Lets start with the big one: Base Stats
Sum of Base Stats
- Swordsman: 25
- Wizard: 25
- Archer: 24
- Cleric: 22
Right off the bat, we see that some classes get more base stats than others. Sure, 1-3 stat points aren’t THAT significant, but it shows that there is existing bias towards which classes get to be more “balanced” than others. Now lets take a look at the sum of base stats without their unused stat. Int for Swordsman and Archer, Str for Wizard.
- Swordsman: 23
- Wizard: 22
- Archer: 21
- Str Cleric: 16
- Int Cleric: 15
Now the difference in stats has risen to 8 points. Swordsmen has 50% more stats than an int Cleric. I can’t think of a good reason as to how this could possibly be fair. You could argue that Clerics are supporting so they don’t need as much stats. If so, then why aren’t the offensive classes, Wizard and Archer, as strong as Swordsmen?
From what I’ve seen and played, ToS is a heavy quest roller coaster. Finding someone with the same quest objectives as you is very rare at low levels. Thus you spend your early levels soloing your way up. These early levels are where stat points have the most impact. 20-30 str is a lot more noticeable on low hp mobs as opposed to 200-210 str on high hp mobs. The imbalance in stats may not be significant towards the end, but it doesn’t change the fact that it’s unfair.
Why design around imbalanced stats when it’s so much easier to design around balanced stats?
Max HP/SP
Swordsmen have triple the HP of Wizard and more than double the HP of Clerics for the same stat investment. Swordsmen SP pools are pretty much identical to Wizards, if not better since Swordsmen skills cost 1/3 to 1/2 the amount Wizard’s skill’s cost. Archers’ skills cost less than Wizard’s but more than Swordsmen’s giving them the least effective Max SP to SP cost ratio.
###Class Bonuses
Clerics have:
- Level * 1.675 additional Max SP
- Level * 0.25 additional SP recovery
Due to this, as long as you’re not spamming any no-cd skills, you will never run out of SP except when tackling field bosses or long term grinding. This removes the need for them to get any SPR whatsoever to fight, despite the plethora of skills they have that get bonuses from SPR.
Because of the Max HP modifier and Cleric’s innate SP bonus, Clerics have strictly better Max HP, SP recovery, and Max SP than Wizard for the same point investment, always.
I would argue that this is the most significant class bonus. You could argue that the loss in base stats is to compensate for having the best class bonus, but I see that as a poor argument. I’d much prefer balanced class bonuses and base stats. Apples to apples instead of apples to oranges. It’s more pleasant and easier to compare different colors of pencils than to compare pencils to markers or paint.
Archers have:
- (Level + 4) / 4 additional Accuracy
- Level / 5 additional Critical Rate
- Level / 8 additional Evasion
Basically, Archers effectively have more Dex than other classes. For example, at Lv120, an Archer will have an effective +31 Dex worth of Accuracy, +24 Dex worth of Critical Rate, and +15 Dex worth of Evasion.
Swordsmen have:
Level / 4 additional P.Def. Mostly irrelevant since your defense doesn’t scale off of anything and it will never reduce damage by a noticeable amount proportional to the level of mobs you would normally fight against.
Wizards have:
Level / 4 additional M.Def. It’s largely irrelevant for the same reasons as P.Def. The additional M.Def doesn’t even allow Wizards to take hits better than Swordsmen due to their significantly lower HP pool. It is also worth nothing that a Cleric will always have better M.Def than a Wizard because the M.Def formula uses MaxSP in its calculation. Clerics have Level * 1.675 additional Max SP. A Cleric at Lv1 will have 34 more M.Def than a Wizard from 1-100ish and around 50 more M.Def than a Wizard at around 200ish. In summary, Wizards have a bit more M.Def than Archers and Wizard, but less than Clerics, and are still more likely to die in combat to magic attacks than Swordsmen or Cleric.
M.Def formula: (Level / 2) + (MaxSP / 5) [ + (Level / 4) for Wizards]
Basic Attacks
Without even looking at skills, you can see that the favored classes are Swordsmen and Cleric , while the unfavored classes are Archers and Wizards. Coincidentally, Archers and Wizard have the ability to attack from a distance with their basic attacks at the cost of being unable being to hit multiple targets with their basic attack. In addition, Archers and Wizard attack more slowly than Swordsmen and Clerics since their attack must hit before they can attack again. Due to animation times caused by attacking from a distance, this means they attack slower. You could get closer to get the attack speed back, but then you’ll basically be fighting like a Swordsman or Cleric minus the ability to hit multiple targets. Finally, Archers can’t attack in the air, which effectively gives them the slowest move speed while attacking.
Buff Slots
It’s not just stats either. Swordsmen get 7 buff slots. Everyone else gets 5 for no good reason.
I don’t want this thread to be about anything beyond the base 4 classes. Balancing from the bottom->up is easier than balancing from the top->down. A sturdy base foundation goes a long way.
