October 4 Balance Update Preview

[SoulBlaze.3059]

7 minutes ago, Silerna.6194 said:

Wtf is with these scrapper changes? The gyro changes are HORRIBLE! I know the staff really hates warriors and now you gonna hate engineer scrappers too? This gyro change will render scrappers absolutely useless and people will stop playing it in any mode.

 

Good job as always for ruining a good elite spec.👎

Lol, they toned down the most OP class to other peoples lvls, of course people will be mad

[Silerna.6194]

Toned down? This is not toning down, this is destroying a class mechanic. They want us to run around like mechanist bots with our stupid robots? 
 

changing things is one thing, but all Arenanet does is ruining the fun of players.

[SoulBlaze.3059]

6 minutes ago, Silerna.6194 said:

Toned down? This is not toning down, this is destroying a class mechanic. They want us to run around like mechanist bots with our stupid robots? 
 

changing things is one thing, but all Arenanet does is ruining the fun of players.

Try playing revenant and you will see bad.

[Silerna.6194]

Just now, SoulBlaze.3059 said:

Try playing revenant and you will see bad.

I play all classes. I know very well how they work. This change will only destroy the engineer. Look how they nerfed warrior first, now they want to ‘buff’ it again.

 

 

[MaLong.2079]

These changes effectively end my scrapper build.

The problem here is that we need to have different values for what is applied to self and what is applied to allies.

The changes to scrapper are understandable in group play but they are too much for individual play. That short burst of quickness is vital for me to fight players that constantly stealth/teleport/slide/run/melt or whatever else make them impossible to hit.

Make it so that the quickness applied to others is less but don't remove it from the scrapper.

The same goes to healing, cleansing and whatever else we apply to allies in a group. Reduce how much others get but let the caster get enough to play without the group.

Static gyros wells are a bad idea. Turrets hardly see any action in WvW because they are static, and they need to be used like elixirs that are dropped and picked up instantly.

Leave gyros mobile as they are but reduce the stacks or duration of whatever they give to allies. In any case, make turrets ground targeted to hit on impact and increase their output and durability to makeup for their lack of movement.

[Kuma.1503]

21 hours ago, Chaos.9270 said:

Because Guardian is already OP and don't need to get more improved.

I'm as salty towards guardians as anyone else. (See the meme in my sig), but they have a point. 

Firebrand is objectively underperforming in PvP. Their heal skill heals for virtually nothing, their boons were reduced to 1 second durations, they're very easy to focus down, their symbol radius were reduced so people have an easier time walking out of their damage, and when they do land that damage, the burning has been reduced to such a point where it's barely threatening. 

I made a meme-worthy Valk GS build with it that can catch people off guard and blend them with quickness, but it's berserker levels of meme tier. 

It's overperforming in PvE and WvW, but it definitely needs a buff in PvP. 

 

Edited September 17, 2022 by Kuma.1503

[Carnifex.3275]

3 hours ago, Malus.2184 said:

It is to be fair incredibly strong. however, I would change it so it was weaker in general and basis and then scaled well with +Healing. Right now, there's basically no scaling at all so any Specter has amazing Barrier regardless.

I mean.... alacrity specter will be fine. But that's the funny part. They probably wanted to nerf alac specters sustain.. but it actually hurt alot DPS specter. Now DPS specter will be fallin off of shroud and losing damage output. The whole rotation will be just not good anymore.

[The Last Hobbit.6492]

The change to Scrapper Gyros is awful. Don't forget that the game is an RPG. Sacrificing class fantasy on the altar of balance is a losing strategy.

Other changes seem great. Love the change to Berserk. Would love to have a longer window before adrenaline decays out of combat. It's more an open world frustration than a balance issue.

Edited September 17, 2022 by The Last Hobbit.6492

[coro.3176]

Oh, by the way, you forgot a 300s ICD trait: Sharpshooter

This might not actually have an ICD, but it's doing nothing, absolutely nothing, compared to other traits on this level, like Explosive Entrance that regularly crit for 4k. This trait (even with condi stats) hits for literally twenty four damage and only on a 33% chance if you crit. It's just awful. It's clearly a placeholder.

Edited September 17, 2022 by coro.3176

[Aeolus.3615]

On 9/14/2022 at 5:22 PM, Double Tap said:

Drui:

Glyph of the Stars: This skill is no longer channeled and instead creates the spell area of effect after an initial casting time.

• Base: Reduced the number of pulses from 7 to 6. This skill now grants stability instead of preventing condition applications to allies in the area.

This is a awfull change  1/10.

- Dont give regen, give a direct heal per pulse, which is Staff 5 problem as well should have 1 a slightly better heal value and not the regen part.

- Since u guys remove the cant be target from condis to favour condi bunker bursts builds and make targets more susceptible to the massive usage of overstacked necros... at least  make its conditions last 30%-50% less inside of it, to mantain some counter-meta effect, this way ic some team gameplay effect with other specs when using this elite skill, atm u guys completely wrecked the elite skill in favor of condi bunkers in which are actually strong condi burst builds.

 

On alternative u guys could delay the update to this skill for now and see how the original skill will work with Druid changes, its strong but wvw theres only 2 stats dominance  minstrells and condi bursters on bunker stats.

 

Edited September 17, 2022 by Aeolus.3615

[Coolster.2536]

I don’t know if the Coolant Blast changes makes it worth taking over Engi’s other heals. They all have very good utility, and we can get condi cleanses through Alchemy + Inventions (which a lot of PvP/WvW Engi builds use one or both of them) and other heal skills. Since Holo is kind of a high-risk, high-reward spec, I really think Cauterize should be a skill that increases your damage. I think it either giving extra stacks of Afterburner or reducing your current heat are good ways to give Coolant Blast it’s own niche that competes with our other heals.

