Yep. Common experience.Gotta agree with Number48 here. Having played 1&2e for many years, not having a cleric was doable. Just like scrubbing the barracks showers with a toothbrush was doable.
I can't tell you how many times, when starting a new game, I heard "So...who's gonna be the cleric?"
And I LIKE clerics. I like buffing and healing the party. But I also like my cleric to be able to bust skulls with his warhammer as well.
In the playtest there was no indication, either way, if there was going to be another healer class available. If there isn't than the only people that are gonna play the cleric will be folks like me and giltonio who don't mind the role. Or the guy that gets "stuck with it" by the rest of his group.
Even when playing 3ed, the same question arose "Whos going to play the cleric". No-one wanted to , so one guy threw "a few levels" on his fighter. As DM, I ended up just putting more healing potions in the game to make up the gap, which I think is just a case of makeing the DM compensate for the mis-design rather than having a player do it.
That said, it isnt "in combat" healing that is the issue to me. As far as Im concerned, thats a great expression of what the cleric does! Its the recovery after the fight, when the cleric has to just hand over his potential to other players because there was not other viable alternative in the completely unexciting context of the short rest.
You know what I want to see? NWN style healing kits (or some other form of expendable style recovery) that can be used after a fight so cleric can use their spells for other purposes. 4e HS (love em or hate em) at least gave players a way to get HP back without there needing to be a "healer" nearby/