My thoughts were already presented on the cleric in CD thread but i'll say it again.
Before i start, please read my signiture, thx.
Buffs
I need to agree that they have been altering the gameplay a lot since the time i started playing this game. Any changed to just cleric buffs, and a large number of people will change their class to BC or quit the game entirely. Although the sad hard truth is that clerics are too relied on for their buffs. (And their heals but i'll get to that later) After saying so, the buffs have now adjusted for the pass 2 years to match the amount of power it should give to players in general (basically any class) to do enough damage as well as do what the class is made to do. So again i say, nerfing the cleric buffs is basically my only option, i can't say any other way. Buffing them will ruin the gameplay further. But by doing so, the mobs in the pvm section will need to be nerfed as well, in their defence, attack, accu and so on. This is because, as said, the mobs were adjusted to what the clerics can provide to a damage class to hit hard enough, yet still make it challenging for the mob to die. So if the buffs (well all this buffs now) would be nerfed, then in general, all the mobs should be as well.
(if the buffs were nerfed) In pvp wise (this is just a view from my past experiences) i don't think it would affect much, just the damage output being significantly lowered. Making it not too relied on and would show that a team without a support cleric can and have to potential to beat a team with one, just takes more effort. Which is basically still rewarding for the team with no buffs to still be able to win a match. It would be an interesting thing to see once in awhile.
Heals
I'd say the heals are pretty decent as per all the recent updates. It still helps in supporting people and yet it is not over powered as long as its not focused solely on one person fighting another person. Pvm wise I like it, its still a little hard to heal, but that's the challange part of pvm which of course makes it more enjoyable as a support class.
I said the heals are too relied on because some people can't tank as hard as they need to when hitting certain mobs (or a certain amount of them), thus they need/want the heals to increase their chances of survival. Best way to accomodate this is to have each class have their own way to support themselves making them not too relied on but still it takes time to adjust to timing, situation and such so it does not alter the FS cleric's abilities as well
(idk about pvp cuz i suck, and once again, read the signature)
Survivability
I actually like how the survivability is scaled at this recent update. With the right skill set, and right armors, i can survive quite a number of mobs in COU but not the king of course. It is also a fear factor if i am the tanker as when i try to tank, i need to fully focus on my stacks, mana shield, heals (generally Intregrity (U)) to be able to survive long enough before my teammates are able to kill the mobs. But then again that's the easiest dungeon. In SOD however, even when i was doing the same thing as COU, and i didn't intend to tank, just standing beside the tanker, i still died even when what i was doing was exactly the same as what i was doing in COU. So survivability is pretty decent for pvm wise. Just need the right skill, armor and stuff, and should be able to survive quite a lot but still be squishy enough to die.
Clerics Lvling
This i find it hard still. Trying to lvl an fs, the requirements are, need pt, good heals, and stick with them until you are maxed while gradually getting some charm. That or, as many have said, fake mage, get the aoes at low lvl, and try to pt with people using the aoes and reset when max. Killing a mobs will take next to forever if it was a king in orlo. But will be quite fast if it was a fully buffed cleric on def gear killing lower lvl mobs. (just not kings)
Basically as said, lvling a cleric is hard if you don't know the way to do so. I personally took about half a year. This is just because of ruins being hard to get a pt when i was at lvl 160+-. Almost noone wanted to pt me, and when i get one, i would only lvl 2 lvls per day. Which is because of either, the people in my pt suddenly afk, or a pker comes by and kills everyone.
Cleric Solo Questing
I'd say it really depends on which type of quest. There are delivery quest where you just have to get from point A - B, and there are also killing quest. Although most of the quest in ROSE involves a lot of killing, and rarely any running quest. I would find it nice to see a quest that would fit the support class for questing. Healing a mob is out of the question though cuz meh, it would be weird. Killing is still possible, just make a quest specially for clerics that has heals, to kill some mobs which still hits hard, just less hard as the rest of the quest mobs and have low enough hp/def for a support cleric to kill, being so, the exp it gives will also be lowered so people will not really bother killing that mob for lvling, then the quest reward exp can be increased so that they are able to get decent amount of exp per quest run, which then would help them in lvling as well. If healing quest, i'd take the Arua quest as an example, maybe make it so that fs clerics, can cure the "missing children" of whatever they are infected with. Although in the game it does make it so by telling you to run everywhere to get the soul of it restored, but also be able to give some heals to the soul or something to be able to gain enough to revive. (which in this case, requires a lot to make it more interesting, also maybe have a timer for it so it will increase the drama and the difficulty depending on lvl difference).
My Cleric Build (Editted [i forgot this part])
My cleric is build on trying to maximize the block rate from the mana shield which i think pretty much can be called a def build. I've not got the exact gears i want for the job yet, but i'm doing pretty well without them anyway. I also have bonfire and flame (2) so it increases some support to my mana as well as the team in anyways that is needed for the time being. I actually have to be very honest. This build that i am using, was thanks to a friend that shared their, i just changed a few things here and there to make it my own so i don't completely copy theirs as well as trying to make my own unique way of playstyle. For me, the build for cleric is a tough decision as said by Luna below me. And that's the point i'd take and agree on for the moment.
Bendesmom, your idea of buffs only limited some to clerics is interesting but yes as angel said, it would also mean a nerf, and this is a major one in fact if it happens (worst then my idea IMO). Doing so will make a large number of people quit the game and thus loosing people, even if its for balancing purposes, taking away a few buffs is too much, as much as i want to agree to it. I'll stand strong on my opinions on buff from your point of view that it does not require to remove it, rather to just decrease the power dramatically so it would match with the power of normal hitters and yet still be useful in pvp games. This again, needs to be re-referred to in my above stuff.
Sorry if i repeated myself too much or over explained stuff, but i want to make sure i get my point of view of the game out correctly without giving the wrong impression on people.
Edited by KatsuraKujo, 20 May 2015 - 06:46 PM.