Stoneskin II

[Haprimac]

Funny thing about protect on scholar is that if I'm doing a guildhest or a low level dungeon, where fairy can easily solo-heal, people demand protect. But if I do a lvl 50 dungeon, people run off before I have chance to cast it (without swiftcast). Go figure.

[Sebazy]

Do you find Surecast really more beneficial than Protect? I just recently switched it out since I pretty much never use it. Haven't had any issues in Final coil getting any spells off. I am aware in raiding situations you really don't need it but I find myself in 4men dungeons most of the time and protect comes it more handy there.

You are entirely correct, I'm yet to find a use for it in FCOB and in honesty, it's not been that useful since T4/T5. Consider it a bad habit I can't quite kick from my EQ/WoW days, utility > fluff buffs in my eyes. Wrong but I'm stuck in my ways =(

[StrangeBard]

Useful as SS2 seems to be, especially in saving time, there will sadly be that tank or 12 who won't wait for it.

If you are in a 4 man dungeon just use Swiftcast. Hell even if you are in a raid you can blow Swiftcast to get this off in the case of an impatient tank. Nobody should by dying in the first 60 seconds of a fight and if they do then they deserve to wait for you to get an opportunity to cast the spell without disrupting the flow of heals with the cast time. Though I think the major issue in why tanks don't wait for it is that they don't even know it exists. I was running Snowcloak last night and the tank thought he was lagging out because he had no idea how I could cast Stoneskin that many times in such a short duration. So we just need to take it upon ourselves as healers to make sure tanks know that not only does Stoneskin 2 exist but it is really convenient and should be waited on.

[Mayh]

Considering that Stoneskin II cannot be cast while in combat, I was a little bit disappointed that it has the same cast time as the first one.

I was hoping it would be a shorter cast, but I'm grateful that we got it regardless.

[StrangeBard]

Uhhhhh the cast times are NOT the same. Stoneskin 2 has at least twice the cast time as the first. Also it makes sense for it to have a longer cast it is a more powerful spell.

[deos]

stoneskin 2 has double the cast time and MP cost as stoneskin 1
still cuts down casting to half (light group) or even quarter (full group) to get all buffed - just sweet <3

[StrangeBard]

It does cut the prep time by a good amount; however, as I said earlier you can just Swiftcast it meaning the cast is basically instantaneous and you have given everyone in your party Stoneskin. So impatient tanks should rejoice as we now have a way to buff the party without cutting into their time.

[Mayh]

Uhhhhh the cast times are NOT the same. Stoneskin 2 has at least twice the cast time as the first. Also it makes sense for it to have a longer cast it is a more powerful spell.

Ah, my mistake.. I see now. Thanks for not biting my head off about it! XD

Well no wonder it feels so agonizingly slow when I cast it! Now that I know the specifics of its 6 second cast time I'm still let down a bit.
When I get into a dungeon people just want to go, go, go! Barely waiting for Protect buff. Of course I'm going to blow my Swiftcast for SS II so we can move on quickly.

I guess I'm going to have to reconfigure the way I handle buffs. Perhaps casting Swift & SS2 first and then Protect. It'll give Swiftcast a few seconds longer to recharge if I get that out first. And maybe I'll stop being so obsessive about keeping SS up in between trash pulls.

[VanilleFang]

I guess I'm going to have to reconfigure the way I handle buffs. Perhaps casting Swift & SS2 first and then Protect. It'll give Swiftcast a few seconds longer to recharge if I get that out first. And maybe I'll stop being so obsessive about keeping SS up in between trash pulls.

I generally only apply SS to DPS before bosses because they rarely ever lose it and and shouldn't even be taking damage. As for with tanks? I use to be really anal about keeping it on them at all times between pulls. Not anymore. There are so many tanks who won't wait for it, and I've had too many instances where I would pull hate because they wouldn't wait for SS to finish, that I just say fk it. I'll cast it if I feel like it/have a chance.

[Vorpal_Spork]

If you are in a 4 man dungeon just use Swiftcast. Hell even if you are in a raid you can blow Swiftcast to get this off in the case of an impatient tank. Nobody should by dying in the first 60 seconds of a fight and if they do then they deserve to wait for you to get an opportunity to cast the spell without disrupting the flow of heals with the cast time. Though I think the major issue in why tanks don't wait for it is that they don't even know it exists. I was running Snowcloak last night and the tank thought he was lagging out because he had no idea how I could cast Stoneskin that many times in such a short duration. So we just need to take it upon ourselves as healers to make sure tanks know that not only does Stoneskin 2 exist but it is really convenient and should be waited on.

I put it in a macro that explains that I'm casting Stoneskin II and requests that the tank stop for a few seconds.