Overview of the issue at hand:
Casters have been progressively nerfed on Phoenix. This is indisputable as evidenced by HP buff on tanks, debuff nerf on casters, removal of bonus dps from lifetap spells, increase of AOM effectiveness, and increase of DI pool... all of these moves collectively decrease damage/burst from casters. The fundamental problem when looking at casters vs tanks in terms of damage differential is that yes casters can hit harder if they are free nuking but if they are interrupted they can't do much, whereas tanks can continue to put out damage while simultaneously locking down said casters. Because of this, playing casters requires effort, skill, and precision to get free and nuke. This is why in all games -- not just DAoC -- caster damage is better. Casters do more damage and have more utility but can be shut down and killed quickly. This is part of the game and its why skill is required to optimally play casters.
Post-change environment for casters
Now that the issue has been established, let's take a look at what the recent environment has been like for casters. I will use myself as an example. I am a rank7 sorc with WP5 and MOM5. Spec'd 40 body. If I am nuking a target with some resist and secondary resist without a debuff, I am hitting for somewhere between 160-220 damage. On a 3,000 hp tank with healers ready to use DI/instas, this is unquestionably terrible damage (and damage that can be easily mitigated by average interrupt/support/tank play). How on earth is this balanced when all a tank has to do is slap me to stop that from happening? Please see the below screenshot for a recent fight where I was barely nuking a tank and had to put an entire power bar into him to get him just to 50%.
In 8v8 fights where I am lucky to be nuking a debuffed target, I am hitting for around 340 damage. Still, even with the debuff and even with good positioning, on a 3k HP tank who has pots/legion/instas from his support, I am surely not going to get a kill unless he is terribly out of position.
Suggestion and closing thoughts
Please reconsider some of these nerfs. The balance has swung in the direction of the tank and it's to the point where it isn't even worth playing casters anymore if you aren't high rank enough to afford max possible damage RAs. Thank you for listening
Casters have been progressively nerfed on Phoenix. This is indisputable as evidenced by HP buff on tanks, debuff nerf on casters, removal of bonus dps from lifetap spells, increase of AOM effectiveness, and increase of DI pool... all of these moves collectively decrease damage/burst from casters. The fundamental problem when looking at casters vs tanks in terms of damage differential is that yes casters can hit harder if they are free nuking but if they are interrupted they can't do much, whereas tanks can continue to put out damage while simultaneously locking down said casters. Because of this, playing casters requires effort, skill, and precision to get free and nuke. This is why in all games -- not just DAoC -- caster damage is better. Casters do more damage and have more utility but can be shut down and killed quickly. This is part of the game and its why skill is required to optimally play casters.
Post-change environment for casters
Now that the issue has been established, let's take a look at what the recent environment has been like for casters. I will use myself as an example. I am a rank7 sorc with WP5 and MOM5. Spec'd 40 body. If I am nuking a target with some resist and secondary resist without a debuff, I am hitting for somewhere between 160-220 damage. On a 3,000 hp tank with healers ready to use DI/instas, this is unquestionably terrible damage (and damage that can be easily mitigated by average interrupt/support/tank play). How on earth is this balanced when all a tank has to do is slap me to stop that from happening? Please see the below screenshot for a recent fight where I was barely nuking a tank and had to put an entire power bar into him to get him just to 50%.
In 8v8 fights where I am lucky to be nuking a debuffed target, I am hitting for around 340 damage. Still, even with the debuff and even with good positioning, on a 3k HP tank who has pots/legion/instas from his support, I am surely not going to get a kill unless he is terribly out of position.
Suggestion and closing thoughts
Please reconsider some of these nerfs. The balance has swung in the direction of the tank and it's to the point where it isn't even worth playing casters anymore if you aren't high rank enough to afford max possible damage RAs. Thank you for listening
