Cleric NEW SKILL SET (partially) and slight role change

[Bobbity]

Hello, everyone. As you know, in AA and CD points are given for healing done, damage taken etc. This, among other reasons, has given me the idea to have muses and clerics gain exp slightly differently from other classes. Not only that, but to play differently as well. This suggestion can be read in tandem with the summon mastery suggestion I posted earlier.

 

BASE PREMISES

My first premise is that Muses can gain combat exp from things other than killing mobs (directly or via party exp.) Muses/clerics can level through

- performing acts of healing on themselves or others taking severe damage (including non-party members), as well as purging debuffs. There is a mechanic of diminishing returns to be applied here on heals and purges to the same target and 'severe damage' is to be quantified as a percentage of the target's max hp. Negligible damage values from jellybeans will not give exp and will follow similar exp formulas to avoid gaming the system passively.

- praying (at a much-reduced exp rate than healing/purging/taking damage) (This concept will be explained in future.)

- taking or redirecting damage (regarding redirecting damage, others have suggested similar or better proposals)

My second base premise is that all Visitors and mobs are situated in a tier from 1 to 5 (corresponding to level ranges in the case of Visitors). Clerics cannot ascend in tier just by leveling. They have to perform a mission from their faith's NPC questgiver. The tier mechanic comes into play when purging debuffs or status resistance against Fear and Taunt status effects. Higher-tier units can ignore a Fear-type status effect, equal tier units suffer for a lesser duration than lower-tier units. A tier-2 cleric cannot purge a tier-3 DoT, for example.

EDIT: Heals and purges are simplified as such:

Tier 1 = single-target heals and purges (short cooldown)
Tier 2 = multiple-target heals and purges nearby party (short to medium cooldown)
Tier 3 = party heals in the same map (long cooldown)

Tier 4 = global group and party heals in the same and adjacent map (long cooldown). Global heals and purges will affect party members and group members as long as they are on the same planet as the cleric.

Tier 5 = unrestricted heal distance for party and group anywhere in the Seven Hearts (very long cooldown) aside from JC/TG and GA PvP.

 

SKILLS:

This suggestion aims to move us away from the buff meta, avoiding buff slavery and preventing crafting slavery. (Slavery is bad, you guys, what is even wrong with you?)

 

Regarding buffs:

There is one quasi-new concept to take note of here: mana reservation, alongside stacking status effects (not new but I had to mention it for the purposes of the discussion.)  

- Clerics have auras instead of buffs and can choose to increase either radius or effect depending on the passives in their skill tree. Auras increase in effect (potency) (stacking) based on active casting of other skills (e.g. heals, purges, nukes, debuffs, detection, taunts etc.) Thus, the more active the cleric is in combat, the quicker the stacks build up and the stronger the auras become. Every active aura reduces the total available mana pool by a medium to large percentage. 

-Clerics CAN still buff... at the cost of their lives!

Path of Beauty - Passive. Whenever a cleric kills themself via Martyrdom or dies during their Avatar state, their party receives potent buffs to all combat stats for the duration of the cleric's death. Clerics lose their current level exp upon death (resetting to 0). The buff potency is based on the amount of exp lost.

 

Martyrdom - Active. The cleric gains a dramatic bonus to combat stats and has their tier forcibly raised by 1 for a duration of time. The duration is refreshed upon taking damage. The cleric dies after this duration.

Avatar - Active. Limit-breaker form of Martyrdom (likely an unlockable achievement Unique skill) for burst tank and DPS. The cleric becomes an avatar of their god and enjoys dramatic reduction in skill cooldowns as well as a dramatic bonus to combat stats for a duration of time. Their tier is raised to the maximum. Auto-attacks deal the current level of Voltage Jolt to the target. The cleric dies after this duration and cannot be revived through any skill other than Unique skills. Duration is refreshed on taking damage. 

(This should leave DPS-related passives like Cleric's Intensity still viable not as a fallback but as a regular part of cleric builds.)

