Clerics shafted in new patch

dahngamu · December 2013

Looking at the new Cleric abilities their all useless but one Exaltation. As if i'm going to pick any of those Buffs over a Heal. Even the new boons are useless to us. GG cryptic

vorphied · December 2013

dahngamu wrote: »

Looking at the new Cleric abilities their all useless but one Exaltation. As if i'm going to pick any of those Buffs over a Heal. Even the new boons are useless to us. GG cryptic

You haven't actually played with Anointed Champion, I take it. Exaltation isn't the only good thing about it.

The Dread Legion armor set stats, on the other hand, really deserve to be questioned. Barring some patch day miracle where they announce positive changes, it's by far the most disappointing addition to the DC side of things.

djmacken · December 2013

I for one will be trying out the new paragon path. I have played with it a bit on preview and seems pretty darn good IMO.

I think people may be undervaluing the new class feature Anointed Holy Symbol. Throw down a divine Astral Shield and on every tick it appears to be proccing the temp HP boost! Also all of the temp HP action that is going on seems to synergize well with Deepstone Blessing feat.

The only major loss over Divine Oracle (for PVE healing) is Foresight, but the new at-will (DR boost) and Annointed Holy symbol seem to cover that pretty well. Also like some others have mentioned with Exaltation you might see more GF in parties tanking hordes of mobs with the immunity buff?

atamasama · December 2013

Good to hear about the temp HP stuff, I think I'll invest in Deepstone Blessing this time. I was going to because of synergy with Sacred Flame, but it looks like the temp HP from that ability doesn't last long enough or happen often enough to take advantage.

djrakeryder · December 2013

for some reason i wasnt given a respec token and my paragon paths dont show up

atamasama · December 2013

djrakeryder wrote: »

for some reason i wasnt given a respec token and my paragon paths dont show up

You and everyone else it seems (me included).

Module 2 Known Issues

- There are some reports about characters missing free respecs.
- Some players may experience issues with respeccing their characters' feats.

sedaliahope · December 2013

dahngamu wrote: »

Looking at the new Cleric abilities their all useless but one Exaltation. As if i'm going to pick any of those Buffs over a Heal. Even the new boons are useless to us. GG cryptic

New to forums but not to the game... Exaltation is a DISMAL let down, thank you cryptic! A single target WEAK regen in regular or a 2sec bubble if feated in divine mode, makes this a situational skill AT BEST because of the long cool down. I do think the new path is better but the " life saving abilities" we were promised is utter rubbish. Perhaps exaltation could be useful if a tank was taking constant, and considerable damage but, sadly, most of the time it is a wizze or a TR that you have to hit in a miracle cast using a pip in divine for it to be effective at all.... Just a pitiful set of new skills, the army is nice if you are feated with better heals with temp hit points. The new at will is either broken, or was designed to be completely useless...either way I would really love it if they would have let us have, either a 72 hour trial or a double respec because I would certainly not waste points is some of their GARBAGE skills they have shafted us with once again... Edit. I did fail to mention the anointed weapon class skill, (I think that's what it's called) It will probably be nerfed but at this time any divine mode skill cast grants temporary hit points, IF you are feated your astral shield will tick and proc temp hit points making your ring heal for more and more each tick and will grant more and more hit points each tick. Which is the ONLY saving grace to this otherwise dismal set of new skills.

atamasama · December 2013

Exaltation was apparently overpowered on the test server, so they toned it down before it went live. Probably too much. I hope it gets a boost.

I was also disappointed with the at-will. I think the only place it would fit for me would be to replace Astral Seal and I'm not willing to give that up. If I had Astral Seal and the new one as my at-will powers I wouldn't have any offense at all. But I'm still giving it a chance, I want to be more survivable with better healing and this new path is promising it.

vorphied · December 2013

I don't know how anyone can be so dissatisfied with Exaltation. There are so many buffs and features packed into that one skill that it's like a mini-Daily.

