'Behavioural economics' is the phrase, not 'effortconomical'!
Haha I have always used "effortconomical" with heavy air quotes because I knew I was making it up... now I have a new term to look up and substitute!
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crimsyMember, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian UsersPosts: 2Arc User
edited May 2013
Clerics are there to take some of the pressure away. Sure in some cases it becomes really easy if you do have a well co-ordinated group that actually communicates, compared to a group that doesnt. Ive healed both good and bad groups. People just needs to learn the patterns and dodge and position themselves accordingly, atleast that is what i expect from my party as a Cleric. When it comes to lack of skill in the party it goes badly in most cases, since even if i am decent and know my class and skills, i cant make up for the lack of skill in some cases.
That being said, MMORPGs have taught me that there are two definitions of "required:" what the devs tell you CAN possibly be done, and what the unquestionably min-maxing (in resources and in effort) gamer community has largely decided SHOULD be done within the perceived value of their time. (and, well, that "value" is an ENTIRELY seperate ball of wax that I won't derail this thread with hehe)
Guess which definition rules these community-powered group assembling scenarios.
Community manufactured need does not equate to actual need. People will always seek to make things as easy for themselves as they can. However, that isn't at all based on need. It is based on preference.
Players can still have what they prefer. They just can't get it by randomly queuing. You don't even need to have a whole group, if you want to ensure a Cleric is present. Just team up with a Cleric, and then join the queue as a team.
There is no need to force what isn't needed just to satisfy the preference of some.
Community manufactured need does not equate to actual need. People will always seek to make things as easy for themselves as they can. However, that isn't at all based on need. It is based on preference.
Players can still have what they prefer. They just can't get it by randomly queuing. You don't even need to have a whole group, if you want to ensure a Cleric is present. Just team up with a Cleric, and then join the queue as a team.
There is no need to force what isn't needed just to satisfy the preference of some.
I honestly and sincerely hope you are right in your application of the word "some." I've been through a lot of games, and my experience tells me that this won't stay quiet long.
I still think that a proactive solution, on NW's end, is needed on this front. I don't know what that solution is, but the easiest one is "a cleric in every group."
It's the difference between standard play resulting in "maintenance" healing, and standard play whittling people down to using potions. With no deserter debuff, the resource-managing player (and in a F2P, cash-shop-powered game, that is a VERY present instinct) has no reason to burn his potions from standard group play when the option to re-queue for a healer is immediately available.
I honestly and sincerely hope you are right in your application of the word "some." I've been through a lot of games, and my experience tells me that this won't stay quiet long.
I still think that a proactive solution, on NW's end, is needed on this front. I don't know what that solution is, but the easiest one is "a cleric in every group."
It's the difference between standard play resulting in "maintenance" healing, and standard play whittling people down to using potions. With no deserter debuff, the resource-managing player (and in a F2P, cash-shop-powered game, that is a VERY present instinct) has no reason to burn his potions from standard group play when the option to re-queue for a healer is immediately available.
Some is a great word to use to describe an unknown figure, as it is virtually impossible for it to be inaccurate, as it implies no particular size or range for what 'some' could be.
The easiest solution to the problem you perceive is "a Cleric in every group." It is also the worst solution. There should be no standard play. Players should be able to handle any situation. If enough learn how, the group hunting person may find himself with slimmer pickings than he had hoped, making the cost of group hunting being one of time wasted.
This right here, so tired of people talking about not needing potions, or not using them, and seeing people not use them in dungeons. If i ever play a cleric, and i don't see people using potions at least to top themselves up between fights, i'm going to stop healing them at all. Maybe then they will learn the use of them.
Realy? i use potion if my hp drops below half hp, i would never waste one just to top myself up unless we had no healer at all then maybe i would waste some of my minor pots.
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flynnetarMember, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian UsersPosts: 5Arc User
edited May 2013
The debate in this thread seems to be reality versus idealism.
Ideally, a Cleric should just be there to make things easier, and content should be totally doable without one.
In reality, ain't gonna happen. It just won't. Players won't stand for it, and devs won't make them.
