Buran.3796

The game has one of the (if not THE) best combat systems in the genre and at the begining ANet invested in trying to make the tournaments popular to gain traction and rise the presence of the game. That included tournaments with over 400k $ in prizes. Then ANet became aware that GW2 would never reach the pupularity they searched (at least not though PvP), stopped caring about PvP/WvW and focused on PvE nad developing new, never showcased, new games which were finally canceled and put the company close to just end the game. For a while, the PvP comunity kept having hopes in that a higer support would rise the popularity, despite the dream of ESL and big prize purses was over. Last two years I would say that the hopium lasted due the horizon of the EoD release, which would shake PvP with new specs and a promised higher pace of balance patches. Once months have past and the EoD revealed itself as the expansion with least PvP content and less properly tested specs, that hopium died and players started to care about PvP as much (nothing) as ANet. ...Which makes sense since most of us (veterans) already extracted from PvP everything the game mode has to offer us.

I would argue that they should just redo the hammer. Turn it into the the trident or the short bow: a weapon which provides hybrid damage and can work diferently based on the legends you run. I don't need a new ranged weapon, but I have to admit that I don't use hammer in any game mode, and has been this way for years (outside meme builds to fight boringness in PvP). Well, is not like I'll touch PvP oftenly again, anyway 🤣 ...

Actually Firebrand is quite balanced: god tier in PvE and WvW zerging, bottom tier in PvP. The same as Mechanist (replace Mech with Scrapper in WvW, tho).

Aggressive Evassion essentially makes Vindicator invulnerable to any attemtp to restrain it. And Devastation is pretty much granted since Retribution is an absolute garbage traitline for Vindi at the moment....

Any skill or trait with a 0.5 second duration outside i-frames should be deleted from the game and replaced by something different. Very unimpressed by the CMC abilities to balance the game. Of curse ANet is to blame due the game should have a PTR running before any major patch just to prevent the balance and bugs to become a clown fiesta, but now we are stepping in kafkian landscapes: ANet just implemented in 4th October a PvP nerf to Glint's quickness replacing that boon for might, and now has to half Vindicator's might procs. The whole Vindicator traitline is garbage. Fortunately PvP is a dead game mode, so this won't hurt the Rev too much. That and the fact that both Renegade and Herald and way better at PvE...

