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Does Anyone Else Run Into This?
faelinne
Member Posts: 23 Arc User
Hi All,
I'm a level 37 DC, and I'm still pretty new to this game. My partner (a TR) and I were running a dungeon yesterday, and we were getting our butts kicked. Somebody in the party complained that I wasn't healing enough. The thing is... none of the healing spells that I have at my level instantly heal for a significant amount, unless I'm in Divine Mode; however, Divine Mode only lasts so long before I have to build up more points. I explained to the person who was complaining that I can't spam instant heal spells, that I was using Astral Seal, that he would gain hit points back when he hit an enemy that had Astral Seal cast on it (which I was using on every creature that I could target), and that maybe he ought to stop running towards me when enemies are on top of him (the idea being that I have to be alive in order to cast any healing spells at all).
Being new at this game is making me second-guess my ability to play this game, and my choice in character class. I enjoy playing the cleric (for the most part), and I manage to keep my partner (the TR) and I alive when we are playing together, but I'm starting to wonder if I'm doing something horrifically wrong when playing in dungeons. Is it just me, or are devoted clerics a little different in this game than they are in other MMOs that people play?
I'm a level 37 DC, and I'm still pretty new to this game. My partner (a TR) and I were running a dungeon yesterday, and we were getting our butts kicked. Somebody in the party complained that I wasn't healing enough. The thing is... none of the healing spells that I have at my level instantly heal for a significant amount, unless I'm in Divine Mode; however, Divine Mode only lasts so long before I have to build up more points. I explained to the person who was complaining that I can't spam instant heal spells, that I was using Astral Seal, that he would gain hit points back when he hit an enemy that had Astral Seal cast on it (which I was using on every creature that I could target), and that maybe he ought to stop running towards me when enemies are on top of him (the idea being that I have to be alive in order to cast any healing spells at all).
Being new at this game is making me second-guess my ability to play this game, and my choice in character class. I enjoy playing the cleric (for the most part), and I manage to keep my partner (the TR) and I alive when we are playing together, but I'm starting to wonder if I'm doing something horrifically wrong when playing in dungeons. Is it just me, or are devoted clerics a little different in this game than they are in other MMOs that people play?
Post edited by faelinne on
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Especially when it comes to leveling dungeons, all of those are very completable as well with no cleric anyways, so it really shouldn't have been an issue for that player.
This is what I would slot at that level in terms of healing:
Guardian of Faith + Hallowed Ground for dailies
Sunburst + Forgemaster's Flame + Healing Word for encounters
Sacred Flame + Astral Seal for At Wills
Divine Fortune + Foresight for features
Forgemaster in divine for healing. Sunburst in normal mode. Healing word in normal mode, use in divine when out of charges or your target is really low on HP.
You can sometimes use the right click during divine mode as well, but not normally recommended as the amount of healing is fairly small and the drain on divine power rather large.
At these levels you should be fine with just Forgemaster's, Hallowed Ground and Sunburst/Soothing Light/Astral Seal (it's not like you can skip these three anyway). Up until around level 50+ all you really need to do is use your heals/dailies to prevent your team from getting overwhelmed. Everyone is expected to use healing potions, and healing potions should be enough for all but the worst fights (like against 3 or more elites, or when the boss drops to 60% and 30%). Anyone who runs out of/doesn't bring healing potions deserves to be blamed repeatedly, incessantly by the whole team. What's the point of entering an obviously dangerous dungeon if you're not prepared?
It does help if you can tell people to buy pots from merchants at the start of the dungeon though, and people will like you for it.
You are not expected to replace inadequate control with healing. This means that if your team ignores adds and just keeps attacking the boss then your group is likely to fail unless you and at least one or two others have godly skills and items.
You are also not expected to fully replace common sense and dodging. Anyone stupid enough to keep standing near a Battle Wight Commander while he uses his AoE soulsteal attack or an attack similar to Vansi Bloodscar's cone attack most likely deserved to die, for example, since at these levels there's pretty much nothing you can do to save them from those attacks.
