Priest is the Beast, general class feedback

[evilcat]

This is topic devoted to our most pious party members. More on balance, mechanic side. So can complain, praise, curse and laud about various class mechanic and implementacion. Can relete to other classes, or POE1 priest, or items as comparison.

It is less about lore, story. And definetly not about general game design like food, encounter, rest and difficulty.

General quality feedback. You know the drill.

***

To begin:

General:

• Most frustrating is that when i level up there is not many things i can dump my level points on.
• There is no quality passives avaiable, there are some neutral, but only at higher levels.
• Spell selection is limited in comparison to Wizards.
• The whole class is useful. It is more focused on buffing and support. But it is missing something. maybe ways to spemd levelpoits, or extra power at top tiers.
• Tier 5 is letdown. Also VIII and IX are not that great. (there are 1 or 2 good spells)
• As other casters, at low levels there is very few spell casts, however we can use rods or abelasters almost as good as fighters.
• As level progress could focus on casting even more, spells pile out, this is better Chanter/Cipher.
• Mechanic to unleash all our spell slots +empowerment refil is strong. But we have no infinite potencial (may matter at higher difficulty)
• But also mechanic, that you could know 1 spell per tier, and just cast it over and over. Level points overflow.
• Xoti Factor: Xoti cant Priest/Chanter or Priest/Paladin. Poor Xoti. Players want buff bot support, but Monk/Priest more selffighter. And Priests are less selfbuffers than Wizards. Or Wael Monk would work better.

Multiclassing

Priest is good class to Multiclass, since we dont have talents to spend levelpoints on anyway. And we get our 2 cast and 1 free spell no matter what.

Multiclass with Priest/Chanter/Paladin/Lifegiver could result in some great support character if you want heals & buffs. Loss of PL is less impactfull.

Multiclass with Paladin or Fighter could give tank, who also supports party.

Wael/Evoker(Transmuter) Nature Godlike could be interesting spam caster. But hard to tell if it is better than just Wizard.

 

Class perk

9 free spells is as good as Druid, 5 variants is nice

9 fixed spells is less than 18 (i suppose), and abilitty to change during combat is much better

Holy Radiance is nice tier 3 spell equivalent, Good at CL1 to shake early combats, transparent at CL20.

 

Subclasses

They generally doesnt matter. They dont have drawbacks which is nice.

There is interaction with paladins, but it is Priest/Paladin perk

Wael spell list is most out of book, also heavy focused on personal defense.

Eothas has no unique spells, but are generally good for MC.

There is not much to talk about, which is disappointing.

 

Passives

What? There is no passives. Some higher level neutrals. And of course empowerment passives and UMT.

 

Items

There is like less Priest related items, less +1PL for priest. And no Grimoire of Vapourous Priesthood.

 

Spells

• Priest is not king of the heal. Not all tiers deserve the healing spell, but we can watch allies die, and resurent them afterward ( i like that style)
• Damaging spells are very limited, mostly fire based, not much choice in AOE vs single, or pick element at each tier. 
• Inspiration spells dont stack on same stat, So low level spell is overshadowed by higher level.
• Tier V spells are very disappointing, since Searing Seal is low dmg, and rest is very situacional.
• Tier IV is very good, unfortunetly we can cast max 3 times from it.
• There is just few spells in general. If there is just 5 per tier there is higher risk that none is worthy.

Spells Ratings

work in progress

 

Interdiction  F- debuff duration could be longer than cast time, also dazed alone is too litle

Restore A -easy to use, quick, aoe, good for level heal. All other priest heals are special in some way

Supress Affiction D - most affiction are so short will just run out

Holy Powe C - duration is good, and strong is nice, but high level spells will just overshadow it

Barbs of Con F - almost as good as shot from xbow, but legendary xbow have more accuracy, damage and special effects, also quicker

Blessing B - so balanced, just combat is slower, so it will be like 5 swings

Halt B - this is actually good, quick CC, just Priest have no more spells to support CC route

 

Holy Meditacion D - long cast time, short duration, basic effect

Repulsing Seal F - there must be some great pro tactic using seals pre combat, and kitting enemies over them, it is just better to use universally good spells for me

Withdraw D - great duration, will keep target safe, also prevent from doing anything. Troll spell.

