Ranged DPS dominating Slaughter Mode

[Nyalia]

How do people feel about this topic now that caster LBs have been fixed (or nerfed, however you see it) in the latest hotfix? I haven't had the chance to try PvP yet today.

[Houston009]

BONUS OPINION: Ninja needs their Mudra Cast-Timer increased (again, Slaughter Only). 5s before falling off is too harsh when there's so much chain-CC/sleep going about.

Although I would love for that to happen, people need ways to mitigate/avoid NIN burst, interrupting them mid-ninjutsu cast is a really good way to do so. It's very easy to do on NA/EU servers i.e. mudra lag (JP servers have 0 lag on mudras <.< >.> <.< >.> -.- T^T).

How do people feel about this topic now that caster LBs have been fixed (or nerfed, however you see it) in the latest hotfix? I haven't had the chance to try PvP yet today.

I have not tried either, but if its the same cast time as LB1 in FL Secure it'll allow people to mitigate the damage re-actively (Tank LB, not sure if Tetsudo/Focalization reduces the damage) and make it possible to actually dodge it.

[BigPapaSmurf]

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I think SE should release a smaller version of the FL map for 8v8v8 instances.

Although I would love for that to happen, people need ways to mitigate/avoid NIN burst, interrupting them mid-ninjutsu cast is a really good way to do so. It's very easy to do on NA/EU servers i.e. mudra lag (JP servers have 0 lag on mudras <.< >.> <.< >.> -.- T^T).

See, the thing is though: it's far too easy to do in Slaughter. I agree, people do need ways but I don't think it'd hurt to up it to 6-8 seconds for *Slaughter Only* (considering the sheer amount of chain-CC).

However, this would be unneeded if they implemented my other suggestions like more severe Diminishing Returns.

[Saiyakupo]

To sum it all up:
I started out the new slaughter mode playing healer, it was fun.
Then I tried dragoon. It was bad.
So I tried summoner. WAY BETTER. SO FUN. I used my LB at least two times. It's harder to be stupid and mess up as a caster. Plus there's that LB. Even killing only two guys with that can achieve you easy victory. Plus a buff to make it charge faster.

Slaughter mode was neat in theory, but is not even the slightest bit fair in comparison to secure. If squeenix was going for an unbalanced, unfair massacre, instead of a regular massacre? They got it.

I'm going to play secure forever. Cause it's fun.

[Hyrist]

I... don't think I have a dog in this fight.

As a tank, it pretty much feels the same. Run interference, zone off enemies, be a tanky PITA that keeps casters on their toes.


Yeah, the Caster LB is harsh, but nobody complains when smart tank LBs change the outcomes of fights, and they're fairly powerful on their own. The most annoying thing to me is the chain CC keeping me from being in the fight at all. The fact that both of these issues can come from one class, however does seem to be a bit of a balance issue.

However, I had a different idea in mind. Instead of giving a flat nerf to Debuff times and BLM damage. (Maybe a small cast time increase on Cometeor.) Instead, impose a magical resistance buff when under crowd control effects (Bind, Repose, Sleep) to encourage more intelligent use of the skill. This way the crowd of Black Mages can't simply chain sleep/aoes and Limit breaks on each other without hurting their damage output.

Again, just an idea I'd throw into the crowd. Mages are annoying to tackle, but not overcome-able from a tank perspective. They just seem to have an overlapping priority with healers as far as targets to harass. I'm still a blatant newbie at pvp, but my experiences with Mages are usually just as mixed as any other class.

[Red_Wolf]

Again, just an idea I'd throw into the crowd. Mages are annoying to tackle, but not overcome-able from a tank perspective. They just seem to have an overlapping priority with healers as far as targets to harass. I'm still a blatant newbie at pvp, but my experiences with Mages are usually just as mixed as any other class.

Being new in PvP actually helps you in this case. Most of the complaints you see here are by melee players that are used to dominating in Secure where they just ran around getting free caster kills in small group PvP. Now that they have to second guess running face first into a zerg... BLM's are stupid no-skill players just relying purely on their OP LB.

[Kinseykinz]

Melee, I just wanna point this out.

You are NOT the intended target for the caster LB at least 70% of the time...do you know who is? The healer you're trying to kill. (or caster). So the funny thing is, you are leaving your 'safety net' to go run into lets say 'Adder' territory to gank a healer...while behind enemy lines (which already dangerous), the OTHER team, lets say Flames also decides 'lets get the Adder healer' And you get squashed...not only because you ran out of your teams heal range, but because you got hap-hazardly targeted by the 3rd team's casters (the one you aren't actively attacking).

