Hello. First I’d like to say it’s acceptable that MB was nerfed. The problem is it now does less damage on average than an ice comet- and takes twice as long to cast and drains mana. MB is now no longer even worth using for dps, solo grouped or in raid. Wizard is not the most interesting class to play, and our unique class-defining ability has now been nerfed through the ground. Equal geared wizards now parse equal or less than several other classes that provide a great deal of utility, debuffs, or ability to solo. I understand MB was never intended to take potency into account, but throughout eq2’s illustrious past it’s always been our flagship; class-defining ability. With all the balancing and gear tweaks, MB just doesn’t cut it anymore. It barely scales with gear now. The difference between all +100 stat gear and +70 gear is per piece of equipment (30*9*4, which is about 1k). So full raid gear over treasured junk will give a wizard about 20k more damage on MB. All abilities scale with multipliers except this ability now, making it unusable. I know wizards still perform well, but their dps is outclasses by classes who have more utility. The fun of playing a wizard is dramatically dumbed down without having a big ability to count on and time. Please consider making an adjustment to MB to make it more viable. It doesn’t need to be broken OP like before, but it absolutely should not be worthless. This was an extreme nerf, and i think the wizards in this community deserve better.
Removing potency from a spell or ability should only be a quickhack-fix - not a solution. (even on TLE Servers)
That's a nice opinion, but I think if you want to convince anyone of anything you need to show parses, before and after. What I've read from people in the top two raiding guilds is that wizards still top the parse over other dps classes. Keep in mind that is with pet damage being increased as well. So while you might be able to convince me with hard numbers that manaburn needs to be boosted in some way, there are several other abilities that need to be nerfed. Also stating that wizards lack utility and can't solo is insanely incorrect. Wizards can solo heroic ^^^ without problem and have since low levels. I have to say it's really disturbing that the biggest complaint is that mobs die too quickly, gear stats are far too inflated and yet the moment dps drops just a little for any class, people are foaming at the mouth.
I mean thing about it, assassin's might parse a little* bit more until TSO AA's come out but you gotta remember we are dominant in AOE, can hit mobs from 50+ meters away on fights you have to joust on and still have lots of damage. I'm all for Manaburn being at least somewhat useful, right now it's absolutely useless, the skill should at least have a payoff for the huge requirement it puts on the wizard/the raid keeping the buff to do as much as it does. I was beating/tieing with the assassin on the zonewide with manaburn but actually was a few thousand higher because of icelash/ro's blade as far as "outgoing" damage goes. The fact that wizard's win in fights that assassin's need to joust, and fights that last over a decent amount of time is good balance. The issue is no fights really have either of these aspects to them currently, which is an issue with game design. Assassin's get noxious enfeeblement, which is now useless because it wasn't reworked once crit mit was removed which is horrible compared to thunderclap. Touch of the nightshade pales in comparison to hailstorm, and the overall wizard shadows tree is better than any other dps class sans warlock, which is pretty balanced with the wizard. Same thing with SF AA's, Blast of devestation is basically fusion, fiery blast is gonna be even stronger than manaburn was because it double casts (lol, idk why this ability hasn't been changed to just a potency multiplier or something at this point), and assassin's get PFT and shadow step. The assassin in my guild gets realistically every buff in game he can possibly get with the exception of Bolster, has 1k+ ABmod over me, more potency, and is doing this on content that he doesn't have to joust out of and is getting all of his spike damage like mortal blade and assassinate. If fights last over a decent amount of time in TSO, and we are given the same gear/buffs I think the wizard will still come out on top depending on the player/skill. One thing that is absolutely bonkers right now for scouts is auto attack, it's kinda ridiculous people are parsing 10k+ with just auto attack and the fact that 500+ dps mod is required to actually go above the "cap".
Ok someone wanted parse. Here is 2 parses, same type of mob same combat time. First one I used Manaburn with bolster second one no Manaburn no bolster. (I am Tremer a Wizard obv. Others I changed to name of there class to protect their privacy.) (00:35) an Immortal soldier: 219045 Tremere-Manaburn-140 674 Beast | 21332 Treme | 19491 Conju | 18688 (00:35) an Immortal soldier: 219198 Tremere-Ice Comet-76 866 Beast | 23612 Treme | 19772 Coerc | 18514
Post your breakdown, when your manaburn hits for that low you could of easily had an encounter (especially with the soldiers) where you hit firestorm, fusion, glacial wind with certain procs up to damage both of the mobs in the encounter which allowed you to keep up with the manaburn damage. On my 30 second parses manaburn vs no manaburn is the difference between a 70-90k parse on the first named in shard of hate and a 50k one.
