Quick question about healing and I'm sure this has been covered and I have just missed it, but will the resto staff tree be strong enough to be used for healing alone? What I mean is, can someone avoid being a templar and use a resto staff for their secondary weapon and use that for being a full-time healer for dungeons and such?

I ask because my build will be pure tank and my wife wants to dps/heal (but isn't a fan of templar) so she is considering nightblade or sorcerer. Does a true healer really need to be a templar with the restoring light tree or can the resto staff handle itself quite well. At a glance it seems the resto staff seems strong enough on it's own, but I just wanted to get some outside advice.

Thanks in advance!!

I plan on playing a NB healer as well, so let's hope so

It is hard to say at this point. Resto lacks a good, instant heal with most abilities being heal over time. But there are videos, of both players and devs, who are playing in groups without a specifc Templar healer, so it looks like it will be enough.

I myself am wondering about using Templar with resto staff. Just because.

1. Yes, anyone can use res staff.

2. Templar has some skills that make healing "better".

Edit:

Is there even one good reason NOT to have res staff on a character? Even if you aren't specializing with it, being able to heal is always a bonus, right? I suppose you are always needed only in one role but you can change roles.

Yeah but I mean going in the Templar healing skill line AND resto staff line at the same time. Totally not necessary but I want to anyhow. Probably would make an awesome healer.

Well, like any other weapon, to level it and unlock its skills you have to have it equipped. So if you were only going to use it 10% of the time it's probably not worth carrying around; you'll have heals but they'll be weak.

Folks in the long term beta point out that that gives you more diversity of healing options, which makes you a (marginally) better healer than somebody who's one or the other. Downside of course is lack of versatility, but if you want to play a primary healer all the time and will mostly be playing in groups, I think you'd be very popular.

Issue with healing though... it takes a LOT of magicka, and templar doesn't have the magicka utility skills that a sorc has, so you'll have to be careful getting what you need on your gear.

I did it in the Beta. Don't bother. It's overkill really. I found the Templar abilities to be a slightly better option through level 10 then the Resto Staff abilities but one or the other is enough. You're really better off spamming the same 1 or 2 heals than trying to use 5 different ones. Use the extra ability slots to protect yourself with your stamina.

Given that you can use the Resto staff for your standard attacks and use other abilities on your action bar, it's not difficult to level the skill (and even having one healing ability on your action bar is useful for pretty much anyone). Another consideration is that healing isn't limited to the Templar class line and the Restoration Staff skill line. There are healing powers found elsewhere, such as the Blood Altar power of the Undaunted guild skill line, and other classes' powers are quite capable of bolstering healing effectiveness in their own ways. (A common example being the sorcerer power that allows him to regenerate health and magicka at the cost of stamina.) And since healing powers are limited by magicka/stamina rather than inherent cooldowns (which you don't have), your power loadout matters less than how efficiently you use them and how well you manage your stamina/magicka pool.

I should have added that the fighters guild silver bullet gun was a great quick ability that I used frequently in between heals. It knocks someone over for about 3 seconds which is enough time for your magic to recharge.

With my personal experience playing up to level 15 with an Argonian Templar with Sword/Shield and Resto staff, I find that using Resto Staff with a templar wasn't really needed (and almost felt like a waste of points towards resto staff). This became VERY clear when I started to do the Groto group dungeon in the Ebonhart area. Keep in mind that heals aggros pretty fast in this game, so for one you're not going to be spamming them a lot. So right off the back if you have nothing but a bunch of heals, you're not going to be very viable, so you're going to want to have some other skills to help with the fighting. The templar healing skills that I had just felt more "combat ready" than the aoe hot skills I had with the resto staff. Sure, they take a lot of magika, but that just more the reason to help with the DD or use other skills that can focus on stamina while your magik builds back up. So yeah, for me, having a resto staff with templar heals is just way overkill and pretty much a waste of points. Again, this was in my experience, others may say or think otherwise.

I agree 100% with the poster above. I played the exact same Argonian-Templar-Resto build through level 10.

The main advantage I can see to having a Restoration Staff as a Templar is that you can use both Stamina and Magicka to heal. Makes it much easier to keep going since you're not reliant on only one pool.

It really is just for fun, not utility. My main will be an Imperial Templar with Sword and shield. But i just wanted to roll another for the heck of it. Resto and bow as secondary. Just to see what happens. Probably with a breton.

There are no "better" abilities, the two healing trees differ in phylosophy:

templar = instant healing but very expensive

resto staff = cheaper but heal over time

Here's a vid from Tamriel Foundry where a resto sorcerer heals the three starter dungeons.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=JC4GVM1kCnA

The resto staff uses magicka to heal actually, not stamina. Just like using destruction staff uses magicka for their abilities and not stamina.

Yeah, for some reason misinformation regarding staff skills and stamina use keeps spreading.

Right. I'd want to invest a lot in magica and light armor.

It's because all the skill calculators and sites have it that way.

If it uses magicka then it's definitely of no use, just going to make magicka use even higher.

There's two main reasons for a Templar to use a Restoration staff.

1. Restoration staff passives work with Restoring Light skills.

2. Restoration staff has a few skills that Restoring Light does not, which not only provides utility but help to save magicka.

Regeneration and Force Siphon provide small but steady sources of healing, while Blessing of Protection mitigates some damage. Using these skills improves your magicka management as you don't have to throw out more expensive direct heals that often.

Ah. Maybe in a very early build of the game it was that way. In the last 3 beta events I've been in, resto staff has used magicka.

Awesome. This is info I wanted. Thanks much. I want this character to be like a priestess or something. In Rosa from FFIV style.
Just still contemplating using a Breton or an Elf...

Might be an obvious question, but are the Staff passives only "active" when you have the staff equipped, or do they apply to the Restoring Light skills regardless?

You need the staff equipped.

You gotta level up the staff to get the passives. So no reason not to just use it. I plain to main with it on this specific alt anyhow.