Time to get serious.

jtook
jtook Posts: 0 Arc User
edited May 2009 in Cleric
Hi guys, i've been playing this game for a couple of months now, my first mmorpg, and have reached level 57. I've joined a friendly faction, had a laugh (mostly at my own mistakes), and thoroughly enjoyed the interaction between the players.

I religiously read this section of the forum each day, trying to pick up tips and advice, and i think im doing ok. I dont have the best armour, weapon, in the world, but i rarely die. I make quite a bit of money selling potions and am ready to think about getting serious. (emphasis on the word 'think')

I have (with add ons in armour) Vit 1.6k and Mag 5.5k, my str is 1 every two levels, my dex on 5. I've not been following a set pattern, just adding stuff when i need it.

My buffs and basic attacks are maxed, rez maxed for faction mates and starting to think about getting the other attacks raised.

My question is (finally, i hear you ask) Am i going in the right direction for a good quality support cleric who can help out with damage when needed? If not, then which way should i start to go? I'm particularly worried by my hp stats, what with stronger mobs and fb's on the horizon.

Thanks for reading this waffle.

jt
Post edited by jtook on

Comments

  • Semajoey - Heavens Tear
    Semajoey - Heavens Tear Posts: 35 Arc User
    edited April 2009
    shard ur armour with hp items, get more phy resis amour. ur magical def is naturally high so u need not need to worry too much about it.

    but most imptly max all ur attack skills first. a cleric is useless if u cant solo grind most mob by urself. its better to 4 hit a mob than 5 hit it and need to cast ironheart on yourself. dun worry too much about party buffing at this point of time, u wont have enough spirit or coins to get all those. concentrate on getting ur attack gears up.

    weld thunder, plume shot, cyclone and ironheart are ur staple diet. u must max all this as and when u can. when u start to aoe grind, get razor feather if not leave it at lvl 1 atm.

    when u reach 60+ u can start thinking about maxing ur plume shell also, its pretty useful when u get ambushed by phy mobs.
  • Teru - Lost City
    Teru - Lost City Posts: 27 Arc User
    edited April 2009
    shard ur armour with hp items, get more phy resis amour. ur magical def is naturally high so u need not need to worry too much about it.

    but most imptly max all ur attack skills first. a cleric is useless if u cant solo grind most mob by urself. its better to 4 hit a mob than 5 hit it and need to cast ironheart on yourself. dun worry too much about party buffing at this point of time, u wont have enough spirit or coins to get all those. concentrate on getting ur attack gears up.

    weld thunder, plume shot, cyclone and ironheart are ur staple diet. u must max all this as and when u can. when u start to aoe grind, get razor feather if not leave it at lvl 1 atm.

    when u reach 60+ u can start thinking about maxing ur plume shell also, its pretty useful when u get ambushed by phy mobs.

    I agree with the hp shards. That is important for surviving fbs and higher HHs.

    But, I highly disagree with a cleric being useless if they can't solo grind very effectively. I have never once done AoE grinding myself. You don't need to, trust me. Find a blademaster and heal them while THEY do the AoEing. You will level much much much faster this way rather than trying to grind yourself, and the BM will appreciate not having to use pots or waste an hp charm.

    You said you were a support cleric. Therefore, your party buffs are of *very* high priority. Level them as you can, but leave the mp regen one to level last. And I do well helping with attacking (when it's not necessary to heal) with my cyclone and plume shot. I only have those two attack skills maxed. I feel there is no need for the others considering I am a party-oriented support cleric. Although, I have my metal mastery maxed, which gives a nice boost to my cyclone.

    These are the skills I find very useful maxed:
    ironheart (:P you already have this taken care of)
    wellspring (very nice for saving someone in a bad situation, including yourself)
    purify (you really want to start leveling this to max after level 60. necessary in fb 69)
    party buffs (you can't be a good support cleric without your buffs)
    plume
    cyclone

    I have party heal at level 5. It's nifty, but not completely necessary right away.
    :D
  • jtook
    jtook Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited April 2009
    Thanks for the replies, guys!
  • _WillFire_ - Sanctuary
    _WillFire_ - Sanctuary Posts: 563 Arc User
    edited April 2009
    Don't forget Regeneration Aura ( Blue Bubble ).
    Mark 12:29-37
    _WillFire_ 8x Combat Medic
  • xxxdsmer
    xxxdsmer Posts: 1 Arc User
    edited April 2009
    Don't forget Regeneration Aura ( Blue Bubble ).

