Worse than average: My concerns are balance related. There are bugs, too, and discrepancies with the "mirrored" classes comparative effectiveness due to bad coding/bugs/animations but I'm not including those issues in my judgement since I will assume they are accidents and not intended by the designers.
Some classes are almost a copy/paste from Wow (like Guardian/Juggernauts). They captured the heart of that class, including its restrictions and then they added more restrictions which is fine. Sentinels are basically Wow rogues with better armor, no CC and no (lasting) stealth.
Other classes are a mix of the best features imaginable. JC Shadow - a tank that can stealth, stun/sap and burst with unparalled mobility; a griefer's dream class. JC Sage/Sorc - utility/mobility/bubbles, high damage potential, cc, high heals potential - all in one package. MMORPG 101 students would have gotten an F with those two.
Amongst the classes I haven't mentioned there are some with "I win" hide/stun/ambush/dead combinations (that were supposedly nerfed but the nerf backfired and made them harder to counter) and two with a no-combo, just get in position and push the same button over and over until everything's dead. Again, F.
If these classes were designed for a single player game... maybe. But they aren't. These classes interact, cohabit, cooperate with and fight each other. There are glaring imbalances that will require hard nerfs to fix and those nerfs will cost BW subscribers. Even if they go the route of buffing the weaker classes, many from the non-buffed classes will become upset, cry "nerfed indirectly" and leave. And if they don't change anything, more and more people that aren't in the good/"developed" classes will either switch (in which case groups become homogenous and boring) or move on (in which case grouping becomes harder and the game loses its fun factor).
The class design could be more lopsided/worse than it is but I can't think of an example off-hand from a recent game I have played. This balance decisions made here are worse than those made in the initial AoC, Rift, DCU, Champions or WAR MMOs as far as I'm concerned.
Comments
Worse than average: My concerns are balance related. There are bugs, too, and discrepancies with the "mirrored" classes comparative effectiveness due to bad coding/bugs/animations but I'm not including those issues in my judgement since I will assume they are accidents and not intended by the designers.
Some classes are almost a copy/paste from Wow (like Guardian/Juggernauts). They captured the heart of that class, including its restrictions and then they added more restrictions which is fine. Sentinels are basically Wow rogues with better armor, no CC and no (lasting) stealth.
Other classes are a mix of the best features imaginable. JC Shadow - a tank that can stealth, stun/sap and burst with unparalled mobility; a griefer's dream class. JC Sage/Sorc - utility/mobility/bubbles, high damage potential, cc, high heals potential - all in one package. MMORPG 101 students would have gotten an F with those two.
Amongst the classes I haven't mentioned there are some with "I win" hide/stun/ambush/dead combinations (that were supposedly nerfed but the nerf backfired and made them harder to counter) and two with a no-combo, just get in position and push the same button over and over until everything's dead. Again, F.
If these classes were designed for a single player game... maybe. But they aren't. These classes interact, cohabit, cooperate with and fight each other. There are glaring imbalances that will require hard nerfs to fix and those nerfs will cost BW subscribers. Even if they go the route of buffing the weaker classes, many from the non-buffed classes will become upset, cry "nerfed indirectly" and leave. And if they don't change anything, more and more people that aren't in the good/"developed" classes will either switch (in which case groups become homogenous and boring) or move on (in which case grouping becomes harder and the game loses its fun factor).
The class design could be more lopsided/worse than it is but I can't think of an example off-hand from a recent game I have played. This balance decisions made here are worse than those made in the initial AoC, Rift, DCU, Champions or WAR MMOs as far as I'm concerned.