October 4th Balance Patch Preview - Warrior Only Notes

[Lan Deathrider.5910]

10 minutes ago, oscuro.9720 said:

The stream had a 1/4s cast for both new Rousing Resillience and the new Strength trait, both had 3s duration.

I saw, but I don't expect them to stay that way. Be cool if they do though.

[Shagie.7612]

Little bummed we didn't see any attention to weapons like off-hand sword, LB, and Rifle, but still pretty exciting to see changes anyways.

pls make flaming flurry not a cone shape as well. i want to play condi core or condi zerk in pvp and wvw 😞

Curious to see if the shake it off change ends up being a bit painful for warrior's burst condi removal. One every 30s vs being able to blow 2 back to back. Probably not a huge deal but maybe scary vs something with a slightly longer burst condi application.

[crewthief.8649]

I am very pleasantly surprised. Looks like we may be back in business, folks.

[prototypedragon.1406]

Honestly I'm just happy to get the chance to enjoy my old reliable Hammer and mace again. 

[Buzzbugs.1236]

I never stopped using Hammer & Mace/Shield in PvP. So I see nothing but positives coming my way.

[Verdict is Vengence.6912]

6 hours ago, DanAlcedo.3281 said:

Super Happy about the changes.

The only part i majorly disagree with was the part of Spellbreaker being currently good in WvW.

Its not. Like seriously. Its really not good

I wouldn't say it's bad. Spellbreaker just isn't what it used to be. It's old news. Still useful but it's not scary to face 1v1 and in zerg fights, it does okay. The bit of boon rip is noticeable when desperately needed.

It sucks that our major duel spec is mediocre in competitive but what can you do?

[Verdict is Vengence.6912]

"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."

Its been a long time coming. Normal burst shouldn't have been removed in the first place. I'm glad they changed it back.

I like most of the changes but I find the few nerfs unneeded. It's not like warrior is deadly right now. There isn't any reason to curb the class, neither is there anything about it that needs to be contained.

[DKRathalos.9625]

Well I can say that they heading toward some good direction at least compared to before but there are a lot of issue they haven't really fix mainly the core stuff.
Core Trait: Defense is at least good for now, Arms still quite messy, Disc and Tactic still mixing up I think with banner stuff

Core Weapon: Still a mess for majority weapon, too lazy to type and mention one by one

Core Utility: same like weapon

[KryTiKaL.3125]

10 minutes ago, Verdict is Vengence.6912 said:

"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."

Its been a long time coming. Normal burst shouldn't have been removed in the first place. I'm glad they changed it back.

I like most of the changes but I find the few nerfs unneeded. It's not like warrior is deadly right now. There isn't any reason to curb the class, neither is there anything about it that needs to be contained.

No, I'd say Shoutsworn sustain needed to be reigned in. It wasn't the most egregiously powerful thing, but it was winning basically by attrition and that is skirting too dangerously close to some Bunker meta type nonsense that I don't think anyone wants to see again.

[Verdict is Vengence.6912]

5 minutes ago, KryTiKaL.3125 said:

No, I'd say Shoutsworn sustain needed to be reigned in. It wasn't the most egregiously powerful thing, but it was winning basically by attrition and that is skirting too dangerously close to some Bunker meta type nonsense that I don't think anyone wants to see again.

I'd agree with this. Shout heals was always a bandaid for a lacking espec IMO. 

[Woof.8246]

Tactical Reload will work with : https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Combat_Stimulant ?

Because Bladesworn with the new survival trais (improved Clearing Ire + dodge>Resistance )  , will be in the same spot as now, but they will drop Shake it Off for https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Berserker_Stance

[Grand Marshal.4098]

Savage Instinct still useful imo. You don't have to run Defense for Zerker ideally (I mean you can go strength, could go tactics for Cadence but that will be obsolete if Quick rupt is no CD). 

If they functionally change Savage Instinct, allow the stunbreak on Zerk mode and have Rage Skills grant Protection on cast. 

