Balance Changes Upcoming

[Enduronex.4865]

Wow, buffing Bunker Gyro, a profession that is ALREADY insanely overpowered in PvP to the point where it takes 4 people to kill one scrapper at platinum level. Anet really does not understand PvP balance. Holosmith literally cannot use any toss elixir skills (which are neutral and do NOT cause damage to enemies) when scrapper bubble shields are up (and I believe the same for the firebrand shields as well). This breaks playstyles that should be permitted to play on as intended, not get blocked due to them being considered projectile-based builds. WTF.

[Urud.4925]

The idea to indirectly buff core professions is nice, but some changes puzzle me a bit.For example the Druid, that became even more important as healer (+50% to the base healing), while in previous patches you tried to make it less mandatory in end-game contents. The new Berserker is interesting and it should be tested in game, not enough info on paper to say something. Other changes are minor (fortunately), mostly on buffing some core weapons, so fine.

I have more doubts about the thief: -6,5% on 2 autoattacks is an important nerf, since thieves use mainly autoattacks (especially in PvE). To recover this nerf, we must now continuously dodge, to take the buff from Havoc Mastery and the weakness from Weakening Strikes. But while now we have a +10% if the endurance is not full and a +7% for simply using the staff (in Havoc Mastery), with these changes we must dodge at least twice to deal +10% damage. This means that in PvE we are forced to dodge even if there's no need, possibly losing our target, while in PvP we can dodge 3 times before hitting for a +15% damage. This imho is a PvP buff and a PvE nerf. You don't ambush mobs, but players.

Not enough info about the new Swipe. Currently I use F1 only to close the gap, since as DD we don't have other teleports, apart from 2 utility skills (with high CD). What's the trade off for losing 600 range? The unblockable attack? Then again a PvE nerf and PvP buff.

[Shrowhurter.3250]

@HnRkLnXqZ.1870 said:First of all, I highly appreciate that you continue your strategy of open communication and inform us BEFORE you are doing some balance changes. It is not a dialogue, but we can prepare ourselves for the landing and theory-craft some alternatives if needed. A dialogue is not needed, because we know nothing about balancing. Some of the comments really look ugly, like those changes would destroy certain professions completely. But on the other hand, those are the same apocalyptic prophecies we read at EVERY patch, just the classes switch. And once the patch is done, a week or two later, most classes work as usual again. In most cases the meta-builds only face minor changes and the gear almost remains completely untouched.

The overhauls are much appreciated. Also big thanks for adjusting underwater-combat. I hope we will get some suitable new content, too. The new aura looks promising. Looking forward to the patch. Keep up the good work.

No, Daredevil will be absolutly usless unsless your going Staff. Thief will get completly changed. You are either core thief, Staff Daredevil or Sniper. No Variation. Thief is killed.

[Nekromalistik.7045]

I expected something for the scrapper....well, to wait another 3 months

[TexZero.7910]

@Irenio CalmonHuang.2048 said:

• Skills that destroy missiles will now block missiles instead. This change affects the following skills:
  • Elementalist: Swirling Winds
  • Engineer: Launch Wall
  • Guardian: Deflecting Shot, Refraction, Sanctuary, Shield of the Avenger, Zealot's Defense
  • Mesmer: Illusionary Warden
  • Necromancer: Corrosive Poison Cloud
  • Revenant: Inspiring Reinforcement (Underwater)
  • Thief: Sniper's Cover, Smoke Screen, Concealed Defeat
  • Warrior: Winds of Disenchantment

Why when we still have unblockable missiles in game are you removing the only counterplay to this outside of just don't be in range/LoS ?

[Zenith.7301]

@Zepoolpe.9217 said:

@Zenith.7301 said:

@Zepoolpe.9217 said:

@LucianDK.8615 said:

@Zepoolpe.9217 said:

@LucianDK.8615 said:Reapers already have low damage (...)Hopefully it can bump them up from underpowered levels.

lmao :lol:

https://snowcrows.com/benchmarks/

All too easilly proven.

Benchmark is only an indication of a long 1v1 fight (so basically a raid boss), which is from a DPS PoV the only situation where Reaper is really lacking compared to some other classes.In Fractal it's still a powerful class to bring, specially since it gives high AoE dmg while having good sustain.In WvW it's only good class rather than a great one mainly because of its low mobility but dmg wise it's one of the strongest.

In fractals it is just as mediocre, basically a bad guardian with no utility whatsoever.

That's essentially reaper, just a worse version of dragonhunter, with wells way worse than traps, the shouts way worse than guardian shouts, no aegis share, no conal blocks for group, their greatsword pull way worse than the guardian one in every way, and no bane signet power share for the group.

It isn't just benchmarks.

Look at gw2raidar. The class's representation and performance in raids and fractal CM's is abysmal.

In WvW it's also a worse warrior/guardian, and you'll be kicked if you don't go scourge instead which actually brings some utility worth a kitten.

