August 23 Balance Update Preview

[akipappi.3917]

nothing fun for mesmers and glamours forgotten

[CalmTheStorm.2364]

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

A message from the Skills and Balance Team:

Hi, all,

In our August 2 balance update preview, we mentioned that we added yet another balance update to our schedule for August 23 to address some lingering feedback from the June 28 release. Below you'll find the comprehensive preview of that update. While there are a handful of updates that impact all game modes, our focus for August 23 is largely on PvE gameplay.

 We'd like to hear your feedback on this. Please take today and the weekend to read through it, think it over, and share your thoughts. We'll be keeping an eye on the conversation and listening to what you have to say.
 

Core Weapon Tuning

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.

Guild Wars 2 is designed to encourage social gameplay–you should be stronger playing together than alone. With that in mind, we took another look at how boons are given out. Several weapon skills have been updated to grant might to nearby allies as well as the user in PvE, further contributing to boon availability in group events.

Damage Build Improvements

Our player community develops builds that are considered the gold standard for effective play, so we review them regularly. We made changes to some elite specialization weapons and traits to make various builds more competitive. Our goal is for every profession to have viable power- and condition-based damage builds.

• Power Tempest
• Condition Tempest
• Power Weaver
• Power Scrapper
• Power Holosmith
• Power Dragonhunter
• Power Reaper
• Power Herald
• Power Vindicator
• Power Daredevil
• Power Deadeye
• Power Berserker
• Condition Berserker
• Power Spellbreaker

Improving Support Diversity

Firebrand and healing Mechanist are currently dominating group compositions. 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.

We're also making targeted reductions to stability and might uptime on Firebrand and Mechanist builds to make room for other professions. Firebrand's high on-demand stability from Mantra of Liberation is too essential in Fractals of the Mists and other group content, while Mechanist's barrier and might upkeep are cementing it as a build that pairs together too well with a Quickbrand to meet a group's support needs.

In the immediate future, we want to make sure more builds can be used successfully. In future updates, we'll expand this further by shoring up more support and healing build options.
 

Elementalist

We've firmed up the role of Fire Attunement skills in condition builds and improved Air Attunement skills' direct strike damage. Tempest's Transcendent Tempest trait has more than doubled in power to set it apart as the keystone choice for damage builds.

Staff
Fire

• Fireball: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.0 to 1.4. Now also inflicts 1 stack of burning with a 1-second duration.
• Lava Font: (PvE only) Now inflicts 1 stack of burning with a 1-second duration on each strike.
• Flame Burst: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.01 to 1.0. Burning stacks applied increased from 2 to 3.

Air

• Chain Lightning: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.66 to 0.8.
• Lightning Surge: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.44 to 1.8.

Earth

• Stoning: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.5 to 1.2.
• Shock Wave: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.5 to 2.5.

Scepter
Fire

• Phoenix: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 20 seconds to 10 seconds. Burning stack count increased from 1 to 2.

Water

• Water Trident: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 20 seconds to 10 seconds.

Earth

• Rock Barrier: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 15 seconds to 8 seconds.

Dagger (Main Hand)
Water

• Vapor Blade: (All game modes) The aftercast animation duration before another skill can be used has been decreased by 0.5 seconds.

Air

• Convergence: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.5 to 1.8.
• Shocking Aura: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 25 seconds to 10 seconds. Duration increased from 4 seconds to 10 seconds.
• Transmute Lightning: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1 to 1.5.

Earth

• Ring of Earth: (PvE only) Final impact damage multiplier increased from 1.2 to 1.5.
• Earthen Rush: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 18 seconds to 12 seconds. Damage multiplier increased from 1 to 1.8.

Dagger (Off Hand)
Fire

• Fire Grab: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 25 seconds to 20 seconds, matching PvP and WvW.

Water

• Frost Aura: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 30 seconds to 10 seconds. Duration increased from 4 seconds to 10 seconds.
• Cleansing Wave: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 30 seconds to 20 seconds.

Air

• Ride the Lightning: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 30 seconds to 20 seconds.
• Updraft: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 40 seconds to 20 seconds.

Earth

• Earthquake: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 30 seconds to 16 seconds. Damage multiplier increased from 1 to 3.
• Churning Earth: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 30 seconds to 20 seconds.

Trident
Fire

• Magma Orb: Now also applies 1 second of burning on explosion.
• Boil: Now also applies 1 second of burning on hit.
• Steam: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 15 seconds to 10 seconds.
• Lava Chains: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 20 seconds to 16 seconds.

