A Balance Enfeeble is necessary to remain viable at max rank PVP
I made a post about this several years ago, but nobody at the time listened to me (because they were too busy hating on Lore and Mana Burn), when I warned them about the future of having a major disadvantage at max rank PVP as the worlds progressed, due to the health and spell differences.
But now that those spells are nerfed, hopefully folks can get off the bandwagon and recognize that the school is objectively the weakest school in PVP right now besides maybe Storm, and it's not even close to the other schools due to the following reasons:
1. Health doubling and tripling. The schools during the Darkmoor era had clear strengths, and weaknesses to offset those strengths. Storm was the strongest school on paper, but had 4.7k health, while Balance had middling damage, but with 7.5k health. Now can get 7k health easily with 150 damage and 50 resist, but has 9k health with 130 damage and 57% resist. Point being, there isn't enough of a health and stat margin anymore to make the different schools properly balanced. This spills over into the spells themselves:
2. Epic is no longer allowed in PVP. And you can't pre-enchant Solar Surge. While I agree with the concept of longer matches and balancing lower level PVP, it would have been better to ban the Mirage spells too, because these two changes combined have led to:
3. Basically every meta school strategy at max rank PVP being various ways of blade stacking into OHKO. I say basically because can't really do that and certainly not as effectively as the other schools. I have to actually use my myth amulet to Earthquake every 3 turns just to have a chance and it's very annoying to the point where I might as well log into my Ice and laugh in a 40% bubble and 10k health as I stack 50% blades while having 100 damage and 76% universal resist. This because of:
4. Turn disadvantage due to a lack of viable blades and enchants to stack. You can not off-school wand-hit a Balanceblade / trap to remove Weaknesses / Towers like the other schools can. Before you start saying use Nested Fury, Elemental Blade is 1 pip to the other schools' native 0 pip blades; likewise for Elemental Trap. Cleanse Charm is not trainable by other schools, and even if it was, Cleansing a Weakness / Piercing a tower leaves you at a turn disadvantage to the other player who can wand-hit theirs away while stacking 0 pip blades and traps. Also the point is to play differently from the other schools, else why pick at all?
5. Shatter is not banned from PVP. Shatter should definitely be banned from PVP. No, you can not Myth dispel Shatter when everyone using Shatter has zero pip Ether Shields to remove the Dispel practically for free. They'll just cast it the turn you no longer have any pips to dispel them. Did I mention dispel shields?
6. Earthquake needs to be modified to be PVP-friendly. Earthquake should be modified so that it removes everything from both sides: enemies AND allies. Otherwise the problems with Shatter (once it gets banned) will spill over into Earthquake like this: Bladestack => Earthquake => Pierce => Mirage shadow hit.
It would almost be possible to shield stack, Triage DOTs, and whittle down the enemy to a victory with intelligent play, except for the fact that Shatter and Earthquake as they are, remove such defensive playstyles from the game. But since the PVP update was many steps in the right direction I'm just going to repeat what I said years ago and perhaps someone on the dev balance team will listen this time to the general idea:
Balance Enfeeble (trained, school only): Target takes 80 per charm and loses 3 charms. 4 pips. (Or 120 per charm, loses 4 charms, and 6 pip cost).
This way the traditional playstyle can be kept intact without sacrificing the original idea of which is to be a universal class. Balance still has no DOT, and no way of removing charms / traps.
The only other way for Balance to not become a joke PVP school moving forward, if Shatter and Earthquake remain unbanned and unmodified, respectively, is to make Balance like the other schools with Balance-only blades and traps etc, and add an 80% shield trainable from Sabrina Greenstar.
Re: A Balance Enfeeble is necessary to remain viable at max rank PVP
Exabytes on Jan 5, 2021 wrote:
I made a post about this several years ago, but nobody at the time listened to me (because they were too busy hating on Lore and Mana Burn), when I warned them about the future of having a major disadvantage at max rank PVP as the worlds progressed, due to the health and spell differences.
