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The Gift of Life - Cleric Alpha One Preview

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  • TrsTrs Member
    edited November 2020
    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.

    Completely agree with this, this is the real focus of the healing classes, if the person wants to do some different role it's okay to give them the tools to do that role, but it seems that the skills on early levels are focusing more in the "alternative healer" than in the "real healer" and that might greatly affect game mechanics and how the game is played at a group level or even more in competitive level, do the devs really want healers to be another DPS class that will be good for nothing at the end, this is really bad if so.

    This is confusing as Steven always talks about how Lineage 2, Aion and Archeage have influenced on him and these healer base skill are absolutely not what you see on those games,

    I have the feeling that they are trying to look apealing for those player that look for uncommon or not viable builds more than pure healers, and once again, this worries me as it might completely render the groups synergy (tanks, healers, supports, dps) useless on game meta

    Also, some of these skills could have been introduced as defensive or survivability skills, I am more open to believe that the Castigation and Divine censure are a type of skill you use in a very certain defensive situation rather than an offensive skill.... Now, going a bit into the animation, even tho the spear and the whip are cool looking, the whole idea of it being an early attack for healers to be able to exp/level on their own, kinda makes me sick already, i dont wanna be looking at all that spam of that spear and whip all over the places, in all honestly, it's just plain bad, imagine 30-40 people in starting area, just whiping again and again, its terrifying.

    As for the skill that do so many things at the same time, it also worries me, these skills tend to be rendered useless for the end game content as they are really weak at either attacking or healing, honestly, unless they can be augmented really good and change with other things, I see those like filler skills.
  • Sathrago wrote: »
    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.

    Just adding onto my own post real quick.

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    If you cant read it open in another tab.
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    Commissioned at https://fiverr.com/ravenjuu
  • Thanks for the kind words and also the feedback!

    We appreciate it folks. <3
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  • Thank you for the insight into another class-archetype!

    Yours truly is excited to learn more about the Religious nodes and what they'll feature. Am hoping for a Bless/Blight type of city-ability that would allow Mayors of Religious cities to control the weather over other nodes; Extra resources from Freeholds in 'blessed' areas, and a resource penalty on enemy nodes' Freeholds. A good incentive to make war on Religious nodes, as well!

    Another awesome video.
  • TacualeonTacualeon Member
    edited November 2020
    Benediction maybe could have a watery-flowy animation instead of lightning.

    I like the Divine Censure animation a lot, not quite fond of the name.
    The white clothes with golden motives are beautiful. Thanks for keeping character models with slenders body shapes.

    I know everyone already watched the video but can we focus for a second on the details and how awesome that set looked?
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  • AmmaAmma Member, Alpha One, Adventurer
    Well, like Steven said in that picture above, this is only a little part of the skills the cleric will have, so i dont think that you wont have enough direct healing spells later on in the game.

    Second point is that you have to think of the starting situation of a level 1 Character. You wont get into a dungeon or raid with level 1 so it makes sense that you need some ablities to make damage at the beginning. I even think that it will be easier for clerics in the beginning to level, because the other archetypes have to watch out for their life while the cleric will heal himself all the time. So he or she can move faster to the next enemy.

    Third point is that if this is the system later on in the game too then it would make sense because like IS said it multiple times, they balance the game mostly for bigger battles and events and not for 1v1, so if we think of a castle siege where you have 30-50 people in front of the castle, then passive healing is the most effective to heal as fast as possible the lowest life bars and not search on your monitor who is low and who not, because remember we wont have addons which could help us with that. So maybe these are some of the reasons for these "beginner" spells.
  • Some people seem to think they seem damage heavy but we don't know the actual damage numbers and scaling. The only attack they have that only does damage is exorcism while the rest either also heal or debuff. There are comparable skills in other games that the damage is just a nice bonus but not important. At low levels like the preview shows it helps to add diversity to questing rotations with these kind of skills and that's without even going into how they change with ranking them up.
  • daveywaveydaveywavey Member
    edited November 2020
    If a Healer can add anything to the Group DPS while still healing, it can only be a good thing. The quicker those Raid Bosses go down, the less healing you need to do.

