Still worth playing after the "balance" patch?

[Shiina.4192]

Greetings.

I've been playing this game in and out for the past few years. I don't care about the meta, as I don't play raids and whatever (yet). But I heard there was a massive nerf wave. Is it worth to still play the game as someone who mostly focuses on open world PvE? Is it still okay to try out raids or strikes with any class other than mechanist and firebrand? It was my concern for a while, thinking that the balance patch would kitten the game. I don't understand the meta, so I won't pretend to know if all changes were good or bad, but I'd like to know if it ruined gameplay for the nerfed classes.

Should I have anything to worry about in regards to the future of the game with that in mind?

I'm lacking sleep, so I hope this question makes sense.

Edited July 8, 2022 by Aselia.1325
posted early on accident

[Sarius.9285]

sure, mechanist and guard are just the easiest and strongest classes, everything else has to work a little harder to similar results, but is still perfectly playable 

[Hotride.2187]

I doubt you'll notice any change in open world pve, at least from that patch. As long as you are not required to perform (do dps), you are fine.

28 minutes ago, Aselia.1325 said:

Should I have anything to worry about in regards to the future of the game with that in mind?

Well, considering how undercooked changes/additions to the game have been for the last year (2 years, really)... Yeah I'd be worried. But the game has a long distance to fall, so it will probably be good for another few years even if the studio doesn't get its kitten together.

[Killthehealersffs.8940]

37 minutes ago, Aselia.1325 said:

Should I have anything to worry about in regards to the future of the game with that in mind?

I'm lacking sleep, so I hope this question makes sense.

You don't have to worry. There will always meta  classes that high end people will stack . In the lower end it whatever you want .

 

(why most reddits posts at 28patch started with the word "should i be scared or i worry about the future of game "? It was the same with the mystic coins removal from CM fractals , people claimed that they will stop releasing further fractals )

Edited July 8, 2022 by Killthehealersffs.8940

[Einsof.1457]

Yes

[Lottie.5370]

Yes

[Zzik.5873]

1 hour ago, Aselia.1325 said:

Greetings.

I've been playing this game in and out for the past few years. I don't care about the meta, as I don't play raids and whatever (yet). But I heard there was a massive nerf wave. Is it worth to still play the game as someone who mostly focuses on open world PvE? Is it still okay to try out raids or strikes with any class other than mechanist and firebrand? It was my concern for a while, thinking that the balance patch would kitten the game. I don't understand the meta, so I won't pretend to know if all changes were good or bad, but I'd like to know if it ruined gameplay for the nerfed classes.

Should I have anything to worry about in regards to the future of the game with that in mind?

I'm lacking sleep, so I hope this question makes sense.

Dont listen to all the doomer. They are just salty nerd. The game is perfectly fine to play, the balance disnt do as much damage as people thing. And honestly anyway, the game is as fun as before, and it still have a long life ahead, its never been that popular, the dev are in full hyper drive as long the game is concern. They fixing most of the complain people has done in the past. Im still playing it after 8 years, still enjoy it, still didnt finish 100% of the content. If you want people to play, dont be affraid to join my tag! I do raid (its a new thing for me!), strike, meta, etc. Guild wars 2 is a pretty fun game to play casual, and it have his fair share of hard content too.

[TexZero.7910]

If all you care about is open world then literally nothing changed for you.

[Danikat.8537]

If you're not following meta builds you probably won't notice any difference.

[Tukaram.8256]

I have not noticed a single bit of difference. That being said I solo, open world PvE, only. 😎

[KRICKZ.2608]

I think chrono is dead now. Every other class can provide quickness and alac better than chrono... chrono was the class to provide both. also power chrono is dead. other classes make more dmg and give quickness more efficient than the chrono does. the dmg of the chrono is also really bad so this class isnt worth it to play.

[Fueki.4753]

For Open World, there have been no significant changes, other than Mechanists and their ugly goo-coloured robots ruining the scenery twice as much as they did before before.

So, if it was worth playing to you before the patch, Open World should still be worth playing to you now.

And worrying about the future should always be your default setting with the current developer team, given that they change things based on whims and personal bias.

Edited July 8, 2022 by Fueki.4753

[IndigoSundown.5419]

In the aftermath of the 6/28 patch, ANet acknowledged there were issues, put out a patch that nerfed mechanist a  bit and buffed ranger weapons/  They also promised more such adjustments in future and will publish their current balance goals/philosophy in the next few months.  Fwiw, the ranger nerfs from 6/28 and buffs in the after-patch have resulted in an overall buff to some ranger builds.  In essence, ANet raised the skill floor (how easy it is to produce good results) while also lowering the skill ceiling (made it easier to play) for ranger power builds.

 

In a relatively short time, the 6/28 patch will be nothing but a momentary bump in the road.  If current trends hold (and it's early days), the skill needed to succeed in raids/strikes will be lower, and the results available to highly skilled play may be less.  If you're primarily an open world solo player, but are looking to dabble in instanced group content, the game may actually be better for you.

 

I wouldn't worry.

[Westenev.5289]

Unless you're super invested in ranger spirits or warrior banners, nothing really changed. I think that's why people are so miffed.

[Hashberry.4510]

Open world game play is wildly easier over all (except that end zone I guess) so overall a bit duller.

 

Ignore the forums and all the green mechs and its still a ball.

[Susy.7529]

Yes, if your main was not warrior.

[Dante.1508]

Depends on your class, Warrior ele or somewhat rangers.. not so much.. But hey Engi and Firebrand are going strong..

