This week we got the lead out, put the last nail in the coffin of Steamfont, and once again set off into the big wide world of Norrath. The last quest in the long chain at the Department of Gnomeland Security, Fulgation’s End, was a bit of a strange end. No grinding on mobs or anything like that; had to record the voice of an annoying little gnome with a massive golem so that I could get the gnome smacked upside the head. Yeah. It was weird. But funny.

And thus a pleasant ending to a lengthy stay in the Steamfont Mountains zone. We hopped the carpets to the Sinking Sands and jumped in with both feet. Killing Crocodilians and Armadillos was an interesting change from the past few months … kinda. Sorta.

What I’ve been focusing on for the last few weeks, and what is making my time in EQ2 still highly fun (besides hanging with friends) is the healing. Attempting to do better at my job in the group. Ostimak is the first character I’ve played that did the healing thing to the exclusion of everything else. It’s been fascinating learning to operate such a highly technical avatar. Most of the time, I’m not particularly paying attention to the mob; I’m focused on those four little health bars and my macros.

One resource I’ve been using to improve my game is the blog Priestly Endeavors. It’s a WoW Priest blog, but there are a lot of elements discussed there that seem portable to all healing experiences. It’s also making me want to play a healbot in WoW. :)

I don’t have a lot of advice per se from my almost-a-year of play for other healers. Primarily I’ve learned that having a warlock in the group can sometimes be overly exciting. Pets are rogue elements at times (he understates).

The best thing I do is complain, so I’ll do some of that. I’ve said before that I’m under-impressed by the Inquisitor as a healing class; I’m supposed to reduce healing overall by DoTting the crap out of our opponents. Faster fights = less healing. The problem is that (again, as I mentioned last time) Heroic encounters are very difficult for us. I’m underperforming in my offensive role during Heroic fights because I have to keep a close eye on the tank’s health. When I attempt to shift offensive during such tight fights, my ability to control the health of my team goes down and occasionally results in gackage.

The heal-over-time in EQ2 is referred to as a ‘reactive heal’. Instead of regular HoTs that just replace a set amount of health over a set timespan, reactive heals replace a certain amount of health after a certain number of hits, within a certain timeframe. The first in the series is Bestowal of Vitae, which will give you an idea of what I’m talking about. It’s a good concept, but sometimes I just want a HoT. There is often a case at the end of a fight when I drop a reactive heal on our tank just as he’s finishing the mob.The buff gets wasted without critters whacking the tank; if it was a HoT I’d get some use out of it. As it is, it’s just wasted mana.

The problem is, of course, the class’s focus. What’s frustrating is seeing the spells that the Templar has. Amending Fate is something that I would just love to have; all of my debuffs focus on doing damage. I regularly make use of my debuffs that reduce damage coming in … but I have (very specifically) three restorative spells. I also have two AoE heals that for obvious reasons I only make use of in specific circumstances. My buffs are useful in keeping us in the fight longer; increased health and all that … but it never seems like it’s that much health.

That, like everything else, is just a question of perception. I don’t feel like I make that effective a healer. I keep us on our feet, but my impression is one of success despite the design of my class. As a result, I don’t feel that I’m doing the best that I can for the group. Looking over the other classes available to Freeport, it seems like I chose the most healing-focused class … and that’s a bit odd to me. :)

It all boils down, again, to the smaller size of our party and what the game expects. If we had two more regular players (pretty much regardless of class) we’d be set. And so it goes …