The reason Balance does not have a shield is because...
1. Balance does not have a DoT(Damage over Time).
Ice has a DoT Storm has a DoT Death has a DoT Fire has a DoT Myth can destroy all shields at once. Life can heal through damage. DoT's give a school the ability to remove school specific shields and keep them removed for up to three rounds. Balance has nothing like this.
2. All of Balance buffs are generic.
Any damage spell cast from the Balance wizard will activate them. As opposed to the common technique of carrying an off school wand to get through Tower Shields or burn off Weaknesses but leave your school specific buffs in place.
3. Judgment uses ALL of a Balance Wizards pips.
This is actually a HUGE disadvantage in a Duel.
In conclusion, Balance doesn't have any tricks like DoT's, Stuns, Life-Stealing, Absorption, Healing, or even a Decent World effect spell. Balance has one thing. Judgment. A spell that's telegraphed from a mile away, a spell that can be sliced in half with a Tower Shield, a spell that can be quartered with a Weakness, a Spell that can be brunted with a Spirit Armor. There is nothing special about this spell other than it has no Specific Shield to stop it. It doesn't need one. If Judgment is giving you problems in PvP then you....
A. Haven't reached level 50 yet. or B. Can't grasp the concept of PvP in this game.
Please, enough griping about Judgment.
come on enough of the DoT thing just admit who ever made or thought to include balance wizards in this game, they maybe smart (i'm pertaining to the developers and programers) but they made a simple math flaw! all schools has one thing for them to win against balance, and you know what that is? a very genorous amount of LUCK for us to win. So don't tell me how to compute those Dot thingies all i can say is this is unfair
The problem with Judgement is that it's a spell entirely based on luck. If you're losing and have full pips because you're shielding like crazy, all you have to do is pull the arm and wait for your Judgement to roll around. JACKPOT!
I just spent 45 minutes in a PvP hammering a Balance wizard, playing probably the smartest PvP of my life. With no real way to defend against Balance, you can find yourself winning a fight one minute, and dead the very next round.
So the inferior PvP wizard can still pull a hat trick when all odds are against them, and win a fight. I fail to see how I'm supposed to just suck it up and like it when I've invested nearly an hour of my time playing good, clean PvP.
I'm not saying take away Judgement, or even limit it's power. But for the love of Bob, give us a way to defend against it. In warfare, if the enemy designs a bigger, better weapon, we design a bigger, better way to defend against it. Perhaps the game should mimic that.
Hehe Atraweek, well put. I notice a trend in this forum all the balance wizards clinging to the notion that judgement is fine while they continue to dominate the rankings and ignore facts. Go look at the queue for 1v1 matches and count the balance and look for other classes. Proof is in the pudding folks, you can ignore it, but that doesn't change the facts. BALANCE IS OVER POWERED.
Even the content in this thread offering advice on how to defend requires a cookie cutter spec to defend against ONE CLASS in this game. If that isn't proof enough that the game is broken in pvp when you only really worry about one class then I don't know what is.
FACTS:
You need tower shield in pvp.
Balance inherently get's most schools defense equal to tower shield effectiveness for free and even weakness. Most people are shielding anyway as they build pips and that goes along with Balance major strength of shielding also to build for judgement. Balance faces two shields tops (tower and absorb), while all other schools can face MULTIPLE shields that mitigate damage.
Keep burying the head in the sand and cling to broken logic.
Malorn Willowsmith, Balance Wizard, Master of Balance, Level 48, Secondary school: death, Third school:life!
World completed: Wizard City, Krokotopia, Marleybone, Moo Shu currently in Dragonspyre and Grizzleheim.
You guys gotta stop complaining about balance! Balance gives you hex, elemental blade and trap also spiritual blade and trap! And some more balance spells too! Even though balance wins a lot at pvp you guys stll have higher advantages over us!
I was facing a ice girl just level 42 and I am level 49 kept on taking my shields including absorbs and elemental and spiritual shields It was really hard to get past her. And guess what I died I used spectral minion and helpful mander she kept on attacking them and not me ugh! The good news about death though because it is the opposite of life it can go past any life absorb shield and yes it works!
I usually use infection on my opponet up to four times so when they heal and the death barrier if they change it it is good to pack my amulet and do the 60% when using a healing spell which gives you up to 50 when using a pixie!
