New player incoming...........well once VIP clears

[AvrilDuChene]

I never addressed the question of what to do during raids.

Saying that you'd rather have a healbot-spec in a raid is similar to saying you'd rather have pure-dps no-self-sufficiency everyone else in the raid. Neither type of build (healbot, no-self-sufficiency) is a wise choice in today's game.

Wouldn't a diverse team of specialists be more effective than a party of generalists?

[phillymiket]

Wouldn't a diverse team of specialists be more effective than a party of generalists?

In some ways I think you're right.

But IMO the problem with too much specialization comes in when the situation is not perfect, which is often.

If you specialize in total DPS and the healer gets tripped then you go <DING>.
Instead, had you gone mostly DPS with a touch of self-sufficiency then you can be more flexible.

Likewise, if you are total heals and you get surrounded by mobs, then what?
What if there are multiple healers?
What if things have to be taken down ASAP and it's 'all hands on deck' for DPS?
What if the best way to keep the party up is bring the mob down?

Going mostly heal spec with a bit of something else lets you be more flexible.

At least that's how I see it.

EDIT -

Just remembered this is a thread for a new player.

Being flexible as a healer is a good goal.

But as a new player hanging back and healing till you get your mojo is cool in the gang as far as I'm concerned. :-)

[EllisDee37]

Wouldn't a diverse team of specialists be more effective than a party of generalists?

This is a misleading question, especially in a thread about new players.

Years ago, back in the "play your role" days of DDO, yes, it was more effective to have dps melee who only did dps, cc casters who only did cc, and healbots who only healed. Back in those days you could reliably pug from 1 to 20, doing just your role the whole time, confident that the other roles in pugs would be covered by other puggers playing those roles. These roles were magnified to the nth degree in the original epics, where you'd have a wizard to mass hold the mobs, four melee auto-critting them down, with one divine healing everyone.

That's all gone now. Casters haven't been relegated to "only cc" since Update 9 back in 2011. (The spell pass.) Melee have needed to be self-sufficient for a pretty good while now, and as a result most of them are. And because of that, healbots no longer have much of anything to do in most pugs. That's why it's a bad idea for a new player to roll up a dedicated healbot. The same way it's a bad idea to roll up a pure dps melee with no self-sufficiency.

Right now in today's game, self-sufficient melees, god-mode casters and non-healbot divines curb stomp raids. Even if theoretically they might do slightly better if they were more specialized, the difference would be negligible the few times it matters, and would be a major hindrance the rest of the time. As in, a raid boss today's generalists beat down in 100 seconds would be beat down in 98 seconds if the characters were specialized. But those specialized characters would be far less effective in all other content.

But as a new player hanging back and healing till you get your mojo is cool in the gang as far as I'm concerned. :-)

Absolutely. I'm all for a new player trying out the healbot style as much as they like to get comfortable with the game. What I'm recommending is to not build for healbotting. Build for something else. (Light nuker, DC caster, melee; whatever.) You'll still be just as effective at healing, but when (eventually) you start to want to do things other than heal, you won't have to reroll your character.

[DarthCaedus]

I never addressed the question of what to do during raids.

Saying that you'd rather have a healbot-spec in a raid is similar to saying you'd rather have pure-dps no-self-sufficiency everyone else in the raid. Neither type of build (healbot, no-self-sufficiency) is a wise choice in today's game.

The problem I see is that so many people are effectively playing solo whether they are soloing, running in a party in a quest or in a raid. The game has gravitated towards that but the best groups I've been in excelled more at teamwork.

You can build a healer that is optimized for healing with whatever dps can be squeezed in and perform well in byoh parties and be absolutely awesome in EE raids. What I've seen is alot of dps-spec'd healers performing poorly in ee raids because they don't have things like enlarge which aren't necessary in multi-soloing parties where everyone is responsible for only themselves. It's quite useful when solo healing FOTP on EE.

[DarthCaedus]

And because of that, healbots no longer have much of anything to do in most pugs. That's why it's a bad idea for a new player to roll up a dedicated healbot. The same way it's a bad idea to roll up a pure dps melee with no self-sufficiency.

It's sad in a game where build diversity is the strength that a player would get criticized for wanting to build a character that is designed as a great support character.

It's fairly rare that a heal-spec'd divine would be unwelcome in a party. There are always jerks, but even the jerks would rarely mind.

It's also quite easy for a heal-spec divine to turn on dps without a major investment @ epic levels. Just max out wisdom or charisma and don't worry about dc. Go into EA for dps and possibly unyielding sentinel for healing mode. EA is based solely on your best stat - wisdom or cha. Get a lantern ring. You are set.

