Making Clerics easier to play, and find for PUGs

[moops]

Start and run your own groups and Raids--Be up front at the beginning about what you expect of the playerss--You might seem a little bossy, but your quests/raids will be quick, efficient, and you will make a ton of money. My clerics are loaded, and I have bought every expensive toy in the game that can be bought for my alts, and still have more money than most people I know...

[SableShadow]

By eliminating the expense, you may find better, more prepaired Clerics, and find them more often. Just my 2cp.

Disagree. All you're doing here is moving the bar, not eliminating it.

If resources become cheap enough, folks will move from, say, VoD normal to VoD elite, and will continue to have the same complaints.

Far better to just put a hard limit on what you, if you're the primary healer, are willing to spend on a group and stop when you hit that limit.

I don't play a cleric, but I've been the primary healer/rezzer in enough groups to feel the pinch of scroll and wand costs.

[Sem34]

Hey here is another idea...

Since the Devs are not taking out the Kill count... could we then get a Death Count???

This would show the Barb that killed 150 but died 30 times as a resource hog and not really a help to the over all group.

Or would show the 1 kill and 50 death, player that they need to put heavy fort item on in a Shourd run.

but that would only cause a infighting in DDO ...

What the Devs need to do is bring in Druids... and Artificers

[Fenrisulven6]

Well, I'm on Thelanis, newb and still pugging away until I have an idea what I want from a guild.

But I always treat our clerics good, and hope that they have some recollection of me when looking over my LFMs.

[Talon_Moonshadow]

I don't suppose players trying not to get hurt would be a viable solution would it? No....silly of me to even think that.

Or bring their own pots?
Or wands?

I spend a huge amount of money on all my chars for healing resources. And I use them. I never scream heal, and I never expect a cleric to use money on me.
Mana? Yes! Money? NO!

Now, I do think the cleric should be as prepared as he can afford to be.
But it's his choice whether he thinks a specific group is worth his money or not.
No one knows what you have on you.

Hopefully a good party will help out with reembursing a worthy cleric who spent a lot to pull off a difficult quest.....esp raids.

Rgrs, Pal Brds.....can use cure wands.
Most rogues and many Sorcs can too....at least when they get a few lvls under their belts and a decent UMD.

Remove Curse is also am arcane spell....comes on wands in House J.
Pal can use as well (pssttt....it's also a Pal spell)

Remove disease is a Rgr spell........comes on wands.

Restoration comes on scrolls, avail in house J.
It's a Pal spell......no Pal should ever beg to have his neg lvls removed (after he's high enough to use the scrolls)

No Wiz should ever need his curse removed.

Lesser restore comes on pots....they cost money, but you don't need too many of them, and shouldn't go broke buying them.

Heal pots are expensive.
So is a clerics wands and scrolls.....and for the insanely wealthy pots from the AH.

If you expect a cleric to use money to heal you....and you won't use money to heal yourself...........you're a mooch.

I expect a cleric to use his mana to heal me when he can. And raise me when he can.
I do not expect him to his moeny to do so.

I admit, I do like it when they choose to do so......esp raids. And I've seen many that would not have been completed if not for the tons of cash spent.

I could also write a book on tactics people can use to minimise damage.

Now, for those clerics out there.
C Light wands are dirt cheap. Takes a long time to heal a Brb with em, but at the lower lvls, I suggest buying mostly CLWands.......and take zergers to shrines.

You can use mana for the big fights to heal quickly.......use CLW wands to heal up between fights. And it doesn't cost you much.

[Aranticus]

I don't suppose players trying not to get hurt would be a viable solution would it? No....silly of me to even think that.

Or bring their own pots?
Or wands?

I spend a huge amount of money on all my chars for healing resources. And I use them. I never scream heal, and I never expect a cleric to use money on me.
Mana? Yes! Money? NO!

Now, I do think the cleric should be as prepared as he can afford to be.
But it's his choice whether he thinks a specific group is worth his money or not.
No one knows what you have on you.

Hopefully a good party will help out with reembursing a worthy cleric who spent a lot to pull off a difficult quest.....esp raids.

Rgrs, Pal Brds.....can use cure wands.
Most rogues and many Sorcs can too....at least when they get a few lvls under their belts and a decent UMD.

Remove Curse is also am arcane spell....comes on wands in House J.
Pal can use as well (pssttt....it's also a Pal spell)

Remove disease is a Rgr spell........comes on wands.