What is the % of players doing CMs? very few (about as much as the % of players really knowing their PvE rotation and able to match Benchmarks' DPS).Stop looking into patches only with the prism of doing HC content: this is a very small portion of the playerbase and patches will rarely address that population the way they really expect it because it's a minority so patches won't primarily target that segment.Yes Reaper (or any other form of necro) is not "Benchmark" but benchmark is not everything in the game.As for WvW, i was talking about roaming. That being said, some guilds still run 1 reaper in their setup, usually in their havoc party if they run one.

What's the % of people doing ranked pvp? Even smaller. Roamers in WvW? Even smaller. Yet WvW is not balanced around zerg play, but roamer QQ because people don't like losing duels.

The game should be balanced around the highest skill level content, as casual content can be cleared with anything and doesn't matter. Nobody gives a damn about class balance in open world pve.

Most people play PvE anyways, not pvp, so why does pvp even get any attention by your tortured logic?

[Guest]

The druid nerf is just... I can't even. It looks like it was tunnel-visioned on the way druids play in raids with no thought at all to how they are balanced in WvW or SPvP.

In WvW Druid is a low popularity roaming spec. It has no place in zergs. Those of us who roam with it do so because we like the mechanics, not because it is a strong spec. It's hard NOW to generate decent damage; if you are good at druid you can play full glass and have an ok chance against other roamers. Nerfing the damage even more just means retire your druid, Soulbeast outclasses it in every single possible way. You'll never kill anything, so unless all you want to do is tank up and drag out fights until the other player dies of boredom, druid is done.

sPvP is the same. I guess they are trying to force druids to only be dedicated healers and contribute no offense.

Non-raid PvE who cares, you can run almost any collection of random traits and gear and do fine. So I really don't understand why they decided to drastically limit the possibility of this "elite" spec in 2/3 of the game where it was unpopular to begin with.

[zealex.9410]

Its good to see you kinda start introducing tradeoffs to some elite specs but more need them and or should be weaker. Dmg should go down across the board for both elite specs, if you buff core weapons u arent buffing only the core specs.

Hope you will keep moving towards bringing elite specs in line with what we had pre hot (in terms of power lvls)

Even with their "tradeoffs" some pof and hot secs are just too strong, also, whats the scrapper tradeoff and why wasnt the spec touched?

Glyph of Empowerment: This skill has been replaced by Glyph of Unity.

I dont really like this change, if you find it too strong then why not nerf it? Why just remove it?

[Leo Schrodingers Cat.2497]

Im not sure why stafgs damage is being lowered. It almost sounds like you're want thieves to ALWAYS choose the trait that gives them 5% more damage per endurance bar.

And we're still not seeing the problem with initiative and trickery being addressed

[Kitta.3657]

@Irenio CalmonHuang.2048 said:

• Increased the healing of the orbs.

What are the numbers for this increased healing of the orbs? Why is it not mentioned? :#

[Albione.3894]

Since you're adding/altering elite skills to some classes, this would've been a great opportunity to add an elite spirit weapon skill to Guardians.

[Jski.6180]

Block vs destroy dose that mean if you say use water blast staff ele water 1 if it dose not hit any one on the other team it will work? Or will the effect still be blocked for just being in the zone of counter projectile? This is VERY important to know.

[Saniyah.1984]

When will eles get conjured weapons be ammo?https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/14195/should-conjured-weapons-be-switched-to-the-ammo-mechanichttps://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/48684/suggestion-conjuring-weapons-with-a-new-ammo-mechanic

There are lots of people who want it but let us still share the weapon as ele please

[skydelirious.4185]

I'm happy with the updates ....the communication and stuffs they are bringing to the game latelyI don't care bout these lunatics who cry at every patch .. cry babies at every update!Do you ever appreciate anet's work ? Nope .. just criticizing and talking bout the bad things >_>

[ChronoPinoyX.7923]

@"MithranArkanere.8957" said:

• Soulbeast
  • Soulbeast can't use their pets while merged, but their pet mechanic is identical while not in beastmode. So it's an addition, not a tradeoff. Reducing pet stats would be a bad idea for an elite specialization more meant to do DPS, but since beastmode heals the pet when leaving, that's basically like having an extra pet swap. With that in mind, their tradeoff could be a longer pet recharge on defeat as they have two skills to keep the pet from dying, making it riskier.

    But going too high over 60s would be a a tad too long for pet recharge, so instead core ranger could have their pet recharge on death reduced to just 25-45s, while soulbeast and druid would have 60-75s recharge for their pet, and that would help newbies get their pet back sooner as they level up in core maps.

  • Another possibility is giving core ranger an F5 skill that does something that isn't spectacularly strong, but at least unique. For example, using F5 as core ranger could make both your pets do 'tag-combo' attack. You use F5, the other pet appears, both pets use their pet skills, and the pets swap places, like the tag-combo attacks in games like Capcom vs Marvel.

