Trion is nerfing the calling. And I know they're not done. There will likely be more nerfs to the mage calling introduced via hotfixes. But...
I think they're trying to bring the calling to a baseline spec before they apply any general solutions. By applying small (to them) tweaks (major nerfs to us) here and there via hotfixes, they get a chance to collect and evaluate how those changes affect the overall performance.
I'm no Trion fanboy / apologist / whatever. I bought Rift on a whim while passing a Gamestop. I don't see them having a burning hatred for all things Mage, which some of y'all would swear they have. It makes absolutely no sense seeing how the Mage calling could potentially make up 1/4th or more of their playerbase (1 out of 4 callings).
It makes sense if they're looking at the macro view of playerbase performance. They're looking at the raw data generated by far more accurate parses of server logs. They do not see how difficult it may be for some people to play a mage. They don't have to experiment with souls and rotations to find optimal dps. If a guy at Trion wants to know how to max his dps, he walks down a few cubicles and asks the devs. We, however, have to pour game hours and levels into experimenting with skill allocations and spell rotations to figure out this stuff. And every minor change can invalidate all that time we invested. So we feel it in a very personal way.
Why I say we need to back off for a bit is because it's obvious they're working towards something. Till they get there, they're likely to ignore all the cries from this forum. And quite honestly, the way some of y'all are acting is more embarrassing than having to wear a dress to every battle. If they're trying to establish a baseline performance according to their specs for the calling, they're going to do that by any means necessary, even if it does render us even more underpowered temporarily.
What I'm doing is waiting for the first major patch, ignoring or adapting to the changes made during the hotfixes. If their current data says Radiant Spores, for example, will be sufficient at 16% proc chance and I l2p with it at that right now, + what they have planned will give me an advantage over anyone that ditches the calling (or the game and returns later). If I'm not satisfied after they've applied a general change to the calling, I'll make my decision then. I'm only locked into 1 month at a time after all.
My .02 cents.
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