August 23 Balance Update Preview

[Telgum.6071]

(PvE only)

[Kunavi.2407]

31 minutes ago, Doggie.3184 said:

Just read the thief forums. Or just delete the class.

I main thief, both conditions and power... My 2nd fave is warrior, specifically Zerker before BladeSworn and then BladeSworn. Let me just say, that's exactly what I feel for both thief and warrior RN.

[zealex.9410]

Theres no reason you need to nerf axe on mirage. If you want to lower cds on staff then nerf the dmg of staff to counter balalnce it, axe is compeltely unrelated and doesnt warrant the nerf.

[zealex.9410]

24 minutes ago, Hrodric.6948 said:

I really disagree with this thought path.

You shouldn't be focusing on "these 2 classes pair too well." If two classes synergise well together--that is a *success* in whomever was the architect behind those classes; not a failure.

You should be focusing instead on "what other pairs can we create that go well together." You should be asking the architects of the other classes to learn how to complement with the other classes better in FOTMs, raids, & strikes content.

Please do better.

Fb and mecha are busted simple as that,

[Jin Seinochi.2347]

One button to still out dps my full rotation, don't even act as if these tiny changes to weapons (in most cases) are even gonna do something. When is it my turn to be the broken class? The favoritism is still very real. ❤️

[JoeBanane.1476]

While i appreciate the ele changes for the most part, are there any plans to fix the hammer orb skills for catalyst at some point?

 

This bug breaks catalyst on every encounter that has an invulnerable target or any sort of projectile denial as the orbs just disappear and prevents the usage of Grand Finale and energy generation from their passive hits.

[Antina.5973]

Where are the sword/scepter changes for Guaardian? 😞 Is power Willbender not a spec anymore?

[Labjax.2465]

Cool to see buffs, interested to see what the dedicated buildcraft folks will come up with, if anything new is viable out of it.

I do have one specific comment on:

Quote

• "Feel the Burn!": (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.0 to 2.5. Might stacks applied increased from 3 to 5.
• "Eye of the Storm!": (PvE only) Cooldown reduced from 40 seconds to 30 seconds. Now also applies 1 stack of stability to allies for 5 seconds.
• "Aftershock!": (PvE only) Cooldown reduced from 35 seconds to 30 seconds. Now also applies aegis to allies for 5 seconds.

I'm intrigued by the idea of giving tempest shouts an aegis and stability option. However, I'm a bit hesitant about the where and what it competes with. Feel the Burn, in this sense, seems fine. Apply damage and apply more might than before... cool.

But then there's Eye of the Storm and Aftershock.

Eye of the Storm: This was already both a stun break and a (small) form of superspeed and swiftness. Now it's looking like you'd choose between saving it as an "oh crap" button stun break and using it in anticipation of a stun for 1 stack of anti-stun (stability). Doesn't seem like much of an upgrade to me. I'm also not real clear on how it will work with Gale Song. I admit I haven't paid attention there in my use of the specialization, as far as whether Gale Song puts Eye of the Storm on cooldown, which is a question as to whether you can get a free stun break and stab reactively by using that trait, or if using it would intensify the tradeoff here.

Aftershock: This already has a projectile reflect built in and it's only 4 seconds long, so with it applying aegis, I'd think the aegis could eat a projectile attack instead of reflecting it, effectively wasting the aegis and a second or so worth of projectile reflect. It also means if you want to use it for aegis on a non-projectile attack, you are now putting one of your only projectile reflect options on cooldown. I don't know if this impacts anyone in a bad way in instanced PvE content, I haven't done it at all that extensively, so maybe it would be a non-issue there, but it's something I wanted to bring up.

I don't have any suggestions for alternatives right now, but it seems like much the same problem with the introduction of alacrity tempest, in that it's making you choose in a way that's tough to fit into the specialization's existing capabilities. Like in spirit, tradeoffs make sense, but as folks with more understanding of the game have pointed out before, there are classes that simply don't have to tradeoff in the same way and that makes it seem worse by comparison.

I'm not sure if the guardian tweaks are meant to bring them more into a tradeoffs place and the aim is to make every build have more tradeoffs (as opposed to buffing those with more tradeoffs into having less), but... yeah. Don't know what the aim is there.

[Glott.7239]

Nice to see a you follow through on your promise of giving us a heads up further in advance. In general i like most of the changes but i'm not a fan of the functionality spliting between game modes. I think this makes things very confusing for new players switching between gamemodes.

 

The change to Shocking Aura would allow for permanent uptime on 5 players, wich might result in a LOT of visual noice. I hope you reconsider this one. Also 1 Stack of Stability for 5 Sec. seams a but stingy compared to "Stand Your Ground!"

