In reality, it would be better for corwin or jo (when on her Wiz) to use spells like Disintegrate or Finger of Death or Wail of the Banshee on those out-of-reach archers. Destruction is fine for the job, but Clerics as noted have the responsibility to heal as well as cast offensively.
Radiant Servant Bursts and Aura are awesome, but they come too slow to keep up during fights. Too long a cast time and cool down. I like to chain a burst with a Mass CLW or CMW myself.
Generally, it seems that only some serious boss fights, often on elite runs, require more than Mass CLW/Mass CMW combos. Problem is, we often scatter, making those spells less useful. Spot healing is difficult at any level, and when the melees may be taking 40-50 points of damage per hit, useless in a full group.
As far as offensively casting, Maximize is overkill most of the time. Properly kiting mobs through a Blade Barrier does so much damage so quickly, that only Quicken is really necessary. I usually run around until I get yellow or red Dungeon Alert, drop a Quickened BB, then circle the BB, until everything is dead (or more dead than it already was to begin with). This is how I soloed through a couple of the Inspired Quarter quests.
I think we need to get back in the habit of crowd control as well. Mass Charms, Mass Holds, Greater Commands, etc... whatever it takes to keep groups of critters from hitting the melees while we bring them down. One good mass crowd control spell can save 4-5 mass cure wounds spells and a raise dead. The Summon Monster VIII Air elemental is great at this. Hopefully we'll find a scroll for it soon, so Corwin can load it.
Another thing is using SP-boosting items when we rest, and thus have 100+ more sp for critical buffing. We can swap back to whatever afterward, the buffs remain, and we retain our current total sp, just the maximum drops.
Also, we need to examine what buffs we're running. I think we can pare down to Spell Resistance, Mass Aid (for temp HP, mostly for Corwin and Jo), Greater Heroism, Freedom of Movement, and Blur for most quests. Resists only on things we know will be needed, and adding Mass Deathward, True Sight, and Mass Protection from Energy, among other less needed buffs, as the situation requires.
Some buff spells that Corwin may look into are things like Fireshield. This absorbs 50% of damage taken in from either Fire or cold sources. This also stacks with Resist Energy.
Finally, I don't believe we should run on Elite or Hard even, unless we can be confident we can take it without purchasing significant resources (either off the AH or DDO Store). I for one am tired of spending 150 points on Sibrys Cakes, just for an extra chest full of junk that is worthless. Stuff that doesn't even pay the repair costs for my death(s).
No hirelings are allowed in raids, nor are Sibrys cakes from what I've been told.
Raids are generally more difficult than any comparable at-level 6 man quest. They also have much, much, much better loot than you can get elsewhere, with very few exceptions (Spell Storing Ring, Bloodstone, Minos Legens). Some of them cannot be soloed, sorta like Necro 2 Shadow Lord or Necro 1 Burning Heart. Others, like Tempest Spine, have been. But generally, we're not geared out on our 11th lives with our characters, and loaded with every named item you could want.
Mirys has run a few pugs, as has Rachail. But I haven't really touched Rachail much other than when Peter wants to run his Clerics since about level 12 or so, other than Bloodstone runs, and I can do those much faster on Aerii anyway. I have trouble getting time in on Mirys, since often I'll get called away to run Aerii or Rachail.
At our level, we should have had a few Vault of night and Demon Queen runs under our belt. Possibly a couple of runs through Reaver's Fate (Gianthold raid). Gianthold gives out Dragon Scales, which can make some very nice armor, especially for casters. Blue Dragon Scale Robes FTW!. I think you can get some scales out of Vault of Night as well. In general, we should have several pieces of raid loot right now, which would increase our group's abilities considerably.
Tempest Spine isn't really a full raid, it has no timer, and no flagging required. But it's fun, and great xp for the level. While I don't think we should bother with it now, since we've run well past that level, our TRed characters should definitely head there, and grab some puggies to fill in the ranks as well.
We should, however, all be flagged for both Demon Queen and Vault of Night. And we should be able to pull in some puggers who know it, just ask for a guide when posting the LFM. We are missing a significant portion of DDO by refusing to pug into raids, and consequently we are quickly out leveling our gear. We are past the point where AH/random loot keeps up. Heck, at our level, we should have done at least one Shroud run, and gotten our first Greensteel item started.
