I play in a server that’s top 3 in population with a very healthy faction distribution between yellow, purple, and green. As for myself, I am very active in world PVP, Outpost Rush, War, Duels, with over 300+ hours in the game. I play the mage class. So I guess I do have a bit of experience with PVP.
I think for the most part, after the Resilient fix, healing and tanking is in a pretty good spot. Healers can still heal, but no longer are invincible. Tanks can tank, but not become invincible.
However, in all the PVP related aspect - PVP, OR, War, Duels, there is one thing that strikes out to me that feels a bit overtuned to me. Talking about Great Axe / Warhammer.
For starters, there are a few companies in our server where the company won’t invite people unless the players joining are GA/WH or Lifestaff users. And these companies enjoy quite a bit of success with their wars, owning at least one territory.
Second, the amount of mob CC capable of just one person with a GA/WH is already insane, with the majority of the time, 5/6 skills have CC potential - Gravity Well, Reap, Clear Out, Shockwave, Path of Destiny, Wrecking Ball, and more. With a group of GA/WH users + a Lifestaff healer, the potential to just chain CC repeatedly is incredible.
Third, this combo allows quite a lot of self-sustain, with GA being able to heal the user itself.
Fourth, if you try to run away within close to medium distance, GA users can use Charge to close the distance, Reap to bring you even closer, and if you try to root them (for example with Ice Shower), if you’re within the distance, they can simply use Heavy Attack to get out of Ice Shower. If you’re within 10 meters, they can just use Path of Destiny to cover even more distance to chase you. Once you’re within close distance, there is almost no chance to get out of this - the attack speed is just as high as the hatchet but it does even more damage.
The auto-lunge of the Great Axe is honestly insane. The range it covers + ability to auto-aim feels so dirty to fight against. I’ve seen it cover 1-2 body lengths. Every single weapon requires you to at least aim, but the GA actually aims for you at a distance,
Now, I am not complaining for the sake of complaining. As a mage, I have been dueling my GA/WH friends quite a lot recently to learn to counter. I can dodge the CC attacks to a fair degree now, but running Medium armor with only 3 dodges, I simply cannot dodge everything once they’re in range. They still have 2-3 other skills I need to dodge. If I try to cast, they will just auto-lunge-attack to me. I have to play absolutely perfectly the duel, or I will get destroyed, while for them they have a much easier time.
As a result of how good this meta combo is, almost every war, Outpost Rush, world PVP, etc, are chock full of GA/WH users.
This combo feels a little overtuned to me, and does everything too good, right…?
Note: I am running Shadewalker + Voidbent with all Onyx gems, so I have quite a significant amount of HP (10.5k with +40 con food) and physical damage resistence, so I am not a glass cannon.