November 29 Balance Update Preview

[The Boz.2038]

11 minutes ago, Astralporing.1957 said:

Well, for starters there were the two points you already mentioned. And while i agree that Firebrand was in need of "adjustments", this specific design is just plain bad. If you want to know why, read tons of posts about it in the balance preview feedbacks. (here is one of those, for a short read). Then, there's the ele's Water Trident nerf for healer tempest, and the whole Reaper discussion about how Anet's changes do absolutely nothing to address Reaper's key issues (hint: while they added some decent buffs to Reaper since preview, guess what, none of them addressed those abovementioned issues at all. Some actually doubled down on them, which is certain to bite us in the behind sometimes in the future). There was also a lot of questions about killing mirage staxe. Personally i don't think that build was good enough to warrant nuking it from orbit), but that may just be me.

Out of all the abovementioned things, Anet listened only to the feedback about the deadeye range (which was truly loud and widespread, but the issue itself was practically insignificant - almost noone uses deadeye at max range outside of WvW sniping anyway, and that last one actually does deserve to be cut down a little). And maybe to the "reaper bad" part of reaper feedback (but that would be ignoring that the changes Anet made - increasing Reaper's dependency on shroud and gravedigger spam - were the exact opposite of what players asked for).

Compared to the two I listed, what you mentioned had much fewer, and less clear comments. Reaper alone had "wishes" going from "give us permashroud DPS" to "give us DPS out of shroud" to "give us support". Nothing clear or actionable, and that was the loudest of the bunch.

Falling very short of the "you weren't paying attention" mark there, methink

[Astralporing.1957]

11 hours ago, The Boz.2038 said:

Compared to the two I listed, what you mentioned had much fewer, and less clear comments. Reaper alone had "wishes" going from "give us permashroud DPS" to "give us DPS out of shroud" to "give us support". Nothing clear or actionable, and that was the loudest of the bunch.

Falling very short of the "you weren't paying attention" mark there, methink

That's a very shallow understanding of the feedback thread, i am afraid. One that concentrates on volume of feedback instead of on quality of it. If Anet devs were paying attention to the same things you did, then those changes indeed make sense. I'd hope however for the balance team to exhibit more competence than just reacting to the loudest screamer.

[The Boz.2038]

3 hours ago, Astralporing.1957 said:

That's a very shallow understanding of the feedback thread, i am afraid. One that concentrates on volume of feedback instead of on quality of it. If Anet devs were paying attention to the same things you did, then those changes indeed make sense. I'd hope however for the balance team to exhibit more competence than just reacting to the loudest screamer.

your wrong lol

[Deepcuts.9740]

My take on these so called balance patches:

1. We (Anet) balance+ whatever we play this month.

2. We (Anet) balance- whatever killed us last in WvW, PvP or was 1st DPS in some PvE content.

3. We (Anet) like to read on reddit the most vocal minority stating X class needs to be nerfed and just take the hammer and do it.

 

After some time a new dev is in charge with the balance team.

Go to point 1 and loop.

 

And this is the best scenario. 

I am more afraid some, if not most of the ones involved in these balance patches, never actually play the game.

 

Edited December 1, 2022 by Deepcuts.9740

[Will.9785]

Firebrand is just awful to play now.  What have they done to my boy?

[Gaiawolf.8261]

11 hours ago, Deepcuts.9740 said:

3. We (Anet) like to read on reddit the most vocal minority stating X class needs to be nerfed and just take the hammer and do it.

You forgot step 4. Nerf the hammer. They always like to nerf hammer.

[Gehenna.3625]

@Double TapWhat I really don't appreciate about the Firebrand situation is that you STEALTH NERFED Renewed Justice. It isn't mentioned anywhere, even the wiki isn't updated but Renewed Justice is a dead trait for FB specifically. You can't do that when they are fixed traits in a trait line.

Radiance is a the best choice for burning damage, but when you play a FB, Renewed Justice is just a plain waste of a trait. I was hoping that a FB DPS could use this one to regenerate more pages (cause really it needs that), but you flat out nerfed RJ and didn't tell anybody about it. 

That's what ticks me off more than anything.

[Carambola.1273]

Why did you break my FB? 

 

Im  super p... kitten vida. Fix it. You shouldn't have break it at all.

[Zoser.7245]

Hello.

Well, after testing it, my hope of build the Harbinger in a different way, with some healing power and an active skill support way and not like a punching bag - tank way is discarded again.

@Cal Cohen.2358 Excuse me this time for ping you but i thing it worth the time:

Necromancer "Transfusion" Grandmaster trait was designed to work with shroud #4  "Life Transfer skill".   Which steal 3% of life  force up to 5 targets.  Which is basically healing as life force for the core necromancer is a second health bar.  In the case of the Scourge with no life force as a health bar, to simulate how Transfusion work originally, it heals per pulse, 9 pulses of XXX heal each one, which makes sense and give the trait the value it should have.  That is also why it has a low coefficient affecting the healing power you have.  But "sadly" it seems that the developer who fixed the "issue" with "Transfusion" not healing the Harbinger... forgot it and only heals a "SINGLE" pulse, a small amount even if you have a big healing power added, making that Grandmaster trait a crap one in that sense.   I don't thing that it should use a bigger coefficient and a single big heal. I see it ok like with the Scourge and original trait healing with 9 pulses and giving time to counter it properly and interrupted. But, at least, FIX it properly too. And make it work as originally intended or designed.

