August 23 Balance Patch PREVIEW notes

[Jzaku.9765]

  

 

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

 

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.

 

[cryorion.9532]

Spellbreaker buffs! Rejoice! It's not much and I doubt it will compete with overpoweredsworn, but still. It's nice to see finally something happening. 🙂

A bit sad 100 blades didn't get any improvement. On the other hand, Arcing Slice, Blade Trail and Rush buffs look juicy af.

[oscuro.9720]

Looks like fairly solid changes overall, but I can’t speak much to PvE, and, man, that’s a lot of PvE Only. Hopefully someone more knowledgeable than I can speak to how these changes impact warrior in PvE 🙂 

As for the arcing change, that’s pretty a nice change!. .5 off the aftercast is pretty beefy, don’t know how much it will change for LB in competitive modes, but I will probably test it out to see how well it works 🙂 

Edited August 13, 2022 by oscuro.9720

[Jzaku.9765]

I appreciate the overall direction to buff weapon coeffs, and am excited to see where everything lands after the patch. I hope this type of balance coeff tweaking continues on in the future for builds that continue to underperform.

For these notes we got:

1. Hundred Blades (Warrior GS 2) definitely also needs some kind of coeff buff. At this point looking at the entire weapon it's actually probably a DPS loss to use this ostensibly "big ticket DPS" skill. Considering part of the patch intention is also to buff Power Berserker, who actually needs to use 100b to generate Adrenaline in the rotation. 
2. Warrior Rifle is in the top 3 worst weapons in the game in every game mode, it really needs more than just an auto coeff buff and 1.25 > 1.5 on Explosive Shell. Might I suggest looking at this suggested rework?
3. There is a strange lack of Axe buffs in the patch notes despite it being mandatory in every power Warrior build - I suspect it is because Bladesworn uses it and the patch is tiptoeing around accidentally buffing it. I would suggest bringing down the power level of Bladesworn exclusive features to be able to buff core Axe - T3 Burst Eviscerate used to be a good benchmark for a "Strong hitting skill", but at this point in the game's life, is a 3.0 coeff resource buildup > payoff skill actually strong?

Edited August 13, 2022 by Jzaku.9765

[oscuro.9720]

5 minutes ago, Jzaku.9765 said:

I appreciate the overall direction to buff weapon coeffs, and am excited to see where everything lands after the patch. I hope this type of balance coeff tweaking continues on in the future for builds that continue to underperform.

For these notes we got:

1. Hundred Blades (Warrior GS 2) definitely also needs some kind of coeff buff. At this point looking at the entire weapon it's actually probably a DPS loss to use this ostensibly "big ticket DPS" skill. Considering part of the patch intention is also to buff Power Berserker, who actually needs to use 100b to generate Adrenaline in the rotation. 

I agree, the direction seems good, but I thought I would just bring this up for your point #1;

 

In PvE 100blades is pretty healthily damage positive. It does about 38% more damage than the auto attack, 34% after the auto attack buff. It’s still damage positive (around 10% which is low, but you probably don’t miss last strike in PCR as much) if you do not land the last hit. I don’t know if this would still be a net damage loss across the whole kit, but it’s certainly not as anemic as it is in competitive modes.

 

Agree with everything else you said though. Again, idk if that really changes it’s role in a DPS rotation (I don’t do much instanced PvE), but thought it would be worth pointing out since I’ve been very vocal about 100blades being a DPS loss on this sub. 

[erapago.4387]

I'm really liking the updates for Greatsword, Dagger, and Longbow. Feels like Hizen's old Immortal Spellbreaker build will get a sizeable buff for all the solo PvE fans, and get a fun might boost for open world groups.

Sword and Rifle though, no amount of coefficient buffs are gonna make those weapons fun to use. They need more love.

Edited August 13, 2022 by erapago.4387

[Jzaku.9765]

3 minutes ago, oscuro.9720 said:

I agree, the direction seems good, but I thought I would just bring this up for your point #1;

 

In PvE 100blades is pretty healthily damage positive. It does about 38% more damage than the auto attack, 34% after the auto attack buff. It’s still damage positive (around 10% which is low, but you probably don’t miss last strike in PCR as much) if you do not land the last hit. I don’t know if this would still be a net damage loss across the whole kit, but it’s certainly not as anemic as it is in competitive modes.

 

Agree with everything else you said though. Again, idk if that really changes it’s role in a DPS rotation (I don’t do much instanced PvE), but thought it would be worth pointing out since I’ve been very vocal about 100blades being a DPS loss on this sub. 

