General

Going back to only having 1 aura active at a time was a great change, and an important step in slaying the overpowered beast we had become. Don't worry too much about your range, I had something around 300k buffed pre-patch (I don't remember the exact number) and I'm now down to about 220k-ish, but my damage per line has actually increased slightly, and that's without dark aura. Efficient casting of Sweeping Staff and Dark Genesis brings my overall DPS back to a similar level to what it was pre-patch when spamming FB+Sweeping. (Taking benchmarks on the bosses in Commerci).

The loss of twister spin may seem like a huge loss, but drain aura has effectively taken it's place. Quickly swap to drain aura and heal back up again in a matter of seconds.

I would have preferred to see body boost come back as our hyper buff, and for some form of linking skill with FB to still exist (at this point I'd even accept the old razor blade we had), but overall this change was a good one. Though I'll miss being able to easily slay HT and CHT.

Thanks for the positive feedback Viva!

[quote=AznFlip]@VivaBasura:
-No I don't. My point was that many of your arguments were wrong. You haven't disproven anything I made. But you did make some pretty baseless accusations.
-It's your opinion that BaMs have above average mobbing. But IMO, they're pretty much average ONLY if you can kill fast. Just saying, not everybody can do that especially in the endgame maps. I've played pretty much every class and got them to a decent level and comparing BaM's mobbing, IMO I would say it's definitely not above average, more like average at best.
-Buffed ranged is what really counts (at least what most people consider). A higher clean BaM range doesn't mean higher damage output than the other classes.
-It's your opinion that stackable auras is pointless. But, the majority of people disagree.
-A quality revamp is what I wanted. Simply put, BaMs had to give up a lot of things for what people call "Fun". I mean, idc that they nerfed things like BKB they could've even kept the same playstyle. But instead of compensating the loss in mobbing capability, we got the same lamo hitbox on FB, with a reduced mob count. Comparing the WH and Mech revamp, BaMs surely got the short end of the stick.[/quote]
-The only thing i accused u of is wanting useless oplooking gameplay mechanics back
-Wheres is your proof we are not good mobbers now? ive heard a nice feedback from bams who are leveling at dipq 100% stance says enough and we are even better at SDH than pre-revamp
-Are you sure because i just brought a friend to a gollux service and my time was still better than pre-revamp even tho i used red aura to keep this guy alive
-Original concept was pick an aura not cast all auras and keep them for yourself(GLA) what was the point of having auras then? why not make them all passive, nexon is trying to tell you these werent mean to be treated as buffs but gameplay mechanics and GLA was a big mistake

its not totally revamp's fault that you dont like new bams, actually bams were never very popular to begin with and its because of the original bam concept and nexon not knowing what to do to appeal people with it they just kept throwing more and more buffs, then many people get mad they grew accustomed to the monster nexon made and now its gone as a game developer myself it makes me sad to see people like u who dont understand the changes and the reasons of why they were made, uve made me point out a lot of things already whats next youll ask me why we dont need 80% dodge

[quote=DeathmanX0]So based on your point Viva, they removed the ability to train easily, and made it so bossing is much easier? I guess since i'm level 211 it doesn't matter if I train or not, and I would be most likely bossing.[/quote]
we can cover SDH map better than before so youre fine to train, you will notice reaching max dps at bossing can be hard, GL

@AzneFlip; Then let me try to help him out. What he's trying to get at is that all the auras are all around better so you do not have to immediately default to the aura that increases damage and ignore the rest. There are uses for virtually all of them now. On that note, with Blood Aura, I don't even notice the decrease in Battle Mages' [i]ridiculous[/i] training survivability. And I lose maybe 100k per line. Or sometimes I use Dark until I'm very low and then Blood back to full HP. And to top it off, we're still a [i]very[/i] durable class regardless.

