Are these two classes really overpowered? It appears that a lot of people in the official forums seem to think so. Both class forums and even the general forum is getting a flood of ‘nurf l33t preists!!’ posts (I don’t know l33t speak at all, but you get my point). I call these people the nerf squad. They all cluster together, latch onto a few classes and cry and whine endlessly until the nerfbat swings. ToS and PoM have been targets for quite a while now, but the nerf squad was placated by the numerous fixes that have already come and significantly downgraded both classes.
Unfortunately, with the ’success’ of the nerf squad in getting barbarians and guardians nerfed (the last 2 patches), they are crying louder than ever for the priests to be powered down. I don’t know if Funcom really did listen to the nerf squad. The barbarians and guardians had 1 hit kill power in PvP. Arguably, that is too overpowered for a game that emphasizes PvP. The timing of the fixes makes the nerf squad think they truly did have an impact on Funcom’s decisions.
Considering the PoM and ToS are my main two characters, I have a lot to worry about right now. I really enjoy the current state of both classes. It’s nice to play a healer that can dish out the damage. It’s nice to play a healer that is very well rounded. They reminds me of one of my favorite characters, my trader from Anarchy Online before Funcom nerfed traders into the ground.
The problem is the combination of AoE (area of effect) nukes and healing. In the case of the PoM, add in powerful crowd control in the form of repulse (point blank AoE knockdown). This allows the ToS and PoM to solo level faster than many of the other classes. There have been a few youtube videos and plenty of ’stories’ of priests who kill a dozen mobs at a time.
The nerf squad fails to realize that this solo leveling is only one small aspect of the game. Group PvE, raids, group PvP, sieges, PvP mini-games…these are all significant aspects of the game and much of it occurs after all the leveling is done. While the priests do well in some areas, they definitely do not deserve to be called overpowered.
- In group PvE, both classes are healers. Neither class compares when it comes to pure DPS. They are far too squishy to risk unleashing their area attacks with regularity, unless they want to spend most of the game dead and waiting to be resurrected.
- In group PvP, everyone targets the healers first. No amount of HoT’s or the 1 minute cooldown emergency heal is going to save a priest who is getting focused fired by several opponents. The three healers only get 50% of the benefit from their own HoT’s. ToS and PoM are in light armor, have small health pools and their primary source of healing only does 50%. The ToS is especially vulnerable because they lack some of the powerful crowd control abilities that the PoM has.
- Even in 1 on 1 PvP, the priests have their weaknesses. Against some classes, it’s an easy battle. Against others, they are literally unable to dish out enough damage to kill them. Some classes can kill the priests in a matter of seconds.
Level 80 priests are reporting that healing does not seem to scale as quickly as damage output and the size of the health pool. Currently, there are no items in the game that boosts healing power. That is not a good sign for future expansion. As more and more people reach level 80 and participate in raids, everyone’s damage output is going to increase with better itemization, while the priests become more and more vulnerable.
Because of the somewhat misguided impression that ToS and PoM are so powerful, a lot of people are rerolling as priests. Some people think this is a bad thing. I disagree. In most MMORPG’s, there is always a lack of healers. Is it such a bad thing to have a lot of healers playing this game? In any case, most of these people rerolling as priests will discover soon enough that their new class isn’t as overpowered as they hoped. They will discover that healing in groups isn’t what they want to do. In the end, it will be the people who enjoy playing healers who will stick it out and things will go back to normal.
Every patch, I cross my fingers and hope that Funcom doesn’t ruin the priests…at least not before I have a chance to reach level 80 first. 
I’ve been burned badly by Funcom before, but that was years ago. I’ve talked to a few people who played Anarchy Online recently and they insist that Funcom has been very good about making logical and balanced changes to the game. Since there is absolutely nothing that I can do to change the outcome, I’m going to have fun playing my 3 healers and hope for the best.
A picture of my Tempest back when she was in her 30’s. She was bugged with a permanent flaming aura and invisible chest armor. Was quite a sight to see running around town.
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As a Guardian, I can say I felt Overreach was overpowered. And that’s saying something for me, I usually am the one to say these games need way less nerfs overall.
