Hello! I've been talking about class balance on the forums and Discord for a while but sadly haven't really gotten anywhere with the subject. While the insight provided by the talks I've had was useful, my own sketches and pencil spreadsheets trying to make an overview of the data aren't of much use beyond maybe informing the shape of spreadsheets we can actually use. I just don't have enough experience playing the classes and toying with the various builds, only general ideas.
But the community does have that experience, hence a questionnaire. The goal is to gain some sort of insight into the various classes, how they're used, what we think they should be doing vs what they are doing, that kind of thing. Please fill it out for as many characters and classes you can be bothered to. You can find it here:
https://forms.gle/Y93dM14VoFUvkpcY7
You don't need to be logged in, and as mentioned, are encouraged to fill it in for multiple characters.
This isn't the end of collecting data to improve game balance - it's one of many steps. I appreciate the time everyone takes to help us out, thank you!
EDIT: Submissions will stay open for about a week, I suspect most of you will have submitted something by that point.
Breath 5 Class Balance Questionnaire
Breath 5 Class Balance Questionnaire
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Re: Breath 5 Class Balance Questionnaire
The results are in! Well, technically they've been in for a while but it took me a bit to process. You can find the summary below, along with classes suggested to get a bit of a boost to match the highest-rated of their group (e.g. Void Walkers compared to the other Hunters, Exalted Harbinger and Revenant). Do note though, no major changes are planned, the suggested changes are just that - suggestions. Details are being discussed by devs.
Before the actual summary though, I wanted to yet again thank everyone who took the time to fill in the questionnaire. It's helping us a lot, thank you!
Tanks
Generally considered to be kind of one-note. Which is fine - they're also considered strong in both defense and offense. Maybe a little something to spice it up for the Seraph (accuracy) and especially the Eternal Soldier (damage, accuracy and mobility) needs some help though.
Hunters
Yep, Void Walkers. Apparently Exalted Harbingers are very underrated when comparing the feedback to the number of EHs around, and Revenants have no trouble finding food and eating it. VWs need something, and in my book that means damage. Details TBD, but there are things floating around and I'd like to get something done sooner rather than later.
Mage Knights aka Half-casters
Doom Howler was rated the highest, though with a few bugs that need fixing. Nexus Champion (in my opinion) needs some edge taken off MP consumption and some way to improve existing skills synergies - though that'll take a while, so in the meantime, a bit of accuracy and a dash of damage is probably a good thing. Holy Champion also needs a bit of help on the MP front and skill synergies, but again the in-between step for a skill overhaul is upping numbers a bit here and there (point of soak maybe, couple percent accuracy, that kind of thing).
Turncoats
Fallen is definitely more of a solo type class than Redeemed, which is much more on support duty for raids. Of particular note was that Fallen largely responded as the spellcaster variant while Redeemed overwhelmingly did so with the martial flavor. Fallen are a lot easier to build for than Redeemed, and the latter feel like their big HP pool is mostly for show as they have little defenses otherwise and a lot of abilities costing either MO, HP or both which is unsustainable without Aethersprite support. Fallen don't do as much damage, however. Suggested changes include toning the Redeemed skill costs down a bit and upping the damage output of Fallen a touch.
Support Mages
Advocates, Conduits and Dark Oppressors fit the niche they're supposed to fill pretty well - they buff, debuff, provide mobility (except Advocates), craft, enchant, glyph and deglyph, the works. No changes are proposed.
War Mages
Archons, Wizards and Corruptors are the glass cannons of the Nexus, and they too fill their roles well. Corruptor has the easiest MP economy through Soul Ice, but that's the biggest difference. No changes are proposed.
