Healer 2nd Circle test: peace of mind needed

[Kirth Gersen]

Good people of WoD!

Being a 1st Circle Healer, desperately longing for the lessons master Horus teaches, I need to know when I realistically can manage to pass the 2nd Circle Test. I ask of you who know: put my mind at ease, and I can train and rescue until the time is ripe for me to take the test.

I have listen and practiced the lessons taught by Respia and m'lady Thuja (a total of 50 lessons with them); endured the shallow words of master Faustus (25 horrid lectures!); gleaned a bit in master Bodrus text-book (8 chapters only); meditated together with master Spirtus (16 days so far); and sparred with master Higgrus (20 trainings); also I have tried hard to understand master Sespus (for 10 lessons, but My Gods! is he hard to understand?). Eva did some initial teaching too (10 lessons).

What is your verdict?

Humbly,
/Kirth

[Blaise]

Training methodologies differ, and there are several valid strategies to passing.

I have a lot of non-core skills starting to pile-up -- but my core healing and physical conditioning skills look to have been about twice yours now before I passed. I'm an Eva student for the most part, tho, and that's a slow road by any account.

I will say that I've talked to several great healers, and they all seem to have totally conflicting development philosophies.

If you haven't done so, start taking the tests from time to time. It will give you quite an education about what you might need to work on.

Blaise

[Nunul]

Kirth,
You are at a crossroad here.
I would caution you to think seriously whether you are focussed to much on passing into 2

[Althus]

What would really help, Kirth, is the messages each of the trainers give you. For example:

Higgrus says, "Hail, Althus. You keep me on my toes."

and also how fast your spirit drains away when healing Glory.

IM-ever-so-HO, passing 2nd circle isn't so much about ranks as it is skill. You have to run the vermine a certain way to get a good chance at healing Glory. Here's my suggestion:

Start out NE of Glory, and run the vermine, positioning the 2LV on the edges of the pack, so that when you start healing Glory, the GV are trapped. That's how I passed, and it was significantly easier than just standing next to her and healing. If you do this, you should pass very soon.

[Delirium]

Kirth,

Don't be focused on passing 2nd. I had a plan for passing, but then one day I got a ghost, and, as a treat for the ghost, I desiced to show the healer test --- and I passed by accident!!!!

I have heard that it takes slightly less than 200 healer ranks most of the time to pass, but I have heard of strategies to pass sooner. The trouble with most of these strategies is that they make you not a very good healer in the field. Train to be the kind of healer you want to be, and passing 2nd will come eventually. I think the way I have trained makes me a better healer in the field than I can be in the constrained area of the test, and I'd rather have it that way than the other.

[Althus]

I think focusing on passing 2nd in as few ranks as possible might be a good idea for Kirth, especially if he plans on choosing the Horus path. Once he hits 200 Horus, ranks will flow really quickly for a while since his skills will be in high demand and he won't need very much exp/rank.

I don't reccomend over 50 Faustus until you want to try to pass 3rd if you're going for Horus. Therefore, no more than 100 respia will be needed. As far as Higgrus is concerned, 40-50 should do nicely. Once those core skills are in place, you should be able to pass/have already passed 2nd.

[Kiriel]

I have heard it takes 150-250 healer ranks to pass the 2nd circle healer test, but of course it depends on what you train. Kirth, since you have chosen to specialize in horus, I suggest two potential courses of action:

1. Train very tightly in healer skills so you can get to 2nd as soon as possible and begin your dream of becoming a horus healer.

2. Take your time and learn all the little things you want to, especially the non-healer stuff, because once you get to 2nd, you probably won't feel comfortable stopping your Horus training to get the other skills.

Which way you go depends on you, but remember that if you are to become a Horus specialist, being 1st circle gives you that excuse to train all the things you want to, before Horus starts demanding all your attention. You might want to take advantage of it.

[Nunul]

I just went down our list of advice:

Nunul-slow
Althus-Fast
Delerium-slow
Kiriel-fast

Poor Kirth![:p]

[Althus]

Or do what Koric and Lori did, pass 2nd fast, then interleave other training evenly with Horus. Koric trains 10 on 10 off, Lori 1 on 1 off, last time I talked to them about training (admittedly only a few weeks after they got ledgers *long time ago*)

Post 400! Woo!

[Delirium]

My own training plan goes:

50 respia
50 eva
50 horus
50 other stuff
(repeat)

But I don't follow it strictly and I get a bit quirky - If I know of an exile trainer, I wait to start training until I find the exile.

[Kirth Gersen]

Althus wrote
What would really help, Kirth, is the messages each of the trainers give you.

So, here I am, studying very intricate scrolls about things I don't understand. Ah! a bit of fresh air, and a quick chat with all my good teachers. Althus, here is what each of my trainers said. Remember that m'lady Thuja and Respia works together, so Respia's evaluation is based on my training with Thuja, too.

It's New Year's Eve, Lundi, day 90 of Autumn, 543:

Eva says, "Hail, Kirth Gersen. It is good to see you."

Faustus says, "Hail, Kirth Gersen. You are progressing well."

Sespus says, "Hail, Kirth Gersen. It is good to see you."

Respia says, "Hail, Kirth Gersen. You are one of my better pupils."

Higgrus says, "Hail, Kirth Gersen. Your persistence is paying off."

Master Mentus says, "Hail, Kirth Gersen. You have much to learn."

Master Spirtus says, "Hail, Kirth Gersen. It is good to see you."

Master Bodrus says, "Hail, Kirth Gersen. You have much to learn."

