General Class Balance

[rxo]

Hey y'all!

Sorry, I tried googling this and did not find any up to date info...

Could anyone tell me how the overall class balance at the moment for all classes is at the moment? What is OP, what is too weak, what is balanced?

Thanks a lot if anyone can find the time to answer this

[illumin8ted]

Its important to understand the context of your question.

The game is generally balanced for group RvR.
Tanks will take a beating but not have the Damage output of DPS.
Having a healer with you will drastically improve survivability. But a healer on its own can be picked off.

DPS on its own, like a WE/WH will be able to pick off lone targets, but in a Warband setting or group fight, will melt instantly.

It also depends on your playstyle and situational awareness. Ranged Classes Like SH/SW or Magus/Eng can be powerful, but if you don't know when to back up will leave you vulnerable.
So this first question is what do you want to do?

[Culexus]

Based on reading many forum/discord posts on this topic, all class balance in this game falls into three distinct categories:

Class I can beat easily/can’t beat me = These classes are balanced. It’s my skill as a player that allows me to easily beat them.

Class I can beat but can also beat me = Fairly balanced. My skill allows me to overcome them, but some OP things need tweaking/removing to make them more balanced. See above.

Class that can beat me easily/I can’t beat = Broken as hell. Probably played by a dev or one of their friends. Needs a massive nerf. I would totally be able to beat them if it wasn’t for the fact that they’re so broken.

You will find that it’s mostly category three that’s discussed on the forum, usually immediately following from a death to such a class. Category two is also brought up when this happens, albeit less frequently. Category one is never mentioned because the classes in this category are already balanced so no such deaths occur.

Finding if the class you play is balanced or needs a buff is determined by how many of the enemy classes fall into the above categories. The more enemy classes that fall into category one, the more balanced your class.

TLDR; Most balance discussions in this game are massively subjective and based on player ego and emotion. As long as players die, there will never be balance. See current Rampage and GTDC for examples of what happens when they're listened to.

[Dackjanielz]

Based on reading many forum/discord posts on this topic, all class balance in this game falls into three distinct categories:

Class I can beat easily/can’t beat me = These classes are balanced. It’s my skill as a player that allows me to easily beat them.

Class I can beat but can also beat me = Fairly balanced. My skill allows me to overcome them, but some OP things need tweaking/removing to make them more balanced. See above.

Class that can beat me easily/I can’t beat = Broken as hell. Probably played by a dev or one of their friends. Needs a massive nerf. I would totally be able to beat them if it wasn’t for the fact that they’re so broken.

You will find that it’s mostly category three that’s discussed on the forum, usually immediately following from a death to such a class. Category two is also brought up when this happens, albeit less frequently. Category one is never mentioned because the classes in this category are already balanced so no such deaths occur.

Finding if the class you play is balanced or needs a buff is determined by how many of the enemy classes fall into the above categories. The more enemy classes that fall into category one, the more balanced your class.

TLDR; Most balance discussions in this game are massively subjective and based on player ego and emotion. As long as players die, there will never be balance. See current Rampage and GTDC for examples of what happens when they're listened to.

GTDC and rampage were disgusting and should of been dealt with a long long time ago.
The only complaint i have is that they still exist and should be deleted from history permanently.

[SJHarrison4115]

Shamans have been and always will be drastically overtuned... I actually feel this is the same for AM as well, but the shaman specific abilities tweak Shamans over AMs.

I mean, Gork Sez Stop is a ridiculous M1 and should at the very minimum be easily cleansible. But also a speed boost whenever you get hit along with an auto-detaunt....

Yeaaah... nah... hard for anyone to look at shaman (especially with how densely played they are) and not see them as being significantly overtuned.

Definetly I've got Order bias, but by and large, I do feel the Destro classes just play better, for a number of reasons specific to the career/class themselves.

A few stand-out differences.
DOK's Covenant of Celerity Snare whereas Warrior Priest has none, along with DOK dual wielding giving them a static +10% parry.
Chosen's spiritual damage over physical
Literally anything to do with the disgustingly overtuned Shaman.

Anyways... mandatory moaning completed, game is good fun.

[Nekkma]

The game is decently balanced for what it is, a group oriented game without mirrored factions. The only two classes I feel generally underperforming are magus/engi. From my perspective, good WEs and rSHs stand out as particularly deadly on destro side.

[Speedyluck]

the balance is like this: play ranged or a WL.

[Gladiolix]

Spoiler:

Based on reading many forum/discord posts on this topic, all class balance in this game falls into three distinct categories:

Class I can beat easily/can’t beat me = These classes are balanced. It’s my skill as a player that allows me to easily beat them.

Class I can beat but can also beat me = Fairly balanced. My skill allows me to overcome them, but some OP things need tweaking/removing to make them more balanced. See above.

Class that can beat me easily/I can’t beat = Broken as hell. Probably played by a dev or one of their friends. Needs a massive nerf. I would totally be able to beat them if it wasn’t for the fact that they’re so broken.

You will find that it’s mostly category three that’s discussed on the forum, usually immediately following from a death to such a class. Category two is also brought up when this happens, albeit less frequently. Category one is never mentioned because the classes in this category are already balanced so no such deaths occur.

Finding if the class you play is balanced or needs a buff is determined by how many of the enemy classes fall into the above categories. The more enemy classes that fall into category one, the more balanced your class.

TLDR; Most balance discussions in this game are massively subjective and based on player ego and emotion. As long as players die, there will never be balance. See current Rampage and GTDC for examples of what happens when they're listened to.

Very good summary from Culexus. Trying to be as objective as possible, I feel like the game is pretty balanced atm (pets are broken but thats a bug that effects balance, not balance decision in itself). All classes are viable (some classes have been nerfed recently and people feel discouraged but thats understandable) and playing mostly 2-12man, median being 6man, I can build an effective group on both sides with multiple combinations from classes.

[Fey]

You can still pull off racial 6 mans which makes me feel like the game is well balanced.

[storm]

@sjharrison4115 Archmage has always been more dps than shaman. And they don't get a speed boost every time they get hit. It is a 20% proc and the run time has been nerfed. Ap drain was also nerfed on both classes. The diamiter of puddles was nerfed. They had tactics taken away. Gork says stop is a very low damage tic. And maybe you should just stop?