The first rule of healing is to heal yourself first; you can’t heal anyone if you’re dead. I know this. You know this. So why am I dying with my heal spell on cool down?
Because for some reason I believe that I can make it long enough for the regn/vigor to tick and get me back out of the danger zone and person that just got my heal would not have made it. Think most of the time I do make it and that is just normal happy questing but those times when I don’t make it I can’t help but wonder was there some sign that I missed letting me know that I should heal myself and try to save person X after I am safe…
This weekend is where I noticed a lot of getting in over my head to the point where I tweeted that I needed to stop taking Javabot into Madstone because I had now died for the third time in that quest. On Samius I have done a few two-man hards and no deaths and an EE also no deaths. So why is Java having so many issues?
Because he is more battle clr then healbot so he is in the action when he should be standing to the side. I really need to work those muscles.
But I was able to cap him last night and thanks to the keys of destiny being on sale I am over into the arcane destinies. Currently working my way out of the Bard line and into the Sorc line. Once the Sorc is maxed then I will take a look at making my way over into the primal destines mainly the sleeper Shiradi Champion.
Shiradi Champion is good enough that I am tempted to max it out on Samius and use it for Epics…
But will it help Java stay alive when I let myself fall in to the battle harder then I should? Only trying it will tell.
Well I want to do gear lists for the other main guys this week taking the GH gear into account.
<3s
Samius Gurobo 
I do that all the time. It is embarrassing to die with a full blue bar. But I do. All the time.
That old airline saw of “Put your mask on first before helping others” is a good summary for this post. Great wisdom in your post, especially for us permies for whom the consequences of “healer down” can be quite dire.
One nice thing about battleclerics is, if they’re right there in the scrum with the meatshields, aura/burst should be able to do a goodly amount of the healing. Between that and masses, save Heal for your own “oh *bleep*!” moments *g*
It always seems to be your health bar that gets overlooked……….hoping for the aura to kick in. As a healing char, you are always looking out for everyone else, and getting frustrated when they go around corners, through doors, or half-way around the world. Of course when they get mad at you for not sending them a heal, because of above, that makes it more likely that you ignore your own health, the try and help them…..that just is the nature of a healer.
The “Battle Cleric” is going to get hit whether he’s in the “thick” of things or standing to the side because when he draws aggro (and he WILL draw aggro), there’s nobody there to take it from him. If he’s sportin’ a 70+ AC and 1000hp on epic runs, he just might survive. The “healbot,” however, will have problems staying alive because all his heals will be on himself….assuming he makes his concentration check.