Everquest 2: EQ2 Q & A At Caster's University

Caster University Q&A answered by EJ Moreland, mechanics designer.

The following questions were sent in to SOE in attempts to find out more about the priest archetype and subclasses. I would like to thank EJ for taking the time to help answer these questions.

Q:One of the obvious roles of the Priest archetype is healing, but what other roles can we see the Priest take on? If stuns are planned, will the Priests have access to this form of control, and will stuns still be viable in high level encounters?

A:A priest's primary role is healing and party support, with a minor role in magic damage. Their party support mostly consists of defensive augmentation (buffs) for their allies, and offensive disempowerment (debuffs) for their foes. They also have a reasonable amount of offensive firepower (in the form of direct damage and damage over-time), but they do not approach or infringe upon the Mage's role in this aspect.

Priests do have access to a limited amount of control in the form of stuns (short duration), interrupts, and immobilization (root). In all cases these are inferior control spells compared to a Mage, but do allow the Priest to exert some measure of crowd control in emergency situations.

Relating to damage and control, a Priest spell will generally have a longer re-use time and less potency than a comparable Mage spell.

Q:What kind of healing modifiers can we expect to see in game? Will there be critical heals in game and will wisdom or equipment play a role in increasing the healing power of spells opposed to just giving more mana?

A:There are definitely varying levels of potency in terms of healing. This is mostly in the form of improved healing spells granted to the appropriate professions (Clerics getting increased potency in their specific class instant heals, where a Druid would gain increased potency in heals over-time).

"Critical hits" for spells does not occur in our current system, but this is something we're going to evaluate as part of beta, and it is certainly not being ruled out.

Attributes generally contribute to the resource pools in regards to spell casting, and the emphasis on an increase in power is placed on item acquisition, which not only includes worn or equipped items but upgraded spells via artisans and loot.

Q:Will Priest's or specifically Cleric sub-classes have access to summoned bane weapons in game that players can use to combat specific types of monsters like undead?

A:No. The priest professions each have a "natural" enemy (for example, Clerics versus the Undead). We decided to forego creating separate specialized spells for enemies, and built this into existing spells. Certain spells granted at the class and subclass level actually have increased potency or additional effects towards their natural enemy, but these spells have full and normal functionality against other enemies as well.

Q:Shamans are said to have protective wards to aid their comrades in battle, how do these work and what different types will be available?

A:The Priest archetype gains access to a basic ward spell, but the Shaman is the true master of this type of healing magic. A ward spell essentially absorbs an amount of damage (all damage types).

Advanced wards, available only to the Shaman, can regenerate their absorption over a period of time or also replenish the target when the ward expires with the remaining absorption amount. The Shaman class and subclasses are also the only professions with access to group wards.

Q:What other roles besides healing over time will Druids take part in? Will they have the same haste and damage shield type spells we saw in EverQuest?

A:Druids, besides fulfilling the role of a Priest, will have certain combat augmentations (like damage shields) and damage types that they do not share with the other Priest professions.

Please be aware that differentiation between the classes of an Archetype will be an ongoing process.

Q:Since complete heal has been removed as an idea from EQ2, what other methods of healing will Priest have access to in order to make up for this and make them more efficient as time passes?

A:As a Priest progresses from archetype to class to subclass, they gain healing spells appropriate to the path they choose. These additional healing spells, rather than the upgrades to the Priest archetype spells, are the primary method in which these professions gain efficiency and potency.

As for specific types of healing past instant heals, over-time heals, and wards, we also have contingency heals ("Divine Intervention" type spells), instant cast/no mana cost healing abilities with long re-use timers, healing reprisals (similar to the "Mark of Kings" spell in EverQuest), and a few others we're not willing to reveal yet.

Q:In one of the videos involving a battle with the Nightblood, it appears that a player is resurrected during combat and immediately charges back into battle. What sort of combat rez spells are lined up and what kind of negative effects will these carry?

A:Combat resurrections generally have increased resurrection penalties that have greatly reduced duration compared to non-combat resurrections.

All resurrection effects generally impact attributes, with non-combat resurrections affecting combat efficacy among other things.

Q:If a party member dies during an encounter will there be a penalty to the rewards they would have originally received, and if so and they are resurrected during combat will it keep this from happening?

A:There are no additional penalties assessed to rewards for dying; only the standard death penalties such as Spirit loss and item wear. Resurrection in combat (or out, for that matter) will not mitigate these two penalties.