Comments on: DPS Balance

By: Dagonhart

Dagonhart — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 19:28:24 +0000

I saw the “nerf” coming the day I and another hunter- pretty much spec’d out with most of the radiance gear, dropped a mob in the foundations of stone with two heartseekers, mine at 8k and his at 11k. (and we still get defeated (die) down there regularly). The problem is not ratcheting back the high DPS- the problem is that nearly every MMO that does it, overshoots the goal and the class ends up, for sometime following, much less fun. When its your only high level class, it can be a major fun killer; this is my experiance with LoTRO. I wish they would take smaller steps when they pull back the throttles, not rushing to the “fix” so fast. Most of the kins on my server have put Moria on farm status- so its not like we are going to burn through the content- we already did. Lothlorien doesn’t add so much more as to avoid this either. So, in my view, the long term preference should be to keep the fun in it. When the fun goes… so does your player base.

By: Hunters as Crowd Control | Kill Ten Rats

Hunters as Crowd Control | Kill Ten Rats — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 23:08:41 +0000

[...] Store « DPS Balance [...]

By: warcabbit

warcabbit — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 14:46:48 +0000

Yes, Cryptic does have a tendency to do the universal change rather than the specific nerf. I consider it probably better for a game, long run. You?

Course, I’m playing a Bright Wizard over at WAR. Been feeling amazingly ineffective recently… but the new patch may have changed things a bit.

By: Rog

Rog — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 01:30:15 +0000

Excuse my post-expansion newbness, I don’t even know how to interpret some of the class changes in the upcoming patch notes– but I’ve kind of assumed that Champions would get a nerf to their tanking capabilities. It makes sense to me, since there’s the Warden now and having an all-in-one DPS / AoE monster that also tanks seems to hedge out other DPS classes.

I’ve just got my Lore-Master at 36 and have fiddled with a Champion up to 21.

By: Tide

Tide — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 20:27:22 +0000

Terrific post. I appreciate the background and extra info on Hunters. I play a Minstrel as my main and there were similar balance issues with the launch of MoM that plagued that class (although in reverse as a Healer/Buffer). You struck a great note reporting the problems Turbine has with trying to improve an already great design for Ranged DPS. Thanks.

By: mbp

mbp — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 18:39:31 +0000

Lol Zubon, I feel I must jump to Champions defense. Yes Champion is an aoe damage class and yes aoe can easily break crowd control but I can assure you it only takes a few strict telling offs from your friendly LM to learn you about breaking mezz. Plus a Champ who knows his stuff can control where his damage goes pretty well (Some of our aoe is directional for example).

That said – smart crowd control mezzes ranged mobs first and anything else before its gets into whacking range. Mezzing a mob right in the middle of the melee is just asking for trouble.

By: Dlangar

Dlangar — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 15:31:24 +0000

Excellent commentary and analysis, especially on the inherent problems with balancing a ranged DPS class. I haven’t been to the end game of Lotro yet, and so can’t really speak on specific abilities there. From a general point of view, I do think giving a class crowd control utility is a great way to get them included in the raid without slamming their DPS or escape abilities.

You have to be careful though, with encounter balancing at that point, lest the players optimize crowd control completely out of your game, similar to what’s happening in Wrath right now.

Thanks for the read!

Dlangar
http://ofcourseillplayit.com

By: Ethic

Ethic — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 15:01:07 +0000

I started a Captain a week ago to play as part of a duo with my wife (Champion). I’m glad I will not have much experience before this patch so I won’t feel the sting. Not knowing is half the battle.

By: Ravious

Ravious — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 12:27:52 +0000

As a Captain, I feel that the 20 seconds of invulnerability and 15 seconds of fellowship invulnerability was a bit much, and it did suck when Turbine had to account for it in the challenges.

I am not a fan of 10+ minute cooldown skills. I’d rather have less powered, but more useful skills than uber-powered once a boss fight skills.

But, the forums seem to think that Turbine has slapped every Captain squarely in the face because our defining skill (combo) is Last Stand (In Harm’s Way).

By: Zubon

Zubon — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 12:22:33 +0000

Actually, Hunters have that: a beast-only fear shout. It just does not come into play all that much (it’s nice in 1.14.15). And as a Champion, you never would have noticed it. If you will forgive the generalization, I notice that Champions seem to hate and fear crowd control, or perhaps not notice that it exists, because they instantly break any mez, root, etc. We learn to mez or root as far away from the Champion as possible.