The Gift of Life - Cleric Alpha One Preview

💖 Can you master the balance between life and death? ☠

Meet the Cleric and learn more about the power they wield from level 1-10 in our Alpha One preview: https://ashesofcreation.com/news/2020-11-02-the-gift-of-life-cleric-alpha-one-preview

https://youtu.be/7AHwGp-t27M

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daveywavey

Kumary wrote: »

In regards to my concern about the loading/channeling of the skills to complete and comparing them with just the auto-attack from the spear (which is pretty quick) I hope it can balance out in a good way to heal in comparison to the faster-paced weapons....not sure I'm making any sense lol

Sounds like you're worried that the damage from weapons will out-pace the healing that can be done? Players/NPCs will be using similar Cast-Time skills against you too, so hopefully they should counter each other nicely.

voidshadow

I hate spiders. I like killing spiders. I saw a spider getting attacked in this vid. I am happy

Kinky

Looking good super excited to play

bloodprophet

[*] I could be totally wrong about this, but it seems like Castigation is meant to be the spammed ability for low level Clerics. If that's the case is the design subverting the traditional idea of a caster healer in the back to more of a frontline melee? There are many casted abilities shown, but again I'm thinking of the low level combat loop and what Clerics spam when all the other abilities are on cooldown or when players are flustered.

In one of the early videos they talked about this and making their version of cleric of of an up front in the mix of things play style. So maybe this is an early example of things to come.

bloodprophet

Personally I like what they have shown so far. Looks like it will bwea fun class to play.

Damokles

bloodprophet wrote: »

[*] I could be totally wrong about this, but it seems like Castigation is meant to be the spammed ability for low level Clerics. If that's the case is the design subverting the traditional idea of a caster healer in the back to more of a frontline melee? There are many casted abilities shown, but again I'm thinking of the low level combat loop and what Clerics spam when all the other abilities are on cooldown or when players are flustered.

In one of the early videos they talked about this and making their version of cleric of of an up front in the mix of things play style. So maybe this is an early example of things to come.

I dont think that you want to spam any abilities in Ashes. If you watch closely during the combat videos like the one were Steven etc fought against the Elite NPC bandit, you will notice that they were at 50% mana after 1min of combat.
I think that you want to use the whip only to keep up the buff tbh and use weaponskills as filler.

bloodprophet

Agreed.
I would like to see resource management be a thing again. Thinking ahead and planning how and when to use abilities would be nice. Is kind of a sad state the genre has devolved into when you can spam abilities with out a care and have the same out come and never get close to running out of whatever resource the class uses.

Dr_Agon

My first reaction is that the effects are too bright but I do like them; even the spear. I'm trying to imagine what combat might look like with multiple casters.

Damokles wrote: »

I dont think that you want to spam any abilities in Ashes. If you watch closely during the combat videos like the one were Steven etc...

That would make it a non-issue.

Ireri

For a low level healer, it seemed a little damage heavy honestly. If the point is to have folks group up, then healers should have difficulty soloing just like DPS classes and tanks. Healers will be desired in groups, but healers also need incentive to join groups. Don't let healers be able to solo easily if you want to focus on group content.

When it comes to abilities, if the healer has time to do damage in addition to healing then there aren't enough mobs in camp. If a full group should have a tank, add tank, support, healer and DPS, then have the healer focus on healing. There are literally at least 6 other folks doing damage in a full group. Let a support class be the one to combine DPS and off-heal. Make the healer class meaningful and necessary so folks don't zerg through everything with DPS only.

I agree with the statements about resource management. Please, please let there be thought involved in the class and not spam healing. There is nothing more boring as a healer than spamming heals with no thought given to resources. Make the players weigh their choices; the quicker the cast the higher the resource usage.
* Is there time for the slower, more powerful heal on the tank at the rate they are losing health?
* Is the tank good enough to keep all adds off the DPS so they don't squish while you cast a slower heal?
* Will the squishy DPS last long enough for a moderate heal or should we burn massive resources for a quick heal?
* How many folks are taking damage simultaneously? Is now the time for an AoE heal?
* Will you lose someone in the time it takes to cast the AoE heal?
* Is the tank high enough on health to survive any burst damage so we can top off the squishies?
* Is the add tank good enough at picking up strays that the DPS can survive being at less than full health?

Adding DPS abilities at higher levels when there is specialization makes more sense than at the lower levels. This the the healing class, not a DPS class. Let folks specialize later if their play is more focused on damage with some healing thrown in. There is one Primary healing class as opposed to 6 other Primary classes that do DPS; have healers focus on healing.

Damokles

ireri wrote: »

For a low level healer, it seemed a little damage heavy honestly. If the point is to have folks group up, then healers should have difficulty soloing just like DPS classes and tanks. Healers will be desired in groups, but healers also need incentive to join groups. Don't let healers be able to solo easily if you want to focus on group content.

