connor.2180

All these changes no one asked for and they still haven't addressed the reliability of defense event credit which has discouraged many from bothering to defend in the first place.

I'm finding that I get somewhat closer to the previous XP uptime by purchasing the buff one by one, instead of mass buying. On one char I spent 250 at once and got 25 minutes. On another I spent 250 in increments of 3 and got 1hr48 mins. Still seems a lot lower than before mind.

Wvw Scourge nerfs too harsh, the cooldowns OR alac removal would have been appropriate. Both is overkill. Alongside the nerfs to mesmer we find boonstrips being pushed further and further away from the meta. Nothing will stop the boonballs. Also Relic of the Ice needs addressing in WvW, the coefficient is clearly bugged and does ridiculous damage.

In my opinion Anet needs to reduce the effectiveness of concentration/boon duration in WvW. Cele was fine before concentration and expertise were added, and I don't consider expertise a high value stat considering the amount of cleanses in WvW. The EoD specs are overbloated with boon application and since EoD other elites and core specs are being buffed in similar ways. Everybody from solo roamers to blob players are stacking boon duration now, Pack, durability, traveler, water runes all very popular picks. Reducing the amount of boon duration gained from concentration across the board in WvW would be a soft nerf to cele without killing it, and a soft nerf to unstoppable boonballs too. Base boon durations wouldn't need to change and power builds wouldn't suffer from this. IMO boon duration is the problem across all WvW not celestial specifically. There is not enough of a trade off for high boon duration considering the massive sustain and damage advantages boon uptime brings in comparison to raw stats alone.

Commanders can invite/kick whoever they please they are under no obligation to include you. Especially if you're unwilling to join voice or play a meta spec etc because these things really do matter in competitive play. For some people wvw is about winning, not inclusion. If you feel so strongly that you would compare world vs world to the Stanford prison experiment then you're taking this to heart way too much and you are better off finding a different game to play.

Flamethrower Mech is probably the lowest intensity viable build. It's not optimal by any means, but you can viably play by just pressing 1 in the flamethrower kit while passively gaining perma stab and decent healing (use firearms/alchemy). Set the mech skills to autocast. You don't really have any class mechanics you need to focus on and can focus on other things.

Ah yes pressing W when the commander presses W, a skill reserved only for the elite few...

OP is talking about boonballs. Plenty of unskilled 111 pressers join the boonballs.

This is why I think the F2 should have a single charge like in PVP. The evade frame and condi cleanse when traited is too much. I also think they should get rid of ambient mobs which certain classes can utilise to escape and others can't at all.

In my experience playing Willbender most of these "one shots" are possible because 90% of the playerbase have no idea how to handle the slow and immob from sword 5. Add a weapon swap with Hydromancy sigil on the burst and your average joe pug is dead already. It is easy to avoid a Willbenders damage if you know how to dodge and position correctly, but most people don't. Willbenders are super glassy if you time your attacks correctly, most people don't. Strong duelists don't run from Willbenders, but cele bot 111 pressers run straight to the forums to shout nerf. People calling for JI nerfs should learn from the Elementalists that nerfing core isn't the way to go, didn't see any calls for JI nerfs pre-Willbender. Removing the second charge of F2 was enough to remove Willbender from high level pvp, and the same would be appropriate for WvW if anything needed to go. Cataylst, Renegade and Harb are all considerably stronger than WB, but WB is a noob stomper and noobs run to the forums before reviewing their footage and learning from what they did wrong.

Warriors don't need to spam AoE to hold a capture point. They're arguably the best duelists in the game and can often hold a capture point against 2 attackers (or atleast kite and keep 2 players busy causing your team to outnumber elsewhere). AoE area denial is certainly useful on the mid point or wherever else the team fight is, but a warrior is better suited elsewhere. If you want to spam AoE in team fights pick a class more suited to that style. Additionally, a spellbreaker with full counter or a berserker ready for berserk mode is just as effective at pushing an enemy off node than any AoE skill is.

Anet doesn't care about WvW and cele won't be changed because the cash cow PvE casuals love it

If as a team of 5 you cannot retake your home node without wiping then IMO the game is a lost cause and you should be able to /gg or AFK so the game ends quickly and you can try again. The game doesn't have the population to guarantee fair games. Getting deleted immediately upon leaving the spawn isn't fun for anyone, and I'd imagine such a situation would be very off-putting for new players. There should be an option to surrender/gg ideally. AFKing immediately after one teammate dies at mid however, is not acceptable. There are plenty of ways to get back into a game after losing the first team fight. But if the enemy team cannot be broken down with your respawn advantage, and you cannot even reach your home node, the game is done. Admit defeat and start over.

Would Stonemist be the absolute treasure it is currently if there was 2 of them? I don't think so. Not sure I can get on board with this.

