MMO Gamers

Having reached level 44 and passed the halfway mark on the road to 80 I thought I’d give a very brief review on the Priest of Mitra (PoM) class.  When I first played Age of Conan at release I had a Tempest of Set (ToS) which I managed to get to level 61.  On returning after a six month hiatus I decided to start with a new character, the PoM.

The PoM is one of AoC’s three healers.  The ToS is another and the Bear Shaman (BS) rounds out the trio.  Having never played a BS I shall say no more about it, other than that it is a melee healer and wears medium armour, whereas the other two are caster healers and don light armour.

The PoM has three main heals that are abilities you get when levelling.  Both the ToS and the PoM share these heals, though they have different names.  Wave of Life is the main heal, which is a cone heal over time (HoT).  Blessing of Life is another HoT, though smaller than the Wave of Life, and is a group heal, healing all members in the group within range.  Radiance is an instant heal, healing all members within range of the Priest.  Any other healing abilities or enhancements have to come from feats.

All three healers share the Priest feat tree, but they each have their own unique feat trees as well.  I have points spread across all three trees, Priest, Divinity, and Vengeance.  The Divinity tree has given me Divine Lance, a spell that deals damage to all mobs in a column between the priest and his target.  As well as dealing damage, it also heals all members near the mob/s being struck by Divine Lance.  In group situations this is my bread and butter spell and I spam it constantly, allowing me to contribute damage and heal at the same time without burning through mana.

I find the PoM to be a better healer than I recall the ToS to be.  Having that extra healing spell, Divine Lance, seems to make an enormous difference.  I also find the PoM to be a little more resilient, having a couple of damage mitigation spells to rely on should things start to go badly.  I do recall the ToS being a much better damage dealer however, particularly AoE damage and tackling multiple mobs.  All this may have to do with the feats I chose for my ToS, having gone down the Lightening tree.

When I get to level 60 with my Priest I will endeavour to make a better comparison between the two.  But for now I’ll say the Priest is a little better on the heals whilst the Tempest is a better damage dealer.  The great thing about AoC and the healing classes is that you can have one of each in a group and it doesn’t feel like a wasted spot.  Each can bring something to the group and all of them can provide some DPS.

Ancient Blood Defiler in Sanctum