Priests in raids

As you all know, priests are best at supporting the group. Some might say that the ToS (tempest of set) is best at DPS, but they'll change their mind after they see what huge indirect DPS the ToS is capable of (ask Nahkti). Make sure you remember that this post is about PvE only. Not PvP.

This post was meant to provide information about the way priests can support a group in raids (DOs and DONTs). The information is about feats, mostly. Lets keep in mind that most of the team's support comes from priests. Raids can be very tough, and people need all the help the can get. A priest who really cares and wants to be a good friend will do his best to support his friends (including a build). After all, there's barely any worthy solo content at level 80 right now, and you can be more than sure that its possible to do properly with a team support build. You dont really have to sacrifice anyting (almost) to have a good build. When very little is required (sacrifice), there's no reason not to do it. Not as long as you honestly care (and not just say that you care). There are times when your friends need all the help they can get. Remember that.

Lets start with the BS (bear shaman). The bear shaman has 2 feat trees: Wrath and Spirits.
http://aoc.yg.com/feat-planer?class=29

Wrath

This tree contains very very little party support, and contains minor DPS additions (that's right, minor DPS additions). The only party support (PvE) feats are: Nature's wrath (about 220 hp healing every 10 sec of so, if the BS is fighting), Battle Roar (+301 hp for a short time), Ursine Roar (-15% damage to your enemies in a cone, for a very very short time, long re-use), Bloodthirst (a little healing every now and then), and Nature's Revenge (a little healing every now and then).

The "Skulk" isnt worth it because the general tree has enough feats to deal with hate problems. The "Untamed regeneration" is useless when you have "nature's balance" (spirits tree), and "claws of life" (spirits tree). The mana regeneration from that aspect (untamed regeneration) is nice, but then again, you take 15% more damage, and that means your death when someone nasty wants you in a raid. You can also live without that mana regeneration. Quite easily, in fact.

As you can easily see, the problem with this tree is that its barely meant for party support, and 2 of the party support feats are deep down in the tree, which is a big problem if you want to support a party.



Spirits

This tree contains many many party support feats. Some of them even enhance the BS's damage by much (for example, the first feat adds about 43.5 damage (melee) at level 80, and can be easily kept running all the time).

A. Rune of Slaughter: Once fully feated, it can quite easily turn into -10% to the physical immunities of those who get hit by the BS. Think about a raid boss taking 10% more damage, and do the math. It can last about 30 seconds on the target (it doesnt start with 10% from the first moment), and the reuse is 60 sec. Its but a moment to cast, and requires nothing except the mana and the cast time (the BS is supposed to hit the target anyway).

B. Grace of Nature: Only 1 feat point. This feat helps against root problems, and provides a short immunity. Its short lived, but great for critical moments. For this 1 feat point, its great.

C. Ether theft: Requires only 1 feat point to support the group. This feat steals about 135-150 mana (sorry I dont recall exactly) and shares it with the group. It can be great for just 1 feat point. The rest of the points (2) will simply boost the damage by 45% (and it wasnt much to begin with). Its not worth it if you're there to support.

D. Rune of Aggression: 1 feat point, +32 damage half of the time (15 sec out of 30), just 1 sec to cast. 'nuff said (enough said). The +32 damage is at level 80.

E. Rune of grounding: 1 feat point, +95% to the priests immunities against spells (about 15 sec out of 120). This might not be a direct support skill, but if someone nasty (caster) wants the priest, it can really save him. Since its just 1 point, and can make a priest survive in a raid, I consider it a good feat to take for supporters.

F. "Manifestation: Regrowth" : 3 feat points, an avarage healing of 60 (level 80) every 2 sec, half of the time (30 out of 60). Requires nothing except staying close to the supported ones (which is supposed to be that way anyway), and the cast time + mana.

G. Claws of Life: 5 feat points, provides a very generous hp regeneration to the priest and a chance to curse the enemies (procs VERY fast, in my experience). The curse heals those who're attacking the target/s. Its a small healing, but this adds up. This is, after all, a very long buff (1 hour).

