just a month ago, i was playing nearly 30 max-level characters and almost every spec except tanks. after playing both melee and ranged extensively, my conclusion is that mechanics are clearly rigged against melee, and the roster numbers of world-top-class guilds prove this. it’s not just about one melee player being at a disadvantage; the difficulty scales the more melee you add - not just 1+1=2, but more like 2.5. want to hear something funny? if you invite three melee in an m+ team, quite a few pug healers start complaining or even just leave the group. on the flip side, have you ever seen a single healer complain about having three ranged dps? that’s how toxic melee mechanics are.
most of the mechanics you mentioned earlier as being hostile toward ranged are also extremely hostile toward melee too. i honestly don’t get why melee classes can’t use their abilities just because they’re silenced. mechanics that are strictly anti-ranged, like the one in saladbar, only happen 2 or 3 times in a 5-minute fight for an average guild like ours. so, isn’t a 90-second movement utility more than enough? for high-end guilds with better dps, they might only see that mechanic once, which means even a 10-minute cooldown would suffice.
besides, the vast majority of ranged players have their own personal strategies for movement mechanics. whether it’s planning the positioning, deciding to finish a cast before moving, stutter-stepping, using movement abilities like blink that don’t interrupt casting, or simply cancel casting and use the one or two instant-cast spells every class has - if you mix these appropriately for the situation, you can finish most fights without much dps loss. world-class ranged players pull off those massive numbers while managing all of that, and even a mediocre mage like me can do it, so i think you can do it also. if you think you can’t, maybe playing ranged just isn’t for you. if melee looks so easy to you, i highly recommend you switch, and i hope you start with a class as s.h.i.t.t.y as a rogue. you’ll probably start swearing within minutes.
i also started playing melee for the exact same reasons as you. i thought every melee in the world was getting their dps for free. but the truth is, they are suffering from the same level of penalties as ranged, plus all the recent ‘melee just don’t do dps’ mechanics. everyone on that top 100 dps list must have practiced their souls out to get there, so i hope you think a bit more about why ranged dps take up such an overwhelming majority of those spots before you complain further.
of course, i know this company’s balancing is never perfect for ranged either. i’m aware the class you main isn’t doing great numbers-wise right now, and i can understand why you might be frustrated. however, what i’m trying to say isn’t about the dps balance between classes, nor am i saying that playing ranged is always easy. even when i play my mage, i have my own moments of annoyance.
my point is simply that, if we have to compare, there are far more mechanics hostile toward melee. for us melee players, it’s just frustrating to hear someone say like, ‘melee is all instant cast, so melee dps shouldn’t drop.’
I have said all i can on this matter
