The reason Sorcerers/Sages are OP in PvP

Not sure who your talking too..

A lot of people have responded with better fixes that wont destroy the class.

.....reading..

you didnt do it..

ALERT: Read this -ENTIRE- first post before posting ANYTHING on this thread. Do not post vague generalizations. Respond to the points I actually made in this post. Do not join the long list of painfully stupid posts that had nothing to do with the actual content of the thread and everything to do with the title of the read.


The actual Sorcerer talents do not need to be nerfed at all. The only thing Bioware needs to do is rearrange the talent trees to disallow overpowered hybrid specs from making the class far more powerful than the devs intended. Lightning/Madness hybrids cause far too much imbalance.

The main problem is Sorcs have hybrid specs that are far too effective and they get far too many perks from all trees.

"Lightning Barrier" - Gives 20% increased absorption to Static Barrier. Tier 2 talent. This needs to be far higher up the Lightning tree. Lightning Sorcs need this talent because of their need to stand still and leave themselves more vulnerable to damage. Madness Sorcs and hybrids do not.

"Electric Bindings" - Adds a 5 second immobilize to their 20 second knockback "Overload". Tier 3 talent. Again this talent is needed for a 31 point Lightning PvP build to be effective but for all other specs it's just a ridiculous amount of utility that they don't need. This needs to be moved up the tree.

"Wrath" - Force Lightning damage has a 30% chance to make your next cast instant and do +20% damage. This is the talent that allows hybrid Sorcerers to surpass the 31-point specs. This makes it insanely effective to build hybrid and use the proc for instant cast "Chain Lightning".

"Lightning Barrage" - Affliction critical hits have a 100% chance to cause your next "Force Lightning" to channel and tick twice as fast(10s CD). This talent gives further incentive to the hybrid Lightning/Madness build. In PvP it causes Sorcerers to have a surprising amount of burst. While this talent isn't a problem on it's own it does further the gap between hybrid specs and proper 31-point specs. It's nonsense to have this talent in the Lightning Tree when you consider that "Force Lightning" is Madness's main filler. Lightning spec is supposed to use Lightning Strike.

"Backlash" - Causes "Static Barrier" to apply a 3 second CC to surrounding targets upon breaking. Shouldn't be in the hands of hybrids. Period. This is only balanced in the hands of an incredibly immobile caster.

"Lightning Storm" - 30% chance on "Lightning Strike" to reset the CD of Chain Lightning and cause it to be instant-cast the next time you use it(10s CD). Essentially a second Wrath. Combine the two and you have a spec that can use instant-cast Chain Lightning with disgusting frequency.

--------------------------------------

Here is an example of a hybrid spec.

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#201ZfcMMdRbZcrcRsMk.1

The obvious issue here is the fact that a Sorcerer using a spec such as this gets all the utility of both Lightning and Madness without sacrificing much.

A Madness Sorcerer is supposed to have some CC and a lot of Mobility due to a reliance on instant casts and DoT effects.

A Lightning Sorcer is supposed to have a lot of defensive CC and very limited Mobility due to reliance on hard casts.

The problem is that the hybrid spec has both the Mobility of Madness and the defensive CC of Lightning at the same time while also having greater damage than either spec.

This is the amount of utility a hybrid has:

Strong Bubble
5s Immobilize attached to a 20s Knockback
Unlimited Regen through the combined talents of both specs.
Spammable Instant-Cast Chain Lightning(This spell hits VERY hard and is an AoE)
3s Immobilize attached to the end of Bubble
Abnormal mobility through DoTs and a 20s Dash
Incredible Burst that surpasses the burst that either of the full 31pt specs can come close to outputting.
The best PvP AoE damage in the entire game through DoT spam, Death Field, and Chain Lightning.
Instant Cast Whirlwind and a 2-second stun attached to breaking Whirlwind.
Self-Healing


What I'm trying to emphasize is how stupidly well the bottom halves of the two trees synergize. It's obviously not intended and needs to be changed without breaking the full 31 point specs. Bioware needs to move the incredibly good talents further up the tree and move some of the weaker talents down to the lower tiers.



