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Nerfing wizards is always a bad move
c1k4ml3kc3
Member Posts: 1,257 Arc User
If you are playing as a wizard, you're bound to either play it extremely well or downright bad. Usually, there's no middle ground. The reason being - class is depending upon different stacks that a player needs to build and learning curve is pretty long until one such player figures out that even a few %dmg boosts will make an enormous difference.
Most Wizard players who are still playing and beating content are notorious for being among the best tinkerers in the game, familiar with mechanics and various ways to increase performance against each and every enemy type. This all comes with testing, of course, and experience. New players will believe the description and complain that someone with less IL made more Paingiver than them. But that's not the issue here.
The issue is that throughout the history of Neverwinter, no other class suffered such drastic changes in gameplay like Wizard did. And by drastic changes I mean Nerfs. All.The.Time.
MOD 1-2 resulted in severe nerfs to all Controlling options due to an outcry by PvP enthusiasts. Eventually, Wizard gameplay completely stopped being focused on Control.
MOD3 made Arcane singularity void to use ever since, and whenever someone uses it will sparkle joy. It is laughable at best to see a Wizard using Arcane Singularity. Again, no Control.
MOD 3-5 made Wizards into a Superman class, thanks to the way procs would work. Melee range Glass Canons. And this sort of a gameplay worked delightfully well. This is the way Wizards want to play this game and utilize procs by putting enemies on Icy Terrain. If you see Icy Terrain, you know that there's a Wizard around.
MOD 6 was a severe change of the entire gameplay and the lowest point for Neverwinter. It was like MOD16, but way worse. And I'm not even going to talk about it, but let's just say that it made all previous work, building, gear hunting etc completely void. May it never ever repeat itself.
Around this mod, Wizards were forever nerfed on their SpellStorm ability because of the way Lostmauth Set bonus worked, creating crazy amount of procs.
Around MODs 6-13 Wizard was playing more of a Support buff role, rather than DMG/DPS role, with the exclusion of Disintegrate/Ice Knife combo that's been utilized thanks to having around 20.000 Recovery and Players finding out that it doesn't really matter how much Power you have since other classes will put you on steroids, right. Which made the entire crazy 4support 1dps meta, where it only mattered who will hit faster and more (making GWF to be that one). What little options Wizard had around that time was using multiprocing and Paladin's Aura of Courage to remain somewhat viable.
Then when it became apparent that nerfing one class each time was stupid, entire MOD16 came into the play, with recovery out of the window and pretty much all Weapon Enchants being somewhat equal (with bilethorn overperforming, and Vorpal getting nerfed).
MOD16 made gameplay more enjoyable for a lot of people due to how classes compliment each other. Tanks do tanking. Healers do healing. Damage dealers tend to deal damage. Works is solid so far and what is VERY IMPORTANT is not to fall prey to previous mistakes made in the past.
In comparison to other classes, Wizards really have to work to build their %DMG boosts, be it with Arcane stacks or Chill stacks. Those are built slowly. By the time they are fully charged, any sort of a HEALER PALADIN already used 3-4 Bane in a manner of 3-4 seconds. By the time those stacks build up, a Smoke Bomb by Rogue already swiped the floor of any mobs around. By the time those stacks build up, Ranger already has DMG boost for free simply for being in either Melee or Ranged stance.
In a previous mod, Thaumaturge got nerfed to the point where it's not useful to play as one, at all. That should be changed, but not at the expense of Nerfing Arcanist path to oblivion. And Arcanist's Disintegrate got buffed. And now you want to nerf Arcanist. Makes no sense.
Things to avoid for a Wizard so far looks like this:
- Arcanist multiprocs shouldn't be a thing, unless a power procs of a first hit. If a power procs, it should be a Critical hit.
- Disintegrate shouldn't be the cornerstone of a Wizard build, and neither should be Repel.
- Thaumaturge powers should have some power that allows better handling of enemies.
- Oppressive Force deals way too little damage.
- Pretty much all CW powers are already dealing LESS magnitude damage in contrast to other classes that go up to 600-800 magnitude in Encounters!
Instead to focus on people who've been playing and beating content such as TOMM, and get information from such events, one should compare general content to see how well Mages perform under circumstances such as Scaled content, various Events, speed of casting spells, execution of said spells and their overall potency. TOMM should not be the medium to look at for making adjustments for the class as it is obvious that some players will excel at playing a specific class, whilst others will deal 3-4x less even with more offensive attributes.
