Hello Everyone,

Patch 4.06a has been a highly anticipated patch for most avid players of The Feast, as it was promised to bring about the first wave of balance changes following the start of The Feast Season 5, the very first season taking place after the major PvP system overhaul of Patch 4.0.

In this post, we will go over the changes and provide our critical thoughts and opinons. Did players get what they wanted? What they needed? Kind of, but some fell short. Let's Begin.

Paladin

We begin with the PLD. Overall, we see some pretty hard nerfs. The nerf changing Shield bash from 3 seconds to 2 means that their stun is now objectively worse than the DRK stun, Low Blow. PLD overall now has 1 second less of total CC potential on a single target, while DRK remains untouched. Overall, this is not a terrible change for the health of the game, but a pretty solid blow to PLD.

A nerf to their already inferior CC was not enough, however, as Cover also saw minor nerfs. The Oath Gauge increase from 20 to 25 gauge really just means less uptime. 20% less uptime. Was this change really needed? Probably not, given that once again, the DRK holds an arguably more powerful ability in The Blackest Night, which did not see nerfs.

However, all is not lost, as the change to Shield Oath to now grant 5% more damage reduction will make the use of Cover a bit safer, in addition to the many changes we will go over below.

PLD will still retain it's spot as the 2nd best tank in The Feast, though the gap between PLD and DRK has definitely grown in size, and not in favor of the PLD.

Warrior

Next up is the WAR, widely considered one of the three "unplayable" jobs prior to this patch. So what sort of buffs did they receive? The first is a base increase in HP, from 15,000 to 15,500. Not bad, not stellar, when evaluated alone.

The change to tank stances hit the WAR as well. A 5% boost in max HP, a 5% boost in HP recovery, and of course the damage reduction to come with it. What does this mean for WAR survivability?

Before the change they had 18,000 HP in Defiance. After the change they have 19,375 HP in Defiance.

This is definitely a buff to WAR survivability, but it still does not stand in line with the survivability of the other two tanks. For the sake of leaving the more detailed and in-depth analysis for another time, we will simply say that WAR still lacks in defensive support for both the team and themselves.

Lastly comes the much anticipated, and much needed buff to the WAR kit. A stun. Onslaught has now become shoulder tackle, instead of having the clunky knockback mechanic attached to it. This change alone brings it into the realm of possible viability, and it is possible that having the stun tied to a gap closer could make for some very great offenssive plays.

WAR has moved from a position of "almost certain loss" to "maybe viable", though we will withold our own judgement until we see more of it in game.

Dark Knight

DRK has been the most powerful tank since patch 4.0 launched and patch 4.06a has not changed that. It sees the same changes to Grit as WAR and PLD saw to their tank stances, which is a welcome buff to tank survivability.

The only nerf which hit the DRK was to their Power Slash combo. A 10% nerf to the healing reduction debuff is pretty huge, and may be a good place to start in reducing the power of DRK, as targets will not be a bit harder to kill if a healer is keeping them up. Overall though, DRK is still in a very good place and remains the top tier tank.

Monk

Let's all have a moment of silence for MNK, and all those rode it through the terrible climb of the DPS roles. It's no surprise that MNK is receiving nerfs, but really, these may be a bit harsh when considering the increased HP pools of the ranged DPS roles, as described later in this post.

MNK already suffered from weak sustain. The burst was all it had going for it, as insanely powerful as it was. Ultimately, these nerfs are hitting MNK hard and we are interested to see how they will hold up.

Dragoon

DRG receives a hit to their damage as well, though not nearly as hard as MNK. Overall, these nerfs are not huge and DRG players should not feel much of a difference. However, they are still curious changes to us since DRG seemed to be in a good place and not so powerful that it needed nerfs.

Samurai

SAM sees some very good but not so dramatic changes this patch. First, the Kenki cost reduction on H:Shinten means more sustained damage, and in general just a more plentiful Kenki pool to use with your abilities.

The second change reduces the Kenki cost AND CD of H:Soten. This provides SAM with much more mobility, in both engagement and escape. Another solid change.

H:Chiten is the last ability to see buffs. In a previous update, the ability was nerfed to a 750, down from 1,000. This potency nerf has been reverted, and the Kenki cost reduced. While minor, nobody should ever complain about 250 extra potency.

These changes, along with the nerfs to MNK and DRG, put SAM in a better place than it was prior to the patch. However, they still don't quite match up to the other melee in terms of burst damage, a weakness that has not been addressed with this round of changes.

Ninja

Anyone who played NIN in 3.x were at a severe disadvantage. The job suffered from poor design and confused role identity. Now, however, in patch 4.06a, the NIN may just take over as the most viable melee carry in The Feast. The most minor change is that Mug now generates 20 Ninki, down from 30. A nerf, yes, but in the grand scheme of things, you will see why this really isn't so bad.

The cost of mudras getting cut in HALF is huge for NIN. It means they can more readily weave ninjutsu into their burst rotations, and generally have a much easier time with on-demand utility several options this ability provides. We see this as a great change, as it has the potential to open up interesting decisions that the player will have make as the match progresses. Damage? Debuff? CC? The choice is now one made more often.

