Class Balancing, current ranger meta is painful

[OceanviewArcade]

When will a balance patch for this game going to be put out?

Currently we are in the ranger META and it feels really bad. Moba's should work with late game heroes being weak and vulnerable in the early game with early game heroes having strong abilities that taper off as the game goes on. But in the current META Rangers can beat most other classes 1v1 at level 1. This only gets worse as the game goes on and rangers get itemised. Being a tank and getting tank items feels insignificant. Casters are in a decent place but it is very noticeable how their right clicks fall off as the items for magic damage do not change their basic attack damage. This I can understand as Casters should not be as strong late game as they are early to mid game but it can be hard to deal with when a ranger 3 shots you and your skills can no longer burst rangers. Also having your skill go on cool down by stuns and holds feels bad. In some cases it works (Gideon especially) but in others it just doesn't (Aurora, Steal, Sev, Howy, etc). A lot of these ultimates have long cool downs and relatively short casting times, but if hit with a stun/hold you lose the skill. One of the most noticeable is Narbash. Can be very hard to get his entire ultimate off. Now I can understand that this a nuance of the game and timing both the stun and or the ultimate is what makes the skill gap possible BUT it only makes rangers even stronger. Now most line ups do not even bother with a true support because late game the stun has little effect to rangers as most do not have important skills that need to be cancelled.

Currently a line up with Twin blast mid, Murdock offlane, Sparrow in the duel lane with a Gadget as support and Revenant in the jungle is going to smash most other line ups. I would say that the number of rangers on a team is the largest factor to what team wins.

A nerf to rangers is needed. I think that the warrior class is in the worst spot and needs a buff. Tanks out pace warriors but under perform towards rangers so they may need a slight buff depending on how strong the nerf to rangers is. Assassins are Meh. In the right hands they can be good but in most cases they under perform. I think the adjustments to other classes would bring them into a better place. Lastly the supports are Meh. I love both Decker and Narbash and find that they are good in the lane phase but as the game opens up they become too weak. Most high skilled teams are not even running a support but instead go with a caster in the support role to offer more damage. I think that support items should be buffed to help keep support heroes more effective in the late game. For example the item which when activated gives shields to all teammates is a great item but really only protects anyone from 1 shot from a high level fully itemised hero. Additionally the Critter item should slow the enemy hero. Things like this would buff supports into a better spot. It would also force Rangers to get anti-disable items and have to use them properly. Again reducing rangers late game damage.

I am finding this game to be hard to enjoy with how imbalanced the current rangers are. An offlane Murdoc should be vulnerable but in most cases is not. With how strong his shotgun blast is at creating space along with a blink it means that most mele heroes will lose to him 1v1. This whole situation should not happen. Murdoc should be doing damage like a wet noodle at level 1 because by the end of the game he does 500+ damage an attack. Where a warrior should be stronger at level 1 as they usually cap out at about 350 damage an attack. (My above numbers are an estimate and give a rough range. They are there to bring light to the difference between top damage of rangers versus warriors. Please do not post about how you get your warrior to 500+ damage as well and everything I have said is wrong. It is an example of the damage difference that most warriors will face when compared to most rangers)

[guuh]

bro i ain't reading all that

[atomaweapon]

no one is reading all that. Rangers are fine, maybe dial back their kiting abilitiy

[Anri]

Developers suggested they were going to help fix the overbearing of rangers by giving them a slower movement speed while firing. But never implemented it.

What makes it odd, is there is an item made specifically to negate said slow down, but its kind of pointless when there is no slowdown.

[Schmiddl]

Rangers are strong yeah but not unbeatable. the suffer hard from cc and if your team is lacking said cc you messed up during pick phase. steel is melting ranger with his knock up stun and if you play coordinately you can win those tf easily. because not a single ranger has a hard cc or a dodge with murdock being the only exception because of his knock back.

[Coffeecool]

Originally posted by Schmiddl:

Rangers are strong yeah but not unbeatable. the suffer hard from cc and if your team is lacking said cc you messed up during pick phase. steel is melting ranger with his knock up stun and if you play coordinately you can win those tf easily. because not a single ranger has a hard cc or a dodge with murdock being the only exception because of his knock back.

Maybe that works for 1 carry, but what if they play 3? then your steel melts before he even hits the ground.
Carryies in this game is W left mouseclick and everything in front of you dies.

[Anri]

Yeah, depending on if the player is aware of the abilities behind the character they chose, you really do not know the outcome of the game until about 10 minutes.

I like to play Shinbi, and when fighting against wraith's and rampages it all varies a lot due to the player skill level.

[HyperPT]

What Anri said, a good Off-tank will just tower hug for some farm and will engage at lvl 5 due to skill stacking advantage ( feng mao for instance has a higher AD skill ratio than any ranger). Jump, skill + Fang equip, back. hence and repeat.
But wil alll depend on both player's skills.

[Pants McBulge]

Maybe on to something. I been building Gideon as physical ranger.