Jump to content
  • Sign Up

Balance Patch Preview - PvP


Cal Cohen.2358

Recommended Posts

Suppriesed to see Herald healing skill Facet of Light/ Infuse light untouched. Maybe cap the max amount of damage it can heal.Also, please consider toning down the power of theif short bow 5 skill infiltraitors arrow. Maybe it should used on an enemy target so that it's used for infiltration instead of just being hands down the best mobility in the game.

Lastly, gonna be sad to see big ol' bomb doing 2 damage :(

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@Cal Cohen.2358 said:

Engineer

Profession Mechanics

Photon Forge

  • Autoattack Chain: Reduced power coefficients from 0.6/1.0/1.6 to 0.4/.666/1.066
  • Holo Leap: Reduced power coefficient from 1.25 to 0.91
  • Corona Burst: Reduced might and vulnerability durations from 8 seconds to 6 seconds
  • Photon Blitz: Reduced power coefficient per strike from 0.3 to 0.2
  • Holographic Shockwave: Reduced power coefficient from 0.56 to 0.01

Weapons

Rifle

  • Hip Shot: Reduced power coefficient from 0.65 to 0.44
  • Net Shot: Reduced power coefficient from 0.5 to 0.3. Increased cooldown from 9 seconds to 10 seconds
  • Blunderbuss: Reduced minimum power coefficient from 1.1 to 0.5. Reduced maximum power coefficient from 1.76 to 1.31. Increased cooldown from 9 seconds to 12 seconds
  • Overcharged Shot: Reduced power coefficient from 1.0 to 0.01. Increased cooldown from 14 seconds to 15 seconds
  • Jump Shot: Reduced initial leap power coefficient from 0.3 to 0.1. Reduced landing power coefficient from 2.4 to 1.74. Reduced vulnerability duration from 7 seconds to 6 seconds. Increased cooldown from 18 seconds to 20 seconds

Pistol

  • Fragmentation Shot: Reduced power coefficient from 0.4 to 0.266
  • Poison Dart Volley: Reduced power coefficient per hit from 0.4 to 0.2. Increased poison duration from 7 seconds to 10 seconds.
  • Static Shot: Reduced power coefficient per hit from 0.4 to 0.3
  • Blowtorch: Adjusted minimum burning from 4 stacks for 3 seconds to 2 stacks for 6 seconds. Adjusted maximum burning from 4 stacks for 6 seconds to 2 stacks for 12 seconds. Increased cooldown from 12 seconds to 15 seconds

Hammer

  • Autoattack Chain:
    • Positive Bash: Reduced power coefficient from 0.7 to 0.533. Reduced might duration from 8 seconds to 6 seconds
    • Negative Bash: Reduced power coefficient from 1.0 to 0.666. Reduced vulnerability duration from 8 seconds to 6 seconds
    • Equalizing blow: Reduced power coefficient from 1.4 to 0.933. Reduced might and vulnerability durations from 8 seconds to 6 seconds
  • Electro-Whirl: Reduced power coefficient per strike from 1.2 to 0.68. Increased cooldown from 6 seconds to 8 seconds
  • Rocket Charge: Reduced power coefficient per strike from 1.1 to 0.74. Increased cooldown from 12 seconds to 18 seconds
  • Shock Shield: Reduced power coefficient per strike from 0.25 to 0.1
  • Thunderclap: Reduced power coefficient per strike from 0.8 to 0.45. Reduced vulnerability duration from 8 seconds to 6 seconds

Sword

  • Autoattack Chain: Reduced power coefficients from 0.88/0.93/1.5 to 0.586/0.62/1.0. Reduced vulnerability duration from 10 seconds to 6 seconds
  • Refraction Cutter: Reduced strike power coefficient from 1.0 to 0.75
  • Radiant Arc: Reduced base quickness duration from 2 seconds to 1 second. Reduced bonus quickness duration per 50% heat from 2 seconds to 1 second

Heal

  • Static Shock (AED Toolbelt): Reduced power coefficient from 1.0 to 0.01
  • Healing Turret: Increased cooldown from 20 seconds to 30 seconds
  • Med Blaster (Med Kit 1): Reduced heal coefficient from 0.2 to 0.1
  • Medic Gyro: Increased cooldown from 20 seconds to 30 seconds. Reduced pulse heal coefficient from 0.6 to 0.25. Reduced initial heal coeffcient from 0.7 to 0.2
  • Reconstruction Field (Medic Gyro Toolbelt): Reduced protection duration from 2 seconds to 1 second
  • Coolant Blast: Increased cooldown from 20 seconds to 25 seconds

