What's The Development Philosophy On Melee Being So Much Stronger Than Everything Else?

[EuphoricAnguish]

I'm not trolling, this is an honest question, and since I'm new to the server I thought I'd ask.

What is the reasoning behind melee DPS being flat out better than ranged DPS in every aspect of the game? The only people who pretend it's otherwise are people abusing the imbalance. If this weren't the case, every organized warband wouldn't consist of 6 tanks, 8 healers, and 10 MDPS (maybe with a token Engineer, Wizard, Magus, or Sorcerer).

[Aethilmar]

I notice you didn't say they were a winning warband with that comp ...

[diegomess]

melee needs to be close, ranged can kite and still they do insane damage, in city i guess melee is op yea but anywhere else ranged is pretty much fine even solo roamers (that knows how to kite)

[abezverkhiy]

As a WH my win/lose rate is:
Healers
Tanks
Mdps
Rdps

Rdps cause me most headache.

I do not know what class you play but it may be that you need to revisit your playstyle. If you are rdps look at Billpullman magus, Relife shammy, Maccc SH to name a few.

[mynban]

Everytime I see Teefz, I have a 'oh boy' moment. Because I know either I will dispatch him real quick or he will melt us.

Also you are wrong on WBs being built on 10mdps. Real composition is 10 AoE mdps. So your real answer lies in "AoE". And before you ask "then why not magus/engi/BW", it is easier to keep guard on mdps and still be in fight for tanks (instead of babysitting rdps on backline).

[malmar]

Another big advantage of aoe mdps is that they don't need to assist, just stay together and aoe. In pug sc it's rare to see rdps assisting each other. Much easier on mdps. Premades with rdps that assist just melt people.

[paperclipdog]

Who the **** brings TEN dps.
You bring 8 dps, 8 tanks, 8 healers. The only deviation from that is when you have a 3 rdps st group.

City: 1 BW/Sorc/Magus, 3 Aoe mdps, 4 st mdps.
Mdps are easier to coordinate and largely better at melting healers. (rSH+Sorc combo being the exception and harder to guard/coordinate)
Killing healers is how you snowball a fight into a wipe.

Orvr: Bomb wbs just bring 8 aoe dps and you want fast ramp-up time. Imo this makes Magus, Engi, SW less desireable. So all you're left with is Sorc/BW and mdps.

Other orvr groups will have a great time with rdps tho, like gank groups and those that want to actually siege and kill oils on outer wall against opposition.

SC: for SC groups you have the same issue once again: Mdps are easier to guard and easier to coordinate + some SCs are so tiny that rdps can't even kite anywhere. But with rdps you can play 3 dps setups that will be very difficult to deal with if played properly.

[Wraithedge]

It does seem like there is a preferred play-style and that range is discouraged.

Range is nearly impossible to maintain unless there is some situation that forces WBs to be immobile (like a Keep or a BO tick) and those provide cover wherein melee don’t even have to engage if they don’t want to do so.

For Keeps, the walls and door’s are just time sinks before it goes all melee all the time. If supported tanks choke the entrance no amount of RDPS can move them or even hurt them. Its not like the RDPS just have to play well to blast through, they just can’t do it. But those tanks can push out and decimate the RDPS even if they have the very same kind of support.

In any situation where all parties are mobile and even vaguely equal, RDPS will get eaten by melee every time.

Melee is capable of impenetrable defense and as soon as defense is no longer a priority, they can smash Ranged who can’t really get away.

It is very much like the decision was made at some point that Ranged classes were really just going to be support and not very necessary. As if someone said “we don’t want range to determine anything really, if you want to win, you have to fight face to face. We don’t want people being killed at range but Ranged classes can be there to help out the Melee classes, I guess.”

If you wanted ranged to become scary again, give them a way to target healers even through a wall of immortal melee.

That one change would allow ranged classes to contribute again without changing anyone else. Healers get harassed and harried rather than being able to sit back and provide unbroken support. Tanks get to actually take some damage and die when just standing in range. Melee sees their guard dropping as the tanks go away.

That one change would make standing in range for periods of time dangerous again and give ranged something meaningful to do.

[Omegus]

You're also dealing with a game where the map design is mostly 2D/flat (random obstacles not withstanding which makes it difficult for RDPS to find good positions or set up. Keeps are the noticable exception to this. If there were more bridges/overhangs etc without everything just being a straight line from A to B then you might see some more variety in comps and play styles.

Between that and Guard being such a vital ability to keep people alive, static RDPS have it hard in a lot of situations.

[Satirico]

The only problem I see with it are the WH/WE classes that have high damage and high scape abilities. These 2 classes are extremely unbalanced and broken and giving them armor debuff, leap and stupid long invisibility made the class worse for the health of the pvp.