May 2 Balance Update Preview

[sigmundf.7523]

Another popular MMO also dropping big content patch on 2nd / 3rd May 2023, and this is the best Anet can do. I guess current revenue is more than enough to keep this company floating. I mean, man, as a company, don't you want your current "costumer" a.k.a players, getting excited so much and actually planning to invest more of their time and resources, just by reading the patch notes ? Even roping back players that have their interest gone in the game to be back playing GW2 ?

 

I wonder what can this company do to make such things happen, but I guess changing some numbers on dps meter / boon or whatever meter, is all they can do. Need to give some dopamine rush to player by giving em "wooooo my profession do 1,2k more dps now ! guess the boss gonna die 0,8 second faster ! " 

 

Do some shake-up will ya ? Don't be afraid on doing a radical overhaul for game-mechanic , or even adding / inventing something new. Thats why test server exists, no ?

[Kuma.1503]

I'm going to be honest. 

In my months of playing strikes, fractals, and raids...

I can count the number of Alac Willbender's I've seen on one hand. 

 

I thought "Hmm... No one is playing this build. Surely they'll buff it eventually". 

"Alacrity Willbender is overperforming. We're nerfing phoenix protocol"

 

L M A O. Calling this a "balance" patch is a joke. 

Edited April 22, 2023 by Kuma.1503

[DarkCobalt.2849]

In an effort to pull back the overperforming boon DPS builds, you've also targeted the general DPS builds as well with these changes. If quick-DPS Firebrand was a problem, why shotgun nerf a whole smorgasbord of burning traits and abilities that are used by Firebrands in general? This is a huge overcorrection and guts pure DPS Firebrand more than the condi quick one. The real solution would have been to reduce the quickness uptime and have the players build more boon duration or take Weighty Terms instead of Legendary Lore, not nerf Legendary lore into obscurity. But instead, we've decided to nerf all condi Firebrand builds of every form, when the DPS one (although overperforming by 2k DPS) is not that out of the realm of reason to begin with. (The condi quick one is way overperforming, but again gotta shotgun nerf the whole spec I suppose.) The same goes for Renegade. If you're going to nerf the standard Renegade abilities that are not related to alacrity then at least buff the trait that is in the same slot with Righteous Rebel. Instead, we've shotgun targeted all Condi Renegade builds. 

When you're a hammer, everything looks like a nail. This brute force style of balancing is going to create more problems than it solves.

Edited April 22, 2023 by DarkCobalt.2849

[zealex.9410]

I wouldnt say thief (power dd specifically) is in that great of a spot, ReMagic made a great post about its problems on reddit.

[zealex.9410]

34 minutes ago, Kuma.1503 said:

I'm going to be honest. 

In my months of playing strikes, fractals, and raids...

I can count the number of Alac Willbender's I've seen on one hand. 

 

I thought "Hmm... No one is playing this build. Surely they'll buff it eventually". 

"Alacrity Willbender is overperforming. We're nerfing phoenix protocol"

 

L M A O. Calling this a "balance" patch is a joke. 

Popular != overperforming 

[Bladezephyr.5714]

9 hours ago, Rubi Bayer.8493 said:

Thief

Thief is generally in a good spot, and we didn't see any major outliers that needed to be addressed with this update.

Anet, hi!  Remember when the game launched?  Thief was supposed to be the highest single-target damage in the game, and in recompense for that it had lower base HP and survivability, and virtually no (group) utility.    Well, it is no longer the highest single-target DPS spec in the game, but it still has those other problems.  Good spot?  What are you talking about?!

Edited April 22, 2023 by Bladezephyr.5714

[Burnfall.9573]

Thank You!  Anet for including WvW in the balance patch. 

"Appreciate the little things"

I look forward to June Balance Patch with WvW being included too.

You Have My Gratitude

Edited April 22, 2023 by Burnfall.9573

[Kuma.1503]

14 minutes ago, zealex.9410 said:

Popular != overperforming 

Yes, I've said this myself on numerous occasions.

 

But Alac Willbender is unpopular for a very good reason. 

The uptime is very unreliable. You need a target to hit and you need it alive long enough to generate enough of those hits to grant your boons. This makes it a poor choice for fractals or any other content with squishy enemies. 

 

Even in raids/strikes, If the boss moves too much (which they love to do in EoD content) you lose ticks of your AoEs and your uptime suffers. 