Another thing to focus on is to allow people to actually get adjusted and used to a specific build, and DON'T DRASTICALLY CHANGE IT to the point where people should completely change everything they know or have used before simply to stay more viable. People already have enough issues to get accustomed to MOD16, let alone thing about what equipment they should get. This is putting people off the game, and various bugs and lag issues aren't helping. If small changes are going to take a place, that's a perfect way to go about it. If you are going to Nerf Arcanist path only to see it underperforming in next few mods based solely on TOMM performance of elite players, then you are doing something wrong, as that shouldn't be a thing to begin with. This entire game is not just one dungeon and using equipment such as Orcus set to actually deal damage SURELY can find way better utilization. If not, then what's the point of making all new gear and stuff if nobody's using it?
Most Wizard players who are still playing and beating content are notorious for being among the best tinkerers in the game, familiar with mechanics and various ways to increase performance against each and every enemy type. This all comes with testing, of course, and experience. New players will believe the description and complain that someone with less IL made more Paingiver than them. But that's not the issue here.
The issue is that throughout the history of Neverwinter, no other class suffered such drastic changes in gameplay like Wizard did. And by drastic changes I mean Nerfs. All.The.Time.
MOD 1-2 resulted in severe nerfs to all Controlling options due to an outcry by PvP enthusiasts. Eventually, Wizard gameplay completely stopped being focused on Control.
MOD3 made Arcane singularity void to use ever since, and whenever someone uses it will sparkle joy. It is laughable at best to see a Wizard using Arcane Singularity. Again, no Control.
MOD 3-5 made Wizards into a Superman class, thanks to the way procs would work. Melee range Glass Canons. And this sort of a gameplay worked delightfully well. This is the way Wizards want to play this game and utilize procs by putting enemies on Icy Terrain. If you see Icy Terrain, you know that there's a Wizard around.
MOD 6 was a severe change of the entire gameplay and the lowest point for Neverwinter. It was like MOD16, but way worse. And I'm not even going to talk about it, but let's just say that it made all previous work, building, gear hunting etc completely void. May it never ever repeat itself.
Around this mod, Wizards were forever nerfed on their SpellStorm ability because of the way Lostmauth Set bonus worked, creating crazy amount of procs.
Around MODs 6-13 Wizard was playing more of a Support buff role, rather than DMG/DPS role, with the exclusion of Disintegrate/Ice Knife combo that's been utilized thanks to having around 20.000 Recovery and Players finding out that it doesn't really matter how much Power you have since other classes will put you on steroids, right. Which made the entire crazy 4support 1dps meta, where it only mattered who will hit faster and more (making GWF to be that one). What little options Wizard had around that time was using multiprocing and Paladin's Aura of Courage to remain somewhat viable.
Then when it became apparent that nerfing one class each time was stupid, entire MOD16 came into the play, with recovery out of the window and pretty much all Weapon Enchants being somewhat equal (with bilethorn overperforming, and Vorpal getting nerfed).
MOD16 made gameplay more enjoyable for a lot of people due to how classes compliment each other. Tanks do tanking. Healers do healing. Damage dealers tend to deal damage. Works is solid so far and what is VERY IMPORTANT is not to fall prey to previous mistakes made in the past.
In comparison to other classes, Wizards really have to work to build their %DMG boosts, be it with Arcane stacks or Chill stacks. Those are built slowly. By the time they are fully charged, any sort of a HEALER PALADIN already used 3-4 Bane in a manner of 3-4 seconds. By the time those stacks build up, a Smoke Bomb by Rogue already swiped the floor of any mobs around. By the time those stacks build up, Ranger already has DMG boost for free simply for being in either Melee or Ranged stance.
In a previous mod, Thaumaturge got nerfed to the point where it's not useful to play as one, at all. That should be changed, but not at the expense of Nerfing Arcanist path to oblivion. And Arcanist's Disintegrate got buffed. And now you want to nerf Arcanist. Makes no sense.
Things to avoid for a Wizard so far looks like this:
- Arcanist multiprocs shouldn't be a thing, unless a power procs of a first hit. If a power procs, it should be a Critical hit.
