The role of clerics?

ProudAngel - Archosaur
ProudAngel - Archosaur Posts: 31 Arc User
edited June 2015 in Cleric
Hello everyone. I've been a forum lurker for a while now, and I like to think I'm fairly experienced in the game. I like looking through the forums to learn new things, improve my play style, and see different perspectives. Recently I was looking through older cleric threads, and I found something that I was very surprised to see would spark strong debate in the cleric community. As I said, the threads I looked at were a bit old (maybe a year), so I was curious if the thoughts expressed in those discussions are still around.

The general feeling a year ago seemed to be that the idea of clerics as primary healer is outdated. Clerics are far better dd's than healers, and truly, a mystic is a more efficient healer.

I saw several clerics (and even non-clerics) assert that it is best to always ask a cleric (regardless of whether he/she is the only cleric/mystic in squad) if he/she is there to heal or dd, and if you do not, and your squad fails due to lack of heals, it is either the fault of the tank for not being able to use charms/pots/skills to survive, or it is the fault of poor communication.

There is more I could say, but in the interest of brevity, I'll stop here for now. I really want to hear other thoughts :)
Post edited by ProudAngel - Archosaur on

Comments

  • Asterelle - Sanctuary
    Asterelle - Sanctuary Posts: 930 Arc User
    edited May 2015
    You don't really have to ask about healing / DD anymore. Just turn on violet dance mode to communicate you intend on being a DD. That last healer who does not have violet dance mode on is expected to heal unless the squad does not need any heals.
    [sigpic][/sigpic]
    PWI Calculators - aster.ohmydays.net/pw
  • ProudAngel - Archosaur
    ProudAngel - Archosaur Posts: 31 Arc User
    edited May 2015
    You don't really have to ask about healing / DD anymore. Just turn on violet dance mode to communicate you intend on being a DD. That last healer who does not have violet dance mode on is expected to heal unless the squad does not need any heals.

    Not exactly what I meant, but I think your response does at least indicate that the general opinion is not that clerics are now excused from healing duties. I was curious because it is something I have only seen a few times on my server, but forum posters made it seem a common practice on other servers. Made me wonder if I should abandon ship on my cleric, but I guess that whole discussion was a forum trolls' convention. b:chuckle
  • WannaBM - Archosaur
    WannaBM - Archosaur Posts: 1,984 Arc User
    edited May 2015
    If you are the only cleric in squad, i expect 1 of 2 things:

    A: You are a nab cleric so you do what a cleris is made for which is heal.

    B: You are a pro cleric and you know PWI well enough to look at the tanks gear, at the stuff you are fighting, estimate how much healing he will need and DD if appropriate, heal if needed. Its not only the tank of course, there might be AOE as well.

    If you are somewhere in between A and B or just unsure, you probably start out keeping a sharp eye on everyones health and be ready to heal if needed. If it proves not needed, you can DD.

    If the cleric cannot judge if the tank will need his healing and is just going to DD anyways, he is a stuborn idiot. If the tank dies and there is a cleric who is not healing yes it is the clerics fault.

    I also do not expect to need apoth/charm when there is a cleric in squad unless i am willingly and at my own risk running too fast for him to follow.
    Many charmed tanks expect you to go out of your way to prevent charm ticks on them and get totally pissed of when their charm ticks. I am not like that (i try to prevent using charms in PvE and when i have some remaining after NW/TW, i just burn trough it and be done with it) I would think it very reasonable for the cleric to try and heal though and not just think `oh hes charmed, he doesnt need healing`.

    And as for the multiple cleric situations, yes often i guess as astrelle sais, the last one to be not in VD is going to be the healer. Although sometimes common sense might dictate different. For example if you have a squad that is lacking in DD power though but with an R9+12 cleric and a G16+6 cleric, the G16+6 is imo a **** if he doesnt let the R9 DD/solo.
    Everything i write is from PvE perspective unless mentioned otherwise.
  • eirghan
    eirghan Posts: 1,912 Arc User
    edited May 2015
    I think if mystics were known as primary healers wed have more cata mystics and less cata clerics and on my server at least not only do we have sad few mystics but those that we have are usually used as DD and the full potential of their support skills are rarely tapped into.

