Spellswords: is this balance?

[Quizmar]

Spellswords needed to lose some AC. Why did they gain damage? Marauder is losing more AC as a low AC path, gaining more damage as a higher damage path. Why aren’t the nerfs more focused on the actual problem: Abjurant Champion?

Also, why does Abjurant Champion still get a free epic spell focus? It costs mages an epic feat, costs warlocks an epic feat just to get the little bonus Ward feature that comes with it.

on discord yesterday reading some responses in the character building i saw a ton of cope from SS mains about the changes, its insane to me that they essentially got a net-zero power change and people were coping extremely hard and talking about rolling their characters. It went from being the best class, to still being the best class. It's just better in every way to sorc/wiz, it gets all the functionality, has the pet rogue, but can actually fight in battle while having access to all the utility spells.
I see SS as the equivalent of super smash bros melee fox, like, why is it so good its obviously OP

[Paint]

I should stress that the AC loss is likely to have higher impact on SS's sustain in PVE than it is in PVP. Granted, 4 AC is still a Big Hit, and I'm not attempting to understate it, but because there's an option to regain some of that AC at the cost of AB, the SS nerf was likely targeting SS's PVE performance specifically rather than its PVP performance. I'm convinced that in PVP, spellsword's additional damage will, in part, make up for its lack of AC in PVP, especially on high-crit builds.

Additionally, given that warlock's PVE power was nerfed in the same update, and all casters who rely on -summons- had their PVE performance considerably impacted just days before, this is likely a wave of changes specifically made to diminish the staying power of classes that are particularly adept at handling PVE solo.

It's very possible we'll see more changes to the PVE staying power of other classes which are particularly adept at performing high-end PVE solo.

I'm sure you can argue back and forth on whether or not these changes accomplish their intended goals, but I will say that that AC loss is very easy to feel in PVE.

Edit:
TL;DR, while this does change how Spellswords will perform in PVP, the change was likely targeting PVE. So for those of you confused as to why Spellsword's core kit hasn't been altered -- the real stuff that makes Spellsword dangerous in PVP -- it's because that wasn't the intent.

[Jencent]

to diminish the staying power of classes that are particularly adept at handling PVE solo.

Yeah. NERF DD! We are wait for this long time.