- Disintegrate shouldn't be the cornerstone of a Wizard build, and neither should be Repel.
- Thaumaturge powers should have some power that allows better handling of enemies.
- Oppressive Force deals way too little damage.
- Pretty much all CW powers are already dealing LESS magnitude damage in contrast to other classes that go up to 600-800 magnitude in Encounters!
Instead to focus on people who've been playing and beating content such as TOMM, and get information from such events, one should compare general content to see how well Mages perform under circumstances such as Scaled content, various Events, speed of casting spells, execution of said spells and their overall potency. TOMM should not be the medium to look at for making adjustments for the class as it is obvious that some players will excel at playing a specific class, whilst others will deal 3-4x less even with more offensive attributes.
Another thing to focus on is to allow people to actually get adjusted and used to a specific build, and DON'T DRASTICALLY CHANGE IT to the point where people should completely change everything they know or have used before simply to stay more viable. People already have enough issues to get accustomed to MOD16, let alone thing about what equipment they should get. This is putting people off the game, and various bugs and lag issues aren't helping. If small changes are going to take a place, that's a perfect way to go about it. If you are going to Nerf Arcanist path only to see it underperforming in next few mods based solely on TOMM performance of elite players, then you are doing something wrong, as that shouldn't be a thing to begin with. This entire game is not just one dungeon and using equipment such as Orcus set to actually deal damage SURELY can find way better utilization. If not, then what's the point of making all new gear and stuff if nobody's using it?
True Neutral
Left the Game due to heavy Damage Control & Missing Spanish Language
12
Comments
I play all 8 classes and have been playing for 5 years.
Wizards had their day, and have been nerfed many times.
Warlock has been nerfed repeatedly.
Fighter nerfed a few times, notably around the time the OP was first released the fighter took a nerf. Why? Most likely to encourage people to run on the pally in the first place (permabubble anyone?)
Rangers up and down.
Tricksters up and down.
Cleric, yup, losing buffs, heals cut back some, nerfed more than my pally.
On what planet has the pally been so abused and kicked to the curb that he's been nerfed more than any other class? Pally lost permabubble. After years. The horror. We adjusted. Now pally lost some DPS and temp HP after years of running wild. Hardly hitting the pally in the gut with numerous nerfs.
My 24k Justicar pally does just fine on DPS and beats out (bad) dps players. I never expect him to come in close to any good dps. It's been a year. It's time to realize that the TANK isn't intended to be close in DPS.
Jokes aside, I agree that they should be more careful with these nerfs. Cryptic tends to exaggerate when they to it, and just make the nerfed thing worthless.
I've only been playing for roughly 2 yrs, and started with paladin, as that is what I have always played in other D&D games. I never felt as hamstrung in any of those other games like I do here.
I have been playing my warlock more, as he has been more fun lately. Actually he was more fun in mod 15. However, I haven't noticed the nerfs to warlock the way I have with my paladin.
My wizard is even more funner than either, but if hes getting nerfed I'll go back to focusing effort on finishing boons with the warlock.
I got a cleric too, but hes just been built, and is only level 6. See how he goes.
My rogue is just absolute garbage. I have no idea whats wrong with him,and haven't put any effort into figuring it out as he's just a farmer...
Paladin:
- MOD16 was a hard reset on all classes, and nearly everyone lost more than 90% of their overall damaging potential due to the way the new system works. You can't use it as an argument that Paladins received the worst nerf and I can't take you seriously with such a standpoint.
- Item Level is the worst way to define someone's capability in playing a specific class.
- Item Level is never going to be a reasonable comparison in any argument, ever, regarding two same classes, let alone two different classes such as Paladin and Wizard.
- I have been talking about things which predate the existence of Paladin, too. Perhaps you've missed that.
- Paladin's nerfs have never been severe to the point of the class being unplayable. I had no issues in going through any content with a Paladin.
- It really doesn't take a lot of skill to deal damage with a Paladin. It is VERY straightforward. Press button, bam, damage. The only downside is whether you want to deal DMG as a Healer and whether you can keep up with a speedy team of people who do not need to refill Divinity. Playing as a Paladin in that introductory map to Arcturia under Undermountain, spam Bane, win. Lose 10% of HP in total out of 150k-ish HP.
