Cal Cohen.2358

Hi everyone, We’ll be moving the date of the December monthly up by one week to Saturday, December 16th. The qualification point requirement will be reduced to 50 to compensate for the shorter qualification window.

Hi everyone, Just a heads up that our next round of balance adjustments will be coming on September 26. This will include changes to address some overperforming builds in PvE (on top of a few small adjustments going out in tomorrow’s build to address some outliers in competitive modes). We’ll continue to keep a close eye on things after that update and may make additional tuning adjustments as needed outside of our regular balance cycle. Thanks, Cal “cmc” Cohen Skills and Balance Lead

Here are the worlds for EU: Augury Rock (FR), Gunnar's Hold (EN) Aurora Glade (EN), Blacktide (EN) Baruch Bay (SP), Arborstone (FR) Desolation (EN), Jade Sea (FR) Drakkar Lake (DE), Dzagonur (DE) Far Shiverpeaks (EN) Fissure of Woe (EN), Fort Ranik (FR) Gandara (EN), Kodash (DE) Piken Square (EN), Elona Reach (DE) Ring of Fire (EN), Abaddon's Mouth (DE) Riverside (DE), Miller's Sound (DE) Ruins of Surmia (EN), Vabbi (EN) Seafarer's Rest (EN) Underworld (EN), Vizunah Square (FR) Whiteside Ridge (EN) Here are the worlds for NA: Anvil Rock, Sanctum of Rall Blackgate, Northern Shiverpeaks Darkhaven, Yak's Bend Dragonbrand, Eredon Terrace Ferguson's Crossing, Sorrow's Furnace Fort Aspenwood, Isle of Janthir Gate of Madness, Henge of Denravi Jade Quarry, Devona's Rest Kaineng, Stormbluff Isle Maguuma, Borlis Pass Sea of Sorrows, Crystal Desert Tarnished Coast, Ehmry Bay

