caelaran

Been looking at classes, and I really love three things is EQ2:

1) Being able to both solo and group adequately well (I'll probably never get to raid level, so no biggie there)

2) Healing and runspeed

3) Melee combat, not a big kiter


In reviewing my choices, it seems like either a mystic or a warden would work for me, this being the warden forum, what would cause you to lean towards the warden more than the mystic?

Umuni

Naive hope that the Warden class will one day be wanted in raids. ;P

caelaran

Should I take that as indicating the main difference is just in the wards vs . HoT?

Umuni

I was being a little over-the-top there, but certainly something to think about is what you want to be doing with your character. Both are really fun to play, imo. Either would suit you fine. Also, easy to get around as a Warden, if that makes any difference. Forget about runspeed; you've got druid rings, etc., to get you places fast. (Or you will in mid-20s or something.)

Prrasha

Warden over Mystic as a non-raid player? Yeah, it's all about getting around faster. Evac, SoW, and druid portals FTW. Nobody wastes less time getting where they're going than a warden.

Other than that, it depends how complex you like your fights. Wardens do three things well: heal, heal, and heal. If the mob hits hard, you stack more healing skills. If the mob heals itself, you hit it more. Mystics have various debuffs to make the mob hit less hard, and let themselves and their groupmates hit it harder.

At lower levels, you might find the Mystic easier to solo with, since they have buffs designed for melee damage, and have a good amount of Scout gear they can wear. Wardens buff defenses (not as time-efficient for soloing) and have, in my experience, lousier gear choices.

For group play, the warden will have a much easier time doing groupwide healing, since that's what Druids are built for. Mystics are very good at keeping the tank alive, but not as good at keeping everyone else going at the same time. Not as important for a "guild group" where everyone gets to know everyone else's capabilities, but there's nothing like Warden healing for pick-up group chaos.

That said, my Warden's 80th level, and my Mystic hasn't hit 50 yet... and for playing yesterday in the new Innothule Swamp areas, I took my warden out there first (I've got 5 alts who are high enough level for the zone.)

Umuni

Our roots are the best, too. They can be helpful when soloing or grouping.

caelaran

Thanks for the feedback, sounds like I could try both - use a warden to do the first pass of an area, then follow up with a mystic once I know where I am going and what I'm doing, or would th revers be better since wards seem to be more effective due to preventing damage from getting through in the 1st place.

Also, on race - how effective are the elf camouflage abilities? Good enough to mke em useful or more along the "cheap gimmick" lines? Stealth seems to be the only thing missing from the warden repertoire.

Eminaria

You can use totems for stealth, so you'll be fine on that.

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WC-Larry

In a nut shell


Wardens are better soloers and group healers. Fast heals works well with a melee build and druids in general are awesome for soloing. Wardens are primarily HOT based so HOT vs Ward is the primary difference. You will find that group healing with group HOTs though is much easier in EQ2 than group healing with group ward and a group direct heal.

Mystics do everything else better. Their buffs are far superior and they have useful debuffs compared to the zero useful debuffs that wardens have. Mystics do better damage because their melee AAs are more potent than warden. Mystics are superior single target tank healers and always desired more by raids and groups.

Depends on your play style and what you want to accomplish in the game. Both classes are fun to play. Try them both to 30 or 40ish to try them out because thats where you get a good feel for the real class not just the beginning of the game where most classes are the same.

Have fun with whatever you choose

caelaran

What makes the HoTs easier than wards? Know how they both work in concept, but what makes one easier when things play out?