- Even if we take "nerfs" you talk about seriously, Paladin is still dealing amazing burst damage thanks to the continuous Bane uses and has a very potent single target Daily Divine Judgment with 1500 Magnitude damage, that also looks very cool when used. Bane with 240 Magnitude damage, using 100 divinity (out of 1000) per cast that can be spammed on every 0.5 sec with 0.3 sec casting time, AND it's also a RANGED attack. Wow, ok. Only other class that comes close to that is DPS Cleric just because they have a bit more variety in casting range.
- I've been able to complete all Watcher bosses with only one Paladin by my side, which should tell enough just how awesome Paladin class is and has been since it got introduced.
- GF/GWF can't provide Temp Shield and I will take Healadin over other tank options anytime. Two Healadins in a group? Yes, please. No, they won't overlap with temp shield if they practice when to cast.
- Current meta dictates having one Paladin in a group by default (Incoming and Outgoing healing).
All in all, Healadin has a very good damage and asking for more shouldn't be a thing. After all, you are NOT playing a dps class. Again, you are not playing a DPS class and Paladins are not the focus of this topic. I hope that with this being said (and shown in pictures) you realize that Paladins deal decent amounts of damage. Perhaps they do not have a lot of single target options or Divinity buildup, but that's not what this topic's all about.
I won't be telling you that a statement how Paladins somehow had it way worse than Wizards in all previous mods is valid because I sincerely can't see how you made that conclusion, but I will tell you that you are simply wrong in your approach because of the points I mentioned in the first few paragraphs.
Now, Wizard...
Wizard:
- Several spells that do not work properly and haven't been fixed despite people writing about this since the inception of MOD16.
- Weapon enchantments do not proc over several of Wizard powers, which sucks.
- AP gain doesn't work as intended on several powers, which sucks.
- Has to rely on Features and Mechanics to actually deal damage, which is how it used to be since MOD3.
- In-between all Encounters Wizard may only use an at-will. At-will that doesn't even proc a weapon enchantment, which sucks.
- Has the Weakest Magnitude encounters in total if we compare to other classes, with the exception of Disintegrate and Repel (both spells which were modified in MOD17, Disintegrate a bit buffed, Repel a bit nerfed)
- Had the actual POST MOD16 nerf to the damage of Thaumaturge paragon, which made entire paragon useless as a DPS path, but useful as a vacuum cleaner I guess. Nobody will play it unless there is a reason to utilize Rimefire smolder.
- Made AOE Wizard a very hard path to play as most AoE powers barely build any stacks, and encounter cooldowns are astronomical. Positioning + Execution of the powers + DMG stacks, by the time it's done, all other classes already did enough burst damage to leave a Wizard in dust. This would be especially evident in hi-end group compositions, and next to Barbarian, Ranger, Rogue or Warlock, Wizard would look like a baby elephant. Stuff like this happened before. I do not want it to happen again as I do not want to play a Support class that will give others 2% more damage with spells that don't even work properly or have a long casting animation that locks my character in one spot.
In conclusion:
I want both Wizard paragons (Arcanist, Thaumaturge) viable to use in end-game content, as well as everywhere else in the game since the hard reset and reduction of skills across the board made things way more simpler, this shouldn't be hard to achieve and that's the whole concept of the topic.
But everything changed when the Mod16 attacked.
I truly miss my old wizard builds, i wasn't a master but i could hold my own against some big bads the game had. I was a down right versatile Arcane machinegun who could adapt to most situations.
Now i am like a tub of Icyhot. My foes feel the burn and freeze but it takes them a moment to notice.
I legit thinks there is someone on the Dev team who hates wizard players given the whiplash we keep getting. Our Roles have shifted repeatedly, from controller, to debuffer, to demi-gods, to papper bags of dynamite to '2 flavours of DPS but don't get too comfortable with it because we keep changing you.' Thaumaturge used to be the better of the 2, now Arcanist is, but can we trust it to stay that way? Is this some scheme to sell lots of Respec tokens.
i am just so tired sometimes. I just want to play, i just want to have fun. Not go through job retraining with every damn module.
I too wish to be recreated, and to be loved long after my death.
