Advice from the cleric

[cardmj1]

I am a 2+ year vet cleric and thought I would impart some advice of the things I have learned in this time.

Advice for non-healers
1. When in a group, remember there are more of you than there are clerics in the party. They can only cast so fast.

2. Watch the cleric's blue bar. If it is getting low, please slow down or clear out a shrine fast.

3. Cleric take death very seriously, even when they can raise dead. If you are dying alot, you may want to take a moment to figure out why. In future grouping, if the cleric sees you are in party then they may not want to join the group.

4. Line of sight is very important. If the cleric can't see you, then they can't heal you.

5. Clerics that know what they are doing prioritize their healing. They will quickly assess the group and know who will keep them alive and that person will get healed before all others.

6. If you need a buff (acid, bull's strength,...) and may be hestitant to ask for in group chat, send the cleric a tell. We get that you need it and if it keeps you up and killing... incoming buff on the way.

7. Cleric do not see the quest the same as everyone else. A good part of our questing experience is looking at red bars.In other words, if the party has taken alot of damage, don't start running off. We won't see you leave.

8. If you die in a trap and the cleric is send you a raise dead. Do not accept it in the trap! Run through the trap and accept the raise dead on the other side.

9. It's expensive for clerics to heal at low levels because they don't have a large mana pool and wands are expensive. Approximately 12,000 gold for one wand of cure serious (depending on haggle). If you see a cleric out of mana and still healing, they are going through some serious plat. If you think the cleric has done a good job keeping the party healed throughout the quest, it is customary to tip the cleric.

10. Ways to tip a cleric. Plat is acceptable. For 6 party questing, usually 200-500 plat is the norm I have seen. Raid quests vary according to difficulty and the amount of healers in party. The best tip you can give a cleric is cure serious wands, raise dead scrolls, or a major/greater mneumonic potion. If you don't have any money or supplies, give them weapons, gems, armor, or anything else you get in a chest that you don't need that they can sell to buy more supplies. Just let them know you left it in the chest for them (this gives you credit points with the cleric).

[cardmj1]

The following advice came from various healers in a discussion forum we had well over a year ago. I simply pasting the answers we received in the discussion.

Advice for healers

1. Also my mainstay goal. No one dies on my watch. However, those critical hits are beyond our control. As for the zerger, he is on his own. If he can't stick with the group, he can't get healed. There will be times when a fighter must go behind a door or around a corner to kill something. There are even times when a cleric must stay behind and wait for someone to die (ie von 3 and the beholders). So don't fret over death, it comes to us all.

2. As for donations, I too, do not like asking but keep this in mind. Fighters pull their armor, weapons, arrows/bolts, and items out of the chest. They do not need to buy it. However, clerics do not have the luxury of waiting for a cure wand to drop in the chest. We must purchase those items ourselves. In a pug group, if I go through a large amount of wands, scrolls, or what have you, I ask for them to give it up. The same goes for raids and guild members. If they are going to go charging in and not strategize, or dare I say, play stupid, they really should pay if not all but at least part of the healing. IT AINT FREE! A friend of my mine, tells the party that she only has X number of wands and mana, they blow through that amount and that's it. The players in that party play smarter because of it. For any none clerics reading this, think of clerics as Coyle. You must get us through the quest alive and as full of mana as possible.

3. I can't believe they nerfed Holy Smite (crying uncontrollably still). This is a personal choice of every cleric. As a pure healer, I stay out of the battle as much as possible. However, there are times when you are able to join in the fun. Try destruction when you get the spell. So much fun!

4 As soon as I step into the instance, I group buff the party. After every shrine, I group buff the party. When I see my group buffs gone, I group buff the party. I also try to get the ranger or paladin that is in party to buff resistances. It just takes way too much sp for me to handle heals and resistances. I also carry a wand of it. Now, if there is a death, I will buff them with resistances until the fight is over. After the fight, I heal everyone up, check buffs, take care of negative levels and such. If resistances are needed, again, I ask for the ranger or paladin to step in.

5. DV's. Carrying DV's is another personal choice, but if you carry them, they should be reserved for the arcane or bard in the party. Ranger and Paladins do not expect them and it is rare that you find one that will ask for them. They use weapons to fight, not mana. Bards fascinate and have Otto's dance, and arcanes, well, enough said. DV's are to be used for fighting not for buffs unless it is an emergency.