In defense of the revamp, Battle Mages have always been [i]terrible[/i] to revamp. I can remember the first bone that we were given, Body Boost giving all boosted effects rather than just the active aura's. Everything they have tried has failed until they introduced BKB, which was an idiotically overpowered skill, and later Grand Light Aura. It got to the point where they couldn't even boost skills so they created another Body Boost, but on steroids. This revamp gives them more wiggle room to do things. Honestly, we should've been allowed to at least stack two auras or at least have them stack in parties (I suspect them not stacking in parties is a glitch; even when you could only cast one at a time, auras stacked in parties with other Battle Mages). I also would have made Body Boost a hyper skill (90 sec duration, 180 sec cooldown, all auras' effects). This revamp now at least gives them more room to make changes since it's a quasi-clean slate for Battle Mages. It's not the best revamp, but I definitely think Mechanics got it worse since they're still a clunky mess.

@VivaBasura:
-No I don't. My point was that many of your arguments were wrong. You haven't disproven anything I made. But you did make some pretty baseless accusations.
-It's your opinion that BaMs have above average mobbing. But IMO, they're pretty much average ONLY if you can kill fast. Just saying, not everybody can do that especially in the endgame maps. I've played pretty much every class and got them to a decent level and comparing BaM's mobbing, IMO I would say it's definitely not above average, more like average at best.
-Buffed ranged is what really counts (at least what most people consider). A higher clean BaM range doesn't mean higher damage output than the other classes.
-It's your opinion that stackable auras is pointless. But, the majority of people disagree.
-A quality revamp is what I wanted. Simply put, BaMs had to give up a lot of things for what people call "Fun". I mean, idc that they nerfed things like BKB they could've even kept the same playstyle. But instead of compensating the loss in mobbing capability, we got the same lamo hitbox on FB, with a reduced mob count. Comparing the WH and Mech revamp, BaMs surely got the short end of the stick.

It might because I made a Bam right when they came out, but I really enjoyed the ability to have multiple auras. I felt like the aura master when it came to awesome buffs. Speaking of the new auras, has the range increased for other party members to gain benefits for the current aura on? So based on your point Viva, they removed the ability to train easily, and made it so bossing is much easier? I guess since i'm level 211 it doesn't matter if I train or not, and I would be most likely bossing.

@AznFlip
lmao u didnt get anything, u just want an op class that outstands as a god in every point
we still have above average survibality and mobbing
our clean range is better than many other classes so no need to be greedy and stay on dark aura 24/7
stackeable auras is the most pointless thing bams have had
dumb gameplay mechanics is what you want

@DeathmanX0
u have a point because most of the revamp pros benefit late bossing, my clean range is 1.1m, im not fit to solo great things like cra or hellux but i sure enjoy what i can do, since revamp ive been soloing magnus in 3mins something that was impossible to me before for example i can do my daily bossing in less time than pre-revamp even without mpe potions(i wasnt able to live without those before revamp now i dont really care)

@VivaBasura:

[i]who really misses our old "op" survibality that was only good for normal monsters[/i]

Normal monsters account for like 99% of training.

[i]you arent forced to just use dark aura because our clean range is much better[/i]

I'm getting that buffed range < clean range. That makes no sense

[i]negative reception could be because the difficulty went from easy to veryyy hard[/i]

Obviously not. See my first quote. BKB cooldown, nerfed and non-stackable auras and also the same old FB animations are others

@DeathmanX0: definitely seems like it. There was another post where a person lost 200k range. Personally I lost range.

[quote=VivaBasura]the only cons so far to me are dojo and gollux's eyes, im in love with the overall new dps(ive had a really good experience even tho i fail at telecast so much) and regardless of stats comparison i feel like we have way more survibality agaisnt bosses now
who really misses our old "op" survibality that was only good for normal monsters o.o also new mobbing isnt as bad as i thought when i first heard about bkb cooldown, telecasting around > tele+fb+bkb in most situations
non-stacking auras is really compesated by truly good auras, drain aura is so op i can heal myself and party members in 2-3attacks, blue aura gives us so much resistance and thats pretty good lategame, you arent forced to just use dark aura because our clean range is much better
and theres other things ive said in many diff posts its a nice and balanced revamp, the reason of the negative reception could be because the difficulty went from easy to veryyy hard
more importantly we look amazing <3[/quote]
Curiosity, may I ask what your range is? I know that range shouldn't impact a classes enjoyment, but I feal that individuals who find the revamp good already have high range? I may be wrong however XD

