November 29 Balance Update Preview

[RazielTheUnborn.2189]

For the love of god, were is my Soulbeast update to unnerf One Wolf Pack and Leader of the Pack in PvE???? Why is this still nerfed to hell in PvE and better in PvP/WvW of all places. 

[pallas.8150]

Confused by Deadeye changes.

As an Ele main wielding Scepter, very excited by the changes. That said, would love to see a traitline rework for the profession - so much is still stuck in 2012 design.

[Westet.3068]

Hey all,

I don't often post stuff on here but I'm hoping one more voice could help bring more attention to reaper. The changes shown for reaper are nice and a step in the right direction again, but at that pace no one will be playing reaper for the next 5 years.

The issue is that it's just not enough. Yes shroud 2 and 5 are now better than simply doing one auto attack chain in shroud and yes doing a gravedigger instead of a greatsword auto chain would theoretically be better, it's not accounting for the fact that in both of those cases you're not using skill that generate life force.

For some strange reason reaper which was already the only class to lose all its damage when getting hit got nerfed and takes more damage in shroud and will now be even more starved for life force. From my rough testings these changes will only result in a dps increase of about 6-7%, potentially beating some support builds.

It's nice to see some love for reapers but we just need so much more to not be a complete joke of a dps build... We still run the same horrid elite skill that does nothing and just mindlessly attack on its own, the only alternative is there for precasting on some fights and it's not even that big of an increase, greatsword auto is still horrifyingly bad and we're still not on par with what we used to be before the unique buffs removal.

Even if we were, 34k for a benchmark is horrendous when you consider the fact that you basically cannot take damage because it'll drop your dps below the healers and the burst is nowhere near what good options can dish out. It's a sad build that you only play because you want to but you know you're making it harder for everyone in the squad by inherently doing A LOT less dps than what you could be doing on something like bladesworn.

The cooldown reduction on nightfall is nice but will probably not amount to anything significant, you still need to use both well of darkness and well of suffering which still have a 25 seconds cd so no rotation changes there, not accounting for the fact that shroud is still gated behind a cooldown on top of needing life force which you generate barely any of while below 50%.

What I wish we could get for reaper is a big buff to all shroud coefficients to finally justify the life force struggles, greatsword/staff/axe buffs as well as an offhand buff because we still have no viable offhand on necromancer, be it for power or condi which is kind of hard to imagine, and a lich form rework because let's face it, it feels extremely outdated as it stands and could have so much potential to bring an interesting rotation. Make it have next to no cast time and usable skills so that reaper's rotation would look like something other than shroud auto attacks. We need better traits too and as it stands reaper is simply not going to be a good pick. Benchmark damage will be too low, actual fight damage will be a lot lower than other classes because of the life force situation and you still don't provide anything to your team to justify any of it. The only thing you can bring is dps and you're not bringing more than supports so why would you ever play reaper.
I hope this can be useful.

[FreshF.5793]

1 hour ago, Maxi.9684 said:

Mechanical Genius: Combat attribute bonuses to the mech are now reduced by 50% if the engineer is more than a range of 360 away from the mech for a certain amount of time.

 

I understand what do you want with this change, but I really don't think is good, because the mech IQ is really low, a lot of the time his movements is so random and annoying, this change would be nice if you could control the movement of mech correctly or at least making him follow you correctly.

Totally agreed. With its current state the change doesnt make sense at all.

[Griifen.2473]

19 minutes ago, Brasides.9360 said:

I'm a newer player using untamed. I'm curious if you or others see a lot of untamed in higher tier fractals/raids, because when I do t2-t3 fractals I have only ever seen 1 or 2 other untamed, and never a more experienced player getting all the juice out of it.

I know it is top of the charts on the golem, but is it actually a popular choice in instanced PvE?

Lel no it's not at all. 

 

Condition untamed is a very, very complex build which the vast majority of the player base (which is casual) won't even dare to try learn because there are so many other options that can perform very well without developing the risk for arthritis XD 

 

The problem with untamed is that a few thousand extra dps is just not enough to sacrifice ease of play that virtually every other class can bring to the table. 

 

You've got to remember that the game is over 10 years old. Most players would jump on low APM builds any day over 100+ APM builds because the game is just so much more casual now due to its age. 

 

Maybe in a different universe where there was constant work on end-game pve with legit competitions thsr required really sweaty dps checks to take place we would see untamed a lot more because of how powerful it can be... But we just don't live in that universe where a few thousand dps is worth the effort. 

[Gwynnion.7364]

I'm annoyed by the Holosmith changes because I run hybrid / condi Holosmith with Thermal Release Valve and at first glance, everything here assumes you're running Enhanced Capacity to get over 100% heat instead.  So, so much for the condi Holosmith shout-out.

Also, what's with the Deadeye nerfs?  Jeez.

I do appreciate the damage reduction on Specter shroud, however.  Thank you.

Edited November 11, 2022 by Gwynnion.7364

[Flapjackson.1596]

Calling Ele scepter a dps weapon is odd since Ele inherently offers flexible weapon choices with attunements. It would make more sense to buff the fire/air side of scepter and let water remain a supportive element.

[Saone.1046]

3 hours ago, Double Tap said:

Mechanical Genius: Combat attribute bonuses to the mech are now reduced by 50% if the engineer is more than a range of 360 away from the mech for a certain amount of time.