If they phase or go invuln at inopportune moments, uptime suffers. 

Get stunned, dazed, ect during your resolve? Uptime suffers. 

Need to kite away from the boss to do mechanics? Other alac givers can continue to keep the boons pumping. Willbender has to twiddle its thumbs and wait.

Jumping through those hoops would be worth it if you got top level performance as a result, but it doesn't. The damage and utility it provides doesn't make up for these issues.  

 

Instead of recognizing these issues and helping to make their alac uptime less punishing. They went the opposite route and made it more obnoxious. The literal exact opposite of what needed to happen. 

Edited April 22, 2023 by Kuma.1503

[Lan Deathrider.5910]

1 hour ago, Kuma.1503 said:

I'm going to be honest. 

In my months of playing strikes, fractals, and raids...

I can count the number of Alac Willbender's I've seen on one hand. 

 

I thought "Hmm... No one is playing this build. Surely they'll buff it eventually". 

"Alacrity Willbender is overperforming. We're nerfing phoenix protocol"

 

L M A O. Calling this a "balance" patch is a joke. 

Yeah it really is shocking what it is they choose to buff and nerf considering all the things we chatter about on the forums in plain view isn't it?

That Arc Divider nerf is out of nowhere, yet people are always complaining about Gunflame yet it escapes.

[Izura.3245]

I was hoping they address the issue of berserker duration thats heavily rely on rage skills to allow a wider choice of utility, and the lack of condi stacks on rage skills. Maybe they can increase berserk duration if we land a crit or smth similar.

 

And to also buff quickness banner build, so war specs can also provide some support to the squad properly while being on par with quickbrand or other alac proivders.

 

Imho war dont need another power build with berserker bcs they alr got the OP Spellbreaker and Lolsworn.

 

but oh well, buffs are buff I guess?

 

Also, the mirage alac issue Imho can be addressed by the clones generate longger alac compared to the original character instead of blatantly nerfing the duration. I mean they can make clone's ambush skills' version weaker why cant they make them stronger?

[Batalix.2873]

16 hours ago, draxynnic.3719 said:

Or one that competes with IH rather than making it even more indispensable.

 

Hard disagree. It's GW2 firebrand, not FF14 scholar, however much you want to turn GW2 elite specs into FF14 jobs.

I don't think it's good for the game to lock any elite specialisation to support as you've been proposing. People should have the opportunity to at least be able to take the spec into open world, have fun with it, and get to know how it works, rather than the spec having the druid problem of pretty much only ever being used for instanced endgame content and then presenting a steep learning curve.

I do think it's unnecessary for cfb to be a top-tier DPS in instanced content as long as condi willbender is performing in that role, however. As long as the other guardian elite specs aren't abandoned, it's probably fair to balance qcfb to wherever the target for DPS quickness with a bit of utility happens to be, and let cfb fall wherever it happens to land. It'll probably still be a good option in situations with lots of adds even if it doesn't have top-tier single-target DPS.

 

Hard counter-disagree!

 

I don't think it's good for the game to be trying to make it completely about DPS and DPS-support. I think that the feedback loop between players and devs that increasingly focuses on and prioritizes this axis leads to the eventual disappearance of features that make combat more rich and multifaceted. In fact FFXIV is a shining example of this slippery slope, where jobs are now practically only aesthetic variations on the same four-ish kits.

 

I also do not think, given the mechanics GW2 has to work with, they have enough space for 27 DPS especs to feel markedly different from each other. I do in fact think that a good number of the EoD specs are already demonstrating this problem. There are some very short continuums linking especs like Specter and Scourge, Willbender and Daredevil, Catalyst and Weaver/Tempest, etc. etc. Trying to differentiate a condi build for every new especs is wearing thin when you only have 5 damaging condis to rotate in and out--and did Mech or Virt *really* need condi builds in the first place?

 

So maybe for you, you don't see how homogenized the game is getting by converging every espec into the same DPS+ role. But as someone who pretty much only plays this game on Druid, Herald, and a deliberately non-DPS Scourge build anymore, these few "pure healer classes" are the only thing keeping me playing the game. And it astounds me that ANet is so afraid to lean into healer/tank design more when clearly (1) they have more than enough especs to afford that and (2) the alternative has resulted in this nondifferentiated DPS blob that was EoD espec design.

