This is a good thread, but I think it's worth pointing out that most DnD systems wind up being unbalanced. If all classes did the same thing, there wouldn't be any meaningful difference. As long as they do different things, some of those things will be better than others.
Defense (tanks, healers) is always going to be more useful than offense. A party can't live without a tank, a healer, enchants, and will function a lot better with consumables- scrolls, potions, herbs, ammo, etc. A relatively short list of classes dominate these functions.
Warlocks, MR barbs, necros and rogues are all 'bad' because they are damage classes. Pretty much every class has some way to do damage, even those that also offer essential services such as tanking, healing, enchanting and consumable production. I think all of these classes can solo PK, but they have trouble 'fitting in' to a group because they don't really support the group in any way- they just blast the enemy.
There's nothing -wrong- with blaster classes, but they need a tank/healer with enchants and consumables to hold up a wall in front of them so that they can blast over it if they want to function in groups.
Swashies just suck because Dulrik hates them. They are a one trick pony, and I see no reason why they are better at their one trick than mercs or barbs, who also get other tricks, like polearm, retreat and bow.
Paladin and hellion suck because they are identity crisis hybrids. There are two ways of looking at a paladin or hellion.
1. A merc with no bash, no trip, no specialize, no eparry, no 4th attack, no bow, no retreat, no rallying cry, a smaller hp pool and less physical stats due to competition from mental stats.
2. A priest with no heal, no resurrection, no consecrate, no gate, and weaker mental stats due to competition from physical stats- OR, a necromancer with no finger of death, no sleep, no create / control undead, and weaker mental status due to competition from their physical status.
However you cut it, that's not that attractive. So, what do they offer? Bolt of glory, which wrecks necromancers and hellions- both B classes- and evil priests and deep-elves, which is good, but I'd still rather be a merc or a priest. Hellfire, which wrecks centaurs and elves, both B races. Cleave, which is pretty good, but I'd still rather be a merc or a necro.
If you want these classes to be good, they need more useful 'unique' abilities to make them more than just castrated merc+priest/necro sandwiches.
|