I am really sorry for wiping that Shroud last night.

[Yeesh]

Hi, I'm that cleric who got himself killed on phase 4 of the Shroud last night. I'm really sorry. I've been playing about 6 weeks now, and I've healed my way through the Shroud four times previously without incident, but last night I thought "Wouldn't it be a good idea to stand closer to the melee so they could get the benefit of my aura? I mean after all, what is a Cleric but a weaker FVS who only has half spell points, except for that aura? Better make use of it."

So that didn't work out at all, and I apologize to everyone involved. I learned my lesson and from now on I'll just stay put and heal from afar in situations like that. I hope everybody wasn't too put out by what happened.

[Splatterfart]

Wow, +1 to you for manning up
I wasn't there (thankfully). Bottom line is that experience is nothing more than how many times you've been kicked around the block.

The good news is that there are PLENTY of times/places/raids that your aura and bursts will be VERY handy. In general your melee-type clerics will get the most use of those abilities (specifically cleric/monk hybrids due to their great armor class and evasion).

You might have less SP than my FvS, but you are more efficient with it than I could ever hope to be--at least in terms of healing. A good FvS will dps you in to the floor while still keeping up plenty of heals. In general in raids you will be throwing Quickened Mass Cures with Empower Healing active for about 41sp. Most FvS's run with quicken, maximize, and empower (not empower healing). This puts them at a significantly higher SP cost per spell than you, which largely negates the SP difference. However, with some decent gear a FvS can easily drop maximize and live off of Empower and Quicken alone, which will likely re-establish that SP gap you're already aware of.

You also have flexibility that a FvS lacks. That ability to swap out spells on the fly is something too many clerics overlook, and it's a handy tool to have. Non-Melee FvS's have a few key spell levels that are quite troublesome (5-7 come to mind) in terms of what spells to pick and why (usually related to their feat selections).

I've already yacked on too much. The long and the short of it is that **** happens. Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and get back to work. Those large devil scales won't farm themselves.

[Alektronic]

Hi, I'm that cleric who got himself killed on phase 4 of the Shroud last night. I'm really sorry. I've been playing about 6 weeks now, and I've healed my way through the Shroud four times previously without incident, but last night I thought "Wouldn't it be a good idea to stand closer to the melee so they could get the benefit of my aura? I mean after all, what is a Cleric but a weaker FVS who only has half spell points, except for that aura? Better make use of it."

So that didn't work out at all, and I apologize to everyone involved. I learned my lesson and from now on I'll just stay put and heal from afar in situations like that. I hope everybody wasn't too put out by what happened.

It's good to experiment. Just too bad you didn't have a backup healer that shoulda/coulda solo-healed that part if/whe you went down. It's not uncommon for clerics to stay with the melee so that the aura mitigates some of the damage. You just have to be sturdy enough to take the beating. I wade with the melee on my 17 FvS, just cuz I'm melee built and would like to do my own share of swinging as well. Granted, it is very scary, and I wouldn't do it if I had any lag issues. Bump up your HP a bit more, hotbar a few more mass cures, and you should be golden.

[darkzane]

So that didn't work out at all, and I apologize to everyone involved. I learned my lesson and from now on I'll just stay put and heal from afar in situations like that. I hope everybody wasn't too put out by what happened.

Just get some more HP and maybe some healing amp and stay in the melee. Lets you use aura, bursts and you don't have to worry about your heal target dying (whoops forgot to put heavy fort back on, hey did somebody give me fire resist?), lagging out or getting scared and running away.

Also lets you keep harry targeted so you can hit him with divine punishment between quickened mass heals and even melee a bit (2ap for Sovereign Host gets you longsword prof, fire up divine power and divine favor, if you don't have a "boss beater" (met/pure good, holy silver, etc.) you can probably find a holy of lawful outsider bane or something.

Make sure your aura is ticking for as much as possible, use a superior ardor item for +75% before you turn it on, should be good for two activations.

Try again and keep having fun!