[DKRathalos.9625]

41 minutes ago, Grand Marshal.4098 said:

Savage Instinct still useful imo. You don't have to run Defense for Zerker ideally (I mean you can go strength, could go tactics for Cadence but that will be obsolete if Quick rupt is no CD). 

If they functionally change Savage Instinct, allow the stunbreak on Zerk mode and have Rage Skills grant Protection on cast. 

Regardless we still in exodus right? 😄

[Hotride.2187]

Ooooooooh boooooy they didnt brick anything? Is there HOPE?

The spb changes are actually not bad.

[Grand Marshal.4098]

42 minutes ago, DKRathalos.9625 said:

Regardless we still in exodus right? 😄

Considering ive put like 50 hours in the game the past 3 monthd, yeah. 

[Mungrul.9358]

Hrrrm, if I'm reading this correctly, this is an overall, non-trivial nerf to hammer.

 

Aggressive Onslaught is the new name for Merciless Hammer / Sundering Mace?

I mean, I like the quickness on disable (depending on the ICD), but removing overall skill cooldown reduction, then only reducing the cooldown of ONE hammer skill (Hammer Shock) stings a bit. It also feels like they've reduced the cooldown on the least useful hammer skill. Don't get me wrong, I love Hammer Shock, especially when combined with Leg Specialist, but it's no Backbreaker.

 

Backbreaker will now have a non-reducible 25 second cooldown without the 20% cooldown reduction from Merciless Hammer, and it's one of the most highly telegraphed, easily interrupted and easily whiffed skills in the game. An extra 5 seconds cooldown is NOT trivial.

 

Fierce Blow goes from a 4.75 second cooldown with Merciless Hammer to six seconds, which as it's the major source of damage for the weapon results in a decrease to DPS. Is the quickness from disables enough to make up for this? Doubtful, as said quickness is conditional and easily negated thanks to the overwhelming presence of Stability and cleanses.

 

Staggering Blow goes from 14.5 to 18. Look, hammer is all about the CC, and increasing the gap between CC skill activations weakens the weapon even further.

 

Yes, I like the overall DPS increase from inherent Quickness in solo play and small skirmishes, but in group content we get quickness from everywhere now, so it has to be discounted as a buff, and when you do that, this is an overall nerf to hammer.

 

You can argue that you can get the skill cooldown reduction from alacrity, but we have no way of generating that ourselves , and in the current state of the game, alacrity on top of the cooldown reduction from Merciless Hammer is better than just having alacrity after this patch.

 

If you've going to remove the 20% cooldown reduction, you need to reduce the cooldowns for ALL hammer skills, not just one.

 

Oh, and this new source of Quickness is selfish. If it applied to allies too, it may offset the loss of cooldown reduction.

 

Edit:

Personally, I think they should extend Warrior's Cunning's bonus damage to enemies with barrier to those affected by stability as well. That could help buff hammer while also buffing other weapons too.

Edited September 17, 2022 by Mungrul.9358
Buff idea

[Mikali.9651]

The thing is that they mentioned on stream that this was just pvp/wvw balance patch with some changes for overall gameplay modernization - they wanted to do some changes even before the next major patch. 

 

They said that they want to remove all cooldown reduction traits because a lot of time we would take those instead of others just cuz of it, and they will look into lowering base cooldown of skills or buffing them in other ways if they find it is needed. 

Shouts, shield cooldown/changes, etc. are what they are discussing.

 

Anyway, I like the approach of more active gameplay, I never liked passive/active stats based on % of health, and what they are doing now is really good and interesting. 

This is basically the first CMC patch right? I look forward to more, it's looking good now 🙂

[Mungrul.9358]

Oh, and I'm also not fond of them bundling mace and hammer together, promoting mace as a secondary weapon if you take hammer and vice versa.

Yes, you can still run other weapon combos, but this one is ideal if you take Aggressive Onslaught.

I think we need to promote swapping between melee and ranged rather than two melee configs.

[Lonecap.4105]

I’m gonna be like a kid on Christmas morning on October 4th. 
 

