Not all cabal skills at the same cabal rank are equal to each other, nor should they be. This reminds me of a discussion with Trick some time ago. Anyone would take forms over praet styles for example or also the Nexus T skills over the Knights'. Knight weapons also suck compared to Nexus weapons (at least unless you are undead, then they hurt at E rank as hell, before that you can just ignore them).
While I don't agree with F0xx that serks can only haymaker, he's got it right that normal class skills should not be compared to cabal skills, esp. concerning landing rate.
While I agree with this in principal - i do think some thought should be put into better leveling out some cabals. Knight is probably the biggest one. At Trusted in Praet you pretty much suck compared to your opponents at Trusted - then at Elder you are a god.
Realistically I think we should be looking to make cabals roughly even out at Trusted - not the same - just roughly equivalent. Trusted is where most players will spend their time. Yes there are some people who will get elder in a month every time, but that isn't the experience for most people.
I played Horneka and Hoofka, and aside from purposely condeathing Hoofka vs Irant with the purpose of learning how to fight that class , Hornecka had like 2 PK deaths. 1 was vs Kotrags bugged out push murder spam
You died way more times against the "bugged out push murder spam" :D
I find renown can work against me sometimes. When I am in ironarm stance and if I can hit bladerush I can stun them long enough to hit pinwheel. Though the amount of times renown has triggered that disarm right before, negating that stun allowing people to flee before eating that damage.
Realistically I think we should be looking to make cabals roughly even out at Trusted - not the same - just roughly equivalent.
I’d love to agree - the “usual” powers that most players can expect to achieve without above-average effort should, ideally, even out.
The problem, of course, is that this is incredibly difficult to achieve: whether in broad or specific terms “balance” is near-impossible both to define and create. Should a paladin be able to stand against an evil melee, or should they generally need to use attrition tactics? Which is the appropriate “balanced” result, and how many rounds of combat should the paladin be able to handle, against and with what eq sets? How can cabals that are designed to allow a broad variety of combos possibly be given abilities that assist each combo equally against all possible enemies, and how can the effectiveness of those abilities across all possible combos be judged against the abilities of other cabals as they affect other combos in other situations?
Simply put, perfect balance in a game like this one will never exist and can never be achieved. That the game is as well balanced as it is is something of a minor miracle. But how can we possibly give Knight’s ranks abilities that equally benefit a warrior and an invoker against Nexians of every class just as well as they do neutral melee Warmasters? This is too much to ask even in far simpler games with a general rock-paper-scissors setup.
We should certainly discuss issues we see and have the game evolve over time, but the game is a lot more fun and a lot less aggravating if you can accept that it isn’t and won’t ever be perfect - and it doesn’t need to be.
I was just giving my opinion. There has to be a reason why Savant is basically always empty, right?
Melee have a scale-able offense, casters do not and are currently stuck. They hit a peak, and don't scale any more. While melees are walking around with huge hit/dam, HP, AND saves. Though I understand this is being addressed with gear re-balancing. That is why Savant is basically empty. Savant vs WM is the quintessential measuring stick for melee vs caster, so of course the gear and scaling imbalance currently plaguing the mud would be evident in their participation.
Maybe when work slows down over the next few months I will roll another psi and go temporum. Qclasses....The last bastion of caster potency.