August 2 Balance Update Preview

[SmoovRihx.2789]

48 minutes ago, Crimson Miu.6827 said:

Players who ask for nerfs are pathetic.

Players who encourage poor balance decisions are pathetic.

Edited July 28, 2022 by SmoovRihx.2789

[Lan Deathrider.5910]

9 minutes ago, Chocofox.9503 said:

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.

Enable snap to target. They'll now have a short cast time, so we'll see what the flow ends up as.

[Entropo.1524]

i don't get the balancing way at all, i play chrono a lot  and just last year it was nerfed hard because it was overperforming in dmg (42k peak) then it sat down at a 39 k which was the average peak of all E specs of the class, and now u are buffing it again ? why ? i am welcoming the buff it would make dealing dmg easier but i don't understand why ... maybe u guys should start balancing based on the average player and not on how some teams perform in their speed runs in high end content

[Uuni.3561]

7 hours ago, Nuunes.5046 said:

Are banners something that you enjoy as a mechanic, or even as a theme?

As a theme? 100% yes. In practice? No.
There are games that really pull off being the battle standard bearer vibe but guild wars 2 is not one of those games. In guild wars you litter the ground with slow to cast magical flags that fall out of the sky. Sure those flags used to be statistically significant even though they felt entirely unimpactful, the update made them statistically insignificant compared to what other classes bring to the table. I still wish battle standards were something you attach to your body at least when initially cast. Here is a (shortened) skill description of a war banner from another game that I think at least gets the feel of a war banner right:

• "Carry a banner which increases the accuracy of nearby allies, and physical damage taken by nearby enemies. Gain stages by killing enemies while carrying the banner. Casting the skill again places the banner. Once placed, it becomes more powerful for each stage gained."

While accuracy, damage amp (beyond vulnerability) and stacking kills aren't really things gw2 does I think the general principle is solid. E.g. holding a fiery banner could apply burning on hit and give you might for every hit you deliver while holding it. Once you drop the banner it pulses burning and might based on how many hits you landed while holding it.

Edited July 28, 2022 by Uuni.3561

[AliamRationem.5172]

Nerfs to mechanist and overtuned EoD ranged specs?  Buffs to ele?  How long do we have to wait?

[God.5728]

20 minutes ago, AliamRationem.5172 said:

Nerfs to mechanist and overtuned EoD ranged specs?  Buffs to ele?  How long do we have to wait?

 

Mechanist does not need nerf. Other classes needs buffs to make them more appealing comparable choices to pick. We need more viable power builds, more viable ranged power options, it is a condi meta now.

Holosmith, Scrapper and Core Engi could use some buffs too.

Some classes needs a design rework and not a balance update to be comparable.

Yes Warrior can now provide quickness..

But why even bother playing quickness warrior with the clunky banner mechanic when you can just bring a Firebrand? Or Harbinger who passively vomits Quickness just by being in Shroud?

It's a design issue and no amount of balance will fix it.

Edited July 28, 2022 by God.5728

[AliamRationem.5172]

4 minutes ago, God.5728 said:

 

Mechanist does not need nerf. Other classes needs buffs to make them more appealing choices to pick.

Holosmith, Scrapper and Core Engi could use some buffs too.

Some classes needs a design rework and not a balance update to be comparable.

Yes Warrior can now provide quickness.

But why even bother playing quickness warrior with the clunky banner mechanic when you can just bring a Firebrand?

They just nerfed damage across the board.   Mechanist and the other EoD ranged specs are currently taking most of the top spots in benchmarks and perform even better in actual play.  They can't buff selfish melee DPS enough to compete with these specs without taking them above the damage output they seem comfortable with.  The obvious answer is to nerf the overperforming faceroll range specs.

On support, they just introduced a bunch of changes to boon support specs and none of them are competitive.  The main reason they aren't competitive is that firebrand and mechanist are greatly overperforming.  Same situation as with DPS.  How much can you buff the support capabilities of all of these other classes so that they can stand a chance of competing with the favored specs?  It's pretty hard to beat specs that provide almost every boon with little or no tradeoff, you know?

[David England.8264]

Hey when Necro comes by PLEASE increase the range for Staff skills. 
As a Light / Caster class Necro Range is poor.
Can barely get any hits in on WvW when attacking from bottom of towers, and makes me feel useless. 

[Jski.6180]

Seems like buffs but i think the player base was looking for more then just 2 classes for the update. I guess the 23 is the "big ish update" still missing that update we have been waiting for 2 years now.

[DanAlcedo.3281]

8 hours ago, jonathanjp.6974 said:

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

I destroyed your house. It's a change. 

Be grateful. 