There's a bunch of cool, but difficult-to-tap potential in Mechanist, but we have to rely on the AI to access it. This change makes it even more of a pain, since the pet skills overlap in keybinds with the pet control skills, and the ways to control the mech's positioning are clumsy at best. Babysitting where the mech stands (for instance, on bounties with Exploiter) is a big pain. Jade Buster Cannon is potentially a huge source of cleave, but positioning your mech to use it is horrible.

 

If we're going to need to make sure we're close to our mechs periodically, we should really have better positioning controls for our mechs.

 

[Ghos.1326]

3 hours ago, Double Tap said:

Hi, everyone,

 

We're back with another balance preview, this time for the upcoming November 29 update. As always, the goal of previewing these changes is to gather feedback before the live release. We'll be following the conversation and making further adjustments as needed.

Thanks,

Cal "cmc" Cohen
Skills and Balance Lead

November 29 Balance Update Preview

General
Sigil of Absorption is a longtime outlier in World vs. World, largely due to a bug with its cooldown (or lack thereof) when used against players. We're still planning a larger pass on boon applications and boon removal in WvW for a future update, but Sigil of Absorption was something we wanted to address sooner rather than later.

• Sigil of Absorption: Fixed an issue that prevented this trait from having an internal cooldown when used against players.

Elementalist
Scepter is a weapon that sees some play in PvE, but it struggles to find a place in competitive modes as a lot of its skills are less reliable or simply lacking in power. We've tuned up a lot of the weaker skills in the kit with the goal of solidifying scepter as an effective damage-dealing weapon.

Catalyst was hit hard by the last update to PvE, and we're making a few changes to bring it back up, removing the damage penalty from Spectacular Sphere and giving a bit more damage to Empowering Auras. We've also updated the behavior of the hammer's third-slot weapon skills to make the strikes more consistent and remove the difference in effectiveness between hitbox sizes.

On the PvP side, Earth Shield gets some defensive shaves, primarily targeting two of the most potent builds in the meta: catalyst and tempest. We've also made some minor improvements to condition-based weaver, a build that has fallen out of the meta in recent months.

Last up is a slight improvement to tempest's healing in WvW as we continue to work toward a more diverse set of support options.

Core

• Dragon's Tooth: This skill now attaches to the target instead of being ground targeted. Using this skill with no target will cast a stationary spell at the user's location. Increased cooldown from 6 seconds to 8 seconds in PvP and WvW.
• Phoenix: This skill now inflicts an additional stack of burning against enemies that are already burning. Reduced burning stacks from 2 to 1 in PvE only.
• Ice Shards: Reduced aftercast by 170 milliseconds.
• Shatterstone: This skill now inflicts chill instead of vulnerability and strikes enemies on the initial cast in addition to the explosion. Reduced explosion time from 1 second to 0.67 seconds. Reduced power coefficient from 1.66 to 1.0 in PvE, and from 1.5 to 0.6 in PvP and WvW.
• Water Trident: This skill is no longer ground targeted, and instead it fires projectiles at the target and up to 2 nearby enemies. This skill no longer heals allies, and instead it heals the caster when striking an enemy. This skill now deals increased damage to chilled enemies. Increased ammunition from 1 to 2. Increased power coefficient from 0.5 to 1.6 in PvE and from 0.5 to 1.25 in PvP and WvW.
• Lightning Strike: This skill now strikes up to 2 additional enemies near the target and inflicts vulnerability. Increased power coefficient from 1.2 to 1.5 in PvE only.
• Blinding Flash: This skill now strikes up to 2 additional enemies near the target and inflicts weakness against vulnerable enemies. Increased ammunition from 1 to 2.
• Rock Barrier: This skill now grants barrier and resistance to the user in addition to its other effects.
• Hurl: Reduced delay between projectiles from 0.5 seconds to 0.2 seconds.
• Dust Devil: This skill is now ground targeted and creates a spell that pulses three times. Enemies in the area are blinded by the initial strike, and bleeding enemies are crippled when struck.
• Tectonic Shift: Reduced barrier pulse from 778 to 506 in PvP only.
• Fortify: Increased cooldown from 30 seconds to 50 seconds in PvP only.
• Stormsoul: The bonus damage from this trait will now always affect defiant foes.
• Evasive Arcana: Fixed an issue that prevented this trait from triggering Flame Burst while dodging.

Tempest

• Elemental Bastion: Increased heal attribute scaling from 0.4125 to 0.8 in WvW only.

Weaver

• Shearing Edge: This skill now inflicts bleeding in addition to its other effects.
• Twin Strike: Increased burning stacks from 1 to 2 in PvP only.
• Flame Uprising: Increased burning duration from 4 seconds to 6 seconds in PvP only.

Catalyst

• Hardened Auras, Empowering Auras, Staunch Auras, and Elemental Epitome: These traits will now only trigger when the catalyst grants an aura to themselves, rather than when gaining an aura from any player.
• Flame Wheel, Icy Coil, Crescent Wind, Rocky Loop: These skills now strike enemies once per second instead of using a projectile. Increased power coefficient from 0.001 to 0.25 in PvE only.
• Spectacular Sphere: This trait no longer reduces outgoing damage and causes Earth Sphere to grant aegis instead of resistance in PvE only.
• Empowering Auras: Increased damage bonus per stack from 2% to 3% in PvE only.

