SW - modest ideas for improvement

[Farrul]

I think you have scout and skirmish backwards from a standpoint of which is more mobile and therefore would thematically benefit from lighter armor, but practically you’re right. Conceptually, I don’t think “stances” should affect armor at all, but then where does assault get survivability (which is sort of the same logic for making the class medium at base).

Well technically yes, the tactic for increased mobility is put into scout for a reason(currently weak hence why a speed buff is logical) so unless it was to be redesigned into a sniper spec(not enough range nor staying power, aka engineer/magus) the theme for scout is a mobile light armored Archer, whilst skirmish is more mobile with abilities the short-range requires extra suvivability so medium armor makes more sense here.

As to the rest, I tried to make suggestions that again were modest and hopefully would be easy to implement. At this point anything more than a few tweaks seems like a pipe-dream

Tbh an Armor change is more radical and less modest than just tweaking the numbers on a few abilities as i suggested (Skirmish) and to be frank as a dps class the dps aspect of the class is the thing to prioritize, making it more ''tanky'' would still leave Skirmish in a bad spot as a damage dealer which is the role of the class. As for Scout this spec has sucked for the longest time and lacks a clear purpose other than some meme archer spec, in this context a general improvement is imho the 'modest' thing to suggest.

[Avernus]

I\ve played SW on live (few years), and played SW on this server few years ago. After a few years in some different projects i\ve returned to my favorite MMO, BUT i'm playing SM now (and having fun, yes).

Why? Because i just can't see how to play SW the way i want (skirmish).

1 - no more 2 morale and that means that you can't feel yourself like a TRUE damage dealer like BW or slayer (even for a few seconds - that was enough to kill someone important). Yes, i agree thats FA oneshot was really bad.

2 - Scout - it's actually decent one (compared to live, anyway) but standing still while doing damage...pick BW already if you want this at least he can do this proper.

3 - Assault - It's got even better actually (and it's probably the best for sc/small scale fights) but without high lvl gear/rr rank you're not gonna achieve much) And it's useless in AoE fest.

4 - Skirmish - I just don't know where to start...25% ignore armor from new tactic is probably nice and all, default 100m Spiral Arrow + Broadhead is good too. 65m Shadow sting is not good though. Why would you even bother to increase spiral's range if shadow stin is 65f still. Use this at 65 it's like screaming "come on try to kill me! ah dammit they already did".

Lileath nerf is another thing. I understand that spamming AoE is bad idea so that's why it was nerfed because...well...I mean everyone and their dog (exept for stealth guys and gals) can spam AoE but it's too good for us. (Unless you have SM with WW - what a joy to be able to AoE only a few seconds when other classes can faceroll).
Yes i know that you can spam AoE spiral arrow but to be honest - it was crap and it's still isn't that good.

Takedown - why would you switch this with this flame arrow crap? Because skirmish is crippled anyway and assault/scout will be better with this?

So, you still can deal damage - but you can't kill when you really need it (no M2 and nerfed Shadow sting)

And about medium aror and everything else in this thread - it's ok as it is (because if you invest into armor you can have at least decent/good surviveability against physical damage depending on your rr/gear). Changing this to medium armor will SLIGHTLY increase surviveability for those who invest nothing into it but will nerf those who do.

Summary (IMHO) - This "Jack of all trades" is nonsence - you can not (and should not) be able to do everything good. SW is damage dealer. Well, supposed to be. Let him be.

[Ninjagon]

I have RR 81 SW (Nynja) but stopped playing him because I found him as a really weak class at current state of the game.

Assault stance needs more defense options, like base AOE detaunt. Shadowstep play is actually fun - for small scale.
Skirmish is only good for WB, because of AOE morale drains (destro has usually first M2, so this Barrage can slow them a bit), but the DPS itself is medium good at best and rising very slow (no burst), and AP is limited.
Scout is heavily AP starving, the AP cost for the skills has to be toned down and this stance needs some defensive options or self heal (like magus), because you have to stay still. OK for ranged single target DPS, but only if you crit a lot. Nothing for WB play.

Realism - SW looks good only on paper, and is most welcome - for destro melee clases, searching for easy target to kill.

[Lileldys]

Scout is decent burst, but AP starved, much like WL. You can burst 6-8k damage with VoN, but you're standing for it, which in a meta dominanted by MDPS, charging mdps with no snare takes 3ish seconds to reach you... BW can do this burst while moving. Everyone plays Skirmish just to keep the pre-kite going

You can't even eyeshot on the move now, even in Skirmish, the one near guaranteed defence you had against an MDPS. BW can KD on the move, albeit with 2 gcds

HD is stuck at 65ft, which is 2seconds for a charging mdps, BW can HD from 100ft.


Lets not forget the BW FFW+CoF tactic combo that really pushes melee dps hard, while SW provides very little in terms of utility.

Bump Shadow Sting to 80ft imo, it's all SW really has going for it now.