I'll take the absence of disagreement as an indication I have it right.

Looks like sorcerer or maybe nightblades might suit me better.

Khivas_Carrick wrote: »

Templars staff heals aren't as strong because it'd be breaking the game if they did.

Exactly how do you claim it would be game breaking?

Dragonknights get fire damage class abilities. By your logic they should suck when using fire destruction staff abilities.

A player only has so many slots on their hotbar, only so much magicka, and can only execute one ability at a time. All that making Templars the weakest at using the restoration staff heals achieves is making them less versatile. If they suck with the staff relative to every other class it effectively forces them to use their class heals.

It's a bizarre imbalance.

Not that I care at all. I'm perfectly happy to turn my Templar into a dedicated crafter and go with a different class. I just wanted to check that I hadn't missed something.

Khivas_Carrick wrote: »

Weakest =/= terrible or non-versitile.

I so very clearly did not say that.

What I said was that the style of healing I prefer is ranged. Templar heals are primarily pbaoe, which is fantasic for melee. Not my thing though. The only ranged Templar heal is rushed ceremony.

Follow the logic.

1) My interest is ranged healing.
2) Nearly all ranged heals are on the restoration staff.
3) Templars are the weakest users of the restoration staff, because of the aforementioned bonuses other classes get for resto staff heals.
4) Templar is clearly a bad class choice for me.

NOT

4) Templars = terrible or non-versatile.

Now just to address the versatility issue, because I raised it but didn't make the claim you say, what I said was that making Templars the weakest with restoration staff heals only limits their versatility. That's all it achieves.

You'd have to say they're marginally more versatile (healing-wise) than other classes. Even though they suck by comparison with resto staff heals and relying on them too heavily wouldn't work, they're still extra kinds of heals which might occasionally be useful.

Khivas_Carrick wrote: »

For starters, spell power still raises Resto and Destro staff skills, not weapon power, unless that's been changed, I don't make it a habit to use staffs all that often.

That's definitely wrong. Weapon power absolutely affects restoration staff heal strength. I tested this last week by equipping higher/lower level weapons and using DK molten weapons, and checking resto staff heal tooltips.

As outlined in the OP I crunched the numbers to see exactly how much of an impact it has and it's significant.

I can't speak to history but in all my reading of guides, builders, forum posts etc. I've never seen anyone claim resto staff heals scale from spell power. They always say weapon power.

Khivas_Carrick wrote: »

Second, Templars still use resto staffs when healing, and like I said, we may not be loaded with passives and actives that super boost Resto skills, but our burst heals alone still makes us the primo healing class above all others.

Ok, to re-iterate again, I don't have a fetish for restoration staves. What I have is a preference for ranged healing. So you can see how equipping a restoration staff and using Templar pbaoe heals is completely irrelevant.

The fact a Templar is semi-forced to equip a restoration staff for the benefit of its passives applying to class heals is actually a huge negative. The thing about class abilities is you can use them with any weapon.... except when it comes to Templars playing a healer role. Because of the resto staff passives to maximise healing you need to equip one (if playing a dedicated healer role) even if you're not using any of its abilities.

The advantage Templars have is if not playing a dedicated healer role they can put one or two heals on their hotbars as a backup without needing to have a resto staff equipped. Not insignificant but if I understand the upcoming spellcrafting changes it's an advantage that will soon disappear.

Learn something new everyday

Sestar wrote: »

EDIT: quick recap of my posting below, I did not really answer the thead starter's question, or counter their statement, which is something like this: "to heal at range the Templar needs a restoration staff."

When not using a restoration staff, the templar is an aura/cleansing platform; the other heals are too expensive or slow.

Not even remotely accurate but thanks for stopping by!

Thrymbauld wrote: »

The versatility continues to make up for it, even if your preference is ranged healing.

Not from my perspective.

Having the option to do something I don't want to do - pbaoe heal - adds nothing for me.

I've since levelled a sorcerer to 20 and run him through a dungeon as a healer and I much, much, much prefer him. That's very pre surge too, so my resto staff heals at this stage aren't stronger than my templar's. But I find the resto staff heals so much more fun to use.

Side benefit - as someone who thinks ESO shouldn't have classes at all, the sorc feels more like the classless single player games to me since they don't have a narrow theme like the other 3. I've been enjoying the game a lot more as a sorc.

So that worked out well. I'm back on the fence about staying subbed rather than definitely unsubbing and waiting for spellcrafting.

Holy [snip], you're going to be so pissed you chose for Sorcerer when the patch comes that sticks use spell damage in stead of weapon damage!

[Moderator Note: Edited per our rules on Cursing & Profanity]

parangea wrote: »

Holy [snip], you're going to be so pissed you chose for Sorcerer when the patch comes that sticks use spell damage in stead of weapon damage!

Yep, that's a thing coming on the horizon. Not sure when but it's happening. If they scale it right we can max spell damage and still do roughly the same, but not sure if they will scale it differently. I hope so as Spell Damage has a much lower cap on it than weapon damage.

[Moderator Note: Edited quote to match moderated version]

My templar healer is really good, and sorcs can't compete in terms of healing for AA or v14 undaunted challenges. Instead of more weapon power to get more heals, I invested in crit chance instead. It works out way better. A boss hits my tank for 1k, I can heal him up for 1200*+ with breathe of life.

Nightreaver wrote: »

Francescolg wrote: »

Hail Templar compagnon! Pretty well build!
Remember that you can be a very good healer just by using Breath of Life and Healing Springs/Regeneration alone.

That pretty much sums up why I feel the Templar makes the best Healer with the Resto staff. The direct heals from the Templar class line combined with the HOTs from the staff line. HOTs are nice except for when they can't keep pace with the damage or substitute for a direct heal when someone takes a sudden huge damage spike.

Nerouyn wrote: »

Sorcerers get surge which boosts weapon damage and accordingly resto staff heals. I crunched the numbers on my level 9 sorc with a level 9 weapon and surge's description had it boosting my weapon damage stat by about 30% which equated to a 13% increase in healing output for abilities. That was only for a level 1 surge too. I have to assume the weapon damage stat boost gets bigger as you level the skill?

It doesn't.
I just tested. I reset my abilities. There was no difference between weapon damage increase at the first level of Surge and the tier 4 morphed version.

If I remember correctly the magicka cost of Surge gets reduced when it ranks up.