Glorious Alpha Two Testers!
Alpha Two testing is currently taking place five days each week. More information about Phase II and Phase III testing schedule can be found here
If you have Alpha Two, you can download the game launcher here, and we encourage you to join us on our Official Discord Server for the most up to date testing news.
Alpha Two testing is currently taking place five days each week. More information about Phase II and Phase III testing schedule can be found here
If you have Alpha Two, you can download the game launcher here, and we encourage you to join us on our Official Discord Server for the most up to date testing news.
Movement & Maneuverability Disparity Between Roles & Class Imbalance
Lark Wyll
Member, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
Note: I've played all roles up to level 20+ besides Cleric, Tank, Rogue in Alpha 2 phases.
Currently for pvp class balance and enjoyment is stifled with how oppressive and ridiculous certain roles traverse the world and close or create gaps in combat. Some classes feel like they were created from the 1990's (Ranger) with clear strengths and weaknesses and flaws built into its kit to constrain it, mean while Rogue traverses the world at 2x-4x the speed and play like they're designed for a completely different game without constraints.
I don't understand the logic to giving the class with near permanent invisibility with no counter play the highest in combat and out of combat movement traversal speed (when using kit) by a large factor. Rogues using their abilities likely are faster moving around in combat and out of combat than every mount in the game, besides maybe a Mayor's Dragon.
There needs to be some semblance of cohesion in logic in how classes/roles are designed so some aren't implemented like the Flash, where others are statues (Why is Ranger of all classes one of the most immobile in the game)?
I don't plan on playing Ranger on live, nor ever did, but as I work my way through playing the various classes it is very obvious that the movement/traversal speed disparity between classes is currently absurd. Long ways away from launch but this would make competitive pvp a non-starter for a lot of players if one class gets permanent invisibility and 200-400% movement speed in & out of combat tech, while other roles are statues waiting to get picked off. Playing vs Rogues feels like playing against a GM cheat/hack. It's quite silly.
Dev team needs to decide for combat if you plan on embracing the absurd and giving each class a completely broken op element to their kits (one or more), in Rogue's case permanent invisibility + movement tech zoomies, or the classes will be balanced along a curve but kept closer in line with one another especially regarding movement.
Movement in pvp especially in a non-king of the hill environment is typically king. It's difficult to see why Ranger will be played over Rogue as the game progresses unless either Ranger receives a massive overhaul to take it up to Rogue's level of absurdness or Rogue is brought in line.
Also, why is the current design allowing Rogue's to cast damaging abilities without breaking cover? This is so silly and stupid. Entering combat should make them visible so they can't sit behind you and cheese damage without being seen and attacked back.
Currently for pvp class balance and enjoyment is stifled with how oppressive and ridiculous certain roles traverse the world and close or create gaps in combat. Some classes feel like they were created from the 1990's (Ranger) with clear strengths and weaknesses and flaws built into its kit to constrain it, mean while Rogue traverses the world at 2x-4x the speed and play like they're designed for a completely different game without constraints.
I don't understand the logic to giving the class with near permanent invisibility with no counter play the highest in combat and out of combat movement traversal speed (when using kit) by a large factor. Rogues using their abilities likely are faster moving around in combat and out of combat than every mount in the game, besides maybe a Mayor's Dragon.
There needs to be some semblance of cohesion in logic in how classes/roles are designed so some aren't implemented like the Flash, where others are statues (Why is Ranger of all classes one of the most immobile in the game)?
I don't plan on playing Ranger on live, nor ever did, but as I work my way through playing the various classes it is very obvious that the movement/traversal speed disparity between classes is currently absurd. Long ways away from launch but this would make competitive pvp a non-starter for a lot of players if one class gets permanent invisibility and 200-400% movement speed in & out of combat tech, while other roles are statues waiting to get picked off. Playing vs Rogues feels like playing against a GM cheat/hack. It's quite silly.
Dev team needs to decide for combat if you plan on embracing the absurd and giving each class a completely broken op element to their kits (one or more), in Rogue's case permanent invisibility + movement tech zoomies, or the classes will be balanced along a curve but kept closer in line with one another especially regarding movement.
Movement in pvp especially in a non-king of the hill environment is typically king. It's difficult to see why Ranger will be played over Rogue as the game progresses unless either Ranger receives a massive overhaul to take it up to Rogue's level of absurdness or Rogue is brought in line.
Also, why is the current design allowing Rogue's to cast damaging abilities without breaking cover? This is so silly and stupid. Entering combat should make them visible so they can't sit behind you and cheese damage without being seen and attacked back.
0
Comments
Rogue if considered in the vacuum is a great class...in the context of other classes, rogue is terribly balanced. You think pre-nerdf bard was bad? Rogue is a class which has dps, insane mobility, self-heal, MANA drain, shitloads of CC and 1.5 CC breaks, AND survivability / tankiness through evasion and stealth. One class should never shine in all potential aspects of the gameplay. Rogue does.
Mind I think your and mine posts belong in the Rogue section really, I'm pretty surprised that those observations haven't been shared there by anyone else.
Coming back to the ranger. It cannot be a class which is the top dog in terms of mobility, because you would win most of the fights by attrition and kiting.
Blown past falling sands…
Did a number of pvp skirmishes tonight in guild. The Ranger build right now if not supported by two Bard's becomes an auto attack only paper weight very shortly after the fighting starts. With constant mana Ranger feels impactful and pretty good. The problem is Ranger atm goes through mana at an unsustainable rate if you use your abilities. It isn't fun or impactful to be an auto attack bot in pvp. In the first handful of scrims I had to back off during the match, sit and eat a ration to recover mana so I wasn't useless , because we had only one Bard.
Later the side I was on added a second Bard and I felt like I could actually play the game as a Ranger for more than a few seconds before I went OOM earlier.
Bard and Rogue are well rounded classes that using one of those hex or penta diagrams of power in the various traits (movement, durability, cc, debuffs, buffs, attack speed, attack power/burst, aoe, utility, etc.) would be highly rated in nearly all categories.
Ranger is a more traditional class design with obvious flaws and vulnerabilities and I don't think its strengths outperform those of Bard or Rogue while having a much lower floor.
Ranger needs serious improvements to its mana consumption so it can play the game.
I have a Rogue up to level 17 now and with it I don't even need a Bard in my party. You can spam abilities like crazy and after you get down to half mana bar after a few bug pulls put mana poison on and you charge back to full near instantly on your next attacks. Still learning the Rogue kit but I don't think therr's much comparison between the classes quality.
To a certain extent I can understand why they made Ranger mana starved, to prevent aoe ability spam in group fights nullifying the value of other roles, but without mana you truly are of little value in combat.
I'd like to see Ranger have much improved mana costs for their abilities or drastically improved mana rejuvenation off auto attacks. And boost their mobility and/or dash distances to better match the other roles. Ranger has the worst mobility in the game and dash distances besides maybe Cleric. Bard being faster. Ranger is in a pretty good spot otherwise.
Long-term I'd like to see all roles have abilities to cast in melee and ranged and build tree diversity. Ranger doesn't have any use for a melee weapon other than as a stat stick boost to its bow, and its tree only allows for small differentiation. Every Ranger in pvp will be running mkre or less the samr build. Which Mark or Hunt do you want to run is about all the choice there is atm.