Remember, this is not a reboot of EQ.
This is what the PRotF Cleric is being designed for; this was made clear like 4+ years ago.
They want to incentivize Clerics (and Wizards) to do something other than sit around for 90% of their playtime. This is also why there will be no "complete heal" spells. It's incredibly silly to have a class sit on their butt all of the time wearing plate armor, carrying a heavy shield or wielding a great hammer... This mechanic may be what really differentiates the Cleric from the other healers who will likely be required to sit down to regain mana optimally. If you want to be the guy that sits most of the time and watches everyone else play just to click a macro every few minutes that lets you cast a spell and sit back down, the Cleric may not be the droid you're looking for.
Your simplification of mana management is alarming because that was not my experience with playing a (good) Cleric at all. Anyway. I was just pointing out that this obvious pushing of a play style so early in the game is cheesy for what is, to me anyway, (supposed to be) a Powerful Casting Style class.
I completely understand that "you want" it to be a "powerful casting style class", but "VR wants" it to be a healer that utilizes their armor and weapons to justify them having access to it. I'm sorry if you feel that I oversimplified EQ's Cleric "gameplay" of sitting to regen mana and standing to cast, just to sit back down again, but I don't think it could be more complicated really - sitting down (or eventually sitting on a mount) increased mana regen and casting the most mana efficient heal in the game optimized mana use. They wore heavy armor and could carry shields and blunt weapons... but they didn't utilize them for anything other than stats and looks. VR doesn't want that for the Pantheon Cleric; so introducing a core mechanic to a class isn't necessarily "cheesy" as much as it is that maybe you don't like the mechanic (which is fine, but that's how they're designing the cleric - to be in the melee).
Add: They want every class to be more interactive compared to EQ (they're hoping that people will be so involved with their class that playing multiple characters will be too cumbersome to be fun, compared to EQ where you can play an entire group of characters by yourself because most could be functional by activating auto attack or using a macro to cast/stand repeatedly).
Meh. To grow into it would have been one thing, but to level all the way up in a group setting playing nearly identical to how you would duo with a tank or melee (which I do and have done often) is just not sitting well with me, and I thought a few other clerics out there might appreciate the hint of how they want you to play. I LOVE playing Cleric (I even loved devising and executing CH rotations!), but I don't like playing a grouping cleric in Pantheon, which is horrible to me as I have very long attention span, love to micromanage, and have always taken personal pride in my ability to keep a group going in even the most adverse situations. This just makes me feel like I'm playing a Tab target Elder Scrolls Online healer and I don't like it. Good for those of you that do though.
Who knows; maybe it'll Grow into what I think it should be, or maybe it won't. I just prefer the cerebral playstyle I'm attempting to advocate for.
I get it. I have not played the Cleric yet, but I would think that if you really enjoy the "savior of the group" role, the Cleric will still fit that role better than the other classes (maybe aside from the Paladin) regarding RP. If I remember right, the Cleric will also get a melee attack that splash heals for a little as well (or that use to be one of the original featured abilities along with melee attacks that do extra dmg to undead. But being in the rest state will "likely" still regain more mana than melee, with this being an alternate way to regain mana if you have to stay up or maybe be mobile during a fight, getting in a couple of swings in between casts is better than no mana gains at all.
If I remember correctly, the Head Designer Joppa's favorite class is the Cleric.
The complexity he has planned for the game sometimes make me wonder if I'll actually be able to keep up with good players (let alone hardcore, dedicated ones).
Don't give up on your hope for a complex Cleric.
See ya on Terminus