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Cleric Desires Compilation and Analysis/Conversion

AzheraeAzherae Member, Alpha One, Adventurer
edited July 2021 in General Discussion
This week's Compilation is for Clerics (since the last Archetype outside of the ones actually in the Alpha as of this writing, is Ranger, but Ranger is probably most heavily affected by any changes in upcoming builds so I decided to skip it). As usual, all data crunched is from this official thread and this probably unofficial one.

Disclaimer: Not only am I committed to playing Cleric (specifically Shadow Disciple, Cleric/Rogue) for this game, I have no intention of being unbiased enough to leave my own desires out of either the data or the schema. You can find my concepts for that here. Please check for biases that appear to be against things that other people want, since that would definitely be bad.

Things that Cleric-interested people wanted, sorted pretty well:
1. One Shaman just wanted to be more than the basic healer, to maybe summon Faeries, etc, another wanted to summon to keep enemies off them, seven others wanted this class (of whom one also considered High Priest and another considered Oracle)
2. One High Priest was willing to pick any healer that would get them invites, another just wanted to be helpful in PvP, another had strong thematic and ability opinions, added to schema indirectly ( @angelicshiya ), another wanted a few debuffing abilities and another wanted full-on death magic, another dreamed of mass resurrection, fourteen others wanted this class
3. One Shadow Disciple wanted to be like Corvus from Paladins, another wanted to 'pick a spot to defend' (among other things), one other wanted this class (besides me)
4. One Templar was more likely to be a fighter, another more likely to be a High Priest
5. One Protector described the class but used the term Druid, two others hoped that Protector would be like a Druid, another wanted long ranged charged heals
6. One Scryer ( @trokair ) had specific wishes, three others wanted this class
7. One potential Oracle really wanted water based healing, two others considered this class
8. One Apostle was also willing to be a Templar, three others wanted to be frontline Healers, another might switch if lifedrain was stronger in a different form of Cleric
9. One undecided just wanted good Raid healing, another wanted big damage, another leaned toward High Priest or any other pure buff/heal, another wanted Pathfinder's Druid, another wanted RIFT's Chloromancer, another wanted to heal in PvP, there were six others

Clerics are only slightly more complex than Bards. Balancing will be important for them, but balancing isn't a main component of a base schema. I suspect that many of the undecided players and even some of the many High Priests are simply not expecting other Secondary Archetypes to offer other ways to improve healing, and they are very focused on that. The way Intrepid chooses/balances Augments is going to basically be the deciding factor for how many people choose something other than High Priest, so this is something I end up having to mention in the schema below, so please bear in mind that I'm not advocating for specific Augments, just 'predicting', and that's guesswork.
Cleric issues revolve mainly around having 'enough' of stuff, based on cooldowns. How many different healing options should they have? How many different debuffs, shields, etc. As of this writing there are two targeted direct heals, one direct Regen, one indirect Regen requiring some effort to get to that level, an AoE heal centered on the user, and a placeable AoE heal-over-time area.

Similar to Rogues, though, there are a few 'esoteric' Cleric requests that can't easily be offloaded to Augments. My own perspective as seen in the other thread is that they need one more heal that can overheal/shield, and this is supported by one or two other people, but multiple wanted more specific shields, including one that reflects some portion of damage. Another heal is shown in the showcase that is not in the Alpha at this time (a chain heal), as well as another offensive ability (the 'tethery' channeled beam that ends in an explosion).

Therefore some mention of Augments is unavoidable here, since the goal of most healers is to be effective at keeping people alive, whether that be through damage mitigation, making sure they don't die themselves, pumping out massive healing numbers, or controlling battle flows. Fortunately the game contains 'critical healing' as an option (for Templars, as an example) and relative leniency on AoE healing targets (e.g. for Oracles and Apostles). Cleric therefore seems to be in a good place, with only the need for one 'Shield' ability, probably at least one 'Cleanse' type ability, and the short cooldowns that it already has on certain non-self healing. Two or three more offensive abilities would round it out and satisfy most of the requests and conditions seen in the threads used.

The summary of trends offers a bit more, a confirmation of certain expectations, really (lots of Augment speculation here from me):
Basically every Cleric/Ranger wanted to be like a Druid, for the Nature magic flavor and debuff/snares, which probably will fit with at least one Ranger Augment. The Scryers were interested in more AoE and strengthening, the Apostles and Templars wanted to be able to take some hits and stay in the front, which may work out for them with any form of Damage Mitigation and extra-bursty healing, AoE or otherwise (relative to time spent casting). The Shadow Disciples including myself seemed to aim toward 'control', and the Shamans also wished for what you'd expect from /Summoners (externalized sources of healing and distractions for their enemies to help keep them alive). Scryers sometimes mentioned AoE healing, over time. Oracles were less specific about the mechanics of the healing. The High Priests that had specific opinions were just interested in maximizing healing completely, and were usually willing to give up almost everything else to get this.

On the macro level, Clerics are easy to please, for the most part. There is a lot more potential than even I expected in the , but a lot of that seems to be due to most Clerics choosing things that seem like they would be the most 'obvious' speculative Augments from their secondary Archetype. In other words, you don't need the list, but there might be some hidden cool things that Intrepid comes up with for the less obvious ones. So much of what Clerics care about otherwise is likely to be covered by gear and Passives, that I don't think I was able to find anything anyone wanted (except one Protector who wanted really long range skillshot healing) that seemed even slightly likely to be unachievable. Therefore the analysis is that all current Clerics can get what they want without difficulty.

As always...

THIS POST IS IN NO WAY AN EXPLANATION OF WHAT INTREPID IS ACTUALLY DOING

If you feel like something is missing, remember to check the link for my personal desires to see if it is covered there (to minimize bias that might happen through talking too much about my own ideas) and then if not, make it known. Everyone else is so 'in lockstep' relatively that it's likely that squeezing in any thematic and balanced thing that no one else thought of, wouldn't be hard either.
Sorry, my native language is Erlang.

Comments

  • AzheraeAzherae Member, Alpha One, Adventurer
    Reviving since it's the appropriate place for a request for data from @Ironhope, especially since it otherwise lacks data for Templars.
    Sorry, my native language is Erlang.
    
  • I forgot about these class threads of yours.
    I liked them.
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