Game Update Notes Preview: Profession Skills

[Ruisenior.6342]

Long time ago i started playing gw2, like on 2014. I loved it, every class had it's own identity.

 

I used to run a build that wasn't by anymeans meta, discovering and exploring the world with the spirits of the wild surrounding me. Then something started to hurt me, the spirits that used to be at my side left me, but they stayed the same way, just not my friends anymore. Now something is starting to hurt me, but even more. Those spirits are now gone, what's happening o0o i see it, coniditions are spreading around the world, stacking at unimaginable levels.

 

Maybe past times were better 😰 RiP

[paddystar.2879]

Really love the constant removal of class specific buffs (spirits, banners, traitline for 5 teammates) and more quickness/alacrity options.

 

But many nerfs and crit-talents feel really weird to me, for example elementalist air attunement 5% critchance.
Don't know any build who wants to camp air and it just makes the class feel much more clunky since you suddenly have more critchance at 1/4 of your attunements.

[Puck.3697]

7 minutes ago, FaustXIII.6409 said:

So buff the other quickness professions. People want to play their classes because they feel powerful they feel good. Lowering it to a standard where damage + alacrity or quickness sources don't do much damage just makes players not want to play them and then you're left with a scenario of instead of what we could have called 60% of players have a support option to 20% of players ever playing quickness or alacrity options and group content just gets more and more difficult to get people together for because no one wants to feel how little damage you do in open world.

inheritly continuing power creep to feel "Powerful" makes content redundent, it cant work that way im afraid.

The trait change shoulda happened it did need to however the hammer nerfs put catalyst in a grave effectively,

[Illenya.7246]

15 minutes ago, Illenya.7246 said:

as a Catalyst player, from the bottom of my heart,

bruh.

 

please stop ganging up on Ele every patch

seriously though, I gotta complain a bit more:

Elementalist is a class with a high skill ceiling. If good players score above average, that's normal! But instead of rewarding skill and effort, the devs have been nerfing the average Ele player into the ground just so the Ele skill ceiling aligns with that of less mechanically complex classes. It just isn't fair.

I love Catalyst, I love Ele, I love stance-dancing, and I'm an Ele main at heart because other classes bore me, but everything that's starting to feel usable on Ele keeps getting nerfed six feet into the ground. Knowing that after this patch, once again, I will have to put in hours of practice to claw my way up to simple mediocrity when I could just play any other class and hit the same numbers in an hour of gameplay makes me feel like I am being punished for getting good - and all that just because some skilled folks have put in the 50+ hours a week it takes to actually utilize the high potential Ele was meant to have and still has in the right hands.

 

For real, devs. I'm trying to stay calm here but it's getting really frustrating to have each patch feel like y'all are ganging up on the average Elementalist because you don't like that your high skill-ceiling class scores above average when people put in the effort. Please, let Ele mains reap a reward for the effort they put in! Nerf them on PvP and maybe WvW if you feel like you must, but at least let us have our PvE skills. If you hate the idea of high effort yielding good results so much, just delete Ele and be done with it. But stop this stupid, nonsensical vendetta against skilled Ele gameplay already.

[Arus.6297]

why would u have to ruin fractals again? we know ur not supporting fractals, but why ruin them actively? 

 

please fix this balance patch. ur just ruining the game if u release this. biggest drop of players u will ever have.

[Solstice.5790]

Finally,

time to play something else.

[Curennos.9307]

There are some good changes in here and some bad, but...

 

Anet needs to acknowledge that simply pulsing boons Because Reasons(TM) is boring.

 

I don't care about harbringer's quickness access in PvE - it gives them quickness for doing what they were doing anyway with some rotation adjustments. It's a DPS build that just does less DPS to give folks quickness. 

 

I don't care about warrior changes that turn banners into yet more pulsing boons that just...pulse without any input except fire-and-forget on the utility skill.