Prayer of the Body C - quickcast, long duration. Nice buff. Just single target fit is not good enought.

Spiritual Weapon D - could be useful for low levels, when we dont have legendary stick, but late legendary boomstick of doom is generally better. Nerfed for no reason

Iconic Projection D - it is a heal, with a twist, just not heal for much, and damage is also low.

Pillar of Faith A+ , spell which keeps my faith in Priest. Nice damage, bonus prone, and crushing type. Nice

 

Prayer of the Spirit C - it is not bad, quickcast and long duration are good, just single target basic inspiration is not enought.

Warding Seal B - no fire damage is good, good punch, but longcast.

Watchful Presence A - quite good, since we can heal in advance

Dire Blessing B - quite good, good duration, if you have many martial fighters, maybe aware is not that great inspiration

Consecrated Ground C - nerfed. still useful, requires good positioning

Divine Mark A - good single target spell

Despondent Blows C - can prevent some damage

 

(Tier IV, lets group all best spells at one level)

Litany of the Body B - Good effect, and good duration, quickcast

Shinning Beacon A+

Triumph of Crusaders A+

Circle of Protection A - requires some positioning

Devotion of the Faithfull A+

Divine Terror C - Frigtened is much worse than Terrified

 

(Tier V and IV need mashup)

Revive the Fallen B - is ok, just not planning to use it often

Searing Seal F - joke damage, long cast, wrong level

Litany of the Spirit C - bonus power level could be good, just very specific

Bearing Berath Doors D - what happens after 10s? No heal aspect. There must be some great on paper cheese with it

Champions Boon B - Tenecious is situacionally good

 

Spiritual Ally ? - no experience how good it is,

Pillar of Holy Fire A - longcast, but good damage

Minor Intercession C - for level that is very little heal and effect

Salvation of Time C - very combo oriented, lot od micro

 

Storm of Holy Fire B - great friendly fire spell, good if you can cast it from stealth.

Cleansing Flame A - as good as it could be

Ressurection A - would love to heal my allies before they die

Minor Avatar A - great spell if you can save it as your last cast.

Shields of the Faithfull B - as good as it could be.

 

(Tier 8th and 9th are generally ok. Some spells would be ok at lower levels but on VIII or IX we can expect more from our gods.  Some damage/cc options, but before it is hard to be nuke priest, and so switching role late game is weird )

 

Crowns of Faithfull C - very caster oriented, at least it could offer every tier 1 inspiration so it will be ok for martians

Spark of the Souls D - not so high damage

Dismissal C - good against vessel, but with new mechanic very niche, could have some smaller effect on mortal

Sumbol of... A - ok damage + bonus

Hand of Weal and Woe A - heal and kill

 

(Generally with Tier IX i expected something better, dragon maybe, Incarnate is ok, but rest buff plz)

 

Magrans Might C - it is ok, so balanced, but at this tier i would expect something OP

Icarnate A! - Incarnates are generally ok, depends on deity

Ligh of Eoaths C - it would be ok at some other level

Revange of Skaen D - not so impressive for IX spell

Hand of Berath E - single target, does  not have that screw you appeal

Blessing of Wael D - it could be just better than CIrcle of Protection

 

 

 

