To heal or not to heal...

[Irinis]

One thing I've learned playing a healer is that a poor group can make even a good healer look really bad. A poor healer with medicre dps in the group can make a healing bard look terrible.

It's all about the way people play together.

[ninjaeli]

let him die?

[doomboy]

I'm not a Cleric player at heart, but I did make a Cleric character a long time ago. Anyway, I was playing with her the other day, trying to get her to lvl 5 so she could wear the Might of the Abishai set, which would then free up some space in my shared bank. I then remembered why I didn't like playing as a cleric.

I joined a PUG running Kobolds' New Ringleader a few times. The leader was somewhat lacking in intelligence, and kept hitting explosive barrels along the way. I then had to heal him, only so he could keep doing the same thing. The fact that he was a WF with NO points in Healer's Friend didn't make matters any better. I mentioned to him that continuously blowing himself up was a bad idea, but he totally ignored me.

What do you all do in this scenario? Someone's being stupid, and you can either heal him or not heal him. If you DON'T heal him, the party doesn't advance as quickly and you level up slower. If you DO heal him, it only enables that kind of behavior. It's sort of a lose/lose situation :|

And what about when the rest of the party won't follow good advice and therefore take WAY more damage than they should? (I'm not a pro by any means, but I know how to run lowbie quests! And when I was a newbie, I listened to good advice, ya know?)

Please tell me people get smarter after the low-levels. If not then...Ive got way more respect for most clerics now that I know what kind of BS they have to put up with.

you should have let them die.

[sirgog]

Stupidity is contagious. Healing it is a mistake.

[DrNuegebauer]

I wouldn't have healed him once for a broken barrel.

Frankly, when running a lowbie cleric, I avoid grouping like the plague.

Start your own groups and tell people to byo if they want to join you!

[Lodestone99]

Yeah situations like this are why I stopped playing a cleric. If your dealing with stupidity (ie, the player who keeps running through traps/breaking explosives) then yeah let him die after giving him a warning. My main problem lies with sub-par characters zerging around like they are optimal and demanding heals from you. I do think a cleric should be healing a fair amount when the party is in combat with something particularly difficult but I've also seen rogues, barbarians and arcane archers rush into aggro/situations which they can't handle and then blame you for not healing them fast enough. The vitrol and the "man you suck at playing a cleric" or the "I swear you should have more DVs to give me back sp" (a lovely little soliloquy I got from a caster) really just ****ed me off at some point and I gave up on playing my lvl 13 cleric. That being said I am thinking about going back to it, which I guess just goes to show you how the essential nature of the cleric can be somewhat masochistic.

On the other hand I've seen the opposite where a cleric joins a group, doesn't heal anyone when they need it (through normal combat dmg) and spends time sword and boarding against mobs. I just don't see the point to that sort of cleric as they are never going to do enough dmg to equal the melees (nor should they). Some classes just seem to need more heals b/c they are very focused on dps (rangers and barbarians) and it can be a huge pain trying to keep them up. I try to avoid groups with too many of them - Barbs particularly as they seem to be the worst sub-optimal zergers. As for WF I figure that whoever is playing one should have the amps or be content with less healing/have some way of using repair spells. My experience with the class ultimately was a pretty mixed bag, some groups are pretty respectful and nice, while a fair amount of others like to view you as a healing dispenser (healing atm?) and can be pretty ******y about the whole thing. Up to you whether you can put up with it.

[walkingwolfmike]

the essential nature of the cleric can be somewhat masochistic.

Well said!

[morticianjohn]

I wouldn't have healed him once for a broken barrel.

Frankly, when running a lowbie cleric, I avoid grouping like the plague.

Start your own groups and tell people to byo if they want to join you!

In the harbor you'll be questing with a higher percentage of kids. Sometimes if you know/think you know that there is someone aged 10 or below you should just be kind. It is a harbor quest that you could solo even if you started it with 0 mana.

[Arachidamya]

In the harbor you'll be questing with a higher percentage of kids. Sometimes if you know/think you know that there is someone aged 10 or below you should just be kind. It is a harbor quest that you could solo even if you started it with 0 mana.

Side note, my kid is not allowed to play DDO without me. ^_^ I made a cleric toon expressly for running with her little ranger and NONE of my usual rules apply to her. The first time she said to me, "Mommy, let's go level up!" brought a tear of pride to my eye. Facebook. <3

[Fenrisulven6]

In the harbor you'll be questing with a higher percentage of kids. Sometimes if you know/think you know that there is someone aged 10 or below you should just be kind. It is a harbor quest that you could solo even if you started it with 0 mana.

Meh.... hmmmm... okay, good point. I try a little harder to be nice in the Harbor.