08-11-2020, 07:56 PM
The issue with balancing the melee trees is a long standing one from the early days of Eternia.
Because of the nature of how they work, melee characters need to do everything they can to get in close and deal explosive damage. However... that's about all they can do. Keep in mind that it isn't just slow stacking that'll knee cap melee characters, but also knock/push backs, roots and general terrain hazards. Or just exist as a sustain build. Or body block with summons.
There is plenty in the trees to punish melee while there is also very little utility to save them. One of the most common tools, mistform and cleanse, have been stripped from the touch of most dedicated melee. Cleanse being moved to the Wellspring and Mistform being an intermediate in water. Which means an investment of 40-60 rpp to get one or the other, and 100 for both. The only true cleanse they can get with ease (in armed at least) is Garuda which just makes you slow immune for six seconds with a long, long cooldown (except against Frostbite apparently).
The reason you see a lot of the server going melee isn't because it's some potent tree that is unstoppable, but because it is far cooler to RP as a swordsman than it is as some wizard. Most shonen involved close combat and generally just slapping your opponent's shit with a weapon or your open hand. Even the mass array of hiddens were because melee was hot garbage in the past and needed some serious boosts. As it is right now? It's in a pretty solid place but I wouldn't say it's overwhelming.
Keep in mind that the melee character has to be up front and personal. They cannot just duck away and plink with homings when half their bar has ranges of 2-3. They are rewarded for getting up front and the opponent punished. With the... three or four spells that matter, compared to most having full bars. Those cooldowns might seem short but I can promise that the time between them feels like an eternity. God forbid you whiff on a fatal or dash strike into hazards/beams.
Because of the nature of how they work, melee characters need to do everything they can to get in close and deal explosive damage. However... that's about all they can do. Keep in mind that it isn't just slow stacking that'll knee cap melee characters, but also knock/push backs, roots and general terrain hazards. Or just exist as a sustain build. Or body block with summons.
There is plenty in the trees to punish melee while there is also very little utility to save them. One of the most common tools, mistform and cleanse, have been stripped from the touch of most dedicated melee. Cleanse being moved to the Wellspring and Mistform being an intermediate in water. Which means an investment of 40-60 rpp to get one or the other, and 100 for both. The only true cleanse they can get with ease (in armed at least) is Garuda which just makes you slow immune for six seconds with a long, long cooldown (except against Frostbite apparently).
The reason you see a lot of the server going melee isn't because it's some potent tree that is unstoppable, but because it is far cooler to RP as a swordsman than it is as some wizard. Most shonen involved close combat and generally just slapping your opponent's shit with a weapon or your open hand. Even the mass array of hiddens were because melee was hot garbage in the past and needed some serious boosts. As it is right now? It's in a pretty solid place but I wouldn't say it's overwhelming.
Keep in mind that the melee character has to be up front and personal. They cannot just duck away and plink with homings when half their bar has ranges of 2-3. They are rewarded for getting up front and the opponent punished. With the... three or four spells that matter, compared to most having full bars. Those cooldowns might seem short but I can promise that the time between them feels like an eternity. God forbid you whiff on a fatal or dash strike into hazards/beams.