I don't recall it ever being nerfed from its original mechanic. It's just that the FX got updated to make it a bit more obvious when in effect.

sedaliahope · December 2013

It is the cool down that makes it all but useless IMO, what will you pull out to replace with it? In a heavy aoe damage situation, such as MC the 14.1 second cool down makes it trash, and many other dungeons as well. Yes you could go slower but even in PK, it is utterly useless because you need your astral shield, and need something to group heal with, leaving you to decide with one skill, they could toss the buff and make the bubble last longer but this is similar to healing word which will heal with 3 charges @almost 7k max each compared to exaltation which heals 1 time for 2200 with a 14.1 second cool down and a 2 second SMALL increase to damage which if it is a wizzie or a TR they will use at least 1 of those seconds repositioning themselves after the hit. I am sorry, if you are looking at this on paper, it might make sense, but in actual game play this skill is rubbish some one would have to prove me wrong for me to believe, I am still working with it trying to find a way to incorporate it into my skill set as I have wasted 5 points in my feats for this " life saving ability" *she says with as much sarcasm as I can use*

lazuree · December 2013

sedaliahope wrote: »

It is the cool down that makes it all but useless IMO, what will you pull out to replace with it? In a heavy aoe damage situation, such as MC the 14.1 second cool down makes it trash, and many other dungeons as well. Yes you could go slower but even in PK, it is utterly useless because you need your astral shield, and need something to group heal with, leaving you to decide with one skill, they could toss the buff and make the bubble last longer but this is similar to healing word which will heal with 3 charges @almost 7k max each compared to exaltation which heals 1 time for 2200 with a 14.1 second cool down and a 2 second SMALL increase to damage which if it is a wizzie or a TR they will use at least 1 of those seconds repositioning themselves after the hit. I am sorry, if you are looking at this on paper, it might make sense, but in actual game play this skill is rubbish some one would have to prove me wrong for me to believe, I am still working with it trying to find a way to incorporate it into my skill set as I have wasted 5 points in my feats for this " life saving ability" *she says with as much sarcasm as I can use*

You only need AS and HW... in dungeons for healing to be honest... Don't know what you're talking about with that "aoe heal" since AS is pretty much enough to keep your party up. In addition to the "must-haves", you get one spell that you can interchange. For instance, chains to help a cw kiting, divine glow to allow your team that's bunched up to do more dmg and debuff adds, sunburst to proved slight dmg/aoe heal/knocking away... that bubble can be life-saving kind of similar to how soulforged used to be

unless your whole party is below 25% I don't see how you need that "group heal", healing word should be more than enough to keep your party up.

vorphied · December 2013

sedaliahope wrote: »

It is the cool down that makes it all but useless IMO, what will you pull out to replace with it? In a heavy aoe damage situation, such as MC the 14.1 second cool down makes it trash, and many other dungeons as well. Yes you could go slower but even in PK, it is utterly useless because you need your astral shield, and need something to group heal with, leaving you to decide with one skill, they could toss the buff and make the bubble last longer but this is similar to healing word which will heal with 3 charges @almost 7k max each compared to exaltation which heals 1 time for 2200 with a 14.1 second cool down and a 2 second SMALL increase to damage which if it is a wizzie or a TR they will use at least 1 of those seconds repositioning themselves after the hit. I am sorry, if you are looking at this on paper, it might make sense, but in actual game play this skill is rubbish some one would have to prove me wrong for me to believe, I am still working with it trying to find a way to incorporate it into my skill set as I have wasted 5 points in my feats for this " life saving ability" *she says with as much sarcasm as I can use*

My default load-out for support is AS, Exalt, HW (swapping HW for Bastion if the situation calls for it). Same as my previous selection except that Exaltation replaces Sunburst.

Anointed Champion overall takes more "work" to make successful. Divine Oracle, depending on Foresight as much as it does, isn't terribly taxing. If you can lay down AS as appropriate and cast Sunbursts and Astral Seals to help maintain Foresight, most of your job is done right there. Anointed Champion is very strong, but you have a lot of factors to pay attention to in order to maximize its potential.

Just to recap Exaltation's benefits (note that the Exaltation buff lasts about 10 seconds, not 2 like the immunity)

10% DR to self and target
10%(?) Damage Buff for self and target for
Moderate heal for self and target
10% heal power for self for (with feat)
2 seconds damage immunity for self and target with Divinity
Moderate regeneration buff for self and target with Divinity

Some suggested uses in PvE:

- Use it preemptively by casting it on the player first engaging a large group of enemies.
- In less dangerous encounters, use it as a damage (and defense) buff by throwing it on your top damage dealer.
- In difficult encounters, reserve it for when you and/or a party member are about to eat massive damage and might not escape in time.
- Use it as a buffer for yourself and your most accident-prone party member in the few seconds when Astral Shield is on cooldown. Had great success with this in Temple of the Spider when we took just one CW and I was responsible for keeping him alive vs. all the Blademasters.