Water

• Ice Globe: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 10 seconds to 8 seconds.
• Ice Wall: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 15 seconds to 12 seconds.

Air

• Electrocute: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.2 to 2.4.
• Air Bubble: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 25 seconds to 20 seconds.

Earth

• Rock Anchor: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 30 seconds to 20 seconds.
• Murky Water: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 30 seconds to 25 seconds.

Weaver

Sword

Fire

• Fire Strike: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.66 to 0.8.
• Fire Swipe: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.77 to 0.9.
• Searing Slash: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.25 to 1.6.

Water

• Seiche: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.33 to 0.5.
• Clapotis: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.45 to 0.6.
• Breaking Wave: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.66 to 1.0.

Air

• Charged Strike: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.77 to 0.8.
• Polaric Slash: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.88 to 0.9.
• Call Lightning: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.0 to 1.2.

Earth

• Crystal Slash: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.66 to 0.8.
• Crystalline Strike: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.66 to 0.9.
• Crystalline Sunder: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.0 to 1.4.
• Earthen Vortex: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.25 to 1.8.

Tempest

Traits

• Transcendent Tempest: (PvE only) Damage modifier increased from +7% to all damage dealt to +15% to all damage dealt.

Shouts

• "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.

Engineer

The previous update's Mechanist-only damage reduction to Aim-Assisted Rocket left us with room to add damage to the core trait Big Boomer, bringing up the damage output of Holosmiths and Scrappers. That's not enough to close the gap on its own, so we're also making specialization-specific damage increases to Scrapper and Holosmith on sword, hammer, and Blast Gyro–which, in addition to more damage, will now stun enemies rather than knocking them away.

We're reducing the output of dominant Mechanist healing builds to give other support options more breathing room. We're also slightly reducing the output of condition damage builds with reductions to the Mech Command skills Rolling Smash and Discharge Array.
 

Harpoon Gun

• Homing Torpedo: Animation time reduced from 1.5 seconds to 1 second. Damage multiplier increased from 0.84 to 1.0. Applies 1 second of burning. This is now an explosion.
• Scatter Mines: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 10 seconds to 6 seconds.
• Timed Charge: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.75 to 3.5.
• Net Wall: (PvE only) Immobilize duration increased from 3 seconds to 6 seconds.

Utility Skills

• Throw Mine: (All game modes) The animation aftercast before another skill may be used has been reduced by 0.5 seconds. The mine will now detonate immediately if there is an enemy target in proximity when the mine lands. Now causes knockdown instead of knockback, with a duration of 2 seconds in PvE and 1 second in PvP and WvW. (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 2 to 3. Boons removed from targets increased from 1 to 3.

Med Kit

• Med Blaster: (PvE only) Healing power multiplier reduced from 0.2 to 0.1, matching PvP and WvW.

Elixir Gun

• Super Elixir: (PvE only) Duration reduced from 10 seconds to 5 seconds.

Explosives

• Big Boomer: (PvE only) Damage increase changed from 10% to 15%.

Holosmith

Sword

• Refraction Cutter: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1 to 1.4.
• Radiant Arc: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.5 to 1.8.

Photon Forge

• Corona Burst: (PvE only) Might stacks per pulse reduced from 2 to 1, but they are now applied to up to 5 nearby allied targets.

Scrapper

Hammer

• Electro-whirl: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 2.4 to 3.
• Rocket Charge: The aftercast animation duration before another skill can be used has been decreased by 0.35 seconds. Damage multiplier increased from 3.3 to 3.6 in PvE only.

Gyros

• Blast Gyro: (PvE only) Now stuns enemies for 3 seconds instead of knocking them back. Damage multiplier increased from 2.65 to 3.5.

Mechanist

Mech Commands

• Rolling Smash: (PvE only) Bleeding stacks applied reduced from 8 to 4.
• Discharge Array: (PvE only) Confusion duration per hit reduced from 5 seconds to 3 seconds.
• Crisis Zone: (PvE only) Stability duration reduced from 15 seconds to 6 seconds.
• Barrier Burst: (PvE only) Base barrier value per pulse reduced from 434 to 260. Might stacks per pulse reduced from 3 to 2.

Mace

• Barrier Blast: (PvE only) Base barrier value reduced from 434 to 260.

Signets

• Barrier Signet: (PvE only) Base barrier value per pulse reduced from 434 to 260.

Traits

• Barrier Engine (Passive): (PvE only) Base barrier value reduced from 434 to 260.