Realy? i use potion if my hp drops below half hp, i would never waste one just to top myself up unless we had no healer at all then maybe i would waste some of my minor pots.
What class do you play and have you ever run out of potions/had to buy them? Leveling as a Cleric I recently sold off a stack of 20 lesser healing potions that were wasting space in my inventory. I have some 36 or so slightly better healing potions and a couple stacks of even stronger ones laying around.
What class do you play and have you ever run out of potions/had to buy them? Leveling as a Cleric I recently sold off a stack of 20 lesser healing potions that were wasting space in my inventory. I have some 36 or so slightly better healing potions and a couple stacks of even stronger ones laying around.
Rogue. Ya i started to run out of potion at 35+ but it aint a prob tbh, potion is one of the few usefull thing you can buy with gold. Befor 30 i used very very few as healer companion was more then enough.
But as a cleric i doubt will use much all the way to endgame maybe one here and there at boss fights
I have yet to run a group with any companions. Just hit 15 today. I personally am seriously considering the zen-purchased cleric companion, but the official wiki itself cautions not to buy it lol!
I think you should have said this all up front in your OP, because it's WAY too early for you to be making these kinds of judgements about the game.
Tanks and healers are required in endgame content. You have some wiggle room earlier depending on player skill and companion selection but currently (since tank/healer companions cap at rank 15) they don't hold up late game (also due to their AI, standing in the red zones).
Which is the problem: A tank isn't needed, but a healer ABSOLUTELY IS.
Not really.
My experience as a cleric in bad PUG's for skirmishes and dungeons, up through level 53, generally goes like this:
- All DPS stays on the boss, trying to 'burn it down'
- Adds build up until there are too many to kite, and I'm done
- I watch through the purple wall of shame as pots/ healer pets keep the group up and they kill the boss
Clerics get killed by adds, because every single focus fires the cleric. Once the cleric is dead, those adds split their fire amongst the other members, allowing pets and pots to keep them up.
I understand tanks have the same issue. I've watched pets tank fairly well. I am beginning to suspect that, for much of the content (pre-epic, at least), the best group composition is 5xDPS, one with a tank pet and four with healer pets.
The debate in this thread seems to be reality versus idealism.
Ideally, a Cleric should just be there to make things easier, and content should be totally doable without one.
In reality, ain't gonna happen. It just won't. Players won't stand for it, and devs won't make them.
That's pretty much the long and the short of it, yes.
Everyone can do damage.
Only one class can "save your potions," to an extent, for the entire group.
This isn't GW2, where everyone is a self sufficient node of survival (for the degree of crazy that happens in group content) with no considerable outgoing healing. GW2's absence of trinity was based ENTIRELY on not having to wait for a healer to be viable. While NW doesn't go as far as rendering a group non-viable without a cleric, a cleric changes the makeup considerably, and the perceived efficiency of having an actual healer in the group changes the game from "every man for himself" (potions, companions) to "ok good, that guy's at least got my back somewhat."
While I have only played 1/4 of the level cap, I can't see this dynamic totally fixing itself via companions or levels. There will always be the perception of "my limited resources or their unlimited resources," and that will stick in the craw of the resource-minded, min-maxing player... which is not a small demographic.
Sounds like what old school MMORPGs used to be. You came with your best and most favorite class and you conquered the whole world together regardless of what class everyone was. You never NEEDED any class. No healer or tank? Everyone just run around in circles trying their best to slow or trap them. Let the meat shield or the one with the most HP take the hits until he can't and switch to another ****. This is what I loved about older MMOs, you made your own story and went to places you weren't supposed to be at and just deal with it.
So you never played Everquest where you NEEDED a tank, a healer, an enchanter, and generally a puller. Plus two random DPS. It came out in 1999, Or DAOC which was basically the same but you could get away without the crowd control. Are those old school? Sounds like you are making BS up.
Trinity Lite ~ Healers aren't absolutely needed that's what pots are for.
You don't have to have healers to be successful. The bosses really aren't that hard. (minus the epic dungeons because I haven't been)
The only issue is that healers still draw too much aggro, the aggro from DPS should be higher then the healing.