I selected thouse two fights cus it was the only MB I was bolstered for. Here are 2 fights with only one mob in each one. One with Manaburn without bolster. And one without manaburn. And I have included the breakdown of my spells. Code: (00:26) a ruinic guardian: 199893 Tremere-Manaburn-115 093 Beast | 18430 Treme | 16293 Coerc | 14841 TYPE DAMAGE ENCDPS AVERAGE MEDIAN MINHIT MAXHIT RESIST HITS SWINGS TOHIT CRIT% CRITTYPES All 423 630 16 293,46 5 166,22 511 334 115 093 All 82 82 100,00 96% 0,0%L - 0,0%F - 0,0%M Manaburn 115 093 4 426,65 115 093,00 115 093 115 093 115 093 heat 1 1 100,00 0% - Ball of Fire 84 230 3 239,62 28 076,67 25 504 25 198 33 528 heat 3 3 100,00 100% 0,0%L - 0,0%F - 0,0%M Ice Comet 72 796 2 799,85 72 796,00 72 796 72 796 72 796 heat 1 1 100,00 100% 0,0%L - 0,0%F - 0,0%M crush 58 198 2 238,38 4 849,83 4 891 3 908 6 302 crushing 12 12 100,00 100% 0,0%L - 0,0%F - 0,0%M Frost Spikes 21 756 836,77 7 252,00 6 373 6 337 9 046 cold 3 3 100,00 100% 0,0%L - 0,0%F - 0,0%M Magma Chamber 20 525 789,42 20 525,00 20 525 20 525 20 525 heat 1 1 100,00 100% 0,0%L - 0,0%F - 0,0%M Immolation 13 872 533,54 13 872,00 13 872 13 872 13 872 heat 1 1 100,00 100% 0,0%L - 0,0%F - 0,0%M Flametongue 10 104 388,62 421,00 431 362 511 heat 24 24 100,00 100% 0,0%L - 0,0%F - 0,0%M Flame Surge 7 047 271,04 391,50 400 334 461 heat 18 18 100,00 100% 0,0%L - 0,0%F - 0,0%M Dissonant Note 6 170 237,31 2 056,67 2 179 1 648 2 343 mental 3 3 100,00 100% 0,0%L - 0,0%F - 0,0%M Ice Spears 5 299 203,81 757,00 692 645 1 015 cold 7 7 100,00 100% 0,0%L - 0,0%F - 0,0%M Blade Chime 4 136 159,08 1 034,00 1 013 871 1 288 disease 4 4 100,00 100% 0,0%L - 0,0%F - 0,0%M Flay 2 449 94,19 1 224,50 1 379 1 070 1 379 heat 2 2 100,00 100% 0,0%L - 0,0%F - 0,0%M Fire of Intellect 1 955 75,19 977,50 1 005 950 1 005 heat 2 2 100,00 0% - (00:22) a ruinic guardian: 231936 Tremere-Ice Comet-71 183 Beast | 22705 Treme | 18985 Coerc | 18357 TYPE DAMAGE ENCDPS AVERAGE MEDIAN MINHIT MAXHIT RESIST HITS SWINGS TOHIT CRIT% CRITTYPES All 417 665 18 984,77 5 093,48 2 124 385 71 183 All 82 82 100,00 100% 0,0%L - 0,0%F - 0,0%M Ice Comet 71 183 3 235,59 71 183,00 71 183 71 183 71 183 cold 1 1 100,00 100% 0,0%L - 0,0%F - 0,0%M Ball of Fire 66 780 3 035,45 22 260,00 23 242 17 357 26 181 cold 3 3 100,00 100% 0,0%L - 0,0%F - 0,0%M crush 57 916 2 632,55 4 826,33 4 892 3 759 5 771 crushing 12 12 100,00 100% 0,0%L - 0,0%F - 0,0%M Rays of Disintegration 42 378 1 926,27 42 378,00 42 378 42 378 42 378 cold 1 1 100,00 100% 0,0%L - 0,0%F - 0,0%M Storming Tempest 34 041 1 547,32 8 510,25 6 878 6 257 14 577 cold 4 4 100,00 100% 0,0%L - 0,0%F - 0,0%M Magma Chamber 25 687 1 167,59 25 687,00 25 687 25 687 25 687 cold 1 1 100,00 100% 0,0%L - 0,0%F - 0,0%M Frost Spikes 24 243 1 101,95 8 081,00 8 576 6 561 9 106 cold 3 3 100,00 100% 0,0%L - 0,0%F - 0,0%M Precise Note 21 881 994,59 2 431,22 2 443 1 814 2 678 mental 9 9 100,00 100% 0,0%L - 0,0%F - 0,0%M Ice Lash 18 372 835,09 2 041,33 2 070 1 776 2 402 cold 9 9 100,00 100% 0,0%L - 0,0%F - 0,0%M Immolation 16 175 735,23 5 391,67 1 779 1 509 12 887 cold 3 3 100,00 100% 0,0%L - 0,0%F - 0,0%M Ice Spears 10 946 497,55 1 824,33 926 678 6 824 cold 6 6 100,00 100% 0,0%L - 0,0%F - 0,0%M Incinerate 8 515 387,05 1 216,43 895 716 3 435 cold 7 7 100,00 100% 0,0%L - 0,0%F - 0,0%M Dissonant Note 6 317 287,14 2 105,67 2 124 2 057 2 136 mental 3 3 100,00 100% 0,0%L - 0,0%F - 0,0%M Flametongue 5 381 244,59 413,92 407 385 457 cold 13 13 100,00 100% 0,0%L - 0,0%F - 0,0%M Blade Chime 5 255 238,86 1 051,00 1 073 938 1 112 disease 5 5 100,00 100% 0,0%L - 0,0%F - 0,0%M Flay 2 595 117,95 1 297,50 1 346 1 249 1 346 cold 2 2 100,00 100% 0,0%L - 0,0%F - 0,0%M