    They could have easily just taken the damage part out and left the skill there, but the damage has been included to make the Healer more effective. I like it!
    This link may help you: https://ashesofcreation.wiki/
  • NagashNagash Member, Leader of Men, Kickstarter, Alpha One
    Tacualeon wrote: »
    Benediction maybe could have a watery-flowy animation instead of lightning.

    I like the Divine Censure animation a lot, not quite fond of the name.
    The white clothes with golden motives are beautiful. Thanks for keeping character models with slenders body shapes.

    I know everyone already watched the video but can we focus for a second on the details and how awesome that set looked?
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    two1.png

    yeah its nice to see padded armour for a change
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    The dead do not squabble as this land’s rulers do. The dead have no desires, petty jealousies or ambitions. A world of the dead is a world at peace
  • SathragoSathrago Member
    edited November 2020
    daveywavey wrote: »
    If a Healer can add anything to the Group DPS while still healing, it can only be a good thing. The quicker those Raid Bosses go down, the less healing you need to do.

    They could have easily just taken the damage part out and left the skill there, but the damage has been included to make the Healer more effective. I like it!

    Check out high level white images in ff14 those suckers can pump that aoe damage when they want to.
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    Commissioned at https://fiverr.com/ravenjuu
  • DamoklesDamokles Member, Alpha One, Adventurer
    The funny thing is, that all those skills are available at lvl 10 and we get even more. Some classes in WoW have less skills in their whole rotation xD
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  • My concerns are listed below:-
    1. The special effects scale are too exaggerating (except Judgement and Benediction), yet since this is the Alpha, most probably they will be tuned down in the actual release.
    2. The special effects are too singular in colour and style, hopefully the augments will have some effects on them.
    3. The judgement 's flying hammer is below expectations, suggest to change into bigger hammer but omit the hammer flight trail effect. Completely horizontal hammer will make it look more powerful instead of slanting/leaning hammer in the video.
    4. During resurrection, the concept of target push-up and rise from dead is good, but the animation is too 'robotic', adding some struggle or dazed animation while rising would be spectacular.
    5. In Devotion cast animation, which castor cast the spell upwards, then the target received the healing spell from heaven after ~1 second delay, is too exaggerating. Hopefully it can be change into much simple effects and instant heal.
    6. Since this video is shot from a third person view, I wonder how the AOE ground targeting looks like from both castor's and the target's views. It will be exciting if the target able see the AOE which casted to the ground where he/she before the spell delay elapsed, then it will be up to his/her responsiveness to evade.

    Appart from what mentioned above, Intrepid is doing a great job on the animation. Love the Castigation, Hallowed Ground and Benediction animations and Sfx.

    It looks like Intrepid is giving us the cleric classes that very different from other MMORPGs who heal and support at the back of the party, this AOC's cleric skills set giving an impression of templar or Inquisitor who able to do some decent damage and hold the frontline together with the Tank.
  • Amma wrote: »
    Third point is that if this is the system later on in the game too then it would make sense because like IS said it multiple times, they balance the game mostly for bigger battles and events and not for 1v1, so if we think of a castle siege where you have 30-50 people in front of the castle, then passive healing is the most effective to heal as fast as possible the lowest life bars and not search on your monitor who is low and who not, because remember we wont have addons which could help us with that. So maybe these are some of the reasons for these "beginner" spells.

    Arguing for passive healing to make it easier and insinuating that addons are necessary is just sad. Real healers don't want nor need passive healing. It's not skillful, nor is it fun when the game plays itself for me and just magically heals everyone. And no, addons are not necessary for mass raid healing. Understanding how to read and use your UI effectively in a raid setting is an important skill for any healer. A big part of what makes healing fun is having to decide who to heal when, what abilities to use, being able to pay attention to the battlefield and your UI, quick reactions, etc. and we've done all of that in other games. We don't need passive healing nor do we need healing addons. I understand that these are low level abilities, but I certainly hope they don't represent what it will play like at later levels.



