Actually, I believe that these changes help quite a lot riflemans out there. You have to remember that rifle can shoot much faster than spells and thus interrupting mage/healer spells or forcing them to use concentrate. Big nuke damage is heavily affected by new resistances and protections to magic, absorbing upto 70% of damage.110676 wrote:i dont know if theese changes will change my prediction of "the mage vs mage patch" cause really guys when we all get to kill eachother who will be carrying a gun or even a sword to battle (as is) i had a brief chat with an old friend in game. he made lvl 193 rifle skill (hes odd that way) he claims his top dam pr hit is 344 hp. i didnt have the time to check with him but i belive thats with all powers used..... 344 for all that preparation ?? ....but he can run while shooting LOL. so when he and i meet up in 5 on 5 battle his mates will (lacking his aid) drop and well all gather round him and laugh at the chap with the funny stick.
On the other hand, reduced hp healing means that opponent can be killed with something else than biggest nuke burst damage even if opponent team has a healer. Improved stam healing means that your healer can heal your stam fast and you can actually use your fire rate stanzas.
In 1v1 PvP rifleman should rule if fight starts at range. Melee can't get close to rifle user as they are both as fast and rifleman can shoot while moving. Nuker spell will be interrupted when rifle user moves out of spell maximum range. New spell absoprtions will allow rifle user to have few mistakes in interrupting incoming spells. Also, note that mage uses his hp to cast bigger nukes and that makes him more vulnerable to rifle (or melee) damage.
In group PvP rifleman can finish off low hp opponents and take off casters. Launchers are not too viable because of mat cots and weight of ammo but reduced healing might allow using launchers as expensive way of winning group battle.
I believe that usability of ranged is finally getting there, close at least.
Fun factor (preparation time, lack of special moves, full bag) and group pve (sustained dps) usability needs improvements.