 

Most boon generation might as well be passively applied because the player doesn't really have to bother doing anything for it to happen - it just occurs as a result of doing other, unrelated, things. This adds nothing to the game. Support should mean something - the feeling of actively doing something is extremely important in an action combat game. Healing can be fun when I am required to actively engage with the content second by second to heal, cleanse, mitigate, etc. DPS is fun when I have to manage something and feel like I'm actually responsible for my DPS output.

 

I can certainly appreciate anet's effort to make it easier to find and form groups and making composition more flexible - this is good. But simply adding passive pulsing boons to classes without any consideration for how those buffs are applied is not. It's boring. Please don't make boon support builds effectively DPS specs that also just happen to spew out some buffs as a result of doing whatever else they would normally be doing.

[Xerxez.7361]

12 minutes ago, Lily.1935 said:

Reaper

Positive changes overall. However I'd have liked to see some more options for reaper. Such as with Blighter's Boon being geared more towards tanking with something like reduced decay rate on top of what it already does, and I also don't like that decimate defenses and soul eater are competing for the exact same slot. After this update Decimate defenses is

 

Changes put into numbers with full berserker. 70% Crit Chance and 100% Crit Chance in Shroud to 85% Crit Chance in and out of Shroud with full buffs.

 

300 Ferocity to 15% Crit Damage (225 Ferocity)

Edited June 24, 2022 by Xerxez.7361

[Terrorhuz.4695]

 

Quote

Dueling

• Master Fencer: Now may activate on any critical hit, granting 4 seconds of fury on up to 5 allies in a circle with a range of 360. Internal cooldown is 8 seconds.

Ok for group content, I guess. But let's assume you want to play solo... in other words, you wanted to duel... in a traitline called literally dueling... your fury uptime gets halved. Just saying.

Quote

Virtuoso

• Quiet Intensity: Bonus critical chance from Fury increased from 10% to 15% in PvE.
• Bladesong Sorrow: Bleed on hit removed.

Yeah let's nerf virtuoso, it's definitely too strong.

Quote

Chronomancer

• Seize the Moment: Radius increased from 240 to 360. Tides of Time now also applies quickness in a radius of 360 for a duration of 5 seconds when cast.
• Lost Time: Reworked and renamed Stretched Time.
• Stretched Time: The first pulse of a well also applies alacrity for 4 seconds to allies near the well in a radius of 360. Tides of Time now also applies alacrity in a radius of 360 for a duration of 5 seconds when cast.

I'm really not a fan of this. I can understand why this was done, but the decision itself is bad. Forcing a GM trait to work with a given weapon can be understandable if it's the weapon trait, but forcing 2 GM traits to work with a given weapon is really kittening distasteful. And chronomancer is already pretty kittening bad.

Quote

Shield

• Tides of Time: Cooldown reduced from 40 seconds to 35 seconds. The stun-enemy and ally-boon components of this skill now each have separate 5-target caps. This skill no longer applies quickness and alacrity to allies the wave passes through. Instead, it applies swiftness for 5 seconds and 5 stacks of might for 15 seconds in a radius of 360 when cast. The trait Seize the Moment now also adds 5 seconds of quickness while Stretched Time (formerly Lost Time) adds 5 seconds of alacrity. Damage coefficient increased from 0.8 to 1.3 in PvE only.

Chronomancers in WvW are in literal kittening tears rn

Quote

Wells

• Well of Action: Now provides Superspeed to allies on the final pulse instead of quickness.
• Well of Recall: Renamed Well of Senility. Now removes two boons from enemy targets on the final pulse instead of providing alacrity to allies.

Superspeed, the boon speficially for moving. Can be gained only if you stand still for 4 seconds.

I'm not even talking about what happened to well of recall; it was bad, but this is even worse. 2 boons removed if the enemy stands in the same place for 3 whole seconds. What the actual kitten is wrong with you. Do you even have anyone who plays mesmer in the dev team, what the kitten is this supposed to be.