I would tell the OP if he/she wants to build a heal-spec'd divine go for it and ignore the people that play solo style whether soloing or in a party. You will do just fine in this game. If you want to go heal-spec'd in this game I find the following feats are useful

- Quicken
- Empower Healing
- Enlarge (expand range of healing when you have to run around)
- Mental Toughness
- Improved Mental Toughness
- Maximize (really nice for healing slas like mass cure moderate and also good for dps in Exalted Angel Destiny)
- Empower (really nice for healing slas like mass cure moderate and also good for dps in Exalted Angel Destiny)

Epic
@21 Epic Mental Toughness

You can also go with tower shield proficiency and shield mastery instead of mental toughness line if you want more defense.

[EllisDee37]

You can build a healer that is optimized for healing with whatever dps can be squeezed in and perform well in byoh parties and be absolutely awesome in EE raids. What I've seen is alot of dps-spec'd healers performing poorly in ee raids because they don't have things like enlarge which aren't necessary in multi-soloing parties where everyone is responsible for only themselves. It's quite useful when solo healing FOTP on EE.

I agree on enlarge; my cleric has enlarge almost exclusively for FoT. (Haven't run FoTP yet, but sounds like it will also be good for that, so yay!) But because of that, I take enlarge at level 24. Taking enlarge in the heroic levels is a bit of a waste unless you want it for slay living, but a healbot isn't going to be using slay living.

[Rivenwolf]

First of all, thank you for your service. You might want to research my guild Tyrs Paladium. Sounds like you'd be a great fit. We have quite a few veterans from the US, England, Canada and other nations that are active members of our ranks. You get to play with old school D&D types and veteran DDO players with ZERO EGOS. We play to have fun, and consider our newest guildies equally as important to our success as our most loyal. We play hard, we laugh hard and we play together, just like Gygax and Arnesson meant it to be. We are a no drama no zerg guild, and cameraderie is king here. We have a web site thats visited by 30-50+ guildies daily. So if that's your type of thing, check out our recruitment thread to find out more. https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthrea...ear-Olds-Guild

If yer feelin' froggy, read our guild rules and fill out an application on our website. Even though we are picky, sounds like ya just might fit in! http://tyrspaladium.shivtr.com/

Either way, see ya in game!

Well let me say thank you for the invite, I applied and was accepted to the website, Which does me really no good when trying to get a guild In game. Outside sure it is a cute concept to have a guild on the outside. I have asked a few times about in game invites, but their is either no one on or it just isn't important.
I have wait a few days just to make sure it wasn't just my lack of patience, or maybe there just isn't a guild on the Sarlona server. Either way maybe if I contact someone here instead of the website something will get done. If not no worries, I will just
keep looking.

[LeslieWest_GuitarGod]

Well let me say thank you for the invite, I applied and was accepted to the website, Which does me really no good when trying to get a guild In game. Outside sure it is a cute concept to have a guild on the outside. I have asked a few times about in game invites, but their is either no one on or it just isn't important.
I have wait a few days just to make sure it wasn't just my lack of patience, or maybe there just isn't a guild on the Sarlona server. Either way maybe if I contact someone here instead of the website something will get done. If not no worries, I will just
keep looking.

Ahhhhhh, so that's the problem. We are on the Ghallanda server. I could have sworn I mentioned it in my initial post, but reviewing it I realized I mistakenly left that important detail out, so I apologize to you. I can promise you we are QUITE ACTIVE and our officers are indeed on the lookout for ya! When you log on, just seek out any Tyrs guildie and they'll contact an officer to get you guilded asap!

Now that it all makes sense, I am on right now so if you log in we can bring you on-board immediately.

Sorry once again for the confusion.

[Sgt_Hart]

You might have more luck recruiting in the Ghallanda server section then.

Just sayin....

[LeslieWest_GuitarGod]

You might have more luck recruiting in the Ghallanda server section then.

Just sayin....

We almost exclusively do. However I read the entire forums, and if I see someone that I think might be a really good fit with our guildies, I'll do a rare shoutout to said person.

[Kronik]

If you really want to build a support healer, go for it, it can be quite fun building one. You soon find that many players who have played for awhile can pretty much run straight through a quest without much need for healing. But then again, healing is most always needed in higher levels and a good live character healer is most always better than a hireling healer, which many players use now.

Just make sure you Max out your Wisdom.

Later on when you get a better feel for the game or if you run with a group of self healing Ubers, you can always just throw a Destruction or Implosion spell once in awhile and get a few kills for yourself. A well built cleric can out kill and out heal most casual players, although there are some Ubers out there that will lead the kill count no matter how higher your Evocation & Necromancy is.

Point being, don't max your feats and enhancements on healing, your regular heal spells should do just fine. Just build a Radiant Servant and max out your offensive spells for the down time.

Good luck and thank you for your service!