So been enjoying my Mage but also want to have a Healer in case im sick of soloing and cant find any groups. My mains during the last 6 years playing WoW were all healers, my Rift Mage and Cleric were healers, and my Sage in SW:ToR was a healer. So it seems no matter what game it is I like healing so assume it will be the same here. Have been reading through various forums and from what I can tell the healers look kinda of like this. Cleric's only job is healing and damage prevention, seems a lot like my WoW priest+holy paladin. Druid is healing and DPS with some utility in damage shields and resist debuffs, Shaman is Healing and loads of utility from buffs, malo line, and slows. So if I ONLY want to heal should I go Cleric? I dont want to be juggling debuffs, or having to DPS. I just want to stand around and make people's health bars go up, and sometimes make DPS join the Purple Club Also is it pretty much a guaranteed group if you are a healer? Will people always take a real healer over a Merc?
Well, you can hire a healer merc that fulfills most of the Cleric role, but isn't psychic so a real Cleric is generally superior (unless they are tired and miss stuff), Druids do have support capacity, plus decent heals and DPS, Shaman have support capacity and decent heals and DPS. I box several characters, (okay I box a group), I have druid on center as primary puller, and the mage usually has druid targeted for an agro dropping COTH. Best suggestion, if you have character slots, make your first choice and level to 65-70 and see what you think, if you still wonder, then go with second choice and or third choice. You could also start a F2P account to do trial runs as then your higher level toons may be able to assist, and or see how they work together.
Now, I play a cleric and fully recommend them (even with the large issue of group getting they can have since mercs do fulfill a large part of the group role). However, if you're looking to box, I can't pass up mentioning that the druid will give you track ability - which can make your exp time SOOOO much more effective.
No and no. There are many reasons for it but the bottom line is, if you're not tackling white-knuckle challenging content, a merc is good enough. In addition to that, the normal pluses apply in that mercs don't go afk (announced or not) and they don't take loot. So you're probably going to have to establish a reputation on your cleric for people to ditch their mercs for you (and even then it won't happen all the time). On the bright side, druids can solo their entire lifetimes and shaman are a melee's best friend and since neither class is duplicated by a merc, it gives a bit more leeway in party composition.
Really want to go Cleric but will I pretty much be soloing till 80+? I had offers for free Power leveling to 85 but that was on Firiona Vie and I dont really want to play there.
This isn't WoW / Rift. You don't just find a group when you're sick of soloing. No class is required at the higher levels.
This advice pertains to any class, not just clerics. But if you're a personable, go-getter who isn't afraid to start the group (many just want to join a pre-existing group) and you join an active guild who likes to group together, then getting groups becomes much easier. Therefore you don't need to be afraid to play a cleric. That said, the lower levels on most servers are not very prevalent so you will be soloing initially (regardless of what class you picked) off and on. But a tank mercenary can take you really quickly to level 60ish range if you follow the advice. THIS thread lists some info that I gave to someone else who was considering a cleric, so you might find some of it valuable.
Go ahead and make a cleric. Yes, you will mainly be soloing to 80+, although there are ways to mitigate this. If you have the personality for it, then forming groups is a trick that works at any level: and family guilds are another fix for the grouping problem. Clerics have some rather special ways of soloing, and can be quite efficient. This isn't a problem at low levels (under 60-70), but is advantageous 70-80+.
Another upside to making your own groups is the ability to filter. When you join existing groups, you can be stuck with people of widely varying playstyles that might not mesh with your own. Like the monk who likes to pull trains onto the undergeared/underdeveloped (for the content) tank that makes it seem like your mana bar has a hole in it. I have 9 clerics between 65 and 95 (eh, the class is okay, I guess ) and the vast majority of them have lots of LAA. But I love the filtering ability that comes with being group leader. There are many people who might be new or returning who have awesome attitudes but may not have the tools right now to really contribute to the group the way most might expect (I call these players "The Tim Tebow of EQ"). It's great to be able to help them get to/get back to being strong as ever. Being group leader allows you to do that by filtering out the tightbutts who seethe when a group isn't redlining all the time. Remember, you're not just building a character, you're building a community. A community you can later draw upon (and be drawn upon) when the need arises. It can be daunting at first but it takes almost no effort to say in general chat "Level X group in Y zone looking for Z". Now, solve for X. Kidding!
I have found this point about tracking to be very true! I box two accounts when I don't feel like grouping, and I have found that I really miss not having tracking when I don't use my Bard as one of the classes I am playing. It is so nice to be able to find mobs that you need to kill without running around aimlessly as well as just a quick look in a zone to see if any named are up that you want to kill. It's also very helpful (for me anyways) when I am searching for quest NPCs in a city like Qeynos or Freeport, etc. Sorry, I have no advice for healing, lol. I can barely figure out how to heal myself when nothing is attacking me
why not? WoW is basically a solo game. I dont see how its harder to get a group in EQ, which is more group oriented, than in WoW where you can hit max level without ever being in a group.
EQ has far less players though. And many people just box. WoW has LFG system were you are queued into a group for content.
Actually, I think you have figured everything out. There is a language problem in that people that have been playing EQ for 10 years see a mere five months of nightly playing as a trivial investment of time to get to the grouping stage. Harsh, no free ride mentality. You all must suffer! You also refused to be power leveled. That is a form of a group and the person offering to PL you probably did so with the intent of you joining a guild and continuing to play with them right? That is the crux of the matter. This is why people have trouble finding groups: Different play styles and expectations. I probably would have refused myself. In this very forum you'll find dozens of posts asking for that kind of help to get past the tough stages. Just a matter of tastes. You'll also see there are tons of posts about suffering with inadequate equipment. I have said I hate an ill equipped tank that takes damage faster then I can heal. There are tons of posts about how fast people can level. The down side is the person, say a magician, may end up at level 85 with their conjuration skill at 50 and still using their starting equipment. Effectively means they are useless. There's some people that just play badly. Most of the people here are way beyond my skill level. It is in the actual game where you will find people that don't have the sense god gave geese. So now everyone has a choice. They can either use a merc who are known quantities or take a chance on someone who [can't play, no skills, gates out first sign of trouble, no equipment, ...]. I think what you would like is someone that has the same commitment to the game as you do. Kind of an organic take it naturally at a certain number of hours played a week. I don't think that is going to happen for extended periods of time. I haven't seen it done a lot, you may want to schedule groups ahead of time in this forum and see if you get any bites. Something like 'I want to play my level 20 cleric on xx server from 7-10 PM PST Sunday, anyone want to group?' Most people here are pretty friendly and helpful. IMHO: You will get everything from level 100's just hanging out with you and casting buffs to people who will start a new character on your server on Saturday and run them up to 20 just so they can group with you.
Cleric's job is not just healing. Yes, it's their primary job, but not their only job. They can tank somewhat well, since they are a plate class. My cleric can tank light blue and depending on content, dark blues without a tank merc.
Didnt really refuse just didnt want to go back to FV. If someone offered me a PL on my current server Bristlebane I would take it in a heartbeat...HINT HINT Just hit 40 and really loving Cleric, Tank Merc hardly even needs heals. Heading off to Burned Woods now, wanna hit 50 before I log.
