May 2 Balance Update Preview

[athorias.1380]

@Nimris.3781

 

power weaver got a lot to gamble. he is like a glass canon so his dmg is basicly all he got if he fights well jeah he is first if he fights not so well he is 50% of bossfight in downstate. so jeah...he didnt slipp under radar its just how weaver is 

[senftube.6081]

Thief in a good spot......HAHAHAHA. 👻 CmC really should play the profession for a couple of months....really.

[Demonas.1083]

22 hours ago, SleepyBat.9034 said:

Anet is not going to nerf cele gear even if it needs it so they might as well nerf the specs that need it. Renegade being one of them.

No , playing cele anything against it is the easier fix. 

Edited April 23, 2023 by Demonas.1083

[zealex.9410]

On 4/22/2023 at 7:10 PM, Dadnir.5038 said:

The current benchmark of the reaper is fine (35k dps). In fact this benchmark is what should be the golden standard (if anything other professions/specs should be brought down to reaper level of damage, not the opposite). This patch and the previous one merely inflat numbers that don't need to be inflated.

Reaper does not have life force generation issue, it's the top dps builds recommended that does. That's purely a player issue if you lack LF generation.

Shouts aren't weak, they just serve no purpose in PvE. They are designed for competitive modes, not for end game PvE. They are designed for fighting against up to 5 foes, not to fight a single foe. Increasing their damage will just make them barely compete against Wells while carrying a load a useless fluff.

The traits aren't weird. The issue is just that 2 traits (soul eater and Reaper's onslaught) are simply overpowered and nobody is willing to let go of them.

 

This patch solve 0 issue for the reaper, it just flat out powercreep the single build that's been used since they changed reaper's onslaught to provide quickness instead of increasing the base attack speed while in shroud. 6 years that they do the same thing. If they want to make reaper popular in PvE raids it's not by increasing it's damage output that they will achieve this result as the damage output is already more than good enough.

 

The whole game is powercrept buffing reaper to the same standard as the other options isnt a problem.

[Bazsi.2734]

On 4/21/2023 at 6:39 PM, Rubi Bayer.8493 said:

Thief is generally in a good spot, and we didn't see any major outliers that needed to be addressed with this update. We're working on some larger adjustments for the next update in June, including the goal of significantly improving specter support builds and introducing a quickness build for deadeye.

So eh... thief is in a good spot but significant improvements are in the works? What?

I'm thinking really hard to give some constructive criticism, but... you are not making it easy.

[Azure The Heartless.3261]

On 4/21/2023 at 12:39 PM, Rubi Bayer.8493 said:

Bladesworn

• Gunstinger: Increased ammunition from 1 to 2 in PvP and WvW. Reduced cooldown from 18 seconds to 15 seconds in PvP and WvW.
• Dragonspike Mine: Reduced cooldown from 35 seconds to 25 seconds in PvP and WvW.
• Artillery Slash: Reduced ammunition recharge time from 10 seconds to 8 seconds in PvP and WvW.
• Tactical Reload: Reduced cooldown from 60 seconds to 40 seconds in PvP and WvW.

This is fine. However.

Quote

Unshakable Mountain: Increased base barrier from 801 to 1,003 in PvP and WvW.

I would hold off on this. Bladesworn needs some more accessible cooldowns, yes, but I think you should avoid pushing this in the direction of immortality again until you see what the cooldown changes will do. Push this back a month. Bladesworn is already plenty sustainy, and changes to cooldown rate/Tactical Reload is an indirect buff to Unshakable Mountain already. A friend has mentioned concern about Bladesworn becoming overpowered then getting hit too hard for the trouble afterward, so take your time on this.

Quote

Arc divider nerf in WvW

pain.

Edited April 23, 2023 by Azure The Heartless.3261

[Lacidrutt.3678]

I guess you guys just don’t want people playing staff mirage at all? You already have to struggle to have 3 clones up, if they aren’t already killed. The only way you can even get good uptime is by focusing your ENTIRE energy and build to the Alac and dodging 24/7 and who wants to do that? Now you have to struggle making alac with the build being 100 alac focused. What a joke. 

