Quote:
Originally Posted by Tsabrae  The worst decision they ever made was to jigsaw the lore rather than do research. Banking on nostalgia would hook alot of ex EQ1 players who are generally jaded and floating from game to game. Neriak is a good place to start, I suppose.
Class balance still a trainwreck? Are there still like 5 coercers per server? |
Endgame is the real problem for a couple classes. All classes however are great to level up with. But once you get to the endgame....some classes are absolutely fucked. Mainly mine =p I have all the luck.
I spend quite a lot of time talking mechanics with some of my guildmates, we have more than a few nerds. But basically...Mez isn't important in the endgame. That's the coercers main problem. However Coercers are pretty damn uber for their other buffs. We *always* have at least one when available.
Troubadours however are fairly screwed in the endgame, but great in groups levelling up and doing heroic content. Getting "bumped" when you're the only Troubadour in your guild can be a bit demoralizing. Basically you have two bards, the Dirge has a group rez, Troubadour has Mez/Charm. The single most important buff Bards get is a 7.5% to crit. It's the end all be all of buffs. But both have access to it. Unfortunately the Mez/Charm does not work on raids/epics, even if it did, it would *not* be used. Dirges also outnumber Troubs 3:1. Which do you take? The one with a group rez, or the one without? Here's even more info:
Both bards get the same debuffs. Dirges however get AA's that vastly improve their debuffs, while Troubs don't. The Dirge main CA debuff slows the mob, while the Troubadour one (-32 def) has less effect than a Hex Doll. And we all know how important slowing the mobs attack speed is, it's King.
Troubs are caster-oriented while Dirges are melee oriented, but unfortunately Dirges get the same Mana regen spell, the same 7.5% buff to crits, and the same bonus to casting speed. What they don't get is Precision of the Maestro which adds a whopping 400 dmg to spells (some spells hit for 20k now) for only 20 seconds while making the Troub unable to auto-attack due to Daze. Instead Dirges get the godly Cacophony of Blades. Troubadours also get a +casting skill but sadly Warlocks get one with 1/3rd more stats, but it doesn't matter anyway since no Mage worth his salt has less than 400 disruption to begin with. Not a single end-game Troub uses their Dove Song except on 1-2 mobs.
Don't get me wrong, Dirges do suck too, but you need that 7.5% to crit, so if you're going to take a Bard, you want a Dirge =p
As a Troubadour the only thing I can offer that a Dirge cannot is a 280 dmg ward to resists (absolutely worthless outside of PvP), and Maestro which I have to constantly lie about to make my Magi feel it's important. Jesters Cap is decent as well, but Time Compression flat out owns it. Wizards now get Freezing Wind which is utterly superior to Maestro anyway. But it's still a good spell, just needs a huge boost to damage.
So long answer short, yes there are still massive class imbalances which sometimes only get worse with each expansion. However, don't get me wrong. The game gets better and better, and class problems like these are not unique to EQ2. There's plenty of recourse, I could easily reroll if I had the time and wait until my other char is more desirable as most Troubs have done. But for me time is a bit of a factor atm.
edit: Solutions? Other than the 500 on the Troub boards: Add a buff for Troubs-only to grant 5% increase to Magic damage. Change Maestro to a flat rate of 25% damage increase to Magic damage. There's not an abundance of Mage's compared to Melee, and two of the Mage classes are pet dmg (meaning Dirges supercede Troubs again). So keep Troubs valuable to INT casters as is their want, while not annoying Dirges. You could also make Jesters Cap a group buff and lower the %. But that's a lot of work I'd rather see them spend on making more of the great content we've seen recently.
/bi-monthly Troub whine off