I don't understand why Grandmaster traits like  "Transfusion", "Unholy Sanctuary" and "Dread" haven't been updated yet to work properly with the Harbinger's shroud mechanic, modifying them to have the value they should.  It seems that are left weak on purpose with a narrow vision and forcing a single way to build the Harbinger to be competitive, which is sad, instead of balance and rework them accordingly to how the Harbinger works and with the value they should have, opening up a wider range of possibilities and build diversity.  Probably the whole "Blood Magic" trait line should also be reviewed - reworked and "Spite" in part.

For now, "Transfusion" remains a low value trait that the Harbinger should avoid in the hope that it gets updated/reworked properly in the future.

Thank you for reading if you are there and have a good/nice work week.

Edited December 6, 2022 by Zoser.7245

[Carambola.1273]

On 11/11/2022 at 3:51 PM, Double Tap said:

• The page mechanic for firebrand tomes has been reworked. Pages are now shared across all tomes and refill at a set interval instead of when summoning a tome.

• Resolve
  • Chapter 1: 1 page, no cooldown
  • Chapter 2: (PvE) 1 page, 4 seconds; (PvP/WvW) 1 page, 8 seconds
  • Chapter 3: 1 page, 8 seconds
  • Chapter 4: (PvE) 2 pages, 10 seconds; (PvP/WvW) 2 pages, 15 seconds
  • Epilogue: (PvE) 2 pages, 20 seconds; (PvP/WvW) 3 pages, 25 seconds

 

Courage

• Chapter 1: 1 page, no cooldown
• Chapter 2: (PvE) 1 page, 4 seconds; (PvP/WvW) 2 pages, 8 seconds
• Chapter 3: (PvE) 2 pages, 15 seconds; (PvP/WvW) 2 pages, 20 seconds
• Chapter 4: 2 pages, 20 seconds
• Epilogue: 3 pages, 25 seconds

 

• Chapter 1: Unflinching Charge: This skill now grants protection instead of stability.
•  

 

YOU BROKE MY STUFF> I DIDNT LIKE IT> PUT IT BACK AS IT WAS BEFORE PLEASE

 

I totally hate it. Why did you complicated things? It was fine as it was before. Changing stuff means I will need to change something and I dont like changes. I dont have time to changes. I just have 2h at night to relax with bad jokes in discord , so please dont change stuff like this.

 

 

On 11/11/2022 at 3:51 PM, Double Tap said:

 

 

[reapex.8546]

On 12/6/2022 at 11:56 AM, Carambola.1273 said:

 

YOU BROKE MY STUFF> I DIDNT LIKE IT> PUT IT BACK AS IT WAS BEFORE PLEASE

I dont like changes. I dont have time to changes. I just have 2h at night to relax with bad jokes in discord , so please dont change stuff like this.

 

 

 

Can't tell if this is serious or a joke.

[Obtena.7952]

The game will not suffer for the loss of people that can't play it without broken builds to rely upon. 

Edited December 14, 2022 by Obtena.7952

[Varis.5467]

On 12/15/2022 at 8:20 AM, Obtena.7952 said:

The game will not suffer for the loss of people that can't play it without broken builds to rely upon. 

Yes it will if said people stop buying anything from the gem store lol.

[The Boz.2038]

1 hour ago, Varis.5467 said:

Yes it will if said people stop buying anything from the gem store lol.

You think there's so many that their economic impact can be felt? Really?

[Varis.5467]

2 hours ago, The Boz.2038 said:

You think there's so many that their economic impact can be felt? Really?

I am just pointing out the possibility of it? 

 

Whether I think there are enough people to cause an economic impact is irrelevant?

[Obtena.7952]

7 hours ago, Varis.5467 said:

Yes it will if said people stop buying anything from the gem store lol.

There is lots of assumptions buried in that reply, many of them being poor ... but it's not worth the debate. What is going to be noted is that you clearly misses my point. 

Sometimes, it's WORTH the cost of losing bad customers for a business; the financial loss offsets the other gains from it, even if they are intangible. If the people that leave are the ones that can't play the game without broken builds, then the game can move in a positive way for the remaining players away from those builds.  They have a negative impact on the business in the long run ... for example, insisting broken builds continue to exist in the game without changes affecting them. 

Edited December 23, 2022 by Obtena.7952

[Moradorin.6217]

Trade-Offs rollback!?!?! STILL WAITING....😇🥰

[Varis.5467]

21 hours ago, Moradorin.6217 said:

Trade-Offs rollback!?!?! STILL WAITING....😇🥰

Gotta keep reminding them until they fulfilled their words kek. 