    Mystic heals are surprisingly OP but completely different from cleric heals imo. A mystic really has to know what they are doing in order to sufficiently replace a cleric healer wise, especially in a PVP situation. I dont think one or the other is better at healing. I do think mystics have an easier time transitioning between dd and heals.

    In regards to failing squads if a cleric is DDing when the squad is clearly dying it would of course still be partially the clerics fault. As a born and bred seeker though it is also partly the tanks job as well to aggro all mobs to protect your squad, and not aggro too much so you dont die before someone can heal you. A successful squad depends on everyone doing their job well, not just one person.

    At least on my server and in my experience communication is nice and necessary, but if you have the powers to heal and are the only one with the ability, it goes without saying that you are expected to at the very least keep an eye on your squads well being, or make an action to let them know you wont (as asty suggests)
  • ProudAngel - Archosaur
    ProudAngel - Archosaur Posts: 31 Arc User
    edited May 2015
    If you are the only cleric in squad, i expect 1 of 2 things:

    A: You are a nab cleric so you do what a cleris is made for which is heal.

    B: You are a pro cleric and you know PWI well enough to look at the tanks gear, at the stuff you are fighting, estimate how much healing he will need and DD if appropriate, heal if needed. Its not only the tank of course, there might be AOE as well.

    If you are somewhere in between A and B or just unsure, you probably start out keeping a sharp eye on everyones health and be ready to heal if needed. If it proves not needed, you can DD.

    I judge myself to be somewhere between A and B by your definitions. Hope that doesn't make me too much fail :o
    If the cleric cannot judge if the tank will need his healing and is just going to DD anyways, he is a stuborn idiot. If the tank dies and there is a cleric who is not healing yes it is the clerics fault.

    I also do not expect to need apoth/charm when there is a cleric in squad unless i am willingly and at my own risk running too fast for him to follow.
    Many charmed tanks expect you to go out of your way to prevent charm ticks on them and get totally pissed of when their charm ticks. I am not like that (i try to prevent using charms in PvE and when i have some remaining after NW/TW, i just burn trough it and be done with it) I would think it very reasonable for the cleric to try and heal though and not just think `oh hes charmed, he doesnt need healing`.

    I personally agree. This was why I raised the question. I saw quite a few people (mostly clerics, but not all) defending the actions of a cleric who chose to dd on a boss rather than heal the tank. The tank was in no danger of dying thanks to apoth items and being hp charmed. Several people raised the argument that clerics are not there to prevent your charm from ticking or keep you from using apoth; they are there only to prevent you from dying, meaning that if they feel you aren't in any real danger until your hp drops to 25%, they won't touch a heal until that point. After all, clerics are not your heal slaves (cause slavery is a fair comparison? b:shocked)

    Made me feel like I've been doing it wrong for the last few years b:sadI see it as part of my job in a squad to help members preserve as many crabs, charm ticks, and apoth items as I can. If I happen to notice a squad member's charm tick (which will happen since I always have an eye on the hp bars o.o), I take it a bit personally and give them a little extra attention as long as I'm not endangering the rest of the group to do so.
    And as for the multiple cleric situations, yes often i guess as astrelle sais, the last one to be not in VD is going to be the healer. Although sometimes common sense might dictate different. For example if you have a squad that is lacking in DD power though but with an R9+12 cleric and a G16+6 cleric, the G16+6 is imo a **** if he doesnt let the R9 DD/solo.