H. Balance of nature: When fully feated (5) it recovers about 126 stamina points (level 79) to team members (affected by the blood flow, which is the major healing) every 2 sec. That's a huge amount, compared to the way its used. Me and my partners could fight non-stop. It requires no investment except the casting of the blood flow (which is supposed to be done anyway).

I. Blood healing: 5 points, improves the major healing (blood flow) by 6.25%. Requires nothing except the feat points. 'nuff said (enough said).

J. The improvements to the adrenaline surge arent really worth it because the reuse time (of that spell) will still stay very very very long.

K. The "Deft Renewel" requires too many feat points (because of the feat before it) and adds only 5% to your chance to evade. This chance is always small, because its the tanks who're being hit (or else....). The tanks never have a serious chance to evade. Its even worse than that. The feat before the deft renewal must be well timed to actually cause more damage. That said, the priest wont be able to keep the HoT up (renewal) all the time if he wants to use that feat right. Less healing = much less party support.


Conclusion: The spirits tree IS the way to go if you really want to support a party. The wrath tree barely boosts solo, and has almost no support skills (almost none is actually worth it). The first feat in the wrath tree, however, helps the BS' healing and requires no previous feat point investment. Boosting your own DPS will cause more hate, which is very bad for a priest. More support = less hate (the HoT will attract hate anyway)

Priest of Mitra

The PoM has 2 feat trees: "Divinity" and "Vengeance". Both contain party support feats, but the difference will be seen below.
http://aoc.yg.com/feat-planer?class=24

Divinity (tree):

A. Lance of Mitra: One of the best healing spells a priest can have. A M-U-S-T have if you're interested in seriously healing your group. It heals about 82% of the "Wave of life" healing (burst healing, and not HoT) every 5 seconds AND does nice damage in a straight line (column). The healing applies to all those who're near the targets that are being hit (naturally, its those who're taking the damage, like the tanks or any melee).

B. Divine Lance: This is the feat that is needed for the lance of mitra to actually heal. Together its 10 feat points. However, those who actually came to heal a party will GLADLY spend 10 point to get one of the best healing spells in the game (that actually includes damage).

C. Holy Accession: 5 points. Procs very often (about once per 4 sec). Requires nothing except the feat points and having wave of life on the background (which is supposed to be running anyway). It makes the next damage spell free (no mana cost). The point is, that the lance of mitra (healing) is a damage skill, and the Repulse (CC to help the group) is also a damage spell. It means free help to the group, and the ability to keep up the pace for the PoM (more healing, etc.).

D. Blessing of Mitra: 3 points (To make it really worthy). -20% damage taken and +20% DPS (magic too) to one target for 8 sec (but the priest can do nothing in this time). After that, the priest and the target get +20% damage for 20 sec. Superb tanking feat, for 3 points. The tank takes -20% damage while the HoT is still there. For 28 sec, the tank gets 20% more damage. Tanks know VERY well how important it is to gain a lot of hate. Its true that it means missing about 2 LoMs (Lances of Mitra), but the -20% damage is worth it, including the hate boost.

E. Light of Mitra: 2 points. Adds a little mana and stamina with the wave of life (The PoM's major HoT). Nothing major, and it makes the HoT a bit more expensive (not by much), but for 2 feat points its great.

F. Blessed Armor of Faith + Unyielding Faith: 5+2 feat points. The priest gets less mana penalty, which equals to more mana for support. The priest removes most the H-U-G-E unholy damage invulnerability penalty (the unholy is "only" reduced by 80% compared to the 100%) and the self damage penalty. In short: It makes the priest durable against physical damage (the buff itself is -20% damage from physical), and removes the very very risky invulnerability penalty against unholy damage (which some raid monsters gladly use against the group. sometimes against the priest). This will also remove most of the damage penalty to the priest's damage.