Wishes and Prayers

• at levels 1-4 passive +1 cast on that level
• at  tier VIII passive "can use empower twice per encounter"
• Buff tier V spells or add some new. Like more damage to Searing Seal or Heal when Berath Door ends.
• Single target buffs could be tier III, so you spend a spell, but you really got something awesome.
• Spells VIII and IX should have extra power, spell like "Heal all allies to max health and resurect fallen" is not too much for IX.
• passive related to favorite god stick, even if it is just legendary stick not summoned
• passive upgrading Holy Radiance to something more rad, and related to god
• other passives related to god or not, like berath immunity to diseases, or skaen anti domination front, Magran immunity to fire (Dragons dont burn, oops wrong universe)
• all casters passives +15% damage with choosen element, or physical when abilllities
• CL1 Toughness, so we can take early on something which does not sucks
• CL1 Deep Pockets (or Robes), so we can stack holy scrolls when we run out of normal spells, also drugs to get that divine connection. Holy Granades for Magran priests.
• Heal spells at each tier
• More Cool spells for the indifference of Rymgard's. Also Frost penetration. 
• More long duration, quickcast, single target buffs. So we can self buff and rush to combat with our god favorite weapon. Minor Avatar is a bit late.
• Holy Radiance passive giving +1 use. (so 2 per combat)
• Maybe give Priest a theme of physical damage spells, or less damage but more debuffs. So it will be different style from Wizard/Druid.
• General spell and PL balance, when high tier spells are powerful, and have that dragon class impact, but it dont gets mad with PL stacking from other sources. Maybe balance everything around PL0, and just assume that some spells will start with +9PL. So it is harder to double planned damage.
• Lower by 1 CL, 8th and 9th PL you get as single class, so sooner you will get MAXIMUM POWEH!
• Class Perk: You could convert any tier spell into generic spell based on your deity. Like heal. It is always small aoe heal but with higher numbers depending on tier burned. Could be heal. or fire, or corrodowive over time, or blind raw damage, or dazed confusion.
• Allow Xoti to Priest/Chanter.

Edited June 16, 2018 by evilcat

[cevogreen]

Great post! Can't wait to hear other people's feedback.

[youspoonybard]

I've only played Xoti, but PL8's Symbol of Eothas is a really powerful spell - not just Party Friendly but Party Beneficial and it does a LOT of damage. Once she hits PL8 she switches from support to one of the higher damage dealers just tossing that out 1x / encounter. Likewise, Spark the Souls can be used with positioning and abused with multiple targets, like Summons, to buff, and Dismissal is a situational but powerful spell too.

 

Really, PL8 is really strong, it's just in a different role from the previous levels where I like to use Priest spells to support. PL8 is about offense, and the spells are really good at it.

[Gromnir]

priest is not weak and am gonna disagree 'bout feeling powerful... is just a different kinda powerful than strikers or nukers.  

 

https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/99362-what-is-your-worst-single-class-in-deadfire/?p=2022103

 

has only been a dozen or so similar posts from us regarding priests since first beta release.

 

paucity o' spell catalog coupled with an over abundance o' highly situational spells is the biggest priest problem.  for chrissakes, with significant larger spell catalog wizards also get grimoires for potential 18 free abilities by level 20.   is not a power problem.  our party is weaker w/o single class priest xoti and Gromnir has played priest/whatever with both o' our completed runs.  lack o' options coupled with too many pointless options is what hurts priests most.  

 

am suspecting our #1 suggestion for priest improvement would be programmer difficult, and thus impractical, but am gonna repeat... again.  one spell per ability level should be fungible.  at rest the deadfire priest is provided an option to choose a different spell from the priestly spell list.  'course, particular at high levels when priest has access to almost every spell they might possible want anyways, there is gonna remain the issue (inexplicable to some degree) o' paucity o' choice faced by the priest.  nevertheless, the issue o' situational useful spells which is common for priests is not so much a problem with a *sigh* bit o' Vancian returned to the priest.... and you cannot know painful it is for us to actual advocate even quasi-Vancian anything.