Utility

  • Big Ol' Bomb (Bomb Kit Toolbelt): Reduced power coefficient from 2.475 to 0.01. Reduced cooldown from 25 seconds to 20 seconds
  • Grenade Barrage (Grenade Kit Toolbelt): Reduced power coefficient per grenade from 0.6 to 0.5
  • Super Elixir (Elixir Gun 5): Reduced pulse base heal from 204 to 163. Reduced pulse heal coefficient from 0.1 to 0.05
  • Magnet (Tool Kit 5): Increased cooldown from 20 seconds to 25 seconds
  • Elixir B: Reduced boon durations from 10 seconds to 6 seconds. Reduced cooldown from 40 seconds to 30 seconds
  • Toss Elixir B (Elixir B Toolbelt): Reduced might duration from 10 seconds to 6 seconds
  • Toss Elixir S: Reduced stealth duration from 5 seconds to 3 seconds
  • Personal Battering Ram: Reduced power coefficient from 1.25 to 0.01. Reduced ammo recharge from 25 seconds to 20 seconds
  • Launch Personal Battering Ram (Personal Battering Ram Toolbelt): Reduced power coefficient from 1.5 to 0.5
  • Rocket Boots: Reduced power coefficient from 1.25 to 0.5
  • Super Speed (Slick Shoes Toolbelt): Reduced superspeed duration from 5 seconds to 3 seconds
  • Throw Mine: Reduced power coefficient from 2.0 to 0.01. Increased boons removed from 1 to 3
  • Mine Field (Throw Mine Toolbelt): Reduced power coefficient per mine from 0.77 to 0.5
  • Surprise Shot (Rifle Turret Toolbelt): Reduced power coefficient from 1.0 to 0.5
  • Rocket Turret: Reduced overcharge power coefficient from 2.75 to 0.01
  • Thump (Thumper Turret Toolbelt): Reduced power coefficient from 1.0 to 0.01
  • Blast Gyro: Reduced power coefficient from 2.25 to 0.01. Reduced might duration from 8 seconds to 6 seconds. Reduced cooldown from 25 seconds to 20 seconds
  • Bypass Coating (Blast Gyro Toolbelt): Increased cooldown from 30 seconds to 35 seconds
  • Defense Field (Bulwark Gyro Toolbelt): Increased cooldown from 30 seconds to 40 seconds
  • Spectrum Shield: WvW will now use the PvP version of the skill (25% reduced recharge over heat threshold)
  • Hard Light Arena: Reduced field duration from 8 seconds to 4 seconds. Reduced bonus field duration from 4 seconds to 2 seconds. Reduced cooldown from 45 seconds to 30 seconds
  • Prismatic Singularity (Hard Light Arena Toolbelt): Reduced power coefficient from 0.1 to 0.01. Reduced cooldown from 45 seconds to 35 seconds
  • Photon Wall: Reduced power coefficient per wall from 1.5 to 0.5
  • Particle Accelerator (Photon Wall Toolbelt): Reduced power coefficient from 0.7 to 0.4. Increased cooldown from 8 seconds to 10 seconds

Elite

  • Supply Crate: Reduced power coefficient from 1.0 to 0.01. Increased stun duration from 2 seconds to 3 seconds. Reduced cooldown from 120 seconds to 90 seconds
  • Sneak Gyro: PvP will now use the WvW version of the skill (60s cd)
  • Prime Light Beam: Reduced power coefficient from 3.0 to 0.01. Reduced cooldown from 60 seconds to 40 seconds

Traits

Firearms

  • Sharpshooter: Reduced bleeding duration from 3 seconds to 1 second
  • Serrated Steel: Reduced bonus bleeding duration from 33% to 15%
  • Thermal Vision: Reduced expertise from 150 to 60
  • Juggernaut: Reduced might duration from 12 seconds to 6 seconds. Reduced bonus might duration from 20% to 10%
  • Incendiary Powder: Reduced bonus burning duration from 33% to 10%. Reduced burning duration from 8 seconds to 4 seconds

Inventions

  • Experimental Turrets: Reduced might duration from 10 seconds to 6 seconds
  • Bunker Down: Increased internal cooldown from 3 seconds to 4 seconds
  • Medical Dispersion Field: Reduced heal share percentage from 50% to 25%