But now that those spells are nerfed, hopefully folks can get off the bandwagon and recognize that the school is objectively the weakest school in PVP right now besides maybe Storm, and it's not even close to the other schools due to the following reasons:
1. Health doubling and tripling. The schools during the Darkmoor era had clear strengths, and weaknesses to offset those strengths. Storm was the strongest school on paper, but had 4.7k health, while Balance had middling damage, but with 7.5k health. Now can get 7k health easily with 150 damage and 50 resist, but has 9k health with 130 damage and 57% resist. Point being, there isn't enough of a health and stat margin anymore to make the different schools properly balanced. This spills over into the spells themselves:
2. Epic is no longer allowed in PVP. And you can't pre-enchant Solar Surge. While I agree with the concept of longer matches and balancing lower level PVP, it would have been better to ban the Mirage spells too, because these two changes combined have led to:
3. Basically every meta school strategy at max rank PVP being various ways of blade stacking into OHKO. I say basically because can't really do that and certainly not as effectively as the other schools. I have to actually use my myth amulet to Earthquake every 3 turns just to have a chance and it's very annoying to the point where I might as well log into my Ice and laugh in a 40% bubble and 10k health as I stack 50% blades while having 100 damage and 76% universal resist. This because of:
4. Turn disadvantage due to a lack of viable blades and enchants to stack. You can not off-school wand-hit a Balanceblade / trap to remove Weaknesses / Towers like the other schools can. Before you start saying use Nested Fury, Elemental Blade is 1 pip to the other schools' native 0 pip blades; likewise for Elemental Trap. Cleanse Charm is not trainable by other schools, and even if it was, Cleansing a Weakness / Piercing a tower leaves you at a turn disadvantage to the other player who can wand-hit theirs away while stacking 0 pip blades and traps. Also the point is to play differently from the other schools, else why pick at all?
5. Shatter is not banned from PVP. Shatter should definitely be banned from PVP. No, you can not Myth dispel Shatter when everyone using Shatter has zero pip Ether Shields to remove the Dispel practically for free. They'll just cast it the turn you no longer have any pips to dispel them. Did I mention dispel shields?
6. Earthquake needs to be modified to be PVP-friendly. Earthquake should be modified so that it removes everything from both sides: enemies AND allies. Otherwise the problems with Shatter (once it gets banned) will spill over into Earthquake like this: Bladestack => Earthquake => Pierce => Mirage shadow hit.
It would almost be possible to shield stack, Triage DOTs, and whittle down the enemy to a victory with intelligent play, except for the fact that Shatter and Earthquake as they are, remove such defensive playstyles from the game. But since the PVP update was many steps in the right direction I'm just going to repeat what I said years ago and perhaps someone on the dev balance team will listen this time to the general idea:
Balance Enfeeble (trained, school only): Target takes 80 per charm and loses 3 charms. 4 pips. (Or 120 per charm, loses 4 charms, and 6 pip cost).
This way the traditional playstyle can be kept intact without sacrificing the original idea of which is to be a universal class. Balance still has no DOT, and no way of removing charms / traps.
The only other way for Balance to not become a joke PVP school moving forward, if Shatter and Earthquake remain unbanned and unmodified, respectively, is to make Balance like the other schools with Balance-only blades and traps etc, and add an 80% shield trainable from Sabrina Greenstar.
First I want to say that I ONLY do 1v1 as a max level (currently 140) Balance. Only Balance, only max level.
I sympathize with you but I disagree with you.
Before the Karamelle PvP update, I won about half of my matches and lost half of them. That is fine.
Since that update, I have won 67% of my matches, without Solar Surge. I do not see how it can be argued that Balance is not a viable school for max level PvP. Balance is awesome!
Sure, I have had to change my gear and strategy. I miss having 75% critical hit, but I have to adapt to the times. Having 9,318 health, 131 damage, 64 resist, 38 pierce and some block is working for me. My power pip chance is lower than I like, but it does not seem to be a crippling handicap.
Yes, I get anxious when I face blade stacking schools and wish that enfeeble TC were not so incredibly rare. But so what? I am Balance and have ways around that. I can keep blade stackers’ pips low with mana burn. I can make them hit through stacked weaknesses and stacked shields. If I really need to I can cast a TC Disarm. I am Balance, so I control the bubble and I control auras. I really have some "unfair" advantages in the Arena.