Petmasters
The average Lightspeaker, Lich, Elementalist or Wyrm Master wasn't satisfied with their pets, which is surprising to me. I know from experience pets in general are a pain point, and us devs are looking into it and have been doing for a while. Simply changing numbers here is difficult due to how soaks, maximum hit points, number of pets, pet damage, pet hit chance, and all the other numbers combine. Petmasters shouldn't be the end-all-be-all of defense nor of offense, but they also shouldn't be considered useless. Suffice to say, no easy fixes are proposed, but ideas are on the table and we're open to suggestions (as we are with the rest too, but pets are one of the bigger things).
Conclusion
The questionnaire helped me understand how the various classes are played and I look forward to seeing how the community reacts to the proposed changes should they be implemented. I'll reiterate, however, that no major changes are proposed or planned as part of the questionnaire. And again - thanks for reading, if you made it this far I can confidently say you're looking particularly dashing today
Before the actual summary though, I wanted to yet again thank everyone who took the time to fill in the questionnaire. It's helping us a lot, thank you!
Tanks
Generally considered to be kind of one-note. Which is fine - they're also considered strong in both defense and offense. Maybe a little something to spice it up for the Seraph (accuracy) and especially the Eternal Soldier (damage, accuracy and mobility) needs some help though.
Hunters
Yep, Void Walkers. Apparently Exalted Harbingers are very underrated when comparing the feedback to the number of EHs around, and Revenants have no trouble finding food and eating it. VWs need something, and in my book that means damage. Details TBD, but there are things floating around and I'd like to get something done sooner rather than later.
Mage Knights aka Half-casters
Doom Howler was rated the highest, though with a few bugs that need fixing. Nexus Champion (in my opinion) needs some edge taken off MP consumption and some way to improve existing skills synergies - though that'll take a while, so in the meantime, a bit of accuracy and a dash of damage is probably a good thing. Holy Champion also needs a bit of help on the MP front and skill synergies, but again the in-between step for a skill overhaul is upping numbers a bit here and there (point of soak maybe, couple percent accuracy, that kind of thing).
Turncoats
Fallen is definitely more of a solo type class than Redeemed, which is much more on support duty for raids. Of particular note was that Fallen largely responded as the spellcaster variant while Redeemed overwhelmingly did so with the martial flavor. Fallen are a lot easier to build for than Redeemed, and the latter feel like their big HP pool is mostly for show as they have little defenses otherwise and a lot of abilities costing either MO, HP or both which is unsustainable without Aethersprite support. Fallen don't do as much damage, however. Suggested changes include toning the Redeemed skill costs down a bit and upping the damage output of Fallen a touch.
Support Mages
Advocates, Conduits and Dark Oppressors fit the niche they're supposed to fill pretty well - they buff, debuff, provide mobility (except Advocates), craft, enchant, glyph and deglyph, the works. No changes are proposed.
War Mages
Archons, Wizards and Corruptors are the glass cannons of the Nexus, and they too fill their roles well. Corruptor has the easiest MP economy through Soul Ice, but that's the biggest difference. No changes are proposed.
Petmasters
The average Lightspeaker, Lich, Elementalist or Wyrm Master wasn't satisfied with their pets, which is surprising to me. I know from experience pets in general are a pain point, and us devs are looking into it and have been doing for a while. Simply changing numbers here is difficult due to how soaks, maximum hit points, number of pets, pet damage, pet hit chance, and all the other numbers combine. Petmasters shouldn't be the end-all-be-all of defense nor of offense, but they also shouldn't be considered useless. Suffice to say, no easy fixes are proposed, but ideas are on the table and we're open to suggestions (as we are with the rest too, but pets are one of the bigger things).
Conclusion
The questionnaire helped me understand how the various classes are played and I look forward to seeing how the community reacts to the proposed changes should they be implemented. I'll reiterate, however, that no major changes are proposed or planned as part of the questionnaire. And again - thanks for reading, if you made it this far I can confidently say you're looking particularly dashing today
Don't like someone but can't be bothered to do the dirty work yourself? Hire RED!
Want something but can't be bothered making it yourself? Buy from PIMCO!
Want something but can't be bothered making it yourself? Buy from PIMCO!