Is Zealot the class for me?

[Phiphler]

I posted a similar thing in the Shaman forum, I know its probably to early, but I want to decide what class I should roll. I can't seem to decide whether I should roll a brain bursting Shaman or a corruptive zealot.

While zealot seems beyond awesome in that (s)he can do so much with (de)buffs, offense and healing, my fear is that even the standard heal wont be on par of what a WAAAGH! powered shaman or Essence powered Disciple can toss around, and thus you get undesereved grief from people who think you cant heal as strongly.

I realise its probably a strength to heal without a mechanic, but dishing out pain, and then toss some superpowered heals... just sounds enticing.

Can you add arguments on why I should roll any one of the two?

[Axxar]

I think that on release, all healers will have comparable healing and damaging powers. At least that's what I hope. However to compare shaman with zealot I would say that the shaman is very direct - he does big nukes and tosses big heals. The zealot on the other hand, while having a measure of direct nuking and healing, this isn't his specialty. He's of a more subtle nature through rituals buff/debuff and damage/healing over time. And of course there is the completely different look and background of the two careers.

So, are you a little run that runs around like a madman, exploding people left and healing people right... or are you the devious cultis, slowly draining the life force of your enemies while prolonging the unholy lives of your allies?

If you're still in doubt, look over their armour set concept art and try to decide what is most appealing. Ultimately, once the game comes out it can of course turn out that the gameplay of one of them completely wins you over regardless of the speculations you're doing now.

[Roargh Growler]

Problem is, the Zealot is more for that rare elite player if you ask me.
Like a good paladin or druid from WoW.

It has a lot of abilities that without hotkeys usage of leet skill, your face will be pwned.
The shaman has a lot more straightforward abilities, nuke a couple of times and then throw a big heal.

Hope this also helps on the view of the class.

[viscanti]

What exactly is your goal? Do you want to be a main healer or a support healer?

The breakdown between the 2 classes is direct and indirect healer (or use whatever terminology you want). Zealot doesn't need to do damage to heal effectively, it seems like a Shaman will (depending how essential their Waaagh mechanic is to healing). If there is any initial bias towards healers, I would guess most people would prefer a Zealot to a Shaman. At least if they're looking for a primary healer. The Zealot doesn't need to do damage to be an effective healer, so people will expect them to be healing most of the time. If thats a play style you enjoy, take Zealot and enjoy.

The second difference is offense vs buff/debuff. The Shaman is designed to be a dps/healing hybrid. The Zealot is more of a buff/debuff/healing hybrid. Both are capable of DPS, and will likely have a similar level of DPS. The Zealot will likely be more sought out by groups looking for buffs, Shaman provide some other utility skills like an increased run speed for the entire team for a short period, as well as being able to balance dps and healing. A Zealot would need to decrease his/her healing to increase his/her DPS, the Shaman does not.

The Shaman doesn't get a super powered heal now. Instead they get a faster cheaper heal that is the same power as their base heal. That means they can DPS and heal, and get almost the same level of healing even though they're also DPS'ing. Both the Shaman and Zealot will likely have the same level of healing ability.

If you let us know what you're looking for in a class, we can help you a bit better.

[Endemikus]

I'm not sure but I think WAAGH speeds up a Shaman's healing rather than makes it more powerful. There might be some instances where it does increase the power of the heal but as far as I know it's more about convenience than anything else. Please don't quote me on that.

Oh and I agree with Roargh about the 'for that rare elite player' bit regarding the Zealot.

[Gemini]

I'm not sure but I think WAAGH speeds up a Shaman's healing rather than makes it more powerful. There might be some instances where it does increase the power of the heal but as far as I know it's more about convenience than anything else. Please don't quote me on that.


Sorry, you've been quoted. WAAAGH!!! has changed two million times since they first told us about it, but I believe the last we heard (and it was a while ago) WAAAGH!!! decreased the AP cost of heals, all the way too free heals with enough of it.