Hi everyone, As always, thank you for all the feedback you’ve shared over the past few weeks. We’ve been keeping a close eye on the discussion and it’s clear that some of the changes in Tuesday’s update didn’t land as we’d intended. Today I’ll be sharing our current plan for the next update on July 18, much of which is intended to address the most pressing issues that have been raised. Leading up to that release we’ll be watching your feedback to this post, this week’s beta test, and the June 27 update, and may make additional changes as needed. Thanks, Cal “cmc” Cohen Skills and Balance Lead Scourge Alacrity scourge is a build that we were pretty cautious with during development; we were concerned about the potential power level that could result from giving the existing heal scourge build easy access to alacrity, and to mitigate this we reduced the strength of some of its key defensive support skills. Now that the release has been live for a few days, we agree that the changes were too heavy handed, and we’ll be pulling back the reductions to Sand Cascade’s barrier as well as the barrier component of Desert Empowerment. We’ll also be giving scourge a reliable source of group protection through Sandstorm Shroud, and increasing the base alacrity duration to make it a bit easier to maintain. Damage scourge builds were negatively impacted by some of the changes made for alacrity scourge, and the July 18 release will include some larger adjustments to bring them back up. Sand Cascade: Increased base barrier from 996 to 1188 in PvE only. Increased barrier attribute scaling from 1.25 to 2 in PvE only. Desert Empowerment: Increased alacrity duration from 1 second to 1.5 seconds in PvE only. Increased base barrier from 385 to 572 in PvE only. Increased barrier attribute scaling from 0.75 to 1.0 in PvE only. Sandstorm Shroud: This skill now grants 1.5 seconds of protection to nearby allies each pulse, and 3 seconds of protection to nearby allies on detonation. Fell Beacon: This trait no longer reduces the cooldown of torch skills, and now also increases the damage of burning you inflict by 10%. Harrowing Wave: Reduced cooldown from 20 seconds to 16 seconds in PvE only. Increased the life force per target from 3% to 5% in PvE only. Oppressive Collapse: Reduced cooldown from 25 seconds to 20 seconds in PvE only. Increased might radius from 240 to 360. Might application per condition is now capped at 7 condtions in PvE only. Sadistic Searing: This trait has been reworked, and causes Nefarious Favor to burn nearby enemy targets (2 stacks, 5 seconds in PvE, 1 stack, 4 seconds in PvP/WvW). Demonic Lore: Increased torment damage bonus from 25% to 33% in PvE only. Sand Sage: This trait has been reworked. Gain expertise and concentration while you have an active sand shade (225 in PvE, 150 in PvP/WvW). Blood as Sand: This trait has been reworked. Reduce all incoming damage while you have an active sand shade (15% in PvE, 7% in PvP/WvW). Druid Druid is in a similar situation to scourge in that we were overly conservative with its alacrity, so it is also getting an increase to its base duration. We’ve also seen feedback regarding druid’s might generation, and we’re bumping up both the stacks and duration on Spirited Arrival to address this. Grace of the Land: Increased alacrity duration from 0.75 seconds to 1 second in PvE only. Spirited Arrival: Increased might stacks from 3 to 6 in PvE only. Increased might duration from 9 seconds to 12 seconds in PvE only. Untamed Quickness untamed has a few issues that we’re tackling in the July 18 release. The first being a usability improvement for Let Loose’s ambush-reset component: triggering the ambush reset while in the unleashed state will now immediately grant access to the ambush skill instead of requiring a transition out of and back into the unleashed state. We’re also making a slight increase to the quickness duration to make it easier to maintain. Let Loose: Increased quickness duration from 4 seconds to 5 seconds in PvE only. This trait will now immediately grant access to unleashed ambush skills when swapping weapons while in the unleashed state. Herald The new implementation for quickness herald is another case that we’re looking to improve. The current timing around its quickness application can be clunky and hard to track due to the 3 second pulse interval. To address this, we’ll be rebalancing the duration around a 1 second pulse interval to make it a bit more responsive. We’ve also seen concerns around the reduction in boon uptimes due to the loss of extra facet pulses from Draconic Echo, and are giving additional sources of concentration to help mitigate this. Our hope is that these changes will improve the overall gameplay feel of quickness herald, but if we’re still seeing issues with the general implementation after the July 18 update, we will evaluate whether a larger rework is needed. Elevated Compassion: Reduced quickness pulse interval from 3 seconds to 1 second. Reduced quickness duration from 3 seconds to 1.25 seconds. This trait now converts 13% of the herald’s power into concentration in addition to its other effects. Reinforced Potency: Increased concentration from 120 to 240 in PvE only. Shared Empowerment: Increased might duration from 8 seconds to 12 seconds in PvE only. Deadeye Quickness deadeye is significantly overperforming where it should be damage-wise. This was partially due to a bug that caused Malicious Intent to be active when not equipped, but looking beyond that fix it’s clear that additional reductions will be needed. We’re still discussing exactly what changes will be made, but they will be finalized in time for the July release and will likely include a reduction to One in the Chamber’s damage bonus. Specter Alacrity specter is another build that is overperforming in terms of damage. This is partially due to the base alacrity duration being long enough to require minimal investment into concentration, but also due to the lack of a significant damage tradeoff in the grandmaster trait slot. We’ll be tuning up Strength of Shadows while bringing down some of specter’s other damage sources to bring the alacrity build more in line without negatively affecting the damage builds. Lastly, we’re increasing the protection duration of Shadow Sap to ensure that healing-focused specter builds have a reliable source of group protection. Shadestep: Reduced alacrity duration from 2 seconds to 1.25 seconds in PvE only. Strength of Shadows: This trait no longer reduces incoming damage and no longer increases the duration of torment inflicted by Rot Wallow Venom, but instead increases torment damage by 25% in addition to converting vitality to expertise. Larcenous Torment: This trait no longer increases torment damage, and instead steals health from an enemy when you apply torment to them. Shadow Sap: Increased protection duration from 2.5 seconds to 4 seconds in PvE only. Alacrity Willbender A big pain point with alacrity willbender is its inability to provide alacrity during phase transitions or other times where it can’t strike an enemy. We’re hoping to mitigate this by updating Phoenix Protocol to grant some alacrity on the activation of resolve, which can also be shared via Battle Presence. We’ve also cleaned up some aftercasts and made general improvements to animations for a few key damage skills with the goal of making the overall gameplay feel a bit more fluid. Phoenix Protocol: this trait now grants alacrity to the willbender when activating Flowing Resolve (5 seconds in PvE, 3 seconds in PvP/WvW), which can be shared to allies with Battle Presence. Reduced the alacrity duration when resolve triggers from 1.5 seconds to 1 second in PvE only. Restorative Virtues: This trait now grants vigor instead of alacrity. Symbol of Resolution: This skill can now be interrupted by other skills.  Ray of Judgment: Reduced aftercast  Binding Blade: This skill will now use a different animation with less aftercast. Alacrity Mirage Last up is a rework to how mirage grants alacrity. We want there to be a better distinction between alacrity and non-alacrity builds, which is something that can be a bit blurry at times due to Chaos Vortex granting alacrity with no investment. This alacrity is being rolled into a rework of Mirage Mantle that improves all ambush skills in various ways, which can be seen in the patch note below. Mirage Mantle: This trait has been reworked. Ambush skills are improved. Axes of Symmetry: Also inflicts cripple Mirage Thrust: Removes a boon from struck foes Ether Barrage: Grants quickness to self (1.5 seconds) Split Surge: Deals increased damage (25% in PvE, 10 in PvP/WvW) Chaos Vortex: AoE Alacrity (2.5 seconds for the player, 0.5 seconds for clones) Ambush Assault: Grants might to self Wave of Panic : Also inflicts torment