Fire has Immolate so just once this has happened to me they stole a fire blade out of one of my elemental blades also my balanceblade! Used my feint and hex on theirselves and got rid of the traps I put on them!
When you see other schools besides balance preparing for an attack I normally pack tons of shields to survive like centaur only around 200 damage thank goodness for the sheilds and absorbs! And other schools people use earthwalker on me not much damage! Firezilla etc! it is so amazing to see all these magus wizards having high ranks over grandmasters like us!
Also Iknow when balance does the level forty eigth spell for power nova that solo dungeon etc! But then you get the balance pet hydra there is a pet greater than that called the jade oni pet! It also gives you the spell jade oni so of course I would like that better than hydra! But the question is how many times do I have to fight the jade oni to get it?! I really want it badly so when I get to Level 50 I will have a bigger balance deck besides my dragonfire deck 60 spells and a balance robe from malistare balance boots, hat, and sword of the steward it is a balance sword from plaque master in the Labyrinth but I have not had luck getting it!
Here are the links to secret trainers in the game good luck!
everyone seems to be overkilling the bird here. I will just say this one thing: I have a lvl 30 balance guy. As a balance player my deck revolves around that one card. I have a 50 card deck right now the lotus. To set this up to be effective requires planning in it self. It is not as easy as putting up blade then trap then hit. Brcause the blade and hex can be used for anything they have to be placed near the end. If there is any chess players out there, defend before you attack. I have lost several times do to the card chance. I have lost to thunder big tme for quick hard hits. then having to heal. I have lost to ice multiple times because of tower. and there frostbite attack. I expecially lose to myth as well. mainly because of minataur. Minion does not provide spirit shields. As balance we do hope for the one kill, it doesnt come for me because I dont have feint. As my death charecter for example some were saying math anyways with wrath and all the upgrades I can do 4000-5000 damage, I believe every class has the advantages and disadvatages. The crators did I believe a great job in doing so.
Ok, come on people. I am a Grandmaster Sorcerer who uses Judgement in PVP. Is that the only spell I use during battle? No. Are there ways to defend against it? Yes. You have the tower shield that reduces the hit by 50%, any absord is going to take a little of the edge off when being hit, and any negative blades being put on will reduce the spell. Someone mentioned the stealing charm which would work perfectly in stealing the blades being put on to enhance the spell. Bladestorm and Feint both take one pip to apply which gives you the opportunity to either steal or defend. And when I finally decide to use Judgement, that leaves me with zero pips and a choice to continue boosting for another or heal when you attack. With that being said, what does balance have to defend against other, more powerful, wizards? Ok, we have the elemental shields and the secondary school shields we can apply. If I were to put a Feint on you, that adds another 70% to your spell when you hit me. I can add treasure tower shields to my deck but eventually I am going to get tired of buying them or run out of gold. And any wand spell can remove any of those shields. The point I'm trying to make is stop the whinning about Judgement. Balance wizards have very little power compared to say Storm wizards except when it comes to Judgement. If you use a little strategy, a good duelist could overcome a Balance wizard any day in PVP. Timing, luck and a little brain power is all you need. This is a game and like I've always heard, if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. Either learn how to defend/attack better or stop doing PVP. Simple as that!
Hehe Atraweek, well put. I notice a trend in this forum all the balance wizards clinging to the notion that judgement is fine while they continue to dominate the rankings and ignore facts. Go look at the queue for 1v1 matches and count the balance and look for other classes. Proof is in the pudding folks, you can ignore it, but that doesn't change the facts. BALANCE IS OVER POWERED.
Even the content in this thread offering advice on how to defend requires a cookie cutter spec to defend against ONE CLASS in this game. If that isn't proof enough that the game is broken in pvp when you only really worry about one class then I don't know what is.
FACTS:
You need tower shield in pvp.
Balance inherently get's most schools defense equal to tower shield effectiveness for free and even weakness. Most people are shielding anyway as they build pips and that goes along with Balance major strength of shielding also to build for judgement. Balance faces two shields tops (tower and absorb), while all other schools can face MULTIPLE shields that mitigate damage.
Keep burying the head in the sand and cling to broken logic.
