Cleric and you

[Derokah]

Originally Posted by Lady Elsa

4 warrior classes!!!!!!!!!??????????? and 2 Healers!!!!!?????? Please NO! and a 100 times NO!!!!!

People for some reason think that if they surround themselves with warriors it will be better for the group. That’s one wrong assumption!
Guilds wars have 8 people per group and most of the time you walk around with 2 healers per group. If a group of 8 has more than 2 warriors.....unless it's a simple mission, healers have a VERY hard time keeping up with mele class. I know! I was there. There is no way in hells u need 4 tanks in the first place!!!!! that’s extremely unnecessary! 1-2 from warrior class is always plenty.....it works very well in GW and they have 8 people in a group which means that a lot more enemies are roaming around.

Here is a solution if you are looking for more tanking.

1 templar ( good defense, they should be able to protect themselves which will allow u to spend less heals on them!)
2 spirit master (the spirit master himself will stay back you will not have to worry to much if his pet dies. he can always summon another pet especially Earth elemental it's a defensive type!)
3 Chanter (yes......chanter has a lots of armor pick someone with lots of defense he will buff up the group and also do the damage upfront, which means easier for the healer)
4 sorcerer (they always deal most damage than any other class and they stay behind, great choice for offence!)
5 ranger (same as sorcerer, they will stay behind and yet deal a nice amount of damage)
6 cleric ( self explanatory)

and so........in the end you end up with 3 tanks upfront and 2 damage dealers from the back........the group however will have no problems staying healed, tank and deal damage.

No no I think you misunderstood. I meant, in the case that area heals only effect your group, that it might be a good idea to assign different groups different jobs. (as in since you have 4 groups per raid, you may need to split up tasks) So as an example, I said 4 tanks/ two healers in one of the 4 groups to tank. Just tank and that's it. But of course I understand that a tank group isn't viable. Even if it was the group in charge of holding boss aggro in a raid, I understand you would need other classes to support the tanks and DPS to help hold aggro. Please try not to take my examples as literal statements. This isn't about the perfect raid group. (since nobody would just take ONE group to a raid anyways..) This is about raid party structure and building the 4 groups based on if our area heals effect out-of-group members or not.

[Calindor]

he could have been talking for raiding or something. Tank party in an epic raid might be 3 templars, 2 clerics and a chanter. Or depending on if there are any MP regen skills from supports, you would only need 1 tank.

I thnk they will design the buffs smartly so that you can mix dd's in parties, unlike L2 where you need buffers and buffs specific to a certain class...In Aion i think every party for PvP will have 1 cleric and 1 chanter + 4 dd's, which works out fine imo.

[Derokah]

Thanks.. I think heh

But yeah all good input guys. Wish I could find a good translation prog to translate some of the old korean/maybe *** Cleric skill description pages so I could post them here. Sure they may be old and as you said.. Subject to change completely... But Even old info couldn't hurt. Might help put some pieces together.

[Lady Elsa]

Originally Posted by Derokah

No no I think you misunderstood. I meant, in the case that area heals only effect your group, that it might be a good idea to assign different groups different jobs. (as in since you have 4 groups per raid, you may need to split up tasks) So as an example, I said 4 tanks/ two healers in one of the 4 groups to tank. Just tank and that's it. But of course I understand that a tank group isn't viable. Even if it was the group in charge of holding boss aggro in a raid, I understand you would need other classes to support the tanks and DPS to help hold aggro. Please try not to take my examples as literal statements. This isn't about the perfect raid group. (since nobody would just take ONE group to a raid anyways..) This is about raid party structure and building the 4 groups based on if our area heals effect out-of-group members or not.

