Heavy Handed Nerfs Likely to End Cleric Swarm

On February 12, 2014 there will be a patch that encompasses quite a number of classes. The end result is they intend for no class to be able to swarm for any sort of gain. Even though clerics are far down the scale of solo ability, we are eating it just as bad as anyone else when it comes to getting "fixed" as they like to call it. Here is a list of the changes we are getting that directly effect swarm ability. I do like the part where they will auto grant a certain amount of AA no higher than level 85, but this is not worth the trade off to me. I love cleric solo and this will all but remove any efficiency in doing so, even though it was far below even non swarming solo classes rate of gain. You can read more on the SoE boards under February changes 2014.

For your non cleric chars, the patch will also directly impact ranger headshot, rogue assassinate, and berserker decapitate. They will receive a proc per minute rate, instead of being able to boost with stats. You can expect an average of 2 procs per minute, and will be usable now on mobs up to your level minus 1 if the AA is capped. A level 100 proccing on level 99 monsters though, will only average about 6-10k dps most likely, so its a bonus, but your xp rate will probably still be less than soloing, as they will definatly not kill a level 99, and will come with a whole heap of agro unless they change this.

So for us clerics - From the notes before the patch:

We considered a cap of 30 targets on PBAE nukes but ultimately did not change them due to the inherent danger the caster is placed in. If they become a problem we may have to revisit this in the future.

The Ward of the Divine line of spells had a cap of 80 procs added. This means the level 97 version now provides a maximum potential of 186,480 damage per 2026 mana cast.

The Shining Rampart line of spells has changed in function.

• Added a cap of 40 procs and increased its mana cost in a manner similar to the Shaman Lingering Sloth line. This means the level 99 version of the spell can now heal for a base of 97,240 HP at a cost of 939 mana.
• The proc rate for this line of spells will now decrease on targets that are below the level of the spell. Like the similar restriction on the Skin of the Reptile line, this is intended to provide a good boost at the expected levels and a much lesser boost when applied against trivial content.
• We have separated the damage absorption buff and the proc buff. All ranks of Shining Rampart, Shining Armor, and Shining Bastion will now trigger-cast Shining Defense, a spell which absorbs 10 percent of incoming damage. It has no damage cap, but will fade after its bearer takes 2000 hits. It has a player level for focus purposes but is not memorized on its own.
• Changed the spell icon for the 'proc' portion of the buff so that it is not confused with the HP

          absorption effect.

The Divine Retribution AA line had a cap of 40 procs added, even though the short duration means this limit will probably not be reached. This is meant as a "future-proofing" method to prevent future upgrades from causing problems.

Then they declared some mild changes, but they should still prevent any meaningful swarms

Increased the proc cap on the Ward of the Divine line of spells from 80 to 120.Increased the proc cap on the Shining Rampart line of spells from 40 to 72.
Increased the incoming hit cap on the Shining Defense portion  from 2000 to 3200.


If you run a log parser, you will find that these proc caps will go very fast in any large pull. This is a huge problem, because shining was our stabilizer, keeping the healing flowing at all times, even when you were stunned and such. Now they separated the effects, but BOTH portions have hit limits, so to do any good you'd have to constantly recast buffs, and also have a smaller pull so that the charges aren't instantly wasted. Even the damage absorbtion part, a pull of 50 mobs could put out 3200 hits in just a few rounds. You can count on the healing part to pretty much disappear as soon as you cast, having only 72 procs. If you have ever forgot to recast shining and seen it wear off, you know it leads to a hurting.

I love this game, and I have enjoyed it for years, but the direction lately with sub par expansions, tiered releases with no new zones in a "release", and then the wide nerfs to fix problems in the least logical way possible are making it hard. I'm not one to rage quit, but I may start to fade off, and then eventually just stop right clicking that krono.

Level 71 to 80

Level 71 to 80

This is a smaller set of levels than the last for my guide, because I wanted to seperate out a few particular spells. Some will fall into the higher tier and receive constant upgrades, so I cut off the range to make it a pretty distinct phase in the leveling field. You will start to move away from casting heals often in this range, and best case you won't have to cast any, the passive heals will handle them.

 

Vow of Valor

This is a large addition to the solo cleric, as it is pretty much the baseline for soloing. It is a pretty standard proc buff, with a few additions. The first, and very important to note is it reduces your healing power by up to half. This is to prevent you from getting the bonus all the time, and having to actually decide when you want to get the benefits. The proc is a fairly nice direct damage blast, with an exra recourse of dropping a heal over time on you. With the right gear, target selection, and AA, this heal can keep you full and nearly unkillable. This may require being in zones a little lower than your normal level range at first.

 

Promised Heals

This is an alternative to the old school complete healing mechanics. Casting on a target gives a short 18 or so second buff, that triggers a large heal when it fades. The trade off for the longer trigger time, is that it only takes 0.5 cast time, and lets you do other things while it ticks down. Always cast on yourself after it fades and it will keep you up pretty well. This crits based on the person who it is cast on, so you get all the benefits of your AA, while a warrior would need specific aa and still ahve a much lower chance for it to crit. 

Onward at 90! Fortress Mechanotus

I'm stopping at 90 with about 1400 AA to grind out quite a few more, and I have settled in to Fort Mech. You can get there through dragonscale hills, look for the marker on the map and hop on the cannon to get blasted into the next zone. I'm sticking to about 9-12 mobs here, usually grabbing any two groups of mobs, either along the wall or the wandering ones. I have done about 18 max but it was very rough and quite surprised I didn't die. If you see any sk here, they will probably be doing 50-100 mobs at a time, but they have many different tools than we get and utilize percent based mechanics so don't worry about them to much and just have fun doing your thing. Here's a few samples from the new hunt, but I will need to beef up on AA before I can start doing more at a time.

Plane of Fire

Now for the experience! Heading into Plane of Fire, I did a few green trains to clear my way in towards the light blues, but I'll post them as examples anyway. All of these are done at level 80 with just under 1k AA. I recommend 80 because the Abstrusive Blessedbond armor is a significant boost to stats and you can buy it from other players as it is attunable and fairly cheap most of the time.

The two above are the pulls of greens, about 20 monbs each. The one below is the light blues, and the first pull is about 12, although you can adjsut higher as you get the feel for it, and 20 should be a decent size run. Start small and work your way up to find your comfort zone.

 





Crypt of Decay

This is an example of swarming to farm, the mobs are green, so there is some experience, but this is better left for making some cash instead of gaining experience. 19 mobs, I just ran around the "block" closest to the zone in for this run.