The other 30% of the time, it's because the Caster LB spam is happening on the middle node and you either have to stand in range, or attack something else. To be fair though, your team is doing the same things to the other teams.

By the way, your role, more than any other (esp you sneaky, stealthy ninja's), can most easily slip behind enemy lines and single-handedly take down a healer or caster faster than any other healers on that team can perceive what's happening. I NEVER got LB'd by a Melee in Secure mode w/o at least seeing them incoming...and even then, they tended to only be successful if I had blown my CD's. But in Slaughter, 2 times as blm and once as whm so far a stray melee has gotten behind me and LB'd before I even knew what was up (in part because there IS so much chaos/dodging of Comedor's going on).

I agree that the caster LB needs to be adjusted a bit (as does SE and they will fix it). But I think many melee are missing their true shining star moments/haven't quite adjusted to this system yet....or don't realize which team is actually killing you.

Healers are targets...nothing has changed. You are programmed from Secure mode to seek us out and destroy us first...the problem is, in Secure mode, typically it's Team A vs. Team B. Sure, there's a little spill-over mid when nodes spawn, but since Secure doesn't have personal LB's it's really not as much of a dodge fest for everyone. But other than when mid, it's just not likely for you to face 5 Adders, and 8 Maelstrom at the same time while both you and the Adders are trying to kill the Maels healers...and the Adder's BLM lb targeted on the Mael's healer also happens to catch you in the cross-hairs. And I think it's THIS, that is really frustrating you all...you are trying to do your job (kill Healer), and you get LB'd...which is frustrating b/c you already stuck your neck out a great deal by leaving the safety of your team/healer's range to go attack the other team's healer in the first place. But the team that likely killed you, was NOT the team you were attacking. It's the 3-way nature of the battle that is messing with your mojo.

My guess, and again I tend to play mostly healer with some 'caster because I don't feel like carrying the damn load of healing while getting punched in the face today' mixed in, is that if melee come up with a different 'kill target number 1' outside of the other teams healer in the middle of the pack, it might start turning in your favor. After all, the squishyness of casters, bards etc did not change....and the interesting thing about dd's (esp ranged dd's), is they don't tend to notice what's right next to them as much as across the field. Burn a couple of them first (especially the ones that stray off/are on the sides)...make healers blow cd's on raising them/healing them back to health....or at least by burning people on the edges, you can pull healers out of hiding/trick them into watching health bars and alliance members more than their own surroundings. Then when their (healers)attention is turned, go in for the kill.

I am no melee expert, but I'm telling you how I've seen some melee be successful/ kill my distracted rear-end. Still I'm a decent, and for the most part, hard to take down healer...so when someone actually kills me, I take mental notes on how it all happened...not just 'what skill did they use' but where was I/what was I doing/did I have CD's/where was my focus/did they have assistance etc so I can make sure to counter-act it should a similiar situation happen again (so that next time you might NOT kill me).

PS: One especially sneaky Monk totally ganked our teams healer by coming up our teams ramp behind him and stunning him+ LB'd him =deadness. (IE the healer likely didn't even see it coming nor did anyone on our alliance until it was too late....I only saw this show b/c I was running back to my team as blm avoiding... a caster AoE :P) I mean, it took maybe like 3 seconds for that death to happen. And no one saw it in time...let alone had enough time to react to it.

But that death required stealth, and a plan.
And the luck that the other team didn't at the same time, target the same healer with comedor.

That all said, 1 caster LB in Slaughter hasn't ever killed me. (It takes 2 to kill my blm, and 3 in a row for it to down my whm). One Melee LB almost always does.

Just food for thought/observations after the first week of rounds.

[zeopower6]

Please do something (more) about Cometeor. I'm pretty much at the point of just not PvPing at all as soon as I get the gear I need. Unfortunately, I still have about a few hundred FLs to go, so I'm stuck.

I honestly don't really care if I get replied to by those who are doing it but it's incredibly annoying.

[rowrow]

Please do something (more) about Cometeor. I'm pretty much at the point of just not PvPing at all as soon as I get the gear I need. Unfortunately, I still have about a few hundred FLs to go, so I'm stuck.

Was it mine?

[Buff_Archer]

Every Slaughter team I queued into this week except for a couple were doomed from the start. The last one, had one caster and 5 bards. The heal lb might keep people from dying, but it also does nothing as far as killing. One match people were playing so terribly (regardless of class) I was rage quit #3 on the team and I never do that. I saw two people leave and thought at least I won't get penalized not being the first, but I did anyway. The last match when the cometors started raining down while we could only do one that was quickly healed, I didn't rage quit but decided no more slaughter PUGging until things improve somehow. Yay for GC restriction and being in the Derpy GC of the Week.