[Ironbreaker] Question

[Rebuke]

I think we will see a resurgence of IB viability later in the game when the power SM's dot tactics fall off and subsequently their DPS weakens

Azarael already stated he will take measures to prevent such a thing from happening; the SM dps dropoff that is, not the IB viability increase

[Glorian]

Be it Slayer, IB or Runi the 3rd Bitterstone Thunderers will enlist you in an instant.

[blaqwar]

I think we will see a resurgence of IB viability later in the game when the power SM's dot tactics fall off and subsequently their DPS weakens

Azarael already stated he will take measures to prevent such a thing from happening; the SM dps dropoff that is, not the IB viability increase

2 of the 3 SM dot tactics scale with STR, the only thing that doesn't scale is Potent Enchantments and Blurring Shock proc - the shock value (and the healing proc tactics, but the subject here is damage). It is true that as the stats increase, the STR, armor and resists go up some of the SM damage will stay static. A lot of it will increase though, because of higher STR contribution coupled with how low resists are capped and the fact that the career can always strip down the spirit resist to 0 (or almost). While an increase in armor would make the flat armor debuff of an IB be less valuable.

This is all theory anyway, the higher armor sets are far away and we don't even know what kind of an impact they'll have here on RoR. Besides, I'm sure we'll see plenty of career changes till then, most relevantly to aura tanks and IB/BG.

[GodlessCrom]

If armor values dont scale out of control as Aza has promised, then I think IB will be in a good place damage wise. Right now our dmg is fine IMO. I have no problems killing anyone/assisting kill anyone while still being tanky enough to guard an mdps. And anyone who has been in an Sc with Volgo knows that IB can smash face and not die. Warband scale Orvr can be a problem due to all the ranged dmg going around, but that's something all melee other than deftard snb tanks suffer from.

[blaqwar]

If armor values dont scale out of control as Aza has promised, then I think IB will be in a good place damage wise. Right now our dmg is fine IMO. I have no problems killing anyone/assisting kill anyone while still being tanky enough to guard an mdps. And anyone who has been in an Sc with Volgo knows that IB can smash face and not die. Warband scale Orvr can be a problem due to all the ranged dmg going around, but that's something all melee other than deftard snb tanks suffer from.

It feels like SM and IB are in a similar spot but with different synergies. While SM snyergises well with anything doing spirit damage (AM), bursty DPS that has an armor debuff (WL) or careers that have strong 5 second cooldown abilities (quite specific) and is capable of both being decently tanky cause of WoDS and being capable of decent burst, sustained damage and assist damage.

IB is better with careers that don't already have selfbuffs that the IB provides, physical damage dealers and anything that struggles with survivability but is very potent granted some (SL, WP). Survivability while dealing a decent amount of burst and damage doesn't seem to be an issue for the IB either, it just feels like they provide the group with even less utility than the SM, who is already a selfish tank compared to the aura tanks.

I think that once the aura tanks get nerfed the IB will require very little tweaking to be in a very good spot (will probably still require being good at keybinding and muscle memory tho).

[Azarael]

Besides, I'm sure we'll see plenty of career changes till then, most relevantly to aura tanks and IB/BG.

I'd say more on aura tanks than anything else. I stated that Knight and Chosen represent the last of the major reworks, and the target will the aura mechanic itself.