The Gaming Den

Lago PARANOIA wrote:4E is trying to make the game such that the new stuff is weaker than the old stuff. And that... really isn't working. Aside that 4E doesn't print enough material for a classplosion, it seems that every book that comes out has weaker classes than what came before. If you make a list of the 'top eight' 4E classes, you'll get something like:

Warlord, Ranger, Wizard, Cleric, Fighter, Rogue, Warden, Barbarian.

Lago mentioned this in another thread - I'm curious as to why each of these classes is where it is. I know Ranger's Twin Strike is lolDPS, but what does the Warden bring to the table, for instance?

Best Leaders:
Warlord- For the amount of free attacks and buffs they can hand out to the rest of the group.

Cleric- Even after a pretty massive nerf, they still toss out the most healing of any leader, turning many encounters into complete non threats.

Best Defenders:
Fighter- besides having the most (and best) options of any defender, they also toss out the most damage, making them actual threats to monsters rather than annoying speedbumps

Warden- They have a solid defender toolbox and are the sturdiest defender of the all, but what really makes them nice is that they have a, easy to use, area effect marking power.

Paladin- A solid, if boring defender, they can also bring massive amounts of healing and damage with a lot of system mastery.

Best Strikers:
Ranger- Multiattacks and more multiattacks. Best melee and ranged strikers, period.
Rogue- They have the strongest bonus damage feature of any striker. (because when it was designed, the devs didn't expect Rogues to be able to get easy, near constant CA) and if Twin Strike ever got nerfed they would be beat out Rangers in a heartbeat.
Barbarian- Ehh... I really don't see the awesomeness of them really.

Best Controller:
Wizard- They have the most options and suppost of any controller so even if 95% of it is trash, you still have plenty of powerful stuff to work with.
Invoker- In a lot of ways this was the Wizard after the devs actually had a clue what to do with controllers. And they're a lot more party friendly than wizards.


I'd also rank Druids in the controller section simply for having the only at wills that actually have hard control effects, but they also had a cumbersome, completely broken beast form mechanic inflicted upon them.

Wizards are also, if you spec them correctly, the second-best ranged DPS class. Even beating out not-slouches like the rogue.

Depending on your stat array, a wizard can flip-flop being being a 'traditional' controller and a ranged striker without too much hassle.

Wardens have great At-Wills and also a set of some beastly ZoC powers in addition to what sake said. If a Warden doesn't want you getting through their zone you're not getting through the zone. The fact that they do almost as much damage as a fighter is just icing on the cake.

Paladins chew in heroic tier. It's a universal axiom. There's no way around that. However, if you stat your paladin right (meaning that you either go Hospitaler or Son of Mercy) a CHA/WIS-specced one becomes almost silly-strong in paragon tier.

I'm still not exactly sold on clerics. I think they're mediocre-to-average. Not because you wouldn't want them, because they're just that much worse compared to a warlord that knows what they're doing--clerics are still better than every other leader sadly. A lot of their OMG healing stuff is either A) asking to come at the expensive of damage or B) attainable by warlords. Warlords look so behind clerics in the healing department because they actually have the choice between either speccing for extra attacks and RNG-fuckery or just being a 'traditional' healer.

Druids would be top-tier if it wasn't for their ranged/melee split. Granted, druids do the melee/ranged things better than other classes but the fact remains is that you have to choose which route you want to go and then it splits your list in two.

Barbarians are almost but not quite top-tier. They do shine in extended workdays because Rageblood Barbarians (the only kind worth playing) generate a lot of extra THP.

Artificers are in the same boat. Artificers are great if you typically run extended workdays at lower levels. They spread out healing surges and start the day with two extra ones. If you have something with shitty healing surges like a wizard or an invoker in your party they're awesome, because they can make you last one or two extra encounters. They're not worth as much later on sadly once the PCs start acquiring a pool of resources.



All that said, I have no idea what the current tiers are right now. I'm sure that Warden and Cleric took a massive hit because they can't get the items they need anymore. Warlord is probably beastly compared to the mass nerf everyone got; probably even mandatory now because most of their power comes from feat and power combos rather than magical items.

Fucking Essentials.

I'm actually expecting the whole blaster wizard genasi thing and warlords to get nerfed down hard soon. They just synergise too well with the new Essentials crap.

It makes Essentials look bad when the 4e Warlord is the leader to use for the Essential Rogue and Fighter rather than the Essential Cleric, and a Genasi Evoker/Pyromancer Mage with elemental empowerment is a far and away better choice than any of the updated Essential races and would blow any Essential caster striker, they might add later on, out of the water.

So these things will get castrated like Melee Training did.