The rest of the feats in this tree are either DPS, or just require too much investment to be actually worthy enough. In some cases, other team members will usually have what it takes. For example: If a BS has AoE stun (no feats required), its not reasonable to invest so many points on the way to the "avatar of mitra".

This feat tree, as you can see, contains a lot of party support skills. Some of those feats are a MUST HAVE for those who care about their friends and do their best to heal them. Almost none of these is deep down the tree, which doesnt require any serious investment to get them.


Vengeance (tree):

A. Holy conquest: 3 points. A group support DPS buff. At level 80 it equals to something like +8.5 melee and ranged DPS. Its not that bad for 3 points.

B. Glowing Radiance: 3 points. I never experienced this feat myself, but every person who ever mentioned it in the forum said that its a 5% damage buff for those affected by the radiance (the burst healing of the PoM). Not that bad for 3 points.

C. Guiding hand of Mitra, Empowered hand of Mitra, Determination and Relentless Faith: 3+2+5+5 = 15 feat points. A huge investment that results in the hand of mitra (total immunity) 12.5 seconds instead of 10, instant cast (instead of almost instant cast), and 3.5 minutes reuse instead of 5. In addition, the CC (fear, stun, etc.) lasts 25% more time (which equals to 1-2 more sec), and is cast faster (the best reduction is just about -0.5 sec cast time).

All I can say about those feats is this: If the tank needs more than 10 seconds (unfeated hand of mitra) to get hate, you're in a very serious problem. There are enough hate feats to deal with any possible hate in the general tree. The 1-2 more CC seconds is barely felt when fights last for about a minute (if not way way more than that). If hate isnt a problem, then the 3.5 reuse instead of 5 is totally meaningless. Lets not even mention the instant cast VS almost instant cast.

D. Guardian Spirit + Vengeful Spirit + Arch Guardian: 5+5+1 = 11 feat points. Lasts about 10 sec out of a 2 minutes reuse (unless it was changed lately, and I doubt it did). A little more damage, which ends sooner than the 10 sec if you're being hit. If you're being hit, the monster gets nice damage but the healing wont proc in the end (unless it changed lately, and I doubt it did). Overall its 11 feat points for almost nothing, considering the amount of damage that's needed in a raid. 11 feat points for almost nothing.

E. Manifestation of Mitra (MoM): This feat requires only 1 point, but is at the bottom of the tree and requires serious investment. The feats that must come before it can be found above at "D" (except the arch guardian which is 1 point). Cute healing when someone is attacked, and a nice damage boost. The vengeance/sadism/etc boost is quite meaningless since I never really had a problem with that when it came to raids. The spell lasts about 15 seconds out of 2 minutes reuse time. A lot of investment, for a very short time, while raid encounters (the serious ones) are usually very long.

F. Immortal spirit: This feat requires only 1 point, but is at the bottom of the tree and requires serious investment. The feats that must come before it can be found above at "C" (except the 2 first feats that were mentioned, which equal to 5 points). It makes the HoT spells longer, and provides nice mana regeneration. With Holy accestion, and a potion (for emergency), including some general feats, you'll never run out of energy. The HoT spells can easily be kept active all the time even without this feat. The wave of life cast is 0.5 and it lasts 20 sec (unfeated). The emnation of life last 13 sec and the cast is 2 sec, reuse 11 sec (all of this is unfeated). A totally useless feat that requires a huge amount of investment.


As you can all see, this tree barely contains serious party support. Almost every worthy feat on this tree is extremely short lived (and has a long reuse time) and usually requires a huge investment before you can really have it.


Conclusion: The divinity tree has many great party support feats, and almost none of them requires serious investment in the tree. The lance of mitra is a MUST HAVE for any PoM who actually cares about his group and came there to do his best to heal them (which is the ONLY thing a PoM does best, except the CC which is also great unfeated). The Vengeance tree barely contains worthy party support feats. The worthy feats are (almost always) very short lived (long reuse time) and require a huge investment before you reach them.

