Hello all, just bought this game....

[jaice2004]

First and foremost I would like to say hello to everyone in the game and look forward to meeting and playing with all of you. I have a quick question.

I just quit everquest 2, played a lvl 80 bard...this game is so much more complex with the possible combinations available. I love healers, but looking at some posts....it seems most are building some type of healer/dps hybrid. Is it possible for me to play a pure healing cleric in this game? Or is it dead at lower lvls and I'm forced to solo, thus I would need some sort of hybrid build. If the latter is the case, thinking of playing a bard instead. Thanks and look forward again to meeting you all.

Jaice. =)

[Lifespawn]

playing a cleric is the easiest way to find groups no soloing needed.

That being said playing a cleric can be hard when your new people depend on you to keep them alive and sometimes people are very stupid and get themselves killed and then blame the cleric if your able to deal with some morons and like to heal roll up a cleric.

Healer clerics are very viable the reason you see battle varients is because healing can be boring to some people if thats not you by all means roll a healbot a little str a little dex high wisdom and please don't use con as a dumpstat you do need hp's on a cleric at higher levels.

[Winded]

I thnk the recent Cleric Build Dujour has to do more with evasion than DPS anyhow. Splashing 2 lvls of Monk is all the rage. Granted not a bad thing, as evasion is a big help at end game.
My pure clerics can heal but are really specc'd as spell casters.
Bards on the other hand are versatile ( a bit) and shouldnt have issue getting groups , especialy at higher levels

And Welcome

[Deathseeker]

Dont worry, your first character will really be the one you learn with and increase your favor so you have access to a little more powerful starting stats with Drow and then 32 point builds...

So I'd suggest, max your wisdom, build your pure cleric, and have fun! Very viable...

[Aspenor]

Don't be afraid to tell parties you're a new player. There will be many people that will give you healing supplies or cash (I know I would) and items. There will also be some jerks, but you find that everywhere.

Welcome to the community!

[Aranticus]

check out the fun to play builds in my template thread

[jaice2004]

Thanks again for the words of encouragement. Aranticus I will definately check out your builds =). Now another good question, any guilds you know that would be willing to accept another cleric to the game? Im still downloading patches at the moment, but not sure which server to play on. I live in germany, im in the airforce....I would like a server with a good population as I can play during US peak times on my days off. YAY cant wait to get to play....lots of files to download....sheesh. But ill be reading up on Aranticus' builds =)

[Merkinsal]

Thanks again for the words of encouragement. Aranticus I will definately check out your builds =). Now another good question, any guilds you know that would be willing to accept another cleric to the game? Im still downloading patches at the moment, but not sure which server to play on. I live in germany, im in the airforce....I would like a server with a good population as I can play during US peak times on my days off. YAY cant wait to get to play....lots of files to download....sheesh. But ill be reading up on Aranticus' builds =)

Any guild. That was an easy question. Don't know about play times on different servers. What I did when I started was create a character on each server (you can have up to 10 on each server) and then signed on and checked the LFM's to see which was most active during the times I wanted to play. I know many players who play on several servers.

[Saaluta]

Hi Jaice, welcome to Stormreach. I play on the Khyber server and have since beta, so I would recommend it. There are different types of guilds depending on your playstyle, so you may want to wait until you run with a few different guilds before choosing one. There are always people on each server that are happy to send new people some get started supplies/gifts/cash. I happen to be one of these people, so if you need anything don't be afraid to ask.

All the characters I play are in my sig so feel free to add any of them to your friends list. Unfortunately my lowest one is level 4 atm, but I'm sure you will find plenty of people to run with. And yes, pure healing clerics are very viable still, my main Saaluta started out as a healing cleric, although with the groups I run with usually, I can throw out my offense spells and still keep the party alive, so learn the different ways to utilize your cleric and most of all, have fun

Saal

[Jacoby]

Order of events for a newb healer.

1) Human Cleric - Max Wisdom give yourself at least 13-14 Con and run with various guilds to find one to your liking.

2) Achieve 400 favor and re-roll a Drow healer. The reason we keep going as a healer for newbs is all groups will be more patient and willing to explain the ins and outs to a Cleric, they need ya man! It's that simple.

3) Once you get to level 6 it will be harder to find groups. 6-12 can be rough on new players. A good guild is key.

4) Reach 1750 favor on your Drow Cleric. Once you've done this you should be proficient enough in the game that you can go from there on your own...

Tip, get in a good guild. It will make the game so much more enjoyable. A good guild will help you through the rough spots. If they are unresponsive then move on, but you shouldn't expect them to be completely devoted to leveling you, they should however be willing to help from time to time.