Clerics can also buff using the unlockable achievement Unique skill Blessing, which boosts all combat stats and attributes powerfully - once a day for the same target / once a day completely, haven't decided which is a better restriction. This skill also consumes the caster's current level exp and has its potency derived from the amount of exp consumed.

PROS: Buffing is no longer the primary focus of clerics (or rather, not the perceived focus). Clerics also become important for other reasons. Once-a-day buffs should be enough for everyone if the duration is long enough. (Yes, the Avatar state reduces the cooldown on Blessing as well.)

CONS: Can force a battlecleric meta. Numbers matter here.

 

GO-TO / STANDARD SKILLS

Standard skills aside from the heals, summons, buff/aura and Voltage nuke skills include:

Preach - Active. Simply the cleric version of the soldier's Sacrifice. Boosts the cleric's mana regen by a large percentage based on the number of affected units.

PROS: Standard version of what used to be a special skill for soldiers means this will be the cleric bread-and-butter party skill. Helps maintain mana shields in the thick of melee.

CONS: Steps on soldier toes. (Soldiers should get an equivalent version of Sacrifice that works alongside Berserk but also offers bonus hp regen and/or armor.)

 

Shrine - Active. The cleric builds (or summons if already constructed) a shrine to their god. Clerics can 'pray' at this shrine. Prayers allow clerics to heal/purge/revive allies at distances beyond the range of single-target skills (tier 3+). Necessary for mass Revival of an entire party or to summon a party to the cleric.

PROS: Unique approach to team mobility and revival.

CONS: Requires materials only gained through faction or Faith quests.

 

Path of the Cleric - Active. AOE Fear. Disperses hostiles lower in tier than the caster in a large radius, forcing them to move away at increased ms and setting their aggro to 0 for the duration. Duration increased by CHA. Hostiles in the AOE unaffected by Fear are aggravated instead. Friendly units gain increased ms and hp regen.
Monsters 3 tiers lower are Feared for a bonus 5 seconds and suffer a debuff to ms, as and ATK afterwards. Monsters of tier lower than this also suffer 3-4 blasts of Voltage Storm.

PROS: Useful and unique. Does not step on any other class's toes due to the medium cooldown.

CONS: Not useful in every dungeon, especially when rushing SC. Has variable use in SoD and PvP.

 

Domain - Active, costs %mana per second. Within n meters, stealthed units are passively revealed. Enemies one tier lower are revealed at maximum distance. Enemies of equal tier are revealed at half-distance. Higher-tier enemies are revealed only upon active cast of the related ability, Authority.
PROS: Offers a granular approach to detection instead of a binary click-click-click, revealing units no matter their level.

CONS: Can force a rigid PvP meta and over-reliance on clerics.

 

Holy Ground - Passive. The ground the cleric stands on is consecrated and nearby enemies suffer minor reductions to attack power and dramatic reductions to their passive bonuses (criticals, evasion, proc effects). They also take minor damage over time. Friendly units enjoy a minor healing factor (stacks with other healing over time effects.) Skill required to learn Domain. 

Edited November 3, 2022 by Bobbity
Oopsie-doopsie!

[Bobbity]

Right, so if you main cleric (you know who you are) please provide feedback on this while I have the energy to reply. @Avatar @Thystro @averybee1022 @HoneyBuns

[Ashura]

Excellent idea i just have a few concerns regarding this kamikaze cleric build not that i do not like the concept but mainly seems self sacrificial in my eyes.

 

SKILLS:

This suggestion aims to move us away from the buff meta, avoiding buff slavery and preventing crafting slavery. (Slavery is bad, you guys, what is even wrong with you?)

 

Regarding buffs:

There is one quasi-new concept to take note of here: mana reservation, alongside stacking status effects (not new but I had to mention it for the purposes of the discussion.)  

- Clerics have auras instead of buffs and can choose to increase either radius or effect depending on the passives in their skill tree. Auras increase in effect (potency) (stacking) based on active casting of other skills (e.g. heals, purges, nukes, debuffs, detection, taunts etc.) Thus, the more active the cleric is in combat, the quicker the stacks build up and the stronger the auras become. Every active aura reduces the total available mana pool by a medium to large percentage. 