 

Making Gyros stationary is a really bad change. It’s probably fine for Medic Gyro/Defense Field, Purge Gyro, and Shredder Gyro, but it really neuters Blast Gyro, Bulwark Gyro, and Sneak Gyro. No one is going to stand in Blast Gyro for 3 seconds, waiting to get stunned, I don’t see how Bulwark Gyro would even work… and Sneak Gyro is now just a better Smoke Bomb. Plus they give Superspeed, a mobility effect, at the beginning of the cast on skills that encourage sitting inside of them…

 

I’m sad that mine field no longer removes boon, but cripple is fine on it. I like the Utility Goggles change though. It has potential to be a really good stunbreak. Not sure about putting Reactive Lenses on heal. None of our heals are instant cast, so you can’t really make use of the stunbreak.

[Kaladel.1670]

3 hours ago, Flumek.9043 said:

Does necro exist ?

Looking at what they are intending to do to Scrapper and heal Warrior, I'm pretty happy they choose to ignore necro for this patch.

[SoulGuardian.6203]

Why nerf Warrior Axes?

What have they ever done to you? 

I'm a Double Axe Charr.

Warrior does not need anymore nerfs.

I was starting to enjoy berserker again.

Well. I guess my Charr warrior will have no purpose now, and will delete it.

Well done guys.

 

Wells for scrapper?

Really?

What does wells have anything to do with scrappers whatsoever? 

 

You're going on about this all wrong.

 

But hey, it's nothing new.

We should all be used to it by now.

 

Deleting and Re- Starting a few characters from the beggining never hurt anyone, right?

Just took my only reason away to have a Charr.

So I guess the Norn won't be far behind... unless those Druid changes are something really special. 

 

 

[SoulGuardian.6203]

6 minutes ago, Kaladel.1670 said:

Looking at what they are intending to do to Scrapper and heal Warrior, I'm pretty happy they choose to ignore necro for this patch.

Oh, you'll get your turn; don't you worry about that.

[SehferViega.8725]

On 9/14/2022 at 6:22 PM, Double Tap said:

 

 

Scrapper: mobile wells are what make Scrapper being unique.  You should revert this change.

Engineer: Explosive Entrance: this trait deal by far too much passive damage in WvW (where people do not only fight in big groups, but also do some roaming, alone or in small groups), it should be at least reduced by 50%.

Thief: Instant Reflexes: This trait no longer grants evasion when dropping below 50% health. Instead, it grants evasion after using an elite skill.   --> I really don't like this new trait: most used elite skills are Basilisk Venom and Dagger Storm.
Basilisk Venom is usually precasted, so 2 seconds of evade after using it are completely useless, Dagger Storm has 3 seconds of evade, do you really want to get 5 (3+2) seconds of evade using it? It's really too much, no sense.
Relating this trait with Healing skills, with a 50/60 seconds cooldown, would be better.
Pulmonary Impact: PI damage is too low in competitive modes. Its damage should ignore toughness to be playable again.

 

Berserker: Entering berserk mode no longer initiates an attack, and now counts as a rage skill instead of a level 3 burst skill.

This is a huge nerf: entering berserker mode now does decent damage and activate burst skills traits.
Adrenal Health, Cleansing Ire, Berserker's Power, if entering berserk mode will be a Rage skill, Berserker will have to chose if spend Adrenaline with core burst skill and gain max level of those traits or to enter in berserker mode and gain stacks one by one hitting with primal burst skill.. 

You wrote you want to improve Berserker's synergies with Adrenal Health, Cleansing Ire, Berserker's Power, but you're doing the opposite.

 

Defy Pain: This trait no longer grants Lesser Endure Pain when dropping below 50% health. Instead, it grants Lesser Endure Pain after using an elite skill. -->  Please insert a 40-50 seconds cooldown, Berserker can't have 2,5 seconds of Endure Pain every 18 seconds (Head Butt).

 

 

[NitPopelka.7259]

So since no one mentioned it (atleast i found no one), ill do.

 

What about the specter 300 sec cd traitline? no changes to that?

[TristisOris.2165]

fix broken traits? no! let's add more buttons!

[cgMatt.5162]

WvW FB just needed another class with enough group stability to be replaced in that slot (like stability share Cata could have done), stab rotations across 3 different players might limit comp options because we would have to run 3 support outside of the driver party (unless one was stance share immob Soulbeast). Going in to nerf Mantra of Liberation to 2 charges is not the right play imo. That will just make groups not push as often which encourages pirate ship.

[Bach From The Brink.2715]

6 hours ago, Ken Yuudachi.9807 said:

Obviously, there aren't any professional players in ArenaNet who play PvP thieves. Even after reworking with Acrobatics, the players will still choose Trickery. Why? Because ArenaNet has increased the cost of initiative points in so many years. Every time when they nerf a weapon skill by increasing initiative points, the requirement of Trickery trait line also increases, which makes people stick to it even more.

 

The main problem is not about the cost of initiative points, it's Trickery trait line. It gives so much potential by adding the initiative points. If you don't want to people spam a single skill, nerf the Trickery trait line, not the skill itself. When you nerf the cost of daggers, people start to play swords. When you nerf  swords, people start to play pistols.

 

The result is, after so many years, ArenaNet has increased all the costs of  weapons to an incredible scale. To make matters worse, these thoughtless changes make the thief core weapons' skills have 0 damage in the most of case. Who much damage you can do with a single pistol, dagger, shortbow and sword? If you don't want people to spam skills, nerf the  initiative gain by Trickery trait line, and decrease the costs of the weapons. This is the only chance to make people choose other trait line instead of sticking to Trickery.

 

The change of 300s traits also makes no sense. If you bind a cooldown to an elite skill, it also implies that some elite skills that cool down for a long time will lose many opportunities to be selected. 180s cd thieves Guild, still remains the same. 300s cd Shallow Grave is still the only one possible trait for the power version in these three useless traits.  