    And amen to that ._. I'm G16+12 glaive (judge all you want >_>), so I always hesitate to go UVD when I see another cleric in squad. I always let the R9's have it first. But I can't count the number of times another cleric has joined a squad with me, saw I was a cleric, and instantly went to VD with their G15 weapon :c
    eirghan wrote: »
    I think if mystics were known as primary healers wed have more cata mystics and less cata clerics and on my server at least not only do we have sad few mystics but those that we have are usually used as DD and the full potential of their support skills are rarely tapped into.

    Mystic heals are surprisingly OP but completely different from cleric heals imo. A mystic really has to know what they are doing in order to sufficiently replace a cleric healer wise, especially in a PVP situation. I dont think one or the other is better at healing. I do think mystics have an easier time transitioning between dd and heals.

    In regards to failing squads if a cleric is DDing when the squad is clearly dying it would of course still be partially the clerics fault. As a born and bred seeker though it is also partly the tanks job as well to aggro all mobs to protect your squad, and not aggro too much so you dont die before someone can heal you. A successful squad depends on everyone doing their job well, not just one person.

    At least on my server and in my experience communication is nice and necessary, but if you have the powers to heal and are the only one with the ability, it goes without saying that you are expected to at the very least keep an eye on your squads well being, or make an action to let them know you wont (as asty suggests)

    Thanks for the PvP point of view. It's not something I ever really think of.

    I have toyed around with a mystic alt myself, and I must say, at least at lower levels, healing on it is a much greater challenge than healing on cleric. It takes a lot more work, but it is a lot more fun! With all the OP toons around, it's not hard to see that a cleric's heals become less important in PvE, but I like to think that the class isn't out of its healing job yet.

    And I agree with communication, but I think it's a shame when people really think you have to ask the only cleric, "DO YOU HEAL?" That actually did happen to me in an fsp I joined once (with the caps and everything lol). I laughed until I realized it was a serious question. They were refilling the spot after they had to boot a cleric that went complete metal mage on them b:surrender
  • thatarcher69
    thatarcher69 Posts: 1 Arc User
    edited May 2015
    I have been playing my alt cleric alot and my fist and main goals when i join a squad is keeping the tank and dds up and pervent charm ticks, but if you are a dd who cant handle your argo or who likes to run off and try kill mobs you self im not going out of my way to heal/rez you. I stick with the tank as he or she should be the main one taking damage from mobs/ boss.
  • Slivaf - Dreamweaver
    Slivaf - Dreamweaver Posts: 2,106 Arc User
    edited May 2015
    I have been playing my alt cleric alot and my fist and main goals when i join a squad is keeping the tank and dds up and pervent charm ticks, but if you are a dd who cant handle your argo or who likes to run off and try kill mobs you self im not going out of my way to heal/rez you. I stick with the tank as he or she should be the main one taking damage from mobs/ boss.

    ^ This - maybe the charm part, I'll do what i can to keep a charm from doing all the healing, but yea I know I wont be able to prevent every single one.

    I will watch that squad list like a edge of my seat thriller movie (while on my alt mystic/cleric) that I am currently watching. (Less so If I feel the cleric/other mystic is more than capable of healing themselves. - Mainly watching their hp/checking for things that should be purified.)
    Ah, Mistakes are so easily made. ~ laura resnick

    What kind of message are you sending when you insult my intelligence? ~ Me ~ 5/29/2015 (Yes it is possible someone said this before just no idea who/where.)
  • ProudAngel - Archosaur
    ProudAngel - Archosaur Posts: 31 Arc User
    edited May 2015
    I have been playing my alt cleric alot and my fist and main goals when i join a squad is keeping the tank and dds up and pervent charm ticks, but if you are a dd who cant handle your argo or who likes to run off and try kill mobs you self im not going out of my way to heal/rez you. I stick with the tank as he or she should be the main one taking damage from mobs/ boss.