[FalsePromises.6398]

On 4/21/2023 at 11:39 AM, Rubi Bayer.8493 said:

Soul Grasp: Increased power coefficient from 0.2 to 2.0 in PvE only. Increased base healing from 440 to 1,003 in PvE only.

Soul Grasp as a damage skill is a bit of a lost cause unless it can crit... well really, even if it could crit it wouldn't be too hot either. It needs to either be reworked into a non-casted chip/compounding damage skill (which would be a great boon and highly synergetic with the current use of axe to capitalize on its burst style) or it needs another gimmick to make it worth casting, not siphon or life force. Something like ripping a single boon, granting fury, maybe consuming a condition, etc. would make the skill perfect. If that's too strong in competitive, lock the effects behind health thresholds.

In its current state, it's chip damage, like Mantra of Pain, Lightning Strike, Arcane Bolt, Mantra of Flame, etc. and the one thing all those have in common is no cast time... yet Soul Grasp still has a cast. I don't think Soul Grasp will be worth actually casting for damage unless they do something unwise, and even then it's still a clunky skill to fit into a rotation of any sort. Soul Grasp's value is more a question of utility because Spinal Shivers is a utility pick (in PvE, at least).

Look at warhorn: Wail of Doom is a great breakbar skill and the flagship utility effect for the weapon, but against defiant foes it's moot... so you have Locust Swarm providing further complementary utility. Spinal Shivers cements itself as a utility skill (in PvE) with its iconic boon strip, so you need another complementary utility function from Soul Grasp to round the weapon out. Every offhander barring torch (mostly) on necro is a utility weapon for some reason, but focus still tries to grab this identity of a dps weapon when it has been explicitly nerfed away from it.

Edited April 23, 2023 by FalsePromises.6398

[zealex.9410]

1 hour ago, Bazsi.2734 said:

So eh... thief is in a good spot but significant improvements are in the works? What?

I'm thinking really hard to give some constructive criticism, but... you are not making it easy.

Specter and de are both in a good spot performance wise i reckon what ever changes they want to do are to usability/qol.

[senftube.6081]

1 hour ago, athorias.1380 said:

im maining thief. i play pylon / kite / sololamp / solo path in w3 and much more. so now tell me ...where arent we in a good spot ? 
im maining it for 4 years and its one of the most broken classes in terms of options you have. you can do so much. 
get over it you arent getting any buffs and thats it stop crying. and i tell you that as a thief main .. cause WE ARE in a good spot.
we dont need a nerf and we totaly dont need a buff thats a good spot for me stop beeing delusional 

everyone here trying to convince anet to change something on they spec they love....so pathetic guys ngl 

 

I do not care about PvE

[athorias.1380]

31 minutes ago, Yunari.9065 said:

I do not care about PvE

then you play the wrong game its heavy pve based. 
 

[coro.3176]

16 hours ago, AlPower.2476 said:

Arena net doesn't care any other spec of engi. Only Holo.
Core is almost useless in all game modes, doesn't matter if  his rotation is hard, don't deserve a buff like add more conditions on core skills.

Scrapper got high nerfs in base skills in order to nerf 1 build; they have killed every other build instead in PvP. Was too easy to nerf power grenades and buff conditions (fixing two issues: weak core and killing one shot steallth builds), nerf stealth gyro but buff defensive options like bulkwark. Their "bruiser build" doesn't exist. They added rapid regeneration only to hard nerf superspeed, again instead of made grenades a targeted option so no longer 360° attacks while superspeed. Instead of listen their community, they  have literally pulled nerf hammer on random skills (wonderful function gyro from 1.0 to 0.5). WvW Support deserved a nerf on superspeed, stealth and condition convertions to boons. But they hard nerfed healing either. PvE one is outshined by Firebrand in every aspect.
Mech had that easy build in pve and instead of buff kits and nerf the bot damage to force him to be a little more difficulty, they hard nerfed rifle. PvP Mech is a Joke. Only support one (PvE)is good; but they haven't fixed underwater skills on it.

 

All recent buffs on engi were almost holo focused. Tools buff was a Holo focused buff (too bad for them that Scrapper got good sinergy with tool trait either), and probly next patches will be nerfs on Scrapper until is dead (Every single build, no matter if the others weren't broken). 

