October 4 Balance Update Preview

[ChillyKoti.1928]

Oh.. and making more and more traits that do 2 very different stuff in different game mode is... not good..
like FB healing mantra skill and Herald Draconic Echo.
I dunno. I guess I am the only one not eager for balance patches as time goes on.

[HnRkLnXqZ.1870]

On 9/27/2022 at 8:22 PM, Cal Cohen.2358 said:

We agree – we'll be reverting the proposed changes and will be making a different set of adjustments to Purge and Sneak Gyro for WvW:

• Sneak Gyro: Reduced stealth duration from 1.5 seconds to 1 second in WvW only. Reduced number of pulses from 6 to 3 in WvW only. This skill is no longer a smoke field in WvW only. This skill now plays a visual indicator to enemies on activation.

You do not want any Scrapper to ever touch Sneak Gyro again. With this change, it loses the rank of an Elite Skill. I have gadgets which have more utility (untraited) than this.

[Axelteas.7192]

• Thick Skin: This trait has been reworked. It now grants protection to the warrior when using a healing skill.

 

 

So If we have the trait that make shouts heal... does the shout trigger protection or not?

[Polar.8634]

On 9/30/2022 at 5:33 AM, fitnicov.8491 said:

Buff Renegade Shortbow.

whatever needs buff in rene, its not shortbow. shortbow is strong

[Suyheuti.1732]

19 minutes ago, Polar.8634 said:

whatever needs buff in rene, its not shortbow. shortbow is strong

I agree. Shortbow is fine. Maybe Anet thinks to do something to Lasting Legacy trait about Kalla's Fervor's damage bonus or buff Soulclave Summit (it is not being felt like an elite skill) or give axe/mace some damage buff. 

Actually I prefer Anet to buff Improved Kalla's Fervor's damage bonus from %3 to %4. 

[Polar.8634]

2 hours ago, Suyheuti.1732 said:

I agree. Shortbow is fine. Maybe Anet thinks to do something to Lasting Legacy trait about Kalla's Fervor's damage bonus or buff Soulclave Summit (it is not being felt like an elite skill) or give axe/mace some damage buff. 

Actually I prefer Anet to buff Improved Kalla's Fervor's damage bonus from %3 to %4. 

i would agree wil kalla elite. it is not used in any content now, was bit overnerfed in past.

[Kuma.1503]

On 9/28/2022 at 2:50 PM, crewthief.8649 said:

So, now facts and logic have a political affiliation? 😂 I get that everything is political now, but really? I have a hard time taking your position seriously when you inject a political narrative into a discussion where it has absolutely zero relevance. Come on, do better.

If I have to guess, they got "Facts and logic" confused with the phrase "Facts don't care about your feelings" which was popularized by a prominent right wing figure. Bit odd to bring up real world politics in a video game balance thread tho. 

I doubt politicians care about the dominance of Scrapper in WvW or the pros and cons of running HAT vs Alacrigade. 

Edited October 1, 2022 by Kuma.1503

[Lawlieth.3902]

Regarding potential changes to gyros:
When I first started playing and read about scrapper and it's gyros on the web I was under the impression that they were like minions or turrets that'd follow you around but also stay for quite some time (w/o healthbars). Maybe that's a concept worth exploring further, when looking into possible reworks of scrapper mechanics

[Raim.6123]

Little late to ask, but can you bring back spirits moving with the Ranger? Or at least have them activate their ability on initial summon as well. 

[Kodama.6453]

14 hours ago, Axelteas.7192 said:

• Thick Skin: This trait has been reworked. It now grants protection to the warrior when using a healing skill.

 

 

So If we have the trait that make shouts heal... does the shout trigger protection or not?

It doesn't.

What's meant if they say "using a healing skill" is the skill you have slotted in position 6, which is dedicated to so called "healing skills" for every class.

So you just and only get protection from this trait if you use that skill, it does not grant protection every time you use a skill that heals in general.

[SoulGuardian.6203]

I just watched MukLuk youtube video on scrapper.

Some changes are going to be reverted.

ANet, why can't you do both just by reworking the traitline? 

That way players can get to choose if they want gyros thrown or attached to them.

 

 

[Zaret.1450]

On 10/1/2022 at 12:20 PM, HnRkLnXqZ.1870 said:

You do not want any Scrapper to ever touch Sneak Gyro again. With this change, it loses the rank of an Elite Skill. I have gadgets which have more utility (untraited) than this.

think that sneak gyro is incredibly strong in wvw, you can make the whole scuad invi with just the gyro, it has a long base duration and the smoke field makes so people can blast for tons of extra duration, meanwhile mesmer mass stealth and thiefs realy arent needed even for invis, for balance it was either not make the gyro move with the scraper, or nerf it tons.

i guess now well see more virtuosos or spectres in zergs, even if just fir the invis.

Maybe not the best change nor a popular one, but it definitely will make people try other options, so meh

[Zaret.1450]

9 hours ago, SoulGuardian.6203 said:

I just watched MukLuk youtube video on scrapper.

Some changes are going to be reverted.

ANet, why can't you do both just by reworking the traitline? 

That way players can get to choose if they want gyros thrown or attached to them.

 

 

the same way they dont make vindicator have more legend specific traits and instead theyre mostly about evade and vigor.

although if they started with long text traits people would complain that traits are too complicated, its kinda hard to make people, not happy, but just content with the changes.