    Definitely true... But I have been in some less conventional squads at times. All full of overambitious dd's who take on a few more mobs than is good for them. In those cases, I really am stuck healing the Leroys since once one goes down, it just means his mobs are jumping on the next squishy. It's a challenge for sure, but it can be fun. I find that in squads like that the best thing for me is to switch out to channeling gear and be as fast as I can.
  • lunarstar245
    lunarstar245 Posts: 55 Arc User
    edited May 2015
    My rules of being cleric


    1. If you are the only cleric and it is not a weak boss/cave then you heal
    2. If there are more than 1 cleric in squad weakest geared heals, better geared DDs
    Defiance <3

    I wish someone would make me a fancy-dancey sig

    Archo Server on Facebook!
  • WannaBM - Archosaur
    WannaBM - Archosaur Posts: 1,984 Arc User
    edited May 2015
    Definitely true... But I have been in some less conventional squads at times. All full of overambitious dd's who take on a few more mobs than is good for them. In those cases, I really am stuck healing the Leroys since once one goes down, it just means his mobs are jumping on the next squishy. It's a challenge for sure, but it can be fun. I find that in squads like that the best thing for me is to switch out to channeling gear and be as fast as I can.

    I envision you with a squad full of assasin todlers running around.

    Maybe just start BB and move it every 30s and tell them to stay near mama.

    Or dont heal the first one but start stacking IH on the second one to teach the first a lesson. :p
    Everything i write is from PvE perspective unless mentioned otherwise.
  • ProudAngel - Archosaur
    ProudAngel - Archosaur Posts: 31 Arc User
    edited May 2015
    I envision you with a squad full of assasin todlers running around.

    Maybe just start BB and move it every 30s and tell them to stay near mama.

    Or dont heal the first one but start stacking IH on the second one to teach the first a lesson. :p

    The image XD

    I have felt like a mama hen watching her chicks sometimes lol. I just can't help myself. I enjoy trying to make a maybe-not-quite-so-strong group succeed. Sure, most of the time I'll join the virtually fail-proof runs, but every now and then I want to do something different or it just gets boring. Sometimes I think people get so caught up in being pro, being fast, and doing everything perfect that they forget just how much fun a challenge, a struggle, or even losing can be as long as everyone is doing their part for the team. I mean, am I the only one who laughs if I die?

    That was off topic lol
    My rules of being cleric


    1. If you are the only cleric and it is not a weak boss/cave then you heal
    2. If there are more than 1 cleric in squad weakest geared heals, better geared DDs

    Always what I thought was best. Glad to have another in agreement.
  • opkossy
    opkossy Posts: 11,177 Community Moderator
    edited May 2015
    My role is simple.

    When I'm the only one who can heal, I immediately gear check all members as they come in. From that, I can guess what they can and can't handle at a bare minimum and apply heals as needed while I also DD. In the event that they show below average skill, I'll either switch to full support mode or I'll let them die while I kill everything off until they realize the cleric can solo and if they act stupid they'll have to deal with the consequences. On that note, I do not consider people who aren't the primary tank bum rushing mobs as all that bad as long as they can either manage themselves fine or they remember to actually aggro whatever's on them and they can survive with my heals. The ones that rush super far ahead of me and can't handle themselves or who don't aggro the mobs and die? Those I don't care much for and won't attempt to save unless I'm bored and want to challenge myself.

    When others who can heal are in squad, I still gear check everyone anyways as a safety precaution. I'll also whisper the others that can heal and even though I usually outgear them, poor communication kills and I'd rather make sure we establish who's healing right off the bat. Too many times where I've been in squads where the better geared cleric goes into VD and the weaker one either doesn't heal at all or ALSO goes into VD even though it should be obvious who's more capable for DD. Anyways, after establishing who's healing (sometimes I point out I'm a better DD, other times I can't be bothered), I'll do the same as above if I'm on heal duty or switch into VD while being ready to exit and assist on heals if the situation needs it.

