Personal Observations regarding DB/SB

[OmegaRa]

Hello everyone, I'm just posting to let my thoughts out in regards to the new classes. It's a big read 

Stormbringers:

As a Blademaster coming back to server after not having played for several weeks, I was undeniably curious from this class over any others. I had the pleasure of going against ManHandle right off the bat (I believe that, under his own words, he is the top Stormbringer right now? I would not know.) The class completely surprised me.

Initially I had no idea what I was going up against, but I whole heartedly tackled on the challenge with intent on learning and seeing what I was up against. I thought to myself "Great, a caster that can move. I just have to catch it, how hard can it be?", but it proved to be much more of a hard-fight than I thought it'd be.

The first few fights were surprising. Right off the bat, I struggled with getting close to the player granted they moved on unpredictable directions that really misled my leaping direction. I am a leaper, I believe a much safer way to approach an enemy is to do it as quickly and undelayed as possible. This essentially proved to be a hardship, granted that by the time I'd leap in, the Strombringer would already be several meters away, essentially bringing me to re-think my attempts at getting close.

It did not help that the damage was outrageously high right off the bat. I ended up taking some unreasonably high damage that had me question my defense. I understood, for the most part that this player was having some sort of advantages due to things I am oblivious about such as Starcharts, and granted I was playing with my APS Set which in turn puts me at 19 defense levels I understood i was bound to see high damage. But I did not expect it to be constantly damaging me in such ways.

I ended up being ravaged for the first couple of rounds as I examined 'what' skills do, 'how' they work, 'how' they affect me and 'What' can I do about it. I saw myself at a standstill, how was i to compete against a class that moved faster than me, had an antistun and hit hard while moving, and was intelligent enough to anticipate my approaches?

It all came about observing as I had mentioned before. I noticed that the unparalleled speed was only momentary, so I continued to challenge and press on my defenses, surviving, timing. And so, I started to see my chances broaden up, I started to understand how the class works and the several implications that the different icons that popped up as statuses did. Granted, this comes from someone who has never stepped up to the plate against a Stormbringer, so don't hate too hard!

Then I began to understand the stuns, and their durations. The status effect paralyze, and it's duration, and finally their knockback, their "Clone" and their vortex. All of these skills were wonderful and had me In awe, and after getting caught off hand several times, I started to understand how to get around these.

And then, I caught him. I was amazed, I thought that now I could probably dish back some damage and see how they handle the pressure instead. I am good at pressuring other players, so I wanted to see what came next. As I dealt damage on my APS setup, I was struck with surprise to see my damage was lower than I anticipated it to be. I have gone against wizards, mystics and so on before, but the defense the Stormbringers had was surprising. I had to lay out a complete lock and neigh close to a purge in order to bring down the player, which proved to be a challenge, but I managed to do it one time.

And only 1 time. Just as I adapted to how he played,  he adapted to me. I started to notice different movement patterns, skill usage and definitely some improvements. As I continued to battle, I noticed that most of my skills do much more damage than what my APS would regularly do. I figured 'What the hell', and switched to my DPH Playstyle. I happen to favor DPH over APS so the transition only took a few attributes reset stones and 3 minutes of my time.

I got to try DPH and evened out the scales of damage a lot. Getting close was still an issue, yes, but my damage, while slower, was much more reliable, as it gave me the leverage and pressure power I needed in order to push the fight to go on a much faster pace. Ultimately leading to some very fun clashes, and some very well deserved fun.

SUMMARY

Stormbringers as a class are very challenging if played right. Adapting to them is a challenge but with enough proper observation and proper skill usage you're likely to come unscathed. I had a blast, I felt like after years I was actually intellectually challenged to understand and overcome. DPH is definitely better over APS when fighting Stormbringers granted their normal attack damage reduction buff, but it is not a must. Be weary of their movements and their damage while moving.

Just hope they do not use a purify weapon.

Duskblades

The infamy behind this class was (And still is) unreal. A class that can keep you under a steady lock, coming from different perspectives  (Whether Paralyze, stuns, sleeps or immobilize) can be very concerning, so I initially strayed from going up against this class until I could understand it a little better. I observed other people play it, such as Kenpachi, Kurosaki and a few others, and began to understand the class a little better.

Granted I wanted to indulge, however, on a class that could potentially replace Blademasters as overlord of Crowd Control, and so I made my own. I had the pleasure of having a very lovable Banana help me out, for which I am infinitely grateful. My activity has been questionable and sadly do not have the time I wish I could have to be around, but nonetheless I made the time to see and understand my coming challenge.

This class was surprisingly easier to understand than Stormbringers were, but I couldn't let my guard down so easily, granted that unlike how i did against Stormbringers in which I fought some first hand (By which time I had already challenged several others), this time i was only reading up. Essentially I was putting myself under the illusion that it would be simple granted I was putting myself in the shoes of the class.

Boy was I wrong. My first fight came yesterday (October 22nd, 2016) and I was eager to try this out. I remember telling myself "I'm a physical class and I can survive decently well against Assassins, Duskblades shouldn't be a problem". That would be accurate yes, but I forgot to take into consideration one thing: Moving Is a lot easier when you are going against an assassin.

I fought my first battle having little idea on what to expect, but I nonetheless had a small clue on what to look for in order to retaliate. I kept on telling myself that after every paralyze, there would be a stun. After every stun, there would be a paralyze. After every paralyze, he would try to stall, and so on and so forth. But boy was I wrong. After a few fights I noticed that I kept getting on what at the moment I would call "Outplayed". I never got any of my predictions accurately applied, in fact some times it went in a direction I completely did not even consider as a scenario (In the form of reel ins and air locks).

