Josif.2015

It's not that I don't want spear to be useable. In my opinion, I think that some of thief's spear skills have little initiative cost and can be spammed a lot and the amount of conditions applied could be problematic for PvP and WvW. Hence why I suggested toning down the number of condition stacks applied and increasing the initiative cost for some of the skills at least for those 2 game modes.

I'm fine and it's just my opinion. I tried to test every profession as much as I could during the beta and I see if a certain skill needs to be changed or not.

Mighty Throw: no changes needed. Maiming Speak: the tooltip says it applies conditions, but it only applies cripple. Maybe add bleed as an additional condition. Spear Swipe: no changes needed. Disrupting Throw: reduce the daze duration from 2.5 to 1.5 seconds. Spearmarshal's Support: no changes needed. Harrier's Toss: remove the evasion.

Barbed Spear: the tooltip doesn't say from what distance Thief can throw the spear. Add the throw range of 900 in the tooltip. Ashen Assault: reduce the number of bleed and poison stacks from 4 to 2 or 1. Mantis Sting: remove the cripple and give it to Entangling Asp. Entangling Asp: increase the initiative cost from 2 to 3 and replace the immobilize with cripple. Falling Spider: increase the initiative cost from 1 to 2. Unsuspecting Strike: reduce the leap range from 480 to 400. Vampiric Slash: increase the initiative cost from 1 to 2 and write in the tooltip that it also applies weakness. Shattering Assault: increase the initiative cost from 1 to 2 and remove the unblockable effect. Distracting Throw: no changes needed. Shadow Veil: either increase the initiative cost from 3 to 6 or remove the healing.

Abyssal Strike: reduce the Abyssal Raze cooldown reduction from 1.5 to 1 second. Abyssal Force: reduce the Abyssal Raze cooldown reduction from 10 to 5 seconds. Abyssal Blitz: increase the Abyssal Raze cooldown reduction from 3 to 5 seconds when you evade an attack. Abyssal Blot: no changes needed. Abyssal Raze: no changes needed.

Drake's Swipe, Bee's Sting, Wyvern's Lash, Cheetah's Strike: no changes needed. Mongoose's Frenzy: no changes needed. Wolf's Onslaught (spear 2 stealth attack): no changes needed. Falcon's Stoop: no changes needed. Owl's Flight (spear 3 stealth attack): remove the unblockable effect. Warclaw's Engage: remove the evasion. Predator's Ambush (spear 4 stealth attack): remove the evasion. Panther's Prowl: increase the count recharge from 10 to 15 seconds. Spider's Web (spear 5 stealth attack): reduce the web duration from 4 to 3 seconds.

Dark Slash, Deadly Slice, Sinister Stab: reduce the cast time on Dark Slash from 0.75 to 0.50 seconds. Perforate: no changes needed. Addle: reduce the Life Force you gain when an enemy is using a skill from 20% to 15% and reduce the daze duration when you interrupt an enemy from 1.5 to 1 seconds. Isolate: remove the unblockable effect. Distress: reduce the number of additional shards from 3 to 2. Extirpate: no changes needed.

Psycut, Psystrike, Mind Pierce: no changes needed. Mind the Gap: make it so you gain Clarity regardless if you hit enemies with the outer edge. Imaginary Inversion: reduce or remove the healing after you evade an attack. This skill is the same Blurred Frenzy (sword 2), but better. You have a shorter cast time, but still a 1 second evasion, you can hit 5 enemies instead of 3, you heal if you evade an attack and you remove 2 conditions if you have Clarity. Phantasmal Lancer: no changes needed. Mental Collapse: reduce the stun duration if you have Clarity from 3 to 2 seconds.

Daybreaking Dash: no changes needed. Helio Rush: the tooltip says that allies get more boons if a target is illuminated, but the only boon allies get is resolution. Maybe add regeneration and vigor or some other supportive boon. Gleaming Disc: remove the short delay for the shock wave of light. Solar Storm: make the next attack illuminated regardless if you use this skill within range of the shards. Symbol of Luminance: no changes needed.

