To be or Not to be... Cleric is the Question

[Trunk-Monkey]

With the rising plat costs being a cleric these days, How can the meager non-plat buying DDO afficionado create a cleric and maintain the healing expectations of certain parties and quests?

[Belfalcon]

i have never payed for plat and i have a lvl 14 elf cleric and a lvl 15 Humen but just came back to the game as well

[oronisi]

Just play the way you want to play. Seeing as how many idiots still make it into pug groups nowadays, even if everyone thinks you are playing wrong you can still play. Besides, as a cleric the pugs need you. Even if you don't heal them, they need you! They won't leave the harbor without you.

So just play and if people die, carry them to the shrine (or don't) and move on. As the controller of your own SP bar and inventory, you get to decide who lives and who dies.

[Porkchop]

Easy! Just sell 1 ingredient from the Shroud raid on the Auction house. That should be enough to buy you plenty of enough scrolls and wands for a couple of weeks.

[Arianrhod]

With the rising plat costs being a cleric these days, How can the meager non-plat buying DDO afficionado create a cleric and maintain the healing expectations of certain parties and quests?

I hate to encourage yet another of these threads, but here goes:

1) Don't "maintain the healing expectations of certain parties" - it's not worth it
2) Make a hagglebard to sell all your stuff (and buy low/sell high)
3) Shop Quijymart (Khyber only atm, I believe)
4) Don't be afraid to tell people you're on spellpoints only; they may donate, they may play more carefully, they may end up in your pack. At least you were upfront about it
5) Don't be afraid to let health bars drop to half or lower. Some folks will take care of their own if you give them time to notice

Enjoy :)

[ccheath776]

YET another rehashed recycled post about clerics.

Will this madness ever end?

[Elaril]

This response is, incidently, somewhat in jest.

If you have to ask the question, the answer is not to be a cleric.

The last person that I want to group with is a money-hungry, control freak, cleric who complains about the cost of an adventure, tries to tell the group to keep together, and asks for donations.

Several of the many reasons that I intentionally leave clerics off of my LFM's when I PUGer out.

[Oreg]

This response is, incidently, somewhat in jest.

If you have to ask the question, the answer is not to be a cleric.

The last person that I want to group with is a money-hungry, control freak, cleric who complains about the cost of an adventure, tries to tell the group to keep together, and asks for donations.

Several of the many reasons that I intentionally leave clerics off of my LFM's when I PUGer out.

Had a situation like this last night. Cleric was a disaster. Started off the quest after zoning in late with demands to gather for buffs. I stated that my sorc had already buffed everyone and she cut me off saying "well, you don't have deathward and Freedom do you?" Actually I did have both but I bit my tongue because my buddy needed to get flagged. I spent the rest of a long quest in silence, nerves grating as she bossed people around left and right while managing to do a poor job of healing which included one "oops" moment where she ran into the portal before using the shrine while at 40% sp (our only wipe btw). Last part she didn't even realize I had already elemental buffed her and started to redo her buffs - insane.

This experience combined with all the cleric threads in the last few days really makes me wonder where it all comes from. 90 % of the runs I do are done without clerics. There is only a handful of quests where one is truly "needed" and yet so many clerics act like such pariahs. Yes, there are many many really good clerics who utilize their resources (offensive and healing) effectively and are friends as well. But the few whiners and "bossy" clerics really stand out because of their audacity that they are irreplaceable. I have left a few of these folks standing alone in GH or elsewhere after dropping them unceremoniously and doing the quest with 5 people.

Play your class to the best of your ability, regardless of class. If you need money or are low on resources, ask me if I can spare some cash. I will most likely say yes unless you are like the cleric last night. Oh and btw - try leveling a Barbarian from 1-16 with lesser restores, CSWs, rage pots, barksins and all the elemental resists and cures - talk about spending plat by the bucketful!

Anyway - thanks to all the good clerics out there - you are a great benefit to a party. Poorly played clerics and whiners are nothing but a detriment.

