I’m a VG/IG
and judging from your comment you’re a hatchet abuser that gets farmed by muskets and bows and can’t play without abusing obviously overturned weapons
What’s more funny is that the hatchet abuser is crying about how the incompetent ranged players are farming him in OPRs
See I can also make worthless insulting comments on the internet
IG Tomb was always in the game until it got complained about and it got changed because it affected PvP negatively
Bow jump cancel was always in game until it got complained about and it got removed
Being unable to dodge in roots was always in the game until people complained and it got changed
I hope you can see how “it was always there” isn’t an argument about how balanced it is
Times change and different metas come and go and with them different things to exploit that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t change because it was always that way if it has a negative impact
do you know what an Assassin is? Judging by your xD comment, you have no idea what Assassin is 
typical straw-headed range player…
It’s a valid argument when you paint it as a new thing or new meta that replaced something else when it has always been there (along with that old thing), but you just ignored it back then.
You also ignore the fact that there is a possible correlation between the current exploit and the rise in popularity of the weapon. You may think it is broken when you are actually just facing bug abusers.
The weapon is not OP as you claim. There are several ways to counter it, but you probably also ignore them.
Its only being “painted as a new thing” by you guys using this arguement.
If 5 things are OP, but only 1 gets nerfed because its the MOST oppressive out of the 5, its only natural you’ll then see the 2nd most OP, then that will get nerfed. So on, and so forth. It just takes longer to get there.
“its been in the game since the start” is such a terrible argument for balance, its still broken, and boring to play against. People in this thread giving actual reasons for why they think it should be changed/reworked/removed, and all the counter argument is “its always been there duhhh” is not a decent rebuttal.
Also, people complaining about “bad range class cant beat hatchet” im so confused, the oppressive thing is the defy death, beserk, run and pot and eat, then re-engage aimlessly. Range can deal with that, its the other classes with less mobility that suffer more.
Please explain what counters I’m ignoring?
Catch him out ?
Runs at Mach 10 to his healer with zerk and haste pot
CC ?
Stoneform, Zerk and Freedom
Burst ?
Literally Immortal. It has a CD I’m well aware and a bad player will die through the immortality but a good hatchet won’t be caught in that situation again so easily
Healing reduction perks?
Purify Amulet which yes its rarely ran but Purify pot on earing is basically mandatory for any War build
Just get rid of the Defy Death part of hatchet, replace it with something not so opt, maybe a small heal over time and it would be perfect even with all the other abilities available.
no its not Greatsword is the highest dps not hatchet. And hatchet has terrible mobility and extremely short light attack range. They cant just remove defy death without a buff to some other area for the hatchet (maybe a buff to throwing hatchets or something) because without defy death hatchet is useless. Everyone would use GS for dps in PvE, and SnS in pvp would take hatchets place because it has just as good light attack damage as the hatchet but with more range. SnS has better mobility, blocking, and stuns. Defy death is the only reason anyone uses hatchet rn, take it away and its a dogshit weapon
One oblivion counters the hatchet though? While the healing is a bit excessive and I’d like to see more damage versus invulnerability versus life lost or more lifesteal plus damage instead of pure invulnerability there are counters to it.
A good support will recognize the hatchet is there, save oblivion to counter them and make quick work of them in a clump.
The problem is % wise fewer people play IG/VG.
Lots of people play GS which also has a Nullification perk, but they won’t pick it because it isn’t sexy and doesn’t boost raw dmg.
I’m sorry to say but folks need to stop crying for nerfs and look at ways to improve other weapons to the same quality. Hatchet is the epitomy of what a weapon should be not what one who needs to be nerfed looks like. The other weapons that aren’t upto par need others need buffs.
In war this argument is fine, but what about ANY OTHER pvp? OPR, arenas, open world. Lemme just have a VG on me at all times, its silly. Shouldn’t have something this strong, that only get countered by VG and GS I believe can also remove a buff.
Again, issue isn’t only that its broken, its UNBALANCED - By definition, it gives huge value for no skill, that’s a big part of what the problem is. Just press 2 and live ez. Just press Q and clear all CC, run fast, get heals, cant be staggered. Its 0 skill.
This game’s PvP revolves around group play not solo play. To take balance at a solo level is a serious fallacy and should at the bare minimum begin at the 3 person group/squad for arenas.
Either a healer with void gauntlet. Or a support/hybrid dps mage of ig/vg then your bow or build of choice and then a healer with the secondary of their choice.
Whilst I do agree with you that PvP priority is group play - this is a great example of something that’s still massively broken IMO.
It’s poor game design to have something like that, this strong in all game modes. Its too strong for war alone, but insufferable in any other pvp, regardless of how you look to prioritise balancing.
It makes the 90% of pvp gametime (I’d love to do wars for all my gametime, but lets be fair its 10% of your gametime at most, being generous) just horrendous and boring, and that is a huge game design issue which eventually (and currently) will make people leave the game.
I’ve never had a problem countering them IMO.
I just save my oblivion for when I know it will pop. Plus screaming them they get a juicy 40% healing reduction.
IG/VG counters hatchet so hard it’s not even funny, the game is very rock paper scissors.
That being said if it’s such a problem, I think a good balance, just throwing this out there is giving hatchet higher damage for more missing HP and changing the second life to 1.5 or 2 seconds instead of 3 seconds.
But I personally think this is a non issue as any competent group with a smart VG will outright demolish the hatchets.
This argument is akin to that thread where people say healers are too strong but meanwhile don’t even utilize a healer killer build or even understand CC combos to chain stun a healer.
The counter though to the healer killers is any standard group of 1 to 2 bruisers, a dps ( can be any damage) a support ( anything with a void gauntlet + cc) and a healer working together and properly peeling for their healer will kill the glass cannon healer killer group.
But the average person in this game has no concept of rotations, when to save abilities for certain windows, or how the game is meant to be balanced as a rock/paper/scissors group comp with the exception of musket which is straight up busted right now because you cannot do anything versus 5-10 well coordinated muskets in OPR as your healer has their brains blown out before you can even realistically engage.
This lol. Ability has been sane since release
Like I said defy death wouldn’t be so bad if it wasn’t combined with berserk to run away, mayb if you couldn’t use any haste type skills for the 3 seconds? Something. In this tournament I fought this guy for about 8 min and popped defy death 3 times so I killed him 4 times. Was thankful he swapped builds for the second round. But the running away and eating meta is so boring 1st Place winner of COS TrickTrick Torunament! - YouTube
Why you keep dying in OPR! Massive damage Exploit EXPOSED! Passive Weapon Exploit New World - YouTube like this one ?
abilites being locked during defy death would be a pretty good change imo. or lower the timer to 1.5 or 2 seconds instead of 3, or both of those at the same time. Then hatchet would keep its pve viability while making it alot less of a pain to deal with in pvp
I never said they should remove it, only that they cant heal during it the same way you cant heal in IG Tomb