My girlfriend has been playing a Priest of Mitra and Tempest of Set, she thinks they’re both overpowered, but she also thinks that’s just for leveling so far and who knows for level 80 (there still just aren’t enough level 80s to tell IMHO).
The ToS seems to be heavily popular if my guild is any indication. We have one ToS + Barbarian two-man group that seems eager to take absolutely anything on. =)
The problem is that some nerfs usually have a larger impact that is not immediately apparent. I don’t play a guardian, so I’m not really sure how aggro works. But I imagine losing a powerful attack probably makes it more difficult to manage aggro.
Similarly, how can Funcom nerf the solo leveling ability of the ToS and PoM without negatively impacting other aspects of their game? They were designed to do AoE damage. If Funcom nerfs the damage from the two primary AoE spells (Storm Field and Repulse), that severely hurts ToS and PoM in group PvE and PvP.
I still think it’s better to have healers be thought of as overpowered, which will probably mean more people will be willing to play healers. I occasionally use the search function to see the relative popularity of the various classes. ToS is popular, but not overwhelmingly so. PoM and Bears don’t stand out in terms of popularity at all.
It’s always something…
In games there’s always some class, some weapon, ship etc. that is easy and effective for the lowest common denomenator players.
I’m not knocking the “thing” or the players…just the goofy fact that people forget that the “thing” still has to be played effectivly in the game. And just because the uber thing is good doesn’t make everything else terrible.
I’m laughing because people on the Bear shaman board are suicidal because there was a nerf and now they say they are so gimped it’s not worth playing the class.
Sheesh…Bear Shaman would still be fun to play even if the POM and TOS were ten times more powerful. I understand the PVP concerns…but frankly there are few fair fights and survival has as much to do with GAMEPLAY as it does with Class.
Best Regards,
Vladig
I’ll have to agree with the people who complain about Tempests of Set and Priests of Mitra being overpowered. At the very least, Tempests of Set are, in my opinion. Honestly, I think there’s something wrong when a class 1 level higher than your class, and you’re a soldier class with a lot of health, can almost 2 shot you, and you’re almost being 2-shotted by a HEALER who also has a good amount of CC as well. I mean, it’s nice that healers get decent dps, but that’s just ridiculous. And yes, something similar to the above mentioned incident happened a few more times.
I think tempests should get a slight damage nerf for balancing purposes.
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answear to anon and all other ppl who thinks poms &re overpowered..
i m 67 pom atm, and i belive i m a good gamer and chose my feats after long calculations.. ( forget most of our freats are broken atm, just do as it is normal.. )
i wont talk about PvE, i m playing in a PvP server. But i admit area dmg make things easier vs mobs some times and makes u lvl ing abit faster or save u vs MOBS.
How ever for a POM things get worst in PvP which is my and other ppl’s main goal on a PvP server.
–Our main heal can be used every 1 min, so dont get that class as an effective healer and say ” ohh a healer gives me a gd dmg..”
*even caster mobs will make u a gd dmg if ur vulnerable to magic..
*any 2 dmg class will kill the pom instently before even he recast radience heal spell for the 2nd time. And Hot wont keep you elive for more then a few seconds.
* In adition if you get stunned or knocked back, you will just have the time to cast your hots on your team mates and die.
–Our stuns are a matter of seconds at least till LvL 67 maybe an higer lvl pom can say it gets better but dont thing so.. so i stun the enemy and till i cast the next dmg spell or heal, he s free.. how ever many other class stuns you for enough long to kill you even before u can wake up..
*About our knock back, which should be 1 of the best spells; as soon as ppl see the RIDICULUS ANIMATION ( pom s are the only ones who have animation on the knock back ) caused by ur spell, ppl just run away for 2 second and come back or just stun u.. so u waste ur spell and time.. and u find ur self in the middle of an empty circle, and looks ridiculus.. (its workin really well vs mobs tho..
*+ in higher lvl’s, some classes gets good resistence to that spell so even u can catch the enemy and cast the spell, there s a good chance to miss.
– You cannot catch someone who knows what he s doing in PvP, as i mentionned your stuns are short, you cannot run while casting spells.. + your dmg will be shit, so even someone cant kill you he will just run, hide or what ever..
