I rarely cast offensive spells. Yes, it's fun. Yes, I am tempted to. Resist
that temptation!
There are many reasons not to cast offensive spells. First, we are only
mediocre at them, except against the dead. If your group needs offensive
spells, go to the source: get a wizard.
Second, they drain our mana for healing and buffing, which we are the very
best of any class at. Why hurt your most valuable ability? It's like a
fighter discarding his sword. (If you really enjoy healing and buffing less
than fighting, or offense spell casting, then you don't want to be a cleric.
Delete the character, and start a tank or a wizard.)
Third, you DON'T want to be the member of your group who does the most
damage. That just focuses the mob's attack onto you, and then you're really
in trouble: all your spells, healing included, get disrupted, and you're
probably getting hurt worse than the tanks, who get better Defense and Dodge
skills, have higher AC because of their higher Defense, and may even have
better armor because they have not had to spend half their income on spells,
as you have :-(. Now the tanks have to drag the mob off you, and they're not
getting healed. They won't appreciate you very much, and with good reason!
Yes, I do cast offensive spells occasionally. When I am soloing, which is
maybe 15 to 20 percent of the time. And when a critter is fleeing, the tanks
can't keep up with it, and it looks like it might be running into an area
where it will bring other mobs into the battle. For example, an injured
ghoul running back into the house in Unrest, or a froglok running back into
the mazes of Guk. Uh-oh! Expulse Undead on that ghoul *now*, and Smite the
froglok, or you will have a mess of higher level mobs in your face. But
those are about the only times.
My play style: when the puller brings the mob, I jump in with the tanks and
start hitting. I do NOT cast. If the tanks are getting hurt, I pull back and
heal. If *I* am getting hurt, I pull back and heal. I can do a lot more
damage to the mob by healing my tanks, than by any offensive spell I can
cast. If no one is getting hurt, I keep on whacking at the mob.
Think about it this way: If you spend the mana to heal a tank from, say half
health to full, how much damage can he do in the time it takes the mob to
knock him back to half health again? It's a LOT more than a cleric could
have done, if he had used the same amount of mana to cast an offensive
spell. Although that damage was done by the tank, part of it belongs to you,
because it would not have happened without you. That tank would have been
dead or running. In my experience, virtually all tanks realize this, and are
grateful to their clerics. So what if your staff or your mace is doing a lot
less damage than the tanks' weapons, and connecting less often?
EQ works best, and is the most fun, when every class does what it is best
at. For us, that is healing and buffing. If you really want to cast
offensive spells, be a wizard. If you want to bash, be a tank. Yes, I enjoy
whacking away with my runed totem staff, but that's not my real job. My real
job is that of a healer and protector, and that's what I save my mana for. I
get tremendous satisfaction out of knowing that at the end of the evening,
we were able to kill mobs a level or two higher than we would have if I had
not been present, and get better loot and better xp, and that no one died.
That's enough for me.
== Gilead, 16th level Dwarven cleric on Fennin Ro
-----Original Message-----
From: Dawn Lamb <
dawn@...>
To:
EQ-Clerics@onelist.com <
EQ-Clerics@onelist.com>
Date: Monday, June 28, 1999 11:38 AM
Subject: Re: [EQ-Clerics] Cleric Brawlers
>From: "Dawn Lamb" <dawn@...>
>
>Hi. I'm new to this mail group but thought I would put in my 2cents here. I
>am a level 10 High Elf Cleric on the Rodcet Nife server. I regularly group
>with a Paladin and a Wizard. They know better than to tell me that my only
>job is to sit back and heal. I jump right in with them and watch their
>health rather intently. If I see that they need my services, I back out,
>heal them and then get right back in. I don't tank as the Paladin enjoys
>doing that herself. I will often times use that little strike spell to get
>the targets attention. My attack isn't all that great but at least I feel I
>contribute more than just an occasional healing spell or buff to the group.
>No one has complained yet.
>
>Zoya
>10th level
> HE Cleric
> Rodcet Nife
>----------
>>From: "Squires, Dean" <DeanSquires@...>
>>To: "'EQ-Clerics@onelist.com'" <EQ-Clerics@onelist.com>
>>Subject: [EQ-Clerics] Cleric Brawlers
>>Date: Mon, Jun 28, 1999, 10:21 AM
>>
>
>>From: "Squires, Dean" <DeanSquires@...>
>>
>>Just wanted to open a discussion on Clerics who love to fight. I am
>>happy being a cleric, but I cannot resist jumping into the heat of a
>>battle and kicking some back. I also like to occassionally tank. I try
>>to save all my mana for healing, but sometimes I just love to blast
>>away. This is probably because I feel useless when grouped as my
>>regular attack doesn't compare to others in the group. Anyone else feel
>>this way? Any experiences to share?
>>
>>Baelstorm
>>10th Level
>>(Solusek Ro)
>>
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