I've got a Death and Storm char and have gotten my Balance to level 32 and have really been enjoying it more than the others. It's such a well designed class. I like the versatility and Judgement fits so well because in hard group fights as you spend rounds buffing and healing others your pips build up and then you're ready for a big Judgement when needed.
But unlike Storm or Fire, where the pressure is on you to pull your weight with damage, I feel like I can pull my weight in any group, no matter how much higher level they are than me. If nothing else I can at least buff and heal, but in certain situations I can also tank or be the main striker.
I agree, Balance is a great school. It is challenging however when fighting Balance monsters and bosses since they 1. they have a high Balance resist and 2. they often equip Spirit and Elemental Shields which render Hydra and Chimera useless. Also, when given a negative charm (-25%, -90%, etc.) there is no way to remove it without using up your blades.
My main problem as a Balance wizard has nothing to do with the School itself though. It's receiving rude remarks from people when I do not constantly blade them during a battle. I have been told that Balance is a useless school that is only meant to "serve" the other schools. Balance may not be the strongest school, but we definitely have power. I am not against blading other wizards while in battle but it shouldn't be an expectation that I will always give blades. It is the same way with Life wizards and their healing spells.
In the end, no matter what school your wizard is trained in, be respectful. Keep the rude remarks to yourself. If someone makes a mistake, it's not the end of the world.
Yeah, I haven't really faced this problem yet, but I'm thinking of doing something like using Fire Elf (Train it) or Poison (Treasure Cards) as shield removers and then going for stuff like Hydra or Chimera. You can also do Hydra followed by Spectral Blast.
I agree, Balance is a great school. It is challenging however when fighting Balance monsters and bosses since they 1. they have a high Balance resist and 2. they often equip Spirit and Elemental Shields which render Hydra and Chimera useless. Also, when given a negative charm (-25%, -90%, etc.) there is no way to remove it without using up your blades.
My main problem as a Balance wizard has nothing to do with the School itself though. It's receiving rude remarks from people when I do not constantly blade them during a battle. I have been told that Balance is a useless school that is only meant to "serve" the other schools. Balance may not be the strongest school, but we definitely have power. I am not against blading other wizards while in battle but it shouldn't be an expectation that I will always give blades. It is the same way with Life wizards and their healing spells.
In the end, no matter what school your wizard is trained in, be respectful. Keep the rude remarks to yourself. If someone makes a mistake, it's not the end of the world.
Yeah, as I Life Wizard, I can attest to the rudeness factor.
Yes, I realize I didn't heal you. No I didn't ask you to crash my solo battle.
I have a deck built just for Team-ups when I expect I'll need to be healing more frequently.
So here's a fist-bump from another "Service School"
For those people who claim that Balance is a "useless school that serves others," remind them that Balance dominates in PVP.
We can wipe out pips, destroy auras, heal, shield, use any second school with our blades and traps, and use combo spells like Gaze of Fate, Artorious, Loremaster or Savage Paw. We are plenty capable of soloing and doing massive damage all by ourselves.
As Steven Ghoststalker noted, we often have completely different deck set-ups depending on if we're soloing, teaming, or working on Monstrology or some other farming activity. We're not always geared up for support. If someone crashes our solo battle, for example, they have no right to demand anything. (When I'm soloing I don't have heals equipped and usually only have a couple of blades available. So don't crash my solo battle and expect me to support you, I'm not set up to do that.) On the other hand, if we set out together as part of a team then most people will assume that the Balance wizard is going to play a supportive role.
What makes us so great at PVP is that we can do just about anything the team needs us to do. Our strength is versatility. That's also our greatest weakness: because we can do just about anything, everyone expects us to do what they want us to do....
90
Alia Misthaven