[cpito]

Had a situation like this last night. Cleric was a disaster. Started off the quest after zoning in late with demands to gather for buffs. I stated that my sorc had already buffed everyone and she cut me off saying "well, you don't have deathward and Freedom do you?" Actually I did have both but I bit my tongue because my buddy needed to get flagged. I spent the rest of a long quest in silence, nerves grating as she bossed people around left and right while managing to do a poor job of healing which included one "oops" moment where she ran into the portal before using the shrine while at 40% sp (our only wipe btw). Last part she didn't even realize I had already elemental buffed her and started to redo her buffs - insane.

This experience combined with all the cleric threads in the last few days really makes me wonder where it all comes from. 90 % of the runs I do are done without clerics. There is only a handful of quests where one is truly "needed" and yet so many clerics act like such pariahs. Yes, there are many many really good clerics who utilize their resources (offensive and healing) effectively and are friends as well. But the few whiners and "bossy" clerics really stand out because of their audacity that they are irreplaceable. I have left a few of these folks standing alone in GH or elsewhere after dropping them unceremoniously and doing the quest with 5 people.

Play your class to the best of your ability, regardless of class. If you need money or are low on resources, ask me if I can spare some cash. I will most likely say yes unless you are like the cleric last night. Oh and btw - try leveling a Barbarian from 1-16 with lesser restores, CSWs, rage pots, barksins and all the elemental resists and cures - talk about spending plat by the bucketful!

Anyway - thanks to all the good clerics out there - you are a great benefit to a party. Poorly played clerics and whiners are nothing but a detriment.


lol, i know a couple of these cleric... whiny little babies they are and I don't get it at all. My cleric is my wealthiest character by far and i let groups do as they wish. For the most part, i find if i do my job well... which includes killing as well as healing (cuz dontchya know it saves me mana to destruct that caster than to let him inflict damage on my party!) then most players happily volunteer to contribute if i happen to use extra resources.

[Elaril]

I spent the rest of a long quest in silence, nerves grating as she bossed people around left and right while managing to do a poor job of healing which included one "oops" moment where she ran into the portal before using the shrine while at 40% sp (our only wipe btw).

If I had a platinum piece for every quest that I've run in angry silence because I'm afraid what might come out if I push the to talk button, the cost of resources would cross my clerics mind even less than it currently does (is never very frequent).

It is really astounding that someone can get to that high a level without being able to see the buffs their character has.

[unionyes]

This response is, incidently, somewhat in jest.

If you have to ask the question, the answer is not to be a cleric.

The last person that I want to group with is a money-hungry, control freak, cleric who complains about the cost of an adventure, tries to tell the group to keep together, and asks for donations.

Several of the many reasons that I intentionally leave clerics off of my LFM's when I PUGer out.

Don't be money hungry, don't be a control freak, and don't complain. Seriously.

Also don't send your cleric plat from your main or alts. Use what you find, use what you loot, use what you can buy with the proceeds of your questing. Don't ask for donations, either.

Use your manna, limit your wand use to what is needed by a careful group. Tell them you are running low on manna. If they ask if you have wands, say yes I do. Two of them.

If they want you to use more wands than you have (I always tell PUG's, if they ask, that I have two wands, which is more than enough for a good group in most quests), then they can get them for you. BTW, give them back what's left at the end.

If the group zergs and dies more than once, then recall and drop group, or else be prepared to spend a lot of resources.

If the group asks you to spend a ton of money to support their stupid play, recall and drop group.

If the group treats you like garbage, recall and drop group. This includes any sort of lecture about your 'role' to heal them regardless of how they play, any sort of lecture on how your function is to buy all the wands and scrolls, that kind of stuff.

You are a cleric. People need clerics, even if they try and deny it. Just look at the LFM's on most evenings, and check out the number of groups that are looking for a cleric. The sad thing is that the ones who don't need a cleric that much are the ones who self heal between fights, the ones who can handle the aggro they draw, and have decent character builds, just the kind that are fun to play with.