-Clerics CAN still buff... at the cost of their lives!

Path of Beauty - Passive. Whenever a cleric kills themself via Martyrdom or dies during their Avatar state, their party receives potent buffs to all combat stats for the duration of the cleric's death. Clerics lose their current level exp upon death (resetting to 0). The buff potency is based on the amount of exp lost.

 

[This will be a major OH HELL NO because every party will require clerics to sacrifice themselves for the well being or said there of the party.]

 

Martyrdom - Active. The cleric gains a dramatic bonus to combat stats and has their tier forcibly raised by 1 for a duration of time. The duration is refreshed upon taking damage. The cleric dies after this duration.

 

(Like the concept but whats troubling to me is will this apply for all tiers (1-5) and what are the requirement for skill activation? Define the damage scale regarding refresh and dying factors[prerequisites] as in the stress test it highlighted that not all mobs have to do damage for mana shield to be depleted. (Small Butterflies on Birth Island and probably ghosts seeds as well but not tested yet)

 

Avatar - Active. Limit-breaker form of Martyrdom (likely an unlockable achievement Unique skill) for burst tank and DPS. The cleric becomes an avatar of their god and enjoys dramatic reduction in skill cooldowns as well as a dramatic bonus to combat stats for a duration of time. Their tier is raised to the maximum. Auto-attacks deal the current level of Voltage Jolt to the target. The cleric dies after this duration and cannot be revived through any skill other than Unique skills. Duration is refreshed on taking damage. 

(This should leave DPS-related passives like Cleric's Intensity still viable not as a fallback but as a regular part of cleric builds.)

I take it Voltage Jolt has to be a prerequisite in regards to still skill even though

(i think this should be more of a passive skill than an actual activated skill and the need for a unique revival skill will make this skill more of a Do Not Use unless you are have very little HP left and if your party dies at the end who will be able to revive you when there is no other clerics in the party. This would be more suitable for newer MMORPG's where gameplay is more fluid and dynamic.)

 

Clerics can also buff using the unlockable achievement Unique skill Blessing, which boosts all combat stats and attributes powerfully - once a day for the same target / once a day completely, haven't decided which is a better restriction. This skill also consumes the caster's current level exp and has its potency derived from the amount of exp consumed.

PROS: Buffing is no longer the primary focus of clerics (or rather, not the perceived focus). Clerics also become important for other reasons. Once-a-day buffs should be enough for everyone if the duration is long enough. (Yes, the Avatar state reduces the cooldown on Blessing as well.)

CONS: Can force a battlecleric meta. Numbers matter here.

(Main concern with this is regarding max level chars who cant get XP anymore and chars whose XP is low does it decrease their levels would be very ineffective and defeats the purpose of grinding lvls if you are just going to waste all that required XP, another concern is what if i just lvld up and now my XP is 0.01% and i decide to log out will that take away the level i just gained and will i lose the STAT and SP i just required from leveling?) 

 

GO-TO / STANDARD SKILLS

Standard skills aside from the heals, summons, buff/aura and Voltage nuke skills include:

Preach - Active. Simply the cleric version of the soldier's Sacrifice. Boosts the cleric's mana regen by a large percentage based on the number of affected units.

PROS: Standard version of what used to be a special skill for soldiers means this will be the cleric bread-and-butter party skill. Helps maintain mana shields in the thick of melee.

CONS: Steps on soldier toes. (Soldiers should get an equivalent version of Sacrifice that works alongside Berserk but also offers bonus hp regen and/or armor.)

 

I am talking under correction but i think this is already applied with current mana shield where the high damage you receive is negated by deducting it from your MP, but from the way i am reading it you want instead leeching HP you want it to be converted into MP if i am not mistaken.

