Cleric User Review and Analysis

[Swati]

nice review

[Malais]

My focus as a healer (in any tri-archtype MMO not just Aion) has always been as a group player. The review is purely a solo based review of the class, and I was simply pointing out the flaws in that 1-sided approach, and putting forth my idea to balance things from a group prospective. I?m not saying one is more right that the other, frankly it isn?t the point of my post. I am simply saying to review the class as a solo class does a great injustice the class.
As for the balance issues I brought up?

From what those who have played other classes have said both here and on other sites is their class isn't as solo friendly as the cleric. This is why they are OP, not just the transformations. In PvE, the cleric stands a much better chance of not dying that any other class solo. We kill much slower and have low DPS, but we are a living battery. We heal ourselves, and still have the ability to DPS. No other class has these 2 abilities (save the chanter but count them as a weak cleric for this discussion).

If things stay the way they are, eventually some people will opt out of playing a damage class or worse a tank class so they can solo. Since reviews like this make the cleric look like the perfect solo class.

If you make the cleric more difficult to solo with, by bringing them in line with the other classes, but bump their group abilities you make the game more group friendly. Which in my opinion (please people don?t start the whole group vrs solo debate again ) is why I like the healer class.

I'm not against soloing at all; I just wish they would make it less appealing to do so. By lowering the DPS skills a tad (perhaps 50% is a bit much how about 15-20) and give us a 15-20% bump in group heals, or HoTs. You can still solo even though you are doing less damage, due to you being even less likely to die due to the healing buffs especially to HoTs.

I have seen more and more people complain that Clerics are OP due to their 1v1 ability against other classes as well as their survivability in PvE. This is a bad sign, mostly due to the knee-jerk reactions MMO devs have with class balance. One way or another we will get hit hard by the nerf hammer, question is will they shift our abilities or outright destroy them.

[Lucielo]

at least if we do get hit by a mahoosive nerf hammer.. being the primary healer.. we can take a little joy knowing that we are not the only ones that will be suffering .

[merkels]

Originally Posted by Malais

My focus as a healer (in any tri-archtype MMO not just Aion) has always been as a group player. The review is purely a solo based review of the class, and I was simply pointing out the flaws in that 1-sided approach, and putting forth my idea to balance things from a group prospective. I?m not saying one is more right that the other, frankly it isn?t the point of my post. I am simply saying to review the class as a solo class does a great injustice the class.
As for the balance issues I brought up?

From what those who have played other classes have said both here and on other sites is their class isn't as solo friendly as the cleric. This is why they are OP, not just the transformations. In PvE, the cleric stands a much better chance of not dying that any other class solo. We kill much slower and have low DPS, but we are a living battery. We heal ourselves, and still have the ability to DPS. No other class has these 2 abilities (save the chanter but count them as a weak cleric for this discussion).

If things stay the way they are, eventually some people will opt out of playing a damage class or worse a tank class so they can solo. Since reviews like this make the cleric look like the perfect solo class.

If you make the cleric more difficult to solo with, by bringing them in line with the other classes, but bump their group abilities you make the game more group friendly. Which in my opinion (please people don?t start the whole group vrs solo debate again ) is why I like the healer class.

I'm not against soloing at all; I just wish they would make it less appealing to do so. By lowering the DPS skills a tad (perhaps 50% is a bit much how about 15-20) and give us a 15-20% bump in group heals, or HoTs. You can still solo even though you are doing less damage, due to you being even less likely to die due to the healing buffs especially to HoTs.

I have seen more and more people complain that Clerics are OP due to their 1v1 ability against other classes as well as their survivability in PvE. This is a bad sign, mostly due to the knee-jerk reactions MMO devs have with class balance. One way or another we will get hit hard by the nerf hammer, question is will they shift our abilities or outright destroy them.

Very nice post, all very good points/ideas. Clerics ARE OP right now, because they wear chain armor, have good DPS output, and have insane heal output, plus many tools available to regen their MP. All of these parts combined together make for a ridiculously good class. *maybe* it wouldn't be so bad if they didn't have such strong abilities on ALL fronts, but since they do it makes a pretty beastly class.

