June 27 Balance Update Preview

[Furball.1236]

On 6/11/2023 at 10:53 AM, Storub.5907 said:

Afterword

While thinking on this all for the last few days I have come to question the impact the boon-meta has on this game.

Is it actually a good thing that your performance is so massively affected by an effect that you cannot provide yourself, up to a point that your rotation falls apart without it?

Isn't this essentially the same as having a traditional holy trinity if playing without one role is so sub-optimal it will make people leave? Except in our case its an unholy pentagram of dps, alac/quickdps, and alac/quickheal, which means more than half of each group is set in stone.

Maybe it is worth considering nerfing the boons themselves? Cap Might to 10 stacks with each being flat 1% to damage? Make Fury give 5% of crit chance? Quickness and Alacrity being 10% increase each would still be noticeable, just not as absurd of a difference as it is now.

Optimized groups would still want all the boons anyway, but maybe it will no longer be the difference between doing 20k dps and 40k, while also bridging the gap in performance between players.

I also agree with this. Why do we need to rely on boons we cannot generate ourselves in PvE?

I also want to add the simplicity of boon providing. In case of most elite specs, the rotation to give out boons in the real encounters is exactly the same as the rotation you do in the golem room. There's not much need to react to what's happening around you. Use the same couple of skills in the same way in every fight. If the uptime reaches 100%, there is no room to improve. This is very boring to me.

I will like it if they reduce or even completely remove the effects of the offensive boons.

Edited June 13, 2023 by Furball.1236

[Midnytblu.2415]

It's called Heal/Dps Scourge, Not NERF SCOURGE !!!  Shred the June 27th Patch!

Edited June 13, 2023 by Midnytblu.2415

[Meva.8327]

13 hours ago, Anthony.8056 said:

Elementalist- I don't like the change to churning earth, I understand giving it more mobility, but it is a unique charging skill that is being replaced by similar skills. I like the expanding field aspect, why are you getting rid of the pulse and channeled skills in this game. Also, the skill is called churning earth not leap and smash. The skill that should be changed and looked at is earth quake because it has a boring animation and is not an earthquake. I have been waiting for a change to that skill forever a simple jump up and knockdown is very lackluster for a skill called earthquake.

I completely agree.

Churning Earth is my favourite skill in GW2. Aside of Meteor Shower, it is for me one of most iconic Elementalist skills. It was one of the 5 skills showcased when the GW2 devs revealed the Elementalist class 11 years ago: link here

Dagger Elementalists are known for their great mobility. Churning Earth is a great exception to this rule because, along with Meteor Shower, is the only channelled skill that requires the player to stay rooted for a few seconds. But the tradeoff is great, sacrificing movement and making yourself vulnerable in order to stack cripple/bleed on your foes and end the channel with (perhaps) the highest damage skill for elementalists. Moreover, coupled with Lightning Flash it is deliciously, beautifully devastating.

Unfortunately, everything since EoD boils down to "all classes are the same, just change the visuals and sounds". The new Churning Earth version is another leap, just like any F skill for the Windbender. Besides, a dagger/dagger Elementalist already has three leaps: Earthen Rush in Earth, Burning Speed in Fire, and Ride the Lightning in Air.

I am afraid we are going down the path where all classess are homogeneous and all everyone does is:

1. leap -> stab -> dodge -> repeat in solo
2. boon spam in boonballs

Edited June 12, 2023 by Meva.8327

[Arkeign.1037]

Heal Alac Scourge at the cost of Dps/Heal Scourge........that is a "No" for me. This patch will be bad for GW2 !!!

[Dahkeus.8243]

I've been stewing over the patch notes this weekend, trying to sort out my thoughts before responding.  There is a *lot* to go over, but I'll try to hit the big points from my perspective for feedback. 

The obvious one is that the Scourge trade-off for alacrity is way too harsh.  I get that heal scourge has been a sneakily strong build for a long time and giving it alac is dangerous, but it's still a class that can't heal.  If you want to nerf it for the trade-off, just reduce the frequency of rezzing.  Don't murder all the shade traits/abilities.

 

For berserker: I really don't get the change to Arc Divider.  I know the justification is the cast time is reduced, but it just neuters the burst.  I feel this change hurts class identity, reduces viability of power zerker in many situations, and tries to fix a skill that wasn't a problem.  Do not like.

