WANTED: Your opinions of what the role of a Cleric should be.

[whitehawk74]

Hiya there folks,
I have just rage quit. i am ashamed that i did it, but i really felt disrespected and that i was just there so others could have a good time.
I patched up the 2 mages and made sure they were covered at all times because of the Agro they cause, I dragged stones back to pillars while other members ran forward only to run back with a team of orcs chasing them.

While standing next to the pillar I was asked to heal up the barbarian, to which i replied no, because we are at a shine. He didnt want to use it because we had a cleric in the party. So after healing up the Rogue who had already used that shrine, i was now expected to use the rest of my SP's to heal up this barbarian... to be a team player and to keep the ball rolling I reluctantly did while my blood pressure went up.

I then heard a remark in voice saying "i've never had a cleric complain about healing before", so i replied in text, "Hey guess what?".. I waited a few seconds and then Quit.
Even though i am ashamed, I hope that the party learnt 2 things. Dont be disrespectful, and carry some healing pots.

Twice I have been told that it it my job as a Cleric to heal everyone, and to this i say "no it's not". I provide buffs and when we stop and regroup i will heal up who i can. I dont heal on the run because Cure Wound spells actually do have a restricted distance and also get blocked by walls and other things, and also, by the time a healing spell is cast a player has sometimes run outside the maximum distance of the healing spell. The Spell Points are used up either way.

I really feel that I am expected to be some walking healing potion that keeps everyone going with unlimited hit points, even when they rush in completely ignoring the rogue who is carefully searching for and disabling traps. And when this person who rushes through and gets toasted down to 1 HP I am supposed to help them?

As a cleric, I carry healing pots.. why? because they are so cheap. If you look on the Auction House you will see that Spellpoint Potions are not cheap at all. They go for some amazing prices.
This isnt Diablo, folks! Mana is expensive.

My level 7 cleric has full heavy armour +4 and a mace +3 for a reason: she fights, and she fights well.
I fight, I buff, I bless, I cast "Sound Burst" ALOT to stun large groups and I sacrifice my Turn Undeads (into DV's) so that the mages can keep on casting.

Now I know that the people who are active in the forums have a different mentality to the game than the people who dont care how the game works, so it is to you that i ask the following:

What is your opinion on the role of a Cleric?

[issiana]

What is your opinion on the role of a Cleric?

at low lvls its a bit harder to do, but basically my motto is this ...

"to zerg ahead whereever possible, to get as much aggro as possible and then nuke the lot with 1 maybe to spells instead of wasting hundreds of spell points healing ppl who have no clues."

low lvls it's probably easier to just solo stuff tbh. the general game plan for a cleric is melee from lvl 1-11 then use bladebarrier from that point on. there will always be some exceptions to that guide though.

the other side of the coin is tell the silly group members who only want a personnel healing potion on legs to go get a hierling while you go solo the quest.

Again however, certain quests will require certain sacrifices to this ideal. Isometimes as a cleric you will have to be the healbot in the back (aka raids) and thats part of the job description we take as a cleric. But healing moroons...nah. dont fall into the trap of wasting your resources on scrolls/wands/manapots if the rest of the group is doing nothing to look after themselves. you all live together with your resources or you die together - hopefully they learn the point about looking after oneself before they get to hgh lvls and get blacklisted.

[FluffyCalico]

1) Your role when soloing is whatever is fun for you
2) Your role in a party is to fill the roll that is most needed for you to fill for the party to be successful as most people have more fun in a successful party

This applies to pretty much all classes

[Talltale-Storyteller]

I think this thread will be of great benefit to you, I know it was to me.

http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=202343

I am a ****, so I would have just left their soulstones in my pack, or just outside the range of reaching the shrine while I soloed the rest of the quest. I may even have talked smack while I did it... I dunno, I play alot of PD too so I have developed a low level of tolerance for stupid, since I don't have to deal with it as much.

I don't mind healing either - thats part of being a team player, but so is not running off and get toasted while wasting my SP.

[QuantumFX]

Let me second Talltale’s suggested reading. Cleric is a wonderfully, frustrating class to play and you can be actively hamstrung/unintentionally griefed by bad players in your group.

Now, to play devil’s advocate for a second. Using a rest shrine on a raged barbarian with low hit points can be a death sentence. Basically, the amount of hit points you lose from the bonus CON causes you to keel over before the hit points you get back from the shrine kicks in. They may have also been under the impression that you were going to use the shrine as well. (In which case, why not burn your mana to 0 as you will get a full blue bar back anyway.)

And whoever said “I’ve never had a cleric complain about healing before” is obviously new to DDO.

[phalaeo]

There is no concrete definition of a Cleric's role because a good Cleric is like a Pink Elephant....you know one when you see one.

[Orratti]

Going by you startup date and being low level I'd say this. Don't buff anyone but yourself, get a few healing wands and be stingy with them, be conservative with your offensive casting, melee if you can but pay no attention at all to your kill count. Use your spell points for healing in combination with your wands, you have to be able to fire them back to back. Watch the red bars. If you can't hit someone with a cure say so or if there is no time move to someone else. Practice soloing and when you get decent at it start your own groups taking 2 or 3 other people on a quest with you. Smaller groups are more careful.

Everything stated will completely change in a very few levels though. Then you will have to change the way you play again. You won't be using wands much anymore then you will need scrolls. People dying won't be as big of a deal because you can bring them back to life. You will be able to cast more spells. Buffing becomes more spell point conservative instead of draining.

