[Kaineng Rift Hunting - Unable to get credit for T2 rifts [Merged]]

Same here, yet another example why double checking your work is more efficient in the long run.

[November 28 Skills and Balance Update Preview]

2 more things I missed for PvE Support:

Make auras stack duration if you want chaos aura to be essential to heal mesmer. All the better if it ups Tempest usability in the process.
Maybe give it alternative options that apply more Chaos Aura as well, at the cost of something else that is kinda useful to heal mes, you know, good supports have situational options. It's not like chaos aura itself is very reliable as a booning option, so I don't think that would be broken.

As far as healers go, Bringing Herald and Scrapper into the fold is great, but Tempest, Scourge(in group PvE) and Specter could use some more QoL/usability. Pretty cool that Relics can cover Prot issues and soon Swiftness issues though. I guess Resistance too?
Also I second that mantras, and overall booning on Firebrand is tedious and/or painful.

[November 28 Skills and Balance Update Preview]

Some good ideas in there.
Let's look at what's wrong though.

On 10/26/2023 at 8:40 PM, Rubi Bayer.8493 said:

• Relic of Leadership: Increased the number of conditions converted to boons from 3 to 5 in PvE and from 2 to 3 in PvP and WvW.
• Relic of the Water: Increased the number of conditions removed from 1 to 2.
• Relic of the Centaur: Increased the stability stacks granted from 1 to 2 in all game modes. Increased the stability duration from 2 seconds to 3 seconds.
• Relic of Resistance: This relic now grants its effect to allies in a radius of 360.
• Relic of the Herald: This relic now also grants its bonus when applying boons to yourself. Increased the concentration per stack from 15 to 25. This relic no longer has an internal cooldown.
• Relic of the Monk: This relic no longer has an internal cooldown.
• Relic of the Zephyrite: Increased the base duration from 3 seconds to 4 seconds.
• Relic of Vass: This relic no longer has an internal cooldown when triggered by an elixir skill. Reduced the stack duration from 30 seconds to 10 seconds. Stacks are now expended when striking an enemy and when attacks are negated. Increased the poison duration from 3 seconds to 5 seconds in PvE only.
• Relic of Peitha: The dagger is now launched from the ending location and fires faster. The damage increase now remains for a duration instead of ending after the first hit. Reduced the duration of the damage increase from 10 seconds to 4 seconds. Increased the torment duration from 4 seconds to 6 seconds in PvE only.
• Relic of the Ice: This relic now shoots ice at the nearest 5 enemies three times. Projectiles now inflict vulnerability. Increased the chill duration from 1 second to 1.5 seconds. Increased the damage coefficient from 0.5 to 1.0 in PvE only.

Considering how many Relics are currently meta and how many there actually is, this list seems rather short.

On 10/26/2023 at 8:40 PM, Rubi Bayer.8493 said:

• Transmute: This trait will now activate after using a healing skill instead of upon reaching a threshold of conditions.
• Emergency Elixir: This trait will now activate after using an elite skill instead of when being struck below a health threshold.

So instead of the condi cleanse being guaranteed to be useful when it triggers, you now either withold your heal or put it on cooldown when it isn't useful at all. No. This isn't a good approach to "more skilled gameplay", just a gimping one.
The barrier on elite is certainly less likely to be COMPLETELY wasted but still goes from mostly useful to probably mostly just partially used?

On 10/26/2023 at 8:40 PM, Rubi Bayer.8493 said:

Strength in Numbers: This trait has been reworked and renamed Redemption. Cast Lesser Litany of Wrath when you use virtue skill 3. Lesser Litany of Wrath lasts for 3 seconds.

Among all the traits in Valor, a rather underpowered traitlist, you decide to remove one of those that saw use? Why? Rework another one like Strength of the Fallen or a bottom row one.

On 10/26/2023 at 8:40 PM, Rubi Bayer.8493 said:

• Ashes of the Just: This skill now also applies 5 stacks of might to nearby allies for 8 seconds.