[Snoggy]

With the rising plat costs being a cleric these days, How can the meager non-plat buying DDO afficionado create a cleric and maintain the healing expectations of certain parties and quests?

Don't be a cleric. It's a question that almost answers itself. You don't want to be a cleric, do so don't be one.

[BlueLightBandit]

It HAS been done once or twice before. Just look at all the lvl 16 clerics out there today.

[Elaril]

Don't be money hungry, don't be a control freak, and don't complain. Seriously.

Also don't send your cleric plat from your main or alts. Use what you find, use what you loot, use what you can buy with the proceeds of your questing. Don't ask for donations, either.

Use your manna, limit your wand use to what is needed by a careful group. Tell them you are running low on manna. If they ask if you have wands, say yes I do. Two of them.

If they want you to use more wands than you have (I always tell PUG's, if they ask, that I have two wands, which is more than enough for a good group in most quests), then they can get them for you. BTW, give them back what's left at the end.

If the group zergs and dies more than once, then recall and drop group, or else be prepared to spend a lot of resources.

If the group asks you to spend a ton of money to support their stupid play, recall and drop group.

If the group treats you like garbage, recall and drop group. This includes any sort of lecture about your 'role' to heal them regardless of how they play, any sort of lecture on how your function is to buy all the wands and scrolls, that kind of stuff.

You are a cleric. People need clerics, even if they try and deny it. Just look at the LFM's on most evenings, and check out the number of groups that are looking for a cleric. The sad thing is that the ones who don't need a cleric that much are the ones who self heal between fights, the ones who can handle the aggro they draw, and have decent character builds, just the kind that are fun to play with.


Wha? Must've quoted the wrong post.

[jmonty]

Had a situation like this last night. Cleric was a disaster. Started off the quest after zoning in late with demands to gather for buffs. I stated that my sorc had already buffed everyone and she cut me off saying "well, you don't have deathward and Freedom do you?" Actually I did have both but I bit my tongue because my buddy needed to get flagged. I spent the rest of a long quest in silence, nerves grating as she bossed people around left and right while managing to do a poor job of healing which included one "oops" moment where she ran into the portal before using the shrine while at 40% sp (our only wipe btw). Last part she didn't even realize I had already elemental buffed her and started to redo her buffs - insane.

This experience combined with all the cleric threads in the last few days really makes me wonder where it all comes from. 90 % of the runs I do are done without clerics. There is only a handful of quests where one is truly "needed" and yet so many clerics act like such pariahs. Yes, there are many many really good clerics who utilize their resources (offensive and healing) effectively and are friends as well. But the few whiners and "bossy" clerics really stand out because of their audacity that they are irreplaceable. I have left a few of these folks standing alone in GH or elsewhere after dropping them unceremoniously and doing the quest with 5 people.

Play your class to the best of your ability, regardless of class. If you need money or are low on resources, ask me if I can spare some cash. I will most likely say yes unless you are like the cleric last night. Oh and btw - try leveling a Barbarian from 1-16 with lesser restores, CSWs, rage pots, barksins and all the elemental resists and cures - talk about spending plat by the bucketful!

Anyway - thanks to all the good clerics out there - you are a great benefit to a party. Poorly played clerics and whiners are nothing but a detriment.

heh heh

on ghallanda eh? i'm pretty sure i know who you are talking about. i won't group with that person anywhere.

[Solmage]

4) Don't be afraid to tell people you're on spellpoints only; they may donate, they may play more carefully, they may end up in your pack. At least you were upfront about it

If you can't complete a quest with mana only, let the quest fail. Tell the group before hand, and that's it. Save scrolls and mana pots and all that for the small group of people who will help you out.

Also, only give each person a portion of your SP. If someone is getting hammered all the time, and they used up 1/6th your mana already, unless they are the intimitank, (or the one who is carrying the quest, and making sure noone else is getting hurt), again, time to let him die or heal himself.

