Sorry to bump when my post was last, but after spending today playing Artie on both battle and siege, I think I can offer some suggestions!
First of all - I had no idea there was a respec function now, lol.
Respeccing Artie to match the new system makes for a sea change; he's fun to play again now! It has required some significant modifications to how I outfit and play him, but the new system DOES work.
I can't be a solo guy so much anymore. I can't get the same kind of K:D I did before. I have to assist and kite instead of kill. I simply can't have a build with 14 PT - I have to settle for a little less. That's fine by me - it works out pretty well in most situations.
I think that Gorath is right about it being a bad idea to add more much more ammo - at least for the high-tier weapons. Instead of giving throwers more ammo, I think the trick is to help them use what ammo they have more effectively. I still think that the Jarids/Spears/Javs area is messy and maybe once they've been more greatly differentiated a lot of problems will be resolved. I also think that damage is about right across the board, now that I'm not suffering such a big penalty.
As for Gorath's comments about kiting, I can confirm that he's pretty much correct - although it's very, very close. I think that logically kiting SHOULD be the thrower's "pro" against the other "cons" and his advantage over the other ranged builds. I think that hybrid throwers are spot-on in terms of kiting potential, but that dedicated throwers need just a little more to keep us competitive.
I know nobody asked me, but I have a few suggestions for small changes that I think everyone would be cool with.
1. PLEASE don't nerf throwing rocks in terms of damage or quantity without giving us something to replace them. If the devs think that they're "too effective" I would have to disagree - to me they seem just perfect right now, being really only useful to full-throwing builds - but if they HAVE to be toned-down in some way, then please limit that to their projectile speed. I rarely kill with throwing rocks unless I'm close-enough to headshot peasants, but I do make a lot of assists with them. They just feel "right" at this level and if you change them then I think the whole throwing roster needs a reorganization to patch the hole that would leave. These things are invaluable because, unlike the low-damage cutting weapons, they don't just harmlessly bounce off of armor to no effect. Rocks are supposed to be a nuisance and that they're doing that just great. When I get kills with them, it's only because I got very very lucky.
2. The 13*PT=WPFReq system is about right. I don't think it should be made any higher, but I don't think it HAS to go lower - although naturally I'd welcome it if there are other nerfs in the works. I say leave this how it is, but...
3. a) Buff the wind-up speed of throwing weapons in general (slightly!) This way, without increasing our ammo (which, as Gorath has said, could get silly and make for lots of spam) we can at least still output the kind of DPS to keep us on the same level with other assist-oriented roles. The buff doesn't need to be very big at all, and naturally would be greater for some weapons than others. Seems like a sensible compromise on the issue of ammo; if we're throwing quicker, it's almost as good as throwing more in total.
and/or
3. b) Decrease the impact of running on the aim reticule by a greater amount, not as a "base" feature but ONLY as a result of WPF and/or of having a higher PT than required for the weapon equipped. I think this is something that dedicated throwers should have, but not hybrids, again as a way to just slightly increase our longevity/usefulness in the average match. Again, the change needs only to be a slight percentage - mathematically significant but not necessarily noticable.
4. Less overlap of functionality for throwing weapons. I can understand why a lot of melee weapons are basically the same, because people will want different "looks" with similar properties; it's a vanity thing. But we throwers don't care that much about how our weapons look on us - that's why we get rid of them, right?
There are so many axes, so many shurikens, and the jav/jarid/spear cluster -- and it just seems like a lot of opportunities are going to waste because of the redundant items.
As you can see, the basic thrust of these small changes is just to let throwers stay alive a little longer, help their teammates a little more, and to get more use out of the limited quantity of ammunition they do have.
Respeccing made all the difference in the world in terms of how I perceive the balancing changes in the last patch. I still think there's some tweaking that could be done, but now it's a lot clearer what the devs are trying to do. I only hope that they keep dedicated throwers in mind when they're trying to keep the hybrids balanced.