When I am defeated in PvP, it is usually a very close match, and usually because the other player simply outplayed me. I love it when that happens!
Yes, there is a risk of my opponent casting Shatter or Earthquake. That is almost always a Myth Wizard, because Mastery Amulets are really a thing in Max PvP anymore—no sensible dualist wants to give up the advantages of a Darkmoor or school amulet for a mastery amulet. Not if they are dueling me, they don’t.
Fortunately, there are counters to Shatter and Earthquake besides dispels. There is Black Mantle, and, more importantly, Aegis. Aegis is a very important part of the new PvP meta and you simply have to pack it.
Balance is a unique, idiosyncratic, adaptable and powerful school for max level 1v1.
Re: A Balance Enfeeble is necessary to remain viable at max rank PVP
Liam Swiftwalker on Jan 7, 2021 wrote:
First I want to say that I ONLY do 1v1 as a max level (currently 140) Balance. Only Balance, only max level.
I sympathize with you but I disagree with you.
Before the Karamelle PvP update, I won about half of my matches and lost half of them. That is fine.
Since that update, I have won 67% of my matches, without Solar Surge. I do not see how it can be argued that Balance is not a viable school for max level PvP. Balance is awesome!
Sure, I have had to change my gear and strategy. I miss having 75% critical hit, but I have to adapt to the times. Having 9,318 health, 131 damage, 64 resist, 38 pierce and some block is working for me. My power pip chance is lower than I like, but it does not seem to be a crippling handicap.
Yes, I get anxious when I face blade stacking schools and wish that enfeeble TC were not so incredibly rare. But so what? I am Balance and have ways around that. I can keep blade stackers’ pips low with mana burn. I can make them hit through stacked weaknesses and stacked shields. If I really need to I can cast a TC Disarm. I am Balance, so I control the bubble and I control auras. I really have some "unfair" advantages in the Arena.
When I am defeated in PvP, it is usually a very close match, and usually because the other player simply outplayed me. I love it when that happens!
Yes, there is a risk of my opponent casting Shatter or Earthquake. That is almost always a Myth Wizard, because Mastery Amulets are really a thing in Max PvP anymore—no sensible dualist wants to give up the advantages of a Darkmoor or school amulet for a mastery amulet. Not if they are dueling me, they don’t.
Fortunately, there are counters to Shatter and Earthquake besides dispels. There is Black Mantle, and, more importantly, Aegis. Aegis is a very important part of the new PvP meta and you simply have to pack it.
Balance is a unique, idiosyncratic, adaptable and powerful school for max level 1v1.
I thank you for the advice on using Aegis which I hadn't done previously, so I accept that my points on Earthquake and Shatter may not be as relevant as I originally thought.
However I stand by what I originally said, which is that if the meta remains as blade-stacking into OHKO with health increasing as it is, in the coming worlds Balance simply will not be able to keep up with the rest of the schools without an Enfeeble ability or School-specific blade.
Also aren't Enfeeble TC no PVP now? I have 3 of them and they have the no PVP icon.
Re: A Balance Enfeeble is necessary to remain viable at max rank PVP
Exabytes on Jan 9, 2021 wrote:
I thank you for the advice on using Aegis which I hadn't done previously, so I accept that my points on Earthquake and Shatter may not be as relevant as I originally thought.
However I stand by what I originally said, which is that if the meta remains as blade-stacking into OHKO with health increasing as it is, in the coming worlds Balance simply will not be able to keep up with the rest of the schools without an Enfeeble ability or School-specific blade.
Also aren't Enfeeble TC no PVP now? I have 3 of them and they have the no PVP icon.
I did not know that enfeeble TC have been made "no PvP." Wah. Oh well, they are incredibly rare, anyway.
Maybe, one day, Balance will not be able to "keep up with the rest of the schools," but that does not seem to be true today.
having a major disadvantage at max rank PVP as the worlds progressed, due to the health and spell differences.
can get 7k health easily with 150 damage and 50 resist, but 