CURB THE BOON UPTIME IN YOUR GAME!!

[TheJmandude.1548]

I still remember when I was with two other people and we were trying to take down a Specter and what I believe was a support Scrapper. As soon as I got the Specter low they would just hop skip and jump away (meanwhile Necromancer takes 20 years to summon their Wurm) so I decided to go for the Scrapper. Immediately upon targeting them was face to face with an ocean of boons below their health bar that I had to try to whittle away with my one corrupt at a time abilities. As soon as I even landed one corrupt it was instantly boon converted. The worst part was that they didn't even turn around to face me. I couldn't even make the tiniest kitten in their defenses so they were able to straight up ignore me and focus on stun locking and keeping the Specter alive. Of course they won the fight and I'm sure they have it posted in a montage, somewhere.

 

I love not being able to interact with nonsense like that, and the community has the audacity to say that corrupts were the problem. Please explain to me how I'm supposed to perform my job as a Necro when I'm given a hammer and chisel to break a mountain.

Edited March 31, 2023 by TheJmandude.1548

[nopoet.2960]

We just need two more conditions! One that blocks you from getting new boons and another that prevents you from benefiting from the boons you have. 

[DeceiverX.8361]

On 3/30/2023 at 6:15 AM, Coldtart.4785 said:

It all started when raids were added. Stacking every kind of boon quickly became standard in raids and the entire game has revolved around being able to spam every kind of boon ever since. You can trace just about every bad design decision made since HoT released to the existence of raids.

Woah now, you might upset the 11% playerbase that even partakes in Raids.

It still baffles me they thought changing the design of the specs and how players work together needed changing by emphasizing boons in the name of high-end PvE.

Like, the combo field system required better teamwork and better decision-making, and if you need to fix DPS by a percent margin, all that really has to change is a global % damage modifier per class or some outstanding skills for raid instances only.

To decide to utterly trash on the design that actually made this game marketable in the first place made absolutely zero sense.

[Xenesis.6389]

On 4/3/2023 at 6:10 PM, nopoet.2960 said:

We just need two more conditions! One that blocks you from getting new boons and another that prevents you from benefiting from the boons you have. 

This sounds fair, considering they have resistance and resolution and aegis to block parts of conditions. But warrior winds use to block new boon durations, and then they nerfed that from 100% to 33% instead. So not gonna happen.

🤷‍♂️🍿

 

[Dadnir.5038]

On 4/4/2023 at 12:10 AM, nopoet.2960 said:

We just need two more conditions! One that blocks you from getting new boons and another that prevents you from benefiting from the boons you have. 

Just reading this I can already foresee the "Nerf condi! Condi meta isn't fun!" threads blooming all over the forum...

 

[Sandzibar.5134]

On 4/3/2023 at 11:10 PM, nopoet.2960 said:

We just need two more conditions! One that blocks you from getting new boons and another that prevents you from benefiting from the boons you have. 

No boon benefit condition + resistance boon + anet coding = game immeadiately crashes and deletes your operating system.

[otto.5684]

On 3/14/2023 at 3:42 AM, Alcatraznc.3869 said:

Having played a certain P2W Korean MMO, at least in GW2 when you get CC you have the ability to break out of it but you also have a boon to avoid getting CC unlike the said MMO where PvP is all about who can CC the other first and then you auto win because stunbreak or stability doesnt exist.

 

That being said, I do agree that this game needs more boon removal, both in PvE and WvW (idk PvP )

Why would we want boon removal in pve? I get the boon complaints in pvp, however, boons are an integral system of most classes/elites design. And mobs in the OW did not complain. 
 

And hot take, boons is a good system. It adds another layer to manipulate characters power, allowing for more customisation. Sure, it is rigid in grouped pve, however, it works alright in pvp and other pve content. And wvw is a cluster kitten anyway. 

[AlPower.2476]

On 3/12/2023 at 1:10 PM, Lan Deathrider.5910 said:

There needs to be more mass boon removal, yet they keep nerfing if...

And classes than don't have much access to boon spam; but relies on one single or two boons to work good gonna be hard nerfed even more than boon spamers.

 

We should have no boon spamers on PvP

[JTGuevara.9018]

On 3/12/2023 at 5:15 AM, Arheundel.6451 said:

The balance in this game is a joke! You introduce a dodge mechanic and nobody cares, they just facetank the world on their permaboon builds!  Everything is boring AF to play against, not even on full skinny glass cannon build you can down these clown builds.. We started with a single stack of might on crit every 5s....and now people go around with 25 might, perma quickness, superspeed, perma protection, perma regeneration.....everything is an absolute joke.....100% braindead gameplay. Let's not even start on all this block, block, invulnerability for days...rotating distortion.....how did I end up here from GW1? The gameplay in GW2 is more imbalanced than a P2W Korean MMO nobody ever heard about!