 

For druid: I have seen both Mukluk and MightyTeapot's response, which has been curiously very different, but I tend to agree more with Muk on his feedback.  There's a lot of trade-off that I don't think Teapot has accounted for, especially outside of fractals.  At the very least, give the movement speed back somewhere, even if it's in a minor trait.

 

For Herald: I get trying to change the gameplay for providing quickness, but this seems to invite a lot of trade-offs that hurt heal herald without addressing it's core weaknesses (no barrier or aegis).  Without draconic echo, heralds will lose a lot of boon uptime and they will still have to swap legend on cooldown just to keep up boons instead of being able to react with what is needed from a legend at a given situation.

[Firebeard.1746]

One last comment: the selling point of this game is permanent progress. Metas should not shift super wildly in PVE and WvW. Like maybe the strategies that teams use in WvW should to keep it fresh, but it shouldn't be the case that gear and trait combinations that were super effective or effective suddenly become garbage. It's disappointing when i finally have time to play with my WvW guild and the build they told me was fine a balance patch ago when I played with them is suddenly garbage. This happened literally yesterday. 

A full set of ascended anything is around 300+ gold. That's about a years' to 6 months of play for a more casual player who doesn't understand the economy. Some exotic stat combinations are still really expensive ( think minstrels still is). YOu guys need to be very careful making all that time and effort into a character or build feel suddenly useless.

My biggest concern for the balance team is that because it's their "job" they'll just make changes to make changes to prove they're doing something without considering the time, effort and even dedication that some players have built towards builds and playstyles they're completely gutting. Most of their effort should be in the next system or enhancement being added to the next expansion and it should prop up playstyles people enjoy while buffing ones that seem to be underplayed or utilized. 

That's not to say there shouldn't be shifts in metas in PVP and WvW at all: they need to be kept fresh as there isn't much new content coming, but for WvW it should mean that group tactics should be shifting, not necessarily builds or most importantly gear. For PVP you can do whatever the kitten you want because there's no real investment when it comes to making a build there as almost everything is available almost all of the time. 

Also, please make the change to mirage cloak usability PVP/WvW specific. I don't know, I'm not sure that mirage will be as strong without that and I don't think mirages needed a PvE nerf. 

Edited June 12, 2023 by Firebeard.1746

[shinkamalei.2574]

I’ll try to break down my thoughts concisely if I can. This is a massive patch. I will preface with I do not play all elites (I play most classes) and am mainly commenting from a healer/support/tank view. I play everything but fractals (at least not consistently).

My big question is: why do you dislike range boon givers? Noticing this as a general theme throughout. I understand you may not want super range dps but you also hurt range boon givers which gave a lot fo flexibility when it came to mechanics… which you’re supposed to be aiming for – flexibility.
 

ELEMENTALIST
I think allowing Catalyst any attunement will help with quickness feeling less… focused and narrowed in on air. As someone who likes to mess around with different builds (not necessarily meta ones lol), this feels freeing. I am unsure if the 2 seconds will be good or if it should be 2.5 seconds. I think 3 would be too much with 100% BD.

Why did glyph of elemental harmony be the only one that gets inherent reduction? Most of them are HIGH CD. That trait was necessary for those of us who use them in open world or solo content.
I can understand the instant rez not being a huge CD reduction but all the other comparable skills are 75 seconds or below. I do understand that it’s hard because they are different types of rezzes, but you also need the skill and timing to pull them off.
Glyph of storms also should’ve had it. It’s not super powerful so maybe 10 seconds off.
Don’t get me wrong, the resistance is nice but perhaps sharing the boons? This could be of help to Catalyst and Tempest who are support or heal builds. Or… both resistance and share (I know, that’s too op but I can hope!)

Onto Arcane skills:
The shield should’ve been dropped to maybe 28 seconds. The main way I used it was as a tank for Deimos. It lined up with Mind Crush and also allowed me to time it as a commander. Instead of constantly having to constantly glance up at the top right, I could check my skill to see how long it’s been. I know Tempest has aegis now but it was one of those things that could be used to save myself instead of utilizing my one charge of aegis. It also could've allowed for Cata to tank as well.