the only cons so far to me are dojo and gollux's eyes, im in love with the overall new dps(ive had a really good experience even tho i fail at telecast so much) and regardless of stats comparison i feel like we have way more survibality agaisnt bosses now
who really misses our old "op" survibality that was only good for normal monsters o.o also new mobbing isnt as bad as i thought when i first heard about bkb cooldown, telecasting around > tele+fb+bkb in most situations
non-stacking auras is really compesated by truly good auras, drain aura is so op i can heal myself and party members in 2-3attacks, blue aura gives us so much resistance and thats pretty good lategame, you arent forced to just use dark aura because our clean range is much better
and theres other things ive said in many diff posts its a nice and balanced revamp, the reason of the negative reception could be because the difficulty went from easy to veryyy hard
more importantly we look amazing <3

@DeathmanX0: I would have to say telecasting+FB and using Dark Gene and BkB when they're not on CD to utilize DPS

A slight clarification. Total Damage does the exact same thing it did before Unleashed, with the only change being that it shows up on range as well. It still stacks with Boss Damage.
If you're still confused about that, just find yourself a funded Blaze Wizard and ask how Conduit's working out for him.

As for the original question then, personally I find the revamp to be both really good and really bad in several aspects.
Telecasting for one is absolutely fantastic for mobbing now, but it gets really futzy on bosses, especially when they don't have Gollux-sized hitboxes. Coordinating Grim Contract to actually hit the damn boss gets pretty annoying if you're doing vertical telecasting, even more so if there's server delay.
On one hand, without BKB linking and with midair low-delay teleports, dying is pretty rare in bosses now, and even if you did you only have a handful of buffs to reapply.
On the other, 1/1 attacks easily cancel out your auras, and dispels outright remove Dark Lightning for whatever reason. It's easy to miss, and can result in a lot of missing deeps.
I'm kind of neutral on auras in general. Drain Aura actually gives sizable chunks of hp though, so it's a big improvement on Blood Drain, and it's easy to switch with Weakening Aura in bosses.
Hitboxes still take a bit to get used to. Finishing Blow's still got that old ass appearance, and figuring out its actual hitbox is annoying. Dark Gene can't hit jack underneath you now.

Really though, I think it comes down to whether or not you're comfortable with telecasting. I feel that makes or breaks the class for a lot of people.

im liking this revamp, my clean and buffed range is higher than pre revamp, only 2 active buff, (booster and MW) in which you can put on pet auto buff,
they replace lots of % total dmg with % m.att in which is by far better for me since % total dmg was doing next to nothing for me pre revamp.
were overall faster at bossing and have more control over your char since we dont have to spamm BKB no more.
new dark gen is sexy and its hit box is bigger than you expect.
we lost blood drain, but it got put as a passive in drain aura in which every 3 soul you collect, you gain 3% of your max hp, so you still wont die while training.
were down to 40% avoid rate in which is fair enough and its still useless at bosses, so no changes there.
active drain aura is very good at pot CD bosses like magnus, you can replenish all your hp in 2 secs.
up teleport + FB spamm is good dps at bosses and not hard to do.

if people would stop looking at negative point,( in my opinion theres none) this is a overall good revamp, it changed our playstyle only a bit
i am very happy with this revamp.

[quote=RazFresco]I have yet to notice how this update has negatively affected BaMs. I can kill bosses faster because I do not have to take as long rebuffing as we had to do prior to the update.[/quote]
I would assume thats the main benefit of the revamp;removing all buff ups and applying them into 1-2 different things.

I have yet to notice how this update has negatively affected BaMs. I can kill bosses faster because I do not have to take as long rebuffing as we had to do prior to the update.

@Revenants: If I may ask, what is your favorite mechanics with the Bam?