Point 1: DYNAMIC CHANGES OVER THE YEARS MADE WIZARDS VETERAN PLAYERS
Continuous nerfs throughout the years and with each few mods resulted in Wizard gameplay to considerably shift away from what was "standardized" solely for the sake of the Wizard to remain viable. Using whatever tricks to remain viable and deal damage, which was pushed forward by various players without their realization of the future and what that future held. Removing a stat such as Recovery is the evidence enough, and evidence that I will present to anyone who starts to overuse any sort of a power/skill to get ahead. Let's call it - inherently rotten skill.
For a wizard that meant - using atypical builds for the sake of dealing typical damage that other classes received by default. Despite developers providing us with Control-rich artifacts and similar, there was no point to use them at all. This led to DPS wizards solely and it is what stick around.
Problem is - With a Wizard it was always extra work to do to deal damage in contrast to button mashers/holders. That eventually changed with the combo of Ice-Knife and Disintegrate in contrast to Recovery and I can't think otherwise but to think that Recovery went out of the picture thanks to that duo that's been bugging me for a long time and that has been the most atypical of Wizard powers to date. Reducing a Wizard to Single Target damage is what essentially shouldn't happen. That is what happened with Arcanist. That is what happened back when people were able to spam Disintegrate and Ice Knife.
That shouldn't happen. That shouldn't be a thing. That's not a Wizard. That's not fun. And that should be fixed, however not at the expense of making a Wizard weaker or in order ways useless in combat due to the long casting animations or long casting whatever.
Point 2: SMALL CHANGES ARE EVERYTHING FOR A WIZARD, BIG ONES DESTROY PARAGONS.
Since Wizards will be using various "tricks" to remain viable, any change that's not carefully examined will have horrible consequences for the entire DMG potential of a Wizard. One of such tricks was utilizing a Fey Enchantment to gain more Paladin's Aura dmg based of personal HP. I'm strongly against such "tricks" and I prefer a game where I personally deal damage based on my own performance, rather than someone's use of Features. And I'm glad this is done with and that it's not a thing anymore.
Dealing with "tricks" was absolutely horrendous during previous mods because by disabling specific procs, for instance, resulted in Wizards losing way over 30% of overall damaging potential in spite of Developers doing the right thing at the time.
There is this particular, lingering problem/issue. Nerfs over the years made wizards to rely too much on "tricks" to remain viable to the point where their own gameplay drastically changed.
To clarify my standpoint, I can't blame either Players nor Developers for changing or modifying what Wizard was or is right now, as it is apparent that the whole process was a set of dynamic changes that obviously NEVER stopped for the duration of five years. However, I want to stress out that due to the "ease of use" that was promised by Developers at the start of MOD16, constant changes to Wizard's gameplay shouldn't be a thing at all. So far two mods, two MAJOR changes to a Wizard class resulting in one paragon being unplayable and the other getting nerfed. Although they appeared small on paper, they were enough to make people switch from Thaumaturge to Arcanist. And it was THAT easy. Although slightly expected as MOD16 couldn't possibly figure it all out how it's gonna play, this is still a thing that we, Wizard players, do not want to experience anymore. We do not want to play a DYNAMIC class that changes with every two mods that we have to rethink from scratch how to play or adapt to a situation. Adapting to new enemies is one thing, but relying on TRICKS to remain available or viable is not a thing that should be promoted anymore. That has to stop.
Ray of Frost / Envenomed Artifact:
I will give an example on how much it would affect Arcanist to simply change one At-will and an Artifact that's commonly used just to show how easy it is to "adjust" and completely turn upside down a Wizard.
In case Envenomed Artifact was nerfed to not produce that much AP gain or by the time it becomes obsolete, there will be no dailies that allow faster use of skills, and this artifact is one of the "Tricks" that make Arcanist what it is now. Arcanist is AP hungry monster and the only way to make him perfect is to give more AP as Recovery's missing. However, that still takes someone who knows how the class works and when to use such powers to get ahead on DPS charts. Having fast recharge means nothing if you don't know how to use it.
In case ticks for Ray of Frost increase from 0.5sec per tick to 0.8sec per tick, that effectively changes Wizard damage by around 5% in total for a run that's around 40-45 mins as things such as Storm Spell also diminish in a longer run since their proc is used less. You'd think that such a small and apparently insignificant change wouldn't make a huge difference for a Wizard in regular content and you would be completely right! However, in Hi-End groups such small changes can be considered big changes since the overall potential diminishes greatly. And this potential is even more diminished in case more power/damage/whatever gets introduced later.
