The new Viper changes are great

[Bobby66]

This is a thoughtful reply! Thank you. I'll break my no-reply rule 'cus this is a good question!

You can't make objective comments about how someone feels, certainly, and as I said in a message just a little bit ago, I wouldn't begrudge anyone for feeling how they feel. But people are conflating whether they like the Viper change with whether or not it's a GOOD Viper change. You can like something that is objectively poorly designed.

Beginner Vipers (in JP specifically) find the new flashing job HUD for the first-stage combos confusing, and hardcore and intermediate Vipers have noticed that the skill ceiling is inarguably lower because there are objectively less things to do with the kit. They took away something without adding anything meaningful back, so in an indisputable sense, there is "less" in the class. It is objectively less "complete" regardless of whether or not you LIKE a "less complete" Viper.

If you like it, more power to you! But the reason I responded to Eudypte's post like this is because, yesterday, they were arguing with me about how Viper is "barely different" and it "doesn't change anything" and that it "plays the same" which are all objectively false statements. To be able to make those claims, you'd have to be an expert in the class who can verifiably say that it does play the same now as it did before. If you weren't good enough to be taking advantage of Noxious Gash, you can't really talk about how it objectively worked, can you? Like, I don't know what Healers do so I couldn't talk about how Astro's new Lightspeed feels because I've never done it.

Anyway, someone looked up their logs and they got salty about it, which is why I was explaining that, after they made false statements, someone looked up their logs and they don't really have any reason to be upset about it. They demonstrated a lack of understanding and people looked up their logs to verify it.

As sad as I am about it, I can't blame anyone for liking it. But I think based on both player feedback and the design dynamic, it's a wore designed version of the class.

The removal of something does not inherently make the class objectively worse. The worse is still based off a subjective feel you have. Take for example I was a fan of the old SMN and I hate the new SMN. I cannot make an objective claim that the class is worse off due to everything that was removed and how simple they made it. I can say it is objectively no longer the same class, but that does not objectively make it a worse class or even less complete. The class is just different.

Hope I was able to explain what I am mean, just because an adjustment was made and something was removed does not mean the class is objectively worse off or less than to everyone. It may be less to you, but not someone else which makes it hard to make an objective claim it is worse off. All comes down to opinion.