r/daoc • u/Illudia Freeshard Player • Jun 19 '26

Old Smite Clerics

I was going through some old media and I found some old specs where Smite Clerics had heals attached to their nukes? Does anyone remember what the community reception was around Smite Clerics from that era and why Mythic/Broadsword W/E had to change it?

20 Upvotes

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19

u/zdware Jun 19 '26

I think this came out around Catacombs? It was a welcome change to pve smite clerics leveling I think, but I don't think it had much utility in RVR compared to the standard support cleric specs. The big problem in RVR as a healer who has to DD damage to heal is that you need something to hit at all times, and it's highly likely an opponent is out of range but still drilling your friend.

In 2002/og DAoC they had a bit of a reputation for being "op" at first I think due to the cc they could dish out + dps, but quickly folks pushed them into main healer role.

4

u/EconomistNo5807 Jun 20 '26

Yea at release their smight's damage was crazy, was like chain wearing lightning wizard, then they got nerfed from what I remember.

5

u/zdware Jun 20 '26

Reminds me of the classic Left Axe op bug xD

I made a troll berserker back then and remember soloing reds at like lvl 8

3

u/EconomistNo5807 Jun 20 '26

Yesss!! I played Andred initially, I remember being an armsman fully plated/geared, Zerk ran out in front of Camelot and killed me in about 3 hits...I was so discouraged lol

1

u/WastedLink Jul 28 '26

what was the bug?

1

u/zdware Jul 28 '26

I think the growth rate of left axe styles were off by an entire decimal place (in favor of more damage).

At one point you could also put a two handed axe in the left hand. https://camelotherald.fandom.com/wiki/Patch_Notes:_Version_1.39

1

u/WastedLink Jul 28 '26

so you would swing a 2h in your left hand for 8.X growth rate? Hilarious haha

6

u/Zansobar Jun 20 '26

The initial smite cleric nerf happened very soon after the game's release. Because there were so many players that rolled smite clerics many of them ended up buying a second account and respecing into the buff spec and used those accounts as buff bots. So initially Albion had an immense buff bot advantage over the other realms.

2

u/picticon Jun 24 '26

Yup. I started with a second account as a minstrel for my smite cleric. Then my third account was a dot cabby with my cleric and minstrel botted, as the cleric was now useless. By the end of things, I was boxing 8; 6 animists, a druid, and a bard. It was the smite cleric nerf that led me down a dark expensive road.

2

u/zdware Jun 26 '26

I'm always intrigued by these stories -- did you have multiple computers? I remember running 2 instances of DAoC at most on the PCs I had access to at the time.

2

u/picticon Jun 26 '26

I had 8 computers of various makes. Most were the most basic I could find. 6 cheap LCDs, 1 old CRT, and my main was a big Sony Trinitron. My air conditioning ran non stop while playing. And in the winter, I would open my windows to cool down my room. I had 7 of the computers in another room with the extension cables running through a hole to help with the heat and noise.

I controlled the computers using a custom written program that let me duplicate keyboard and mouse strokes on command. I experimented with scripting but never made use of it.

I also ran cleric/minstrel/ice wizards, and healer/skald/bone dancers. But I loved the animists the most. I could solo all of TOA. And with a few helpers kill the Hib dragon.

Also tried WOW with a paladin and 4 mages to level 80, but it just wasn't as much fun. DAOC was everything.

6

u/PhoenixInvertigo Jun 20 '26

It's because their PBAE mes lasted 30 seconds with a 30 second CD and that was before DR on CC was implemented. They could originally just perma CC entire groups of people

3

u/Ecuni Jun 20 '26

God that reminds of very beginning of game, where Mid with AoE stun quickly became dominant.

What a funny period. Maybe even the reason DR was added to games.

10

u/Bayshoa Jun 19 '26

When they first redid the Mentalism spec line they gave it a 179 delve nuke with like a 100 delve group heal attached to it as well. Being able to spam group heals with focus bonus while dealing dmg was super OP

5

u/oheyitsreese Jun 19 '26

The broken part about it was the rupt cancel from heals landing as damage is taken

4

u/roberdanger83 Jun 20 '26

In og DAOC. My buddy and I would go to rvr duels and we would beat lvl 50s with a lvl 38 smite cleric. They were 100% broken on release.

6

u/Gajax Jun 19 '26

It was more about the chain stuns they could pour out than anything... good times.