 

Another crazy point is that they decide to nerf two kinds of damage mode specter shroud without any plan. The reason why condi specter can survive so well is that he can teleport and have a lot of shroud while fighting from a distance. But at the same time, as one of the few roamers that can be played now, power specter doesn't have long distance weapons like condi and such massive shroud. If you just simply decrease the shroud of specters, what's left to support the melee fights as a power specter?

 

Looking at the entire specter trait line, there is no single trait that effectively helps power playstyle. Second Opinion, Larcenous Torment, Strength of Shadows are all about condition damage. What are you thinking about?

 

I'm a player who reaches platinum in seasons as a thief. From my experience, in the next version, there is no place for the power thief at all, now the daredevil does too little damage, the feature of the deadeye projectile makes it easy to be prevented, and you are going to nerf the power specter and deadeye. Power thieves will no longer be able to have any reliable builds in PvP. Even condi specter should be a struggling option. The ratio of decrease from 1.xx to 0.69 is too many.

 

I also play other professions and have some ideas, but the main thing for thieves is here. Unfortunately, you didn't change any criticized points in thief. Thank you to the balance team for bringing me the worst balance ever. Let me know when your balance team disbands, I will come back and take a look then.

 

Top echelons of the pvp community are talking about how deadeye is probably gonna be very dominant next patch. Thief is still there and I seriously doubt that its going anywhere. 

 

 

[CalmTheStorm.2364]

On 9/14/2022 at 12:22 PM, Double Tap said:

Hi, everyone,

 

Today we're taking a look at some upcoming balance changes in the October 4 update. The August 23 balance update was primarily focused on PvE, and we felt it was important to do a similar update for competitive modes. After this update, we'll be returning to the usual update format that includes changes targeted at all game modes.

The goal of previewing these changes is to hear your feedback on these changes before they're released. We'll be following the conversation and making adjustments to our plans as needed.

Thanks,

Cal "cmc" Cohen
Skills and Balance Team Lead

October 4 Balance Update Preview

Revisiting Elite Specialization Tradeoffs

Many elite specializations have some mechanical weaknesses compared to the core profession, commonly referred to as the "tradeoff" for the specialization's new mechanics. In some cases, these tradeoffs feel natural, like when a reaper loses access to Death Shroud and gains access to Reaper's Shroud, but in other cases, these tradeoffs feel unnatural and can contribute to making a specialization feel less fluid to play. For this update, we've started to look at these unnatural tradeoffs and evaluate whether they're still necessary for the balance of the game. In many cases, we've simply removed the tradeoff, with the expectation that these specializations can still be balanced in other ways.

300-Second Cooldown Traits

Back in February 2020, we increased the cooldown of many powerful passive defensive traits (such as Defy Pain) to 300 seconds because we didn't want these effects to have an impact in competitive modes, and for this update, we've revisited these traits with the goal of making them into healthier mechanics. In some cases, we've made the defensive effect trigger off something more active (like using an elite skill), and in other cases we've reworked the traits entirely.

General

The previous update to torment was a good change mechanically, as standing still to avoid increased damage isn't a realistic counterplay, but it left builds reliant on torment for damage in a tough spot. We're increasing the base values and reducing the bonus against stationary enemies to make torment damage a bit more consistent.

• Torment: In PvP and WvW, damage has been adjusted as follows:
  • While moving: Increased base damage from 15.9 to 19.8. Increased condition damage scaling from 0.045 to 0.054.
  • While stationary: Reduced base damage from 31.8 to 26. Reduced condition damage scaling from 0.09 to 0.07.

 

Elementalist

The last set of catalyst enhancements in PvP pushed it a bit over the top. With other top performers like specter, bladesworn, and herald coming down in this update, we wanted to include a few smaller adjustments to catalyst, and we've shaved down a few of its more potent defensive tools.

"Eye of the Storm!" also gets a slight cooldown shave in WvW as part of a tuning pass on existing group stun breaks.

• Earth's Embrace: This trait has been reworked. It now grants barrier when attuning to earth.
• Final Shielding: This trait no longer grants Arcane Shield when dropping below 50% health. Instead, it grants Arcane Shield after using an elite skill.

Tempest

• Gale Song: This trait has been reworked. It now grants protection to nearby allies after using a healing skill.
• "Eye of the Storm!": Reduced cooldown from 35 seconds to 30 seconds in WvW only.

Catalyst

• Fortified Earth: Reduced base barrier from 3,000 to 2,520 in PvP only. Increased cooldown from 25 seconds to 30 seconds in PvP only.
• Rocky Loop: Reduced damage reduction from 10% to 7% in PvP only.
• Staunch Auras: Reduced stability duration from 3 seconds to 2 seconds in PvP only.

 

Engineer

On the PvP side of things, we're revisiting an old powerhouse: grenade holosmith. While we don't want it back at the level where it dominated the meta, it's currently underperforming and there's room to bring it back up a bit.

For WvW we've primarily focused on scrapper. As we look to improve support diversity in WvW, it's clear that scrapper is an outlier. Builds like vindicator, tempest, warrior, or druid (after this update's changes) have the potential to be potent support options, but they aren't quite at the same level. We see scrapper as overperforming relative to where a support build should be, and so we've brought down its power in a few areas rather than raising other support builds to that overperforming level. We'll be keeping an eye on the support meta following this update and will make additional changes in future balance updates with the goal of creating many viable options.

