Gunbreaker gameplay hope and expectations

[Izsha]

The problem for the reasonable debate about nerfing war (not the exaggerated war hate for hates sake) is a difference of philosophy. Points that show up in virtually every war op post is the same.

1. war is better than all the other tanks at everything
2. due to that fact there is no 'space' for a new tank to have a 'niche'. (Ie war has best snap aggro so new tank has to do something else better than war thus power creep)

Therefore based on those two statements the only solution is to nerf war and anything else is just war apologetics.

What I feel that camp fails to see is that entire structure requires the acceptance of niche as a requirement. I (and other war 'apologists') simply reject your assumption that tanks need a niche as described in this thread.

Why does war need to trade something for snap aggro when we could just give pld, drk, and gun dps neutral snap aggro? Having only 1 tank that is capable of pulling sounds boring, limiting and not fun. No tanks 'niche' should be grabbing a monster because that is a fundamental tank function. Not a war function. Why in the world you would want to restrict snap aggro to a single tank is absurd to me. So dont. Support every tank being as good as war in snap. "But power creep!" Power creep is only relevant to damage and mitigation. Power creep aggro got thrown out when they added shirk.

Damage isn't a 'niche'. We all know by now that damage is all the playerbase cares about. The tank that does crap damage will be left out. So damage cannot be a 'niche' as that just defines the tank with damage as the best tank. Delete the idea of offense niche, defensive niche. It's a bad idea . All tanks should do very similar damage or we immediately disqualify any low dps 'defensive' niche as viable.

So with that in mind, we CANT have a damage 'niche'. I dont see any value in having a 'pulling niche' as that is a basic tank function. So what is left? The 'support niche'? Well if (as pointed out) all tanks have similar damage output and aggro, then what can a 'support' tank trade off for all these extra tools? You only need to see any HW thread on pld where it had caboodle of support but bad damage to know that won't work out. Either it is equivalent in damage and has support making it best tank, or its hw pld. No damage with sup, and therefore bad.

So exactly what is the point of having tank 'niches' when they fundamentally lead to imbalance? The fact that war is a generalist is something to push all tanks towards. Pld should absolutely be capable of generating snap aggro without scrapping on dps. It isnt. So instead of tearing war down to "make space" just give pld snap aggro.

Tanking is not a zero sum game. You do not need to "make space" and shove everyone into some tiny niche. You can just make all tanks have similar capabilities that just have their own flavor and style in how they get it done.

Damage: war can do 10k dps on average and stay bursty.. pld can do 10k dps using its holy magic and shield attacks. Drk can maintain 10k dps using its mp afterburner fuel. Gun can do 10k dps with (insert bullet mechanic).

Support. War can support its party via warcries and be equivalent to pld supporting its allies with protective abilities. Drk can have similar impact with it's own dark arts. Gun etc.

Pld can snap aggro without losing dps just like war does, but give it some holy knight twist. Same for drk. Etc. You get the idea.

Automagically you have tanks that are all very similar in capability, yet still unique and fun to play.

But you only see this narrow solution where tanking is a zero sum game. It isnt. That's not the only option to balance. Let jobs maintain their flavor and character with the way the accomplish a task. Not what tasks they can accomplish.

Understand that this viewpoint is not (as often characterized and summarily dismissed) 'war white knights/apologists/selfish/keep the drks down' attitude. It is a fundamental rejection of the core argument that jobs need weaknesses and niches to make imaginary design space. All tanks can just be good tanks with their own playstyles.