The DC is a lot more subtle than healers from other mmos. Hallowed Ground is easily the strongest daily at low levels for example, granting everyone a significant DPS boost and mitigation. All that extra damage and survivability doesn't show up under your name though. We can generate AP faster than most classes at low levels, especially if you slot Healing Word/Divine Fortune and learn to alternate between its divine/normal modes to build AP quickly.
Note that you can swap encounters, depending on what you need. At these levels all DCs have very good AoE burst potential thanks to Sunburst/Chains/Searing Light. Note that most of the time you only need to focus on healing when fighting bosses - for everything else, playing proactively and helping people kill things outright can help out your group more than playing passively. It will certainly save you and your teammates time. Just remember to keep a strong heal (like Forgmaster's) slotted at all times and always try to save your daily for emergencies.
The DC only really starts to at least resemble healers from other mmos at 50-60, and even then only if you're spec'ced for it. There is because there's a growing number of DCs who prefer preventive measures over passive healing.
Id only add, that brand of the sun is great second at-will. Assuming you arnt spec'd to into a temporary hit point machine. As long as you are already hitting mobs with Astral seal follow it up with BotS. You'll find divinity pouring in like magic once you have several dots all ticking away on mobs you arn't even hitting anymore.
Thanks for the encouraging words... I leveled up pretty quickly in this game; I'm used to having to grind more for levels, and having the opportunity to learn more about my characters before hitting level 40. I'll just have to try new things when it's my partner and I playing since he's not likely to whine too much if he dies.
Thanks! That's pretty much what I have now. I think I need to put another level into GoF, and I'll do that as soon as I level up again. I overlooked Sacred Flame because I thought it was an encounter instead of at-will, but I replaced my Lance of Faith with it as soon as I noticed my mistake. I think I screwed up because I don't have Foresight; however, I do have Divine Fortune and Soothe. I had Holy Resolver (?) slotted in place of Soothe before, and that was a cluster since I drew aggro whenever my character even thought of healing.
Nope... Didn't forget about it completely; I just forgot that it heals in Divinity. My bad :P Thanks for the reminder and tips. I actually prefer preventative over passive, so I'm actually stoked about playing a cleric for once. I'll remind folks to buy pots/kits before heading in so that folks who are used to other MMOs know that the DC is a bit different in this game before they end up dead. Thanks for the advice!
Thanks! I'll remember that, and I'm not spec'd as a temporary hit point machine. I purposely avoided doing that because I noticed that there were other feats that seemed to make more sense with the spells I am using.
Long term, you made a boo-boo by slotting Soothe. Useless at 60. At 60 I stand around mostly untouched as the CWs and GFs draw all the aggro. The GF's built in threat and a good CW's insane amount of AoE damage output ensure we have little trouble with aggro making the feat worthless. I do tend to lure pesky Imps like a magnet and they can hurt you in numbers, but for the most part I am ignored by the biggest and baddest mobs and adds.
And yeah, no foresight is another boo-boo. 11% damage resistance when feated and something that you can pass on to your party. That is money right there.
Then apparently the GF and CW that we were partied with in the dungeon had some problem with damage output since the TR was the only other character in the party who was able to draw aggro from me? Also, I must have chosen a different paragon path than y'all since foresight isn't even available to me.
My personal opinion is that this paragon is only useful for team PvP not much good for PvE in direct comparison to Divine Oracle, unless everyone else is geared to the teeth and doesn't really need a cleric in the first place.
Considering some of the other choices you made which are rather suboptimal you may look towards buying a respec token sometime in the future.
This is what I run with (Divine Oracle):
http://nwcalc.com/dc?b=ogv:4wpxb:6ygj,13l3305:6c000:8t50v:8u000&h=0
Some might argue that Greater Divine Power is not that useful, but even with Divine Fortune, when things really hit the fan, that 4th pip can be a livesaver (also when you are spending more time kiting than attacking to build divine power, or needing to use divine sunburst to help clear adds during Spellplague for example)
Others might also suggest taking Linked Spirit, but personally I opted against it because if you try to proc it without using the exploit method (which shall not be discussed here), it isn't that big a boost and doesn't have sufficient uptime. It will be fixed eventually and I'd rather not pay for another respec when they do and work on a build that works as intended.