 

Skills

• Grenade Barrage: Increased power coefficient per grenade from 0.3 to 0.3333 in PvP only.
• Shrapnel Grenade: Reduced cooldown from 6 seconds to 5 seconds in PvP only.
• Freeze Grenade: Increased power coefficient per grenade from 0.2 to 0.5 in PvP only.
• Magnetic Shield: Reduced cooldown from 30 seconds to 25 seconds in PvP only. Reduced cooldown from 25 seconds to 20 seconds in PvE and WvW.
• Static Shield: Reduced cooldown from 40 seconds to 30 seconds in PvP only. Reduced cooldown from 30 seconds to 24 seconds in PvE and WvW.
• Utility Goggles: Increased resistance duration from 3 seconds to 5 seconds. This skill now removes one damaging condition in addition to its other effects.
• Throw Mine: Reduced number of boons removed from 2 to 1 in WvW only.
• Mine Field: This skill no longer removes boons. Instead, it cripples enemies that it strikes.
• Fumigate: Increased cooldown from 12 second to 20 seconds in WvW only.
• Cleansing Field: Increased cooldown from 15 seconds to 20 seconds in WvW only.

Traits

• Over Shield: This trait no longer reduces the cooldown of shield skills.
• Medical Dispersion Field: Reduced healing conversion percentage from 10% to 7% in WvW.
• Mechanized Deployment: This trait now removes a condition after using a toolbelt skill, in addition to its other effects.
• Reactive Lenses: This trait no longer triggers Lesser Utility Goggles when disabled or blinded. Instead, it triggers after using a healing skill.
• Lesser Utility Goggles: Increased resistance duration from 2 seconds to 3 seconds. This skill now removes one damaging condition in addition to its other effects.
• Takedown Round: This trait has been reworked. It now grants increased outgoing strike damage while endurance is not full.
• Kinetic Battery: Increased quickness duration from 2 seconds to 3 seconds in PvP and WvW.

Scrapper

Skills

• Defense Field: This skill is now ground targeted. The spell area of effect created by this skill is now stationary. Increased cooldown from 25 seconds to 35 seconds in WvW only.
• Scrapper wells are now stationary ground-targeted skills with a range of 900.

Traits

• Impact Savant: This trait no longer reduces vitality.
• Gyroscopic Acceleration: Superspeed is now applied on the first pulse of wells instead of the final pulse.
• Kinetic Accelerators: This trait no longer grants quickness in PvP and WvW. Instead, it grants might and fury.

 

Holosmith

Skills

• Coolant Blast: Increased base healing from 4,740 to 5,250 in PvP and WvW.
• Cauterize: Reduced burning duration from 3 seconds to 1 second in PvP and WvW. Reduced the number of conditions removed from 3+3 to 2+2 in PvP and WvW. This skill now activates instantly.
• Photon Wall: Reduced cooldown from 45 seconds to 35 seconds in PvP only.
• Prime Light Beam: Increased power coefficient from 0.01 to 1.0 in PvP and WvW.

Traits

• Enhanced Capacity Storage Unit: Increased might duration from 6 seconds to 9 seconds in PvP only.

 

Guardian

Dragonhunter

Hunter's Determination gets the "on elite skill use" trigger that a lot of similar traits received in this update, but we've also focused the effect on its defensive elements. After using an elite skill, the trait will immediately grant aegis and stability and create aegis fragments rather than creating a damaging trap that needs to be triggered.

Test of Faith will also receive a slight reduction, as it is one of the more overperforming aspects of dragonhunter damage builds in WvW.

Skills

• Test of Faith: Reduced passthrough power coefficient from 2.22 to 1.87 in WvW only.

Traits

• Hunter's Determination: This trait no longer grants aegis and casts Shards of Faith when disabled. Instead, it grants aegis and stability and creates aegis fragments after using an elite skill.

 

Firebrand

Mantra of Liberation is a skill that has long overperformed, but it's not something that we want to bring down in isolation, as the need for group stability and stun breaks in WvW cannot be understated. With the improvement to some existing stability options and the addition of other new ones in this update, we're taking the opportunity to bring down the mantra and rein in some of firebrand's dominance in WvW. Firebrand's strength goes beyond the power of an individual skill, and we're investigating some additional adjustments for a future balance update.

Skills

• Mantra of Liberation: Reduced ammunition count from 3 to 2 in WvW only. Increased ammunition recharge time from 25 seconds to 30 seconds.

 

Mesmer

The primary change for mesmers in this update is the addition of distortion to both chronomancer and virtuoso. We've also tuned up Mantra of Concentration to be a more viable stability source in WvW with additional stacks, longer duration, and a larger radius.

We're planning a larger investigation into the balance between boon applications and boon removal in WvW for a future update, but for now we wanted to address a few outliers on mesmer, namely Phantasmal Disenchanter and Null Field.

Skills

• Mantra of Concentration: Increased stability from 3 stacks for 3 seconds to 5 stacks for 5 seconds in WvW only. Increased ammunition recharge from 30 seconds to 35 seconds in WvW only. Increased range from 240 to 600.
• Phantasmal Disenchanter: Reduced number of boons removed from 5 to 2 in WvW only.
• Null Field: Increased cooldown from 25 seconds to 35 seconds in WvW only.

 

Chronomancer

Skills

• Continuum Shift: This skill has been moved to slot 5 of the profession mechanic bar. Distortion is now accessible in slot 4.

 

Virtuoso

Skills

• Bladeturn Requiem: This skill has been moved to slot 5 of the profession mechanic bar. Distortion is now accessible in slot 4.

 

Necromancer

Scourge

Scourge's punishment skills are a powerful source of cover conditions, breaking the usual expectation of a one-to-one boon conversion by always applying torment and cripple. We don't consider this one-to-two conversion to be a healthy mechanic and have made an adjustment to all punishment skills in this update. We're considering changing these skills to use the standard boon conversion table, but we wanted to try to maintain some of scourge's unique flavor, so we've started by increasing the number of torment stacks while removing the cripple application.

Trail of Anguish is another big outlier on scourge, as its lack of a target cap allowed it to have a much greater impact than desired in large-scale fights. We've updated the skill so it can only affect a maximum of ten enemies to bring it more in line with similar effects.