Tempest of Set (ToS)

The ToS has 2 feats trees: Lightning and Thunder.
http://aoc.yg.com/feat-planer?class=28
The Lightning tree supports the ToS' DPS, while the Thunder tree is mostly about group support and indirect DPS. The indirect DPS (especially in a group with minions) is far superior to that of the Lightning tree, and attracts far less hate toward the ToS. To make things clear: Indirect DPS means buffing the group's damage. The damage is done through them, instead of the priest doing the damage directly.



Lightning

A. Faithful of Set: 3 points. The Life of set (main HoT of the ToS) is 8% stronger (unless it was changed lately) when stacked 5 times. It must be maintained by using specific spells. The problem is that the ToS has quite a long casting time for spells, usually. It means that this buff can be easily lost. The good thing about this feat is that its not deep in the tree, and requires very little investment (10 points before this feat and 3 for the feat itself).

B. The building storm: 1 feat point, but in the middle of the tree (20 points are required before it can be taken). Increases another person's attack damage, but its a channeling spell (the priest can do nothing in that time). The faithful of set cant be maintained that way, and the ToS can do his damage, which makes this feat a bit problematic.

C. Brain Spasms: 5 points, but very very deep in the tree (requires 35 points and "visions of hatred"). Eliminates many CC effects. Its a good feat, but is found deep inside a tree that has almost no party support at all. The opposite is true: More DPS = more hate. The HoT attracts enough hate as it is, and there's no reason in the world to make the tanks' work even harder. Furthermore, as I already said, the indirect DPS is far superior anyway.


As you can see, this tree has almost no party support feats at all. Its about direct DPS (DPS coming directly from the priest) which attracts a lot of hate and makes the tanks' work much harder for no reason at all (the indirect DPS is superior and attracts no hate toward the priest). The "C" feat is nice, but requires too much investment. "B" isnt really worth it. "A" is nice but has some disadvantages (but it could still be nice).



Thunder

A. Growing Storm: The first feat in the tree (5 points). The Life of Set's cost is reduced after using offensive spells (which are supposed to be used anyway). Reduced cost for healing spells = better support for the party. Its the first feat in the tree anyway.

B. Storm Crown + Piercing Storm Crown + Storm Throne + Storm Regalia: 3+3+3+3 = 12 feat points. Great direct AND indirect DPS. Requires very little previous investment. 'Nuff said (enough said).

C. Idol of Set + Idol of Set's Power + Idol of Set's Supremacy + Symbiotic Idol of Set: 3+2+1+5 = 10 feat points. Great direct AND indirect DPS. Having the "B" feats (look above) is enough as previous investment. 'Nuff said (enough said).

D. Set's life spark: 1 feat point, brings the priest back to life if he died. 'Nuff said (enough said).

F. Empowered Life of Set: 1 feat point, adds direct and indirect damage to the HoT (life of set), which should be cast anyway. 'Nuff said (enough said).

G. Vital Shock: 5 feat points (a must have on the way to the next feat anyway). A damage spell that also restores hp, stamina and mana to the people near the target that was struck.

H. Triumphant Life of Set: 5 feat points (a must have on the way to the next feat anyway). Damage is added to the HoT (life of set) if targets are near the ones who are affected. Think about minions and others who're near the target (in raids, for example), and do the math.

I. Serpent Transmutation: 1 feat point, deep in the tree but under "H" and "G" (look above) which are great anyway. Lasts 7 seconds out of 15 minutes reuse time. Its not much but in case the ToS is being attacked, and the tank just needs a little time to snatch the aggro, it can be a life saver. Its just 1 point anyway.


As you can see, this tree has many many party support skills. The DPS in this tree (indirect AND direct) is far superior to the direct DPS from the lightning tree in raids, and attracts less hate. This tree IS the way to go if you care about your team and want to do the best for them.