Guardian

Multiple stored uses of on-demand stun break and stability have made Firebrand mandatory in Fractals, Strike Missions, raids, and even WvW. In this update, Firebrand's Mantra of Liberation is reduced from 3 to 2 ammunition, with an increased cooldown. Together with an added source of stability for both Tempest and Druid, this will provide better parity across different professions' support builds in PvE. Firebrand's multiple sources will be countered by higher recharge.

The greatsword damage increases benefit Dragonhunter builds, and hammer improvements will help close the gap between it and other damaging weapons while living up to that weighty feel a hammer should have.
 

Greatsword

• Strike: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.8 to 0.9.
• Vengeful Strike: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.8 to 1.0.
• Wrathful Strike: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.25 to 1.4. Might is now applied to up to 5 allies in a radius of 360.
• Leap of Faith: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 12 seconds to 10 seconds, and damage multiplier increased from 1.25 to 2. Healing per foe hit increased from 235 to 1,053 in PvE, matching PvP and WvW.
• Binding Blade: (PvE only) Damage multiplier on initial hit increased from 1.0 to 1.5.

Hammer

• Symbol of Protection: The aftercast animation duration before another skill can be used has been decreased by 0.65 seconds.
• Mighty Blow: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 2.1 to 2.4.
• Glacial Blow: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 6 seconds to 4 seconds. Damage multiplier increased from 2.4 to 2.5.
• Zealot's Embrace: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.8 to 1.5.
• Banish: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1 to 3.

Staff

• Bolt of Wrath: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.55 to 0.65.
• Searing Light: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.65 to 0.75.
• Seeking Judgment: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.75 to 0.9.
• Holy Strike: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.25 to 1.8.
• Empower: (PvE only) Might stacks per pulse reduced from 4 to 3. Might duration reduced from 12 seconds to 10 seconds.

Firebrand

• Mantra of Liberation: Ammunition reduced from 3 to 2 in PvE and WvW. Recharge increased from 25 seconds to 45 seconds.

Dragonhunter

Longbow

• Puncture Shot: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.85 to 1.0.

Mesmer

In the August 2 update, we reviewed and updated the greatsword and sword core weapons. In this update we're increasing Chronomancer's alacrity duration from Stretched Time and increasing the damage of Tides of Time, the fifth shield skill. This will give a slight bump to boon-focused Chronomancer builds.

We also wanted to reduce some of the longer cooldowns on staff, but Mirage's high-performing condition damage builds made that tricky. We're making very small cuts to condition damage on Mirage's axe and staff ambush to maintain parity with other professions' builds. The reduced cooldown on the Phantasmal Warlock and Chaos Armor weapon skills will improve the Mesmer's leveling experience when using a staff.
 

Staff

• Phantasmal Warlock: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 18 seconds to 15 seconds.
• Chaos Armor: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 25 seconds to 20 seconds.

Utility Skills

• Blink: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 30 seconds to 20 seconds.

Chronomancer

• Stretched Time: Alacrity on well cast increased from 4 seconds to 5 seconds.
• Tides of Time: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.2 to 1.5.

Mirage

Axe

• Lingering Thoughts: (PvE only) Torment duration decreased from 4 seconds to 3 seconds.
• Imaginary Axes: (PvE only) Torment duration decreased from 4 seconds to 3 seconds.

Staff

• Chaos Vortex (Staff Ambush): (PvE only) Might stack count reduced from 8 to 5, and might duration reduced from 15 seconds to 10 seconds. Torment, bleeding, and confusion duration reduced from 8 seconds to 7 seconds.

Necromancer

Necromancer changes are focused on improving damage and skill-recharge timers for several weapons and abilities.

Staff

• Necrotic Grasp: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.666 to 1.
• Mark of Blood: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.33 to 1.5
• Chillblains: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 16 seconds to 12 seconds. Damage multiplier increased from 0.55 to 1.8.
• Putrid Mark: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 20 seconds to 15 seconds.
• Reaper's Mark: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 32 seconds to 18 seconds. Damage multiplier increased from 0.275 to 3.

Dagger (Main Hand)

• Life Siphon: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 10 seconds to 8 seconds.
• Dark Pact: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 15 seconds to 12 seconds. Damage multiplier increased from 1.2 to 2.4. Immobilize duration increased from 3 seconds to 6 seconds.

Dagger (Off Hand)

• Deathly Swarm: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 18 seconds to 16 seconds. Damage multiplier increased from 0.6 to 1.2.
• Enfeebling Blood: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 25 seconds to 20 seconds. Damage multiplier increased from 0.5 to 1.5.

