Types of Priests
For me, Priests have two sort of "functionalities" or "jobs": they can be more of a temple-bound style, healing the masses with holy righteous powers; they can also use that same holy righteous power to kick the living daylights out of people who would harm them or their allies/teammates/friends. Part of this view is the fact that many games are implementing a "talent" system (Yes, yes, like WoW, I know. That's beside the point) where all the classes have different "types" or "specializations" that differ depending on your play style. Want to be more of a healing priest? There's a spec for that. More of a meatier priest, with some DPS capabilities? There's a spec for that, too. I think players are tired of the standard four-class archetype system where warriors naturally wield two-handed swords, mages always do elemental damage and priests always heal. That sort of game play gets stale. So I think that the gaming industry is responding to this with different sub-classes for their games; that's how we get more of a "Cleric" priest and more of a "Monk" priest, where one focuses more on healing and the other can be more geared toward combat, respectively.
I think that part of what should happen with giving players these sort of options is a bit of gameplay change. If you want to be more of a "healing" Priest, naturally your clothes should be robes, your attacks more minimal and your healing heightened. But what happens if you want to be on the front lines of battle and you want to fight alongside others and be able to heal them for more than two seconds without dying? In most games, that's basically a player's wet dream. It almost never happens. Some games have actually taken this idea into consideration, though, and have somewhat compromised. They give Priests light chain mail (or at least armor that's heavier than just cloth) and some added defense. I know games also give Priests buffs that increase health, defense, and other battleground-survival stats. I know AION and TERA Online both give their Priests options for survival: AION gives light-mail armor and TERA Online gives Priests an "evade-and-damage" type of attack that keeps them out of harm's way while also hurting the enemies that would have otherwise hurt them.
To me, there is no reason why both of these Priests can't exist in a game:
(The first image is from Ragnarok Online's class artwork. The second artwork is "Cleric," by Shad-brooks on deviantart.com)
Much like having different capabilities for warriors and mages that give players more of a variety to fit their playing style, I think that Priest classes should have variety. While I, personally, always play the healing "Cleric" Priest, it'd be nice to at least have the option available. I say this partially because EVERY time I play a healing class, regardless if there are other options available, everyone I came across assume I am automatically healing and/or giving away free buffs and/or other things that healing-Priests would do. And while I am 99% of the time, sometimes I DO want to be more of a solo-type player, I might not WANT to heal in that dungeon, and I might NOT want to give you free buffs.
Stats and the Like
In terms of stats, I know it's kinda hard to really discuss this without people thinking that "I want the bestest stats EVAR!!!1111!!!wut!" No. Really, the kinds of games I like are the ones where you can allocate stat points yourself, instead of them automatically increasing for you when you level up. Typically, there are 4 stats that MMOs will allow you to add points into, if they do so at all:
(The descriptions are purely my own and will obviously vary from game to game.)
(The descriptions are purely my own and will obviously vary from game to game.)
Strength - Usually increases physical strength, sometimes inventory weight (If your max inventory is determined by weight), and things relating to that.
Defense - Usually increases physical resistance, health, critical attack amount, and other stats relating to that.
Agility - Usually increases attack speed, sometimes luck (as a secondary stat), critical attack rate, and other similar stats.
Magic - Usually increases mana/magic pool, magic attack and resistance, magical critical rates and attacks as well as (sometimes) cast speed, and healing critical rates and attacks.
Of course, different games have different systems. Some have a Luck stat, some have a Magic Defense as a separate stat from the Magic stat, etc. etc.. That's not important. For my play style, I like to put points into these attributes, from most important to least important:
Mana regen rate
Mana regen rate
Healing critical/amount/etc
Magical critical/amount and (if available) casting speed
Health regen rate
Defense rate
I do spend points in defense and health. Why is that? Because healing spells usually draw a shit-ton of aggro. And I know I'm very likely to get attacked in dungeons every now and then. So having some extra health and defense to an extremely-squishable class is nice. I don't put a LOT of points in to health/defense, to be honest. Maybe a total of 10-15 for both by the time I'd hit near-end-game content. It isn't necessarily a LOT but it will help me live a few extra seconds for my tank to pull a mob off of me so I don't die.
