October 4 Balance Update Preview

[FreshF.5793]

+ 

Could you please add "Rot Wallow Venom" from Specter to the trait
"Leeching Venoms" https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Leeching_Venoms from Shadow Arts-Line?

Would only make sense, since it's a Venom. Allowing the group to get rot wallow venom would give the group more sustain as a support 😉

Edited September 26, 2022 by FreshF.5793

[FreshF.5793]

Suggestion for Wells-Mechanic (at least for specter)

Make it two-part Skills.

1st time button pressing: Place and Activate Well on targeted Location.

2nd time button pressing: Shadowstep to Location of the Well.

Edited September 26, 2022 by FreshF.5793

[FreshF.5793]

In the one of the last Balance Patches the Devs gave Alacrity to Tempest and Quickness to Herald by changing of how the traits work.

 

Compared to these two elites, Deadeye already has a trait, that gives quickness to oneself:

"Be quick or be killed" (https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Be_Quick_or_Be_Killed)

 

Besides the fact, that Deadeye is barely played in PVE-Endgame-Content - I know there are niche-builds like pylon, etc. - (especially not with Be quick or be killed), please consider granting the quickness also to allies.

 

Not a big deal, is it? 🙂

[FreshF.5793]

The Removal of the AoE Indicator on Spectre Shroud Skill 5 "Mind Shock" makes the blast component of the skill unnecessarily hard to use in situations where you want to line them up with Pistol 5 "Black Powder".

→ Suggestion: Change the color to purple or sth. Would fit the theme 😛 

[FreshF.5793]

These were ideas I'm reposting from the august 23rd update regarding Catalyst and Ele in general: 

 

You forgot many new elite specs in your notes.

 

E.g.:

This is only for PvE

 

Regarding Catalyst I would like to see easier access to auras. Elemental empowerment (stat-increase, 10 stacks max) and hardened auras (dmg-reduction, 5 stacks max) are both very hard to stack up (EE when you dont use Vicious Elements). Besides some weapon skills that grant and transmute auras (1 per weapon Set) there is only 1 Leap finisher (Hammer only) to combo. 

 

Suggestion: 

Make Elemental Epiphome work the same way as Evasive Arcana. Evasive Arcana triggers when the player dodges a skill that is based on the attunements. So there are 4 skills (each attunement) with separate cooldowns. The same I would like to see on elemental Epiphome 🙂

 

Another Suggestion:

Change the base duration of fury on the lightning sphere from 2 to 3 secs. Alternatively  make the 2s fury from energized elements 5-target instead of just applying it to oneself. If ele is not using Air traitline, there are only few options to grant fury to allies.

 

Watersphere:

Please add/change the damage of the watersphere to ticking healing for more support and sustain of the group.

 

Elementalist is still by far the squishiest class. By making hardened auras more available, it would make many Ele-Mains happy because of less downed-state time (at least as a cata).

 

Soothing Water + Invigorating Air:

I suggest to make both these skills count for 5 allies around you. The 100% endurance Regeneration from Invigorating Air is pretty nice. Even though Shocking Aura would fit in it pretty well, too. 

 

Fortified Earth:

When you block give allies aegis (Like maze from guard) and get magnetic aura. When Channel is complete grant pulsing barrier and stability for the next few seconds.

 

Arcana Brilliance:

Make it for 5 allies. There is no core healskill that heals allies. And this is one actually pretty interesting since its a blast finisher and increases healing, the more foes are hit.

Soothing Power-Trait:

One Suggestion to make healing builds easier.

Add to the trait Soothing Power, that soothing Mist pulses in every attunement, but in water its effectiveness is increased by 100%.

This would make Ele-Healers a Bit more beginner-friendly and give them+their group more sustain (solo+instanced)

 

Signet of Earth:

Increased toughness is bad when playing certain encounters in group content. Take a look at mechanist and change to flat 10 or 15% power-dmg reduction (mech has 10, but has better base stats).

 

Cleansing Wave:

Increase healing coeffiecent from 1.0 to 2.0

Its actually lower then water trident right now.

 

Soothing Disruption:

Give the boons to 5 allies too.

 

Staff:

This weapon needs next to cooldown reduction also a Casting time reduction. When you have to switch between attunements to share boons, there is no time for Casting a skill for several Seconds (being susceptable to attacks). Alternatively make them even more powerful (longer or more boons).

 

Have a nice day and see you in Tyria ❤️

[FreshF.5793]

Also the following is really not sophisticated for a PvE-Support Specter:

"Hide in Shadows: Reduced cooldown from 40 seconds to 30 seconds in PvP only.

Blinding Powder: Reduced cooldown from 50 seconds to 40 seconds in PvP only.

