Author Topic: Overlooked balance issues for casters  (Read 7843 times)

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Offline Calypso

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Overlooked balance issues for casters
« on: June 21, 2012, 09:39:32 pm »
I am still a newb, so forgive any blaring misunderstandings of how the game works. Having said that, I am hearing talk and reading threads concerning balancing the game out a bit more. That is wonderful. I think something ought to be done. But, most of the talk is about Casters being overpowered. In some respects, this is true but that is not taking into consideration some of the disadvantages casters have.


1. Focus Concerns

- None of the options for foci are without a timer (than manifested orbs which are next to worthless).

- There aren’t many choices for casters in terms of focus. Either you get a pike, or a staff… maybe an orb if you are that desperate.

- Neither the pike nor the staff can be obtained without the help of another player, for most non-gm casters in the game.  (Yes pikes can in theory be obtained by any caster class, but in practice it just doesn’t happen. The elephant is just too difficult of a mob for anyone other than the strongest players in game. So either they get a tank to help, and keep up their supply, or they ask a gypsy to get them a staff) So in order to obtain a weapon for themselves, casters rely on the help of others.


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2. Caster Imbalance

- The only caster class worth its salt is the Priest. I understand this is currently being worked on. But it seems to me that the way this balance is being solved is to nerf the only class that can stand its own.

- I see that a few spells were added to other caster classes to help balance that out. That is great! Maybe that will tempt people to try out those classes, and we can get even more input into how to achieve overall balance with the caster class itself.




I know balancing such complicated systems is difficult. I can't imagine the work that has gone into making the game as fun as it is now. Hopefully, with lots of input from knowledgeable players, we can continue to grow and progress.



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Offline Jaros

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Re: Overlooked balance issues for casters
« Reply #1 on: June 22, 2012, 05:41:57 am »
Good points Loria.

All I know is that when I was priest I felt invincible.  The only thing that could kill me was Balrog because I had heal, and with lightning I could do as much damage as I've done in any other class.  The elephant was a basically a cakewalk.  As any class without heal, the elephant takes a lot more time and concentration.  I'm sure a lot of people don't find it quite that easy, even as priest, but the imbalance has always seemed ridiculous to me.

That said, I know I always make a big deal out of 'nerfing' priests but that's just me and I am not the one doing the balancing.  In reality more effort has been put into making mage and esper worth playing than has been put into 'nerfing' priests, which is great.  You said yourself that only one caster class is worth salt.  Hopefully soon all three of them will be worth equal portions of salt.

The fact that every caster needs the same pike to be dangerous is worth talking about.  I think the difference between the pike and the next best option is too extreme.  The pool of foci is too small - we could do with a few more options between staff and pike.