Buff up the duration to 10 or 12s and we're talking. Wouldn't have to jump through so many hoops to give 25 might now. As it is it doesn't loop with alac and 100% BD since the previous instance would drop while you're casting the next, even if you catch it off cd. Could use a QoL improvement tracking the CD in buff bar so we don't have to track it in our heads or cast it alongside a skill with the same CD to know.

On 10/26/2023 at 8:40 PM, Rubi Bayer.8493 said:

• Soldier's Focus: Increased the heal attribute scaling from 0.8 to 1.0. Increased the protection duration from 2.5 seconds to 4 seconds in PvE and from 2.5 seconds to 3 seconds in PvP and WvW.
• Vengeful Return: This trait has been reworked and renamed to Stalwart Focus. Increased  the incoming healing effectiveness and outgoing healing to allies.

Seems rather light compared to the mesmer support buffs. I know I'm not the only one memeing around with healsworn but that doesn't mean it's great.
The main problem with support warrior or warrior in general though is that it's far behind every other class in terms of utility options, even if this happens to be a sufficient buff to its output.

Bit disappointed you're still stubborn about some massively disliked reworks like Arc Divider, but overall seems like quite a good patch.

[Secrets of the Obscure Balance Follow-Ups]

They could have done some rough, basic maths to try and make more of those relic more competitive for PvE DPS, both power and condi side. Clearly that's asking too much. Do they think anything through?

Also, why nerf other condi necros on their way to nerf scourge? Was Harb overperforming? Condi Reaper? Is the idea of targeting a single spec to hard to comprehend?

They keep putting out sloppy work and wasting tons of time trying to fix it, they could at least ATTEMPT to do proper work from the get go and save themselves a lot of effort long term. This is pathetic.

[New Wizards Vault Special for Cosmic Observatory is bugged [Merged]]

Same here, first clear of that mission this week too, if that matters

[June 27 Balance Follow-Ups]

Let's look at the scourge shade problem.

Now, the problem isn't for condi scourge. Before the latest patch, condi scourge upkept all 3 shades to get all 3 stacks of Sand Sage. Since they lasted 20s, you had to cast the skill every 6.67s to maximize your dps. Everyone who wasn't doing that then was actually underperforming, condi scourge was extremely spammy on Shade already, and as part of a rotation, I'd argue this is fine. Right now, to maximize Sand Sage, you never want all 3 charges ready to cast since that wastes its regen, and I suppose you want 3 shades out just before your hardest hitting skills come off cooldown. Since you get 1 charge every 6.4s with perfect alac, it's only a tiny bit spammier than it used to be, technically. After the patch, we'll only need 1 shade out to maximize sand sage, so we'll be able to use the extra ones whenever the boss moves and we're distant, or to cleave. We'll cast them every 8s on average to upkeep sand sage, so less spammy was before. What condi scourge lost mechanically in the latest patch is the ability to CONSTANTLY cleave up to 3 distant points at a minor loss of dps. Now you'll have to either only cleave 1 point or time your reserve shades for when you really need to cleave all those points. That's fine in my book.

The real problem comes however for Heal scourge, even though you're trying to push its viability as a now "legitimate" healer and not a problematic build, you're completely ruining the "moment to moment gameplay" you were supposed to improve for support specs.The solution to alleviate that is pretty simple:
First off, give back Sand Savant to Heal scourge, by either putting alac on it or putting either alac or Sand Savant itself on another column entirely. Being able to apply some of your helpful stuff in that large static area is not overpowered. It's still smaller than a lot of other boon applications from other support builds, it compensates with your ability to aim it at range and the fact your shade skills also happen around you.
Second, Make it so Sand Savant puts Shade duration back at 20s so you'd only use it more often if the group moves. There goes your improvement in "moment to moment gameplay".

