But also: I've started my friar and this was the exact spec I was going for. Hoping to be able to do RvR and PvE both solo and in group so thought this hybrid spec would be suitable. Has it served you well? Do you feel like you can do well solo and be useful in groups? Do you ever use the HoT - is it worth speccing up to instead of higher staff? Even if I just left rejuv at 33 for heal and went 35 staff (so can get +15 quicker)? Are groups complaining about missing red resists and higher rejuv?
I have only tried staff (34/39) friars. I will list three that I found playable.
I have tried several specs:
16rej 45enh 39staff 23parry: Literally a solo/non-group spec. Was very powerful in pve. Parried a ton. Brought nothing to a group other than trying to keep agro/peel and base buffs. The chain off evade was good.
25rej 49eh 34staff 12parry: Much better for group play. Better heals, HoT. Better heal proc and red resists. Okish heal. A noticable drop in pve as there is less parry and loss of evade chain, but still good in solo play.
Currently at 34rej 45enh 34staff 1parry: Much, much better healing. Solid HoT and the offensive proc actually seems to move your bar. So far no complaints on no red resists, but I only pug in rvr. Having no parry is a liability in pve, especially when if you fight more than one orange con at a time when farming.
Spec I didn't try is 33rej 49enh 29staff 3parry. I talked about this in the advice chat (which led me to my current spec) and the gist is that I would be lowering my weapon skill/damage to much for a staff friar. I did lose the HoT but still retained solid single target heals and still had red resists. Loss of the 34 staff spec snare and the lower weapon skill is what made the decision for me.
The current "meta/8man" spec seems to be 40rej 49enh 18staff 4parry. Red resists, big heals and 3sec cure near sight is very group caster friendly. I've never been good at side position styles (18 spec side snare) and to me this is just a poor man's cleric that can heal and baseline buff. I believe that there would be a huge apparent drop in pve/solo effectiveness.
I'm sure there are dozens more out there, but I didn't try the 8man or 29staff specs. Try different ones and see which one clicks for you.
Thanks! I will be pugging so I think I will go with the same spec as you.
I wonder if it's worth going 33/45/34/8... I might try it. Would give 4% more parry chance and with MoParry II would probably have a decent parry for PvE.