Gear
This section was probably inevitable. Given that I spent an entire post talking about WoW gear alone, you probably saw this coming. If you did, good for you! If not, s'okay. :P Aaaaanyway, having great gear can separate mediocre priests from awesome priests. (It doesn't always make or break a priest, but it usually does, I've found.) I'm kind of torn on this subject, to be honest. For two reasons.
1) Practicality.
Practically speaking, Priests should be in the middle of the combat zone, healing their allies as they dismember monsters and people and the like. As such, they need to have gear that is a little bit sturdier than strips of cloth sewn together. I'm not saying they need a full set of plate mail, of course, but at least something a bit heartier. I guess I'm spoiled by Aion's light mail sets they gave to Priests. (They call it "chain" mail as opposed to "plate" mail.) Even leather armor would be a serious upgrade to priests. I would LOVE to personally see gearsets like the one Shad-brooks designed; it keeps not only the monk robe of traditional Medieval designs in there while also still giving Priests a set of armor. It identifies that person as a Cleric to everyone else but they can still hold their ground against something coming at them, as opposed to usual armor sets for Priests which, at the mere sight of a creature running at them, sends the little squishy caster running for the hills as fast as they can.
2) Aesthetics.
Not gonna lie, I practically GUSH over healer robes sometimes. They're just so beautiful, even when they're incredibly simple. Part of my love of priests is the gear they get. (I'm NOT looking at you, WoW. >_> With your hulking shoulderpads of DOOM.) Even though the priest gear is sometimes NOT that practical or that priestly (Forsaken World, for example, makes sure to give ample cleavage/open back/open chest designs to their robes, which is almost the antithesis of priestly outfits, in my opinion...), I still love them. Even though a few layers of cloth is NOT going to stop me from getting impaled, I can't help but want those robes so badly.
To be honest, I don't see why Priest outfits can't be functional AND beautiful. Frankly, I think Shad-brooks did a fantastic job at offering such a design. At least give Priests more "oomph" so they can potentially live long enough to take a couple of hits. I know they're not supposed to be AS sturdy as other classes, but why not? They have to go into the heat of battle in order to help those around them. They might not have strong physical attacks, but why not give them a little more defense so they don't, y'know, die when a monster simply LOOKS at them funny.
At least, if you give Priests the option through talents/specializations/etc to be a little heartier, I would be happy. Maybe offer certain gear to certain types of Priests or something? Like more combat-oriented Priests may get heavier gear than those strictly dedicated to healing, or having certain fighting styles of Priests (like Ragnarok Online's Monk class) get different gear than the more arcane-type Priests? Or something. Maybe I'm just being silly.
Of course, this does not affect EVERY MMO. Some give Priests a considerable amount of survivability, depending on customization of talents/stats/etc, gear equipped, spells learned, etc. etc.. I'm just saying this as a sort of general response to the Priest class in MMOs. Usually they're the frail, attack-or-heal-from-afar type that can only really manage to last a few hits before they die. Sure their heals can be incredibly powerful and their buffs are notably awesome, but they definitely wouldn't normally last as long as, say, DPS classes in a fight. I know that part of that reason is because Priests CAN heal themselves, buff themselves, and things like that, so they need to be balanced somehow. Otherwise Priests would be overpowered and perhaps overplayed. But I can't help but wonder why more games don't follow Aion's model and giving them a separate, medium-ish gear strength, given the fact that Priests are supposed to be in the middle of the combat and often take damage due to heal-aggro. (And sure, there are probably other games aside from Aion that give Priests similar gear strength, but Aion is the only one I've played as of yet that does so. I know LotRO gives their Minstrel class the ability to use leather armor after a certain level-- even that's an improvement!)