I agree they could reduce the DPS a bit, to make them a little bit less killer. Their healing output and many ways of recovering MP will always leave them as a nearly-impossible class to kill for many classes though. In many games the healer class would wear themselves out of mp in pvp if they weren't careful, but the clerics have a million different ways to keep their mp going in AION, so it's really quite hard to kill them. They also seem nearly impossible to interrupt with regular damage at high lvls, without the aid of stun, kd, or silence

Not really sure what they'll do to the cleric class. NCSoft isn't well-known for their individual class balance, but they make a nice group-based pvp game, for sure. And that's where clerics will have problems I'd say. Focus fire them down asap! I try not to focus on 1v1 in this game because it seems the classes are quite imbalanced atm from a 1v1 standpoint :3 (but i do love 1v1, as useless and pointless as it may be)

[Brianmbailey]

Clerics DPS goes down the tubes as you level. So if you nerf them for their supposed OP'ness in midgame, their late game is going to blow. And besides, there are many classes that can solo JUST AS WELL IF NOT BETTER than the cleric. Sorc, SM, Glad are all pve monsters and solo even better than the cleric. Thats why you see 50 billion glad/sorc bots and hardly ever see a cleric bot. I do not want to be forced to group to level. That is absolutely idiotic when many other classes do not have to do that.

I do not see why you are on the nerf cleric bandwagon. Especially when you have not even played them end game. If some clerics want to solo end game, so freaking what. Other classes are doing it too. Why should the cleric be excluded from this just because he is a "healer". Just because of the healer tag he should always be relying on others? He should never be able to have fun by himself? F that. Their dps is not that good. Already at 32 it takes me 3x longer than a sorc to kill a mob. Sure I have less chance of dieing, but he clears out mobs WAY quicker than me. Nerf sorcs, its not fair they can kill so quick while the poor cleric is left behind in his dust.

And btw, the cleric already has amazing group play. He absolutely does not need a buff in this area AT ALL. The chanter needs the group play buff.

[HarukaBanchou]

Cleric dps goes down the tube endgame? Who you kidding? Dot, sentry, and that lightning chain nuke can kill just as fast as any other class. On top of that Kaion just buffed that lightning chain nuke, and changed it from 10% to 20% proc for the 3rd skill.

I'm curious Brian have you played cleric end game?

[Brianmbailey]

Sentry does a paltry 230 damage at level 33. Wowee. That is on mobs by the way. Players it does less. And discharge, while nice, has only a %20 proc rate. So %20 of the time at the end of a chain, we get a nuke that does good damage. We only have one other skill that does decent damage besides that, which is also at the end of a chain with a decent sized cooldown.

While I have not played end game, I have seen my dps go down compared to other classes as I level. That is how it should be, but I do NOT think we need a nerf in the DPS department. Like I said before, the dps classes kill mobs in pve much quicker than us already, why should we have to level even slower?

[drudawg84]

To OP: Thanks for the insight. =)

[Auriga]

Those who want to nerf soloing capabilities of the cleric, are jerks. I hate ppl who want to enforce others a playstyle based on their own. If you like to play your cleric only in groups do it but save it for yourselves. Some ppl simply don't want/like to depend on others. I love being a healer, I even RP a lot as a healer (i.e. when I'm going somewhere and see someone fighting a mob almost dead, I always lay a heal or two to save him/her for certain death, if its too late for that I always ress)

And tho I love grouping as well, I WANT the freedom to NOT group when I'm not willing to. If I want to solo, I want to have the tools to do so, because its not fair that because I'm a healer I must be forced to be in a group healing and depending on others to get my stuff.

So stop calling the nerf bat on us. Go play your classes as they should be and leave us alone.

[Malais]

How does lowering DPS but increasing healing take away from your ability to solo?

How is it a nerf to bring the class into line with the rest?

Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't the purpose of the class is to heal first dps second?

If you give the cleric better buffs/heals you increase the survivability of the class, increase the utility of the class, and ultimately the overall usefulness of the archtype, while not taking away from the solo ability. I never said you shouldn't be able to solo, but as a cleric it should never be easier to solo than to group. Right now a cleric is better off going it solo through 70% of the game, rather than grouping simply because the class is a beast when it comes to survivability after chain comes into play.

If you increase the DPS, or simply leave it the way it is, you will have people who play the class simply because it is easy. MMOs are about cooperation, which is why the Pyramid of the three archtypes was created in the first place. You trade hitpoints for DPS, DPS for utility (healing), and healing for Hitpoints.

If you have a single class that can tank, kill and heal what is the point of the rest? As it stands we can use chain, heal, and have several decent DPS skills, not as high as a SiN or a sorc, but we aren't supposed to! Clerics have an innate ability to solo due to the armor and heals we have. We do NOT need to do high DPS as well.

And as for go play your class comment, I have always been a healer and I will always be a healer. We are one of the two most needed classes in any group. With a healer and a tank, all you need is some form of DPS; glad, sorc or SiN. 3 choices when it comes to DPS, why make the cleric a 4th?

The perspective of this review only accentuates my point. The OP didn't even think to include anything about how the class works in a group dynamic, but rather focused on the ability of the class to solo. The quotes that were included only highlight my point even more.

Since when did playing a healer become solo first, group second (if at all?)

