I obviously don't feel this way but there could be some who do - remember, the players keeps telling clerics they're not needed for a lot and many things other classes can do much better (aka don't even bother trying to offer those to a group). When all new clerics hear is how bad they are at everything but healing, like it would to any of us getting put down in real life, the same happens here. Folks stop trying. That's why it pisses me off, apologies for the french, when someone asks if they should make a new cleric (or insert any new class) and people say no.
I agree crystilla, any class can be fun if you want to work at it and actually learn the class. Not many other classes out there can do what a cleric can do, but many only ever see them as a healer, and they see the ones that only cast light and a group heal and they think that's all they are.
/agree Ask any raid guild to name the top 3 classes whose absence cancels a raid. Pretty sure CLR will be in that list, if not #1. That's the thing with the purist classes, they may indeec. In groups, the SHM or DRU added utility is seen as more beneficial, but eventually, all those people grinding levels get to max, and want to see ph4t l3wtz off Big_Bad_Boss_Mob_01...and that is simply not happening without a proper amount of clerics. As far as "dull" or "one dimensional" and all that...yeah, they are slower moloers than a mage or necro, but having solo'd to the mid 70s on a necro, it isn't like casting the same 5 spells every 2 minutes for 50 hours is the pinnacle of mind blowing excitement either. Yes, I can move the exp bar faster solo with most other classes, but I think group healing/buffing/coordinating is more fun anyway, and clerics are awesome at that.
No apologies necessary, I feel exactly the same way. I think that's the #1 reason I box 3, people said it was dumb, you won't get anywhere, good luck with that horrible idea. They don't say that anymore. But it has left me with a desire to branch out and find more of "my kind", so if you happen to pass by a Roxxanna on you way through Pok, be kind, hit her with a Temp?
I tend to shy away from Olsif's retort, as it places a mark on the tanks target, and if they weren't ready to pull yet, it can go badly. Although if your in a friendly group, with a tank that doesn't know about Retorts, it can be quite fun to mess with them, giggling uncontrollably as they shout "But I didn't pull that!" I've been in a few groups where people did as little as possible, I take it as a personal matter of pride to do everything I can, And spamming 2-3 spells would become torturously boring.
I had to laugh at this because it reminds me of a time I accidentally started a raid by casting retort on a tank that had something targeted, that's the first time I found out it went off the cast, and not just procs. Fun times were had by all!
That's actually a ton of healing. 2204.64 imperial pounds of healing, a metric ton. Just s'happens to also be 5k+ dps even before spell procs, plus melee & melee procs, plus can disc -- but it's not like healing is neglected.
It is a bit of healing, ill mix it up some depending on what were fighting, throw in the big undead nukes, the twin heal procing one, etc, but yeah, I try and make sure even if the tank has a interrupt on a lifetap/pally heal, that they don't really feel it, and I give the best I can. Ill back off when I find the pace of the group, but honestly with all the ways clr have to get mana back now, you shouldn't have much of an issue with mana. Also don't be afraid to summon the new hammer, cast vow, yaulp, and headbutt the mobs, it may only add another 2k dps, but thats still 2kdps! everything adds up over time.
you forgot battle frenzy on the glorious + intervention/contraventions even if you're meleeing. our new summon hammer gets better procs with battle frenzy going
This is usually our number 1 issue if we're canceling a raid, but this week we had something new, had enough tanks/healing and 2 caster groups, but just 1 melee group like wtf?
"ph4t l3wtz off Big_Bad_Boss_Mob_01" I stared at this for a good 15 mins trying to figure our what you were saying, finally gave up figuring it was some obscure raider code, smack my dumb head, I finally figured it out.
Old school reference to "playing AllakhazamQuest" and drooling obver stuff FoH and Afterlife were taking screenshots of. Bottom line, you want to gear up in the latest and greatest raid gear, you need a bit of everything, but you need a lot of clerics. T'was always thus, and t'will always be.
I have been bored lately and was thinking of starting a cleric. Was talking to a few guildmates and the overwhelming response was, and I'll quote one of them "Meh, why bother. mercs do fine." Now I know clerics do much better than mercs. But this sort of highlights the current state and perception of clerics to group players. Everyone knows you need clerics to raid (and druids and shamans for that matter.) How do we fix that?
Create a cleric, join groups, and do more than just heal. Use all your tools, show them how amazing and how much a real cleric can add. Same with druid and shaman. If your druids and shamans are not also Adps + dps+ util + heal then they are not doing what they can, and you should ask them to at least add a little bit more, and try and help them if they say they don't know how. When I say help, guide them here, there are tons of write ups or they can ask questions. You are on The Rathe, have them send Sojero a tell or in game email, ill gladly help them. If you start a cleric and cant find groups, send me a tell, I will invite you, and teach you if you have questions. Clerics can be amazing, they just take a little practice and willing to go outside the box a bit.
Silku, being on the Rathe, I'm volunteering her but group once with Roxxanna and you'll see exactly what Sojero means
Exactly what I've been saying for years; glad some finally get outside that box to see it *grins*. Need more like you Sojero and Roxxanna to help spread the truth.
The only real problem with clerics(and all priests/non-pet caster classes) is that you cannot molo like every melee class and pet class can. This means its going to be a lot more difficult to do progression. Every tedious merc/partisan task or any task in a tedious zone(caverns) is going to mean you have to beg and beg and beg to get them done. If they made tank mercs more tank/dps worthy this would help alleviate the priest problem, not non-pet caster problem. As it stands now its rare that any of our main priests actually finish progression on their mains. Some of them have given up and have alts that they play more often than their mains, so they can actually do progression. I don't know what would have to be done to alleviate the problem without imbalancing the game to much. They had to know this would be the effect when they created the powerful cleric merc AI and the weak Tank merc AI.
To be honest a Clr can tank and heal themselves while a dps merc dps' the mob no problem or heal a DPS merc on burn, so they can do progression much easier than say a rouge or zerker. They also have the tools to single pull much quicker than other melee have. Also to note this is not a solo game, you are SUPPOSED to group with other people to progress, its part of the point of the game.
Just speaking from experience, and the problems my cleric friends have. I retired my cleric when OP healer mercs came out.
