I wish to add my 2 cents to the proposal of Swordsman.

1. I think Flurry should be moved out of the Swordsman tree and placed in Teras Kasi Artist since its a defense mechanic, perhaps placed past Master Teras Kasi?
2. I have a bias for Flurry being cut from %20->%10 (Test Center), my reasoning is even with much damage reduction (55% along with 13k Armor) using Flurry it still is very difficult to tank Elite Blackscale Guard Captain(s).
3. Cutting Swordsman damage I really cannot care if it goes up or down, I primarily took Swordsman for Flurry not damage, and also for Strikethrough as my Assassin build I wanted to reach 34% Strikethrough Chance and Swordsman provided it.

Separate consideration...

4. On the note of Damage I think Melee is way overpowered or on the flip side Ranged needs a boost, personally I would like Ranged to see a boost of 20% Ranged Damage from the Commando Tree instead of 8%, in addition to that I would like to see Precision get a Ranged Damage boost from the STAT much like Strength provides Melee Damage.

I would like to add thou that its hard to gauge where things are going to land after we get 3-piece jewelry sets and additional mods.

An interesting suggestion to move Flurry out of Swordsman, I can see the logic behind it but I would caution on adding that to TKM as it is now since TKM works as an amazing offensive and defensive class for Melee in general.

If we would move Flurry there, then I would then reduce the melee damage within that tree as, going from top to bottom, it gives a 38% melee damage increase, not including the damage stance that can be taken advantage of.

Personally, I do feel that melee damage in TKM is already quite high and could use a look over. In this context though with Swordsman, I’d be interested to look at the end result as a removal of the 4% armor neglect is a notable damage decrease.

As for Devastation, I’d be interested to see how it plays out from 16 to 13%.

I'm not really in favor of adjustments to devastation at all right now with a full update on the horizon that will change power levels of defensives and offensives. Its very premature to adjust it before there is any significant testing of new 3 piece jewelry sets, slicing and food revamps. Especially when outside of this chaneg ~ 6 months ago, we spent the better part of two years with feedback like "devastation is too weak" and "devastation is not worth getting".

As for Swordsman, while it may warrant adjustments, I am against giving it one-two pummel. This goes against the design on 2h weapons, to hit slower (2s weapon speed), but hit harder. The armor neglect fits the playstyle, one two pommel does not and dealing extra attacks with the 2h weapon damage may have the reverse of the intended affect here.

Yeah whatever the changes are, I have rarely heard the end of it about how over tuned swordsman and devastation are. The good news is we've given it a good length of time to settle and ensure the builds are mature, so we can be pretty empirical.

Its good though, I know the approach is often to go with bold changes and then dial back as needed. Trust the process, as they say :LOL:

Reducing the armor pen by 4% in return for extra chances to hit with a high damage weapon is the reverse of lowering the damage.