I see, the non MB one you hit storming tempest, ice lash, and rays instead of manaburn apparently, while inefficient to not prioritize those abilities over something like immolation and magma chamber, your manaburn still just isn't high enough to make a difference clearly.
Yeah, I have some pretty concrete data showing how badly MB was nerfed. I have 2 runs of veksar ran on 7/20/18 and 7/23/18 where my respective zonewide DPS were 18K (with 13% Manaburn) and 16K (with 13% Manaburn). Then after the nerf, on 7/24/18 I ran Veksar twice with a zonewide DPS of 12K (3% Manaburn) and 13K (2% Manaburn). The nerf literally cut my DPS down by roughly 30%. Manaburn went from being 13% of my DPS to 2-3%. Magma 'freakin' Chamber outparses Manaburn now. Please fix manaburn so it has some viability. Maybe scale it with half of potency, or make it hit for 6 instead of 4... something! (picture of parses in next message)
*Here are the 4 parses I mentioned, in order (top left, top right, bottom left, bottom right):* https://ibb.co/ga4nUT
It's impossible to find 2 parses with and without manaburn that would be a total apples to apples comparison. But it should be clear to any reasonable person that manaburn was nerfed to hard. Imo. it should not have been nerfed, as CF was and still is the true problem. If nerfing manaburn was the only option, they should simply have put a temporary cap to how much potency could affect MB say 150-200? Manaburn will still be beneficial to a Wizard with poor gear. But as soon as the Wizard gets that potency and Crit up manaburn will fall behind. For me personally I would say if I get Bolster and Necro power buff and a smoth power recovery (ie. Overclocked Manastone not failing.) Then MB would just about gain me a little dps for that fight. While no power buffs and slow regain of power would totally kill my dps for that fight. In short, MB at least for me is already not worth casting. But even if you have a Wizard that always get Bolster and necro buff whenever they want, MB will become totally useless for them as well in TSO.
Daybreak Staff - Can you look into my concern about wizards? Our class was gimped with the manaburn nerf, are there any expectations manaburn will be tweaked to be viable again? We aren't asking for much, just for our main ability to have purpose again. Please respond,
Main ability ehhhh, it's an AA despite it being quite good. Wizards are still parsing 35--40k, can't really sit here and comfortably say they aren't viable when they are still well above t2 dps.
Wizard are still very much T1 DPS but they lost their press 2 win button every few minutes. Good change.
All the other T1 dps classes have a press 2 win button every few minutes except us now. We are now performing less than all other T1 dps classes, and all the other T1 dps have good debuffs, we have zero utility. There needs to be some counter-balance. Like I said before, I'm not asking for a completely broken OP manaburn, just make it viable to use, it currently is less DPS using it than not using it, which can't be intended. They broke the ability completely.
I mean, I was parsing 32k on the VP zonewide without manaburn, this is including everything, silverwing, taskmaster, xygoz, etc. I did 40k one time but that was with bolsters/manaburn, so I bet I could still push 35k with bolster, and still technically beat blindsides which was 37.5k with silverwing post manaburn nerf if you include our utility like ice lash, ro's blade, etc.