It won't fit well into everyone's playstyle, but it is still quite powerful. I've had no issues healing T2+ dungeons with this power in my tray, even with less than ideal groups (if anything, it helps save them from mistakes), so it certainly works. The biggest challenge with Exaltation is that it's a single-target power, so it takes a bit of footwork and decent aim to use when things are hectic. Also helps if your party members learn to expect Exaltation and try to avoid body-blocking each other.

nurmood · December 2013

Thanks vorphied for proposing your way of playinng this paragorn class.

At first i was using it like you (EX - HW - AS) but did horribly "somehow" due to not equiping divine fortune

. Next try with it didnt satisfide me because of the looooong cooldown. I regretted instantly putting feat points there.

Then i tried FF - HW - AS. Wow that is a strong mixture when you have deepstone blessing and the class passive skill that grants temp HP on casting in divinity (and of course enough divinity).

I would love to see a way to use Exaltation effectively - can somebody make a video or something?

For PvP this Skill is great i figured but i just dont know how to use it effectively in PvE especially in crowded situations.

vorphied · December 2013

nurmood wrote: »

Thanks vorphied for proposing your way of playinng this paragorn class.

At first i was using it like you (EX - HW - AS) but did horribly "somehow" due to not equiping divine fortune . Next try with it didnt satisfide me because of the looooong cooldown. I regretted instantly putting feat points there.

Then i tried FF - HW - AS. Wow that is a strong mixture when you have deepstone blessing and the class passive skill that grants temp HP on casting in divinity (and of course enough divinity).

I would love to see a way to use Exaltation effectively - can somebody make a video or something?

For PvP this Skill is great i figured but i just dont know how to use it effectively in PvE especially in crowded situations.

If Divine Power is an issue, I'd recommend trying the Ethereal Boon feat if you haven't already. As you mentioned, having points in Divine Fortune is also a plus if you find yourself needing the extra boost, but Ethereal Boon alone will usually do the trick as long as you aren't being forced to spam Divinity left and right. It's okay to cast Exaltation without Divinity; the buffs are still quite effective, and it's not always practical to keep it off of cooldown indefinitely up until the point where someone is about to die. Better to keep it active to maintain the buffs as much as possible as long as you're not entering a particularly difficult fight.

All that being said, it might be that Exaltation doesn't fit with how you want to play your DC in PvE, and there's nothing wrong with that. FF or SB can fill the gap quite nicely. As for crowded situations, your team can certainly make targeting difficult for you at times (which admittedly makes Exaltation less useful), but at the very least you can scoot in close to them and use it in Divine Mode, effectively buffing 2/5 party members, increasing your subsequent heals, and granting temp HP to everyone nearby, which should give them a boost until you get your Astral Shield back up a few seconds later or whatnot.

nurmood · December 2013

ok will do furhter testings - thank you

yokihiro · December 2013

The new paragon path is much better than the old one - unless you wanna be a DPS healer. If you want to be more a healer healer that also buffes his team, the new path is great. His new at will does a great job in buffing up ppl around you, you get a passive that adds temp hitpoints whenever you cast in divine (so basically with divine astral shield you add temp hitpoints on top, too), Exaltation is one of the best spells the DC has now not only healing and bumping up def but also damage so even if you solo it is great. And also the new daily comes handy. It also deals damage. Killed 2 people with that yesterday in PVP (ok they were low on health, but yet it comes handy and often can save your team in the last second).

I jumped into Mad dragon yesterday to help some lowbies get their gear. I have a GS over 13k in the meantime and after I told those guys to stand closer around me (for all the benefits they get when they are around me - the def bonus from at-will, the temp hitpoints from divine, the immunity from daily...) we could fight him easily and most of the time people did not lose much health during the fight.

Thing with new path is that you need to be closer to your team to be most effective. You and your team have to learn to adjust their gameplay a little. It doesn't help anymore to stand far away and throw in damage and heals. You need your team in closer range so your buffs actually hit them.

Clerics shafted in new patch

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