Clerics Vs Druids

yosto

yosto

Dalayan Beginner
Hi All,

I have played a cleric to 60+ on live, and druids to about the same. I was discussing with a friend the other day about the utility of clerics vs druids.

Clerics, get a better buffs, and heals earlier than Druids, and the best rez's.

However, druids get a lot of utility for travel, damage shields, etc, and rez's (less % and later)

Given that complete heal is "modified" here with a recast timer, Druids are pretty good healers only 1 rank of spells behind.

I can't quite put my finger on it, but don't clerics seem underpowered? Maybe besides end-game end-game, I'm sure people prefer to have clerics healing the main tanks, but for most exp/casual gamers, why do people play clerics?

(again, I say this having played and enjoyed playing a cleric before. but I do remember always feeling jealous that druids could heal PRETTY WELL, and had a lot more utility, AND could solo when they weren't stealing my group spots.)

This is not intended to cause a flame war, just wanted to hear if the general consensus was one way or another. Play a cleric/druid because you want to, wasn't the answer I was looking for.

I also couldn't post this in the Balancing Forum either.
 
Because clerics have powerful single target and group heal over time spells, much larger base healing, their mana pools tend be slightly larger (this will of course be disputed), their AAs are invaluable in the raid game (AA hot, Call). Along with faster cast times on these heals, they ARE superior healers to druids.

Druids bring more utility to groups, with DS, ports, all that stuff people already know. They also get powerful nukes, which while far from Wizards, they are pretty even w/ mages as far as nuke dmg goes, making them decent enough DPS when they are relegated to that.

When it comes to real preference in XP groups, at least in the more difficult 65 xp zones, clerics are preferred to druids, because its far easier for them to heal in those situations, but nobody actually goes OMG WE CANT HAVE A DRUID HEALER OR WE'RE DOOMED. It's just they're not preferred.
 
I think you have a pretty good handle on the difference. For very challenging content and raiding, you can't beat a cleric for keeping the tank alive. But even in raids, it is not an either/or. You want both in your raid. For casual grouping I like the druid for the utility. But if I am boxing, I like getting a cleric in there so that my druid can do more fun stuff like dps and *gasp* maybe even melee a little.

Clerics are not underpowered, but neither are they required in most group situations. And for the really tough encounters and raiding, that little bit of advantage of using a cleric can make the difference between win and failure.
 
It really depends. If you're say running with a good proportion of casters and a subpar tank? Cleric all the way. If you're duoing with a pet class? Cleric. The hots are incredible, the hp buff is second to none, and the groupheals are massive and fast. Also they are capable of decent melee dps.
 
Clerics don't have DS though to offset the lower dps of a tank. Unless they happen upon a nice Mage such as yourself.
 
Awesome responses

Guys,

Really appreciate the candid responses.

I guess one thing I forgot that was mentioned above, is that clerics have some melee/bash-interrupt ability.

I remember a long time ago on live, at some point it was claimed with Yaulp and the summoned hammer, that clerics could melee and gain mana.

In practice on SoD however, really, would you freak out if your cleric was meleeing instead of sitting and medding? Or should I be encouraging all clerics i group with to melee? I have not seen one do so thus far.
 
*shrug* in normal xp groups all the clerics in my guild throw on a proc hammer and yaulp6 or w/e the last one is and beat on stuff between heals, with the procs it is pretty decent dmg, and its free since sitting and standing in combat are the same mana regen.
 
Notpit said:
Clerics don't have DS though to offset the lower dps of a tank. Unless they happen upon a nice Mage such as yourself.
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Buffs can be bummed, and also traded. Chances are you will be asking a mage for peridots often, in exchange for aego. Get a ds at the same time.
 
tbh in a xp group if the choice came down to choosing between equally geared dru/cler id go for druid. in the raid game > cleric and its no contest cause every .000001 second counts

druid nukes between heals >> cleric melee even with divine rage and combat aas. basically druids can do all the same things clerics can (except blessed call and HoT) but just a lil slower. however, if youre in grp with people who know how to play their classes, this shouldnt be a problem. even in emberflow i mind myself healing my group with just sonix pretty easy.

a dorf's 2 CPs
 
Cleric - new heal idea

Clerics and druids stack well. Most of the group prefer to have more than 1 healer as well
 
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Zuranthium said:
So now where do Shaman come in, ZOMG?!?
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I am by no means any sort of expert on the subject but as far as I hear;
shamans were below druids in terms of hp healed.. but they can sustain their healing longer with Canni and whatnot.. so while the druid can heal more on one shot. shamans can heal over a longer period of time.

