Biggest problem post-patch, any ideas how to solve?

pilotmike

Aggro.

The instant I shield push, I now have every piece of trash mad at me. From this point on I'm running like a little girl waiting for something to pull all the adds off me. I have 23k HP and 1200 defense along with a little lifesteal and am just getting pwnd. The only fix (that I've been able to find) to this aggro is either the mob dies or I die.

Worst of all is on Dracolich. If you don't knock 100% of the adds off every time; or, if you use shield between singularities to build AP, you are SCREWED. This is my only 60 so I could be dead wrong about my next statements since I simply don't understand the classes, but GF can't tank and clerics can't heal. I've run with GFs and I rarely see them use the AoE taunt, and the second I repop my shield they lose aggro to me again. Clerics have been spoiled by a month of dropping AS and nothing else (and are IMO, bad), direct heals are not part of their game. Now there is a 5 second gap between AS applications where I am completely vulnerable since they can't be bothered to heal me and I'm getting PWND by the adds.

On trash I typically run chill strike tabbed, shield, icy terrain, and timestop. On draco I'll run repel tabbed (if that's my duty for the day), shield, icy terrain, and time stop. The only thing I haven't done (but am considering) is tabbing CoI for more slow but I feel like I'm doing my part "controlling" and not trying to epeen my way to the top of the dps meter.

Does anybody have some advice?

In b4 L2play, quit sucking, etc, etc...

shaedris

It's not that clerics are too bad to use direct heals, it's that they don't have any.
The only heal that could conceivably make a difference is forgemaster's, which has to be put on an enemy mob and pulses from there. Healing word is not going to save anyone.
There is no heal in this game that does what you seem to expect from clerics.

fondlez

Make sure that Steal Time is available when there are large numbers of mobs spawning in, what I call transitions. Also, if you decide to use Shield for AP, make sure you at least have Steal Time+Icy Terrain available immediately after as they come in.

Your healer(s) cannot reliably even help you against so many enemies unless they have worked out a rotation for their Dailies, i.e. Divine Armor + Hallowed Ground or even alternating Divine Armor. A single healer with high AP gain, can also keep up Divine Armor, instead of Hallowed, on those large trash transitions. This will help a bit.

If there are two DC and one CW and one of them has spare Divinity, they can also use Sunburst for knockbacks or Chains of Blazing Light to root the melee elites. But you would have to have agreed this at the beginning since not many DC use utility spells or only run healing and debuffing spells or can no longer spare the Divinity and would not expect the need to contribute to control in such a hectic fight.

But like the previous poster said, there is no longer a heal or single spell that can save you (or the group) from lack of control of that many adds. If you are not ready to take control as that trash mob transition hits, you will eventually go down.

Also, assuming you are avoiding the almost one-shotting "hands" aoe and breath, 2k def is more useful than 1k def, post patch.

Note. I am guessing you are the second CW, otherwise as a solo CW you should be running Entangling in tab for the AP unless you are very experienced at control and the fight.

axer128

Solo'd CW dracolich.. (tho needed 2 clrs, in the past I could manage 1 clr 1 cw 3 rogues)

But yea, you gota be able to take some hits, squishy wizards dont cut it anymore.

My base defense is 1800.. But I now wear high vizer (cuz they DESTROYED my archmage set).. and after a cpl proc that brings me to around 2900.

hp are mostly irrelevant. Clerics can only heal at a set rate, so more hp doesn't help you survive massive hits as much as more defense does.

re: other wrong posters: Clerics do have a direct heal, its called healing word, and it heals VERY well. I don't think i could've done that dracolich if they didn't heal me directly. I was the tank, i needed it, and it did save me. Heavy healing spec clerics healing word can do over 10k healing, its pretty serious.

Not saying it's easy, its very difficult to CC that fight now.. But yea, doable with enough defense (and recovery - of which I have 4800).

oroness

axer128 wrote: »

re: other wrong posters: Clerics do have a direct heal, its called healing word, and it heals VERY well. I don't think i could've done that dracolich if they didn't heal me directly. I was the tank, i needed it, and it did save me. Heavy healing spec clerics healing word can do over 10k healing, its pretty serious.

bullcrap.
HW doesen't heal for 10k, not even with what you call a heavy healing spec, which doesent exist FYI.

Play a cleric please. Or well, let me spare you the pain... don't play it and trust me. HW cant heal for 10k unless you chain all the 3 charges on someone and even then it's quite doubtful as you lose at least 2 ticks of its effect.

I don't even know if you know this, but i'm gonna guess you do: every consequent tick of HW after the first one is the accumulated healing done by that skill, not the healing done by that tick in particular so well, the last tick may be 4k, but that's the healing done by the whole spell, not just the last tick.

copticone

Shield Pulse because of its high damage, generates a TON of threat. In Dracolich I wouldnt use it just to generate AP. That's what Entangling force on tab is for. Slotting Icy Terrain does help alot. If you more often than not you are messing up on the Knockback, then save your Steal Time for right after. Otherwise, use it before the knockback to at least stop the Red mages from laying down fireballs while they are being sucked up.