Backstep Needs Some Tweaking...

Zrehael Profile Options #1

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Kaeldur Lvl.60
Celestial Hills - Roleplay (PVE)
Aman Lancer
I'm used to playing a tank character, but since my beloved lancer has now hit level 60, I figured it was time to level some alts. I figured I'd start with a sorcerer. Well, he's level 17 now, and getting hammered relentlessly by ranged fighters with no way of avoiding their apparent lock-on attacks.

Backstep away? Still get hit. Alright try to the side then... Nope! Fireball makes a hard right and still hits me for full damage.

For getting away from melee, it works, but dodging ranged attacks is impossible with it, and it kinda ruins the feel of "True Action Combat" where nothing is locked on and you control your dodges when all the attacks being thrown at you by NPCs are, for the vast majority, lock-ons!

Give us some invulnerability frames like you do for the classes that dodge, or at least remove some of the lock-ons that these ranged mobs have so my health bar isn't getting hammered by them, cause right now, backstep is the worst defensive skill to have.
Leiloni Profile Options #2

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Use your CC before and during a fight to control mobs as a Sorc and also try to set up some good burst so once you do aggro the mob, you spend less time in its cross hairs. Sorc has all the tools it needs to deal with any type of mob. It just takes a bit more thought on how to kill things with a Sorc than with a tank or a healer.
Edited by: Leiloni 12 months ago
Pootz Profile Options #3

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Derivative Lvl.60
Mount Tyrannas (PVP)
Human Warrior
Sorcerer CC? Lol, Time Gyre doesn't stop ranged attacks, and Mindblast is just a short sleep, and has a huge wind-up time. The only CC Sorcerers have for ranged monsters is to nuke them to death before Mana Barrier breaks/HP runs out.
Zrehael Profile Options #4

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Kaeldur Lvl.60
Celestial Hills - Roleplay (PVE)
Aman Lancer
Leiloni on 07/02/2012, 07:59 AM - view
Use your CC and try to set up some good burst so once you do aggro the mob, you spend less time in its cross hairs. Sorc has all the tools it needs to deal with any type of mob. It just takes a bit more thought on how to kill things with a Sorc than with a tank or a healer.


Not really the point of my post here. The point is shouldn't my defensive skill be able to get me out of the way of these things? Why should it only protect me from melee attacks? It just feels like the skill is a bit broken when it can get me out of the way of melee fine, but all ranged attacks still hit me for full damage.
Leiloni Profile Options #5

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Zrehael on 07/02/2012, 08:05 AM - view
Leiloni on 07/02/2012, 07:59 AM
Use your CC and try to set up some good burst so once you do aggro the mob, you spend less time in its cross hairs. Sorc has all the tools it needs to deal with any type of mob. It just takes a bit more thought on how to kill things with a Sorc than with a tank or a healer.


Not really the point of my post here. The point is shouldn't my defensive skill be able to get me out of the way of these things? Why should it only protect me from melee attacks? It just feels like the skill is a bit broken when it can get me out of the way of melee fine, but all ranged attacks still hit me for full damage.


Let me put it this way. Mystic, Priest, Sorc, and Archer. That is half of the classes in the game. None of them have block nor invincibility frames and manage to do just fine (and they are all the ranged classes in this game, if you didn't notice). And I have both a Priest and a Mystic and no, I do not need to heal myself when questing and my Sorc does just fine with the skills I have as well. I manage to kill mobs just fine without taking large amounts of damage. It takes adjustment, but you don't need invincibility frames or blocking. The benefit of being able to deal large amounts of damage from a safe range while also having a [filtered] ton of CC is what a Sorc gets for not having invincibility frames. A fair trade IMO. Sorcs don't need it or they'd be really OP. Your pretty low level right now and missing a lot of good skills. Keep questing.
Edited by: Leiloni 12 months ago
Pootz Profile Options #6

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Derivative Lvl.60
Mount Tyrannas (PVP)
Human Warrior
Leiloni on 07/02/2012, 08:09 AM - view
while also having a [filtered] ton of CC

Two. Both break on damage, and only one incapacitates.

However, I agree the ranged classes don't NEED an invincibility frame, but being able to Backstep/Teleport Jaunt a locked-on Flame Barrage/Penetrating Arrow/Siphon Mana/Random Sleep Abilities would certainly be nice.
Leiloni Profile Options #7

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Pootz on 07/02/2012, 08:17 AM - view
Leiloni on 07/02/2012, 08:09 AM
while also having a [filtered] ton of CC

Two. Both break on damage, and only one incapacitates.



You use them to prevent the mob from attacking you while you setup some burst. Start off with some burst and if they're not far enough down, CC and set up some more. Shouldn't take too much to take a mob down. And my Sorc is only 38 and I've been doing perfectly fine and I don't even have the Sorc's best skills at this level. You shouldn't be letting a mob beat on you as a Sorc. You have the skills to prevent them from attacking at all and the skills to burst them down pretty quickly when they are free to attack. Worse comes to worse you have 3 escapes and a bunch of slows as well as Time Gyre, you should be able to kite around and stay out of range for long enough to pop a potion and get your HP back up.
Edited by: Leiloni 12 months ago
Pootz Profile Options #8

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Derivative Lvl.60
Mount Tyrannas (PVP)
Human Warrior
You have the tools to burst them down, yes (and this is generally the best choice), but a sorcerer has nothing to stop an archer monster from firing arrows in a convenient manner. Mindblast is good to give you time to pop a potion or buy time to get a bandage off, but realistically the 3 second cast time generally means you're going to get KDed or interrupted.

Anyways, the point isn't whether or not sorcs can handle ranged attackers, it's that backstep kind of sucks.
BarbeQQ Profile Options #9

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Leiloni on 07/02/2012, 08:24 AM - view
Pootz on 07/02/2012, 08:17 AM
Leiloni on 07/02/2012, 08:09 AM
while also having a [filtered] ton of CC

Two. Both break on damage, and only one incapacitates.



You use them to prevent the mob from attacking you while you setup some burst. Start off with some burst and if they're not far enough down, CC and set up some more. Shouldn't take too much to take a mob down. And my Sorc is only 38 and I've been doing perfectly fine and I don't even have the Sorc's best skills at this level. You shouldn't be letting a mob beat on you as a Sorc. You have the skills to prevent them from attacking at all and the skills to burst them down pretty quickly when they are free to attack. Worse comes to worse you have 3 escapes and a bunch of slows as well as Time Gyre, you should be able to kite around and stay out of range for long enough to pop a potion and get your HP back up.


I can understand what the OP is talking about here. What flies in the face of "true action combat" is for a sorc the most effective way of dealing with ranged mobs (especially that super long range auto attack for mystic mobs) is to tank with your face and nuke them down before your life bar runs out. You keep mentioning CC, which is pointless once you've engaged the enemy because of cast times. That time spent casting the CC is just better spent casting a nuke spell. The only instant CC (time gyre) doesn't help against ranged mobs.
SymonSeventeen Profile Options #10

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I love playing the sorcerer but this is one of my biggest issues with it. I had never noticed until I started playing on a slayer alt, but the "defensive" maneuvers are pretty lame. On normal mobs it doesn't seem to matter much, but when fighting bams it becomes obvious how useless the ranged dodges are in comparison to the melee ones. Backstep, glacial retreat, and teleport jaunt all take longer to activate so its easy to get interrupted. The lack of invincibility frames often finds you getting hit mid-animation, even when the timing is good. Then add that each one only goes in a set direction, and two of them are backwards (useless for ranged attacks and fast enemies). I would take one evasive roll over the three crap dodges they give us.
Edited by: SymonSeventeen 12 months ago