These are more curious questions than any kind of complaint:

I am playing my first healer and its a cloud giant, so it may be different for other races but why can't a healer use an aegis shield of resist positive? If this is just a penalty of being a cloud giant, I understand. If not, then why was it intentionally left out, yet a conjurer has the ability to protect against both positive and negative?

Also, why can one not be communed "awaken" upon someone in a healing sleep? I know its a trust thing to be put in a healing sleep, and it should not be used lightly, but I could see it as an offensive and defensive tool for healers.

Lifeshield, I assume, is a great and powerful supplication (I haven't gotten there yet) but is the last supplication of the class. Are there any tweaks in the nearby future to healers to give them at least one other thing? Because I'm a cloud giant and my mental capacity is not as great as some others, lifeshield would have limited use, if ever, for me. Just a few questions, and I always enjoy constructive cricism and comments. Thanks in advance to any who post here. :)

1) Healers specifically deal in positive energies. The bulk of their supplications use this, and it's more in flavor for healers to be able to protect from 'harmful' forces like negative attacks (Energy Drain, etc.) and lightning and such, vs. protecting people from holy things. Conjurers are magi, and aren't biased towards one plane or another by the class's function. They have access (largely through occasionally fickle servitors) to both healing and destruction.

2) I'm not sure on the Awaken vs. Healing Sleep question. Given that you could whack someone with a mace to do the same effect, it wouldn't seem overpowered to extend that courtesy as long as it obeyed trust regulations and headed off the 'helpful' part of Healing Sleep.

3) Yes, Lifeshield isn't as good on a giant. But an elf healer can't wield a two-handed weapon in one hand, resist physical attacks, carry 500 pounds of stuff, etc. No one is going to be good at everything.

4) There's always stuff somewhere in the pipeline for everyone. Healers aren't on my own priority list right now, but we're always collecting ideas for every class. You're welcome to submit ideas on healers if you have some.

valguarnera@carrionfields.com

Thanks for the help, Valgie. :)

Just a few questions, and then an idea.

>>2) I'm not sure on the Awaken vs. Healing Sleep question. Given that you could whack someone with a mace to do the same effect, it wouldn't seem overpowered to extend that courtesy as long as it obeyed trust regulations and headed off the 'helpful' part of Healing Sleep.<<

So, does this mean that its being looked into that awaken could also extend to those in healing sleep? If so, that would be very helpful. Having to whack a groupmate with a mace would require one of you two getting hurt, becoming visible if you're not already, cause someone to cry out (which would be bad in a city), and cause you to be kicked out of the group. These are not big, big issues, but the awaken thing would be a lot better.

As far as ideas for healers goes, I only really have two. The class is already great and its really a powerful support class. However, mend wounds becomes outdated once you are able to use the "heal" supplication. I was thinking of something along the lines of the "afflict" for shamans in that at higher levels, there's a chance that something extra could happen during the healing. Maybe a little refreshing, or your stomach being filled, or an affliction would be healed, or granted a beneficial effect like bless or something. The other idea is that, as a healer, you still can't heal something as basic as bleeding, unless you put someone in a healing sleep. A solution to this would be a skill that would staunch the bloodflow only. No actual healing involved, just an attempt to stop the bleeding. As a skill, it could only be used every few hours whether you fail or not (doctors can't always stop bleeding either). So, if you're in a group and everyone is bleeding, you can't service everyone at once. A name idea for this would be "tourniquet" or "cauterize" (though that sounds a bit gruesome). I could understand arguments against this, though. Healers are powerful already, and everyone is annoyed when having to fight the side with a good healer, but it seemed kind of silly that someone devoting their life to healing couldn't stop the flow of blood. I've tried cleansing others who were bleeding, but it didn't ever seem to work either. Thoughts? Flames? Comments?

Transmuters can repair flesh which has a chance to chop the bleeding time in half (I think, if not half, it slows down the duration big time). I'm in favor of a similar commune for healers that's on a timer, say 7-10 hours like on the tranny. You could justify it as the healer applying a bandage or magically mending a very particular wound (the bleeding) instead of all wounds in general, that would in turn slow the bleeding rate.