I love the healing base increase because… it sucked. It sucked so much xD (Now, my own personal of what I would love but I know logistically and balancing wise it cannot happen is for this to heal others with any xyz certain boon on them. This is just to allow alternative builds more and not… really viable xD)

Tempest:
I’m still annoyed you took away my trait for movement impairing conditions. That was such a vital thing in PvP.

Aria will be a nice choice for dps I think… but… how viable is it to keep up that buff since the aura sharing is on water? Or are you intending for them not to have a long term buff aside from the damage trait?

Weaver:
Don’t play so can’t comment.

Catalyst:
Already said, ti feels good… but maybe not such a reduction… or if you do, you need to restore the ability to gain energy while a sphere is out. It is quite ridiculous to lose out on energy because of that. Like I feel extremely locked because of that.

 

ENGINEER:
Please do not change the range. It gave flexibility for so many mechanics in varying content. Is it a strong class? Yes. But it’s strong and allows players who are not strong or need low intensity builds to join in on content. But it’s also not the strongest. If you know it’s true complicated rotation… then it is up there but still not top.

Core:
Why? Why change med blaster? I’m happy for the indicator but it doesn’t need a nerf.

Most things are CD reduction and unblockable additives so, I can’t comment much.

Scrapper:
No. No. No. I like the idea of the use of finishers… but in practice this si going to be bad. The early devs of this game did not setup players to understand finishers and combo fields as a whole from base game. This is a bad idea. You guys added it to EOD… but like… kind of too little too late. Not current dev’s fault at all. Until this is more instilled in players (this requires a rework of beginning areas which costs too much $$) from the get-go, I feel like this is not the way to go.

If you want players to not be stuck taking full utility skills, up the seconds of boons provided (with full BD or 75% in mind as players will always min/max), or change the skills themselves and make it so with the trait it is elongated. Or… both. Change a skill to provide it and then the trait lengthens the duration (affected by BD). Or maybe add it a change to the toolkit somehow. There are many ways of going about this.

Holo:
Don’t play, can’t comment.

Mech:
See above. This is limiting too much.

Barrier Burst/Mech Core: My question is why? Why limit it and then why change it? I am not great with numbers so I’m not sure of what this is aimed at.
 

GUARDIAN:
No comments. I do play it but I don’t mind any of these.
 

MESMER:
I can understand the need for pvp changes. I’ve heard many many complaints from pvpers. Given that you said you’ll be keeping an eye on it, I think if it needs changing, it will be done.

Chrono:
I’m unsure of how this will work. I see alacrity and quickness changes to summoning phantasm which are a limited resource and I think are mainly done with weapons (let me know if I am wrong). If that’s the case, I might suggest some utils that are phantasm summoning. If not, then make sure in order to fall in line with us not forcing utils on people, that have freedom in our choices.

Well changes seem okay. I think that’s a test and find out kind of feeling.

Mirage:
The clone bleeding and torment is sad face but I don’t hate it.

Virtuoso:
Don’t play, can’t comment.
 

NECRO:
Oh boy, here we go. You want a viable support. At current state in live game it is a carry potential because of its rez power. It is PERFECT for helping new players learn mechanics. Has it trivialized boneskinner? Kinda yeah, but in comparison to the good its done, I say that’s okay.

So, what Necro needs for support is regen, protection, aegis, alac (because harbi has quick), and might. You’ve added might and aegis yes and regen in Well of Blood. Not the greatest source. You can’t reliably use staff because some bosses don’t trigger it. What made this class unique? It’s rez potential and barrier. I say okay on cutting down part of the barrier (would really rather not at all) but don’t cut down revive. At max, if you beyond must, Ritual of Life should be 5% not 2%. 2% is HORRID.

You could also make Quickening Thirst into a rivaling trait instead of dagger giving life force… It already does. Tons. Perhaps while wielding a dagger, you gain outgoing 10% healing and/or some amount of concentration. This would mitigate how much they can rez and you could leave Ritual of Life as is.

Life from death – Why change it?

What you should do is change life from death into something more… boon based (cough protection out of shroud cough). Then adjust vampiric presence. Essentially, boost the healing on this trait. That would act as a regen so you wouldn’t need to give it out elsewhere, or at max one other skill/trait.

