speaking as a former healer, you can't possibly overestimate how much help guard + taunts + snares/interrupts are when it comes to staying alive. above all else, heed the advice to find a tank. I play one now, and I actually look for healers to protect on my side (still lowbies on the tank, so thats rare), and its been a long time since the healer died before I did, even when the other team pursues them with a group. it helps a lot.

me. i resubbed just to pvp. i needed something close to LoL, yet not quite the same thing (just for variety's sake) and i'm loving it. i get my money from slicing

Hi. http://www.gamerdna.com/uimage/9znoRaz/full/heal-chart.jpg Follow this quick flowchart to get more healing in MMOs! -Your [not always] friendly neighborhood healer.

why. Every single day. why? Don't we have enough threads on this? That's it. I'm not going to find the link to the math anymore. Someone else do it.

yes RN sucks. It's the worst AoE heal (tho mercs barely have it better), and it's been discussed to death. Can we get a link to this post stickied so we don't have to see RN posts every 3 days anymore?

since KP can be cast on the move, it gets taxed heavily on healing output. It's as simple as that. It's worthwhile in some situations, not so much in others, and its not DESIGNED to save anyone on its own. KI-SP is your bread and butter, KP is like cinnamon. It's nice when you get to use it effectively, but trying to use it all the time every time is bad for you, and you wouldn't want to eat it on its own. The biggest factor seems to be that most people get sick of bread and butter pretty quick, and want to mix something else (ANYTHING else) in, even if it's anchovies(RN).

for pvp healing you want something like this http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#401MffMzhRRzZ0cZGbbkM.1 or this http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#401MffMzhRRzZbchZGb0z.1 The basic idea is buff your survivability and mobility as much as you possibly can, since we get no help in those areas. There is a LOT of play room in talents for pvp healing, and movespeed increases like Slip Away and Evasive Imperative are a preference thing compared to straight mitigation/hp talents like Inclement Conditioning and Chem-Resistant Inlays. In PvP you want to avoid RN, because if you need to save somebody you'll be using KI-SP exclusively, and if you're trying to save yourself, RN just doesn't cut it. The 'any port in a storm' argument is okay, but it'd be hard to sell 100-150hp/s against increased move speed and/or increased hp, which you can't get if you dive all the way to RN. for PvE, you want something like http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#401MffbzGoRzZ0cZG.1 You'll notice you have extra points on that last one. put them pretty much wherever you want. You'll rarely use RN, but you may get some benefit out of Accomplished Doctor and want to dump that last point into RN anyway. If you're that high in medicine, there probably isn't anything else to dump 1 point into. Alternatively, you can go half-lethality and take Combat Stims for a moderate boost in energy regen. Some people go all the way to Lethal Purpose for the cd on Adrenaline Probe, as well. Energy regen is arguably better for us overall, since as gear increases(and with it, alacrity for most people), we're limited by energy(time) more than by any other factor, but that may not always be true, so pick your poison.

3% healing done(Survival Training) is an important talent. You'll rarely see anything give you more than a 1% flat increase in output per talent point. You should not give up that talent for anything. 9% healing received also has significant benefit, even in PvE. Don't take RN. it's even worse than you think it is, and the people who tell you otherwise just haven't done the math on it yet. Don't take my word for it. Go run the numbers yourself.

Do the math again, this time comparing RN against KI-SP combos. Do it for energy, time(gcd count or seconds, either works), and healing done. Compare across all 3 stats. For the lulz, compare based on button presses, too. I'd do it for you, but most people trust their own math over others', and you seem competent. If you're wondering WHY I suggest this... KI-SP "can't"* be cast while moving. KP and RN can. The 'tax' for the mobility on RN and KP is... extreme. *I realize SP can be cast while moving, but since KI can't, you don't get the full 'movement tax' for the KI-SP combo, and you DO get it for RN or for pure KP w/ SP from procs.

hay guyz i just crit a heel for 4k naked we're fin in pvp guyz.

This. To get TA in PvP, shiv and KP's proc are your best bet. KInj WILL be interrupted, either by traditional interrupts, stuns, or by CCs. Relying on it for your TA generation is just a risky business. Faking can work, but your only good fake would CONSUME a TA if successful. DS' cast bar goes backwards(channeled), and even an idiot will quickly learn not to waste interrupts on it (especially since it's not going to save anybody). Also, I can't even count how many times I've faked only to be interrupted anyway even after I've cancelled my cast. This game's interrupt system isn't nearly as tight as, for example, WoW's. LoS + Snare/Stun is also your friend.

Good catch. That's actually how it works, apparently. My source was either incorrect, or was misinformed himself. When you cast, the game selects 4 people (3 + target) to 'buff' with RN. Those people are then free to move without losing the buff (tested), and without re-placing the buff. Unfortunately, this really doesn't change anything for me. It's still the same healing per person as an SP, or ~60% of a KInj, or ~2.3 ticks of a KP (non-crit). Effectively, it remains useless... and I'm going right now to spec back out of it.

I don't even know where to start. RN does NOT exceed KI-SP until 3 targets are effected. Even then, due to the nature of RN(see my previous post), one KI-SP CAN out-heal the RN on 4 players. Since KI-SP costs less energy, this means that KI-SP is more hp/e at 1 target, 2 targets, and sometimes at 3-4 targets as well. In short, you're completely and totally wrong. As far as healing/gcd, you are correct. However, RN requires 10 GCDs to tick to full potential. During that time, every RN tick may or may not fall on a player who doesn't need healing, either due to RN itself not being targeted, due to people moving out of range, or due to someone (maybe even you) healing the people effected by RN. This, by default, makes KI-SP vastly superior, since it can be targeted on those who need it most. In an ideal world, RN has uses. In practice, RN is a great way to waste your energy and simultaneously risk the regen black hole. Don't take my word for it though, run the numbers yourself. Or don't. It won't make me lose sleep. As for hardmode flashpoints... you're kidding, right? Last time I ran a hm fp, I pulled the instance myself and dps'd the whole time. My "healing" consisted of kp on the tank and on anyone who beat me to pulling the next mob. We did it with stuns and a geared, competent tank. It was simple. If that's the kind of situation where you would use RN for "more speed", even when the math says that KP(not even KI-SP. Just KP) spam is significantly higher hp/s on 4 targets, grants TA for even more healing (still entirely on the move), and leaves you with the flexibility of NOT refreshing it on 2 people who don't need it just to refresh on two people that DO, not to mention removing the range restriction of RN (you really think 4 people running a flashpoint will hug 10m range of one guy the entire time?), then power to ya. However, I strongly suggest that nobody follow your example. RN is not worth it.

You seriously think so? RN on 2 targets = roughly 1555x2(my gear-level numbers) healing over 15 seconds = 207.3hp/s It takes 4.3 seconds to regenerate the cost of RN at max regen. (my gear, the set bonus (-4 cost) and stim boost up the entire time) KI-SP = 2511 + 1056 (again, my gear-level numbers) in 3.22 seconds(1.72KI + 1GCD) = ~1107hp/s. If you had 0 alacrity, it would be 2 + 1.5 = 3.5seconds = 1019hp/s, and you would stay energy-neutral(which is the real benefit of not using RN) So not only is KI-SP ~5x better than RN(on 2 targets) in hp/s, but in the 4.3 seconds you now need to spend on regen due to casting RN, you gave up 1.33 KI-SP combos worth of cast time, and 1.04 KI-SP combos worth of energy. In that TIME, you could have healed for 4763. With that Energy, you could have healed for 3430. Both are more than the total healing of RN on two targets, and you could have done it within 5 seconds, instead of waiting 15. In fact, the only conceivable time when RN is actually worthwhile would be if everyone were taking damage faster than KI-SP could cope, and RN would be enough to save them. Since this theoretical time doesn't actually exist (if KI-SP's dramatically higher hp/s cannot overcome the incoming damage, RN can't overcome it either), there is no time when RN is the right choice to save a life. And that's before counting in the fact that RN has no internal targeting logic. Currently, it just heals whoever is in range (and that range being only 10m is another large problem when compared to KI-SP's 30). Meaning that if 4 people need it, and you cast it on them while they are in a group of 8 people, RN may very well heal the 4 who DON'T need it. In short, don't use RN. Ever, really. It's a very very bad top-tier talent.

I did mean over the 18s cycle, yes, but the multiple-based calculation is better. I don't feel too great about knowing that half of my healing moves (3/5 if you don't count KInf) heal for about a quarter of what I can heal for while standing still just because I COULD cast them while moving. Also, if moving means a ~75% healing reduction... then mobility isn't really much of an advantage. Thank you for taking the time to do the math.