Doctor Archive

You could do both, and really get the most bang for your buck:

Doctor 4-4-4-0

Combat Medic 4-0-0-4

Thanks for the FAQ link, but it didn't tell me too much I already didn't know. I've read around enough to know what CM's and Doctor's can do, and what makes the different. What I was really looking for was some practical experience of those who have tried to heal for a hunting group and have tried to heal for a PvP group. How did it go?

Do you find that you just barely get by? Are your teammates always grumbling that they wish they had a combat medic around because the doctor range limit isn't cutting it?Do you find yourself constatly happy for the fact that you can cure disease, poison, intimidate, stun, etc?

Thanks for the replies.

Hello,

I was wondering if there was a good thread out there somewhere discussing the pro's and con's of each. What I really want to be able to do is be a healer for a group out hunting. I like the fact that Doctor's can cure states, diseases, poisons,revive incapped players, and buff a group.

What I'm concerned with is the healing range. Combat Medic's have those great ranged stims. I was wondering if any docs had any practical experience with both classes and could provide some insight whether a doctor without any combat medic ranged stims could effectively heal a group out hunting.

Thanks for the help.

Check out the FAQ.

Any advice from anyone with some practical out-in-the-field experience would be greatly appreciated.

Or is a doctor's place in the hospital only? Or maybe I just need a catchier title to my thread. Maybe something like....

"Is a Doctor's place in the hospital? That's what some Combat Medic told me while we were out hunting!"

:-)

Thanks again!

Well, I've spent some time as both (although much more as a doctor than a CM). First of all, CM's have ranged heals, which are nice, but doctors have buffs. Honestly, when I go out with a hunting party, if I've got everyone buffed, I seldom need to heal anyone. Therefore, the limited range doesn't get in the way.

Also, if the people in your party are intelligent, they'll understand how to work with a doctor. In essence, it's quite simple - if you start to get beat up, head to the doc. Get close and stay close and the doc will take care of you.

I have never had trouble with the limited range of a doctor (except in the few cases in which I was with someone that knew no better and RAN AWAY FROM THE DOCTOR). The abilities granted by bring a doctor far outweigh (in my opinion, anyway) the limited healing range. Being able to cure poion/disease, rez, buff - all that good stuff. In my opinion, that's worth the shortened range.

Like I said, I spent a little time as a Combat Medic. The poisons are pretty cool (and can be amazingly powerful), but I didn't think it was worth it and dropped it shortly after I got it.

Sure, I'm biased toward being a doctor, but I can honestly say that I've tried both and liked doctor better. Maybe you'd like CM better - that's up to you to decide, but this is my opinion, anyway.

If you want to be an UBER killing machine: Go Combat Medic. You can't beat being able to disease and poison players. Simply attack once witha diseaseand walk away. The disease or poison will land 100% of the time... and you'll be able to stop group PvP cold in its tracks (by youself) with an area disease attack.

If you want to buff yourself so that you can be tough to kill: Go Doctor. You'll be able to heal youself of disease / poison / state attacks. If you need quick money, you can charge 10k a buff to make a quick 50k or 100kso within minutes.

From what I've seen, once a player hits Master Doctor they don't do much PvE anymore (they either PvP or buff people for income)... and CMs don't care about ranged healing unless they are getting XP, once they hit master, CMs spend their time getting better disease or poisons to kill others in PvP.

YMMV

Your choice depends on what role you want to play. The following assesments do not include how other professions may affect your abilities.

Combat Medics:
Offense: CMsare very effective PvP killing machines. The ability to poison and disease groups will make your PvP group very effective as you can destroy their mind. PvE the offese is still helpful, however your group will not notice your contributions as much.

Defense: CMs can heal from a distance and area heal. This is especially helpful if you are fighting with a melee group as they will likely not be so spread out (PvP not included). This skill can save lives in a fight as often seconds count. Also, mind heals are coveted. If your group is fighting with doctor buffs ususally the mind will be the first to go out. Healing the mind can also save mind incapped players from taking a trip to the cloning center.

Additional point: CMs have great terrain negotiation skills.

Doctors:
Offense: No offensive ability without combat skills.

Defense: The best offense is a good defense. First, the lack of a Doctor specific attack is often not a problem considering the massive stat enhancements you can provide for your group. Buffs willalways make your group much more effective at killing. On top of this you will not have to worry about healing your group members as much as they will regenerate quickly on their own. Second, you can cure poisons and disease. This will protect the group from runby combat medics and nasty creatures like rancors and mereks. Healing states is also a great ability. Removing intimidate and stun will increase the group damage and healing dizzy may save members from death. Lastly the ability to Rez will keep your group alive when overrun.

I am sure there is something I have missed, but hopefully this will help. I have PvPed a few times where the group has both a doc and a CM. This makes for one powerful group.

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IamINTP wrote:

Cool! Thanks for the great advice!

One follow up question...

How often do you (if ever) feel the need for the area stims that CM's have?

I would guess this rarely happens in PvM. However, I was thinking in PvP encounters it may become more important. Any thoughts?

I really appreciate the advice.

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When I still played my combat medic there was far too much mind damage going around for healing to be really effective. But I also had doctor so I made sure my groups were buffed. YMMV.

In short, to me it breaks down as the following:

If you PvP an *active* role, go CM. Doc buffs will help you, but buffs alone aren't an incentive to go Doctor.

If you PvE and like to hunt, go Doctor. Ranged Heals are nice, but buffs are better.

I honestly hated CM.. poisons and disease aside, I couldn't do much. Buffs, revives, state cures and stim crafting/selling is by far better.