Halfling - Devoted Cleric - Divine Oracle
Neverwinter Tribunal
<Genocidal Tendencies>
www.genotendencies.enjin.com
I beg to differ. The group synergy is just slightly different for the Annoited Champion. Our guild has a 12k GS Annoited Champion for PVE only. He heals all T2 groups no problem. Different build, different playstyle, different group mixture needed.
Halfling - Devoted Cleric - Divine Oracle
Neverwinter Tribunal
<Genocidal Tendencies>
www.genotendencies.enjin.com
Since I had Zen from taking surveys, and the fact that I'm new to the game, I decided to give the DO path a try to see if it works out better for me than the AC build. If I don't like DO, I'll go back to AC, but I will not waste as many points on less optimal choices since I have a better understanding of the path. Luckily for me, the guy I play with (my husband) is tolerant of my experimentation, and the retraining tokens are free as long as I take surveys for Zen.
I tend to agree with jenisyde... Folks are used to DO builds; they don't recognize the advantages that an AC build offers, and thus tend not to play in a manner that takes full advantage of the AC build. I did quite a bit of PvE with a TR and did some solo adventuring, and found that the AC build can be beneficial when the group sticks together. In other words, if a player tends to get way ahead of the team, then that player can't benefit from some of the buffs that an AC build has to offer. However, these are just my observations; they may or may not be credible.
By the way, I did drop two points in Sooth simply because I un-slotted it in the Throne of Idris, and Idris kept coming at me. The whole group ended up dying, and I re-slotted it; it did reduce the number of times that I got aggro from healing, but it may/may not have been a by very significant amount (I was too busy trying to stay alive and healing to notice).
Thank you
Halfling - Devoted Cleric - Divine Oracle
Neverwinter Tribunal
<Genocidal Tendencies>
www.genotendencies.enjin.com
I'm now level 40; I ran Grey Wolf Den dungeon last night and completed the Pit Boss skirmish with my new DO build. I slotted Divine Fortune and Foresight as passives since I was running around a lot to avoid getting hit. I used Forgemaster's Flame in Divine Mode and Healing Word to heal; however, I used FF in Divine Mode more often to mass heal allies than HW. I had Hallowed Ground slotted, used it a couple of times, and then tried out Divine Armor. I stuck to Divine Armor because I asked my team what they preferred, and they said Divine Armor. I used Astral Seal and Brand of the Sun as my at-wills since BoTs helped me build up Divine points.
We had two GWFs, a HR, a DC, and a TR. We had to run the dungeon three times because we died the first couple of times, but we worked together to come up with different strategies since we didn't have a CW in the group and the third strategy worked. The TR and HR worked on the adds, I focused on healing and DPS on the boss, and the GWFs focused primarily on the boss.
This game needs a HEALING class
Guys, if you had a bad experience with your DC that does not mean that the class is bad, sometimes if a group does not succeed does not means that is the cleric's fault, even 1 single character can make a difference.
Also, your comment is funny because in high lvl dungeons, you will depend a lot of the DC in order to fulfill your role as controller, you will get agro, mostly if you are going solo.
For the OP, at that level I'd recommend using Chains. Immobilizing add so your team can escape and pot is quite valuable. And if you Chain things and Divine Sunburst them away, the Chains stay on when the add lands and you can run away. If that combo hasn't killed, which 75% of the time it should. But yes, seal alone isn't enough to heal in a dungeon.
As another point, Idris is on a randomized afaik. It's like valindra, it only seems like she's picking on you. But she is just jumping from person to person. I can go in on a lark and out DPS some T1 group and she won't care I exist. Other times she's my new BFF. Soothe really isn't worth the points. I dropped it by Grey Wolf and never looked back.