Wait up here a second, Delf. Why would things like wisdom, might, accelerando, etc. break their design? Those are group buffs that effect every class equally. 80% faster mana regen, 20 or 25% physical damage, and speed buffs. If anything I'd like to see a 20-25% SKILL damage ability, 80% faster stamina regen, and we already have excavate. That would balance the system by buffing every aspect of every class in a party, and that is THE "Support" role.. is it not?
To clarify, as I'm not 100% on your perspective here, the buffs themselves do not break the design, the presence of the abilities on the
Cleric class is what breaks their design.
I also want to state that while I did say, and do think that, my opinion in no way stands for Kainzo's. He could have a very different vision for what the Cleric is, or what it should be or not be.
My opinion has a bit of lore to it, but it is more heavily weighted on the balance side of things. Wisdom itself seems pretty balanced, Might is...possibly balanced, and all the bard buffs are pretty balanced too.
The issue is when a class is too good at certain things, and then also has other things going for it. A bard is not the best melee. He just doesn't do enough damage. But he brings very powerful slows, very powerful buffs, and a pretty powerful AoE silence. However, all of his abilities limit him greatly. He can't melee while channeling abilities. He can only do a few things before he runs out of stamina, preventing him from doing more. He also has his own set of mana issues that kick in when he starts being "too useful".
The cleric...heals, he heals
hard, and he does it to many people. He wears full chain with Iron chest and also has decent HP. We can't just add this kind of stuff to this kind of class.
Groups rarely consist of every single class. Groups do not always have group buffs. When a group
does have a group buff, you have to take into account that he will 100%
always provide that benefit to his party, and "his party" could be anywhere from 1 to
10 people. To ignore this and not balance around the fact is absurd.
We also have to work with Kainzo's desired vision for Cleric. The problem with that, is that a full blown Cleric that matches his lore correctly, is overpowered as fuck. A "True" Cleric wears heavy platemail, has large heals, has several different types of heals with varying cast times, cures poisons, removes diseases, purges debuffs, buffs his allies for increased health and damage, carries a shield, and has moderate melee damage.
Imagine Cleric on Herocraft doing all of that. Does any of that sound fair to you? If that were the case, you'd be insane to go anywhere without a Cleric. I do not wish for this to be the case.
We can also take the Bloodmage as an example. He deals a very large amount of damage for a healer. Because of this, his active heals are weaker than most healers, and cannot be used nearly as often. They also
hurt the Bloodmage to boot. He is forced to sustain his group by dealing damage. He does not have party buffs, and he cannot "support" his allies by other means. He is also very susceptible to burst. Unlike a Cleric, he has very little armor, and due to his mana problems, will repeatedly lower his own health just to continue doing his job.
Now, I know we're still tweaking the Bloodmage and fine-tuning the balance, but my point here is that they have a large strength, and to compensate, he is given weaknesses.
We cannot do this to Cleric due to his lore/concept. We can't lower his health, we can't lower his armor, we can't lower his heals. Because he cannot
lose anything, he cannot
gain anything.
If we want to give him buffs, we have to take something away. But what can we take away? Just about the only thing I can even think of is his healing, which to be honest, seems like the wrong direction. Even still, I'm not against doing this, but I'm not sure how everyone else would feel. Additionally, Kainzo has not made it completely clear what he wants from the class. What he's willing to lower, what he's willing to add, ect.
My point is that I
do not think it is fair for a Cleric, in it's current state, to have group buffs in addition to powerful heals.
the ping on mine is MUCH better than my regular internet.