Engineer
For this update we focused on tuning up both power and condition damage builds for holosmith in PvE, neither of which were competitive picks. We've also made an adjustment to the mechanist to better reward players who are able to position well. We do like that mechanist is a viable option for a lower-intensity playstyle, but we see it as slightly overperforming relative to where we want those builds to be.

We've also tuned up a few skills for scrapper in PvP. We're being a bit careful as we've seen the result when scrapper's defenses are too potent, but we would like to reestablish scrapper as an effective bruiser.

Core

• Box of Nails: The first pulse of this skill will now immobilize enemies affected by crowd control or a movement-impairing condition. Increased ammunition from 1 to 2.
• Rifle Burst: This skill now fires one piercing projectile before the grenade instead of two. Increased piercing projectile power coefficient from 0.3 to 0.4 in PvE only. Grenade power coefficient increased from 0.4 to 0.6 in PvE only. Increased skill animation speed; total animation duration remains the same as previous version in PvE only.

Scrapper

• Electro-whirl: Increased power coefficient from 0.68 to 0.75 in PvP only.
• Bypass Coating: Reduced cooldown from 35 seconds to 25 seconds in PvP only.
• Medic Gyro: Reduced cooldown from 30 seconds to 25 seconds in PvP only.

Holosmith

• Cauterize: This skill now removes additional conditions when used while above 100% heat.
• Particle Accelerator: This skill now gains bonus damage while above 50% heat and additional bonus damage while above 100% heat, in addition to its previous effects.
• Prismatic Singularity: This skill now gains bonus damage on the explosion portion of the attack when used above 100% heat, in addition to its previous effects. Increased explosion power coefficient from 0.5 to 1.2 in PvE only.
• Flash Spark: This skill now grants additional light aura duration when used above 100% heat.
• Blade Burst: This skill now deals bonus damage when used above 100% heat, in addition to its previous effects.
• Spectrum Shield: This skill now grants additional duration when used above 100% heat, in addition to its previous effects.
• Coolant Blast: This skill now grants additional duration to Cooling Vapor and Frost Aura when used above 100% heat, in addition to its previous effects.
• Laser Disk: This skill now gains additional damage when used above 100% heat, in addition to its previous effects.
• Hard Light Arena: This skill now grants allies the full duration of boons when used above 100% heat, in addition to its previous effects.
• Prime Light Beam: This skill now gains additional field strike damage and burning duration when used above 100% heat, in addition to its previous effects.
• Corona Burst: Increased power coefficient per hit from 1.2 to 1.5 in PvE only.
• Holographic Shockwave: Increased power coefficient from 0.96 to 1.8 in PvE only.
• Sun Edge (PvE only): Increased damage bonus while above 50% heat from 10% to 20%. Increased damage bonus while above 100% heat from 20% to 30%.   
• Sun Ripper (PvE only): Increased damage bonus while above 50% heat from 10% to 20%. Increased damage bonus while above 100% heat from 20% to 30%.   
• Gleam Saber (PvE only): Increased damage bonus while above 50% heat from 10% to 20%. Increased damage bonus while above 100% heat from 20% to 30%.   
• Refraction Cutter: Increased projectile power coefficient from 0.275 to 0.4 in PvE only.
• Solar Focusing Lens: Increased burning duration on enemies from 2 seconds to 3 seconds in PvE only.
• Photonic Blasting Module: Increased burning from 2 stacks for 2 seconds to 5 stacks for 4 seconds in PvE only.

Mechanist

• Mechanical Genius: Combat attribute bonuses to the mech are now reduced by 50% if the engineer is more than a range of 360 away from the mech for a certain amount of time.

 
Guardian
Firebrand is a specialization that has access to a few too many tools with minimal investment. Tomes are a large component of this, as the utilities of Tome of Resolve and Tome of Courage are easily accessible even for damage-focused builds. Our goal for this update is to increase the opportunity cost of accessing these tools, and to that end, pages will now be a shared resource that builds over time. Firebrands will now need to more carefully decide how they spend their pages, whether they want to focus on damage, support, or a mix of both.

We've also made some improvements to dragonhunter and willbender as we tune up underperforming damage builds in PvE.

Core

• Binding Blade: Increased pulse damage power coefficient from 0.2 to 0.3 in PvE only.
• Sword of Wrath: Increased power coefficient from 0.666 to 0.75 in PvE only.
• Sword Arc: Increased power coefficient from 0.725 to 0.8 in PvE only.
• Sword of Justice: Increased power coefficient per strike from 0.72 to 0.8 in PvE only.

Dragonhunter

• Heavy Light: This trait now gives a 10% damage increase when striking defiant foes, in addition to its previous effect. These bonuses do not stack.
• True Shot (PvE only): Increased power coefficient from 2.44 to 3.2. Increased cooldown from 4 seconds to 6 seconds.
• Hunter's Ward (PvE only): Reduced cooldown from 40 seconds to 20 seconds. Increased power coefficient of initial hit from 0.25 to 0.75. Increased power coefficient of final hit from 2.2 to 2.5.
• Spear of Justice: Increased power coefficient from 0.6 to 0.8 in PvE only.
• Dragon's Maw (PvE only): Reduced cooldown from 75 seconds to 50 seconds. Increased power coefficient from 2.4 to 3.6.
• Big Game Hunter: Increased bonus tether duration from 66% to 100% in PvE only.
• Hunter's Ward: Reduced ring duration from 5 seconds to 3 seconds in WvW only.