And there's also the aspect of having companions. People can make all their tanks (Man of Arms) go on the boss and split the damage between the 5 of them, so you're argument is moot at this point really.
I'll just say this - now that you know how badly it sucks not to have a Cleric around, please protect your Cleric. We are frail, delicate flowers that every single hostile mob seems bound and determined to stomp all over. Save your party - protect your healer!!!
I wouldn't put that in better words myself.
QFT.
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somuchmassMember, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian UsersPosts: 6Arc User
edited May 2013
They need to fix queuing. But thank god Neverwinter has tanks and healers unlike crappy GW2.
I'll just say this - now that you know how badly it sucks not to have a Cleric around, please protect your Cleric. We are frail, delicate flowers that every single hostile mob seems bound and determined to stomp all over. Save your party - protect your healer!!!
Very much so! >.< I am level 26 and I have only died 2 times...both times in dungeons where adds built up to insane amounts and no one cared to check the healer at any given time and I sadly perished under the weight of 15+ adds focusing the hell out of me.
This right here, so tired of people talking about not needing potions, or not using them, and seeing people not use them in dungeons. If i ever play a cleric, and i don't see people using potions at least to top themselves up between fights, i'm going to stop healing them at all. Maybe then they will learn the use of them.
In this game is different than the norm in how non-clerics heal themselves. You say "use a pot to top us off", imo I'm using a pot when I am in dire straights of needing one and never to top off and this has zero to do with pissing a cleric off and expecting heals from a cleric. The bars don't zoom down that fast and one shotting isn't common place, so we feel we have time. Couple that with the thought of "Do I feel a campsite is near?", if I do I'm going to limp safely into one with very low health, all planned on me taking care of myself.
So yes it could be tricky for a cleric, they could be thinking "Why doesn't that fool heal himself? I'm just a personal heal bot for them. I hate that.". But I'm there really not even thinking about your heals and relying on them. Sur I'll take them and take them gladly, but this isn't a strong direct healing class this Devoted Cleric, I'm balancing what is being dished out and how often I have to drop a pot, flee.
I almost always play a cleric, this time I didn't after reviewing the mechanics. Cleric direct healing weak (targeting to), pots strong, cool down short. Game easy. Added that all up.Wwhen playing with a cleric, I'm happy with the indirect heals the class dishes out, that helps with using less pots, more of a nice to have vs a must have... That said, I haven't got too far.
I almost always play a cleric, this time I didn't after reviewing the mechanics. Cleric direct healing weak (targeting to), pots strong, cool down short. Game easy. Added that all up.Wwhen playing with a cleric, I'm happy with the indirect heals the class dishes out, that helps with using less pots, more of a nice to have vs a must have... That said, I haven't got too far.
I really hope that this changes, then. I really only play games to heal, and any game that doesn't have a dedicated, valuable healer role won't hold my attention for very long. I get bored as DPS and even as a tank. Healing is my favorite.
I really hope that this changes, then. I really only play games to heal, and any game that doesn't have a dedicated, valuable healer role won't hold my attention for very long. I get bored as DPS and even as a tank. Healing is my favorite.
From where we read here, you will be valuable as the game goes along. It's just different from what a typical healer is. This is a very offensive healer and many heals are indirect secondary affects of other powers, which is pretty cool. It's healing sprinkles. It's the tab/target-powerful heal, that isn't predominant in this class.
I really hope that this changes, then. I really only play games to heal, and any game that doesn't have a dedicated, valuable healer role won't hold my attention for very long. I get bored as DPS and even as a tank. Healing is my favorite.
There are pros and cons to scaling around the existence of dedicated tanks and healers, and I honestly think NW would work best to pick a side. With the dungeon and skirmish assembly as they are, they should lean on the side of the trinity. GW2 can't afford to have a dungeon finder, because there is no dedicated tanking or healing possible with their classes. It's communication-heavy and co-ordination mandatory to complete a dungeon in that game, so they can't automate the group assembly like NW has.