[Brianmbailey]

We can not even remotely take the spot of the dps. That is what my billion posts are about. If you nerf our dps, you take away our solo capability. Plain and simple. We will be forced to group to do anything, and absolutely no one will play our class. I for one do NOT want to spend 1 minute per kill on a mob. It is already getting to take awhile if discharge does not proc, I do not want to double our grinding time.

For pve grinding, there is really only one class right now where it is more efficient to partner up to grind. That is the templar. Why nerf us to make it so we have to do that too? Why should everyone else but a cleric and a templar be able to solo grind efficiently? There are a few classes that have a hard time solo pvping. Templar and chanter come to mind especially(and sm's in the abyss only). But if you nerf our DPS, all clerics will be able to do is SURVIVE. We will have to run EVERY TIME we see an enemy unless we have friends with us. WHY DO YOU THINK THIS IS A GOOD IDEA? I do not get it.

And why do you think we need more group tools. Our healing is AMAZING. We provide so much to the group and absolutely do not need a buff in that area AT ALL. Chanters need the group buffs. Not us. Quit asking for buffs we have no buisness getting.

[Auriga]

Originally Posted by Malais

Since when did playing a healer become solo first, group second (if at all?)

And since when did you become the one calling the shots about what should come first? That is what I'm talking about. You are trying to make a point by enforcing your own biased opinion about "traditional" healer archetype as if all games should follow this formula. Not ALL games have to have this kind of "heal first, solo later" type of healer. This is what I call healbotting, and this type of healer is more suitable for a group PvP based game, such as Warhammer. And even in WAR, there are both archetypes for you to choose, you can be the healbotter (Runepriest, Zealot) or a melee healer (Warrior Priest/DoK) which works pretty similar to the Cleric in AION. Theres even a third type! the caster healer (Shaman/Archmage) which can deliver a serious amount of damage and still heal like gods.

So far as I know, AION is going towards small skirmish battles and 1x1 battles instead of massive group battles, so I don't see a healbotting archetype fits in this scenario. Since most of the time a healer in AION will be forced to PvP 1x1 its totally acceptable and plausible its ability to solo well. In a game with just 8 classes and 4 archetypes (Tanker, rogue, mage, healer) nerfing cleric's solo capabilities to suit your "prefab" healer archetype, will simply screw the class up, thus serving to make it rare on the battlefield, which is never good since we all know how dependant on healers are the other classes.

I honestly prefer to have lots of healers around than none at all.

[Objection]

Originally Posted by HarukaBanchou

Cleric dps goes down the tube endgame? Who you kidding? Dot, sentry, and that lightning chain nuke can kill just as fast as any other class.

Lightning chain nuke? If you mean Thunderbolt, it has a cooldown timer and can't be chained unlike a Sorc's nukes (which is ok). If you mean Divine Grace, the chain 3 combo, then it's the one that triggers every blue moon. Sure helps chainkilling ****, yes.

Originally Posted by Malais

MMOs are about cooperation, which is why the Pyramid of the three archtypes was created in the first place.

Oh, it's about cooperation? Is that why 90% of the game is done solo? People only team up when they can't do something alone (group quests, raids) and that's about it, I haven't seen any other cooperation in Aion. Why? Because it's "go out and kill 20 raptors, bring me 10 insect legs, go and gather 6 potatoes, bring me 5 bear asses".
If you take away (some) DPS from the Cleric, do you seriously think that any other class will volunteer and level up / do quests with him most of the time?
Your point is only valid if cooperation, i.e. grouping, is the main way of leveling up in a game. In Aion this is clearly not the case.

[Malais]

Originally Posted by Objection

Oh, it's about cooperation? Is that why 90% of the game is done solo?

You can't solve the problem by making the cleric a standalone solo machine, anymore than you can by doing the same with the other classes. That said I do NOT want to take out the solo ability from the game. I would like to see grouping encouraged more than soloing. But seeing as how everyone who has written a review (not just here but elsewhere) has given their point of view based on solo experiences, doesn't it seem like people are unwilling to group period?

I don't think it is just the way Aion is set up. I think many people have gotten away from the more social grouping aspects of MMOs, and given the replies to this thread such as people not wanting to "rely on other people" or "not wanting other people to get my stuff" I guess I am in the minority. Perhaps MMOs are no longer social games, but rather single player RPGs with monthly fees and occasional content updates.

If even my fellow healers would rather play solo than group, perhaps it is time I retire from MMOs altogether.

[Hanso]

It's more of how (most) ppl play MMOs these days: with a Hybrid char (eg healer/semi dps), soloing most of the content. This not only happens in AION, but in every MMO. If you are not forced to party, not many ppl will do it, period, nothing bad to say about it, it's how they like to play it and Devs have to adapt to that.