August 2 Balance Update Preview

[Roda.7468]

Oh boy more smaller boon ranges 🙃

I didn't want to see my character fighting, or be personally responsible for my positioning anyway

/s

 

Y'all want the greater population to get into more high end content?  Stop forcing everyone to play melee.  Other successful raiding mmos allow ranged archetypes for a reason. (the reason is they're fun to play), and no giving someone a ranged weapon to fire in melee doesn't count.

Edited July 27, 2022 by Roda.7468

[Ensarda.5648]

Nice to see a couple buffs to mesmer weapons should be very nice, but to rearly boost us for boon support alot of issues havn't been resolved.

1) (Alac build) you need like 3-4 wells to maintain permanent alacraty this gives 0 utility for any other use for example disenchantment phantasm, mantra of pain, feedback to name a few, in comparison to say Mechanist that looses 0 utility and can maintain almost permanent using their jade bot skills

2) Signet of insperation once such a strong boon utility now almost useless and the only way to make it even a little better takes me to point 3

3) Insperation traitline this traitline is so usless it may as well not even be in the game, its not bad for self healing against hard champion bosses in pve for example but thats it doesn't give enough healing to make mesmer viable in that role gives little boon support for groups and for the enormas damage reduction you take if you need 5 man signet of insperation what you gain isn't worth it

I think where mesmer support needs the help has been completly missed especaly in the form of an alacrity build, quickness may fair alot better

[Ashen.2907]

24 minutes ago, Roda.7468 said:

Oh boy more smaller boon ranges 🙃

I didn't want to see my character fighting, or be personally responsible for my positioning anyway

/s

 

Y'all want the greater population to get into more high end content?  Stop forcing everyone to play melee.  Other successful raiding mmos allow ranged archetypes for a reason. (the reason is they're fun to play), and no giving someone a ranged weapon to fire in melee doesn't count.

This.

[SugarJohnson.4596]

PvE only, PvE only, PvE only…

 

What a disappointment again. 

[Lottie.5370]

3 hours ago, Inglorious.7146 said:

You have to crit first. Now you sacrifice 15% crit from DT which mesmer already struggled to crit cap when it took, so now you have to devote even more stats to crit cap its bad, very bad. All the GS buff did was make pVirt better because why the heck would you play chrono for deeps when virtuoso exists?

 

Was thinking more for qChrono - since it was running IA for a while anyway. GS helps with the clone gen that you'd lack with sw/sw sw/fc, especially as you have a slot free for either mirror images or a DPS well now.

 

Don't know why you would play chrono for DPS, aye. Wells are still in a huge state too, but it might at least give me back a power quick source.

[prototypedragon.1406]

It could be interesting if they gave each banner when picked up its own skills  based on the banners equipped. They could perhaps dual wield 2 banners at once similar to weaver skills while   providing different utilities while pulsing boons with a increased duration when held in the warriors hands. Specializing each individual banner. Such as skills to give quickness and protection skills or additional group stability or group resoultion. Or focusing on applying conditions or aoe dazes  mixed with confusion damage perhaps.

[prototypedragon.1406]

.

Edited July 27, 2022 by prototypedragon.1406
Accidental copy

[Knashki.9602]

August 23rd buffed Ele core weapons/sword - rejoice!

Edited August 13, 2022 by Knashki.9602

[Zeesh.7286]

Can we PLEASE have the original meteor shower back or maybe remove the root on casting on meteor showers... It is a skill that hits like a wet noodle now compared to how difficult and risky it is to execute. Staff is already dogshit everywhere. 

[Sjentra.3409]

Honestly, with the range nerf for banners they don't even deserve a slot. Unless they are bugged like druids where the pulse location comes from your character instead of where the banner is placed.

[pallas.8150]

I see changes. Overall... meh.

 

I went from giving ANet around 80-120 dollars a month to absolutely nothing. I've not invested one penny into the game since the travesty of a balance patch heralded by Solar and the rest of the 'balance team'.

Edited July 27, 2022 by pallas.8150

[Radina.6057]

Whats up with those Chrono changes?

 

Random damage buffs wont change that Chrono needs a huge amount of Boon Duration to upkeep anything. 

We play a game right now that has FB, that offers 29k dps + every boon on the firmament bar alacrity, and alac mech that offers so much boons and heal that the barrier will drop out of your ears. Chrono will have to compete vs one, or the other. In the current state, and even with those damage buffs, that wont happen. 

 

We have some choice on the Alac front. Tempests Rebound has its usage, and Druids utility is wanted in a couple of fights, but Chrono simply doesnt have that kind of utility (anymore). 

 

The complete Chrono change list reads like someone doesnt know whats wrong with Chrono, and does the balancing via wiki again. Apparently, they wont ever learn.

Not that this Feedback will change anything. The Patch will drop on the 2nd of August, right? So three more workdays. Great.

Edited July 27, 2022 by Radina.6057

[samsdad.5692]

and again ANET brings garbage.

[Guillard.8561]

Why do they have to be banners, is there any rule or code that says that the warrior must always have banners? change the skills that are only shouts or something like that they want to balance and break something else haha

Edited July 28, 2022 by Guillard.8561

[Melian.5368]

I'm so tired of PvE only changes. WvW has been stale for so long. Why chrono buffs are PvE only? Was DPS Chrono dominating other classes in squads and when roaming? I don't even remember when I saw a DPS Chrono last time in WvW. 

[Okhu.7948]

6 hours ago, soulknight.9620 said:

Thats it? 2 out of 9 professions get something fixed? Ok, warriors needed that. But what about ele? Still "meta defining"? What about mechanist/FB nerfs to get them in line with other specs?

Its a preview. not the whole thing. Take a xanax.

[Moody Soul.5617]

@Rubi Bayer.8493Is it possible for the balance team to have a Live Question and Answer stream on twitch and YouTube again like at previews of  EoD but about the direction of balance, as I know, or hope most at the balance team have some sort of plan just we the players don't understand the full scope. I feel as  a lot is in the dark for us the players, so could we get like CMC and Grouch chan on a stream where they can talk about balance ideas and direction?  Than have a Q & A after wards ,or have CMC pop up and have a chat with Teapot the mighty?

Sincerely with happy thoughts and hugs

Moody Soul 😻

[Jojo.6590]

Would be nice to see the damage increases for Chrono (Core Mesmer weapons)  applied to all game modes.

Seems people have already stated how much of a mess the chrono trait line has been and this added change does not make it any better. Some one needs to take a long look at this trainline as it needs a lot of changes/a rework due to so many nerfs over the past years.

Edited July 28, 2022 by Jojo.6590
Trait line comment

[MedievalThings.5417]

6 hours ago, EvilSardine.9635 said:

When will mechanist be nerfed? It's pretty dumb in WvW currently.

It took them 3 years to nerf holosmith to bring it in line...so, don't hold your breath.  And there are still plenty of things overperforming ridiculously.

[Uuni.3561]

Mesmer GS buffs are appreciated but number tweaks are probably just going to put power virtuoso on nerf list the next patch. Instead of raw numbers I would rather see you address these sore points (in pve specifically):

- GS1 damage scaling down the closer you are

Not a huge problem on its own but its all stick no carrot feeling attack.

- GS2 forcing you to stand inside hitbox to guarantee maximum damage

Not only is this annoying to try and do especially in larger encounters but it also makes GS1 feel even worse to use.

- GS3 forces you to stand still to cast

Using this around mechanics is often a death sentence for newer players. Almost feels like its ported over from a completely different mmo.

-

You did mirage GS ambush feel great but power mirage is absolute garbage so it never gets used. Please consider copying your own work in some way shape or form. If you want to give GS big numbers without completely overtuning power virtuoso I suggest giving it some way to scale with existing clones specifically. Perhaps when you cast gs4 all your clones perform a phantasmal berserker move, that kinda thing.

Edited July 28, 2022 by Uuni.3561

[NASA.8573]

Love these banner changes! To clarify, does doubled standards still double the durations? So 30s cooldown and 30s duration?

[SmoovRihx.2789]

6 hours ago, jonathanjp.6974 said:

If i were anet, i wouldn't even fix anything, community is ungrateful to any change.

If you were ArenaNet, you'd be out of business.

[firedragon.8953]

Thank you for the preview @Rubi Bayer.8493. 💗
Also, thank you dev team for working to improve the "banner situation."
I really like that banners will give one time effect such as stability on placement. I think this will lend itself to more strategical gameplay. However, I do have a few comments/concerns which I will outline below.

Anet's proposed banner effects.