[Angesombre.4630]

After that, is the fact of sharing the buffs to 10 people as before not allowing more diversity?

[MaLong.2079]

On 9/27/2022 at 2:22 PM, Cal Cohen.2358 said:

Hi everyone, back with a quick update:

 

Since the preview we've seen a lot of feedback around the proposed change to convert Scrapper gyros into ground-targeted stationary spells. The main concern we've seen is that this change would remove the unique feeling of the skills without replacing it with something new.

We agree – we'll be reverting the proposed changes and will be making a different set of adjustments to Purge and Sneak Gyro for WvW:

• Sneak Gyro: Reduced stealth duration from 1.5 seconds to 1 second in WvW only. Reduced number of pulses from 6 to 3 in WvW only. This skill is no longer a smoke field in WvW only. This skill now plays a visual indicator to enemies on activation.
• Purge Gyro: Increased cooldown from 20 seconds to 30 seconds in WvW only.

 

For clarification, we'll still be changing Defense Field into a ground-targeted skill in the October 4 update.

We'd still like to take a pass on updating the design of Scrapper gyros in the future, but not until we work out a replacement mechanic that feels both unique and fun to use.

As always, thanks to everyone who gave feedback on the upcoming changes; we really appreciate it.

 

Cal "cmc" Cohen

Skills and Balance Lead

Great news. Now it remains to be seen if might will be a good enough replacement for quickness to keep solo scrapper alive in wvw. I hope it is.

[Poobah.6254]

Any sign of some buffs for Reaper?

[Pheex.8932]

>balance patch for pvp and wvw

>destroy specter for pve

 

what

 

you're kidding right? literally noone plays specter and out of nowhere you have to just gut and destroy it for open world pve in a pvp patch?

[IIIIIII.2438]

So there will be no Rifle Mech nerf in Wvw?

[shion.2084]

IN PvP the changes to quickness in Kinetic Accelerators will greatly impact damage and survivability.   We're being given might and fury potentially... but we have access to fury through explosives, and we have lots and lots of might.  In fact the other scrapper GM trait is oriented around making might more effective already.  So now you have two traits on the same teir related to might.   If I want to grant might to my team I have tons of ways to do that (its called a fire field).

To compensate for the massive drop in DPS from a lack of quickness in PvP how will you be adjusting things?

[Money.7218]

can't wait for the new berserker

[Malsheem.1794]

Really awesome that you guys finally started looking at spvp/wvw. However, i dont get why specs thats basically dead in spvp gets ZERO changes (like Scourge) and yet specs thats doing fine gets several. 

[SoulGuardian.6203]

5 hours ago, Pheex.8932 said:

>balance patch for pvp and wvw

>destroy specter for pve

 

what

 

you're kidding right? literally noone plays specter and out of nowhere you have to just gut and destroy it for open world pve in a pvp patch?

So true.

I agree.

Specter is so underperforming.

 

Compared to other top tier classes, spectre is one of the worse.

In fact, the entire thief collection is a disaster in PVE, soloing content.

 

Thieves are the most selfish class of the lot.

Other than stealth and a portal, it offers nothing... NOTHING, to team play.

Some aoe fields... That's your lot.

 

I just been doing a lot of achievements in eod, using my DD and Spectre, my goodness, they suck so hard in pve.

 

I see people being killing machines in 1v1 fights in WvW... but dear me... pve thief is a piece of trash.

 

Here's my fight resume against eod foes.

 

Hit once, hit for stealth, run away, hit once, hit for stealth, heal, stealth, rinse and repeat.

 

...

 

No further comments.

 

Edited October 3, 2022 by SoulGuardian.6203

[DoctorOverlord.8620]

I don't know if this has been answered anywhere, but does anyone know if Eternal Bond will still make you fall out of Beastmode instead of going into Downed state after the update?  Or does it just do healing on merged skills now? (And allow pet switching in combat)

Edited October 4, 2022 by DoctorOverlord.8620

[Gotejjeken.1267]

2 hours ago, SoulGuardian.6203 said:

So true.

I agree.

Specter is so underperforming.

 

Compared to other top tier classes, spectre is one of the worse.

In fact, the entire thief collection is a disaster in PVE, soloing content.

 

Thieves are the most selfish class of the lot.

Other than stealth and a portal, it offers nothing... NOTHING, to team play.

Some aoe fields... That's your lot.

 

I just been doing a lot of achievements in eod, using my DD and Spectre, my goodness, they suck so hard in pve.

 

I see people being killing machines in 1v1 fights in WvW... but dear me... pve thief is a piece of trash.

 

Here's my fight resume against eod foes.

 

Hit once, hit for stealth, run away, hit once, hit for stealth, heal, stealth, rinse and repeat.

 

...

 

No further comments.

 

 

Noticed this as well doing map completion in HoT for Astralia--in sPvP Spectre is a nightmare, really good support if the team pays attention. 

In PvE...I'm glad I have a skyscale and only really had to do one meta (DS) for completion because it was an awful time.  

[Daniel Handler.4816]

Quote

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

It would be nice for mesmer to be an outlier on something. Especially after giving alacrity and quickness away to every other class.

This just feels bad. And makes it all the more likely Ill be pressured to play Scourge since their boon removal was untouched (the amount removed is the same, even if the cover conditions are less)

edit:
But since i imagine you are also nerfing scourge eventually as well. I guess it is what it is.

Edited October 5, 2022 by Daniel Handler.4816