    On the matter of charms, I'll try to prevent charm ticks but I'm not gonna prioritize them. If the uncharmed DD is getting hit hard and the tank has a charm, the DD gets healed first because the tank can handle taking a hit more than the DD can. If only the tank is getting hit and the tank is charmed or if there's a minor AoE that the DDs can survive, I'll try to keep the tank above 50% and the DDs can either use pots or wait til they're getting near 50% for a squad heal since the AoE is weak. I won't stop DDing for that, mind you, but I will add in a bit more healing than I would if everyone was uncharmed because I appreciate clerics that don't make me charm tank stuff and I like to return the favor when I'm the cleric.




    tl;dr: Healing is always my first priority as a class that partially revolves around healing and support. I'm still gonna DD and have freedom to do so more often than not nowadays, but when heals are needed I'm gonna put that first even when there are other healers in the squad or it has enough OP folks.
    (Insert fancy image here)
    image
  • kittenblues
    kittenblues Posts: 4 Arc User
    edited May 2015
    I have noticed on my mystic I have the spirit points to got high on damage or high on heals, but not both. I wonder if clerics have the same option, making some clerics better built for damage than healing.

    Then again, this could be a case of everyone wanting to play the tank without actually having a toon well suited to it or the gaming skills to do it well.

    Personaly, on my healing mystic I have lost all pitty for the squishy classes that don't have the sense to stay in my healing herb/vital herb/ comforting myst range while I put all my attention on a tank. If the lv in a squad makes the cleric the best canidate for the tank, that's who my target heals go to. If the cleric is the same or lower than a barb or seeker in the party, then I would treat the tank class as tank unless someone warns me about being severly undergeared. I think if I work on a cleric alt, I would use the same guidelines.

    That being said, stacking Salvation skills with falling petals and cleric buffs can make a cleric signifigantly less squishy, and dare I say almost tanky? Given how fast Salvation burns through chi and the transferance drain on mp, it can be tricky to keep up, but efective in the right circumstance to have 2 healers working together.
  • WannaBM - Archosaur
    WannaBM - Archosaur Posts: 1,984 Arc User
    edited May 2015
    I have noticed on my mystic I have the spirit points to got high on damage or high on heals, but not both. I wonder if clerics have the same option, making some clerics better built for damage than healing.

    Spirit points are only an issue in the very very very beginning. Soon you will have all your skills maxed, then you will get them all demon or sage. You dont need to make a choise between skills.
    Then again, this could be a case of everyone wanting to play the tank without actually having a toon well suited to it or the gaming skills to do it well.

    Personaly, on my healing mystic I have lost all pitty for the squishy classes that don't have the sense to stay in my healing herb/vital herb/ comforting myst range while I put all my attention on a tank. If the lv in a squad makes the cleric the best canidate for the tank, that's who my target heals go to. If the cleric is the same or lower than a barb or seeker in the party, then I would treat the tank class as tank unless someone warns me about being severly undergeared. I think if I work on a cleric alt, I would use the same guidelines.

    That being said, stacking Salvation skills with falling petals and cleric buffs can make a cleric signifigantly less squishy, and dare I say almost tanky? Given how fast Salvation burns through chi and the transferance drain on mp, it can be tricky to keep up, but efective in the right circumstance to have 2 healers working together.

    Your spirit point remark tells me that you are rather new to the game. Many players you are playing with have played a bunch of other toons before. They often know what they are doing and might not stay near your healing because they dont think they need it :)

