The State of the Noj (or me just rambling)

[Iron]

With quite a few new Noj's running around, I thought I would go through an exercise of reviewing the class.

In the spirit of all of the changes for classes that have come in the past year, lets look at what is trainable over 100% for Noj's:

Skills unique to the class:
Enhanced damage, Channeled Anger, Cleave


Common Skills:
Kick, Striking Fist, Ashi Barai Kick, Banded Smiting Initiative, Trip, Bash, Parry, Defenders Discipline, Field Aid


Not much in the uniqueness there.


Class Buffs (none trainable) - stat that it is based off of in ()

Thunderous Strike - extra attack(int/wis for frequency only)
Lightning Strike - quick/hit (con/wis)
Concentrated attack - hit/dam (wis)

nojohr's lightning choice - offense/defense/split (strength/willpower/speed)
nojohr's combat choice - strength/strike/speed (strength/dex/speed)


I didn't go into the other skills, but they are all over the map with stat they are based off of. The problem here is that
1) the skills are all over the place on stats,
2) the 3 main ones are based on stats that are not "physical" so if you are doing stat equipment, you either do physical stats for their natural benefits or do another stat for the buff
3) the rate the skills go up based on stats is about 25-30 to 1 after 300.

General class skills that could use some work:

Aulora's Gambit: Detect cloaked 40-50% (based on int) 3-4 min. This skill is mildly useful for running circus and zangolin. 50% detect is the same as 0% for detecting any cloaked char beyond mortal status. For 1800 endurance and blocking our only "burst" skill (gambit of the warring shield), this skill is basically useless.

Instrumentation of Riposte: Entirely dependant on parry (cleave can give a nice boost here). However, I noticed that even at 300%, parry and thus riposte dropped to almost 0 without a very high dex, even after the boost from cleave.

nojohr's lightning choice: The 3 choices for this
1) offense: gives - armed with - bolted lightning 7%
2) defense: gives - shield of lightning 11%
3) speed: gives +speed (depends on current speed, but generally 50+)
Options 1 (too low to matter) and 2 (I really hate counters and its a weak shield at a very low %) are pointless. I don't think there is a noj out there (besides true newbies) who uses anything besides #3. I used #3 even when the boost wasn't enough for an extra attack because the +2 quick from the extra speed was worth more than the other 2 options. This skill really needs to just be changed to be a +speed boost.

nojohr's combat choice: The 3 choices for this
1) Strength: +dam (~ +1/25str)
2) Strike: +hit (~ +2/25dex)
3) Speed: +quick (~ no clue, never use it)
Let's be honest, everybody uses the strength option 99% of the time. You might use the Strike option for PK. I seriously doubt anybody uses the speed option (based on speed and only +16quick at 800 speed). The speed option could be removed. Replacing this skill with something that is not a "choice" but a combination of 1 & 2 (not as strong as each individually or just 1) wouldn't be a bad thing.

Thelgarron's fusing (commonly known as Fuse): Honestly, this skill has been as much of a curse for Noj's as it has helped. It is great for running small stuff. Everyone loves to point out that Noj's get this big boost (+60 hit/dam for the uninformed) as a reason why Noj's don't need any buffing. But the flip side is that you lose 60NR. Without fuse, Noj's offense is quite small, with fuse, we have no defense. It is 2 extremes.


Looking at class buffs and power (actual results may vary...a little):

Lightning strike:
- quickness +12
- hit +37

Concentrated attack:
- damage +22
- hit +22

thunderous strike
- armed with - strike of thunder 100%


nojohr's combat choice (prevent: 10 min up, 2.5 down)
- damage +18

nojohr's lightning choice (prevent: 10 min up, 2.5 down)
- speed +80 (based on 786 base speed... 55 at 400ish base)


thelgarron's fusing (prevent: 10 min up, 3.5 down)
- nat resist -60
- damage +60
- hit +60


The quick numbers:

With fuse:
+100 dam
+119 hit
-60 NR
2 attacks (assuming speed gets you over the hump)

Without fuse:
+40 dam
+59 hit
2 attacks (assuming speed gets you over the hump)

Between prevents:
+22 dam
+59 hit
1 attack


With Fuse, the numbers look nice. Without fuse, the numbers are not exactly staggering/OP for a class that is supposed to be one of the hardest hitting classes. With Fuse up, the -NR basically cancels the benefits against anything that can hit back. Great for running, but a double edged sword in PK (damned if you do, damned if you don't).




Looking at the sub-classes:


Silvern Nojohr:
Extra port - nice (and the only reason I ever see anyone play the sub-class.... during SU week only)
Gate crash - neat skill but uhh yay
Encircling Ambiance - aside from a second gate crash wtf does this skill do? Beuller... Beuller
extra lock

Defensive Nojohr:
2 situational parries and a skill that requires that you wear a shield!!!!!!! I think there is a reason nobody plays this sub-class.... ever.

Nojohr Judge:
Not exactly sure what the judgements do, but people always say they are badass, but have huge prevents.
extra lock.

Magos and Lernen:
The only 2 sub-classes that get any play. We all know what these do.


So where do Noj's stand?

Basically the class has no scaling at all. With none of the buffs trainable and the stat conversion relatively negligible (25-30 for 1 hit/dam fom skill or just get 30 str/dex for 4 dam/hit naturally). The class is almost entirely defined by equipment and enhanced damage.

Long ago, Noj's were at least in the top 3 in melee damage. These days, they are more like 6th or 7th (falling much farther if you count pets). Considering that the base class has little outside of the normal combat rounds. Kick being the only true spammable (with cleave if on multiple targets) and 1 "burst" skill for 15 seconds. The lack of scaling, as other classes have grown, has hurt Noj's a lot.

Whim has mentioned that scaling the class is rather difficult because 2 sub-classes (magos and lernen) are much stronger than the other sub-classes. This issue is going to continue and probably get worse as other classes get new treats that Noj's can "steal". As Fenulia pointed out, there are some skills that a Noj just shouldn't have (Bleed jumps right to the top of that list.... Battle learning for lerned is almost as bad).

Truly balancing the other 3 sub-classes with magos and lerned is probably going to be impossible in the long run (since lerned and magos can steal from those also). Because of this, the class as a whole is left in limbo.

In all honesty, the "study" skills should be removed. I know every other noj out there is going to hate me for saying that. Don't get me wrong, I love having a menu of options to fit what I am doing at the time, but realistically these are the only 2 skills that are keeping the Noj a competitive class (and by virtue of that suppressing the other sub-classes).

The consideration of whether a Noj will "steal" a skill should not need to be a factor when Whim is balancing/adding skills for other classes . But we also can't have that aspect of the game ignored resulting in what is effectively "I win" situations (e.g. Bleed or say a new skill 3x melee damage for 10 seconds which might be fine for a fallad, but a noj stealing it.....).

I would rather lose this abilities now and have it replaced with some cool new unique skills that would allow the sub-classes to become balanced. That would allow the class as a whole to grow and evolve instead of waiting for other classes to get something cool to steal. It is better in the long run than having the Noj class as a whole stagnate indefinitely.