Alchemy

  • Hidden Flask: Reduced boon durations from 8 seconds to 4 seconds
  • Compounding Chemicals: Reduced concentration from 240 to 75
  • Invigorating Speed: Increased internal cooldown from 5 seconds to 10 seconds
  • Protection Injection: Increased internal cooldown from 20 seconds to 30 seconds
  • Health Insurance: Reduced outgoing heal bonus from 20% to 7%
  • Comeback Cure: Reduced regeneration duration from 4 seconds to 1.5 seconds
  • Emergency Elixir: Increased internal cooldown from 40 seconds to 60 seconds
  • HGH: Adjusted might duration from 2 stacks for 15 seconds to 3 stacks for 6 seconds
  • Purity of Purpose: Boon durations have been adjusted as follows:
    • Protection, Quickness, Stability, Alacrity: Reduced from 3 seconds to 1.5 seconds
    • Resistance: Reduced from 2 seconds to 1.5 seconds
    • Fury, Aegis, Retaliation, Regeneration: Reduced from 5 seconds to 3 seconds
    • Vigor: Reduced from 10 seconds to 3 seconds
    • Might, Swiftness: Reduced from 10 seconds to 5 seconds

Tools

  • Static Discharge: Reduced power coefficient from 0.33 to 0.2
  • Power Wrench: Reduced cooldown reduction from 33% to 20%. Reduced elite skill recharge from 3 seconds to 1 second
  • Lock On: Reduced fury duration from 5 seconds to 2.5 seconds. Adjusted vulnerability from 10 stacks for 8 seconds to 5 stacks for 6 seconds
  • Takedown Round: Reduced power coefficient from 2.0 to 0.5
  • Kinetic Battery: Reduced quickness duration from 3 seconds to 2 seconds

Scrapper

  • Gyroscopic Acceleration: Reduced superspeed duration from 5 seconds to 3 seconds
  • Mass Momentum: Reduced stability duration from 5 seconds to 3 seconds
  • Expert Examination: Reduced weakness duration from 4 seconds to 3 seconds

Holosmith

  • Heat Therapy: Reduced base heal per stack from 49 to 39
  • Thermal Release Valve: Reduced power coefficient from 0.75 to 0.1. Reduced burning duration from 6 seconds to 2 seconds

I still think the pistol main-hand auto attack for Engi needs to match its tooltip of .5s cast time, instead of .8s cast time that it is currently.

As well, Inventions needs a serious looking into. It doesn't have much synergy with itself in terms of regeneration and the like.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@"Foshizle.9802" said:I don't understand Shadow Arts nerf. It's currently a meta trait on more than 1 build, none of which really uses "Shadow's Rejuvenation" let alone "Merciful ambush".Given the overall nerfs and thief play style remaining the same, SA will be be even better in perspective than it currently is.

Overall stealth was barely touched, heartseeker ignored (it will hit pretty hard after these nerfs), shadow shot went from 4 to 5 innitiative,... thief meta strength received a very gentle slap compared to other specs.

But overall well done, this was needed.

This. If you're going to hit everyone hit thieves in sa harder. The last thing we need is this getting soured by permastealth.

Im usually not one for proposing thief hits because squishy, but by extension all thieves just got less squishy. They can take more shaving to SA in particular. Leeching venoms and siphoning can probably be dialed back.

Also people who wanted exorbitant nerfs getting them but also getting their cheese nerfed WHEEZE

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I obviously didnt read every change in huge detail and wont understand the implications of these changes until its possible to test them, but some of these changes seem very questionable. For starters, a 0.01 power coefficient on cc seems like overkill. CC is too powerful right now but i think the problem is the abundance of cc skills, not the damage they do. However since removing some cc entirely is probably too big of a change, increasing cooldowns, or even a 0.1 power coefficient would probably be enough to make cc skills damage much more reasonable, while still making them do enough damage to secure a down/kill or be a significant part of a damage combo.

Second, there dont seem to be many nerfs to mobility skills, either in range or cd time. Mobility needs to be tuned down if damage is being tuned down since the gap between low and high mobility classes is very large. With lower damage, fights will likely last longer and depend more on positioning and kiting, which will make mobility even more important and impactful.

Lastly i didnt really see many changes to condition damage and cleansing but I probably just skimmed over it, or its in the general notes. Im skeptical that just reducing the number of stacks is going to make condi more engaging and fun to fight&play.

