So i decided on Friar..

[knighthood]

What with the Friar love and stuff coming up, and the fact its the only class ive made 3 times to lvl 50. So this isnt really a question of how to play one, more just a check on how useful they still are. All the time in the old days i was the 39staff 49enhance 15rejuv rest parry spec, which worked well, u could solo grt and the resist buffs were awesome, however what with the new patch inc, the lvl 50 staff move is no longer off parry, and it has a DD proc on it, adding to this the wepskill increrase im planning to go this

50staff 38enhance (there is no spec buffs from 39-43) 21 parry 7rejuv , this gives access to yellow resists vuffs, which still aint bad tbh, also makes me able to solo great still, altho i miss the last dex/quick self buff, i did look at autotraining staff till lvl 48, but this means u can hit 44enhance with the extra points, 1 off the last dex/quick . Could run with a buffbott dex/quick i spose, well see what happens. Anyways regarding the resist buffs and the ML lines.

How often do u see Friars in RvR grps these days? I mean is the drop from Red resists to yellow ones really going to effect things too bad, seeing as how casters nuke so hard anyway. Does anyone bother with Static tempest ?
Whats the most prefered ML path these days, as tanks bodyguard much better ?. If u can fil me in would be much apreciated.

I knew id end up remaking my Friar again one day twas fate.

 

[Belgerath]

44 staff 48 enhance 7 rejuv is a better spec mate, on classic anyways

 

[knighthood]

Well depends on how u look at it, atm yes thats the most viable spec as the 44 and 50 moves in staff are crap, but when they get changed it makes it a lot better for friars solo, i do intend to do guild RvR a lot , but that may meen a lot of time waitingaround if others aint on, so i want a viable solo spec too

All im worried about is maybe the dif in dex from losing the 45 buff dex/quick may bugger me up a bit as quick = evade, but well see, few passive RA can sort that i spose.

Im just wondering how much people use friars for the resists buffs these days or is it gonna matter.

 

[knighthood]

Oh Oh and while im here !!

with 45enhance = 69dex/quick (Thought it was 75 myself , charbuilder may be super out of date), the one before it was 52 or something, whats gonna affect my overal weaponskill more.

the 11+ more in staff ie : 50 instead of 39 (bearing in mind 2hander weps can go over 50+ for dmg) or the Dex. Cos i think its quite a big drop in dez, seeing as friars dex never raises from base, and 78 dex is the most starting base i could have, which i wont do but may put 15 into it, dunno

but what will affect wepskill/dmg more ?

 

[Wild]

i tryed the spec 49 Enhance 44 Rej .. sadly you will be a grp friar only as with no staff you cant solo anything ..

if you get a grp they will want to for yr resists BG Grapple and ST3 this means your most commen target will be tanks as you will prolly be playing the defencive role and friar Vs Tank that is geting healed means you wont be killing much. hence the 0 in staff. but with the extra Rej you can cast the great Hot, be backup healer and do end drain on tanks and power drain on casters / healers with your BM styles (if they come close enough)i went for a fast staff for less end drain .. always kept end regen barrels on me (yes they are better than self regen)

as for resists any decent grp will have 2-3 people that are CL5 and can give 10% elemental resists so yellow resists wont notice a load more so imo stick with high enhance for the reds.

i was high staff at first but didnt find it very good as you get no Stoicism and det 5 is expencive. so i found joining a assist train not all that viable as 1 root or mes puts you out of the game.

imo there were a lot of nice changes in the friar love patch but at the end the class is still a "jack of all trades" and i feel friars needed a little more to give the groups so i gave up.

i never really did a lot of solo on my friar even when i was battle spec but afaik there isnt any friars who solo now .. plz correct me if im rong ..

if i was to play friar again i would prolly go battle spec as tbh not being able to solo at all was kinda sucky. but i spec'ed to what the group wanted most

 

[Andrilyn]

imo there were a lot of nice changes in the friar love patch but at the end the class is still a "jack of all trades" and i feel friars needed a little more to give the groups so i gave up.

Pfft, quiter!
Tbh Friars are underrated quite a bit, red elemental resists means you (and your group) will hardly be hit for more than 350-400 damage even by rr10-11 casters that you know have spent alot of points into damage RA's as you will not only decrease their base damage it also means their crit damage will be alot lower(seeing as you can only crit for 50% of your base damage) and many casters spec for high level WP.
Also from a Cleric POV when I have a Friar in the group (support spec) it means I have alot more time to shear at the start of a battle instead healing right of the bat which is really nice.

Being support spec also means you can stay close to your support/casters if they are in need for BG or Grapple an inc tank that runs out of healing range
Ofc it takes a certain play style to play a support spec Friar so if you don't like to play a support char you better stay staff spec.
And a Friar is the only class in Albion that get's ST which is really a great tool both offensively and defensively.
Use your tools correctly and you will be a great and vital help for your group.

If you decide to go melee spec for RvR in these days (I would advice you not to) then be prepaired to dump alot of abilities to win fights, ST, EP, CB+grapple+healing etc and that means you need to wait for timers after every fight or go out with nothing active which means certain death no matter what class you meet.

Main problem I have with Friars is the fact that they can't get PD as a RA, they are squishy and could use that as help but I guess the +5% to all melee resists on CW has to do untill Mythic agree's with me about Friars getting PD access