 

Shrine - Active. The cleric builds (or summons if already constructed) a shrine to their god. Clerics can 'pray' at this shrine. Prayers allow clerics to heal/purge/revive allies at distances beyond the range of single-target skills (tier 3+). Necessary for mass Revival of an entire party or to summon a party to the cleric.

PROS: Unique approach to team mobility and revival.

CONS: Requires materials only gained through faction or Faith quests.

 

Will this be PvE or PvP skill or both and what would the distance covered be? Would be difficult if it wasnt on the same map, do have stay at shrine or can you also move away from it. Also what happens if mobs targeted the shrine then how would the skill even be incorporated. Materials will also be a problem considering Arti's are the only crafting class.

 

Path of the Cleric - Active. AOE Fear. Disperses hostiles lower in tier than the caster in a large radius, forcing them to move away at increased ms and setting their aggro to 0 for the duration. Duration increased by CHA. Hostiles in the AOE unaffected by Fear are aggravated instead. Friendly units gain increased ms and hp regen.
Monsters 3 tiers lower are Feared for a bonus 5 seconds and suffer a debuff to ms, as and ATK afterwards. Monsters of tier lower than this also suffer 3-4 blasts of Voltage Storm.

PROS: Useful and unique. Does not step on any other class's toes due to the medium cooldown.

CONS: Not useful in every dungeon, especially when rushing SC. Has variable use in SoD and PvP.

 

Conflicting resources. You first mention the skill is dependent on clerics level tier but then also say that the skills duration will be based upon the amount of CHA the char has. How will the tier system work in regards to mob and what would you deem as a lower tier to caster if say monster is yellow and boss mob is Orange or Higher? 

Don't you mean Hostiles outside of AoE will be unaffected.

 

The concept is excellent if perhaps modeled differently not sure everyone will be eager to be a sacrificial lamb when it comes playing the class and success of parties or wars is reliant on clerics dying lol

[Bobbity]

Thanks for the reply and comments.

If we stick to the buff meta then yes, this would be a ridiculous idea. Essentially, we're moving from noob clerics without means and reliant on their few piddling auras and heals to massive Gandalf-level combatants who can go toe-to-toe with bosses and entire teams for a while - as well as pure fs clerics that simply heal and purge remotely via their shrines. For clerics to use suicide just to buff is silly. At the same time, a cleric that has activated the ROSE version of Heroic Demise isn't going to steamroll and win an AA all by theirself. So, the meta doesn't revolve around or depend on clerics killing themselves all the time. (At least, one hopes.)  

 

 

Re: Path of Beauty
"Yo, dude, kys for us."
"W-What?"
"We'll make it worth your while."

I plan to have clerics suffer negative exp upon death so they can lose level and even go down in tier if they try to abuse this. Not even those who dual-client to attempt buffslavery would willingly level their cleric to 99% of their level just to die just so they can have superbuffs - all the while the cleric is lying there, dead, not gaining that exp. That's inefficient considering clerics are more useful alive than dead. Note that party exp (and exp while in parties) and Cleric quests will be the main source of cleric's exp revenue, so this is not feasible.
That said, I'd like to modify this in future, so the shrine becomes a source of (mediocre) buffs that the party prays at to get. (Still haven't figured out a decent way to do this yet.)

Re: Martyrdom
Tier 5 cannot have its tier raised beyond the maximum but T5 clerics do gain the combat steroids. This skill should use the Faith/Devotion resource that I could've sworn I mentioned. Apparently not. Faith is used for Avatar and Martyrdom. Mana is used for other skills.

Earlier I mentioned how exp from heals and purges can't be gamed by using jellies and other sources of tiny damage. This passive works similarly. Essentially, the skill diminishingly recognizes minor damage taken from the same unit type for about 5 hits or so before it drops below the threshold required to refresh it. The Martyrdom state should last for about 40 seconds without refresh before leading to death. The Avatar state has around the same duration but has no such restriction.

