With the changes in the last two patches I am honestly not sure what the developers are trying to do. Scale breaker had buffs to single target DoTs at the expense of around 30% of AoE DoTs. Then this patch, either due to a lack of foresight or a knee-jerk reaction to the community reception, reduced single target DoTs even more than they were buffed previously. I'm just going to list some examples from the night blade class as that is my most played class. I will list the changes from scale breaker followed by the changes currently on the pts.
Shade: - 9% - 15% (and lost the 20% on the aoe attack)
Twisting path: - 14% - 33%
Wall of Elements: - 33% - 32%
Twin slashes : +37% - 63% (used as a stand in for cripple due to cripple receiving a buff to the initial damage)
As you can see we are now at lower damage than pre scalebreaker with cleave damage in particular taking a huge hit. While this is a good way to lower damage in pve, it was not a goal that we were told. Personally I think they should have taken smaller steps to balance DoTs maybe reducing them by a smaller amount until they find the correct balance. Alternatively, since there was a large outcry in the pvp community, they could have added some DoT resistance to medium armor or introduced a new pvp set that reduces DoT damage. Overall I hope the developers see that they made a mistake and make the necessary changes.
Shade: - 9% - 15% (and lost the 20% on the aoe attack)
Twisting path: - 14% - 33%
Wall of Elements: - 33% - 32%
Twin slashes : +37% - 63% (used as a stand in for cripple due to cripple receiving a buff to the initial damage)
As you can see we are now at lower damage than pre scalebreaker with cleave damage in particular taking a huge hit. While this is a good way to lower damage in pve, it was not a goal that we were told. Personally I think they should have taken smaller steps to balance DoTs maybe reducing them by a smaller amount until they find the correct balance. Alternatively, since there was a large outcry in the pvp community, they could have added some DoT resistance to medium armor or introduced a new pvp set that reduces DoT damage. Overall I hope the developers see that they made a mistake and make the necessary changes.
