February 14 Balance Update Preview

[ZeroTheRuler.7415]

55 minutes ago, FelsPinguin.5902 said:

With the Changes to Thief tricks. Has lesser haste ( https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Lesser_Haste#WvW,PvP ) from burst of agility been forgotten in the cooldown reduction?

Maybe it will be? I hope so haha.

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Burst_of_Agility

Edited February 7, 2023 by ZeroTheRuler.7415

[Zyphor.3480]

7 hours ago, SleepyBat.9034 said:

Not really, it just needs slightly more damage on Electro-whirl and maybe a slight cool down reduction on Rocket Charge.

This isn't a condition trait, it's a mix of defense(weakness) / offense(Vulnerability).

True, Sneak Gyro is a garbage skill now.

I think it's fine.

-I don't think the damage on Electro-whirl is that bad. I agree on the Rocket Charge (it's the reason I want the CD reduction), but a trait related for the hammer could make you choose between more support or more damage. 

-I know what you mean, but a condition based build would take this, in my opinion.

-Bring back smoke field pls.

-I would have stated that in case Defense Field is ground-targeted, make it reflective. In case it follows you, blocking is fine already. Also, lower a little bit the CD.

Edited February 7, 2023 by Zyphor.3480

[SehferViega.8725]

1 hour ago, FelsPinguin.5902 said:

With the Changes to Thief tricks. Has lesser haste ( https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Lesser_Haste#WvW,PvP ) from burst of agility been forgotten in the cooldown reduction?

 

Yes, it has been "forgotten".

[Ten.2617]

23 hours ago, SleepyBat.9034 said:

I don't see why engineer pistol needs to mirror harbinger pistol with a stun on the 3rd skill.

It could be on any slot... The main point is that P/P doesn't have a hard CC option, like Warrior and Ranger's LB #4 for example.

P/S grants some CC, but P/P is the most offensive configuration due Blowtorch.

An other option would be, for example, replace the glue on 5th skill (Glue Shot) by ice (Freezing Shot), so the skill would produce an Ice Field that freezes and chills instead of an AOE glue.

Edited February 8, 2023 by Ze Ninguem.6708

[Burnfall.9573]

I and many other have made hundred of posts like this since Guild Wars 2 beta and it has gotten worse and worse  each year

I want to know will there be any hard nerfs to pulls? It is out of control especially being pulled beyond 1500 range especially when standing far away from a keep; i mean standing far way from the ledge and being yanked up in the air like a yo-yo while the enemy player remain on the ground? 

Guild Wars 2 is a 10 years old game and why is it getting much worse each year than less worse or hard nerfed each year?

Seriously, when will this ever be take into serious consideration for a healthy gameplay experience?

(There many games that i can play with having this yo-yo gameplay mechanic but i would never expect an mmo that claim to take competitive gameplay experience seriously by continually allowing this to worsen and to not be addressed once and for all) 

Its Outrageous and Unacceptable!!

Edited February 8, 2023 by Burnfall.9573

[Yasai.3549]

20 minutes ago, Burnfall.9573 said:

Guild Wars 2 is a 10 years old game and why is it getting much worse each year than less worse or hard nerfed each year?

It's because the balance philosophy changed. 

In the past, the dev balance team kinda did things like "okay, we're gonna nerf this, but we are gonna like, really hard buff other things so you play other things." And it's not just a numbers tweak, sometimes it's functionality tweaks, or a new effect or removal of an effect. 

The balance team ever since the Power Coefficient nerf meteor has only 2 things in mind: 
- Reworking what they deem "outdated" 

- Nerfing wack 'a' mole

 

Reworking is fine and all but the nerfing wack 'a' mole has gotten way out of hand. When X is an issue, they tend to hammer down everything W and Y and Z but not X itself. And when they do nerf X, W Y and Z are left in their horrendously nerfed forms and forgotten. This balance philosophy needs to go for real. 

Edited February 8, 2023 by Yasai.3549

[Bunny.9834]

6 hours ago, FelsPinguin.5902 said:

With the Changes to Thief tricks. Has lesser haste ( https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Lesser_Haste#WvW,PvP ) from burst of agility been forgotten in the cooldown reduction?

