What I dislike about Clerics: As mentioned, they are boring and one dimensional. Agree with Kam that healing can be a nerve wracking and yet rewarding experience, and there really is an art to healing and battle mem'ing which seems lost to most. Still clerics are a great class, and just need to be made more "fun" to play. Lack of skills is probably my guess as to why they are boring.
Strength: Clerics often lead groups and are often picking up zone items, yet they can be weak as mages or druids.
Lack of skills: Rapture and ameliorate are awesome, but you have to wait to be legendary
Useless spells: All of your casting will be done from 4rth circle up, with the exception of 'cure blind' in 2nd circle. Making for a very top heavy casting class. This almost works, however, because of the excess of useless spells up there:
Wave of Terror: 8th circle, does not succeed enough to be used. If you need to fear something out, bring a Mountain Scout.
Fear: See above
Healing Mist: This isn't a bad spell to mimic paladins divine focus skill. It is almost a healing wave cast OUTSIDE of battle. I hate clerics that cast/mem this during a large fight, as it heals my opponent as well. At best this can occasionally be stacked outside of combat to mimic regenerate.
Cause light/serious/critical: Damage is terrible, and what cleric mems 'cause critical' over 'cure critical'. So you never really go past 'cause serious'
Flamestrike: Too weak
Darkness: A cleric has almost no business casting this spell. Even if you get a nightvision item, if you need to darkness around bring a DK, preferably with darkness2.0 AKA nightfall.
NPP: This spell would be a worthwhile prep if it lasted like a normal spell, say 'sacred ward' or 'heroism'
Poison: Never lands, but I can poison canteens or water fountains sometimes. Wouldn't be bad if it worked on weapons.
Holy armor/spiritual hammer: Too weak and useless. Not very noticable from being naked
Prayer: Mass bless is useful, but it doesn't last long enough. I end up just meming several 'bless' spells to cast on the important people in the group
Gate: This spell exists for one purpose.... Aspasia (or the equivalent). Now, a cleric being able to pick doors is immensely valuable, but I think the spell could be much more.
Curse/ancient curse: The only way curse is useful, is when its part of an attack (bladecurse) or combined in a skill (hex). As a spell, it sucks because it's too easy to save against. Even if the affects are pretty good, I might as well try to cast 'hold person' instead of this spell. Therefore, this spell exists for one purpose... To curse my chest so thieves can't steal.
Suggestions for improving class:
Here are my suggestions for making them even greater (provided unlimited resources and time).
1) Split up the rapture/ameliorate skills into fragments and give them to normal clerics:
- Rapture, I believe, increases damage and hitroll, allows you to mem in combat, and you can now cast without loosing battle rounds.
Could make 2 or 3 skills out of this one alone that add some variability to a non-legend cleric.
- Ameliorate: Great spell that allows your cures to become area cures. This skill could easily be for non-legend clerics, and would bring them up to par with other healing classes. It should probably last more than 3 casts or so.
2) Do a reconfigurement of cleric slots, as was done with Druids. I won't offer a suggestion here and I think Druids were done nicely.
3) Rework or buff some of the particularly useless spells.
4) Existing skills/spells that could work with Clerics:
Spells:
-Absolution
-Exorcism (although isn't this really a repackaged dispel evil?)
-Protection from Undead
-
Skills:
-Bladecurse: Rename this, allow clerics to poison/blind/silence/dispel evil with their hammer hits?
-Divine Focus
-Beseech: Could add different affects to Cleric, this could handle the 'paths' that other people suggested. Beseech Paladine/mishakal/habbakuk if goody for some healing %, or group NPP... Beseech Takhisis/Chemosh/morgion for some spell damage or extra hit chance?