Melee risk vs Non-melee risk

Pham

Currently, it should be obvious to anyone who's played a fighter that there are many instances where mob's pose a disproportionately increased risk toward melee characters than ranged characters - especially in group combat.

I am wondering what benefit there is to playing a melee character which specifically addresses these types of melee-only hazards which is supposed to offset this increased risk which is only applied to melee characters?

Can anyone enlighten me?

Dezmerizing

Pham wrote: »

Currently, it should be obvious to anyone who's played a fighter that there are many instances where mob's pose a disproportionately increased risk toward melee characters than ranged characters - especially in group combat.

I am wondering what benefit there is to playing a melee character which specifically addresses these types of melee-only hazards which is supposed to offset this increased risk which is only applied to melee characters?

Can anyone enlighten me?

I have compared some of this to my SO who plays a fighter (I myself play a ranger) and unlike many other MMOs we've played, the "melee hazards" vs "ranged hazards" actually already far more balanced than one would think. In most MMOs, the "benefit" of being melee is that you're usually much more mobile and not bound to cast-times. In AoC this is not as true as most classes (ironically enough not ranger) has the ability to move at a reduced speed while casting.

On top of this a lot of hard-hitting mechanics does not seem target the fighter first and foremost. The pyros seem to single out ranged DPSers and/or supports, kill shot also seem to be a lot more common on ranged backliners and zombies spew their anti-healing bile almost exclusively at random ranged targets (thus most parties recommend stacking in melee on those specific mobs). The exceptions I've seen is stuff like the fog cloud on the golems, some frontal abilities aimed at the tank that the fighter might accidentally dance into and mushrooms exploding on death. In general, there seem to be plenty of hazards unique for both melee and ranged DPSers.

All of these mechanics show that Intrepid is actually taking the ranged risk vs melee risk into consideration, so I would say that from a PvE perspective - what we've been shown is already impressive enough... ... From a PvP perspective; fighters have so many leaps and dashes on top of ranged DPSers being heavily restricted when it comes to casting and moving that I've never seen a single ranged DPS (just bards, honestly) being able to kite melee combatants in PvP for extended durations of time.

MatrimOG

As a fighter I haven't had that much problem with it. Yes its a skill gap, but you get rewarded by doing non-stop damage without needing a mana battery or much other support.

In my experience avoiding melee mechanics comes in 2 forms so far:
1. Dodging - Since last week dodge actually works and gives you high evasion bonus. This isn't quite an I-Frame but you can dodge through almost anything with this.
2. Melee max range - Massive, basically every regular mob's melee cleave or mechanics can be avoided and the mob still be hit with a Greatsword.

There are some exceptions, such as Firebrand's anti-melee mechanics that are sometimes unavoidable especially when lagging, but I have faith these can be improved, and if its only a Dragon-specific thing then I'm fine with it. No DPS-Meter is stopping you from jumping out and doing some Bow-damage while recovering. Play smart.