This trait is already crappy on it's own. Now it's even more pathetic and def can't compete with Thrill of the Crime without the CD reduction from Trickster. 

This new dev team is just like the old ones when it comes to thief. They know how to nerf it but not "balance it". 

No compensation. No new build options. 

Can they please hire a thief player so someone in that team have an insight to classes other than Guardian, Necro, and Engi. (and now Ele) 

[Nimon.7840]

On 2/5/2023 at 3:52 PM, SolsticeIV.3710 said:

I think these improvements are for Alac Renegade?   

1. Endless Enmity: This trait no longer requires the enemy to be under a certain health threshold. Reduced fury duration from 6 seconds to 4 seconds. Fury is also applied to nearby allies.
2. Brutal Momentum: This trait now grants a 10% increased critical-hit chance when endurance is not full. The 33% increased critical chance while endurance is full is unchanged.

This still doesn't fix the uptime though, even with full ritualist you can't keep Alac up on condi without food and utility, while on Power the dps is still too low because of the reliance on all diviner.  Can we get just a bit more duration on Orders from Above so we can play Alac Renegade again? 

This doesn't seem like that big of a change to make 2 builds viable again.  

Sorry what?

Pls do the calculations and don't ask for completely unnecessary things:

Orders from above is 20 seconds cooldown. With alacrity that's 16 seconds cooldown.

So around 33% boon duration should be enough

Edited February 8, 2023 by Nimon.7840

[WizardXeze.2860]

Personally I think Specter needs a small rework:

-Shroud 5 stability being behind ~3 second delay makes it unusable in PvE and it should be given when casted.

-There is no Regeneration nor Protection which are vital for Healers and missing Aegis means you just can't heal specific comps without forcing someone else to do that responsibility which usually is on Healers like Deimos Mind Crush.

-Have you guys tried Wells on Double Cast? First cast to drop the well Second cast to shadow step there? 

 

Scourge should get Alacrity as Harbinger is Quickness and Reaper could stay as the DPS Elite Spec for Necromancer? Tough I think Scoruge would need minor rework as it only offers Regen currently and you would probably want it to give at least Regen and Protection with Alacrity to make it "Viable Healer" in PvE. Giving Alac to Scrouge would be interesting idea and be similar line with Mechanist. I wonder if they have considered reworking Death Magic? How about trait that your minions copy your boons? Aim would be to get 35k benchmark on full minion build.

 

I'm happy that Tempest's Alacrity is chancing for better, the bare minimum make it pulse has come to true yay. Looking forwards to the new meta.

 

 

Edited February 8, 2023 by WizardXeze.2860

[xfayrox.8146]

On 2/6/2023 at 7:23 PM, Nightara.1804 said:

WHAT.
Condi Harbinger is number eleven in the benchmark, with basically 40k DPS. cScourge and pReaper are at 35k.
Quickness Harbinger is at 32.5k, that's just 2.5k less than cScourge. QUICKNESS HARBINGER.

Yes, Harbinger only brings Quickness, Fury, and Swiftness, but it it literally the SECOND STRONGEST Quickness build in the game in terms of DPS. The only support build with more DPS is Alac Untamed, and Untamed is busted af.

Learn your benchmarks before spouting nonsense: https://snowcrows.com/en/benchmarks

That's what im saying. Only 11th for glass cannon is kinda underwhelming. Also second strongest qdps build indeed, but brings less boons than nr1 and nr3 + no superspeed/boon extension of etc. How many harbingers have u seen lately on your squads? Its basicly missclick. If you want dps, there are 10 better options, most of them have better sustain. If you want qdps then herald, fb, scrapper and chrono usually are all better options cause more boons + extra stuff they bring to table. 

Edited February 8, 2023 by xfayrox.8146
Bad grammar sorry

[Malus.2184]

17 hours ago, Sobx.1758 said:

Are you really complaining about forgetting to use the follow/attack buttons here? Seems like it's on you, not on the passive or mech being set to ranged. At this point, when you're moving longer distance, you move the mech with you, that's all. It still loses as much as melee.

