You are right, but I have said a couple of times in the thread, that the best solution would probably be more thoughtful encounter design. Just isnt in the 1st post.

I don't play a sorc, but it didn't strike me as "horrendously imbalanced" before. It doesn't matter anyway, since this is only really a sideshow to the argument made.

Yes, the raid leaders get the classes they think are most beneficial to the raid. Especially if there is alot of wiping. Bioware sets the premises, and those are imbalanced atm. You had me at "dont underestimate the power of sorc AOE healing". Gotta say, thats a good one. No way you can heal through Gharjs nightmare pounces with that. The knockback into the lava is just annoying, damage-wise it is pretty neglectable. Didn't make the thread to discuss strategy though, I am aware that the encounters are not impossible with a melee heavy group, just alot harder. Which i dont think is right. Taht is my point Your thought on SOA is completely flawed btw. Maybe you should play a melee character in that fight to understand what i mean.

Missing the point. Yes, strats do help, but there is still a disparity. SOA is a ***** with a melee heavy setup, there is no way arguing against that. Also, you are telling me you let your melee get pounced by gharj on nightmare? you must have the best healers in the game.

Again, Ranged DPS are not better in every game for every encounter. A certain game that has a vast array of tools to measure damage disproves this. Also, it is inevitable that both groups (ranged vs. melee) have advantages on certain encounters, but never it should never be case, that one group is always at the bigger disadvantage, which is the case right now. There simply is no drawback to stacking ranged on ANY encounter right now. I was hoping this thread would not derail into a buff/nerf argument either, since there are more elegant solutions to solving this dilemma: Better and more balance encounter design. However I believe, granting melee some more mobility wouldn't hurt so much, I believe a buff could be a sensible action to alleviate the problem discussed here.

You are completely besides the point. This thread is not about being "top dps". It is about a serious imbalance in some encounters, not all of course, where stacking ranged DPS makes one encounter trivial, while you might fail repeatedly on it with melee DPS without some more eloborate strategy and a considerable effort. That is the issue. This is an incentive to invite ranged DPS over melee. And this is happening already, I can tell you as someone who likes to lead raids. Your examples are also weak. Those 2 mechanics are hardly just affecting ranged, and in any case, they are very manageable for a raid. But since you brought it up, for the first boss in EV: Ever thought about the fact that Ranged can just camp at the turrets, while melee have to run all the way to hide from the missile salvo and back again? Even worse, for hard mode/nightmare, you might want Ranged DPS just burning him still when he is doing the salvo, and have the healers heal through it. Guess what...melee can't do **** at the time, while ranged make it alot easier to beat the enrage timer. Instead consider the encounters I mentioned in my 1st post, it is a completely different story: Try doing Final Boss Boarding Party HM with 2 Melee DPS in blue gear: A total nightmare. Then do it again with 2 equally geared ranged DPS. I dont even wanna talk about SOA hardmode/or nightmare again, because its just so blatantly obvious there

Except that expertise costs primary stats......

I know all this. The point still stands: Why should it be harder for melee DPS? Sure, you can optimize your strat, but you still wont hit the DPS that you would have with all ranged DPS. Regarding gharj, i dont think you have experienced his pounce on nightmare, where it becomes an issue. The knockback is just a nuisance. Additionally, in hard/nightmare, enrage timers also become an issue, and guess what, its noticably easier with all ranged. Very easy to notice with the gear levels right now.

Exactly, right now the best setup would be just to stack ranged dps and just faceroll every encounter.

I absolutely agree, thats the point I am making. They alleviated this on a couple of items: - balanced DPS to account for increased movement/position requirement of melee DPS - smarter and more balanced encounter design - utilities for melee to get back into the fight quick: movement abilities, self-healing, AE avoidance

Instead of just saying "there is no way around it", how about discussing some of the examples I have given. If, for example, you made Jorlands PBAoE ability have a minimum range, then you might actually beat the encounter with 2 melee, when they have not all epics. How is that "no way"?

You obviously haven't played Wow or SWTOR at all.

Stop with that point already, just because this issue might have existed in WoW also, doesnt mean its not an issue still, and should be addressed. Or should we just roll over? Infact tho, I was a member in a rather successful raiding guild in WoW, and the truth is that skilled rogues and warriors were on par with ranged in terms of DPS, because yes, their DPS while on target was slightly higher, which evens out because they have to move around more and position themself. Additionally, again, warriors and rogues had more abilities (not just gap closers, but self-healing, evasion, etc. talents) to alleviate the effect of AE damage. So stop with it already.

Just one example: Make the Boardings Party Final Boss Missile PBAoE spell have a minimum targeting range. Issue fixed. Mechanic intended still in palce: Ranged can not stack up.

A troll accusing me of trolling, while I think I have made some good points. If only people would actually discuss the issue instead of posting worthless junk like this.