Jaden.1420

The last one was in 2019 and lasted only a few hours, and players who weren't lucky enough to play exactly at that time couldn't get the associated achievments since then. Alternatively, create a permanent vendor without a meta reward connected to them.

Just tested it, absolutely hilarious to see an army of your non Mesmer friend.

I also played around with dagger Mirage a bit and came to the same conlusions as the other commentators here. The ambush is interesting, but the lack of other condis denys its viability. A possible solution would be to move condition application from the Jagged Mind trait to the dagger itself. Jagged Mind then would possibly only buff the Bladesongs. People complained already in the EoD beta that condi Virtuoso is created by a single trait, and now could be a good time to change that.

My first impressions: Hammer Weaver is interesting, because of the additional crit chance from the orbs you can basically go full Dragon stats. Not sure about the rotation, though. Sw/Wh FA Weaver dps is fantastic. Oh, and Catalyst ulti Elemental Celerity doesn't refresh neither Warhorn nor Sword skills.

Great assessment, I agree with every point. The Psychic Riposte/dagger rework is one of the few point in the patch where I thought: This could actually be viable now, I want to try this. On a side note: While scrolling through the comments, I'm really astonished how many people complain about the Mirage dodge change, and how many confused votes the posts get who defend the change. The reduced condition durations, sure, but do people really think being able to dodge while being stunned is ok? Finally I want to propose an idea for a confusion change. Instead of increasing the dot aspect and blurring the line to the other condis, you could dramatically increase the damage on action, remove the dot aspect, but like blindness all stacks are consumed on action (in Guild Wars 1 terms Mistrust instead of Backfire). This way (a) you would loose the dependency on boss attack rate you're obviously so concerned about, (b) confusion based condi build would be much more viable in open world and (c) at least in theory would allow interesting hybrid builds without condi duration (e.g. a grieving condi chrono with a suitable reworked scepter).

These are some super heavy WvW Chrono nerfs. Especially the Focus 4 range reduction is gigantic in actual fights, please consider if this is really necessary. No alac from Shield 5 (?) and well cast, only from one well at the end which ofc is unreliable. Instead from shatters which you can't spare for group support. I understand the change from a PvE perspective, but the collateral damage is huge. Then again, meaningfull trait cleanup is missing for Mesmer. Danger Time and and Improved Alacrity still compete with each other, Inspiration grandmasters are still garbage while all the Master traits are great in WvW. Regarding Daredevil: A few days ago there was an excellent summary of the problems of Daredevil by u/Training-Accident-36 on reddit, and to be fair, some of them will be adressed, like the flanking requirement or the damage inconsistency of various stolen skills. But sadly, one of the main problems, Havoc Specialist, won't get reworked. Throwing away your whole endurance for damage feels bad already, and your Warrior friend using To the Limit! during your burst doesn't help.

Completely agree. Especially for Big Game Hunter vs Heavy Light. Unfortunately the glory days of short duration burst windows are gone. Having to use F1 but then having permanent uptime feels bad. Furthermore, I'm a bit surprised that Spellbreaker got no PvE nerfs. Imo it should only be on par with the other Warrior specs if it can remove boons, like with No Pain, No Gain. Then I'm a bit sad that there're not more trait reworks/reshuffles. Mesmer as example: Chrono still has two competing Master dps traits, and Inspiration has three top tier Master traits for WvW support, but the Grandmasters are all useless. Finally I'd wish for more aftercast reductions, e.g. for Guard GS4. Weapon stowing for dps increase shouldn't be a thing.

Elementalist: Obviously much to like here with so many buffs. I especially appreciate the pulsing alac and the reduced Lightning Flash CD. The change I'm actually most excited about is the strike damage on Weave Self (the only good ele elite), every chance to avoid the clunky FGS is welcomed. Apart from that, as someone who is playing Weaver every day, Weaver is actually in a good state and the buffs seem a bit too much to me. Instead of the power buffs, I'd rather see some QoL changes, e.g. some personal alac generation to compensate for alac downtimes which might mess up your weave self rotation. Staff looks really good, with the additional auras it should be top tier on WvW Support Builds now. Changes I'd like to see in the future: Catalyst out of combat energy gain, better energy UI, Hammer 3 Mini CD, Conjure and Tornado rework. Mesmer: I didn't like the changes while watching the stream because I was thinking from an offensive build viewpoint and no dps player wants to charge mantras. However the more I think about it the more I like it. With the additional might generation Heal Chrono might actually become viable, altough it will still struggle with protection uptime even with durability rune. Also at first I couldn't think of a useful application of the new Glamour trait, but I have to admit that a no target cap superspeed veil sounds pretty fun for WvW. I'm still not convinced by Well of Senility though, nobody will take it over Null Field, especially with the Glamour trait. Time Warp is still crap in PvE. Changes I'd like to see in the future: Scepter AA and Ambush buffs, Chrono Major trait "cleaning" of the two dps options, Virtuoso dagger rework, restore Signet of Inspration. Final Note: I'm a bit surprised that there were no PvE nerfs at all. FB and high hp high armor perma stabi heavy cc always has a block ready power Spellbreaker could need some fine tuning.

