Hey guys,
Recently, I've been aspiring to join the "Bloodmage" profession of the Healer Class. Personally I like the sound of the class and it does have a certain appeal to it, and because I don't really enjoy the Caster Class, but I like being able to draw power from other users, it interested me greatly. However, I do have to say that it feels a lot like the Bloodmage is pretty much a nerfed Necromancer. If we have a look at the skills... [from HC wiki]
Necromancer: Skills
SkillLevelMPCooldownEffect
Fireball 5 41 5 Hurls a ball of fire at the target.
Battery 10 10 6 Transfers mana to target.
Leech 20 10 6 Drains mana from target to self.
Drainsoul 30 66 6 Drains health from target.
Summon 40 25 30 Summons a friendly skeleton.
Unholy Ritual 40 0 ? Target undead creature is sacrificed, grants caster mana.
Replenish 50 6 30 Restores caster's mana to full.
Hellgate 50 ? ? Teleports you and your party to Hell.
Bloodmage: Skills
SkillLevelMPCooldownEffect
Bandage 5 25 0 Heals target.
Syphon 10 33 30 Drains health.
Fireball 20 75 5 Hurls a fireball at the target.
Leech 30 5 5 Drain mana from target to caster.
Smite 50 100 5 Holy Damage
As can be seen, the Necromancer obviously has many of the same skills and many more skills than the Bloodmage.
The Necromance and the Bloodmage share the following skills:
Leech [Lvl 20 for Necro, 30 for Bloodmage]
Fireball [Level 5 for necro, 20 for Bloodmage]
Aside from the above, the Bloodmage recieves 3 extra ablities:
Bandage [Level 5]
Syphon [Level 10]
Smite [Level 50]
All of these above abilities really are brilliant. Syphon gives a fair amount of health to the user, Smite is a powerful damaging spell, and Bandage is a nice healing one. However, if we look at the Necromancer Specific Abilities...
Battery [Level 10]
Drainsoul [Level 30]
Summon [Level 40]
Unholy Ritual [Level 40]
Replenish [Level 50]
Hellgate [Level 50]
It can be said here that Battery is a very... 'healer like' ability, but that's alright - Bloodmages recieve bandage, which makes things just fine. Then there's Drainsoul - a stronger version of Syphon. Yeah, sure, Syphon is available at a lower level, so there's arguments that favour the Necro in that situation too. Then we come to 'Summon'. Summon is a Necromancer Unique Spell, and is really quite brilliant - but the Bloodmage has nothing of the sort, and they shouldn't, either, because that's the kind of thing that a Necromancer would do, not a Healer. So we move on to the next ability - Replenish, rather common amongst Casters, and again, a very 'healer-like' ability, which restores mana to the user. And, of course, Hellgate, which negates the need to use an ordinary gate to reach the Nether, and also is extremely useful for any mage.
A lot of the abilities that the Necro has would never suit the Bloodmage - and that's fine, because they're very different classes. But, as they are quite similar at the moment, I can't help but notice how much the Bloodmage class is dwarfed by the Necro. So maybe the Bloodmage needs some new abilities, and maybe the fact that nearly every Healer Specialization feels like a nerfed version of another class is the reason that Healers are not a popular class.
TL;DR: Bloodmage is nerfed. It's fairly offensively good, but in comparison to it's Necromancer cousin, it has practically nothing on it - and, oddly for the Healer Class, the Bloodmage has very little defensive power.
Does anyone agree with me?
Cheese,
S
Recently, I've been aspiring to join the "Bloodmage" profession of the Healer Class. Personally I like the sound of the class and it does have a certain appeal to it, and because I don't really enjoy the Caster Class, but I like being able to draw power from other users, it interested me greatly. However, I do have to say that it feels a lot like the Bloodmage is pretty much a nerfed Necromancer. If we have a look at the skills... [from HC wiki]
Necromancer: Skills
SkillLevelMPCooldownEffect
Fireball 5 41 5 Hurls a ball of fire at the target.
Battery 10 10 6 Transfers mana to target.
Leech 20 10 6 Drains mana from target to self.
Drainsoul 30 66 6 Drains health from target.
Summon 40 25 30 Summons a friendly skeleton.
Unholy Ritual 40 0 ? Target undead creature is sacrificed, grants caster mana.
Replenish 50 6 30 Restores caster's mana to full.
Hellgate 50 ? ? Teleports you and your party to Hell.
Bloodmage: Skills
SkillLevelMPCooldownEffect
Bandage 5 25 0 Heals target.
Syphon 10 33 30 Drains health.
Fireball 20 75 5 Hurls a fireball at the target.
Leech 30 5 5 Drain mana from target to caster.
Smite 50 100 5 Holy Damage
As can be seen, the Necromancer obviously has many of the same skills and many more skills than the Bloodmage.
The Necromance and the Bloodmage share the following skills:
Leech [Lvl 20 for Necro, 30 for Bloodmage]
Fireball [Level 5 for necro, 20 for Bloodmage]
Aside from the above, the Bloodmage recieves 3 extra ablities:
Bandage [Level 5]
Syphon [Level 10]
Smite [Level 50]
All of these above abilities really are brilliant. Syphon gives a fair amount of health to the user, Smite is a powerful damaging spell, and Bandage is a nice healing one. However, if we look at the Necromancer Specific Abilities...
Battery [Level 10]
Drainsoul [Level 30]
Summon [Level 40]
Unholy Ritual [Level 40]
Replenish [Level 50]
Hellgate [Level 50]
It can be said here that Battery is a very... 'healer like' ability, but that's alright - Bloodmages recieve bandage, which makes things just fine. Then there's Drainsoul - a stronger version of Syphon. Yeah, sure, Syphon is available at a lower level, so there's arguments that favour the Necro in that situation too. Then we come to 'Summon'. Summon is a Necromancer Unique Spell, and is really quite brilliant - but the Bloodmage has nothing of the sort, and they shouldn't, either, because that's the kind of thing that a Necromancer would do, not a Healer. So we move on to the next ability - Replenish, rather common amongst Casters, and again, a very 'healer-like' ability, which restores mana to the user. And, of course, Hellgate, which negates the need to use an ordinary gate to reach the Nether, and also is extremely useful for any mage.
A lot of the abilities that the Necro has would never suit the Bloodmage - and that's fine, because they're very different classes. But, as they are quite similar at the moment, I can't help but notice how much the Bloodmage class is dwarfed by the Necro. So maybe the Bloodmage needs some new abilities, and maybe the fact that nearly every Healer Specialization feels like a nerfed version of another class is the reason that Healers are not a popular class.
TL;DR: Bloodmage is nerfed. It's fairly offensively good, but in comparison to it's Necromancer cousin, it has practically nothing on it - and, oddly for the Healer Class, the Bloodmage has very little defensive power.
Does anyone agree with me?
Cheese,
S
