General Overview of the Chanter Class

If you have played EQ2 you could relate the Aion Chanter class to an EQ2 bard with heals. The Aion Chanter is even more distant from the bard classes seen in EQ or Vanguard or many single player games but for comparison purposes a bard is a decent way to think about the Chanter class. The Chanter is a jack-of-all trades being able to dish out fairly good individual dps, take a few extra hits than most other non-plate wearing classes, and is the second best healer in the game.

Being the second best healer in the game isn't much of a statement, though, since there are only two healer classes. However, the chanter is indeed a healer and, while not as good at healing as a Cleric, can still easily be the main healer for an otherwise good group. Having both a cleric and a chanter in a group means that the chanter can backup heal and secondary heal on hard bosses, which makes this an ideal combination for groups and is what most groups will look for. That means you will have to compete for chain gear with the Cleric, though, which can be frustrating if you like gear and have unlucky rolls. If no cleric is around, while not being able to heal as well, the Chanter is still a good enough healer even for some of the more difficult bosses. The reason for this is that, unlike the cleric, the chanter that sits in the back healing will still be contributing dps, armor buffs, and/or whatever is most appropriate for the given situation through their chants.

As one might expect, Chants are truly the bread and butter of the chanter class. While healing the chanter can chant to bring additional dps, armor, mana regen, health regen, and many other benefits to everyone in the group, although only 3 can be active at any given time and there is no lingering effect that would allow for twisting like in EQ1. As many MMO veterans know, good dps means less heals are needed, which means that where the Chanter falls short to the cleric in raw healing, they can make up for this shortfall in overall group dps, which leads to a faster and safer group experience.

Similarly, while a chanter's personal dps will fall short to the dps classes like mages and scouts, the chanter's dps chants make the overall group dps much much higher than if the chanter were to be replaced by a pure dps class. This means that the chanter might not make it to the top of the dps list but their actual contribution to the group dps will most certainly be at or near the top of any other group members if we assume equal player skill.

It is clear from the above that chanters are a group based class. Groups will want you and, in fact, you will want them. Soloing as a chanter is not difficult. Indeed, many quests are soloable that might be difficult for other classes since chanters can take the hits, heal themselves, and dish out decent dps. So why group if chanters are such a great solo class? Speed. The value you can add to a group as a chanter far surpasses your own individual capabilities. With you in a group even amateur MMO players with less player skill can still burn through mobs fairly well. Of course, if your tank runs around collecting extra heroic adds or your scout constantly breaks crowd control or your mage never assists and always pulls aggro then you will probably waste some time. Luckily, thanks to WoW, enough people have played MMOs before to know at least some basic group mechanics and this shouldn't be a problem too often. In the Aion NA beta events I have yet to run into someone that hasn't at least know some basic group mechanics. Still, as a group class it would be a good thing to have a bit of patience for when the inevitable happens. Good luck! If you havn't already picked up your pre-order, which will allow you to play in the closed beta weekends, then here is a link to Amazon.com to get in on the action.