    that'd likely be something needed for someone that wanted to switch to support role :)

    me, i'm attack all the way until i run out of attack stuff to level. then i'll start pickin up some of the purely support skills ;)
    i'm pro all classes, and against none in particular..
    but the age old QQ about venos is just that. OLD.
    QQ'd about a nix lately? check out this thread n tell me who's "OP" lol..
    (copy and paste this to address bar):
    pwi-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=102172
  • _WillFire_ - Sanctuary
    _WillFire_ - Sanctuary Posts: 563 Arc User
    edited April 2009
    xxxdsmer wrote: »
    that'd likely be something needed for someone that wanted to switch to support role :)

    me, i'm attack all the way until i run out of attack stuff to level. then i'll start pickin up some of the purely support skills ;)

    The OP is about support. Of all the skills a cleric has BB is one of the most sought after. It makes certain bosses doable where normally they aren't. The downside is the mp cost. Horrific.
    Mark 12:29-37
    _WillFire_ 8x Combat Medic
  • Seraph - Dreamweaver
    Seraph - Dreamweaver Posts: 196 Arc User
    edited April 2009
    Sounds like you're doing good so far. ^^

    If you want to do TT, you might think about adding some vit, shard your armor with as much HP as you can, and get Regen Aura (BB). With my vit, equipment, and shards, I have 2.4k hp. This goes to almost 3k when I have a barb buff. It REALLY helps when a boss starts throwing an AOE, plus I haven't seen that it slows down leveling much if at all, plus I VERY RARELY die when soloing. Stuff I had problems with on my wizard in Sanc I have no issues with at all on my cleric. Also, when you get BB, you can zhen for more xp at level 60, and a gold mp charm is almost mandatory as BB eats MP quickly and the charm is faster and cheaper than pots.

    As far as attacks vs buffs go, I only leveled Plume Shots and Cyclone until I got my buffs maxed (I went ahead and got party buffs too, they last an hour as opposed to 30 mins), my res max for my level (lvl 9 at the moment), IH maxed, Wellspring and Purify to a decent level, and BB. Now I am working on my attacks and seals. I have Razor Feathers at lvl 7 (for some AOE grinding and TW), and I'll be working on Wield Thunder as I go too (I left it at lvl 1 and haven't seen much need to level it at the moment). For the most part, until you have extra money and spirit, the only attacks you need to worry about are Plume Shot and Cyclone, also get your main three buffs maxed, Vanguard, Magic Shell, and Spirit's Gift (party buffs optional, and the Celestial Guardian only needs one level). You'll also want to max IH as soon as you can, and level Wellspring some for a quick healing spike. Don't worry about getting Chromatic Healing Beam past lvl 1. That level works quite nicely even in FB 51 if the DDs stay close to you, and it's not needed at all once you get BB, save for a quick heal after the barb casts his HP buff.
  • _WillFire_ - Sanctuary
    _WillFire_ - Sanctuary Posts: 563 Arc User
    edited April 2009
    Eh...you'll learn Seraph.

    The major killer bosses in TT are phys AoE. All the hp in the world is not going to save you from them. You need a combination of hp and pDef.

    Presently I have 2.6k hp unbuffed without hp shards. This is from +hp equips, 60 Vit capped, and refining. My pDef is 2778 with a BM buff. Soul Banisher still hurts but he no longer kills me like he did when all my armor was HP shards.
    Mark 12:29-37
    _WillFire_ 8x Combat Medic
  • Keyne - Heavens Tear
    Keyne - Heavens Tear Posts: 202 Arc User
    edited April 2009
    I dont know if I 100% agree with going full Pdef for shards. In TT I do just fine against the Phys AOE bosses with my HP at 3k unbuffed (Gotta love shards). Besides, doesnt BB cut damage to you by 50%? It would be nice to have 2 sets of armor, one pdef and one hp. Best bet would be to load up on pdef and get ur armor to +5. That wont be cheap, but you'd own
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
  • _WillFire_ - Sanctuary
    _WillFire_ - Sanctuary Posts: 563 Arc User
    edited April 2009
    I dont know if I 100% agree with going full Pdef for shards. In TT I do just fine against the Phys AOE bosses with my HP at 3k unbuffed (Gotta love shards). Besides, doesnt BB cut damage to you by 50%? It would be nice to have 2 sets of armor, one pdef and one hp. Best bet would be to load up on pdef and get ur armor to +5. That wont be cheap, but you'd own

    3k hp unbuffed will do ok...but what did you give up for that hp? As I said I would go for a balance. Switching out armor sets is expensive as is refining anything up to +5.

