Quote Originally Posted by Val_Rhys View Post
I think people are bringing up a lot of good points but it seems the extreme opinions are screaming the loudest.

The bottom line is, balancing is still required. I don't think that's arguable. Though, despite the rabid response of the player base, I actually think the game/classes are in better balance after this update in comparison to what it was beforehand. THMs were so senselessly overpowered, it was absurd. And ARC mechanics were similar but not only was ranged attack favoured, it was more powerful.

Currently, my major concern for battle is the ranged attack situation. SE has seemed to fundamentally missed the point that as long as ARC does similar damage to the other dps classes, they will always be favoured so long as they design fights with no penalty for standing at range and avoiding all the AoE attacks that melee classes are susceptible to. It's actually amazing they don't see this.

EDIT: For all the people who are telling players to equip cure/sacrifice to preserve themselves, is that what we really want in a game? That's a serious question. I personally don't like the idea. I would rather have classes play a characteristic role (heal, dps, tank, etc.) than have everyone with the ability to cure a bit, dps a bit, tank a bit, etc. I know it's not quite that simple, but the point stands.
In a small party without a healer, my friends would often use Cure/Sacrifice to heal each other and themselves. This was a very useful tool.

In regards to Archers, they aren't a major problem. The real problem is how the mobs behave in response to being attacked by a squad of archers, versus the melee players. As it is now in Dzemael Darkhold, there are no targeted attacks intended to discourage ARC kiting, but the major problem is in how difficult it is to produce results as melee combatants, versus Archers.

In that sense, it would be more prudent to simply retool the Ogre's bestiary - change their skillsets, alter them, and rebalance them so that they consider all classes fair game, rather than just punishing the crap out of melees.