Shadow Refuge: Reduced cooldown from 60 seconds to 48 seconds in PvP and WvW"

 

...but PvE stays the same.

 

The only two skills, that can give allies instantly stealth, do no longer have a reduced cooldown anymore, since "Hidden Thief has been reworked.", whereas also the player himself has less stealth options to stealth due to Hidden Thief no longer grants stealth when using a heal-skill. 😕

 

That means the only options to grant your allies (5 Targets) stealth as a specter / thief are:

1. Blinding Powder (40s CD)
2. Shadow Refuge (60s CD)
3. Shadow Portal (60s CD) - which needs to be accessible from both sides for PvE (in my opinion)
4. Combo Blaster Finisher of Smoke Field (e.g. 25s CD on smoke screen)

 

But the Devs created traits , that ONLY trigger when allies get stealthed:

1. Merciful Ambush: "Heal (439 Health) when you enter or exit stealth (also granted to stealthed allies). Stealth yourself and your target when reviving an ally."
2. Shadows Embrace: "Remove Conditions when you enter or exit stealth (also granted stealthed allies)."
3. Cover of Shadow: "Gain Protection (3 seconds) when you enter or exit stealth (also granted to stealthed allies)."
4. Panakus Ambition: "When you apply stealth to allies, you also grant them barrier".

Why do You (@Devs) make these traits, when they are accessible only every 40 seconds (e.g. Blinding Powder)?

How do You (@Devs)   think Protection of 3 seconds every 40 seconds can make sense in PvE when other classes can easily maintain100% uptime?

 

Reduce Cooldowns, increase the uptime, and give support-thief more boons, e.g. Regneration, Stability, Aegis, Resolution.

 

I don't know if You (@Devs) know about it, but I have heard there is another traitline somewhere called Acrobatics, that would love to meet You (@Devs). Must be hidden in the shadows... 🤭

 

Another Point:

You (@Devs) put Shielding Restoration and Shadows Embrace in the same Major-Column, where the player has to decide between granting condi-cleanse (e.g. every 40s with blinding powder) or granting 1.044 barrier by using a heal skill.

Why can't thief have both? Support-Specter is already lacking condi-cleanse for 5 targets,  since there is only a sigil, that cleanses condis of 5 allies. Please reconsider this. 😛 

[peanut.3916]

Can we address the fact that these changes will buff static discharge engi a lot and will be able to run complete zerk and one shot literally anything. Better defense and healing. Best counter measure is to increase the cd to A.E.D. Despite the already buffing defenses this will balance the spec imo.

[Avion Blade.4869]

Updates on Mirage: 

 

"I'm neither here nor there".

[Xora.2581]

Scrapper

Even though scrapper has been the top performing cleanser in wvw for a while, I dont agree with the approach to make gyros into generic ranged wells. Not only does the superspeed make you run out of these wells, it also removes the identity of gyros completely and turns them into yet another ranged aoe attack. Please keep the identity of these skills of being a gyzmo that follows you around.

Engi can be tweaked in other ways, like tweaking cds and effectiveness of traits/skills.

 

Tempest

Gale song: Changing the 300 second cd in competitive gamemodes is fine, but please dont make into a generic "protection after using heal skill" trait that lumps it together with a bunch of others. Tempest, and elementalist in general already has enough protection that this trait will be more useless than a 300 second cd. Furthermore, in pve, this trait was actually useful as an emergency aoe stunbreak. In pvp/wvw this trait will never be used due to auras just being a lot more useful in any scenario. It was mostly used on support tempest in pve, and changing the trait into "protection after heal" will just completely kill this trait, making it played less than it is right now.

 

300 sec cd traits rework

In general, having the same trait exist over multiple classes such as the replacements of the unique traits like spotter and assassins presence feels really lack luster. It makes the classes bland and kills off their uniqueness. Sure these traits need an overhaul, but this is not the way to do it.

The same is true for the traits that now proc after elite usage. For elementalist, this means that you get some blocks and a stunbreak after using an elite skill. What is point of this even? It does not act like an emergency stun break/block anymore since it procs after finishing a skill.

These two ways are used to handle all long cd traits in the game, and i think the traits after the rework mostly end up being more useless than having a 300 second cd for a trait that at that time can be a game changer. In the end, it is still better to get rid of these traits, but they should get replaced with a unique trait per case which fits the class and spec instead of handling all of them the same way.

[Lazze.9870]

On 9/17/2022 at 2:20 AM, Kuma.1503 said:

At this point just change their classification back to Gyro instead of Well. We'll lose chronomancer rune synergy, but that's preferable to this step backward in design. 

Call them what you will, you can't keep the superspeed and the stealth gyro on utilities that moves with you if you want some diversity for the WvW zerg support meta. Firebrand is already the mainstay stab/aegis bot, the healer/cleanser role shouldn't be reserved for a single class as well, which it pretty much is when scrapper brings all that utility in addition to great healing and cleansing.

Edited September 27, 2022 by Lazze.9870

[Lazze.9870]

8 hours ago, Xora.2581 said:

What is point of this even? It does not act like an emergency stun break/block anymore since it procs after finishing a skill.

No, but you instead get an effect when using your elite skill making it easier to pull off whatever you were doing. Somewhat active play instead of passive play. As for this particular skill its still unique because it activates an ele skill. Some of the other 300s changes are less unique, but better than having a ton of 300s cooldown skills.

The Cata PvP build benefits from this change.

[Kuma.1503]

30 minutes ago, Lazze.9870 said:

Call them what you will, you can't keep the superspeed and the stealth gyro on utilities that moves with you if you want some diversity for the WvW zerg support meta. Firebrand is already the mainstay stab/aegis bot, the healer/cleanser role shouldn't be reserved for a single class as well, which it pretty much is when scrapper brings all that utility in addition to great healing and cleansing.

If that's the issue, give Sneak gyro the turret treatment in WvW and call it a day.

You don't hack off an entire foot to treat a bad toe. 

[Lazze.9870]

12 minutes ago, Kuma.1503 said:

If that's the issue, give Sneak gyro the turret treatment in WvW and call it a day.

You don't hack off an entire foot to treat a bad toe. 

Sneak gyro is one issue, another one is that uptime of superspeed. Plus, having a moving cleanse field which you can combo off of for even more cleanses are way too forgiving compared to most other cleanses, especially when it doubles as a superspeed source and the fact that scrapper converts some cleanses to boons as well.

Bad toe is hardly what I would call a build that currently outshines all the other support options for WvW zerging. The current design is extremely unhealthy for support diversity, it's bad enough that FB is mandatory for stab/aegis (but while do have other good healers/cleansers, we don't have any good alternatives for those boons anyways).

Scrapper will still be useable. It will be clunkier, I don't necessarily disagree with how the design is a step backwards. But for balance's sake it is healthier. The alternative here is a complete redesign to Sneak Gyro and the superspeed application from gyros, and that wouldn't exaclty be a small change either... speaking of hacking off an entire foot.

We're talking about the undisputed cleanser/healer in the support duo for zerging. Every comment I see that disagrees with the changes want to keep the gyros moving with you. Well, then you have to provide other changes to deal with the current balance. Keeping them as is changes nothing to the status quo that we've had for years now.

Edited September 27, 2022 by Lazze.9870

[Kuma.1503]

2 hours ago, Lazze.9870 said:

Sneak gyro is one issue, another one is that uptime of superspeed. Plus, having a moving cleanse field which you can combo off of for even more cleanses are way too forgiving compared to most other cleanses, especially when it doubles as a superspeed source and the fact that scrapper converts some cleanses to boons as well.

Bad toe is hardly what I would call a build that currently outshines all the other support options for WvW zerging. The current design is extremely unhealthy for support diversity, it's bad enough that FB is mandatory for stab/aegis (but while do have other good healers/cleansers, we don't have any good alternatives for those boons anyways).

Scrapper will still be useable. It will be clunkier, I don't necessarily disagree with how the design is a step backwards. But for balance's sake it is healthier. The alternative here is a complete redesign to Sneak Gyro and the superspeed application from gyros, and that wouldn't exaclty be a small change either... speaking of hacking off an entire foot.

We're talking about the undisputed cleanser/healer in the support duo for zerging. Every comment I see that disagrees with the changes want to keep the gyros moving with you. Well, then you have to provide other changes to deal with the current balance. Keeping them as is changes nothing to the status quo that we've had for years now.

The gyro change isn't the only nerf in this patch. Elixir gun and med kit are taking yet another hit (rip core engi) along with medical dispersion field. If we also toned down sneak gyro, that shaves down their cleansing and their utility. If we also reduced med blaster's base heal amount further, now we are cooking with gas, especially when paired with a change to druid that I will list below. 

Scrapper will still be good, but this along with buffs to the other supports should help branch out the meta without the need to impliment a change that nerfs it in PvP/PvE. Two game modes where it is already balanced and not in need of more unnecessary nerfs. 

 

How would I buff up other supports in a way that is actually impactful?