I see you live outside objective reality. This is the sequence that happens in the objective reality.

Ranged mech

1. I order the mexh to attack the target. The mech attacks from way outside the range of Mechanical Genius.

2. I call the mech. The mech AI decides that it should get closer to me and stop somewhere in Narnia. It begins attacking.

3. I have to call it again, it may decide to move to me, else repeat.

Step 2 and 3 causes a DPS loss as it's unable to attak while moving. Letting it stay also causes a DPS loss since the mech loses stats as it's outsidethe range of Mechanical Geniuis.

Melee mech

1. I order the mech to attack the target. The mech moves to the target and is inside the range of Mechanical Genius.

Notice the fewer amount of steps? Because there's only one step there's a lot smaller loss of DPS.

[Sobx.1758]

37 minutes ago, Malus.2184 said:

I see you live outside objective reality. This is the sequence that happens in the objective reality.

Ranged mech

1. I order the mexh to attack the target. The mech attacks from way outside the range of Mechanical Genius.

2. I call the mech. The mech AI decides that it should get closer to me and stop somewhere in Narnia. It begins attacking.

3. I have to call it again, it may decide to move to me, else repeat.

Step 2 and 3 causes a DPS loss as it's unable to attak while moving. Letting it stay also causes a DPS loss since the mech loses stats as it's outsidethe range of Mechanical Geniuis.

Melee mech

1. I order the mech to attack the target. The mech moves to the target and is inside the range of Mechanical Genius.

Notice the fewer amount of steps? Because there's only one step there's a lot smaller loss of DPS.

As you've noticed in your initial post:

23 hours ago, Malus.2184 said:

- This is more for Power Mechanists. Ranged Mech Commands stops the mech dead in it's track.

While the mech movement can be junky (looks like it can be partially due to it trying to predict your movement so when the player stops, it can zoom past you), you can mostly get around it by better timing the attack command. Call the mech to yourself and don't wait for it to stop, make it stop by telling it to attack your target.

Not sure how or why you came up with that "live outside objective reality" remark just because I commented on "forgetting" when you wrote about "forgetting" as if it's supposed to be a valid reason for anything. I also don't know why you responded in the way you did altogether, ending with "notice the fewer amount of steps?" -were we talking about "steps"? How is this supposed to be responding to anything here? You can have more steps and still not lose more uptime of the boon, you understand that, right?

Edited February 8, 2023 by Sobx.1758

[Thomas.8759]

Ranger "Call of the Wild  " Defiance break " have range 240 only  . Its just to close to a target . To use it one have to be standing in the face of a target .  Please expand some distance on that . As a example :  I'm using in my build Short bow / Axe + War horn .  In order to break Defiance bar on Boss  ,  I'm using Short bow #5 ,  Pet - Gazelle ,  and I have to run up to the face of target just to use "Call of the Wild " .Than after that I have to run  away to make up some distance  again .  How weird is that ? That War horn 240 is not  good in my opinion. Way to small radius  .  If war horn on Ranger  meant to be defense weapon only  , that  "Defiance break " is not need it there , but it will make Ranger unable to break Defiance bar on any Boss .On the other hand if war horn meant to be offensive weapon , one shouldn't run up to the target just to use this one skill  and try to ran back after that cos is using range weapons . That's why I would like to see some adjustment to that , please.   Thank You for Your time reading this .

[Bariel.3562]

Please do not introduce the mantra changes, there was never anything fun about precasting them, it was annoying in PVE to do when map swapping but even worse in WvW where forgetting could get you killed or lagging behind the group as you're having to precast before you can mount up. 

It'll be worse now with mantra of liberation only having 2 charges in WvW and being required so much as a stun break with the amount of CC and reductions in stability uptime. 

[ElmerFudd.5928]

Would like the Mech underwater skills fixed, among a few others, not so fun in fractals.