 

[Forbiben.3842]

Idea's for Chronomancer

 

1. Time Catches Up - 15% crit for 7 seconds after shatter

2. rework Danger Time since crit is now on shatter

3. Continuum Split Summons an Illusion to copy your last 1/2/3 abilities and the illusions it gets Chronophantasma so it will do those abilities twice for the reduced dmg itself or from it's second set of clones also the wells it cast are on you or the target depending on the use so if you are stacked it applies to the group or it dmgs the target  (QoL because right now this is a very risky ability to use any interruption and you loose all your dps, or boon uptime)

4.Give Shield some alacrity baseline again

5.I want an actual heal button would love to see Signet of Resolve and Mantra of Ether instead of what we have now 😛

Edited July 28, 2022 by Forbiben.3842

[Mattmatt.4962]

3 hours ago, God.5728 said:

 

Mechanist does not need nerf. Other classes needs buffs to make them more appealing comparable choices to pick. We need more viable power builds, more viable ranged power options, it is a condi meta now.

Holosmith, Scrapper and Core Engi could use some buffs too.

Some classes needs a design rework and not a balance update to be comparable.

Yes Warrior can now provide quickness..

But why even bother playing quickness warrior with the clunky banner mechanic when you can just bring a Firebrand? Or Harbinger who passively vomits Quickness just by being in Shroud?

It's a design issue and no amount of balance will fix it.

Tell me if i got it right:

-dont nerf mechanist, but buff people to mechabist strengh

-dont buff people to firebrand strengh but nerf firebrand

??? 

On a serious matter: mech and FB are so overloaded that bringing other spec to their level would be deadstupid. Like there would be no way to differenciate boonsupport spec if Anet was to do such a stupid moove.

Just nerf FB and mech already. Both have been problematic since their release

 

On topic,

People said it, quickness duration will be key.

Regarding the 360range, im fine with it, Anet is bringin more and more support skill to this radius, it seems to be the norm (ele's rock solid range buff when ? )

Edited July 28, 2022 by Mattmatt.4962

[Stx.4857]

Man, I've been waiting for this update hoping for buffs to under used weapons like Thief sword...  oh well.  Warriors didn't get any dps boosts?  Just banner rework?

 

I'll be looking forward to the preview of the August 28th update

[Fire Wizard.9285]

ArenaNet finally decide whether or not you delete the banners because the implementation is still bad.
Nobody wanted to play a warrior to put flags during the fight, you just need to add additional effects to existing skills like f1 burst or shouts.
 

[Reig.8173]

One time banner slave, always banner slave.

I dont disagree the changes, now will be more like Catalyst jade spheres but... but...

the warriors utilities are that bad (in pve) that the banners are the only usable things 😞

Maybe guys can you see the shouts?

Or rework the hammer or the rifle like engi rifle...

[nthmetal.9652]

Massive buffs to banners, but will that really help Warrior back into the meta again?
What irks me is, what has not been done. I still don't see any fix of the 300s cooldown for the competitive gamemodes. I generally don't see any reworks done due to the general use of traitlines - instead we are pushed toward banners even more heavily, ignoring other build options. So much focus on such a small area, that makes me soemwhat unhappy.

I would love to see more diversity. Though the bladesworn with it's heavy burst damage seems to be in a somewhat okay place. But what about all the rest of warrior?

[Morokey.8534]

I would rather see protection source instead of aegis... 

[Reig.8173]

6 minutes ago, Morokey.8534 said:

I would rather see protection source instead of aegis... 

instead of resistance 

 

[Griifen.2473]

So let me get this right, you changed 0.7 to 0.8 on a few skills and called it a balance patch for a class that's underperforming but still being played, yet you couldn't do the exact same boring change to spellbreaker daggers, warrior greatsword, berserker decapitate... A class that isn't being played at all because it's even worse than a chrono dps-support build? Geesh stop hating on warrior already kitten. 

 

All these changes to banners, and yet you still completely miss the whole idea that warrior doesn't bring any utility to the table making it still completely useless in the face of other options. The only warrior spec that can bring some form of utility is spellbreaker (you know that spec you maybe added years ago? Who knows, you certainly don't... ) 

 

You also completely miss the fact that quickness nonhealing classes that give a shitton of boons DO NOT synergise with healing classes because healing classes (and prepare yourself for this Anet because it's going to blow your mind) ALREADY give all the boons because that's their job! Why hasn't boon herald been seen since HoT even though it was amazing at giving boons? Ow yeah, it's because those boons were never needed! Now you've gone and changed every healing class to give a crap ton of boons, but for some reason you think that a warrior has to give something that is already abundant making it completely useless. Wow, incredible. 

 

Even if you had the epiphany that dps classes giving shittons of boons that are useless, you've still mucked it up by making them pulse on a static location instead of every single other class that has no restrictions at all on how they give their quickness - on their character! How are you not getting this basic fact? Ow yeah, that's right, you don't have your balance team play their own dam game to realize that this is a completely kitten idea that NO one is going to like... Ahhahaha and then you reduced it's radius to top it all off! What a joke. 

 

I refuse to sit here and watch you ruin a game that I've been playing for almost 10 years because of the most stupid disconnect from the playerbase that anyone could even begin to imagine. 