Part III: Herald Herald (power variants) has been 100% meta in PvP and WvW since the HoT release, but after PoF was perceived as a weak choice compared to Renegade, which provided alacrity and ranged damage. The reality was that condi (trailblazer) Herald was absolutely bonkers in solo PvE, providing the AoE damage and insane sustain that power variants lacked. Part of that sustain faded with the nerfs of the Runes of Tormenting and Battle Scarr traits, but the damage and tankiness still are there. The problem with condi Herald was that it wasn’t as good in PvP or as a WvW roamer, but still some hybrid builds emerged: the base of the one I present here is the celestial Herald from Vallum, the “Fallen Agel”, a build which combined Herald and Shiro, mace and axe with swords and relied in part in the use of Invoking Torment and sigils as Doom and Hydromancy and the combination of legend and weapon swaping to deliver powerful AoE condition burst, while having the advantage of the celestial stats for superb bruiser capabilities. That paired with good mobility made it a powerful roamer which could also traslate to PvP using Wizzard amulet. That build had a dent with the sigil swap nerf but now the mechanic has been restored and the recent patch also improved the Resistance duration from Mallyx and the torment damage against mobile targets, so condi Rev overall became better against humans. I was on the impression that it was the best condi build the Rev has in PvP (Renegade runs power stats in that game mode), but a conversation in the forums changed my view: was then when In tried to pair Glint and Mallyx in a celestial build designed to be played more like a wrestler instead of a fighter: instead of the mobility and frenzyness of Shiro, the superior cc and more slowed pace of Mallyx. I’m rather happy with the build: in PvP works better than the “Fallen Angel”, specially in the 3 vs 3 season in which I played it the most, and in PvE is way stronger. At WvW roaming has pros and cons: absolutely can wreck people in 1 v n or small skirmishes, in 1 v 1 is worse if the target has high mbility and ranged pressure, but works better vs mele fighters. Anyway, the build: Celestial Mallyx Herald: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PmABkex7lpQIsLSihRRMLCiJSgsCSgDrUX7F-zxIY1on/QiUC0pKoXhgkPAhrHeLPaWBA-e PvP variant: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PmABkex7lpQIsLSihRRMLCiJSgsCSgDrUX7F-zZxsQiMBysC6NE8aAA Pros: * Burst up to 35 stacks of torment, plenty of other conditions to cover (8+) * Huge AoE damage * Permanent fury while in combat. * Permanent 25 stacks of might while in combat. * CC in spades * 24.5k HP, 2.9k Armor, good sustain and cleansing, plenty of mitigation * 1.2k condi damage, 38% crit chance, 192% crit damage * 50% boon duration, 52% condition duration, 639 healing power * Permanent swiftness while in combat * Multitask gear: works with Renegade builds * Performs well in every game mode Cons: * Pure mele/short range AoE * Can’t chase high mobility specs * Requires pacience vs humans, can’t spam attacks the same as other builds; high energy costs To place it in context: in PvE I think that as solo is stronger than the Vindicator or Renegade, but for large OW events full of players and low in framerrate the ranged nature of Renegade works better. There’s stronger PvE versions of the Renegade but they don’t translate to WvW roaming/PvP the same as this build. At WvW and PvP is a solid build which becomes more vulnerable if faces foes able to stay at range all the time. For reference: kills a WvW veteran charr guard in 6”, a veteran hwarg in 11” and a veteran bristleback in 21”; in PvE a crystal desert giant in 15” or the champion mordrem vinetooth in 1’11”. Compared, my dire/TB Willbender do the same ~40% faster, but this build is stronger than the celestial Renegade and and on par/better than the marauder/diviner Vindicator while being more tanky than any of them. My rifle Mechanist kills HoT Hps faster in most of the cases but is comically bad at dealing with groups 5+ of mobs in Drizzlewood or gainst the mobs of knights in Dragonfall, whereas the celestial Mallyx melts them in seconds, similar to condi Willbender but with half of the keystrokes. I think that this is all for now. I enjoyed testing the builds and collating the numbers along the last weeks.

They A B S O L U T E L Y work: Go WvW, let a charr guard use the Throw Bolas skill on you and then use any movement skill (weapon or legend skill: doesn't matter). The immobilization condition is removed instantly when you activate the skill, even BEFORE the casting of the skill is completed or the movement starts.

Given your own tastes and requirements I think that the best bet are either a double staff Mirage or a Thief with either pistol, rifle or scepter. The problem with Thief is that albeit versions of Daredevil and Deadeye with reasonable sustain exist, they make mostly single target damage, so are good for soloing bosses but a PITA vs small groups. The Specter running scepter was a bit better in that regard, and had really high sustain, but it was heavily nerfed recently. So this gives us the double stage Mirage: according to Lord Hizen, which is arguably one of the best (if not the best) players at soloing PvE content, it ixs currently in the "S" tier, and just got a bit buffed with the last patch (so now is even better): Is rather easy to play, very powerful in both single target figths and vs mobs, and is ranged. In terms of sustain, is not like has tons of heals, but what has instead is lots of i-frames through evasions. Hizen has videos using Mirage to solo Strike Missions, which speaks volumes about how good the build is. Hope it fits your tastes...