Focus

• Soul Grasp: (PvE only) Ammunition recharge reduced from 15 seconds to 12 seconds. Ammunition count increased from 2 to 3.
• Spinal Shivers: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 20 seconds to 16 seconds. Damage multiplier on targets with no boons increased from 0.5 to 1, one boon from 1.125 to 1.625, two boons from 1.875 to 2.375, and three boons from 2.625 to 3.125.

Reaper

Greatsword

• Fading Twilight: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.3 to 1.4.
• Chilling Scythe: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.7 to 1.8.
• Death Spiral: (PvE only) Damage multiplier per hit increased from 0.425 to 0.5.

Reaper Shroud

• Life Rend: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.875 to 0.9.

Shouts

• "You Are All Weaklings!": (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.7 to 2.5.
• "Nothing Can Save You!": (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.7 to 2.
• "Suffer!": (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.7 to 1.5.

Ranger

Feline pets' autoattacks aren't affected by quickness, a long-standing issue that makes them subpar in group play. Meanwhile, the iboga is the most powerful pet in any PvE boss encounter because its base attack damage scales with number of conditions on the target. A release note from 2018 indicated that this was fixed, but the change didn't make it to the live game.

A recent fix to the calculated critical-hit-chance values in the pet stats UI caused pet critical-hit chances to appear to drop by 17.8%. This was a display issue only, and the text now reflects the real value.

We're using this as an opportunity to improve pet balance in PvE overall by delivering that long-delayed reduction to iboga damage while bringing all Ranger pets' performance up by giving them a flat 17.8% critical-hit chance across the board.

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.
 

All Ranger Pets

• (PvE only) All ranger pets' chance to critically hit has been increased by 17.8%.
• (PvE only) All ranger pets are now immune to crowd control when on a PvE map.

Feline Pet Family

• Slash (Autoattack): Now affected by quickness.

White Tiger

• Fixed a bug that caused a delay before this pet could act when summoned.
• Guardian's Roar: (All game modes) Casting time reduced from 1 second to 0.4 seconds. (PvE only) Cooldown reduced from 30 seconds to 25 seconds.

Other Pets

Wallow

• Fixed a bug that caused a delay before this pet could act after being summoned.

Phoenix

• Fixed a bug that caused a delay before this pet could act after being summoned.

Siege Turtle

• Fixed a bug that caused a delay before this pet could act after being summoned.

Iboga

• Consuming Bite (Autoattack): Reduced the base damage of this skill by 33%. Reduced the damage per condition by 40%.

Spirits

• (PvE only) All ranger spirits are now immune to crowd control in PvE maps.

Druid

• Glyph of Equality (Celestial Avatar): Range increased from 300 to 360 in all game modes. Now applies 5 seconds of stability to allies in PvE only.

Revenant

For core revenant, we're improving hammer as a ranged damage option. All revenant specializations will receive damage increases from Invocation trait updates.

Hammer

• Hammer Bolt: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.95 to 1.1.
• Phase Smash: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.75 to 2.
• Drop the Hammer: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.5 to 2.3.

Invocation

• Rising Tide: (PvE only) Damage increase changed from 7% to 10%.
• Ferocious Aggression: (PvE only) Damage increase changed from 7% to 10%.

Herald

• Reinforced Potency: (PvE only) Bonus damage per boon increased from 1% to 1.5%.

Vindicator

Greatsword

• Mist Swing: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.9 to 1.0.
• Mist Slash: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.0 to 1.1.
• Arcing Mists: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.25 to 1.3.
• Mist Unleashed: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.9 to 2.0.
• Phantom's Onslaught: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.5 to 1.6.
• True Strike: (PvE only) Base damage multiplier increased from 1.0 to 1.5. Damage multiplier added per blocked attack increased from 0.4 to 0.5.

Thief

In group content, venoms can account for as much as 25% of a thief condition damage build's total damage. Their solo damage is lacking in comparison. We're shifting some of that damage from venoms to direct attacks with increased condition duration on Death Blossom, Specter's scepter, and Shadow Shroud autoattacks, as well as a 50% increase to the condition damage attribute granted by the trait Deadly Ambition. The net effect of this change is to increase condition damage dealt in solo and open-world play.

Deadeye and Daredevil both get power damage increases as well, giving those builds stronger top-end damage potential.

Dagger (Main Hand)

• Backstab: (PvE only) Front damage multiplier increased from 1.2 to 1.5. Back damage multiplier increased from 2.4 to 3.
• Death Blossom: (PvE only) Bleed duration increased from 10 seconds to 15 seconds.

Dagger (Off Hand)

• Dancing Dagger: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.6 to 0.9.

Pistol (Off Hand)

• Head Shot: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.25 to 1.