[Endemikus]

Sorry, you've been quoted. WAAAGH!!! has changed two million times since they first told us about it, but I believe the last we heard (and it was a while ago) WAAAGH!!! decreased the AP cost of heals, all the way too free heals with enough of it.

Oh yeah you're right. I forgot :cool:

[Romple-WHA]

I didn't read anything, i'm just telling you ues. It its.

[vehemoth]

Well to add my thought on healer classificaions:

There is the "Direct" and "Indirect" break down. There is also the 3 major healer classifications:

Network Healer: Uses a three tiered system of a placeable aura, individual effects, and spells to compliment both. (Master rune, Oath rune, and Rune) (Harbinger, Mark, Spells)

Melee Healer: Healers who are melee capable/dependent. Are cabable of providing group support even at the thick of the melee fray and thrive in it. By fighting they build up a reserve of power they can use to lower the cost of healing or certain attacks.

Ranged Healer: Healers that fight from the range with others. They are caster types who build up a reserve of energy which lower the cost of healing and certain attacks.

Network Healers:
Runepriest - Direct
Zealot - Indirect

Melee Healers:
Warror Priest - Direct
Disciple - Indirect

Ranged Healers:
Archmage - direct (indirect?)
Shaman - Direct

I beleive all healers will be equally capable of filling the healer role or the role of the offensive or defensive hybrid. This will all depend on their choice of mastery oaths which will improve certain aspects without taking away from others.

If you want to play a career of the Healer Archetype and have the best/most heals, choose any healing career and masterize into (master) the healing path completely.

[leogeo2]

I think if you are questioning it, No.

[Phiphler]

Heh, looking over the Runepriest skills, I see that they mirror alot of what Zealot has, but since there is more info on them they seem much more awesome. Actually, we dont even know Zealots bigger heal, so there is alot missing, hopefully stuff like this:

Oath Rune of Rebirth
Increases targets Wounds. Can be broken by the target while dead, instantly ressurecting the target. Can only have 1 Oath Rune per target, and 1 Oath Rune of Rebirth in total.

Grimnir's Fury
A powerful rune strikes the ground, damaging all enemies within 30 feet of that spot. For the next 15 seconds, any enemies within that area will be damaged and snared, reducing their runspeed by 40% while they remain in the area.

Since I suffer from support snob syndrome, I want to be the most desirable and effective support. If zealot does indeed fill the buff n heal roll best, I would probably roll one, but lets hope there are no such clear distinctions between classes...

One question to people who played DAoC, could you use crafted armor and other custimization to really max out a specific stat? Will you able to abuse the zealot tactics which restore AP and give a DoT when you crit heal people?

[Gemini]

Well, idealy you wouldn't be able to "abuse" tactics at all, and we don't know if those tactics will exist either. As for DAoC, there were stat caps I do believe, though I'm not 100% sure since I never played it.

[Higach]

Well, idealy you wouldn't be able to "abuse" tactics at all, and we don't know if those tactics will exist either. As for DAoC, there were stat caps I do believe, though I'm not 100% sure since I never played it.

Yeah there were stat caps and buff caps.

As for your question about filling a stat, everyone filled out every stat. In their first expansion (Shrouded Isles) they introduced Spellcrafting. Basically it was making crafted armor, and putting specific stats of your choice on them.

With spellcrafting, you would make templates with jewelery, armor, and weapons to cap all your stats. Because there was stat caps, this prevented someone from getting 500+ strength, but basically everyone had the same stats.

[Courache]

Problem is, the Zealot is more for that rare elite player if you ask me.
Like a good paladin or druid from WoW.

That's me! Looks like I'm gonna make a zealot.
Really though, I'm antagonizing over whether to play a Magus or Zealot or something else.
My friends have a plan.
One will be a manipulative dark elf she-devil (like there's any other kind), and the other is gonna be the stereotype Black Orc, and I will be the chaos whatever. We'll be a triad of -kickery. That's my deal.