NW needs to s**t or get off the pot. They have a tank. They have a healer. They need to work around the trinity-creating existence of those two classes, or water down their PVE to a big ugly schmoze that gets uglier when there's no healer.
People that play healers, as you say, play to heal. Yes, the downside to embracing the trinity is that the dungeon finder then moves at the speed of the healer (and perhaps tank) community. I've been there, I've played that, but you can't have a healer class in play and NOT scale the content to its presence. Not with a dungeon finder, and not with any degree of tight scaling anticipating that "this group could potentially have a healer, so it needs to be THIS hard."
People that play healers, as you say, play to heal. Yes, the downside to embracing the trinity is that the dungeon finder then moves at the speed of the healer (and perhaps tank) community. I've been there, I've played that, but you can't have a healer class in play and NOT scale the content to its presence. Not with a dungeon finder, and not with any degree of tight scaling anticipating that "this group could potentially have a healer, so it needs to be THIS hard."
I don't mind DPSing to heal, but I am a bit disheartened that my main targeted heals are so paltry and weak. It doesn't help that they're 40% less effective when used on me. I'm actually quite used to DPSing to heal - I play a Monk and a Discipline Priest in WoW, and a Sith Sorcerer in SWTOR. It's just, normally DPS serves to -boost- the healing I'm doing, so this is a bit different (and VASTLY different from a Cleric in D&D).
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hauwlynMember, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian UsersPosts: 11Arc User
edited May 2013
To be back on the main question: it's not that there's the trinity, but it's not like it's free for all group making either. The game is designed around 4 different roles, not 3. I assure you there's plenty to do as a controller in lots of fights, especially final bosses in dungeons. You can spend the whole fight not hitting the boss itself with anything else but aoe aimed at what's around him, and you won't be slacking.
Yet lots of teams don't have that mentality, and it makes things a lot harder. If everyone understands the usefulness of a pure controller, I'm sure they'll feel almost as essential to groups as healers are.
To be back on the main question: it's not that there's the trinity, but it's not like it's free for all group making either. The game is designed around 4 different roles, not 3. I assure you there's plenty to do as a controller in lots of fights, especially final bosses in dungeons. You can spend the whole fight not hitting the boss itself with anything else but aoe aimed at what's around him, and you won't be slacking.
Yet lots of teams don't have that mentality, and it makes things a lot harder. If everyone understands the usefulness of a pure controller, I'm sure they'll feel almost as essential to groups as healers are.
Basically: it's not 3 anymore, it's 4.
Then the automated group assembly should be even more rigid, and my complaint is that it is not.
I do find it a bit crazy that the group finder does not strictly create groups that include one of each role (plus one, obviously). The roles are pretty distinct, and I think they should be utilized.
Also, some people discussing healing between battles and when/when not to use a potion: We peeps who roll healers in MMOs are used to this stuff. Yea, it does sometimes get annoying, but at the end of the day my ROLE is to heal you, not force you to use potions for my convenience. Moreso, in a game like this one that doesn't quite have a mana bar, there really is no reason for me to NOT toss you a renew (can't remember the exact name of the spell right now lol) in between battles. The only inconvenience to me is the timer on the ability, which is not long at all. Any healer worth his/her stuff would say mostly the same.
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hauwlynMember, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian UsersPosts: 11Arc User
Then the automated group assembly should be even more rigid, and my complaint is that it is not.
The group assembly should have you choose which role among the 4 you're gonna play, so you don't end up with your GF, your CW and your DC as pure DPS. Because those 3 classes can build like that, and that tool doesn't acknowledge that right now. Maybe you want to start a petition on it? While we're at it, we could petition for Dual-speccing, so that if you want to play DPS cleric, you're not totally screwed if it puts you with no other cleric and everyone expects you to heal.
I do find it a bit crazy that the group finder does not strictly create groups that include one of each role (plus one, obviously). The roles are pretty distinct, and I think they should be utilized.
I'm not sure it CAN always make a balanced group with whoever queued at the time, assuming they each play their "first" role. I found that it ends up being somewhat balanced a lot of times, still.