"EOTMish" is a great way to describe it as of late in my experience. Boon balls everywhere. All counter play removed. I've been up against some servers with 30+ guild groups raiding all day when there's but a handful of pugs to try and defend the objectives. It's not fun to be on the receiving end, but I really don't see the appeal of facerolling in a blob with infinite boons and no challenge. The reward changes were positive, I think, but defending credit can be buggy and you can often not get appropriately rewarded for a successful defense. It works fine as an attacker. Roaming seems to be in an even more sorry state. The EOD specs are so overbloated and work so well with celestial stats that you can be 111 spammed to death by Catas and Harbs, and don't even get me started on the perma invul/blocking virtu builds. To be honest you're lucky to find a 1v1 roaming these days (outside of the dueling spot, the last saving grace of WvW), so many groups of 3-5 players that will chase you indefintely on mounts, desperate for a single kill, or stealth bombing 1 person as they flip a camp... Skill cap is lower than ever, people are being carried by easy builds and dodging/positioning/good use of blocks to survive is a dying art. Just run celestial and let the passive sustain outheal any damage you could possibly receive. I've played for years and seen some questionable balance changes over the years, but the last couple of years has really changed the game and sent it in the wrong direction in my option. But i can see why in it's current state the game would seem appealing to casuals who have no interest in learning mechanics, because you really don't need to these days. Just join a boonball and press W to win.

While it's nice to see fast communication with regards to some of the PVE concerns, I'm personally disappointed that the boon application in WvW, which many people raised concerns about (especially nerfs to boon strips as the only counter play) has not been mentioned. Hopefully the balance team can atleast comment on their thought process and vision for WvW because it seems to be becoming somewhat one dimensional by forcing a boonball meta.

I'm in the same boat, WvW only player. Historically anet have been pretty good at accommodating us through the testimonies of heroics currencies, we were able to get the HoT and PoF runes and sigils this way and all the elite specs. Though it took them a long time to add dragons and ritualist stats from EoD to the mist trinkets etc. I'd wager they will forget about us, so we have to grind PvE then a year down the line we will get the option to buy them from the vendor.

I'm glad the overwhelming majority on this poll are in agreement that boon strips need to be buffed. Boon application has been buffed hugely over the past couple of years and I personally thought boon strips were lacking before I read the abomination that is the recent patch note. Personally I think the current balance team is focusing too much on the 50v50 aspect of wvw. They want to prolong these fights to create big epic battles that last a long time, I get it. But, consider how often in WvW you actually see 50/50 squads, 2 hours a day maximum maybe? The real concern I have is the off-peak hours, when some servers have boon balls running and some don't. Have you tried stopping a 20 man boon ball at 9am when you've only got a handful of pugs by your side? Even if you have even numbers its near impossible as it is. More nerfs to boon strip is only going to increase the disparity. Its the only counter to the boon ball. It's either an oversight on the part of anet as they tunnelvision on one aspect of wvw, or they are they are trying to force everyone into blobby boon ball gameplay which not everyone wants or partakes in. Let's hope the feedback gets to anet and they reconsider this patch. Though I doubt it, boon balls are the future. Join one or get left behind.

Because whether we like it or not, the balance team are tunnel visioning on the 50vs50 aspect of world vs world, and neglecting all other aspects. Anet wants 50vs50 clashes that last for a long time, but neglect to consider that these kind of fights only happen for 2 hours a day or slightly more on weekends. Prime time lasts 2 hours a day. Servers span multiple time zones. Different teams have different level of activity. Right now at off peak a boonball of only 20-25 players is nigh on impossible to stop with pugs. Gutting boonstrip even further is only going to increase the disparity between organised groups and pug defenders and make it even harder to stop them. Join the boonball or suffer. anet are on a warpath to make the gamemode as easy, spammy and unengaging as possible.

It is clear from the patch notes that yet again no one from the balance team has been anywhere near the WvW forums or played a moment in the game mode. More nerfs to boon strips, more boon spam and no changes to celestial. Anet are on a war path to make this game as easy, spammy and unengaging as possible.

Yet another balance update that completely ignores the concerns of WvW players. More nerfs to boon strips. More easy infinite boon spam. No changes to celestial attributes. It is clear that nobody from the balance team has been anywhere near the WvW forums.

Looking at the map it seems Stoic waypoint may be closer to the hero point than the southern blue and green waypoints. It's a straight path down through the ruins from Stoic. If you are that concerned just take a thief, you can commune with the hero points while stealthed.

Before the days of low skill cap celestial infinite boon spamming builds doing all your defensive work for you, people actually had to use evades and blocks intelligently in order to compete with high burst damage builds. Every profession has the tools to deal with spike damage.

In my opinion the only thing that needs addressing is the reflect bug. Gun flame is a predictable one trick pony that invests so much utility into its burst that it's very easy to focus. I think it's in a good spot at the moment you can get kills with it but it's not game breaking OP like some people suggest. It only does a bit more damage than a sic em burst and no one's complaining about that.

Not only does action camera prevent you from effectively casting AOEs behind you (essential for effective use of necro staff and engi grenades for example), I have noticed that when you're locked into a spell animation you can't turn freely until the animation ends or is stowed. (as the OP has stated) To explain, if you press S out of combat using action camera, you will essentially do what about face does with free camera. This is a really effective way of creating distance without losing visibility. However, whenever you use a skill when travelling backwards using action camera, your player will turn and face the way the camera is facing. This can quite significantly hinder your movement. Personally I would love to see Anet address this limitation, and it would make action camera a lot more viable. I recorded a short video to try and demonstrate the limitation: