ITT a lot of people playing the game on normal, believing that because their melee can succeed with heavy mage support that melee itself isn't broken.
Melee isn't broken. /sigh
Melee classes may not be broken in the sense that one can't complete the game with one or more in the party. The point is relative to spellcasters they bring little (if not nothing) unique or "must have" to the party that the spellcaster doesn't plus more.
This really reminds me of the class tiers in D&D. T1 are pure spellcasters like Wizard/Druid/Cleric that completely and utterly outshine all other classes. T3/T4 classes like Bard/Barbarian/Rogue can still "do stuff," but when compared to T1/T2 they are pointless to choose unless the upper tiers are restricted by the DM.
Higher single target damage. Higher mobility. Higher mitigation. More hit points. Unique Buff. Unique CC (Fear). Can critically strike on normal attacks.
Just to name a few.
But yeah, warrior offer "nothing wortwhile".
Originally Posted by Omniknight
I agree with the OP. The fact of the matter is STR-based characters get one line (Man-at-Arms) of 16 different active skills. INT-based characters get five spellcasting skill lines for a total of 50+ active skills. That right there tells you spellcasters got much more TLC than melee classes.
MoA skills mostly revolve around dealing direct physical damage, with a bit of status effects, buffs and debuffs thrown in. However all are on long CDs, so most turns are spent whacking a single target. Spellcaster skills run the gambit with multiple forms of direct damage, AOE damage, debuffs, buffs, shields, healing, summons, etc. Not only do they always have various strong CD spells at the ready, they have many good spells on 1-turn CD.
You can argue on the fringes that melee classes with the right build can do a bit more direct damage than spellcasters. But ultimately that is besides the point. What really matters is the variety and depth of options in combat which spellcasters have in spades and melees have comparatively little.
Pretty meaningless argument considering that you only get 49 skill points but have to pay 15 points to max one skill so at most you can have 3 skills at level 5 and got only 4 points.
With a little investment into Dex you can easily get some abilities from Scoundrel or Expert Marksman like Fast Track or Tactical retreat for even more mobility for example so it is not like there are no options. Melee/magic hybrids like the premade Nightblade are also viable.
