Npcs can still use sparks.

Domander · February 2015

It's not entirely removed from the game, just out of reach to the players

Why is miss chance removed from everything we can use?

SoulScream · February 2015

Interesting!

Lynx7386 · February 2015

They were unable to balance the miss chance abilities for players (both pvp and pve), so they were removed. Obviously it's easier to balance when an NPC is using it against you.

In PvP, these abilities were massively powerful when used properly, especially heated blade (100% miss chance for the enemy). There was no way to make them not overpowered but still useful.

PvE had the opposite issue, the miss chance only worked on weak enemies where you didnt really need it's benefit, and on any tough opponents you usually got the "target is too powerful for that" message.