Sword

• Slice: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.8 to 0.85.
• Slash: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.8 to 0.85.
• Crippling Strike: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.3 to 1.4.
• Infiltrator's Strike: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.75 to 1.8.

Venoms

• Skale Venom: (PvE only) Torment duration decreased from 5 seconds to 3 seconds.
• Spider Venom: (PvE only) Poison duration decreased from 4 seconds to 3 seconds.

Deadly Arts

• Deadly Ambition: (PvE only) Condition damage attribute bonus increased from 120 to 180.

Specter

• Shadow Bolt: (PvE only) Torment duration increased from 3 seconds to 4 seconds.
• Haunt Shot: (PvE only) Torment duration increased from 5 seconds to 6 seconds.

Traits

• Traversing Dusk: Alacrity radius on well cast and healing radius on shadowstep increased from 240 to 360.

Deadeye

• Premeditation: (PvE only) Bonus damage per boon increased from 1% to 1.5%.
• Iron Sight: (PvE only) Bonus damage dealt to and damage reduction taken from your marked target increased from 10% to 15%.

Daredevil

Staff

• Staff Strike: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.66 to 0.75.
• Staff Bash: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.66 to 0.80.
• Punishing Strikes: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.672 to 1.8.
• Hook Strike (Stealth Attack): (PvE only) Knockdown duration increased from 2 seconds to 4 seconds.

Traits

• Weakening Strikes: (PvE only) Damage dealt to weakened foes increased from 7% to 10%.
• Bounding Dodger: (PvE only) Damage bonus increased from 10% to 15% in PvE, matching PvP and WvW.

Warrior

Warrior's longbow updates will make Arcing Arrow relevant in PvE and turn Smoldering Arrow into a useful defiance-bar breaker. We've also increased damage for several core weapons, elite specialization weapons, and traits.

Greatsword

• Greatsword Swing: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.7 to 0.8.
• Greatsword Slice: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.95 to 1.05.
• Brutal Strike: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.25 to 1.5.
• Arcing Slice: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.32 to 2. Damage multiplier against foes with less than 50% health increased from 1.98 to 3.
• Bladetrail: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.75 to 1.5.
• Rush: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.7 to 2.5.

Sword (Main Hand)

• Sever Artery: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.6 to 0.8.
• Gash: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.6 to 0.8.
• Hamstring: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1 to 1.2.
• Savage Leap: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.66 to 2.

Sword (Off Hand)

• Impale: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.5 to 1.5.
• Rip: (PvE only) Might is now applied to up to 5 allied targets within a range of 360.

Longbow

• Dual Shot: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.44 to 0.525.
• Arcing Arrow: (All game modes) The aftercast animation duration before another skill may be used has been reduced by 0.5 seconds. (PvE only) Increased ammunition count to 2. Now applies 5 seconds of burning on hit.
• Smoldering Arrow: (PvE only) Now applies 1 second of dazed on hit.

Rifle

• Fierce Shot: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.605 to 1. Might is now applied to up to 5 allied targets within a range of 360.
• Explosive Shell: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.25 to 1.5.

Hammer

• Earthshaker: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1 to 2.
• Hammer Shock: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1 to 1.8.

Arms

• Furious: (PvE only) Condition damage per stack increased from 10 to 15.

Berserker

• Shattering Blow: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1 to 1.5.
• Sundering Leap: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.5 to 3.

Traits

• Bloody Roar: (PvE only) Damage bonus increased from 20% to 25%.

Spellbreaker

Dagger (Main Hand)

• Breaching Strike: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.5 to 2.5.
• Precise Cut: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.55 to 0.6.
• Focused Slash: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.6 to 0.65.
• Keen Strike: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.85 to 1.05. Might is now applied to up to 5 allied targets within a range of 360.
• Aura Slicer: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.2 to 1.8.

Dagger (Off Hand)

• Bladestorm: (PvE only) Damage multiplier per hit increased from 0.35 to 0.5.

Traits

• Pure Strike: (PvE only) Damage bonus increased from 7%/14% to 7.5%/15%.
• Magebane Tether: (PvE only) Damage bonus to tethered target increased from 10% to 15%. Might stacks per second reduced from 3 to 1, but they are now applied to up to 5 allied targets within a range of 360.

Thanks for this!

I think adjusting coefficients is a good place to start, but please don't let that take the place of thoughtful redesigns of underused/underperforming weapons. Bigger damage doesn't make up for flawed design! 

 

A few thoughts on Warrior's longbow (ALL game modes):

 

I really hope arcing arrow's burn on impact isn't just for PvE... That change would be so helpful for ALL modes.

