I'm concerned about this part:

ZOS_JessicaFolsom wrote: »

Class Mastery

• General Feedback and Suggestions [Feedback]: We're aware that certain classes are [...] too far ahead

To me, this reads like: "We're going to nerf Sorcs because their trial dummy parses are too high."

Current Sorc parses are extremely cheesy. They rely on Banner and the status knife, both of which inflate dummy numbers but also buff the rest of the group in real content. In actual fights, you usually won’t run Overload - you’ll use Atro instead, which lowers your personal DPS but increases group DPS. Without Overload, Signet becomes worse, so you'd swap it out and lose even more personal damage. And if you're the only Sorc in the group, you'll be running Mastery, which again lowers your personal DPS while giving the group 3% WPD/SPD.

What does it mean? Sorc is not that OP in actual content, especially since it has no cleave.

Another problem I want to address is the DPS disparity between multi-classed and pure-classed builds. From this week's patch notes:

...its primary goal is to lessen the gap between subclassing and “pure” or “mono-classing.”

Let’s establish a baseline: an Arc/NB/Plar Runeblades build parses 173k on live. This build is unaffected on PTS; it has high single‑target and low cleave. The obvious conclusion: no pure class with strong innate cleave (DK, Cro, beaming Arc) should parse higher. Conversely, no pure class with weak innate cleave (Sorc, NB, Warden, Runeblades Arc) should parse lower. Plar is borderline since its spammable has a decent cleave. All of this assumes parses without excessive cheese.

So, here are my (unpopular) thoughts on each class:

• Sorc - needs a nerf. 206k ST DPS is too high. Even a less cheesy setup hits ~185k, which is still too much.
  
• Warden - very strange case. It parses too high with Signet (cheese), but its sustain is terrible. Without Signet, it’s around 172k, which is ok. Maybe it's a little bit low, considering it was the least popular DD. No idea how to balance it without killing Signet.
  
• DK - needs a nerf. Dummy DPS is inflated by Heat Shock, which also buffs the whole group in content. Even without Heat Shock, it has too high ST-damage whilst having great innate cleave.
  
• Plar - fine as is.
  
• NB - needs a buff. Low cleave and low ST right now.
  
• Cro - needs a buff. It can parse well with double‑bash Goliath and triple Ghostly Embrace stacking, but without this cheese, it's weak.
  
• Arc - beaming Arc is fine. Runeblades Arc is not - it deserves buffs due to low cleave. Easiest fix: give Runeblades some unique synergy with Splattering Disjunction.

Sorry if this kills someone’s fun, but power creep needs to be controlled.

Dracane wrote: »

I was surprised DK even received Class Mastery at this moment, powerful ones at that, since the intention was for non-reworked classes to make due until their own remaster?

It's disgustingly overpowered. DK on the live server already has excellent burst with Heart of Flame + Incinerate + Shattering Rocks + Whip. DK on the PTS is another level of power with class masteries. Wildfire passive gives so much extra pressure along with Pyrebrand, constituting a build that has insane burst and pressure capabilities.

While the burst combo is predictable as it's identical to the live server's, the addition of ~2.5-3k extra DPS from stacking multiple instances of DoT effects is what made DK so broken on the PTS. You're not just trying to avoid the actual burst combo, you're trying to survive against 10-15 instances of damage that can proc in 1 second, creating a pseudo "burst" on top. This pseudo "burst" is hard to counter unless you have some form of cleanse, and even then, it's not always guaranteed because sets like Mara's Balm have a long cooldown, and cleanse abilities are both expensive and ineffective at removing all of these debuffs.

The only 2 reliable ways to survive and hopefully beat PTS DK are to either outparse them (on WW, another DK, or similarly high DPS builds) or stack insane amounts of healing. Not many classes can do both at the same time.

Good to see PTS summaries continue ♥

I really dislike how the developers are balancing the game's classes through gear sets/mythics instead of focusing on class abilities, passives, and their mutual interactions, especially now that we have class masteries.

for instance: a 15% damage bonus on a 5 piece set is massive it effectively forces anyone playing that archetype to use it, which kills build diversity. Yet, people don't seem to complain about it much even tough it has long-term consequences?

Designers could put more effort into meaningful balance by changing the core class design rather than pushing mandatory choices

Let’s please address the elephant in the room. Healers. Supports, yes, but then you didn’t need to say tanks as well. Keep healers relevant.

For class passives specifically make something for every class that is determined by overheal (not heal). Reading the passives as they have existed to this point makes me terrified that you will end up writing healers as a role out of optimized end game entirely. We already see it in dungeons and arenas, running 3 DPS and a tank because “why would we run a healer if DDs can self-sustain and then we get more damage”? We already see it in current end game optimization where it’s common to run 1 heal, 1 tank.

My concern is that as DDs become more self sufficient and less necessity is placed on healing as a concept, end game groups will eliminate healers entirely because everything they provide can be provided equally as well by a support DD with 1 or 2 heals if necessary.

Example: Major Courage. As a very important buff, this has probably been the single most important thing for keeping healers relevant in the game since the best source (SPC) procs on overheal for 12 party members, no cooldown, potential 100% uptime with someone who plays it well enough. Adding this buff to a single skill on a werewolf is an enormous slap in the face. Where there aren’t specific heal checks, an optimized team can run a werewolf for Major courage instead of a healer at all. While this hasn’t been an issue previously (people choosing banners or Zenas, or soul burst or Yolna for minor courage instead of a werewolf in group), that was because it would be a net loss of damage to run a werewolf. In this case, with the emotional support doggo replacing the healer, it ends up a net increase rather than loss, assuming other buffs can still be sourced elsewhere.

Currently, the only buff that can only be sourced through healing is minor toughness. With Major courage more easily sourceable outside of healing, there becomes very few reasons to run a designated healer as opposed to only running support DDs in much optimized 12 man content.

KEEP HEALERS RELEVANT.

The class passives are an excellent opportunity to do this, but only if you model them with this in mind rather than just your damage or even just supports as a whole. Make a reason for a healer to be there instead of removing the existing ones.

(Edited for autocorrect sabotaging spelling)