Would themed/class updates work for GW2?

[Chrury.4627]

Just a ponder I had. Pretty much every class forum has people bemoaning the lack of changes to x trait or y bug. And we know that time and manpower is limited for any given balance patch.

So what if, instead of balancing everything every balance patch, patches were themed to focus better with just bugfixes all around? You could have armor weight based updates (scholar, adventurer, and uh heavy guy), weapon based (bow wielders, hammer/mace wielders), "counter" based (Ele vs War, Thief vs Guard), other based (minion classes, color of skills) , etc.

Upside is classes in the update would get more focused attention, big downside is other classes would have to wait for larger changes. Now balance patches might happen faster if they're testing fewer things but who can say.

Discuss?

[OriOri.8724]

Lets be very generous and call the average turnaround time to address any serious concerns about a class (ie underpowered/overpowered/skills/traits that just are never used or extremely clunky) 2 balance iterations. Right now that means that we have to wait 6-8 months to have a hope at getting something addressed.

If balance patches were "themed" for armor weights, that means that I would now be looking at 2 balance iterations for my weight class 3 weight classes 3-4 months per iteration = 18-22 months for something to hopefully get addressed. And that's if I am lucky.

No thanks. Instead all we need are timely patches. Once a month would be fine for general balancing (ie CD tweaks and small buffs/nerfs to skills). At that rate it would be more than acceptable if we didn't get skill/trait reworks more often than every 3-4 months, because stuff would still be being balanced in the meantime

[starlinvf.1358]

Themed balance patches around classes does not work, given the already heavy tendency to "flavor of the month" builds in this game's meta. Their approach with tackling a subsection of mechanics is right idea, as it moves to address build abuse that is upsetting a game mode. The real issue is their frequency (which is too low), and their sometimes poor understanding of player psychology due to their "metrics based" review process. When they understand a problem, they'll typically be able to articulate what was happening. But when they reference metrics as a driver for some kind of change, the players usually see the situation happening in the opposite direction. And thats not going into the deeply rooted problem of PvP/WvW culture, and their narrowed minded strategies.