The skillsets are more balanced than they've ever been in Mabi.

• Perfectio wrote on 2013-12-29 01:55
  Pretty much all combat styles are in a good spot atm, with strengths and weaknesses that make them all worth using.
  
  Close Combat:
  
  + Reliable
  + Synergy with heavy armor
  + Balance between offense and defense
  + Lots of gear options
  
  - Falls off at endgame unless giant or using lances
  - STR somewhat hard to get
  
  Archery
  
  +High DPS
  +Excellent AOE
  +Strongest gear options
  +Safe when not missing
  +
  
  -Weak early
  -Requires life skill grind
  -Unreliable due to misses
  -Highly gear dependent
  -Weakened by heavy armor
  
  Martial Arts
  +High single target DPS with lockdown
  +Reliable and easy to use
  +Low AP investment
  
  -Struggles against multi
  -Weakened by armor
  -Animations leave user vulnerable
  
  Magic
  +Obscene AOE burst
  +Excellent single target DPS
  +Strong synergy with Mana Shield and/or Heavy Armor
  +Highly versatile
  
  -Resource intensive
  -High AP investment
  -Gear intensive despite having poor enchant options
  -High maintenance costs
  -Dependent on Crisis for best results
  
  Combat Alchemy
  +Lots of utility
  +High burst damage with Water Cannon
  +Strong AOE with Flame Burst
  
  -Useless masteries
  -High maint costs
  -Requires specialization
  -AP intensive
  
  Puppetry
  +Excellent burst AOE
  +The single best party play skill in Mabinogi
  +Can tank aggro with puppet
  
  -High AP costs due to stat scaling
  -Poor single target
  -Long cooldowns and animations
  -No preforged equips
  
  Gunner
  +Excellent spammable AOE
  +Good single target burst
  +Repositioning tools
  + Boss-killing ability with Frenzy
  
  -Dangerous due to AOE instant aggro and lack of stun
  -Longish cooldowns
  -AP intensive due to stat scaling
  -No preforged weapons
  
  In my mind, all of the main skillsets are mainable to good results, though some are better than others. But this is a first in a long time.
• Tropa wrote on 2013-12-29 02:27
  Agreed, even thought singing pretty much negated multi-aggro problems for Fighters and Gunslingers by a big margin.
• ironwoman wrote on 2013-12-29 02:29
  Good to see someone else agree with me on this issue.
  
  I'm tired of people saying "OH FIREBOLT SO OP" or even comparing races because of their main class.
  
  Hopefully this will clear it up.
• EndlessDreams wrote on 2013-12-29 03:17
  You forgot the pet summoning skills. They are very balanced. Excellent party play material as well.
  
  Downside is that you can't use it in field bosses, but most servers don't do field bosses, unfortunately.
• Froglord of DESTINY!!! wrote on 2013-12-29 12:40
  If you can call a game that's becoming a cleansweeper rpg like dynasty warriors "balanced".
• Silverkun wrote on 2013-12-29 13:05
  Used to be, most people probably felt the game was too hard. And there were just a few who excelled at the game not because their character was good (most characters were more or less the same), but because they really knew what they were doing and they had a good connection.
  
  Now, they've basically just changed where the difficulty lies, and dressed up the game all pretty. No longer is strategy even a factor. You just need to have the high numbers, and you win. So there are still many who feel the game is very difficult, and then there's the "pros" with the high numbers who are bored of everything being not challenging enough.
  
  Honestly, I'm not sure exactly what you people want from it. Because it seems that what we have here now is exactly what you always get nowadays: games where they simply never ask you to think or have skill. This is what's popular, because everyone likes to be a dumbass with no patience. Just look at what happens when you try partying with a group of randoms for anything. It's pretty sickening, really. Do you really want this game to need strategy? Because if so, you would need to completely change the way most combat skills work. What you're going to have, is everyone being nerfed back to the stone age where Glas Ghaibhleann from G1 can potentially be a challenge to anyone who isn't well prepared. You're going to have a game where you are very thankful for the person who is willing to use First Aid on you while you're sitting down. You're going to wait for them to heal your wounds and then restore your HP. You're going to sit around a campfire again. Reforges and special upgrades are either not going to be available or they are going to have way less impact on the game.
  
  Yes, this is basically necessary if you want it to be something other than a game of high numbers. The skill system as it currently is, and the way people fight nowadays in general, basically just plays the numbers game. The moment people started ranking skills primarily to get stats from them, the game was already fucked up. You either go all the way or you get a half-assed effort at fixing the game.
• Blassreiter wrote on 2013-12-29 13:14
  Since when did Gunslingers struggle with multi-aggro?
• wildk wrote on 2013-12-29 13:30

  Quote from Silverkun;1182777:

  stuff

  
  
  As I see it the game's pretty good atm but I get what you mean too. One way to do what you mentioned would be to remove potions and clouds once in for all, or at least limit the locations of which they can be used.
• Kaeporo wrote on 2013-12-29 13:33

  Quote from Blassreiter;1182778:

  Since when did Gunslingers struggle with multi-aggro?

  
  
  If you can OHKO or 2HKO the enemies which you're facing using Dual Gun skills, Gunslingers will not struggle with multi-aggro. In any situation where you cannot sweep up the trash, you'll find that the talent isn't a particularly effective option.
  
  The hillwen mine event was a good example of this, though I suppose you could try using the talent during Forest Purification. You'll see what I mean.
  
  Opponent threat level +
  Gunslinger -
  Alchemy +
  
  Opponent threat level -
  Gunslinger +
  Alchemy -
• Blassreiter wrote on 2013-12-29 15:10
  Hillwen Mine was just bad because of the low Int+Strength. Gunslingers were just there for Shooting Rushing the hordes back and/or reserved for Giant Stomping. [S]I guess multi aggro struggle doesn't ring to me because I'm a jeeant.[/S]
• Perfectio wrote on 2013-12-29 15:25
  I still do think there are skillset tiers, but the tiers are really close now.
  
  Tier 1/Primary is in this order - Magic > Giant Close Combat> Range
  Tier 2/Secondary is in this order - Puppetry > Combat Alchemy > Human Close Combat > Fighter = Gunslinger
  
  But it's not like immediately post Genesis where Range stomped everything.
  
  
  Bard is just utility, it's only a skillset de jure, seeing Singing makes anybody have access to it.
• Ascard wrote on 2013-12-29 16:43
  Archery: Misses at 100%
  
  >_>
• EndlessDreams wrote on 2013-12-29 19:22

  Quote from Ascard;1182794:

  Archery: Misses at 100%
  
  >_>

  
  
  Maybe it is 100% to miss instead of to hit. :point:
• Cyrene wrote on 2013-12-29 19:26

  Quote from ironwoman;1182595:

  Good to see someone else agree with me on this issue.
  
  I'm tired of people saying "OH FIREBOLT SO OP" or even comparing races because of their main class.
  
  Hopefully this will clear it up.

  
  
  I just wish that If i was playing and still doing archery I wouldn't have to focus all my time on life skills that are grindy as hell, so that my archery could eqaul my puppetry. Though yea I agree, everything is viable now and you can play whatever skillset you want based on which you find the funnest.
• ironwoman wrote on 2013-12-29 20:18
  Some skillsets are designed to be more grindy, and it's called range.
  
  Of course it's gonna be grindy as hell, it's probsably the skillset with the highest potential.