+ X Energy and switching

NOTE: This is not about a Monk and his problems, but about something totally different. Please read everything before saying everyone knows that Monks have energy problems

OK, this is about something that probably people should want to know. I'm a Healing Monk, and just like probably most other Healing Monks I have a big problem with Energy most of the time, and I thought to have a way to solve this. I got the collector's items with +15 Energy and -1 Energy Regenarate, giving me a total amount of energy of 79 ! Of course, this seems really good, but I only have 1 Energy Regenarate because of this (2 without Divine Boon, which I always use), so I thought, I just take 2 other items to switch to after each battle, so I can regenarate back with 4 Energy Regenarate by switching weapons and taking of Divine Boon for a while. But I noticed something I didn't expect at all:

I will just use my own character for the example. With the 2 items I just mentioned I have 79 Energy, when my Energy reaches 0 I switch to get my Energy back. But if I switch my Energy isn't 0, it's actually -30. That means I first have to regenarate that 30 Energy before you can really see you Energy regenarating. First I really couldn't understand why it took so long after switching before my Energy actually was going up. Of course, this seems like a downside. But the thing that is pretty cool, my energy after regenaring wasn't just 49, but it was 79. It wasn't really 79, my Energy bar did show me 49, but when I switched back to my items with the +30 Energy I had 79 Energy, instead of 49.

I don't think all this is a downside, after all, this is what I wanted. The only thing I find rather strange is the waiting before your Energy is really up. I think there should be a change that you see your Energy going from -X to 0, because it is really confusing at first, and a little bit hard to see how much longer you need to wait before you're fully regenarated again. I think I'll report my problem to ArenaNet just for a change, not sure they find this important anough, and they would really give me a responce, but I can always try

This is... or maybe *was* (since beta) a well known way to combat energy denial mesmer builds. You start out without your energy bonus focii, but a mesmer can only sap you to 0, and not past. If you're at zero, you pull out the focus and instantly have a good bit of energy. Use this up and switch back. Although you're now at -X, you still beat the energy denial lock, and will do so again when you regenerate back to positives.

Well, the +30 Energy -2 Energy Regenarate isn't that great after all, so I don't tihnk I will have much trouble with this. But still, I think it would be nice to fix this

if they 'fixed' it, then do you mean your energy would always hit a minimum of zero? cause that would mean I'd have infinite energy by simply using a good focus item, draining my energy to zero, switching to no weapon, and then switching back and getting an instant 40 or so energy. if it didn't go into the negatives, there'd be serious issues.

Its the same game logic with temporary hitpoints and negative health effects. It always takes off the top and always adds to the bottom.

Think of the negative numbers as exhaustion of sorts.

Heh, Maxie I enjoy how they didn't even read your suggestion at all, silly weezer. Yeah I definitely like the idea of showing a negative energy number, It's less confusing if you do choose to use that kind of a focus. I definitely think it should be in the game but I doubt it will be added, or atleast any time soon.

Using +mana items in the inverse order is alot more sensible - and still exploitive to a degree. Start with your lowmana and high regen setup, so that you're regenerating while using your skills and fighting. Get into a clutch, and you whip out that +30 mana gear, now all of a sudden you have a relative ton to spend that mesmers aren't even able to drain beforehand - emergency energy just to keep yourself up.

Yes, as you notice, you'll be locked down for about 30-22 seconds afterwards assuming you used it all up (time to regenerate 30 energy), but its well worth avoiding the DP/pissing off your attackers/saving your team.

Well, I thought I would not have this problem, and I thought this would just give me a 30 Energy boost for free. If I look at this now this isn't that great at all. I will use myself as an example again to show you that this isn't good enough to use:

Since I use Divine Boon I have 79 and 1 Energy Regenarate with the +30 Energy, 49 Energy and 3 Energy Regenarate without the +30 Energy. 1 Energy Regenarate gives you 1 Energy each second so without the +30 Energy items I would get 2 Energy each second more. So that means I have 30 Energy more to cast with the +30 Energy, and I would have 2 Energy each second more to cast without the items. So that means unless the battle takes more then 30/2=15 seconds, the +30 Energy bonus would already be pointless.

I don't think this build will ever work actually, this will only be good for quick spammig, but that will make you be shut down 10 seconds with 3 Energy Regenarate, which is pretty long

happy getting mind whacked.
you take damage from mesmers for having 0 energy if they want that!

Actually, I think that 3 energy pips are one energy per second so your numbers are a bit out.

Oh, and you've said more when you mean less. So change that and multiply the time by three and I think you'll have it right.

I certainly don't think the negative regen items are worth it, 45 seconds is a rather short battle.

Peace and Harmony for the win

Edit - have fun capturing it, take a few cap sigs with you and get a bunch of elites

Yeah, I was thinking about it. It only works with 2 Healing Monks with Peace and Harmony though, can't really heal yourself if you have Peace and Harmony.

Rebirth... drains energy to zero. Flip to +energy item after, enough juice to keep fighting.

Works for my R/Mo flipping between bow and staff...

But you shouldn't use Rebirth, so that's a pretty useless thing to use

Really? I've found it handy to pull someone out of a pinch (well, their corpse...)

What would you recommend?

why shouldn't you use Rebirth? it's a res spell that pulls the target out of battle before rezing....seems like a perfectly useful spell to me

It's good if you use it on a Ranger/Warrior, but unless you're a Protection Prayers Monk the 10 seconds shutdown is really bad.

So for an R/Mo, it's perfectly fine then? Well, I'm happy with it and can get around the power drain if need be.

You can jack up your attributes to reduce the 10 sec shutdown as well, and that only affects the rezzed, not the rezzer.

It's not about you, it's about a team. You wont win if you only think about yourself. I use Restore Life, and that's definitly the best for me, since I have 16 Healing Prayers.

I don't res during battle...I heal during battle(well actually I do more dmg than I do heal)...I use Rebirth because after the battle it doesnt matter if it drains my energy or has a 10 second shutdown...AND if I have to run to avoid having the entire party die..I can come back later and res party members that are still in aggro..

<3 rebirth

I haven't had all the much trouble maintaining energy while healing. I am sure this topic has been discussed, but the point isn't to out heal damage but also help prevent it. Spells such Aegis and Protective Spirit will help keep your energy by reducing damage and giving you a little extra time to regenerate energy. Mark of Protection can help a warrior who is being slammed by damage spikes. Though it disables your protection spells for 10 seconds, often it is a better alternative than casting Heal Other and other various health spike spells.

Also if you have a Mesmer as secondary, you can use Inspiration Magic to drain energy of a foe while giving it to you. I have found that the elite Energy Drain is a nice energy boost if I am running low on energy during a battle. Enough to recast Aegis, which gives me more time to regen some energy.

Do you restore life on them with a bladed aataxe riding their leg?

Although the point is enough for one to consider carrying both... but again I'm not a monk, just a ranger with backup life for a comrade. As a monk, you should think in monkey terms. If youre croaked in the middle of combat, I'll yank your arse out and keep fighting. Suck up the shut down a few secs... you're not dead at least and will be online faster than if you lied there waiting for combat to end.

I usually don't. But when I do, Restore Life is always better It restores an ally for about all energy/life, so that's pretty good. It's a pitty that you need to touch your ally, but that's not that bad, I don't get attacked during ressing most of the time