Multiple Clerics

I have been only playing a Cleric a short time (lvl 10). I am a heal bot which gets me into groups very easily. Now a problem I have been seeing is when more than one Heal bot is in a group. I have been in many quests and with the exception of one group in Deleras the Clerics haven't worked together. I tried to split healing up so we don't double heal, tried to divide up Buffs (one does aid, one for resist..etc..) and I don't get any cooperation. Is it just me or does it seem like if we split up duties we would be able to 1) conserve SP better, 2) Effectively heal better and 3) in the event of the group splitting for some reason be able to heal both groups. Then if one healer needs to use shrine communicate and work together. Is it just the Pugs I have been in or is this a common problem? Now just a quick note I am not including battle clerics in this just heal bots.

thats the problem with healbots: when youre not needed, you just sit there not knowing what to do

anyway, yes cooperation is a big problem with pugs and theres nothing you can do about besides building a character who can do something else then healing too (which isnt hard as cleric as all clerics can heal)

the problem is questing with pug don't expect good team play all the time just be happy you make it to the end :)

I have noticed this too on my cleric.

I think that alot of the double healing etc happens because neither wants to be responsible for not healing and a player dying :) it can go the other way too

"i wont heal he will do it...... will he...... OD best try to hea.....DING"

Try sending a tell to the other cleric. suggest a pattern. you burn your sp then ill burn mine type thing. Or sharing buffs etc.

Let the other Cleric do all the work. Claim that 'I'll be the backup healer in case you die or run out of mana' and by the time the other cleric runs out of mana, the quest is usually done. Just keep up with the group and pretend to melee but try to keep out of danger.

This probably doesn't qualify as advice but it is true too. Rather than overhealing, let one cleric do all the work and should the need arise, you take over.

A secondary tact is to go with support spells or straight out crowd control. Since you're a heal-bot, your DC with spells such as Greater Command, Cometfall, Hold Person/Monster, etc should be fairly high and reliable.

Be wary of tactical changes of your fellow Cleric though, more often than not they'll switch over to a crowd control mentality as well if they have nothing else to do.

Hi OP,

I gotta agree with Visty and DToNE on this, if another party member is throwing a lot of heals around, this gives you plenty of freedom to assist the party in other ways. As you progress you will also find spells like Banish, Destruction, Implosion and of course BB are awesome as offensive weapons, and having them doesn't require changing your build from being a healbot.

Also, double healing is only a problem, if there is a danger of the healers running out of SP completely. As there are no prizes for completing quests with SP to spare, it is always better to use it if you have it. Double heals are wasteful, but are better than your main DPS getting one shotted for 80% of their HP and then dying before the single healer gets to him/her because they were busy healing another player.
NB. It's normally a good idea to know the quest a little before relying on this.

Communication is obviously the best tactic, and don't be afraid to put the decision making onto the party leader. A simple "Hey boss, which cleric do you want on primary heal duties?" before jumping into the quest can often (certainly not always) spark the discussion and create some basic guidlines for the party.

Regards
Wolf

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Originally Posted by The-Last-Wolf

Hi OP,

I gotta agree with Visty and DToNE on this, if another party member is throwing a lot of heals around, this gives you plenty of freedom to assist the party in other ways. As you progress you will also find spells like Banish, Destruction, Implosion and of course BB are awesome as offensive weapons, and having them doesn't require changing your build from being a healbot.

Also, double healing is only a problem, if there is a danger of the healers running out of SP completely. As there are no prizes for completing quests with SP to spare, it is always better to use it if you have it. Double heals are wasteful, but are better than your main DPS getting one shotted for 80% of their HP and then dying before the single healer gets to him/her because they were busy healing another player.
NB. It's normally a good idea to know the quest a little before relying on this.

Communication is obviously the best tactic, and don't be afraid to put the decision making onto the party leader. A simple "Hey boss, which cleric do you want on primary heal duties?" before jumping into the quest can often (certainly not always) spark the discussion and create some basic guidlines for the party.

Regards
Wolf

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This has been my experience as well. It's rough at low levels because you don't have a whole lot of damaging spells. But once you get blade barrier all you have to do is stick close to the rogue or whoever is leading and drop a BB before every big encounter. And it takes a little luck but destruction works on beholders and can save a lot of lives. I honestly don't know what the named beholder in the orchard can do. He's never managed to attack before I landed destruction. Just hang in there and your arsenal will grow quickly in the next few levels. Pretty soon you'll be taking advantage of those situations and clearing large sections of dungeons solo while the rest of the party struggles through their part.

I would really suggest you to consider widening your play style to do more than just healing. It really isn't all that difficult and considering you leveled up a healbot you probably have max wisdom and no multiclassing. Such a build can easily be respec-ed to be affective as a offensive and healing cleric without re-rolling. And believe me a cleric who can be more than a healbot is MUCH more useful to a party, especially as you get into higher levels when a party has more than 1 healer in raids, and can be a lot of fun to play! :) Solo-ing or shot-maning some quests also become less of an issue as you can dish out some spell dps/insta kills and heal very nicely. This is usually something a pure healbot can rarely achieve as they always need someone doing the killing for them.

My own first toon did start out as healbot before I felt playing such a style was severely limiting and I could assist my party more and save on healing sp by casting spells outside of buffs and heals. So about a month ago when I hit lv11-ish, I did respec my enhancements and couple feats to be able to effectively heal AND cast offensively. In addition to the costs of respec, it also required buying some superior potency, spell pen and other items that increased my DCs. Sure it was expensive as it was my first toon on a premium account with few if any packs and I was severely strapped for plat, but in the end I can say it was VERY worth being broke after it for a while if only to be able to play a more well rounded and useful build. Parties appreciate a healer helping them to control or taking out mobs as they feel its a party slot well spent. You can still be a top notch healer while doing a bit more if you simply invest some and conserve mana effectively. It's simply a misconception that a healbot is the only one that can heal very well. Of course, battle clerics do give up healing abilities but that's another story, but as far as casting cleric goes you can easily be more than just a pure healbot.

Alright, I'll end the rant now. :o In the end you should still play how you feel like playing, just as long as you let the party know your role. This is just some advice and food for thought from a fellow newbie cleric who just made the switch and experienced the benefits of it. :)

Here is an idea, If you built your cleric to be a healer you could suggest you be main healer and the other cleric does all the buffs. This works great with your battle clerics because they use their sp to buff and you have all your sp to heal so the group can go further on your SP. also with two clerics you can have the off healer or the buffer DV the main healer so they can keep healing.

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Originally Posted by Eltronin

Now just a quick note I am not including battle clerics in this just heal bots.

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How often are you in a group with two players who want to do nothing but heal? Unless those people were specifically recruited, it seems unlikely that would just happen too often. But for when it does or when healing is light, you need *some* kind of fallback. I'm not exactly a true battle cleric, but I do melee during battles unless it's stupid to do so, so the suggestion above me about buffs vs heals would be wonderful to me since I could just go at it.

I usually just let myself or the other go full out CC. Healing is easy, especially once you know the quests. If you are comfortable just healing, tell the other cleric to load up his CC spells and go full out. And if you get a good group, 2 clerics going full out CC is a sight to behold.