If you are pugging a 1st time cleric you are going to get some bad experiences. Even experienced clerics have bad pugging experiences. Make some friends as quick as you can and try to play with them. If I were to give a cleric a role in a pug it would be group leader. It is far better for a cleric to tell a group what to do than a group to tell a cleric what to do.

After reading the link posted, yeah, that pretty much sums it up.

[corpman]

my healers usually keep the party healthy by killing everything i can before it can hurt them, that is not to say i dont heal but damage mitigation through early mob death is more efficient for me most times if i am pugging out a run. that said I SAY PLAY YOUR TOON HOWEVER YOU WANT , if others dont like it adjust who you group with accordingly,

[whitehawk74]

great replies.
thanks for the link to The Path to Enlightenment.
from now on i will be quoting 'My mana bar isn't your health bar." :P

id still like to hear from other players so keep your opinions coming

[NinjaNeed]

At end game your role, as a cleric, is to heal heal heal!!! Drop the occasional blade barrier if asked/needed, but generally its just heal.

As for the barb not wanting to shrine, the reason COULD be that he still had a few rages left and this was the only shrine in the instance so he wanted to save it do he could still rage through the rest of the quest. Just an idea.

If you dont like the idea of "heal heal heal" then either find a guild where you wont be asked to do so, always solo and avoid pugs.

[JDCrowell]

Funny.... I never got any complaints while playing my FvS

[toughguyjoe]

Cleric: "Person who is awesome"

At lower levels healing shouldn't be an issue. Once you hit troll and ogre infested questing, Heals become a little more important.

At higher levels you can hit Greater Command, Comet Fall and blade Barrier and most encounters simply crumble away at your might.

If someone is complaining about not getting constant healing, that is their problem. If radiant servant aura and bursts aren't hitting that particular toon, or I'm not specifically targeting them its usually for a good reason

[flynnjsw]

There are 2 different viewpoints; the role of a cleric defined by 1.someone that doesn't know any better, and 2.the role of a cleric that has either played one or understands what they do.

1. "Your Blue Bar is my "Red Bar"
2. Mix between cast CC/Buff/Offensive spells to mitigate damage, beat down mobs, and keep people up when the **** hits the fan. You are not responsible for topping them off because they are self reliant.


Now that being said, in most Raids and in a lot of endgame content, your primary role will be to buff and heal. You might as well wrap your head around that now. However, even in some of that content, a good CC spell helps as well and by this time, players worth their salt will appreciate them just as much as a heal.

[kinar]

When you are in a party, your job is the same as everyone elses job. Do everything in your power to help the group complete the quest. It is as simple as that.

Sometimes you have to be flexible in order to accomplish that task.

As far as resources used, I generally tend to keep my resources used on the same scale as everyone else in the party. If I see them using pots to heal up between fights, I have no problem using wands/scolls to make sure we complete. If it is close to the end or near a "all or nothing" point in the quest, I'll even drink a mana pot if necessary and if I feel that I am not the only reason this quest is getting completed.

[Krag]

Once you start doing raids and epics your only job is healing people.
However noone will complain if you occasionally swing a big stick or throw your low-DC Symbol as long as the heals keep coming.

[Gol]

1) Zerg ahead as if soloing the quest
2) If nobody has died yet, and somebody is about to die (<20%), go find them and toss them a heal so they don't cost you 10% xp. If they die before you get there, resume #1.
3) Repeat 1 and 2 until quest is complete.

[Nick_RC]

1. Heal and melee OR
2. Heal and offensive cast OR
3. Heal and melee and offensive cast ...if u have the TRs, gear and skill to make this work at end game. Few Do.

N

[phalaeo]

Once you start doing raids and epics your only job is healing people.
However noone will complain if you occasionally swing a big stick or throw your low-DC Symbol as long as the heals keep coming.

My Symbol has a higher DC than some Wizards. Just sayin'.

[Krag]

My Symbol has a higher DC than some Wizards. Just sayin'.

Shame on some Wizards.

[ghettoGenius]

Being a cleric is alot like being a parent - it's a tough, thankless job that in some ways gets easier over time (as you need to babysit less). You sound a little green but I like your initial approach. Conservation of SP and efficient healing is very important, especially at lower levels where SP is more limited.

Some things to remember:

Blowing SP on heals that dont hit players running ahead always bothered me too. Eventually you will better understand your spell casting durations and distance and better judge when you can throw a heal and hit that guy running ahead. I used to blame the zergers, but then just abandoned that line of thought. Theres a fine line between a selfish zerger and a smart player who wants to take advantage of his limited rage or whatever by forging ahead a bit. The smart player wont expect you to be there immediately to save his ass, the zerger will just ding.

That shrine probably wouldnt have helped the barb much anyways since he probably has no points in heal. If he was to rest he wouldve lost his buffs and that could be a significant setback to some (in some situations).

Rage quitting is bad enough, but when a cleric rage quits people remember that. You may have some public relations work ahead of you in the immediate future. I wouldnt worry too much about it tho. Play hard and smart and you will rebuild your rep as a good cleric.

As far as the role of a cleric goes ... this is very subjective. I have been invited to groups for nothing else than CC before. Some divines are specced as pretty good melees. Others couldnt hit the side of a barn but are **** good offensive spellcasters. Many are in between. Communication is key in groups, let them know what your strengths and intentions are if there is any confusion. I find that clerics get the brunt of abuse in lower to mid levels when things go bad, but this is only because they are so powerful and can turn the tide of battle quickly with a spell or heal or two. Eventually you will become powerful enough to solo most dungeons and people who know whats good for them will stay close to you. You may need to remind others lol.

Good luck. And for crying out loud someone please get this guy a real weapon.