Conclusion:
The thunder tree is the only way to go if you want to do the best for your team. A ToS who really cares and wants to do the best for his team (like Nahkti) will take this tree. The solo capabilities will be way more than enough for any solo farming content (like the villas). The indirect DPS isnt only superior with the thunder tree, but also attracts less hate toward the priest (remember the honor guards?) which really helps the tanks (who have a hard time the way it is).

The General Tree
http://aoc.yg.com/feat-planer?class=28 (There's the ToS trees along the general tree).

The general tree contains party support feats, mostly. However, not everything there is about party support and not every feat there is actually worth taking (no matter who or when). Any priest who really cares about his team and wants to help will take the hate modifier feats because it'll save lives in raids! (remember the honor guards, for example?)

I'll start with the feats that are worth taking, and then continue with the feats that arent worth the feat points invested in them.

A. Vindicator: 2 feat points, almost no previous investment is required, +10% hate to the tanks, ALL the time (no cast or cost). 'Nuff said (enough said).

B. Grace: 3 feat points, almost no previous investment is required, -4% hate, all the time (no cost or cast). 'Nuff said (enough said).

C. Sooth the Soul + Shroud of the Gods: 1 feat point each, can save your life in raids (especially a ToS with spell weave) because of the hate reduction. 'Nuff said (enough said).

D. Ether discharge: 5 points, requires almost no previous investment. Restores great amounts of mana when used right in raids (mana is restored for each person affected by the major HoT). More mana = better ability to support the group (the party support requires mana, most of the time).

E. Exemplar: 5 points. This isnt a party support feat, but its a great feat on the way down the tree for the shroud of the gods.

F. Vengeance of the gods: 1 point. This isnt a party support feat, but can be important to provide extra damage in times of need (when many minions are coming and should be eliminated fast, for example). This spell is active 10% of the time (30 sec out of 3 minutes), which equals to only 2% more DPS. However, this spell isnt about DPS, but about burst damage in times of need. The priest isnt designed to be the major class to dish out DPS in raids when he properly supports others, but for 1 point this is a good investment.


Those are the feats that wont make a real difference:

A. Spirit Armor and Spirit Aegis: 5 points each. -3% spell or physical damage taken (+3% immunities). This is absurd. If a monster hits a priest for 3000, the priest is still going to take 2910. It will NEVER EVER save lives in a raid.

B. Saintly Martyr and Saintly Warrior: 3 points each. Not only do they require the above feats ("A"), but their proc rate is very very very low. Raid monsters dont hit so often (but they hit HARD). That said, those feats will NEVER EVER save lives in a raid.

C. Guiding Spirit + All Encompassing Spirit: 3+2 = 5 feat points. The major HoT's reuse will be reduced by 3 sec (from 3.5 to 0.5 sec) and will have +2m range. There no reason in the world to spam the HoT so fast as you gain nothing by doing that (or almost nothing). As for the range, when people in a raid know what to do and how to arrange themselves properly, there's no need for this feat.

D. Far Reaching Spirit + Presence of Mind: 2+5 feat points. The big healing burst (each healing class has 1 healing burst spell) has +2 range and is cast instantly (fully feated). In serious raids there are strict rules as to the way those heailng spells should be coordinated. When used RIGHT, these spells can make a serious change in battles. However, they have 1.5 sec cast, which is fast enough as it is. Making it an instant spell can cause mistakes (pushing the button by mistake without having any chance to cancel). Furthermore, only specific people need healing, and the +2m range will only harm because the wrong people will be healed. When the wrong people are healed, they cant be healed again (by that spell) for 1 minute... and this is bad.

E. Focus: 2 feat points, requires 15 points (previous investment) in the tree. It helps against interruptions to the major HoTs. However, you're not supposed to get hit a lot in raids (or you're going to die) AND casting concentration (skill) is going to solve the problem anyway. Did I mention that the cast time of the major HoT is just 0.5 sec anyway (and raid mobs dont hit so fast, usually)?