Restoration comes on scrolls, avail in house J.
It's a Pal spell......no Pal should ever beg to have his neg lvls removed (after he's high enough to use the scrolls)

i do not think a pally can use restoration scrolls, the only 3 classes to use scrolls are sorc, wiz and clr. bar umd of coz

No Wiz should ever need his curse removed.

Lesser restore comes on pots....they cost money, but you don't need too many of them, and shouldn't go broke buying them.

Heal pots are expensive.
So is a clerics wands and scrolls.....and for the insanely wealthy pots from the AH.

If you expect a cleric to use money to heal you....and you won't use money to heal yourself...........you're a mooch.

I expect a cleric to use his mana to heal me when he can. And raise me when he can.
I do not expect him to his moeny to do so.

I admit, I do like it when they choose to do so......esp raids. And I've seen many that would not have been completed if not for the tons of cash spent.

I could also write a book on tactics people can use to minimise damage.

Now, for those clerics out there.
C Light wands are dirt cheap. Takes a long time to heal a Brb with em, but at the lower lvls, I suggest buying mostly CLWands.......and take zergers to shrines.

You can use mana for the big fights to heal quickly.......use CLW wands to heal up between fights. And it doesn't cost you much.

topping up should never even be in the clerics domain. the other players should be responsible for their own health. said barb can buy the clr a couple of wands to top him up. however, the problem is most bad mana sponging players are the ones who expect the cleric to keep him alive

[Talon_Moonshadow]

topping up should never even be in the clerics domain. the other players should be responsible for their own health. said barb can buy the clr a couple of wands to top him up. however, the problem is most bad mana sponging players are the ones who expect the cleric to keep him alive

I think Rgrs and Pal can use scrolls of spells on their spell lists.
My Pal has a good UMD so I'm not sure that that is not how he is using restoration scrolls.
But camoflage for instance, comes on scrolls and it is only a Rgr spell.

Brbs and Ftrs and maybe Wiz have an excuse,

Esp Brbs.....it is IMO a Brbs job to get hurt.

I don't like brbs much, or the kind of playstyle that goes with them.
But as long as they use some courtesy and common sense, I think a cleric should not complain about healing a Brb.

In fact, part of good tactics would be if the brb is the only one in the group to ever take damage. But even then, use some tactics to minimise the needed healing, and more than one person in the party can wand whip him back to health between fights

[minivanman]

Silik, the problem isn't that clerics don't have enough resources to PUG, they choose not to because it's boring.

There are some clerics out there that actually like being heal bots, and are exceptional at it. But even they get irritated at inconsiderate, and mentally challenged players.

Even after nearly 3 years of this game being live, there are people that don't get that clerics have other functions. There are so many things a cleric can do to mitigate damage so they never have to use a wand or heal scroll, but many players don't give them the opportunity.

This is not just isolated to clerics. Rogues that watch the melee run through the trap because he has enough hit points to take it. Wizards that watch a melee run into a room past the three layers of crowd control you just put up. Clerics that watch the sorcerer lob a fireball into the unaggro'd group of mobs. This type of thing just gets irritating, and while irritating to all involved, it all falls on the cleric to keep the party alive in spite of that stupidity.

It's never been about resources. It's been about zerging fools that scream out "don't worry, I have all the buffs I need". Then a few minutes later you see their name turn red, and you have to hunt them down, and kill the mass of mobs they've pulled into a corner because they couldn't go slowly.

[Kalari]

Silik, the problem isn't that clerics don't have enough resources to PUG, they choose not to because it's boring.

There are some clerics out there that actually like being heal bots, and are exceptional at it. But even they get irritated at inconsiderate, and mentally challenged players.

Even after nearly 3 years of this game being live, there are people that don't get that clerics have other functions. There are so many things a cleric can do to mitigate damage so they never have to use a wand or heal scroll, but many players don't give them the opportunity.

This is not just isolated to clerics. Rogues that watch the melee run through the trap because he has enough hit points to take it. Wizards that watch a melee run into a room past the three layers of crowd control you just put up. Clerics that watch the sorcerer lob a fireball into the unaggro'd group of mobs. This type of thing just gets irritating, and while irritating to all involved, it all falls on the cleric to keep the party alive in spite of that stupidity.

It's never been about resources. It's been about zerging fools that scream out "don't worry, I have all the buffs I need". Then a few minutes later you see their name turn red, and you have to hunt them down, and kill the mass of mobs they've pulled into a corner because they couldn't go slowly.

