October 4 Balance Update Preview

[Noro.2879]

Please please reconsider the scrapper well changes...you're removing quickness from scrapper for wvw already, take it a step at a time at least...PvE Scrapper is going to completely lose its identity right after it's starting to finally get popular after 8 years of being relegated to the closet

[burger.6428]

 

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

Scrapper wells are now stationary ground-targeted skills with a range of 900.

 

Making the gyros stationary is not good for scrapper at all. This is going back to the pre-march 2019 rework. Scrappers was not in a good place at all before and doing this will be a step backwards.

[Alsandar.7420]

In WvW I CANNOT play core, mirage, or virtuoso. 

That's by design.

You designed the game to work that way.

Ok, so you're forcing me to play Chrono, only, and forever.

But now

Gradually

You're nerfing and nerfing and nerfing

Chrono

So first

You obliterated tides of time

Leaving chrono unable to compete with necros

Now that we're neutered

You nerf phantasmal disenchanter

And null field

Because you want chrono to be meaningless

And therefore Mesmer to be eliminated from all WvW

Because ANET wants necro to strip boons

Not mesmers

Because mesmers are not meant to be played in WvW

By design

My question is:

Has ANET always been like this?

Just eliminating entire professions?

In favor of other professions?

Because this is exactly what Blizzard does

And it's one of the reasons I quit WoW

 

 

[Ronald McDonald.8165]

I am very excited for these changes. This is a good start for mixing things up in PvP. Distortion on chrono is absolutely epic. I don’t think it is necessary for Virtuoso. The toning down of specter, bladesworn, and cata might have been enough for it to find its place. It might end up becoming very obnoxious to play against with distortion. We’ll see. It’s good to hear they are planning on getting Mirage it’s second dodge back. I was not expecting much from this patch, but I am pleasantly surprised. 

[Ashadow.6874]

Well. Time to quit playing my Engineer for another 6 years.  Thanks alot for the stupid well changes.

Ground targeted on wells especially on the Elite is ridiculous and who is even deciding this is a good thing?

Might as well just play Harbinger.

Edited September 17, 2022 by Ashadow.6874

[Sartharina.3542]

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

 

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

 

Are we really going back to "Spend 3 Adrenaline to get nothing" anti-synergy between Berserker and the Berserker Power trait?

[tobvet.1874]

Spoiler

 

Nothing on mental defense ? Still useless 90 sec cooldown trait? Ty for the stream!

[Nimon.7840]

While I think some of the changes are really good, I don't understand some others.

 

Good change: trail of anguish (yes I say that as a Necro main, this skill is kinda busted rn)

 

The biggest downsides of the patch:

No e of the overpowered roaming builds get nerfed, for example tempest and soulbeast.

Soulbeast even recieves a buff? We saw the new pet swap while merged on stream, it "refreshed" the cooldown of the pet skills when swapping, I really hope that was due to the fact, that one was an offensive, while the other was a defensive pet.

 

I also don't understand, why professions get their tradeoffs removed, if other professions tradeoff can't be removed. Either give those professions something else back or do t remove the tradeoffs of the other professions.

For example: untamed - no tradeoff, catalyst- no tradeoff, new berserker - no tradeoff,  new soulbeast no tradeoff, but since it's realized via a trait, I think that's way better.

 

I know you mentioned it, but meanwhile reaper "tradeoff" can't be removed. Shouldn't you then at least give it something else? For example allow it to be healed in shroud or allow it to use it's utility while in shroud?

 

Another thing I don't understand: dragonhunter gets nerfed, while willbender is allowed to remain as it is in its current form? It's one of the most broken builds in wvw rn.

 

Also I don't understand, why the immobilize spam doesn't get adjusted or why not more classes get resistance boon to easily share.

 

Scrapper changes are really interesting, and I think we might see a meta shift (for example: cele FB, DPS scrapper (the superspeed and easy access to stealth is still kinda needed), support vindicator, and fill up with boon removes, DPS, other utility.

 

Tldr: some nice changes, but seems like roaming doesn't exist in the eyes of Anet.

[HnRkLnXqZ.1870]

Scrapper. Another full 180 ° turn. Every time we have got something nice in the past, it was ALWAYS lasted for a few months at best.

First you gave us group-quickness. Then you reduced uptime, claiming our true role in healing & cleansing, instead of buffing. Then you have nerfed our healing capability. And now you remove quickness again.

I'm happy that I have abandoned Kinetic Accelerators in its peak-phase already, it was too good to be true. 

[Kaizz.7306]

9 hours ago, SloRules.3560 said:

Every party had scrapper.

