Heyas everyone. I am currently trying to adapt and find my way as many other DC's are after the patch. On initial glance and playing I dont feel its all doom and gloom as many...nor do I see it as no big deal as others. I sorta fall in the middle in most regards. I just figured I would share some of my thoughts and observations and see what others had to say as well.
- Powers -
Well Astral Shield needed to be adjusted and they sure did that. I feel its still a must use encounter on both PvE and PvP but...clearly adjustments need to be made in particular on PvE in regards to other abilities used with it to heal epic dungeon content at level 60.
My current dungeon loadout on powers is:
PvE Dailies: Hallowed Ground and Flamestrike Encounters: Sun Burst, Astral Shield and Forgemaster's Flame Class Features: Healer's Lore and Foresight
PvP Dailies: Hallowed Ground and Flamestrike Encounters: Sun Burst, Astral Shield and Chain's of Blazing Light Class Features: Healer's Lore and Foresight
- PvE -
The main changes to my loadout on PvE was I used to use Divine Glow instead of Forgemaster's Flame as I like being able to debuff mobs, buff the groups and do damage. But with the change to AS I found I need the filler combination of FF and SB to use during the 5 second downtime of AS.
So the rhythm I have have found to be somewhat useful in dungeon's is to use AS...followed by marking mobs with Astral Seal and using Sacred Flame. Then when AS drops drop a Divine FF. Then follow that with a normal SB to build Divine Favor (and heal)...for the upcoming AS in 4 seconds. Rinse and repeat.
I use Hallowed Ground 95% of the time. I keep Flamestrike on my bar as a trash add killer to help the group if its convenient.
- PvP -
On PvP...to be honest Im nearly ready to give up. After the patch changes DC's are just helpless for the most part...at least in 5vs5. All 4 classes in the hands of a decently geared and skilled player can kill us and its an extreme challenge to keep ahead with your heals and pots. Then even if you do...your not going to be able to kill anyone because your too busy healing and moving to avoid being killed. It really not fun.
Plus we get no credit for healing towards favor or ranking and assists have been nerfed for us. So....PvP for clerics suck unless your in a awesome group or...you ignore healing and just flag hop which defeats the whole purpose.
- Feats -
The feats Im still trying to figure out. Though a few things Im looking at...
Cleanse - The nerf to add the cooldown on cleanses seems to have changed this from a must have 3 point Feat to a maybe 1 point Feat. I just cant see putting 3 in it when it may only cleanse every 20 or 8 seconds depending on if the tool tip is right or the patch notes.
Toughness & Holy Resolve - These almost seem like must haves now if you do any PvP at all and want to be able to survive long enough to do anything.
These are just my initial thoughts and observations. Curious to hear others.
For reference Im currently a GS of 9990. Wearing mostly T1 with a T2 weapon I think. My spec is very similar to UnspecifiedHealer's if your familiar with him.
iamthepiemanMember, Neverwinter Beta UsersPosts: 9Arc User
edited June 2013
I posted this in the general Combat and PvP discussion forum but it's relevant here as well.
As a cleric pre-patch I was playing PvP with 9.2k GS (stacking recovery, defense, crit and Maximum hitpoints with some movement enchants in utility slots) I was squishy and very rarely able to actually kill someone 1v1 but I could at least escape back to my team mates or long enough for a heal or CC to come off cooldown.
I now have a GS of 11.2k and I can't survive against, TR, GF or GWF. The only classes I have a chance against are a CW or another cleric.
My CC is useless against GF or GWF and many times against a TR. I get stun-locked and two or three shotted.
once I'm down to 10-15% health I don't even bother. My heals won't get me up nearly fast enough, even with Astral shield and Forgemasters Flame ticking.
The only time I'm able to stay alive in a group fight is:
a. the other team is distracted and hasn't noticed me yet
b. I have Hallowed Ground (feated to heal) and Astral Shield ticking. As soon as those go down I'm dead.
I've adapted by being mounted (on my horse not by another freakin' GF ) and just running to cap points in order to keep pressure of my team mates. I just run to a point, keep a lookout for enemy players and high tail it as soon as they start coming. It's effective but hardly how I imagined I'd be playing a cleric in PvP
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tekkwinterMember, Neverwinter Beta UsersPosts: 23Arc User
edited June 2013
Yeah...playing a cleric in the 5vs5 PvP right now is just all around demoralizing. Unless you are of course in a really good group....and even then you get screwed if you try to actually be a healer or defensive minded player. It really sucks. What is going to start happening is you will only see Clerics doing the daily and thats it....except for those guild groups that bring one along for the ride.
Clerics are just wasting a spot in PVP right now. You would almost be better off having a bot on your team then a paper target. Free kills for everyone.
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iamthepiemanMember, Neverwinter Beta UsersPosts: 9Arc User
edited June 2013
The AS nerf doesn't affect me that much in PvP except in 1 very specific situation that, unfortunately, happens a lot.
My team is either going for the point with enemy players on it or already on the point as the enemy players get to it.
My previous strategy was to drop AS and hopefully Hallowed Ground just before the fight starts.As soon as I'm identified, I start to get focused.
I FF one of my attackes and when Astral Shield came off cooldown I would drop it again and with that strategy I was able to stay alive long enough for my teammates to kill a few of the enemy players and take the pressure off me.
Now, as soon as AS runs out, I have a critical 4-5 seconds where I am vulnerable and then I die. Even with back-to-back AS I would often die to focus fire but at least with FF and a potion, I had a chance.
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tekkwinterMember, Neverwinter Beta UsersPosts: 23Arc User
The AS nerf doesn't affect me that much in PvP except in 1 very specific situation that, unfortunately, happens a lot.
My team is either going for the point with enemy players on it or already on the point as the enemy players get to it.