  • DamoklesDamokles Member, Alpha One, Adventurer
    Leiloni wrote: »
    Amma wrote: »
    Third point is that if this is the system later on in the game too then it would make sense because like IS said it multiple times, they balance the game mostly for bigger battles and events and not for 1v1, so if we think of a castle siege where you have 30-50 people in front of the castle, then passive healing is the most effective to heal as fast as possible the lowest life bars and not search on your monitor who is low and who not, because remember we wont have addons which could help us with that. So maybe these are some of the reasons for these "beginner" spells.

    Arguing for passive healing to make it easier and insinuating that addons are necessary is just sad. Real healers don't want nor need passive healing. It's not skillful, nor is it fun when the game plays itself for me and just magically heals everyone. And no, addons are not necessary for mass raid healing. Understanding how to read and use your UI effectively in a raid setting is an important skill for any healer. A big part of what makes healing fun is having to decide who to heal when, what abilities to use, being able to pay attention to the battlefield and your UI, quick reactions, etc. and we've done all of that in other games. We don't need passive healing nor do we need healing addons. I understand that these are low level abilities, but I certainly hope they don't represent what it will play like at later levels.



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    He.... didnt argue FOR addons though? HE said that because we wont have them, that such aoe healing spells are rather helpfull for inexperienced healers, which is true.
    It is also not "passive" healing, you still need to watch out to keep up the cooldown, juggle it with other spell cds, keep up other buffs/debuffs. Nothing in the skillset would make you think that the "game is playing for you".

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  • AtamaAtama Member, Braver of Worlds, Kickstarter, Alpha One
    I really liked the cleric preview. I liked the golden effects; they evoke the idea of divine power, and I like the consistency from one ability to another. I'd like it if each archetype had some kind of identity for their abilities so that you see an ability and know "that's a cleric thing" or "that's a bard thing". It also will be handy when you add a second archetype and start to augment your abilities, so that the appearance can change to be more like the secondary class. The cleric/rogue for example might look darker or have shadow effects.

    I like the spear attack. I've seen divine spears formed from holy power used in other games for cleric types and it seems fitting here. It fits the metaphor of a spear striking into the heart of evil. That along with the hammer attack are really fitting to me.

    Steven said in the October livestream that most powers haven't even gone through a 2nd pass to tweak their appearances. and overall they are larger and brighter than they will be later. They don't prioritize these tweaks because they are easy to adjust and they're trying to fix the hard things first (like character animations, which you have to admit have gone from embarrassingly bad in earlier footage to acceptable in the latest videos). Things are not going to be this flashy on release.
     
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  • Atama wrote: »
    I like the spear attack. I've seen divine spears formed from holy power used in other games for cleric types and it seems fitting here. It fits the metaphor of a spear striking into the heart of evil. That along with the hammer attack are really fitting to me.

    In ESO, I used to like throwing a divine spear to knock enemies off castle towers, sending them to their deaths below. Hilarious!
    This link may help you: https://ashesofcreation.wiki/
  • Thanks all for sharing your thoughts and feedback so far based on what you're watching! <3 excited to see what additional details you share once you all get your hands on these skills directly :smiley:
    Winnugami wrote: »
    I want to point out that they did say it was just the 1-10 abilities. It is not like these are the ONLY abilities the clerics get. To that point, they seem like solid foundational abilities that cover most of the basics. I didnt see a heal over time but maybe I missed it.

    If you level up some of these particular skills, they gain additional perks - such as Devotion gaining a small heal over time!
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  • AmmaAmma Member, Alpha One, Adventurer
    Leiloni wrote: »
    Real healers don't want nor need passive healing. ........ We don't need passive healing nor do we need healing addons.

    Well... i am sorry that i am not part of the "real" healers and that you "real" healers dont need passive healing. As an amateur healer who wants to have simply fun at playing a game, i think it would be nice to have passive healing, because this is simply what made fun for me as an disci priest in wow.

  • akabearakabear Member, Braver of Worlds, Kickstarter, Alpha One
    With the taste we just got, I like the direction.

    With what looked like a rag doll effect, I also wonder if disabled and/or dead bodies can be further moved around with any successive attacks?