Firebrand

• 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.
• Page costs and cooldowns have been adjusted to the following:
  • Justice
    • Chapter 1: 1 page, no cooldown
    • Chapter 2: 1 page, 8 seconds
    • Chapter 3: (PvE) 1 page, 10 seconds; (PvP/WvW) 2 pages, 15 seconds
    • Chapter 4: 2 pages, 15 seconds
    • Epilogue: 2 pages, 20 seconds
  • 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: Searing Spell: This skill now inflicts vulnerability in addition to its current effects.
• Chapter 4: Scorched Aftermath: Increased burning and bleeding duration from 2 seconds to 5 seconds in PvE only.
• Chapter 2: Radiant Recovery: Increased the number of conditions removed from 1 to 2 in PvP and WvW.
• Epilogue: Eternal Oasis: Increased number of conditions converted to boons from 2 to 5 in PvP and WvW.
• Chapter 1: Unflinching Charge: This skill now grants protection instead of stability.
• Swift Scholar: This trait now also refunds one page after using three consecutive skills in a single tome.
• Stoic Demeanor: This trait has been reworked. Retain the Tome of Courage passive effect while it is on cooldown. Grant boons to nearby allies when you disable, immobilize, or slow an enemy.
• Quickfire: This trait now also retains the Tome of Justice passive effect while it is on cooldown.
• Loremaster: This trait has been reworked. Retain the Tome of Resolve passive effect while it is on cooldown. You generate pages more quickly.

Willbender

• Heaven's Palm (PvE only): Reduced cooldown from 45 seconds to 20 seconds. Increased power coefficient from 1.0 to 3.0.
• Lethal Tempo: Increased bonus damage per stack from 1% to 2% in PvE only.
• Tyrant's Momentum: Increased damage increase per stack from 2% to 3% in PvE only.

Mesmer

One of our goals for mesmer is to address the performance of the staff/axe mirage build, which we feel doesn't have to sacrifice quite enough for the boon uptime it provides. We've moved some of the boon application to the clones' staff ambush, which will force the mirage to choose between higher boon uptime with staff clones or higher damage output with axe clones.

We've targeted some improvements to chronomancer's power damage builds in PvE, bumping up the damage of some sword skills, wells, and Chronophantasma. We've also slightly reduced Continuum Split's duration in PvP after seeing the performance of chronomancer following its restored access to distortion.

Core

• Mind Slash: Increased power coefficient from 0.8 to 1.0 in PvE only.
• Mind Gash: Increased power coefficient from 0.8 to 1.0 in PvE only.
• Mind Spike: Increased power coefficient when striking enemies with boons from 1.0 to 1.5 PvE only.

Chronomancer

• Chronophantasma: Increased resummoned phantasm damage from 75% to 100% in PvE only.
• Well of Calamity: Increased power coefficient of initial strikes from 0.5 to 1.0 in PvE only.
• Gravity Well (PvE only): Reduced cooldown from 90 seconds to 60 seconds. Increased power coefficient for pulsing strikes from 0.6 to 0.8. Increased power coefficient for the final strike from 2.4 to 3.0.
• Continuum Split: Reduced duration from 1.5/3/4.5/6 to 1/2/3/4 in PvP only.

Mirage

• Chaos Vortex: Clones using this skill will now grant the same boons in an area of effect around the mesmer instead of around the clones themselves. Reduced alacrity duration from 2.5 seconds to 1 second. Reduced might stacks from 8 to 2.

 
Necromancer

Power reaper is another damage build that we've sought to improve in PvE, bringing up some of its less potent skills in Reaper Shroud and giving it a bit more consistent pressure while out of shroud.

On the competitive side, we've adjusted a few less used utility skills. Corrupt Boon is a skill that saw significant reductions after it gained a second ammunition and hasn't seen a ton of play since then. We've removed the extra charge in PvP and bumped up the number of corrupts to make the skill a more potent threat.

Core

• Corrupt Boon (PvP only): Reduced ammunition from 2 to 1. Increased number of boons converted into conditions from 2 to 5. Increased cooldown from 24 seconds to 30 seconds.
• Spectral Armor (PvP and WvW): Reduced duration from 8 seconds to 6 seconds. Reduced cooldown from 45 seconds to 30 seconds.
• Signet of Spite: Reduced cooldown from 60 seconds to 40 seconds in PvP and WvW.
• Signet of the Locust (PvP and WvW): Increased healing per target struck from 500 to 800. Reduced cooldown from 30 seconds to 25 seconds.
• Soul Barbs: Increased duration from 10 seconds to 15 seconds in PvE only.

