Opinions on class combo

Hi, IM new to the boards and I just pre ordered the game, I cant wait for it to come out or at least for the beta to start back up....I played open beta when they had it last Halloween weekend and had a blast, so Im sure things have changed and made it even more likeable. Anyways...I always play healers and am planning on doing so in this game as well so Im wondering if a Monk/Ranger would sound like a good class combo...I mean I could stand back and heal as my primary job and while Im doing so I could shoot a few arrows into the enemy. Any advice on my combo would be greatly appreciated. I know ultimatley you should play what you like but Im just looking for opinions....thanks

Monk/Ranger is actually my favorite, but if I were being perfectly practical, I think I'd select Monk/Mesmer instead. Inspiration is a useful line for any caster, almost certainly a lot more useful than what I take from my secondary (Beast Mastery).

The probelm with that idea is that you take the weapon/shield slots. Those are important if you want to heal because monk weapons give higher rate on mana regen/capacity ( I think). If you wanted to be a support class, I'd stick with one of the more magic based classes. You will have less hp, but he better off healin.

If you are planning to use a bow I wouldn't suggest it. If you are using beast mastery like he said with mana weapons you should be fine.

HP is equal between professions/classes. It's runes and items that alter HP, not what your secondary is.

I really liked Monk/Ranger so far, in teamwork it easily lets me swap specialisation between defense (healing prayers, divine favor) and offense (beast mastery, marksmanship, smiting) or somewhere inbetween depending on what the situation calls for.

Bringing a pet along is a nice way of assuring you're causing some damage while you're occupied tossing out heals left and right yourself, which you can amplify if you bring a bow. Guild Wars has a very pleasant aspect where tossing out a heal doesn't cancel your targetting - you keep firing on your target inbetween skills. Since you can hotkey multiple weapon sets, you can always keep the energy items mentioned in reserve and swap them with your bow when you need energy the most, thus getting the best of both.

ok great, thanks for the advice...so basically if i want to be a top notch healer then I should at least pick some pure caster as secondary to monk is what Im getting...I might try the ranger monk combo as well, but I really want to perform as a main healer and be a good one, so would a monk/necro be ok or is mesmer the traditional way to make a monk a strong healer? ...thanks again for the replys

Maybe wrong topic....wrong time...but I like your website and how you built it up for your different characters!

Sorry for being off-topic...anyways, every combination CAN be good, just play what you want and what you think you'll have the most fun with..