    Quite enjoyed in Skyrim further blasting dead bodies further away.. In L2 sometimes enjoyed rubbing in a loss to someone in pvp, by jumping up and down on their bodies, sitting on them, dancing on them and sometimes dropping pieces of wood to make a "camp fire" on them. Friendly banter. .And I remember in reverse being riled when someone did it back! I would love to be able to blast a body away a few extra times!
  • maouwmaouw Member, Alpha One, Adventurer
    Overall, I feel a bit overwhelmed by the number of spells available at level 10.
    I LOVE LOVE LOVE the caster visual effects - but like others have said, I still want to cast while moving or interrupt spell casting if needed.
    Some of them look like they could be advanced spells?
    • Castigation (the shiny whip) - can this be a skill we can press 3 times? So we can lash left, right, and then a slightly stronger final hit? (and the whip can burst away in the final hit). Windup is a bit too long on this skill, spreading out the damage so that more of the total damage is in the third final hit gives players something to counterplay with other than windup animations.
    • Benediction (chain heal) - looks too much like an electrical attack at the moment - can I suggest much softer curved lines and more blurred? With heals specifically, can we turn off gravity on the particles and instead make them rise? I think the character pose goes really well with this electric style spell - but perhaps would work better on an electric mage. The idea of a chain heal is good though!
    • Hallowed Ground (AoE heal+damage) - the edges of the AoE effect need visual clarity. I like how it pulses! This is a spell that I feel doesn't belong in the beginner category.
    • Divine Censure (holy spear) - love the idea behind this spell! Can we visually emphasize the debuff aspect of it? Less focus on the spear, more on who has been debuffed, so harder visual cues on the debuff (maybe a beam of light from heaven)? I'd even argue the spear looks a bit too solid - but I think that's just my taste. Hurling a spear is something I don't really associate with clerical disciplines - and I think interferes with the separation of weapon skills vs spells.
    • Resurrection - looking really good, can't wait to see the polished version :) I do think resurrection should not be a beginner spell though - it's like the ultimate form of healing.
    • Damnation (debuff DoT) - it almost looks like a buff right now, can you reduce opacity of the sweeping particles on the way up, and make them more solid on the way down?
    • Devotion (twinkle star heal) - description is "swift action", but it isn't swift. Especially when chain heal is much more instant.
    • Exorcism - the floating in the air animation here is over the top. Exorcism has a different connotation to what I see in this spell. Can I suggest the name "Soul String"? DoT effect also isn't obvious in the visual effect of the spell, too many sparkles around the caster for this spell.
    • Judgement (hammer throw) - this spell is too similar to divine censure, and a bit generic. I would reserve the name "Judgement" for a more impactful spell. Again, physically throwing a hammer just doesn't sit right with me for the clerical offices unless it's a weapon skill (with a cleric augment?).

    I would love to see a few more spells to do with cleansing, and it would be cool if the higher level spells have more of a "channeling power from a diving being" aspect - meaning: rather than throwing hammers at people yourself, a hammer wielded by unseen (or seen?) hands appears, strikes and disappears.
    I wish I were deep and tragic
  • maouw wrote: »
    Again, physically throwing a hammer just doesn't sit right with me for the clerical offices unless it's a weapon skill (with a cleric augment?).

    I assume they're going for the "judge's gavel" kind of feel.
    This link may help you: https://ashesofcreation.wiki/
  • maouwmaouw Member, Alpha One, Adventurer
    daveywavey wrote: »
    maouw wrote: »
    Again, physically throwing a hammer just doesn't sit right with me for the clerical offices unless it's a weapon skill (with a cleric augment?).

    I assume they're going for the "judge's gavel" kind of feel.

    Right!
    But physically hurling a hammer head over hilt like a tomahawk doesn't have the gavel spirit.

    I guess there's no clean way to slam a gavel without making the gavel an enormous size.
    I wish I were deep and tragic
  • maouw wrote: »
    daveywavey wrote: »
    maouw wrote: »
    Again, physically throwing a hammer just doesn't sit right with me for the clerical offices unless it's a weapon skill (with a cleric augment?).

