All that build up for the barrier re-write and IC is still hands down the best barrier in the game. Damage capped at hard hits. All other barriers dont even come close. There is no reason to run any other barrier as a magic user. From my testing it seems like you all buffed IC instead of nerfing it. Before the rewrite it would cap out at very heavy hits with IC alone. IC + MAF could get it down to solid-hard hits. Now IC alone caps out at hard hits..... Is this a mistake? Whats the point of all this work on barriers if the 1 problem barrier is still the S tier barrier in the game.

In a ranked based game it just doesn't make sense to have the ability to drop an apocalyptic strike down to a hard hit... I guess if the point was to remove the rank gap for anyone that trains sorcery then I guess job well done. What this also forces you to do is to train only discipline and intelligence. Discipline to resist dispells to keep your IC up, and intel to try and remove IC. That's all that the pvp meta has boiled down to.