6. Scrolls. The reason to carry scrolls, two words: Raise Dead. I use the scroll, not the mana. I also carry heal scrolls. For all non capped level clerics, there are alot of scrolls that you can use before you achieve the level of the spell. For instance, raise dead scrolls can be used by a level
7 cleric but you don't get the spell until level 9.

As for spice, form a group of all clerics and run a quest with pets and offensive spells.. You will learn alot and it can be very fun.

1) My attitude is that nobody dies on my watch. Sure things go south with line of sight issues, one-shots, and not being able to burst heal fast enough. This means that I normal stick with the greatest group of people, but if somebody zergs off and the party is fine, I follow and keep them healed...almost like a personal I-V of healing.

2) I don't ask for donations, but I don't turn them down either.

3) I carry between 4 to 12 wands (mostly cure serious now days). I fight along side the fighters, always trying to maintain a flanking position. If somebody starts talking damage, then I start wand whipping up a healing storm, along with cures, mass cures, and heals. If it is clear that my combat skills are outclassed, then I just keep everbody topped off with wands, and use Holy Smite/Greater Command as crowd control

4) If I know the dungeon I buff everybody accordingly, otherise I only buff group spells and on per request. This is to save SP for burst healing and rez'ing

5) DV's go to whom ever is using there spell points to help the party most. If the Ranger and Palidan are buffing the party, then they get the DV's, if the Wizard/Sorcerer are helping the party with crowd control and/or nuking/slaying then they get the mana. I've pugged with all types that hoarde their SP, so no DV for them.

6) I don't use scrolls much, but if I ever accumulate enough gold to make a habit of it, I might give it a try.


I'm a Healer, I keep you up and you kill things, this is the order of the universe. Yes I have DV's, but it is up to me who gets them. If you run off and get into trouble it isn't my problem or concern. Sometimes no matter how fast I can cast things you will die, while I still feel a little sorry when it happens in a major fight my priority is to keep the most damaging (dps) players up. It is a form of Triage.
Wands and Scrolls aren't cheap so if no donations are offered I will ask for them, usually by informing the party of what I don't have, or what I do. (Most PUG parties offer things first anyway, especially with certain quests.) I use Mana first, we are not all as rich as some Clerics, use scrolls as a last resort/emergencies, or only where neccissary when quests would require it.
(Rant) They didn't nerf Holy Smite, they replaced it with something else. It needs to be renamed Holy Blindness or something, because they obviously haven't gotten a dictionary anywhere near them. Smite = A form of blow, not Blindness. Of course I despise WotC D20 system and their misuse of verbage so this kind of thing isn't surprising to me. (End Rant)
I also have some advice/guidelines for someone considering making up a Cleric.


If you elected to play a Cleric then "Dammit Jim!" heal the other players in the party. Don't delay either, I have seen 200 hp tanks dropped in one blow so keep them healthy (though a Heavy Fort item can protect from this.) Some Clerics do not heal the party to near max HP between fights I call these players Lazy Clerics, don't be 'Lazy' keep your party healed. It will save you in the end.
Mana conservation, play smart, with the way Rez shrines now work take the few extra seconds to take players to the shrine for them to raise themselves, it saves you mana. Also carry a high Heal skill bonus item on you and when people shrine put it on and stand there for them, it saves you in the long run. Use your remaining mana to buff the party before you shrine and after they do.
Zerg's, what can I say there are players out there who 'claim' they can handle something they cannot, do not sacrifice party integrity for them, only if the party goes after these players do you go.
Players who expect you to hold their hand through the quest. Tanks and Arcanes that do not carry a way to heal themselves when neccissary should be avoided. I have failed quite a few quests because a player didn't have the items he should have had. Only a fool when seperated from the Cleric(s) and they are asked "why they aren't healing themselves?" and "where is your pots?" utters/types the immortal words "I don't have any!" in the middle of a hard quest and then the player stands there doing nothing until you are able to come near, I will never group with this player again... ever, you shouldn't either.

[ddoer]

great post. let me add some cents:

Advice for non-healers
11. if you are a DPS melee without AC, let the tank draw aggro first. if you are a caster, do crowd control. If things do not go well, the party needs to discuss about tactic.

12. Heal yourself between fights

13. Learn the quests and get to know what kind of resist/protection you need. Similar to point 6, get your own potions (such as remove curse, poison) yourself.