F. Healing spirit: 3 feat points, requires 15 points (previous investment) in the tree. -6% mana cost for healing spells (unless they changed that fact in one of the latest updates). It wont reduce the mana cost by much. Healing spells arent so expensive and there are many ways to help the priests mana anyway.


Conclusion: Vindicator, Grace, Sooth the Soul, Shroud of the Gods (and usually ether discharge) is the way to go if you're interested in supporting your team. Priests who care about their team will naturally do the best for the team and will take those feats, because some raids are really tough and the team will need a lot of help. There's no use for double Vindicator, if your team mates have it, but its rare for anyway to actually know what this feat does (guess why). Exemplar is a nice feat on the way down the tree and Vengeance of the Gods is nice for 1 point.

The other feats that were mentioned are a waste of feat points. Feat points that could be invested in feats that actually support the team (or support in better ways).

Great post and some good pointers, on a personal note, while honored you mention my name as a ToS I feel it is completely undeserved, I'm still a newb ToS

The non-direct dmg build is great though, when I first used the fully feated Storm Crown (etc) in a group I was pretty impressed by how much damage team mates and their minions do because of it.

Going on your pointers and adding in feats for dmg so that soloing is still possible then this build seems a good way to go for raids and groups while retaining enough dmg output for solo, it's actually very close to my current build, I left out Shroud of the Gods in favour of using that point to max Static Charge for the extra dmg in the Lightning Tree, a few -hate gems should compensate

For solo Idol is a godsend for mana renewal aswell as it's uses in raids. I rarely need to use any mana pots in places like the Villas.

Edit: Just ran the build I linked to above, did one villa and then had a quick farm of some lvl 80 Kushites, gave me enough power to easily solo the Villa with no need to use any pots, taking on 3 mobs at a time was easy as long as I made sure Vitalizing Jolt was recharged, the mobs dropped pretty fast. The Kushites proved harder work because of the ranged casters, a quick sprint usually can make the casters get close enough to use AoE but they hit pretty hard (I used 1 health pot in a group of 3), however the best fun was when I gathered a group of 5 and used Serpent Transmutation to keep me alive once they had started hitting me, with storm crown, idol and storm field running I hit Call Lightning and they were down - fun, fun, fun. The long recharge of ST means its not gonna be quick AoE farming but dont forget we also have Eye of the Storm. So my own conclusion is that ToS is a hoot solo even when specced for support. Oh and my gear isn't max for my level - I wear it because it looks cool and stats in AoC arent that big a difference with gear to worry too much.

You actually took all the party support feats (thunder and general) except the shroud of the gods. Very nice If you ask me, I wouldnt give up that shroud of the gods because its very useful when you want to use spell weaving. Spell weaving equals to more damage and shroud of the gods is just 1 point.

Other than that, you mention one of the most important facts about priests: They can easily complete any solo content with a group support build. A group support build doesnt prevent anyone from soloing. Its a little less efficient in solo, but that's it. On the other hand, it boosts your ability to help your friends when they need you the most: Raids/epic (mostly raids). That's why I said that those who really care will change the build and do the best for their friends. Because they honestly care enough to do that. They'll take 3 more minutes to finish a villa, but they'll have what it takes for their friends, when they need all the help they can get.

Thank you for your feedback

Very nice info Doras And helpful for sure for those that use that chars TY

odeon wrote:Very nice info Doras And helpful for sure for those that use that chars TY

Thank you very much

Actually, as Inecrom mentioned, its also useful for those who're not priest. There are two major reasons for that:

1. To understand how party support priests work, and the way others should cooperate with them

2. To understand who's really there to support them and who's not, and decide if they want to cooperate with them again (or at all).

I, for one, appreciate those who care about me. I'll search those people and try to cooperate with them. The people in the guild that are worthy of such praise are: Odeon (/Tankman), Inecrom, Shaun, Nelo, Hep (/Nures), Gaijen, Nahkti, Ayrr, and Elijah. Perhaps I missed a person or two. There are some people who're new and I didnt have the chance to talk to (like harley), so they might be great. I know I had a chance to talk to the new PoM (Ganondorf).