 

Another point i noticed is that a lot of "condi weapons", most notable necro staff or warrior off-hand sword, are beeing buffed by rasing there power coefficient, wich seems a bit odd to me.

 

Also i am baffled not to see nerfs to power mechanist, but rather even a further buff with the change to Big Boomer.

 

The Buffs to Reaper Greadsword and Shouts look pretty inconsequential to me as you dont run Shouts in the first place.

[Bovan.9481]

I'm going to drop a quick message specifically on the Vindicator side of things. I have a lot more I would like to voice at a later point, but there are two very specific Vindicator issues I hope to see adressed.

1. Don't only buff Greatsword, but Sword/Sword as well. Greatsword is so close to Sword/Sword that this might end up in us just using Greatsword and nothing else.

2. And this one is important. Please, please buff the amount of targets Eternity's Requiem can hit with every explosion. It's frustrating when the explosions hit random adds or structures and ignore the champion or raid boss you are trying to kill. It's also a bad skill to use when you are cleaving multiple targets simply because it doesn't do more damage when you are trying to kill multiple enemies. As it stands we are getting to the point where this skill is also not worth using anymore in some cases.

I strongly believe Eternity's Requiem should hit 3 targets per explosion. But at this point, making it hit 2 targets is honestly a minimum.

Edited August 12, 2022 by Bovan.9481

[RainbowTurtle.3542]

Great! The feline quickness bug was finally fixed. Can we give that to all core pet families that suffer from this bug in addition to alacrity, which is also bugged on core pet families, including felines, or at least a mention that it's being worked on?

[Bookah pls.9352]

I hoped for a whole lot more for reaper but it's a start i guess?

[Roda.7468]

On 8/11/2022 at 10:59 AM, Rubi Bayer.8493 said:

In this update, we focused on improving the number of viable core weapon choices across many professions in PvE. This included increasing base damage on many ranged weapon autoattacks to a higher baseline damage per second. These changes should help reduce the performance gap between players using suboptimal and optimal weapons.

y'all're almost there.. c'mon you can do it...👏

 

To push it even closer... in a vacuum, what makes a weapon inherently suboptimal (excluding anti-synergy with stats and traits)?  Why must the choice of a ranged character fantasy automatically brand the player as being bad?

 

People are attached to classic character fantasies, and they may even have been guided by your own profession summaries, these people don't have to be cowards, they don't have to need to be hand-held, they don't necessarily want to afk through encounters, they may WANT to handle threats, they may want to optimize how they handle their skillsets, and they may want to seriously engage with the game's systems, but they just mostly don't want to mash their face into a monster with 7 other people.  Let us have the option to breathe, please...  Let us enthusiastically engage with these character fantasy aesthetics while contributing to our team without condescension or otherwise being treated as a "negative".

My perfect GW2 has always been one where I am challenged, and one where I can play a ranged character at range. (of course I don't mind some mechanics requiring stacking, I do mind combat itself fundamentally requiring stacking, that's boring to me, as well as causes a lot of other issues.)  I do appreciate the addition of more accessible builds, and the flattening of the performance curve, don't get me wrong, and I'm absolutely ecstatic about the love being given to ranged weapons right now, but please don't treat the lacking performance of ranged players as anything other than y'all's own neglect of the fantasy's gameplay design.  I hope to see further (read: "deeper") improvements for this gameplay style in future updates.

Edited August 12, 2022 by Roda.7468
Yup, I'm on my skritt again.

[Coolster.2536]

On 8/11/2022 at 10:59 AM, Rubi Bayer.8493 said:

Ranger pets and spirits will now also have a locked defiance bar in PvE, making them immune to crowd-control effects. This quality-of-life improvement will ensure that their skills are available for use when needed and that pets will perform more consistently in all PvE content.

Doesn't this mean a ranger can never be CC'd with Shared Anguish in PvE? Probably doesn't matter in 99.9% of cases, but sounds insanely broken in the 0.1% of cases.

[SamuelW.2685]

It's really nice to see tons of damage and other buffs to a ton of different classes and weapons in PvE.

Rev hammer is pretty lackluster in PvE so the damage buff on a few of it's skills might make it a actually viable option and not just "welp, I'm not playing Renegade, guess I need to run Hammer as my only ranged weapon :(". Also good to see buffs to Greatsword, Vindicator is fun as all hell as a spec but it's damage felt a little underwelming to me.

The buffs to Daredevils auto damage is also nice, though I still think that Staff 3 and 4 could use some work, at minimum a initiative cost reduction, at most a rework of those skills, but this is absolutely a step in the right direction.