Skills

• Punishment skills no longer inflict crippled when removing a boon. Increased number of torment stacks applied when removing a boon from 1 to 3.
• Trail of Anguish: This skill can now affect a maximum of 10 enemies.

 

Ranger

Traits

• Shared Anguish: This trait no longer transfers incoming crowd control to pets. Instead, it grants stability to the ranger and their pet when swapping pets.
• Stoneform: This trait no longer grants Lesser Signet of Stone when dropping below 50% health. Instead, it grants Lesser Signet of Stone after using an elite skill.

Druid

Druid is a specialization that was intended to enable a more supportive playstyle for rangers, but it has always lacked the set of tools needed to compete with other support builds in competitive modes. In this update, we've added some reliable group protection to Verdant Etching, group stability to Glyph of the Stars, and more consistent astral force generation for all druid builds to Natural Mender. We've also made some usability improvements to a few of the clunkier druid skills.

Skills

• Astral Wisp: This skill can now target allies. After attaching to a target, this skill will now pulse healing to allies around that target instead of creating a circling projectile that heals allies.
• Glyph of Alignment (Base): Increased immobilize duration from 1.5 seconds to 2 seconds.
• Glyph of Alignment (Celestial Avatar): Increased number of conditions removed from 2 to 3. Increased base healing from 2,585 to 3,076.
• Glyph of Equality (Celestial Avatar): Increased range from 360 to 600.
• Glyph of the Stars: This skill is no longer channeled and instead creates the spell area of effect after an initial casting time.
  • Base: Reduced the number of pulses from 7 to 6. This skill now grants stability instead of preventing condition applications to allies in the area.
  • Celestial Avatar: Reduced the number of revive pulses from 18 to 6. Increased the revive percentage per pulse from 4% to 12%. This skill now grants stability instead of protection, in addition to regeneration and vigor.
• Glyph of the Tides: Reduced cooldown from 25 seconds to 20 seconds in PvE only.
• Glyph of Equality: Reduced cooldown from 30 seconds to 24 seconds in PvE only.
• Glyph of Rejuvenation: Reduced cooldown from 24 seconds to 20 seconds in PvE only.
• Glyph of the Stars: Reduced cooldown from 60 seconds to 48 seconds.
• Seed of Life: Increased range from 180 to 240. Reduced blossoming time from 1.32 seconds to 0.66 seconds. This skill now activates instantly. Reduced the number of conditions removed from 3 to 2 in PvP and WvW.

Traits

• Celestial Being: This trait no longer reduces pet attributes.
• Natural Mender: This trait no longer uses a stacking effect. Instead, it grants a flat amount of increased outgoing healing. This trait also now grants astral force every few seconds while not in Celestial Avatar.
• Druidic Clarity: This trait now also removes conditions from nearby allies. Reduced number of conditions removed from 13 to 3.
• Cultivated Synergy: Increased healing attribute scaling from 0.2 to 0.75.
• Verdant Etching: This trait now grants protection to nearby allies after using a glyph skill instead of its previous effects.
• Lingering Light: This trait no longer grants astral force while not in Celestial Avatar form.

 

Soulbeast

The big update for soulbeast is the removal of its tradeoff; soulbeasts will once again be able to swap pets while in combat. We've also increased the range of the stance sharing from Leader of the Pack to make it a more reliable stability option when sharing Dolyak Stance.

Traits

• Elevated Bond: This trait no longer prevents pet swapping while in combat. Traits that trigger when swapping pets no longer trigger when entering Beastmode.
• Eternal Bond: This trait has been reworked. It now grants healing when using a merged skill. You can swap pets while merged.
• Leader of the Pack: Increased range from 240 to 600.

 

Revenant

Condition revenant is in a similar position to grenade holosmith in PvP: a once-powerful build in the meta that fell out of favor after a few rounds of nerfs and is currently underperforming. The build's resistance sources were reduced significantly back when the boon still granted full condition immunity, but now that it only negates nondamaging conditions, we're bringing the durations back up.

Skills

• Demonic Defiance: Increased resistance duration from 1 second to 2 seconds in PvP only.
• Fiendish Tenacity: Increased resistance duration from 1 second to 2 seconds in PvP only. Increased base healing from 132 to 165 in PvP and WvW.
• Spirit Boon: Increased resistance duration when invoking Mallyx from 1 second to 2 seconds in PvP only.
• Echoing Eruption: Increased ammunition from 1 to 2 in PvP and WvW.
• Pain Absorption: Reduced energy cost from 35 to 30 in PvP only.
• Call to Anguish: Reduced energy cost from 35 to 30 in PvP only.

 

Herald

The recent update to Draconic Echo pushed power herald builds a bit over the top by granting easy access to a lot of quickness. The change was primarily targeted at PvE modes to make herald a viable source of group quickness, but it's clear that this isn't a healthy mechanic for competitive modes. Lingering facet passives is already a powerful effect, and we've changed the boon to might in competitive modes to bring the trait down to a more reasonable power level.

Traits

• Draconic Echo: This trait now grants might instead of quickness in PvP and WvW.

 

Vindicator

The single dodge that vindicator has access to has been a long-standing point of negative feedback, and for this update we've adjusted the timing and endurance cost of the vindicator jump so it's more in line with regular dodges.

We've also made some small usability improvements to the vindicator's group stun break Awakening, increasing the range and removing the casting time.

• Vindicator no longer consumes all endurance to dodge. Reduced endurance cost of dodging from 100 to 50. Reduced dodge evade window from 1.6 seconds to 0.8 seconds.

Traits

• Awakening: This skill now activates instantly. Reduced energy cost from 35 to 30 in WvW only. Increased range from 360 to 600.

 

Thief

In addition to reworking the passive traits in the Acrobatics trait line, Meld with Shadows gets a slight shave off its superspeed duration, targeting the strong performance of deadeye builds in PvP.