Reaper

• Chilling Nova: Reduced cooldown from 8 seconds to 3 seconds in PvE only.
• Nightfall: Reduced cooldown from 25 seconds to 20 seconds in PvE only.
• Dusk Strike: Increased power coefficient from 1.0 to 1.2 in PvE only.
• Chilling Scythe: This skill now reduces the recharge of Gravedigger when striking an enemy.
• Death's Charge (PvE only): Increased power coefficient of initial strikes from 0.125 to 0.25. Fixed an issue that prevented the damage of the initial strikes from being listed on this skill's tooltip.
• Executioner's Scythe (PvE only): Increased power coefficient against targets at or above 50% health to 3.0. Increased power coefficient against targets below 50% health to 4.0. Increased power coefficient against targets below 25% to 5.0.

Scourge

• Feed from Corruption: The following boon applications from this trait have been adjusted in WvW only:
  • Might: Reduced stacks from 3 to 1.
  • Protection and resolution: Reduced duration from 4 seconds to 2 seconds.
  • Regeneration: Reduced duration from 8 seconds to 4 seconds.
  • Stability: Reduced from 2 stacks for 5 seconds to 1 stack for 3 seconds.
  • Vigor: Reduced duration from 6 seconds to 3 seconds.

Ranger

Untamed is one of the specializations that struggles the most against defiant enemies, as a lot of its kit is built around capitalizing against targets that are crowd controlled. As part of a larger pass, we've adjusted these skills to always inflict their bonuses against defiant enemies to make them more reliable in endgame PvE content. We've also made some improvements to the non-Unleashed side of the hammer kit to improve its defensive capabilities. Fervent Force is a trait that we're likely to bring down in a future update, but we want to improve other options for untamed before doing so.

In PvP, we've brought down the drake family's Chomp damage, primarily targeting the burst potential that it brings to untamed builds.

Rounding out the ranger updates are some improvements to druid's healing in WvW. We've seen more druids being played since the October update, but we think it could still use a slight bump to solidify its place as a viable support pick.

Core

• Chomp (Drake Family): Reduced power coefficient from 0.65 to 0.455 in PvP only.
• Predator's Onslaught: The bonus damage from this trait will now always affect defiant foes.

Druid

• Astral Wisp: Increased heal attribute scaling from 0.1 to 0.2 in WvW only.
• Ancestral Grace: Increased heal attribute scaling from 1.0 to 1.5 in WvW only.
• Ancient Seeds: This skill will now trigger against defiant foes in addition to its previous effects.

Untamed

• The following skills now also apply their bonus effect against defiant enemies:
  • Venomous Outburst
  • Rending Vines
  • Enveloping Haze
  • Unleashed Wild Swing
  • Unleashed Savage Shock Wave
• Perilous Gift: This skill no longer prevents lethal damage, and instead it prevents all incoming strike and condition damage for its duration.
• Relentless Whirl: Increased stability from 1 stack for 2 seconds to 2 stacks for 3 seconds.
• Wild Swing: This skill now grants barrier when striking an enemy.
• Overbearing Smash: This skill now grants barrier when striking an enemy that is using a skill. Reduced cooldown from 15 seconds to 12 seconds in PvP and WvW.
• Unleashed Overbearing Smash: Reduced cooldown from 15 seconds to 12 seconds in PvP and WvW.
• Savage Shock Wave: The first strike of this skill now applies weakness instead of immobilize. The second strike of this skill now applies immobilize instead of weakness. This skill now grants protection to the user. Reduced casting time from 1 second to 0.75 seconds. Reduced cooldown from 18 seconds to 15 seconds in PvP and WvW.
• Unleashed Savage Shock Wave: Reduced casting time from 1 second to 0.75 seconds. Reduced cooldown from 18 seconds to 15 seconds in PvP and WvW.
• Thump: Reduced cooldown from 25 seconds to 20 seconds in PvP and WvW.
• Unleashed Thump: Reduced cooldown from 25 seconds to 20 seconds in PvP and WvW.
• Restorative Strikes: This trait now also grants protection when you or your pet unleash.
• Debilitating Blows: This trait now applies poison instead of vulnerability and slow instead of weakness when disabling a foe based on your current state in PvE only.
• Ferocious Symbiosis: Increased damage bonus per stack from 3% to 4% in PvE only.

Revenant

Vindicator has continued to be a powerful force in PvP after the most recent set of changes, and we're making a few additional reductions in this update. We see vindicator as doing a bit too much damage when investing heavily in defensive traits, so we've shaved down a few skills to create more of a decision point between damage and defense. We've also reduced the stability from Reaver's Rage and removed the ability to dodge while immobilized with the goal of making vindicator slightly easier to bring down.

The last set of changes didn't have quite enough impact on condition-based revenant builds in PvP, and we're following up with a few more adjustments to improve their damage output and free up a bit more energy while in Legendary Demon Stance.

We've focused on improving damage builds for both herald and vindicator in PvE, improving the potency of sword off hand, Legendary Assassin Stance and Legendary Dragon Stance, and the Luxon side of Legendary Alliance Stance.

Core

• Shackling Wave (PvE only): Increased power coefficient of initial strike from 1.0 to 1.2. Increased power coefficient of additional strikes from 0.35 to 0.4.
• Deathstrike (PvE only): Increased power coefficient of initial strike from 0.33 to 0.45. Increased power coefficient of final strike from 2.0 to 2.67.
• Impossible Odds: Increased power coefficient on secondary strikes from 0.55 to 0.65 in PvE only.
• Jade Winds: Increased power coefficient from 1.5 to 3.0 in PvE only.
• Seething Malice: Increased condition damage from 120 to 240 in PvP only.
• Banish Enchantment: Reduced energy cost from 30 to 25 in PvP only.
• Call to Anguish: Reduced energy cost from 30 to 25 in PvP only.
• Rising Tide: Reduced health threshold from 90% to 75% in PvE only.

