Diamond Prism of Companionship  

 

i understand your point X. I just wanted to clarify that the Orb CAN have augment.

The one you're talking about is the Summoned orb. I was talking about the Ornate Orb (through a quest that allows it to be augmented)

Augmenting this in the Ornate Orb is for mages who hardly or never use their epic pets past lvl 61+ when the pet lvl in comparison to mobs reduce their dps significantly...

Equip the augmented item.

Summon your more uber pet.

Do whatever you like with your augmented item. Your pet will have the buffed stats until he dies.

If you're ever in situations where you may be chain casting pets, you may want the augment on an item you won't be swapping out. This probably doesn't apply as much to beastlords as they don't seem to do much chain-petting.

Yer Mage and SK complains should be reconsidered. Mage pets already cast spells, so don't need procs. Magi also have items to summon for their pets instead of pet buffs. In addition Magi are barely behind wizards (perhaps even better) as far as nuking goes. Not to mention the aa pet swarms. They are pretty well balanced. Sk pets don't need to be upgraded either...they are a necro hybrid, which means their pets lag behind a necro's just as all other hybrid spells lag behind their primary classes's spells. Sks are also a tanking/plate class, so simply use their pets for a little extra dmg, they don't rely on their pets to keep them alive when not grouped (like 'true' pet classes do).
Warriors prolly could use some upgrading though...the difference between them and the other tank classes is that they rely entirely on their equipment for agro and staying alive. Sks and Pallies both get buffs for themselves and spells to increase agro, so they rely less on their gear. It would be nice if Wars got some exclusive 'agro' ability so they could draw and hold agro better instead of requiring 'taunt' weapons to boost their agro. Other than warriors, I don't see a problem with the classes, they all seem pretty well balanced (atleast at 65). Personally I've always felt that wizzies should have their dmg output upgraded a little 'cause of how close magi are to them in dmg(I haven't checked lately, but I know originally magi were only 1 spell level behind wizards in nuke dmg). Of course I do see wizzies quad in HoH, and I don't see magi solo in HoH, so they are balanced.
Nixoh does a pretty good job of describing the classes (add in rangers like monks and rogs, only with their bows of course). I would be interested in why he thinks bards aren't well tuned though. Bards generally are ignored when it comes to balancing, but the pop spells do put us pretty even with the other classes. We may not tank as well as other plate classes, or have their melee output, but our songs do boost the dmg output of the rest of the group to make up for it. When we solo we have some nice dots to do our dmg instead of meleeing. Not to mention we can do a little of everything to fill whatever hole a group might have (DS, resists, pulling, mezing, regen/mana song, not to mention our special songs like group DA and selos). So we are pretty good.
The main thing with the solo classes is each type is better in a different situation...kiting/quading classes rule outdoor melee mobs (that don't summon), whereas pet classes rule indoor zones where the xp bonus is often higher and they also rule caster mobs since they have pet to eat the nukes and summoning mobs since their pet will take the dmg then too.

The problem with what you suggest is that in almost every case you're addressing things that don't matter much. I understand your desire to see a more balanced game, but the game should not make up for players who don't know how to use their class to its fullest.

Warriors are not a damage class. Sony has talked about changing that, but I'm not sure they should I think the only thing warriors need is a boost to damage avoidance, putting them on-par with monks (who of course have terrible damage mitigation, making them tissue-paper tanks).


Beastlords who think they are underpowered don't know how to play thier classes, or don't understand the other classes. I do pet-only groups with mages and beastlords for LDON all the time. I've never failed with such a group (only with tank groups) and we generally come in way under time. Being a necro, I know the value of slow, and to have even a partial slow that works against more than just undead makes me drool! And what group doesn't want "Beast crack" (or catnip, as I like to call it)?

Mages too have massive advantages over other classes (like a nuke that is better than Wizards at 61 and a selection of pets from spell-casters to tanks to high damage dealers).

Necromancers are jacks of all trades, and I love mine.

Clerics, Shamen and Enchanters are the backbone of damage mittigation in any well tuned guild and most groups.

Druids are a hard class to play well, but an easy one to play... when played well their versatility makes them as formidable as any others, and their damage output is enough to make them valuable everywhere.

Pallies and SKs make split-tanking doable with rapid agro-management and lots of tricks that can be used on casters (pally stun for the CH mobs) and utility spells like snare that aren't always safe for pure casters to re-cast in the face of resists (my necro gets agro if she doesn't FD between snare resists, so I can end up with an unsnared mob running away while I try to get off the second cast).

Monks and Rogues put out a giant amount of melee damage which can be invaluable in those cases where casters are being highly resisted.

Every class but Bard and Warrior IMHO has been well tuned, and most of the people who cry for class balance are just misinformed.