Traits

• Hard to Catch: This trait has been reworked. It now grants endurance when shadowstepping.
• Instant Reflexes: This trait no longer grants evasion when dropping below 50% health. Instead, it grants evasion after using an elite skill.
• Meld with Shadows: Reduced superspeed duration from 2 seconds to 1.5 seconds in PvP only.

 

Specter

Specter is currently one of the most powerful specializations in PvP. The build has a lot of strengths, but the thing that stands out is the sheer amount of shroud health available, especially in combination with additional sources of vitality. We're reducing the shroud health by a significant amount, with the goal of making specters a bit easier to kill.

We do see specter's reduced initiative pool as one of the tradeoffs we want to revisit eventually, but given its current power level we didn't want to do so in this update. We'll be keeping an eye on the strength of specter going forward and will be looking for an opportunity to restore the lost initiative once it's less dominant.

• Reduced Shadow Shroud health scaling from 1.5 to 0.69.

Skills

Well of Bounty is another skill we wanted to make into a more reliable source of group stability, and to do so we've adjusted how it applies boons. Instead of picking from boons that the target doesn't already have, the skill will consistently apply the same boons on specific pulses, starting with stability on pulse 1.

• Well of Bounty: Increased cooldown from 20 seconds to 30 seconds in WvW, and from 20 seconds to 35 seconds in PvP. This skill now applies the following boons:
  • Pulse 1: Stability
  • Pulse 2: Might
  • Pulse 3: Fury
  • Pulse 4: Vigor
  • Pulse 5: Resistance

 

Warrior

Berserker is a specialization that was heavily impacted in competitive modes by the introduction of its tradeoffs, and it was one of the primary targets for improvements in this update. In addition to removing these tradeoffs, we've added adrenaline back to many of berserker's rage skills to make berserk access more reliable. The Defense trait line has also received some significant updates, tuning up some weak traits and improving some of berserker's key synergies with Adrenal Heath and Cleansing Ire.

We've also included a handful of improvements for power and support spellbreaker builds in PvP, both of which have been underperforming.

Skills

• Call of Valor: Increased base barrier from 2,064 to 2,580 in PvP only.
• Charge: Increased quickness duration from 2 seconds to 3 seconds in PvP only.
• Earthshaker: Increased power coefficient from 0.01 to 0.682 in PvP and WvW.
• Skull Crack: Increased power coefficient from 0.01 to 0.75 in PvP and WvW.
• Whirling Axe: Reduced power coefficient per strike from 0.373 to 0.298 in WvW only.
• "To the Limit!": Increased endurance gained from 50 to 65 in PvP only.
• "Shake It Off!": Reduced ammunition count from 2 to 1 in PvP and WvW. Reduced recharge from 75 seconds to 30 seconds in PvP and WvW. This skill now breaks allies out of stuns in addition to its other effects.
• Signet of Rage: Reduced casting time from 1 second to 0.25 seconds. Increased might duration from 4 seconds to 5 seconds in PvP and WvW.
• Hammer Shock: Reduced cooldown from 10 seconds to 8 seconds.
• Counterblow: Reduced cooldown from 10 seconds to 8 seconds in PvP and WvW.
• Pommel Bash: Reduced cooldown from 12 seconds to 10 seconds.

Traits

• Berserker's Power:  This trait now grants one stack of Berserker's Power, plus one additional stack per bar of adrenaline spent. Increased maximum stacks from 3 to 4. Bonus damage per stack reduced from 7% to 5.25%.
• Aggressive Onslaught: This trait has been moved to the Grandmaster tier slot formerly filled by Merciless Hammer. Gain quickness when you disable a foe. While you have quickness, your movement speed is increased.
• Thick Skin: This trait has been reworked. It now grants protection to the warrior when using a healing skill.
• Adrenal Health: This trait now grants one stack of Adrenal Health, plus one additional stack per bar of adrenaline spent. Increased maximum stacks from 3 to 4. Healing per stack reduced from 133 to 100 in PvE, and from 100 to 87 in PvP and WvW.
• Shield Master: This trait no longer reduces the cooldown of shield skills. Blocking an attack or reflecting a missile now grants adrenaline instead of might.
• Cull the Weak: This trait no longer applies weakness when striking an enemy below 50% health. Instead, it applies weakness when striking an enemy with a burst skill.
• Defy Pain: This trait no longer grants Lesser Endure Pain when dropping below 50% health. Instead, it grants Lesser Endure Pain after using an elite skill.
• Armored Attack: This trait has been removed and replaced with Resilient Roll.
• Resilient Roll: Gain resistance at the end of your dodge roll.
• Sundering Mace: This trait has been removed and replaced with Merciless Hammer.
• Merciless Hammer: This trait now also increases damage from mace skills when striking a disabled foe. Reduced adrenaline gain from 10 to 7. This trait no longer reduces the cooldown of hammer skills.
• Last Stand: This trait no longer grants Lesser Balanced Stance when disabled. This trait now applies barrier in addition to vigor when using a stance skill.
• Cleansing Ire: This trait now removes one condition, plus an additional condition per bar of adrenaline spent. Burst skills still must hit an enemy to remove conditions.
• Rousing Resilience: This trait has been removed and replaced with Stalwart Strength.
• Stalwart Strength: Disabling an enemy grants stability. While you have stability, your strike damage is increased.

 

Berserker

• Berserk: This skill has been moved to slot 2 of the profession mechanic bar. Core burst skills are now accessible in slot 1 of the profession mechanic bar for the berserker specialization.
• Berserk mode now activates instantly.
• Entering berserk mode no longer initiates an attack, and now counts as a rage skill instead of a level 3 burst skill.

