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(suggestion) problems w DC from an Nature HR and Life Steal SW pov
the1tigglet
Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Hero Users Posts: 1
I'm making this list to better help the developers understand what needs to change on the DC to bring it up to par with the kind of power that clerics actually had in all versions of DnD and to help them understand that limitations placed on healer classes never helps the class nor does it provide balance all it does is make them harder to level and prevents gameplay from actually being fun in groups which causes fewer people to play the class (like it's happening now). Clerics in DnD have never been weak, they've arguably been one of the most dangerous and powerful classes up there with the most powerful of wizards in every story I've ever read they've wielded great power in an extreme time of need sometimes that leads to self sacrifice but other times that makes them a powerful foe to be reckoned with. In this game however, Clerics aren't powerful foes and they have entirely too much sacrifice to even function normally in everyday mmo life compared to the support options of DPS classes.
The trees: Homogenization is the problem. There is no protection focus really, the kinds of protection you've placed on this class are pretty much not for the class itself really and while focused on protection there is no HoT healing focus. I suggest a three tier tree system. Solar based fire/sunlight DPS (focusing on burst damage only very very minor healing), protection (focusing on abilities that buff the team with minor cures that has a focus on HoTs and DoTs), and Healing (which of course focuses on Burst Healing, cures, CC, and threat removal and when I mean threat removal I mean threat removal, there's nothing less fun than aggroing the entire room when you cast a simple HoT on someone!). This would make them very distinct and more fun.
Movement: I've noticed a tendency with your two newest classes to all for more movement. The DC is so stiff and motionless for the most part and it takes forever to cast anything that it simply is crazy to try to move while doing normal combat. The spells like Sacred Flame take forever to cast and reach enemies compared to the magic missiles or even the newest flame attacks by the SW class. Even stepping to the side seem s to be a chore and the dodge is always an overshot. I'd suggest removing the restrictions on movement on the HoT/DoT spells and the spells that were once thought to be op (because trust us they are anything but OP). I'd love to see some kind of sprint thing added to the cleric as well so that movement could be improved briefly while fighting, can't tell you the number of times I've tried to reach someone who's moved out of range of a heal only to watch them die and then suddenly because I tried to cast the spell to heal them gather enough aggro suddenly to make the whole room come after me and kill me.
Too many ground targeted skills: Way too many, like all the time it seems I spend more time pointing at the ground to target aggroed enemies on this class to cast n AOE than I do looking up. Please remove this problem. AOE's should not require so much real time setup time. I don't have this problem on the two newest classes at all and this to me is another example of an attempt to punish this class just because it can heal. I spend more time looking at dirt on this class than anything. Please widen the fields and remove the need for some of these skills to have ground targeting (like the tiny zone Daunting Light it could easily be made into a targetable ability since it's zone is so small and given a nearby enemy buff that causes enemies in a certain distance from the main target to get hit.)
Automatic defensive/offensive spells: On the SW you made spells that go off and damage enemies when enemies got near. I could totally see this type of thing on the Protection tree of the DC. I used to have spells like that as a long time Cleric in DnD games. I would hope that you add this to the protection and healing trees if you use these suggestions.
Overall cleric weakness compared to other casters: There's a tendency to make healing classes weak compared to other casters because they can heal, I've seen it in every mmo known to man until the devs realize "hey people aren't playing this class" Let's abolish this trend shall we? I'd like to see the DPS focus tree have really powerful sunlight/fire/column of flame type spells. I'd like to see the fire abilities cause others on fire that are nearby the main target. And I'd like to see the speed increased on such spells as Sacred Flame. When I played beta Sacred Flame actually hit multiple nearby apponents. I'd like to see that back as an option because it made life as a DC so much easier in PVE. It simply makes no sense to allow Nature HR and Life Steal SW the ability to heal themselves enormously with their abilities (and sometimes others in the party) when Clerics are supposed to do this. It amazes me that there are so many better support options in DPS classes but the one healing class that is typically the healer has the worst heals in the game in PVE especially when it comes to keeping himself alive.
Fewer AOE options than other classes: Curses are nice but they really don't serve much of a service to Clerics especially holy ones so I'd love to see a trait or two that allows debuffs to bounce to nearby opponents. Sacred Flame could use an AOE boost by either allowing these meteors from hitting nearby enemies to the main target or catching enemies on fire nearby. Brand of the sun and spells like Daunting light could do the same so that even if enemies were just outside of the main attack they'd still take damage from being in proximity. Spells like Searing light are great for single target and would work well for the burst DPS solar build I'm suggesting but they wouldn't work for an all DoT style attack system in which AOEs or bouncing proximity DoTs or debuffs are necessary to improve combat.
