Cleric Vs. DD Fighter.

[toiletduckie]

Edit: Moving it to a different forum.

http://www.outspark.com/forums/showthread.php?p=814199#post814199

[Bob_Biscuit]

Cleric Pros:

-Cheap solo
-Self-heal skills in addition to stones/pots
-Buffs that increase atk, def, m.atk, m.def, HP, SP, block rate, resistance to poison/illness
-Temporary buffs to heal over time and eliminate damage
-Balanced HP/SP, relatively good defense + magic defense
-Large stone reserves of both kinds, though less HP stones than fighters (on the plus side, clerics don't need HP stones as much as other classes)

Cleric Cons:

-Low damage, especially if not STR build
-One offensive skill from level 5 to level 40; two broken, pathetic, SP-eating, weapon-specific offensive skills at 40
-Cleric Syndrome: Inability to kill the monster you are attacking before another monster respawns and starts attacking you -remaining to kill the second monster may continue symptoms
-Respect/Responsibility issues -as the only support class, people expect you to heal instead of fight, and after level 47, buff anyone that walks up to you and asks for one; Inefficient/unhelpful clerics get yelled at, cursed at, etc... People have a 50-75% chance of placing all the blame on you if something goes wrong in the party

Fighter Pros:

-High attack, High defense, High health
-A range of attack skills, including AoE skills, and debuffs (Directly equatable to the cleric's temporary no-damage buff and attack/defense bonus buff, but with the added bonus of dealing damage to the enemy -the downside is that the debuff is specific to the monster you target with the skill, and has a chance of not sticking)
-Large HP stone reserves
-Alongside mages, pwn in PvP
-Temporary buffs to increase block rate, decrease defense to boost attack
-Able to switch from offense to defense

Fighter Cons:

-Low SP, magic defense
-Low SP stone reserves
-Expected to tank
-After level 20, three weapons to choose from -more money spent on equips and weapon-specific skills (Optional)

[toiletduckie]

"-Buffs that increase atk, def, m.atk, m.def, HP, SP, block rate, resistance to poison/illness"
Now are those buffs to the Cleric only? Or can he cast them on his partner/ if I'm a fighter grab a cleric to be my slave? If it's just me and a Cleric in the party, do I lose out on EXP, for Healing/Buffing in exchange?

"-Expected to tank"
Like... Tank one monster, or for AoE/ large party.

+1 Rep: Info.

[Bob_Biscuit]

The buffs, by name and people that can be affected, are:

Self
Protect (+atk/def by X and Y), Resist (+m.atk/m.def by X and Y), Immune (+ X% Resistance to poison/illness spells), Stoneskin (+ X% block rate), Endure (+HP/SP by X and Y)
[X and Y are dependent on the level of the skill]
Party
Protect, Resist, Immune, Endure

Anyone else
Immune, Endure

Note: To cast Immune/Endure on anyone other than yourself, select the person and then cast. Eats your SP, but people will almost always ask for endure after you start wearing level 40 armor by saying 'buff', 'buff pls/plz/pl0x/please', 'buff me', any combination of those/rewordings, or more politely (in my opinion), they'll ask in a sentence.

Tanking
Fighters are expected to be living punching bags for any monster others in the party would easily die against in a few hits. This includes, but is not limited to: Boss monsters, KQ monsters, and large groups of monsters about to be killed by AoEs. The reason for this logic is a) Fighters have the HP and defense needed to survive more attacks/stronger attacks than archers and mages without good equips/END builds can, and b) Fighters have two skills designed to keep the monster attacking them -snearing kick (1 monster at a time, low cooldown) and mock (I believe it is 5 monsters at a time, but it has a decent cooldown).

If you wish, you can be any class and grab a cleric to sit back and heal. They aren't needed, but they make things so much easier and cheaper for every other class. Just don't start blaming things on them unless they're sitting back and leeching instead of doing their job, or if you're barely keeping yourself alive between stone and potion cooldowns while they're trying to deal some damage.
DO NOT BE AFRAID TO USE STONES OR POTIONS! A cleric in the party doesn't mean you're safe, clerics lag like everyone else, people pull too many monsters for the cleric's heal alone to handle, and sometimes, tanks can't keep all the aggro, so the cleric has to spread out the heals to keep everyone alive. Make it easier on them.


Note: If I'm rambling or not making sense, try not to get mad or anything, I've been awake all night. I just can't sleep tonight for some reason...

[toiletduckie]

What about exp in a party of two? Less exp, or more?

[Bob_Biscuit]

In any type of party, you sacrifice a certain amount of exp (per player in the party, dependent on which mob is being killed) for the added safety/killing power of people fighting alongside you. In the cleric's case, duoing increases the exp you can get dramatically, no longer bound by your killing speed, but by the speed other classes can kill. 60+ mages are the best people to duo with. Period. As any other class, partying with a cleric cuts back on the money you spend on stones and potions, and with a powerful heal in addition to potions and stones, you can take on larger/stronger groups of monsters without worry, effectively increasing the exp you gain. Just don't try to push it too much, there is only a certain amount a cleric can heal, and the cleric DOES have a chance of lagging, like anyone else.