[SW] Festering arrow

[Avernus]

How does SW manage in WBs now?

Still better than WH...

[ShadowWar]

How does SW manage in WBs now?

Still better than WH...

We're clearly running in different WBs.

[agemennon675]

Are there any aSW players out there that think aSW rework was good ? It wasnt a popular spec before the reword and its not popular after, I never see aSW's in scs

As a RR85 SW main I love the assault rework. Then again, I solo roamed aSW for the last year or so anyways.

You are an example of the earlier comment on aSW fetishists. If the aSW post rework remains a peripheral irrelevancy that is a rework failure.

Devs stated that they were balancing the game around WB play and somehow here we have aSW ? I dont understand the logic really, it shines in solo roam yay!

[kioku]

The SW rework comes off as a hostile act.

The Skirmish line (that is supposed to be AOE in orientation) has been turned into a variant of Squig Quick Shootin mastery (mid-range single target), minus a pet that has no range restrictions, and no AP drain costs. The range restrictions and gutting of AOE means Skirmish SWs are basically food for Destro as the 65ft or 80ft range modeling means being in range of all Destro with range options, all the time. The Skirmish SW population has collapsed. It simply isn't competitive. This is a rework failure.

The Scout line (which seems where SWs that remain and were Skirmish before have shifted to) is designed around a backloaded Fester Arrow that is so long and weak no Scout SWs seem to use it at all. They simply spam Eagle Eye and Fell the Weak where appropriate. This is a rework failure.

The Assault line remains a fetish mastery. Of the very few aSWs that exist I think some like some of the changes, and dislike others. The reality however is aSWs have no integration with WBs. This means they are on the periphery of RvR and remain a solo, small-scale irrelevancy that is inferior to other mDPS. A mastery that is irrelevant is a rework failure.

Players vote with what they play. Have SW numbers increased or decreased post patch? Do we see large numbers of players talking about how great or exciting the rework SW is? The answers are damning of the SW rework Team. It is obvious none played SW as a main. It is rework by spreadsheet with no understanding of the class informed by a basic apathy toward their product and toward SW players themselves. It is shameful work.

SW mains are used to this by now. Playing this class, we're masochists.

[rorswar]

Devs stated that they were balancing the game around WB play and somehow here we have aSW ? I dont understand the logic really, it shines in solo roam yay!

They said no such thing. They said this in the previous patch:

“The priority of balancing in Return of Reckoning is set around group play, meaning any number from 6 all the way up to large scale fights in RvR.”

Assault performs perfectly fine from solo to 12 men play. We even run it in ST WBs in our guild, but the moment you start facing multiple WB blobs, it breaks down due to its single-target nature. However, every other single target class in our guild at that moment switches to AOE.

And that’s fine, as SW has three career trees.

Assault is a highly mobile hybrid single target, with a focus on melee, and excels in smaller scale.

Scout is meant to be a long-range single target sniping, and more stationary.

Skirmish is meant to be a mobile mid range single target or AOE.

[Farrul]

Btw Broadhead Arrow must be the most nerfed skill in the history of the server? It went from 100 feet, 3 x stacking, usable in assault stance, AOE tactic with slight to no (IIRC, i could be wrong) damage reduction.

You could say it's the most buffed as all of those were ROR buffs iirc,

I mean yea the range tactic could give more range for ST, like it used to give +50% when there wasn't current split arrows tactic if some1 wants to play ST skirmish and then add some exception that with split arrows it would only be +15ft ofc.

Hence why i specifically wrote '' in the history of the server ''.

Yes, the 15ft tactic that replaced 15% armor pen is a disgrace tbh, at least bring back the original 50% tactic for the ST application to all Skirmish skills, then AOE could have their own rules set for lower range.

But we're asking the devs to be fair and sensible here, and yet they didn't care and threw out the baby with the bathwater(ST skirmish).

Edit, removed since it won't link here on this page.

[Farrul]

Are they playable in the sense that one can use them, sure.

Have they been nerfed to a point, one can consider this as overall causing harm to the class. Absolutely. That is a completely fair thing to write.

Well, I believe things are not as clear cut as that.

A large part of the complaints regarding "harmful" changes are purely about numerical damage changes, especially regarding Skirmish. And while I do believe the devs could have handled it a bit more gracefully (in a way that does not hit the bottom and top performance of the spec equally), the changes did tackle the most glaring issue the spec had; significant overperformance near the spec's skill ceiling.

I also understand being upset at playstyle changes (e.g. Scout going from upfront burst to timestamp burst), but that was
a) something that the devs have done even on previously balanced specs/playstyles (see healer AM/Shaman career mechanic)
and
b) a necessity (for the Scout spec) due to how non-interactive the previous design was.

I will agree that it can be frustrating when a class whose playstyle one really enjoys gets changed in a way you don't like anymore, but clearly that is part of the balance team's vision to which we can only adapt to. Adapt, or swap to any of the other 2 specs or 23 different classes the game has to offer.
Right now a lot of threads are just filled with comments about refusal to even try to give the new playstyle a chance (we also see that for assault).
Which is a big shame because current Scout is actually very strong in group-play/scenarios.
Just in a different manner compared to before.

That is actually not true, they ''harmed' the class in several ways, by for example butchering defences for all specs (no more armor in assault, no more disarm, main defensive tools when under pressure, only added a short duration aoe detaunt that shares the same CD as the ranged detaunt SW must use to not die from SH, Magus etc). They removed the ''perma speed'' from Guerilla training and so on making the class less mobile, whilst losing defences.

Why are players pissed, because RDPS SH still has armor to fall back upon, has way better escape tools, i guess Teefz was involved in these balance descisions? . If you're going to murder a class like that, at least be fair and do it to both factions.

The main complaint about Skirmish was 0 cd spam of Lileath arrows with whispering winds, well guess what, that did not change.

What they actually did to Skirmish was to butcher all the ST builds, hybrid builds that players loved and enjoyed. AOE was an option on Skirmish, above all else it was the less damage but more mobile stance/playstyle, not exclusively AOE.

Did they do it due to neglect or maybe not full comprehension of the class, maybe a tunnelvision on what the spec actually was all about, listening to only a few selected people on the matter? Who knows, but the end result is all the same and that is why players of the SW class are pissed. It's not even my main class, and i am upset.

P.S. Ultimately what the devs did, is to lessen build diversity, which is equal of making the class less interesting and fun to engage with. Some may sugercoat it and defend those descisions, but i have been playing games long enough( even in professional settings) to know these are the true marks of a games decline. ( which i would like to prevent in RoR, since i care for it)

[Avernus]

Devs stated that they were balancing the game around WB play and somehow here we have aSW ? I dont understand the logic really, it shines in solo roam yay!

If there is no team member who plays scout or skirmish - you can always ask for destro mirror member for their opinion on things!