[MartinusWyllt]

I was you at about the same number of completions. This suggestion worked for me, just took a good number of runs to finish my +45 hp item, now I can at least hit 402 hp standing and alternating burst/mass heal is working smoothly now.

Just get some more HP and maybe some healing amp and stay in the melee. Lets you use aura, bursts and you don't have to worry about your heal target dying (whoops forgot to put heavy fort back on, hey did somebody give me fire resist?), lagging out or getting scared and running away.

[LightInDark]

LOL I tired that once got burned crispy .... fortunately my aura pulled me back from the brink and I beat a very hasty retreat.

[PNellesen]

Yeah, I'd agree that 400+ HP is probably minimum to try to stand close to melees and burst/aura heal, mainly since Harry will smack you even if you're not doing anything to him. My main has about 479HP, with a Conc. Opp. cloak, and I'm STILL working up the nerve to try it (even though I laugh at Harry now when he hits me with the occasional fireball during a Mass Heal animation - on Normal )

[Paleus]

Mistakes are good when you learn from them, unfortunately most people would rather blame someone else so they fail to learn. Kudos to you on not blaming others and wanting to learn to play better, even if it means making mistakes.

Yes, some healers do go into melee range for harry. For that to work, you need to have the same things that melees require (good hp / evasion is a plus) and on top of that quicken. I would suggest that if you havent done so already, then run up a melee into the shroud and see what it takes to stand toe to toe with harry and not get killed, translate that onto a healer with the added knowledge that you'll need to be able to multi-task both dealing damage and healing. It seems like an easy feat to forumites, but it will take experience to pull off right. So if this is you are relatively new (have few shroud characters), I wouldn't worry too much about it.

If you don't have these things all lined up, then its ok to sit back and heal from safety, the vast majority of the player community is going to be ok with you doing that if not outright expect it of you. Going a step above and being a melee capable healer is always welcome when done right, but unfortunately also flame-bait when not done right.

P.S. The other healer could have been able to solo-heal the shroud since with experience and gear its easy enough to solo-heal (provided the rest of the party arent glass cannons, or for that matter glass bb-guns). However, not all pug healers are 'forum quality' healers that will come on and tell you how they can solo-heal things. Further, if you were the solo-healer, then its probably best not to take risks.

[DoctorWhofan]

Learning from mistakes will make you a better player.

Owning up to your mistakes will make you a better person.

+1 for taking a big boy pill.

[Enoach]

Also did you note what killed you?

• Was it a Metor Swarm? multiples?
• Was it blades?
• Where were you standing in relation to his Front?

I personally built two Divines to be able to melee while healing. This is because the more damage the party puts out, the faster round 4 and 5 get done. However, besides hit points I use the following tactics

1. Fireshield - 50% reduction in fire damage goes a long way - Cloak of Ice or Ability to use the scroll
2. Keep moving away from His Front - If your in front of him your in his line of site. Fight from his side or back.
3. On FvS (AoV) - because of the point of not wanting to be hit - put the aura on someone thats going to be hit. Helps them keep the agro also makes sure the Curse of Light damage has a higher % chance of being active.
4. Quicken - If your fighting you don't want your spells to be interupted.
5. Know when to back away -As you grow in experience you will learn which groups this does not work with.
6. Change tactics to plan B - when something goes very wrong have a plan B

[SaisMatters]

While it's nice to admit your mistakes, there is no I in TEAM. Don't blame it all on yourself.

[HGM-Chi]

While it's nice to admit your mistakes, there is no I in TEAM. Don't blame it all on yourself.

[voxson5]

+1 for being honest about what happened

It's a rarity these days & nice to see.

HP's, healing amp and sup ardor clickies (only to a certain extent) are key factors of if you want to be in the fray.

Hp's - kinda obvious, 450+ I believe is the non-evasion watermark, more is always better unless it impacts on your primary abilities like offensive casting DC's etc

Healing amp - maximize your passive self healing!

