So much for a defensive game. (in General)

This month has been quite a nerf to defensive setups.

First the TOE is nerfed, twice.

Protection is removed.

AC is nerfed, and to get it back to where it was, xp is needed=less hp.

TSA regeneration is nerfed.

The RBF's magic resistance got changed quite a lot.

And lastly, we get a new spell that does more damage to armor and easily overwhelms TOE's. Basically there is no defense vs this spell except the largest AS in the game. And that only prolongs the agony 1 round.

Meanwhile, nothing has been done to change evasion--again.

So, those hating the ideas of walls and defensive setups got exactly what they wanted this month. Now CB, IMO, is a who can kill quicker game. Since if you do not kill in missile, SG/EF will get you bad.

I personally very much dislike the direction this month has taken. Extremely so.

the only thing that can help now is GA. Nothing else imo.

The ToE and TSA nerfs were accompanied by a damage nerf.

Yes,

10% damage reduction with 20% TOE reduction and a 20% reduction in the TSA regeneration ability.

Oh, so that's why I still don't have much of a problem double or triple-hitting for 1.5-2.5 mil damage in ranged with the uber-rental ?
:)

15% damage reduction, actually.

Dunno, I'm running a hugely defensive ToE/twin mage shield wall team and I've only added people to my fightlist. The reduction to damage done helped me out no end. Because while I'm hitting for less, so are my opponents.

It was a good change month for me, despite all the things that would suggest otherwise.

Damage was severely over-rated to begin with anyway.
Just look at raw total damage of any magic spells compared to potential damage of ranged/melee weapons given WA-only weapon x progression, compared to total HP trainable.

At least Protection, AC and ToE managed to keep damage in check before now, but Protection was removed, and both others were slightly nerfed.

I used a defensive setup, and I found that the nerfs didn't really affect me that much. I still beat the same people.

The only thing I have a problem with is SG and EF. There's no real way to defend against them without going all out defending against them.

I pretty much agree the defensive aspect has been nerfed but damage hasn't been changed too much outside of SG.

Killing all minions in ranged is the default thought pattern for most tanks but with evasion the way it is costs are obscenely high to run the minion even with ToA granted PtH.

SG is pretty much the new FoD if it's a minions EXP focus and we all know what happened to FoD.

Defensive teams are extremely annoying with high hp/reduction/regeneration rates so the ToE, Prot and TSA nerfs are somewhat welcomed.

RoBF was able to completely shut down lower level DDs and now can't which I'm sure has changed quite a few fight-lists but it's damage output was also increased if I'm not mistaken.

CB is seeming to steer towards DD as the major source of damage while leaving tanks with the options of trying to specialize in melee where they are susceptible to 1 hit kills or spending obscene amounts of money on a ranged weapon and praying they can kill the evasion minions in 6 rounds with all bonuses against them.

this nerfs VB also since damage layers are reduced, there is almost no need for VB.

^Yes that is the other problem, why use a VB that costs money, and can miss and doesn't do much damage, when SG is there to completely cut through armor.

Well, there are still a few hours to throw away all your tank armour and weapons and retrain DX+ST+Archery/Bloodlust into a DD and join mage blender.
You may be able to sell that gear to some NUB who doesn't know any better and purchase some mage gear.

I will take all tank gears. :P
I am just stuck being a FB mage. I so want to try being a melee tank. :P

melee tank = pwn by SG

SG = pwn by everything that hits in ranged, unless you have some solid defense :)