I was raiding as a paladin... was doing pretty well through Shadow Harvest... I had to work twice as hard to get a half of the results. I think this is where anything not named Zerker or Monk are situated right now as tanks. Yah, you might be able to do it on the other 4 tanks, but why struggle when those two can do it better, easier AND with more dps... They need to fix shields, fix avoidance, get rid of all the stupid strike through that negates defense... and then give the tanks NOT more dps, but more ways to handle agro. Better taunts and agro controls. Quality snaps that scale and buffs that scale (pally heals are worthless for the most part, because you can't heal when you are dead... and our cures are broken since they were never updated above lvl 127 dets) Guards took a huge hit this xpac with the melee nerf as well... I've played on 3 of the 4 plate tanks (sorry, my SK hasn't made it past 92...) but I've never really played the leather tanks... I was always so upset when they mucked them over from being more dps fighters into 'tanks', as my wife played a monk and hated it when they became tanks instead of dps style characters.
You are right that Paladin heals and cures should be made relevant again but keep in mind this is the Bruiser thread. That should be left for a separate topic so as not to confuse issues. When you say 'tanks' don't need more DPS that is not universally true. Bruiser definitely needs more DPS. More DPS is what fixes the class. Your below statement seems to imply as much when saying your wife hated the tank focused roll. Yes, there was a transition made late in TSO and early Sentinels Fate that changed the leather fighters into real "tanks." It was a change that made sense at the time. You have to understand both Monks and Bruisers were kind of struggling in TSO and casuals were complaining about a tank shortage. So they made the decision to refocus the role of Monks and Bruisers away from dps and into a more defensive tank role. Having played through that era I say the change was really successful. It lead to Bruisers becoming the meta tank in Velious and laid the foundation for Monks to become the powerhouse that they are now. The thing is that was a solution for problems that existed 12 to 13 years ago. The pendulum has clearly swung too far in the opposite direction now. Monks have been the meta for too long and should be taken down a notch. Bruiser has low defense but that is where it should be. The problem is Bruiser DPS is too low and sill lags behind Monks and SK even after the recent changes. It is supposed to be give and take relationship where if a class has low defense they should have a higher offensive potential. No class should be god tier at both and no class should be left behind lacking in both categories. That is the only way to fairly balance the classes.
Agreeing with this~ sounds like the defenses should be right around where they should be for a bruisy, but the lacking DPS is what is throwing things off.
Good news: Bruisers may finally get their chance to shine in the next couple weeks. They are finally fixing the double cast bug on Boneshattering combination so Bruisers can maintain their crit bonus temp for 3 times as long as it currently lasts. This will give a substantial boost to Bruiser DPS and bring us more in line with what can Monks do.
Know what would bring us in line with monks? dragonfire and the skill that has the chance to reset it.... or a complete FIX of the class
The original patch notes seemed to imply that it would be a change only for bruisers. Turns out Monks will get a boost too. A buff is a buff which is good news but Monk is still going to be KING.
So do monks still have greater defensive temps with longer durations that can be rotated quicker than a bruiser? If so shouldn’t bruisers offensive temps be longer duration that can be rotated quicker? Back nine years ago I seen my monk transforming very good offensively while also have greater defensive capabilities. I believed then that if this remains that my bruiser would soon loose his so called identity as the “offensive brawler”. My monk was equally as good offensively, slightly better utility, and definitely better defensively. At least way back then. I rolled my bruiser first because so many of my friends already had monks and as time went on I rolled a monk just to compare these two. Both were fun but my bruiser did have a greater ceiling for offensive gain but did not have the defenses that my monk had. It was a decent trade off then and both had their place. The bruiser however was my heart and soul. Just trying to catch up on things and from what little I have read monks own bruisers across the spectrum.
You heard correctly Monks dominate Bruisers across the spectrum in both offensive and defensive capabilities. There is no reason to play a Bruiser in the current meta. A Monk will both out tank you and out dps you at the same time. Sorry the classes are not balanced right now. There should be a give and take here. If one class is stronger defensively then logically they should be weaker offensively than classes that don't have good defensive abilities. We are in a situation where the Monk has everything going for it while Bruiser is basically a diaper class that can't really do much of anything. The devs are aware Bruisers are basically trash and there have been some improvements made in the last few months. Problem is those improvements fell far short of what was actually needed to balance the classes. Bruiser still needs a lot of work going forward. I would really like to see the "offensive brawler" niche that old school Bruisers were known for make a come back.
I have been watching some YTube videos over the past few months on EQ2 gameplay. I’ve searched bruiser and yes there are few older videos that show short videos of bruisers but nothing contemporary. I have seen a few describing the fighter classes but even there bruisers are not given much time as other fighters are. Most of these videos I seen of the two brawlers are mainly monks so I assume from this that monks have better popularity in today’s game. I’m in hopes that the bruisers will get some well needed fixes in the near future. Keep posting everyone cause it sure helps. I hope to one day log in and play again. The game still looks amazing
You should log in and play now. Don't wait for the ideal situation to present itself because that may never happen. Also it takes a long time to get caught up so by the time you get everything squared away Bruiser might be fixed by then. In the meantime you don't want to miss out on the summer ethereal event.
I actually have logged in a few times. Just going through inventory and visiting through the shattered lands for old times sake. Lost is an understatement but that is perfectly fine. Far better than what social media is offering.