*breaths a sign of relieve* u scared me there for a second, with 4 tanking talk. Good to know! Omg you should have seen some people i meet in GW gezz they take up 4 tanks and think that a group like can actually do something. LOL (sorry if it was a missunderstanding)

[Derokah]

Originally Posted by Lady Elsa

*breaths a sign of relieve* u scared me there for a second, with 4 tanking talk. Good to know! Omg you should have seen some people i meet in GW gezz they take up 4 tanks and think that a group like can actually do something. LOL (sorry if it was a missunderstanding)

Haha no I should have made myself clear. Yeah, anyone can hack away at something with numbers. But to actually utilize the abilities of each class in the right combinations and with the right strategy is a very complex venture and takes a long time to perfect. But since we don't have the solid facts on class skills, nor do we know the "feel" of each class, we cannot come up with a completely accurate picture of what the challenge to come looks like. Leaving us with a scattered puzzle of what is to come. And that's exactly why I started this thread. In the hope that by having a place where we can come together and share what scattered bits of outdated Aion information, released information, and past experiences as healers we do have in attempt to put the pieces together. And hopefully come out as better Clerics for it.

Now.... Are there any subjects you guys want to bring up for discussion? We still don't know if our area heals/rez effects non-group members. So that's still up for grabs. Please do not hesitate to bring up anything you would like to add to thread discussion. I'll add a list of pending questions/ideas/theories yet to be discussed or answered right after the list of Aion info resources.

[Ecco]

Well, playing as a healer or caster, your "mana pool" tends to be limited, I was wondering is there an active passive regeneration system besides buffs for casters. Tanks / DPS can pretty go on forever as long as they are healed, but as the fight drags on, sooner or later the healers will go OOM (out of mana) or close to it. I know there's ways of countering that like adding more to your pool or have a high regen for mana either from your skill passives, different gear sets or even switching out healers.

Since most of the time, healers usually get focus-fired so on might as well dump your pool into healing as much as possible on your group and yourself before dropping or hopefully you survive long enough for your group to kill your off your would-be killers. We are kinda like...batteries...useless when the charge is gone, unless we are recharged again. I'm not saying like having an "infinite source of mana" where you can keep on healing without worry of it dropping down, more like it's always there but you have to wait for a short recharge so you can keep going without having to stop because of no mana.

I know in case of this, people will spam skills or spells, but the system could be made where you can spam, but for a limited time before running out. This also may make soloing easier, but I guess this system works best for groups or raids, and can also put a lot less stress on healers because you simply ran out of mana.

This was from playing the preview weekend for WAR (Warhammer), their system really opened up a new way for everyone, where all can be active without downtime. I have more to put out, but my thoughts are really out of place at the moment, so I'll try to rephrase this in a later post.

[Derokah]

Originally Posted by Ecco

Well, playing as a healer or caster, your "mana pool" tends to be limited, I was wondering is there an active passive regeneration system besides buffs for casters. Tanks / DPS can pretty go on forever as long as they are healed, but as the fight drags on, sooner or later the healers will go OOM (out of mana) or close to it. I know there's ways of countering that like adding more to your pool or have a high regen for mana either from your skill passives, different gear sets or even switching out healers.

Yeah I get what you mean. In most of the MMO games I've played. There has always been a passive regen system allowing your health and action/mana to slowly regen during combat, and faster while out of combat. But this may be something we will just have to wait to find out.

But anyways, I found this video of a cleric lvling up a bit. His mana pool seems to be regenerating somewhat when in combat. But it's hard to tell if the regen is passive, or if his buffs are aiding him.

video

video

[Calindor]

i wouldnt mind a fast regen out of combat...like 60 seconds after pvp combat, i dont like instant or fast regen during combat, makes things less strategic, no effects of fatigue from a long battle, etc...

[Ecco]

I prefer no fast regen or any of that sort, I was trying to imply on terms of "downtime", say you're going to be on for a 2-3 hour session, but you spend maybe 45%+ of it sitting down or eating/drinking to replenish your mana after a fight or battle, I just want healers to be more active and almost always battle ready for anything that happens and always something to do besides using that part of your limited time sitting around. This would also eliminate switch-outs for healers in long drawn raids and I'm pretty sure how intense some of them sometimes get to. I know most MMOs out there got an active regen system, but trying to move up a notch more to be more viable in most situations.

