Let's talk CLASS BALANCE

[Zuranthium]

Originally Posted by garyogburn [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Gonna have to disagree with shaman pets being OP. Sure, they provide free damage, but the 55 pet (the last pet we get on this server) Is hardly better than the 49 pet, and will do about half the damage of the 50s mage/necro pets.

Shaman pets allow shamans the choice to use slow while soloing. Given two weapons they do some damage, but soloing is very slow, especially with kunark mobs. Our buffs make them surprisingly resilient, but hell, I can tank mobs that are slowed, too.

But heres a question: how much does Torpor change the healing game for shamans?

Shaman were the only class that could solo the roaming dragons in Velious. The pet may be weaker than the Magician/Necro pets but it still provides a considerable amount of extra damage for the Shaman (more than having a whole extra DoT line) at little extra expense and when soloing against mobs where it can hold aggro/survive, that means the Shaman also doesn't have to spend energy on root or engage in melee themselves.

Again, the pet allows them to provide extra damage to a group that is comparable to an INT caster when you combine it with their other damage capability and mana-regen (and that's not even taking into account HASTE, which buffs up the damage for the Physicals in the party if a better one is not present), and they get SoW, and they get heals, AND they get amazing debuffs.

Without the pet, a Shaman could still solo just fine. They would no longer be one of the best solo classes in the game from Level 34+, but they would still be better off than many other classes. Improve their self-only melee buff line such that they would be more effective at soloing by using slow + DoT's + swinging their weapon, if soloing capability is a concern.

I mean, if we are going to talk about classes not being able to SOLO very well, then we better talk about Warriors and Rogues. The latter especially get the short end of the stick. I do believe that out-of-combat regen should be increased for the "Physical" based classes, FYI. The Bandaging skill should be buffed to allow for that in a such way as to require some effort.

But, back to your last question, the Cannibalize becomes more and more powerful for a Shaman as they go up in level. Each cannibalize skill becomes more efficient and the heals the Shaman has to heal themself from the health lost from cannibalize keep getting more efficient as well. Which is why I said that even IF the Druid's healing capabilities were vastly improved, they still wouldn't be as good of a defensive character as a Shaman on their own because of the fact that, in addition to the Shaman's superior energy management, the Shaman's slow debuff will prevent FAR more damage over time with that one cast than any single healing spell a Druid could cast.

However, IF the Druid's healing capabilities were indeed improved considerably, then that means they could fill in for a Cleric in many instances. The Cleric would still be a better healer than a Druid, they would still have better defensive buffs, and they would still be essential for parts of the game, and they would still have the very important Ressurect line...but they would no longer be necessary for the majority of the higher level content. When you want to go fight a GOD or some other especially hard boss or area, then it's perfectly acceptable for the game to require you to have a Cleric (or multiple) in order to win. But you shouldn't need a Cleric just to go fight through any given higher level dungeon. When that happens, the game becomes "Well, there's no Clerics available, so it looks like we can't play today".