    If you are new, it may be hard for you to judge who is most suited to tank. It goes well beyond simply who has the most hitpoints. One might receive 4 times less damage from an attacker than the other due to pdef / mdef. If you happen to have experience players in your squad they may also be using genie skills and apoth potions to stay alive even though they look rather squicy.
    Heavy armor classes (barb, Blademaster, seeker) will very easilly be a better tank for physical attackers than any magic or light class unless the gear/skill difference is very extreme. Magic classes can very well be a better tank against magic damage at about equal gear level. So yes, the cleric may well be tanking when the incoming damage is all magic if he can manage to keep the mobs attacking him.
    Everything i write is from PvE perspective unless mentioned otherwise.
  • Evryn - Morai
    Evryn - Morai Posts: 1,437 Arc User
    edited May 2015
    I've played cleric for a bit now. I usually stick to healing and debuffing the bosses unless it's blatantly obvious that no healing will be needed. Better to be safe then sorry - in a party of 10, one more metalmage isn't going to speed things up a lot anyway.
    Clerics have become strong DDs thanks to primal cyclone, especially demon ones. But to sacrifice party support to dish out a few 100k of damage? Seems like a selfish tradeoff.

    A point made earlier suggests that the tank should burn charm and pots while tanking... That I strongly disagree with. Healers are there for a reason, to keep the tanks hp up. Personally, I see repeated charmticking and pots use as signs that the healing is insufficient. Many tanks, myself included, will simply cease to take aggro if we see it's intentional - and let the DDing healers deal with the damage themselves. Not everyone's willing to burn up charm for the sake of speeding up an instance by a few seconds.
    I'm so P.R.O... I Press Respawn Often.

    Ulsyr 103/103/104 BM. Working on the last R9 part (Axe).
    Khelvan 103/103/103 LA Cler. LA? LA. Deal with it.
    Evryn 103/102/101 Sagely Mystical Myst of Mystiness.
    Gromth 102/102/102 Sage Panda.
    StoneSnake - Snakeshop for everyone's common stones.
  • jjbrendan
    jjbrendan Posts: 51 Arc User
    edited May 2015
    A spanner in the works here my preference is Sage Cleric as chi is easier to generate and it can be used to renew mana when three sparks built up and make a stronger heal in squad and stronger attack when soloing quests as in doing base quests.

    Sorry if above is confusing and not easy to read. I play on Sanctuary and my Cleric and Veno are in faction Meteora.
  • ProudAngel - Archosaur
    ProudAngel - Archosaur Posts: 31 Arc User
    edited May 2015
    I've played cleric for a bit now. I usually stick to healing and debuffing the bosses unless it's blatantly obvious that no healing will be needed. Better to be safe then sorry - in a party of 10, one more metalmage isn't going to speed things up a lot anyway.
    Clerics have become strong DDs thanks to primal cyclone, especially demon ones. But to sacrifice party support to dish out a few 100k of damage? Seems like a selfish tradeoff.

    A point made earlier suggests that the tank should burn charm and pots while tanking... That I strongly disagree with. Healers are there for a reason, to keep the tanks hp up. Personally, I see repeated charmticking and pots use as signs that the healing is insufficient. Many tanks, myself included, will simply cease to take aggro if we see it's intentional - and let the DDing healers deal with the damage themselves. Not everyone's willing to burn up charm for the sake of speeding up an instance by a few seconds.

    I like seeing that the general feeling isn't quite that the whole population has gotten so op that clerics have lost their primary purpose, and I hate to think that there are clerics out there who are okay with having apoth items do their job for them.

    That said, sometimes I like to tank/solo dungeons 89 and down to help lower levels out. If there's a second, lower level cleric in the squad and I or the squad have let it be known I joined to tank, I always watch the cleric. If they assume healing role, great. If all I see them do is dd, and they leave me to tank, debuff, heal myself and the squad, my heals tend to never make it to the cleric. I figure if they're not busy healing squad, they've got plenty of time to heal themselves b:chuckle
  • Adibeiie - Dreamweaver
    Adibeiie - Dreamweaver Posts: 15 Arc User
    edited May 2015
    I think if there is only one cleric in squad their primary role should be keeping the squad alive, as a cleric I would not expect anybody to only rely on their charm/apoth/pots, etc. to tank through a boss. Having a well geared cleric and mystic myself, I can attest that, while mystics are great for burst or spot heals, a cleric trumps that with healing over time.

