by Leafiara

Introduction

This final part covers the item that saw the most interest from our respondents out of choices given for adding new options to the cleric toolkit: a permanent gear upgrade spell. Before we look at that, though, let’s review the rest of the results and see how they tie a bow on all nine previous parts of this survey summary.

Survey in Review

Select some general concepts that you’d be very interested in and very uninterested in seeing added to clerics.

Comments about and ratings for 335 Divine Wrath were generally negative, so it seems fitting that an instant AoE warding spell ranked near the top for interest, as did a multi-target bolt or mass maneuver–all tools that would fill a perceived gap.

 

Conversely, any option specified as single-target ranked relatively low-interest no matter what form it came in:

  • The idea of a new single-target bolt was the most divisive, with the most votes for high interest but also the most votes for low interest. This might be because of general concerns expressed about bolting.
  • A single-target maneuver spell saw a few less votes for high interest than the bolt but several less votes for low interest, making it arguably the most popular of the single-target options.
  • Despite the number of clerics writing about lack of attack variety in low or mid-levels, a new mid-level single-target warding spell scored below either maneuver or bolt, suggesting that players don’t think a new CS spell is the solution.

Hybrid spells combining two forms of attack all ranked relatively highly, maybe because of the implications they’d have on combat variety or build diversity. Or, just maybe, even the implications they’d have on spiritual flavor.

 

New disablers and defensive spells were at the bottom of the heap, which I’d normally take to mean that clerics feel very safe already–but, curiously enough, an emergency/panic button spell ranked middle of the road.

The only comment I could find to explain what value cleric players might see in a defensive emergency spell was the one presented in Part 8 about clerics’ lack of defense against stuns. It’s also possible that the option was understood by players to mean an offensive emergency spell, like the idea in Part 4 about a more effective Brimstone with a cooldown. Without much else for me to go by from the comments, it’s hard to say how people interpreted that answer.

 

I think the improvements to sanctification option ranking very highly is interesting… or, at least, it would be except that I might have worded it too ambiguously. Going by the few comments that touched on it, as well as the very similar ratings it got to the permanent gear upgrade spell option, I think people might have interpreted it as one possibility to, itself, be a gear upgrade.

What I had intended was general improvements to the sanctification mechanic itself, like a sanctified runestaff granting a CS bonus, armor having reduced hindrance, a melee weapon having innate crit weighting, and so on. It’s impossible to say how cleric players understood the question, unfortunately.

 

Now to the top choice…

In spite of–or maybe because of?–respondents rating clerics’ current utility as their favorite mechanical reason to continue playing them, the top choice out of the options presented to players on what to add was even more utility.

With that utility being a permanent gear upgrade, though, it could also have implications on combat potential… So let’s find out what ideas people had in mind.

Gear Upgrade or Item Creation

Here’s a sampling of comments about the desire for a gear upgrade spell–or, in some cases, item creation. (For more, see also the comment in Part 1 about creating wedding rings or the comment in Part 8 about doing more with holy symbols as incentive to promote cleric mains over pocket clerics.)

Some merely expressed a lack of a gear upgrade as a problem or gap while others offered suggestions and comparisons:

Something clerics lack is a corresponding ability to the other pures (wizards enchant, sorcerers ensorcell, heck, even Rangers can drastically modify armor, even if it is temporary). Clerics can temporarily bless, but we don’t have any truly item altering abilities.

-post-cap cleric

Having a permanent gear upgrading spell, ala enchant or ensorcell, would be interesting; perhaps have one that’s tied to into Bless, where you can temp or perm bless things, temp or perm sanctify things, or add some sort of temp or perm enhancives to things that are already perma-sancted or perma-blessed.

-level 47 cleric

304 – give us an evoke version (or use another spell slot) that gives eligible weapons a permanent benefit that allows them to take 2x or 3x the normal bless duration – it would be a cheaper alternative to permabless and use a system similar to ensorcell I guess – you would still need to get your items blessed but then the bless would last a lot longer!

-post-cap cleric

It would be nice to have a counter to Ensorcell that is holy instead of …not so holy. In this case, holy doesn’t have to be “good” since we have both good and evil clerics in the game.

-level 30 cleric

Give every class a permanent gear upgrade on par with enchant/ ensorcell.

(Give bards another, better, permanent gear upgrade.)

-level 35 cleric

Let us add truehand to weapons like ensorcell is done

-post-cap cleric

Perm gear upgrade spell: add +1-+5 for a single stat based on deity. Tiered like ensorcelling.

-level 26 cleric

I have heard a lot of talk over the years that if clerics could sanctify things it would give them demand — I disagree wholeheartedly. An intensely small subset of players are interested in sanctified objects.

Since the role of cleric is often seen as one of a “support/utility” class, I would suggest clerics either interact favorably with existing systems that ARE in demand by players, such as Enchant Item and Ensorcel. Perhaps they can make permanent objects that aren’t, like enhancives or imbeds. Maybe they should be the ones scribing scrolls, or even creating imbeds or enhancives.

[response to later question:] I explained a lot of things it looks like this section is asking for early on in this survey. Sanctification would be a waste of time and beyond useless. Permanent gear upgrade could be good, or augmenting the gear upgrade ability of other classes(or both!!). Adding TD/bolt DS to objects might be interesting.

Design space that seems most untouched revolves around the creation of scrolls and enhancives, or making permanent/adding longevity to items that are otherwise finite. Imagine if a cleric could recharge your enhancive instead of only a GM or the Adventurers Guild? Imagine if Symbol of the Proselyte was an enhancive that could be utilized for the truehand effect/single buff as well.

-post-cap cleric

Next Section

We’re done analyzing the major topics of the survey results! Next (and last) is the Wrap-Up with some of my concluding thoughts, lingering questions, and even a look into questions that didn’t make it into the survey.

Leafi

Leafi reports on current events in and around Wehnimer’s Landing, where she can often be found dashing about day and night! She also hosts public Town Hall meetings in the Landing and helps with numerous TownCrier projects behind the scenes, including entirely too many proposals that create more work for Luxie. Does this lass’s troublemaking know no end?