14. If your cleric knows mass heal, stay close to the main group.

15. If you are a WF melee, make sure the group has a Wiz/Sorc who can repair you. For WF Barb, consider to reroll. :) jk

[nalarose]

Quote:

5. DV's. Carrying DV's is another personal choice, but if you carry them, they should be reserved for the arcane or bard in the party. Ranger and Paladins do not expect them and it is rare that you find one that will ask for them. They use weapons to fight, not mana. Bards fascinate and have Otto's dance, and arcanes, well, enough said. DV's are to be used for fighting not for buffs unless it is an emergency.


Umm, Thank you! Bards don't get a lot of mana, and I appreciate the DV's to spot heal, rebuff when necessary and keep the fighters hasted!

Just a thought, ... casters keep your Clerics hasted too! Nothing worse than trying to keep up with the pace or get mana back in a pool or tree without it.
Err one more thought... when going into a rapid starting quests, GH and blur for the clerics first!

[cardmj1]

Quote:

5. DV's. Carrying DV's is another personal choice, but if you carry them, they should be reserved for the arcane or bard in the party. Ranger and Paladins do not expect them and it is rare that you find one that will ask for them. They use weapons to fight, not mana. Bards fascinate and have Otto's dance, and arcanes, well, enough said. DV's are to be used for fighting not for buffs unless it is an emergency.


Umm, Thank you! Bards don't get a lot of mana, and I appreciate the DV's to spot heal, rebuff when necessary and keep the fighters hasted!

Yes, or the bard. At the time of the discussion, bards were not a factor because they were new to the game.

[Elsbet]

Quote:

5. DV's. Carrying DV's is another personal choice, but if you carry them, they should be reserved for the arcane or bard in the party. Ranger and Paladins do not expect them and it is rare that you find one that will ask for them. They use weapons to fight, not mana. Bards fascinate and have Otto's dance, and arcanes, well, enough said. DV's are to be used for fighting not for buffs unless it is an emergency.


I disagree. DVs should go to the person who will benefit the party the most and more often than not, it is not the arcane or bard. It's the other cleric. Sometimes it is the ranger passing out three resists x 12 party members so that I can save my mana for more important things like healing.

Arcanes are not entitled to my DVs solely because they have a blue bar. I've seen far too many who are to useless to automatically give them my DVs.

[ddoer]

I disagree. DVs should go to the person who will benefit the party the most and more often than not, it is not the arcane or bard. It's the other cleric. Sometimes it is the ranger passing out three resists x 12 party members so that I can save my mana for more important things like healing.

Arcanes are not entitled to my DVs solely because they have a blue bar. I've seen far too many who are to useless to automatically give them my DVs.

imho, arcane or a CC cleric should be the first consideration. If you have 2 clerics in a 6-man party, it's unlikely the cleric needs so much mana for healing.

Just do not give DV to the arcanes who burn mana to get aggro and then being chased by all the mobs (who are chased by your melees), and try to suck your mana for healing.

[Arianrhod]

Here's one that will probably get me yelled at, but here goes -

If you're a new player cleric, and a Warforged character is in the group, there's a decent chance it's either a veteran player or someone with cash to burn (it's a Premium race, after all). Don't waste your precious few spellpoints trying to keep the WF fully healed all the time. heal them enough to keep them alive, sure, but keep in mind there's a penalty to heal them, so your heals will do less for them than a repair spell cast by a wizard or sorceror (and if they are a wizard or sorceror, they had better be able to repair themselves). Experienced warforged players will also typically carry plenty of Oils of Repair if they have no other means of self-healing, so aggressively trying to keep them healed at all times might just result in you wasting spellpoints or them wasting potions, or both.

[cardmj1]

imho, arcane or a CC cleric should be the first consideration. If you have 2 clerics in a 6-man party, it's unlikely the cleric needs so much mana for healing.

Just do not give DV to the arcanes who burn mana to get aggro and then being chased by all the mobs (who are chased by your melees), and try to suck your mana for healing.

When this discussion among cleric took place, there was not a great deal of multiclassing but it does show a point that is still with the current content. Cleric's have to pay attention to the party and what they are doing. Who is the person with the most dps that you feel is most able to get you through the quest? Who is the person is contributing the most to the dps (crowd control, backstabs, wounders, buffing)? Who is wasting your mana? Remember, whether the cleric is the party leader or not, you can set the pace and direction of the party. It can ultimately be the decisions you make on whether or not the party will succeed in their endeavors.