Gaige wrote: So do I. Asking that assassins get something in return for every ranger benefit doesn't make any logical sense when assassin's are already ahead. It's very simple. They aren't balanced, therefore rangers should be getting MORE than assassin's until they are balanced since rangers are currently behind. Once they are balanced then both classes deserve to get advantages in equal amounts. This can include giving them both some sort of update, just the ones ranger's get would have to be better to help further close the gap. In any event it's likely it will be going out as is. Technically it works fine, its just unfortunate game design aspects up to this point weren't made to accommodate flurry better. Ideally some sort of balancing would also go out with this change but I imagine we will just have to deal until the next GU possibly (if this isn't made part of it). More likely in the expansion where more high impact and new AA's can be introduced as well as overall adjustments to the game that could alleviate this problem.
The 15% flurry assassins get on their epic has historically been balanced, putting aside the issue of gimped auto bow for the last ~2.5 years (courtesy of Aeralik), with the 20% base auto attack rangers get on their epic. Having said that, the 15% assassin flurry is getting a free buff from the application of flurry to off-hands, in addition to bows, in the coming update. This free buff somewhat undermines one of the flurry fix's chief motives, namely balancing assassin and ranger overall dps, and also specifically unbalances the assassin flurry and ranger base auto epic buffs, in favor of the assassin flurry buff. Even independent of the foregoing considerations, the devs probably still need to do more beyond what is currently on test to truly balance rangers. Thus, asking that the ranger Double Arrow AA be converted from 8% DA to ~4% flurry is not unreasonable under the circumstances, especially in light of the similar change the devs are making to the similar guardian AA, and for a similarly beleaguered class. I would also say that, additionally, the assassin flurry epic buff should be lowered to half its current value to compensate for the fact that flurry will now apply to off-hands, in order to keep the ranger and assassin epic effects balanced against each other. Further, assuming that change were to occur, Double Arrow should regardless be changed to flurry to help compensate for the overall disparity, again in favor of assassins, between assassin and ranger AA's currently. To be clear, I think other changes to ranger AA's are also needed to address this disparity, for example a buff to Opening Volley, which is currently decidedly inferior to the assassin equivalent, Killing Fury. At first impression, these steps may seem to be a lot to some people, but frankly the current deficiency in ranger dps, as against both assassins and mages, is not insignificant, and I would once again remind those reading this that some of the changes on test will increase the dps of all scouts, not just rangers. Also remember that ~4% flurry by no means constitutes a large dps gain. I don't think making this change to Double Arrow would necessitate reviewing and revising every arguably outdated or obsolete AA, but along similar lines as the on-test guardian change and the proposed equivalent ranger change, I think another old AA involving DA that could be looked at is illusionist Illusory Arm. In summary, assassin flurry % from epic should be lowered to keep ranger and assassin epic buffs balanced, and ranger Double Arrow should be changed to flurry (similarly to the treatment of the similar guardian AA) to partially address both the overall disparity between ranger and assassin AA's and the overall deficiency of ranger dps.
It should still be 8% flurry if it's going to be a noticable dps gain. 4% is still a percent, and a very, very low one at that. We don't know how much flurry is going to be on gear (if at all with the multi attack changes, and they just don't combine the two stats), plus assassins get 15% flurry. Half of 15 is 7.5, so 8% seems fair to me. PLUS, the ranger only attacks with one main weapon, It's possible that procs will be totally out of whack again. We don't know because we haven't tested it yet, and we can't really trust the devs with it, because they can't (don't want I guess? Because every time a new mechanic change is in order, it seems like they leave it up to the players to do all that for them) test it themselves. I'm guessing with surefire certainty that the new auto attack changes will not be balanced at all. We all know how every expansion works; There is always at least one major bug (HUGE, ala GU13, bow nerfs, proc nerfs, MAKING FIGHTER HEALS NOT CRIT, okay some of those came in the middle of an expansion, but they are still stupid fixes.) with the release. This company is known to totally destroy games from the inside out, and not just in one fell swoop either. If they don't bring up all the other classes to assassin/wizard/sk standards, then this game really is going to be another EQ wasteland, games like this are just a waste of time if the developers don't listen to the players that really know the game. Bold rocks!