Hiway1999, believe it or not, I have seen Balance warlords under Level 28, when they haven't even learned Judgement yet!
Sorcerers survive because it is a defensive class. It is not "overpowered." If anything, I want my spells to be stronger. That Power Nova lacks power when compared to other school spells gotten at Level 48.
Yes, it does seem like Sorcerers do better in solo PvP. In group, Storm probably does the best.
If you do the math and compare Storm to Balance, there is no way a Judgement at the same number of pips can damage as much as a Storm spell.
And there are plenty of disadvantages to using Judgement - for one, it is telegraphed that you are saving your pips, and while you are saving your pips, you are not attacking other than wand blasts. Then when you use Judgement, you have no more pips and leave yourself open to attacks.
Ugh, you dont even know how annoying it is for people to ALWAYS be complaining about judgement. You know what is even more powerful than a balance student by him(her)self? A balance student and a fire,ice, or storm student. Me and my grandmaster friend keelan dawntamer are UNSTOPPABLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
People should stop whining about judgment. I mean come on, it's the only thing that keeps balance competitive. If someone can make top 100 using spectral blast and hydra, then by golly they are the greatest duelists of all time!!!!
Valkoor Crow Grandmaster Necromancer
Thank you! For giving me a great idea. i a balance wizard and really having difficulty on tower shield. throw me off every time if you ask me i dont have feint and people rank captain and up has more resistance.
All that math really doesn't address that balance faces very little in terms of defense shields. I think that is the main point. A tower shield combines with the other shields if present.
Little thought is required as to what type of wand to carry as a balance person. You just have to break tower shields which only block half the damage compared to the other shields which are easier to obtain and block for much more. Unless you are ice then investing the training points into ice as a secondary to get that one shield to half the damage vs. balance is a substantial investment.
Explain to me exactly why should ONE SCHOOL require such planning to have a remote chance of surviving? Why is balance that important to require that much invested to defend against them?
All schools have advantages and disadvantages. This is Balance's one advantage that there's one shield to guard against it. And Balance only gets 50% shielding from other schools, just like a tower shield.
However, balance is not as hard-hitting as other schools and does not have all the buffs and traps that other schools can use. Most balance spells, including Judgment, are weaker than other schools. (Truthfully, Storm Lord can pack more damage in quicker time AND it stuns AND it's against all enemies.) Plus, there isn't a wide range of effective attack spells for Sorcerers. Balance is also hampered by randomness. We can't control what we're casting: Could be a high-damage wild bolt-like storm blast or a lesser-damage ice blast. I can't tell you how many times I've called up a useless fire minion to fight against a fire enemy.
And, I have to invest in tower shields too. Just like you.
Cassandra StorySmith Grandmaster Sorcerer
yea you are right about the advantages and disadvantages but you are wrong about balance having weak spells i stacked up all rank six and rank seven spells and here in the list:
storm:triton 875 at max for and stormlord 690 to all and stun
ice:colssus 680 at max and frost giant 475 to all and stun
fire:helephant 705 at max and fire dragon 440 + 365 over 3 rounds that equals over 70 for fire dragon
myth:earthquake 310 to all and you know the rest and orthrus 50 and 650
life:centaur 650 at max and rebirth dont count
death:wraith 500 coverts half to life and scarecrow 400 to all swaps half to life
balance:hydra 570 and power nova 470 to all and puts weakness on enemy
in pvp my balance wiz is a war lord ranking 903 and he is a magus and i happen to win with judgement because there is a strategy. the way i do it is put feint and then balance blade with elemental traps and blades( Yes i know it waste one pips but it helps) then they think you are going to do an elemental attack. But they might put absorb or tower shield thats bad thing. IF they dont just judge them and there you go you win :D
The way it goes is your balance or you lose and it isnt fair i dont care about no tower shield or strategy i was hit bye a 4800 judgement one day and i only have 2025 health even with woer shield (50%) i would had died its pointless give us a balance shield or take away their shield.
Malorn Willowsmith, Balance Wizard, Master of Balance, Level 48, Secondary school: death, Third school:life!
World completed: Wizard City, Krokotopia, Marleybone, Moo Shu currently in Dragonspyre and Grizzleheim.