Puncturing Jab, Rending Strike, Amplifying Strike: no changes needed. Conduit Surge: reduce the focus duration from 10 to 6 seconds. Lightning Rod: no changes needed. Roiling Skies: remove the knockdown because this skill already has two crowd control abilities. One launches focused enemies and the other stuns unfocused enemies. Devastator: increase the radius from 240 to 300.

1. Fire Flame Spear: no changes needed. Blazing Barrage: no changes needed. Seethe: no changes needed. Meteor: reduce the damage increase from 25% to 20%, it may deal too much damage when combined with Seethe's 20% damage increase. Etching Volcano: make it last longer. 2. Water Restorative Spear: it's the same as the staff's auto attack, only it heals the elementalist instead of allies. Either make it so it heals allies like staff's auto attack or increase the healing to the elementalist. Ice Beam: no changes needed. Ripple: reduce the range from 600 to 500 or 400 so it synergizes with Etching Jokulhlaup. Undertow: no changes needed. Etching Jokulhlaup: make it last longer. 3. Air Lightning Javelin: it's the same as the staff's auto attack, only it hits one target. Either make it so it hits multiple enemies like staff's auto attack or slightly increase the damage. Fulgor: no changes needed. Energize: no changes needed. Twister: reduce the float duration from 3 to 2 seconds. Etching Derecho: make it last longer. 4. Earth Stone Strike: no changes needed. Earthen Spear: no changes needed. Harden: the tooltip says it's an instant cast skill, but it isn't. Either make it an instant cast skill or add the cast time in the tooltip. Fissure: no changes needed. Etching Haboob: make it last longer.

Warrior using a staff is a solid choice, especially for support builds. Here are my thoughts on the weapon: Balanced Strike, Reverse Strike, Inspiring Whirl (staff 1): reduce the cast time of Inspiring Whirl from 0.75 to 0.5 seconds and increase the regeneration duration from 3.25 to 5 seconds. Valiant Leap (staff 2): make it a blast finisher. Line Breaker (staff 3): reduce the weakness and cripple duration from 5.25 seconds to 3 seconds and remove the unblockable boon on ally target, the heal, protection, aegis and stun breaker are more than enough. Snap Pull (staff 4): reduce the number of targets from 5 to 3 and reduce the pull range from 600 to 300. Defiant Roar (staff 5): reduce the resistance duration from 6.25 seconds to 5 seconds.

Revenant using a scepter is a solid choice, however there are some skills that need to be nerfed. Here are my thoughts on the weapon: Serene Slash, Acerbic Cut, Motivating Whirl (scepter 1): reduce the cast time on Serene Slash and Acerbic Cut from 0.5 to 0.25 seconds and change the animation so it properly matches the attack range. Blossoming Aura (scepter 2): reduce the weakness duration from 4 to 2 seconds in PvP/WvW and reduce the range from 900 to 300 because this skill becomes stronger only from autoattacks at 300 range. Otherwordly Attraction (scepter 3): the upkeep cost is too low and you can just keep scepter 3 active on an enemy, use scepter 2 with autoattacks and the enemy is permanently weakened, crippled and slowed. Increase the upkeep cost and reduce the duration on crippled from 2.75 seconds to 1.5 seconds and slowed from 1.25 to 0.50 seconds.

Thief using an axe isn't a bad choice, however it was somewhat too strong in the beta. Here are my thoughts on the weapon: Spinning Axe (axe 1): reduce the duration on spinning axes from 10 to 5 seconds. Venomous Valley (axe 2): reduce the number of axes from 3 to 2. Harrowing Storm (axe 3): reduce the number of torment stacks from 2 to 1, remove the immobilize and increase the initiative cost from 4 to 6.