Somewhat agreed with the OP, though I generally don't think the Guild Wars 2 strategy of every character being a "self-contained node of survival" is what Neverwinter is going for -- it has the same party roles and anti-solo tendencies as Dungeons & Dragons 4E, from which it pilfers mechanics.
However, D&D 4E has a solution to this issue: every class can heal itself for 25% HP once per encounter, which uses up a Healing Surge. "Leader" classes (warlord, cleric, bard, artificer) don't have "healing powers"; they have powers that allow their target to use up additional Healing Surges. Their power repertoire is only partially healing, while the rest is buffs, DoT and AoE-control powers.
I doubt they'll institute a reliable self-healing mechanic for all classes, since that would mean a wholesale retooling of the Cleric, and A LOT of work, but I think the current setup is something of a mistake. It really does make one-fifth of the playerbase more valuable than the rest.
My experience as a cleric in bad PUG's for skirmishes and dungeons, up through level 53, generally goes like this:
- All DPS stays on the boss, trying to 'burn it down'
- Adds build up until there are too many to kite, and I'm done
- I watch through the purple wall of shame as pots/ healer pets keep the group up and they kill the boss
Clerics get killed by adds, because every single focus fires the cleric. Once the cleric is dead, those adds split their fire amongst the other members, allowing pets and pots to keep them up.
I understand tanks have the same issue. I've watched pets tank fairly well. I am beginning to suspect that, for much of the content (pre-epic, at least), the best group composition is 5xDPS, one with a tank pet and four with healer pets.
That's not good.
I've experienced just that scenario far too often. It sucks.
Perhaps if Companions aren't allowed into dungeons/skirmishes? Lower difficulty a bit to accommodate it. Companions are really there for solo questing anyway. This would force DPSers to be better team-players because they wont be as self-sufficient without their cleric companion.
Comments
Perhaps, but I can counter and say that there is no need for one to stay in a group with no healer. No "deserter" debuff.
Haha I have always used "effortconomical" with heavy air quotes because I knew I was making it up... now I have a new term to look up and substitute!
Saffran Elf Devoted Cleric - 60
Community manufactured need does not equate to actual need. People will always seek to make things as easy for themselves as they can. However, that isn't at all based on need. It is based on preference.
Players can still have what they prefer. They just can't get it by randomly queuing. You don't even need to have a whole group, if you want to ensure a Cleric is present. Just team up with a Cleric, and then join the queue as a team.
There is no need to force what isn't needed just to satisfy the preference of some.
I honestly and sincerely hope you are right in your application of the word "some." I've been through a lot of games, and my experience tells me that this won't stay quiet long.
I still think that a proactive solution, on NW's end, is needed on this front. I don't know what that solution is, but the easiest one is "a cleric in every group."
It's the difference between standard play resulting in "maintenance" healing, and standard play whittling people down to using potions. With no deserter debuff, the resource-managing player (and in a F2P, cash-shop-powered game, that is a VERY present instinct) has no reason to burn his potions from standard group play when the option to re-queue for a healer is immediately available.
Some is a great word to use to describe an unknown figure, as it is virtually impossible for it to be inaccurate, as it implies no particular size or range for what 'some' could be.
The easiest solution to the problem you perceive is "a Cleric in every group." It is also the worst solution. There should be no standard play. Players should be able to handle any situation. If enough learn how, the group hunting person may find himself with slimmer pickings than he had hoped, making the cost of group hunting being one of time wasted.
Realy? i use potion if my hp drops below half hp, i would never waste one just to top myself up unless we had no healer at all then maybe i would waste some of my minor pots.
Ideally, a Cleric should just be there to make things easier, and content should be totally doable without one.
In reality, ain't gonna happen. It just won't. Players won't stand for it, and devs won't make them.
What class do you play and have you ever run out of potions/had to buy them? Leveling as a Cleric I recently sold off a stack of 20 lesser healing potions that were wasting space in my inventory. I have some 36 or so slightly better healing potions and a couple stacks of even stronger ones laying around.