I have the same secondary and third school :-o
OK back to business judgement isn't over powered because one we dont have a single stun, 2 we cant use half of the blades and traps we useless unless you either 1: have a spirit or elemental school or 2: you only play 2v2 3v3 and 4v4 and boost your partner(s). 3 have you seen our attacks we can just barely keep up with fire.
I'm balance and since I'm a what i call "honest player" i dont even use treasure cards besides tough and that only when I'm about to lose and can boost an attack just enough to win it.( And i mean seriously what sorcerer in the right mind would waste a whole dang sideboard to block storm when we have some shields already
ALL schools have weaknesses and strenghths heres a list:
Storm: WEaknesses, low health, low accuracy, almost no defense. Strenghths, Highest attack power. Fire: Weaknesses, Medium accuracy, low defense better then storm. Strenghths, DOT attacks, has the only sacrificial attack(emolation), can steal blades. Ice: Weaknesses, weak attack power. Strenghths, Highest defense, Highest Health. Life: Weaknesses, not many attacks, weak attacks Strenghths, Heals, spirit armor, Highest accuracy. Myth: Weaknesses, Low attack, medium accuracy, bad defense. Strenghths, only school with attacks that strike tiwce allowing a defense break attack on the right scenario, Can take off shields and blades. Death: Weaknesses, low attack, only one defensive spell, Strenghths, Has steals, has the strongest trap, has an effect all version of weakness, has only sacrficial heal.
NOTE: these are pvp advantages. Wolf Shadow Breaker: lvl 48 sorcerer
The reason Balance does not have a shield is because...
1. Balance does not have a DoT(Damage over Time).
Ice has a DoT Storm has a DoT Death has a DoT Fire has a DoT Myth can destroy all shields at once. Life can heal through damage. DoT's give a school the ability to remove school specific shields and keep them removed for up to three rounds. Balance has nothing like this.
2. All of Balance buffs are generic.
Any damage spell cast from the Balance wizard will activate them. As opposed to the common technique of carrying an off school wand to get through Tower Shields or burn off Weaknesses but leave your school specific buffs in place.
3. Judgment uses ALL of a Balance Wizards pips.
This is actually a HUGE disadvantage in a Duel.
In conclusion, Balance doesn't have any tricks like DoT's, Stuns, Life-Stealing, Absorption, Healing, or even a Decent World effect spell. Balance has one thing. Judgment. A spell that's telegraphed from a mile away, a spell that can be sliced in half with a Tower Shield, a spell that can be quartered with a Weakness, a Spell that can be brunted with a Spirit Armor. There is nothing special about this spell other than it has no Specific Shield to stop it. It doesn't need one. If Judgment is giving you problems in PvP then you....
A. Haven't reached level 50 yet. or B. Can't grasp the concept of PvP in this game.
Please, enough griping about Judgment.
LOL! I have a balance wiz lvl 50 with both my blades and a feint and hex i can hit near 7,000 so um go ahead throw your tower and an absorb i dare ya.
I am a level 39 magus balance wizard with life as secondary and storm as third school. I am a team player which is why I chose these schools. Life allows me to help heal my teammates and storm gives me higher attacks.
Saying the Balance wizard is the most unfair is getting old. I have two accounts and a different wizard on each. I have played all seven schools and can quote unfairness for each of them.
It is not what school you are in but what you choose as a secondary/third school, how you set up your deck, how you use your pips, and how you defend yourself that determines how well you will play either in the game or pvp.
I don't use treasure cards for any battle (quests or pvp). When fighting enemies, I notice what class they are in and adjust my spell deck, wand, and amulet.
The only defensive shields I have are my spirit and elemental shields from balance and absorb shield from life. I have blades and traps for elemental and spirit schools but they cost me a pip to use. Using bladestorm so my teammates can have blades costs me a pip. I have powerplay that costs four pips but I don't use since it allows my enemies to gain power pips as well. I have no defenses against another balance wizard just like any other school may not.
The only multi hit spell that I have is sandstorm which only does 255-295 damage to all enemies. That can be increased with my hex spell and balance blade but not much.
If you figure that a fire wizard can use phoenix which does 515-595 by itself, not counting adding the fire blade and trap plus whatever else they may have from their secondary school, they can do almost 2000 in damage just using two power pips and a regular pip. (estimated three turns).