    I assume they're going for the "judge's gavel" kind of feel.

    Right!
    But physically hurling a hammer head over hilt like a tomahawk doesn't have the gavel spirit.

    Hahahahaha, that'd deter a lot of criminals, I'm sure!
    This link may help you: https://ashesofcreation.wiki/
  • LeiloniLeiloni Member
    edited November 2020
    Amma wrote: »
    Leiloni wrote: »
    Real healers don't want nor need passive healing. ........ We don't need passive healing nor do we need healing addons.

    Well... i am sorry that i am not part of the "real" healers and that you "real" healers dont need passive healing. As an amateur healer who wants to have simply fun at playing a game, i think it would be nice to have passive healing, because this is simply what made fun for me as an disci priest in wow.

    I wouldn't consider Disc a passive healer. They definitely directly heal and require a lot of skill, they just do it mostly via placing a buff on their targets and then using damage to heal. With Disc you're still very much actively choosing targets, strategically choosing which skills to use and when. And the fact that that damage to heal buff is a short term, single target buff only adds to the skill and decision making required. It's definitely in the category of traditional active healer. Nobody just passively gets healed from a Disc Priest in WoW - you only get healed after the Priest has gone through a lot of effort and a lot of button presses to get there.
  • You know what, I'd love to hear a bigger explosion at the end of Exorcism. That'd be awesome! Hope that gets put in.
    This link may help you: https://ashesofcreation.wiki/
  • LeiloniLeiloni Member
    edited November 2020
    maouw wrote: »
    Overall, I feel a bit overwhelmed by the number of spells available at level 10.
    I LOVE LOVE LOVE the caster visual effects - but like others have said, I still want to cast while moving or interrupt spell casting if needed.
    Some of them look like they could be advanced spells?
    • Castigation (the shiny whip) - can this be a skill we can press 3 times? So we can lash left, right, and then a slightly stronger final hit? (and the whip can burst away in the final hit). Windup is a bit too long on this skill, spreading out the damage so that more of the total damage is in the third final hit gives players something to counterplay with other than windup animations.
    • Benediction (chain heal) - looks too much like an electrical attack at the moment - can I suggest much softer curved lines and more blurred? With heals specifically, can we turn off gravity on the particles and instead make them rise? I think the character pose goes really well with this electric style spell - but perhaps would work better on an electric mage. The idea of a chain heal is good though!
    • Hallowed Ground (AoE heal+damage) - the edges of the AoE effect need visual clarity. I like how it pulses! This is a spell that I feel doesn't belong in the beginner category.
    • Divine Censure (holy spear) - love the idea behind this spell! Can we visually emphasize the debuff aspect of it? Less focus on the spear, more on who has been debuffed, so harder visual cues on the debuff (maybe a beam of light from heaven)? I'd even argue the spear looks a bit too solid - but I think that's just my taste. Hurling a spear is something I don't really associate with clerical disciplines - and I think interferes with the separation of weapon skills vs spells.
    • Resurrection - looking really good, can't wait to see the polished version :) I do think resurrection should not be a beginner spell though - it's like the ultimate form of healing.
    • Damnation (debuff DoT) - it almost looks like a buff right now, can you reduce opacity of the sweeping particles on the way up, and make them more solid on the way down?
    • Devotion (twinkle star heal) - description is "swift action", but it isn't swift. Especially when chain heal is much more instant.
    • Exorcism - the floating in the air animation here is over the top. Exorcism has a different connotation to what I see in this spell. Can I suggest the name "Soul String"? DoT effect also isn't obvious in the visual effect of the spell, too many sparkles around the caster for this spell.
    • Judgement (hammer throw) - this spell is too similar to divine censure, and a bit generic. I would reserve the name "Judgement" for a more impactful spell. Again, physically throwing a hammer just doesn't sit right with me for the clerical offices unless it's a weapon skill (with a cleric augment?).

    I would love to see a few more spells to do with cleansing, and it would be cool if the higher level spells have more of a "channeling power from a diving being" aspect - meaning: rather than throwing hammers at people yourself, a hammer wielded by unseen (or seen?) hands appears, strikes and disappears.