Couldnt have put it better myself. Op the problem isnt that clerics cant afford to play in fact just running the shroud a few times with mine has me sitting pretty. Its that ive notice while pugging the examples minivanman so eloquently put and its frustrating. And it falls in our laps as clerics to clean up messes too much. As a mommy I do enough of that IRL dont need to have it constant in a game that im using to relax and escape from such things for a bit.

[Enochroot]

Silik, the problem isn't that clerics don't have enough resources to PUG, they choose not to because it's boring.

There are some clerics out there that actually like being heal bots, and are exceptional at it. But even they get irritated at inconsiderate, and mentally challenged players.

Even after nearly 3 years of this game being live, there are people that don't get that clerics have other functions. There are so many things a cleric can do to mitigate damage so they never have to use a wand or heal scroll, but many players don't give them the opportunity.

This is not just isolated to clerics. Rogues that watch the melee run through the trap because he has enough hit points to take it. Wizards that watch a melee run into a room past the three layers of crowd control you just put up. Clerics that watch the sorcerer lob a fireball into the unaggro'd group of mobs. This type of thing just gets irritating, and while irritating to all involved, it all falls on the cleric to keep the party alive in spite of that stupidity.

It's never been about resources. It's been about zerging fools that scream out "don't worry, I have all the buffs I need". Then a few minutes later you see their name turn red, and you have to hunt them down, and kill the mass of mobs they've pulled into a corner because they couldn't go slowly.

This is such a victim attitude, I just don't get it. AS the cleric, there's NOTHING the party can do to STOP you from being not just a healbot. Just start doing it, they will HAVE to follow. Now, you often need to adjust your play to manipulate them into doing what's necessary, depending on the group of players, but you have the tools to lead them, just get it done. If you follow them around like a sheep just clicking f1-f6 and heal, well, that's your own fault.

In above example - who cares? It's a dead party member you can carry now in your pack, and a few mobs that he's conveniently rounded up for your BB. Easy pickins'.

Give me an example where a party FORCES you to be a healbot and I give you a cleric that simply doesn't have the balls to be a cleric.

[Kalari]

This is such a victim attitude, I just don't get it. AS the cleric, there's NOTHING the party can do to STOP you from being not just a healbot. Just start doing it, they will HAVE to follow. Now, you often need to adjust your play to manipulate them into doing what's necessary, depending on the group of players, but you have the tools to lead them, just get it done. If you follow them around like a sheep just clicking f1-f6 and heal, well, that's your own fault.

In above example - who cares? It's a dead party member you can carry now in your pack, and a few mobs that he's conveniently rounded up for your BB. Easy pickins'.

Give me an example where a party FORCES you to be a healbot and I give you a cleric that simply doesn't have the balls to be a cleric.

Im taking from your posts that you do infact play a cleric, you may even play well. By your words you seem to know the ins and outs of being one. But can you sit there and honestly say that even starting out as a healer in this game you did not have situations where the party played like fools just because they saw you little cleric icon, and it did not frustrate you? No matter how you know how to mitigate the situation sometimes people dont care. If they die they will get verbally rude, or at worst raise do the stupid action again rinse and repeat. Now as a cleric sure in a good situation you can teach some players to play smarter by holding back the heals, but ive run into some people that just cannot be helped. Ive even had to drop group a few times due to this blantant stubborness syndrome some people get thinking that it does not matter if they keep dying since (its only a game hyuck).

So seriously what Minivanman was saying isnt a victim cry its a true statement on how some people choose to play this game. Without any regard not only for the cleric or primary healer in the party but everyone else. And no amount of non healing will stop someone who is a selfish player period. And you may not run into people like this all the time in ddo but when you do their actions stick and it factors in with some clerics on their want to pug. I get that quests are tough and that sometimes people have to die sometimes they try their bests and its still hard for the group. But there are some players that can make a quest that should not be so hard and make it a complete crapfest just because they are in one of those moods. Ive seen it happen so much that I really am selective when I pug now. And I have 3 clerics under my belt of various levels.

So once again sure clerics can sometimes change stupid play around but there are many times its still hard to do and stuff like that makes pugging less then desirable.

[Darkgnoll]

Well, as a lowbie (Brynnthia, my cleric, is my highest level character), I wanna toss my thoughts in.