Warrior getting all those damage buffs is also amazing to see given how it's been shafted HARD recently, it's been regularly on the lower end of DPS for a long time too. 

And Ele staff get's constantly meme'd on by every Ele main I talk with, so the buffs too it must be very apricated, I don't hear good things about Weaver so I'm sure they're happy about that too.

There's still issues, Engi Rifle is probably the biggest atm, but these buffs are 100% a step in the right direction.

I'm sure for once in a while, there'll be more people looking forward to this patch, rather then dreading it.

 

[Jski.6180]

38 minutes ago, Kuma.1503 said:

🔥 BURNING ON LAVA FONT LETS GOOOO 🔥

"Professor Lava Hot!"

[Thevaultdwellinggamer.4267]

On 8/11/2022 at 10:59 AM, Rubi Bayer.8493 said:

In this update, we're improving support-role diversity by adding stability and aegis to Tempest's shouts and giving Druids increased access to those boons as well.

I'm gonna point this out now cause It happened with eso, and it bit them in the kitten.

Look, Diversity is good and all, but you can't give classes boons like Aegis and expect it to work, cause it won't. What you're doing is homogenizing everything to make them to be able to compete with classes like firebrand, and that will have dire consequences later down the road.

At this point, Quickness and alacrity needs to be changed into something else. It's created a toxic environment where we're balancing support around these two buffs lmao.

Edited August 12, 2022 by Thevaultdwellinggamer.4267

[Shroom.7235]

 

• Mantra of Liberation: Ammunition reduced from 3 to 2 in PvE and WvW. Recharge increased from 25 seconds to 45 seconds.
  
  Does ANET want to cut WvW out of their game completely? This is like the only WvW change and this is just reinforcing the current stale CC meta. This makes outnumber fighting even more difficult with less stab. Even pirate-shipping will be harder because of the lack of breakstuns. More CC = Stronger now, which is reinforcing the same meta. 
  
  Should I quit this game because the only game mode I like is getting butchered?

 

[Tammuz.7361]

21 minutes ago, Glott.7239 said:

Also i am baffled not to see nerfs to power mechanist, but rather even a further buff with the change to Big Boomer.

agree, they completely missed the boat here… power mech is over performing, especially given the ease of its rotation (which is literally just auto-attacking for the most part)

 

and why would you nerf condi mirage? no one plays it because its so difficult already, players already prefer to play virtuoso thanks to its simplicity.  reducing condi mirage DPS even further is going to make it even less played.

Edited August 12, 2022 by Tammuz.7361

[Chrisco.5732]

In regards to Warrior weapons. Since we're looking at Greatsword can 100b please not be a channel anymore, it just feels dated and bland to be locked in place for so long.

 

I'm so glad to see some Spellbreaker love, the dagger/trait changes are nice to see. What would also help is looking over the utility skills and Winds of Disenchantment which I suspect are hardly used in pve.

[valfx.5416]

Could you update Headbutt to remove the auto stun on hit ? Or increase the breakbar damage drastically to compensate ? Or both 😄

[folstar.3218]

Dropping major nerfs on your two most played elites the same day ff14 announces major content updates. Bold move.

 

If I went to my boss and said "we need to change this thing by 40%" he would ask if we are idiots for wanting this change or idiots for making it necessary. Either way, who is getting demoted?

[Heisen.2315]

Conditon Berserker getting some love, me approve.

Edited August 12, 2022 by Heisen.2315

[Zappi.8307]

These changes look a lot more promising than some previous attempts we've had.
Bit odd tho that Warriors Hundred Blades was skipped. That spell could use some love, be it more damage or applying vulnurability.
In general Warrior GS is a more fun, but bad version of Vindicator. Matching the 5 target cleave of Vindicator would be an easy way to make it more competetive with Axe/Axe. Pretty sure Reaper GS having 5 target cleave wouldn't hurt anyone either.

Also, nerfing Spellbreaker Tether might generation is completely unneeded. SPB does not and will still not see a lot of group content that would like the mightshare. Warrior already has a trait especially dedicated to sharing might with allies if someone wants to fill that role, taking away 66% of your self might application to share with nonexisting allies is just painful.

Anyway, looking good overall, very curious how power will compete with condi builds again after these changes.

[LadyKitty.6120]

7 minutes ago, valfx.5416 said:

Could you update Headbutt to remove the auto stun on hit ? Or increase the breakbar damage drastically to compensate ? Or both 😄

Self-stun is there to interact with Outrage for big Berserk duration boost.