Just basically less time recovering (up to a point of course) and more time to heal / support or whatnot. I appreciate the feedback, and I know nothing is for sure until we get a hands-on experience.

[Calindor]

I'm all for endless PvE with no downtime, but in PvP I think people should be conservative with their skills, its adds another element of strategy and organization. It also makes sense that at the end of a 10 minute huge battle, that you're somewhat fatigued/weakened, not a 15 second downtime of drinking some water then good to go...and no being able to run off or fly 20 feet to the side, eat/drink then come back in, thats just stupid imo.

[Covau]

ill say this when i heal i do really rely in skill timing. i need to know how long it takes to cast, so i dont use the wrong one and my tank ends up dead with the enemy bearing down on me. i was the only healer on my lineage server that would go 1v1 in pvp and win occaisionally. (pretty noob server) i do agree you need a variety of gear to do it effectively and have no worry about losing. you will lose often in 1v1 especially while trying to master your character. as for group pvp i used myself as a distraction most often. i will be the first target if they do it right. if they dont they are dead. i have myself pretargeted and my shortcuts are set for quick access to heals. it takes practice not to get into tunnel vision. you have to get used to the adrenalin. i found that i could easily keep track of my groups hp and keep them alive but often forgot about my own hp. a healer should be able to stay alive indefinately as long as they have hp.

[Hwin]

I hope this link helps with Aion, yes its WoW based but it does show a fairly universal aspect of playing a healer (cleric in this case) with a group on several MMO's. This addresses aggro management, healing priority, team work (telling the group your in trouble) and mana/mp use.

A Beginner's Guide to Priest Healing in WoW

[Aura]

I personally just can't wait to learn a new set of cleric spells and abilities. It helps that generally, clerics in all MMOs are similar. In this way, you can take from previous games and then build off of that.

In EQ I played both healer and tank, so I have seen both sides. The information I acquired from tanking really helped me improve my role. I'm not saying it's necessary, however, but seeing both sides of the same story can only make a better cleric. This is especially useful to newer players, or ones just starting an MMO. This was always my advice to confused clerics in EQ, which helped them learn exactly WHY the basic panic rules are so important.

In EverQuest, my play style as a cleric, especially in the higher levels, was to remain in the rear and heal from the back of the wall of players you're responsible for. I rarely had a group where I was able to be up fighting alongside my teammates. In my own personal opinion, that's a group that isn't living up to their potential, and should take on a higher challenge.

The cleric list of required knowledge is very long, but the basics are pretty self-explanatory:

- Know your capabilities, both in combat mode and healing mode.

- Know the capabilities of your teammates, so that you can adequately determine when to cast that special spell, and when to allow the natural healing process take over. This can make a big difference in the outcome of a fight.

- Know your spells and how to use them. Know their uses and their overall efficiency. No sense in wasting mana on a full heal when a lesser heal will work.

- Avoid tunnel vision. Yes it's hard not to, especially in groups where one player seems to take more damage than the others, but the other teammates are also depending on you.

- Be aware of your surroundings. Is there anything dangerous nearby that could ruin a fight?

- Communication is a big one! Nothing is worse than a party that doesn't communicate. Each player has different roles to play in the group, and can't always tell when someone needs help unless they are told. Also, mana updates can not only save you time and energy, but they play a key role in the difference between group success and group failure.

- Don't be afraid of constructive criticism, it's not a bad thing. Each of you will have your own preference on how to play your class, but that doesn't mean that you can't build on what you already know. Perhaps someones advice will provide you with a more mana-efficient alternative.

- Have fun! If you're not having fun playing your class, then you may consider changing specialties.

[Lemons]

I will never tell my secrets.












Unless you pay me.

[Derokah]

Wow, nice input everyone