A new system could be added to warlocks. After casting 3 times Cross of Annihilation, this spell releases a cooldown reduction:

• Effect: -50% cooldown on next Cross of Annihilation, reducing cooldown from 2s to 1s.


Add a new special stat named Heavy Hit to barbarian weapons. This stat should be exclusive to legendary items. Heavy Hit effects:

• 33% chance;
• 50% damage from auto-attacks;
• Small AoE

[X] [X] [X]
[X] [T] [X]
[X] [X] [X]

T = main target
X = tiles affected

Barbarian talents

A- remove Multi Strike and add a new talent - Savage Blow to make all Auto Attacks of barbarian always hit 3x3 centered on the barbarian spot (1% Auto Attack damage per talent point, up to a maximum of 10% = 10 talent points)

B- Insatiable (Tier 4) – Rage gains a damage bonus based on the Barbarian's remaining health:

At 80% HP or lower, Rage increases Auto Attack damage by 10%.
At 50% HP or lower, Rage increases Auto Attack damage by 20%.
At 35% HP or lower, Rage increases Auto Attack damage by 30%.

This bonus is calculated based on the barbarian's current health percentage from max health.



Paladin talent

Replace Multi Strike with a new talent - Physical Reflect (1% Physical Damage Reflection per talent point, up to a maximum of 10% = 10 talent points). Physical damage reflection returns a percentage of the physical damage taken back to the attacker, dealing that amount as reflected damage whenever the Paladin is hit by a physical attack.



Warlock talent

Replace Advanced Soul Fire with Whirlwind in Immolation (Tier 4). Advanced Soul Fire has a damage cap, making it ineffective within this talent once the cap is reached.

I really liked Savage Blow. In the scenario you described, I'd say Savage Blow doesn't seem overpowered. In fact, it feels more like a class identity talent: it doesn't significantly increase power against a single target, but it finally gives the barbarian a clear advantage over the paladin, in addition to two-handed weapons.

Multi Strike might end up being a weak talent for warriors because it's pure DPS, heavily dependent on critical strike frequency to deal considerable single-target damage. New talent differentiations between paladins and barbarians are great; this generates distinct builds adapted to PvE, PvP, or even different player styles, not just a frantic grind for levels.

Insatiable seems stronger in PvP, which would be great due to the lack of resources for barbarians in PvP. Insatiable probably adds around 7%, 10%, and 14% total DPS across the three stages (10%, 20%, and 30%), which doesn't seem excessively strong, just mandatory for PvP battles.

Regarding paladins, Physical Reflect works well, but I would be careful in PvP. In MMORPGs, reflect is often problematic because:

It automatically scales with enemy damage.

It gets stronger the stronger the attacker gets.

A healthier alternative is:

-> Physical Reflect: Reflects up to 10% of damage received, limited to X% of the Paladin's max HP per hit. For example, it reflects 10% of damage received, limited to 1% of the Paladin's max HP per hit. Above 10,000 HP, the percentage of damage reflected remains limited to 100 (1% of the Paladin's HP).

-> Or: Retribution - When hit, deals fixed damage based on the Paladin's Defending skill. Does not scale with the attacker's damage. Easier to balance. This prevents high-damage builds from killing themselves just by attacking a tank. Example: Paladin with 200 Defending skill, Max Talent = 25% -> 2.5% each talent point, then reflects: 50 damage per hit received.

Overall, the direction seems good: Barbarian gaining more of an AOE berserker identity, while Paladin gains a punitive tank identity. In MMORPGs based on tiles, such as Zezenia, talents that alter how a class occupies and controls space typically generate more depth than simple damage or defense bonuses.

Looks like at least one player finally unlocked the legendary skill called "using their brain" to suggest something actually useful.

Rangers currently seem to outperform warriors and warlocks in PvM progression. They have higher damage, larger AoE spells as Hellish Volley, AoE autoatks through their ricochet and areal arrow and also the same HP as warriors. As a result, they appear to gain EXP significantly more efficiently.

