[Let's Talk About WvW Balance]

PoV from a player that primarily plays in zergs.

Short term: The ten targets on shades still seems to be an outlier. They can be punished more in melee range which is nice but they still feel oppressive. almost everything else is very powerful but feels like it needs to be that way because of he overall power level as mentioned.

Long term balance: I enjoyed the feel of WvW the most during the base game. It wasn't a "toilet bowl" meta were no one died, it wasn't full pirate ship and some guilds ran gank squads to focus casters in the back line. I probably have nostalgia glasses on but the time to kill felt less punishing as well.

[Future Potential WvW-centric Balance Changes - September 6th 2019]

• Would your gameplay change as a result? How?Yes.Micro: condition management will change either through picking different traits with the scrapper or change the team comp a bit. Immob gets stronger as a lock down tool. Mesmer becomes less appealing as a driving class but I don't know by how much.

Macro: condition comps or celestial comps won't be dead out of the gate. I am leery of the change to stability stacks because it is such a fundamental pillar of making large fights possible. The time to kill looks like it will go down and will feel less punishing.

• Do you feel these changes would improve or worsen the state of the game?Improve.
• Are you looking forward to these potential changes? Why?Yes. They help tone down a good chunk of the over performing outliers. Sadly scourge stays.
• What are your concerns and the consequences you expect with this set of changes?Anti toxin and scourge are both warping to the meta and in a way foils. Fixing one without fixing what makes scourge so polarizing makes me worried it will feel more oppressive. The nerf to barrier and damage is a nice step but it won't be meta changing.

[Potential Future Balance Changes]

Speaking from the position of a player in a guild that runs 20-25.

• Would your gameplay change as a result?No
• Do you feel these changes would improve or worsen the state of the game?Improve. We need counter play to stealth.
• Are you looking forward to these potential changes?Kind of. Interacting with stealth and CoR bombs not being as hot would be nice.
• What are your concerns with this set of changes?It doesn't change the meta in any meaningful way. The reason illusion of life is strong in WvW is the hidden invun it gives. The reason scrapper (and tempest) cleanses are so strong is antitoxin runes. Scourges will still outclass melee focused comps because they hit ten targets, have built in melee protection due to shade attacks being around the caster+shade, and have good damage. Rev will still hold the role of strong range dmg + great team utility with boons/dwarf.
• What consequences do you expect would come from these changes?Guild burnout from a meta that hasn't changed.