 

LB autos still need condi application at baseline, either burning (and crack shot makes the burn longer) or bleeding (and crack shot adds burning on top of the bleeding).

 

Combustive shot needs to pulse every second. Have duration of the field scale with adrenaline: 3/4/5s for T1-3 bursts. 

Edited August 13, 2022 by CalmTheStorm.2364

[Dualumina.1760]

Very healthy overall, speaking as a mesmer main it will be interesting seeing how the changes to staff play out. Also could we get more improvements to underwater weapons and skills? Please? I just want an underwater mech. . . 🥺

[Infusion.7149]

1. Why are there still 300s cooldowns more than 2 years later in PvP / WVW? Unless there's going to be massive swaths of underwater content, this should have been the top priority.
   Spoiler

   https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Earth's_Embrace
   https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Final_Shielding
   https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Gale_Song
   https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Hunter's_Determination
   https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Stoneform
   https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Shared_Anguish
   https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Eternal_Bond
   https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Hard_to_Catch
   https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Instant_Reflexes
   https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Defy_Pain_(warrior_trait)
   https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Last_Stand

2. Why is Firebrand (Mantra of Liberation) elite mantra's stability being nerfed in WVW as well? As far as I am aware the tempest stability addition is PVE only so there's simply less stability overall available. With less firebrand stability you're ultimately looking at defense field on scrappers , mantra of concentration on chronos, and inspiring reinforcement on heralds.
    
3.  Why is PvE staff mirage being nerfed due to axe mirage or "staxe" mirage? Phantasmal warlock doesn't have enough condition damage output to really use outside of clone generation. The reduction in might is rather severe already.
4. Why is aegis being stacked onto tempests' most overloaded skill right now ("Aftershock")? It feels as though this is a missed opportunity to improve the earth traitline's usage or to make "Flash Freeze" somewhat more useful in PVE. 
5. Similarly, why is fireball getting far more power damage than chain lightning? If people are running a condi or "hybrid" build they can make much more use out of fireball but people opting for power builds get minimal gain from the chain lightning improvement. In fact the chain lightning improvement is also far lower than that of stoning, which has bleeding tacked onto it already.
6. Why is Blast Gyro being made into a stun when knockback is used at Vale Guardian which is the main place a power quickness build would be more useful due to the +35% damage bonus? (Besides Keep Construct) It would be far better to have the knockback be a flip skill and lengthen daze duration on Spare Capacitor. For heal quickness scrappers running shields the stun is superfluous.
7. Why was the attack damage simply increased on necromancer staff without giving it a damage condition on auto-attack to cover more build types? Realistically very few people will be running staff on a power build instead of axe and greatsword.
8. If Shared Anguish on rangers is kept, having a defiance bar on the pet is a terrible idea.
9. When are rangers getting the ability to stow pets in combat on druid and untamed? Without this feature it is near useless to play one in WVW over a scrapper, support spellbreaker, or tempest let alone a firebrand. It wouldn't matter even if your pet does 5K DPS on a golem in PVE since it will get vaporized in WVW.

Moreover, why is balance heading towards people using "suboptimal" use of ranged weapons? It ultimately doesn't matter how much you buff the ranged weapons because people using suboptimal weapons tend not to stack for boons. A power weapon is still going to be a power weapon.

These are my preliminary thoughts.

Edited August 13, 2022 by Infusion.7149

[Kaenaydar.5631]

that makes sense rather then upping our pets dmg for ranger we nerf the iboga because balance with pets. They are all weak and low dps so lets make iboga as weak to balance them. Speaking as a untamed main any other nerfs you want to hit us ranger mains with anet?

Edited August 13, 2022 by Kaenaydar.5631

[Kreator.3701]

Those changes are amazing! I'm wondering if they're going to fix those things for ele:

Glyph of lesser elementals (goes away when mounting + ultra long cooldown)

Glyph of elementals (goes away when mounting)

Lightning Flash (under performing compared to other teleporting skills of other classes)

I'll not mention conjured weapons.

Jade Sphere's design (energy + static positioning(?)) 

Alac at the end of overloads is... not rly great.

Etc, etc.

 

Awesome work there!

Edited August 13, 2022 by Kreator.3701

[rabbi.5642]

stop 《pve only》，start 《wvw or pvp》

[Last God Children.3698]

I wish there some buffs specific to Renegade, its slightly more complex rotation to maintain and at this point there is no incentive to playing it as support or DPS with so many other classes overpowering it with much lesser complexity. Would be great to see it buffed more than whats mentioned above to ensure the difficulty is rewarding in terms of damage (maintaining alac is never an issue with this class).