[June 27 Balance Follow-Ups]

3 issues there:

19 hours ago, Cal Cohen.2358 said:

Ray of Judgment: Reduced aftercast

1)You do know how to do that, which means you could have just done that to Arc Divider instead of ruining the skill

 

2)Here, we have a complaint from a druid player:

18 hours ago, Incurve Giidis.7829 said:

druid needs more might without weird trait interactions

Note that for druids to do 25 might they need to put a little extra work on top of doing the rest of their job.
Heal Mechas still have it easy.
I've tested the new Heal scourge, and while it has flaws, might is not one of them, it's pretty easy to cap it alone, not sure why you're specifically buffing that.
And yet, here goes firebrand, having to do a LOT more extra work and use a LOT more resources to do 25 might. Now i've already shown plenty of times that might being free is a result of very few specific classes being popular, and that's part of the reason for those classes success. And when those classes are notably absent, suddenly Firebrand is an absolute pain to play, despite the stated goal being to improve "moment to moment gameplay for support classes"

Now, some argue that alac dps by default provide a good baseline of might, and that therefore heal quicks don't, but there's 2 points in this very preview that prove this point is flawed:
-You're pushing Heal herald viability and buffing its might even though it's much less of a hassle to do 25 might currently on herald than it is on firebrand. (Hint: all it needs to be great is a single group aegis. Consider putting it on shield? Will help Heal Ren once expac hits as well.)
-You're buffing Alacbender boons to include Vigor on top of Alac and the mostly-overwritten-by-your-healer's Regen, yet you do nothing about its meager might that doesn't even loop, therefore you're fine with alac dps not providing might. You're also doing nothing about PalacRen's might, and it's not like you're giving self might to everyone.

Plenty of HFB still play it because they invested all that time into this class, they're used to it and because there's no other meta heal quick, not because it's supposedly still too good. Many of the claims about Firebrand's supposed continued dominance are easily proven false. Will you eventually nerf it until it's near unplayable to get its popularity down? That's the only way. If popularity was a factor anyway, you'd have nerfed mecha a lot more in all this time.

Choose your actual direction for group might generation, make it consistent and stick to it. It'd be fine if all healers could do 15 baseline but more with notable effort/resource/sacrifice and if all alac/quick dps did 10 baseline but more with notable effort/resource/sacrifice. It would still work out for solo heal comps this way without having to match very specific specs. You'd have your ideal comp around how they can deal with the problems the fight poses, not the baseline job that is "the most important boons"

3)

19 hours ago, Cal Cohen.2358 said:

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.

You just implemented Berserker quick that relies SOLELY on bursts, implying adrenaline generation, which means it also needs things to hit. Sure, there's a few utilities that can generate some adrenaline without a target, but considering the whole "extend your berzerk as much as possible" gimmick requiring those slots, you're not gonna be able to make the spec feel good and balance it around both the cases where it can hit endlessly and the ones where it can't and therefore would have to change utilities(or gear). Basically you're turning the existing quirk of all Berserkers into an even bigger deal, to the extent where it just becomes painful.

[June 27 Balance Update Preview]

5 hours ago, nucklepuckk.1805 said:

You're either not being genuine or blatantly ignoring things like finishers that also give might. No one player has to provide 25 might ever anymore. Get out of the 2015 mindset.

First words you're quoting mention a combo. That is to say, a blast finisher into a fire field, which happens in this case from just using blast gyro. Litterally breaking down the examples in that post you quote, how much more genuine do you need it to be? Maybe bother reading the thread and see who's actually being disingenuous? Hint: It's not me.

[June 27 Balance Update Preview]

Just now, Elleandria.2846 said:

More kills after weekly clears, I have all week and with 4 different statics so i get more kills than LI, think my mech has over 2500 raid kills

Wow, that sounds like a lot of extra clears, even though you don't full clear every week and took a 3 month break

[June 27 Balance Update Preview]

1 minute ago, Elleandria.2846 said:

Wingman only shows parsed logs, not API kills

Bit confused with yours then, your killproof shows clears this week, and a total of 1210 LI, yet wingman shows you have 1410 raid kills on mechanist alone. Why is that?

[June 27 Balance Update Preview]

1 minute ago, Elleandria.2846 said:

Seeing as it is tracking your kills each after week you're not hidden at all

Oh true, pretty big discrepancy with the wingman data though.