That's all I have to say on this topic at the moment. I'm sure I'll have other rants in the future regarding Priest classes in games, but that'll probably be more game-specific. Who knows. Hope you all enjoyed this or at least found it somewhat entertaining. Suggestions, questions, comments, and the like are always more than welcome. :D Reply to this post, drop an email, comment on Facebook or Twitter, however you so choose. :P Happy November, hope that Halloween was fun for everyone!
LMS
Practically speaking, Priests should be in the middle of the combat zone, healing their allies as they dismember monsters and people and the like. As such, they need to have gear that is a little bit sturdier than strips of cloth sewn together. I'm not saying they need a full set of plate mail, of course, but at least something a bit heartier. I guess I'm spoiled by Aion's light mail sets they gave to Priests. (They call it "chain" mail as opposed to "plate" mail.) Even leather armor would be a serious upgrade to priests. I would LOVE to personally see gearsets like the one Shad-brooks designed; it keeps not only the monk robe of traditional Medieval designs in there while also still giving Priests a set of armor. It identifies that person as a Cleric to everyone else but they can still hold their ground against something coming at them, as opposed to usual armor sets for Priests which, at the mere sight of a creature running at them, sends the little squishy caster running for the hills as fast as they can.
2) Aesthetics.
Not gonna lie, I practically GUSH over healer robes sometimes. They're just so beautiful, even when they're incredibly simple. Part of my love of priests is the gear they get. (I'm NOT looking at you, WoW. >_> With your hulking shoulderpads of DOOM.) Even though the priest gear is sometimes NOT that practical or that priestly (Forsaken World, for example, makes sure to give ample cleavage/open back/open chest designs to their robes, which is almost the antithesis of priestly outfits, in my opinion...), I still love them. Even though a few layers of cloth is NOT going to stop me from getting impaled, I can't help but want those robes so badly.
To be honest, I don't see why Priest outfits can't be functional AND beautiful. Frankly, I think Shad-brooks did a fantastic job at offering such a design. At least give Priests more "oomph" so they can potentially live long enough to take a couple of hits. I know they're not supposed to be AS sturdy as other classes, but why not? They have to go into the heat of battle in order to help those around them. They might not have strong physical attacks, but why not give them a little more defense so they don't, y'know, die when a monster simply LOOKS at them funny.
At least, if you give Priests the option through talents/specializations/etc to be a little heartier, I would be happy. Maybe offer certain gear to certain types of Priests or something? Like more combat-oriented Priests may get heavier gear than those strictly dedicated to healing, or having certain fighting styles of Priests (like Ragnarok Online's Monk class) get different gear than the more arcane-type Priests? Or something. Maybe I'm just being silly.
Of course, this does not affect EVERY MMO. Some give Priests a considerable amount of survivability, depending on customization of talents/stats/etc, gear equipped, spells learned, etc. etc.. I'm just saying this as a sort of general response to the Priest class in MMOs. Usually they're the frail, attack-or-heal-from-afar type that can only really manage to last a few hits before they die. Sure their heals can be incredibly powerful and their buffs are notably awesome, but they definitely wouldn't normally last as long as, say, DPS classes in a fight. I know that part of that reason is because Priests CAN heal themselves, buff themselves, and things like that, so they need to be balanced somehow. Otherwise Priests would be overpowered and perhaps overplayed. But I can't help but wonder why more games don't follow Aion's model and giving them a separate, medium-ish gear strength, given the fact that Priests are supposed to be in the middle of the combat and often take damage due to heal-aggro. (And sure, there are probably other games aside from Aion that give Priests similar gear strength, but Aion is the only one I've played as of yet that does so. I know LotRO gives their Minstrel class the ability to use leather armor after a certain level-- even that's an improvement!)
That's all I have to say on this topic at the moment. I'm sure I'll have other rants in the future regarding Priest classes in games, but that'll probably be more game-specific. Who knows. Hope you all enjoyed this or at least found it somewhat entertaining. Suggestions, questions, comments, and the like are always more than welcome. :D Reply to this post, drop an email, comment on Facebook or Twitter, however you so choose. :P Happy November, hope that Halloween was fun for everyone!
LMS
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