DISCLAIMER:
I don't care if hybrid specs exist.

I care when those hybrid specs break the game by making a class disgustingly overpowered.

I'm not asking for an end to Sorcerer hybrids.

I just want the hybrids to not have access to the utility talents in Lightning so they're not so incredibly powerful compared to the 31-point specs.

In their current state they're overpowered in every way.

With this change people wouldn't feel stupid for NOT using a hybrid spec because right now anyone using a 31-point build is gimping themselves as Sorcerers.

With this change people would still have the option to spec hybrid and do the same damage, they just wouldn't have disgustingly overpowered utility from BOTH trees.

It's incredibly stupid for hybrids to be like some ultimate fusion of two specs that's far more overpowered than either 31-point build. This isn't Dragonball Z.

AKA im bad, and i cant interrupt spells cause i dont have keybinds.

Ok, the sorc bubble has 3500 hp give or take a couple hundred. If any melee class tries to break that from safe distance they lose. Period.

So from what you're telling me you think it's intended that Sorcs just counter melee, and ranged, oh and tanks too. It's not their fault they're paper to your scissors.

Get real. Shield breaking at range is not practical for most classes.




Ahhh, I knew some Sorc would try to claim balance through resolve. Even if it worked, which it doesn't. That just means you cycle your CC on multiple targets. That's far far too much CC/utility for any class.

Eh, a Sorc/Sage has a total of 2 damaging moves that they can cast on the move, 1 being a very weak DoT, and one being a very weak instant cast w/ a cooldown.

Every single other move that a Sorc uses for damage is tied to Force Lightning proc'ing Wrath. If you interrupt Force Lightning, they literally cannot do anything to damage you other than run away and try to cast Force Lightning again.

This is why all of that CC exists, because Sorc dps is absolutely worthless w/out opportunities to cast Force Lightning. Even when given opportunities to cast, a Sorc's single target dps is nothing stellar, and its burst is far below most other classes.

Ooh, so they can put a lot of damage on the board. From DoTs and AoE, not meaningful damage. It doesn't matter at all, unless you actually care about who did the most damage in an objective based warzone. (Hint: If you do, you probably are not very good at the warzones)

Seriously, 2 non-activation moves. 1 is a really awful DoT.

Want to shut a sorc down completely? Focus him. That's it. That's literally all you have to do to stop their damage output entirely and send them running away.

Learn to interrupt perhaps?

Eh, a Sorc/Sage has a total of 2 damaging moves that they can cast on the move, 1 being a very weak DoT, and one being a very weak instant cast w/ a cooldown.

Every single other move that a Sorc uses for damage is tied to Force Lightning proc'ing Wrath. If you interrupt Force Lightning, they literally cannot do anything to damage you other than run away and try to cast Force Lightning again.

This is why all of that CC exists, because Sorc dps is absolutely worthless w/out opportunities to cast Force Lightning. Even when given opportunities to cast, a Sorc's single target dps is nothing stellar, and its burst is far below most other classes.

Ooh, so they can put a lot of damage on the board. From DoTs and AoE, not meaningful damage. It doesn't matter at all, unless you actually care about who did the most damage in an objective based warzone. (Hint: If you do, you probably are not very good at the warzones)

Seriously, 2 non-activation moves. 1 is a really awful DoT.

Want to shut a sorc down completely? Focus him. That's it. That's literally all you have to do to stop their damage output entirely and send them running away.

Learn to interrupt perhaps?

The problem isn't that a sorc has CC, it's the AMOUNT of cc and defensive cooldowns they have. As set up currently a sorc can grab an unintended number of survivability talents and because they stack multiplicitavely each additional defense not only adds it's utility but increases the value of every other defense they have.

Also, if you think Force lightning is Sorcs only offense... you're a bad sorc.

That's part of the problem. The drawback to being a ranged DPS is having to cast abilities. The hybrid spec gives them more mobility through nearly spammable instant-chain lightning and a lack of reliance on casting while also giving them increased damage. Hybrid 20/21 builds are also giving them more CC and kiting ability than any other spec. It's just too much for one player to have all at once.