Edited June 24, 2022 by Terrorhuz.4695

[Kasumii.7250]

i think the meta won't change a lot with this patch
Quickbrands are still busted, Quickcatalyst is big sad
Spotter and Banners (unique buffs) are removed.
the thing is, unique buffs are one of the reason why i like gw2 a lot
and by 'killing' them makes me feel like 'this isn't gw2' 

i'm just curious what's the reason behind removing unique buffs from those classes; are they extremely mandatory for group contents? if so, why don't we rework other classes that are underplayed to compete instead of removing their unique buffs?

e.g:

as a thief: we can give x unique buff when we steal (f1) to an enemy
or, as a elementalist: we give x unique buff when applying y boons/auras to allies and ourself, etc

with this patch, it feels like all of the classes are the same, they can give quickness, they can give alac, might etc;
some of them are very annoying to do it, some of them aren't 
and the meta will still be the most comfy class to do it.

Edited June 24, 2022 by Kasumii.7250

[mirage.8046]

is this a fever dream?? who thought it was okay to remove one of the very few hard CC effects from necromancer? might as well make this class uncapable of breaking bars at this point. 

[Puck.3697]

Just now, Arus.6297 said:

why would u have to ruin fractals again? we know ur not supporting fractals, but why ruin them actively? 

 

please fix this balance patch. ur just ruining the game if u release this. biggest drop of players u will ever have.

I'd love to agree.

however, being in multiple MMORPGs, FFXIV is about the only game that actually balances Properly.

WoW and ESO are both very guilty of doing this, "Balance patchs" but Leaving Meta as Meta, Remember. Fire mage Retained a number 1 Spot. for 2 years, Feral has Been bad for like 8? Years.. Survivals Seen its first time in play in 6 years. as far as im aware ironically the Meta in ESO Still hasnt changed since i last played Lmfao.

GW2 while tyhe balancing is Pretty... Whack. its not better or worse then the majority of other MMORPGS.. the only other MMOIRPGS do which gw2 dont.. is have far more regular content it seems.

[SoloMona.7345]

Heyo I know a lot of ppl are upset about these changes, I just wanted to remind that this is a very different direction for Guild Wars 2 with the removal of custom effects like Spotter, Assassins Presence, Banners and Spirits. The removal of such important features was never going to be an easy journey but it's the direction Arena Net wants to take the game. Because of that it's only natural we see the outlining changes here tuned down to a mere idea. Let's all experiment with the new toys Anet gave us and see if anything good comes of it before we judge to harshly. Remember when they added quickness to Scrapper, and MukLuk tried it out? It wasn't good then either so Anet boosted it. And now quick scrapper is a pretty big deal.

Basically what I'm saying is hang in a little longer they're trying some new mechanics not rebalancing the game ofc it's gonna be weak. But hang in there, play with it first and Anet will get back to us when they figure out what changes they just put in work and what changes don't. All we can do is hope that it's sooner than later.

See MukLuk's afterthoughts on the build, aaand then see ANet's changes to eng in response

Edited June 24, 2022 by SoloMona.7345

[Kilty.4906]

On 6/23/2022 at 12:19 PM, Rubi Bayer.8493 said:

Spectacular Sphere: This trait now also increases the radius of Deploy Jade Sphere from 240 to 360 in all game modes. In PvE only, it causes Deploy Jade Sphere in air attunement to additionally provide quickness and reduces all outgoing damage dealt by 10%.

I like that Catalysts will be able to deploy quickness all at once with an increased radius, but why the 10% damage reduction? We are already trading off the bonus damage from auras if we take this trait.

Edited June 24, 2022 by Kilty.4906
Added the quote

[Fenom.9457]

On 6/23/2022 at 10:19 AM, Rubi Bayer.8493 said:

Spectacular Sphere: This trait now also increases the radius of Deploy Jade Sphere from 240 to 360 in all game modes. In PvE only, it causes Deploy Jade Sphere in air attunement to additionally provide quickness and reduces all outgoing damage dealt by 10%.

excuse me what? A trait reduces the damage YOU deal OUT? Or is this saying you take 10% less damage? It sounds like one of my own traits will nerf me, why would people use that?

 

I’m honestly saddened by catalyst changes it looks like I was finally having fun with it after the previous ruination was undone, and now they’ve made it kinda unusable again.  I didn’t realize how much the entire thing relies on quickness from air sphere until I thought about not having it. Unless I take a trait that bumps down all my damage by 10%, AND they nerfed a bunch of the hammer skills down.