[quote=DeathmanX0]Wow, that's one hell of a change for Bam's. Almost everything I liked out Bam's has been changed. Well now i'm not to sure what do to regarding if I should just level another character to 200 or get used to the new Bam mechanics.[/quote]

At first I really disliked the revamp, but after practicing with the new mechanics on bosses I have regrown to like my BaM, however it still does not beat what we had before

Yeah they changed like everything I like about BaM's. I'm still holding onto their old skills for memory.
I used to use Dark Tornado on bosses too cause potion lock bs, but now I can't do that OR Heal on them...

Wow, that's one hell of a change for Bam's. Almost everything I liked out Bam's has been changed. Well now i'm not to sure what do to regarding if I should just level another character to 200 or get used to the new Bam mechanics.

There are a few other things that happened:

-Apparently, aura stacking can't be accomplished in any form, even partying with other BaMs.
-Lower defense and magic defense. It's harder to get max defenses now.
-Slight loss of max critical damage
-Lowered damage cap (Battle Master no longer gives an additional an increase in damage cap)
-Can't remember, but I think innate %boss decreased by 10%.

@LittleTLK: Oh okay, thanks for that clarification.

I was under the assumption that total damage works on your damage range, while %magic attack worked off your magic attack.
ie: If you had a 1mil range, and 20% total damage, you'd now have 1.2m range. If you had 1000 magic attack and 20% magic, then you'd have 1200 magic attack, which would add on to your range how much 200 extra magic attack would give to you. Guess I was wrong.

@Masinko:

a x b x c = (a x b) x c

Associative property of multiplication.

%magic attack and %total damage are equivalent as of post-chaos.
Before Unleashed, %total damage didn't affect your range, and essentially acted like boss damage%, just applicable to all monsters. Therefore, it stacked additively with boss damage, making it less effective than magic attack%.

Post-Unleashed, %total damage directly affects your range.

The people that are saying total damage still stacks with boss damage additively either are wrong and got their information from pre-unleashed, or total damage displaying on your range is a glitch.

@LittleTLK: If you have more magic attack (via well scrolled and/or enhanced weapons and equips), that %magic attack will give more range than total damage would.

OT:
+ We have fewer buffs, which is easy to recast.
+ Our 1v1ing ability is a lot higher, but as stated above, you need good control. You have to chain teleport (dark shock) with every blow to get more reapers to attack.
+ Buffing/Casting an aura has almost no delay and animation, making it quick to cast an aura or switch between them.
- BKB has a cooldown, which pretty much made quit the class.
- No stackable auras, but every aura gives passive buffs as well as active buffs, but we still miss out a handful of stats this way.
- As a consequence of the previous statement, we don't hit speed cap with slow staves now. (Yellow aura isn't as good, body boost removed, grand light also removed).
- Battle Master has a cooldown now (and now slightly different to adapt to the new reaper mechanics for BaMs).
- Drain removed, is now an aura (and might I add, you can only use 1 aura at a time now).
- Twister Spin also removed.

[quote=DeathmanX0]Eh... that sounds kinda terrible. I remember back in the day having 60% avoid, and 100% critical chance. It looks like that is taken away. Can you still reach max speed with a slower staff using all buffs and the speed potion from monster hunter place you can go to (I forgot its real name)?[/quote]

You get +2 in booster and +2 in yellow aura passive. That brings you to fast (4).
If you use yellow aura, you get to faster (3). dSI gets you to 2. green pot gets you to 1.

If you do not have dSI, you can get yo 2 only with a green potion and yellow aura.

Eh... that sounds kinda terrible. I remember back in the day having 60% avoid, and 100% critical chance. It looks like that is taken away. Can you still reach max speed with a slower staff using all buffs and the speed potion from monster hunter place you can go to (I forgot its real name)?

Pros:
+easier buffing
+more magic att% than %damage, which apparently is better, but the math never worked out in my opinion
+faster teleport with better damage than teleport mastery
+slightly better overall DPS
+more HP

Cons:
-worse mobbing
-requires more control to reach optimum DPS
-loss a lot of attack speed
-smaller teleport range (horizontally)
-loss of crit chance
-loss of stacking auras
-loss of avoid