So :
*low dps –> need long time to kill, so need to disable often, or long time
*really low Hit points, you are always primary target + in light armors, 2 ppl attacs you and nearly insta kills you (doesnt even mention if they got you by surprise..)
*knock back spell which should be your main arm, have a warning animation and takes to long to cast.. ppl run and u hit in the air or cancel the spell.
*you are not a real healler which would justifie your low dps or low hit point or light armor, at least there s not a real healler in the game.. + there isnt enough powerfull feats which would increase the healing spell’s cooldown or healing amounth so you could admit your weakness but be a main healer class..
additionnolay on this when most important of your feats are broken… you become a sad panda.. I know many classes have broken feats but i only know what is broken for pom..
and again, if you want to play PvE and designe ur pom good, you can lvl fast in low lvl’s if that will make you feel better..
one last thing, there is loads of feats which would increase your dmg, and they do it some times but your base dmg stays too low but some times you make good dmg shots.. but you can fill an antire feat three with all those points that you put on dmg buff feats and cry when you see that opponent’s health bar isnt moving when you hit him..
Consider a guardian using Overreach IV, a 4 move combo that ends up doing around, 1500 damage at best, mitigated by armor and resists. It takes several seconds to go through and requires that the guardian be right next to the target.
Consider a PoM who uses Lance of Mitra (fully feated) + Cleansing Fire + Radiance (fully feated). In less time, they’ve done more damage, done it as an AOE to the entire area, healed themselves 100%, and done it from range. Oh, and it is not mitigated by armor, and almost always has lower resists.
Consider that if the guardian wants to attack the POM with the Overreach combo, he must close to range (being hit by various spells, unless his weak and nerfed charge is used), and then get his combo off without being hit with a repulse, or hope the PoM doesn’t pop his invuln, or use any one of his HoT’s to counter the guardian’s abysmal damage output.
etc.
Bear Shaman are overpowered. I have an 80 Guardian and to date I have never been able to take a Bear Shaman. Your regeneration for both health and mana far exceeds a Guardian’s ability to damage you. There is something inherently wrong when a well-geared level 80 melee can barely make a dent on a healer. Being a healer should not mean invincibility from damage, just like being a solider should not mean you can 1-shot anything (even though history would prove otherwise in real battle by lobbing off someone’s head or what have you).
Bear Shaman need to have their spell cost increased and their regen decreased to give anyone else a real shot at coming close to beating them. I made a Guardian so that I could withstand damage in battle. Turns out if I made a Bear Shaman, I can not only do that but also do some sweet damage AND outlast any melee toon that comes my way.
That said, I’m off to go make a new primary toon so I can be OP’d like the rest of you.
Long live the Bear Shaman!
I wrote this blog post 3 months ago, and now with the recent gem nerfs, it’s basically the same PvP game again.
And yes, Bear Shaman are ridiculous. Even when I’m playing my other healers (i.e. ToS versus Bear), the Bear will win.
I can play keep away with Storm Field, but eventually a good bear will hit me with their instant snare…then follow up with one combo that practically kills me.
this blog is awesome,i lost the will to play my ToS and PoM after the ridiculous nerfs.
The nerf squad fails to understand that if healers get nerfed,they are also at risk. Who will keep them alive now? Heals allready didnt matter much in this game (louzy hots which you cant spam,and a big heal with a debuff..i mean..wut?!) but now they also nerfed our damage output so we are completely useless.
I used to be an unstoppable force in pve (i used to be a hardcore raider),but now i feel like a naked gimp monkey. I dont know what makes people think that healers should be fragile little birds that stand in the back and play the little healbitch while the ‘true’ dps classes stand in the spotlight and be awesome. The spotlight used to be for the priests.
@Fei
Thanks.
Sometimes I feel like Funcom doesn’t really know what to do with the healer classes. They definitely aren’t the normal healbot classes, but that makes it difficult to balance these classes properly. It doesn’t help that more people play DPS classes and they whine so much and fill the forums with endless QQ.
All of my healers have gone through so many enormous changes that they feel like different classes now from what they were at launch.
I agree that the spotlight used to be on the healer and honestly, I think that’s the way it should be. Healers are often neglected and put on the backburner in other games. It was great (for a while) that healers were so fun to play in AoC.