The cleric is the character I've most identified with in any DnD setting, I've played solely clerics for years in DnD before discovering the joy of playing MMOs with friends, to date I've played 22 MMOs and I'm simply trying to convey to the developers what I'd suggest changing for the upcoming update for DC.
The trees: Homogenization is the problem. There is no protection focus really, the kinds of protection you've placed on this class are pretty much not for the class itself really and while focused on protection there is no HoT healing focus. I suggest a three tier tree system. Solar based fire/sunlight DPS (focusing on burst damage only very very minor healing), protection (focusing on abilities that buff the team with minor cures that has a focus on HoTs and DoTs), and Healing (which of course focuses on Burst Healing, cures, CC, and threat removal and when I mean threat removal I mean threat removal, there's nothing less fun than aggroing the entire room when you cast a simple HoT on someone!). This would make them very distinct and more fun.
Movement: I've noticed a tendency with your two newest classes to all for more movement. The DC is so stiff and motionless for the most part and it takes forever to cast anything that it simply is crazy to try to move while doing normal combat. The spells like Sacred Flame take forever to cast and reach enemies compared to the magic missiles or even the newest flame attacks by the SW class. Even stepping to the side seem s to be a chore and the dodge is always an overshot. I'd suggest removing the restrictions on movement on the HoT/DoT spells and the spells that were once thought to be op (because trust us they are anything but OP). I'd love to see some kind of sprint thing added to the cleric as well so that movement could be improved briefly while fighting, can't tell you the number of times I've tried to reach someone who's moved out of range of a heal only to watch them die and then suddenly because I tried to cast the spell to heal them gather enough aggro suddenly to make the whole room come after me and kill me.
Too many ground targeted skills: Way too many, like all the time it seems I spend more time pointing at the ground to target aggroed enemies on this class to cast n AOE than I do looking up. Please remove this problem. AOE's should not require so much real time setup time. I don't have this problem on the two newest classes at all and this to me is another example of an attempt to punish this class just because it can heal. I spend more time looking at dirt on this class than anything. Please widen the fields and remove the need for some of these skills to have ground targeting (like the tiny zone Daunting Light it could easily be made into a targetable ability since it's zone is so small and given a nearby enemy buff that causes enemies in a certain distance from the main target to get hit.)
Automatic defensive/offensive spells: On the SW you made spells that go off and damage enemies when enemies got near. I could totally see this type of thing on the Protection tree of the DC. I used to have spells like that as a long time Cleric in DnD games. I would hope that you add this to the protection and healing trees if you use these suggestions.
Overall cleric weakness compared to other casters: There's a tendency to make healing classes weak compared to other casters because they can heal, I've seen it in every mmo known to man until the devs realize "hey people aren't playing this class" Let's abolish this trend shall we? I'd like to see the DPS focus tree have really powerful sunlight/fire/column of flame type spells. I'd like to see the fire abilities cause others on fire that are nearby the main target. And I'd like to see the speed increased on such spells as Sacred Flame. When I played beta Sacred Flame actually hit multiple nearby apponents. I'd like to see that back as an option because it made life as a DC so much easier in PVE. It simply makes no sense to allow Nature HR and Life Steal SW the ability to heal themselves enormously with their abilities (and sometimes others in the party) when Clerics are supposed to do this. It amazes me that there are so many better support options in DPS classes but the one healing class that is typically the healer has the worst heals in the game in PVE especially when it comes to keeping himself alive.
Fewer AOE options than other classes: Curses are nice but they really don't serve much of a service to Clerics especially holy ones so I'd love to see a trait or two that allows debuffs to bounce to nearby opponents. Sacred Flame could use an AOE boost by either allowing these meteors from hitting nearby enemies to the main target or catching enemies on fire nearby. Brand of the sun and spells like Daunting light could do the same so that even if enemies were just outside of the main attack they'd still take damage from being in proximity. Spells like Searing light are great for single target and would work well for the burst DPS solar build I'm suggesting but they wouldn't work for an all DoT style attack system in which AOEs or bouncing proximity DoTs or debuffs are necessary to improve combat.
The cleric is the character I've most identified with in any DnD setting, I've played solely clerics for years in DnD before discovering the joy of playing MMOs with friends, to date I've played 22 MMOs and I'm simply trying to convey to the developers what I'd suggest changing for the upcoming update for DC.
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