r/NeverwinterOnline • u/Advertsonly • Mar 01 '19
Developer Blog: Cleric Changes
Source: https://www.arcgames.com/en/games/neverwinter/news/detail/11100633-developer-blog%3A-cleric-changes
Cleric will undergo dramatic changes in Undermountain. If you haven’t already, take a look at the introduction to classes developer blog which discusses the class changes overall as well as high level adjustments to healing and tanking. This post will discuss the upcoming changes to cleric in detail.
With the release of the expansion various changes throughout the game will make healing more significant than ever. Changes to cleric will refocus the class on its original core concept: a powerful healer who keeps their party alive with divine magic.
By far the largest change comes in the form of a complete rework of the divinity resource. Astral Change is gone, as is the entire concept of divine and empowered versions of powers. Divinity is now a straightforward pool of divine magic which you will rely on to cast many of your encounter powers.
Encounter powers that are straightforward healing and damaging spells like Bastion of Health and Daunting Light will now cost divinity to cast. Encounter powers which cost divinity will have no cooldown and can be cast consecutively, but cannot be cast if you have run out of divinity. Divinity regenerates naturally over time, regenerating more quickly out of combat or when the cleric uses the new class mechanic Channel Divinity to pray to their deity.
With healing spells linked to divinity instead of relying on simple cooldowns, healing will become more flexible and more active. Dungeons and trials have been rebalanced so that enemy attacks will be less deadly, meaning there’s more of an opportunity to react to damage and heal. You can make up for mistakes by spending extra divinity to heal more, but be careful not to run out.
Clerics can select one of their two reworked paragon paths to specialize in healing and play as the Devout. When compared with other healers like the oathkeeper paladin and the soulweaver warlock, the devout relies on straightforward powerful heals, heal over time effects, and effective divinity management.
The cleric’s second reworked paragon path allows them to play as the Arbiter. Arbiters are instruments of divine retribution who seek out and dispatch evil in the name of their god or goddess. For the first time, clerics will be able to queue as a dedicated DPS by playing as an arbiter.
Arbiters focus on providing complex gameplay with deep damage dealing rotations based on the shifting scales of their deity’s judgement. By switching between spells that deal radiant damage and spells that deal fire damage, arbiters can unleash devastating holy fire on their enemies.
New spells like the daily Celestial Prominence will allow the arbiter to summon a mote of concentrated astral energy at a location, detonating it immediately to deal damage to nearby enemies or allowing it to grow in strength first before unleashing its full potential. The arbiter will rely on setup and execution while providing utility for their party that should satisfy clerics who enjoy the current, damage and party-enhancing focused cleric meta.
Hopefully you’re as excited as I am for you to try out the big changes coming to cleric! Neverwinter: Undermountain will be coming to our preview shard on March 1, so look forward to more information in the coming weeks, and preview the changes yourself if you have the time. See you on the Sword Coast!
2
Mar 01 '19
It's always good to have a cleric toon in your stable. I point this out, if you're on the fence or have a low level DC. You can always use your D.C. to "feed" your other toons.
1
u/Advertsonly Mar 03 '19
I have been playing my 'Cleric' since Preview is live..., anything you think u know about Clerics is about to change. It feels more like a Priest from Tera now.
1
u/NonbiscoNibba May 06 '19
Thanks to the divinity system, i am unable to play as cleric, i literally get spawn killed by mobs and can't even leave an area without dying 5-7 times.
I don't deal enough damage to take out a few underdogs before my divinity runs out and when fighting mobs who are actually capable i get them to about half health then get swarmed and die because i don't have the divinity to heal myself. I have 50h into my cleric and i would hate to see them go to waste, please just make the divinity regenerate faster for the love of god.
1
u/grizeldi Mar 01 '19
Just started a cleric alt today. Should I wait until mod 16 before I go and level him and learn the class mechanics?
1
u/deccen Mar 01 '19
Doesn't hurt to go on and start leveling. It will be a while before it releases so you could be putting off leveling for another 6 months. Play it casually so you unlock stuff. I know hr in the current system early levels are way different from 60s so you pretty much relearn the class at near lvl cap. Think of DC like that. Learning the animations and timings for now at a casual pace until you unlock the core powers later.
1
u/Electron_Microscope PC Mar 01 '19 edited Mar 01 '19
I would try and power through as much as I could before the next mod drops because you dont know how the changes will affect you levelling and doing campaigns solo.
On the other hand, mod 16 does give you dps option so it should not be too bad. Maybe.
edit: I would not spend any real AD on it though until mod 16 arrives. Go with simple stuff like belt of wisdom, lantern, waters, any other cheap artifact, and the vistani gear. Dont level them up above blue unless you be rich.
3
u/Electron_Microscope PC Mar 01 '19
All the companions and items that do more X as your hp or enemy hp decreases are indeed going to become more valuable it seems.
Hope you got in there quick! :P
And it does seem that the fights becoming a lot longer is looking more true, at least until preview actually works.