Welcome to gw2's combat system. A lot of the boon-creep is foundational. First, from the action combat system. Insta-cast skills like support AoEs are all too easy to put out and stack without much cost. Two, the game, with the exception of some fractal instabilities, does NOT punish stacking whatsoever. Three, the Alacrity boon. THIS thing is basically the in-game equivalent of cocaine. It powercreeped the hell out of this game.

 

On 3/30/2023 at 6:15 AM, Coldtart.4785 said:

It all started when raids were added. Stacking every kind of boon quickly became standard in raids and the entire game has revolved around being able to spam every kind of boon ever since. You can trace just about every bad design decision made since HoT released to the existence of raids.

Pretty much. gw2 was better off without them. Dungeons/fractals were enough. All that was needed was support. But no...a lot of bored pve endgame folks from other mmos(and associated social media influencers) came HERE because Anet in all its wisdom dangled the "WoW experience" in front of them.

[Sandzibar.5134]

PvE is easy to balance by comparison.

 

The entire design is reduce boss hp to 0, whilst not dying.

 

If you remove the boon creep from the game and the PvE'er cant now reduce the Boss HP to 0 ?? 

 

Well you just reduce the total value of the boss HP till they can again.

 

Balancing pvp/wvw where the access to force multiplying boons is not fairly distributed across professions? Where not all boons are created equal in terms of worth and effectiveness? Then throw in boon generation creep that has occured expansion after expansion... then you get into the mess we are now in.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[MisterDizzy.4713]

Completely agree.  People talk about GW2 all the time how it doesn't have the "trinity", but it's actually much worse.  You need 10 mandatory buffs on every raid or CM encounter in addition to a tank and heals.  At least the trinity is only tank and heals + DPS. 

[RenneBright.2473]

On 4/21/2023 at 8:11 PM, MisterDizzy.4713 said:

Completely agree.  People talk about GW2 all the time how it doesn't have the "trinity", but it's actually much worse.  You need 10 mandatory buffs on every raid or CM encounter in addition to a tank and heals.  At least the trinity is only tank and heals + DPS. 

Yeah I mean, CM is whether you choose to repeat it or not every week. There are a few CM mechanics restricting the viable supports/tanks you could play, and exclude others sadly. DPS wants core stability/aegis (unless unblockable) for easily avoidable bosses' CC attacks because they don't want being interrupted and doesn't care about channeling skills timing. That's also how you can get insta-downed from not dodging at all in Fractals CMs for instance, because you expect your healer to carry you h24.

 

On 3/12/2023 at 10:15 AM, Arheundel.6451 said:

The balance in this game is a joke! You introduce a dodge mechanic and nobody cares, they just facetank the world on their permaboon builds!  Everything is boring AF to play against, not even on full skinny glass cannon build you can down these clown builds.. We started with a single stack of might on crit every 5s....and now people go around with 25 might, perma quickness, superspeed, perma protection, perma regeneration.....everything is an absolute joke.....100% braindead gameplay. Let's not even start on all this block, block, invulnerability for days...rotating distortion.....how did I end up here from GW1? The gameplay in GW2 is more imbalanced than a P2W Korean MMO nobody ever heard about!

 

I'm always having a blast, seeing DPS getting downed in W6's shockwaves, Sama's CM (not talking about the target of the red circle betrayal mechanic) or too lazy to dodge/pay attention Gorse's slam, VG's teleports, Deimos' Annihilate (pizza attack), Desmina's inner circle attack etc.
Let's not forget a whole wipe from Nikare's Enraged triple dash because everyone brain sleeps and doesn't dodge it xD.

Attack pattern & animation are the same, OTP DPS mindset being to expect the healer to carry them with the "uninterrupted" chain without looking at bosses' animation, and that is despite Qadim's/Sama's shockwaves being unblockable.

Edited April 26, 2023 by RenneBright.2473

[Pooh.6897]

I think the boon system inherently is very interesting, but i also agree that some boons are way too influential. I especially find quickness and alacrity the main offenders. Boons should be beneficial to have, but not mandatory. They can be used in interesting ways. For example timing a stability just right to prevent being knocked down in WvW. Delicate use should be encouraged more and spam should be made either impossible or heavily discouraged.