[jaice2004]

Ok cool, thanks for the advice. Im about halfway finished downloading the patches.....yay, playing neverwinter nights 2 until it finishes =).

I am a bit leary about asking ppl to help lvl or for hand-outs...everquest 2 players frowned heavily against that. I know guilds are there to help....but I dunno, ill play *** by ear and try to meet some cool people =).

[bleuwulf51701]

Hello and welcome. What Jacoby said above is pretty much spot on, imo. I'm currently working on my first cleric and having a blast. Yep, I spend a lot of time keeping the party alive, which can be tuff when you have folks running amok. But there is a deep satisfaction when out of nowhere one of my offensive spells lashes out and takes down the baddy that one of my tanks was having trouble with. :-)

While your waiting for the huge "patch" downloads, lol, check out the various information available in the forums in reference to cleric character builds. I personally try to play my character, not min/max her, but the various topics will give you lots of good information for whatever your game play style is.

[GorumT]

Hi, I'm still new too, but welcome to something new and different from EQ2 and WoW.

Look up the thread "How I heal best" in this forum, I asked losts of nooby questions and people gave lots of GREAT answers!

Good luck in the game.

[Deathseeker]

Gorum / Jaice,

Any chance either of you would like to share how you found out about DDO and what made you decide to pull the trigger now and get going in the game?

New content, a friend, website review, a gift, LoTRO refugee, etc?

Just curious...lots of speculation on players comings and goings, and wondering what brought you here?

Thanks!

[jaice2004]

Well deathseeker To be perfectly honest, I was frankly sick of the grind of everquest 2. Got my bard to lvl 80, and it was just a daily raid grind, and no fun....even on a pvp server. I was out shopping today at the Military base exchange here and they were selling this game for 1$.......I was like holy ****! I cant pass this up, especially with a 30 day free trial. I have been looking for something new and different to spice up my video game time, and this bargain just presented itself. I am a huge fan of neverwinter nights and the baldur's gate PC series.....so I'm very glad to have stumbled across this title. I read alot of things on the forums and I like the deep customization of the game. I hope I love it and stcik around for a while.

[GorumT]

Gorum / Jaice,

Any chance either of you would like to share how you found out about DDO and what made you decide to pull the trigger now and get going in the game?

New content, a friend, website review, a gift, LoTRO refugee, etc?

Just curious...lots of speculation on players comings and goings, and wondering what brought you here?

Thanks!

Happily, but first, we must cast our minds back.......back deep into the past.....say, about 3 years ago.

I was taking a break from WoW when I saw in a Dragon Magazine (DnDer since 1986 yo!) an ad for DDO, due to release that month! So I went out, bought the game, told my brother who did the same, and we logged on.

To be frank, it sucked. There was no Mail (as I remember), the classes were limited and the starting areas (tutorial and actual starting area) were hastily slapped together. By level 5, we were bored of running the same quests over and over as well as annoyed with what seemed to be a limited and clunky system.

So we left at the end of our 30 trial. Over the next couple years we would chuckle when we would get ads from Turbine about the new crafting system, PvP, and other changes that came while we were gone.

At the end of December 2008 I was done with WoWs new expansion. For all the fluff Blizzard added to WoW, it was just more of the same. Rep grinds with groups spread across a huge world, instance runs for new gear, PvP for new gear, yadda yadda yadda. The worst though, was that all the things that had given WoW a unique flavor, were gone. Classes were becoming more alike and the lines between Horde and Alliance were diminishing. WoW, was no longer the place I had loved in Burning Crusade and Original WoW.

So after canceling my WoW account, I was looking at my other MMOs (I love MMOs). EQ2 had a great Crafting system as well as houseing, but I had tried that during a recent WoW break and found nothing had changed, even with the addition of another expansion. EQ2 is still very unfriendly both in UI, Adventuring, and grouping.

City of Heroes.....still sucks. Powers all have a CD, and no base auto attack of any kind. So that makes it horrible if you lag. Which our ISP seems to do often.

Star Wars Galaxies.........HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA....no. Don't get me wrong, PvP+Space battles+Questing+Crafting would be great in any game, just not in SWG with the UI they chose to use and the grouping system they chose. Also, just like EQ2, the player base is....finiky at best.

That left DDO. DDO had a fairly nice player base as I remembered, and I recalled the messages of changes that I had seen. So I decided to come back and check it out. I must admit, the Crafting system still confounds me, however, the new starting area is engaging as beginner stories go. The system is much more player friendly. The grouping system is still VERY friendly. PvP is still rough, but the game isn't based on PvP, so that is fine.

I'm glad I came back to try this game out again. I've met some realy nice people and seen some realy neat changes in what had originaly been a horrible game.