As a class the GX finds itself, and you may have heard this phrase before in many complaint threads, "lacking in all areas". Fortunately for us, this is mostly true in this case.
Leveling: Gxs currently are left in the dust compared to all other classes when it comes to levelling. While changes are on their way that will help alleviate this issue (larger AoEs for Rolling Cutter and possibly Counterslash, with a change in the damage formula to increase with levels), these are not going to bring the GX on par with other classes. The AoEs are still going to remain so small that the GX will basically have to tank the monsters (especially with counterslash as that is how its used).
Redundancy: Take a look at the amount of skills that exist for Thief/Sin/Sinx/GX and count how many of them are still being used once a GX reaches 110. You'll find EDP, cloaking, hide, and double attack, katar masteries, and maybe MA but that will go away when the AoEs are buffed. The class has no reasonable progression. Every new attack skill beats out the old, and the only thing that stays is crit DPS. If the character is to be streamlined to a CTRL click style, why offer combination attacks like CounterSlash and Weapon Weapon Crush so late in the game? Sura's are rarely played in the ctrl click fashion but have been given a long progression of combos that add to the available variations with each update. Would this not have been an appropriate addition to the GX class considering they are now the primary class who levels in the Ctrl click fashion?
Poor Specialization: As a class the GX specializes at evasion, disabling and DPS. Yet the DPS of the class is normally out-pottable in WoE so long the GX does not have access to a KvM weapon. I regularly slip out of crits and disable GX's by myself on my Sorc, and that's simply not right. The class has enough drawbacks in having to get in close, and only attack a single target that no class alone should be able to pull back, let alone outpot that damage. Their evasion in WoE is reduced heavily by WoE reduction, and their ability to sneak severely impaired by the gross amount of MayaPs, and the massive amount and size of AoEs. Fortunately there are some new sneaking skills available to the class since, again, the previous ones have been made obsolete. Also snap-to skills are finally being made available, though apparently Dark Illusion has a long delay. Over all, the class plays well in WoE, but is hardly balanced with other classes considering their lack of durability, and their extreme focus upon DPS which completely lacks compared to other class' burst damage. They're being beaten out at their own specialty.
Boring: The only truly new innovations to the class with this update was the poisons. The rest made previous skills redundant. At least Shadow Chasers, despite being primarily PvP focused, were afforded skills that progressed their old with the ability to chain copied skills into their normal attacks with Shadow Spell. The GX has found their old skills lost in a progression that completely forgot them. As such one plays Gxs in pretty much the same fashion their were always played. CTRL click or single skill on single target. Its tedious, its repetitious, its boring. If you are going to add new content, actually do it rather than giving the same old stuff under a new name.
Edited by Nombus, 14 June 2011 - 01:31 PM.
