What I like to call, “Retarded”

That would be the notes on the test server for Shadow Warriors with 1.3b. They are as follows:

Shadow Warrior
* The following abilities have had their radius reduced: Distracting Rebounds, Hunter’s Fervor, Instill fear, Outrider Patrol, Penetrating Arrow, Rain of Steel, Whirling Pin, and Whirling Rage.
* Barrage: This ability’s cost and damage have been reduced, and its build time removed. The ability will now hit all players in a line in front of the player.
* Flame Arrow: This ability’s cost and damage have been reduced, and its build time removed.
* Glass Arrow: This ability’s cooldown has been reduced, and its damage-over-time component removed. This ability is now a target-area-of-effect direct damage.
* Lileath’s Arrow: This ability’s radius, width, and damage have been reduced.
* Smoldering Arrows: This ability’s bonus damage to Flame Arrow has been reduced.
* Split Arrows: This ability’s radius has been reduced. Spiral Fletched Arrows will now do 30% less damage when this Tactic is slotted.
* Sweeping Slash: Reduced the ability’s radius and damage, and increased the cost.

Shadow Warrior
* Bullseye: This Tactic will now correctly proc.
* Keen Arrowheads: The duration of the snare on the ability “Takedown” will now upgrade properly with this Tactic slotted.

Oh yes. That’s the gem that Mythic has gone with. I understand that all AoE damage is being reduced, and I’m okay with that. However, the short-sighted dumb-asses who looked at the Shadow Warriors either have giant melon-heads or hate the class.

Barrage is basically LA 2.0. There was very little to distinguish between the two before that I never even bothered to spec for it. Now, what’s it do? Less damage, and it functions the same way as LA! Oh, but it’s insta-cast (with a 10s cooldown). Way to fucking go. Lileaths now had it’s area reduced AND it’s damage reduced. Like I said in a previous post, what the fuck happened to incremental changes? If you want to reduce AoE, you do one of two things, reduce the area, or reduce the damage. You DON’Tdo both you fucking morons. The bonus here? Line spells don’t trigger procs. So have no fear, Centuries of Training, Replenishing Strikes, Bullseye, Leading Shots, and all the other wonderful procs that Shadow Warriors have will continue to be useless with these two skills.

The creme de la creme of this whole thing (even though it affects me not at all) is the Split Arrow Tactic. Yes, -30% damage to Spiral Fletched Arrow when equipped. Because we all know that was a devastating ability.  It wasn’t a tactic that just let Shadow Warriors be almost competitive in the AoE world, no, it was way to fucking over powered to let exist in it’s current state. Should it be reduced? Probably, having the ability to make a single target attack do AoE damage is very powerful.But by 30%? No fucking way. Try 10%, 15% on the outside.

Skirmish as a whole is getting bent over and fucked up the ass. As someone commented to me, double rubber, no lube. This after the giant fuck-up of 1.3 that already has the entire community’s backs up, is not the time to be bringing painful, debilitating nerfs to the class. You lost or angered a whole lot of players with it. Have you looked at the posters on the forums of people who have Shadow Warriors as their mains? Have you noticed a running trend with their signatures? I sure as shit have. People are STILL angry about what Adam said to us, and the bold faced lie it turned out to be.

Jesus Christ, I can’t believe I have to continuously get angry about this shit. I’m having a damn blast in the game right now thanks to the mergers, but I’m about to have the already gimped class I play pounded further into the ground because some short-sighted nit-wit can’t realize the impact these changes are going to have?

The only way to make this right, is to give Skirmish, and the Shadow Warrior in general, a comparable, and significant bonus to single target damage. I’ve gone without split arrows for a long time, and while I have enjoyed the extra potency I have received from focusing on one target at a time, and being able to point to a healer (who doesn’t have another healing them) and say, “They’re going to die.”, I have noticed an impacting decrease in my 0verall AoE DPS, and thus killing blows in scenarios.

Oh, and scout. That seems to be a bit of a wash. Their AoE damage was definitely reduced, but their build times for Flame and Glass were removed. That’s a big boon for their burst damage. It looks like I may just have to go scout and play it seriously for the first time.

I honestly don’t see the reasoning behind all this on Mythic’s part. I pray to God that I’m getting worked up for nothing, that this is just part one of the 1.3b changes, and that part two is going to bring in the compensation for the power reduction we’re having to eat. I hope, but I don’t expect, not anymore.