    The thing with BB is that Soul Banisher ( and later TT bosses do *more* ) can ( and has ) done 2.4-2.6k damage *through* BB with my pDef. That means 4.8-5.2k damage outside of the bubble with 2778 pDef. Lower than that and you will start seeing some major issues. Barb hp buff is what puts you over the top.
    Mark 12:29-37
    _WillFire_ 8x Combat Medic
  • Keyne - Heavens Tear
    Keyne - Heavens Tear Posts: 202 Arc User
    edited April 2009
    As for me I decided to go with a 7-2-1 (7 Mag - 2 Vit - 1 Str )build. Mostly support based cleric. It seems to work for me for now. I dont normally go on the offensive unless I'm soloing. I do just fine grinding and questing. I am kinda tempted to restat to 8-1-1 (8 Mag - 1 Vit - 1 Str ) for the extra power, but for now I'll stick it out untill at least lvl 80.
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
  • sage0nemage
    sage0nemage Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited April 2009
    Support clerics are suck ups, they grind slower level slower do everything slower.
  • MystiMonk - Sanctuary
    MystiMonk - Sanctuary Posts: 4,286 Arc User
    edited April 2009
    Support clerics are suck ups, they grind slower level slower do everything slower.

    What do you recommend then?
    Looking for a decent casual understanding Faction.
  • ADvEnTcUrSe - Sanctuary
    ADvEnTcUrSe - Sanctuary Posts: 69 Arc User
    edited April 2009
    Support clerics are suck ups, they grind slower level slower do everything slower.

    support clerics do just fine
  • Seraph - Dreamweaver
    Seraph - Dreamweaver Posts: 196 Arc User
    edited April 2009
    Support clerics are suck ups, they grind slower level slower do everything slower.

    Yet we never have to ask to get in a party, we get asked. We never have to ask for buffs, we get asked for them. Alongside barbs, we're one of the most sought after classes in a party and can even make a decent DD if needed (I'm not gonna pretend like we're better at it than archers or wizzies lol). I got to 60 in half the time it took my wizard to get there (soloing is just SO much easier with a cleric), with less playtime per day even. Yep, real suck ups and slow levelers us clerics. lol

    I just love constructive, informative replies... >.<
  • RedsRose - Lost City
    RedsRose - Lost City Posts: 12,354 Arc User
    edited April 2009
    Support clerics are suck ups, they grind slower level slower do everything slower.

    Ummm no....we level just fine. In fact, we have an advantage in that we are highly sought after for FB's, Zhen, TT/HH, etc. I can tell you I hit level 81 doing only 1 level 80 quest.

    And in terms of "suck ups,".....b:chuckle.....pls, what do I need to suck up for or too? I would luv to be enlightened on this breaking news...
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
    RoidAbuse is awesome, only he would sell his sperm for gear!!

    "Toughest monster? ..... RedsRose b:surrender" - Kantorek
    Where is my 1 v 1 Kan? b:mischievous
  • jtook
    jtook Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited April 2009
    So i suppose my next decision should be hp shards, pdef shards or a mixture of both. I've seen various threads on the advantages and disadvantages of each system, and both sides put forth excellent cases. I guess ill have to pick one and go with it. Guess my black dress will have to wait!!!

    As to the support/DD debate, i actually get a real buzz out of knowing that i kept everyone safe whilst in a squad (though as you all know sometimes it goes wrong, and i feel **** for ages after) but i want to know i can help out too.

    Thanks again for the comments guys, i learn stuff every day, reading your comments, keep it up!


    jt
  • Teru - Lost City
    Teru - Lost City Posts: 27 Arc User
    edited April 2009
    Eh...you'll learn Seraph.

    The major killer bosses in TT are phys AoE. All the hp in the world is not going to save you from them. You need a combination of hp and pDef.

    Presently I have 2.6k hp unbuffed without hp shards. This is from +hp equips, 60 Vit capped, and refining. My pDef is 2778 with a BM buff. Soul Banisher still hurts but he no longer kills me like he did when all my armor was HP shards.

    You don't need extra pdef to get through bosses. I have about 3k hp now buffed, with barely over 1k pdef buffed. I survive VERY well through all HH's up to 2-2 and 3-1. I haven't tried anything higher I believe.