My previous strategy was to drop AS and hopefully Hallowed Ground just before the fight starts.As soon as I'm identified, I start to get focused.
I FF one of my attackes and when Astral Shield came off cooldown I would drop it again and with that strategy I was able to stay alive long enough for my teammates to kill a few of the enemy players and take the pressure off me.
Now, as soon as AS runs out, I have a critical 4-5 seconds where I am vulnerable and then I die. Even with back-to-back AS I would often die to focus fire but at least with FF and a potion, I had a chance.
Yeah that was somewhat my experiences. The problem is now on PvP...at level 60...Clerics cannot survive especially with GWF and GF hitting a bit harder. Possibly if we didnt get the -40% to healing ourselves...it would help.
Feats:
Moved 3 heroic feats (And possibly 4 paragon feats...having a hard time deciding between 4/5 ethereal boon or linked spirit for +stats to team)
The 3 heroic feats i moved were 2 out of cleanse (now 1/3) and 1 out of domain synergy (now 0/5) and moved it to the top feat of the 2nd tier (holy resolve or something) --- 15% max HP temp shield when dropping below 30% hp, 5 minute cooldown.
^^^
I LOVE!!!! this change. Today alone it stopped me from dying many times in T2 DD runs.
Other than that, the only thing that changed were my timings....standard knowledge, AS...wait til shield drop>Forgemaster/Hallowed/Divine armor between AS's
thats it. A small adjustment to play style, a very small change to feat build. Nothing new, and still works great.
(Solo healed spider, kurrandax, spellplague since patch and everything many times pre-patch)
2 clerics is also a viable group setup still, you have 1 healbot cleric and 1 debuff/dps cleric with AS shield to cover the gaps/spread shields around more.
I have not made it to level 60 yet (am 55) but here's what I'm running -
Encounters: Sunburst, AS, and Divine Glow.
Class Feature: Holy Fervor and Sooth or Foresight.
Between Sunburst, Divine Glow with Holy Fervor I'm usually able to generate a lot of AP. Allowing me to spam Dailies. I usually have to run with Sooth as the class feature unless the tank is really good.
Comments
As a cleric pre-patch I was playing PvP with 9.2k GS (stacking recovery, defense, crit and Maximum hitpoints with some movement enchants in utility slots) I was squishy and very rarely able to actually kill someone 1v1 but I could at least escape back to my team mates or long enough for a heal or CC to come off cooldown.
I now have a GS of 11.2k and I can't survive against, TR, GF or GWF. The only classes I have a chance against are a CW or another cleric.
My CC is useless against GF or GWF and many times against a TR. I get stun-locked and two or three shotted.
once I'm down to 10-15% health I don't even bother. My heals won't get me up nearly fast enough, even with Astral shield and Forgemasters Flame ticking.
The only time I'm able to stay alive in a group fight is:
a. the other team is distracted and hasn't noticed me yet
b. I have Hallowed Ground (feated to heal) and Astral Shield ticking. As soon as those go down I'm dead.
I've adapted by being mounted (on my horse not by another freakin' GF ) and just running to cap points in order to keep pressure of my team mates. I just run to a point, keep a lookout for enemy players and high tail it as soon as they start coming. It's effective but hardly how I imagined I'd be playing a cleric in PvP
Tekk's Tavern | http://www.youtube.com/user/TekkorGJC
My team is either going for the point with enemy players on it or already on the point as the enemy players get to it.
My previous strategy was to drop AS and hopefully Hallowed Ground just before the fight starts.As soon as I'm identified, I start to get focused.
I FF one of my attackes and when Astral Shield came off cooldown I would drop it again and with that strategy I was able to stay alive long enough for my teammates to kill a few of the enemy players and take the pressure off me.
Now, as soon as AS runs out, I have a critical 4-5 seconds where I am vulnerable and then I die. Even with back-to-back AS I would often die to focus fire but at least with FF and a potion, I had a chance.
Yeah that was somewhat my experiences. The problem is now on PvP...at level 60...Clerics cannot survive especially with GWF and GF hitting a bit harder. Possibly if we didnt get the -40% to healing ourselves...it would help.
Tekk's Tavern | http://www.youtube.com/user/TekkorGJC
PVE only (Solo healing T2 dungeons before and after patch)
Skills: EXACT SAME.
(Standard SB/FF/AS, Hallowed/Divine Armor, Foresight+Divine fortune)
Feats:
Moved 3 heroic feats (And possibly 4 paragon feats...having a hard time deciding between 4/5 ethereal boon or linked spirit for +stats to team)
The 3 heroic feats i moved were 2 out of cleanse (now 1/3) and 1 out of domain synergy (now 0/5) and moved it to the top feat of the 2nd tier (holy resolve or something) --- 15% max HP temp shield when dropping below 30% hp, 5 minute cooldown.
^^^
I LOVE!!!! this change. Today alone it stopped me from dying many times in T2 DD runs.
Other than that, the only thing that changed were my timings....standard knowledge, AS...wait til shield drop>Forgemaster/Hallowed/Divine armor between AS's
thats it. A small adjustment to play style, a very small change to feat build. Nothing new, and still works great.
(Solo healed spider, kurrandax, spellplague since patch and everything many times pre-patch)
2 clerics is also a viable group setup still, you have 1 healbot cleric and 1 debuff/dps cleric with AS shield to cover the gaps/spread shields around more.
Encounters: Sunburst, AS, and Divine Glow.
Class Feature: Holy Fervor and Sooth or Foresight.
Between Sunburst, Divine Glow with Holy Fervor I'm usually able to generate a lot of AP. Allowing me to spam Dailies. I usually have to run with Sooth as the class feature unless the tank is really good.
We must change our encounters timing . . 5s cd AS, HG or FF will work . . but not as good as 100% AS thought ahhahaha