 

[SleepyBat.9034]

On 2/2/2023 at 6:19 PM, Rubi Bayer.8493 said:

In competitive modes, we're taking another look at improving bruiser scrapper builds and bringing back one of its more iconic defensive traits in Rapid Regeneration.

If you want to increase Scrapper durability I think the best way to do that would be improve the synergy between Scrapper and Inventions. Honestly the Inventions trait-line needs to be looked at in general as many of the traita are out valued.

[FelsPinguin.5902]

On 2/4/2023 at 11:22 PM, Mivikon.2701 said:

If a thief can outrun a warclaw you know its not right.

 

As a Thief Main who made a build with the sole purpose to be faster than a warclaw Rider i can tell you: on the long distance no thief is faster than a warclaw. You are only faster if you switch between warclaw and your Thief shadowsteps constantly.

[CrunchyK.5208]

Excited to try out the necromancer dagger changes! Will other necromancer power weapons be looked at in the future for PVE? In particular, the axe and focus

[meowmeow.9125]

Seems i really needed that one little incentive as the Shadow Meld nerf is, huh
Good luck to all the numerous fellow DEs left in sPvP overperforming these days, in particular to the prideful Garrote and whoot
Thanks to the dev team, since feb 2019 it was the healthiest game to imagine, with only one thing being able to have less health issues than it, but judjing by the trajectory it's a matter of time only
Delaying this moment for so long, i feel like being a clown - and a circus long gone
Whatever
It's a BB

[Asra.8746]

Nobody, who is actually serious about proper build optimization, will be using the new Signet of Power trait with its 1 initiative return (in all gamemodes) - yet another dead trait for thief. The current trait is better than this joke for the simple fact that it gives 20% cd reduction to ALL associated skills (keep reading). Twin Fangs is infinitely better than both the Major traits (in all gamemodes) - this will not change post patch.

I find it absolutely hilarious (as it shows utter cluelessness) that the balance team purposely (they admitted as such on stream) left out not reducing the cds of the skills that are more commonly used now without the corresponding cd reducing traits, considering now they will be worse with the trait post patch. So, whereas in extremely niche situations you'd use the current trait for the cd reduction, you basically get punished post patch because there's no reduced cd on certain important skills (which you want the cd reduction in).

People already use Trickster on certain niche builds; but, post patch, that 1 extra condi cleanse is not as good as reduced cd on Withdraw and Daggerstorm...and they left out both from the cd reductions. They also effectively nerfed Roll for Initiative by reducing the initiative/s from it for no apparent reason. Also, they didn't even reduce the cd of Lesser Haste from Burst of Agility - this thing is still a 60s cd trait in 2023...cause 3s quickness every 60s is clearly very OP (especially when it requires very specific positioning). Nice oversight - as expected!

The Keen Observer change should have also applied to Twin Fangs in PvE; but as usual, when it comes to Thief, the dev team is clueless and forgot all about its existence; half-kitten change, as expected.

Changing Swipe back to Steal is an actual nerf. 600 range is not better than unblockable...especially considering Basilisk has an actual cast time and has to be pre-casted. It is simply not as good.

Impairing Daggers will see higher usage in PvE from a niche community as it benefits cDD by an extremely small margin. However, the projectile speed, along with the animation delay all makes this skill still be god awful in anything but that gamemode. While on the same topic, they didn't even touch the cd on the other 3 skills: Bandit's Defense, Distracting Daggers, and Fist Flurry...and that's another joke in itself considering two of those skills are most definitely not a case of people using them frequently without traiting Brawler's Tenacity. I can't even recall the last time I even touched Distracting Daggers or saw someone else using that skill - yet, it's clearly very OP cause they didn't even touch it.

I'm not even going to touch on the Deadeye stuff because that elite spec is garbage and promotes garbage gameplay (and I don't mean "garbage" as in bad...but rather unhealthy and very poorly implemented) - I'd be more than happy with that spec being completely removed from the game and Thief being given a much better elite spec in its place. It's not like Daredevil is all that better though as an elite spec considering it's just Acrobatics (the old one), but better. Speaking of Acrobatics, we are going through yet another big balance change without that joke of a traitline being addressed at any level. The same applies for Preparedness and Trickery. That traitline is going to continue remaining a mandatory fill for 10.5 years - such great balancing.

