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Phase I of Alpha Two testing will occur on weekends. Each weekend is scheduled to start on Fridays at 10 AM PT and end on Sundays at 10 PM PT. Find out more here.
Check out Alpha Two Announcements here to see the latest Alpha Two news and update notes.
Our quickest Alpha Two updates are in Discord. Testers with Alpha Two access can chat in Alpha Two channels by connecting your Discord and Intrepid accounts here.
Improving the Cleric Class: Problems and Proposed Solutions for a Better Gameplay Experience. Part 2
Ebonborn
Member, Alpha Two
Any of these solutions are just ideas. It is not me saying that all of these changes should be made. My main issue is a high damage environment with all of the classes, especially with rogue incoming. Figuring out these abilities is part of the Horizontal Progression of the Cleric Class from 1-25. Figuring out how these abilities should work cohesively will be key for the progression apart of Alpha 2 Phase 1.
https://ashesofcreation.wiki/Alpha-2_phase-1
Communal Restoration:
Problem: It takes so much time to cast and locks you in so the only way to heal or keep yourself up is through flash cure. Been noticing major range issues when trying to heal people with it thinking it would be going much further than it is. The TTK (time to kill) is so fast now that a spell like this isn't possible with people having to be constantly spread out or else being AoE'd to death. Makes it useless in PvP.
Solution: Increase range of the spell. Increase the duration of the overheal.
Condemn:
Problem: I still think that condemn not being an instant cast and requiring conflagrate to stun (I understand that it is incapacitate without conflagrate) is reducing the time to kill even more in PvP. With so much AoE damage constantly going out you are better off removing the spell from your bar because it will never work as an incap. The cast for smite requiring you either be close for instant-cast or a cast timer from range is making it impossible to do anything but heal with such a low TTK. You locking yourself to any cast that isn't instant in this environment is the difference between 2 people dying at times (especially during the initial combat).
Solution: Make Condemn an instant stun and remove the requirement for conflagrate. Remove incapacitate completely or if the target is under stun immunity then they become incapacitated.
Barrier:
Problem: Not feasible in most situations because of the amount of damage incoming to healers who are normally targeted in PvP and in PvE the ones usually holding second most aggro.
Solution: Maybe do the spell the opposite way. Giving a shield to the Cleric and taking 25% HP from someone else (Player Friction!).
Purify:
Problem: Not a lot of uses in PvP because it isn't instant. In PvE the mobs are reapplying wounded so fast I have to instantly heal after the purify or else my heal will miss because they reapply the stack so fast.
Solution: This is a hard one. You can make it a shorter cast time, make it instant but put it on a cooldown. You can make it stronger so that it has residual effects after the initial cure so that no debuff of the same sort can be applied again. You can achieve a state of immunity when casting it so that you can't be harmed by damage, debuffs or interrupted. You can make it a heal also so that you're not purifying someone just for them to die.
Essence Infusion:
Problem: Feels lackluster but I will admit I have done minimal testing with it because of this lackluster feeling. I don't ever think I need mana so bad that I am willing to sacrifice divine power. In the moments I do need mana that bad I don't think disadvantaging myself by removing an instant cast judgment, resplendent beam, or communal is worth it because I always feel the need for more instant cast spells. Divine Power is so hard to generate currently that it doesn't make sense to take.
Solution: When you switch to essence infusion I think your spells should heal less but you should have more access to them constantly through shorter cooldowns. More access to divine power generation would make it worth switching and make the divine power feel less important. With so much divine power generation you would be able to use it without the worry of running out of divine power or mana as much. Arguably getting people off of the Divine infusion train. Imagine a more consistent high APM healer who never runs out of mana and always has an ability off cooldown BUT doesn't heal for as much consistently.
Mend:
Problem: Cannot be reliably used in PvP. The travel range of the spell is supposed to be risk to reward but I don't think the risk is worth the reward. You are constantly in a high damage environment so the ability to heal with this spell having travel range is too risky for how much it heals. I also don't think the other two mend skills within the cleric skill tree are very viable for actually buffing the spell in any significant way causing for clear better options within the tree.
Solution: Decrease time it takes to get to the target. Change the skill tree so that mend provides overhealing instead of adding more charges making it a precast spell and increasing TTK in most encounters where a fight will be decided in the initial encounter. Allow mend to increase movement speed.
Other Class Related Issues:
Problem: Feels like the cleric has no movement and every other class has more movement.
Solution: Increase Cleric Movement through a spell or ability.
