But if you take a closer look at the following class balances over the months, you will see that at least 3/4 if not more of these "balances" were nerfs for the vast majority of classes.
Vast majority of classes are stronger than pre-orkham patch regardless of equipment.
Changes of some most played classes of February-June
Warrior
- Removed Enraged global cooldown trigger.
- Fixed Long Reach was working when Warrior was subclass unintentionally.
- Increased Moon Cleave channel time to 1s from 0.5, reduced damage reduction for each extra target to 6% from 10%.
- Reduced Probing Attack cooldown to 3s from 4, changed it to don’t have cooldown when used with a hammer.
- Increased Slash bleed ratio to 2200% from 1800% for Spear weapon.
- Changed The Long Reach to apply bleed around you instead of front.
- Changed Tactical Attack to do not trigger global cooldown nor get affected by it, doubled damage.
- Changed Slash bleeding to downscale with physical damage reduction.
Warrior/Scout ( 1850 occurence in Orkham )
- Reduced Blood Arrow damage gains to 62.7% from 73%. (latter)
- Reduced Blood Arrow damage gain to 73.2% from 94%(-10.5%) (former)
- Increased The Last Duel channel time to 1 second from 0.8.
- Changed Waiting Game to increase physical attack by 15% instead of physical damage.
- Reduced Aim for the Wound cooldown to 4 seconds from 10, reduced rage recovery to 20 from 50.
- Changed The Last Duel to inflict damage 4 times instead of 3, total channel time stays same.
- Changed Aim for the Wound to inflict damage twice with 1s channel time, removed global cooldown trigger, reduced rage recovery per hit to 10 from 20.
- Changed Waiting Game physical attack gain to be 5% physical damage instead.
Warrior changes were mostly to promote bleed damage instead of raw damage which is at pretty good point at the moment for latest content and mentioned classes are not weakened directly as you can see from the changes but to revise the gameplay of the class.
Rogue
- Changed Low Blow dot interval to 1s for 10 seconds.
- Changed Blind Spot dot interval to 1s for 10 seconds.
- Changed Shadowstab dot interval to 1s for 10 seconds.
- Changed Sneak Attack dot interval to 1s for 10 seconds.
- Changed Katana Training & Perfect Slice level to be 7 instead of 65.
- Changed Perfect Slice to do not remove Grandmaster buff when skill is used too early or too late.
- Reduced Soul Storm set skill cooldown to 5 seconds from 8, increased maximum target amount to 15 from 9, added 4% damage reduction for each extra target it hits.
- Increased Assassins’ Rage to damage gain to 30% from 16%.
- Changed Nimble Hands to provide 25% extra attack chance instead of 12.5% attack speed.
Rogue/Warlock ( 1900 occurence in Orkham )
- Reduced Dark Soul Smelt damage to 152% from 169%. (latter)
- Increased Dark Soul Smelt damage to 169% from 116%. (+45%) (former)
Rogue/Champion ( 1300 occurence in Orkham )
- Reduced Poison Feedback attack speed per stack to 4% from 5%.
- Reduced Dwarven Forge defense ignore value to 32.5% from 60%.
- Reduced Dwarven Forge defense ignoring value to 32.5% from 60%.
- Changed Poison Feedback to provide 20% extra attack chance per stack instead of 100% at maximum stack, changed Dwarven Forge cooldown reduction to require hammer attack to perform, removed requirement of having maximum stack.
- Increased Assassin’s Rage damage gain to 36% from 24%.
- Changed Poison Feedback to increase attack speed instead of physical damage.
Increased Silent Rune Bomb cooldown to 6 seconds from 5, reduced max target count to 8 from 10. cancelledIncreased Pulse Rune Bomb cooldown to 6 seconds from 5, reduced max target count to 8 from 10. cancelled- Reduced Disassemble energy recovery to 1 from 5. (former)
- Increased Disassemble energy recovery to 3 from 1. (latter)
Changes of Rogues were to curb their sustain while keeping their burst similar and increase effectivity of higher tier equipment by changing raw damage boosts to physical damage instead due to nature of scaling of physical damage at higher values, which is in favor of making higher tier equipment.
Goal of the balance is to catch median of DPS classes rather than making every class equal at highest strength level, so nerfs are inevitable.
Also do not forget that there are some classes which is considered as mediocre by some raids while performing greatly in other setups. We distribute classes are, heavy sustain, heavy burst and all in one; Heavy sustain classes tend to be stronger if there is not many heavy burst classes, heavy burst classes are tend to be stronger if there are few of them. All in one classes are middle of both that can perform well in both scenarios, but supposedly not as strong as other types.
If your class is unexpectedly performing greater than similar classes and similarly skilled players, you should consider it is wrong, instead of mistrusting the balance process.
Greetings
