this balance change really affects no one.
idk why people are so paranoid about it.
...can't see how giants are buffed in melee?
heavy armor mastery gives def/prot out the butt
can wear 2 acc
no negation of fighter
and only -10% dex which at endgame is like 60.
Also, guard cylinder+lance gives more option when lance is not in range.
enchanted reforged thames armor is gonna be so OP it's not event funny.
720% 2h giants smash, adding onto thames bonus is 828% smash.
i don't think i need to say more
Okay, a typical set up for a giant will be sword+shield. for humans, they either dual wield or use lances. and then there's armor mastery, understand what i'm about to say:
A giant will not be so affected by changes in balance, becuase he still uses his two-handed sword+shield combo along with heavy armor, and the added benefit of using accessories. Many good two-handed swords feature good balance, and benefit from sword mastery and combat mastery. a gian't wont need as much dex as a human to obtain decent balance. due to heavy armor mastery's less severe loss of balance for giants, again, giants won't need to have as much dex or worry about balance as much as humans. He will be very tanky considering his shield and armor. I bet such a giant would be able to tank much much more than 3 hits from master bandits, don't you think? Avoiding being hit is of course the ideal, but shit always happens unexpectedly and lo and behold, you'll be hit, and hit during a time when you really didn't want to be hit. You'll wish you were tanky. A human will be discouarged from doing the same thing a giant is doing, because a one-handed sword with a shield isn't as good as with a two-handed sword, and if he were to wear armor, his balance would plummet.
Now, as for lances....A human will have to deal with the heavy loss of balance on lances, and that's assuming he isn't wearing heavy armor. A giant? he'll feel the pain at first, but when the guard cylinder comes out, he'll be able to gain 15% balance right there with his lance. right off the bat, the giant will be better than the human in lance combat AND have the awesome benefits of heavy armor and a shield.
Now, since a good portion of the human population loves beamswords, this is a nerf for them in the sense that said portion will only be able to achieve 50% balance given they had endgame dex levels, which most certainly won't be the case for at least 90% of beamsword-wielding humans. of course, they'll have 30 balance right off the bat given that they have sword and combat master at r1, but there's still a lot of balance missing. either humans will need to grind out dex or replace some of their damage enchants with balance enchants, the latter choice effectively lowering their damage and so being a nerf. Of course, there are other options besides beams, but since they're the most convenient and they're now being made less effective, it's a nerf.
tl;dr- Giants get stronger and much much more tankier at no cost while humans are now forced to work harder.
The only thing I understand about giants after all these updates is that they'll have the most tanking capabilities and will also probably be the most versatile with the guard cylinder which would open up a larger array of melee combos.
Giant melee damage as a whole isn't getting more buffed at all compared to human, besides versatility.
Guard cylinder is nothing more than fancy looking crap unless you dual cylinder. Nil default defence/prot + basic alch skills only. Very much doubt it will open more melee combos. More like use water cannon -> decide not enough dps -> feeds to ego.
If you really wanted to tank you'd have gotten a proper shield and leave the mob control to your partymates.
Putting guard shield aside, all races are pretty much getting the same new skills. Don't exactly see how giants will be buffed more and humans less. Giants had an advantage of being able to use shields with lances to begin with. The difference between humans and giants won't that much different from what it is currently as far as I can see
I didn't expect to see Nexon forums arguments on Mabination.
1. Lances will trump all forms of melee. Bonebreaker and Languhiris pierce 45% of protection, which is insane.
2. Lances have terrible balance. Knights will have difficulty hitting the 80% cap, especially if they wear heavy armor. The guard cylinder offsets this vulnerability.
3. The guard cylinder grants immediate access to Shock, Life Drain, Wind Blast, and Sand Burst. Flame Burst and Water Cannon are also available but they suffer massive damage penalties.
4. The guard cylinder grants faster access to Frozen-Wave and Shock-Wave, two excellent support tactics.
5. Heavy Armor Mastery and Shield Mastery bolster standard offense, which is generally superior to Mana Shield against the majority of enemies. Mana Shield use means that you're going to take a lot more critical damage. Heavy Armor Mastery also provides some passive defense.
6. Humans won't be able to utilize the Thames Set Effects in conjunction with Lances without suffering heavy dexterity (balance) penalties. As the advantage of Humans is their ability to hybrid effectively, this armor severely reduces your effectiveness with nearly every talent. Therefore, Humans might as well not use heavy armor at all.
Giants can fully appreciate Heavy Armor Mastery, Shield Mastery, Guard Cylinder Mastery, and a host of alchemy skills without having to switch their equipment around or suffering massive penalties from utilizing heavy armor or lances.
Relative to Giants, Humans are notably worse at melee. This update will widen that gap.
Actually, from what i understand, a crafted lance will provide enough balance to offset the dexterity penalty, and furthermore, 60-70% balance is not all that bad compared to 80%.
You would still be doing more DPS with a thames than with a medium armor with smash.
4. The guard cylinder grants faster access to Frozen-Wave and Shock-Wave, two excellent support tactics.
Actually, you need both a cylinder+guard cylinder to accses Elemental wave, you can't with Weapon+guard cylinder.
Actually, you need both a cylinder+guard cylinder to accses Elemental wave, you can't with Weapon+guard cylinder.
Crafted is inferior to gacha for balance.
Faster access, not immediate.
Instead of swapping out both your lance and your shield, you only have to swap out the lance.
Also, Bonebreaker hits 9% balance after upgrades and that's the lance you're going to want to use.
Does the elemental balls on dual cylinders retain even after you switch? If otherwise I doubt a lot of people will sacrifice the DPS they can obtain through pure melee as well as an inferior shield just to use some 1 minute to charge up wave.
Does the elemental balls on dual cylinders retain even after you switch? If otherwise I doubt a lot of people will sacrifice the DPS they can obtain through pure melee as well as an inferior shield just to use some 1 minute to charge up wave.