WAR: Rivers of Tears Over Bright Wizard Nerfs

There are rivers of tears forming over the Bright Wizard nerfs in Warhammer Online.  While I agree the class has some mad DPS, to me, it was the first REAL IMPLEMENTATION OF A GLASS CANNON, I've experienced in any game.  No one likes to be nerfed and I'm a BW myself but here are the other things to consider which may have a negative spiraling effect:

• I tried several main DPS classes before choosing the BW.  My selection had NOTHING to do with the DPS.  I had no way to evaluate if we were OP when I made that selection in the Preview Event.  However, BW was the only caster class I liked.  It was that DPS caster or no DPS caster.
• Order is/was depending on your server, deficient in numbers as compared to Destruction.  BWs are a good percentage of Empire players and Order in general.  Disrupting them to a point where they feel more vulnerable - glass-cannon is more glass than cannon, may cause a good deal of the BWs to re roll.  Now Order has less DPS output.  What's the impact of Order having less DSP output?
• BWs feeling at too great of a disadvantage because of a unilateral change in the root mechanic, impacts an escape mechanism on top of reduced DPS.  BW says, "Bump that, I won't play this class in PVP/RVR, see above for potential result.
• BWs re-roll and now a portion of the Order players that Destruction has been crying about needing in T4, are in fact, now back in T1 as something else.  Let's cry some more about the absence of RVR and lack of Order in T4.
• BWs were one of the few Order classes that can make Destruction players "back the fuk up".  Now not so much.  Order consistently has fewer healers anytime I've done Scenarios or oRVR.  What's the impact of BWs being more glass in a faction with fewer people to keep glass from shattering?
• Order still has to deal with the Magus multi-target pull into the Sorc puddle of death.  Yet our "put fear in their hearts" isn't quite as fearful.  How does that change behavior on both sides of the encounter?  What happens if the Order side of the coin decide to flip the coin or toss it away?

This is why I seriously think classes should be removed from PVP/RVR focused games.  Eliminate this whole series of potential cause-and-effect situations.  Players won't be focused on screaming for nerfs or crying over being nerfed.  Developers and Community Managers won't be dealing with it either.  If they want to keep classes then decouple PVE balancing from PVP OR stop trying to do them in the same game.  Has WOW's balancing for PVP and then Arenas that impacted PVE, taught us nothing??

Again, I'm not trying to defend whether or not BWs were as overpowered as some people believed and Mythic decided.  I am however, trying to show that this is a very slippery slope.  The results of which, might not be the desired outcome.   AND we still don't know who is bailing on what classes to play the new tanks OR what percentage will be Order vs. Destruction, which might play right back into having a negative impact on Order, where we start the cascading sequence of potential negative impact again.

I'm a Bright Wizard.  If my testing reveals that slugging solo through content to level and farm is noticeably longer, I might become part of the statistic, "Total number of Bright Wizards -1" simply because of the burden of working through content designed for groups without groups.  It's not enough to make me quit WAR.  I have a Warrior Priest that I enjoy but it could permanently remove me as available DPS Order side so...Get my point?

P.S.  Dark Elf Sorcerers, the mirror to Bright Wizards have their own tears flowing.  I truly believe that classes + RVR is contensious and combustable mix.  Not that players like PVE nerfs any less but I think it's not as emotionally toxic, as nerfs in the PVP/RVR space.

Comments

[Tipa]

I totally agree with you. If you're going to have classes in a PvP game, let it be a class you can choose at the beginning of a battle. Having to spend months restarting and releveling just to fill a need in your warband is just silly.

[Alysianah aka Saylah]

Not sure selection at that level would be fun since there's no character progression, development of skill and influence of selected play style based on spec. That sounds more like a lobby PVP game. And I guess gear would need to be generic like GW? But it has worked for GW. Hmm, It's been forever since I started a class in GW but isn't that game more mix and match almost anything you want to make your class? Elemental Mezmer, NecroMezmer, etc?

[Winged Nazgul]

I am for any and all changes that will make Sorcerers reroll.

[Alysianah aka Saylah]

You're mean!

[Torgor]

I love the idea of no classes, I have always been a fan of that I have just never seen it implemented well in a Fantasy MMO. Though even being completely skill based does not mean there will not be cries for nerfing/boosting. The EVE online boards are filled with tears over ships being over/underpowered or certain play styles being too powerful. Whining is the one universal truth in MMOs.

[Saylah]

LOL I like that line, "whining is one of the universal truths". I go to the EVE forums but mostly for research. When anyone can train any skill and by doing so fly any ship what is the main thrust of the tears??? Just curious.