Herald

• Elemental Blast: Reduced cooldown from 15 seconds to 12 seconds in PvE only.
• Burst of Strength (PvE only): Reduced cooldown from 15 seconds to 12 seconds. Increased effect duration from 5 seconds to 10 seconds. Reduced damage bonus from 25% to 15%. Damage bonus now applies to condition damage as well as strike damage.
• Chaotic Release: Increased power coefficient from 2.0 to 4.0 in PvE only.

Vindicator

• Vindicators can no longer dodge while immobilized.
• Spear of Archemorus: Reduced range from 2,000 to 1,200. Increased power coefficient from 3.5 to 5.0 in PvE only. Increased torment duration from 5 seconds to 8 seconds in PvE only.
• Scavenger Burst: Adjusted burning from one stack for 8 seconds to two stacks for 5 seconds in PvE only. Endurance gain increased from 5 per target to 20 per target in PvE only. Energy cost reduced from 20 to 15 in PvE only. Reduced power coefficient from 1.55 to 1.4 in PvP only.
• Tree Song: Energy cost reduced from 20 to 15 in PvE only.
• Battle Dance: Energy cost reduced from 20 to 15 in PvE only.
• Nomad's Advance: Energy cost reduced from 20 to 15 in PvE only. Reduced power coefficient from 2.3 to 2.1 in PvP only.
• Reaver's Rage (PvP only): Reduced power coefficient from 1.25 to 1.0. Reduced stability duration from 6 seconds to 3 seconds. Reduced daze duration from 1.5 seconds to 1 second.

Thief

Our primary goal for thief in this update was to improve the usability of deadeye in PvE. Rifle has a lot of potential as a damage-dealing option, but the stationary nature of Kneel made it difficult to reach this potential in real gameplay situations. We're updating Kneel to allow for some movement at a reduced speed to give a bit more flexibility during encounters.

We've also added a damage reduction to Shadow Shroud in PvE to compensate for the reduction in shroud health in the October update. We'll be keeping an eye on how this plays out and will make further adjustments to Shadow Shroud as necessary.

Wrapping up the thief changes are a handful of power damage improvements for daredevil and dagger.

Core

• Double Strike: Increased power coefficient from 0.3 to 0.4 in PvE only.
• Wild Strike: Increased power coefficient from 0.65 to 0.8 in PvE only.
• Lotus Strike: Increased power coefficient from 1.1 to 1.2 in PvE only.
• Heartseeker (PvE only): Increased power coefficient against targets at or above 50% health to 1.5. Increased power coefficient against targets below 50% health to 2.0. Increased power coefficient against targets below 25% health to 2.5.
• Cloak and Dagger: Increased power coefficient from 1.25 to 1.6 in PvE only.

Daredevil

• Impact Strike: Increased power coefficient from 0.75 to 1.75 in PvE only.
• Finishing Blow: Increased power coefficient from 2.0 to 4.0 in PvE only.

Deadeye

• Kneel: Increased initiative cost from 1 to 2. While kneeling, players can now move at a 75% reduced speed. Kneel is no longer canceled when you become disabled.
• Skirmisher's Shot: Reduced range from 1,500 to 1,200.
• Three Round Burst: Reduced range from 1,500 to 1,200.
• Death's Judgement: This skill now pierces foes not targeted by Deadeye's Mark. Damage dealt to unmarked enemies is reduced. Players can now move while using this skill. Reduced range from 1,500 to 1,200.

Specter

• Shadow Shroud: Added a 0.5-second cooldown to Exit Shadow Shroud after using Enter Shadow Shroud. Shadow Shroud now reduces incoming damage by 33% in PvE only.

Warrior

A handful of warrior's skill and trait bonuses will be applied against defiant foes. We've also made some adjustments to improve berserker damage builds in PvE, fixing an issue with Bloody Roar's bonus damage and making Outrage's berserk extension more reliable now that Headbutt no longer removes stability.

Enchantment Collapse is another boon-removal outlier that we wanted to address in WvW for this update, and we've increased the cooldown ever so slightly to reduce its effectiveness with Winds of Disenchantment.

Core

• Fierce Blow: The bonus damage from this skill will now affect defiant enemies.
• Banner of Tactics: This skill now breaks stuns on allies in addition to its other effects.
• Unsuspecting Foe: This trait now gives a 25% critical chance bonus when striking defiant foes, in addition to its previous effect. These bonuses do not stack.
• Merciless Hammer: The bonus damage from this trait will now always affect defiant foes.

Berserker

• Outrage: This skill no longer grants bonus berserk duration when breaking a stun, and instead it grants bonus berserk duration when an enemy is nearby. Reduced berserk duration when an enemy is nearby from 5 seconds to 3 seconds in PvE only.
• Scorched Earth: Increased power coefficient from 0.35 to 0.42 in WvW only.
• Bloody Roar: Fixed an issue that caused this trait to grant less increased damage than intended.