Problem: Bard Silence(Clever Retort) is locking down a Cleric. I imagine a rangers silence when its fixed will do the same. With purifying taking so long to cast and not healing the dispel isn't possible. With rangers also having the ability to silence(thundering shot) it will only make being a cleric that much more impossible. With this all combined you also have other ways of silencing a cleric. Requiring more ways to dispel a cleric.
Solution: Decrease the silence time or make it hard to hit the silence. If you make purify the solution maybe it can also remove an immunity stack on the person purified meaning that another silence can follow up directly.
https://ashesofcreation.wiki/Alpha-2_phase-1
Communal Restoration:
Problem: It takes so much time to cast and locks you in so the only way to heal or keep yourself up is through flash cure. Been noticing major range issues when trying to heal people with it thinking it would be going much further than it is. The TTK (time to kill) is so fast now that a spell like this isn't possible with people having to be constantly spread out or else being AoE'd to death. Makes it useless in PvP.
Solution: Increase range of the spell. Increase the duration of the overheal.
Condemn:
Problem: I still think that condemn not being an instant cast and requiring conflagrate to stun (I understand that it is incapacitate without conflagrate) is reducing the time to kill even more in PvP. With so much AoE damage constantly going out you are better off removing the spell from your bar because it will never work as an incap. The cast for smite requiring you either be close for instant-cast or a cast timer from range is making it impossible to do anything but heal with such a low TTK. You locking yourself to any cast that isn't instant in this environment is the difference between 2 people dying at times (especially during the initial combat).
Solution: Make Condemn an instant stun and remove the requirement for conflagrate. Remove incapacitate completely or if the target is under stun immunity then they become incapacitated.
Barrier:
Problem: Not feasible in most situations because of the amount of damage incoming to healers who are normally targeted in PvP and in PvE the ones usually holding second most aggro.
Solution: Maybe do the spell the opposite way. Giving a shield to the Cleric and taking 25% HP from someone else (Player Friction!).
Purify:
Problem: Not a lot of uses in PvP because it isn't instant. In PvE the mobs are reapplying wounded so fast I have to instantly heal after the purify or else my heal will miss because they reapply the stack so fast.
Solution: This is a hard one. You can make it a shorter cast time, make it instant but put it on a cooldown. You can make it stronger so that it has residual effects after the initial cure so that no debuff of the same sort can be applied again. You can achieve a state of immunity when casting it so that you can't be harmed by damage, debuffs or interrupted. You can make it a heal also so that you're not purifying someone just for them to die.
Essence Infusion:
Problem: Feels lackluster but I will admit I have done minimal testing with it because of this lackluster feeling. I don't ever think I need mana so bad that I am willing to sacrifice divine power. In the moments I do need mana that bad I don't think disadvantaging myself by removing an instant cast judgment, resplendent beam, or communal is worth it because I always feel the need for more instant cast spells. Divine Power is so hard to generate currently that it doesn't make sense to take.
Solution: When you switch to essence infusion I think your spells should heal less but you should have more access to them constantly through shorter cooldowns. More access to divine power generation would make it worth switching and make the divine power feel less important. With so much divine power generation you would be able to use it without the worry of running out of divine power or mana as much. Arguably getting people off of the Divine infusion train. Imagine a more consistent high APM healer who never runs out of mana and always has an ability off cooldown BUT doesn't heal for as much consistently.
Mend:
Problem: Cannot be reliably used in PvP. The travel range of the spell is supposed to be risk to reward but I don't think the risk is worth the reward. You are constantly in a high damage environment so the ability to heal with this spell having travel range is too risky for how much it heals. I also don't think the other two mend skills within the cleric skill tree are very viable for actually buffing the spell in any significant way causing for clear better options within the tree.
Solution: Decrease time it takes to get to the target. Change the skill tree so that mend provides overhealing instead of adding more charges making it a precast spell and increasing TTK in most encounters where a fight will be decided in the initial encounter. Allow mend to increase movement speed.
Other Class Related Issues:
Problem: Feels like the cleric has no movement and every other class has more movement.
Solution: Increase Cleric Movement through a spell or ability.
Problem: Bard Silence(Clever Retort) is locking down a Cleric. I imagine a rangers silence when its fixed will do the same. With purifying taking so long to cast and not healing the dispel isn't possible. With rangers also having the ability to silence(thundering shot) it will only make being a cleric that much more impossible. With this all combined you also have other ways of silencing a cleric. Requiring more ways to dispel a cleric.
Solution: Decrease the silence time or make it hard to hit the silence. If you make purify the solution maybe it can also remove an immunity stack on the person purified meaning that another silence can follow up directly.
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