Believe it or not, the game was not designed so you NEED to use 50 heal scrolls in a darn quest. It's the fact that you CAN do that that allows people to EXPECT it and then by some ludicrous reason feel the right to complain when they don't get it. ("AC does not matter! Only DPS!" etc etc) Just add them to your ignore list.

[unionyes]

Wha? Must've quoted the wrong post.

Maybe.

If money hungry is saying 'whoa' when the zerging, wiping, etc is costing me way more in resources than it should, it might not be the wrong post.

If bossy is saying 'slow down please', or 'stick together please' or 'can we shield block here instead of running in there in four different directions drawing all the aggro at once because you guys die faster than I can heal you and I am almost out of manna anyhow', then might not be the wrong post.

If control freak is saying 'dude, I aint gonna heal you between fights because I have burned through four wands already, am saving manna for battle healing, do you have some pots (or wands if you are a ranger/pally/UMD build)', it might be the right post.

Or I could be wrong. It has happened before. Of course, I know clerics (and other classes) who are insufferably bossy. I also know people who, when asked to slow down, stay with the group, stay in line of sight of the cleric, ease up a bit or grab a shield, or stay out of the traps until they are down instantly start in on the cleric about 'don't tell me how to play my toon'. Fair enough. I ain't gonna heal you then, and don't tell ME how to play MY toon :)

Point I was making is this. Don't whine, don't plead, don't be money hungry, bossy, or control freak. Just don't heal the dude who ran through the trap for no good reason, don't top up between fights, don't blow a ton of plat on each quest to enable stupid play. Just recall and drop. You will always find another group.

[Elaril]

Just recall and drop. You will always find another group.

Agreed on every point but this one. Barring numerous wipes, or some other unforseen incidents that causes me to have to recall out so many times that I will no longer get xp, the quest is getting finished.

[CrimsonEagle]

Oh and btw - try leveling a Barbarian from 1-16 with lesser restores, CSWs, rage pots, barksins and all the elemental resists and cures - talk about spending plat by the bucketful!


AMEN!!!

The problem is, how many (who cannot buy wands, or use some of the spells), buy all of these items and use em? Heck, how many who CAN buy wands or use some of the spells NOT use them.

I would group with someone like you on my cleric anytime, and I would actually help you. Why? Because at least you are making an effort at being self sufficient, despite the cost.

I have come to despise people who refuse to take care of themselves to the point that I very, very rarely take out my cleric other than to solo, and when I do group with him, it is because I was begged.

The funny thing is that for me, it is not about the funds. Those are easy enough to come by. I just hate totally dependant builds, and even more, I hate self sufficient builds who play as totally dependant builds.

On your Barb, at least you make an attempt. I know that CSW pots are horrible for a 400, 500, 600 hp build. The thing is, at least someone who uses these are willing to make sacrifices in an attempt to be self sufficient. I would gladly sacrifice my spell points to help this player out, where as when I get someone who is down 50 spell points and complains that I do not keep them up, will get no heals. Not one. (Yes, there are players out there who are like that), or who take no shame when they get cursed, blinded, or poisoned, and my cleric hands them over 10 potions as a not so subtle hint.

I don't want anyone's stinking plat. I want them to take that plat and use it to take care of themselves, and stop demanding that it is the clerics JOB to take care of all their wants and needs.

When I build my cleric, it was because I seen a cleric as the most self suffient class out there who could help out a group if they got into a rough situation. I never, NEVER planned on him sitting in the back being relegated to nannybot because when groups see that cleric icon they feel they no longer have to do anything to take care of themselves.

I know that not all players are like this. As you have show above, you are willing to take care of yourself, and I know many on the forums play this way. In the "real" ddo world however, this is not so much the case, to the point that my cleric is for all intents and purposes, retired.

And to the nannybots out there. When I am playing my Sorc, Ranger, Bard, Paladin, or even my Barb. If I ask you to not heal me, DONT HEAL ME. I am telling you that I can, and am willing to take care of myself and can handle what we are facing. If I die, it is not you who are responsible, it is myself who is responsible for taking on more than I can handle.