Can be argued. I think that Aggressive Agility, in a build with greatsword #3, sword #3 & #5, Nomad's Advance, Battle Dance, Phase Traversal and Riposting Shadows makes you invulnerable to roots (as long as you properly maneage your energy), and effects that root you are crucial in WvW/PvP, because they can last MUCH LONGER than most of other cc, so I value that over the extra sustain from Salvation. Also, Notoriety has a lower value in PvP due lower duration, but in WvW that trait combined with the rest of the choices pretty much carry you to permanent 25 stack of might (as long as you don't get corrupted). Anyway: Part II: Renegade. Renegade has become so flexible in terms of gear, legends and weaponry that literaly everything works for PvE: from pure dps builds oriented towards condition damage running viper/griever stats with short bow, mace and axe as weapons of choices, Mallyx + Kalla and Corruption + Devastation traitlines, to the other extreme of the spectrum, running full diviners in a more physical oriented build, with 100% boon duration for perma-alacrity and team support. In the middle, every hybrid combination or safe bet for a more tanky approach to solo game or WvW roam also fills the task: you just need to chose either dire, trailblazer or celestial stats in the ratios you want, replace Corruption with Retribution and combo short bow + staff and Shiro + Jalis and you’ll be in a good place, even after the heavy nerfs that has been hitting Jalis and Retribution for the last 10 months. The main advantage that the Renegade spec has over the alternatives in the Revenant is the access to a functional ranged weapon which is fully hybrid in nature, and the access to alacrity for team play improvement without having to interfere too much with our gameplay: instead of having to blast every skill as happens with quickness Herald or oftenly spam Scavenger Burst with Vindicator, Orders from Above + Righteous Rebel combo is way more relaxed and demands lower inputs. Being able to deal substantial damage at range is very useful not only to face mobile bosses but also in big OW events at which the framerrate drops can oftenly kill mele players. That’s the main appeal of Renegade: you can play it in any PvE/PvP/WvW environment, at mele or range, from solo to large groups, just replacing a weapon, a legend or a traitline. Disclaimer: the build I’m currently running in PvE is not the best at everything; I have 3 Revenant characters and all my armors, most of trinkets and weapons are legendary, so I can afford to swap stats, runes and sigils and test things at no cost. If you’re tigh on gold on you’re a newcomer crafting your first ascended set you should go for either full diviner (which works as meta with power quickness Herald and power alacrity Renegade) or full celestial (which works with hybrid Herald, hybrid Renegade and hybrid Firebrand) and produces the best solo builds in the game (including celestial double staff Mirage, arguably the strongest solo PvE build in the game at the moment). Is also worth to remark that celestial numbers for any given stat are THE SAME as the smaller numbers in 4 stat pieces (so: a celestial item has the same crit chance and ferocity as a diviner item, or the same expertise and concentration as a ritualist item). When you’re not trying to min-max damage stats in comformed teams at speed running the 4 stats gear offers a +9.35% stat increase over a 3 stat gear. Celestial stats wide the gap to a mind blowing +74.38% stat increase (and +59.45% over 4 stat increase). The thing is that not all the builds get advantage from evenly increasing power, crit chance, ferocity, condition damage and condition duration, and even less from rising your armor, health, healing power and concentraion. But some do. Being said that, I’ll encourage every player to get a set of legendary armor pieces ASAP for his main, since is by far the best qol gear you can get, and works account wide for every character with the same armor tier. This is the build (celestial + ritualist + diviner variant): http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PmwAUlflxQHsOqhxROMP6hRSfMCKgjul+TH-zRZYVRNDOIO5gGPkEEBpLFCRB4xDRY2DvlHNrAA-e Full celestial varaint (also works with cel + div), I recomend this one: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PmwAUlflxQHsOqhxROMP6hRSfMCKgjul+TH-zxIY1om/QSQEkuUIEFgiPAhrHeLPaWBA-e Pros: * Almost 100% boon duration (at least 67%+ in the full celestial variant) * 22k+ HP and 2.6k+ armor (near 3k in the full celestial variant) * ~1k condition damage (~750 in celestial) * 33% crit chance with 184% crit damage (even larger in celestial) * Powerful at every range * Plenty of cc * Shares almost perma-alacrity * Access to group stability and damage mitigation * Easy to play Cons: * Lower dps than selfish dps builds * Bad for WvW roaming/PvP (I run a entirely different traitline for that task; gear works, tho) * Expensive gear (the ritualist + leadership runes varaint, celestial + fireworks are way easier to get) For reference: kills a WvW veteran charr guard in 6”, a veteran hwarg in 12” and a veteran bristleback in 30”; in PvE a crystal desert giant in 20” or the champion mordrem vinetooth in 1’30”, which is a bit slower compared to my Dragon/Marauder Vindicator, but in exchange is easier to run, les key stroke intensive, can figth well at every range and provides alacrity. Falls short in boon sharing, but is very good at breaking defiance bars and at providing ocasional access to stability and damage mitigation. Mobility is decent, specially with the Fireworks rune variant. Overall I think that the celestial variant is better because swaping trait lines and some Renegade traits and replacing mace and axe for a staff allows to run a decent WvW roam build, and the gear works wonderfully in condition Herald builds, in both Glint + Shiro or Glint + Mallyx variants, which would touch later.

LARGEST balance patch for PvP since the EoD release in late February came 10 DAYS AGO and despite that you already can see how the streaming scene is mostly dead quiet. Most of players which played PvP in the past and newcomers just don't care. A recent podcast from Teapot featuring Helseth and Naru also showcased a lot of ligth over the issue: if you make 3 v3 or 2 v 2 permanent ranked Conquest would just dissapear (already faded away, anyway). Teapot is struggling to gain any track/enthusiasm for people to play team PvE content, now figure a competitive game mode which didn't get any new feature/content to look for since the introduction of Trascendence in early 2020. The Icebrood Saga + a whole new expansion with no new amulets, runes, sigils, game modes, rewards... Two years of lethargic balance patches followed by a frentic attempt to properly support PvP with a more frequent pace of actualizations when ANet noticed how deep the entrophy has grasped PvP... Too litle too late.

Population has imploded. Balance is irrelevant when low silvers an plats are mixed together on regular basis and most of matches ends in snowballing and players quiting.. You could argue in 2020 that PvP was in bad health or dying, but 2022 has undoubtely killed PvP... You can feel the stench of the rooting corpse even permeating beyond PvP an reaching other game modes.

They should just remove it. It can be argued that the new weapon + the new dodge are enough changes in the mechanics for the core Rev, or maybe they could add some effect based on the core legends as happens with Song of the Mist or Spirit Boon or the trident skills (which could open the way to a viable hybrid damage Vindicator build using the gs). Currently EM is mostly useless, and yes, they could turn it into a cc, but that would only help Vindis running the Alliance, since every other legend has decent cc, which are the ones they need it the less.

Part I: Vindicator. Ok, so now that over 8 months have passed since the EoD release and after the new balance patch + hot fixes I’ll write about the three builds I’m already running in my Rev characters, and how I feel about them. This is mostly for PvE, albeit I’ll talk a bit about how “portable” those builds are to other departments, if all. Let start for the Vindicator, a spec I’m not fan of, which isn’t a new. Despite that, I’ve tried to make it work (Anet tried also), with not much success, but this is the closest I was able to make to feel some confort while running it. Dragon variant (Dragon + Diviner + Assassin gear): http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PmwAExzlZSMsTqjhScsUyjpSksSigp+VesF-zRZYbBxAH1r45wJcIZKV7VEUhiSxngQ+bZURLA-e Marauder Variant (Marauder + Diviner + Assassin gear), I recomend this version: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PmwAExzlxQmsO6kxRoMPKlRSqMCqkJ/lesF-zRhYBRwIGOM4oGVOHkwhkpUtXRQFKKFfKGT6EQBvwgUPcAvlxGtAA-e Pros: * 100% crit chance and over 200% crit damage * Permanent fury while in combat. * Permanent 25 stacks of might while in combat. * ~50% increased boon duration which makes viable to achieve permanent vigor, quickness and protection (those have some opportunity cost in terms of damage, tho). * 18.5K HP. * High mobility. * Almost perma-regeneration (but with low values). Cons: * Almost no cc. * Base armor (2271). * Entirely mele. The good thing is that the gameplay feels visceral and raw; between Phase Traversal and Scavenger Burst achieving permanent quickness in PvE is viable as long as we aren’t interrupted or forced to evade and cancel our rotations. Is the closest Rev will come to be a power berserker Warrior (which by the way is not that pupular so maybe is not the best thing, but…). Mobility is excellent and you’ll stay alive as long as you known the fights. Is also comfy to do things as gathering crops, because the mix of mobility + quickness (despite other classes with instant cast are even better). But there’s also weakness: barely any cc (300 from Jade Winds and 150 from Reaver’s Rage, plus chill which is almost useless vs Champions and above… Re-sustain is relatively low (you have small heals, regen and Battle Scars, but with basic stats). In terms of damage, is the lowest one of the three builds I run; can be hugely increased changing 2-3 traits, but then some of the defensive/sustain elements are entirely lost. Compared to condi Herald/Renegade has a slower TTK and is less tanky, but can outpace celestial Renegade if that last one is fitted to team support. In dangerous fights the Spear of Archemorus and Scavenger Burst can be used to poke at range or while circling the enemy, but that gameplay feels lame and there’s better ways to play Revenant as a ranged fighter. In gear I don’t think actually could be improved: celestial is brutally strong for any prefession/spec which can take advanage of hybrid damage, but with barely any condi damage the Vindicator doesn’t get aby jusice from it. As long as you can cap max crit any 4 stat gear provides more value than 3 stat gear so this build only uses Assassin in the ear rings to top 100% crit chance and then goes full 4 stats. Fireworks are the best runes for every Vindicator build: just provides everything needed and the only reason to change to, lets say, Leadership, would be if we want to cap max boon duration (which anyway can be achieved with Fireworks going full Diviner + Concentration Sigil or food + infusions), but I see no reason to. For PvP/WvW roaming my only change is replacing Devastation 2 and Invocation 2 for Devastation 1 and Invocation 1 in the minor traits to grant escape from ablitities which root and an extra cleansing. This probably isn’t what would be played the most because the latest Vindi builds rely in Retribution, but since Anet nerfed that trait line in summer specifically for Vindicator I chose to not play that garbage now. I think that Vindi has room in WvW roaming due how creative we can go in gear while having strong damage and sustain, but the lack of cc to grant combos or consistent ranged damage to aleviate pressure is a limiting factor. In PvP I have no clue about if has a place or not; even with the 2 dodges this spec remains hard to play in PvP for me and I much prefer Herald (condi) or Renegade (power or condi) over Vindi in PvP. In PvE what I wouldn’t do is running it at zerg PvE events: too much framerrate fall for a pure mele build. I guess could work with a viable ranged weapon instead of swords, but hammer is unworthy: no reason to run a hammer Vindi instead a Renebow or a Rifle Engie, which are way better at that task. For reference in WvW this builds kills a veteran charr guard in 4”, a veteran hwarg in 14”, and in PvE a crystal desert giant in 12” or the champion mordrem vinetooth in 1’13”. My condi Willbender does the same task in 4”, 6”, 8” and 53” respectively (huge initial burst, but the gap closes over long fights). This is one of the 4-5 builds I oftenly use for soloing the HoT Hps, Is faster at killing things than my condi Herald and Renegade but feels less safe, and is slower than Rifle Mech amd condi WB, but more fun than the engineer. I’ll post the Herald and Renegade builds later this week.

I prefer WB over FB for solo PvE: a lot more damage and much improved mobility. For roaming is fifty fifty: both have their issues in sustain, but FB has more cc in trade for the damage and mobility that loses. In team play (both PvE and WvW) FB has the winner hand due so much utility, but in contrast in PvP FB is amongst the worst spec that ever touched that game mode. But when I play Guardian at PvP (not that oftenly, to be honest) I probaly enjoy more FB than WB.

Naru has played both Herald and Renegade on regular basics for years. He's very good at evaluating the potential of new builds when patches arrive, and the meta Willbender that everyone has been playing for months until the Flowing Resolve's nerf was the one He run. Of course is not the only player with that kind of influence, since He plays mostly Guardian, Engineer and Necro, and other players specialized in other professions (as Boyce with Ranger or Sindrener with Thief) are equally able to sense which direction the meta is going. Now the relevant pice of info here is that He's for sure amongst the highest rated players which strems and plays Rev builds, and that He ditches builds as soon as He senses that won't perform well at comformed teams in tournaments. And that are his feelings about Vindi at the moment. By the way, I'm not asking for buff to Vindi: I already did my test and for me performs worse than Herald or Renegade and don't have any special interest in running power Rev specs in PvP at the moment, so it can lay as it is at the moment as long as ANet wants, or they can nerf if further: I don't care. I'm just saying that I don't think Vindi is going to be on the MAT meta, which is perfectly ok. Is not like has any impact on what I play or in this dead game mode, anyway...

That's so yesterday... Vindi was broken for less than 24 hours, then hot fixed; now Naru is saying that is just a worse Catalyst and ditched it in the same can that throw the Willbender after it got nerfed. And by the way, before the nerfs some builds (as condi Untamed) were able to make Naru's build to run for his life... Most certain landscape for the next MAT is that Rev users will either return to Herald (as always) or run another class...

While I support the idea of one extra utility to allow us some flexibility chosing (and to fix the order reset bug) I have 0 hopes that a company which essemble all the greatsword skills and most of the Alliance skills as a Frankenstein's monster collage of animations from other professions would spent a dime in creating nothing but a whole 7 new skills to suit each legend, and not only due the effort required just to design them (while working in a new expansion) but also because the sheer lunacy of having to deal again with re-balancing all the other skills and traits. Seen how they are unable to properly test Vindicator's most basic mechanics trying to introduce 7 new skills would be just a nightmare...

Decreasing the endurance cost of the evading from 100 to 50 without touching the Vindicator traits which were sources of endurance or vigor accordingly were the roots of the problem, as the more you evade, the more easy was to recover the endurance. Now should work way better. The morality of the story is that GW2 needs a PRT for pre-testing things before releasing massive balance changes under the bus of the reality...

I agree. I have problems sometimes hitting F2 instead F3 when I want a Alliance swap, but understand why the F2 is saved for the spec mechanic whereas the F3 is reserved for a lenegd you can either run or not. The problem is that Energy Meld is a very poor mechanic with no much use under the current circumstances. But removing it would make the Vindicator a spec with no F mechanics with legacy legends (outside the jumps).

It has huge repercussions in PvE/large groups WvW: Take in consideration that in the first Vindicator beta the Saint of Zu Heltzer trait (the bottom one in the last column) had a 50 endurance cost BUT the Vindicator wasn't able to stack two dodges (so you had the damage jump with 150 cost, the boon jump with 100 endurance cost and the heal/barrier jump with 50 cost, but endurance stacking was capped to s single no stackable jump for each trait, no matter the cost). Now we have two stackable dodges with 50 cost (which is nice) but makes the jump a better dodge than a regular one. The problem is that vigor access is now just too much in the whole traitline. We should be able to evade as other classes, not once every 2-3 seconds...