Sup ardor 6 clickies will boost your aura, mass mod? & heal spell & everything below it by +75% (does not stack with similar spell boosting items, does stack with enhancements & metamagics). Makes your heals *and* your aura stronger.

Don't forget your burst!! Quickened it is a great & fast mass healing spell

Sometimes it helps the group to be in the melee & just cast masses on yourself - can save the group when people go to run out of the blades


Being able to umd / clickie a cold fireshield helps mitigate damage, as does throwing out a mass protection from elements.

Also try using your incredible arsenal of divine magic to help yourself & others. Recitation & holy aura can potentially boost every save by +6 (recitation is a +2 luck bonus, does not stack with other forms like Head of good fortune / Voice of the Master), which helps immensely against harry's offensive casting.


Safest place I've found is at the "ring" around the middle. Be inside it until the blades make 2? (3?) passes, then step just behind it. You will still be in range to heal the melee, and you will be safe from the blades.


Keep practicing! you'll get there

[furbyoats]

you do not need evasion to heal whilst standing with the melees, it helps...but is not needed.

decent reflex saves are definitely helpful...but the biggest thing is your HP.

people have thrown out numbers already...but if you are just wanting to stand and heal (not melee or cast), i would shoot for a 450 hp minimum.

make sure you have quicken ON for raid healing at all times

your mass cure crit and serious should be able to restore a significant percentage of the melee's hp bars...i always run maximize and emp healing on my fvs at all times.

also make sure you have the best potency item available. amrath belt clickies are just outstanding.

and lastly....hotbar all your mass cures/heal, you can get away with just using mass heal and mass cure crit/serious when things go sour...i keep every mass up on my healer because, when you need to spam, you need to spam as hard as you can.

other than that, get your stats to where they need to be and try it again...it is pretty intimidating the first time because the incoming damage is quite different than when you are healbotting.

enjoy

[Hafeal]

I have tried that game as well with my Cleric and had some close calls. I find the issue usually to be blades more than the fireballs as you beat Harry down.

Assuming it was a shroud run with plenty of 20s, they certainly could have withstood finishing that round despite your death. Good parties can finish despite setbacks, so I wouldn't take all the blame. Sounds like the party had some other weaknesses as well.

You will learn more from the failed runs than the successful ones in any event. Don't let the failure make you immune to trying different tactics.

[Praya20]

Wow, ive seen clerics do that... but they just released and dropped group and ignored the party lmfao

+1 for owning up, very noble of you!

Ive only ever healed shroud 3 times, but ive never had the courage to experiment i just done what everyone else done and stood back, good that you tried it tho no better way to learn than by learning from your own mistakes

Hope you didn't get too much hassle from the group! Keep it up.

[phalaeo]

Hi, I'm that cleric who got himself killed on phase 4 of the Shroud last night. I'm really sorry. I've been playing about 6 weeks now, and I've healed my way through the Shroud four times previously without incident, but last night I thought "Wouldn't it be a good idea to stand closer to the melee so they could get the benefit of my aura? I mean after all, what is a Cleric but a weaker FVS who only has half spell points, except for that aura? Better make use of it."

So that didn't work out at all, and I apologize to everyone involved. I learned my lesson and from now on I'll just stay put and heal from afar in situations like that. I hope everybody wasn't too put out by what happened.

1. You are not a weaker FvS.
2. Props for manning up
3. It is possible to stand in with the melees- I do it every time I heal Shroud. If you want tips, send me a PM and I'll be more than happy to help.

[phalaeo]

Also did you note what killed you?

• Was it a Metor Swarm? multiples?
• Was it blades?
• Where were you standing in relation to his Front?

You don't want to go near Harry's front. That's where the Chipmunk Funk comes from.

[Glenalth]

Glorious

[boricua_in_cali]

[*] Change tactics to plan B - when something goes very wrong have a plan B[/list]

Agreed. ALWAYS have a plan B, and if that doesn't work, plan C should be "Word of Recall".