Any spell points that you wasted on me would be better served with greater command, BLADE BARRIER, destruction, or anything else you have that can stop/kill the mobs. THIS is where the true power of a cleric resides.

It has been proven time and time again that a cleric is not needed on any given quest. How is this possible?

Self sufficiency is they key to all the cleric woe's. If you are not self sufficient and chose to play this way, then you are a determent to the party. I don't care how much dps you can put out. A cleric can put out more than any melee could ever dream of, and if careful, they don't even have to worry about the little blue bar.

Am I trying to tell another class how to play? Perhaps I am. Why would this be any different than someone telling me how to play my cleric?

No one is telling me how to play my cleric? Bull. When someone says "well then, I just wont group with you", you ARE telling me how to play my cleric.

My retort is this. If you refuse to take care of yourself, my cleric will not group with you. Yep. That attitude has forced me to retire my cleric. So be it. You win.

BTW Oreg, this is not so much directed at you as it is to all those who refuse to take care of themselves. I started to rant and went a little bit off on a tangent. I am getting frustrated with all the "Woe my Cleric blues" posts and all the "Stop complaining, it is your JOB to heal posts".

There is nothing wrong with clerics. They are one of the most powerful characters in the game. It is the way they are played, and are being forced to play that is bringing on all the heartache. Someone who plays a strict nannybot is only playing a half a cleric, and the lesser half at that.

Crimson.

[unionyes]

Agreed on every point but this one. Barring numerous wipes, or some other unforseen incidents that causes me to have to recall out so many times that I will no longer get xp, the quest is getting finished.

I get a little more impatient I guess. Not saying that a couple of blunders and I am dropping. Just saying that I will drop rather than beat my head against the wall with a party that seems to be composed of lemmings.

[CrazySamaritan]

When I build my cleric, it was because I seen a cleric as the most self-sufficient class out there who could help out a group if they got into a rough situation. I never, NEVER planned on him sitting in the back being relegated to nannybot because when groups see that cleric icon they feel they no longer have to do anything to take care of themselves.

AMEN, back at you.
Jus wait till Druids!

[Cowdenicus]

With the rising plat costs being a cleric these days, How can the meager non-plat buying DDO afficionado create a cleric and maintain the healing expectations of certain parties and quests?

I have never bought plat, have almost amillion plat between my 2 Capped clerics. The problem is not in resources or costs. The problem is Clerics are essentially the only class where one has to make a choice about whether a group (PUG generally) succeeds at a cost to the cleric, or fails. This is mostly due to the stat inflation of enemies in the game, which is because of the inflated (melee) in the game.

Just my opinion.

[Cowdenicus]

heh heh

on ghallanda eh? i'm pretty sure i know who you are talking about. i won't group with that person anywhere.

Stop talking about me. ;)

[rawfocat]

With the new death penalty change, levleing is faster as you gain significant XP bonus by not losing XP when you die. With this change, I think it is viable to simply recall from time to time for spell points. In essence sacrificing 20% XP for the cost savings. Now let me state that if you are recalling all the time, you have a problem. The same as if you are dying all of the time you have a problem. My cleric is capped now, but when I was pugging levels 11-16 post mod 6, I started adopting this strategy for THOSE PUGs. I decided that even 60% loss of XP, recalling twice and one party wipe was better than 3 CSW wands or 50 heal scrolls. With XP easier (not easy) to come by, I think this is an excellent cost saving approach for quests/parties were this is necessary and feasible.

[Cowdenicus]

You want to be a successful cleric in my opinion. Here it goes:

Clerics can do 4 things in this game: Melee, Cast, Heal and Turn related ****.

Unfortunatly each of these individually require you to specalize in a stat. Melee requires strength (or dex for finesse/evasion builds) Casting/Healing require wisdom (casting more than healing) and Turn related stuff requires Charisma.