As such, should END-GAME content be a role model for everything else in the game?
This is why TOMM shouldn't be used as the defining factor, as having +/- 10% damage in contrast to other classes is actually a very small and insignificant difference that can be attributed to either an artifact, more knowledge of ppl who play as a Wizard, Ranged use, positioning, being a veteran player etc which usually is the truth! HRs have to follow Halaster. Rogues too, Barbarians too. And in 3rd phase it is obvious that Wizard will get ahead, since Tiefling class already deals more damage to enemies below 50%, and Orcus set bonus is rather generous at around that point of enemy HP. With Wizards specced as AP monster, it's no wonder that some get ahead!
In fact, Developers buffed up Disintegrate not that long time ago and that effectively equates to that 10% increase in damage in total in comparison to other classes, which for a 20-30min TOMM run isn't really much and can be defined as having maybe one or two more dailies than other class thanks to a heavy orientation to AP gain, for instance, which Arcanist Wizard needs and others might not care about.
In my runs of TOMM I had done more damage than most Wizards I've played with in spite of them having 70.000 more power. Don't exclude the factors such as loadouts, preparation and knowledge of the class. Those are very important and can make a huge difference in the hands of a skilled player.
Waiting on preview to make concerns known is not a wise idea. I have done testing for preview, they often aren't listening to us at that point. Devs are pressed, overworked and make not give a HAMSTER that wizard-McWizardface is having a tough time in the preview testing forums. They got deadlines and a publisher breathing down their neck. MimicKing even had to make a huge apology post because of how hard us Preview testers were ignored. We brought up concerns that were only fixed nearly a month after they were brought up on Preview.
It will be easier for the devs to make the right decision first time round than spend months fixing it. It will be better for players to get good feats and satisfying performance and not months of frustration and gossamer hopes that things will get better. It will be better for the company if a bunch of long time players and steady spenders don't jump ship because they are tired of being jerked around.
We don't complain because it is fun, this isn't the highlight of my day, i complain so the game i love doesn't go away.
I too wish to be recreated, and to be loved long after my death.
Due to this, difference between experienced and non-experienced players is immense since MOD16 and having more power doesn't guarantee that you will deal more dps even though your encounters will hit harder.
There are a lot of Wizards with BiS gear and way over 200k Power who will pale in comparison to a Wizard that's an experienced player and has way less Power, but can deal far more damage. Just because one class can outdish a lot of damage in a single dungeon doesn't suddenly make everyone playing it properly introduced to wizard mechanics.
This logic behind something like "Wizard deals most dps = Wizard ez class to master" <- That's just not how it works and there are other factors that define why the performance of Arcanist is big.
My prediction is once again correct, as Developers won't stop nerfing the class playing pong with these two paragons instead to simply buff up other classes and leave Wizards as they are. Instead to actually figure out which powers overperform, entire Arcanist received an equal 50% nerf to everything that was used. This was done without thinking of the consequences. Entirety of Arcanist Wizard feats have been halved by 50%. At this point it is obvious that MOD16 didn't succeed to become a ground to build a new and better game with amazing class balance, but instead what we see here is repeating THE SAME MISTAKE like so many years ago. And over and over again.
As such I think that leaving the game should be the most logical (and correct) thing to do, both for me and my friends and family.
I don't play the my healadin, because he died why too fast when doing campaigns post mod 16(I had everything done before mod 16 released, and had my healdin in a good place). I guess my complaint is the tank needs a dps boost, as he can't hold aggro without running out of divinity when in groups where everyone else has 30% more power than my pally does. It's not fun being accused of "not doing my job" when all the dps classes are so overpowered in comparison that I can't hold aggro.
I have been playing my warlock, and wizard more lately, as they need to finish all the boons. The wizard is by far the easiest class for me to play. He only has r10 bondings, one legendary mount, and one legendary comp, and he just kicks HAMSTER. I usedtacould feel that way about my pally in mod 15.
The warlock is only just slightly slower at killing things than the wiz even with r14 bondings.
I think what annoys me the most about my pally is he has the most time, and real cash invested in him, and playing him has gotten stale, and frustrating since mod 16. I started the undermountain campaign with my wizard, and I have 5 steps in the campaign to go, with only 4hrs of total time in. My pally on the other hand took about 9 hours to complete it. My warlock did it in 7, at the earliest available IL he could start the campaign.