"Oh, it's a pve patch w8 until june";  Scrapper is a bad designed spec; don't tell me that maybe they gonna fix it in 1 month more.
 

Core engi problems (competitive):

• There is very little condi support in any core traitlines. There's a bit in Firearms, a bit in Explosives and .. that's basically it.
• Engi condi application was nerfed hard back in the great nerf patch in a way that is incompatible with the current amount of cleanse. They halved stacks and doubled duration. In the current game, duration is meaningless. Eg. landing a point blank Blowtorch may eventually tick as much damage as a glass Soulbeast's Rapid Fire, but it would take literally 30 seconds to tick out at full duration. There's so much cleanse in competitive modes, no condition lasts more than ~3-5s. Thus, Blowtorch's power is only operating at 16% of what it should be, and it's a very close range skill, requiring huge risk
• Anything core can do Holo can do better. There's almost no situation where a build wouldn't prefer Forge to core's F5.

[coro.3176]

On 4/21/2023 at 9:39 AM, Rubi Bayer.8493 said:

 

Engineer

The focus for engineer in this update is improving the effectiveness of condition-based holosmith builds. We've also brought down a couple of overtuned damage sources in WvW, namely Photonic Blasting Module and Grenade Barrage.

 Core

• Grenade Barrage: Reduced power coefficient from 0.5 to 0.4 in WvW only.

Oh, forgot to mention Grenade Barrage. This is actually warranted. Grenade Barrage hits *way* too hard. With full might stacks, I can just run around and point at an area and everyone in it dies.

but.

Grenade Barrage is hardly the only skill like this in WvW. Many many other classes have skills that hit this hard just as easily. I support balancing the game. I don't support balancing the game piecemeal and leaving other things ridiculously broken (for months and months). What's the deal? Are you not aware of the other skills that hit that hard? If you like, I'll go through the wiki and list them all.

[Tiviana.2650]

nerfed pmech into the ground it dont even rank, but nothing for it i guess. 

 

Quote

. Power-based dragonhunter builds still aren't performing at the level they need to be to compete with other damage builds, so we've improved a few of their key skills and traits.

Umm what! They sit in the mid pack at 36k, how are you going to call that bad performance? They are above pzerker preaper pherald pDD, and in another galaxy from pmech

Edited April 23, 2023 by Tiviana.2650

[AlPower.2476]

33 minutes ago, coro.3176 said:

Core engi problems (competitive):

• There is very little condi support in any core traitlines. There's a bit in Firearms, a bit in Explosives and .. that's basically it.
• Engi condi application was nerfed hard back in the great nerf patch in a way that is incompatible with the current amount of cleanse. They halved stacks and doubled duration. In the current game, duration is meaningless. Eg. landing a point blank Blowtorch may eventually tick as much damage as a glass Soulbeast's Rapid Fire, but it would take literally 30 seconds to tick out at full duration. There's so much cleanse in competitive modes, no condition lasts more than ~3-5s. Thus, Blowtorch's power is only operating at 16% of what it should be, and it's a very close range skill, requiring huge risk
• Anything core can do Holo can do better. There's almost no situation where a build wouldn't prefer Forge to core's F5.

Yeah, plus you have to take 3 kits in order to be able to stack conditions so you can't choose stab sources, and only have 1 stun break. You end with a higher piano style even over Weaver, with kit swapping combos.

 

I'm used to play a build that can stack much condi, but is totally useless agaisnt guardians (except DH; but willbender and core have too much cleanse and blocks) almost all mesmers (between cleanse spam, blocks, evades and invulnerability) and tempest. Warriors have much cleanse spam either; but the biggest problem is their cc spam, thing that core engi can't afford due to 1 stunbreak and low movement.

fortunately is good agaisnt some "popular" classes like stealth bomb scrapper, catalyst, vindicator and even harbinger.
 

