Class advice please

[baal80]

Hello community,

I've decided to check out what DDO has to offer and so far I'm liking it much. I have a question regarding class choice. As a long time World of Warcraft player (quit 6 months ago) I would like to play a class which playstyle resembles playstyle of protection paladin or (even better) elemental shaman (a nuker who can switch to healing when needed) from Warcraft.

I understand you can't strictly put an equal sign between DDO and WoW classes but I was thinking between the lines of those 3 classes/builds:

Benedictine Healer (cleric): http://forums.ddo.com/showpost.php?p=1718358&postcount=6

Bastion of Light (paladin): http://forums.ddo.com/showpost.php?p=1718366&postcount=10

Nuking Cleric: http://forums.ddo.com/showpost.php?p=2383483&postcount=113

In fact, I'm more inclined to becoming a strict healbot in DDO, as I always pick support classes in MMOs.
So - what do you think - are these builds (especially the first one) viable for me?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions :)

[Madwad]

Hi m8 welcome to DDO, if it was me i would go for the Casting/Nuking Cleric.

it can fill all the role's the healing cleric can do and it still is able to pack a almighty punch when needed, the only thing it cant really do is the Devin healing/vitality as it will have only about 6 turn undeads to use.

when you hit higher levels you might find that Offensive casting on a cleric like Grater command/ comet fall and sound burst are a better use of your Mana then healing,

and also note that being able to Drop a Massive Comet on your enemy is very very gratifying :D


Mad

[baal80]

Thanks for the reply Mad :)

I'm just afraid that my healing power would be not sufficient at later levels. Is this not the case when going healer/nuker ?

I'm still bit confused what and when you can change (re-spec) when developing your character, and which choices remain unchangeable forever, so please bear with me :)

[Vormaerin]

Its not possible to make a cleric that can function all that is incapable of being a main healer. All the healing spells save one are automatic. As long as you pick up Heal when you have lvl 6 spells available, you will be a decent healer. Your Empower or Maximize feat that will boost your damage will also boost your healing.

There are no healbots in DDO. Its always a question of 'what do you do besides heal' when building your cleric.

[Madwad]

I'm just afraid that my healing power would be not sufficient at later levels. Is this not the case when going healer/nuker ?

nope the feets for healing and Nuking are almost the same

Healing Spec
Extend (makes buffs last longer)
Empower healing (gives more healing for you SP)
Maximize (gives more healing for you SP)
Mental toughness (more Spell points)
Improved mental toughness (even more spell points)
2 free feets to spend where you want (3 if you go human)

Nuking spec
Extend (makes buffs last longer)
Empower (gives more Damage/healing for you SP) costs a little more Spell points then Empower healing but also effects damage spells were Empower healing only effects Healing spells
Maximize (gives more Damage/healing for you SP)
Heighten (raises the level of yours spells to the level of your highest spell, so makes them harder to resist)
Mental toughness (more Spell points)
Improved mental toughness (even more spell points)
Spell penetration (helps get threw Spell resistance)
Greater spell penetration (helps get threw Spell resistance)
-1 feet to spend or 0 feets to spend if your human

as you can see they are almost the same although a Nuker needs more feets
note you don’t need all the feets above to be effective but you will need most for them.

i have 3 lvl 17 cleric's back on the Euro servers one is a Healer and i only ever take her out on Guild Raids, one is a Halfling Dragon marked Healer/Caster and she douse very very well but has problems getting past Spell resistance. and the last is a Pure offensive Casting Cleric and he is so much fun to play, he can heal a raid party for the shroud on his own(must admit it was stressful but fun) and can cast all the offensive spells when he needs to in other quests, and also allows me to solo like I do with my Sorc and wizards

the other feet i love to have but find hard to fit in is toughness, more Hit points is always a nice thing :D



I'm still bit confused what and when you can change (re-spec) when developing your character, and which choices remain unchangeable forever, so please bear with me :)

The only things you can re-spec are Feets like I have listed above and enchantments, all the reset (so Level up stat points and Skill points) are unchangeable. Though there is talk of this being changed.

mad

[sirgog]

Thanks for the reply Mad :)

I'm just afraid that my healing power would be not sufficient at later levels. Is this not the case when going healer/nuker ?

I'm still bit confused what and when you can change (re-spec) when developing your character, and which choices remain unchangeable forever, so please bear with me :)

A 'healbot' will need the enhancement Cleric Life Magic 4; which most clerics will take anyway. They might also consider investing action points into Cleric Prayer of Life and Cleric Prayer of Incredible Life, which a nuker would not consider; these provide an extremely small improvement to healing.

They'll want exactly one of these feats: Empower Healing and Empower Spell. Empower Healing is more SP-efficient, Empower Spell works on nuke spells too.

They'll both take Maximize Spell.

The healbot build is more likely to consider the feats Mental Toughness and Improved Mental Toughness, which are useful to both builds, but the Nuker has other feats they need more such as Spell Penetration and Improved Spell Penetration.

Have a look in my sig for a link to a list of Cleric builds which will give you a feel for what the class can do.



As for the prot pally, a Defender of Siberis paladin may be the way to go.

[baal80]

Thanks a lot for your help, it all makes more sense now! :)

By the way, I got one more question. I'm human and I'm level 1 of 4 (rank 5) at the moment. I suspect I wasted 1 talent(?) point for an enhancement I possess anyway as a human... namely Human Versatility. I remember choosing this enhancement at the trainer when I dinged my first level. When I now check my Enhancements tab, I can see:

Human Versatility I
Cleric Life Magic I

Points available: 2
Points spent: 2
Total points: 4

Does it mean the game allowed me to pick an enhancement I had anyway? Or I'm missing something here? :s

[Madwad]

Hi Baal for each level there are 4 enchantment points,

and these points can be spent on enchantments, so you spend one enchantment point on Human Versatility. there are lots and they cost between 1 and 6 enchantment points. you can once every 3 days re-spec your enchantments, it costs you some gold to do it but its not a large cost.

it is normal for you to not always have the enchantments you want until you get to a higher level, and then re-spec them to get the layout you want. i tend to respect at level 6 when the first Pre class's become available and then again when i hit the old level cap @ 16.

don't worry to much about taking a few wrong one's its a learning process until you are familiar with the game.

one thing that can help you with planning your character is "Ron's character" planner you can find it on the below link

http://www.rjcyberware.com/DDO/

Mad

[tihocan]

Thanks a lot for your help, it all makes more sense now! :)

By the way, I got one more question. I'm human and I'm level 1 of 4 (rank 5) at the moment. I suspect I wasted 1 talent(?) point for an enhancement I possess anyway as a human... namely Human Versatility. I remember choosing this enhancement at the trainer when I dinged my first level. When I now check my Enhancements tab, I can see:

Human Versatility I
Cleric Life Magic I

Points available: 2
Points spent: 2
Total points: 4

Does it mean the game allowed me to pick an enhancement I had anyway? Or I'm missing something here? :s
You didn't waste points. Human Versatility is available to humans only, but you only have it if you spend some action point(s) on it.

[baal80]

Thanks for clearing that up, both of you :)