Are you healadin or tank? Both? My healadin was way more beastly than my justicar since I didn't have to focus on defensive stats as much. But I still ran through the majority of M16 and all M17 on tank mode. Justicar walked through all solo content with barely over 105k power and no issues.
As far as holding aggro, I'm holding it fine everywhere, including in ToMM where the DPS have well over 70k+ power on my tank. All about the powers you've slotted and managing divinity, yeah it is a pain but it's not impossible at all. If you're spamming smite you're going to run out of divinity.
In my first or second post I've written just how much hard it was to main Wizard through all those years of constant nerfs and constant changes. I've noted changes that I know of and I remember the history of changes to some degree. I've rarely, if ever, played meta, which was the only way to come on top as a Wizard throughout all of those mods. If you consider my statement faulty, I'd really need that you show more arguments than "ppl who don't main Wizards switched to them and say it's ez" and "my guild has the best wizards" and "wizard is a spam fiesta".
Let me just show you why such an approach is wrong and faulty for a moment:
- "PPL switched to a Wizard" <- Not only is this 2nd or 3rd hand speech, but this shows that such people do not main Wizard regularly. That is what I got from you. If a Wizard is that easy to play, why they do not main it throughout the years?
- "To beat TOMM" <- Which tells that heard that Wizards overperform and have desperately tried to beat it by switching to a class that performs better in contrast to others that do not perform as well for the given content. Keyphrase here is content, as I'm sure that in other content their classes can outperform a wizard just fine. Furthermore, if they are playing other classes instead of a Wizard just for the sake of dealing more damage, it shows that Wizard was not their main option as it didn't do enough damage to begin with, from which one might conclude that Wizard was underperforming in their opinion rather than something down the line of "they didn't like the class" (which is a more common option). It could also mean that they had Wizards, but dropped them because Wizards sucked for a very long time as a main DPS toon.
- "You won't find people who won't say that Wizard is a spam fiesta" <- In that case they are all completely and utterly wrong, as Wizard is far from a spam fiesta. Wizard needs precise encounters in precise moments to deal precise damage in order to be viable and stay ahead. Wizard who just presses buttons randomly and spams encounters randomly will pale in coparison to a skilled Wizard. You don't just switch to a class and randomly spam buttons, and if you play Neverwinter like that you will underperform horribly even with this overly nerfed system of mechanics... The only time when you can "spam", so to speak, is during the Daily encounter use of Arcane Empowerment, but even at that point you want to use it in the optimal scenario when you can deal optimal damage and not before that. That is the only viable strategy in my opinion. If you use a daily to randomly spawn without having the optimal amount of buff stacks, you will underperform horribly. For a lot of Wizards who do main this class, the only way to play is to be optimal in all scenarios. This is a discipline Wizards rely upon to stay ahead in most scenarios. This discipline exists out of spite towards constant nerfs. People want to play Wizards regardless of just how much this class is nerfed. Playing a Wizard requires you to be observant of all things that happen around you, so that you can figure out the best strategy on the spot and adapt to the situation without loosing your buff momentum. Especially for the Arcanist path that I mained even during the recent Thaumaturge being the most optimal case scenario, until it got nerfed and became useless. Now, ask your "guildies" why they do not bring Thaumaturge to TOMM if the Wizards are that strong. Let's see just how hard it is to play a class that severely underperforms because, guess what, you have it today right with Wizard class. Imagine that, kind Sobi.
- 10% nerf of what?
- "there is ofcourse a difference between a average to a skill ceiling wizard but no where as much as other classes"
Ahaha, an average Healadin with one Polar Bear Cub can dish out great heals (given they critically strike, but it can be spammed and it gives temp HP) with one 12120 Crit Strike necklace, 3x Bondings r13, and a few 1010 items from ME that nearly everyone has been doing for 6 months now. In fact, these can perform so well that they are already LOMM friendly. With 3x r13 and 1x 12120 you have 65448 Critical Strike already, loosing only 10908 Critical strike in comparison to r15s if I'm not mistaken. With current companion equipment an increase from r13 to r15 is around 15.3846%, which makes an average player already rather viable and cheap to maintain. 5% per Bonding Runestone Rank is exactly 2.46913666667% Stat Increase (consider it 2.5%, but it is slightly less). So, one Gold Icon is 12120 Crit, say Pally has 2x gold icon and only r13s that's 130.896 Crit Strike right there, without counting any other gear, companion buffs or similar.