 I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. I think the game would become much healthier if alacrity and quickness were nerfed and all skills would get a tiny buff to compensate. Currently especs ride or die with the access they have to boons and i just dont think it’s a healthy path to be on at all

edit: i also think might is too much. I’d rather see the base power and condi damage values rise and might get nerfed.

Edited April 27, 2023 by Darth Pooh.5638

[oscuro.9720]

If you are struggling with managing boons, here’s some tips; 

1. Decide what boons are most important. 
For Warrior (my main) this is aegis and stability. Since Warrior relies on long-cast single hit skills and single target CC, those two boons can make an opponent feel opressive. 
For a guardian, aegis and stability are probably less impactful due to many multi-hit skills and a low reliance on CC. Guard may be more worried about Might stacking since they can’t tank many hits due to low health pool. 
 

2. Assuming you are tracking their dodges, utilities, and weapon rotations, kite out the periods of high-boon uptime that are problematic. 
 

3. Duel some bunker or support builds. 
This sounds like a stab-yourself-in-the-eyeballs level of enjoyment, I know. But fighting a bunker or support can help you figure out how they move when you do specific things, the patterns to their boon application, when they are vulnerable and when they are not. Etc. 

 

4. if you are struggling with specific classes, play the class. You’ll learn a lot. 

 

Once you get the hang of tracking the boon bar in addition to everything else, it’s not that difficult 🙂 

[Ya Ya Yeah.7381]

Just wondering from the wvw/pvp side of things.

It is getting closer to the June balance pass. Will they actually do something about the absurd invincible boon carry model, or do they leave the training wheels in place, or do they buff the training wheels?

I saw 2 people die the other day in a mega boon ball so probably going to nerf boon corruption or boon strips. 

My money is on they don't do anything to it at all. In fact, I bet this balance pass will be very small.

[prototypedragon.1406]

Knowing wvw's luck we may only get pve updates 😂

[Kalthea.4326]

I've been saying for a while that quickness and alacrity need to be removed from the game because they're so mandatory for almost all content. They effectively triple your DPS by having just those two boons alone, and make far better rotations. Yet removing them is "too game breaking" and having them be permanent is also "too game breaking". I think just removing them and their corresponding condis would work much better in the game's favor in terms of balancing. You wouldn't have to constantly juggle class balance (animation times, cooldown, rotations) around having the boon up permanently.

[Ya Ya Yeah.7381]

Entire zergs (50 Players ) NOT PUSHING, until necro wells come off CDs. There is a boon problem Anet, on many levels.

Wake up! Pay attention to the WvW game mode!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[mizaru.1385]

On 4/29/2023 at 8:01 PM, Kalthea.4326 said:

I've been saying for a while that quickness and alacrity need to be removed from the game because they're so mandatory for almost all content. They effectively triple your DPS by having just those two boons alone, and make far better rotations. Yet removing them is "too game breaking" and having them be permanent is also "too game breaking". I think just removing them and their corresponding condis would work much better in the game's favor in terms of balancing. You wouldn't have to constantly juggle class balance (animation times, cooldown, rotations) around having the boon up permanently.

 

Yeah, the 100% uptime on those 2 is the real big problem. I don't understand why the devs gave them the 100% treatment, to the point that it is now a compulsory drug as the effectiveness of a squad with it is crazy powerful.

 

In every other mmos, haste is always a very powerful spell that can't be accessed 100% of the time, and is always used in well timed scenarios.

 

For something like quickness, they should make it so that it that it is something that is really powerful with a short duration, so that it is only used on certain boss phases as a "steroid" button for the team. This makes it more reactive and less of a "press every button off cooldown" quick Herald kind of style.

[Gotejjeken.1267]

The pendulum has swung from all corrupts nothing else casino / disco light meta of winds + scourge to...this.  All boons, all the time.

There's no fix here except a giant balance pass that removes most of the functionality on both the boon and condi sides; literally every skill / trait /etc. would need a look at.  

Since that's not feasible with the nearly 11 years of creep, what it seems they are going to do is just unlock all different build types.  This of course will not help anything, but if we don't see year 12 it'll give us stockholm types a reason to move on.  

[JTGuevara.9018]

On 4/3/2023 at 6:10 PM, nopoet.2960 said:

We just need two more conditions! One that blocks you from getting new boons and another that prevents you from benefiting from the boons you have. 

But then we'll need boons to counter those conditions...!