How are clerics now?

[Inmortalis]

Been gone 12 years and a lot has changed. I was wonder how clerics are for someone that's planning on maxing out eventually. I heard sorcerers are broken so I thought I'd check before I invest that much time.

[JDDZ]

Fun as they were 12 years ago, except we don't need to train THW if we want to use a staff. Usually the old training plan was a sword and board route for defense, but simu introduced runestaves, I guess like 8 years ago. Runestaff training comes from different magic skills. I forget which ones work the best. You can find what you need to know about runestaves on PC or just go to krakiipedia.

The biggest difference, I think, you will encounter is that your training plan won't have to be so strict. There is a lot more wiggle room and trying different trainings won't wreck your plan like it did in the AOL days. Back then, skills to learn weren't chosen with much haste. In all seriousness, a whole hell of a lot has changed from gemstone 3 to gemstone 4, but the general gameplay hasn't.

My cleric used THWs and swung a maul for awhile, then OHE with a shield like the old days for fun, and now he brawls and uses a shield. I have the most fun with my cleric because he is the most fun to roleplay. I'm probably not the best person to detail the differences of then and now. There are much more knowledgeable people who could comment on the subject.

While I was writing this post I counted that I've been gemstoning on and off for over 15 years now. Most of you probably have been too. Time flies.

[Inmortalis]

Thanks for the info

[Asha]

Sorcerers are not broken.

[Rathain]

Clerics, after all the changes, are perfectly viable but have pretty limited potential in effective training paths at or near cap. If you are the type to change up training plans when given a fixskills to stave off boredom, empaths are probably the better option -- they are a support class but have a number of effective training paths you can take up to and well past cap.