I'm positively surprised by the extend of these patch notes after the mini patch in the beginning of August. I'm sure there is a lot of good stuff in there, but damage coefficent changes are hard to evaluate at first sight so I'll only comment on a few things that I noticed might be problematic. Thief: Haven't calculated it, but only buffing staff auto attack could lead to just spamming 1 being the max dps rotation on power DD. The venom nerf was necessary though, the damage distribution between them and weapon skills was way off (as you pointed out correctly) . I hope that after the patch condi DD as a selfish melee build has a higher dps than Specter, a ranged build with integrated group sustain. Ele: I miss a mention of condi Weaver. As squishy, melee, really hard to play condi build without group support, it really should be top dps in this game. And yes, dagger is somewhat competitive, but (a) the rush skills are annoying (if not dangerous) in real boss fights and (b) the specialization weapon should imo be a better option, but condi sword Weaver struggles atm. I'm also missing Catalyst, especially the hitbox dependence of the hammer orbs really needs a fix. Mesmer: I don't think the Mirage nerfs are necessary. Condi Mirage is definitively a strong build, but also hard to play; it's actually the only build that has a Snow Crows 5 star difficulty rating. Sure, it excels at two or three bosses, but so what? Also worth mentioning that the buffs to Scrapper and Berserker could already negate the buffs to qChrono from last patch.

Thanks for the remarks, I corrected Reaper and Specter. Sometimes it's hard to distinguish between drawback and just a different mechanic. For example, Anet obviously didn't think that Burst skills locked into Berserk is a drawback, otherwise they wouldn't have added the artifical toughness penalty.

This post is a reminder that Anet formulated a balance philosophy in 2019 that every elite spec should include a certain disadvantage compared to the respective core class and subsequently introduced several to specs that didn't have any at this point. I recommend an examination/update of this. Some of the new specs don't seem to have any. Some seem more punishing than others. Some don't seem up to date anymore (Druid vs Mech). Here's a list of all elite specs and their drawbacks imo. BERSERKER Reduced toughness in Berserk Mode (got introduced 2019) SPELLBREAKER Maximum adrenaline reduced BLADESWORN Only one weapon set DRAGONHUNTER Cast time on F-Skills (I guess) FIREBRAND same WILLBENDER same HERALD No access to Ancient Echo (got introduced 2019; didn't even know this existed) RENEGADE same VINDICATOR same, limited endurance/dodges DRUID Pet attributes reduced (got introduced 2019) SOULBEAST No pet swap in combat UNTAMED ? SCRAPPER No toolbelt skill F5, Reduced vitality HOLOSMITH No toolbelt skill F5 MECHANIST No access to toolbelt at all DAREDEVIL Steal has reduced range (got introduced 2019) DEADEYE No shadowstep at F1, no class resource at combat entry SPECTER No shadowstep at F1, reduced initiative TEMPEST Longer attunement cooldowns after overload WEAVER Some weapon skills are not immediately accessible CATALYST ? REAPER Shroud skills are melee and consumes life force faster SCOURGE No shroud at all HARBINGER Shroud does not protect healthpool, possibly reduced maximum health CHRONOMANCER No invulnerability on F4 MIRAGE In PvE ?, in competitive modes limited endurance/dodges VIRTUOSO Cast time on F-Skills

