Two questions of balance...
Posted: Wed Dec 15, 2021 4:30 pm
A long time ago back on live, and at least for a fair portion of RoR, a major aspect of the 6 Mdps archtypes was that 2 of them got stealth and a theoretically infinite snare, the other 4 got a speed buff and a less useful snare. So I question how is it fair/balanced for the stealth toons to now have a charge of their own in addition to the stealth system? and indeed a charge that is arguably superior to that of the original 4 chargers since it provides 2s of valuable disorientation and the ability to refresh their stealth-breaking skills, and at least according to the tooltip the speed buff dosn't end when you use another ability (it's been a long time since I played a stealth toon so that may not be the case, I dont remember)
And everybodies favorite subject: rampage - how is it even possible that such a ludicrously unbalanced/overpowered skill is even in the game at all?
Consider the following:
The only downside to the skill is the loss of rage, which can be countered with a tactic if the slayer wishes or just accepted as a temporary setback
10-20s (rage dependant) of undefendable attacks on a 30s CD is more powerful the old LOTD pocket items (7s undefendable on a 5m CD if I remember rightly), and also far superior to the various defence buffing M1's. Off the top of my head I would say that the only other skill in the game which has a similar power level is the RP/Zealot buff which gives them 50% incoming dmg reduction, but that dosnt even last for 10s and has a 3 minute CD
It is the 1st skill on it's mastery tree which means it can be easily worked into any build the slayer wishes to use at a cost of 6 mastery points rather than the 14 that a lot of powerful skills cost, the comparable skill for a choppa is a med/low damage rage dump that restores 100AP - a skill which I don't think I've ever seen anybody use
The only possible counters to the skill are (A) kill the slayer, (B) remove the buff, or (C) escape. In the case of A that can be pretty tough since slayers rarely travel without guards/heals, B requires you to be a particular class (I forget which) and also to get past the slayers defences, it also requires the sheer dumb luck of removing that one particular buff out of however many they may have on them at the time, and C is going to be hopelessly dependent on both your own class, and the intelligence of whoever you happen to be fighting at the time, an intelligent slayer can prevent the escape of most enemies with the proper use of his crowd control skills
In game play mechanic terms rampage is very possibly the most powerful skill in the game, both in terms of its own power and the lack of effective countermeasures
On a non-game related note the name of the skill "rampage" implies that the slayer is wildly beating through the enemies defences with little or no regard to his own survival (very loreful), and if that is indeed the case it would suggest that the skill should also place some sort of debuff on the slayers own survivability, or perhaps be restricted to use with 2h weapons
And to avoid accusations of bias I will also point out that quite some time ago marauders and white lions had a minimum range placed on their pulls in order to prevent their use at melee range, the effect of which was to essentially give them 2-4s of combat time in which the enemy had little or no control of their character (hilariously over-effective against any class on which the majority of skills have a build time), in addition to any other control-imparing skills they might possess - however a choppa still maintains the ability to pull people at point-blank range, lifting them into the air and granting himself much the same effect as was removed from the mara/WL for being to powerful, however it does cost him 14 mastery points to gain that ability as opposed to the 6 I pointed out earlier with regard to rampage
I'm open to constructive feedback on why these things should/shouldn't be altered/removed...
And everybodies favorite subject: rampage - how is it even possible that such a ludicrously unbalanced/overpowered skill is even in the game at all?
Consider the following:
The only downside to the skill is the loss of rage, which can be countered with a tactic if the slayer wishes or just accepted as a temporary setback
10-20s (rage dependant) of undefendable attacks on a 30s CD is more powerful the old LOTD pocket items (7s undefendable on a 5m CD if I remember rightly), and also far superior to the various defence buffing M1's. Off the top of my head I would say that the only other skill in the game which has a similar power level is the RP/Zealot buff which gives them 50% incoming dmg reduction, but that dosnt even last for 10s and has a 3 minute CD
It is the 1st skill on it's mastery tree which means it can be easily worked into any build the slayer wishes to use at a cost of 6 mastery points rather than the 14 that a lot of powerful skills cost, the comparable skill for a choppa is a med/low damage rage dump that restores 100AP - a skill which I don't think I've ever seen anybody use
The only possible counters to the skill are (A) kill the slayer, (B) remove the buff, or (C) escape. In the case of A that can be pretty tough since slayers rarely travel without guards/heals, B requires you to be a particular class (I forget which) and also to get past the slayers defences, it also requires the sheer dumb luck of removing that one particular buff out of however many they may have on them at the time, and C is going to be hopelessly dependent on both your own class, and the intelligence of whoever you happen to be fighting at the time, an intelligent slayer can prevent the escape of most enemies with the proper use of his crowd control skills
In game play mechanic terms rampage is very possibly the most powerful skill in the game, both in terms of its own power and the lack of effective countermeasures
On a non-game related note the name of the skill "rampage" implies that the slayer is wildly beating through the enemies defences with little or no regard to his own survival (very loreful), and if that is indeed the case it would suggest that the skill should also place some sort of debuff on the slayers own survivability, or perhaps be restricted to use with 2h weapons
And to avoid accusations of bias I will also point out that quite some time ago marauders and white lions had a minimum range placed on their pulls in order to prevent their use at melee range, the effect of which was to essentially give them 2-4s of combat time in which the enemy had little or no control of their character (hilariously over-effective against any class on which the majority of skills have a build time), in addition to any other control-imparing skills they might possess - however a choppa still maintains the ability to pull people at point-blank range, lifting them into the air and granting himself much the same effect as was removed from the mara/WL for being to powerful, however it does cost him 14 mastery points to gain that ability as opposed to the 6 I pointed out earlier with regard to rampage
I'm open to constructive feedback on why these things should/shouldn't be altered/removed...