Spellbreaker

• Breaching Strike: This skill now deals bonus damage to foes without boons.
• Enchantment Collapse: Increased internal cooldown from 0.99 to 1.04 in WvW only.

 

so, mainhand engi pistol autos will still be shooting with a .9s cast time, instead of the tooltip's .5s. yep, another wasted opportunity.

[zealex.9410]

9 minutes ago, Bookah pls.9352 said:

Interesting that a certain dev in charge of balance favoured this playstyle

That dev is gone, they aret the one behind these changes. The only reason you used scepter in fb was because you stayed in tome 1 for a couple seconds.

[Vidit.7108]

Guardian: Unflinching Charge losing stability really trashes the stability economy of the game, particularly in fractals. Chaos used to be a fractal daily where groups fell apart at the last boss and this change is probably going to make that more common again. Firebrand doesn't really need more protection upkeep, there are already more than enough ways to provide that to a group.

Valiant Bulwark's cooldown might be a little too high for the page cost, it has to compete with Wall of Reflection, PvE is severely lacking in reflects (too many skills block) so this potentially causing a lot of harm, it will kind of remain to be seen.

A better starting page count IMO is 6.
 Overall Condi-Firebrand might be hurt the least, Healbrand is going to lose some healing potential in part because not getting the aegis from passive Courage removes yet another opportunity to get a healing boost from Invigorated Bulwark, it is still probably the top quickness healer in the game but that's not saying much when the meta alac healers are all a little better. I'm also not sure how useful Eternal Oasis on demand will actually be, it depends on pages to provide a lot of burst healing. Maybe situationally more useful if under 4 pages and staff is the only heal option. It seems like at face value Quickbrand was hurt the most, I don't personally find the other quickness dps options all that great as is, and making quickbrand worse is like giving alac healers a choice of which wheel is missing on their car. They needed improvements more than quickbrand needed nerfs.

Thief: The changes to Deadeye feel like you completely forgot or lost conversations you had with players at PoF release. Raising dagger damage is a great way to make sure no one uses rifle. 

The Specter shroud damage reduction is literally the least you can do and should have been done with the last patch's launch. Acknowledging something has to be done about Consume Shadows and Support Specter, is a nice baby step, but you've had since the beta to get feedback on it and PvE Support Specter has only gotten worse to play since then. For how much was hyped about this patch I'm severely disappointed by the lack of changes made to thief, and slightly less disappointed by the changes made to everything else.
 

[Firebeard.1746]

So I don't keep a lot of tabs on PVP vs. WvW, but right now, last I faced a deadeye 1v1 in WvW, they're absolute kittening kitten. I'm fairly certain that deadeye is more than viable 1v1, so I'm not really sure it needs a buff if WvW and PvP tuning is consistent. Deadeye is straight up OP when roaming and impossible to deal with as a lot of different things. 

[Gwynnion.7364]

Also, would it kill you guys to do something with Mirage OTHER than incessantly tweaking Chaos Vortex for no reason?

[EvilZombie.6801]

A huge nerf for rifle engineer in pvp since 1 shot is removed and no damage buff ...

[AJVO Havoc MX.7294]

Nice way to finishing killing Deadeye, well done.

[EvilZombie.6801]

Double post

Edited November 11, 2022 by EvilZombie.6801

[evlover.6270]

Still waiting for the patch that puts staff ele/tempest back where it used to be in pve instead of these pvp focused scepter buffs. Staff tempest used to be OP because it was the only build that did that much damage. But now even the once OP tempest numbers would struggle to make the current top 10. The whole reason of playing an ele/wizard/mage in any game, is to play with a staff and "cast" magic, and here it's nerfed to shreds ages ago for a reason that's no longer valid. By doing so, you'd have your one low intensity build for ele as well since it's just using fire/air overloads, everybody happy.

Weaver or catalyst are just too punishing for people who aren't 100% sure of acing their rotations since both carry over mistakes from previous attunements: with weaver you combine your 3 skill, with catalyst you need to keep up your projectiles from 3 to release them. 1 mistake and your whole dps is screwed since you can't just "undo" your mistake as you will need the attunement you just wrongly swapped into sooner than it will be available again if you try to continue your rotation as if nothing happened. Making a mistake forces you to have a scuffed rotation for the rest of the fight or completely reset and wait for all your attunements to be off cd. You can't play them without paying attention and have to focus all the time and can't just "chill and dps". While with staff tempest, there's not much to screw up and you can easily get back to your rotation after messing something up as it only uses two attunements, it's way more chill to play, but at this moment, it's just so underperforming due to the staffs garbage power coefficient.

All in all, it's just sad that the one weapon that truly identifies the elementalist, has been locked out of any usage in pve for so long. It's not like we're asking to bring back the broken days of icebow 4 and fiery rushing against the wall, just give us back our staff as a decent option to fight with... 

[God.5728]

Umm that's it for Reaper buff?!

Nothing changes to it's traits.

Nothing changes to shouts?

What a joke.

[Bookah pls.9352]

7 minutes ago, zealex.9410 said:

That dev is gone, they aret the one behind these changes. The only reason you used scepter in fb was because you stayed in tome 1 for a couple seconds.

I dunno, feels like same people making changes, just different people telling us the changes.

