A call for civility today

Today is going to be an absolute mess. Multiple builds and playstyles are going to be turned on their head and there will inevitably be exploits and glitches. The developers themselves even intimated as much in the blog posts about the balance patch.

They don't expect today to be completely polished and final. This is just the first step in a needed overhaul to make the game more competitive and - hopefully - fun. Were already seeing people freak out about the patch note - and, to their credit, Anet has listened to some of it, choosing to make some of the changes more gradually.

We need to all keep that in mind as we play and experience the changes today. This is STEP ONE. Nothing is written in stone and Anet's long-term goal is to make the game better. So - definitely point out areas where you think improvement is needed, but try to keep the torch and pitchfork rhetoric to a low roar at best. Let's try to work with the developers to refine and polish rather than immediately go on the offensive.

Personally, I am looking forward to today. I like coming up with new builds and fun ways to play - and some of the changes (such as the explosive changes for the engineer) look pretty interesting. My goal is to go in with a positive attitude and come out with a better and more enjoyable game. Look at the rough edges that come with today's update as potential areas for improvement rather than weak points to attack the devs through.

RIIIIOOOOOTTTTT!!!!

Just kidding. Bear mount skin is all I care about

people will hate regardless.

@Dami.5046 said:people will hate regardless.

Definitely - and we will see a lot of it today. It is inevitable.

My point in making the post is that a lot of usually levelheaded people can tend to get caught up in that wave. Im just hoping to remind those more levelheaded people that we are at the start of changes - not the end - and to go into today looking for the good - and what can be improved - rather than immediately tunnel vision on any issues that arise.

So maybe for once it's good that I'm missing patch day? I don't really understand it but Tuesdays are never good days for me to get online. Other than my monthly board gaming evening it's never the same thing twice which keeps me away, but it's relatively rare that I have time on a Tuesday to play, so I usually miss the first day of each update.

Saying that I'm not really that precise with my builds either. Balance patch notes normally leave me wondering what I'm missing that I don't care if a skill takes 1 second or 3/4 of a second to cast or 3 or 5 seconds to recharge. Honestly as long as it's fun to use and I'm usually the one alive at the end of the fight I consider my builds good enough and don't worry about the details. I've been playing what - in my head - is the same character for almost 20 years in so many different RPGs that I've lost count, so I'm used to tweaking builds or finding a compromise between how I see the character working and the options available, and I think it's kind of the same when there's a balance change. I know what my end goal is, I just need to work out the best way to get there.

The one time I remember a balance patch affecting me was back in GW1 when they completely changed how dervishes worked. That made my existing build literally unplayable - some of the skills didn't exist at all any more, others scaled off different attributes or did something completely different. So I left that character for a few days until I had time for some theory crafting, then spent a morning with the Wiki and ended up with a build I actually liked a lot more, including being able to use the Avatar of Melandru elite which I'd always liked the sound of but which was kind of useless (even by my standards) before that update.

I'm hoping eventually - maybe after follow-up updates as well as the initial patch - this balance patch will be the same for a lot of people. What you end up with may not resemble what you started with, but it will hopefully fit what you want the character to do.

Civility died when the forums made it their mission in life to kill mesmers...Now there is only scorn and thief hatred as they have succeeded in thier endeavor.

@Blaeys.3102 said:Today is going to be an absolute mess. Multiple builds and playstyles are going to be turned on their head and there will inevitably be exploits and glitches. The developers themselves even intimated as much in the blog posts about the balance patch.

They don't expect today to be completely polished and final. This is just the first step in a needed overhaul to make the game more competitive and - hopefully - fun. Were already seeing people freak out about the patch note - and, to their credit, Anet has listened to some of it, choosing to make some of the changes more gradually.

We need to all keep that in mind as we play and experience the changes today. This is STEP ONE. Nothing is written in stone and Anet's long-term goal is to make the game better. So - definitely point out areas where you think improvement is needed, but try to keep the torch and pitchfork rhetoric to a low roar at best. Let's try to work with the developers to refine and polish rather than immediately go on the offensive.

