REMagic.8937

Dear Anet Empowered Envy's "rotating wall" during the Temple of Febe CM boss fight will strip boons and steal them. It does so also from pets, phantasms, clones, etc. This can give the enemy Quickness / Alacrity (and lots of other boons) while offering zero counterplay for players using friendly entities. I don't believe it's a bug, it's more of an oversight when making the fight. Remember, you also changed that pretty quickly on Silent Surf CM when it turned out it was unreasonable there (Mechanists and their Mechs were basically unplayable at first because they would just buff the enemy too much). So what I am asking for is to make the attack ignore Non-Player Characters here as well. It would be appreciated if a change could be made to not unnecessarily hurt pet classes with zero counterplay. After all, a Druid literally cannot control his pet to that level of detail to make it run from the flame wall. - REMagic

I mean if you are a new player who is interested in the end game, this is quite obviously what you should go ahead and do, right? It's a very good way to get a foot in the door.

Title. Patch notes reduced cooldowns of axe skills baseline. Axe 3 from Virtuoso (due to having slightly different confusion scaling than the standard version from clone-using specializations) did not see its cooldown reduced. The same goes for Lingering Thoughts (Axe 2). On another note, Lingering Thoughts (Axe 2) recharge is currently also incorrect (regardless of Mesmer spec), the tooltip on Non-Virtuoso says 6 but it is 8. It says in the patch notes it has been reduced to 6 seconds, but it's really still the same 8 seconds it was before. - REMagic

I've had this happen a few weeks ago, when 7 players counted permanently as dead, and the game would wipe us as soon as the third player died: This bug is a huge issue, especially to groups that do not clear everything on the first try and often have close calls. Nothing more frustrating than being in that 1% at Slothasor, last player standing and the boss just goes away.

Why do you think that? I can do the numbers for you here (standard fully buffed condi virtuoso build against a target with 25 vulnerability): Dagger Autoattacking: 3 Autoattacks take 1.32 seconds and inflict 21386 damage, or 16201 DPS (per second of cast time. It's the damage you would do if you only autoattacked). Dagger 2: Takes 0.44 seconds and inflicts 23598 damage (53633 DPS if you could spam it with no cooldown :D) Axe Skills: First Autohit: Takes 0.44 seconds, currently deals 2553 damage (5803 DPS) Second Autohit: Takes 0.56 seconds, currently deals 2428 damage (4337 DPS) Third Autohit: Takes 0.72 seconds, currently deals 9539 damage (13249 DPS) Autochain (all these three in sequence): Takes 1.72 seconds, currently deals 14506 damage (8434 DPS). Axe 2: Takes 0.92 seconds, currently deals 9410 damage (10229 DPS) Axe 3: Takes 1 second, currently deals 18739 damage (18739 DPS) With my suggestion, assuming 100% crit chance build: First Autohit: Takes 0.44 seconds, would deal 5257 damage (11949 DPS) Second Autohit: Takes 0.56 seconds, would deal 5132 damage (9165 DPS) Third Autohit: Takes 0.72 seconds, would deal 14948 damage (20761 DPS) Autochain (all these three in sequence): Takes 1.72 seconds, would deal 25304 damage (14712 DPS) Axe 2: Takes 0.92 seconds, would deal 17523 damage (19047 DPS) Axe 3: Unchanged, still 18739 damage (18739 DPS). As you can see, EVEN WITH THE BLADE ATTRIBUTE, the Axe skills would still be leading to slightly weaker performance, the autoattack chain would be weaker. It would even be melee, it wouldn't be pierce, it would generate fewer blades. Dagger would still be the best weapon choice. But Axe would no longer be literally half the damage output, it would be just a viable option. So, tell me again - why "absolutely not"? What nerfs do you see coming because of it? Worst case, ArenaNet could simply remove the attribute again if something breaks in a major way, but I don't see this as dangerous.

Dear Arenanet! I've had a lot of fun playing the Weaponmaster Training on my Virtuoso. Offhand Shield is a pretty nice addition for when you just want to be a little more defensive once in a while. However, I am less infatuated with the Mainhand Axe option. It turns out this is balanced around Mirage not only having an Axe trait that improves all Axe skills, but also axe clones having really good autoattacks (the reason for that is a bit complicated, but essentially they inflict conditions which then use the player's condition damage and expertise stat. This makes them one of very few clones that actually contribute significant damage). While on Mirage, summoning three clones and just autoattacking on Axe already yields very respectable DPS (actually around the same as Dagger autohits on Virtuoso does!), a Virtuoso attacking with an Axe does not even half of that damage! And Axe 2 is not much better than that! In fact, this makes it so that for any Condition Virtuoso build, it's always a straight up mistake to wield an Axe. Dagger 1 is strictly better than Axe Autohits, Dagger 2 is strictly better than Axe 2 (actually it does 2.5x the damage and has half the cast time! So its effectiveness is five times higher!). In fact, Dagger Autoattacks are also just better than Axe 2... Only Axe 3 is a decent skill for Virtuoso, and it's the only Axe ability that is (slightly) better than autoattacking on Dagger. Axe 3 can be left as is, since it already has a variation that lets it stack additional confusion per stocked blade (I really liked to see that much thought put into it!), But here's my suggestion: You could add the "Blade" attribute to all Axe autohits (Lacerating Chop, Ethereal Chop, Mirror Strikes) and Axe 2 (Lingering Thoughts). https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Mithril_Axe_Blade You see, Axes do have a blade, so it would not be out of order to add this Blade attribute. What would that accomplish? It would allow a Condition Virtuoso to use the trait Jagged Mind to apply additional bleeding if those Axe skills strike critically. As of the most recent PvE update, it would add 4.5 seconds of bleeding to each inflicted critical hit. When built to maximize critical strike chance, a Condition Virtuoso's Axe autoattack chain would then be, on average, nearly as good as autoattacking on Dagger (around 9% worse still, and it's also melee and not quite as good at cleaving.), and Axe 2 (Lingering Thoughts) would be around the power level of Axe 3 (still nowhere near Dagger 2's potency). This would turn the Axe into a decent melee weapon for Virtuoso; still not better than Dagger, when compared skill by skill, but a viable option for those who prefer a melee playstyle over ranged blade-flinging (or maybe are tired of dying to reflects :D). So please, Arenanet. You have a good opportunity here to turn a largely unused option for PvE into something good by just adding that Blade attribute to the autoattacks and to Axe 2. I know you like to do this where it makes sense, as you already have done it for skills like https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Mirror_Blade The Axe skills would be completely logical spots to add some more blade attacks to the Virtuoso's toolkit. I assume this wasn't done when Virtuoso released because you never thought Virtuoso would be getting Axe anyway. But now would be a good time to add that, and increase diversity of weapon options. Yours sincerely - REMagic

It's been happening for a while now, but I believe I've never seen it as extreme as this (see video) Some clues to why: A lot of people left *during* ongoing encounters. We suspect that there's a "counter" in the background, that is to say once the first person leaves mid-fight, going forward you'll need at least 2 people alive or it will reset. When the second person leaves, the raid boss resets with two people alive. During this evening, a whole bunch of people left during attempts. So the timer ticked up to "you actually need 8 people alive, or this encounter will restart". A peculiarity of Dhuum is that the encounter will kill everyone when resetting - other bosses (like Cairn, SH or Deimos) do not do that. I hope we get a fix for this someday. - REMagic

This bug still exists as of today, 25th of June 2023.

This is not true at all.

Most people here on the forums seem to look at Virtuoso especially from a PvP standpoint, where losing the block on Bladeturn Requiem is a significant downside. For example, in raids and strike missions, Condition Virtuoso is going to be buffed by a lot and will dominate the meta even more. But that type of game mode (endgame group content) and playstyle (actually running DPS meter and caring about the numbers you get) is very rarely represented on this forum. There are probably more regular posters here who legitimately play this game only for fashion wars (and wish for cosmetic changes, like being able to hide daggers, or like it when skills have flashy cool animations) than who care about DPS numbers. That being said - the point of a patch preview is to be able to talk about the changes. Anet literally wants us to give feedback and voice our concerns, so that's why we are doing it.

You can do everything in this game without ever being good at the rotation.

Are you referring to the raid build of Condition Virtuoso? Because this has the potential to be a lot more than 1k DPS increase in that case. And 1k DPS would already be a lot. Mind you, after the patch Virtuoso will have 3.75 seconds of Distortion. On release it had 2s of block. So over time the defensive capabilities were increased - that is not to say we cannot lament the loss of an unique buff or the insane power we had between November '22 and June '23, but as far as Raids go, the build will continue to have no survivability issues.

Roy didn't hover over Virtuoso F5. I'm dying to know how often it hits post patch!

Dear Arenanet I just played the encounter "Vale Guardian" in the Raid "Spirit Vale". There, I had the misfortune to find out that the Malice mechanic from Deadeye is essentially invisible for no apparent reason. Malice dots that are empty are black, Malice dots that are filled show black flames. So by counting flame animations you can kind of guess how much malice you have, but it's really unfriendly to the untrained eye. Image: https://imgur.com/a/ioyohtT Yes, this is ONE stack of Malice. Please don't tell me this is visible at a glance in the middle of combat. After defeating Vale Guardian flying blind, you transition into the Spirit Woods, where Malice changes color again? Now depleted Malice is light blue, and once filled has some red-ish color (see image: https://imgur.com/a/Qq8Tn1i) with blue flames. Needless to say that none of that is friendly to the user, especially to colorblind players like me who prefer to have the stark difference between black (no malice) and bright orange + orange flames (malice) (see image: https://imgur.com/a/8mH76YW) There are more issues with the malice bar (for example on the raidboss Cardinal Sabir, after a certain point the malice bar shifts upwards significantly becoming seemingly detached from your endurance bar), but I believe the change in color on certain raid encounters that makes the mechanic invisible is the most pressing issue at hand. Unfortunately I do not have a full list of all environments, though the GW2 wiki suggests that there are more: For example in Auric Basin at night the orbs are supposedly light-blue: https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Malice So, this might be an intended artistic decision. I can only tell you that it sucks to play. PLEASE standardize it. Best Wishes REMagic