Rogue. Ya i started to run out of potion at 35+ but it aint a prob tbh, potion is one of the few usefull thing you can buy with gold. Befor 30 i used very very few as healer companion was more then enough.
But as a cleric i doubt will use much all the way to endgame maybe one here and there at boss fights
I think you should have said this all up front in your OP, because it's WAY too early for you to be making these kinds of judgements about the game.
Tanks and healers are required in endgame content. You have some wiggle room earlier depending on player skill and companion selection but currently (since tank/healer companions cap at rank 15) they don't hold up late game (also due to their AI, standing in the red zones).
Not really.
My experience as a cleric in bad PUG's for skirmishes and dungeons, up through level 53, generally goes like this:
- All DPS stays on the boss, trying to 'burn it down'
- Adds build up until there are too many to kite, and I'm done
- I watch through the purple wall of shame as pots/ healer pets keep the group up and they kill the boss
Clerics get killed by adds, because every single focus fires the cleric. Once the cleric is dead, those adds split their fire amongst the other members, allowing pets and pots to keep them up.
I understand tanks have the same issue. I've watched pets tank fairly well. I am beginning to suspect that, for much of the content (pre-epic, at least), the best group composition is 5xDPS, one with a tank pet and four with healer pets.
That's not good.
That's pretty much the long and the short of it, yes.
Everyone can do damage.
Only one class can "save your potions," to an extent, for the entire group.
This isn't GW2, where everyone is a self sufficient node of survival (for the degree of crazy that happens in group content) with no considerable outgoing healing. GW2's absence of trinity was based ENTIRELY on not having to wait for a healer to be viable. While NW doesn't go as far as rendering a group non-viable without a cleric, a cleric changes the makeup considerably, and the perceived efficiency of having an actual healer in the group changes the game from "every man for himself" (potions, companions) to "ok good, that guy's at least got my back somewhat."
While I have only played 1/4 of the level cap, I can't see this dynamic totally fixing itself via companions or levels. There will always be the perception of "my limited resources or their unlimited resources," and that will stick in the craw of the resource-minded, min-maxing player... which is not a small demographic.
So you never played Everquest where you NEEDED a tank, a healer, an enchanter, and generally a puller. Plus two random DPS. It came out in 1999, Or DAOC which was basically the same but you could get away without the crowd control. Are those old school? Sounds like you are making BS up.
You don't have to have healers to be successful. The bosses really aren't that hard. (minus the epic dungeons because I haven't been)
The only issue is that healers still draw too much aggro, the aggro from DPS should be higher then the healing.
And there's also the aspect of having companions. People can make all their tanks (Man of Arms) go on the boss and split the damage between the 5 of them, so you're argument is moot at this point really.
QFT.
Too bad you won't get them in every random group.
Very much so! >.< I am level 26 and I have only died 2 times...both times in dungeons where adds built up to insane amounts and no one cared to check the healer at any given time and I sadly perished under the weight of 15+ adds focusing the hell out of me.
In this game is different than the norm in how non-clerics heal themselves. You say "use a pot to top us off", imo I'm using a pot when I am in dire straights of needing one and never to top off and this has zero to do with pissing a cleric off and expecting heals from a cleric. The bars don't zoom down that fast and one shotting isn't common place, so we feel we have time. Couple that with the thought of "Do I feel a campsite is near?", if I do I'm going to limp safely into one with very low health, all planned on me taking care of myself.
So yes it could be tricky for a cleric, they could be thinking "Why doesn't that fool heal himself? I'm just a personal heal bot for them. I hate that.". But I'm there really not even thinking about your heals and relying on them. Sur I'll take them and take them gladly, but this isn't a strong direct healing class this Devoted Cleric, I'm balancing what is being dished out and how often I have to drop a pot, flee.
I almost always play a cleric, this time I didn't after reviewing the mechanics. Cleric direct healing weak (targeting to), pots strong, cool down short. Game easy. Added that all up.Wwhen playing with a cleric, I'm happy with the indirect heals the class dishes out, that helps with using less pots, more of a nice to have vs a must have... That said, I haven't got too far.