    Castigation - You're making it sound like you want to turn it into a basic attack chain but we already have those. It seems to me the main point of this is the HP/MP regeneration. Even more so if Cleric is a mana heavy class, or if we have mana heavy teammates, then we'd want to keep this buff up all the time, so it would be more of a one and done spell to get the buff going and then off to another skill.

    But my major concern with this is as much as I love the idea of MP regen, shouldn't MP regen be a buff we give to the Bard class?

    Hallowed Ground - what about this makes you feel it's not beginner? To me the idea of a massive AoE that both damage and heals is the most easy button beginner spell there is? No need to target or worry about aiming because it's a big AoE, you can damage and heal at the same time so an easy introduction into the idea of the class without having to choose to do one or the other, damage at lower levels when you're mostly soloing will be nice as well (and multi target even!) and it would also be some self healing while killing mobs which could be great, and I'm assuming it'll have to be balanced to do lower damage and lower healing than skills that only do one of those things, but since it's low level that'll be fine since nothing is super powerful at low levels anyway. What am I missing here? I mean I don't like the idea of the skill in general as I've said before, but it most definitely feels beginner to me. Just plop it down and win.

    I agree it needs visual clarity in the effect visuals - the previous big glowing rune on the ground that we saw for this skill in previous livestreams was much better.

    Divine Censure - I agree a spear isn't something I really associate with Cleric disciplines so it feels really off to throw a spear.

    Devotion - definitely agree here. There's nothing swift about the character's arms going up twice in the air for however long before the heal starts flying, and then I also get quite nervous at the idea of the heal falling down onto the character's head because I see a bit of a delay there which makes me wonder if the heal itself will be delayed. I just imagine myself trying to use this to save someone and the cast delay and animation delay will mean the person dies and I watch the animation drop down onto their dead body.

    Also just logically speaking, why would a Cleric throw a heal into the air so it can arc upwards instead of just shooting the heal directly at their target? It doesn't make any sense and it's so inefficient it just looks dumb. Personally I'd love aside from making it faster, making the animation have more weight behind it. If this is a quick, fast, direct heal I want it to have impact both visually and with sound effects, to really feel like I'm hitting them hard with some life saving holy action. Like damn it you're not dying - boom.

    Exorcism - Exorcism's animation is definitely way over the top. I'd get rid of the floaty bit and try to speed up the animation as well. Also not sure it really feels like I'm exorcising a demon out of anyone. Should be more forceful. I mean if I'm "ripping the target's spirit" it should look rather painful, should it? We're Clerics here, hardened holy warriors, not dainty fairy Priests.

    Judgement - I'd like to actually see a hammer here. I don't see any hammer just a bolt of light? A hammer is the most Cleric thing you could have considering Clerics are traditionally healers wearing chain armor and a 2H Warhammer or a 1H Mace Hammer and a Shield. So I'd love if maybe this skill were the Cleric throwing a 1H Mace Hammer at the target visually, or maybe more like throwing it down on the ground instead of outwards.
  • I think a lot of these spells are super cool, but specifically from an animation and effect standpoint, I feel like there are some points of polish to be made. The thing that first caught my eye was just the massive amount of like particles and sparkles on everything. It seems way over the top for me, personally. I know the staff has said they were going to tone down some of the particle effects, but even if its toned down, it still kind feels like the same kind of overuse of glittery magic dust?

    If castigatoin has all the particles to express the aoe regen portion of the spell, I think it might be kind of neat for the animation to spin the whip over the casters head, emitting the 'regen bits' outward, and then perhaps with the actual strike maybe have whip intensify and smack down with a more aggressive glow.

    I think benediction looks great!

    Hallowed ground I am a bit confused over. Is it a AOE centered on the caster or on a target? The animation seems over the top unless its a longer cooldown, but while floating up into the air it seems to be drawing in energy ... but when the caster comes down it seems to create a sigil in the ground in front of him, yet there are particles going crazy and radiating out from a source between the three targets? Regardless of the kind of AOE it is, I feel like that sigil should probably be the epicenter of the spell effect, as just pulsing out more ember looking particles seems like it might get hard/confusing to read in combat.