Ranger using maces isn't a bad weapon choice, however the main-hand mace could be better. Here are my thoughts on the weapons: Germinate, Burgeon, Cultivate (mace 1): no changes needed. Flourish (mace 2): either reduce the healing and regeneration duration or increase the cooldown on this skill from 6 to 8. Oaken Cudgel (mace 3): replace the stun with a daze. Thistleguard (mace 4): reduce the number of conditions removed from 2 to 1. Wild Strikes (mace 5): no changes needed.

Necromancer using one sword would've been fine, similar to weaver, but it wasn't necessary to use two swords. Here are my thoughts on the weapons: Enervation Blade, Enervation Echo, Deathly Enervation (sword 1): reduce the chill duration on Deathly Enervation from 2.5 to 1 second. Ravenous Wave (sword 2): reduce the life force. Gorge (sword 3): reduce the boon corrupted from 2 to 1 and remove the life cost. Gormandize (sword 4): remove the chilled condition and increase the additional damage dealt. Consume (sword 5): make the orb of death magic detonate instead of traveling back to the necromancer.

I can somewhat understand thief using a rifle for the whole sniper theme with Deadeye, but it doesn't fit for mesmer. Here are my thoughts on the weapon: Friendly Fire (rifle 1): no changes needed. Journey (rifle 2): remove the cripple. Abstraction (rifle 3): remove the blindness, the high damage and 6.5 seconds of weakness is more than enough. Phantasmal Sharpshooter (rifle 4): replace the stun with a daze. Dimensional Aperture (rifle 5): teleport the mesmer to the targeted area and leave a portal entry for teammates to follow where the mesmer teleported.

Guardian using a pistol is bad enough, but two? This is without a doubt the worst weapon decision for guardian, it doesn't fit the holy knight / paladin theme at all. Anyways, here are my thoughts on the weapons: Through the Heart (pistol 1): no changes needed. Peacekeeper (pistol 2): reduce the number of targets from 5 to 3 and change its angle to a cone so you have to aim at enemies. Symbol of Ignition (pistol 3): can apply a lot of burn stacks with skills like Peacekeeper and Whirling Light, so increase the ignition time from 0.25 to 0.5 seconds. Hail of Justice (pistol 4): remove the cripple. This skill already applies bleed, pierces targets and it's an ammo skill, the cripple would make it more annoying to deal with. Jurisdiction (pistol 5): reduce the charge time from 2 to 1.5 seconds and make the blue fire ball knockback enemies only when it's fully charged.

Engineer using a shortbow isn't a bad idea, however in the beta, it's not as fun as I thought it would be. Here are my thoughts on the weapon: Arc Detonator (shortbow 1): make it apply weakness instead of vulnerability like it says in the tooltip, but it doesn't. Essence of Animated Sand (shortbow 2): reduce the cripple duration from 1.25 seconds to 0.75 seconds. Essence of Living Shadows (shortbow 3): increase the healing. Essence of Liquid Wrath (shortbow 4): reduce the initial might stack from 5 to 3. Essence of Borrowed Time (shortbow 5): reduce the stun duration from 2 to 1 second and reduce the slow duration from 1.25 seconds to 0.50 seconds.

Even if I think that elementalist using a pistol is stupid and doesn't fit the profession's theme, here are my thoughts on the weapon: Scorching Shot (pistol 1 fire): no changes needed. Raging Ricochet (pistol 2 fire): reduce the duration on the 5% condition damage from 10 to 8 seconds in PvE and from 10 to 5 seconds in PvP/WvW. Searing Salvo (pistol 3 fire): make it a blast finisher. Soothing Splash (pistol 1 water): should heal both the elementalist and teammates for each condition on the enemy. Friggid Flurry (pistol 2 water): replace the bleeding with condition cleansing and add the ice bullet icon in the tooltip. Glacial Shot (pistol 3 water): no changes needed. Electric Exposure (pistol 1 air): no changes needed. Dazing Discharge (pistol 2 air): reduce the daze duration from 1.5 to 1 second. Aerial Agility (pistol 3 air): change it so it fires an enemy on the first dash and if you hit an enemy, you can dash and shoot again and make it remove immobilize, cripple and chill when you dash without an air bullet. Piercing Pebble (pistol 1 earth): no changes needed. Shattering Stone (pistol 2 earth): increase the bleed stacks from 1 to 3 when using an earth bullet. Boulder Blast (pistol 3 earth): remove the immobilize, make it apply barrier without an earth bullet and have it knockdown an enemy if you use an earth bullet.