I feel like Staff Daredevil needs some amount of love. You say Thief as a whole is in a good spot, but Staff Daredevil in particular is not feeling great in Endgame PvE. In this list of builds: https://snowcrows.com/en/benchmarks the damage output of Daredevil with its signature weapon and build (Power Staff) ranks not even in the Top 40. The only DPS build below it in output is Condition Tempest - and Rifle Mech, but that's different. Well, Benchmarks are obviously not the full story, there's more to a class than an idealized scenario. Unfortunately, for a Power Daredevil this ideal scenario quickly goes to hell. With a large part of its modifiers bound to being above 90% HP, it also has a good bit of modifiers attached to not only being able to keep dodging, but also keeping Endurance empty. While on the golem it's relatively easy to keep endurance depleted for that sweet optimal DPS, in actual encounters you'll find that endurance accumulates quickly; not only because of a variety of gameplay mistakes you can make, but also allies having traits that give endurance. In the end, Power Daredevil is trapped between a few different bad options: You need endurance to maintain your Dodge modifier, but you also are one of few specs that really hates getting Endurance. It is not a joke when I say that Daredevil in raids would probably be better if your F1 did not grant you endurance from the trait https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Endurance_Thief Which is a weird thing to say about a Minor Grandmaster trait that fundamentally supports the spec. Anet really screwed up with the design of Havoc Specialist and Bound traits, creating these feelsbad moments where your DPS suffers from receiving something that is supposed to be beneficial. Why is Power Daredevil good on like 3-4 Raid Bosses right now? Stolen skills. Both Magnetic Bombs and Detonate Plasma are busted to an extreme level. If Anet gave Daredevil buffs to bring it up to 37k+ DPS now, it would go off to an insane level in certain encounters. Clearly the problem is these OP stolen skills, that make Power Daredevil selectively useful, and their absence makes it underwhelming in all other encounters. Right now it's balanced with those rare stolen skills in mind, this is a problem. What should Anet do with it? Goal: Bring Daredevil into a spot where its Power build no longer needs Magnetic Bomb or Detonate Plasma to be strong in raids. Nerf Magnetic Bomb at the same time. The key thing is going to be that gaining Endurance is no longer harmful to your damage output. You should want your allies to provide you with endurance, because you should want to dodge. Edit: I obviously meant missing two bars, that is to say having less than 100 endurance. Missing one bar and not having maximum endurance are the same thing This change achieves that you can still drain your endurance, but you don't get punished the instance you gain your first endurance bar, instead you have more leeway, as only completing the second endurance bar will start cutting your DPS. This allows Daredevils to perform closer to benchmark expectations in real encounters. Right now, your Dodge does not enough power damage to be worth its long cast time (its Damage per Cast Time is around 16k, compared to Autohits that are at around 26-28k per cast time. This means that in a vacuum you would never dodge.) The only reason you are dodging is that having full endurance is so extremely bad for you, and it gives you a modifier for 4 seconds. So doubling the damage here still makes your dodge only barely outdps your Autoattacks. What does that achieve? This change means "more endurance -> more damage". You would actually be happy to gain endurance now, even from allies, and the synergies this enables are cool. These two changes alone would increase the benchmark from roughly 34.6k to 36.8k+. In my opinion, this would be good enough to allow Power Daredevil a seat at the table. The change to Havoc Specialist would make the spec more reliable. Bound being a net DPS increase over autoattacking allows you to tap into some of your spec's extra endurance generation. It's possible that a Dagger/Dagger based build with its bonus endurance generation could be even higher, and Brawler's Tenacity might be useful for the first time. What about "Throw Magnetic Bomb"? Honestly, cut its damage in half if not more. Its breakbar damage is already very good anyway. The most important thing: These changes are small in scope, easy to implement and test, will not cause a major upset in game balance. I always read big rework ideas, and I think "who is going to pay for that amount of developer time"? When you take a deeper look for the June update, you should tackle all stolen skills, make them more reliably available (perhaps freely selectable, instead of bound to certain encounters), re-balance them completely. If a Dagger/Dagger build threatens to completely push Staff out of the meta, that's another thing to look at for the June update (hint: Dagger is kind of cracked right now, and only held back by being awkward to play. For Daredevil it's mainly bad because it generates too much endurance. Lol.).