    Though that being said, I often find myself having to heal in instances, like FSP for example. Countless times I have been in random FSP squads where there are 2 or 3 clerics plus myself. More often than not they are G16+5 to +7 on average, where as I am R9RR +11/12 and I end up healing since they jump in to UVD the entire instance. Generally if I'm not pressed for time I just let them do whatever and I keep the squad alive, but I think many clerics and cleric alts don't feel the need to heal or don't have the sense to look at their squad to allow more effective DD.
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
    Dreamweaver ~ Tempest ~ 105/102/102 Cleric
  • ProudAngel - Archosaur
    ProudAngel - Archosaur Posts: 31 Arc User
    edited May 2015
    I think if there is only one cleric in squad their primary role should be keeping the squad alive, as a cleric I would not expect anybody to only rely on their charm/apoth/pots, etc. to tank through a boss. Having a well geared cleric and mystic myself, I can attest that, while mystics are great for burst or spot heals, a cleric trumps that with healing over time.

    Though that being said, I often find myself having to heal in instances, like FSP for example. Countless times I have been in random FSP squads where there are 2 or 3 clerics plus myself. More often than not they are G16+5 to +7 on average, where as I am R9RR +11/12 and I end up healing since they jump in to UVD the entire instance. Generally if I'm not pressed for time I just let them do whatever and I keep the squad alive, but I think many clerics and cleric alts don't feel the need to heal or don't have the sense to look at their squad to allow more effective DD.

    Perhaps cleric alts are one of the sources of dd cleric syndrome. Someone with a dd main might try to play their cleric in the same way, and they truly don't realize that it isn't better for the squad and often makes them seem selfish.

    I feel for you with the uvd clerics. I prefer to let rrr9s dd as I know my damage doesn't compete. I had one fsp squad with an rrr9 cleric tanking the leaf boss (can't remember its name now :p) over a barb and several op dd's. Poor thing didn't even notice she was tanking until the boss was almost dead since I did my job and kept her alive.
  • HideYoHubby - Archosaur
    HideYoHubby - Archosaur Posts: 995 Arc User
    edited May 2015
    Perhaps cleric alts are one of the sources of dd cleric syndrome. Someone with a dd main might try to play their cleric in the same way, and they truly don't realize that it isn't better for the squad and often makes them seem selfish.

    I feel for you with the uvd clerics. I prefer to let rrr9s dd as I know my damage doesn't compete. I had one fsp squad with an rrr9 cleric tanking the leaf boss (can't remember its name now :p) over a barb and several op dd's. Poor thing didn't even notice she was tanking until the boss was almost dead since I did my job and kept her alive.

    If cleric holds aggro off OP DDs, they have to be pretty OP geared. I know one of their attack skills heals them in UVD. I personally tank fair bit of bosses in FSP on my archer, I dont need any heals outside of my own autopot running. Well I dont think I do, the times there are no heals coming to you when you tank are so few its hard to say for sure. Its simply the result of outgearing the instance on pretty absurd levels.

    Still, taking the support cleric stance over DDing has 2 benefits. There are always some squishies whom stuggle with AoEs, making sure they stay alive can save fair bit of time in case one would die and you would then have to hold the boss till they are back there. Secondly heals are nice, even if you wouldnt technically need them to survive. You have no idea how annoying pointless PvE charm ticks are. Considering how easy it would be to keep current tanks from ticking, failing to do that will be noticed.