[Will.9785]

Thank you.  Please buff Dragon Hunter longbow more.  I'd like it to be viable in PVE.  It kind of undermines the elite spec when the elite spec weapon doesn't see any use.

Second, several months ago there was a bug that reduced/removed the cast time for thief's pistol auto-attack.  It was fixed.  Please bring it back!  Even if you have to reduce the damage to compensate/balance it out... it just feels soooooo much better without the cast time.

Third, bring back the thief trait "Ricochet" and make it work for pistols and rifles.  Please!  Or revamp/rename it so pistol bullets bounce and rifle bullets pierce.

Edited August 13, 2022 by Will.9785

[Gotejjeken.1267]

1 hour ago, Kaenaydar.5631 said:

that makes sense rather then upping our pets dmg for ranger we nerf the iboga because balance with pets. They are all weak and low dps so lets make iboga as weak to balance them. Speaking as a untamed main any other nerfs you want to hit us ranger mains with anet?

 

Yeah, that Iboga change is BAD.  It's also one of the few things that seemingly applies over all game modes, which is going to hurt a hell of a lot in competitive modes, because it's literally a straight nerf.  Or actually double nerf, as base damage is nerf, and also per condition.

I don't understand the compensation for this either, just giving pets a flat precision increase does nothing for pets with low crit chance / ferocity to begin with.  Even looking at Iboga, upping the crit chance for it doesn't balance the huge damage output reductions it's getting.  

Not to mention the compensation doesn't even apply for anything but PvE, so in competitive Iboga is literally getting nerfed with zero compensation. 

I hate to be blunt but I really wonder if any dev over there has ever taken a course in logic as this is beyond baffling.  

[Mukluk.9082]

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

Druid

• Glyph of Equality (Celestial Avatar): Range increased from 300 to 360 in all game modes. Now applies 5 seconds of stability to allies in PvE only.

First off, I think it is fantastic druids and tempests are getting a source of stability for their groups.  However, I see two problems with this implementation.

1. Having it on a utility glyph, means we cannot take 3 utility spirits.  Currently we have to take 3 spirits in order to give our groups alacrity consistently (with 2 it falls off even with 100% boon duration). This means we would HAVE to take water spirit, 2 utility spirits, and this glyph to bring the occasional stability. On top of that, the glyph itself (without the utility) is useless for MOST encounters with some exceptions. 
Proposed solution:  increase the base alacrity generation per spirit, so that we can do our jobs with 2 spirits instead of 3 OR move the stability somewhere else.

2. The celestial part.  Glyphs requiring astral power to do the "useful" mechanic is not fun.  Tempests don't have to deal with that. Mechs dont. Firebrands dont.  They just hit the button when they need it.  Having to deal with the cooldown (like everyone else) AND deal with the astral bar on top of that, which we use for healing or might generation, for stability ALSO is not fun at all.  "oh you need heals? sorry I can't cause I gave you stab/might recently"
Proposed solution: if it is going to be on a glyph, then please let it function even when not in astral form.  

Again, I think this change is a fantastic step in the right direction. But I think with this implementation any good druid player will just have someone else in the group handle stability because of these hurdles.

 

Edited August 13, 2022 by Mukluk.9082

[Sereath.1428]

Is this supposed to be the rework?

[Zaefnyr.2684]

I love that we're getting changes to stuff like guardian's hammer or necromancer's main hand dagger but even with these changes I feel like the meta weapons will remain meta weapons, and spellbreaker is still a long way from seeing relevant pve play

[Syronus.7605]

On 8/11/2022 at 3:59 PM, Rubi Bayer.8493 said:

(PvE only) All ranger pets are now immune to crowd control when on a PvE map.

On 8/11/2022 at 3:59 PM, Rubi Bayer.8493 said:

(PvE only) All ranger spirits are now immune to crowd control in PvE maps.

 

Sorry if this has already been brought up in the thread already but Elementalists, Mesmers, Theives and Necromancers might like a word about their Elementals, Illusions (Including phantasms), Theives and Minions being cc'd in PvE too?

 

Edited August 13, 2022 by Syronus.7605

[Gorem.8104]

I love how the small competitive scene has been scrambling for changes since eod came out, yet every change is "pve only" lol

 

Glad to see buffs across the board for a change instead of nerfing the weakest classes. 

[Ryath.3458]

Looking great so far, keep up the great work 👍 😀 

[coro.3176]

By the way, the section for engineer pistols (core weapons) is missing. They continue to be worse than rifle, which just got a rework.