[nthmetal.9652]

43 minutes ago, Griifen.2473 said:

Even if you had the epiphany that dps classes giving shittons of boons that are useless, you've still mucked it up by making them pulse on a static location instead of every single other class that has no restrictions at all on how they give their quickness - on their character!

You know, the more I think about this bit, the less sense it makes. Warrior should be THE frontline profession. You wanna go in there, tough and rough, deal and take. 
But you give boons at a "remote" location (not on you). "Being over there's too dangerous for me. But you can do it, here have some boons from me." - is something I would never have expected to hear from any warrior. The whole idea just seems so strange, like there's an underlying class identity problem, which should get taken care of.

(It also manifests in Berserkers, who, only in Guild Wars are basically known for being squishy. Well, at least there is some method to the madness, but I highly question these design choices when it comes to warrior.)

Edited July 28, 2022 by nthmetal.9652

[Reh.5986]

WTB some ele buffs for fighting other classes. You gave tempest alacrity...by obliterating my "haha stupid zerg can't perma immob me" trait. And you nerfed my fire sigil troll button to heck.

[WizardXeze.2860]

While the first try on Banners was total miss this sounds much more appealing. Power Bladesworn and Condi Berserker have been fun builds to play and I don't miss being Banner Slave. Having ability to give Stability sounds Amazing or Aegis on Deimos.

 

Now I just hope they do similar rework for Elementalist and Tempest.

 

1) Tempestuous Aria should get 5s Alacrity instead of Might. I strongly believe this would be the correct direction to go with Tempest Alacrity. Giving the Souths the Alacrity would be more line of other characters and allow Heal Tempest use the Elemental Bastion which in my opinion is the whole point you would play Heal Tempest. I feel like ANet has been too focused about "DPS Tempest" that they forgot the Heal Tempest. This is the only thing I wish I heard why they are not doing this? You don't have to force the Alac in to over load but if ANet is dead set to commit to this worse option at least make Overloading Pulse the Alacrity to make it feel better. But Tempestuous Aria should get the Alacrity which in my honest opinion would be the easiest way to make Tempest good.

 

2) If I'm not mistaken ANet is looking to rework some Core Profession skills so this would be great opportunity to add Stab and Aegis to Tempest with Group application. Some people have states chances to Traits but alternative options would be. Armor of Earth instead of stun brake with 10 stacks of self stab how about just giving some Barrier and Stability same way new Banners do? This way you could provide 1stack of stbaility and barrier and it would be useful skill for all Elementalists? Arcane Shield already works like Aegis so we could make that give Aegis and Superspeed for 5 targets instead as a rework. There are other skills that could use similar rework but ANet probably already knows this.

 

3) Perosnally I would love if the Conjured Weapons would have 30s cooldown without dropping a second weapon. That would make using the Conjured Weapons easier as you don't have to Find the weapon within next 30s in your rotation that someone might have picked. Making Conjured Weapons similar to Engineer Kits would be nice idea and allow newer players easier time with them. This alone would also make Conjure Frost Bow healing simpler as the problem now in the tight Tempest rotation requires you to find the Frost bow if you play Auramancer which often leads lower healing for while and that hurts in some cases.

 

Only thing I think is holding back Tempest for me personally is the direct choice between Elemental Bastion which is the best healing trait in the game having to choose Alacrity instead making the Heal build be worse actually feels bad. Catalyst I think is in great spot and reworking the Armor of Earth to give Stab and Arcane Shield Aegis with better conjured weapon rework would make it much more enjoyable. Also how Conjured weapons work is the reason I don't play Waver.

 

TL;DR: Tempestuous Aria should get 5s Alacrity, Armor of Earth should be Group Stability, Arcane Shield should be Group Aegis and Conjured Weapons should have 30s cooldown and they should not drop another weapon so they would be easier to use.

[Azrius.6085]

15 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?

You....you're aware what the word "preview" means, right? 

[TrollingDemigod.3041]

8 minutes ago, Azrius.6085 said:

You....you're aware what the word "preview" means, right? 

Yes, in A-net terms it means: "That's all balance changes folks!" *Insert Looney_Tunes_Music.mp3* 

[Gorem.8104]

hahahaha No one at Arena net plays Warriors and they all still hate Warriors. 

Quitting this game was the best idea ever. 

Firstly they remove Warriors existence because its such a terrible class that has terrible balance and needs a total makeover fix with SO MANY SUGGESTIONS in the Warrior forums as theory-crafting is more fun the actually playing Warrior. 

So now instead of FIXING WARRIOR they just change banners again. So what is all Warriors meant to be is banner slaves? 

If you had not touched banners and ruined them by removing their unique stats that the game needs to make it not insanely boring to play as everything is the same as you remove class diversity making the game WORSE in every single way as you had HEAPS of people telling you to revert the patch and admit your mistake. 

You still want to be terrible at balancing. Seriously, I just don't get why you guys SUCK at balancing and want to actually ruin your game. the June 28th balance patch should be reverted and Class Diversity needs to be brought back! 

Edited July 28, 2022 by Gorem.8104