[June 27 Balance Update Preview]

Just now, Elleandria.2846 said:

https://killproof.me/proof/8XvZ/history#none This is API mined, this is 100% accurate since it shows unlogged kills as well

it's not mined without a key though, so if people deactivate their key, you don't have up to date info

[June 27 Balance Update Preview]

Just now, Elleandria.2846 said:

If you have WingmanUploader it uploads logs automatically and as long as one person in your group do it then it will populate your parses on wingman. Just has to have one POV of the encounter

Ah, that explains it, I think none of the people I play with regularly have it. Guess we can't trust that site so readily huh.

[June 27 Balance Update Preview]

1 minute ago, Elleandria.2846 said:

so it shows how much EXP you have in Raids/Strikes/Fractals, tracks a lot like your world (Fort Ranik [FR]) and you can even track logs with it too but most of yours are <2022 so not much there at all in terms of boss kills. As long as one person in your group parses the fight it will populate 

By parses, do you mean they just have to put the logs on dps.report? That's weird, because i have had hundreds of logs there, but with the ones on wingman It doesn't even start to explain how I have more than 2 full sets of pve legendary armor... How strange. Could it be some people don't upload their logs to wingman?

[June 27 Balance Update Preview]

Just now, Elleandria.2846 said:

Again, because i don't care, if YOU think healquickscrapper is effective then so be it but again logs will show that its not lol snowcrows isnt immune from putting up bad builds bud xD Also FYI, maybe don't look at builds last updated 6 months ago, its on the same level as HealBS right now BDsupp/HealBurst-inc  which is why i brought up HealBS as the build on par with HQS, but if you think a 6months out of date build is effective then i have news for you 🤣

See, there's something else I don't get, the HQS page was specifically updated for the "May 2021 Balance " it's written in there. And they didn't put it in legacy, where the builds are not. Are you sure the patches since january changed the build?
 

2 minutes ago, Elleandria.2846 said:

Let me know when Heal Quick Chrono gets added because i've also cleared raids with that as a heal supp lol SEVERLY off meta yet if you're good most things will work in this game since its that easy 

I look forward to them adding Core heal guard since I cleared W4 with it once.

1 minute ago, Elleandria.2846 said:

Its also not shocking that you haven't really raided at all in this game so if you need any help with that there are a plethora of Prog W 1-4 groups available right now man, teach you how class kits and BD works so you can do some CMs and get your legendary gear while you're at it 💪

You seem very sure I'm not raiding at all, why is that? does it have anything to do with this API key thing?

[June 27 Balance Update Preview]

1 minute ago, Elleandria.2846 said:

Yes, this game is very balanced because there are numerous meta healers for groups but again even that 1% deviant above the other specs is going to make one healer more used than the other purely because its <1% better, its better regardless. That balance happens in all games but in heavily unbalanced games there is NO alternatives to playing high end content, whereas in this game you can quite literally lowman raid bosses and FC will only supports, the level of difficulty in this game makes it easier to have the majority of builds viable but perfect balance doesn't mean ALL builds are viable, thats a physical impossibility because of how MMORPGs work, no game is like that. 

I'm confused, does that have anything to do with HealScrapper being categorized as effective, but not HealBS? If so, you'd be helping by telling the snowcrows.

[June 27 Balance Update Preview]

Just now, Elleandria.2846 said:

I'm not the one complaining about it lol you're the only one here caring about builds tbh xD If you're good enough there are a bunch of "effective" builds that can work to kill a boss, but none will give you meta results because thats not how this game works thankfully, i honestly wish all classes were weaver/cata level rotations so it would weed out the casuals, but also since HT CM is the hardest content this game is super easy from other MMORPGs

You're ranting again. You just spent hours arguing balance with utmost confidence, and saying you'd help. You'd be helping too if you tell them why it doesn't belong here, since you know, and I don't.

[June 27 Balance Update Preview]

Just now, Elleandria.2846 said:

Exactly why i said show me where its effective then because thats what i stated as being below viable, QHS is not used in PVE outside of memes and WvW for obvious reasons lol Hardstuck/Metabattle are also not posting only meta so they will have off-based builds that hold no face to even semi-viable builds and are only there as LI or meme builds

I'm not the one who put it there, why don't you go tell the snowcrows that on their public discord?