Edited April 22, 2023 by Batalix.2873

[GutsHero.2049]

Just posting to say that the berserker changes aren't enough for pve, pvp or wvw. 

The trait for exiting berserk should be baseline. Many people have posted about this and gone over it in detail on why it should be that way. Do the research. We DON'T NEED more damage. Zerk needs utility for all modes, damage on the move for all modes and something to help survive for all modes. 

Everything else just need a serious overhaul. BS, SPB and Core all have better utility and purpose.

I think some baseline weapon skills need some serious examining. GS 2 and 5 are the most problematic. Give GS2 something to work with; protection, faster cast time, cast while moving, SOMETHING to not make it so pitiful in all game modes. 

And War just doesn't have enough in their kit to be competitive on ALL specs. 

[Lion.6590]

11 hours ago, Rubi Bayer.8493 said:

Fixed an issue that prevented soulbeasts from remerging at the end of zip lines.

I don't know if it is too late for it, but can you try to squeeze in a fix for zip lines killing spirits, minions, summons, etc.

[Master Ketsu.4569]

"Stone Heart: Critical-hit immunity is now granted for a period of time when entering and exiting Earth Attunement, instead of always while attuned to earth. "

Bad change.

This means they get a period of "attack-while-defending" when swapping to a more offensive attunement. It has been proven numerous times that this leads to uninteractive gameplay, which leads to more busted builds that lack meaningful counters.

It should just reduce critical damage instead of flat out deny it. That's literally the only change it needed. There is nothing mechanically wrong with a trait that reduces damage, the problem with stone heart is that it just reduces damage way too much as it's basically 40~70% DPS reduction on a single trait ( Which is obviously busted when compared to similar traits ) hence why people complained about it.

Edited April 22, 2023 by Master Ketsu.4569

[Plushie Knight.4209]

The base necro changes are welcome; the Focus tuning is nice, and while the Axe buffs sound like a step in the right direction for me, I’m curious whether main hand Dagger for Necro could see any changes. It fits a similar niche to Axe, being primarily power damage (the 2 stacks of bleed are minor, and do more proccing increased strike damage in the rotation combo than by condi DoT) single-handed. I’m glad that power Necro is getting love, and Axe, but I’ve never heard the Dagger of being accused of being better than the Axe; I barely even hear about it as an alternative. While the Focus buffs work well alongside it, they also work well alongside the improved Axe.

 

Are there any particular reasons main hand Dagger for Necro isn’t seeing any changes that might pull it in line with Axe, and expand the options further from Staff?

[AquaBR.9250]

You did good increasing True Shot's cooldown last time and then you undo that because the DPS is low? If the dps is low increase the damage, im tired of having thousands of buttons to press every second, most weapons/classes are unplayable without a full signet build

[prototypedragon.1406]

Hiyas all, is the cornerpebble finally here ?

[Yerlock.4678]

Not enough buffs to bladesworn. I understand that blade has needed a rework for a long time now, especially with its F2 dragon stance skills, but for it to actually be usable in a important way in competitive modes it needs stability access in its kit.

 

It’s 4 skill while charging up dragon stance should give 3 seconds of stability in addition to aegis. That way the blade can proc stab to not be as severely vulnerable as it once was.

 

Tl;dr bladesworn is too vulnerable in dragons stance! It needs stability access in the kit of dragon stance.

Edited April 22, 2023 by gmmg.9210
Reasons

[zealex.9410]

2 hours ago, Bladezephyr.5714 said:

Anet, hi!  Remember when the game launched?  Thief was supposed to be the highest single-target damage in the game, and in recompense for that it had lower base HP and survivability, and virtually no (group) utility.    Well, it is no longer the highest single-target DPS spec in the game, but it still has those other problems.  Good spot?  What are you talking about?!

Not really that true either, since then its gotten multiple elite specs that do some of that stuff. That being said thief definitely needs more love, daredevil specifically.

[zealex.9410]

28 minutes ago, AquaBR.9250 said:

You did good increasing True Shot's cooldown last time and then you undo that because the DPS is low? If the dps is low increase the damage, im tired of having thousands of buttons to press every second, most weapons/classes are unplayable without a full signet build

Heavy light fb is quite relaxed as a build, an extra true shot every longbow loop wont break your fingers.