The only thing I can suggest to you that want to whine and gripe about one spell, create a balance character and see how many turns it takes for you to defeat multitudes of monsters versus the other schools you have played with.
All schools have advantages and disadvantages. This is Balance's one advantage that there's one shield to guard against it. And Balance only gets 50% shielding from other schools, just like a tower shield.
However, balance is not as hard-hitting as other schools and does not have all the buffs and traps that other schools can use. Most balance spells, including Judgment, are weaker than other schools. (Truthfully, Storm Lord can pack more damage in quicker time AND it stuns AND it's against all enemies.) Plus, there isn't a wide range of effective attack spells for Sorcerers. Balance is also hampered by randomness. We can't control what we're casting: Could be a high-damage wild bolt-like storm blast or a lesser-damage ice blast. I can't tell you how many times I've called up a useless fire minion to fight against a fire enemy.
yea you are right about the advantages and disadvantages but you are wrong about balance having weak spells i stacked up all rank six and rank seven spells and here in the list:
storm:triton 875 at max for and stormlord 690 to all and stun
ice:colssus 680 at max and frost giant 475 to all and stun
fire:helephant 705 at max and fire dragon 440 + 365 over 3 rounds that equals over 70 for fire dragon
myth:earthquake 310 to all and you know the rest and orthrus 50 and 650
life:centaur 650 at max and rebirth dont count
death:wraith 500 coverts half to life and scarecrow 400 to all swaps half to life
balance:hydra 570 and power nova 470 to all and puts weakness on enemy
now can anyone tell me what school is weak now?
You are missing the fact that balance has few buffs and traps available compared to other schools. And the buffs and traps we get are of less percentage.
You are right about balance being in the middle range. The spells are usually less than the elemental schools, but higher than the spirit schools. But combined with all traps and blades available to the death school, a grandmaster necromancer can hit harder than balance
I'm not sure why Storm gets so many buffs and traps, though.
Those wand attacks, they're just so overpowered, they need to be nerfed! Sheesh people, I think that's just about the ONLY thing that isn't griped about on these message boards. I have to admit that I really don't like Wild Bolt, but that's for a different topic. :-)
Defeating a Balance wizard isn't hard at all when you know how to do it. My GM Sorcerer NEVER loses to other Balance wizards, mostly because all they do is buff/Judgment. There's more to the Balance school than just 4 spells (Balance Blade/Storm, Hex, Judgment). Balance gets a very nice minion and Hydra is useful for breaking shields. Sure Judgment is powerful, but please stop complaining about it. If you don't have the Tower Shield, then respec and learn it.
Thank you! For giving me a great idea. i a balance wizard and really having difficulty on tower shield. throw me off every time if you ask me i dont have feint and people rank captain and up has more resistance.
I have not read every post in this thread. With that said, I apologize if I repeat things already said....
Yes Tower Shield is wonderful. However it is not needed to fight anyone, EXCEPT Balance wizards. All other shields can be had without going out of your way to get. My fire wizard has a secondary of life. With just two schools, I have shields against everything except life and balance. If I want a life shield, it will cost me 1 pt to obtain. It would require 5 for tower shield.
Early in the thread people were mentioning making feint death only. Personally I think that would be too nice of an advantage to death characters. Once feint is up, you are crippled in a sense that you can only cast a big hitting spell to not waste the feint. You can't even wand to pop a tower shield without wasting the feint. I wish feint was death only when I play my death character.
Someone mentioned a Phoenix can do nearly 2000 dmg in just 3 rounds. That is entirely wrong. With feint, fire blade, and fire trap it would hit for about 1200 maybe up to 1400. In 3 rounds thats the best buffs you could get up. That is +130% increase.
Lastly, how many of the top ranked pvpers are balance compared to other schools? I'd say 70% balance, 30% all other schools combined. There's a reason for that. It's overpowered and everyone knows it.
I understand not all templates will work for pvp and that some are better than others. However, if a spell is REQUIRED to pvp, then that needs looked into. At this point TOWER SHIELD is required to defend against balance. JUDGEMENT is required if you are balance character. FEINT is *almost* a requirement for all schools.
My solution to fix the problem, put a cap on Judgement which would have to be pretty low like 8 pips max since there is no shield for it that is readily available like against all other schools. Or have it tapered, such as 100 dmg/pip up to 6 pips. All pips thereafter add less and less damage.