[Draconian.6528]

There is no reason to nerf deadeye rifle range in pve. Doing damage at range is its identity, I especially enjoy it in open world and now that's gone too.

 

Mech change doesn't make sense either. Are we supposed to follow the mech now? might as well let the mech be the commander at this point.

[Brasides.9360]

11 minutes ago, Griifen.2473 said:

Lel no it's not at all. 

 

Condition untamed is a very, very complex build which the vast majority of the player base (which is casual) won't even dare to try learn because there are so many other options that can perform very well without developing the risk for arthritis XD 

 

The problem with untamed is that a few thousand extra dps is just not enough to sacrifice ease of play that virtually every other class can bring to the table. 

 

You've got to remember that the game is over 10 years old. Most players would jump on low APM builds any day over 100+ APM builds because the game is just so much more casual now due to its age. 

 

Maybe in a different universe where there was constant work on end-game pve with legit competitions thsr required really sweaty dps checks to take place we would see untamed a lot more because of how powerful it can be... But we just don't live in that universe where a few thousand dps is worth the effort. 

Yeah I made a ranger only because the builds around Fervent Force looked fun and engaging. Does it seem to anyone that they are actually developing counter to their philosophy? I could only really parse the changes to ele and ranger, but it seems like the direction they are actually taking in these dev notes is:

high skill/apm ===> nerf

low skill/amp ===> buff

Would love to hear some counter-examples from more experienced players. This is just kind of disappointing to me and makes me want to look elsewhere for what I thought gw2 offered: an mmo that rewards complex gameplay.

[Mourningstar.7309]

Do we know how Renewed Justice (Radiance trait that refreshes f1 or f1 pages on kill) will interact with the proposed FB changes?

[Za Shaloc.3908]

The Firebrand changes are very intruiging to me. As you alluded to in your preview, it's a bit hard to really gauge how this will affect gameplay (I speak from a WvW perspective) but I really appreciate the idea and intention behind them. I think it's a good baseline to start with and the way you've structured it allows for pretty precise tuning for future patches. 

As much as I dislike fighting FA Weavers, I am really happy Ele's scepter got some long overdue attention. I'm scared to fight them now with the Dragon's Tooth change, but also excited to see how they can perform.

The Deadeye changes are a bit odd to me at first glance. I don't think Scourge really needed to get further nerfed in WvW. Its only viability is in a zerg setting, and even then, I don't think its boon stealing was really a very relevant factor to *WHAT* makes it strong. The healing tune ups to Druid are appreciated, though the AA on staff could prob use a scaling increase too. Please also reduce the CA cooldown in PvP to 10 seconds.

As a Rev player, I'm happy to see Vindicator no longer able to dodge while immobilized. You are right that immobilization should be the direct counter to dodging, and Vindicator already has ample access to resistance as is.

A bit of a sore point I have in terms of balance as a whole is Shocking Aura. I don't think it's a very healthy design to exist in its current state, though changing it to a daze would make it significantly less oppressive.

Specter's support role seems to be largely thrown to the wayside due to its potential impact as a DPS. I find this frustrating as it's really Thief's only option as a support, but it has been continuously hit by the nerfhammer, mostly by proxy. There is still so much clunk to how it plays as a dedicated support that has been completely ignored and it feels very half-baked. This was my single-most anticipated elite across all expacs but I see basically no reason to ever run it. I would love to see some love given to it.

I'd love to hear your (dev's) opinions on stat options in WvW. In particular, your feelings on Minstrel and to a lesser extent, Celestial. I think in particular that Minstrel is very damaging to the gamemode as a whole. I love having support options in any sort of game I play, but the Minstrel's stat boosts the impact of supports far too high. Supports simply need to be more killable for the level of support that they are currently able to provide. I don't think it needs to be as drastic as a change to forcing supports to run Cleric's or Magi's but moreso to make Minstrel's a tri-stat option, effectively removing either vitality or toughness from its spread. Celestial is a whole other beast and mostly impactful to the smallscale scene, but would probably be a very popular pick for largescale if Minstrel's were to get a nerf. Honestly I don't think the concentration and expertise buffs ever should have been introduced in WvW. The stat was fairly balanced beforehand. Celestial greatly overshadows a lot of the lesser hybrid stat options, especially the tri-stat options. Why ever mix and match stats when you can just put Cele on it? 

Please consider bringing in more special weekend/week-long events into WvW again as a testing ground for more gamemode-wide changes. Changes to siege, tactics, structures, combat rules (such as invuln window on downstate), etc. These events generally breathe some fresh air into the game mode and I'd love for you guys to be more willing to experiment with these, even if just for a weekend.

 

 

[Alcatraznc.3869]

Overall I'm happy with the Holosmith change, not as much for the rifle nerf.

 

It wont change much in PvE but for PvP and especially WvW, this doesnt make sense. Unless you consider Ranger longbow and Deadeye rifle to be OP Engineer rifle damage is fine and dont need a nerf.

 

The change for Mechanist is a bit whatever

[Radina.6057]

The Reaper changes are pathetic. 

They didnt even bother to get rid of the animation canceling.

 

Harbinger looks fine if you just check the Benchmark list, but is infested with bugs. None of those got touched. Why would you have a working Blight mechanic after all? Its just the specs specialty.