[Moradorin.6217]

On 12/26/2022 at 9:40 AM, Moradorin.6217 said:

Trade-Offs rollback!?!?! STILL WAITING....😇🥰

^^ For those claiming to be confused by this. Briefly, Anet stated a few months ago that they planned to roll back pvp/wvw class trade-offs that had been done to certain classes like: Soulbeast couldnt pet swap in pvp/wvw, druid's pet damage was reduced, chrono lost distortion, Mirage lost a dodge in pvp/wvw, etc.

Well Mirage still has one dodge in pvp/wvw and 2 dodges in pve. Hell even Vindicator which was designed for one dodge got a 2nd dodge because so many people didnt like Vindicator with one dodge. Mirage was designed with 2 dodges not one and was heavily nerfed both before and after the one dodge nerfs without ever actually gaining a buff in pvp/wvw inthe last 3 years. Comment how you like but that is really kittening clear.

[Sobx.1758]

On 12/27/2022 at 4:38 PM, Varis.5467 said:

Gotta keep reminding them until they fulfilled their words kek. 

Which words about that did they not fulfill specifically?

On 12/27/2022 at 10:32 PM, Moradorin.6217 said:

^^ For those claiming to be confused by this. Briefly, Anet stated a few months ago that they planned to roll back pvp/wvw class trade-offs that had been done to certain classes like: Soulbeast couldnt pet swap in pvp/wvw, druid's pet damage was reduced, chrono lost distortion, Mirage lost a dodge in pvp/wvw, etc.

Well Mirage still has one dodge in pvp/wvw and 2 dodges in pve. Hell even Vindicator which was designed for one dodge got a 2nd dodge because so many people didnt like Vindicator with one dodge. Mirage was designed with 2 dodges not one and was heavily nerfed both before and after the one dodge nerfs without ever actually gaining a buff in pvp/wvw inthe last 3 years. Comment how you like but that is really kittening clear.

You might want to go re-read what they actually said, pretty sure they didn't say every trade-off will suddenly be rolled back now.

Edited December 30, 2022 by Sobx.1758

[Moradorin.6217]

2 hours ago, Sobx.1758 said:

Which words about that did they not fulfill specifically?

You might want to go re-read what they actually said, pretty sure they didn't say every trade-off will suddenly be rolled back now.

Ok so just to play along. If we assume it was planned to be done over a few patches with preparations in place then why no preparational changes for Mirage or mention of that being a direction. Why roll back ALL other trade-offs but leave Mirage without a statement about it if its planned for 2023? Also If that was the case why do ALL non-mirage pvp changes in 1 patch and ALL non-mirage pve changes in the 2nd. Also why would you not hold off on the Vindicator 2 dodge change untill you are ready to restore Mirage's 2nd dodge.

I will believe Anet when they can demonstrate some reason for me to believe what you say is the case vs what I can see now after 3 years of waiting. 

[Sobx.1758]

4 minutes ago, Moradorin.6217 said:

Ok so just to play along. If we assume it was planned to be done over a few patches with preparations in place then why no preparational changes for Mirage or mention of that being a direction. Why roll back ALL other trade-offs but leave Mirage without a statement about it if its planned for 2023? Also If that was the case why do ALL non-mirage pvp changes in 1 patch and ALL non-mirage pve changes in the 2nd. Also why would you not hold off on the Vindicator 2 dodge change untill you are ready to restore Mirage's 2nd dodge.

That's still not it. They didn't "roll back all other trade-offs" and never said they'll roll back all trade-offs. Stop making up things and go read what they said instead.

4 minutes ago, Moradorin.6217 said:

I will believe Anet when they can demonstrate some reason for me to believe what you say is the case vs what I can see now after 3 years of waiting. 

I didn't say "they'll do it over few paches", which you seem to imply here, you're the only one who said that here. What I said is that you're misremembering what they've said, so now you're making it up in the way that fits what you'd want to see.

Edited December 31, 2022 by Sobx.1758

[Moradorin.6217]

Just now, Sobx.1758 said:

They didn't "roll back all other trade-offs" and never said they'll roll back all trade-offs. Stop making up things and go read what they said instead.

No other class has Trade-offs from those patches left in place. Soulbeast got both pets + merge in pvp/wvw, druid got its pet damage back, chrono got dist back, etc, etc. On top of that the only other espec that had one dodge was given a 2nd dodge even tho its designed for one. Meanwhile Mirage was designed for 2 dodges and has to deal with a variable amount of dodges per game mode in the ONLY spli-mode strangeness that changes a core mechanic like number of Dodges. The ONLY. Its pure and obvious bias.

[Sobx.1758]

2 minutes ago, Moradorin.6217 said:

No other class has Trade-offs from those patches left in place.

Wait, from what patches? The trade-off ones? That's just false. Again, go read what they said (and apparently check all the trade-offs they've implemented to begin with) since you're really creating your own reality here.

And, again, they've never said they'll roll back every trade-off as opposed what you're trying to "reminding them" about.

Edited December 31, 2022 by Sobx.1758

[RazielTheUnborn.2189]

One Wolf Pack still is trash in PvE. Still waiting for it to be unnerfed... Thank you kindly...