Overall its great to see so many changes all focused at reducing power creep and improving the quality of gameplay.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm kinda on board with where anet seems to be going with this.

However, I am also somewhat worried that they're trying to fix things with large amounts of numerical changes. Some numbers do need to be nerfed, yes, but there are also some deep-rooted mechanical issues present that cannot be fixed just by changing a damage coefficient.

I don't even like mirage and I already feel bad w/that -1 dodge. Goodness gracious, that is def too harsh right there.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@"Cal Cohen.2358"

Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. I wanted such dmg reductions since HoT. However as others correctly mentioned; if these changes are to come through then Thiefs Shadow Arts and its huge stealth uptime will need a nerf too, maybe put other requirements on the Stealth on Heal (like "be below 50% hp" or something of the sorts) and other traits.So far this might be the very best balance update I have ever gotten to read and I absolutely can't wait for it.

I have to admit lots of the past updates have been somewhat of a disappointment to me let alone trying to survive current meta, but this one, oh joy, I agree with every single line.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Also, PLEASE CHECK OTHER THREAD if you haven't already.

Theres some juicy stuff in those too. I know Cal mentioned it but I need the soulbeasts to know they can only use one pet now.

@ArthurDent.9538 said:Aside from how terrible balance is inevitably going be after basically flipping the board on this game, can we please stop blanket nerfing all hard cc skills to negligable damage. Cast time, cool down, range, and cc duration all need to be weighed against each other to determine appropriate damage levels. All this does is make long cool down well telegraphed CC's like prime light beam complete trash compared to more spammable and less telegraphed stuff like overcharged shot.

After this patch goes live we can see which CC skills fall off the charts.I don't think prime light beam is one of them though. 40 second cd launch is still hot, especially since it hits multi, drops a fire field on high heat, and can be precast from stealth.

Also its a 1.25 windup cast for 1200 range, unblockable less if you got quickness. If anyone should be complaining about their cc skills lacking damage its reaper but it's too early to even say that.

Let them make all the cc hit for null. I want to see how that plays out.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Simply put most of these changes i am good with wont even lie tons of nerfs but it needed to happen im happy to see that some professions on paper dont look like they will be over nerfed compared to the obvious ones that really really really needed it.

I was expecting necro to be over nerfed but i am fine with the damage nerfs to be honest necro will be even more weak to cc now though but i mean that was already a thing. On paper it looks like damage soaking for necromancer as it was designed to do will be some what on par with damage evasion that other professions have but again this is on paper.

Necros sustain now will mainly depend on how everyone elses damage output looks and i would say with everyone dropping down and boons also coming down this is looking like one of you best balance passes so far.

Im sad at the loss of foot in the grave although it was weak as heck but you replaced it with something that might actually see use and most defiantly should have been included in the necromancers kit in some way. I can say if this was the perfect spot for it but its good to see that a trait like "Eternal Life" was added in the general notes.

Im super happy to see some of the insane stuff go and some elites get more proper trade offs like the other already have.

Im still waiting on a total scourge rework though i dont see anyone using that even with the reduction to everything else its just too clunky overall on paper these notes so far look like solid 8/10. I would say this is mostly step in the right direction for competitive modes.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@"Curennos.9307" said:Don't even like mirage and I already feel bad w/that -1 dodge. Goodness gracious, that is def too harsh right there.

Harsh like fighting them on a melee low mobility spec has been for the past couple years?In the distance, cackling "Tradeoffff! Tradeofff!"

@Nebilim.5127 said:Why was stealth largely untouched?

Probably because the damage you can do out of it got shaved too, and stealth alone is detrimental to contest.Def up for shaving that if needs be though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The changes and the theory therein looks great to me, but there were some outstanding "Just why?" thoughts that I had, while reading through these notes. Some of these changes are either too much of a nerf or just too weird in my opinion. Let me try to summarize this up and make it short & sweet. Just to point out some things I think the community needs to be paying attention to and discussing before this patch:

Warrior:

  • Global - The Rifle changes seem quite strong, all the new ammo skills and RButt refresh may allow War/Bers to be "Ranger worthy" so to say, in terms of ranged efficiency. People complained so much about Ranger & Deadeye, will these War changes be a good thing?
  • PvP Split - I understand that the idea here is to lower CC damage, but War's design as a class revolves around so much casual CC, that with all of these CC Skill coefficient damages dropping through the floor, that in conjunction with War receiving large damage nerfs to normal non CC skills as well, I think War is losing way too much damage. It's going to become a kitty cat patsy class, similar to Druid now. It's whole role and reason of being able to CC lock down, will be rendered useless when it simply has no damage output while doing it.

Guardian:

  • Global - Nothing outstanding to comment
  • PvP Split - Looks good next to other class changes, however nerfing Deflecting Shot to .001 on longbow will make this already competitively weak weapon kit, actually useless. The DH longbow will have no damage output. I'm talking practical damage output, things that you can realistically hit players with in pvp. Trying to make up for Deflecting Shot damage loss in LB#4 LB#5 is not going to work. In no way is it a fair tradeoff.

Revenant:

  • I don't feel like I understand it enough to give good feedback on these changes. But from what I can tell, it seems good.

Engineer:

  • Looks good & rounded for what this patch is supposed to accomplish.

Thief:

  • Global - Looks good but there is this one thing -> Choking Gas: This ability now dazes foes on its initial impact rather than when they are above a poison stack threshold. The daze duration has been increased from 0.5s to 1s. Increased initiative cost from 4 to 6 in PvP and WvW. Woaaaaaaah might want to rethink that one. I thought all CC skills were going to lower damage right? Well this Choking Gas is maintaining condi pressure while being granted kind of a Super CC status there. That's not going to be good for what this patch wanted to accomplish. Seriously guys, it should not be dazing immediately on each cast. We are going to see Daredevil Bunkers who hold nodes through means of sheer CC output due to this skill. They won't even be worried about actually killing a player. They'll just hold a node and stall with good usage of Swipe CC, Choking Gas play, and w/e else CC they want to add in here. That's going to be a very fresh annoying build structure that should be avoided before it is even implemented into a patch where everything is supposed to be getting nerfed.
  • PvP Split - Looks fine to me.

Ranger: "My area of greatest commentary. I'll go a bit deeper here, coming from a long time Ranger main."

  • Global - 1) No longer swap pets in combat = completely agree with this. 2) Honed Axes: Baseline ferocity is now also applied to your pet = Woah woah woah woah. Ok, you guys better make sure that feroc bonus isn't going to equate to a +480 feroc bonus for the Ranger while in merge, or we're going to be seeing a disproportionate buff to Soulbeast, when this patch was supposed to be a tranquilizer to power creep. 3) Lead the Wind: No longer grants swiftness when performing a projectile combo. Instead grants swiftness for 10 seconds and quickness for 5 seconds (2.5 seconds in PvP and WvW) when striking with an attack from beyond 1200 range. This effect has a 15 second cooldown. = mmmmm this is awfully stronk. I dunno, I'd like to hear player feedback from other Ranger mains on this one. 4) Druidic Clarity: This trait no longer causes entering Celestial Avatar to stunbreak. = What the hell is this? Druid in the past 5-6 seasons, and even since HoT, has already undergone ENORMOUS nerfing. Pet attribute cut by 20%, CA CD on almost an unrealistic timer to even use practically, Staff #3 AG removal of evade frame which was detrimental to its competitive play, and then just in general massive nerfs to the heal factor of its kit. Now you're laying down removal of stun break on CA and granting even further nerfing to its kit? Come on Arenanet! The class was already functioning previously to this patch, as if it had already undergone this patch. If you would have at left its heal kit alone, it may have been a half viable support next to FB, after this patch hits. But after this even further nerfing to its kit, the Druid's class kit will be useless in competitive modes still, and the Druid will not be functional without that stun break off Druidic Clarity. So now that specialization after all of the nerfing you've done to it, is now going to be rendered as a flat-footed target with a bad heal kit that doesn't do squat. A Druid will be a nerfed Core Ranger who is missing a 3rd valuable core trait line, that instead has a bad specialization line that offers nothing defensive at all, outside of a badly designed kit that cannot be used competitively for all of the reasons that I have already covered heavily in these threads: https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/77006/lets-talk-about-druid-competitively-after-pet-nerf-and-buffs-that-ca-deserves - https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/82294/discussion-about-detrimental-weapon-kit-changes-for-all-classes - https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/86250/reworking-underperforming-specs-druid-edition
  • PvP Split - Way way way way too much heal nerfing for Druid. My good dudes at the office, the class has virtually no heal factor in competitive modes already. I mean it is like 1/4th the heal output of a FB now, and the kit is not practical to use for team support in competitive modes "read the links I posted if you want to know why". You guys need to leave the healing alone on Druid. Seriously, go into a game for yourselves, load up a maximum heal factor Druid build and go try healing some people in the mists. You can do it easily by standing OOC on a pillar in the arena, and landing CA skills on people's heads who are dueling. You will quickly see that burning a full CA bar's worth of skills, is just bad heal output. Now imagine trying to use that bad heal output while being attack by something that has a ton of CCs, when you're in a bad heal kit, and have no offensive pressure. Leave the Druid alone. Good god guys. Just why? Outside of that, can't argue with any other changes.

Elementalist:

  • I don't know the class well enough for any heavy commentary. Seems like it got hit hard though.

Necromancer:

  • Strangely enough, seems good. Quite a bit more disengage potential added. I think it will pan out well.

Mesmer:

  • Nothing seemed too outstanding to comment on, until I got to this: Mirage Cloak: This trait now reduces the mirage's endurance by 50 in competitive modes = Woah woah! Is that... necessary? I mean a lot of people with long time aggression vs. Mirage are probably thinking "YEAH IT DESERVES IT. SCREW MIRAGE" but really guys, without the ability to double dodge roll when needed, the Mirage is going to frequently be caught in the kinds of bursting that it cannot avoid. I think Arenanet needs to seriously reconsider this very heavy handed nerf.

As far as amulet removal, 4 stat combos being turned down, and rune boon/condi durations being turned down, not so sure how I really feel about this yet. But I can say that removing diversity & choice is not the right path to take here. I do understand the idea behind removing boon/condi durations, which I completely 100% agree with. But I don't want to be pigeonholed into a small selection of options. That's not fun. I guess we'll see how it pans out.

~ EDIT

Furthermore after thinking about it quite a bit on the past 24 hours, this 0 damage CC stuff is bad idea boys. I can see turning down the damage output some over powered CCs, but things are just not over powered at all that are CCs, such as Deflecting Shot or the entire Warrior Hammer Kit. Turning down 2HKO damage potential on something like Rampage is a good idea, although I'd have rather seen that stuff go to about 50% of it's original damage output, not to no damage at all. But bringing things like Def Shot & War Hammer Kit down to 0 damage CCs when that stuff was already weak to begin with? That's just as good as deleting that stuff from play entirely. And no we aren't talking "oh it simply isn't viable for meta" no no no no, what you're doing here by bringing those kids of weak skills down to 0 damage is quit seriously as good as deleting it from the game and ruining the class specializations tied to them entirely. This 0 damage on hard CCs is also coming with a very very large intra-class loss in QUICKNESS uptime. <- That alone is going to cut out a ton of damage. Right now people are only looking at the damage coefficient numbers while giving their feedback. They haven't quite noticed yet how mass loss in Quickness boon duration uptime will also effect damage output, as well as the 0 damage hard CCs. This next patching is going to be HoT like sustainy. Despite the small cuts to heals & CDs, the enormous damage loss is far heavier than the small cuts we are receiving in sustain factor. Consider this.

@Cal Cohen.2358 I couldn't urge Arenanet enough, to reconsider that 1 decision out of all decisions in this patch, to bring all hard CCs down to 0 damage output. This is going to mutilate the intra-class dynamic in ways that we have never seen before. I think bringing hard CCs down to simply 50% of the original damage values is adequate. This .001 damage stuff is going to cause deep problems with certain specializations and the practical use of their kits at all.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hello.I really hoped that you would change the "Unload" skill and show some love to P/P pvp. Right now it is a very slow (1.5 sec), expensive (6 ini), easily avoided skill that does moderate damage. You almost never get 1 initiative back and 8 hits, since everyone dodges, blocks, reflects, absorbs. And now you plan to cut the damage from both the auto attack and the "Unload". Why reduce auto attack damage? It is already very weak for power builds.Can you change the skill so that the initiative is spent during the application of the skill, and not immediately? This will allow more flexibility to manage the stock of initiative. Or reduce the application time if you decide to reduce damage.P/P is only weapons set that doesn't have any viable defense. No stealth acsess, no evade, no block. "Black Powder" was nerfed. Another idea is to make "Black Powder" smoke cloud to block projectile, like DE 4 skill. P/P need some defense.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The only major caveat with this sort of direction is the fact that you aren't really changing ALL THAT MUCH if the majority of these changes address only one aspect of gameplay: the cadence. What these "sweeping" changes technically all boil down to is that any instance of PvP combat will simply just last longer. There are a number of opportunities for design change with this sort of gameplay shift, but ultimately, I don't see all that much coming from this. GW2 would still remain more or less as a "Simon Says" sort of game in which combat is determined entirely by "favorable match-ups" and feeling out an opponent's cooldown cycles; it's mostly muscle memory and esoteric knowledge that is cultivated outside of active gameplay.

It's a shame that most, if not all, of the people who actually made GW2 have already left ArenaNet. We are left with a staff who can't do much aside from adjust some numbers in hopes of generating a change which will appear drastic enough to the playerbase in hopes that said playerbase might take any given "big patch" as something substantial and "game-changing." If this weren't the case, we wouldn't see Warrior off-hand mace (an UTTERLY un-used PvP weapon) receiving random nerfs to cooldowns and damage coefficients, but rather a complete, functional redesign.

You probably could have achieved exactly what this patch attempts to do by just giving every (except Thief), like, 3 extra dodges baseline. Edit: Removing damage from hard CC was AN ENTIRE 8 YEARS IN THE MAKING I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS. FINALLY. ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS THAT IT TOOK YOU PEOPLE THIS LONG.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@"Trevor Boyer.6524" said:Mesmer:

  • Nothing seemed too outstanding to comment on, until I got to this: Mirage Cloak: This trait now reduces the mirage's endurance by 50 in competitive modes = Woah woah! Is that... necessary? I mean a lot of people with long time aggression vs. Mirage are probably thinking "YEAH IT DESERVES IT. SCREW MIRAGE" but really guys, without the ability to double dodge roll when needed, the Mirage is going to frequently be caught in the kinds of bursting that it cannot avoid. I think Arenanet needs to seriously reconsider this very heavy handed nerf.

sigh.I want to be petty and I'll continue being petty later but, putting that aside:

But mirrors grant evade to mes, and some of their utilities outright create these. I think being forced to tag mirrors to cover the rest of their evade sounds suitable.

If it's too much though, at least try adding easier access to vigor to bridge the gap before going the emergency revert route.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think thief initiative regen should get slowed. Builds like s/d thief are going to be nuts post-patch because their tempos haven't been nerfed.

Who cares if the damage gets nerfed when s/d thief can still use their s3 evade multiple times. And defensive cooldowns have been increased so it's just gonna be incredibly strong.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi, as a fellow necro main that plays in Plat 2, i just saw that you guys didn't revert the nerf that made shades not work on the player unless you use manifest shade on yourself , please I beg you guys to look after scourge based on mechanical issues that happen on pvp and play a few matches with him to realize how bad this skill looks.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As a lifelong ranger in PvP I support all of these changes, and look forward to the new and interesting metas.We debated this in HoTM today and everyone generally agrees the ranger dial backs were for the best, as will also enable other pets and specs to be playable.--Will we FINALLY see spirits in conquest again?!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Okay, now with a bit clearer head.

The direction is completely off the mark. I dunno why you guys keep yoyoing on the game speed. When I started in 2015, it was heavy bunker, then later in 2015 became pirate ship, with HoT it became bunker, and remained so for a while. In the end of HoT, I think it is was the best as far as I remember, then PoF fucked everything up, and we went scourge+FB, to pirate ship again. Lately it have been fair. TTK is in a decent place. Some exceptions, which, honestly, is all what needed to be hammered out. Why are you doing all these changes? I have no idea. Yes, we wanted less power creep, but this is not less power creep, this is almost a complete redesign of the game, one that will most surely alienate many players, and will make it impossible for any new player or returning player to get in to sPvP. You walled it. Dunno before who in the class balance higher ups, was preventing something like this from happening. They were 100% correct. This is a major accessibility disaster in the making. And instead of doing all this, would not have been much easier to just increase HP pools?!

Another note: "We want cooldowns to be felt. Longer cooldowns promote more calculated usage of skills; if skills are used poorly it should create an opportunity for the enemy to push their advantage. Shorter durations of high impact buffs have a similar effect. Skillful timing is going to be rewarded, and poor usage is going to be exploitable by enemies. In some cases, it’s still going to make sense to have a longer duration attached to a longer cooldown, but most of the time we’re looking at shorter durations for things like stability, protection, quickness, high might stacks, among others." Longer CDs does not equal more calculated usage of skills, it equals slow game play. Yes, some things are currently spammy, but you do not solve that by increasing the CD of everything. If something can be used every 5 secs now it is every 6 sec, when everything else CD increased also by 20%, leaves it exactly as spammy as it was before. You just slowed the entire game play for no reason. And this was one of the main GW2 sPvP criticism in the past.

