Is Herbalist good?

[RasaNova]

I unlocked the Herbalist class, thinking that a healing class was really what I needed. But as it turns out I am rarely able to actually USE this ability due to it using Godsbeard herb, which is incredibly expensive. On top of that, the party heal only seems to heal 11 health, which seems like nothing when facing enemies that hit for 10-25, or worse AOE damage that does more than the heal. Other than that, it seems like a bit of a hybrid class somewhere between a Hunter and a Scholar.

Am I missing something? It's possible I'm playing the class wrong, or that I don't understand the true strength of the Herbalist. I think some combination of the following could greatly make the class more useful:
- Have the party heal not cost a turn in combat
- Have the party heal amount scale with level
- Let the "find herbs" ability trigger more often
- Let the party heal use ANY herb from inventory, not just godsbeard

[DFuxa]

You need to stock up well on those Godsbeard early on when they are cheap and upgrade your pipes to get the most out of the herbs. This is no different from playing without the Herbalist. Outside of that though, make sure the Herbalist is the one who has the Godsbeard in her inventory; it does you no good if the Blacksmith is holding the Herbs.

[Skatters]

The single most important thing for anyone playing a Herbie - UPGRADE YOUR PIPE. The amount of gold I've given people playing herbalists who keep the pipe at lvl 0 right through the game (even after Ive upgraded mine!) is such a shame! That party heal does 25-35! Its excellent if used at the right time in combat. I've been really enjoying blacksmith(taunttank)/busker(2hBrute)/herbalist(mage) runs.

If the party helps you in the early levels to get that double pipe upgrade Asap - you more or less trebel the parties survivability rate. And its no waste of a turn by any means. :)

Again, for anyone reading this, as I'm not sure many people realisesthe two things are linked;

Upgrade Your Pipe! Twice!

[RasaNova]

I do try to stock up on godsbeard but after the 1st few turns the price seems to more than triple, to the point where buying it will drain all funds which are desperately needed for rest & gear. But I will definitely try that pipe upgrade! Do you upgrade the herbalist pipe to cast the bigger heals, or does it need to be each members pipe to receive bigger heals?

[Galroche]

price now increase based on Act, not turn anymore. it's strange if yours still increase every turn, are you playing a game created before the patch ?

[RasaNova]

Originally posted by Galroche:

price now increase based on Act, not turn anymore. it's strange if yours still increase every turn, are you playing a game created before the patch ?

I don't think it increases every turn, but it seems to jump up as soon as I leave the starting town. Starts out at 8g, which is reasonable. By the time I get to the 2nd town, it's 20, and VERY shortly after that it jumps to 30. Same if I go back to the starting town. Not sure what you mean by based on act? Maybe I'm missing something

[Galroche]

by Act i mean each step of your main quest (when your chaos return to 0), second one start when you need to reach parid,3rd when you need to get the baloon,4th kill the final boss

[Burnered]

Just fyi for original post is herbalist good...sadly no...is party heal good somewhat more so early game and then very situational and rng rng rng but there are ways to get party heal w/out herbalist and i would rather say that party heal > herbalist just on a char that isn't herbalist >.> and yes upgrade pipe lvl 1 asap on party healer well actually all 3 chars it should be priority before u get to first night in game along w/ good weapons and armor.