In this post I will only be discussing my thoughts and experiences on mages and physical ranged DPS weapons for PvE only, and why I feel that they need some changes.
If you take a look at any M10 expedition composition, you will never see anyone bringing with them a Bow or a Musket, and you will hardly ever see them with any magical weapon that isn’t a life staff. I personally love playing ranged characters, especially an IG/VG support DPS, but it’s so disheartening to know that I will never make it into M10 with that comp ( hard maybe for Lazarus) because someone with a Hatchet/Spear setup will always outperform me, no matter how BIS either of us is. This does not differ either for enemies with different resistances or weaknesses, as it’s just a matter of fact that almost all melee weapons will outperform Bows, Muskets, and all the magical weapons in both consistent AOE damage, and consistent single target damage.
I wish I could offer suggestions on what I would think would work better but I honestly am not smart enough to think of a solution. Perhaps this is just a fault with the games design that allows melee weapons to hit multiple targets on each swing, or maybe this is intended and mages/ranged units will never be able to be a desirable addition to a mutated team comp. If anyone smarter than me sees this and has ideas on what is keeping us held back, I would warmly welcome comments from others. AGS if you see this, I’m curious if you are aware of how melee dominates in PvE and what your thoughts are on this as well.