Worries for Small Group Content

Peppin

I was curious about something, and the Bard video seems to have confirmed it, the Cleric appears to be the only dedicated healer. For small group content, finding healers might be challenging, especially since Cleric might not be the most popular class. I think there should be another class, probably Bard since it has healing abilities. Making another class being able to heal effectively, or at least have a specialization or gearing option for healing.
I feel similarly about tanks. While finding tanks for raids might be easy, I'm concerned about small group content, I doubt there will be an abundant of Tank players. I wonder if a Fighter could use a shield and be effective in that role.

Ludullu

I feel like you watched a different showcase from me. What I saw was a cleric who barely healed anyone, yet the party cleared a location with only a single proper wipe, and even that only happened cause they messed up.

A proper bard/cleric player would've easily held that party alive through the entire quest/farm. So, if this type of content is what you're looking for as a small group player - you won't need a cleric.

Laetitian

As a healer main I know all too well that a party doesn't need a tank or healer to get stuff done as a small group (unless it's a particularly challenging, tightly balanced piece of content, which there won't be an infinite supply of anyway.)
(And as a normal person I also recognise that doing small-group stuff without a healer can feel deeply exhilarating.)

There's really no need to make clerics even more optional than they already are; that's just how you make them even more scarce.

I actually left the exact opposite feedback in my DevUpdate feedback.

Peppin

Ludullu_(NiKr) wrote: »

I feel like you watched a different showcase from me. What I saw was a cleric who barely healed anyone, yet the party cleared a location with only a single proper wipe, and even that only happened cause they messed up.

A proper bard/cleric player would've easily held that party alive through the entire quest/farm. So, if this type of content is what you're looking for as a small group player - you won't need a cleric.

While I think the Song he does that gives the party lifesteal is very strong for healing DPS, it is not good enough for healing a tank. The song he does that heals for 6 health every 2 seconds is really a drop in the bucket when your tank has 1000 health. The cleric was definitely healing, when you see peoples health go up 20-40% instantly that was the cleric.

I'm not saying Bards should be able to heal good like cleric, but there should be a build that's decent enough for a dungeon, maybe if they do cleric as a secondary and become a Soul Weaver.

Ludullu

Peppin wrote: »

I'm not saying Bards should be able to heal good like cleric, but there should be a build that's decent enough for a dungeon, maybe if they do cleric as a secondary and become a Soul Weaver.

I definitely disagree that small groups should be doing dungeons, but, yes, bard/cleric wlll definitely have better healing, as I said in the first reply.

Dygz

Ashes is designed as an MMORPG with a focus on massive PvP battles: 250 v 250
And the primary balance is for an 8-player group with one of each Primary Archetype.
So, yes... Ashes is not really catering to small groups of less than 8 players.

I would not say that Ashes has a "dedicated" Healer.
Rather, Ashes is designed for Cleric to be the Main Healer and Bard to be an Off-Healer in an 8-person group.

A small group would probably want to be a group of 4, with classes that cover all 8 Archetypes.
But, even a group that is Tank/Cleric, Fighter/Cleric, Mage/Cleric should be able to cover their Healing needs - especially if they include Healing Potions.

Of course, they should not necessarily be expecting to defeat challenges designed for an 8-player group (or larger).