Here are the worlds for EU: Augury Rock (FR), Fort Ranik (FR) Aurora Glade (EN), Kodash (DE) Baruch Bay (SP) Desolation (EN) Drakkar Lake (DE) Elona Reach (DE), Dzagonur (DE) Far Shiverpeaks (EN), Miller's Sound (DE) Fissure of Woe (EN), Ruins of Surmia (EN) Gandara (EN), Abaddon's Mouth (DE) Piken Square (EN), Jade Sea (FR) Ring of Fire (EN), Gunnar's Hold (EN) Riverside (DE), Blacktide (EN) Underworld (EN), Vabbi (EN) Vizunah Square (FR), Seafarer's Rest (EN) Whiteside Ridge (EN), Arborstone (FR) Here are the worlds for NA: Blackgate, Kaineng Darkhaven, Sorrow's Furnace Dragonbrand, Borlis Pass Fort Aspenwood, Ferguson's Crossing Gate of Madness, Isle of Janthir Henge of Denravi, Crystal Desert Jade Quarry, Yak's Bend Maguuma, Devona's Rest Northern Shiverpeaks, Eredon Terrace Sanctum of Rall, Sea of Sorrows Stormbluff Isle, Ehmry Bay Tarnished Coast, Anvil Rock

Here are the worlds for EU: Augury Rock (FR), Arborstone (FR) Aurora Glade (EN), Vizunah Square (FR) Baruch Bay (SP) Desolation (EN) Drakkar Lake (DE), Miller's Sound (DE) Elona Reach (DE), Abaddon's Mouth (DE) Far Shiverpeaks (EN), Fort Ranik (FR) Fissure of Woe (EN), Blacktide (EN) Gandara (EN), Jade Sea (FR) Gunnar's Hold (EN), Ring of Fire (EN) Piken Square (EN), Dzagonur (DE) Riverside (DE), Ruins of Surmia (EN) Seafarer's Rest (EN) Underworld (EN), Kodash (DE) Whiteside Ridge (EN), Vabbi (EN) Here are the worlds for NA: Blackgate, Devona's Rest Dragonbrand, Darkhaven Fort Aspenwood, Eredon Terrace Gate of Madness, Sea of Sorrows Henge of Denravi, Crystal Desert Isle of Janthir, Ferguson's Crossing Jade Quarry, Sorrow's Furnace Maguuma, Kaineng Northern Shiverpeaks, Borlis Pass Sanctum of Rall, Yak's Bend Stormbluff Isle, Ehmry Bay Tarnished Coast, Anvil Rock

Hi everyone, We’ll be moving the date of the December monthly up by one week to Saturday, December 17th. The qualification point requirement will be reduced to 50 to compensate for the shorter qualification window.

