Titan.7853

You're not making a very compelling case for the old Celestial stats.

It's a cascade of bad decisions with this "balance" patch. First, they should have balanced specs that overperform with Celestial gear by adjusting their skills in WvW game mode. They didn't, they blamed the gear. Second, since they blamed the gear, they should have simply balanced that gear by lowering all stats a bit. They didn't, they decided to remove key stats in a nerf making the stat useless in WvW. Third, since they nerfed the gear in WvW, but didn't want to do so in PvE, they embarked on a new system that allows them to do so in future with other equipment. This violates the principle that equipment behaves the same everywhere, which was a pillar that you could trust and invest in. Now, they are ruining that. It's a massive mistake. Here's another though experiment: Visualize chaos. In your mind right now, imagine chaos as random particles in three dimensions, all bouncing off each other. Noting makes sense, because no particle is relative to another. All you have to do to introduce order is reach out and hold onto one particle. Make it stable. Now everything moves in relation to it. Congratulations, you've introduced stability and order into a chaotic system. The stability and order that we had was our equipment system. The equipment system was stable between PvE and WvW. All things could be balanced against that. Even PvP has it's own unique and stable equipment system. That stable system was the sun that always rose the next day. It was gravity. It was an unbreakable law of the game. Classes behaved differently, specs behaved differently, and even traits and skills behaved differently in different game modes. They could all, however, be balanced against stable equipment stats. Because equipment stats never changed, you could trust in them. You could invest in equipment, and know that it would behave the same everywhere. Isn't that one of the primary economic engines of the game? They are about to throw that all away, over Celestial stats in WvW? Just think about that.

Here's a thought exercise for everyone reading this. Think of WvW as ranked PvP where people of all skill levels (including beginners) are in the same match. Ever PvP against a platinum player? It's a whole lot different than playing against a silver player. It's easy to blame Cele, when you lose to a platinum player. Sure, blame the equipment (you can't in PvP). Well, now that equipment is being nerfed, and it was one of the things that made WvW tolerable, because you at least had a combination of survivability and decent offense. That's about to be gone. I would rather see specs that overperform with Cele gear balanced, rather than Cele nerfed. Things are about to get worse, not better, particularly for new and casual players in WvW.

Yes, and? Why not take away Power and Precision too? The same could be said for Minstrels. My point was that Cele is not really worth taking without Concentration and Expertise, because those things make it worthwhile offensively. It was never quite as good as a dedicated offensive set, but you could make a build around it that had decent offensive and good survivability. In other words, something that made WvW tolerable, where you didn't feel like a glass cannon ready to pop at a moments notice. Without Concentration and Expertise, your offensive output will feel rather pathetic.

I once met a newbie in Eternal Battlegrounds who had on green armor. Not even exotics. He was asking me how to survive. The first time I went into WvW, my impression was that all I did was walk and die for hours. It drug on forever like that, excited to reach combat, then dead. That is if I even arrived at the action alive. It wasn't until I had a full set of Celestial gear that I felt less edgy about dying all the time, and could actually relax and enjoy it. Concentration is key for stretching out your self-boon generation, to be able to do damage. Get those might stacks up fast, because your Power and Precision are already low! Expertise comes in really handy for hybrid damage. The extra Vitality, Toughness and Healing are essential - but you need to be able to do damage too. Even with Celestial gear, you can die so fast in WvW. So fast. It's gangland. I didn't dip my toe in WvW until I had about 800 games of PvP under my belt, so I was already familiar with competitive gameplay by then. Most new players are not. Now take away Celestial as a viable option for damage, and boon generation, and it's going to be even worse for new players. Way worse. They are not going to be able to do much damage, if they want any survivability. Veterans are going to harvest them even easier. That's boring. Walking long distances after spawn only to die sucks. Feeling useless or dying fast isn't fun. Celestial was already a compromise in terms of damage, but it at least took the edge off while still doing acceptable damage. Marauders isn't going to cut it for survivability either, not until they've learned the ropes in WvW. So yeah, I am sure that the WvW mains will be happy that Celestial in it's present form is gone. They can play with each other forever like that as the population shrinks, because newbies and casual players aren't going to have as much fun, or even survive long enough to enjoy the game mode and stick around. Then WvW mains will cry hard about how it's a dying game mode, who knows, maybe even as much as they do about Celestial gear. TLDR: Why not balance skills for specs that are overperforming in Celestial gear in WvW, instead of removing key stats that make Celestial viable? Isn't that why skills are already separate across game modes? Why are we doing that with equipment now too?

Shocker that you are having to explain balance to the balance team. I think it's even worse than laziness, because they've created a new system to give different stats to equipment in WvW. They've hinted that Celestial is just the first to get the treatment. Many characters of mine have 4-8 equipment tabs. I rely on each equipment tab being set up correctly, and working everywhere. The LAST thing I need is a new split system where I can't swap between equipment sets, because they now behave one way in PvE and another way in WvW. The math for crit capping, as an example, will be all screwed up. Or taking sigils to get the right amount of concentration for boons will no longer be uniform. That's a nightmare for me. It ruins the stability, simplicity, and continuity of setting up your equipment and having it work everywhere. Just balance Celestial or outright ban that single set from WvW. Instead, they are screwing with a stable system in a way that is going to make it more complex and generally worse. I think that is a truly horrible solution, and the opposite of keeping it simple.

In a way I can't say I blame them, because once you let the mob or crowd bully you into a change, then you open yourself up on every subsequent change to endless harassments as developers. It would be a bit like chumming the waters. Although, I do agree that it's taken too far. Sometimes, like everything else in life, there are exceptions. Sometimes people get things wrong, and to totally ignore the overwhelming feelings of your community is also just plain wrong. I think this is one of those times, as it deeply affects people, way beyond mere stats. On this one issue, they could say "we've heard you and we are removing that change for now, and will reconsider in future." Then pretend it never happened. Simple as that.

On an entirely lesser level of upset, because it's just technical, I still feel like splitting the behavior of equipment between PvE and WvW is a massive mistake. Implementing such a system should never be allowed, because it will be tempting to make more changes in future beyond Celestial gear. Now I have to have separate equipment tabs for WvW and PvE, because things behave differently depending on where I go? No. Not a good idea. It's bad enough that skills behave differently there. Equipment was always stable and should remain so.

It's the next day, I just logged in, and I still can't shake my upset about getting rid of teleport Transfusion on Necro. If we were all physically at ANet in person, I would lead a riot to reverse it. How long has it been in game for, nearly a decade? Am I really supposed to believe it's broken? It's one thing to nerf stats, and I accept that and move on, maybe grumbling a bit. It's another thing to kitten the soul of the game. If there's ever one time to admit a mistake and change course, this is it.

I agree with this statement. Since Celestial has so many vocal haters among the WvW die hard crowd, I think that if a change is to be made, a better solution is to simply ban it there. None of your Celestial gear appears there (you're naked). Lol. If they want a new stat like Celestial but without Concentration or Expertise, then introduce it and allow it everywhere. The thing is, Celestial is a great stat for open world and particularly for newbies. It's crap for instanced PvE. A lot of the WvW die hard crowd also forget that it's good for newbies in WvW too. They hate it, but once they get rid of it, they'll wonder why new players won't want to play there. Then they'll be complaining that they are in a dead game mode.

Also, I don't like that there are now separate equipment stats for WvW. Another mistake that brings unnecessary complexity. Imagine trying to explain PvP and WvW to a new player. Right now it's bad enough that you tell them their skills behave differently in each game mode, whether it's boon duration or damage modifiers, but that stuff generally is in the background. As it is with equipment, you have to show them how to equip PvP differently, but at least you can say that that the stuff you earn has the exact same stats everywhere else. WvW is where you fight with everyone else with your end game equipment. Well, at least you used to be able to say that. Now that is going to be different too. Not good! If Celestial gear was "broken" then fix celestial, don't add more unnecessary complexity. Your equipment should have the same stats everywhere, except for PvP which has a different system. I think a better solution would be to simply ban Celestial from WvW since there are so many kittening whiners there. Okay, Celestial is now PvE only, it won't appear in WvW. If you want "Celestial" without Expertise and Concentration, then create a new state name and allow that to be equipped everywhere (including WvW). To create a system that allows split equipment stats between PvE and WvW, however, I think is a big mistake that is confusing, adds unnecessary complexity, and is rife with potential for abuse in future. My 2 cents.

I have 4901 hours in game over 9 years. This week is my 9th birthday on my oldest toon - an Ele. I main Guardian, which has 3/4 of my gameplay. Before that it was Ranger. I always liked playing as a "good guy" and didn't really like all the nasty Necro stuff. A personal bias, I know. All that is to say, I am not a Necro main. Still, I love the unique class identity that each class has. I like that there are Mesmers, Thiefs, and Necros in game - to name a few. I'll never forget the first time a Scourge pulled me when I was down. I was solo roaming in Dry Top and started to fight a Champion. There were maybe two or three of us there, and when I went down - boom I was pulled to safety and revived by a Scourge. I instantly got it - he's a Necromancer. It felt so powerful, and so uniquely cool. It was just one of those moments in game, that made me really fall in love with the game. All this time later, 800 levels in WvW, tons of instanced PvE, and thousands of matches in PvP and I have never felt like Transfusion was a problem. Scourge gives too much barrier, that's true, but teleport on Transfusion is literally the most iconic thing about Necro in game. I seriously would like whoever proposed this change to Transfusion, and whoever approved it, both off the balance team - and I am not joking. This is exactly the sort of homogenizing change that rips out the soul of the game, just to balance stats. You may as well get rid of portals for Mesmer, or Stealth for thief. This is the sort of change that may appear "small," but speaks volumes about the mindset of the people approving the change. Honestly, WTF? Edit: And if you are part of that balance team reading this, please don't get defensive and double down. When even Guardian mains are bothered enough to take the time to passionately write about a Necro change that destroys the essence of a spec (and the soul of the game), you know there's a problem. Instead, reconsider, and simply redeem yourselves. Thank you.

I run full Minstrels with concentration + transference sigils on my healbrand. I use it in both WvW and for PvE. You can't heal if your dead. On staff that puts me at 83% boon duration with Monk Runes. If you take Rune of the Water, you can get to 93% boon duration on staff.

I think it would be cool. It's a small change that would require minimum developer effort, and it could bring in some revenue too.

You can already hide player names and titles. Your name (and title) is hidden by default. There's an option in settings to "Always Show My Name." There is an option in settings to "Show All Player Names" as well, or uncheck if you don't want to see them. Under Control Options -> Miscellaneous there is an option to "Show Ally Names," so you can press a key to see them again, including your own name. I have that set to left alt key, so I can press it to see my name and title, and everyone else too. I don't think it would change things much to display a 2nd title at least. ANet could even offer a setting to "Show Player Titles," so you could control whether to see titles or not, while still showing the player name. I don't see a problem.