s) alive in that group. I'm not putting groups together willy nilly. They're setup for synergy. But synergy requires the proper actions to make it effective.
Thanks for the replies so far everyone, keep them coming.
