First and foremost the problem explained:
Despite the fact that warrior isn’t the worst out of all classes, it’s had its DPS nerfed to excruciatingly low levels by comparison to its other fellow classes due to a variety of patches since april but primarily the one this last september.
Obviously there has to be a best and a worst and everything in between, but unfortunately for us warrior users this has left our class feeling underwhelming and less fun to play, not to mention completely breaking some of our traits to the point of being impossible to make use of (especially in open world).
So here’s a very short but concise list of the ways that I’m certain the majority of our problems can be relieved in PvE and without ruining PvP aspects:
- Change the adrenaline decay. None of us really have a problem with losing adrenaline on miss, but the instant depletion as soon as we leave combat breaks Berserker’s Power pretty badly which is a pretty significant trait in PvE. If you want to make sure that we aren’t always able to maintain full adrenaline provided we’re in a PvP setting then this can still be achieved if you were to begin a 5 second timer from the moment we leave combat before it begins and keep our previous decay rate (decrease it by 100% from what it is now).
- Make it so that when we cast Rush (Greatsword #5), Savage Leap (Sword #2) or Bull’s Charge (Utility) from a distance they hit our targets instead of flying right past them. Nothing else to say about this, really.
- Make it so that we receive the extra damage from the Berserker’s Power trait when we use Eviscarate. It has been tested plenty of times; we don’t actually get the damage increase on this burst skill because it depletes the adrenaline before the skill is executed. Whether or not this applies to other burst skills — I haven’t personally tested.
- Either increase the damage coefficients of the offhand axe skills slightly or add extra utility to them as they are severely underwhelming in terms of DPS and offer no defensive utility, rendering them effectively useless (doesn’t stop pugs from using it, but balance changes should be based around high level gameplay anyways).
- Increase the last hit of Hundred Blades (GS #2) by 25%. This would not impact PvP because of the fact that this is a skill that takes over 4 seconds to fully execute; if someone actually manages to get hit by it, they truly deserve to be hit for extra damage anyways. This change would be complely in-line with the beautiful rule of ‘high risk for high reward’ that should be always factored into a game’s combat. When channeling a skill that roots you in place like this, you should feel rewarded at the end. In all actuality, this would pretty much only add around ~2k extra damage to the skill itself in an optimal solo setting. To verify this, I’m looking at my video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8cyn4iFfnU
Pause the video before and after the last hit of any 100b attack of mine. With the very first one:
Before the last hit: 31,459
After the last hit: 40,112
40,112 – 31,459 = 8,653 damage from the last hit there.
0.25 * 8,653 = 2,163.25
So in all actuality in a setting where you are fully decked out with bloodlust stacks and some of the best food available with full ascended and slayer-specific sigils + nourishment, you’d only be dealing roughly 2k damage more in a solo setting. This number would be much much lower for standard gameplay in open world and it wouldn’t really be too relevant in PvP.
I’m expecting to get some backlash on the 5th bullet point by warrior-haters but unless you have a convincing argument as to why you think it’s unjustifiable, I stand by it! If you wish to hear any more elaboration as to why I believe what I believe, feel free to ask. I don’t wish for this post to be any more lengthy than it already is because I know what it feels like to open a thread and groan at how many walls of text I need to read.
(edited by Purple Miku.7032)