Yeah backbone of EVERY part is Healbrand+Scrapper. You get Heralds as well, but the last 3 for each group is subjectively flexed. Herald and Scourge, then whatever else, like Chrono or some random other dps.

[Kuzan.6059]

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

Bladesworn

Skills

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

 

A Nerf for Warrior's in PvP is needed, but please don't do it in a way where u kill other pve builds. Finally there was a new Healer with the shout Quickheal Bladesworn that is viable during all raids (Check mukluk video/i tested it in all wings myself) and only after a few weeks it gets nerfed to the ground. I really like variety and underdog classes that work just fine, but the reload nerfs will kill the healbuild for sure. There must be a way to nerf  PvP specs without killing PvE and open World builds.

[Jski.6180]

I think a good rule when balancing for wvw if you have an pulsing effect that is not channeled (cant use any other skills and can be intruded) should be a ground target skill. A one shot skill should center on the caster (all though some one shot skill would be nice if they where also ground targeted). That ability to control the ground base off of skills and or denial of skills is better for the game play and balancing over all.

[oscuro.9720]

26 minutes ago, Kuzan.6059 said:

 

A Nerf for Warrior's in PvP is needed, but please don't do it in a way where u kill other pve builds. Finally there was a new Healer with the shout Quickheal Bladesworn that is viable during all raids (Check mukluk video/i tested it in all wings myself) and only after a few weeks it gets nerfed to the ground. I really like variety and underdog classes that work just fine, but the reload nerfs will kill the healbuild for sure. There must be a way to nerf  PvP specs without killing PvE and open World builds.

On the contrary, this is the best possible way they could nerf bladesworn for competitive modes. The ammo interaction from tactical reload was a completely broken mechanic. Fixing the part of the e-spec that is breaking the interaction to be overly powerful is a much better route than needing the core kit and killing off the already non existent builds for the entire rest of the class. This is absolutely a good change, alternative means of handling the bladesworn problem would be worse for Warrior as a whole. 

[FreshF.5793]

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

Photon Wall: Reduced cooldown from 45 seconds to 35 seconds in PvP only.

Make this for other gamemodes too! Let holo give some important boons for the group!  🥰

[fellyn.5083]

11 hours ago, Xunlai.3460 said:

Make sure you add the changes to power mech/revenant for PvE from the live stream 🙂

 

I didn't watch the live stream, what changes are those? Specifically for revenant?

Edited September 17, 2022 by fellyn.5083

[Kuzan.6059]

28 minutes ago, oscuro.9720 said:

On the contrary, this is the best possible way they could nerf bladesworn for competitive modes. The ammo interaction from tactical reload was a completely broken mechanic. Fixing the part of the e-spec that is breaking the interaction to be overly powerful is a much better route than needing the core kit and killing off the already non existent builds for the entire rest of the class. This is absolutely a good change, alternative means of handling the bladesworn problem would be worse for Warrior as a whole. 

Killing "non-existing" builds is what makes and made the game boring and stale. U see the same builds and classes every single time because 90% of the players are Metaslaves. Once there is a new build that is equally good as the meta or even better like the bladesworn it gets nerfed as soon as it surfaces and that's not a good thing in my opinion. Slaughtering one skill because they over tuned it for one Gamemode is just bad game design, and there are plenty of ways to punish the BS differently. 
I understand where your opinion comes from but I would rather see more variety.

 

[melodyspectrum.2980]

6 hours ago, ImBach.9013 said:

Most of the things are good here. General consensus from the upper tiers of the PvP community is good and most of the salt is coming from scrapper main or people who don't really understand what needed love and didn't.

So do scrapper mains don't count as players or what.

Please read the actual salt posts. Nobody (or mostly nobody) is complaining about the nerfs themselves or saying it's unwarranted, people are unhappy because scrapper is getting REDESIGNED AGAIN across all game modes (I can't imagine they're making the ground-targetting split across modes, and it's specifically not flagged as wvw only while the rest are) because it was too good in one.

 

We've had the entire spec and identity changed and overhauled now what, five times or something? Look at the stink warriors made with just the banners rework, well we've been getting hit with things like this for literal years. You thought you're a cc heavy dps? Think again, you're a tank bruiser now! Liked pressing F from the distance? Syke, ground targeted signet of rebirth now. Finally got that gyro AI worked out? Never fear, we're changing them into wells anyway. Thematically appropriate lightning fields? How about we delete that and you get a miniscule amount of barrier instead. Oh you were liking the bruiser playstyle? Too bad, you're support now. Actually, scratch that, you're too good, here have some cleanses available to core specs and go sit down in a corner.

