Likewise, after I let the initial shock pass and get more perspective, I am … still not a fan of the Monk part, though I can understand why other class trees are generally more positive about the changes.
Everyone is looking for class changes after the Goddess Patch and IMC is being extremely slow after 5 months of technically no content due to the Goddess Patch and the months thereafter due to IMC’s schedule. Swordsmen Month was a failure, Archers want a change of pace outside the Ranger-QS-Arbalester combo, Wizards have been too stifled by IMC’s odd restricting of element-based builds and Scouts have been overloaded with Sheriff-Linkers. I personally am a fan of Wizards no longer being locked by elements and am happy that Swordsmen got their buff restrictions removed (why add them in the first place with all the grandiose reasonings they had, only to remove them so easily). To other class trees, these changes are a great change of pace and are welcomed in general.
With that said, Clerics just had Cleric patch last month (we were one patch away from receiving it too), and all was needed after that patch was to buff Druid to contest Krivis (and maybe nerf Miko) for the tree to be in balance. Its only been less than a month, and all IMC needed to do was reduce the skill factors flatly across the board unless some classes really needed it (Inquisitor God Smash needed boosts to be more useful in its default state, Druid needing SFR boosts across the board and has an identity crisis etc). There really was no need to change much of the SFR distribution aside minor tweaks.
(Nonsense Rant Part) I’ll make this clear, I don’t have a problem with them reducing SFRs since they are reducing enemy stats as well, I have a problem with how they distributed the SFRs (specifically Monk). The Cleric patch had some good thought into it (for once), like finally giving Zealot getting more SFR and it’s Beady Eyed buff more duration, Inquisitor Judgement Art finally getting use and Monk getting its SFR in the right places with its new playstyle without Nirvana Energy Blast. Compared to the Cleric patch, these changes does feel rather thoughtless, especially with how IMC can even let Pardoner get bonkers SFR on Discerning Evil and Decatose to begin with, implying they simply did some lazy quick math without understanding the context of the skills and the classes. With regards to Monk, the Cleric Patch showed they understood what are the important skills for Monk (Palm Strike + Hand Knife for burst off-cooldown, God Finger Flick buff and One Inch Punch CC for Thunder Kick interval proc every 3.5s now that Energy Blast Nirvana is gone), but on Archer Patch, its like they unlearned Monk and pushed more of the SFR towards the CC skill One Inch Punch and the buff skill God Finger Flick (imagine coin flicking is Monk’s 2nd best DPS skill behind Double Punch now). Monks with Monk Vaivora will never be able to utilize those due to a strict 30-point requirement into Double Punch and Palm Strike to begin with, leaving 15 points to share between the rest. Due to rotation, Hand Knife combo timing, thunder kick and skill point issues that will make this rant much longer, the shift in SFR that IMC placed on God Finger Flick and One Inch Punch will never be utilized where they would’ve in Cleric Patch. I also feel like they deleted a lot more things than they should’ve but not delete the things that they should (deleting a lot of Paladin Barrier attributes, but not delete Paladin’s most unused skill, Sanctuary), but that’s for another time. Its as if the ones working on Cleric Patch and Archer Patch are two different people or they simply forgot the progress they did last month or something.
Of course, as long as the class deals big damage, one can say it doesn’t matter which I agree to some extent. I’ll wait for KToS WBR results for a few weeks before bringing up a potential issue I hope doesn’t come out. With how IMC practically removed class synergies and buffs outside self, the Cleric DPS identity that does lower damage in exchange for party utility is now gone and Cleric DPS is just another DPS. I sincerely hope they still don’t balance Cleric DPS markedly lower than other Class trees since that’s out of the way.
On a side note, Cleric’s Smite remains unchanged and actually looks like good DPS for a base class skill (950% on a 1s cooldown), it has potential seeing how it has 50% demon bonus for Inquisitor Judgement Art synergy and x3 hits with Paladin’s Conviction. Its also interesting how KToS Clerics are picking up Midnight Baptism now instead of Overload and Saint Oath, that set does theoretically deal better damage though I don’t think its as practical in various situations. With Chaplains being one of the only classes to shine with Saint Oath to switch to Midnight Baptism, I do wonder what will happen to Saint Oath, Swift Ark and auto-attack builds in general. Because of that, I have a feeling that Midnight Baptism on Clerics may be more of an unintended oversight (somewhat hoping its not, it is an interesting build option for once).