    Full support clerics don't do everything slower. If you get a bm to AoE grind with every little while, you're set. I can also grind well in a party with my 2 attack skills. People like to have me around for rebuffing and ressing (if they so happen to die).

    I am VERY squad oriented in my play-style. I pick my skills mostly for what is most useful to the entire party rather than for only myself. I get many more fb's, parties, etc., than less support based clerics my level.
    :D
  • _WillFire_ - Sanctuary
    _WillFire_ - Sanctuary Posts: 563 Arc User
    edited April 2009
    You don't need extra pdef to get through bosses. I have about 3k hp now buffed, with barely over 1k pdef buffed. I survive VERY well through all HH's up to 2-2 and 3-1. I haven't tried anything higher I believe.

    Full support clerics don't do everything slower. If you get a bm to AoE grind with every little while, you're set. I can also grind well in a party with my 2 attack skills. People like to have me around for rebuffing and ressing (if they so happen to die).

    I am VERY squad oriented in my play-style. I pick my skills mostly for what is most useful to the entire party rather than for only myself. I get many more fb's, parties, etc., than less support based clerics my level.

    Cool...once you need to go through 2-2 and 3-1 let me know how it works for you. Presently I have no issues with either of those TT's.

    And I agree..."Support" clerics level just fine. They can't solo as efficiently but there are pro/con issues on both sides. Of all the classes the only one that I can think of that is more "well rounded" then cleric is Veno.
    Mark 12:29-37
    _WillFire_ 8x Combat Medic
  • Keyne - Heavens Tear
    Keyne - Heavens Tear Posts: 202 Arc User
    edited April 2009
    Support clerics are suck ups, they grind slower level slower do everything slower.

    b:chuckle Obviously you dont know what you are talking about. I have no problems grinding. I had to purposefully slow down my leveling to get my TT gear, which is really nice btw and loaded with lots of beautiful HP shards. I cant tell you how many times I get called into AOE parties and TT runs. I am truely enjoying being a Support cleric. I will can DD just fin as well. Clerics kick ****!
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
  • Rule - Heavens Tear
    Rule - Heavens Tear Posts: 579 Arc User
    edited April 2009
    My 2 cents unasked for and probably unappreciated :P

    Support clerics are what its all about. At lev 8x what you used prior doesn't matter, you've get the SP to do it all. In TT, if pre 8x you've not maxed your attack and your heals are not needed, just pop RB and you'll do far more dmg as a squad then your individual contribution would have been. If you've got your seals maxed your squad can also do WAY more damage during those than your DD contribution would have been.
    If this were a brand spanking new server I could understand the urge to go all attack etc, to be higher lev than anyone else first. Since its established, fastest possible leveling should be persued....Usually that means working with squads on FB\Zhen\fishing\TT for gear etc etc.
    If you can't keep a party alive...they'll just not take you. If your rez is awful...you'll definantly not be a first pick.
    When I look at this, I think what gets the best overall effect for an entire squad, not what helps solo....
    Also, when you need Krimson done for you, is the barb you wouldn't\couldn't heal going to be there to help?
  • Keyne - Heavens Tear
    Keyne - Heavens Tear Posts: 202 Arc User
    edited April 2009
    My 2 cents unasked for and probably unappreciated :P

    Support clerics are what its all about. At lev 8x what you used prior doesn't matter, you've get the SP to do it all. In TT, if pre 8x you've not maxed your attack and your heals are not needed, just pop RB and you'll do far more dmg as a squad then your individual contribution would have been. If you've got your seals maxed your squad can also do WAY more damage during those than your DD contribution would have been.
    If this were a brand spanking new server I could understand the urge to go all attack etc, to be higher lev than anyone else first. Since its established, fastest possible leveling should be persued....Usually that means working with squads on FB\Zhen\fishing\TT for gear etc etc.
    If you can't keep a party alive...they'll just not take you. If your rez is awful...you'll definantly not be a first pick.
    When I look at this, I think what gets the best overall effect for an entire squad, not what helps solo....
    Also, when you need Krimson done for you, is the barb you wouldn't\couldn't heal going to be there to help?

    Amen, preach it brother! RB, BB, Debuffs, these are a few of my favorite things! b:victory
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
  • Ninnuam - Sanctuary
    Ninnuam - Sanctuary Posts: 1,086 Arc User
    edited May 2009
    Support clerics are suck ups, they grind slower level slower do everything slower.

    I get 1,5mil xp in 2 hours. You?
    b:dirty