Lets start with the good parts of those changes:
- The Scintilation change is much appreciated as it fixes the extreme variance of the combo.
- The buffs do well to mostly compensate the change at a slight loss (-2%)
Unfortunately this is where the positive feedback ends.
- The Deep Breath buff is actually nuclear for hero talent balance. Scalecommander went from “relevant in its niche” (spread cleave, low target aoe) to “Run it EVERYWHERE”.
- The nerf to the tier set combined with the nerf of the synergy which was the main damage source anyway is to much. We finally had a nice situation where you upranked Eternity Surge in AoE for once and thats dead now.
To put some numbers to this:
The builds used for this data
Flameshaper
Pure ST
CsbBAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAjZGmZYGmBmBjZaGzMZMWGzMzwMzMzAmxMGzMLzMDmBmxMwCYLYGmALglhZAmZGG
Cleave Raid
CsbBAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAzMDmZwwMwMYMTzYmJjxyMzMzwMzMzAmxMGzMLzMDmBmxMwCYDMDTglglhZAmZGG
Low AoE
CsbBAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAjZwMjZGmBmBjZaGzMZMWGzMzw8AzMzAmxMGzMLzMDmBmxMwCYLYGmAbglhZAmZGG
High AoE
CsbBAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAzYMzMzMzwMwMYMTzYmJjxywMzwYmZGwMmxYmZZmZwMwMmBWAbBzwEYDsMMDwMzwA
Scalecommander
ST
CsbBAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAjZGMDzgBmZGjZaYmpZM2GmZmZmZmZGwMmxYmZZmZgBGD2glxox2AyMIYDzgZGMMA
Cleave
CsbBAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAjZgZYGMwMzYMTDzMNjx2MmZmZmZmZGwMmxYmZZmZgBGD2glxox2AyMIYDzgZGMMA
M+
CsbBAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAzMDgZGMwMzYMTDzMNjx2MmZmZmZmZGwMmxYmZZmZgBGD2glxox2AyMIYDzgZGMMA
| Target Count | Winner | Lead | SC Talents | FS Talents |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | FS | 1.2% | ST | ST |
| 2 | SC | 22% | Cleave | Cleave |
| 3 | SC | 30% (43%) | Cleave | High AoE (Cleave) |
| 4 | SC | 17% (60%) | Cleave | High AoE (Cleave) |
| 5 | SC | 9% | M+ | High AoE |
| 6 | SC | 3% | M+ | High AoE |
| 7 | FS | 1.5% | M+ | High AoE |
| 8 | FS | 5.5% | M+ | High AoE |
| 9 | FS | 8.5% | M+ | High AoE |
| 10 | FS | 11.5% | M+ | High AoE |
| 11 | FS | 13.5% | M+ | High AoE |
| 12 | FS | 15.5% | M+ | High AoE |
Some additional data:
- Low AoE FS loses until 9 targets
- High AoE FS has 10% less ST/2T
So why is the above a problem ?
A large majority of all fights is in the 1-8 target range. Raid generally doesn’t have sustained high target aoe and M+ is a situation where you cannot sacrifice your ST if for a minor AoE gain.
SC can do all of that with very minor loss. FS can only do either good ST or good AoE, not both at the same time.
This leads to FS being perpetually outclassed everywhere because the situation where it thrives just does not exist.
Rant Section
I am not gonna hold any punches here.
- SC is getting nerfed immediately. Its actually absurd how much damage it deals in AoE with no investment into AoE talents. The buffs made it competitive in ST and absolutely nuclear in low target. This would be no problem but FS just cannot compete because it actually has to decide on what target count it wants to be good in.
- FS gets nothing yet again. The buff to Pyre pales in comparison to the DB buff and who could’ve expected, FS still doesnt use DB because its just so weak without the buffs from SC. The talent tree just favors SC so hard its not even funny. On top of that Twin Flame got stealth nerfed without any patch notes because apparently the low target of FS wasnt bad enough already. The continued insistance that SC gets to do everything at no talent cost and FS has to choose between doing decent ST or decent AoE is just silly at this point.
So at this point I propose the following to finally rid us of this charade:
– Make FTF work with Disint. There is no reason to have FTF sit in perpetual “AoE only talent” hell.
– Allow Eternity Surge to consume Fire Breath at the rate that Disintegrate does. This will not make FS competitive on low target but will make it less miserable at it.
– Let Enkindle work on essence spell triggered effects (Scint, FTF). It’s in the perpetual null zone and its getting ridiculous.