The State of Class Balance (Melee Dps vs Ranged Dps) in the Light of Module 25

scar

So, since the time MTos came out and the wizard rework, there has been a substantial portion of the community which has been finding melee dps harder to play in the face of newer boss mechanics. Most boss mechanics these days have a combination of red aoes right around the boss, or fights where you have top constantly move distances to either avoid red areas(gzemnids's big star attack, Drider captains web) or hit and damage certain things(cocoons, tentacle demons, etc.) forcing melee to spend time avoiding mechanics than doing dps. So, not only does melee have less uptime on the boss than ranged but they can also weigh down more on the team(especially healer's resources) due to survivability issues. This clearly generates a perception amongst players especially newer players that the class they chose to play has been made obsolete, and they now need to switch to a different class to be actually invited to harder group content. Certain youtubers using all ranged dps(*cough* *cough* 6 Dragonborn Wizards in the new trial) feed this impression even when maybe not intending to.

Previously I believe, there was something called a Life Steal Enchantment, which made melee a lot more survivable but in turn made healers less popular. They probably don't want that to happen again. Another way of balancing it would upping the magnitudes on the powers of melee classes, so the damage they deal in their short bursts are more in line with the consistent damage of ranged, or that melee paragon paths get added defensive rating as a feature(again might make tanks less desirable). Of course reworking multiple classes to be in line with one another is a lot of work and we all know that the devs were unable to get the paladin rework done within in the timeframe they set for themselves(at Mod 25 release).

Do note that I am a very new player(played only for 6 months or so), but some of these are opinions I have heard from players in various
guilds/alliances who regularly do master content. But even if you are new & done any of the drider captains, you probably have an idea of what I am talking about. I would like to know the opinions of people on this forum regarding this topic. Also if you all would like the devs to be better at balancing boss mechanics between melee and ranged dps going forward, or do you think if the balance is fine where it's at and no changes need to be made.

rockster

Ranged is easier and less of a headache, I've been ranking-up a couple of melee classes lately and it's a real chore and mentally intensive to stay alive in any of the content and when I go back to my ranged ones it's so much easier and smooth in comparison. I don't know what the answer is, lifesteal was a good stat in the game and it made my GWF (barb class now) able to survive almost anything just as long as he kept hitting. The only thing I've got to say about the barb class is that imo it should always have been the top damage dealer of all the classes because it has no other specialty (ignore tanking, it's just a recent bone they threw at it, but for tanking you would not use a barb there's far better classes to do that with) other than bashing stuff, it's a damage dealer pure and simple and should be top of the list I've always thought that and I've got no skin in that game either, I don't pay barb anymore. All the other classes have extra skills to use. Barb doesn't, so pure damage is all it really specializes in.

Seems that speed of movement is the main obstacle for dealing with the AOEs though, my wiz and warlocks can get out of it pretty easy, my fighter gets stuck and can't escape.

But be careful what you wish for when asking for the devs to do anything in the way of tweaking/re-balancing though because it usually involves some kind of nerf or creates more imbalances than it fixed which equals more pain for players than they have already.

In answer to your last question, I think melee classes should have extra damage to compensate for time spent out of combat and just dancing in and out of the red constantly which they have no choice in (they must be right up there in the enemies face), that's if the mechanics stay the same as they are now.

rikitaki

I do not mind that melee chars are essentially busier than ranged. Hit and run tactics keeps you occupied, avoiding a brain-dead state.

However, it should have its limits. Drider web is the epitome of what should never happen: forcing one group of players to sit half of the fight out. ...and then there is the "always gliding" boss in the northern major HE. That is pure gold for melee.

In summary, the overtones in all group content of the new mod would be: "Players tend to group up in one place to mob enemies. How do we prevent such behavior from happening?"

melotai

you all do know that melee types already do substantially more damage than ranged types already. To see this more clearly create a ranger of any type and specialize in ranged combat and you will find that your melee powers still do more damage than your ranged ones.


My GF is definitely not built to be the best DPS as I switched gears and decided I wanted a chicken warrior so he has all chicken based equipment from the April Fowls event including equipping the chicken augment companion which does not really do much for him and he is still somehow making the paingiver list in RTQ. At this point not even sure how that happens as I spend a lot of time just waiting or running around or reviving others during run.


My guess is that I am probably just taking someone elses spot as I am very sure that I have done so for healing with my GF and TR as I have noticed them in the #1 spot on occasion even though they have no healing abilities and there is just no way they did that much self healing during the run.


I actually do have the ability to increase his damage outpout by significant amount if I wanted but so far I am happy with the chicken theme so that does not happen.

rockster

Wow. RTQ is really unpopulated these days.