Avoiding MistakesFollow

I've been struggling a bit recently with what I can only describe as silly mistakes.

I'll give you an example. Last night I was in a LDoN adventure. There was a slightly tight situation, so I was under a tiny amount of pressure. Add on the pull, MT down to 30% health. I flung a celestial health on him, but he was still losing health, so I get ready to cast CHeal and take the aggro from the add.

Rather than press (3) - my hotkey for "cast complete heal and tell the group about it", I pressed Alt-3 - cast the spell in slot 3. I checked that I hadn't got fizzled the spell, went back to watching health bars waiting for the heal to land.

Slot 3 had gate in it. Some seconds later a _very_ embarrassed Allaria is standing back in BB.

There've been a number of similar things I've done, just odd mistakes. Has anyone any tips on preventing them? Each one leaves me...very down and annoyed with myself.

As a fellow Cleric ive made loads of mistakes leading to deaths within the group. As regards to LDON missions there are a few things to note that can make them a lot easier (in my opinion anyway).

1. Firstly (as stated b4) get ur spell selection sorted out. I usually have 5 Healing spells loaded, HoT, Complete heal, Ethereal Remedy, Ethereal Light, and the group heal for emergencies. Divine barrier is also a must. The other 2 slots depends on ur roll within the grp. Pacify if u r the puller, root is useful, stun for the casters, or nuke if u have the mana spare. there is no need for gate.

2. Get ur hotkeys set up properly. You need to know which key to be pressing withiout even thinking about it, this can be the difference between life and death.

3. As regard to pulling, if u find the main tanks HP is going down fast, then throw him a HoT before he pulls. This will help regain his HP while he is running back to camp with the mob beating on him! As regards to complete heal, this depends how many HP's the main tank has. Just ask him how many Hp he has, or when he wants you to Cast CH (20% 20% 40% etc). If the mob starts beating on you then make sure u have DB hotkeyed so you can cast it at the touch of a button.

These are the basic rules that i follow when doing a LDON adv, and i very rarely have a death in my group. Of course everyone makes mistakes, its all part and parcel of the game, and it wouldnt be nearly as fun if everyone was perfect!

Cobra is right on the money with his suggestions.

Even when I soloed a lot I rarely hunted with my "gate" spell memorized.

Do you know how to save a bank of spells? If not, learn how. It's a great time saver and a good way for you to keep your spell line ups consistant.

Silly mistakes happen, no matter how experienced one gets. The best way to minimize them is to do things the same way until your responses become automatic.

We have all done something dumb that wipes a group. It is just magnified when you play a "critical" class. Yes, it is your fault, you made a mistake. However, you obviously are doing everything you can to prevent it from happening again. The bad news is it will happen again sometime, no one is perfect. It could be worse, I wiped a raid because I still had a lower level mez loaded from an LDoN I had done the night before.

Mistakes happen to all of us, so don't beat yourself up too bad, just learn and be a better player.

A couple of simple rules that I have learned the hard way -

1. Separate your buf or heal spells from your damage ones - having haste and slow or pacify and mez spells next to each other increases the chances you will hit the wrong one.

2. Establish and keep the same order for spell keys (i.e. my chanter's clarity, haste lines are in the top slots, mez and slow in middle, and debuf and DOts at bottom). Repetition is your friend in a stressful situation (usually where you make a mistake that matters).

3. Look at your casting message - if you hit the wrong spell, are healing the pet instead of targeted caster, or your Dot is going to arrive after the party kills the mob you can interupt the cast by typing D for duck. This will save you all sorts of grief. I always get nervious in a LDON group when I see messages like "Heal coming for <Crypt Fiend>> please stay in range" from the CLC who likely hit the cast button without changing from the targeted mob (unless you are an evil mole LOL).

4. Bears repeating, use the /assist to support MA. As a chanter, nothing is more frustrating than mezzing the add only to have someone hit it and it then begins beating on you.

5. Getting agro after casting complete heal happens, and as pointed out above, clcs can handle it for short perions. Having said that, it is much better to cast a smaller heal earlier in combat or to wait until after combat is done and before the next heal.

6. Gate takes up a slot that the clc could use for another spell. Evac can get the group out of a tight spot and back in a short time. Losing the Clc who has to run back from gate spot may result in a failure. I have a 45 clc with a lot of LDON experience and i never load gate until we are done and running back to camp (which is my bind point).

Cobra has pretty much nailed it.

Making the odd mistake is human, repeating them is when you need to start worrying

As several people have said do not keep gate loaded when grouping, you can put that valuable spell slot to better use and if you think like most Clerics, you would expect to be there trying to keep your people alive to the bitter end, evacs are the Druid/Wizzy's problem to worry about.

I think Cobra made a very important point about routine.

Before the spell set load and save facility was introduced, there was many a time I would sit staring at my spell book trying to remember the you beaut way I used to have my spells loaded for "x" situation.

Now I have them all nicely saved as sets and with a push of a button I get exactly the right set up each time I need it, with out thinking. (Except when I have levelled and forgotten to replace the old spell in the set )

One of the things I have noticed about being a cleric, compared to the other classes I have played in a serious way, is that it often demands a very high degree of sustained concetration. Druid healing in the Planes is no picknic, but there is something about Clericking that I can't quite put my finger on. Anyway I find it to be almost as intense as playing a Chanter and at times you do get mentally fatigued. These are the times when you find yourself doing inexplicable things like hitting alt 3 instead of 3.

Having recognised this, now I try to look for the signs during a long session and shake myself up a bit when it seems to be setting in.

By the way, I know this comes under the heading of personal preference, but I do not include the cast command in my heal hot button, just the warning to stay in range and stand. I much prefer to hit he heal cast directly, either with alt 3 ( yes that is my CH too ) or mouse click. I find that I often want to control the time between broadcasting the message and casting, like when I need to chase the darned tank down the hall way, lol.

Another thing struck me.

Tip 12a
While having full spell effects on can make for a wonderful lightshow it can also do horrible things to your mouse accuracy. On the odd occasions I've had effects turned up on a machine that couldn't quite manage it has been fine until a big fight then the mouse pointer gets frightened and runs off to hide in the corner of the screen. Then you coax it out it comes out dizzy and scared and darts every which way, floating around like the proverbial butterfly.

Normally at this point I revert to using Alt- to cast but sometimes whether through tiredness or cider I carry on trying to hit the darned spell gem with the pesky pointer. The results can be marginally sub-optimal.

Still be thankful the game has changed. There was a time when you could root the tank and heal the mob.