NDB
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TLM - Definitely feels more balanced after the Atom Smasher nerf. It's worse than before, but still effective. Overall, the class is still clearly top tier, though. I like how most of the skills on the TLM skill tree are useable with most builds, and I want to keep it that way, so I'm reluctant to suggest more nerfs. But since Parasite got nerfed, I do think it would make sense to start nerfing all the other energy manipulation skills from Omega like Frenzy, Static Smash, and Static Grenade, which leads me to...
Merc - Static Smash seems pretty broken. The problem with this class, however, is that it doesn't have any active shields so against debuff builds, the main counter is Assault Bot. So against non-debuff classes/builds like BM, CH, and even TLM, it feels very dominant, especially if coupled with Absorption, but against BH it can be a struggle. It feels too rigid that way. Although Spirit Meld casters aren't as good as before due to the tank nerf, they still exist and I wish the cooldown on the ultimate skills would be increased to 4 if we insist on not nerfing Spirit Meld itself.
BH - If it wasn't already true before, now it certainly is: BH as a class are completely chained to Smoke. Buff this skill and they get good, nerf it and they're utterly unviable. I know that Focus builds are already the most dominant build now that Strength and Support sort of got indirectly nerfed by passives (% based shields, high requirements, the fact that Bloodlust is an extreme counter for low Defense builds, etc.) and caster builds were killed by the tank nerf, but BH really needs to be able to make more than just that build. There is no other class that has more unusable offensive moves than BH. I would seriously consider completely reworking Massacre and Venom Strike for BH, especially since BH Massacre got its health gain stripped so there can be more build options. Otherwise, BH will always be stuck with carrying all physical weapons with zero flexibility in strategy options, which currently makes matches far too rigid. Opponents that can effectively shield against Smoke can win too easily and opponents that can't basically suffer an automatic loss (feels like in rock-paper-scissors), which leads me to...
TM - Now with the ridiculous Defense Matrix, TM seems pretty solid versus BH. However, their overall survivability still seems lacking. I think increasing the health gain on Super Charge would help. Make it more of a healing (defensive) skill than an offensive one, the way that Surgical is due to its Rage reduction. The buff to Malf was okay, but mainly helped Support builds. I'm not going to complain too much since Support isn't actually that good, but the other builds desperately need help. Historically, TM has always been one the most versatile classes, able to utilized the majority of their skill tree and make viable Strength, Tech, Support, and Focus builds but that isn't the case at all anymore. I feel like Bludgeon needs a huge buff to help with that, especially seeing as it is far already outclassed by Double Strike. Plasma Bolt is already ridiculously strong with high Tech; the main thing that killed caster builds was the tank nerf, so I'm not sure how to fix that. A weird idea would be to change the 10% defense ignore to 10% health gain on Bolt.
BM - The Parasite nerf hurt it bad. Plus, ever since Passives came back, BM has been pretty much chained to Plasma Cannon like BH is to Smoke. Not one other skill on the tree is even use-able with Focus now that Bludgeon was removed and Super Charge became completely outclassed by Cannon after its health gain was stripped, and all non-Focus builds are utterly dead. BM Super Charge needs a serious damage buff, Fireball ought to buffed now that Bludgeon is gone.
CH - Focus seems okayish now, actually, and buffing Malf brought back Support builds, which is fine since we need variety, but the class overall is clearly still weak. Something in this class desperately needs to scale with Dex to give Focus builds a reason to invest in Dex and not have their defense so lopsided with the Plasma Armor, and because Dex is so dead in general. I am still waiting on the possibility of Shadow Arts being reworked, too.
Lifeline - This core is ridiculously good, but I guess if the trend is to make better and better cores, than so be it. For ED's sake, I wouldn't want to nerf the thing that's bringing in the revenue after its already been released. It's weird that Critical Heal and Medical Mastery don't stack with each other for it though. Since it heals 300, normally it should be (300 + 20) * 1.2 = 384, but in this case it's 300 + 20 + (300 * 1.2) = 380. Not sure if this is a bug.
Hardened Armor - And... this was a total botch. There are numerous ways to buff it, so I won't insist on any one thing, but in general, I don't think any armor core should ever cost energy. That makes it too hard to compete with Health Booster/Energy Booster/Generator. If the energy cost was removed, it was buffed to like 30%, and was useable more than once per game with a 4 turn cooldown, it might be good.
Lucky Strike for Armor - the problem with these cores is that they only effect pure strikes. They need to affect everything for them to be remotely useful, in my opinion, at least for non-Strength builds. And 4% seems rather low, considering all the other luck cores were buffed a while ago, the max block % was increased, and Shadow Arts is a passive now. It should be buffed to 8% or something, along with the Primary version, and the Celtic Cleaver version could be buffed to 12%.
General Conclusion - The diversity in build archetypes is worse than it's ever been. Strength is dead, Support is dead, Dex is more suicidal than it ever was, non-5-Focus tanks (i.e. Tech) are dead in general, and all the skill trees are smaller which inherently decreases skill tree diversity. However, variations of the same archetypes (well, in this case, it's mainly just 5-Focus) are arguably at an all time high due to the release of new skill cores. The goal of future updates should be to increase the number of viable skills on classes' skill trees with the intention of reviving non-5-Focus builds. Class balance should be taken account, but it should be secondary to build balance at this point.
< Message edited by NDB -- 4/30/2019 21:11:24 >
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