I'm really liking the core aspects of the scout classes, the stealth, tracking, dual wield, disarming chests, stuff like that. But I also really enjoy the mass AoE killing style of the SK and some other tanks. The battle priest classes(Inq, Mystic, Warden) can also do this somewhat well. As I look over the abilities of the different scout classes, I don't see all that much AoE, and many of the AoE's i do see are encounter only, and/or on a long(30sec or longer) cooldown, so not really reliable/spammable AoE DPS. I get the impression that swashbucklers are considered one of the top scout AoE classes, but at least at lower levels, it appears they only have 1 or 2 AoE's, on a 30sec or longer CD. Troubs actually look to have some of the lowest reuse AoE's, getting several encounter AoE's on 10-12 sec reuse, and a true AoE on a 10 sec reuse at lvl 26. All of that available by level 30ish. I do understand that neither bard is intended to be a damage powerhouse, but I'm curious if Troubs actually are decent at AoE, or if the ability info I'm finding online is incorrect or outdated? I can't find much info on beastlord abilities. How is their AoE? Do they have any decent AoE abilities with a not too long cooldown? I gather that they are pretty solid soloers, and I definitely like that, altho I also appreciate the troubs group friendliness. And of the scouts that can AoE, can any of them do anything even remotely like SK's mass killing in a solo/molo setting? I'm fully aware that SK's are beefier tanks, as well as having lifetap heals... I'm not quite expecting that level of domination... but I guess I am looking for a 'mini' version of that, within the scout archetype.
Dirges - 2 Blue AE's, both require you to be 90+ for Prestiges. Not massive damage, but not awful. Troubs - 2 Blue AE's 1 from Prestige, 1 from normal levelling. Both do alright damage, but wont have you devastating parses with. 3 Green AE's (4 if you spec Sonic Interference) - All extra damage for linked encounters. Assassin - 2 Blue AE's, both do alright damage, but 1 is on a long recast. Generally not considered an AE class. Rangers - 3 Blue AE's if you take right side Prestige (2 if you are levelling up, but 1 is 60+ spell). Also 2 Greens. Recast on these is all quite low for the damage they do if you are right side prestige specced. Swashy - Lots of Blue AE's, but to get proper dps from them you need to have 95 for Prestige and the chance for resets on them. Probably considered one of the best AE classes on Combat Arts. Brigand - I think its 2 Blue AE's (Don't play mine all that often), neither are world changing, more a single target class than swashies. Beastlord - Beastlords have 3 Blue Primal abilities I think, but they are all on atleast a 1 min recast and require good skill in playing the beastlord to maximise. For pure AE damage, probably not going to match up to a facerolling SK. Swash is probably closest bet, or failing that, a warlock.
I would agree Swashies are serious AoE contenders. Brigs can get a third aoe when they are lvl 95 that hits like a truck on live, and will hit like two trucks once GU66 goes live. And although sin/ranger/Beastlord don't have a lot of AoE's, I do see them all parse extremely well on aoe fights...
AoE-Auto will play a part in this. Beastlords do have 3 Blues but one of them requires stealth. Also two of them are from grandmastered pets so they're not really available early on. They do have greens that can be cast pretty often as long as the pet procs weaknesses.
For scouts, the best AOE class is Swash. BL/Ranger probably number 2 just from a pure DPS perspective. If you want a true AOE class though, I'd go with either SK or Zerker. Higher survivability and can mow down out of encounter mobs like nobody's business. Warlock is also good, but you are cloth, so prepare to get owned while you're trying to get that 2-4 second cast off.
From the ground up, assassin AE damage potential is pretty lackluster. It takes levels, AA, and gear to achieve any potency at all with multiple mobs simultaneously. And after GU66, it probably won't be nearly as good as it has been, as there were a couple of adjustments to massacre. One that made it better/easier to use, and one that fixed a bug related to recast IIRC. The same probably holds for their counterpart, the ranger. Dirge (and probably troub) are alright when you limit yourself strictly to encounters/linked mobs early on. Swash is probably easiest to start feeling effective point blank AE love earliest.
Ranger probably gets easier since we won't have the minimum range problem that we do now in a mass AE pull. I don't know how much the explosive arrow resetting Barrage will be lessened, mainly since the reset is on Explosive arrow, whereas the actual AE part on Explosive Arrow is a secondary effect by the name of exploding arrow. It's a bigger issue when you're trying to use blue AE's (specifically Stream of Arrows and Natural Selection) and the target dies before you finish casting the blue AE preventing the AE from going off.