• Banner of Defense: Grants barrier and aegis to allies when dropped, pulses Regen (4s).
• Banner of Tactics: Applies stability and super speed (and quickness in PvE only) to allies when dropped, pulses Resistance (2s).
• Banner of Discipline: Damages and applies bleeding and cripple. This skill no longer creates a light combo field, but acts as a blast finisher instead, pulses Fury (4s).
• Banner of Strength: Damages and dazes enemies. This skill no longer creates a light combo field, but acts as a blast finisher instead. pulses Might (10s, two stacks).
• Battle Standard: Damage multiplier has been increased from 1.5 to 4.0 in PvE only. This skill no longer creates a light combo field, but acts as a blast finisher instead, pulses Fury (6s), Swiftness (12s), Might (12s, two stacks).

My proposed banner changes based on Anet's possible direction.

• Banner of Defense: Grants Barrier and stability (2) when dropped. Does not grant aegis. Pulses Regen (4s).
  • Reason: In many respects, barrier is aegis. I don't see the synergy here. Maybe someone can explain? Moved Aegis to Tactics and Stab here to offload a "crowded" Tactics Banner. Please specify stability stacks. Consider 2 stacks of stability.
• Banner of Tactics: Grants Super Speed  and Aegis (and quickness in PvE only) to allies when dropped. Pulses Resistance (2s).  
  • Reason: Moved Aegis from Defense, and stab to Defense. Stab functions similarly to Resistance (negates fear, etc.), again I do not see the synergy with stacking these boons.
• Banner of Discipline: Damages and applies bleeding (5) and cripple. This skill no longer creates a light combo field, but acts as a blast finisher instead, pulses Fury (4s).
  • Reason: Specify bleeding stacks, consider 4-5 stacks bleeding, similar to shattering blow.  Honestly this feels a bit weak, but if its damage is decent it may see some play with condi berserker. Fury is too common to be taken for that purpose alone.
• Banner of Strength: Damages and knocks down enemies (5 targets?). This skill no longer creates a light combo field, but acts as a blast finisher instead. pulses Might (10s, two stacks).
  • Reason: Daze can interfere with other CC skills. This is especially problematic in WvW for example, as pointed out by @Riba.3271
• Battle Standard: Seems fine. Please clarify if this still rezes downed allies!? I hope so!!?
  • Reason: This is our elite skill, the down/rez effect is what makes it special/elite. 

Other changes as proposed by Anet.

• Pulsing boon radius (and combo fields) reduced to 360.

Other changes I propose.

• Pulsing boon radius (and combo fields) reduced to 500.
  • Reason: While 360 range is understandable in PvE situations (where people stack for boons), it is too unreliable in PvP or WvW scenarios due to movement. Either compromise for a 500 range across all game modes (preferable for non convoluted playstyle) or change range for PvE and PvP respectively.

Math (Comments) regarding quickness duration (since we still don't know). [Edited]

If I am reading correctly, quickness will be on a 30s cooldown per banner? Banner of Tactics has quickness (let's say 5s). Double Standards also adds quickness on banner drop (let's say 6s). Does this mean Banner of Tactics traited with Double Standards would provide 11s of quickness? So if taking Banner of Tactics and another banner we'd get 20s of quick, 3 banners 26s of quick? Would this also allow for a viable shout-heal spellbreaker using warhorn, Banner of Defense, with concentration gear? If Martial Cadence didn't compete with Vigorous Shouts, that'd be great!

Some additional concerns.

I LOVE that you are giving us Stability (and other skills). However, I am a bit concerned about how we may have to just spam this off cooldown to keep Quickness up rather than using it more strategically. I guess this could be haphazardly resolved by further increasing quickness duration, but honestly, this is probably a bit too much. Maybe also adding a group stability to the Shout "Fear Me!" since this skill seems pretty underutilized anyway so we have the option for providing more controlled stab. But maybe this is intended to encourage other people in party to bring on-demand stab if warrior is tasked with providing 100% quick uptime?

 

Edited July 28, 2022 by firedragon.8953
Changed proposed durations considering stacking Banner of Tactics quickness duration

[Chocofox.9503]

one of the biggest issues with banners still seems to be missing. Casting banners breaks the flow of combat having to target the location and change the animation. When used banners should just be dropped where the warrior is standing  or be attached to the warrior themselves like a signets focusing around the warrior. this would keep the flow of combat going rather than make them a clunky mechanic that feels intrusive to combat.

[Voraxen.2035]

Thief only gets nerfed. No new spvp content since 2019.