This statement sounds nice: "For this update, we’re targeting a 2.0 power coefficient as the new baseline for big damage skills. These are the skills like Eviscerate; skills that exist to deal large amounts of damage and not do much else. Skills that provide more and more value in other aspects (cc, sustain, mobility, defense, etc.) will have lower power coefficients. In some cases, we’ve pared down the secondary value and in others we’ve shaved the damage. It really comes down to what the desired purpose of the skill is, and as such how much of the skill’s power budget should be spent on damage. The 2.0 is not a hard cap, just the general top-end for single hit, high damaging abilities." Until you see something like this: Full Counter: Reduced power coefficient from 0.5 to 0.1. Increased daze duration from 1.5 seconds to 2 seconds. No, just no. The skill does not deal much damage. It is primary goal was CC. When you remove the damage and increase the CC, that is not a nerf, it is a buff. I will talk a bit about how many changes seem to blank nerf, cuz we are nerfing, versus, it is measured and makes sense. However, this makes the game play worse, especially that this not the only skill this seems to be the case for. There is already a reduction in stability. You know what this does? Make the game a fuckin CC fiasco. Mind you, as we stand on live WE HAVE SO MUCH CC. I though curbing CC would be a top priority here. Nope..

Which takes us to what I call lazy work. I will talk about guardian, since it is my main. Example one: Spear of Justice: Reduced damage from 0.6 to 0.01. Why? I understand lowering the skill damage a bit, but 0 damage? The skill has 0.75 cast time, and a 20 sec CD. Could it be followed-up with a pull? Sure, but that also has a 40 sec CD. So why does not the skill deal damage. A bigger offender deflection shot. The is an aimed skill that requires timing, aiming and planning. Its damage was buffed very recently, cuz the effort the skill required to use warranted higher damage. Why would you nerf the damage to 0? It makes no fucking sense.

Continuing with lazy approach here. Passive traits. Everyone hates them. The players hate them. The devs hate them. WHY NOT REMOVE THEM ALREADY. What are you waiting for?!! This is the second time you address passive traits and your solution is to increase CD, AGAIN. Really? And staying with guardian here, Retaliatory Subconscious: Increased cooldown from 30 seconds to 60 seconds. I always preferred this trait over unscathed contender for reliability. 60 secs is acceptable. Again, why not remove it in favor of an active defensive skill, instead of this? Some fun changes: Hunter's Determination: Increased cooldown from 90 seconds to 300 seconds. Fucking 5 minutes. Dude, whoever made that change, what were they smoking :o. You know what this tells me? You assigned this to an intern with 1 instruction: "if there is anything related to CC surrounding it NERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRF CDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD AND DAMAGE." It does not matter if anyone even use it on live, or if the change makes sense. This goes to much of these changes. I read and all I see is NERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRF. But no one ever uses this weapon, trait, utility as is. I honestly do not think a dev, deeply entrenched in PvP balance, read these changes in detail before posting them. To me, this seems more like a the work of an inexperienced person.

As a guardian main, quick note, I can easily tell you FB will be very broken if this goes live as is. VERY broken. Beside the down scaling, like everyone else. Elite mantra (which considering some of the other nerfs, has been lightly touched), everything is nearly the same. It is already top tier on live. What you think is going to happen? On the other hand, DH, is absolutely butchered. Almost every change that was made in the last year, trying to make it meta(which has not even materialized yet), was walked back.

In my opinion, these changes cannot go live without player testing. You guys need to create a test server. There is some seriously broken shit here. One dodge on mirage? Dare Devil, barely touched, even though it is very dominant in top sPvP right now. I am serious, you think this is ready for live.

Again, back to splits, the same question, how is someone who is not super invested in sPvP would be able to jump from another mode to sPvP and be able to play when every most skills traits and utilities are different? How can a veteran player coming to the come 6 month from now, be able to access sPvP. Accessibility is one of the main traits of GW2. This completely kills it.

Overall, I personally think these changes are raw. Very very raw. Untested, unchecked and most definitely not ready for live. They must be put on test server for players and major feedback is provided before remotely considering putting them on live. If you do not, it will be a disaster. And GW2 is not in place to handle these currently.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...