My first Cleric Vanash is a generalist build, he has a 20 str, 18 con, 32 wis and 20 cha. His lowest stat is a 12. A very generalist build (built like in P&P way back before I knew better in headstart.) He is decent at all of them, but excels no where. He is a GREAT party support cleric, can lay down some CC, and at times can melee (although I dont want him to pull agro).

Nuking on the other hand was my first 32 point buy, after about 16 months of playing DDO. I wanted a cleric that would excel but what to sacrifice. I dumped INT, CHA, and Dex on this cleric. He currently has a 24 Str, a 20 Con, and a 32 Wis. (Only a 3 tome in str, 1 tome in Wis, and no tome in con atm.) He is focused on casting but between recitation, divine favor, and divine (spell name eludes me atm) can melee even the pit fiend in the shroud.

Playing the 2 clerics, the differences are night and day. In my opinion, I would highly advise anybody to specalize their clerics as opposed to making a generalist build.

In my opinion, clerics do need some love from the developers but what they need is relatively minor. I would like to see more cleric spells in game, superior devotion items in game (as high as the healing spells go), and something to replace domains as I think traditional Domains would be a nightmare to code and may end up throwing off class balance. The only other thing I would even think of is to maybe have Cleric SP's looked at again.

Cant wait to see the responses to this. :rolleyes:

[Cowdenicus]

With the new death penalty change, levleing is faster as you gain significant XP bonus by not losing XP when you die. With this change, I think it is viable to simply recall from time to time for spell points. In essence sacrificing 20% XP for the cost savings. Now let me state that if you are recalling all the time, you have a problem. The same as if you are dying all of the time you have a problem. My cleric is capped now, but when I was pugging levels 11-16 post mod 6, I started adopting this strategy for THOSE PUGs. I decided that even 60% loss of XP, recalling twice and one party wipe was better than 3 CSW wands or 50 heal scrolls. With XP easier (not easy) to come by, I think this is an excellent cost saving approach for quests/parties were this is necessary and feasible.


Or inviting a second cleric.....

[rawfocat]

Or inviting a second cleric..... I find myself in THOSE groups when I am the 6th party member to join and yes I could wait for guildies or people I know, but sometimes I just want to run something.

[Elaril]

Or inviting a second cleric.....

Only if it's a blind invite...clerics love those.

[Rkik_Dnec]

You know, my cleric, at least up to level 10, has been one of my best money makers.

Now my barbarian, there's a money sink. I barely ever have any cash because of the pots and repairs. Far more expensive, at least in the early parts.

[Frodo_Lives]

I have a lvl 16 cleric and currently a lvl 8 (and rising) cleric. I have deleted a couple others that were lvl 10 or so back when the cap was 12.

The only character I have ever bought wands for was my bard. I do carry heal scrolls but on my lvl 16 cleric and lvl 14 bard I think I have used a total of 20 heal scrolls, ever. I have 9 characters and I have never bought one cure potion, even though they all carry enough healing to potion themselves up at least 3 times over.

I can do this because I collect the "useless collectables" for free wands and potions, I spend time in Tangleroot when level appropriate and get stacks of CMW pots, remove curse pots, remove blindness pots, for free just by picking flowers.

A cleric is extremely expensive. But only when running new high end content that no one really knows. I have yet to do a quest that I needed more than a few wand charges over and above my spell points on my new cleric. You don't need to wand whip, you don't need to babysit. I make sure that (to the best of my ability) that no one dies, I may not keep you at 100% but I don't let you drop either. I fight, cast offensively, and I heal. I don't use scrolls, wands, or sp potions on my level 8 character, and never needed too.

It's funny if the party gets the idea that you aren't running after them with some TP to wipe their butts when they fall down they tend to play a little more carefully, and stop being huge sponges. Those that continue to be sponges are dropped lower and lower on the healing priority.


Point being, clerics are only as expensive as you let them be.