• They're lower range
• .. but worse damage
• Condi damage rather than instant, so it can take a long time to tick
• Skills aren't explosions, despite the autoattack looking like one
• Auto animation is 66% longer than tooltip says
• Auto doesn't apply bleed to its aoe targets
• Auto aoe never hits adjacent targets
• Blowtorch frequently bugs out, misses, and goes on cooldown
• Glue shot is a really bad CC given its cooldown / range

Look at Harbinger pistol for an example of what the current power level should be.

Edited August 13, 2022 by coro.3176

[Lion.6590]

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

 

Spirits

• (PvE only) All ranger spirits are now immune to crowd control in PvE maps.

Please, consider making spirits immune to damage too and extending those changes to WvW and PvP. The passive HP loss is already enough.
In PvE, there are a lot of circumstances where spirits meltdown and render builds that rely on them completely useless.
Also, bringing those changes to PvP and WvW will make Ranger more interesting given that they won't meltdown anymore in large fights.

[Mell.4873]

1 hour ago, Gotejjeken.1267 said:

Yeah, that Iboga change is BAD.  It's also one of the few things that seemingly applies over all game modes, which is going to hurt a hell of a lot in competitive modes, because it's literally a straight nerf.  Or actually double nerf, as base damage is nerf, and also per condition.

I don't understand the compensation for this either, just giving pets a flat precision increase does nothing for pets with low crit chance / ferocity to begin with.  Even looking at Iboga, upping the crit chance for it doesn't balance the huge damage output reductions it's getting.  

Not to mention the compensation doesn't even apply for anything but PvE, so in competitive Iboga is literally getting nerfed with zero compensation. 

I hate to be blunt but I really wonder if any dev over there has ever taken a course in logic as this is beyond baffling.  

Who the heck was using Iboga in competitive, I play Untamed in both WvW and Gold rank and I never saw anyone run Iboga.

In competitive what makes a pet good is CC or utilities. I mean in WvW with all the hate pets get something like the Electric Wyvern was amazing when you needed to quickly CC part of Zerg (You stick them on follow incase i get that comment)

[Jees.5478]

Power Vindicator will be still dead. I was optimistic about this patch but there will be almost no difference in his dps.

 

Time to play a real powerdps class and not a meme version of it. 

[Trevor Boyer.6524]

Giving Druid access to Stability is great. Glyph Of Equality is a good place to put it. It should grant at least 2 stacks of Stab for 5 to 10 seconds though, not just 1 stack. 1 stack isn't enough for the 30s CD on the glyph.

I'll be honest though, this recent trend of machine gun power creeping the game in every patch needs to stop. The game is starting to get to be way too easy. The pve in GW2 is becoming beyond casual at this point. It's getting to be so easy due to the power creep that explorable maps & living story instances feel like in other games when you turn it on for the first time and it loads you into some kind of tutorial mode where it's impossible to die and you kill everything in one hit while learning your WASD. Even super casuals want some kind of relative challenge when playing the game. Games are not fun when they pose 0% challenge.

Might be a good idea to dial waaay back on the power creep. Like actually go through a nerf phase for the interests of keeping GW2 at least mentally stimulating to play. Maybe buff mobs & bosses or something. Seriously though.

Edited August 13, 2022 by Trevor Boyer.6524

[Isa.5903]

my only question is:
Why doesn't DE have piercing only in PVE?

[Capricornholio.9035]

The level of disconnect between ANet and WvW is still astounding after all these years, but I guess that will happen when only 2 employees actually play it with other players.

"(PvE Only)" x50, but we should do something for WvW like nerf one of the most critical group-support skills to the ground. But wait, we should add something to one of the other support classes to make up for that lack of stability and stun-break -- how about 60 extra radius on a Celestial Form glyph that you will not always have readily available. No, you don't get group stability from it in WvW, you peasants. That is only for our chosen ones in PvE. 

[ericpeggy.8206]

This patch is better than others before.

Vindicator still has a long way to go.

And hope you notice something what powerful both in power and condi.

Like Ranger's axe and Engineer's grenade.

Maybe let them become a second best choice both power and condi build?

Anyway, I will not nitpick too much this time.

Thank you and keep up the good work.

[Chingiz.6481]

No changes for mesmer's 'Unstable Bladestorm' =\ You must be within range and line of sight of the storm (otherwise it's only an animation, the storm does no damage), and it disappears if it hits a wall or terrain. And it looks like it can be reflected by "projectile reflection" abilities (the whole storm, not just daggers).