I never got a priest above level 40, but I know what you are talking about. Disc priests do seem similar, but I think Intrepid should go their own way with it because I honestly hated having a disc priest healer for my parties. The skill curve on them seemed a lot higher than the other healers, so I got stuck with a lot of bad healers lol.
Please definitely do make healer complexity and healer damage a thing, like in FF11/FF14. If I happen to play a healer (which I do often), nothing's worse than just standing still and only healing.
I like the whole idea of a balance for damage/healing. Still not quite my thing, love those healers, but I prefer sneaky stab stab. I think it is great to give the healers a little more to do than just stand and whack a mole heal, but still have the option for people to do that if thats what they like.
Why I am excited about Ashes, they don't seem to be pigeonholing people into a single playstyle.
Disc priest during Vanilla WoW was an awesome, and dangerous class to play, specially in PvP. Skilled players playing disc priests could really cause some major havoc, while having outstanding survivability.
The problem was due to lack of healers, all priests were required to main heal in raids, but that's another problem.
The fact that Clerics are the only healer really has me thinking about its similarities to a tabletop RPG. Where its less about the roles and more about what the players want to play as, working as a unit to progress regardless of "role". Its likely that under certain difficulties (like hard mode PvE), roles will play as an advantage but it seems they are taking the focus away from roles. Though I could be completely wrong and they could just be trying to create more options for players. I can imagine a scenario where a tank takes a cleric subtype and maybe a cleric wouldn't even be as needed. Along with a bard to help control the battlefield and help give the group the advantage.
Dreaming for now... excited for the possibilities!
The fact that Clerics are the only healer really has me thinking about its similarities to a tabletop RPG. Where its less about the roles and more about what the players want to play as, working as a unit to progress regardless of "role". Its likely that under certain difficulties (like hard mode PvE), roles will play as an advantage but it seems they are taking the focus away from roles. Though I could be completely wrong and they could just be trying to create more options for players. I can imagine a scenario where a tank takes a cleric subtype and maybe a cleric wouldn't even be as needed. Along with a bard to help control the battlefield and help give the group the advantage.
Dreaming for now... excited for the possibilities!
Your primary archetype will always be your class role. A Cleric will always be the primary healer for a party due to being the only one to be an effect group healer. Cleric as a secondary archetype may not allow group heals but instead heal yourself. You are right in saying that Ashes will offer players flexibility on how they play their role.
Just a hypothetical example:
A Tank/Cleric won't be a viable healer but will be tanky due to self healing- which is a unique playstyle for tank in comparison to a Tank/Mage Tank/fighter etc
A Cleric/Tank won't be a viable tank but might be able to play as a more close range playstyle due to having more defensive flavours to their skills than say a Cleric/Ranger or Cleric/Summoner
This will probably be more clear once they release the 64 Class list.
I personally am loving the approach they are taking to most of the classes, I plan on playing a cleric as my primary class. However, to not ruin it for myself, during alpha and beta, I'll avoid playing the class, only because I want to keep my expectations high!
Like other people have stated, once we start seeing blogs about the classes, it's gonna blow up, but everything so far is already exciting!
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If I happen to play a healer (which I do often), nothing's worse than just standing still and only healing.
Why I am excited about Ashes, they don't seem to be pigeonholing people into a single playstyle.
The problem was due to lack of healers, all priests were required to main heal in raids, but that's another problem.
Dreaming for now... excited for the possibilities!
Good to know that damage isn't tightly tied with healing. Worst thing is all heals guzzling because their damage counterparts are being deflected.
Your primary archetype will always be your class role. A Cleric will always be the primary healer for a party due to being the only one to be an effect group healer. Cleric as a secondary archetype may not allow group heals but instead heal yourself. You are right in saying that Ashes will offer players flexibility on how they play their role.
Just a hypothetical example:
A Tank/Cleric won't be a viable healer but will be tanky due to self healing- which is a unique playstyle for tank in comparison to a Tank/Mage Tank/fighter etc
A Cleric/Tank won't be a viable tank but might be able to play as a more close range playstyle due to having more defensive flavours to their skills than say a Cleric/Ranger or Cleric/Summoner
This will probably be more clear once they release the 64 Class list.
Like other people have stated, once we start seeing blogs about the classes, it's gonna blow up, but everything so far is already exciting!