Of all things to focus for engineer, why condition holosmith? Does nobody at ArenaNet know that core engineer exists? Holosmith is a power specialization, not a condition specialization. 4 of the 5 Photon Forge skills are power based and Photon Blitz is the only condition skill that applies burning. I don't know why you would buff condition holosmith when you can just buff core condition engineer which is, in my opinion, better than condition holosmith. And you can give it more buffs rather than just reducing the cooldown on Incendiary Ammo from 40 to 20 seconds in PvE only. Not saying I don't appreciate it, but I think more buffs would've been appreciated. Let's hope that the June 27th balance patch offers more meaningful changes rather than just lowering or increasing cooldowns.

I wouldn't say that both Death Magic and Blood Magic are entirely useless, but they definitely could use a few buffs. Even without Death Magic, necromancer has the most abilities to cleanse conditions, like Consume Conditions, Well of Power, Spectral Walk, Putrid Mark (staff 4), Deathly Swarm (dagger 4) and many more. I think necromancer would deal with crowd control better if ArenaNet brought back the Soul Reaping trait called Foot in the Grave, which turned shroud into a stun breaker with 3 seconds of stability. In 2020, ArenaNet replaced Foot in the Grave with Eternal Life, a boring passive trait that gives 3 seconds of protection when you enter shroud and life force when not in shroud, but only up to 66% in PvE, 20% in WvW and 10% in PvP. If berserker can have Savage Instinct, which turns berserk mode into a stun breaker with 2 seconds of damage immunity, I don't see why necromancer can't have Foot in the Grave back.

The changes for engineer's tool kit and elementalist's scepter are good, even if I think these two professions could've used a few more buffs. Deadeye being able to move while kneeling, even if it's really slow at 25% movement speed is an interesting buff in PvE, but Firebrand's tome rework is definitely the most interesting change about this patch and I'm curious to see how it turns out.

I like the rework for engineer's Takedown Round. It's a weak trait that I never use, but after this update, I might try it out and see how much it would improve core engineer's damage in all game modes. Nerfing the boon removal, stability and resolution skills of support builds in WvW is good as some of them can be problematic especially in zergs. I also like the buffs for warrior like "Shake It Off!" having a shorter cooldown and Shield Master giving warrior adrenaline instead of might. Warrior is getting the most buffs in this update which is always good to see underperforming professions getting buffed. What I don't like about this update is removing the tradeoffs for the elite specializations. Why would you remove them? They are a good way to balance elite specializations. Soulbeast was one of the most broken elite specialization in Path of Fire and having two pets meant that it can use a pet like the smokescale for combat and have a bird pet to move faster, in other words more options for damage and mobility compared to core ranger. Removing this tradeoff will make core ranger obsolete in PvP and WvW like it did back when Path of Fire was released. Also, why you would remove the tradeoff for ranger and berserker, but not mirage or holosmith. Mirage still has one dodge and Holosmith doesn't have access to the elite toolbelt skill (F5). You can balance elite specializations to be on the same level as core professions even if they have tradeoffs, but having no tradeoffs means that there are no downsides to using elite specializations, makes core professions obsolete and will leave F2P players at a disadvantage.

Why would you nerf the elixir gun and the med kit? They're good the way they are now. If you really want to give other support options, then nerf Mechanist, not the kits. Other than that, good buffs for every profession, though I wish I'd see buffs or any improvements for core engineer. You can start by not nerfing kits.