Skills

• Blood Reckoning: Reduced berserk mode extension from 5 seconds to 1 second in PvP and WvW. Increased adrenaline gain from 10 to 30 in PvP and WvW.
• Outrage: Reduced bonus berserk mode extension from 5 seconds to 2 seconds in PvP and WvW. This skill now grants adrenaline: 10 base adrenaline, plus an additional 10 when breaking stun in PvP and WvW. 5 base adrenaline, plus an additional 5 when breaking stun in PvE.
• Shattering Blow: Reduced bonus berserk mode extension from 3 seconds to 1 second in PvP and WvW. This skill now grants adrenaline (10 in PvP and WvW and 5 in PvE).
• Sundering Leap: Reduced berserk mode extension from 5 seconds to 1 second in PvP and WvW. Increased power coefficient from 1.5 to 2.33 in PvP and WvW. This skill now grants adrenaline: 10 base adrenaline, plus an additional 10 on hit in PvP and WvW. 5 base adrenaline, plus an additional 5 on hit in PvE.
• Wild Blow: Reduced berserk mode extension from 4 seconds to 1 second in PvP and WvW. This skill now grants adrenaline (10 in PvP and WvW, 5 in PvE). This skill now removes blind, weakness, and slow upon activation, and it knocks enemies down instead of knocking them back.
• Head Butt: Reduced berserk mode extension from 2 seconds to 1 second in PvP and WvW. This skill no longer removes stability from the user, and it no longer deals increased damage when removing stability. Increased power coefficient from 3.0 to 4.5 in PvE only.
• Rupturing Smash: Increased attack area from 180 degrees in front of the player to 360 degrees around the player. Increased daze duration from 1 second to 2 seconds in PvP and WvW.
• Flaming Flurry: Increased projectile speed.
• Blaze Breaker: This skill now creates a blast finisher at the initial casting location. Increased ammunition count from 1 to 2 in PvP and WvW.
• Flames of War: Increased the number of conditions removed from 2 to 3 in PvP and WvW.

Traits

• Fatal Frenzy: This trait no longer reduces toughness.
• Dead or Alive: This trait has been reworked. It now grants 2 seconds of Blood Reckoning when entering berserk mode.
• Bloody Roar: This trait now grants resistance when entering berserk mode in addition to its other effects. Reduced damage bonus from 15% to 10% in PvP and WvW.

 

Spellbreaker

Skills

• Featherfoot Grace: Reduced cooldown from 35 seconds to 30 seconds in PvP only.
• Full Counter: Increased daze duration from 1 second to 1.5 seconds in PvP only.
• Breaching Strike: Increased power coefficient from 1.2 to 1.32 in PvP only.
• Aura Slicer: Increased power coefficient from 1.32 to 1.45 in PvP only.
• Disrupting Stab: Increased daze duration when interrupting an enemy from 1 second to 1.5 seconds in PvP only.

Traits

• Attacker's Insight: Increased power, precision, and ferocity granted per stack from 35 to 45 in PvP only.
• Revenge Counter: Increased resistance duration from 2 seconds to 4 seconds in PvP only.
• Magebane Tether: Increased might duration from 6 seconds to 9 seconds in PvP only.

 

Bladesworn

Skills

• Tactical Reload: This skill now only recharges bladesworn skills instead of all warrior ammunition skills.

Traits

• Dragon Trigger: Fixed a bug that caused this skill to have a shorter cooldown than expected.
• Dragonscale Defense: Fixed a bug that caused this trait to have a shorter cooldown than expected in PvP and WvW. This trait now grants protection instead of stability in PvP and WvW. Reduced internal cooldown from 60 seconds to 15 seconds in PvP and WvW.

 

@Cal Cohen.2358

RE: The Warrior Changes:

 

So. Much. Good. Stuff!  I am very excited for the changes to Berserker!  Rupturing Smash looks amazing, and the added ammo to Blazebreaker will actually be a significant boost to condizerker as it provides another convenient opportunity to detonate fire auras from King of Fires. I am also thrilled to see Berserker's Power and Adrenal Healing trigger on burst use rather than on burst hit; that will massively improve their usefulness.  And Defense is actually good!!! Thank you so much for this!  Can't wait to try it out!

 

I did want to offer a few (hopefully) constructive bits of feedback:

 

Berserk Mode:

Now that it no longer counts as a Burst skill, will entering it still trigger 3 stacks of Berserker's Power and/or Adrenal Healing?  It absolutely should!

 

Resilient Dodge:

I assume that, if you are immobilized, you will not be able to dodge and therefore will be unable to gain the resistance--is that correct?  If so, I suggest that trait include either a) dodging removes immobilize, or b) the resistance is applied immediately when trying to dodge, so that you can use it to escape immobilization.  Don't get me wrong; the trait is very strong as it is, but if it can deal with immobilize effectively, it would be a reasonable alternative to Warrior's Sprint.  This would make Discipline less mandatory and would promote better build diversity.

 

Cleansing Ire:

Not having this proc off of burst use is a missed opportunity.  I understand not wanting Warrior to be able to cleanse infinitely, but requiring Warrior to land the burst (many of which are slow/highly telegraphed and need to be done in melee range) means the benefit from this trait is highly inconsistent.    Here's a compromise idea:

 

Cleansing Ire:

gain adrenaline when hit

Cleanse one condition when using a burst skill

Gain Resolution (2s) per bar of adrenaline spent

 

This way you get a little bit of extra cleansing combined with an anti-condi boon.  It also synergizes with Hardened Armor.

 

Stalwart Strength:

Ehh...I mean, it's worth a try, I guess.  The problem is that "when you disable a foe" mechanics are highly unreliable ('cause enemies dodge/block/blind/etc).  Moreover, you really need stability to be applied in an on-demand manner (like Brave Stride) rather than serendipitously for it to be truly useful.  Further, the damage mod when you have stability won't add up to much since stability is (appropriately) a relatively rare and short-lived boon.  Contrast that with something like Guardian's Retribution trait which gives them +10% dmg with resolution--a boon of which they can have near 100% uptime with certain builds.