I disagree with this part. In PvP, the Vindicator has been out from MATs since two and half months ago (when the July 19th patch nuked the cooldowns from Selfish Spirit/Selfless Spirit heals from 10 to 30 seconds and a massive barrage of other nerfs greatly reduced its heals and vigor access): Selfish Spirit: Increased cooldown from 10 seconds to 30 seconds in PvP only. Reduced energy cost from 10 to 5 in PvP only. Selfless Spirit: Increased cooldown from 10 seconds to 30 seconds in PvP only. Reduced energy cost from 10 to 5 in PvP only. Song of Arboreum: Reduced vigor duration from 4 seconds to 2 seconds in PvP only. Unwavering Avoidance: Reduced vigor duration from 3 seconds to 1.5 seconds in PvP only when the Vindicator specialization is equipped. Saint's Shield: Reduced base healing and barrier from 1,738 to 1,054 in PvP only. Reduced healing and barrier attribute scaling from 0.7 to 0.5 in PvP only. Unyielding Devotion: Reduced strike damage reduction from 15% in 10% in PvP only. Since then the spec not only fell out of meta but also almost entirely faded from ranking, with players mostly running either the same Herald build that has been around for 8 years, or the tuned down Renegade. It was clear that in PvP wasn't "an incredible duellist even after the nerfs", at all. Now, is is not that weird seen a once powerfull PvP spec eating dust (Firebrand, Spellbreaker, Mirage...), but what was a novelty was seen a freshly released new spec being largely unpopular in all of the game modes at the same time. And that's bad because ANet spent time stealing animations from other specs to "make" the Vindicator, and designed its convoluted mechanics, and if no one is running it, is a bad business... Now about the balance patch & Vidicator: the first thing they should do to trim down the current overperformance of the dodge is halving the duration of Song of Arboreum's vigor from 2 seconds to 1 second in PvP and from 4 seconds to 2 in WvW and PvE. They already made the cut in the past and now that restored the endurance cost of the dodge from 100 to 50 effectively doubling the stored evading potential they should cut that vigor by half. Then they should make adjust on other vigor sources in the Vindicator traitline, since the changes in balance should be restricted on how affects this spec, not on how other extrenal sources of vigor (as Retribution, Energy sigils, etc) affects other Rev specs, including core. What I found weird is that finally the Energy Meld instant cast promised in the showcase didn't happened, and they instead halved the endurance delivered (which is good but pointless: current Vindi has so much endurance generation that can live in the air whitout even using EM). Finally, is imperious that ANet ends adding a sort of PRT to the game to test in advance future patches, as a lot of other games make (Diablo III, etc). You can't asume the risk of introducing a massive amount of changes without having any kind of intense pre-release testing, searching for bugs, exploits or just broken things...

Saw reddit and there's also absolutely broken stuff in PvE/WvW: builds with Salvation/Reaver's Course granting half hundred dodges in 90 seconds...

The patch is mostly PvP/WvW, there will be adjusts and a big one oriented towards PvE in November. In fact the changes in Herald are entirely focused in PvP. Now, after doing the usual stuff which earns gold for my account, did spent 30 minutes playing the Vindicator in PvE and then five matches in ranked PvP: PvE: similar damage but much better at sustain; still able to 100% crit chance with 200%+ crit damage, perma fury, perma quickness, perma protection and 25 stacks of might... Only weakness is lack of cc and being fully mele. PvP: very busted, you can end evading and blocking so many times in a row (while sharing regen and other boons and chilling enemies... ) that burst capacity isn't even that important: you can waste so much enemy time... Probably will be nerfed again. Still, way harder to play (for me) compered with power Herald (fought one which crushed me over and over): WvW: barely had time at it, way better at cleansing camps, probably broke at roaming and small skirmishes.

He could still run the same gear and play Renegade providing pemanent group alacrity just pushing a button each 10-12 seconds; no need to reroll. Also, aside from Rev, the only other mele power class which is meta a the moment is Bladesworn, there's not like can "play any other class" filling his tastes: rest of the meta is either ranged power or condi.

In Revenant while I prefer Herald over Renegade and Herald is more tanky Renegade overall is the winner as has the advantage of 1) having a viable ranged weapon, 2) working well with both power damage, condition damage or hybrid and 3) can provide alacrity while being in any legend whereas quickness herald NEEDS to camp Glint and that hurst its dps as condi build (which is way stronger and tankier than the power build at PvE).