Here are the worlds for EU: Augury Rock (FR), Arborstone (FR) Aurora Glade (EN), Riverside (DE) Baruch Bay (SP) Desolation (EN), Fissure of Woe (EN) Drakkar Lake (DE), Vizunah Square (FR) Elona Reach (DE) Far Shiverpeaks (EN), Kodash (DE) Gandara (EN) Gunnar's Hold (EN), Ruins of Surmia (EN) Miller's Sound (DE), Fort Ranik (FR) Piken Square (EN), Abaddon's Mouth (DE) Ring of Fire (EN), Vabbi (EN) Seafarer's Rest (EN), Dzagonur (DE) Underworld (EN), Blacktide (EN) Whiteside Ridge (EN), Jade Sea (FR) Here are the worlds for NA: Blackgate, Kaineng Darkhaven, Anvil Rock Fort Aspenwood, Ferguson's Crossing Gate of Madness, Borlis Pass Isle of Janthir, Devona's Rest Jade Quarry, Ehmry Bay Maguuma, Yak's Bend Northern Shiverpeaks, Crystal Desert Sanctum of Rall, Dragonbrand Sea of Sorrows, Henge of Denravi Stormbluff Isle, Sorrow's Furnace Tarnished Coast, Eredon Terrace

Hi, everyone, In addition to fixing bugs in today’s hotfix, we made some adjustments to vindicator’s endurance generation in WvW: Reaver's Curse: Reduced endurance gain from 4 to 1 in WvW only. Tree Song: Reduced endurance gain from 2 to 1 in WvW only. Due to the timing around hotfix builds, we were unable to prepare a larger set of changes for today’s update. We’ll be following up with another hotfix tomorrow with additional changes for all game modes: Invigorating Dismissal: Reduced endurance granted from 3 to 2 in WvW only. Song of Arboreum: Reduced bonus vigor effectiveness from 50% to 25% in PvE and WvW, and from 50% to 15% in PvP. Energy Meld: Reduced endurance gain from 25 to 15 in PvP only. Tree Song: Reduced endurance gain from 2 to 1 in PvP only. Scavenger Burst: Reduced endurance gain from 5 to 2 in PvP only. Reaver's Curse: Reduced endurance gain from 5 to 2 in PvE and PvP. After tomorrow’s hotfix we’ll continue to keep a close eye on the effectiveness of vindicator and will make further adjustments as needed in future updates. Thanks, Cal “cmc” Cohen Skills and Balance Lead

Here are the worlds for EU: Augury Rock (FR), Fort Ranik (FR) Aurora Glade (EN), Dzagonur (DE) Baruch Bay (SP) Desolation (EN), Arborstone (FR) Drakkar Lake (DE), Kodash (DE) Elona Reach (DE), Vabbi (EN) Far Shiverpeaks (EN), Jade Sea (FR) Gandara (EN) Gunnar's Hold (EN), Miller's Sound (DE) Piken Square (EN), Blacktide (EN) Ring of Fire (EN), Fissure of Woe (EN) Riverside (DE) Seafarer's Rest (EN), Vizunah Square (FR) Underworld (EN), Abaddon's Mouth (DE) Whiteside Ridge (EN), Ruins of Surmia (EN) Here are the worlds for NA: Blackgate, Devona's Rest Borlis Pass, Henge of Denravi Darkhaven, Stormbluff Isle Ehmry Bay, Ferguson's Crossing Eredon Terrace, Isle of Janthir Fort Aspenwood, Kaineng Gate of Madness, Crystal Desert Jade Quarry, Sorrow's Furnace Maguuma, Anvil Rock Sanctum of Rall, Dragonbrand Sea of Sorrows, Northern Shiverpeaks Tarnished Coast, Yak's Bend

Hi everyone, back with a quick update: Since the preview we've seen a lot of feedback around the proposed change to convert Scrapper gyros into ground-targeted stationary spells. The main concern we've seen is that this change would remove the unique feeling of the skills without replacing it with something new. We agree – we'll be reverting the proposed changes and will be making a different set of adjustments to Purge and Sneak Gyro for WvW: Sneak Gyro: Reduced stealth duration from 1.5 seconds to 1 second in WvW only. Reduced number of pulses from 6 to 3 in WvW only. This skill is no longer a smoke field in WvW only. This skill now plays a visual indicator to enemies on activation. Purge Gyro: Increased cooldown from 20 seconds to 30 seconds in WvW only. For clarification, we'll still be changing Defense Field into a ground-targeted skill in the October 4 update. We'd still like to take a pass on updating the design of Scrapper gyros in the future, but not until we work out a replacement mechanic that feels both unique and fun to use. As always, thanks to everyone who gave feedback on the upcoming changes; we really appreciate it. Cal "cmc" Cohen Skills and Balance Lead

