Hey! I’ve done my first S/B tests after the recent “BALANCE” changes.
I was already expecting this combination to receive a nerf, and I do agree that some adjustment was justified. However, the scale of the change feels far too harsh.
At the moment, even with very high-end gear, the new jewelry, level 3/4 artifact runes, and 25% artifact enhancements, S/B performs only around an average level compared to players with significantly weaker equipment.
That is quite disappointing, because it feels like another leather combination has been pushed into a state where only a handful of players with extremely strong gear will still be able to make it perform reasonably well. And even then, there is little incentive to play it when several Scout combinations already provide better results.
What I struggle to understand is the reasoning behind such a drastic adjustment. Since there was also no detailed explanation or commentary regarding the change, it is difficult to understand what the intended target for S/B actually was.
I may be wrong, but from the first tests this does not feel like a carefully tuned balance adjustment. It feels more like the combination was simply pushed from being too strong to being too weak.
At the same time, I would like to give credit to the work being done on the magic classes, because those changes generally seem much more measured and thought out. I really hope leather classes can receive the same level of careful attention going forward.
I’m definitely curious to see what the next leather balance changes will look like, because right now the gap between combinations still seems extreme — some are exceptionally strong, while others perform only slightly above support-oriented setups 