Yes, Anne, I agree that first and foremost we are and should be healers.
THAT is our primary role in EQ. But as I said in my previous post, there
are opportunities for you to get to melee even in a group, you just have to
know when NOT to melee but sit and med. If I"m FM and they just pulled a
critter, and I know they have to get down to 2 bubbs of health before I heal
with complete healing, I'm not gonna just sit or stand there and watch the
battle. The key is knowing WHEN you get to and stay at melee, WHEN you use
your DD spells, and WHEN you sit down and do your heal and med routine. Not
a single one of my group has EVER questioned me when I get to melee or cast
a dd spell. They trust me and know that I will not let them die because I
am not watching their hps or don't have mana to heal them or don't know WHEN
to heal them.

I know one cleric whose tank died in the Avatar Room in Cazic because he
(the cleric) didn't want to "waste" any mana on a complete heal and waited
til the tank was at 1 bubble before he began to cast, and then his spell
fizzled. The tank was NOT happy and would not group with him anymore. I
also "grew up" so to speak with a cleric/wizard wannabe, who didn't want to
do anything but nuke with his dd spells. In fact, he even specialized in
Evocation instead of Alteration so he could save mana on his dd spells. I
got tired of grouping with him because I couldn't depend on him as a back-up
cleric for healing cause he never had any mana cause he was always nuking.

A cleric who doesn't learn these "Whens" early on will not be effective.
It's called Learning How To Be A Cleric 101, with advanced courses as you
get older. If a group member dies because you didn't heal him/her on time,
or didn't have mana to heal cause you were meleeing or throwing Retributions
around like they were a 50 mana cost spell, then shame on ya and you should
go play another class cause you simply don't understand what clerics are all
about and how to play them.

Mik