2 hours ago, IndigoSundown.5419 said:

In the aftermath of the 6/28 patch, ANet acknowledged there were issues, put out a patch that nerfed mechanist a  bit and buffed ranger weapons/  They also promised more such adjustments in future and will publish their current balance goals/philosophy in the next few months.  Fwiw, the ranger nerfs from 6/28 and buffs in the after-patch have resulted in an overall buff to some ranger builds.  In essence, ANet raised the skill floor (how easy it is to produce good results) while also lowering the skill ceiling (made it easier to play) for ranger power builds.

 

In a relatively short time, the 6/28 patch will be nothing but a momentary bump in the road.  If current trends hold (and it's early days), the skill needed to succeed in raids/strikes will be lower, and the results available to highly skilled play may be less.  If you're primarily an open world solo player, but are looking to dabble in instanced group content, the game may actually be better for you.

 

I wouldn't worry.

The buff to rangers was so tiny it basically didn't change them.. they are still depression.

Edited July 8, 2022 by Dante.1508

[Danikat.8537]

2 hours ago, Westenev.5289 said:

Unless you're super invested in ranger spirits or warrior banners, nothing really changed. I think that's why people are so miffed.

I'm still using ranger spirits. Well, spirit, most of the time I don't use more than one. I did make a Dragon's End build that used more and I'll probably re-work that but I haven't done the meta since the patch because I've been focusing on other things.

Because I'm not worried about doing the best possible DPS or whatever it's pretty rare that balance patches change my usual builds. It's usually only if the actual function changes, like when they removed the trait that allowed ranger spirits to follow you, or stopped traps from being ground targeted.

[Westenev.5289]

1 hour ago, Danikat.8537 said:

I'm still using ranger spirits. Well, spirit, most of the time I don't use more than one. I did make a Dragon's End build that used more and I'll probably re-work that but I haven't done the meta since the patch because I've been focusing on other things.

Because I'm not worried about doing the best possible DPS or whatever it's pretty rare that balance patches change my usual builds. It's usually only if the actual function changes, like when they removed the trait that allowed ranger spirits to follow you, or stopped traps from being ground targeted.

 

Ehh, ranger spirit change was pretty meh, in that it's different - I don't like or hate it. It's just annoying for me since it now requires me to run water spirit + 2 or 3 spirits to maintain alacrity (spiritslave?), while I actually prefer using healing spring as my go-to aoe panic heal (spirits as utility hasn't changed). I just wish the spirit of nature kept its stability, since it's kind of directly competing with glyph of the stars. It also means I have to spec damage more, since alacrity, healing and low damage aren't exactly great on a group lfg resume when Mechanist exists.

 

Warrior was kind of a spit to the face though. 3 seconds of quickness on a 60 second timer. Woo. I guess warriors have to learn that they have other utilities now.

 

It matters more to me since I like playing hotjoin instanced content like Dungeons, Fractals and Strikes - but I can see how it wouldn't affect people who aren't interested in that aspect of the game or play those classes.

Edited July 8, 2022 by Westenev.5289

[Doggie.3184]

Just reroll to a class the dev's main and you'll be fine since it feels like they only do self-serving updates.

[Ashen.2907]

If you are not playing a lot of instanced group content the changes will not impact you to any significant degree. If you are, your experience will differ.

[Cyninja.2954]

General rule of thumb:

If you have to ask, you are very likely not affected in a way you would notice.

 

So to answer the question: yes.

Edited July 8, 2022 by Cyninja.2954

[Astralporing.1957]

5 hours ago, Danikat.8537 said:

If you're not following meta builds you probably won't notice any difference.

This, for the most part. The survivability nerf they did some time ago was much more noticeable at the OW level. And as for the higher tiers, well, it depends on what classes you prefer to play, i guess.

Also, what @Cyninja.2954said - if you have to ask, you will (probably) be fine.

[Ashen.2907]

50 minutes ago, Cyninja.2954 said:

If you have to ask, you are very likely not affected in a way you would notice.

This is about as well put as it can get.

[AliamRationem.5172]

9 hours ago, Aselia.1325 said:

Greetings.

I've been playing this game in and out for the past few years. I don't care about the meta, as I don't play raids and whatever (yet). But I heard there was a massive nerf wave. Is it worth to still play the game as someone who mostly focuses on open world PvE? Is it still okay to try out raids or strikes with any class other than mechanist and firebrand? It was my concern for a while, thinking that the balance patch would kitten the game. I don't understand the meta, so I won't pretend to know if all changes were good or bad, but I'd like to know if it ruined gameplay for the nerfed classes.

Should I have anything to worry about in regards to the future of the game with that in mind?

I'm lacking sleep, so I hope this question makes sense.

Oh boy...

As someone who is increasingly frustrated with the design direction of the game and the latest balance patch let me reassure you.  Most of what they're focusing on revolves around group content, specifically boon support.  This will have a negligible impact on solo play in open world/story content and may even be a positive for you, depending upon the specialization you play. 

You have to understand that points of community anger such as the dominance of specs like mechanist and firebrand in group play have zero impact on players who stick to open world.  A good example of this is my favorite spec: weaver.  It has rock bottom representation in group play for the past 3 years and, if you main this spec, you might have expected some positive change.  Instead they buffed rifle and made mechanist even better.  Annoying, right?

But how is weaver for solo play open world/story?  Fantastic, actually.  So what if it isn't on the meta radar for raids/fractals/strikes?  If all you want to do is kick butt in open world/story content, weaver is a great spec!  To illustrate the point, here's a new clip I uploaded that I think even some of these dominant meta specs would have difficulty matching: