To
kill any high level NPC in everquest it will
usually require a Complete Healing Chain.
A Chealing Chain is basically a group of clerics
and druids who cast heal one after another
to keep the main tank alive. Learning your
role in a chain can be essential in playing
a raiding druid. For simplicity's sake I will
take this from a perspective of a level 65
druid.
Role 1:
AoE and patch heals. If there are plenty of
clerics to keep the chain going then druids
often take the role of Secondary healers.
Healing people other than the main tank. This
can be done by a regular heal or casting the
Mass Group Buff and Spirit of the Wood. This
is especially useful for Mobs that cast high
damage Area of Effect spells. Downside is
a druid can only cast this once during a encounter.
So make it count. If you are designated a
back up healer you should be concentrating
on keeping the clerics alive foremost. If
clerics start dying your healing chain is
gonna run out of mana quickly which will result
in a failed encounter.
Role 2:
Backup healer. This can be essential if a
cleric get's a heal off late or something
happens to disrupt his heal. You job will
be to cast a fast heal to keep the tank alive
long enough for the chain to get back on track.
Nature's Infusion is usually used for this
beacuse of it's fast casting time.
Role 3:
Being in the chain. Usually 2 druids will
take the slot of a single cleric in a chealing
chain. There should be a announcement system
for who is casting and who is next. Here is
a standard announcement:
/rs
Casting Heal on %t get ready cleric #2 your
next!!!
/Cast 8 ( the spell slot where you cheal
spell is memmed )
/pause 28 ( the delay before you need to
announce the next chealer. The chian leader
should tell you what to put here)
/rs Cleric #2 cast yours now!!!!
*Note: Replace cleric #2 with the name
of the cleric next in your chain
This is designed to keep the chain timed and accurate removing the chance of a miss timed heal. The pause will be adjusted according to the damage the tank is taking and weither your a druid or cleric. You must make sure that your spell does not fizzle. Pay very close attention to this and recast it manually if it does.
Now if you are raiding a slowable mob then the timing of your chain will alter once the confirmation of a slow has been announced. Usually you will have another hot key set up much like the one above but with a longer pause time.
What you can do to be better in a chealing raid:
Your mana pool is essential in a chealing chain. you won't have enough time to med up a great deal. Most lvl 65 players reccomend you have a mana pool of at least 4000. More if possible since druids heals aren't as mana efficent as clerics. Getting the AA's Mass Group Buff and Spirit of the Wood are also very good. This will allow you to cast a instant casting heal over time spell on the entire raid force and negate any damage taken from area of effect spells making the raid much better off. Stopping to heal 1000 hp's of damage to 40 people during a raid is a major setback.