That's just insane from a balancing standpoint.

I don't think rangers need a nerf. Warriors and warlocks just need some buffs for PvM. For example, Barbarians could receive higher damage to compensate for their smaller AoE, also warriors could gain additional base HP. I mean, 20 HP/level, instead 15 as it's currently for rangers and warriors.

Warlocks could receive additional damage on Cross of Annihilation, and the Immolation talent should be fixed, as reported by others, since Advanced Soul Fire stops scaling damage with this talent due to a damage soft cap at 500.

CM Mercury

Back in 2023, you said:

"As my personal opinion the exp/h would be:
Pyromancer
Warlock/barb
Rangers
Shaman/paladin

Just my personal opinion which is not an official statement. Feel free to give your opinions."

Source: https://www.zezeniaonline.com/forum/thread/19862/post180107#180107


Well, that seems to be the right direction toward achieving true balance among all subclasses.

This is precisely what is stated in the in-game library regarding the damage rankings and other characteristics of each subclass, further reinforcing the idea that the Pyromancer should stand alone at the top, followed by the Warlock and Barbarian, then the Rangers, and finally the Shamans alongside the Paladins in terms of experience per hour, as illustrated in the image below.

Barbarians achieve less experience per hour even than shamans, mainly due to the limited size of their spells, especially Shockwave.

Warlocks also gain less experience per hour than Marksmen and Rogues because they only have a single area damage spell to their own subclass that belongs to the most difficult magic type to play — a wave spell — that requires constantly positioning and turning back the character toward the mobs.

The experience gap is not caused solely by differences in damage values, but also by the effective hunting pace and ease of execution.

The current design places Barbarians and Warlocks at a noticeable disadvantage in terms of experience per hour, especially in high density hunting areas where AoE spells are the most important factor for progression.

A rebalance focused on improving size of spells for these subclasses would help bring their performance closer to that of Marksmen, Rogues, and even Shamans, without removing their distinctive strengths and weaknesses, but ensuring they are not significantly disadvantaged in experience gains.

Hello, y'all

Here, some ideas I've been cooking up ... ... ...


~ Warlocks

Don't increase Cross of Annihilation's damage. Warlocks need a new spell to hunt

Suggestion 01

Add a new damage spell named Dark Guillotine
AOE Wave spell; 5 X 6 SQM; 5 seconds cooldown
30% more damage than Cross of Annihilation

Spell Icon




Spell Animation




Suggestion 02

Add a new damage spell named Noxious Gale
AOE Wave spell; 3 X 6 SQM; 5 seconds cooldown
10% more damage than Cross of Annihilation
Applies a poison to hit targets, affecting them for the next 3 seconds
It deals 15% of main damage per second

Spell Icon




Spell Animation





~ Barbarians

They don't fulfill their role anymore. So a damage improvement is needed or another larger spell


Suggestion 01

Shockwave should hit on every SQM around and under the barbarian




New animation idea





Suggestion 02

Add a new damage spell named Bloodthirsty
30% more damage than Shockwave
AOE spell; 10 seconds cooldown
Deals damage around the Barbarian and to the row ahead

X - X - X - X
X - B - X - X
X - X - X - X


Spell Icon




Spell Animation




~ Paladins

Paladin is nice, but Holy Sword is useless. It should be replaced with a new spell that keeps the same damage but brings better mechanics to PvE and PvP


Suggestion

Remove Holy Sword; Add a new spell named Hammer of Wrath
AOE Wave spell; 3 X 4 SQM; 10 seconds cooldown
It should deal the same damage as Holy Sword but cover a larger area

Spell Icon




Spell Animation




~ Shamans

Rework Idea to Thunderbolt

Other Ideas

~Barbarian

Shockwave Remake - increasing the size




~Warlock


Animations for new spells


Poison Wave




Dark Flames Wave

Amazing sprites you did! I really hope the devs take a look at these animations and use them for new spells or class reworks.