[zealex.9410]

1 hour ago, Master Ketsu.4569 said:

"Stone Heart: Critical-hit immunity is now granted for a period of time when entering and exiting Earth Attunement, instead of always while attuned to earth. "

Bad change.

This means they get a period of "attack-while-defending" when swapping to a more offensive attunement. It has been proven numerous times that this leads to uninteractive gameplay, which leads to more busted builds that lack meaningful counters.

It should just reduce critical damage instead of flat out deny it. That's literally the only change it needed. There is nothing mechanically wrong with a trait that reduces damage, the problem with stone heart is that it just reduces damage way too much as it's basically 40~70% DPS reduction on a single trait ( Which is obviously busted when compared to similar traits ) hence why people complained about it.

The idea is to shut down bunker builds having permanent crit immunity while in earth was worse than limited uptime.

[DarkCobalt.2849]

9 hours ago, Snow.4017 said:

Alacrity from Mirage should be a trait that competes with mirrored axes.

 

This is a good idea. The other two traits in that spot aren't very impactful in general and it would be nice to have alac be part of those rather than relying solely on staff ambush and staff clones.

[xXAleXx.7621]

16 hours ago, Rubi Bayer.8493 said:

Untamed

Untamed
 "Recorrido antinatural"   Desde la última vez que nos quitaron el teletransporte instantáneo nadie le kitten la utilidad.
Lo que lo hacía diferente al Untamed era el teletransporte instantáneo. Nos gustaría que regresarán ese estilo.

Martillo "

"Onda expansiva salvaje " Nos gustaría ver más agresiva esa habilidad y que en vez de inmovilizar tenga la oportunidad de lanzar por los aires como la habilidad de martillo del guardián Desterrar
Pet 
Tortuga de combate adolescente. Nos gustaria que también se pueda usar bajo el agua y que los disparos deberían ser al menos más rápidos.

Cañón de jade.  Es muy lento y fácil de esquivar, nos gustaria ver algo impresionante similar a la elite de nuestro holosmith " Rayo de luz primordial''   y que funcione de la misma forma cuando un Soulbeast  fusiona mientras derribe al menos a 3 o 5 enemigos. 
Fenix Adolescente.  Tiene muy poca vida y es muy fácil de matar
Aliento huracanado Nos gustaria que la habilidad  sea en una sola dirección de manera instantánea como luz primordial del holosmith
Hiena adolescente  Tiene muy poca vida y sus habilidades son muy inútiles .
Dracos 
Sesgo de cola. Tiene muy poco alcance y daño a comparación de Luz giratoria de nuestro Subyugador, nos gustaria ver mas  agresiva la patada giratoria.
Mordisquear Creemos que seria mas genial que se cambie por la habilidad 1 del  los draco  y al estar en soulbeast algo similar a escupir fuego como ''llama purificadora'' de guardián.

Edited April 22, 2023 by xXAleXx.7621

[Sleepwalker.1398]

Another preview and still clueless and no mention of adding 2nd dodge back on Mirage.

Looks like gonna take as long as it takes to delivery Alliance.

[xXAleXx.7621]

12 hours ago, Rubi Bayer.8493 said:

Untamed

Untamed
 "Unnatural route" Since the last time they took away instant teleportation, no one has been able to use it.
What made it different from the Untamed was the instant teleportation. We wish they would return that style.

Hammer "

"Wild Shockwave" We would like to see that ability more aggressive and instead of immobilizing it have a chance to launch like the banish ward's hammer ability
pets
Adolescent Fighting Turtle. We would like that it can also be used underwater and that the shots should be at least faster.

Jade cannon. It's very slow and easy to dodge, we'd like to see something awesome similar to our holosmith's elite "Primordial Beam of Light" and have it work the same way when a Soulbeast fuses while taking down at least 3-5 enemies.
Adolescent Phoenix. It has very low health and is very easy to kill.
Hurricane Breath We would like the ability to be one direction instantly as a holosmith primordial light
Adolescent hyena It has very little health and its abilities are very useless.
drakes
Tail bias. It has very little range and damage compared to our Subjugator's Spinning Light, we would like to see the spinning kick more aggressive.

Chomp We think it would be cooler if he switched to the drake's ability 1 and was in soulbeast something similar to spitting fire like a ward's “purifying flame”.