Re: Avatar
Avatar is still active. The idea of mindless passive combat boosts the lower your HP is something I'd rather see on axes and katars than clerics. If you're the last one of your party left alive, this offers the potential for you to solo the boss, res your party  and finish the dg (in whatever order is available to you). This is one of the reasons clerics use Faith to activate their limit-breaker skills instead of mana. Mana can run out and be replenished easily and even quickly. Faith requires prayer and time to replenish but is only used for these skills.

My understanding is that max level chars actually still earn exp, it just doesn't display or have any effect. I could be wrong, though.
While Martyrdom and Avatar consume an entire level's exp, Blessing is rather cheap and only restricted by its cooldown period. It also cannot drop you in level or tier but if your exp is at 0.00% you cannot cast the skill. If it's at 0.01% it'll cast a rather useless buff and bring you down to 0% - but you'll still be the same level and tier you were before. Naturally, this doesn't affect your stats and SP.

 

 

Re: Preach
The cleric doesn't get a passive mana regen boost from damage taken, so there's no leeching involved. It simply counts the number of units affected and calcs a mana regen boost factor based on that number for t seconds. Think of it more like the movespeed companion skill clerics have when they activate Mana Shield. In the same way, soldiers that cast Sacrifice should preferably get +DEF and +HP regen for t seconds. No passive leeching involved anywhere (slightly too OP, I think, and more left for knights than clerics.) I might change my mind on this later if such a version of the skill can be balanced.

 

Re: Shrine
The distances covered are dictated by the tier of the cleric. A T5 cleric can revive anyone from almost anywhere as long as the shrine recognizes them as a party member.
The shrine cannot be used from outside AA, CD or GA dg but can be used to affect members in open-world PvP zones.

(Someone suggested using an assembled shrine to revive the cleric that built it. I'm of two minds about this as it requires prayer to activate.)

 

Re: Path of the Cleric
Hostiles outside the AOE will naturally be unaffected. What I meant is that hostiles who cannot be affected by Fear due to being of the same (or higher) tier as the caster will be aggro'd onto the cleric instead. A T5 cleric will force an entire chamber of spiders to scram except for the boss who is also T5 and suddenly very irate and obsessed with murdering said cleric. The duration of the spiders running away/drawn to kill will be from, say, 3 seconds minimum boosted to 7 seconds with max CHA. Low enough tier spiders will be Feared for 3+5 = 8 sec (7+5= 12 sec with max CHA) and suffer zaps and zaps.

The mob color has no bearing on its tier. As we know, the color of a mob is based on the level difference between the mob and the Visitor (and thus indicates the amount of exp gained from killing it.) For mobs, level generally indicates tier, however.

 

There are some mechanics re: prayer I haven't pinned down yet but I plan to get around to that when they're better formed. Let me know if I've left anything unanswered.

Edited November 20, 2022 by Bobbity
clarity

[Ashura]

9 hours ago, Bobbity said:

Thanks for the reply and comments.

If we stick to the buff meta then yes, this would be a ridiculous idea. Essentially, we're moving from noob clerics without means and reliant on their few piddling auras and heals to massive Gandalf-level combatants who can go toe-to-toe with bosses and entire teams for a while - as well as pure fs clerics that simply heal and purge remotely via their shrines. For clerics to use suicide just to buff is silly. At the same time, a cleric that has activated the ROSE version of Heroic Demise isn't going to steamroll and win an AA all by theirself. So, the meta doesn't revolve around or depend on clerics killing themselves all the time. (At least, one hopes.)  

 

 

Re: Path of Beauty
"Yo, dude, kys for us."
"W-What?"
"We'll make it worth your while."

I plan to have clerics suffer negative exp upon death so they can lose level and even go down in tier if they try to abuse this. Not even those who dual-client to attempt buffslavery would willingly level their cleric to 99% of their level just to die just so they can have superbuffs - all the while the cleric is lying there, dead, not gaining that exp. That's inefficient considering clerics are more useful alive than dead. Note that party exp (and exp while in parties) and Cleric quests will be the main source of cleric's exp revenue, so this is not feasible.
That said, I'd like to modify this in future, so the shrine becomes a source of (mediocre) buffs that the party prays at to get. (Still haven't figured out a decent way to do this yet.)