 

My suggestion:

Stalwart Strength:

Gain +180 toughness

Gain Might (10s) when you are hit (1s CD)

 

This gives you a nice blend of defense and offense.  There is also synergy with Might Makes Right.  And the damage gained from might is limited both by the CD of the trait and the might cap--unlike the uncapped damage from stacking multiple damage modifiers.

 

"To The Limit!":

The extra endurance is welcome but won't be a big change here.  What the skill really needs is a lower CD.  In PvE, it is a massive heal on a 30s CD; in PvP/WvW, it heals for about the same as Mending but has a 50% longer CD.  Please consider lowering the CD to 20s to be in line with mending (or returning the heal magnitude to be commensurate with a 30s CD).

 

Wild Blow:

The changes to this skill are good, but the long cast time and melee range make it a hard sell over Bull's Charge.  Giving it a bit more range (240-300?) would be good.

 

Sundering Leap:

Similar to Wild Blow, the changes are very welcome but probably don't make it worth taking over Bull's Charge.  I propose increasing the range to 900 and making it immobilize targets (2s) instead of cripple.  These changes, combined with the fact that it does damage and has a lower CD, would make it a strong alternative to BC.

Shattering Blow:
Not a good skill.  Some suggestions:  Change the block to 3/4s evade.  Make the explosion/bleed hit targets in a 360 degree, 360 radius.  

 

Bladesworn:

The nerfs are well-deserved.  Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately?), I think removing the bloated shout heal will expose the underlying design flaws of the spec.  Here are a few glaring ones:

 

a) BS doesn't have much in the way of defense.  It relied in healing through everything rather than blocking/negating incoming dmg.  Please consider adding evade frames on Cyclone Trigger (or another Gunsaber skill) to compensate

 

b) BS depended on abusing the short-CD bug on DT to spam Boost for mobility.  It will struggle now that this has been taken away.  Please consider lowering the base CD on DT and/or increasing the range of Break Step to compensate.

 

c) Since it only has one burst--which requires it to stand still for 2.5s for a full charge-- BS struggles to gain/maintain max stacks of Berserker's Power and Adrenal Healing.  This is a big drawback for the spec since it is being forced away from shoutspam. Please consider reducing the CD on DT and/or re-evaluating how DT interacts with traits (maybe 0-2 charges = Tier 1 burst; 3-5 charges = T2; 6+ charges = T3).

 

d.) Removing the stability from Dragonscale Defense is understandable...but BS is extremely vulnerable when charging DT.  It practically screams "CC me please!"  So if you're going to remove the stab from Dragonscale Defense, please consider adding Stability to Triggerguard and possibly lowering its CD as well.

All in all, though, this is an incredible gift to Warrior.  Thank you so much for your work on this!

Edited September 18, 2022 by CalmTheStorm.2364
Added point d) under Bladesworn

[SoulGuardian.6203]

If I'm right, in my understanding; they want to make a different class to compete with necros and chronos wells.

Scrapper however is not the right class for that.

Why is chrono getting nerfs again?

 

I struggle to find a good reason for most of these changes.

 

I only watched the video once while I was playing, so I was only able to catch some bits and bobs of the presentation. 

 

Vindicator getting two dodges but at the same time deals less damage.

Just like a prime minister; it gives with one hand but takes from you with the other.

 

Don't want to sound harsh, but most of the changes are useless and redundant at best.

 

Please, for the love of god, do something about Shields once and for all.

They are blatantly useless.

 

From what my concentration allowed me to hear from the video, Elementalists are also getting nerfs.

This is because...?

They are already the most glass class of the whole bunch.

Yet another class that does not need further nerfs.

They also don't have any core trade offs.

I clearly remember seeing a ton of ideas from hard core elementalists in their sub forums.

 

What this is is taking away any uniqueness and individualism and making people more and more dependant on eachother.

 

This game should be about different unique classes come together and create a force to be reckoned with.

 

Sally pass me the sugar and Mary the water, and I'll bring the flower, so we can bake a cake.

 

For those of you who didn't want to see GW1 and Monks!?

Well, there you have it.

Even warriors are going to be monks now.

 

Swallow the pill... cause momma says so.

[wanya.1697]

really nice changes but can we get a f2p only queue option pls ?
elite specs are too strong to compete with
and learning core builds only first will help new players to get into pvp much easier
oh yeah and pls remove entangle imob alone is already bad enough but not being able to cleanse it cause of entangle sucks

Edited September 17, 2022 by wanya.1697

[Phoenix.8169]

Please don't make the scrapper wells/gyros ground targets in PvE. Massively overcomplicates things compared to right now..

If you need to balance WvW/PVP go for it, but don't please destroy the enjoyable aspects of this class.

Edited September 17, 2022 by Phoenix.8169

[Griifen.2473]

15 minutes ago, wanya.1697 said:

really nice changes but can we get a f2p only queue option pls ?
elite specs are too strong to compete with
and learning core builds only first will help new players to get into pvp much easier
oh yeah and pls remove entangle imob alone is already bad enough but not being able to cleanse it cause of entangle sucks

MightyTeapot recently made a Twitter post asking for input on how players would like PvP to change. You can add your comment there and maybe MightyTeapot will pick up on it.

[Aeolus.3615]

2 hours ago, Kaladel.1670 said:

Looking at what they are intending to do to Scrapper and heal Warrior, I'm pretty happy they choose to ignore necro for this patch.

Anet also is adding alot of boon spam on top of the current boon spam, this is also a boost for necros.

Actually this is a buff for necros since Anet want every one to have tons of boons to become necro food and we all know how WvW is scourge Fb and scrap works....

Edited September 17, 2022 by Aeolus.3615