well I am definately going to pick one of the priestly classes but i cannot decide if that will be chanter or a cleric. of cause i will get a better idea when I give the game a go but i dont think i can really do much of a comparison between them over one weekend.

from what I read it seems cleric is more the healer type but the chanter is more the buff/debuff type that is fine but what I want to know is why all the youtube vids i see the chanter with a staff and the cleric with a mace/shield. According to the skill lists i have seen (http://powerwiki.na.aiononline.com/aion) they both can use staff and they both can use mace/shield. I assume they both have the same stats to focus on so I cant work out why I dont see more clerics using staves and more chanters using mace/shield?

also would one of these classes be more ranged and the other more melee? do they both use chain armour?

I'm assuming the chanters buffs help with phys dps and a staff most likely benefits the chanter more, whereas the cleric has to stand still more often therefore the shield helps with the "tanking" to get those heals off. A cleric would be more ranged due to casting, whereas the chanter would get more out of phys dps due to buffs/debuffs.

Thanks for the post. I'm curious about the differences between the two as well. If anyone knows the difference in the class roles near end-game it would help my decision to. :-)

This was the exact question I asked and I can pass along what I was told (not sure how accurate it is but anyway).

The chanter has a little more melee focus and also more buff oriented.

The cleric is more ranged focus and more heals.

One person told me that the Cleric is a lot like the Cleric in DAOC and the Chanter more like the Friar.

Class roles? Cleric is a main healer, and a chanter is a backup healer/buffer. End game though. Soloing/grouping etc can have different "roles" but primarily that's they will be doing.

im always playing tank roles, or melee of some kind, so I was looking for a support ranged class this time and it would seem that cleric is more ranged than the chanter, like poster before said, the chanter relies a lot on physical buff/debuff so that would mean more heavy orientated. SO i might consider the cleric its just i want to look cool with a staff so as long as that is an option this is a good thing....i not sure if they can use staff and i am not sure if chanter can use mace/shield because different websites list different skills, aion armour doesnt even mention it as far as i can find.

What you want to be careful of is if you decide to go different routes in regards to weapons and armor is taking a specific skill might block off others.

They can both use staffs shield and maces, they both wear chainmail (second strongest armor in the game)

The difference between cleric and chanter (from a 25 clerics pov who grouped with a chanter all threw cb 4 and 5)

The chanter uses a staff for the boost in damage and the increase chance to knock an opponent down, they mainly a melee class so the staff does more dmg compared to a mace and shield, also they are back up heals so in most fights they will be dpsing. They also buff the group / raid with extra def, attack, hp, speed you name it they pretty much have it. The only downside to a chanter is there buffs dont stack so you really only need 1 since they dont bring the same dps as a "pure" dps class. (maybe the could with damage mana stones or something i duno, we'll see when were at endgame)

The cleric has much stronger heals, they are basicly the same as the chanters starting out but they get progressivly stronger and you get more, you get an instant big heal (stigma) a big heal, a small heal, a group heal, hots the whole 9. The cleric will start out with the small heal and the hot but your ranks will go up faster then theirs and they also dont get most of the other heals untill very late in game or never at all. My cleric is 25 and i already trained 2 passive abilities that increased my healing by %5 and another that increased it by 10%, to my knowledge chanters dont get these, and if they do its very late in game and most likely not as high % as the cleric.

The cleric is mostly ranged, the get the same basic melee chain that the chanter does with different variations but your most damage will come from ranged, you root, cast your ranged combo, they get close, use your mellee combo, re root and cast from ranged again. If you can stay at range you most likely will.

Clerics also get a pet (if you want call it that) called a holy spirit (i think thats the name) who will attack the mob you have targeted for a nice chunk of damage, they die when they have no health and everyime they cast there health goes down, they usually get 3 nice hits off before they die, but you can toss a hot on it to make it 4 hits.

Hope this helped a little.

Originally posted by kinnslayor

They can both use staffs shield and maces, they both wear chainmail (second strongest armor in the game)

 

The difference between cleric and chanter (from a 25 clerics pov who grouped with a chanter all threw cb 4 and 5)

 

The chanter uses a staff for the boost in damage and the increase chance to knock an opponent down, they mainly a melee class so the staff does more dmg compared to a mace and shield, also they are back up heals so in most fights they will be dpsing. They also buff the group / raid with extra def, attack, hp, speed you name it they pretty much have it. The only downside to a chanter is there buffs dont stack so you really only need 1 since they dont bring the same dps as a "pure" dps class. (maybe the could with damage mana stones or something i duno, we'll see when were at endgame)

 

The cleric has much stronger heals, they are basicly the same as the chanters starting out but they get progressivly stronger and you get more, you get an instant big heal (stigma) a big heal, a small heal, a group heal, hots the whole 9. The cleric will start out with the small heal and the hot but your ranks will go up faster then theirs and they also dont get most of the other heals untill very late in game or never at all. My cleric is 25 and i already trained 2 passive abilities that increased my healing by %5 and another that increased it by 10%, to my knowledge chanters dont get these, and if they do its very late in game and most likely not as high % as the cleric.

The cleric is mostly ranged, the get the same basic melee chain that the chanter does with different variations but your most damage will come from ranged, you root, cast your ranged combo, they get close, use your mellee combo, re root and cast from ranged again. If you can stay at range you most likely will.

Clerics also get a pet (if you want call it that) called a holy spirit (i think thats the name) who will attack the mob you have targeted for a nice chunk of damage, they die when they have no health and everyime they cast there health goes down, they usually get 3 nice hits off before they die, but you can toss a hot on it to make it 4 hits.

