I just started playing EQ for first time ever, I see alot of clerics in leather and chain and plate, is there a benefit to using it before 50? Can I level up in groups and preform fine in just whatever I find with just AC on it?
Keeps you alive a little longer, but doesn’t really matter. Cloth would be fine until loam or planar.
I'm assuming this post is for Aradune/Rizlona. Yeah you can level up just fine wearing whatever as a cleric. I'd buy a set of banded armor for around 70-75p and buy a few pieces of wisdom jewelry, type depending on what you can afford. You can focus on other gear upgrades once you're closer to 50.
Also once you're of the appropriate level you can do the cleric class armour quests. BP: https://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/item.html?item=2029 Legs: https://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/item.html?item=1337 Arms: https://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/item.html?item=2261 Hands: https://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/item.html?item=1610 Boots: https://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/item.html?item=1792 Bracers: https://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/item.html?item=864 You can mix and match with hate armour to get the best stats for the slot.
I've been using banded for my cleric starter set. It's easy to get and healing aggro is high enough that on a tough pull your cleric will be tanking till things settle down.
Assuming you are boxing, since you refer to "your cleric"... Your cleric will only be tanking if your other classes aren't doing their jobs right. Since your cleric is probably also your only rezzer, he should only be tanking as a last resort. Have your tank, your enc, your secondary healer all set up to tank before your clr.
I'm 2boxing a cle/enc. I'm still improving my enchanter skills as I level, but from my experience healing aggro is so large it's inevitable that at critical moments your cleric will be getting abused. Last night in Mistmoore our puller was desperately trying to feed our group and ran in with a heavy load of 7 mobs. He would have died but I ran out to throw him a heal to make it back to camp. There's no way that throwing a big heal out on incoming isn't going to result in my cleric getting aggro from literally every mob, and you just can't expect every group to lock down those mobs completely.
Only the most noble of men play a cleric with no boxes, to you my friend, I salute you. I would suggest saving up your worth, and finding a fair trade for some armor known as the Banded. It will protect you from the swath and fury of enemies you will encounter. Speaking of nobility, that reminds me, may I suggest a great book on tape while you wait for your mana to return to you after those great battles. Blindside by James Patterson comes to mind, what a great listen indeed. But what do I know, I'm just Darryl.
You didn't mention character race. I find this armor so nice I almost always start 'little people' types that can wear it out of the box i.e. Halfing, Gnome, or Dwarf. You need good Dwarf faction so either start a Dwarf of some flavor and use the shared bank to get it to your other characters. https://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/quest.html?quest=637
As the others mentioned Banded is good for new clerics. And yes clerics sometimes get agro from heals during big pulls. The ac allows them to take a few hits. I have seen some good clerics tank 3 mobs in Paw after saving the warrior with a big heal. Then he calmly root parked.and spaced them out. We had no enchanter or bard with us. Everything went smoothly and no one died. The point is clerics do get hit and they were designed to wear plate. Bronze can be very heavy so most just use banded. If you are a race with low str and can't find or afford banded a good choice is studded leather armor. Not as common as banded, made by tailors and most pieces are only 1 to 3 ac less than banded but a lot lighter. Don't get studded tunic though, get banded. Studded tunic is only 9 ac and banded is 15 i think.
Yes, get into banded asap. You should be able to buy it for 1 plat per ac. Do not stay in cloth like someone said above me ( i think he said wait until Loam?? he means withered...LMAO!!) The higher the ac the better for when you pull heal agrro, and as a new cleric you most certainly will. Another tip is to make sure you keep your divine aura up and when you get Divine barrier make sure you have it up as well. This is two DA's that will keep you alive long enough to let your tank to get back in control of the mobs. This is just as important for a new cleric to know and its just as important as the armor question.
Get banded ASAP and always keep root loaded. Soon as a mob starts hitting you don’t panic just cast root and back up. Boom you are now better then 99% of the clerics on the server.
Also helps to have Stun loaded. Stun to buy time to cast Root if you're being interrupted by one or more mobs beating on you. Rinse and repeat until all mobs that want a piece of you are rooted. Stun also reduces healing needs on stun-able mobs, conserving mana.
it really depends on the mobs if its 2 or 3 elementals in the hole i burn them,if theres a golem in there il burn the elementals and build aggro on the golem with the warrior so sometimes my cleric ends up tanking for a few seconds also you need to max your mitigation on your charecters as you lvl so you dont gey 1 rounded.
One time a long time ago... I was leveling up an Enchanter to low a level to charm in Unrest i.e. level 10<?>. The others in the group were ~naked Bard, naked Shaman, naked Wizard, you know the types. So there was this one twinked Cleric in full plate. After a few pulls where he had trouble keeping up with the healing I think he just did a 'WTF! and tanked for the group. He did a lot of thumping too, never sat down. It was odd but the combination of healing himself the weak Cleric DPS was enough to hold aggro. He would just beat on the MOB for a minute, switch targets to himself and toss a heal, then go back to beating on the MOB. I was impressed with his impromptu switch from healer to healer/tank as soon as he appraised the situation. I should have wrote down his name.
He also fixed it to withered OMG LMAO so much lulls. When people are rushing to 50 and banded isn’t cheap, no you don’t really need it. You can wear cloth that drops, leather, bronze, etc. (as your grouping) and go straight into planar or withered. Not a lot of effort needs to be wasted on gearing pre 50 unless it just makes you happy. Now that banded is cheap sure, it’s not going to hurt you.