Yours humbly,
/Kirth

[Althus]

With 10-20 more Higgrus you should be golden. You're in spitting distance of passing.

[Kirth Gersen]

Althus wrote
With 10-20 more Higgrus you should be golden. You're in spitting distance of passing.

Thank you very much, Althus, for those encouraging words! I immediately ran to master Higgrus and told him I want to learn more from him!

As to all you others, thank you all for the advice! And, yes, Kiri, you are right. It is my dream and goal to learn more about the fallen close to death, and work closely with master Horus. That is my Path, and so it is very important to me to advance to 2nd Circle as soon as possible. My soul aches...

Now, a new year--544--is here! I will do all in my power to pass 2nd Circle during this new year's first Zodiac. I beg of you all: if I may, let me go along on your hunts!

Humbly yours,
/Kirth

[Delirium]

Kirth,

What Althus says is true, but realize that luck plays a big role in these tests. It could wind up taking several tries after you first have the skill to pass to actually pass. Just keep trying and don't give up![:D]

[Konoko]

Kirth asks:
I beg of you all: if I may, let me go along on your hunts!

Of course Kirth!

Check out the events page (http://www.windsofdawn.org/events.html) for a list of the upcoming hunts.

There's one tonight and one probably after our meeting tomorrow and then there's the one on Sunday.

You should try to come to these events!


What about dropping by the clan meeting too?


Konoko

P.S. And best of luck in passing your test!

[kodo]

For the healer tests, it all seems to boil down to:
- respia so you can keep healing, possibly enough so you can self heal a bit too while healing Glory.
- higgrus to survive the hits from critters and the health drain from healing
- faustus to get Glory up in time

Other things matter less, such as how easy you self heal, since unless you're heavily into self healing, you won't have that many opportunities to make it count in the test
environemnt. Or sespus to have that much more spirit to
use up in the test. I'm not saying these aren't good
things, but not as directly applicable to the test.

Respia you pretty much need to train directly.

Faustus & Higgrus you can get either directly or
via Eva or Spiritus. Spiritus has the advantage
of making your self-heal more effective. Eva has
the advantage of the beyond-100% rank effectiveness
built in, but that beyond-100% may be consumed in
ranks that are not specifically useful in the test,
like the touch of horus it has and Sespus.

In your situation, my recommendation would be a decent hunk of Respia (50 maybe more), a chunk of spiritus (25-50) and
maybe a bit of straight Higgrus. I don't think you'd regret any of those later as well, no matter what path you'd like to go down.

I know many healers who have regretted getting too much faustus or spent a long time in rebalancing from it. This point of view is more prevalent if you want to be self-sufficient, healing-wise.

I know lots of healers who regret getting Bodrus as well,
and there aren't many options for healers to adjust that later.

Manipulating the critters so that the ones with the least darkus are the ones that can hit you is the real key to passing more quickly. Using the rocks and Glory's body,
you should be able to get down to 2 critters hitting you, maybe even 1 (although I forget how possible that is in the 2nd circle healing test).

Darkus is hugely variable, so that's especially where luck comes in, ie- now that you've reduced the number of things hitting you, how hard will they hit you?

Good luck! I bet you pass soon!

[Mehan]

I passed second just before I hit 200 eva. I passed before Mistress =D

And I passed third circle before Lady. But I'm not a good skinner, pathfinder or anything else. I'm just a healing zo.

[Delirium]

I, on the other hand, will probably be a lady twice over before I pass third. So don't listen to me for advice on how to pass quickly. I do thinks slowly, but well.[;)]

[Kirth Gersen]

Thank you all for your advice and cheering up!

Now, at last!!! I pass the 2nd Circle Test!!! I have a vision stone that you can view, if you want. It is here (http://kirth.puddleby.dk/visionstones/Kirthpass2nd.sit). I will write more about this in my Journal when I have slept and meditated. The most important thing, though, is that I immediately (as you can see in the Stone) turned to master Horus to receive my first lesson from him!

It was lord Drue'Dreemi's shield that of course made the whole endeavor possible. If I hadn't borrowed it from him... ah, well. A purely academic thought now!

/Kirth

[Kiriel]

Nice work Kirth! I'm so happy for you!

[Drablak]

Congrats Kirth! Good work :)

I am glad you finally met master Horus, I hope your dreams will be quieter now.

Drablak


/ponder I wonder if they realise how depressing these threads are to an apprentice mystic. I wish we could discuss training strategies too. Ack!

[Sargon]

Congrats Kirth!!!!! =)

[Delirium]

Good for you Kirth!

[Mehan]

Tried the spa yet? [:p]

Congrats dear Kirth.

[Blaise]

Congratulations, my fine friend!

That didn't take so long, did it? Just seems like yesterday you arrived!

Hope your new trainer proves to be everything you wanted.

Blaise
who is very proud to know so many fine healers.

[Himitsu]

I watched the visionstone and it almost looked like you wouldn't make it at the end but came through. Great job!

Do you have white pants and/or would you like a grey shirt as a present? If so, let me know when you're in the lands.

[Farhope]

Congratulations Kirth!

About Master Horus, don't forget that Lorikeet and Koric can train you too.
Is there any difference? You can find some interesting writings from Koric in one of his diary page (http://dingram.phys.tcu.edu/spr541.pt1.html#16Spr541)

[Konoko]

Great job Kirth!
Congratulations!

[Delirium]

I have never trained directly with Horus, only with Koric.[;)]

[Nephilim]

Very Good! Congratulations Kirth'sar!

[Althus]

Congrats Kirth!