I'm actually really glad you prompted me to elaborate more, because everything i needed to say didnt fit into a single bullet point lol.

Looking at it from a Power Berserker POV, it's important to consider where GS fits into the rotation - you need to fit in enough adrenaline gain while you are on GS to use Arc Divider twice while also wanting to swap back to Axe ASAP. This means that you actually need to use 100b not actually for it's damage but because it hits fast enough that it generates enough Adrenaline fast enough to get an Arc Divider out right as weapon swap comes off CD, with no time to use any skill other than Bladetrail. Meaning that if the intention was to buff power zerker, the only relevant buffs in this entire patch were Bladetrail and Bloody Roar's minor increases. 

[CalmTheStorm.2364]

Some interesting changes... Looks pretty good overall, but the underlying design issues for many weapons (e.g., sword and mace) remain.

 

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. 

[Peacekid.1463]

finally warriors were again AAAALLLLIIIIIIIVVVVVVVEEEEEEEE!!!!!!

[Obtena.7952]

No one is ever going to complain about DPS increases no matter how small but ...

... this patch doesn't fix much in the grand scheme of things. I suspect the impact these changes have on  what or how people play will be pretty minor. At least LBow is looking more useful as a secondary condi zerker weapon now. 

Edited August 13, 2022 by Obtena.7952

[Lighter.5631]

doesnt fix any issues

and also still can barely distinguish from power berserker to power spellbreaker to power bladesworn to power core war and they all still gonna use axe

skills are still bad and boring to use.

giving skills viable numbers and equally powerful to others does not make the skills less clunky to use.

 

i'm afraid the changes will be only "for show" just like the last banner change, which only looked cool, but barely ever mattered at all.

nobody touches banner now..

i mean at least the changes look good on paper right lol.

only thing that excite me is the after cast reduction,  as number changes does not excite me, because warrior's problem is far more then simple numbers.

Edited August 13, 2022 by Lighter.5631

[DanAlcedo.3281]

Spellbreaker is already bascially immortal in PvE openworld content

But this

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.

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.

 

HOLY MOLY! You are never gonna die again ever.

[Randin.5701]

On the 100 Blades discussion, I honestly don't really need more damage on it, I just need the ability to move while doing it, even if you were restricted to walking rather than running while doing so. Nothing more annoying than popping 100 Blades only to see an AoE marker appear on top of you.

[Dahkeus.8243]

4 hours ago, Jzaku.9765 said:

1. Hundred Blades (Warrior GS 2) definitely also needs some kind of coeff buff. At this point looking at the entire weapon it's actually probably a DPS loss to use this ostensibly "big ticket DPS" skill. Considering part of the patch intention is also to buff Power Berserker, who actually needs to use 100b to generate Adrenaline in the rotation. 

 

Yea, it really is a shame this skill was so over-nerfed a long time ago.  It's been overdue for some love, particularly since it's such an iconic warrior skill.

[Grand Marshal.4098]

Zzzzzzzz

 

Imagine giving back decent coeffs for weps in Comp. 

 

Could never be anet. 

Time to hit that health sponge! 

[Vancho.8750]

9 hours ago, oscuro.9720 said:

Looks like fairly solid changes overall, but I can’t speak much to PvE, and, man, that’s a lot of PvE Only. Hopefully someone more knowledgeable than I can speak to how these changes impact warrior in PvE 🙂 

As for the arcing change, that’s pretty a nice change!. .5 off the aftercast is pretty beefy, don’t know how much it will change for LB in competitive modes, but I will probably test it out to see how well it works 🙂 

The buffs do not seem to do much , except buff a little bit the condi berserker build. They say they buff things so picking a weapon is not mistake yet they didn't buff anything for power builds. Barely touched hammer, rifle and GS,  didn't even look at maces probably cause they are "meta" but the devs do not understand why they are meta and could have buffed the damage there.

They say they buffed power berserker I do not see anything of the sort, they could have buffed burst skills, Bloody roar and Fatal Frenzy to at least address the removal of the banner stats so it could hit the old banner benchmark and with that and little bit more buffs on rifle it could have had riffle/ axe axe build for the new strikes.
Might be me just old man grumbling , but the patch doesn't do what they say it supposed to do (increase dps viability of weapons across the board) at least for warrior. The devs still didn't even bother to test out warrior, the dps rotations are not exactly complicated to do, not Mech engi easy but come on, they could have at least tried to do a golem bench on single weapon damage loop to see if it does average damage. 