Firstly, I'm gonna mini rant. I hate the term 'healbot'. It often comes across as almost insulting of the player who chooses to heal rather than Dps. Any cleric in D&D or DDO is capable of being good in melee, good as a caster, or good as a healer, it comes down to playstyle and spell loadout. I'm one of those players that likes healing, and so, when Brynn's in a group, she heals. She could just as easily, and efficently, lay down a smackdown. Instead, I choose to keep other people up, it's not a bad thing to do. So, be nice to us who choose to take on the healing role, please.

Now, as for how I think that healing could be made easier:

1. We need a better interface. The default interface is horrid for healing and even worse than horrid for information gathering. Give us a way to click on a party member and see with that click all the buffs and debuffs on him. That would be very helpful to us new healers, and perhaps to all new players.

2. Numbers over the hp bar. Make it a turn-on-able option for each person to see numbers for all party members. That way, if you want to see it you can, and if not, you don't have to, just like you can for yourself. A bar is cute, but useless for learning how effective certain spells are, or deciding which one is best at that time.

3. As for players, use common sense. Don't run through the trap the rogue is disabling, don't wake up the casters the bard has locked down with fascinate, don't try to beat down level 8 elite skellies with two swords when you are level 3 And stay in line of sight! I can't heal you if you are three rooms away.

As for donations, I take them if offered, but have never asked. Overall, I like DDO healing, it's fun and most players are good team players and I have yet to have felt as if players were taking me for granted. In my case, it's been the opposite, in fact.

[Lithic]

Now, as for how I think that healing could be made easier:

1. We need a better interface. The default interface is horrid for healing and even worse than horrid for information gathering. Give us a way to click on a party member and see with that click all the buffs and debuffs on him. That would be very helpful to us new healers, and perhaps to all new players. You can already see all buffs and debuffs on any player. Just click them (Or their name in the health bar window, or hit the appropriate F key) to put them in your focus orb. Then hit the magnifying glass in the orb, or hit U to examine them. The list of buffs and debuffs appears, though you won't get any information on their item effects (such as immunity to poison from a belt, or +5 str from their gloves)

2. Numbers over the hp bar. Make it a turn-on-able option for each person to see numbers for all party members. That way, if you want to see it you can, and if not, you don't have to, just like you can for yourself. A bar is cute, but useless for learning how effective certain spells are, or deciding which one is best at that time. Most people learn pretty fast which spells are worth using on whom. Rogues, casters, and dex rangers need low power spells, barbarians will barely feel even your best spell (until Heal that is). WF always need your most effective spell.

3. As for players, use common sense. Don't run through the trap the rogue is disabling, don't wake up the casters the bard has locked down with fascinate, don't try to beat down level 8 elite skellies with two swords when you are level 3 And stay in line of sight! I can't heal you if you are three rooms away. As some clerics have said before, you can't heal stupid hehe.

As for donations, I take them if offered, but have never asked. Overall, I like DDO healing, it's fun and most players are good team players and I have yet to have felt as if players were taking me for granted. In my case, it's been the opposite, in fact.

Personally I hate playing my cleric. Even my battlecleric is getting annoying in pugs.

[Sojourner]

First - I agree with the general sentiment that "if your cleric is costing you too much, you're doing something wrong".

But, wanted to comment on a couple of Darkgnoll's suggestions:

1. We need a better interface. The default interface is horrid for healing and even worse than horrid for information gathering. Give us a way to click on a party member and see with that click all the buffs and debuffs on him. That would be very helpful to us new healers, and perhaps to all new players.

The GUI gives us just about all the tools we need for healing once you do some personalization/customization. Personally - I turn one hotbar vertical, then move it to the left side of the screen, right next to where the party members show up. I then load it with the spells I use that I need to click the persons name then the spell. (I'm more of a clicker than a keyboarder for some of this)

But, I'm with you on wanting a better visual for buffs on a person. Yes, we can look at them in the focus orb. But, some visual icons would be quicker to pick up on than reading text. It isn't horrible, but there could be better.

2. Numbers over the hp bar. Make it a turn-on-able option for each person to see numbers for all party members. That way, if you want to see it you can, and if not, you don't have to, just like you can for yourself. A bar is cute, but useless for learning how effective certain spells are, or deciding which one is best at that time.

Eh. Numbers are nice - but mostly because I'm nosy about how high other people have gotten their HP or Mana. After you play cleric long enough, you learn which builds need which heals when their hotbars are at a certain point.