of course.. I only have experience with a 63 druid and 45 shaman. In no way shape or form part of the "end-game"
 
Zuranthium said:
So now where do Shaman come in, ZOMG?!?
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My shaman has turned into a buff bot for my alts basically. His ability to heal was so far behind my druid and cleric it was just sad. Some say that the slow will make up for healing due to tank taking less damage, but the slow is relatively expensive to cast and has a fairly long cast time. Woulda have been nice if Starfall earring never got nerfed and could use it on trash to pad things out, but such is life. If your shaman has woundbane I assume it's much better, but for those without ancients/relics the shaman is not a very good main healer at all. If you need slows/buffs for big mob fights, they're handy. In exp groups though...meh. :(

I prefer the cleric to the druid 99% of the time, but if you can't get a DS before setting out on your adventure and lack DPS in your duo, druid may be the better choice. Druid also has the little level 50ish pet (spell is 55, but I think pet itself is upper 40's). Pet adds to the DPS pretty well. Can be used as an offtank in a dire emergency. :)

Cleric hammer DPS is pretty sick though. Even with no haste item and with only Yaulp V, (and Vessel of Althuna for de-aggro) I was occasionally pulling aggro off my paladin (+6 aggression, with either form of Soulfire, 22% haste cloak, self-haste, and strength of the sun). The hammer procs pretty frequently for 281dd and if you get really "lucky" it'll proc on several swings in a row.
 
all in all it depends on the gear level at the end game, Pretty much a druid or cleric can heal about equally well in groups past a certain gear level. Shaman are good for duos but lack the group healing to ever be viable as a main healer in an exp group/raid. There are a lot of big things clerics have over druids that make them a nice alternative such as heals over time which do not lose as much to overhealing. In the end both are good depending on where the group is headed, and it never hurts to take both as during trash the druid can put out decent dps and pad heal when needed and is there to heal on named mobs. Shaman also is not as much desired for healing as they are for slow, buffs and pad healing.
 
Clerics are superior to druids in every healer-critical area. Druids have 3 useful buffs that will get them a spot on a raid roster (Ancient: Sihala's Gift, Shroud of the Seasons, Relic: Ward of Nature). For XP groups or raids most players would prefer a cleric over a druid.

Shamans are not as good as clerics or druids, but they can do well especially with the relic heal.
 
Wesell said:
Clerics are superior to druids in every healer-critical area. Druids have 3 useful buffs that will get them a spot on a raid roster (Ancient: Sihala's Gift, Shroud of the Seasons, Relic: Ward of Nature). For XP groups or raids most players would prefer a cleric over a druid.

Shamans are not as good as clerics or druids, but they can do well especially with the relic heal.
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i so disagree with that. on raids every class holds a purpose. Druids have the major spell that debuffs and dmg increases, the heals keep tanks alive more often than cleric heals (since we have to pad and do big heals), we have more buffs on raids that are desirable (overall).

In groups the ones i have been in don't have a cleric cause you don't need a cleric for anything but cmal 4. Shaman druid is better than druid cleric, or druid druid for groups.

and shamans can heal fine in groups.
 
On oft forgotten additional utility of shamans are there strong DoTs. If they don't need to heal and the Mob is all nicely slowed, them DoTings adds to the DoT weakening effects on the mob, which, particularly on the high DPS outputting mobs, helps keep the tank alive as well.

Not that it has much bearing on the topic, but lots of people seem to forget DoT weakening.
 
carnitas6 said:
i so disagree with that. on raids every class holds a purpose. Druids have the major spell that debuffs and dmg increases, the heals keep tanks alive more often than cleric heals (since we have to pad and do big heals), we have more buffs on raids that are desirable (overall).
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Yeah, I said druids have a spot on raids, but after the first one it's not really the best choice to add more druids over clerics. Also, yes I forgot about the archaic debuff.

carnitas6 said:
In groups the ones i have been in don't have a cleric cause you don't need a cleric for anything but cmal 4. Shaman druid is better than druid cleric, or druid druid for groups.
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I stand by the statment that most players would prefer a cleric over a druid in XP groups. I don't really see how a group with druid/druid or druid/cleric is really relevant to a comparison between druids and clerics. Maybe the groups you are in don’t have a cleric because they already have a druid (you)?

I don't really know what you are disagreeing with. Do you think that players actually prefer a druid over a cleric in XP groups? In my experience they are at best indifferent to the distinctions and most have at least a slight preference for a cleric.
 
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