    I form fair bit of squads and I remember the slacking clerics, anybody who in some manner really annoys me/affects the run in negative way. Not talking solely bout clerics here. While I dont really have anybody on list whom with I refuse to run you can be certain if I get 20 pms on my WC for instance, the people I have bad experiences of are coincidentally left w/o invite.
    __Sami__ - Archer - 105/103/102 - mypers.pw/1.8/#132088 - Active
    HideYoHubby - Assassin - 105/101/101 - Inactive
    WnbTank - Barbarian - 103/101/101 - Catshop
  • lunarstar245
    lunarstar245 Posts: 55 Arc User
    edited May 2015

    Always what I thought was best. Glad to have another in agreement.


    b:cute
    Defiance <3

    I wish someone would make me a fancy-dancey sig

    Archo Server on Facebook!
  • Deliylah - Morai
    Deliylah - Morai Posts: 34 Arc User
    edited June 2015
    Well since this game is seriously broken and unbalanced, and full support clerics are not really needed in PVE anymore... I switched to violet dance tank role b:laugh .As a cleric tank I dont have to worry about healing squad since Im only one getting dmg and I can just save my charm with using elven boon here and there. And if boss aoes and I see that some ppl took more dmg, usually sage regeneration buff heals them enough to save their charms so I can stay in violet dance trough whole fight. b:laugh (and yes, I can also tank FSP frog boss where I also have to purify squad members from deadly debuff)

    But in TW/NW I usually mix between support/DD role depending on the enemy and my squads ability to take some dmg, but my primary role there is support.
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
    ~ Deliylah (previous xDeliciousx) ~
    Sage R9 cleric, lvl 105-105-105, 949 magic *_*
    My YouTube channel: youtube.com/user/DeviIiciousAngel
  • sjampie
    sjampie Posts: 624 Arc User
    NECRO Nah, opening this thread again :)

    Just to say I finally know the purpose of clerics. A few days ago someone called me (in the middle of the night) over the phone to come online with my cleric. First I was thinking "wtf don't sleep because of someone need me in a game?" but after coming online for idk...half an hour I finally discovered it: I was spammed with the message 'purify!' which I already used many times on that toon with some healing in between.Normally I would just leave a squad when people starting to tell me what to do but hey... if you can't sleep 'debuff' virtual people is nice to do.

    My opinion: clerics should be healers only in squads: let others do your quests and take the damage. However if you see people just qq-ing for heals/debuffs turn into a dd. The qq-ing will stop...kinda cool isn't it? B)

  • cynderangel
    cynderangel Posts: 193 Arc User
    sjampie wrote: »
    NECRO Nah, opening this thread again :)

    Just to say I finally know the purpose of clerics. A few days ago someone called me (in the middle of the night) over the phone to come online with my cleric. First I was thinking "wtf don't sleep because of someone need me in a game?" but after coming online for idk...half an hour I finally discovered it: I was spammed with the message 'purify!' which I already used many times on that toon with some healing in between.Normally I would just leave a squad when people starting to tell me what to do but hey... if you can't sleep 'debuff' virtual people is nice to do.

    My opinion: clerics should be healers only in squads: let others do your quests and take the damage. However if you see people just qq-ing for heals/debuffs turn into a dd. The qq-ing will stop...kinda cool isn't it? B)

    Glad I never gave anyone my phone number to wake me up lol. I can't say I really agree with being a healer only, but it certainly is the most important thing to do. Clerics can support with debuffs, seals, and damage too though. It all depends on the squad. Sometimes I'll go damage dealer and steal aggro on groups of mobs when a squishier squad member (usually a sin) gets too ambitious, but I feel confident in my ability to take the hits. It's a lifesaver if you aren't too squishy.

    I do try to avoid getting angry with people when they make suggestions. They know their limits, and as long as they aren't asking me to heal them while they're a one shot, I'll work with them.
    102/101/102 cleric
  • astralwalk
    astralwalk Posts: 58 Arc User
    M E T A L M A G E
    Veno is love. Veno is life.
  • rosuvulpe#4101
    rosuvulpe#4101 Posts: 18 Arc User
    a year necro. @sylenthunder please close
  • sylenthunder
    sylenthunder Posts: 3,061 Community Moderator
    Holy crow.​​
    582c1776c46eef7b527939a98b9d95a5.png

    Support Email: customerservice@perfectworld.com
    ​​
    Get the Forums Enhancement Extension!
This discussion has been closed.