I like how their solution to that atrocious thing called support Thief was giving Well of Silence condi cleanse on a 30/40s cd...all while the alac Specter needs to spam its wells off of cd to function. The other meme being Shadow Sap giving prot to one person and might in an AoE - that prot application doesn't even include the thief itself; no other support in the game applies boons to others and never to itself (sign of a kitten support...can't even support itself). Here's the biggest part of the meme: that skill is a power skill on a full condi elite spec - alac Specter is a condi build...the fact that they think people will use this skill over the other more useful 3 spam is a joke and just confirms how little the team actually understands the very class they helped build. If they wanted to make support/alac Specter actually decent, all they'd have to do is introduce something like apply AoE 1s alac for every initiative spent - literally a better implementation in all regards; after which, they can start thinking about other support-like options like their new Well of Silence.

Edited February 9, 2023 by Asra.8746

[Berking.1042]

THANKS FOR THE UPDATE DEVS ^^

I saw lots of critics in the reply, bunch of harsh one too. I can relate how stressful it is to "balance" a game this big and please lots of people. Rough as it seems, I know you guys can bring the best for this game. Keep it up !

As ele main, I'm somewhat happy with the patch. But balance wise, I dunno. I only see the game in the perspective of 1/2 class not all.

If I may suggest, would be nice to get your reply in regard of these complaints. As a community member, I really love to get reply from dev team. After all, you guys must've read these critics and have some solutions planned right ? Maybe, might be good to spill us some of those in the run. 

Again, tnx for the update ^^

[Moradorin.6217]

3 hours ago, Berking.1042 said:

THANKS FOR THE UPDATE DEVS ^^

I saw lots of critics in the reply, bunch of harsh one too. I can relate how stressful it is to "balance" a game this big and please lots of people. Rough as it seems, I know you guys can bring the best for this game. Keep it up !

As ele main, I'm somewhat happy with the patch. But balance wise, I dunno. I only see the game in the perspective of 1/2 class not all.

If I may suggest, would be nice to get your reply in regard of these complaints. As a community member, I really love to get reply from dev team. After all, you guys must've read these critics and have some solutions planned right ? Maybe, might be good to spill us some of those in the run. 

Again, tnx for the update ^^

tbh Im pretty sure they dont actually look at these posts much. At best they probably skim through one or two times before the final patch day. Im pretty sure they rely on streamers and other middle-man sources to know what is being said on forums or reddit.

 

 I too would love to see a response or some sign that they pay attention to this stuff. In either case, I suggest people continue to levy viewpoints in the forums, reddit, in game, disc. That is, I dont see any better method to use.

Edited February 9, 2023 by Moradorin.6217

[Zuko.7132]

On 2/3/2023 at 4:21 PM, Lightning.5740 said:

If Firebrands are able to get their tome refreshed upon respawning, why Catalyst can not have their energy refilled upon respawning??

It could be worse. You could be a warrior and not even keep any energy out of combat.

[CalmTheStorm.2364]

Please help me understand how Dolyak Stance (stability, reduced physical and condition damage, removes movement impairing conditions and prevents their reapplication) deserves a 40s CD, but Balanced Stance (immunity to critical hits, pulsing stab and swiftness) deserves a 50s CD?

[Solstice.5790]

On 2/8/2023 at 7:07 AM, Nimon.7840 said:

Sorry what?

Pls do the calculations and don't ask for completely unnecessary things:

Orders from above is 20 seconds cooldown. With alacrity that's 16 seconds cooldown.

So around 33% boon duration should be enough

Currently Orders from Above with Righteous Rebel gives 9 seconds of Alac, you can keep it up permanently (solo) with boon duration close to 80%.

I'm not sure if "around 33% boon duration should be enough" is meant in general, which does not work. Or were you talking about the upcoming balance patch, where that 33% alacrity duration might get added?