    Divine Censure has a great animation! The effects of the spear kind of materializing in the casters hand sort of throws me off a bit, however. I personally feel like it would be more thematic if it like grew from end to end with some flash of light or something. The current effect is just something I can't quite put my finger on. It feels more like a technological effect than a magical one ... if that makes sense? As an addition, I think it would be super super cool if the spear (or a faded ghostly version) just stays impaled in the target while the 'heal on attack' debuff is active.

    Resurrection looks great, but I feel like animation of the caster and the target should sync up a bit more. In the video, it seems like the target is just kinda doing a standard 'get up' animation. With the great animation on the casting I feel like when the cleric is pulling its hands up, it should be literally pulling the person to their feet.

    The target effects of Damnation look amazing, but it looks like that swirling energy might continue to pulse with every tick of the dot? That might be a little too much to have circling about throughout combat.

    Exorcism seems like it might be a cooldown? If its not ... that animation might want to be toned down a bit.

    Judgement seems a bit buggy? It looks like to me the hammer only comes out on the first cast in the video? if you can throw a spear, why not a hammer? That being said, the trailing particle effects seem to look weird for how the hammer spins in the air or something? It looks like it leaves a 'Z' in the air behind it? I feel like a different particle effect might be better for a trail behind that one?

    Overall looks quite great for an alpha! Really excited to see more!
  • daveywaveydaveywavey Member
    edited November 2020
    Leiloni wrote: »
    Castigation - we'd want to keep this buff up all the time, so it would be more of a one and done spell to get the buff going and then off to another skill.

    But my major concern with this is as much as I love the idea of MP regen, shouldn't MP regen be a buff we give to the Bard class?
    Agreed on the buff uptime. I can see this being one of the main skills I'll be using.

    Given that Mages also have a MP regen skill (Gift Of The Magi), we may see it in more than one playstyle.

    Leiloni wrote: »
    Divine Censure - I agree a spear isn't something I really associate with Cleric disciplines so it feels really off to throw a spear.
    I dunno, I've seen plenty of images/statues of angels with spears, and the ESO "cleric" (Templar) class had a Spear skill.

    Leiloni wrote: »
    Exorcism and Judgement - ... A hammer is the most Cleric thing you could have considering Cleric's are traditionally healers wearing chain armor and a 2H Warhammer or a 1H Mace Hammer and a Shield.
    What churches have you been to...?! :o
    This link may help you: https://ashesofcreation.wiki/
  • DamoklesDamokles Member, Alpha One, Adventurer
    daveywavey wrote: »
    Leiloni wrote: »
    Exorcism and Judgement - ... A hammer is the most Cleric thing you could have considering Cleric's are traditionally healers wearing chain armor and a 2H Warhammer or a 1H Mace Hammer and a Shield.
    What churches have you been to...?! :o

    The DnD Churches of FU*K OFF MY LAWN!

    DnD Clerics are one of the most powerfull melee classes funnily enough with a two handed hammer and on hit damage spells.
    a6XEiIf.gif
  • maouwmaouw Member, Alpha One, Adventurer
    @Leiloni
    I felt the whip should last longer? But that's mainly because it took so long to summon. I can see how it would work as a one-off skill too. Still needs to be faster.
    I'd like to give the bard plenty of utility too, clerics already do a lot on their own - I guess the whip is a plan B?

    As for the AoE spell, I'm looking at it from a magic mastery progression point of view (not user mechanics). To my mind it makes more sense that you start off learning shorter, brief spells that are simple before you master the longer lasting, AoE spells as you progress in levels. I don't think this should be a spell someone who has just started learning magic should know yet.

    What you're saying about throwing heals at the sky made me laugh. We mostly agree.


    @Crosim
    I'm pretty sure the particles are very rough at the moment, and Steven said they intend to scale down a lot of the vfx.

    I 100% agree that the spear is too non-magical. I really like your idea about the spear lingering inside the target for the duration of the debuff. It can spawn little heal animations when people attack the speared target.
    I wish I were deep and tragic
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