Quote from MareneCorp;786852:
:| Evie is still not as balanced as Lann, throw out the numbers and let's look at logic. An Evie spams magic arrow at 5 stamina each, yea? Let's compare that to Lann's DC. It takes me about 4 DC's til I have to get tired and move back to recover, give it maybe 3 seconds to recover it all. Evies can spam their sorry asses away until they're out of stam, walk away to regenerate for 4 seconds, come back, and shoot again. At 5 stamina each, it'll take a while for a 130-stamina Evie to run out, dealing more damage over the same amount of time, no matter HOW HIGH the Lann's damage is. Hell, he can even have 16k attack and the Evie have 13k Matt., the Evie would STILL outdamage him.
This is honestly completely untrue. A Lann with lower attack actually can and will often outdamage an Evie because they have so much more damage potential. If a 16K Lann is losing to a 13K Evie, it's either because they're dead, playing a support role (reviving everyone, catapult, etc), or terrible.
Skill floors and skill ceilings are an interesting concept, and, well... the truth is, "it depends". What do you consider playing well? Is the person who does the most damage the person who played the best? Is the person who died the least/not at all the person who did the best? The person who was the most helpful overall? If so, how is helpfulness determined? The fact of the matter is... it's really subjective.
Staff Evie is the easiest to do damage with if unskilled/using crappy gear because you can just stay back and cast Ice Spear/Blind Arrow with a bit of MA spamming when they're stunned and do... alright. It's kinda safe too. Hammer Fiona is probably the easiest for a beginner to survive with (sit in HS lol) and the damage ranges anywhere from crap to mediocre depending how low of a skill level we're talking about. And Spear Lann just dies while unskilled, lmao. So does Sword Lann.
At a moderate skill level with average gear, things start to change. Evie spams uses MA a little more and maybe forgets to use Ice Spear so much, or just not as much as she should. She also learns that fireballs exist. Generally pretty helpful, but still dies a decent bit. Fiona becomes safer and players get more gutsy as they feel more confidence close up in the heat of the action, which leads them to do more damage but not necessarily have more survivability. Spear Lanns start to do about an equal amount of damage as the other classes, but they still have survivability issues.
At a high skill level with elite gear, it all flips around. Evie learns to rotate spells in a more optimal manner, freezes enemies while they're on their way down from a stun, RGs right at the very end of a stun before an attack, charges Blind Arrow when the enemy is out of reach and is approaching, etc. Pretty good survivability, but can get lolwned by bullshit such as being stalked by Colru with a fire aura for too long, and having people pull aggro into her. Hammer Fiona gains absurd survivability as she gets better with HS and stacks up that defense, to the point where she's almost immortal. Does great damage too, up there and perhaps above staff Evie. As Spear Lann starts to stack defense, he becomes tough enough that he can eat hits and keep on spinning with no need for an immediate potion. He does, by far, the most DPS and has enough survivability to go without dying. Overall I think he's the "best" endgame character at this time.
The reason I avoided talking about skill ceilings is because the best characters with the best gear are actually some of the simplest to play. I also avoided talking about the other subclasses because I can't take them seriously, and Karok because I don't know enough about him.
As for soloing, this is debatable. Hammer Fiona has the best overall balance and solo potential, but Spear Lann can run over some things if he can survive long enough to get in some damage, transform, and finish it off before the two transformations wear off. As long as it dies before trans runs out, he's basically guaranteed to win with high end gear, even in hero mode, from what I've seen. Staff Evie has solo issues, but things which Lanns with stacked gear in trans can't kill before their trans runs out might be found easier with a staff Evie. However, Fiona would be even better for that.