Melee weapons give more damage than ranged weapons. Bows, for example, also have less damage than a 2-Handed weapon.

Probably because staves are ranged.

In theory, it's to offset the idea of a "ranged advantage"- Using a staff or bow, you can get more hits in on your opponent without them being able to retaliate, so to balance it, the melee weapon should hit harder when it reaches you.

In practice, melee users have gap closing abilities that straight up allow them to fly up walls to smack you in the face, like a scene straight out of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, and as a staff user (other than magsorc), you rarely have anything like the speed or evasion skills to attempt kiting them. Besides that, two thirds of the magicka classes are heavily incentivised to stay in melee range regardless, because their skills only work at melee range- Risk vs reward right?

So in the end there is really no such thing as a "ranged advantage" in this game.

Scardan wrote: »

Vermintide wrote: »

In theory, it's to offset the idea of a "ranged advantage"- Using a staff or bow, you can get more hits in on your opponent without them being able to retaliate, so to balance it, the melee weapon should hit harder when it reaches you.

In practice, melee users have gap closing abilities that straight up allow them to fly up walls to smack you in the face, like a scene straight out of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, and as a staff user (other than magsorc), you rarely have anything like the speed or evasion skills to attempt kiting them. Besides that, two thirds of the magicka classes are heavily incentivised to stay in melee range regardless, because their skills only work at melee range- Risk vs reward right?

So in the end there is really no such thing as a "ranged advantage" in this game.

No, there is. You completely forgot about PvE mode, where nobody uses gap closers, because it is 1. DPS loss. 2. Tank goes first anyway. There are dungeons/trials that favor ranged weaponry more.
Also in PvP nightblades had ranged advantage....Idk how it is now with "new" snipe.

PVE MagDK here running Zen + MK. No ranged advantage at all. Interesting new meta with DW daggers though. Somehow it doesn’t feel right but I’m stuck in melee anyway so may as well throw down while I’m there. Just kind of weird that DW on my off rss does more damage than a flame staff on my main rss. Also awkward to heavy attack on backbar when I need rss.

Vermintide wrote: »

Scardan wrote: »

Vermintide wrote: »

In theory, it's to offset the idea of a "ranged advantage"- Using a staff or bow, you can get more hits in on your opponent without them being able to retaliate, so to balance it, the melee weapon should hit harder when it reaches you.

In practice, melee users have gap closing abilities that straight up allow them to fly up walls to smack you in the face, like a scene straight out of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, and as a staff user (other than magsorc), you rarely have anything like the speed or evasion skills to attempt kiting them. Besides that, two thirds of the magicka classes are heavily incentivised to stay in melee range regardless, because their skills only work at melee range- Risk vs reward right?

So in the end there is really no such thing as a "ranged advantage" in this game.

No, there is. You completely forgot about PvE mode, where nobody uses gap closers, because it is 1. DPS loss. 2. Tank goes first anyway. There are dungeons/trials that favor ranged weaponry more.
Also in PvP nightblades had ranged advantage....Idk how it is now with "new" snipe.

I didn;t forget, I just don't see any point talking about this in relation to PVE. In PVE, if an enemy is seriously meant to pose a threat to you, it'll have some 1-shot mechanic that you have to dodge regardless where you're standing. Range isn't at an advantage, and melee isn't at a disadvantage. It's just a mechanically intended distinction so you can continue applying damage while not standing in the red.

PVP is a different matter. This disparity between damage potential, when gap closers take a prominent place on most builds, and mobility is highly important it makes a big difference. Step into battlegrounds for a minute, and you'll see how despite their range, staff/bow users are at a distinct disadvantage to classes using 2-handed swords and axes, with unparalleled mobility.

Pve does matter, and the game isn't (meant to be) solely balanced around pvp.
Also many ranged skills have a range of 28meters while gapclosers come in at 22.
In cyrodiil that 28 gets extended even further if you are fighting around an objective as well.

And on the matter of bgs, not every bg is an all out melee brawl, and being able to do damage from range can be a huge advantage.
If you don't think it is, go into a high MMR pre-made bg and gapclose into an enemy team, see how long you live.
Not to mention being able to stay away from enemy aoes and such.