Open discussion:Healing without astral shield

greyswornone

As we all know the key to success in this alarmingly exciting action mmo rpg in it infancy has been set in stone cast and molded irrefutably adamant in its undeniable domination and success.
I play Cleric, from the get go I knew it would be my dedicated class as boring and droll as it is to level a class meant for healing and support.
So I'll get strait to the point, well my point really, I've learned to play play my class outside the normalcy of requiring the necessity of what was stated above alone and without. Accomplished and tested in our given end game content.
So the question is can single cleric heal with superior results without the aid of astral shield than that of two with?
I've briefly tested this with about a 75/25% success rate but I also attribute much to group efficiency,poise and willingness to stand fast with some random crazy guy who say's "Sorry guys you aint getting no little blue circle"
This will be my first and perhaps my last time ever posting anything argumentative or controversial on a public forum your feedback is most welcome and appreciated.Please keep it clean and respectful.
Thanks
Graysworn

greyswornone

*********Wince*************

sauciflard1

What's your encounter if you don't take AS?

Otherwise I think it's definitely possible, it's just that AS is the no brain way to heal.

nvmbanelings

the problem is that AS is a free 41-51% damage reduction (20% base, 10% (or was it 5?) per rank and 11% with foresight and the feat).

it's just too **** good to NOT use.

kerlaa

Our single target heal just wouldn't cut it imo. There is just to much movement (atleast there should be if players tried avoiding red splat zones) and can't out heal most mobs/pvp striker spike damage. Much easier to AOE heal and the damage reduction is a bonus.

tyranion

I grouped with Grey while he was experimenting without Astral Shield. Full disclosure, I have a lvl 60 Cleric and Wizard, he's a guildy. I was on my Wizard, he was healing Epic Idris. The result? Surprisingly good. One person dropped on the final fight by standing right on the shadow portal and got hit by 6 orbs simultaneously. That would have happened with or without blue circle because those shadow portals dispel circle. Otherwise 0 downs, 0 deaths. We had 2 Rogue 2 Wizard and 1 Cleric though, so the mobs were well controlled and short lived. Your mileage may vary. Grey's had some success with Epic Pirate King too, and with a Dungeon Finder group no less.

Frankly I think it's good to practice healing without the crutch of circle. There are a some mobile fights where circle is of limited utility. Example: third boss of Castle Never, last boss of Frozen Heart, most trash fights in Karrundax, etc. I usually go back to my old standbys, Sunburst to build divinity/AP, Healing Word, and Forgemaster's Flame, then Brand of the Sun + Astral Seal instead of Sacred Flame + Astral Seal. I never have to stop more than a half second to cast.

spoohtheone

Not running with Astral Shield makes everything incredibly hard for the entire group. Everything needs to be dodged and things will go way slower in general.

Also, without using Astral Shield there is no way without using any exploits to ever manage CN. When draco gets below 75% he starts throwing out hands, they can randomly one-shot through double ring. And he spawns a lot of them. You would literally have to dodge every single ability for 15 minutes. This not including the horrible trash you would have to struggle through without AS. People die if shields are dropped for only a few seconds.

The current content is scaled so high that healing without AS will be very hard in t2 dungeons, I'm honestly really curious as to what will happen when / if they nerf this ability (which im honestly expecting, because it's ridiculously strong)

pinchz

I think you could do Dracolich without Astral Shield, but it would need 3 CW's and a really good CC rotation.

When it does get nerfed (which it probably will), I think what will happen is definitely more CW's in groups and probably single pack pulling instead of pulling 4-5 packs like you can now.

No matter what they do to it though, I can't see it ever leaving my bar. Damage reduction and healing is far too good to pass up!

itheryel

I wonder when they wil fix dropping mobs of ledges so tanks become viable again...

Then u could drop AS if they can pull all the agro (since they have higher DR base) and just focus full spawn heals, AS could stil be used but wil lose value if tanks are needed in T1/T2 dungeons i imagine...