Personally, I am looking forward to today. I like coming up with new builds and fun ways to play - and some of the changes (such as the explosive changes for the engineer) look pretty interesting. My goal is to go in with a positive attitude and come out with a better and more enjoyable game. Look at the rough edges that come with today's update as potential areas for improvement rather than weak points to attack the devs through.

I would recommend June Carter & Johnny Cash's, Keep on the Sunny Side to you. Would link but always seems like a trap when people link to exterior sites.

@Randulf.7614 said:Just kidding. Bear mount skin is all I care about

Isn't it kind of sad when it has come to this?

@Ashantara.8731 said:

@Randulf.7614 said:Just kidding. Bear mount skin is all I care about

No?

@Randulf.7614 said:

@Ashantara.8731 said:

@Randulf.7614 said:Just kidding. Bear mount skin is all I care about

Clearly they didn't notice your forum avatar.

@Turkeyspit.3965 said:

@Randulf.7614 said:

@Ashantara.8731 said:

@Randulf.7614 said:Just kidding. Bear mount skin is all I care about

Hahaha!

To be honest, it is so rare Anet make me part with money, for them to do so means they’ve tapped into something I find pretty cool.

Balance patches rarely affect me because I don’t delve into the minutiae of skill coefficients and cds and if a skill does change then I usually adapt in some way

So yeah Bear mount skin is a win for me this patch. I’m pretty bad at wvw, but I enjoy my forays there and this skin will enhance that

I had similar feelings when I found out about the skyscale. I wasn't really worried about what was involved in getting it or whether it would be useful or whatever, I cared that finally an RPG I enjoyed playing had a dragon mount I could fly where I wanted, when I wanted instead of only in cut scenes or on rails or whatever. I knew I'd enjoy using it so that superceeded all the other considerations.

It kind of neat how much the bear skin looks like our poor maligned pegasus (which I also love).

First patch note I noticed - soulbeast can no longer swap pets in combat. Welp, there's a whole lotta fun I'll never have again.

We knew mounts made things super easy and a change was needed. But a time of major changes is the worst time to impact PvE with anything at all from WvW or PvP. That's what makes me less civil. Just so you know how I feel about the changes so far, here’s some new names for your new Warrior Rifle Skills that are more reflective of what they actually do now. The old names really shouldn’t apply anymore.Aimed Shot – Tamed ShotVolley – FollyBrutal Shot – Futile ShotRifle Butt -- Rifle But No KickKill Shot – Nill ShotFierce Shot – Coerce Shot

@Genesis.5169 said:Civility died when the forums made it their mission in life to kill mesmers...Now there is only scorn and thief hatred as they have succeeded in thier endeavor.

I am still sad that they've nerfed their greatest class into the ground. I still don't think there is a class like it in other games. Make MOA great again plx. To add insult to injury, they gave some other classes what they had excelled in: alacrity, portals, etc.

I got hooked on mesmer just before they chain nerfed it into oblivion.

I still play to mess around on beetle and do dailies, But I have to admit the good old days for mesmer are long gone. Chrono was a Masterpiece after it was released. Mirage too!

The fact they gave up all of the best traits and skills to other classes means they knew mesmer was good.

I was very happy to see most players in game yesterday taking the changes in stride - and even enjoying many of them. It looks like the great game destruction many expected to occur with this patch never really did. In fact, the opening sentence of my OP above now seems a little silly. The vitriol has really been confined to the forums - most likely from many who haven't even played since the new patch dropped.

Yesterday went over well with almost everyone I saw in game.

That said, I am wary of the direction they are taking with ccs and removing most of their damage in competitive modes (that is a major deviation from how the game has played since launched), but Im willing to give it a chance and see how gameplay shakes out. Outside of that, there were some really interesting little tweaks that I am actually enjoying (the explosives traits on the engi being at the top of the list).

@Dami.5046 said:people will hate regardless.

Hard not to when we are being force fed hate on a platter.

Damage was nerfed for sure, but it wasn't that bad. A little exaggeration with some player's feedback (difficult to solo camp NPCs etc.). Some skills coefficient did take a big hit (eg. utility skills CC etc.), but most of the damage nerf is still reasonable. No problem taking objectives and all in WvW, tad slower that.