Wow, I tend to agree with Feuer lol. The FS cleric is boring actually too.
1. You run the slowest of all classes, yet are supposed to keep up with everyone. Knights outrun FS clerics often. Most FS clerics resort to using mounts to try to keep up but you are very vulnerable on a mount.
2. No one protects the cleric unless you get to play with a group of people that you know and ask for help.
3. There are a ton of skills available for clerics but to be a FS cleric that indicates that you can fully support your team. To do that you have to spend all of your SP on full buffs, heals, purify, res, bonfire of some kind, etc. and then try to have enough SP to get defense and block to try to survive a short time longer to heal ppl. No room for extra skills.
4. AA I did on Sunday Attacking side, me as only FS cleric - Buff all up in charm gear. Change to fighting gear, look around and all are already on their way to the side xtal. Run after them, get attacked by 3 raiders because you are alone. Die. Respawn and change to charm gear, buff up. change back to fighting gear.....but wait a team member or two just respawned...back to charm gear. Buff everyone and change to fighting gear. All have left you again. Group members are yelling for heals in chat. Take the time to explain that you can't leave the respawn because raiders keep killing you. Group members die and need buffs, but you are now at the edge of the respawn area about to jump down, but group member yells at you for being waayyyy up there and not at the respawn spot so they can get buffs. Wait for them, not taking the time to respond, change to charm gear, buff them up. Jump down with them and change to fighting gear on the run. Raiders attack again before you can get to your group but heal though it and keep plodding along. Get to group, heal as can for a few min until ganged from all on opposing team, die. Respawn and read in chat how the cleric has to help them or they can't win. Reply something about FS clerics needing some protection to stay with them. Get response that I should not play in charm gear and to change to good gear so I can heal them. Really??? Ok all are buffed up and we wait to all go together. Run to xtal area, hide in wall as I can or hide among my group, get off some heals and even a res with a few buffs then the group spreads out more and I get targeted by 3 raiders from the back again. Try to heal but crit locked or something, can't skill, can't heal, no help from team. Die. The rest of the match was a repeat.
does that sound like a fun way to play? I did not see anyone else getting beat up by the rest of the group for not doing their part. At no time did I feel as though I was a part of the fight really. I was there to buff and heal if I could.
5. Our FS cleric buffs are nothing compared to class charm buffer buffs. Personally I think classes should have the buffs with buffs spread out between all of the classes. Give some to FS cleric obviously too but without so many buffs we could actually get some defensive and offensive skills and still have heals as our main skills.
I would love to hear what other FS clerics feel but in general the character used to be a lot more fun to play. At this point I have tried a lot of variations but I think being a buff slave is more the norm now than it even used to be. A lot of that is probably the fault of the FS clerics but in general I think the attitude of players in game has really changed over the years.