51 cleric wants to raid, any tips?

[cesrenia]

I have a 51 cleric and I've never participated in a raid before. I want to but I'm not sure if my gear is good enough or what specifically is required of me. My guildies told me to just press complete heal but I want specific advice so I don't screw up. Does anyone have any tips for me because the thought scares me a little. My current mana pool unbuffed is 2335, (I have the epic bought from my guildies) and I have 215 wisdom. I badly need an upgrade for my chest. Looking for any and all raid tips for clerics and any gear upgrades.

[Sorn]

Things to learn/do:

* How to be in a Complete Heal chain
* Spot-healing CC classes (and when not to)
* What to do when someone's been a dumbdumb and everything in the zone is now hellbent on killing you (hint: die and get rez)
* Get your defense skill up if you haven't already
* Attend several raids and shamelessly ask for tips from fellow clerics
* Most raids have some sort of voice chat thingy you can attend and listen to the raid leaders give directions.
* General raid knowledge, like how to get to the right spot safely, when to sit, when not to sit, etc.

Equipment:

* Get more raw +mana as well as +wis if you can
* Resist gear (dependent on what the target is)
* Possibly something with Flowing Thought if you can manage it (not sure if this currently works or not, though)

Frankly there's not a lot to being a raid cleric...usually the better the raid team, the less extra rezzing you have to do and the faster things go down. You'll also get into more strategic things for more difficult encounters, but probably not that often.

[cesrenia]

I'm definitely going to attend raids and ask for instructions from other clerics. I did think that would be the best way, I just do want to be as prepared as I can. Thanks for the advice!!!

[Raev]

Frankly there's not a lot to being a raid cleric.

Totally disagree here. Sure, in the best case it's count to 5 and hit CH and cast Aegolism a few times. But when is it ever the best case? Running around mod rodding/getting twitched without forgetting your place in the chain. Switching tanks after a death without getting hit by an AE (hint: a good cleric has the second tank on 'toggle targets'). Using the right group heal vs AOEs (if you can time WoR vs Hoshkar you can double your Rogue's DPS). Getting Mark of Karn in. Remembering who else in the chain 'skipped' due to low mana or whatever. Going early if you think the cleric in front of you missed their cast. And you have to do all this reliably or the tanks will die and check in their logs to figure out who missed the cast . . .

Gear: blue diamond bracers, full set of dwarf or dragon armor, circlet of the falinkan if you can, orb of the infinite void. The Sky neck (instant CH, rechargeable) is probably the #1 item beyond pure mana.

[vouss]

Get 60.

[cesrenia]

Yeah that's the ultimate plan :p

[Nuggie]

Raev has the right idea.

When you are low on clerics, trying to conserve mana, watch your tanks's hp as you cast. If your cast is going to land above 80% of the tanks hp you are generally safe to duck your cast and let the next cleric cast.

If you are the solo cleric for that tank you can duck as much as you want if your ch is going to land early until you get the hang of when to start your cast. Getting your tank to around 30% when the heal lands makes your heal efficient, but also gives you some insurance incase of a burst of incoming damage.

A lot of "when" to cast varies on where you are. Make a Google doc, take notes. Refer to those notes before the pulls start before the next time you go there. If you are in a guild that does a lot of CH chains take notes on the pause inbetween casts for each encounter.

[Jimjam]

Once you get your epic click rez on people while they are half way through looting their corpse as a way to tell them to hurry up.

[fugazi]

Level up. Find a mage, go to the Hole and duo the entire entrance. Awesome xp, good loot and you actually get to actively do something as a cleric. You can lull/pacify stuff from atop the slippery pillar and if it fails, you can swim out safely.

[Nixtar]

Totally disagree here. Sure, in the best case it's count to 5 and hit CH and cast Aegolism a few times. But when is it ever the best case? Running around mod rodding/getting twitched without forgetting your place in the chain. Switching tanks after a death without getting hit by an AE (hint: a good cleric has the second tank on 'toggle targets'). Using the right group heal vs AOEs (if you can time WoR vs Hoshkar you can double your Rogue's DPS). Getting Mark of Karn in. Remembering who else in the chain 'skipped' due to low mana or whatever. Going early if you think the cleric in front of you missed their cast. And you have to do all this reliably or the tanks will die and check in their logs to figure out who missed the cast . . .

Gear: blue diamond bracers, full set of dwarf or dragon armor, circlet of the falinkan if you can, orb of the infinite void. The Sky neck (instant CH, rechargeable) is probably the #1 item beyond pure mana.

And if you mess up the toggles, make sure you have macros with /target insertnamehere. If all else fail, /assist the mob for MLG ready raid saves.