[rsegames.3916]

Let's see if i should return to play GW2 with this patch...

*Reads actual proof of complete incompetence in game design*

Aaah, so glad with steam summer sale right now! If you are playing warrior, have a happy masochism section, i'm gonna still just be watching from far away! 

Edited June 24, 2022 by rsegames.3916

[Convet.2605]

My bs gone

Heal vin gone

Catalyst gone

My untamed looks like my most playable class and that's sad to say.

[Puck.3697]

4 minutes ago, Illenya.7246 said:

Elementalist is a class with a high skill ceiling. If good players score above average, that's normal! But instead of rewarding skill and effort, the devs have been nerfing the average Ele player into the ground just so the Ele skill ceiling aligns with that of less mechanically complex classes. It just isn't fair.

this is the problem.

Proffessions need to be "balanced" I.E all equally capable, however not every proffession is as Easy as the last to play, this is becuase MMORPGS deem "difficulty" as a Choice of enjoyment. Not a Reward Factor.

 Icould  give u hundreds of examples of the same disparity existing in any MMORPG current. Difficulty is never factored into balancing, and ironcially the only game which did (Wildstar) Died on the hill of pushing this Mindset, because the Masses of gamers Do not want this sorta balancing to exist, it makes ur game very inaccessible and Unplayable for the vast majority of your playerbase.

the other half of the problem is.

Thsi game isnt remotely balanced, Elementalist isnt Equally as Capable as Guardian, Guardian is a Better choice. which is the real issue, Elementalist still has Some major core lacking areas.

Conjures are still terrible.

Lack of Ranged Options.

Alot of Dead utility skills.

Lack of a Solid Elite skill.

Its Still extremely punishing being as Squishy as it is.

Catalyst is still awkward concerning requiring Stacks which are REALLY difficult to retain.

The fixs are pretty simple.

Reduce the Skill floor of Elementalist. Reduce the Damage difference between the top and average player realistically.

- Make Conjures Strong.

- Rework Scepter and make a Solid Ranged build.

- Give Weaver Self-Quickness.

- Catalysts Stat stacks. make 4 stacks provide 70% of the Entire Amount. and the last 6 add the last 30% to make it less punishing.

- Add Vitatilty to the that Effect to Improve its Sustain.

The issue isnt Catalysts Skill cap, the vast majority of players Dont get even close to the sdkill cap of any proffession, no matter how easy you think they are. people dont. Ironically the average DPS on every Specc is Around the 20k Mark. and everyones averaging at the exact same point.

The issue is, they keep finding these weird ways to make Elementalist more annoying to play, even at a basic level.

[Lottie.5370]

Why the kitten even nerf soulbeast?

[Gorem.8104]

Another elem nerf. Another. hahahahaha

 

How is Harb and Guardian still allowed to be easilly the strongest classes in the entire game and not be super nerfed, yet some of the hardest to play classes in the entire game, ele, keeps getting nerfed and its not even as good as the easier classes to play. 
I'll never understand the way Anet balances. 

[Braneric.2843]

ANet PLEASE move the crit bonus for warriors from Arms to...anywhere else. Arms is very clearly a condition damage specialization.

[Redfeather.6401]

What is there to look forward too this year because this ain't it.

[fenriswolfman.5486]

Nothing can be done about boon spam its a foundational part of the games combat. What they can do is give wider access to the most desirable ones. Removing the unique nonboon buffs also frees up those classes from being required to use them allowing more variety of playstyles. The established roles of are being brought more in line with one another. This patch is very heavily support focused. This is balance.

[trulosek.7145]

Just delete this post and update and we'll all pretend we haven't seen anything and try again in a month it may look like you're trying at least a little.

[GoguSpatzialu.7948]

2 hours ago, IrishPotato.6327 said:

I'm going to need some people to do the math on the banner changes because I don't get how this is better.

It's simple, this patch will make you stop playing warrior, and thus improving your quality of life.