Dungeons And Dragons Online: DDO News: Cleric Requirements in Parties

In a subject dear to my heart, Nik Davidson responds to a thread asking if Clerics will be an absolutely requirement to every adventuring party. He proves some amusing examples of party roles:

Short answer is this - obstacles in our game have one or more optimal solutions, and one or more less optimal solutions. A trap, for example, is optimally detected and disarmed by a rogue, who uses no resources to do so. It is less optimally detected and avoided/disamred by expending magical resources, such as a detect traps spell, or chaincasting dispel magic. It is even less optimally detected by the fighter, getting speared through the chest.

He goes on to compare this to clerics, in that, a cleric is always going to do the healing best, but a paladin, ranger, or bard can still potentially provide enough healing to get a party through a dungeon. Read his post here.