A move towards combat balance (PvP)

[Msuix]

Hey all, Im really not even sure if this is the right thread to post this suggestion in, but I figured this seemed the most likely spot to share some thoughts.

I understand PvP combat is sort of on the back burner to many other issues related to game stability, PvE balance, and overall cosmetic touchups...but its kind of a big deal on a FFA PvP server hehe.

I play a 26 Psionicist, and have made some observations. One of which is regarding ranged damage, and not just any ranged damage, but physical ranged damage such as bows and shurikens, etc. From what I've noticed, Offensive and even Defensive melee classes hit incredibly hard with a ranged weapon such as a bow, that it even rivals that put out by spell damage.

We all remember when PvP damage was cut in half, and that was definently a positive move. But I realized something wasn't quite right when I was normal shot (just spamming the shoot button, you could call it 'auto-shooting') to death by a warrior of a few levels lower than me.
As a casting class, we rely on keeping our targets away from us for the most part, and even if we are successful at that (you KNOW psionicists are :P) we cant out Damage our targets before finding ourselves dead on the ground.

To look at some small things, casters deal with global cooldown as much as someone shooting a bow, so thats even on the playing field. One major difference is when we're hit with a bow, it affects our cast bar. if we hit someone else trying to shoot a bow, it doesnt interrupt them.So what's the big deal right? sounds logical. Well, unfortunately, I think the damage PvP wise is a little off. Lets say...i'll rate the damage from a minimum of 0, to a maximum of 500.

Casters dont have alot of health, and getting hit by a bow for 200-300 / hit is difficult to handle with only 1600-1800 life. 6-7 shots later we're dead. Bear in mind, casters have light armor mitigation. Casters in PvP today (say around my level, i'll hit melees for 300-500 with my spells noncrit) Ok, that sounds just about right. Spell damage is our primary offensive ability. MELEE classes have obviously, melee damage as their primary, and they hit just about as hard with their weapons. but when they shoot, they hit for close to our damage output, with no drawbacks.

What this is telling me is that melees not only get comparable melee damage, but ranged as well. Then only exception to this, is I think the Ranger should excel a little higher than other melee classes in the ranged damage area. What do casters have? our primary is spell damage, and if we have a wand, we can 'auto-shoot' for ~50-100 in PvP. NICE.

If i were to put it in perspective on that 0-500 damage scale, id say melee classes should fall around 100 with ranged weapons, rangers fall around 200 damage w ranged weapons, and casters fall between 300-500 (pending on focus, etc). This sort of...order of ranged damage output makes more sense in this sort of genre. Obviously this is just an idea, dont take the actual values seriously.

Does anyone have any thoughts?

**If you decided to not read, the point of this post was to suggest that ranged damage with bows/shurikens/spears etc are inflated and should be further reduced for PvP combat. (everything else seems to fit).


Msuix