 

oh, and am gonna agree there is a few spell levels which is head scratchers.  however, am gonna note we personal got much use o' tier five priest abilities, but is mostly due to the fact we played a contemplative and a shaman our first two runs.  litany o' the spirit, with the power level boost is actual a nice spell if kinda expensive as it is a single target buff and we used almost constant for our shaman, even when not raging.  alternatively, baring death's door were fantastic for our contemplative. and seal spells is constant underrated.  but again, a prime priest problem is the situational usefulness o' priest catalog.

 

level 9, other than incarnate, is baffling... and incarnate is actual more baffling given how op a couple variations is.  if all tier 9 were the suck, we might understand the oversight.  

 

even so, am understanding why passives is few for priests.  priests were a bit too strong in poe and the developers ain't looking to make same mistake.  passives multiply potential multiclass balance issues, and single class priests is already powerful if limited and underrated. 

 

add a second spiritual weapon choice per deity. add more options per ability level.  allow priests to genuine make use o' the admitted situational useful priest spells by making 1 spell per level subject to change at rest.  do such stuff and priests is gonna continue to be a boring support class most people don't wanna play, but the suggested changes will address the most pressing problems o' the class.  is not a complicated problem: priests need options.  so, get 'em options for spiritual weapons and spells.  

 

HA! Good Fun!

Edited June 12, 2018 by Gromnir

[lpro]

I agree w/ much has been said and happy to see some of my earlier suggestions in the summary. The main problem is that priest is //boring//.  

I had an idea that couldn't be that hard to implement since it is partially used for wizard and would add class distinction while not being op // could substitute for passive abilities allowing more spells per encounter. It builds off the idea that there aren't enough priest specific items too (in contrast to wizard grimoire!): 

-- implement class-specific relics in the grimoire slot that are switcheable via quick slot and give access to + spell-casts per PL, but NOT more spell choices --like the passive effect of grimoire of vaporous wizardry but less OP and without the extra spells to choose from. Relics could also upgrade certain spells from the lower tiers since many of the inspirations are terrible at higher level. 






 

Edited June 15, 2018 by lpro

[ErlKing]

I think Priest should have few super quick spells on each level, similar to Wizard's illusion spells and sellfbuffs. Let these be very quick, but not as beneficial and not as potent as rest of the tier.

For example single target inspirations, mediocre single target debuffs and some others 0.5 sec cast and 0 sec recovery. This way combat oriented priest might buff selected members of party, sacrificing utility and power of spells for being able to participate in combat. It will give some options to player - go for fast, but weaker spells or stick to slow and more powerful.

 

Now crazy idea - let all Priest's spells to be available by default, and instead introduce various passives and skill tree for Radiance.

 

About summoned weapons - I think these need some cool unique effects, maybe on kill they could give charge for low tier spells 1 or 2.

[omgFIREBALLS]

Priest is nothing until we get Priest of Nemnok kit.

[Abel]

I always liked the idea of the multiclassed priest/fighter. But need some cool, quick cast self buffs to do so.

 

Also, i'm going to get killed by saying this, but regarding priests specifically, i would have liked a total vancian with pre selecting system. Reason is easy to understand (i think)... When i played pillars 1, while i chose each and every perk of my priest to be melee combat oriented (in order to simulate a multiclassed Priest/Fighter), i generally ended up casting spells that had nothing to do with my idea of the character, just because there were some other more OP options available all the time. As a result, i won combats, but felt always dissatisfied by myself for not being able to stick to my character concept. Preselecting my spells like i did in the old IE games would actually put me at ease, granted the priest class is designed in order to allow this kind of gameplay (self buffs were too limited in Pillars 1). I would actually need 2 priests in my party: 1 that is AoE, support dedicated, and 1 that is more like a "Divine Champion" (the multiclassed version, my MC).