 

Hope this helped a little.

yeap thats very informative, thanks. It certainly makes me move more towards the cleric as one of the reason I wanted a class otehr than my normal tanky was because i was sick of getting the, 'we already got a tank,' from groups i wanted to join, so if you say the chanter buffs/debuffs dont stack it will mean a group wont really take more than one. think I will go for a cleric and just use a staff because they look more cooler :)
 

Chanters use a staff for a couple reasons. They get parry buffs which are more useful for a staff then mace and shield. Also when the staff crits there is the chance to knockdown opponents.

Originally posted by vala2008

so if you say the chanter buffs/debuffs dont stack it will mean a group wont really take more than one.

Most groups won't take more than 1 Cleric either.  It's just not needed and would be better to have the position taken by a Chanter or one of the many DPS classes.

Honestly, I don't see there being a lot of times where you will have issues finding a group with either a Cleric or a Chanter.  When the game goes live healers are going to be everywhere, but once you start getting in the 25-30 level range the amount of healers is going to drop quite a bit and then once you reach 50 they will be pretty rare. (This is a complete assumption on my part, but is based on experience with every other class based MMO game.)

So really you just have to decide one thing.  Do you want to be the primary healer, doing low DPS and focusing on keeping everyone alive, or do you want to be the buffer, empowering all of your teammates and off-healing while DPSing.  Clerics will definitely get all of the recognition because Chanter main benefit to a party comes from their buffs, which are transparent to most people.  So you may not get the praise, but you know you're helping.

The benefits to having a Chanter in your group are many and I would personally choose a Chanter (just 1 :P) over an extra Gladiator any day.

Chanter or cleric is a tough choice both are good i think it comes down to what  you wanna do nuke or melee

Daemok made a few good points and in my own experiences of mmos i also see the same pattern. Lots of low to mid lvl healers about but rarely see them active at end game due to people playing their mains. but I think poster above really hit the nail on the head....its a choice between a melee healer or a nuker healer; melee= chanter and nuker=healer.

I would normally go for a melee-healer as I don sometimes like to get stuck in there, espcially since my normal class is a warrior type and, for example, I had a Warrior Priest in WAR and that was fun. years and years ago I played a ranged-healer in wow and that also was fun so it is a tough one and I think i will just try them both out at beta and see, maybe do the chanter this weekend and do the cleric in open beta to test them both out....only way for sure really.

one thing i do think about is that all of the debuffs that a chanter can put on someone, there is a class that can unbuff them...the cleric. In comparison you cant do anything about the direct damage of the spells and abilities from the cleric....actually thinking about it another cleric can do because they get circles of protection from elemental type attacks, which is the main attacks of a cleric.

I find these interesting classes and am going to check out the different classes this weekend with the beta. Thanks for the info everyone on the priest classes

I played a chanter up to level 22 in beta .. hope to do a few more levels this weekend :)

In my experience, on these lower levels we heal just as well as clerics, i had no problems keeping a party alive in the elite camps (black claw village), i often even found enough time to dps a bit myself and throw in some debuffs.

From what i've read, the distinction will be very noticable on higher levels, where clerics get much better at healing, though chanters get a very nice party hot.

I think it comes a bit down to playstyle ... i see the cleric as a full time healer, while the chanter is a bit more hybrid ... one day i heal, another i dps and debuff, and sometimes i do all (backup healer) ... bit like a Shaman from WoW.

Soloing is great btw as Chanter ... chainmail, selfheals and a nice bit of dmg ... it's hard to get myself killed :D

Oww .... and the staff animations rock :)

My chanters pov .....

This thread is killing me... I'd decided on cleric but now I'm considering chanter... dammit...

Originally posted by mbd1968

This thread is killing me... I'd decided on cleric but now I'm considering chanter... dammit...

yep same!...thing i find most annoying is that i know i wont really find out in beta which to go for because they are so low lvl we wont really know until end lvl. It is a shame this coming beta event would gives us a shot at end lvl characters so we can try a few and also end game stuff

Originally posted by vala2008

Originally posted by mbd1968

This thread is killing me... I'd decided on cleric but now I'm considering chanter... dammit...

 

yep same!...thing i find most annoying is that i know i wont really find out in beta which to go for because they are so low lvl we wont really know until end lvl. It is a shame this coming beta event would gives us a shot at end lvl characters so we can try a few and also end game stuff

Yeah I hate finding things out on my own too =P

Cleric

Originally posted by mbd1968

This thread is killing me... I'd decided on cleric but now I'm considering chanter... dammit...

go for something 3rd then^^

If both can use staff and shield is there a downside at using the "other" class weapon ?

If staff deals more damage and the cleric is supposed to fight at a distance anyway... Why would I go for a shield ?

From what I understand you use different weapons for different things, like a chanters staff works very well in pvp, but a sheild and mace is nice for pve. But thats all I know I havn't been in the beta I just go by what I read and watch. :D if that helped out all :s

Originally posted by Kebeck

If both can use staff and shield is there a downside at using the "other" class weapon ?

If staff deals more damage and the cleric is supposed to fight at a distance anyway... Why would I go for a shield ?

Most of the cleric's attacks are both ranged and magic attack dependant.  Most of the chanter's attacks are melee and physical attack based.  The difference between staff and mace for physical attacks is very noticeable, but it doesn't impact magic effects nearly as much.  Also, the shield gives you extra slots for socketing stones, allowing you to more than compensate for the differences.

Chanters use don't use maces because it really hurts their attack, a number of the attack skills don't work with a mace, AND it would actually hurt their defense.  They get a number of skills that dramatically increase their parry rate while it takes a substantial manastone investment to see any real results from a shield.