Return of Reckoning

I mained all destro tanks before moving to order and playing IB for a while made me realise how deeply flawed the class is. I am sure most of you are familiar with Earthcake's essay on time and before I played the class I thought to myself that he is just overreacting but he is 100% right. Playing an IB is a constant dilemma of which skills you want to use or whether you want to do damage or give utility, what I have noticed is that there is simply not enough time in the rotation for an IB to actually use their great damage capability and their punt is the worst single target punt in the game. The class naturally works well with KOTBS but if I had to pick only one tank for my group it would always be kotbs because he can do so much more passively which allows him to focus on positioning and punting (with their much better punt).

I would allrdy be rly glad if they could increase the duration of IB self/oathfriend SINGLE TARGET buffs to 20 sec...

While i get your point, and it is often times a source of frustration, when i want/need to do dmg, but the buffs ran out and now i need several global cooldowns just so my oathfriend doesnt die and can do dmg ... buuuut ... on the other hand thats actually what appeals to me in this class. there is no clear cut - brain afk rotation. you constantly have to monitor the fight, your mates and the situation in general. have to actively make decisions what do do next / or next 10 seconds and react. One can make the class way easier with macros (nerfed buttons) but thats also the reason i decided no to use it.
The only thing personally dont like is how unhandy it is to generate/manage grudges if im roaming solo. But ... the main argument here would be "its not a solo game" so that one is on me.

What j2low said also makes sense. I often times wished for those to be longer, but im not sure if it wouldnt tip the ballance.

Valok wrote: ↑Fri May 21, 2021 3:11 pm While i get your point, and it is often times a source of frustration, when i want/need to do dmg, but the buffs ran out and now i need several global cooldowns just so my oathfriend doesnt die and can do dmg ... buuuut ... on the other hand thats actually what appeals to me in this class. there is no clear cut - brain afk rotation. you constantly have to monitor the fight, your mates and the situation in general. have to actively make decisions what do do next / or next 10 seconds and react. One can make the class way easier with macros (nerfed buttons) but thats also the reason i decided no to use it.
The only thing personally dont like is how unhandy it is to generate/manage grudges if im roaming solo. But ... the main argument here would be "its not a solo game" so that one is on me.

What j2low said also makes sense. I often times wished for those to be longer, but im not sure if it wouldnt tip the ballance.

I agree with you here, I dont use NB for the same reason you mentioned but yes it is possible to reduce the button numbers that needs to be pressed via NB

Valok wrote: ↑Fri May 21, 2021 3:11 pm thats actually what appeals to me in this class. there is no clear cut - brain afk rotation.

Hit the nail right on the head. The class is not broken. The class has too many good things and requires making split second decissions.

Yes, IB could use some longer lasting ST buffs. It would more fun for some (which is experience related). Also since all the short buffs are ST, it would not impact rvr/warband play by much. Basically it would give you the change to do your best utility while also still throwing in a nice offensive ability or two.

No, the class is not broken. If you do the timeline for a 10 second rotation, it is just enough to throw all buffs in there. What 15 second buffs would give would be the chance to throw in a few offensive abilities. Lets be honest, the best improvement it would be for would be 2H spec, where dps is important; and that's fine. We live in a post-WP/DoK dps spec buffs, I think there should be no shame in asking for an improvement in utility DPS specs.

BUT. There is a big issue in regards to how you present the problem. It's like asking a genie for a wish. You have to be very, very specific. Do generic requests for balance and well... You might regret it.

This is something we have on the list, not for IB specifically, but about the overall efficacy of Group/ST buffs.

Cool, more balance.

If i had a third hand I'd play IB/BG in a heartbeat, looks so much fun.

Once the adjustments to auras drop the distance between kotbs/chosen and the other tanks will shrink. I've posted multiple times on the chronic IB whine threads. It's a difficult class to play, but perfectly viable for a skilled player.

Volgo called Punishing Knock, "the best tactic in the game," and he's not far off imo.

No matter how good you are, you cannot beat time.
You are doing less as an IB than the other tanks if you want to provide some kind of utility.

Being a proplayer won't make you use more skills than the others in the same period of time.