Paladins have become unbearable, and even Gunbreakers too. Ninja and Monk as well. I don't waste time attacking them with my dragoon anymore, not until every single ranged on the other side is dead.
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I played a few games today (DRG). While I'm still not the main character as a melee, I don't need to be nearly as cautious as I was before and feel comfortable moving towards the top of the attack. As long as I play somewhat competently, I feel like I'll be able to stay alive and reach BH5 much easier.
I've seen a lot more melees now thinking they're the new SMN, but they're not very good at fighting so they're defeated pretty easily, even with their damage reduction. It's not making bad melees and tanks better, just longer to kill.
Humm my compalint is not that I am getting killed by other melees. The issue is that now some of them take so damn long to kill that it has become tedious. Any melee class that has goood sustain abilities take way too long to kill now.
Was this referring to me? My post wasn't a reaction to anything in particular that you said but my initial impressions.
I'm withholding my final verdict about the changes until I have a lot more experience with it. It hasn't been 24 hours, and we didn't even see traces of collective SMN counterplay until a few weeks ago. If I'm going to call for change, I want a thorough understanding of it.
I think the current strategy would be for everyone as a team to prioritize tanks and melees and take them out of the picture early. A lot to ask for, I know, considering the average skill level of a Frontlines player, but no one can survive getting wailed on by an entire alliance.
You have to think this way, prior to this batch, everyone die from CC lock and literally cant react.
Now all damages got tune down, people will have a chance utilize their kit.
No more blind kill, you need to pay attention to target's condition and cooperate with other DPS in order to secure a killl.
That is the good of it. The bad of it is that melee jobs that have decent sustain now take so long to kill it's not even worth it. It has become incredibly tedious, and tedious is not good in a game. It looks and feels awkward.
The consequences of the changes go very deep. It's not simply a 20% cut in damage taken. It's 33%, and this reduced damage helps melee jobs bridge the gap between the next use of their self-heal / shield / immunity period, which means that they now last considerably longer than 133% of how long they lasted before, especially if it's a job rich in shields, self heals, and immunity periods.
I haven't played much in the past few days, but I'm curious as to whether people will realize that it's simply much better to pick a melee job than a ranged one right now. The tables have turned completely.
SE literally did what they asked them to - melee made overpowered so they can just mindlessly leeroy in, SMN thrown into the garbage bin. I think FL is pretty miserable right now, but that just kind of reinforces that players often don't even know what they're asking for.