[June 27 Balance Update Preview]

Just now, Elleandria.2846 said:

Show me where heal BS is then if you think its Effective lol HQS being put in effective is generous of them and im sure they know man

Well, Heal BS isn't in the effective category, Healscrapper is. It's very generous of them to provide free work doing those pages.
Oh, it's also on Hardstuck btw. Maybe you should tell them to remove it though, so people don't mistake it for an actually effective build, like the rest of the list. Do you have their public discord?

[June 27 Balance Update Preview]

Just now, Elleandria.2846 said:

Yeah that fits because it's not meta, therefore you can't expect good boon uptime from it nor can you expect good heals. They have condi quick chrono in effective too and it deals 17k lol Effective is going to be sub-par while anything in Recommended is going to be intro-meta since actual meta changes from boss to boss and comp as well seeing as Solo Heal Druid isn't a build anywhere since they change traits/abilities to accommodate the group more 

 

5 minutes ago, Elleandria.2846 said:

, it has no use in PVE at all, similar to why HealBS will never exist in PVE. Its below being viable

Effective is inferior to "below viable", gotcha

[June 27 Balance Update Preview]

Just now, Elleandria.2846 said:

Healscrap isn't an actual spec outside of WvW (But QDPS scrapper is), it has no use in PVE at all, similar to why HealBS will never exist in PVE. Its below being viable.

You should warn the snowcrows, they have it up to date in their "effective" category.

[June 27 Balance Update Preview]

1 minute ago, Elleandria.2846 said:

Whatever you gotta tell yourself man lol its clear to  everyone that you clearly misunderstand or are entirely lacking knowledge on class kits and how Might interacts in comps 👍 If you need any help with class comps im always here and now on the forum apparently to help

I certainly look forward to it. Can you give me the breakdown on how HealScrapper gives might? I might need it.

[June 27 Balance Update Preview]

Just now, Elleandria.2846 said:

Not my issue if understanding the game is too hard for you man 👍 I'm here if you want to learn how class kits work more but its clear you're not understanding how Might works in class kits for this meta at least

As far as going off topic to protect their fragile ego goes, I think you broke the record. Enjoy being proven wrong by "casuals" who consistently disproved your point even after you moved the goalpost so many times. I must warn you though, as far as basing your ego on your percieved level at an MMO, you clearly picked the wrong one, you won't be able to entertain the delusion forever.

[June 27 Balance Update Preview]

Just now, Elleandria.2846 said:

HAM/HAT/HAD all give amazing Might when played properly, just because you have people that can't play it properly again doesn't negate it as meta, thats why HAD is used exclusively in Speedruns

Spouting random facts mixed with a half-truth while going off topic again? You didn't answer the question.

[June 27 Balance Update Preview]

Just now, Elleandria.2846 said:

That log had 23+ might though lol i think you're failing to realize that Alac specs spread more might because of their abilities than Quick specs do so when you take the Heal and DPS supports and put their might together its much higher than the individual Supports, Neither of which should or can do full 22+ might on their own, thats not how the game works xD

 

1 minute ago, Elleandria.2846 said:

Alac* Put in more Might than Quick* which again i feel is your disconnect when you're looking at healers thinking HB are worse than HAM solely because their might alone is bad, thats how Quicks are set up lol Alac specs are built out to output more Might than other builds for that reason, HB+MA upkeep 24+ might same as a HAM+QS, this has been a core mechanic to the game for as long as i've played so idk how this isn't clicking for you

Thanks for saying some alac specs spread more might. Quite a shame it's not actually true for all of them, hence some alac dps have a clear advantage on boon that is ACTUALLY NEEDED since even the hfb with the best parse can't keep up. If you argue that all alacs spec should do enough might to prevent hfbs from having to jump through way too many hoops and burn way too many resources for might, I have news for you. On alac dps, tempest, mecha and mirage can loop 25 might by themselves. Willbender does none and neither does Palacren. Would you perhaps say this is a point if imbalance?