 

Tempest

• Overloads give stability to the Tempest baseline. 
• Harmonious Conduit gives stability and swiftness to 5 allies whenever you overload. 
• Lucid Singularity pulses alacrity each second while overloading instead of granting it at the end. 
• Tempestuous Aria reworked. Shouts echo and will perform their effects a second time with a 4 second delay. (Echo can be make weaker than original shout if this is too strong.)
• Eye of the Storm no longer gives stability and instead grants Shocking Aura. 

 

These changes will allow it to compete with heal scrapper in WvW and compete with HAM in PvE. You bring it for auras, projectile hate, and stability. Unfortunately, here is where Firebrand starts to step on it's toes, but once firebrand is shaved down as well Tempest can start to shine as an additional source of stability with Hamonious Conduit, or a source of sustained cleansing with Tempestuous Aria + Soldier Rune + Smothering Auras. They can also grant 5 people 5-8 seconds of shocking Aura and superspeed with Eye of the Storm (depending on trait tuning) which can make them very formidable when pushing on the frontline, and can help you to eat through the massive stacks of stab the enemy zerg has. 

All three traits in the middle column now come with meaningful trade-offs that shine in different scenarios. 

 

Druid

• Solarbeam healing coefficient increased
• Sublime Conversion reworked. Convert 1 condition into regen when passing through the wall. Projectiles that pass through the wall will heal and cleanse one condition. 
• Juvenile siege turtle - Hunker down radius increased to 300. 

This lets druid compete with scrapper as a heal bot. Solarbeam becomes a viable long range healing tool that can "cleave" allies inside the beam. Pair this up with Astral wisp for some nice sustained healing, and Celestial Avatar for on demand burst healing. 

Sublime Conversion becomes a mass cleansing tool that can potentially get big value, especially when your squad's boons get corrupted. This gives it a unique niche from Scrapper as the only source of cleansing with no target cap. It also remains the premiere choice for immobilize

Finally, Hunker down is given a bigger radius to make it just a tad more usable. 

 

Warrior 

• Mending Might now heals allies when you grant might to them. 

Warrior is my least played class, so I cannot suggest many changes that would help it. However, this stands out as an oddly selfish trait in a traitline designed around group support. This gives warrior more teamwide utility on top of the usual Winds of Disenchantment shenanigans while also being a nice change for heal warrior in PvP/PvE. 

Edited September 27, 2022 by Kuma.1503

[GenerationX.9178]

Warrior intresting changes!

 

Bladesworn change thing will make it easier to deal with.

 

Vindicator, if you Awakening is instant please look at Reavers Rage because I think it could be instant too. If Reavers Rage is instant id take the damage away or lower it greatly. Also make 30 energy. 1/2 sec to get stab standing in dragon hunter trap you cant exit without stab is fatal.

 

Soulbeast, disagree with the pet swap in beast mode and out because honestly ranger pets are tough to deal with + giving ranger 

access to 4 more additional skills for combat. The already have good sustian/dps.

 

Engineer, great change to gyro's I think id be ok with keeping it the way it was IF some stab and barrier changes were delt with. 

 

Guardian, glad traps are getting little fix but unblockable trap should be kept the same -unblockable. If you get caugh in cc you cant counter play damage with block, some specs like rev pretty much can get stuck in it because the stab access. 

Mechinst should be looked at please. If you plan to keep it the same remove some the crazy mobility.

Edited September 27, 2022 by GenerationX.9178

[JTGuevara.9018]

As a warrior:

Yes! Now these are good changes. Finally this class is getting looked at.

[Cal Cohen.2358]

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

[Suyheuti.1732]

I didnt expect you to revert gyros but I'm happy now about finding a solution. Thanks Cal

[Temeraire XIII.9816]

Nice, and now just don't nerf Specter Shroud that hard (at least for PvE)😬

Edited September 27, 2022 by Temeraire XIII.9816

[Despernal.3618]

 

Thank you Cal,

 

My nerve damaged hands thank you. I can still qscrapper for meta farming with no pain now \o/

 

Edited September 27, 2022 by Despernal.3618

[Fizzee.1762]

I was looking forward to ranged shredder gyro to be honest...

[Ashen.2907]

2 minutes ago, Fizzee.1762 said:

I was looking forward to ranged shredder gyro to be honest...

Ditto.

But I do not play scrapper as much as others so I didn't want my preference to negatively impact others.

[Rozespany Kot.1862]

Nice.

[Kuma.1503]

PvE Scrapper lives another day! Rejoice

PvP is still losing quickness which is a big Oof when the spec isn't THAT good to begin with. I'd consider making this change WvW Only. Don't nerf what isn't a problem. 

Edited September 27, 2022 by Kuma.1503

[DivineBuddha.1589]

Thank you Anet. You really have no idea how many of us Scrapper fans are happy.