Some people believe that Balance is too strong. Other people believe that it is just fine. I'd like to discuss that here.
Let's begin with some possible weak points of Balance. * Lack of Balance specific shield/blade. * Low damage output.
These are the two most common complaints. I don't believe that a shield or blade is needed. We get Balanceblade which gives us +25% damage. It's not much when compared to other schools but I'd say that it gets the job done. In addition, we get Elemental and Spirt blades. As far as shields go, we get Elemental and Spirit shields which protect us from other school spells. If you want to protect against Balance itself, you can get a tower shield from Ice. Lastly, the low damage output. This one is slightly more complicated. I can agree that some spells are weak or cost too many pips. An example would be Power Nova. It could be lowered to 6 pips instead of 7 but I suppose that it isn't too bad.
Now we have Balance's strengths. Many people would use this one word to describe it... * Judgement.
Many would argue that 100 damage per pip is too much for this school. I beg to differ. Considering that our other attacks aren't super strong, I believe that this is fair. It takes several turns to get the pips you need and to set up traps, blades, etc. so your opponent should have time to put up a tower shield, (assuming they have one).
Overall, I'd say that Balance is well... Balanced ! It has elements from other schools without turning it into a overpowered school. It has shields, support spells, healing, and attacks. Being a Balance wizard myself, I'm okay with just being average. I don't need an 'outstanding' talent to make me strong.
Obviously, this is MY opinion. The community may disagree. I may have not mentioned an important aspect that should be mentioned. Considering that I'm only level 67, I still have much to learn. Voice your opinion !
Lack of a shield is a strength, not a weakness. Balance is right where it should be on damage, smack dab in the middle. It's per pip average damage is below but above. The lack of a school shield, blade and prism are all part of Balance school's main strength and uniqueness. Having a school blade would make Balance extremely overpowered because there is no shield. Every other school has 80-90% shields to deal with, Balance has to deal with 50% Towers that can be removed with any wand or spell.
Some people believe that Balance is too strong. Other people believe that it is just fine. I'd like to discuss that here.
Let's begin with some possible weak points of Balance. * Lack of Balance specific shield/blade. * Low damage output.
These are the two most common complaints. I don't believe that a shield or blade is needed. We get Balanceblade which gives us +25% damage. It's not much when compared to other schools but I'd say that it gets the job done. In addition, we get Elemental and Spirt blades. As far as shields go, we get Elemental and Spirit shields which protect us from other school spells. If you want to protect against Balance itself, you can get a tower shield from Ice. Lastly, the low damage output. This one is slightly more complicated. I can agree that some spells are weak or cost too many pips. An example would be Power Nova. It could be lowered to 6 pips instead of 7 but I suppose that it isn't too bad.
Now we have Balance's strengths. Many people would use this one word to describe it... * Judgement.
Many would argue that 100 damage per pip is too much for this school. I beg to differ. Considering that our other attacks aren't super strong, I believe that this is fair. It takes several turns to get the pips you need and to set up traps, blades, etc. so your opponent should have time to put up a tower shield, (assuming they have one).
Overall, I'd say that Balance is well... Balanced ! It has elements from other schools without turning it into a overpowered school. It has shields, support spells, healing, and attacks. Being a Balance wizard myself, I'm okay with just being average. I don't need an 'outstanding' talent to make me strong.
Obviously, this is MY opinion. The community may disagree. I may have not mentioned an important aspect that should be mentioned. Considering that I'm only level 67, I still have much to learn. Voice your opinion !
Loremaster is effective enough that PvP strategy often involves spamming opponents with that spell.
Balanceblade and Bladestorm are considerably weaker than school-specific blades, but stack with those. Hex is a decent enough universal trap. Balance is a great (arguably the best) support school.
The only issue I have with Balance is largely fixed by Shrike. Bosses with Balance Resist are especially painful to deal with compared to other schools due to lack of prisms. This is mitigated by spells such as Spectral Blast, Hydra, and Chimera. These spells all have relatively low damage per pip, even by Balance standards.
Until Gaze of Fate (nearly max level), Balance does not have a decent global damage booster. Even at that point, the spells listed before seem to not be boosted by Gaze, or by the Azteca auras (Punishment and Chastisement).
Due to universal traps and blades, Balance dips very well into other schools in the early game, especially Death, which grants Feint. Spirit Blade, Balance Blade, Bladestorm, Spirit Trap, Hex, and Feint all add up to a nice Vampire hit in the low end game. Later on, lack of critical and damage bonus from gear erodes this tactic.
It has elements from other schools without turning it into a overpowered school. It has shields, support spells, healing, and attacks. Being a Balance wizard myself, I'm okay with just being average. I don't need an 'outstanding' talent to make me strong. 
but above
. The lack of a school shield, blade and prism are all part of Balance school's main strength and uniqueness. Having a school blade would make Balance extremely overpowered because there is no shield. Every other school has 80-90% shields to deal with, Balance has to deal with 50% Towers that can be removed with any wand or spell.