This essentially led me to regard the class as a glue gun, granted I felt I would never get "Unstuck". Regardless, I tried to apply what I did whIle I was going against Stormbringers: 'What' do they skills do?, 'How' do they work? And 'What' can I do against them? I continued to examine and noticed: the lock, while long and effective if done right, is not permanent. It was a good lock, yes, but as a physical class I had the pleasure (and luck) of being able to endure enough hits to be able to analyze the skills, the player patterns of usage, the damage, and the overall effectiveness of their combos.

I saw myself struggling even after doing so. During some stuns and in the middle of damage, I would find myself taking 20-30k damage, out of the blue. I would panic as such high amounts of damage easily constituted about 75% of my HP, and kept consistent with stuns, which made it more preoccupying. This was perfect,  though, as it showed me that things do not go as planned all the time.

I ended up pulling through, as the key to going against this class was to use the window of opportunity that was given to me to my advantage. This time it was my turn to put some pressure onto the player and see how they handled it. To my surprise they handled it well, as they were able to pull some tricks I was not aware of, such as an instant  stealth,  an untargetable skill, fast movement speeds and ultimately the re-appliance of their stun lock.

It was hard to go against a Duskblade but it was fun. Sometimes not knowing what to expect brings about the fun. I ended up pulling more wins than losses, but that's probably because of luck. Once there's more practice from players with this class I'm sure there'll be different results. Maybe I'll take 80k next time, who knows!

Summary

Fighting Duskblades was interesting to say the least. Adapting to them was hard granted they are a very Down-Your-Throat class, and are extremely offensive. If mastered properly there is probably no avoiding their locks, without genie drainage, or several other techniques such as 1/2 sparks, leaps, tidals, or hopes they miss. DPH doesn't work as well granted that they have high evasion, but works well enough granted their only buff is a distance-damage reduction buff.

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I realize I have not examined these classes to their full potential (I did fight them using reaper form and such, just decided not to mention it) and this is only my perspective and experiences from fighting both classes. They were definitely something new and I loved it. For the first time in years I have felt that I am being intellectually challenged in game as I am re-thinking how to play and had my share of fun.
I want to say thanks to Agatio for bringing 1.5.3 to the server, even though I am not on as much as I would like to be as of late.

At some point I'll update this post to include mass PvP observations. I am hopeful on seeing how diverse this classes will make PvP, especially Stormbringers.

Hopefully this post helps you realize as you read that adapting to playstyles can be rewarding, and fun. That's how I see it.

If you do, thanks for reading.

[Selaria]

SB's reaper form makes them insanely tanky.

Also nice to see a post not screaming for nerfs and actually did a breakdown on how you approached the classes. Interesting read.

[๖ۣۜĐomgrath]

I can honestly say that stormbringer is underpowered and needs significantly boosted 

I'm not saying this because I'm gearing one right now btw

[OmegaRa]

SB's reaper form makes them insanely tanky.

Also nice to see a post not screaming for nerfs and actually did a breakdown on how you approached the classes. Interesting read.

They really are crafty, I noticed many of my opponents used it as a safe when they were low HP... really helps too, especially the stun immunity right after. It was marvelous. 
Yeah, nerfs aren't really my thing. Thanks for reading and I'm glad you enjoyed it

[Erain]

ManHandle is a good sb but considering me and him can beat each other depending how lucky our crits are in our 1v1's far as i seen in all other sb's i went agiasnt and he has i havnt really found any other sb's that gave me a challenge than ManHandle but he also learns from me

[TeruTheGreat]

ManHandle is a good sb but considering me and him can beat each other depending how lucky our crits are in our 1v1's far as i seen in all other sb's i went agiasnt and he has i havnt really found any other sb's that gave me a challenge than ManHandle but he also learns from me

Sorry but you died in like 2s today at lost you're bad 

[Lexmau]

Sorry but you died in like 2s today at lost you're bad

u die in 2s in OW and in pw with your duskblade what you mean LMAO

[hot_panini]

Oh man, Jim is getting excited 😂😂

nice read

[TeruTheGreat]

u die in 2s in OW and in pw with your duskblade what you mean LMAO

Go hide your battle tag noob

[OmegaRa]

Oh man, Jim is getting excited 😂😂

nice read

Thanks! I'm actually prepping for the bigger read- EPW's Story

Although I'm not sure I'm up for the task, the whole thing would take me a week to write.  
Maybe during winter break I'll get started

[๖ۣۜĐomgrath]

Thanks! I'm actually prepping for the bigger read- EPW's Story Although I'm not sure I'm up for the task, the whole thing would take me a week to write. Maybe during winter break I'll get started

 

Didn't you already write this, nobody appreciated it and you gave up?

Kek, spare us the read man, keep making Dragon Rising threads and my dream of a 8 second paralyze will finally come t- I mean, what? EPW doesn't need DR guys!!

[OmegaRa]

Didn't you already write this, nobody appreciated it and you gave up?

If you had bothered to click on it perhaps you may have looked at what the thread actually was. Why would I give up on something I agreed I would do? I do things like this for my own amusement. I'm no Clowngrath.

[αяιαиα 👑]

Drama pls. 

[Error404: Gitgud]

snow> manhandle by far imo

[OmegaRa]

I do not really play much. I will get to go against Snow as soon as I can :-)