Oh how we have waited for this moment…

[eXruina.4956]

I'm so excited my tailfur's already on fire.🔥 LET'S GO!! 💪

 

*fist pumps vigorously. ✊

 

Thank you @Josh Davis.7865, @Cal Cohen.2358 and the rest of the balance team. 🙏

[RiyazGuerra.9203]

Spellbreaker changes are all PvP???  The minor changes almost seem like a token gesture to pacify the community more than a serious attempt to address the spec's shortcomings.  Where is the additional boon rip?  Meditation updates? Very skeptical about the lead's vision.

[Geoff Fey.1035]

Question, I noticed how they worded some as "Per Adrenaline Spent". Does that mean that even though Berserk is no longer considered a Burst (now a Rage Skill) that it effectively would be Spending Adrenaline? (i.e. fulfilling the same role regardless?)

Having Resilient Roll as a Minor Trait is absolutely huge if you dodge before bursting (i.e. ignore blind). Coupled with Cleansing Ire, you're guaranteed to get that hit unless the enemy dodges/blocks, which is a fair tradeoff for the changes to CI.

Making Berserker's Power & Adrenal Health work off "adrenaline spent" rather than needing the hit is huge too and a super welcome QoL change to Warriors

[Lan Deathrider.5910]

4 minutes ago, Geoff Fey.1035 said:

Question, I noticed how they worded some as "Per Adrenaline Spent". Does that mean that even though Berserk is no longer considered a Burst (now a Rage Skill) that it effectively would be Spending Adrenaline? (i.e. fulfilling the same role regardless?)

Having Resilient Roll as a Minor Trait is absolutely huge if you dodge before bursting (i.e. ignore blind). Coupled with Cleansing Ire, you're guaranteed to get that hit unless the enemy dodges/blocks, which is a fair tradeoff for the changes to CI.

Making Berserker's Power & Adrenal Health work off "adrenaline spent" rather than needing the hit is huge too and a super welcome QoL change to Warriors

Per Adrenaline Spent means exactly that. Means that you can partially buff yourself before going in to engage and then maintain it. You can also use your Burst knowing it will whiff and still get the healing and damage boost.

Yes, Resilient Roll and CI are going to be huge together.

[oscuro.9720]

3 hours ago, RiyazGuerra.9203 said:

Spellbreaker changes are all PvP???  The minor changes almost seem like a token gesture to pacify the community more than a serious attempt to address the spec's shortcomings.  Where is the additional boon rip?  Meditation updates? Very skeptical about the lead's vision.

Patience, my warrior brother. It seemed the main focuses of this patch were the 300s CDs and trade offs. Berserker and defense were where these mostly resided. Things like meditation updates, reworking for more boon rip, etc. are rather intensive changes, to expect all of that on top of what is already included in this patch (in which Warrior got by far the most updates) is unrealistic.

 

Also remember a lot of the changes to defense and strength do impact spell breaker. On interrupt/on CC traits are huge for spell. The 2 stacks of adrenal health on burst use is huge for spell. Access to more prot+resistance is huge for spell. 

 

I do agree that the spellbreaker changes we did get should be or WvW as well as PvP. 

[KryTiKaL.3125]

11 hours ago, Woof.8246 said:

Tactical Reload will work with : https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Combat_Stimulant ?

Because Bladesworn with the new survival trais (improved Clearing Ire + dodge>Resistance )  , will be in the same spot as now, but they will drop Shake it Off for https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Berserker_Stance

Resistance, which makes you immune to the effects of non-damaging conditions, isn't exactly a suitable condition cleanse replacement for Shake It Off, and Cleansing Ire would probably still need to be supplemented by other Condi cleanse Utilities, either like Mending or even keeping Shake It Off on your bar.

Also its sustain will still be reigned in even if Tactical Reload does still work with Combat Stimulant because they won't be getting all of the extra healing from refreshing For Great Justice might, or healing off of more Shout skills being activated because it refreshed them all. FGJ, for instance, is about a 2.3k heal from one use, two uses is about a 4.6k heal. Add to that the two other shouts on the bar...it is not a small number for healing from all of that. I'm pretty sure sometimes if you're fighting against a Bladesworn you can probably see them pop all those shouts for healing when their health bar just goes straight to full.