What weapon will you guys / girls be using?
I'm really not sure WHAT to use - I mean I don't really like any of the restoration staff skills (at least up to steadfast ward that is)
I was thinking I'd have restoration staff (for the passives) on one weaponslot, and sword+board on the other (for tanky purposes, IDK)

Anyone have any awesome stories about restoration staff or sword+board skills that they can say to try to convince me to use it? Or hell, even a different item for a dedi-healer?

*EDIT*
I guess I need to explicitly state that I plan on being a templar.

Sword and Shield.

Tank and heal at the same time.

This and bow as my second.

Course to do this gotta be a Templar.

Edit: de-siried my post

Just don't double up on the Templar, Resto Staff combo. It's overkill.

Temp with DW.... do it.

I'm going to have both as an option. Lets me pick and choose for magicka efficiency.

I would think the Restoration staff would be quite helpful, when in a full healer mode. The passives at least, would be worth having while doing heavy healing, even if you do not slot many of the Rest Staff skills (IMO). However, I have not had a chance to try this out in various ways, in-game, so someone that has tried it might have better insight.

~Cuaradan~

It's not overkill at all. Having both increases your sustainability (primarily through Regeneration but also the passives), which as a Templar is relatively low compared to a Sorcerer healer.

I was just looking at the dest staff - the last skill seems like it would be quite effective for a group-healer...can reduce enemy damage output by 10% AND reduce their max HP by 13%?

Seems pretty good, especially because I only have room for - really ONE skillslot in my 'main weapon" (aside from class/guild skills)

As for my sword+board idea which many of you seem to share, care to share why you think this would be a good idea? I mean just "tank and heal why not" sounds good and all that, but why is it better than, say, the dest staff skill that I just mentioned?
I likely won't be switching between the two often in dungeons (id rather have my full-heal spec)

My full heal spec basically consists of;

1 Honor the dead
2 Prayer heal
3 -blank for now-
4 Ring of protection
5 Restoring Aura

If I did go sword+board, what ONE skill do you guys think I should slot into it?
Is anyone else in my position?

That being said, I'd prefer if it was limited to a weapon skill - seeing as I have NONE atm

I'm going to give a restoration staff focused sorcerer a try, picking up CC/utility skills from other trees Not to sure what my secondary weapon would be yet.

IMO, if you want to be a tank-healer it is better to have your offensive-tank abilities on one bar with 1H and Shield and your healing abilities on another with Resto staff.

I was thinking this, but I'm just worried from my experiences with the dungeons it seemed to me like that extra second to switch out the staff to heal or put down the circle or buff people's regen might be the death of teammates.

I really just need a good single skill on a weapon (preferably one that is stamina based) - not necessarily to do 'the most dps', it could be for support in either direct or indirect ways.
I just don't really see many good options for me, and was hoping someone else had a cool idea I could try out in the upcoming beta

That, or if there was a super-good templar class (or armor/guild) skill I'm missing out on, I could use that instead and just have no-skills on a sword+board setup, just simply block when I happen to take damage.
Anyone have any ideas on that? (I plan on running light armor)

Wrong.

Resto staff skills use stamina, templar class skills use mana. Hardly overkill when you have two resource pools. This could be game breaking in Cyrodiil.

That's why the Resto staff is so good: at the beginning of a fight, cast Mutagen from Resto staff, then switch to 1H and Shield. If allies get low it heals them automatically, giving you time to switch into healing mode.

Eh, wrong. Resto staff skills use magicka. ESOHead is wrong (on a lot of things, don't rely on it).

I don't understand why people keep wishing that staff skills cost stamina, only esohead say it (and a lot of other things are also wrong) and most of them never played the beta. I keep thinking that people wish from the deepness of their heart that Templars are the best healing class in the game, and that is a lie.

About switching i think in the later game switching between healing and tanking wont be doable because resource management to proper play your build, a healing tank would be ok, but a tank that stop tanking to be a healer is not quite good in the optimal aspect. Well this only a opinion since i don't know how is the game lvl20+

Yeah I kinda-agree with you, seems like a dangerous few seconds for my teammates and myself

I'm going with a templar healer and I'll use only one handed and shield. Why?

Well, I just cannot use a restoration staff... Waving a stick around will make me puke... I hate that

I'm not going to put any points in shield active abilities, I don't plan on tanking at all, I'll just put some points in passives

So I'll heal while being able to effectively block if someone attacks me, along with the armor rating the shield gives.

That worked very well for me in last beta. I didn't get so far though; I still have significant testing to do.

#1
That's a pretty good idea I guess, I just don't like the fact that it only targets 2 people at a time, if you have a sorc with summons and a full 4 man-group, this could end up costing a lot of magicka for those pre-buffs

I personally like to start every engagement with a ring of protection and restoring aura - it takes a hit to both my magicka and stamina bar (which is good) and the bonuses they both provide are INSANE OP)

#2, yes, restor staff uses magicka - do you know if destruction staff also does too (I imagine it does, just wondering for confirmation)

Ah yeah, I was thinking kinda the same thing - plus I imagine you could find both a sword and a shield that give + magicka, that'd probably be pretty good too

If you don't mind me asking, If you HAD to pick one skill from the sword+board, what one would it be for my build and why?

Yes, all staff abilities use magicka

I am going Sorcerer Altmer Resto staff/Destro staff. Going to wear heavy pants gloves and boots, and light Chest shoulder waist and helm.

I would take those passives:

-Sword and Board (damage and armor increased)

-Fortress (cost of blocking reduced)

-Deflect Bolts (Block more damage from projectiles and ranged attacks)

-Battlefield Mobility (movement speed while blocking increased)

I would take all those passives if I have enough skill points after unlocking my heals.

But I guess you were asking what active ability I would take for your build (?) If you want to be some sort of tank/heal hybrid (?)

Then I would take Puncture for sure, since it's the only way I know to taunt.

Destro staff skills also uses magicka, yes.

I don't like Restoring Aura. If you're looking at the healing component only it is much weaker than Regeneration, lasts for a much shorter duration and costs about as much magicka (Regeneration is roughly half the cost of Restoring Aura, but you need to cast it twice to cover a four-person group).

Yes, becuase right now this is my build

http://www.esohead.com/calculator/skills#zozXkTp8RLO808dor8RhF8RpC8L7CcdoQr6MdoQC6MdoQF8j7zLUM8n7DLWQ6rWU6LW26LW36MfwgO6MfwgU6Mfwg26Mfwe08y7HMfQE16MfQE36MfQlu6MfQlI8e7CraqT6LaqS8P7mLdYf8zc7pcgePB6cgeXA6cgeYc8zf7MzDVRH

I am missing one skill, and would PREFER it to be a weaponskill (even better if it uses stamina, but it doesnt have to)

I was thinking either;

Sword+board
+ Stamina based
+ Armor bonus
- Up close to enemies
- May take taunt skill, which could be a blessing or a curse

or

Destruction staff
+ Ranged
+ lots of 'support' (especially on that last skill)
- No armor bonus
- Takes up precious, precious magicka

Ah, I like the restoring aura mostly for the stamina regen it gives my teammates - everyone I've grouped with says they love it because they can spam more skills and can therefore dish out more DPS (ultimately, this helps with survivability, because you don't need to survive [and I wont run out of magicka] in a shorter fight.
I don't use it for 'healing' per se, but that IS a benefit

The ONLY reason I could see myself using the resto-staff as my main weapon is if "force siphon" is actually any good (naturally, I have no idea at this stage)