I'd buff incendary ammo in PvP by: Stun breaks if you choose juggernaut trait (firearms) and reducing its CD to 30 (PVP); reducing turrets cd on inventions when experimental turrets, improving grenades conditions and nerfing power coeff. +120 Condition damage PER PISTOL on chemical bullets (firearms), Streamlined Kits trait buffs (fire aura last more; superspeed improved on tool kit, and buff on Drop Gunk). 

 

Edited April 23, 2023 by AlPower.2476

[LucianTheAngelic.7054]

Untamed nerfs are out of touch. 
willbender nerfs are out of touch. 
condi Ren nerfs are out of touch.    
  mirage nerfs are out of touch.

Thief lack of changes are out of touch 

Edited April 24, 2023 by LucianTheAngelic.7054

[Avanil.2754]

Im fine with most changes but the one that bothers me , like many have posted on here is the Alacrity mirage nerf. You don't want ppl to play axe/staff, get really good dps for a support build and good alacrity uptime, I get it. But this isn't the right way to do it, so please dont nerf staff/staff build again. Instead why don't you add an un-removable 2 minute debuff to Infinite Horizon that prevents the mesmer from generating alacrity when an axe ambush is used. Or permanently if an axe is equipped. Or again one that reduces the damage potential of the axe when a staff is equipped.

 

With the restrictions a mesmer have with generating alacrity like needing 3 clones up at all times and being unable to do so out of combat, it should be easier to do, not harder. Every clone killed or every bit of downtime is very punishing on our alacrity generation. Ritualist gear isnt the solution.

 

Thank you Anet for letting us give you feedback.

Edited April 24, 2023 by Avanil.2754

[DarkCobalt.2849]

3 hours ago, Tiviana.2650 said:

Umm what! They sit in the mid pack at 36k, how are you going to call that bad performance? They are above pzerker preaper pherald pDD, and in another galaxy from pmech

Yes they are viable but considering that Dragonhunter's only purpose is to be a power DPS for Guardian, being only middle of the pack is simply not up to par. Power Reaper is also not up to par, neither is Power Daredevil (Deadeye is much better outside of a few niche utilities that Daredevil brings with Mug). Herald is primarily a boon provider with Vind being Rev's main power DPS. Mech is overall very flexible, having a power option is just an additional thing since Holo is Engi's main power spec.

Edited April 24, 2023 by DarkCobalt.2849

[xellink.7568]

On 4/22/2023 at 1:46 AM, Korbin.7134 said:

Sorry this: "For this update we've brought down the alacrity duration to require these builds to invest more in boon duration." is a joke. Halving the alacrity on mirage staff ambush attack after already nerfing it earlier by linking might/alacrity gain to clone count?

 

My boon duration is +85% and I could barely keep up alacrity even in those rare circumstances something was strong enough in PvE to survive for a few seconds while I had 3 clones out. That's with dodging pretty much nonstop and cleaving trash mobs to proc sigil of stamina.

 

Also, I hate that you've pigeon-holed staff mirages into needing multiple clones out for ambush attacks to be effective. It forces you into IH and clone-generating skills.

Well it's called a mirage. Clone generation is probably the intended play style

[Seneca.6319]

21 hours ago, lmao.7816 said:

All your complaints have something to do either with thief this blah blah, stealth this blah blah, counter counter like dude, Ele is on an actual pretty good spot right now, a good elementalist can stand a fight against anybody they got on their way, repear and harb are not easy at all to play against and if make a single mistake while fighting a good harb (even a mid tier one) you pretty much dead and tbh the changes on mirages are lame, it has been a while since they should have put some actual work on it and buff it to be on the spot it was before the bs nerfs (including taking the second dodge away) , but have you play Virtuoso? that's a one shooting machine if you get caught by surprise and can easily stand a fight against most classes if not all within a few seconds of preparation. You are free to cry as much as you want about thieves and the stealth but as you said yourself noone of the extra stealth or dodges makes you a better player, neither crying over stealth, dodges or asking to have all mechanics on classes you like and play just to counter stealth cause you feel it's impossible to kill a thief for you now. Out of offense, with all the due respect and even tho I find your reasoning very annoying., not even i used to cry as much over the same thing when the condi meta started. You just making pug players believe they gonna get better if either stealth gets nerfed or they get full countering stealth skills on their specs... So to rlly be done with it and be done with you i'm telling you what once was told to me me when i used to cry about what i found nonsense nerfs to my spec and nonsense buffs to others jeje get good, learn to play and if at the very end you didn't make it well that means you suck cause many other players have made it, i play every mode in game and i've seen them myself obviously. Not the best player but i've worked hard on my main class and that's why i feel free to say i deserve buffs. 🙂 Anyways, you free to cry over stealth, thieves and blah blah as i am free to cry over stuff i don't like on game (Including balance team) lmao be well dude.