Axe choppy berserker rotation should probably be the sweet spot for complexity PVE rotations, you just mash the axe buttons to gain enough adrenaline to hit decapitate, it is like following a drum beat, "We will rock you" is probably the closest rhythm. Personally I do not think it would be that hard for the devs to sit on their kitten and iron out smooth dps rotation that flows and buff the numbers accordingly.     

[Lan Deathrider.5910]

Nice changes but all the PvE only tags makes me sad. Especially the longbow changes. Those definitely need to go into the competitive modes.

 

Reduce the cast time on 100blades and it'll be fine.

[anbujackson.9564]

Buffs that dont buff bladesworn, too. Thats a plus. Cant say the same about rifle mech.

Sword got power buffs which I find a bit weird. More damage is more damage though.

Rifle changes are pointless I am afraid. Its just not good.

Improvements to all greatsword skills EXCEPT 100b. Again a bit eh, but its mostly number changing anyway. Its good for core warrior (core F1 nice). Cant even remember if you have room to play greatsword on spellbreaker. 

Longbow is cool. Need to see how lb3 will turn out to be in the rotation. The increase in power coefficients is Again weird, the baseline damage is just too low.

Up to 125 extra condition damage on berserker is good. An additional 5% power modifier is also great for power berserker.

I am going to be straightforward though. I still think that wasting time on keep buffing spellbreaker is meh, especially if its just PvE. You already got two others which are better. Whats the point of another one. We need something unique in encounters from each spec first.

[Obtena.7952]

10 hours ago, DanAlcedo.3281 said:

Spellbreaker is already bascially immortal in PvE openworld content

But this

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.

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.

 

HOLY MOLY! You are never gonna die again ever.

Well, not getting those might stacks on self is a big hit to MMR build. The current versions are better for sustain. This hints to SpB future though ... team support. 

[Chips.7968]

There's an entire team dedicated to skills and balances?

[DanAlcedo.3281]

10 minutes ago, Obtena.7952 said:

Well, not getting those might stacks on self is a big hit to MMR build. The current versions are better for sustain. This hints to SpB future though ... team support. 

Well, its just one source of selfmight nerfed. The rest is still as good as ever.

[Lighter.5631]

26 minutes ago, anbujackson.9564 said:

Buffs that dont buff bladesworn, too. Thats a plus. Cant say the same about rifle mech.

Sword got power buffs which I find a bit weird. More damage is more damage though.

Rifle changes are pointless I am afraid. Its just not good.

Improvements to all greatsword skills EXCEPT 100b. Again a bit eh, but its mostly number changing anyway. Its good for core warrior (core F1 nice). Cant even remember if you have room to play greatsword on spellbreaker. 

Longbow is cool. Need to see how lb3 will turn out to be in the rotation. The increase in power coefficients is Again weird, the baseline damage is just too low.

Up to 125 extra condition damage on berserker is good. An additional 5% power modifier is also great for power berserker.

I am going to be straightforward though. I still think that wasting time on keep buffing spellbreaker is meh, especially if its just PvE. You already got two others which are better. Whats the point of another one. We need something unique in encounters from each spec first.

yea, still hardly distinguishable between power core, power berserker, power spellbreaker, power bladesworn.

the only support utilities shouts and banners are universal.

there's no actual useful utility in spellbreaker.

and utilities for berserker are only tools to extend berserk to spam more core weapon axe skills. which basically is the same for all elite spec, spam axe skills.

they all just do damage, or just a banner version of do damage build and use axe.

and not like banner now is worth taking now.

 

there's literally minimum gameplay differences.

 

berserker need unique damage skills to make the gameplay more distinguishable.

and spellbreaker, need more unique that's actually useful support skills to make the gameplay more distinguishable.

Edited August 13, 2022 by Lighter.5631

[Fueki.4753]

If they don't substantially buff Hundred Mosquito Bites, they need to at least remove the self-root.

Other than that, these are fine baby steps in the right direction, even if it's nowhere near enough.

Edited August 13, 2022 by Fueki.4753

[Obtena.7952]

4 minutes ago, DanAlcedo.3281 said:

Well, its just one source of selfmight nerfed. The rest is still as good as ever.

Sure ... but its a big source. That might in the auto and MB Tether is really what carries that SpB PVE sustain build. The whole idea of that build is lots of little heals over time. This change really puts a dent in that. 

The bottomline line ... that MMR SpB build just isn't going to be as good now. It's not a disaster but it would be a shame if something good didn't come of it. 

Edited August 13, 2022 by Obtena.7952

[Zepoolpe.9217]

1 minute ago, Chips.7968 said:

There's an entire team dedicated to skills and balances?

Yes but nobody thought about tell them that they were that team so they are busy on other stuff.