Honestly the entire conceptualization of balance being Melee dot>ranged dot = melee burst>ranged burst is pretty stupid. Not because it's unfair in principle, but because it is terribly unfair, and unfun in execution. Dot specs should edge out burst, but not to the point where burst specs are unviable. There are currently many instances of specs being unviable, and they do not even follow the balance profile. Madness is worse than lightning, but nerfing lightning does not make either competitive (not to mention madness is also getting a roundabout nerf). There should be a whole let less worry about creating an over blown tier list based on role, and more focus on allowing players to play what they like, in whatever form of content they engage in. As a rule of thumb utility shouldn't impact throughput, but right now, utility is so out of balance, that coupled with the massive dps spread, there are some specs that are simply the right answer to most problems the game presents. That is a failure of game design, in a game where there are so many different specs. Viability should be the baseline for all classes in the game. Some might perform certain roles better or worse, but the delta from top to bottom should never be such that the bottom classes cannot clear content, even with hyper optimized groups of skilled players, because they are that bad. Lightning honestly should be the floor, right now. Everything below it should probably be buffed, not lightning nerfed. The halted offensive gameplay loop is bad, no one likes hardcasting HOs, but, that should be accomplished through a longer cast time, and compensatory buffs, not four additional nerfs. Specs that have no utility, no damage niche, NEED to be buffed, so there is a reason to bring them to content. Player's have preferences, and those preferences shouldn't make them automatically ineligible to play the game. If there is one thing to take away from my rambling, VIABILITY SHOULD BE THE BASELINE

Alright I made a post about hatred before the lightning/tele nerfs were added. What, is the reasoning for this? Five nerfs for one spec, a spec which is by all accounts middle, or lower middle of the pack? Explain what philosophy is motivating these changes? Is lightning literally not allowed to be viable? The current gameplay loop with hardcasted HOs isn't the best imo, when I play lightning I like instant casts, or very quick casts, but that doesn't mean nerf the spec to irrelevancy, which is what these nerfs will accomplish. If arsenal players are in the gutter, and not allowed to play their favorite spec because it is literally unviable, then the answer should be to buff them, rather than nuke another middling rdps for the sin of being somewhat viable. I shouldn't get mad about a video game, really, but this change is rather rage inducing given Lightning's meager current performance. You are saying don't play this spec in higher end content, and as lightning is my preferred spec, should these changes go through, I will listen to what you are saying and play something else, and that doesn't necessarily mean a different class.

I'm a fairly casual player, so perhaps the lack Hatred's current depth is a pain point for long time, higher end players, but returning force management to the spec is not a direction I think to be enjoyable. While the option exists for death field to return force, the talent is a substantial trade off and therefore not a good fix. There is then the problem that thrash is not used rotationally, which it should be in my mind, but nerfing the playstyle by returning a constraint should be avoided. I lack a deep understanding of the mechanics of the spec, and how dramatically saber strike no longer ticking damage will affect performance, but I can say with certainty, that force management itself is not a fun mechanic for hatred, as it is for say corruption. The downtime between short rotational cds being filled with abilities that feel like they do meaningful damage, and/or have meaningful interactions should be a goal, but if saber strike becomes a button which doesn't interact with anything, and is just used as filler to not consume force, the class feels worse to play. My two cents on the other dps nerfs, is they should be avoided. It is always a terrible feeling to play a nerfed spec off the bat, and changes which also negatively impact gameplay for sake of balance should be absolutely avoided, at all costs. With the current spread, it would be better to buff dramatically underperforming dps which just feels much better, and alleviates concerns of losing viability for players already invested in their characters. While there always has to be a bottom, and a top dps, the spread shouldn't be so great that it may be literally impossible for some dps to clear certain content. Furthermore, from what I understand of high end pve, there are already some insane dps checks, that require strange comps, or specific classes to meet, pushing out numerous classes from the realm of v iability. As such, allowing more specs to be viable can only be a good thing, and nerfing some, only a bad thing.