Re: Martyrdom
Tier 5 cannot have its tier raised beyond the maximum but T5 clerics do gain the combat steroids. This skill should use the Faith/Devotion resource that I could've sworn I mentioned. Apparently not. Faith is used for Avatar and Martyrdom. Mana is used for other skills.

Earlier I mentioned how exp from heals and purges can't be gamed by using jellies and other sources of tiny damage. This passive works similarly. Essentially, the skill diminishingly recognizes minor damage taken from the same unit type for about 5 hits or so before it drops below the threshold required to refresh it. The Martyrdom state should last for about 40 seconds without refresh before leading to death. The Avatar state has around the same duration but has no such restriction.

Re: Avatar
Avatar is still active. The idea of mindless passive combat boosts the lower your HP is something I'd rather see on axes and katars than clerics. If you're the last one of your party left alive, this offers the potential for you to solo the boss, res your party  and finish the dg (in whatever order is available to you). This is one of the reasons clerics use Faith to activate their limit-breaker skills instead of mana. Mana can run out and be replenished easily and even quickly. Faith requires prayer and time to replenish but is only used for these skills.

My understanding is that max level chars actually still earn exp, it just doesn't display or have any effect. I could be wrong, though.
While Martyrdom and Avatar consume an entire level's exp, Blessing is rather cheap and only restricted by its cooldown period. It also cannot drop you in level or tier but if your exp is at 0.00% you cannot cast the skill. If it's at 0.01% it'll cast a rather useless buff and bring you down to 0% - but you'll still be the same level and tier you were before. Naturally, this doesn't affect your stats and SP.

 

 

Re: Preach
The cleric doesn't get a passive mana regen boost from damage taken, so there's no leeching involved. It simply counts the number of units affected and calcs a mana regen boost factor based on that number for t seconds. Think of it more like the movespeed companion skill clerics have when they activate Mana Shield. In the same way, soldiers that cast Sacrifice should preferably get +DEF and +HP regen for t seconds. No passive leeching involved anywhere (slightly too OP, I think, and more left for knights than clerics.) I might change my mind on this later if such a version of the skill can be balanced.

 

Re: Shrine
The distances covered are dictated by the tier of the cleric. A T5 cleric can revive anyone from almost anywhere as long as the shrine recognizes them as a party member.
The shrine cannot be used from outside AA, CD or GA dg but can be used to affect members in open-world PvP zones.

(Someone suggested using an assembled shrine to revive the cleric that built it. I'm of two minds about this as it requires prayer to activate.)

 

Re: Path of the Cleric
Hostiles outside the AOE will naturally be unaffected. What I meant is that hostiles who cannot be affected by Fear due to being of the same (or higher) tier as the caster will be aggro'd onto the cleric instead. A T5 cleric will force an entire chamber of spiders to scram except for the boss who is also T5 and suddenly very irate and obsessed with murdering said cleric. The duration of the spiders running away/drawn to kill will be from, say, 3 seconds minimum boosted to 7 seconds with max CHA. Low enough tier spiders will be Feared for 3+5 = 8 sec (7+5= 12 sec with max CHA) and suffer zaps and zaps.

The mob color has no bearing on its tier. As we know, the color of a mob is based on the level difference between the mob and the Visitor (and thus indicates the amount of exp gained from killing it.) For mobs, level generally indicates tier, however.

 

There are some mechanics re: prayer I haven't pinned down yet but I plan to get around to that when they're better formed. Let me know if I've left anything unanswered.

No worries friend I love the way your brain works and the ideas you have, I am sorry if it came across as a shit parade. 

Maybe I am wrong in thinking we can move past this buffslave mentality. We have abused it so much, its hard to think otherwise.

There is too much risk in this playstyle as far as I see it for clerics and more rewards for other classes in using these skills. 

I think we are over analyzing this char way too much, after all this game is a KMMORPG and their meta is support with all the buffs luckily the big boobs was excluded. 

Those skills are all awesome but the cost of it doesn't seem to benefit us. 