 

I agree with the fact that priests need more spells. Having very situational ones is really OK. It was in BG. But you had a whole lot of different spells to chose from at each spell level. The very fact that the spells were per rest was actually helpful to me. Why is that? Because while you have a pool of like 5 spells/level to chose from in Pillars, you had 10 in BG. You could memorize this ''anti paralysis" spell once, and chose the rest of your spells from the 9 that were left. Since high wisdom granted more spells at low and mid tiers, memorizing these situational counters was not much of an hindrance. And the very existence of these situational options was not in the way like it is in Pillars. You barely ever needed to memorize very situational spells more than once. And this allowed more flexibility to the whole priest gameplay. In Pillars these situational spells are always there, and they take too much room in my spell list. Well, i think so, at least.

 

Ah well, finally, it is cliché, i will admit it easily. But a priest which is all about healing should not be regarded as a bad thing. I never considered clichés to be bad in their own right. They become bad things when badly used. That's all. I really think there was no need to reinvent the wheel for the sake to do so, for everything. It's a good thing to do so at times, a bad thing at others, i guess. Healing would make more sense without the auto healing after combat crap which i despise though.

Edited June 15, 2018 by Abel

[Teukros]

Thanks to interdictions and radiances priest was a powerhouse in PoE 1. Now it's... meh? Just another boring class.

[Archaven]

IMO priest should be similar to wizard. priest utility has been taken away. it should have more spells.

[Yosharian]

I really think Priest works best as a multiclass.  Xoti kicks ass as a Monk/Priest, so much utility combined with great damage output.

[Balbanes]

Loved my Priest Watcher in PoE1-- that's even my "canonical" save.  Rolled Priest in PoE2, and it was a big ball of "meh."  Because there's nothing "special" about Priests as compared to other casters.  Druids can spiritshift, wizards have grimoires, and priests have... Holy Radiance.  Whose main contribution is to impose Disposition requirements on the player.  Ugh.

A suggestion: add abilities to modify Holy Radiance, PoE-style.  Give us back the accuracy buff, and/or the self buff, and/or increased damage (though that one was awful).  And/or give Holy Radiance the fast cast time of yore.
 

[evilcat]

There is a problem that Priest may feel blant in comparison to other casters or semi casters (like chanter). The deity pick means not much. Especially for Eothas when you gain spells you had access anyway. Some ideas to change it:

passive related to deity weapon

passive giving some god related bonus (like berath immunity to disease or death effects)

passive altering Holy Radiance with deity, like Eothas blind (this could also be base modifcition)

Some spells/spells line, which fallow same patern, but appear at each level with increasing power.

Like Eothas have basic heal, like restore which appears at each level I-IX. But Magran have Magran Fire spell at each level.

So if you pick Eothas for healing you will definetly have some healing at each level. Funny that Priest ended with quite limited healing compared to Paladins or Chanters.

[mammasaura]

Seals are currently broken, don't have bonuses when empowered neither from the elemental penetration and do less than the minimal damage listed in the description.

 

"Holy Meditation" has good radius, the concentration persists until removed and cleanses the annoying resolve afflictions, definitely a valid pick.

 

Surprised "Interdiction" hasn't an interrupt effect.

 

Needs something to spicy up.

[Ad Hoc]

Priests got kneecapped by the ability system change. I'm sure the 'prayer' spells all have their use, but are they worth wasting an ability point on? As such, they feel pretty lackluster at healing and mending status conditions, which gives priests a weird niche.

[merkmerk73]

I really, really don't like how Priests work with having to choose their spells and having no points for any passives.

 

I preferred the system from the first game where the entire array was unlocked at a certain level.

 

Right now you have to use points on key abilities and once in a while you get to put a point in your back catalog but there's just no room for certain abilities and ZERO room for passives!

 

And why on earth did interdiction get moved as a level 1 spell which competes with your main heal (this is a design flaw IMO because all level 1 spells are competing with the heal)

 

I'm not sure what a good compromise system would be but currently they're the least fun class to level up because you don't really get any options other than your "must haves"

 

Wizards get a grimoire to help out and it counts for a lot..

[Sobric]

Lots of Priest's spells just aren't very good IMO, although I think that adds to the priest's multi class strengths (running a devoted/Berath at the mo and loving it - great damage on the rot spells).