Wizards - Cure Mod when they're close to half-health. Barbarians - ignore them until 1/4 health and then throw a full heal. Something along that line. Knowing "down 100 points" wouldn't really help me because I wouldn't spend time doing the math to figure out which spell to use.

[Selinius]

Gimp clerics complain about wand/scroll costs. Period. When will clerics wake up and realize that you just have to let some short-bus riding noob die when it is more efficent to rez him at the end of the quest so he can get his end chest? Clerics have the power of life and death, USE IT!!!!!!! That barb that is always yelling "HJEEL ME!!!", let him die about 5 times, maybe he will learn to chug pots. That rog that is the first one in a room that has 115hp at level 16 and thinks he can melee, yep, let him die.

I don't know how many times I have seen Jhonny Healbot running around hells halfacre to find the one guy in the party that has gone off on his own and is getting worked. IF you are off doing armed recon, you had better be able to handle it.

Entire party has about 10% of thier red bar gone, let them pot up to full. Know you are going into a fight where everyone is going to get worked, throw out a fresh mass aid. Temp hp is hp you don't have to heal and it gives you another 2 sec in a fight to throw a harm or something. Leveling up harm is a great spell, use it. Greater command is another. 30sp to put a pile of mobs on the ground and let your meat shields feel tough with out needing healing, or throwing 3 or 4 heals to fix the dmg they took? Which makes more sense to you?

Now I realize the concept of being self-sufficent is way over the head of the average pug, but for the love of god, how hard is it to carry a stack of lesser resto, remove curse, remove disease, poision neut. and remove blindness pots? All of those pots are the "new" and improved funnel variety so you can use them on others. Do so. Save the cleric some sp so it goes farther and the cleric can use it for what they want, not wipeing the behind of some "Uber" melee that is bragging about his greataxe collection, but can do squat because he is blind in the middle of the fight.

To sum it all up. 1. Don't heal stupid. 2. Don't top off. 3. Let the party take care of stat ailments.

[SqtYork]

"No one can make you feel inferior without your consent. "
Eleanor Roosevelt

Likewise, No one can make you use your heal scrolls, wands, or even your time unless you allow them in the game. Some groups I just use my SPs, some that are hopeless I just have to tell them, "look this isn't working out for me. I don't think I can keep up with this group because it's going to fast, taking too much damage, spliting up, going to cost me more stuff that I want to replace or have ... etc." Or "I don't have enough experience to keep up with this group" They fix it or you drop. Make sure you tell them you are going to drop, and don't just randomly disconnect. That's just annoying when anyone in the group does that. It's a pretty powerful statement to drop a group after you warn them. If you were the weak link in the group that makes a completely different statement. It will make some enemies, it will earn you some respect from some folks, and it's a wake up call for others. When clerics are hard to come by I've seen groups put up with some really bad players just because they needed some cleric only stuff like rez's. If you are an average cleric you won't have any problems finding another group. If you are a good cleric the good groups will find you.

[Talish]

But there has to be SOME reason why it's so hard to find a Cleric. If you set up a LFM, and aren't looking for the guild to join you.... it's often that you're waiting for some Cleric to join.

The main reason my cleric is wary of PUG groups is NOT because of the cost - heck I give most of my stuff away constantly anyways. It's a bad habit *shakes head*

It's NOT because of those who run ahead and bring back agro.. heck that can be funny most times watching the mess they get themselves into.

The main reason I am wary of pick up groups is the verbal abuse that is often sent my way by the very player who is causing the group havok. I am not the only one either. I play the game to enjoy myself and anyone who knows me knows I am very patient, laid back and fun loving. I do not play the game to have someone half my age start yelling at me for their mistakes. I've spoken with other guild clerics and that is also the main reason they stay away from pick up groups.

So if you want more clerics available for group find a way to stop the verbal abuse by a select few. My "do not group with" list is starting to get rather long.

[Mithran]

I spend some Platinum in playing my Cleric, but that's mostly when I'm not running with people from my guild. Even with my guild, I spend some resources, but the really enormous expenses come when I make the ill-advised decision to pug VoD on Hard.

Here are some suggestions:

When you're in a pug, spend only those resources which were donated.

Players should be responsible for getting their own Health bars up when you're not in combat.

The 1300 point Heals aren't really required, even in combat. Turn off your Empower Healing when it's not that intense a struggle, or if you use it, stick to the lower level Cures.

When you encounter mobs with low Will Saves (Earth Elementals, for instance), throw out a Greater Command. It's a lot more mana-conserving than all the heals that would inevitably be required, and it will save the Arcanes mana, too.

