Azu is nearly Level 24 and is starting to quest beyond the Morheim Snow Field and into places where the other side can come by and gank you. By now, I've run Black Claw Village & Outpost a few times. Healing was fun and I really like the AOE Heal (Healing Wind or something like that...I'll have to log in and see what it's called) especially when I spent some time grinding the boss by the Abyss Gate. (At the sixth kill, it got a little tedious, but it was fun to see a blue ring drop.) I learned a lot about how gold spammers/farmers/bots can really annoy legitimate players and how easily they get around anything NCSoft tries to implement. (Remember to report these guys when you see them. It gets them banned faster. AutoReport does work in cities now.)
My biggest dilemma besides figuring out why a 25+ Rank 6 Elyos can run up and gank me, is how I should run with a staff or sword-n-board. It seems the big advantage Clerics have over Holy Priests from WoW (err... I mean that game that shall not be named) is that they can rock a shield. Blocking attacks seems to make a whole bunch of sense. But the mace doesn't do too much damage, I should be spamming smite and other offensive spells. (I said spells, not smells. Quit laughing!) Here's some numbers to ponder while you're trying to decide for yourself....
My Tundra Mace gives me 62-93 dps. My Black Claw Staff gives 82-124 dps +3. The mace is faster, and then there's the shield block of 297, 35% reduction in damage and +20 concentration. So why all the rambling about what to do? Players are saying sword-n-board to level; staff for grouping. Right now, I think my gear is too close to make a real difference. Staff gives more Magic Boost (but that doesn't help healing) and Magic Accuracy. Can heals really miss? I'm not so much into Theorycrafting, but I am leaning towards keeping a staff with good attributes since I shouldn't be fighting with it in a group and a nice mace and shield for soloing. Is this much ado about nothing? What do you think? And about that Elyos guy that ganked me while I was questing... some Asmodian pals took care of him as I rested in Morheim.
