Preservation vs Peace - That is the question...

Discussion in 'Healers' started by Aasha, May 9, 2013.

  1. Aasha Well-Known Member

    Recently, I awoken a tiny Cleric that I made a great number of years ago. Bizzfyn was created as a partner for a Warrior and she has been sleeping since level 3 as the Warrior for whom she was created to pair has left the game. I now have a Warrior partner for her once again and she is able to be played as she was intended; as a dedicated healing partner for a designated partnership. As we have leveled the duo, we have had some of our fellow guild-mates join in for grouping. We have had a Bard, another Warrior and a Rogue join us thus far.

    As she nears level 20, I have been trying to determine the path that I wish to take regarding her affinity. I have narrowed the choices down to two: Preservation and Peace. Both of these affinities have a great deal of pluses from my view point. I have spoken with a couple Clerics in game, but have yet to speak with a Preservation cleric.

    My quandary is thus: I have, in reaching level 18, often thought that I would have liked to have had a shield applicable to my defensive target, rather than self only. I appreciate and have used the Spiritual Guardian in the moments where I have felt it needed, but being able to drop a shield on my Warrior while landing Replenishing Strike so as to regain some energy would be great benefit. This also falls into line with my trying to think forward of situation in a dungeon environment where my DPS will snag aggro from my tank and my being able to shield those needed. I understand that healing straight through that might be the response to my desire to have shields, but what I would like to know is:

    Has anyone tried both the Peace and the Preservation affinities and if so, laying them side by side, does either come out above the other - or does it really come down to personal preference?

    Thank you, in advance for your feedback.
  2. Sinisna Active Member

    Preservation all the way!

    I have never tried Peace so I am biased, but my Preservation abilities have saved my group and me countless times.
  3. Aasha Well-Known Member

    Thank you for the reply, Sinisna. If you are able, could you be more specific about the abilities that you have found most useful/those of greatest benefit to the grouping element? More over, from your experience, how often are you using the shielding that is allowed by following this line? As I noticed when reading up on it that there seems to be two defensive target shields - one allowing mitigation of spell damage and the other a straight out damage shield, and those two things seem quite appealing to me.
  4. Sinisna Active Member

    Aspect of the Guardian (combat form):
    I use it quite frequently. Between the immunity to stun (which unfortunately does not always work though) and the extra spell damage absorption, I toggle between this and the Healer's Focus depending on the encounter.

    Boon of the Shieldmaiden II:
    A nice buff giving you a small self auto-heal that goes off every time you are attacked.
    As long as you are getting hit, this is like a very big regeneration buff.

    Shield of the Divine:
    A defensive target buff (but not on yourself) that absorbs 50% of all incoming damage for 20 seconds. Very useful at the beginning of a fight on the tank so that he/she can build hate without us having to go crazy with heals, or during the encounter when other healers are running out of energy and/or dead.

    Divine Aura:
    A second invulnerability. which lasts for 18 seconds. Has saved me more times than I can count.
    Although unfortunately some hits pass through invuls, including this one,
    who does not like a second invulnerability for a total of 28 seconds!
    Aasha likes this.
  5. Raederle Member

    I have next to no experience with Preservation, but Peace is quite strong. It has an aggro-wipe (entirely removes all aggro off you), which is amazing for a cleric, who tend to build up quite a bit of heal aggro. They also have improved aggro reducers and better crown control, which helps a lot with pulling. To top it all off, they have, as the only cleric type, Invisibility (although Death affinity clerics get Invis to Undead).

    Now, having said that, I would probably go Preservation in your case solely because you have a bard already available to provide the cc. If the bard is not a frequent flyer, though, Peace would likely tip it for me.

    Note: an oft-overlooked benefit of Preservation is the additional stance they gain. You will sacrifice a little heal power, but stun immunity is pretty amazing - although mostly solo or duo, not so much in a full group.
  6. Lavyndar Well-Known Member

    You can try them both and see which you like the best. There is no penalty to changing affinity; you just lose the abilities of the other affinity. It's worth pointing out that this includes the level 51+ affinity specific abilities, so decide before you spend cash/resources on any of those.

    From the point of view of being able to fulfill your primary role, all clerics are pretty much equal. Except for Notrose.
  7. Jakkal Well-Known Member

    No way. Peace clerics have the best abilities ever. My cleric is peace and I'd never change him. His heals are still good enough to get the job done but he gets some awesome stuff such as:

    1. Penitence - Telling mobs to go away. Seriously it's a group/raid deaggro. It really comes in handy if you get too many adds.
    2. Durance - minute long root, goes great if you ahve a ranged/caster partner.
    3. Ethereality - You get a real invis.
    4. Truce - Like rogue escape and psi memory wipe, you can get out of combat. Great for a wipe to be the survivor to rez everyone.
  8. Lavyndar Well-Known Member

    I totally agree. I won't change my cleric from peace either. However, you are unfortunately incorrect on one very critical issue that I could not just ignore.

    There is no such thing as "too many adds."

    [IMG]

    It's funny what you find when going through your screenshots dir.
  9. Aasha Well-Known Member

    Thank you for this information, Sinisna...it's very helpful to read what other clerics are using.

    To everyone else;

    Thank you for your post. I have heard a great deal about the Peace Cleric and understand those abilities well. Although there is still that question of laying the two side by side which is why I had hoped to hear more from folks who were either Preservation - or, ideally, someone who had tried both paths and decided upon one after seeing both in action.

    I am hoping that there are more Preservation Clerics out there...
  10. Speaking as another level 55 preservation cleric, the above is extremely powerful. This is especially true if the mob is hitting like a freight train and you're limited on how many healers can be on your target. I always use mine on the MT for Shendu before Shendu is fully stripped because he's hitting so hard.

    The anti stun stance is great when it works, but unfortunately a lot of the raid mobs actually do a variation of mez rather than stun. Works great for Fengrot though!

    I think it's really a matter of preference. Both are good and have their pluses and no raiding guild would ever turn their noses up at either. So how would YOU rather play? Does the idea of being absolutely a pure top of the line healer what you want? If so, pick preservation. If you like the idea of some utility that classes like Psi's have (ie dropping hate for instance) pick Peace.
  11. Aasha Well-Known Member

    Thank you for the reply, Karella, very much appreciated.

    In speaking with many folks in game, it seemed that a good number of Clerics with whom I spoke were Peace and those not of the Cleric class recommended the Peace affinity quickly. However, for the reasons that I noted in my original post, the Preservation line had great appeal to me. Prior to making my definite decision, I had my Cleric in Tsangs and something occurred that drove the decision home for me. I have elected Preservation and took what used to be a Halfling through a grand transformation and she is now a Vulmane with a new name.

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