Warrior: I've seen better banner rework ideas from the community, but this'll do, too. Banner of Tactics even looks promising for WvW, maybe even Banner of Strength on an offensive Warrior build, depending on the damage of the Banner drop. In PvE, however, the most important parameter is the quickness duration, which, for some reason, isn't given here. Warrior specializations usually need at least one slot for themselfes, Berserker to prolong Berserk mode, Bladesworn for Flow, so if 3 Banners should be necessary to upkeep quickness, support warrior is immediately dead. If two are needed, then the class is still less flexible than qFB or qHarb, which basically have a free utility slot. I assume, you'll always bring Banner of Tactics because of additional quickness, so your only choice will be Aegis or damage. And don't get me wrong. Aegis is great, but since the Banner is part of your rotation, the timeframe will be limited, again, depending on the boon duration which isn't stated. Mesmer: I see, to a degree, what you did there. Sw/Sh+GS is the highest damage build on qChrono, and these weapons were buffed. With a quick calculation I'd assume that this build is on a par with qScrapper or qHerald after the patch. However, most of the buffs are on GS, so if you want to use Focus for pulls, the damage will drop again since the sword buffs are so minor and shield is obligatory nowadays. Furthermore, I have to assume that you've given up on dps Chrono builds, since you decided to place the damage buff in the same line as the crit chance trait and didn't compensate it in any other way on a specialization that really struggles with crit chance. Note that Power Virtuoso also profits from this patch, so it'll still be ahead by far while also being much easier to play. Finally, the extend of the patch is a bit disappointing. I understand that you didn't have the time/recources for large reworks, but especially Chrono could need some additional love. A lot of player wish for symmetric boon generation (StM for Alac). Nobody likes the new wells. Time Warp went from one of the most powerful ulties at game release to arguably the worst one. Heal builds still suffer from abysmal boon generation. I appreciate that the next balance patch is end of August, but with the current rate of change this process will still take a painfully long time.

Quite a nice list. Some annotations: To 2.) I never understood why there're seasons in the first place. Why not just never reset the ratings (only the rewards), like in most other competitive games. To 3.) Of course, the maps preference is subjective (for example, hate Coliseum), and ANet can't just remove maps due to achievements, only move them to unranked. However, there could be an easy fix: just let us preselect which maps we want to play and which not, again just like basically in every other competitive game. That also would immediately provide some statistics on which maps are popular and which are not. This might prolong queue times, but so what? You can always extend your map pool if it's too long. To 5.) and 8.) The start here has to be to show the rank of each player in the scoreboard at the end of the match, once again, like in every other PvP game. I don't see how this would increase toxicity, and it would be quite helpful to know that the algorithm didn't just kitten with me.

Just writing my beta feedback here because the issue of this thread is my main concern. So I can forgive that we couldn't play for over one hour at the start because I expect those bugs to get fixed. And I can accept the many different languages in one shard in Europe, although that will definitely not help with the collaboration of the different parties. But I cannot overlook the population balance during the beta. I'm part of a large community guild with a typical after-work hours raid in the evening. And due to longer queues and more difficult communication with the others, the community usually congregated on one map, so the squad was full basically every evening. Not once during the whole beta week we had a zerg of similar size against us. It was quite a boring week. That doesn't mean I'm fully opposed to a new system (the current Fissure of Woe has to die), but ANet has to be aware that they really have to use all the degrees of freedom of control they gain with the new system, and I'm not convinced that relying upon some sorting algorithm is enough. I know that balancing hundreds of parties instead of a handful of servers is a lot of work, but without manifold finetuning the experience for a lot of players will be worse then before.

PvE: The out-of-combat blade stocking is now my favourite thing about this spec. Having the full burst ready at combat entry really feels different compared to Chrono who often has to "waste" his first clones for Continuum Split. Currently, Virtuoso is fine as a power dps in PvE; condi, however, is a mess. Even utilizing a completely broken trait, which gave >6000 (!) expertise instead of the intended 150, didn't result in competitive dps numbers at the golem. More problematic than the numbers IMO is that you have to use dagger for a condi build. Scepter/Staff are not viable at all due to the lack of clones and their strong condi autoattack, so solely the Jagged Mind trait makes a condi build an option in the first place, which i think is a questionable concept. WvW: I had high hopes for Virtuoso in WvW Zerg fights, because at the moment Mesmer is merely a walking Focus pull with some utility. And indeed, the new utility skills are great (except the stun break which doesn't provide additional survivability like evade or stability, has a high cooldown and has to compete with blink), problem is: Mesmer doesn't lack great WvW utility skills, it lacks a good weapon and the dagger completely fails in that department. The bladesongs are also subpar (except F4 which is great). Piercing is one of those mechanics which look great on paper but are irrelevant most of the time. On range I was mostly hitting one target only and in melee I was often wishing for the old shatters because of annoying target selection. The reworked Psychic Riposte trait was intended to solve some issues but imo failed to do so. I never knew if my next bladesong is unblockable or not and the blade generation was rather poor. At least for single targets the Spec was ok, there were quite some thieves surprised by the ranged spike the Virtuoso can offer. Suggestions: Scrap the Condi traits, instead introduce traits that give bladesongs some AoE, like changing F1 into a single fat, unblockable blade that shatters on impact, rework Dagger 3 into a moving AoE field with a high tickrate that cripples without the projectile component.