You know what that means? Remains VIABLE as a class for at least 4-5 mods based on that only. Can just focus on HP/Outgoing healing and even DPS lol. and that's with the currently available gear, I don't even go into what new mods might bring for the Healadins.
Now, I challenge you to find me an average Wizard that can use 1x (or 2x) 12120 Companion gear and remain viable for the next 4-5 mods. You see, this is the reason why you can't compare healing classes with DPS, like this guy in the topic that wants his Paladin to deal as much damage as a Wizard, if not more lol. And when you say classes, you have to be specific because DPS/HEAL/TANK are all very different in terms of viability and their "starting" points for what they are sought to do in the content the play.
I speak about LOMM because I consider that the average player playground in terms of just how soon you can enter it without even having the optimal gear etc and finish it in approx 20-25mins.
When I ask for players to play with me, I only invite people I know can play good regardless of their item level, and even at that point I never look at person's Item Level since it tells nothing of their ability to play a certain class. If you are good in this game, you will have no issue to play any class, and tbh it's not that hard. The sooner you drop whole "Item Level is important", the sooner you will learn what this game is all about. As for the item level to get to certain content, that's not hard to do at all. Might take you some time to do it, but that's all there is to it. That is the reality of the game and you seem all too innocent. Many experienced players have been over this numerous times and I'm sure that there are people who invested well over $2.000 only to have their class completely reworked to the point of unavailability. Speaking of which, the only real advice I can tell you is this - If you are going to invest in your toon/character, be sure that you can win it back before the changes hit the table. Meaning, be sure that you can play and get most out of it by constantly going into dungeons, doing content that gives AD/RAD, having a team of people who feel/play the same and learn a bit when and in what to invest and how. That way you won't feel like you wasted money on a class and, laso, it's an important lesson to learn - don't have high hopes.
But, as others have said, Wizard/CW has NOT been more frequently nerfed or neglected than many other classes.
At no point has CW ever been considered useless or completely unwanted in groups. It has been strong. It has been weak. It has been ridiculously OP. But never useless.
Took would argue that Vanguard Fighter/Protector has been the single most gimped/neglected/useless class/paragon in the entire game's history.
"No Nerfs". Agreed.
But "sympathy for us poor CWs"?
Nah. You guys have it good.
I am Took.
"Full plate and packing steel" in NW since 2013.
For example:
2. Again that assumption. No, maybe people liked the long time playstyle of other classes better, or like shown above difference in DPS didn't matter to failure or success on that level, personal timing, and buffs did. Or maybe, in addition players didn't need to swap to something better, you can solo everything as is, or with support. So why invest into a swap?! As compared to other classes, for example TR, DPS DC, CW is much easier to play, Much more spam, much more easier time on target, and much easier timing. People swapped to CW to be top dps, not to be a joke, Arcanist is the strong path currently, this is false argument or actually not even an argument, just a deflection. Obviously the topic is arcanist. I can easily do LoMM with mod 16 gear TR, with no stat enchantments (removed), some lower rank vorpal and that same companion gear from MEs.
Yet, it costs 'a bit' more in companions, insignia, and enchantments to have a paladin working for ToMM, especially with less experienced group.
The cost is in power, and well, 130k Crit is laughable for tomm. I challenge you to find anyone who is viable with all their gear from mod 13.. Yet same as DPS still use some hunts gear, so can others, it doesn't take much to get LoMM done for dps, and you can't go half naked as healer, the heal check will kill everyone. Simple as that. I believe the comparison is for dps classes, as in DPS DC.
I don't know where the Healdin came from
Just like I don't expect my wizard, or warlock to be able to tank, which is why they are built for dealing damage at the greatest range possible.
Are you suggesting that 130k crit strike is too low? Where do I find the info that tells me how things like crit strike affect heals, or damage? This is a game, I shouldn't need a PhD to figure out how to play my toons.
I've resigned myself to the fact that I won't get into ToMM with any of my toons until sometime in mod 18, or even as late as mod 19. Most of the people looking for groups on Xbox don't wanna take time to help a new guy thru it, not like with LoMM...