Originally Posted by
GoodSyntax
The point here is that if you look at the roles of the three classes, you see Rogue = fast single target kills, Sorcerers = Crowd control and DoT, Warriors = tanks/healers? Two of these classes have obvious benefits in a PvE environment, while one honestly cannot contribute as much. Sure, a really skilled tank will make runs easier for you, but they rarely make runs faster. This game has evolved to the point where time = money, so the more time you spend on a map, the less money you make, or the more money you need to spend. There is no extra reward for efficiency or team dynamics, so what ends up happening is whatever party type is fastest becomes the most desirable.
Here is my rating system on the three classes in the ten primary areas of PvE that I find important
Single Target Damage: How well you can damage a single mob/boss
Group Damage: How well you can inflict damage on a group of mobs at once
Aggro Control: How well you can generate and maintain aggro
Target Control: How well can you control a single mob
Group Control: How well can you control a pack of mobs
Player Buff: How potent your self-buff abilities are
Party Buff: How potent your party buffs are
Target Debuff: How effective your single-target debuffs are
Group Debuff: How effective your group debuffs are
Damage Control: How well you can absorb or better yet, avoid receiving damage
ROGUES:
Rogues are the undisputed single-target killing machines in the game. This class has extremely effective target debuffs and player buffs, coupled with the highest single target damage is the reason why Rogues are efficient killing machines. Rogues, while not very good at mob control do have the ability to avoid some of the damage and possess enough Armor/HP to pot through the damage that they do receive. Unfortunately, without any shielding capabilities, do die more than average.
Single Target Damage: Best. Without question, the best class in the game!
Group Damage: Average. Nox poison, bleed from Traps and Razor all doing AoE damage.
Aggro Control: Above Average. Rogues can generate a lot of aggro, especially in blender builds with Razor, Traps and Daggers. The high damage and high DPS can pull aggro at any time it seems.
Target Control: Terrible. No single target control mechanism.
Group Control: Below Average. Effective, but unreliable group control with traps that pull.
Player Buff: Best. One of the most effective self-buffing mechanism in game! Crit stacking plus 250% damage on crit from Aimed Shot is the reason why Rogues are the best single target killers.
Party Buff: Above Average. Shadow Veil (when properly upgraded) is a powerful party buff.
Target Debuff: Best. Aimed Shot, with it's armor debuff, is powerful and scales well to endgame.
Group Debuff: Average. Shadow veil does offer some hit % debuff, and bleed does stack, which is why Trap builds are becoming more popular.
Damage Control: Average. Above average armor and HP, along with very good Dodge all contribute.
SORCERERS:
Sorcerers are masters of crowd control, AoE damage and DoT. This class does not offer much in the way of buffs/debuffs, but, in the proper hands, can effectively keep many mobs in a permanent root/stun/freeze/knock-down cycle, which helps with survivability. Unfortunately, being a low armor/low dodge class, hits tend to do more damage than expected, but, this is somewhat offset by a very powerful shield. In my opinion, a shield is too much of a compromise, since it reduces your total skill damage output by 25%, so the best elite runners I know run without the shield.
Single Target Damage: Average. Lightning being the most potent attack, but single target isn't the primary role of the class.
Group Damage: Best. Clock and Fire are the bread-and-butter of the class and these two skills in particular have a large area of effect.
Aggro Control: Average. For whatever reason, Sorcs tend to generate a lot of aggro, likely from the continuous DoT.
Target Control: Best. Ice is the best single target control ability in game.
Group Control: Best. With large AoE skills and lots of stun/root/knockdowns, Sorcs are the best class for crowd control.
Player Buff: Below Average. Gale (with its Armor and Speed upgrades) is probably the only player buff I can think of.
Party Buff: Terrible. No party buff that I can think of (unless you consider Heal a party buff).
Target Debuff: Below Average. None of the skill upgrades are worthwhile except for Curse.
Group Debuff: Below Average. None of the skill upgrades are worthwhile except for Curse.
Damage Control: Below Average. Many builds have high HP coupled with Shield and/or Gale. Generally, without Shield or Gale, Sorcs rely on high-ish HP, but the low armor leads to a lot of one hit deaths.
WARRIORS:
Warriors primary role of tanking is reflected in their skills; they are terrific aggro controllers, and have great survivability, but their ability to deal damage and debuff in any appreciable way is simply not there.
Single Target Damage: Terrible. Even though some tanks have extremely high DMG, the skill damage is very weak.
Group Damage: Average. Windmill and Smash are AoE type attacks, and with the primary role of Warriors as a tanker, these two skills can do reasonable damage.
Aggro Control: Best. This class has taunt upgrades on most skills.
Target Control: Below Average. The only real single target control skill is Axe Throw, and even that has limited usefulness.
Group Control: Terrible. Tanks excel at grouping up mobs, not controlling them. Stuns from Smash are very unreliable.
Player Buff: Best. Juggernaut and VB are two of the best player buffs in game!
Party Buff: Average. Rally Cry (for those that actually use it) has a large radius and reasonably long active time.
Target Debuff: Average. Feebling is really the only target debuff available, which helps with the tanking role, but doesn't add to faster runs.
Group Debuff: Terrible. No group debuff skills.
Damage Control: Best. High HP, high armor means tanks are really tough to bring down in PvE. There are very few windup attacks in game that can one hit a properly geared tank.
So, looking at this analysis, it is clear that what is missing in the game is a potent group debuff ability. Rogues excel at single target buff/debuff/kills. Sorcerers excel at crowd control, AoE and DoT. Tanks excel at what? Being a punching bag? Let's make the Warrior class a Tank and Debuff juggernaut! Extend the benefit of VB to the entire party, add Feeble and some form of armor reduction skill upgrade to debuff groups of mobs! This will make tanks a desirable class to have in party as it not only helps with efficiency, but it also will not significantly increase run time!
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