Not even gonna waste my time with someone who brags about spending so much time perfecting his build :) To us, the players who rotate between classes consistently, developing our own builds and tweaking things to fit our play style it's a no-brainer that it's the most basic thing to do. Yet for you it's a major achievement. Bravo :) baby steps, we've all been there.

[Nimon.7840]

On 4/21/2023 at 8:45 PM, Jzaku.9765 said:

Berserker's Smash Brawler 15% Crit Chance buff is extremely unhealthy for the spec. You should already know this because:

Reaper has experienced the exact same issue for YEARS with the trait [Death Perception] and it was a constant pain point for that spec until Anet finally caved and fixed it on 28th June 2022.

It creates a situation where it's possible for your Berserker to lose Berserk, and not be crit capped because you designed your stat spread around having this 15% crit chance. 

It makes it so that the gap between "Permanently Raging Berserker with 5x rage skills" and "Berserker that wants to slot some utility" has now widened into a GULF. You are now forced to slot your entire right-side bar of Rage skills you spam off-cooldown for the Rage extension effect, ignoring their actual skill functionality.  This is a Topic I've started a discussion about here. 

 

PLEASE copy the functionality of the 2022 REWORKED [Death Perception] and grant the crit chance outside of Berserk as well.

While I absolutely understand (Necro player here).

I would like to ask, what uptime of berserk mode you have in a fight.

Necros problem was, that you only had around 50% uptime of that trait on golem.

Depending on encounter, the uptime could be more in meaningful phases, such as KC orb burst, because the phase wouldn't last that long.

So what is the uptime of berserk mode on a power berserker?

 

[Myror.7521]

Sooooo while Deadeye now get a quickness dps role. Does that mean you changed your mind? Remember Back then they said Something Like "every class should have one of both boons do able (quickness or alac)"

After Deadeye gain quickness and Specter gain alac you now will have 2 Specs with one of each of this boons given to teammates. While other classes Like warr could Not even hold 1 of those 2 boons (without not using Banners and loose hard dmg)

Its not that i wana cry about it buuut it confused me for Sure xd

Edited April 24, 2023 by Pati.2438

[zealex.9410]

21 hours ago, SoulGuardian.6203 said:

... and here's me requesting a normal dodge for mirage not 5 minutes ago, because I'm considering playing one again... and just read that it gets further nerfed.😂

I give up.

 

2 different issues, plus the nerf is in pve.

Edited April 24, 2023 by zealex.9410

[zealex.9410]

1 hour ago, Pati.2438 said:

Sooooo while Deadeye now get a quickness dps role. Does that mean you changed your mind? Remember Back then they said Something Like "every class should have one of both boons do able (quickness or alac)"

After Deadeye gain quickness and Specter gain alac you now will have 2 Specs with one of each of this boons given to teammates. While other classes Like warr could Not even hold 1 of those 2 boons (without not using Banners and loose hard dmg)

Its not that i wana cry about it buuut it confused me for Sure xd

Guardian, mesmer, revenant, elementalist etc i get that you have an agenda but just ask for warrior to be addressed thief the profession is irrelevant to it.

[zealex.9410]

6 hours ago, athorias.1380 said:

@everyone who cry for alac mirage or QFB/CFB

 

why is noone talking about Alac willbender ? ahh right...cause he wasnt meta and you dont care! LOOOOOL metaslaves are all over to board just switch to another 1 from you 16 charakters you can still play the other op kitten like you metaslaves always do 

They didnt nuke the play style of willbender in the process of nerfing it like they are doing with firebrand, if i want to play condi willbender i can and its as fun as it was last time i played it.