Hi Everyone, I am pretty new to the forums but I have a question about clerics. I played a cleric in EQ for most of my time there. I really loved the class! It was an awesome experience. Since playing on the test server here I have started a cleric and a couple other characters just to try them out. I mainly have been playing a cleric but I am uncertain on whether I will continue to. I don't know the roadmap with clerics but they seem pretty underwhelming at this point. Most groups prefer shamans from what I can gauge, probably due to their ability to place a myriad of buffs. I am wondering if there is really any reason to play a cleric since they don't seem to have many buffs and are not preferred in group healing and all healing classes will be able to resurrect. Is there a plan to make the cleric class more viable?
Thanks Cue
Cuedainya said:I don't know the roadmap with clerics but they seem pretty underwhelming at this point.... they don't seem to have many buffs and are not preferred in group healing and all healing classes will be able to resurrect. Is there a plan to make the cleric class more viable?
Keep in mind that no class is close to finished. Not all the abilities are in yet for any class. Most Masteries are not in yet. And in this particular case, Shaman has been - and still is - OP by almost everyone's estimate.
By even the beginning of Alpha, most classes should be noticeably different than they are now.
Jothany makes a good point, but despite that I feel the cleric is already in a good place from my experience. Every group I have been in has had both a shaman and a cleric. They compliment each other so well. Shield protects. If there's dmg, shield lets shaman HoT do it's work without fighting against incoming damage.
Another very telling thing about the effectiveness of clerics is the fact that I've seen a few times people asking for enchanter or cleric. Meaning a cleric can make up for lack of a strong cc when things get hairy.
Lastly, I'm curious, how are you using your spells? The shield is way more efficient mp to damage "healed" (really prevented) than our heal which I only use when no shaman is present or if people are really running low on HP. I pop on the tank at the beginning of the fight and don't need to worry for a few seconds. This playstyle keeps me in the fight for so much longer as my hammer crushes my enemies bones.
Thank you for your responses. It has helped clarify things and I think it has helped me in a way. I do use my shield to heal mainly and it is quite effective. However I find that the only thing I ever cast is my shield with an occasional heal and my bash. It is basically mashing two buttons. From my perspective this is not a fun class. It reminds me of the complaint warriors had in eq. It appears that clerics are leaning into fighting more in this game which is fine, but once again not for me. I like to plan things out and pick the most effective way in which to play. Ex: which heal shall I use to minimize aggro, which heal will be in time and most effective vs mana etc. Which spells should I mem on my bar for which area. I know the spells are pre 20 and I am waiting to see what direction this class goes, as in do they get anything utilitarian or more complex to work in concert with other abilities. The choices right now are limited and straight forward. I hope in the future the game will have a level of complexity that I feel right now is missing. Old games made you think and plan. Newer games made you mash buttons. I am really looking for that intelligence factor that I find to be missing in most modern games.
Cuedainya, I do agree with you there. There is currently very little to do on the cleric in groups. It's extremely fun with things go south, but when things are going well your clicks per minute are super low. At least for me, I use shield at beginning of the fight. Rebuke doesn't make sense to use unless you're fighting whites or lower. With yellows or higher I want to save my mana in case we get adds, plus on yellows (or maybe oranges) and higher the dmg of the spell is less than half of an auto-attack making the mana spent really not worthwhile. That's not even considering the potential for resists.
The only other action ability I use is bash, but only when my readiness is capped since I prefer to have 1500 readiness for mp return spell. I think the cleric is currently starting heavy on situational utility spells. That's not a bad thing, but at level 8 I only had 4 of my action slots filled, 2 of which were weapon skills (bash and the one that reduces the next outgoing spell dmg on enemy). Chop, which reduces the dmg of the next outgoing physical ability is slashing (or piercing, can't remember) but bash is way less situational and spell dmg hurts more than physical. So only two cleric specific action spells by level 8. My bar looked sad and lonely.
Feastycentral said:Cuedainya, I do agree with you there. There is currently very little to do on the cleric in groups. It's extremely fun with things go south, but when things are going well your clicks per minute are super low. At least for me, I use shield at beginning of the fight. Rebuke doesn't make sense to use unless you're fighting whites or lower. With yellows or higher I want to save my mana in case we get adds, plus on yellows (or maybe oranges) and higher the dmg of the spell is less than half of an auto-attack making the mana spent really not worthwhile. That's not even considering the potential for resists.
The only other action ability I use is bash, but only when my readiness is capped since I prefer to have 1500 readiness for mp return spell. I think the cleric is currently starting heavy on situational utility spells. That's not a bad thing, but at level 8 I only had 4 of my action slots filled, 2 of which were weapon skills (bash and the one that reduces the next outgoing spell dmg on enemy). Chop, which reduces the dmg of the next outgoing physical ability is slashing (or piercing, can't remember) but bash is way less situational and spell dmg hurts more than physical. So only two cleric specific action spells by level 8. My bar looked sad and lonely.
Exactly!
Clerics are already the best healers since shield healing is the best.
Its proactive, gives more time to react, works like a temp hp increase which prevents oneshots and has zero overhealing like all the other heals.
Overhealing is basically a mana waste.
A Hot healer has plenty of drawbacks compared to this. Reactive heals, needs quick reaction, ramp up time to get all the hots running, needs plenty of cast time, plenty of refreshes and has potentially alot of overhealing.
So just from the healing aspect, Shaman should already be worse.
What makes a Shaman so much better compared to a Cleric then? The utility?