The reason Balance does not have a shield is because...
1. Balance does not have a DoT(Damage over Time).
Ice has a DoT Storm has a DoT Death has a DoT Fire has a DoT Myth can destroy all shields at once. Life can heal through damage. DoT's give a school the ability to remove school specific shields and keep them removed for up to three rounds. Balance has nothing like this.
2. All of Balance buffs are generic.
Any damage spell cast from the Balance wizard will activate them. As opposed to the common technique of carrying an off school wand to get through Tower Shields or burn off Weaknesses but leave your school specific buffs in place.
3. Judgment uses ALL of a Balance Wizards pips.
This is actually a HUGE disadvantage in a Duel.
In conclusion, Balance doesn't have any tricks like DoT's, Stuns, Life-Stealing, Absorption, Healing, or even a Decent World effect spell. Balance has one thing. Judgment. A spell that's telegraphed from a mile away, a spell that can be sliced in half with a Tower Shield, a spell that can be quartered with a Weakness, a Spell that can be brunted with a Spirit Armor. There is nothing special about this spell other than it has no Specific Shield to stop it. It doesn't need one. If Judgment is giving you problems in PvP then you....
A. Haven't reached level 50 yet. or B. Can't grasp the concept of PvP in this game.
Please, enough griping about Judgment.
LOL! I have a balance wiz lvl 50 with both my blades and a feint and hex i can hit near 7,000 so um go ahead throw your tower and an absorb i dare ya.
How about -30% weakness, tower shield, and a treasure tower shield?
That takes your 7000 damage down to 1102. And now you have no pips, and oh look those three defenses cost 0 pips so now your opponent will have full pips to hit you back, and they have more time to blade and trap you.
One hit judgement is not a really a good strategy. Try to figure out the rest of the balance school.
My solution to fix the problem, put a cap on Judgement which would have to be pretty low like 8 pips max since there is no shield for it that is readily available like against all other schools. Or have it tapered, such as 100 dmg/pip up to 6 pips. All pips thereafter add less and less damage.
8 pip cap? That's ridiculous. 8 pip Judgement = 800 damage. That's slightly less damage than 6 pip Triton, and only a little more than 6 pip Helephant. You can purchase Tower Shield treasure cards at the library, which are about as close to readily available as you can get. If you nerf Judgement, Balance is left with nothing, and that goes for PvE, too. :?
My solution to fix the problem, put a cap on Judgement which would have to be pretty low like 8 pips max since there is no shield for it that is readily available like against all other schools. Or have it tapered, such as 100 dmg/pip up to 6 pips. All pips thereafter add less and less damage.
There is a shield against Judgement. It's called the Tower Shield. Sure, I would love for it to be readily available. Not sure why it isn't available for free to Balance.
I'm not sure why people complain about the X pip thing so much, when there is Tempest and Heckhound and Dryad and so forth. Storm Hound actually does more damage per pip.
As for the percentage of top ranked players that are Balance, you'd have to point to some lists and separate out by 1v1, 2v2, 3v3, and 4v4. I doubt there are teams of 4 Sorcerers in 4v4, which would be probable if Balance was so overpowered. Instead, you see teams of 4 Diviners. And if Balance was so overpowered, then all you'd see are Sorcerers walking around Wizard City and the other worlds.
Also, some Sorcerers in the arena are not using Judgement because they are not at that level yet. They are using Locust Storm, which is weak when you look at the other school spells at that level. For a long time, my survival strategy was dependent on a minion or secondary school spells.
It's a long time to wait for a Sorcerer to become powerful. It took me until DS. But that's because I didn't know how to play as a Sorcerer. It's a hard school to master but those that do, those are the people you see in the arena. As for elsewhere, I find that there are not a lot of Sorcerers in general. I have met players who have never had a Sorcerer in their adventuring party. People are constantly asking me about my Hydra and how to get one.
Considering how much of a support class Balance is (like Life), and how weak some of our other spells are, and the total randomness of them, Judgement is the spell that allows Sorcerers to survive in PvE. Nerfing Judgement would destroy the Balance school.
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if you ask me i dont have feint and people rank captain and up has more resistance.