Melee Worthlessness - The Biggest Balance Problem There Is

[Vaarsuvius]

I stopped reading OP after finding magician and OP in the same sentence...

Mages have no effing defensive spell or skill, aside from Gate.
No root, no mez, no slow, no charm, no rune, no fancy magic shield / hp buffer, no kick ass self buffs, no nothing

Just one pet that lacks proper hps to tank any serious mob. Nukes that are subpar compared to wizards', and about as good as druids'


Ignore the pet, kick the mage's teeth in, and you've won.

[xmaerx]

Originally Posted by Vaarsuvius [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I stopped reading OP after finding magician and OP in the same sentence...

Mages have no effing defensive spell or skill, aside from Gate.
No root, no mez, no slow, no charm, no rune, no fancy magic shield / hp buffer, no kick ass self buffs, no nothing

Just one pet that lacks proper hps to tank any serious mob. Nukes that are subpar compared to wizards', and about as good as druids'


Ignore the pet, kick the mage's teeth in, and you've won.

Invest in clickies, become a god. Clickies are all-powerful in this game.

[Vaarsuvius]

Originally Posted by xmaerx [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Invest in clickies, become a god. Clickies are all-powerful in this game.

Got some of them, but nothing game changing.

I can't think of many clickies that would make a mage half as good as a Shaman or Enchanter even without said clickies. Plus any useful item you might want to give your mage pet to give it some much needed oooomph will be lost, unlike those you can give a charmed pet and get back if you know what you're doing

And don't get me started about no pet raids... Yeah, Now all I can do is try & cast nukes that will hardly ever land since they're fire & magic based 👍👍

[coki]

Originally Posted by Vaarsuvius [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Got some of them, but nothing game changing.

I can't think of many clickies that would make a mage half as good as a Shaman or Enchanter even without said clickies. Plus any useful item you might want to give your mage pet to give it some much needed oooomph will be lost, unlike those you can give a charmed pet and get back if you know what you're doing

And don't get me started about no pet raids... Yeah, Now all I can do is try & cast nukes that will hardly ever land since they're fire & magic based 👍👍

A bag or two full of wooly-spider root nets!

[sajbert]

I just find that some classes (mainly nec and enchanter) are able to solo content, including attractive camps, that likely was intended for groups.

Then ZEM changes made dungeon grouping less attractive.

The result is that it's difficult to find groups for classes that need groups to get anywhere anytime before Green is done. Especially difficult for players playing on less populated time zones.

Sure, I'd love to twink a melee and solo my way but the cost to twink a melee is out of this world in comparison to what it takes to twink a caster. For the price of just one Fungi I could twink 4 enchanters with GGR+Jboots and the works.

Some of this is what EQ is but ZEM changes and other non-classic aspects certainly could be changed.

[Vaarsuvius]

Originally Posted by coki [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

A bag or two full of wooly-spider root nets!

You can't compare 3 charge spider nets to shamans' root that lasts for ages, slow, and DoTs

Any Torp shaman can handle a handful of blue con mobs with enough room to move, even summoning ones without a sweat. I'd never try and do that on my mage with more than a couple mobs and a dozen nets handy

[NPC]

Originally Posted by Vaarsuvius [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Got some of them, but nothing game changing.

I can't think of many clickies that would make a mage half as good as a Shaman or Enchanter even without said clickies. Plus any useful item you might want to give your mage pet to give it some much needed oooomph will be lost, unlike those you can give a charmed pet and get back if you know what you're doing

And don't get me started about no pet raids... Yeah, Now all I can do is try & cast nukes that will hardly ever land since they're fire & magic based 👍👍

Burnt wood staff

[Vaarsuvius]

Originally Posted by NPC [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Burnt wood staff

Got one too.

Between the staff and SS clickies, soloing is really a lot easier. One can farm cash cows for days spending hardly any mana....

[NPC]

Originally Posted by Vaarsuvius [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I stopped reading OP after finding magician and OP in the same sentence...

Mages have no effing defensive spell or skill, aside from Gate.
No root, no mez, no slow, no charm, no rune, no fancy magic shield / hp buffer, no kick ass self buffs, no nothing

Just one pet that lacks proper hps to tank any serious mob. Nukes that are subpar compared to wizards', and about as good as druids'


Ignore the pet, kick the mage's teeth in, and you've won.

When chain pet was working, meaning the pet dies as you summon another an the agro of the dead pet does not go to the caster, you could do some crazy things.
My earth 49 pet only costs 200 mana, w/ foci the possible hps depending on level 3250hp-3600hps. It take's me 1 min to med 200 mana back, as long as my pet doesn't die in 1 min, I could potentially do infinite damage. As you can keep summon a new pet every min if need be.OP? Yes
I can solo KC non-stop as my pet can solo most mobs, the pet might almost die, but by that time i've med back the 200 mana i used to cast him.
If i get involved i can take 2-3 at a time if need be. Also Malo plus earth pet root is actually really powerful for splits and CC, FYI.

[xmaerx]

Do any of these people play enchanters? They're the only class where you can properly control risk v reward in this game. Every other class is at the mercy of group setup. Yes, that makes them OP. No, it isn't free wins.

Enchanters are OP because they benefit the most from exploits. Condoned exploits, but exploits nonetheless. See: paci blurring pet, gcd reset, ToT duels, illusion-warping through doors, pre-cast clarity on rez, even things like GINA and audio triggers

Not to mention unfixable bugs like spell mem speed, which allow them to switch their loadout mid-fight super easily.

I imagine the game was probably balanced pretty well until people found ways to break it, many of which didn't come to light until Luclin save a select few who kept solid secrets.

Thankfully, this is a PVE game, not a PVP game, and class balance isn't designed class v class, it's designed class + class v mob. While it's possible to do a LOT of content with a pet zerg, it's NOT possible to tell your raid that everyone is required to play one. The incentive to utilize all of the melee gear alone will land people on melee classes. Which is pretty much how it works now.