Hi everyone, here's a quick update: Last week’s preview included a significant change to the firebrand skill Manta of Liberation in World vs World – a decrease in ammunition count and an increase to recharge time. Since then, we’ve seen a lot of concern that the reduced access to AoE stability and group stun breaks will negatively impact WvW gameplay due to the sheer amount of crowd control in large-scale fights. We agree with the feedback and have reverted these changes in WvW for this release. We do believe that firebrand brings too much to the table in WvW and plan to tone it down in a future update, but we recognize that this will need to come with changes that improve access to AoE stability and group stun breaks for other professions. We want to spread these tools around to other professions to improve team composition and support role diversity, without reducing the overall availability of these tools. Thanks, Cal “cmc” Cohen Game Designer – Skills and Balance

Here are the worlds for EU: Augury Rock (FR), Vizunah Square (FR) Aurora Glade (EN), Abaddon's Mouth (DE) Baruch Bay (SP) Desolation (EN), Jade Sea (FR) Drakkar Lake (DE) Elona Reach (DE), Arborstone (FR) Far Shiverpeaks (EN), Kodash (DE) Fissure of Woe (EN), Miller's Sound (DE) Gandara (EN), Fort Ranik (FR) Gunnar's Hold (EN), Whiteside Ridge (EN) Piken Square (EN), Blacktide (EN) Ring of Fire (EN), Ruins of Surmia (EN) Riverside (DE), Dzagonur (DE) Seafarer's Rest (EN) Vabbi (EN), Underworld (EN) Here are the worlds for NA: Blackgate, Kaineng Darkhaven, Crystal Desert Dragonbrand, Borlis Pass Eredon Terrace, Anvil Rock Fort Aspenwood, Stormbluff Isle Gate of Madness, Northern Shiverpeaks Henge of Denravi, Ehmry Bay Jade Quarry, Devona's Rest Maguuma, Ferguson's Crossing Sanctum of Rall, Isle of Janthir Sea of Sorrows, Sorrow's Furnace Tarnished Coast, Yak's Bend

Here are the worlds for EU: Augury Rock (FR), Jade Sea (FR) Aurora Glade (EN), Dzagonur (DE) Baruch Bay (SP) Blacktide (EN), Miller's Sound (DE) Desolation (EN), Ring of Fire (EN) Drakkar Lake (DE), Arborstone (FR) Elona Reach (DE) Far Shiverpeaks (EN), Gunnar's Hold (EN) Fissure of Woe (EN), Kodash (DE) Gandara (EN) Piken Square (EN), Ruins of Surmia (EN) Riverside (DE), Abaddon's Mouth (DE) Seafarer's Rest (EN), Underworld (EN) Vabbi (EN), Fort Ranik (FR) Whiteside Ridge (EN), Vizunah Square (FR) Here are the worlds for NA: Blackgate, Anvil Rock Crystal Desert, Yak's Bend Darkhaven, Gate of Madness Dragonbrand, Borlis Pass Ehmry Bay, Ferguson's Crossing Fort Aspenwood, Sorrow's Furnace Jade Quarry, Eredon Terrace Maguuma, Isle of Janthir Sanctum of Rall, Northern Shiverpeaks Sea of Sorrows, Devona's Rest Stormbluff Isle, Henge of Denravi Tarnished Coast, Kaineng

Hi everyone, Over the weekend, the monthly qualifying point reset occurred one week earlier than expected. We’ll be removing the qualifying point requirement for the May monthly tournament to ensure that affected players are still able to enter. This means that the tournament is open for anyone to enter – gather your friends, form a team, and join the competition! We’ll be returning to the usual point requirement for monthly tournament entry in June.