[Bobbity]

Hmm, well, these skills could stand a good bit of tweaking. You're very right though, we didn't choose the buff life, the buff life chose us. It's all we've known. However, I feel that different mechanics could change us, given time. I must emphasize that Martyrdom and especially Avatar are special skills (which is one of the reasons they use Faith and not mana to activate). They aren't standard skills and parties shouldn't expect clerics to cast them on a whim. The exp costs are there to offset their potency and inhibit casual use and abuse. The standard builds will usually be auras, mana shield, DPS passives like Wand Weaving/Cleric's Intensity and the usual heals and purges.

While I think of ways to make these skills more palatable, have a look at the auras I mentioned before:

 

Halo of Vitality - +hp, +hp regen (flat value and percentage)
Halo of Mentality - +mp, +mp regen (flat value and percentage)
Halo of Frugality - spell cd - 5 to 25%
Halo of Duality - +as, +ms (flat value)
Halo of Adamant - +DEF, +AP (flat value and percentage)

 

Remember, each aura reserves mana (% of the mana pool) so there's no way all of these could be active at the same time; they'd have to be activated strategically.

Edited November 21, 2022 by Bobbity
Clarity of standard build vs special skills

[Ashura]

On 11/21/2022 at 10:20 AM, Bobbity said:

Hmm, well, these skills could stand a good bit of tweaking. You're very right though, we didn't choose the buff life, the buff life chose us. It's all we've known. However, I feel that different mechanics could change us, given time. I must emphasize that Martyrdom and especially Avatar are special skills (which is one of the reasons they use Faith and not mana to activate). They aren't standard skills and parties shouldn't expect clerics to cast them on a whim. The exp costs are there to offset their potency and inhibit casual use and abuse. The standard builds will usually be auras, mana shield, DPS passives like Wand Weaving/Cleric's Intensity and the usual heals and purges.

While I think of ways to make these skills more palatable, have a look at the auras I mentioned before:

 

Halo of Vitality - +hp, +hp regen (flat value and percentage)
Halo of Mentality - +mp, +mp regen (flat value and percentage)
Halo of Frugality - spell cd - 5 to 25%
Halo of Duality - +as, +ms (flat value)
Halo of Adamant - +DEF, +AP (flat value and percentage)

 

Remember, each aura reserves mana (% of the mana pool) so there's no way all of these could be active at the same time; they'd have to be activated strategically.

Now these i like a lot how many of them can you activate at once?

 

I am aware that Martyrdom and Avatar are special skills and should not be used on a whim but once other players/classes are aware of its effects then they would want those benefits.

 

Love the idea of different paths clerics can walk via Faith concept not sure if atheism should be used in this context rather just something other than non believers walking on the dark path like some one mentioned follow Hebarn's teachings.

Would add more depth to the game and also create more in the lines of PvP,Clans,Factions etc.

 

 

Edited November 22, 2022 by Ashura

[Bobbity]

 

1 hour ago, Ashura said:

Now these i like a lot how many of them can you activate at once?

With all relevant passives skilled, you could have 4 up. Maybe 5 if a mana reservation gem was a thing, but you'd still definitely have no mana for a mana shield.

 

I actually like that buffing is now subject to interpersonal dynamics instead of a required action. Brutal clans will abuse clerics and have many. Friendly clans will cherish and protecc their beloved clerics. Poor clans won't be able to afford clerics losing that much exp just for buffs. The truth is a living cleric is more directly useful than a dead one as auras at max stacks are very strong - but buffs are very useful as they are fire-and-forget for as many units as you can gather. In other words, auras are preferable for a party where the cleric is always nearby and buffs are preferable for arenas that require high mobility like AA, CD etc. So, this naturally leads to a dynamic of tension. There'd be an arms race to unlocking the Blessing skill.

As long as each class has its own buff and clerics have a different MAIN mechanic (paired with a costly alternate buff mechanic), I feel that live clerics will be prioritized over dead ones. Most people will do their class buff, it'll be strong, and clerics will handle the rest.

 

 Rereading this, I realized I left out Halo of Trinity (+as, +ms, +dodge rate) which is the upgrade to the muse skill Halo of Duality. Nvm. +crit and +acc are buffs left for dealers to give for now since we have no indication from the devs regarding helping Dealer earlygame (no landmines, mini-summons or anything like that). If that changes, I'll add one or the other to Halo of Adamant.

Edited November 22, 2022 by Bobbity

[Ashura]

22 hours ago, Bobbity said:

 

With all relevant passives skilled, you could have 4 up. Maybe 5 if a mana reservation gem was a thing, but you'd still definitely have no mana for a mana shield.

 

I actually like that buffing is now subject to interpersonal dynamics instead of a required action. Brutal clans will abuse clerics and have many. Friendly clans will cherish and protecc their beloved clerics. Poor clans won't be able to afford clerics losing that much exp just for buffs. The truth is a living cleric is more directly useful than a dead one as auras at max stacks are very strong - but buffs are very useful as they are fire-and-forget for as many units as you can gather. In other words, auras are preferable for a party where the cleric is always nearby and buffs are preferable for arenas that require high mobility like AA, CD etc. So, this naturally leads to a dynamic of tension. There'd be an arms race to unlocking the Blessing skill.

As long as each class has its own buff and clerics have a different MAIN mechanic (paired with a costly alternate buff mechanic), I feel that live clerics will be prioritized over dead ones. Most people will do their class buff, it'll be strong, and clerics will handle the rest.

 

 Rereading this, I realized I left out Halo of Trinity (+as, +ms, +dodge rate) which is the upgrade to the muse skill Halo of Duality. Nvm. +crit and +acc are buffs left for dealers to give for now since we have no indication from the devs regarding helping Dealer earlygame (no landmines, mini-summons or anything like that). If that changes, I'll add one or the other to Halo of Adamant.

If those are passive skills then it would be relatively difficult to activate those, as far I remember passive skills only activate during certain criteria met perhaps if they were action skills it should work. Considering Halo of Mentality is a MP regen skill should be able to activate all of them and going by the devs or rather latest NA metric Charm will have a major effect on buffs for cleric which really make other classes hate them even more. 

I really don't like the sword summons it really seem flumsy to me I prefer the dragon summons if we go for a humanoid then it will resonate with necromancy, so I would prefer elemental summons as a better alternative the usual suspects (fire, water, earth, wind, lightning) and with 3rd job alternatives going into light and dark. 

 

I genuinely love the Auras/Blessed angle regarding clerics this is something I can sink my teeth in. 

[Bobbity]

The only passives I spoke of are Holy Ground and the ones that relate to mana reservation and would thus affect the mana reservation of the auras. Is that what you meant? (The auras themselves are active cast.)

EDIT: I'm not sure you understand how mana reservation works, so I'll try to explain: if skill A reserves 15% of your mana pool and your mana pool is, say 2200 MP, your mana pool after activating skill A will be 2200 - 330 = 1870. In other words your max mana after activating skill A would be 1870. You will regenerate mana up to 1870 and your mana shield will be based off of that 1870 MP. Skill B would shrink your mana pool by another x% and so on. Halo of Mentality would add more MP to the mana pool, yes, but the regen doesn't increase the total mana pool size.

Re: summons, many people have made suggestions about those, even me. I expect the devs will do something more useful there when they figure out what works well. I know they've been interested in that for a while. That said, of all the summons, the swords were the most efficient/had highest ROI in terms of mana spent for DPS done. I expect they'll do better in future, though.

Necromancy would be a good addition but hard to figure out where to fit into the lore without having to write a LOT more lore and questlines. They could start from Harin's questline, of course.

 

Edited November 24, 2022 by Bobbity

[Ashura]

Understood what it meant not really thought about locking it into place once certain skills get activated. I was more under the impression that your mana pool would still be max mana and your mp regen would negate the effects of deminished returns. 

Edited December 4, 2022 by Ashura