 

Some passives would be nice. I think passives buffing Holy Radiance would be ideal (Poe 1 had loads).

 

Also, maybe an ability where inspirations on allies are upgraded one tier by priest spells with the same inspiration type. So if you cast blessing on your whole party and your fighter has already used disciplined strike it is upgraded one more tier. Might be OP though.

[ErlKing]

Ideas for Holy Radiance:

Holy Radiance applies only once per combat, making target immune to additional ones to prevent from stacking from multiple Priests.

 

Passives tree:

 

1 Tier - Effect 1:

a) Heal - +30% Heal

b) Shield - +3 Armor on self for 10 seconds

c) Harm - -20% Heal, Interrupts enemies in range

 

2 Tier - Effect 2:

a) Inspire - prolong active Inspirations on allies duration by 5 second

b) Neutralize - shortens negative inspiration on allies duration by 5 seconds

c) Interdict - prolongs negative Inflictions on enemies duration by 5 seconds

 

3 Tier - Shape:

a) Circle - same old circle, +10% range

b) Cone - 120 degree cone, +20% range, effect +10%

c) Line - 3 meters wide ray, +50% range, effect +30%

 

4 Tier - Effect 3:

a) Inspire - upgrades active Inspirations to higher grade (Strong to Tenacious and so on) or prolongs duration by 5 seconds if highest

b) Neutralize - degrade negative inspiration on allies to lower grade or shortens duration by 5 seconds if lowest

c) Interdict - upgrades negative Inflictions on enemies to higher grade or prolongs duration by 5 seconds if highest

 

5 Tier - summoned weapons effect:

a) Holy strike - +20 Accuracy, +50% damage on next attack with summoned weapons.

b) Last strike - +50 Accuracy and +100% damage on next attack with summoned weapons, but it also dispels Summoned weapons.

c) Reaping strike - if next hit with summoned weapons kills enemy Priest gains one Faith charge for Priest spells (maybe limit by tiers).

 

Any thoughts?

Edited June 16, 2018 by ErlKing

[Sobric]

Ideas for Holy Radiance:

Holy Radiance applies only once per combat, making target immune to additional ones to prevent from stacking from multiple Priests.

 

Passives tree:

 

1 Tier - Effect 1:

a) Heal - +30% Heal

b) Shield - +3 Armor on self for 10 seconds

c) Harm - -20% Heal, Interrupts enemies in range

 

2 Tier - Effect 2:

a) Inspire - prolong active Inspirations on allies duration by 5 second

b) Neutralize - shortens negative inspiration on allies duration by 5 seconds

c) Interdict - prolongs negative Inflictions on enemies duration by 5 seconds

 

3 Tier - Shape:

a) Circle - same old circle, +10% range

b) Cone - 120 degree cone, +20% range, effect +10%

c) Line - 3 meters wide ray, +50% range, effect +30%

 

4 Tier - Effect 3:

a) Inspire - upgrades active Inspirations to higher grade (Strong to Tenacious and so on) or prolongs duration by 5 seconds if highest

b) Neutralize - degrade negative inspiration on allies to lower grade or shortens duration by 5 seconds if lowest

c) Interdict - upgrades negative Inflictions on enemies to higher grade or prolongs duration by 5 seconds if highest

 

5 Tier - summoned weapons effect:

a) Holy strike - +20 Accuracy, +50% damage on next attack with summoned weapons.

b) Last strike - +50 Accuracy and +100% damage on next attack with summoned weapons, but it also dispels Summoned weapons.

c) Reaping strike - if next hit with summoned weapons kills enemy Priest gains one Faith charge for Priest spells (maybe limit by tiers).

 

Any thoughts?

Love it! Attaching the upgrade inspirations to holy radiance is a nice idea

[merkmerk73]

Almost all Priest spells are decent - it's just only getting to choose one or two or competing with superior spells hurts a lot.