[Frodo_Lives]

Have a capped cleric, a deleted capped (when the cap was 12), and another one who is almost 13th level. I have played clerics since the first day I logged on.

Clerics are expensive in Raids, or new content. Otherwise they usually don't have to spend much (if anything) on scrolls or wands. I have had almost all of my characters be able to use wands and I have bought a total of 3 CSW wands and maybe 6 CMW wands total. Ever, across 15 to 20 characters who could and did use them.

My cleric who is almost 13th level has never bought a wand (or had them bought for him) and has used a grand total of one heal scroll and one rez scroll in his entire career. I have never been told that I was a bad healer, not once. No one has ever had the balls to complain to my face (so to speak) that I wasn't keeping up and was a crappy cleric.

Oh and I am basically Unguilded so I have done all of this Pugging.

This isn't bragging by any means there are a ton of players out there who are way better then me, it just an example of how you can play a cleric and it isn't expensive at all.

1) Quite frankly if the quest does not deserve it (i.e not a raid and one that you know) do not use resources if you don't want to. There is no reason to spend a single wand charge at low to mid levels. There are enough shrines in Tangleroot or Delera's that you don't have to burn through a wand when you should have sp to spare or in the worst case scenario you drag their stones back to the shrine.

2) Don't run quests above your ability. XP is easy in this game, especially for clerics. There is no reason to go to GH before you have access to the heal spell. You don't need to run that Delera's elite run at level 5. Holding off on big xp quests until they are level appropriate makes for better xp and quicker leveling on a whole anyway.

3) If you are not sure, don't! Or at least don't use consumables. If you see a bad mix of classes trying to do a tough quest that is a little above their ability stay away! If you want the challange than go ahead and join. Just have a plan as to how much you are willing to spend on consumables and make sure you stay around it.

4) Learn to spend your sp wisely. Learn what spells are effective and which are not. DD is almost never the best way to spend sp in a group. CC is, followed by buffs and then healing IMO. Realize you don't need to cast anything every time the group runs into a trash mob. Swing your mace, fire your crossbow, but don't bother with a soundburst for every group of three kobolds in WW! Use your sp when it's going to be effective not simply for the sake of casting a spell.

5) Don't just let people die, but do recognize that you aren't the one killing them. If a rez is cheaper then 10 heals and the party isn't in a risk of a wipe because of it then by all means stop healing. Let others take care of topping themselves up if sp is going to be an issue. Don't be a cheapass tightwad and not heal if sp isn't going to be an issue, no one likes that guy either.

6) Collectables are your friends, on all your characters. Wands and potions are free and plentifull. I have stacks of pots and tons of wands on all my characters using collectables. My level 13 cleric has 17 House Sealed letters in his bag that he never even used because I grab everything. Why buy wands and pots when you can get them for free?

Your milage may vary of course, but I have found success with following this playstyle with very little expense in most day to day gaming. There will be PuGs that you decide to blow a ton of plat on, but in the end it is your choice. There will be PuGs that go so amazingly smooth that you barely need to heal at all. In those PuGs I usually like to let everyone know how well it's going, because if they thank the cleric for all the good healing I like to return the favor and thank them for the smart play!

[Zenako]

Couple of points. More clerics should start dropping Stalwart Pact on party members. It can be a real life saver, and preserve the buffs of the affected member. Once you get to them, Mass Aid is a nice extra buffer on the squisher segments. Have a Paladin in the group drop a Virtue on those same members. Doing some buffs like these can significantly lower the chances of anyone dying.

All that being said, one other reason you might find a lot of people not choosing to play clerics is a simple one. Quite a few people play games to escape the responsibilities of real life, and if you play a cleric, like it or not, it is very easy to start to feel responsible when other characters die on your watch. Some jerks will even grief you about it. Most players do not choose to go into a game and take on aggravation and angst and feelings of letting others down. So they avoid playing those roles which have those tasks most closely associated with them.

Once you have played a while and come to grips with it being a game, that characters (in non perma death situations) die "all the time" due to game mechanics, player error, player choice, you lose most of the feelings of letting others down.

I know I still get a certain sense of responsibility for keeping everyone alive, even with my Paladin (whose raw potential healing is way short of any cleric, but whose LoH, Divine Soverignty, etc can provide some serious EMT action from up front) still makes it part of his character to do all he can to save others as well.