When it comes to abilities, if the healer has time to do damage in addition to healing then there aren't enough mobs in camp. If a full group should have a tank, add tank, support, healer and DPS, then have the healer focus on healing. There are literally at least 6 other folks doing damage in a full group. Let a support class be the one to combine DPS and off-heal. Make the healer class meaningful and necessary so folks don't zerg through everything with DPS only.

I agree with the statements about resource management. Please, please let there be thought involved in the class and not spam healing. There is nothing more boring as a healer than spamming heals with no thought given to resources. Make the players weigh their choices; the quicker the cast the higher the resource usage.
* Is there time for the slower, more powerful heal on the tank at the rate they are losing health?
* Is the tank good enough to keep all adds off the DPS so they don't squish while you cast a slower heal?
* Will the squishy DPS last long enough for a moderate heal or should we burn massive resources for a quick heal?
* How many folks are taking damage simultaneously? Is now the time for an AoE heal?
* Will you lose someone in the time it takes to cast the AoE heal?
* Is the tank high enough on health to survive any burst damage so we can top off the squishies?
* Is the add tank good enough at picking up strays that the DPS can survive being at less than full health?

Adding DPS abilities at higher levels when there is specialization makes more sense than at the lower levels. This the the healing class, not a DPS class. Let folks specialize later if their play is more focused on damage with some healing thrown in. There is one Primary healing class as opposed to 6 other Primary classes that do DPS; have healers focus on healing.

We currently dont know any damage values for any of the cleric spells though. Remember, they most likely have on op game master equipment for these demonstration videos.

Ehrgeiz

apmax wrote: »

I know they aren't final, but the animations seem relatively over the top and I think it would be better if they were toned down a bit.
It's the fireball problem, jumping in the air and doing a whirlwind every time you cast a relatively common ability is way too silly in actual gameplay.
Especially with the time to kill being 30s to 1 minute, casting one of these over the top jumping animation skills more than once in a fight seems likely and is just conceptually very silly.

this.

That hovering is way over the top and gets annoying very fast. Simple animations for simple skills.

daveywavey

ireri wrote: »

* Is there time for the slower, more powerful heal on the tank at the rate they are losing health?
* Is the tank good enough to keep all adds off the DPS so they don't squish while you cast a slower heal?
* Will the squishy DPS last long enough for a moderate heal or should we burn massive resources for a quick heal?
* How many folks are taking damage simultaneously? Is now the time for an AoE heal?
* Will you lose someone in the time it takes to cast the AoE heal?
* Is the tank high enough on health to survive any burst damage so we can top off the squishies?
* Is the add tank good enough at picking up strays that the DPS can survive being at less than full health?

Ahhhhhh yeah. That's why we like playing the Healer. Excellent summary!

Only addition I'll make is:

* Everyone's health is looking ok, is it time to add to the group DPS?

Nagash

My poor undead are going to suffer because of this

Nagash

So when one of the spells says it does holy damage does that mean that that's flavour text or real holy damage?

bloodprophet

Real question is. Does holy damage do double or triple damage to the flesh impaired?

Keern

I would be interessted how much movement locking you are planning on having and whether abilities that might be movement locked at low level change with higher level becoming not locked any longer. On the same note id be interessted to know if this clas is supposed to be a immobile class or wether its going to get more movement focused abilties. Id love to hear more about what kind of combat you are planning on designing not just how it looks but how it is supposed to feel and work. Maybe i just have to be patient but I feel there hasnt been that much info yet despite being one if not the deciding factor of wether they will play this game for the long term.

Sathrago

Just to dip some context into the conversation, last night steven replied on discord that the inspiration for the spear ability draws from the pathfinder cleric, so if you guys wanna go check that out and look for more similarities go for it.

Clerics in dnd and pathfinder are generally melee oriented casters with life saving tools that require foresight and planning to keep other players alive without wasting your spell slots. From the currently teased abilities I could guess that most of your healing will be passively done via hots or attacking enemies rather than a wow cleric that sits in the back and spams heals 24/7.

Nagash

bloodprophet wrote: »

Real question is. Does holy damage do double or triple damage to the flesh impaired?

lets hope its -1

bloodprophet

The Mage Soul in Rift Chloromancer is much the same. Doing damage to heal the group with few direct heals. It is how ever still a cloth wearer and ranged. Will be a nice change to see one up front and kicking butt.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3dupwQHNyU

Lore Dynamic

I particularly enjoy the sound-effect that accompany the visuals. The sounds of impact are done nicely.

I hope that Intrepid continues to place emphasis on the sounds with all their skills. I would like to "feel" the power of magic not simply through the colors & light, but also the sounds. Like in anime when a ship or mech is firing a laser-canon. You can "feel" the reverberation and get a sense of the power and devastation behind that blast.

Additionally: The subtle rainbow colors in the Resurrection spell was a nice touch.

/thumbs up!

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