 

Devotion def needed to get nerfed but it's still a must-cast.

[Zahmahkibo]

Priests are S-tier for roleplay. I played through PoE1 with a Priest of Eothas, and can't image a more interesting character to import into Deadfire.

 

Holy Radiance, for my money, is the most fun and interesting skill in the entire game. The interaction with the disposition system, and how it encourages the unity of story and mechanics, is something I wish every class could enjoy. And I love how it transforms from a utility heal to tactical nuke depending on the encounter. If being a skeleton is a crime, then Holy Radiance is Batman.

 

That said, I agree that the the remainder of the Priest's features don't the same high standard. The core problem is, most Priest spells don't feel impactful. The slow cast times, the dry descriptions, and complexity of buff mechanics all contribute to this problem.

 

Interdiction is a good example:

• Compared to 1st-level spells from other classes, it looks weak and uninteresting. The animation isn't very flashy, and the description isn't any better. At this level, Wizards are already unleashing torrents of flame, Druids are summoning fields of stinging vines, Ciphers are controlling minds - and the Priest is just pointing his wagging his finger at people. Menacing.
• So it's gotta be a weak spell, right? Turns out, Dazed is a pretty potent condition, it's just very difficult for players to appreciate. -4 Penetration is the big one, reducing the target's damage by up to 75%! Plus it stops engagement, subtract 5 Might (-15% damage and -10 Fortitude), stops engagement, and strips away positive Might buffs.
• Still, there's Arkemyr's Dazzling Lights. This 1st-level Wizard spell has the same cast time, recovery, range, and accuracy, applies Dazed for 9.0 seconds instead of 7.0, and adds -10 Will on top. Why would anyone use Interdiction? Well, Interdiction has a much larger radius - 2.5 meters vs. 1.5 - which translates to about 3x the AoE.

And if that all sounds great, those details are still hidden under many layers of game mechanics. To evaluate this one spell, you've got to consider about a dozen different stats. And even once you do all that, and decide it's worthwhile, you're going to have a hard time appreciating the impact in the heat of combat. And even then, it still takes 3 seconds to cast.

 

And the Madlib spell descriptions and animations don't make this any easier. "Applies the _____ (Inspiration/Affliction) to all ____ (Allies/Enemies) in rage", cue animation of an ambiguous glowing rune and/or beam of light.

 

Priest isn't completely without interesting spells: Suppress Affliction, Withdraw, the Seal and Pillar series. Anything themed around a specific deity is great, Spiritual Weapon in particular. Given infinite time and resources, I have no doubt Obsidian could bring the same touch to the rest of Priest's repertoire.

 

A few suggestions:

• Proactive support is core to the Priest's identity. They need a way to access party-wide buffs quickly at the start of the encounter, before the usual 3s cast time. It's fine if it costs a talent or per-rest resource, but it should be accessible to every player from an early level. The Prayer/Litany buffs were a good start.
• Spiritual Weapon should be part of the core class progression. It's already the 2nd bonus spell for Magranites, do the same for the other subclasses.
• Fewer spells with more identifiable effects. Consolidate the junior/senior versions into one.
• Speaking of, refocus the spell keywords. I honestly wouldn't even know these were a thing, if it weren't called out on Xoti's lantern. There's no appreciable difference between "Condemnation" and "Punishment", and there are like two spells total with the "Cleansing" tag. Use these as riders to otherwise generic talents: "+15% healing" becomes "+10% and +1 PL with Restoration", etc.

 

Finally, the spell selection system is... great! The ability to specialize through spell selection actually alleviates many of the points above. Overall, I'm very happy with the class as it is, and hope we can see it grow even further.

[tinysalamander]

Spiritual Weapon should be part of the core class progression. It's already the 2nd bonus spell for Magranites, do the same for the other subclasses.

I'd rather hope this isn't the case. Or at least would like to choose something else at creation then in case I'm feeling like playing pure caster.