Reply To: My evaluation of this shard *warning long post*

I think we can agree that mages need to be reworked, as they are currently unable effectively solo anything in PvE. However, I think the argument can be made without relying on exact numbers that we don’t have, and that no one can really be bothered to do enough testing for a reliable estimate anyway.

I disagree that warriors are not a problem.
First, the presence of blackrock weapons (even if rare) selectively benefits warriors over rangers (and to some extent thieves), simply because the vast majority of weapons are melee weapons that warriors can use effectively. There are a few (I tink 6?) ranged weapons and a much larger number of melee weapons (something like 60+?). This makes it much easier (albeit still hard) for a warrior to find a blackrock weapon, while the chance for a ranger to obtain one is near-zero. Further, equipping a blackrock weapon does not impact warriors in the slightest because they are not affected by the mana drain. However, even if the ranger was to find a blackrock bow, equipping it will instantly drain all his mana meaning he cannot teleport away unless he choose to forfeit his tamla potion (i.e. his one viable heal) in favor of a GM refresh.

Second, no other class benefit as much from bloody weapons as warriors. Bloody weapons allow warrior to tank any boss in the game without the need for healing. Thieves cannot tank bosses even with bloody weapons, as they take too much initial damage. Bloody weapons are nice for rangers, but doesn’t impact them as much because rangers rely on mitigation of incoming damage rather than healing up lost damage.

Third, statmods are comparatively weak due to buffs being so strong. They are not pointless, and stacking them adds upp to powerful benefits, but having access to a well-geared high level mage is way more important (and safe) than finding a large enough amount of mods to matter. You also do not risk losing the mage, who can be safely placed in the guild house, while you risk losing the mods. As such, mods play a role in that they add marginal benefit only among players with access to similar mage buffs (which, at this point in time would be pretty much anyone). However, it makes the reliance on blackrock and dispels to remove said buffs all the higher, as the discrepancy between a buffed and an unbuffed player is much higher (a magnitude of about 200 stats) than the discrepancy between a player with statmods and one without (a magnitude of about 40 stats).

Fourth, regarding mages, it doesn’t really matter so much if a mage kills a warrior in 8 spells, 3 spells or even 1 spell. Mages are so weak in PvE that you will never encounter a sole mage in the wild. As they they are not feasible to solo hunt with, there is no reason for them to go alone outside of Occlo which effectively nullifies the mage-threat to warriors. Thus, the argument about warriors being weak vs mages rest on a hypothetical scenario that is never realized.
Also, the requirements for a mage to be competitive include two of the most rare items in the game (Sage’s Robe and Nagash’s staff), which will never be worn by a mage in the field (at least not solo) due to the risk in doing so vastly outweighing the potential reward.

Finally, the strength in warriors stems partly from the fact that they are allowed to wear gem armors, effectively freeing up slots to use more powerful items and additional stat mods. Sure, you can get lvl3 protects from GM armors but with an RND fortified hat you don’t have to wear those items and can go for statmods or other items instead. Also, a 75% spell reduction is sufficient for any caster mob not to pose a threat, allowing warriors to solo tank every single mob in the game, which no other class can. Combined with their innate physical protection this makes their damage mitigation as well as their healing abilities unparallelled. While rangers and thieves have a hard(ish) time in confined spaces (and are somewhat susceptible to some caster mobs with Rel Por) warriors can breeze through any dungeon at an unmatched pace. The worst threat a warrior can face is a mage hunter, a Seeker or a Deathmag.
And mages, as always, have a hard time anywhere outside of Occlo.