Raiton having it's potency reduced is a justified change to the cost reduction of mudras. However, this change, in addition to the potency reduction of Bhavacakra, means NIN took a very significant blow to their burst damage. NIN do get something in return, in the form of a 2 second stun tied to their hardest hitting ability. What this means is that NIN are now the only job in the melee role to have a stun. In addition to their stun, they also still have their silence, their bind, AND their heavy. With so many different tools in their kit, it's likely that the amount of NIN players will rise as they switch off their MNK to try and carry themselves up the ladder.

Bard/Machinist

The jobs of the physical ranged role were doing quite well, except for their very low HP. This, in tandem with the nerfs to melee damage as detailed above, will make surviving, and therefore carrying your team, just that much easier. This is a change that needed to happen, as BRD and MCH were unable to survive for more than the duration of a 3 second stun in most cases.

Black Mage

Not quite the buff to HP that the physical ranged role received, but even so, the extra HP on BLM is a welcome buff. A BLM that lives longer is a BLM that has more opportunity to really cause trouble for the opponent, and 11,000 HP seems like a fair spot to have them.

In additon to the buff to their survivability, we see a 500 potency nerf (about 12-13%) to their ability which hits like a freight train, Foul. While Foul was incredibly powerful prior to the patch, and if looked at by itself alone, could have used a bit of a nerf, it's hard to justify the nerf in power to this ability with all of the buffs to survivability that came with the patch. However, BLM is still in just as good a spot as it was before, if not a bit better.

Summoner

Just as with BRD and MCH, SMN is pretty well off in terms of balance right now. The HP increase is of course helpful, and SMN will remain a strong pick as it always has been.

Red Mage

Now you might be telling yourself, "Wow! Look at those RDM buffs!" But let me stop you before you get too excited. While these changes to potency do somewhat increase that sustained damage, the reduced CD on Manafication increases the frequency of the burst, and of course their increased HP pool...RDM is still not in a good place, as the problems with the job were not fixed or even touched on.

RDM suffers from a long, unsatisfying burst combo with an extremely high risk factor, no OGCD abilities to supplement, and lower survivability not just to the greater risks it's forced to take, but also in that it does not have great utility in it's kit.

There's a long list of ideas and changes which would make RDM more viable, but for now, until those come, we advise that anyone seriously trying to climb the ladder stay far, far away from RDM.

White Mage

The single change to WHM may seem small to some, but this is a huge change that will relieve the headaches of the handful of WHM players that for some reason haven't switched to SCH yet.

For those confused, there was an unintended behavior where Regen would not reapply to a target if they were already affected by a stronger Regen. This caused stress on the WHM as they had to wait for the stronger Regen to fully fall off before the reapplication, often having to forego the reapplication completely depending on what the situation demanded. This change makes it so that once again, WHM players are rewarded for being a bit more proactive in the Regen application.

Scholar

Sure to make some of the more aware PvPers scratch their heads at first glance, the SCH changes seem underwhelming on the surface. Known since the start of Season 1 as the most broken job in The Feast, it looks like SCH players will sit on their Diamond thrones a bit longer.

Adloquium receives the same treatment as Regen, a welcome change for the same reasons mentioned in the WHM section of this post. But the real change, that might seem lackluster in the realm of nerfs, is the nerf to Lustrate's ability to fill the Faerie Gauge. As most SCH's use Lustrate as their primary healing ability, the generation of their gauge being cut in half is very significant. This means that their additional healing from Embrace will be much more finite than it was before.

Is SCH balanced again? No. Is it still the best healer? Yes. However, they are not too greatly far ahead of WHM, and so we are glad that SE is taking a more careful approach to nerfing this job. A shame they did not show the same restraint for MNK.

Astrologian

To be honest, it pains me to even work on this section. AST has been ASS since 4.0 PvP was introduced. There have been many threads, many discussions, and many good ideas. The topic has been discussed a lot among the player community, and feedback has been given, but it is clear that the feedback provided for AST has not made it into the hands of the development team.

While ED being on a 10 second CD and Disable being on a 30 second CD are both welcome buffs, neither address the glaring flaws with the AST as a healer. It simply lacks in tools, and one of the tools it does have (the cards) are too random and inconsistent to provide meaningful benefits.

A way to hold and shuffle cards? A suitable replacement for the useless Deorbit? There are many things that would help bring AST back into viability, but these changes are not those things.

Additional Actions / Traits

Lastly we have some minor changes to Recuperate and IAS.

The reduced CD on Recuperate means that it may become a logical choice to take, though Safeguard will likely still be better in just about every situation. If you play a role that could take both, such as a BRD, MCH, or SMN, this is a very welcome change.

IAS being reduced by 2% makes a difference in that it will be harder for those that use it to push their casts out before being prevented to do so. With higher casting speeds, it is easier to get a cast off before being CC'd, or before someone runs behind a wall. This is a minor change with a magnitude which will have to be measured in practice, to see if casts are more frequently interrupted than before due to this change.

TL;DR: DRK and SCH are still the top dogs, NIN might just takeover as the best melee pick, and WAR/RDM/AST are still much weaker than the other options in their roles. Thanks for reading our recap and thoughts on the job balances changes coming with Patch 4.06a.