Vanya vs. Darklight vs. AF2?

[Hulan]

That's not true. I personally conducted tests on that, and Determination actually DOES increase healing done BY you, not TO YOU. I tried to cast Cure on people with different DET and I observed no differences in my healing potency. However, I still agree on the fact that Determination should get low priority as a stat, since it increases your cures, but not as much as Mind does.

There is something very odd about Det. There is such a dearth of the stat, and yet it has so little effect. One would expect a stat where you have to scrape and beg for every point to be worth a lot, but it just simply isn't. I greatly look forward to some more extensive - and documented - testing on the subject. I'm planning on running some Crit rate tests myself; but I fear the subject may be well studied by the time I can do it, as I do not play on my legacy server and do not play as often as many people to boot.

[Maphyr]

Gearing for spell speed is absolutely ridiculous. We're talking the difference of milliseconds - which is negated by your latency anyway.

Ridiculous telling people to gear Vanya for spell speed.

Folks, save your gil - get your DL set, it's very easy to obtain.

[TunaTime]

Folks, save your gil - get your DL set, it's very easy to obtain.

Save it for what? Repairs? :-)

I just bought the HQ chest yesterday and loving it! Gonna try melting it later today. Not sure if I'm going to use my myth stones on the AF+1 head or get the HQ Vanya hat of healing. No matter what I do I firmly believe that either combo is superior to DL Cowl of Healing.

[gigi_frana]

HQ vanya goes for 1 mil on my server.
Which is silly.

[Kinseykinz]

Great responses! Exactly what I was looking for. I'm pretty iffy myself on using DL body. Especially when I start getting AF2 pieces and would have to choose between cowl or 1 piece of AF2 + a less useful piece.

This is what I did (in part to save on farming time)

1. Farmed Castrum/AK for enough tomes for 9 Potash. And gathered all the needed crafting supplies. Handed to my favorite Crafter and he made me a lovely HQ Vanya Robe. Added Melds.
2. Spent my first set of Myth Tombs on the WHM +1 Circlet.

Now, I have the option of +1ing my Relic or going for the Healer Boots. Probably do Boots then Relic as it looks like my FC is still 1-2 weeks away from starting the Coil.


EDIT:
Also, since I plan on also fully-leveling/equipping a SCH one day, I will still make use of my robe. Furthermore, the drops from Coil for Healers are a body and a headpiece, as is AF+1. So by going the Vanya robe route, you get to keep your 'best' stuff on until you replace it with better. You won't have to go back to a 'lesser' piece if you get a lucky drop in the coil or have the tombs to upgrade your AF body/head.

Oh and I think there's a big difference in 'how should I gear' based on whether or not you are actively gearing and maining WHM or not. If it's just a 'I play it when I have to' but currently, I'm working on gear for class x... you probably benefit most from Vanya Head/Body but could use DL for the rest....and if you really almost never play healer, but want gear for quick AK cues etc, Darklight gets the job done.

[Loam]

Gearing for spell speed is absolutely ridiculous. We're talking the difference of milliseconds

I definitely prefer Spell Speed over Critical Hit Rating, and I'll tell you why: CHR is not a stat that can assure you a constant benefit, because its benefit is random and could potentially create issues such as overhealing and generating undesired enmity. It is a factor over you can't study your strategy and your spells' choice. During an "oh shit!" situation you can't think: "Now I'm gonna to cast Cure over Cure II because I'll do a crit", not matter what your CHR stat is. You'll definitely want to cast Cure II. Spell Speed could appear like a worthless stat, because of the difference of centiseconds, but if you gear for Spell Speed AND use food to increase it again, you could create an huge difference in your cast and recast times, and I assure you you'll definitely notice the difference. But the greatest quality of Spell Speed is that it is an ALWAYS ON stat, and you can benefit of that for each your actions. This is exactly what a WHM wants. It is important to healer to have a consistent and dependable amount of HP healed. You can increase average of your cure potency with CHR, but you'll decrease its consistency. Not a big deal when we talk of an healer class.

[Kinseykinz]

Gearing for spell speed is absolutely ridiculous. We're talking the difference of milliseconds - which is negated by your latency anyway.

Ridiculous telling people to gear Vanya for spell speed.

1. Crit is worthless as a Healer...heck, sometimes Crit's can actually screw you over. Have 6 people in the party that need a heal of 300-500ish hp's? You think 'Medica', that'll do the trick and keep my hate in check expecting to not over-heal and end up crit-healing everyone...building up unecessary hate.
2. Spell Speed, your milliseconds add up over time...and it's not milliseconds of difference. It's hundreths of seconds. Over a long battle, I can get in way more skills/spells than you. My cooldowns AND cast times are lower. So I can land spells, when they need to land more often. It doesn't matter how much I heal the tank for, what matters most is that I keep the tank standing...even if he only has 1HP, 1HP=alive.

[Maphyr]

Save it for what? Repairs? :-)

I just bought the HQ chest yesterday and loving it! Gonna try melting it later today. Not sure if I'm going to use my myth stones on the AF+1 head or get the HQ Vanya hat of healing. No matter what I do I firmly believe that either combo is superior to DL Cowl of Healing.

By all means, blow your gil on unnecessary purchases. All I'm saying is that DL will carry you fine thru current end game and it's not needed based on the reasons previously provided in this thread.

[Maphyr]

1. Crit is worthless as a Healer...heck, sometimes Crit's can actually screw you over. Have 6 people in the party that need a heal of 300-500ish hp's? You think 'Medica', that'll do the trick and keep my hate in check expecting to not over-heal and end up crit-healing everyone...building up unecessary hate.
2. Spell Speed, your milliseconds add up over time...and it's not milliseconds of difference. It's hundreths of seconds. Over a long battle, I can get in way more skills/spells than you. My cooldowns AND cast times are lower. So I can land spells, when they need to land more often. It doesn't matter how much I heal the tank for, what matters most is that I keep the tank standing...even if he only has 1HP, 1HP=alive.

Player skill carries far more weight when it comes to healing than your precious spell speed stat. Reaction time and critical descion making are far more potent than a "hundredths of second" faster cast. Which I might add that hundreth of a second fast cast cost millions of gil... yeah.. not convincing me anytime soon.

[Maphyr]

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Unless you're shaving a whole second of cast time off, I really don't see benefits worth talking about.