I really hope that this changes, then. I really only play games to heal, and any game that doesn't have a dedicated, valuable healer role won't hold my attention for very long. I get bored as DPS and even as a tank. Healing is my favorite.
From where we read here, you will be valuable as the game goes along. It's just different from what a typical healer is. This is a very offensive healer and many heals are indirect secondary affects of other powers, which is pretty cool. It's healing sprinkles. It's the tab/target-powerful heal, that isn't predominant in this class.
There are pros and cons to scaling around the existence of dedicated tanks and healers, and I honestly think NW would work best to pick a side. With the dungeon and skirmish assembly as they are, they should lean on the side of the trinity. GW2 can't afford to have a dungeon finder, because there is no dedicated tanking or healing possible with their classes. It's communication-heavy and co-ordination mandatory to complete a dungeon in that game, so they can't automate the group assembly like NW has.
NW needs to s**t or get off the pot. They have a tank. They have a healer. They need to work around the trinity-creating existence of those two classes, or water down their PVE to a big ugly schmoze that gets uglier when there's no healer.
People that play healers, as you say, play to heal. Yes, the downside to embracing the trinity is that the dungeon finder then moves at the speed of the healer (and perhaps tank) community. I've been there, I've played that, but you can't have a healer class in play and NOT scale the content to its presence. Not with a dungeon finder, and not with any degree of tight scaling anticipating that "this group could potentially have a healer, so it needs to be THIS hard."
I don't mind DPSing to heal, but I am a bit disheartened that my main targeted heals are so paltry and weak. It doesn't help that they're 40% less effective when used on me. I'm actually quite used to DPSing to heal - I play a Monk and a Discipline Priest in WoW, and a Sith Sorcerer in SWTOR. It's just, normally DPS serves to -boost- the healing I'm doing, so this is a bit different (and VASTLY different from a Cleric in D&D).
Yet lots of teams don't have that mentality, and it makes things a lot harder. If everyone understands the usefulness of a pure controller, I'm sure they'll feel almost as essential to groups as healers are.
Basically: it's not 3 anymore, it's 4.
Then the automated group assembly should be even more rigid, and my complaint is that it is not.
Also, some people discussing healing between battles and when/when not to use a potion: We peeps who roll healers in MMOs are used to this stuff. Yea, it does sometimes get annoying, but at the end of the day my ROLE is to heal you, not force you to use potions for my convenience. Moreso, in a game like this one that doesn't quite have a mana bar, there really is no reason for me to NOT toss you a renew (can't remember the exact name of the spell right now lol) in between battles. The only inconvenience to me is the timer on the ability, which is not long at all. Any healer worth his/her stuff would say mostly the same.
The group assembly should have you choose which role among the 4 you're gonna play, so you don't end up with your GF, your CW and your DC as pure DPS. Because those 3 classes can build like that, and that tool doesn't acknowledge that right now. Maybe you want to start a petition on it? While we're at it, we could petition for Dual-speccing, so that if you want to play DPS cleric, you're not totally screwed if it puts you with no other cleric and everyone expects you to heal.
I'm not sure it CAN always make a balanced group with whoever queued at the time, assuming they each play their "first" role. I found that it ends up being somewhat balanced a lot of times, still.
However, D&D 4E has a solution to this issue: every class can heal itself for 25% HP once per encounter, which uses up a Healing Surge. "Leader" classes (warlord, cleric, bard, artificer) don't have "healing powers"; they have powers that allow their target to use up additional Healing Surges. Their power repertoire is only partially healing, while the rest is buffs, DoT and AoE-control powers.
I doubt they'll institute a reliable self-healing mechanic for all classes, since that would mean a wholesale retooling of the Cleric, and A LOT of work, but I think the current setup is something of a mistake. It really does make one-fifth of the playerbase more valuable than the rest.
I've experienced just that scenario far too often. It sucks.
Perhaps if Companions aren't allowed into dungeons/skirmishes? Lower difficulty a bit to accommodate it. Companions are really there for solo questing anyway. This would force DPSers to be better team-players because they wont be as self-sufficient without their cleric companion.