Shardaxx wrote: »

I saw a magblade on YT and it looked boss, was thinking of changing to one. Are they rubbish or something?

They've got a lot of problems at the moment -- they're not ranked near the bottom of the PvP barrel without reason.

One of the biggest issues though, aside from the various mechanical ones everyone here has mentioned, is simply the high learning curve. Of all the classes I've played, magblade was the worst to learn. Took me quite some time to really find a comfortable spot, and until I found that groove I wasn't just struggling -- I was straight trash. There's not really a "middle" spot with magblades from what I've seen, you're either solid or you're a potato. Sometimes even still I'll have "off-days" where I'm just not timing things right, and instead of kind of stumbling but being able to recover, like I could on my DK and warden, I just get deleted instead.

One of the things that makes them difficult is the juggling of various small duration buffs. Unlike most other classes in which everything is pretty standard (i.e. your brutality/sorcery buff is gonna be about 20 seconds, your resolve buff is gonna be about 20 seconds, your delayed burst ability is gonna be 3/6 seconds, your dots are gonna be about 12 seconds, etc), with magblades your buffs are all over the place.

You've got the spectral bow, which is gonna last about 45 seconds. It's not ready to use though, you gotta charge it with 5 successful light attacks which is going to take a bit. Then you've got siphoning, that's 20 seconds and easy to remember. Then you've got your shade, that's also about 20 seconds -- but unlike everything else in the game you don't get a buff symbol or anything telling you its duration...so you just have to know when it's going to need to be refreshed. Don't let it drop though! Because then you'll need it and it'll be gone, which likely means you're dead. Then there's major sorcery. Where are you getting it from? We're having a serious conversation so I'm not going to say sap essence, so you're probably getting it from either pots or degen. I myself use pots, but if you're using degen that's another 20 second buff to remember. What about major resolve? NB's don't have an ability for it, instead it comes from casting shadow abilities. On your typical PvP magblade it's probably going to last 6-9 seconds. Nothing else you do lasts that long, so you have to balance casting shadow abilities, most often fear and shade, to keep it up. When you're in combat with someone you also have to be cognizant of how much time has elapsed from your last shadow ability vs. the length of your resolve buff. If you choose to run blur, that's another buff you get to watch too.

So this is like, the basic stuff. You'll be doing this while also balancing your HoT's, shields if you've got them, and watching your Merciless stacks. This is just your defensive stuff too -- somewhere in there you're also going to be trying to kill the person trying to kill you, so you'll be doing all this while attacking, trying to land combos, dodging and blocking, and generally doing your PvP thing.

Playing a magblade is kind of like playing your own little mini-game inside the game itself. That's also what makes it fun though, because killing someone on a magblade is something you know you earned, and it just feels good.

Czekoludek wrote: »

@Czekoludek Aren't that true for any class? Each class, even the worst have couple players that can be played on godly level, even if it is pretty bad overall.
You cannot say that magNB is good class when to perform well on it you need to be best of the best. More of it, if ppl who are great at it, like zDan, say that class is bad, I prefer opinion of someone who knows what they are doing.
I play magblade for years, the class was never that bad (mostly because other classes are strong comparing to it now). Nerfed for two years in the row, magblades desperately needs a rework at this point. It isn't even the best at ganking and bombing anymore and only place where it can shine in PvP is as healer

Yup. Any of the good ones of any class is going to look like they have endless damage, sustain, and mobility. That's why they're the good ones.

If we were to judge magblade's performance by zDan's youtube videos then yeah, most people would think they're awesome. But like you said, he himself has criticized how poorly the class is performing right now. Point being he doesn't perform well on a magblade because magblades are good, he simply performs well because he is good. You can't judge the state of a class based on what the select few are able to make it do.

I feel like this could easily be demonstrated if people could take a magblade for a spin in PvP, as I get the impression that anyone who's complaining about their "strength" in PvP right now has either never played one at all, or hasn't played one any time in recent history. If they had to actually "walk a mile" in Cyrodiil or non-potato filled BG they'd learn right quick the never ending passion play that is attempting to PvP on a magblade.

Czekoludek wrote: »

Dracane wrote: »

But those few good ones are indomitable nightmares with endless damage, sustain and mobility.

Aren't that true for any class? Each class, even the worst have couple players that can be played on godly level, even if it is pretty bad overall.
You cannot say that magNB is good class when to perform well on it you need to be best of the best. More of it, if ppl who are great at it, like zDan, say that class is bad, I prefer opinion of someone who knows what they are doing.
I play magblade for years, the class was never that bad (mostly because other classes are strong comparing to it now). Nerfed for two years in the row, magblades desperately needs a rework at this point. It isn't even the best at ganking and bombing anymore and only place where it can shine in PvP is as healer

Exactly this.

I'll speak from a PvE perspective here. You have to be very, very good at the class to play it effectively. The rotation is a nightmare- as someone noted earlier, the DoTs' timers don't line up well at all. The rotation is a mess of constant bar-swapping, and the bow proc doesn't always fire if you have to swap quickly after firing it. All classes seem to have a skill like this that needs to be cast after X time (Warden's cockroaches, Templar's Purifying/Pot Light, Necro's BB), and NB's Grim Focus is, for me, by far the most finicky when it comes to how it interacts with bar swapping, especially on magblade. I've had serious issues with it not firing in the past.

The bottom line is that it's got a punishing mess of a rotation that requires a lot of work for a little payoff sometimes. If things don't line up properly you lose all your burst damage and your DPS tanks. In the hands of a skilled player it's incredibly strong, but the level of skill required to play it well is far beyond what the average player can do.

Decided to take my magblade wich I have not played in a year into a bg the other day...... I felt so weak..... I could not help my team in any meaningfull way and getting any kills was a nightmare..... I swear people just sneezed on me an I was dead..... 0/10 would not recomend