He ain't Heavy he's my brother...
Posted: Thu Mar 16, 2023 4:50 pm
As you can imagine by the title, this post is for all those Heavies out there. Warrior's, Hero's and Armsman...
Since day one we've always had a somewhat limited role in end game rvr. As a soloable class they are the most limited in the game, due to plain and simply being kite bait. This isn't a plea for heavies to be given access to Charge as an RA.. though I'd happily pay 10 ra pts for it It's some feedback on the marginalisation of a class set that many people enjoy playing. Mainly due to it's simplicity.
The biggest issue the heavies face in rvr here on Eden, isn't so much being kite bait (yes, I solo on a warrior both on live and Eden), but it's the manner in which every shield class has been granted access to a 9 second anytime stun style.. aka.. Slam. This essentially renders the Heavies niche market if you will irrelevant. When other classes can offer far more utility to a group/smallman than a warrior can. Giving BM's and Merc's a 9 sec stun is just ludicrous, as if charge, damage boosts, dirty tricks etc weren't enough. Why have a heavy in your group when light tanks and hybrids can do their job for you? and offer greater utility/damage output.
in the smallman/solo arena the variance in damage capability for classes like the reaver, warden, champion, thane etc off the back of a 9 second stun, compared to 5 seconds as is the case is considerable. With capped swing speed that's 2-3 extra styles or spells equating to 500+ dmg. Given most Heavies have in the region of 3k hp, we're looking at around 20% extra dmg compared to a 5 second stun. Yet the Heavy's have nothing to either a) mitigate this damage increase, or b) anything that bolsters their damage capabilities by 20%.
So, what is the solution? How do we find a way to bring back the heavy in a balanced way?
Well we have to potential solutions:
1) Reduce the stun timer for slam for non heavy classes back to 5 seconds. Something I'm sure will cause all those people who are benefiting from this system imbalance to rage quit.
2) Grant the Heavies Greater Stoicism. Essentially, making their cc reduction (yes it stacks with Det.) effect style based stuns and snares, in the same way they do casted versions of cc. Though not as effective as charge. Greater Stoicism would make heavies viable both in group/zerg warfare and solo. Bare in mind to get a highly of Greater Stoicism they still need to invest heavily in Det. A low RR tank is only likely to have 25% cc reduction from Stocism.. there's so much more to invest in lower down.
Greater Stoicism would also tie in with the character and nature of the heavy tank. There are by definition the damage sponge, they hit a lot, nuked a lot and as such by the time they're level 50 they should have learnt how to recover faster than anyone else.
Since day one we've always had a somewhat limited role in end game rvr. As a soloable class they are the most limited in the game, due to plain and simply being kite bait. This isn't a plea for heavies to be given access to Charge as an RA.. though I'd happily pay 10 ra pts for it It's some feedback on the marginalisation of a class set that many people enjoy playing. Mainly due to it's simplicity.
The biggest issue the heavies face in rvr here on Eden, isn't so much being kite bait (yes, I solo on a warrior both on live and Eden), but it's the manner in which every shield class has been granted access to a 9 second anytime stun style.. aka.. Slam. This essentially renders the Heavies niche market if you will irrelevant. When other classes can offer far more utility to a group/smallman than a warrior can. Giving BM's and Merc's a 9 sec stun is just ludicrous, as if charge, damage boosts, dirty tricks etc weren't enough. Why have a heavy in your group when light tanks and hybrids can do their job for you? and offer greater utility/damage output.
in the smallman/solo arena the variance in damage capability for classes like the reaver, warden, champion, thane etc off the back of a 9 second stun, compared to 5 seconds as is the case is considerable. With capped swing speed that's 2-3 extra styles or spells equating to 500+ dmg. Given most Heavies have in the region of 3k hp, we're looking at around 20% extra dmg compared to a 5 second stun. Yet the Heavy's have nothing to either a) mitigate this damage increase, or b) anything that bolsters their damage capabilities by 20%.
So, what is the solution? How do we find a way to bring back the heavy in a balanced way?
Well we have to potential solutions:
1) Reduce the stun timer for slam for non heavy classes back to 5 seconds. Something I'm sure will cause all those people who are benefiting from this system imbalance to rage quit.
2) Grant the Heavies Greater Stoicism. Essentially, making their cc reduction (yes it stacks with Det.) effect style based stuns and snares, in the same way they do casted versions of cc. Though not as effective as charge. Greater Stoicism would make heavies viable both in group/zerg warfare and solo. Bare in mind to get a highly of Greater Stoicism they still need to invest heavily in Det. A low RR tank is only likely to have 25% cc reduction from Stocism.. there's so much more to invest in lower down.
Greater Stoicism would also tie in with the character and nature of the heavy tank. There are by definition the damage sponge, they hit a lot, nuked a lot and as such by the time they're level 50 they should have learnt how to recover faster than anyone else.