 

I think the only other class that was victimized this hard was Chrono with the whole shatter rework, and that did make it disappear for a while. These concerns are warranted.

[Coconuts.3158]

NOT ALL TRADEOFFS ARE BAD DESIGN, in fact they can be quite the opposite.

I believe it makes the game way more diverse and interesting when some professions have to work within a unique set of constraints.

Vindicator one dodge was great design, making it rely on blocks/stab/stunbreaks/Evades from its kit, and most importantly clever positioning for mitigation. It also allowed for a slower paced, highly tactical playstyle where every decision had huge opportunity cost. I loved it for that. I believe it should keep its uniqueness and be balanced to strengthen what it does well (huge dmg spike in short burst windows, great mobility, very sturdy, can swap to blue stance for insane defensive utility), and keep its inherent limitations (can't rely on reactive dodge, can delay its rotation for utility purpose at the cost of dps, mediocre sustained dps).

Now I can accept that it might have felt bad to play against, and the unique playstyle made some vindi enthusiast shy away from it, still I disagree with the change.

 

Same vein I strongly disagree with the scrapper changes, lower vitality compensated by barrier generation and the amazing feel of zipping around with superspeed and pbaoe mayhem was awesome and I really hope that change is reverted.

 

I am also foreseeing that PVirt will become the next godtier PVE build seeing that Pmech is brought back to middle of the pack (still strong due to range and utility) and will utterly dominate power builds along with bladesworn and soulbeast.

[melodyspectrum.2980]

1 hour ago, Kaizz.7306 said:

Yeah backbone of EVERY part is Healbrand+Scrapper. You get Heralds as well, but the last 3 for each group is subjectively flexed. Herald and Scourge, then whatever else, like Chrono or some random other dps.

 

And now it's just Healbrand, (which is still oppressively meta in Fractals, but from the sound of it it IS also a must in WvW which is the topic), but I guess that's fine since it's the golden child along with pve mech.

 

Edited September 17, 2022 by melodyspectrum.2980

[pwnsociety.6943]

removing stability from bladesworn completly is over the top.

[FreshF.5793]

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

Reduced Shadow Shroud health scaling from 1.5 to 0.69.

Please DONT apply this for PvE.

 

I finally found a viable Specter-Build for the Pylon-Kite role on Qadim 2. 🥺 

[Nephalem.8921]

11 hours ago, JPUlisses.8756 said:

Weaver should bring something unique to the party.

It brings downstates and below average dps. Thats unique.

[FreshF.5793]

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

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

 

I like how your giving group stab to specter.

But the boons like might, fury and vigor are definitly not the ones needed. Since Trickery gives 5 might, perma-fury, perma-vigor, perma-swiftness you should actually enable aegis, protection, resolution or Quickness.

 

Also it seems like you didnt like the suggestion of making the wells a "flip-over-skill'. Putting down the field like scrapper can now + pressing the skill again to shadowstep.

 

I'm actually sad, that the great ideas from the specter-feedback-thread dont see application here. 😢

[Kydar Schattendolch.6879]

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

Ranger

• 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.

 

Will the pulsed heal for this skill stay and upgraded, due to the reduced pulses? Additionally, will the condition cleanse per pulse for the celestial form at least stay, when the prevention for condition applying is removed?

Same for the celestial form.  Will the heal per pulse stay and get be updated? Is it possible to hold protection and get rid of vigor instead?

Edited September 17, 2022 by Kydar Schattendolch.6879

[Dadnir.5038]

As always with balance preview it feel that some things are "good" and other are "bad". A lot of numerical values are missing so it's a bit hard to have a good grasp on what's presented here. Some long CD traits and tradeoff seemed to have been forgoten... etc.

What I can say:

- Elementalist: Nothing revolutionary, people that have high expectations for glyph of elemental will likely be disappointed.

- Engineer: A pretty good take on making tool traitline better. Defense field mechanic change feel like a pretty painful nerf.

- Guardian: hilarious.

- Mesmer: Good take on mantra of concentration. Chrono and virt change feel like a wrong move from my point of view.

- Scourge: 🙄

- Ranger: Stoneform will need an ICD. Druid buffs coming all at once feel crazy. Soulbeast having the opportunity to swap pet while merge look awesome. Nerf bat is probably waiting right around the corner.

- Revenant: Core buff don't feel like significative enough to be worth rejoicing.

- Thief: Shadow trait changes are "okish". Halving shadow shroud's health scaling feel a bit overboard. Well of bounty look even worse than before.

- Warrior: Core change look nice. I don't quite like the change on berserker apart from removing the -300 toughness. Buffs are welcome on spellbreaker (not gonna change much, thought). Bladesworn bleed in this balance preview.