The people that are being worth of such praise have earned it by right. They do everything they can for their friends. They care (they DO something about it. They dont only talk about the way they care). I feel good with these people and will gladly share my beer with them (you know what I mean). You bet I'll come to their aid whenever they need, with whatever char/build they'll need, as long as its a small party that's filled with such people. When someone is willing to sacrifice for me (even if its not a lot), like taking a support build or changing a char for me (if he has the specific char in his account), he's very appreciated. He can be sure I'll do the same, and more.

EDIT:
I also had the honor to advise Shaun (Traithe) with his build (he asked for it). He really justifies his reputation as a person who really cares and wants the best for his friends

EDIT 2:
Sorry I forgot to include Deryck. He's one person I'd gladly support, any day of the week.

EDIT 3:
As I already said, I knew I forgot some people. Please understand me. I have no guild list in front of me, so I didnt remember all the good people at once. 2 of the people I forgot to mention are: Sweet(angel) and Nuadu. Nuadu is leveling himself (a BS) to support others and already has a team build. Sweet supports others in a great way, and also helped me and my brother in the past. Sweet has her alts, but always brings her PoM out to help her friends when they need all the help they can get.

Those 2 are great people to share my ale with

(Its true that me and sweetangel disagreed about something, but when 2 people really want to, they can easily iron things out )

The thunder tree is the only way to go if you want to do the best for your team.

Not really.

Why? Because it is an over simplification. What you really need is several ToS' who all bring somewhat differently specced serpenty deathness/healingness to the equation (that is how Legends do it, for sure) because there simply is no one-best-way to spec a ToS. I have a very hybrid spec myself.

I am a Main Tank Group healer and so I spend most of my time healing, rooting or interrupting enemy spells rather than dps'ing. I therefore have zero points invested in - hate feats (I have quite a bit of - hate gear however) and I almost never get aggro. Of course avoiding Storm Throne helps hugely on that score and I never nuke things before they are properly tanked.

And on the raid bosses I *do* spend most of my time doing chain dps on (such as Ahazu-Zagam, Kyllikki, Yakhmar and to a lesser degree Chatha and Seruah), aggro is also not a problem as long as they are tanked/goaded properly (which varies depending on the boss) and no one jumps the gun by letting rip before the Main Tank/Off Tank have done what they need to first... so even our dps super-specced ToS' like Esra (aka Critney Spears) hardly ever gets boss aggro.

The best - aggro feat is being a disciplined player.

C. Guiding Spirit + All Encompassing Spirit: 3+2 = 5 feat points. The major HoT's reuse will be reduced by 3 sec (from 3.5 to 0.5 sec) and will have +2m range. There no reason in the world to spam the HoT so fast as you gain nothing by doing that (or almost nothing). As for the range, when people in a raid know what to do and how to arrange themselves properly, there's no need for this feat.

No. The fast recast time should not be used to spam heals, that is for sure... but the long range and fast recast save countless lives because I use it to tag people running like hell whilst kiting bosses or mobs... and in order to actually hit them, you want as much range as possible and a fast recast if you miss them.

Classic example: a necromancer and a guardian are kiting/tanking Incubus to try and keep him away from Succubus whilst the rest of the raid are nuking the crap out of Succubus. My job is to deal with any adds that try to get in the way of the necro/tank team and to tag the necro with heals as she kites the big b@stard around the table when she inevitably takes damage... and also to heal the tank if she gets a bit over bashed... that means it is also best if I spend as little time as possible in Incubus' knockback range. Fast recast long range cone heals is veeeeery useful.

Some boss fights are very dynamic and when people are running around, you *will* sometimes simply miss them with your cone heal, so range and recast matter and have nothing to do with spamming heals (which is indeed evvvvviiiillll)