I always thought of healing sleep as something way beyond the reaches of awaken. I mean, a healing sleep is deep enough to cure all maladicts in a matter of hours. That's a pretty deep sleep. Awaken is for bumps on the head and the like. *shrug* Just the way I always saw things.

As far as stopping bleeding, I'd look at healing sleep. From the healing sleep helpfile:
...he or she will awake completely refreshed and cleansed of all harmful effects, including those normally beyond their ability to cleanse.
Maybe I'm just a hardass, but the idea of NEEDING healing sleep in some situations seemed to balance things out a little. Always with that danger factor and all. I see it similarly to cure blindness, where being dirted can't be negated. Besides, I have a hard enough time spelling aegis properly (what an odd word), you think having to type tourniquet or cauterize will help? Ack!

And one final thing, and then I'll stop pretending I know what I'm talking about . . . I would have agreed with your mend wounds idea when I was at the lower ranks, but once I was armed with mend/heal/rejuv, I came to the realization that all three were important. Instead of having to waste copious amounts of mana rejuving that rank 15 dwarf, I could mend wounds to the same effect. Or, if I was running low on mana and a groupmate was bleeding/starving/&ct. to death, and I needed and hour or two to nap to get enough mana to whatever, mend wounds could save that groupmates life. There are other things I can think of, but, well, you know.

>Maybe I'm just a hardass, but the idea of NEEDING healing
>sleep in some situations seemed to balance things out a
>little. Always with that danger factor and all.

That was, in fact, the idea behind healing sleep. A healer can cure just about anything, given time, but may not be able to do so in the heat of a raid or similar dangerous situation.

What if, in compromise, a stop-bleeding skill could only be used by those who have not fought in battle recently (blamed on the ability to focus), and on the one being bandaged having settled down from battle (when their heartrate isn't pumping out their blood so much)? The skill could then be applied. It would make the skill also seem not so powerful, but helpful enough to not need a healing sleep. Sometimes all someone needed was to stop bleeding because their health was hovering at max.

As far as mend wounds not needing the extra boost, I understand. Plenty of times my mind needed rest and someone needed healing, so I mended their wounds and took a nap.

I think stopping bleeding would be healing that's entirely different from all the other healing supps. I mean, I know that when healing HP, you're fixing up cuts and bruises and the like, but I always thought of a Healers supps as healing things less, I don't know, physical. Like, curing diseases, or healing blindness (note you can't cure dirt). Stopping bleeding seems more of a touchy-feely type of healing. Everything else is more like medicine. *shrug*

What I would like to see is a supplication that restores mana. I always wondered why a healer could cure something as terrible as crimson scourge, but nothing as simple as a headache. If healers deal in positive energies, then I think it only fair. It could even be something weak, like a mend wounds-level cure, or even refresh (which I always found to be on the weak side, but maybe it's only me). Hrmm.

>>What I would like to see is a supplication that restores mana. I always wondered why a healer could cure something as terrible as crimson scourge, but nothing as simple as a headache<<

I could see this as a possibilit so long as it either couldn't affect yourself, or the cost would be greater than the amount healed. Or maybe a transfer of personal mental energy, like if you wanted to transfer 500 mana from yourself to a groupmate. The problem with this, though, is it doesn't seem very healer-like. I could see maybe a transmuter with a transfer spell like that. Or even a conjurer. I like the basic idea, though. Similar to what a bard does.

I think stopping bleeding would be healing that's entirely different from all the other healing supps. I mean, I know that when healing HP, you're fixing up cuts and bruises and the like, but I always thought of a Healers supps as healing things less, I don't know, physical. Like, curing diseases, or healing blindness (note you can't cure dirt). Stopping bleeding seems more of a touchy-feely type of healing. Everything else is more like medicine. *shrug*

I think you are absolutely correct. Healers draw from divine, or positive energies to restore health. Physical manipulation is more within the realm of transmutation.

What I would like to see is a supplication that restores mana.

Bards have this market cornered.

I always wondered why a healer could cure something as terrible as crimson scourge, but nothing as simple as a headache. If healers deal in positive energies, then I think it only fair. It could even be something weak, like a mend wounds-level cure, or even refresh (which I always found to be on the weak side, but maybe it's only me). Hrmm.

A healing sleep should take away the migraine.