[FluffyCalico]

My 2nd cleric is now level 12. Its a healer cleric with spell DC to defend its self if forced. I have sent it no plat from my mains. I did send it a potency item and level 2 frost weapon but thats it. It now has about 2000 heal scrolls in its bank (what ever 1 full bag with 100 per slot is) and a full bag of wands. It has 5 level 13 items it can't wear yet (earned them it's self). Its packing about 30K PP. I have only dropped 4 groups from level 1 to level 12. So if your cleric is broke then you must be doing something wrong. Think about what it is and change it. Also I turn down plat.

[sirgog]

A cleric is extremely expensive. But only when running new high end content that no one really knows.
...


Point being, clerics are only as expensive as you let them be.



You are dead right on both of these points.

Numot used a lot of Heal scrolls on his first run of Running with the Devils. It's a tough quest, especially when you don't know it well.

Now, it's a lootrun for him.

[romero_zombie]

My toon's name is Winnie. I hope none of these posts are about awful clerics are refering to me. I am not always as saintly as I should be. I try no to complain. I don't ask for donations, and say thank you when I get them anyway, and I use whatever resources I have to help whatever group will have me. If however I have done these things I apologize.

[ktatum]

This is one of the big things I am worried about, being new to the game. I dont have tons of plat to send my cleric, and dont have tons of scrolls, wands, etc.

Do people give you a lot of grief if you say you are new to the game and new to a cleric?

[Cowdenicus]

This is one of the big things I am worried about, being new to the game. I dont have tons of plat to send my cleric, and dont have tons of scrolls, wands, etc.

Do people give you a lot of grief if you say you are new to the game and new to a cleric?

No, my advice is to let people know you are new to the game. The other piece of advice I will let you know is that as a generalization as a cleric the last thing you want to do is heal. It is the least efficient use of your spell points. Instead use spells like command and soundburst to make it so enemies do not attack for a little bit. When you hit higher levels spells like greater command and cometfall also will help, but be careful with cometfall, as you can pull alot of agro quick with it.

[Rkik_Dnec]

This is one of the big things I am worried about, being new to the game. I dont have tons of plat to send my cleric, and dont have tons of scrolls, wands, etc.

Do people give you a lot of grief if you say you are new to the game and new to a cleric?

Most people don't. There are a few, but they tend to be a rarity.

I didn't send any plat to my new cleric (I did send him some gear, but not much), and he's been doing fine. In fact he's one of my wealthiest characters. Really, for most competent groups, you shouldn't need any wands at low levels. Once you get through the waterworks and can get to the vendors in the Rusty Nail, it's not a bad idea to swing by the wand vendor and pick up a Cure Light wand or two. They are pretty cheap and should last a while.

You shouldn't even think about scrolls until you hit level 7-8 when you can start using Res Scrolls, but even that isn't extremely necessary.

[unionyes]

This is one of the big things I am worried about, being new to the game. I dont have tons of plat to send my cleric, and dont have tons of scrolls, wands, etc.

Do people give you a lot of grief if you say you are new to the game and new to a cleric?

If they do give you grief, then sit back and watch them die. :)

But seriously, don't send your cleric plat from another toon even if you have some to send. Just use your manna, buy what wands you can afford with your loot proceeds, and if you don't have much in the way of wands or scrolls, say so. If they whine, then thank them for their time and move on to a different group. Most likely, if you say you don't have any wands and no plat to buy them, they will fix you up with wands or else they will go slower, buff more, equip a shield, clear the shrine first, that kind of thing.

Sometimes there are a lot of clerics on, and some people don't seem to think you need a cleric for most quests, but they are great to have around. Most evenings, getting a group is easy for clerics, and most parties will happily do what the can for you just to keep you around (as long as you aren't a jerk about it).

[Mhykke]

You don't have to spend the resources on your cleric if you're uncomfortable w/ that.

My advice: be picky.

Don't join random groups that are doing something on elite if you don't know anyone in the group, and you're not as high a level, etc. If you feel like running that particular quest, go ahead and start the LFM for normal. You're a cleric, you won't wait long for a group.

That way, you won't be inside a quest on elite w/ a group that's in over their heads, and the only way to get through the quest is by throwing resources (your resources) at the quest.