Even with the higher cooldown for pet swap, it wouldn't affect Soulbeast's pet mechanic dramatically since a lot of the times, you focus on using your main pet as opposed to using the secondary pet. And with Soulbeast healing the pet when it comes out of Beastmode, there's not really much of a reason to swap pets unless your in a situation where using 2 pets is more beneficial since you want 2 different beastmode skills for the scenarios

One way that it would feel as if Soulbeast's Beastmode has a trade of is if there's a downside to going out of Beastmode i.e pet comes out with 50% HP regardless if it was full HP before entering Beastmode or not. If it's below 50% HP before entering Beastmode, then coming out of beastmode puts it back up to 50% but if it's above 50% hp before Beastmode, then coming out of Beastmode reduces the HP of the pet down to 50% (I say 50% just because of the whole "one becomes two" quote).

I do agree that an F5 for Core Ranger would be interesting and a combo system between pets would work. The implementation might be a bit of a difficulty with current ANet issues with staff though so not gonna hold my breath on that

[Teratus.2859]

Hmm, some interesting changes here for sure.

I look forward to trying some out come next week.

Necro Focus 4 interests me, I enjoy Focus but skill 4 always felt a little unpredictable since it would often hit allies when I wanted it to hit enemies instead thus reducing the vun stacks I wanted to apply >.<I'm curious to see how much lifesteal it does as well as how much Vun it will apply as well as the cast/recharge time.The Dark Aura also sounds fun.Healing factor of Soul Eater also interests me

If it isn't obvious already I really like the Vampire Necro playstyle.

[GrimIchor.7320]

Really not certain how i feel about this , druid is already likely the lowest dps of any elite, solo play through some of the content is already a grueling task at times when you take five ever to kill a boss or something, sure it has alot of survivability but this feels like changes directed specifically at team/ pvp/wvw play when normally when they do nerfs that effect pvp it's pvp only or wvw only changes, this feels off the cuff like nerfing damage on a thing that doesn't need it, i might be slightly biased because i main druid , and it's my fave class, but at the same time , i just can't agree with this change , will need to see how it plays , but for now it is very uhg " so this is what we're looking at in the future of the game after layoffs"

[Krysard.1364]

@"Nebilim.5127" said:

In this update, we're leaning into the dagger's close-range area-of-effect damage and burst attacks.

Lightning Whip: The range of this skill has been reduced from 300 to 240.Swirling Winds: Reduced the radius of this skill from 400 to 360. The visual effect of this skill now displays a red ring for enemies and a white ring for allies.

isn't the first thing contradicting with the second?

Absolutely not. Lightning Whip radius is not decreased, only its range, as its noted by "close-range". Also, Swirling Winds is not an attack so it doesn't apply at all.

[fuzzyp.6295]

Why did you need the radius of Lightening Whip? Ele is already the squishier class that struggles in close range. Without the built in survivability like sword has, you might be setting us up to fail. I don't mind if there was a trade off for damage but.... please just if you could explain your reasoning becausei truly don't get it. Having been using d/d core since 2012 it's just not a change that works with what the dagger has ever offered. Just why? Please tell us. I don't doubt your reasoning, I just want to understand it.

[Simzani.4318]

Again a layer of powercreep that promotes a toxic environment instead of the huge nerf hammer needed. Well you decided to nerf my steal for no reason, bad job as usual.

[iker.5629]

Thank you for the heads up.

[Zenith.7301]

@Simzani.4318 said:Again a layer of powercreep that promotes a toxic environment instead of the huge nerf hammer needed. Well you decided to nerf my steal for no reason, bad job as usual.

Steal has needed nerfs since forever. Just not its range. Much like backstab, it needed a telegraph/cast time like the necromancer signet changes to allow for counterplay.

Not like it matters, thief will still be the undisputed king of escape and chasing and no class comes close to its mobility barring a warrior who still falls short.

[Menzo.2185]

I'm worry about this change:

Punishing Sweep: This skill is no longer a sequence skill and has been renamed Mender's Rebuke. This skill's functionality has changed.Mender's Rebuke: This skill strikes foes in melee range, and then heals allies in the area after a short delay. The healing is increased by 50% if a foe was struck during the attack.

Changing 2 strikes 1k + Weakness & 1.5k + Daze, for 1 strike + Healing??? What the dmg of this ONE strike? 2500?

[Simzani.4318]

@Zenith.7301 said:

@Simzani.4318 said:Again a layer of powercreep that promotes a toxic environment instead of the huge nerf hammer needed. Well you decided to nerf my steal for no reason, bad job as usual.

Steal has needed nerfs since forever. Just not its range. Much like backstab, it needed a telegraph/cast time like the necromancer signet changes to allow for counterplay.

Not like it matters, thief will still be the undisputed king of escape and chasing and no class comes close to its mobility barring a warrior who still falls short.

I agree that it would have been a normal nerf on a general and much needed global nerf, it is just petty and strange to pass it in a patch that increases the toxic powercreep. For the mobility part, that's more an urban legend. It's true each 50 secs with shadowstep, meaning you don't use it in fight ; outside of that, I can't chase most classes using shortbow + dash. It is even worse since warclaw.

[Zhou.3605]

While you are doing this... can you do us all a favor and make our warriors be actual heroes rather than cowards? I simply request that you make the skills they use in wvw to run half way across the map to escape combat require a target...because unless I am mistaken the intent of the skill is to close the distance and get into combat...not to be able to flee away from your enemy like you just literally took a dump in your pants because you are scared.