Don’t touch transfusion. Just… no. Like, I understand pulling once but it is so important to be able to adapt. Sometimes there are multiple downs. This is just bad. And the revival pulse? No. Leave that alone.

Now onto one of the things that throws me the most:

Why are you cutting a core part of the identity of necromancer – boon corruption – out? That makes ZERO sense. It’s not super useful everywhere but it has its niche spots. Leave that alone. I know added boon removal to signets of suffering would mean ton of boon removal, but you can adjust that for pvp and wvw as needed. I am legit angry about this change. This feels like you’re trying to make necromancer out to be something it is not. This just narrows what necromancer can be. You are trying to broaden people’s choices but this feels like it’s narrowing it.

ONTO SCOURGE:
This says “replacing Feed from Corruption”. What is going in its place?

I will start with positives. Fine with Desert Empowerment only affecting 5 and only from the Shade. Totally okay since this has been done to all classes.

Love the CD reductions.

Love Serpent Siphon but mukluk had a great worry – what is the travel time or animation time for this “serpent”? That could be a massive difference in whether this can be used or not.

Now… Sandstorm will be the main one in the middle column… but again, what is replacing Desert Empowerment? Or are those two swapping? I think instead of swapping those two, swap Sand Savant and Desert Empowerment. Personally, I would take Sand Savant over Sandstorm Shroud whereas an alac dps may do the other. Or you could put MINIMAL alacrity on Desert Empowerment and then the true trait on Sand Savant.

Sand Savant is also where you could put the increase healing from above instead of changing Quickening Thirst to a rival trait. Or perhaps that the large shade gives protection. Supports need a reliable source of protection. Spectral Ring sucks. Plus you want people to be flexible in what they bring so that leaves 2 utilities since there are more ways of giving might with all of this. This would also make it so a healer would have to choose between more alacrity with Sandstorm or more protection/boons for the group.

DO NOT CHANGE THE LENGTH OF THE SHADES TO 8 SECONDS. Just no. No x10000000000000. This does not work. This is spamming which you are moving away from. Just no. It makes the playstyle feel terrible. I don’t care if we have alacrity. Change it to something else.

With all of these changes, Nourishing Ashes is going to be left to the wayside. You could use this as a repurposed pvp skill, change the skills in col 1 to be a heal/support skill>dps skill>pvp or alt skill for support dps.

Harbi:
Why only in PvP and WvW? This does not make sense.
 

RANGER:
Nice to see CD reductions and changes although I’m curious why only 2 traps?

Nature traits
Most look good but I am wondering if Windborne Notes will cause a lot of over healing? Not necessarily a bad thing, just want to note it.

Nature’s Vengeance sounds great especially for boon givers. I can’t say for sure because we don’t know what they’re changing to.
 

Druid:
Mukluk said it best to the changes that we are going to have to spam CA for alac upkeep… which nullifies intent and skill usage of the class. We won’t be able to save it because we have other things to do. Perhaps give it to glyphs and do as I suggested with Scrapper where a single skill gives it or you can use a trait to make other things give small amounts while combo’d with the big skill.

My big thing with grace of the land: WHY IS THE ALACRITY TRAIT COMPETING WITH A HEALING TRAIT? This happened to warrior with quickness (martial cadence) and tempest (lucid singularity). Please stop. Tempest is enough. Don’t do this to druid too.

Thanks for the might on the CA skills.

Thanks for Glyph of Equality giving stab outside CA.

Don’t change Natural Balance. Stop. Don’t do to druid what you did to tempest.

 

Soulbeast/Untamed:
Don’t play, can’t comment.

 

REVENANT:

Herald:
WHY ARE YOU FORCING ME TO SWAP LEGENDS INSTEAD OF LETTING ME USE THEM AS NEED BE INTUITIVELY AND FOR WHAT PURPOSE I NEED? Like… you guys claim to be doing these balance changes to make things more free and allowing us to choose our playstyle more… but this makes it so much worse.

I get angry with this because it is nonsensical. While the original way is spam and move on… it’s much better than this. I at least feel free to use my other legend for whatever I need it for.

Vindicator:
Don’t play, can’t comment.
 

THIEF:
I think… there’s so much to this, I don’t know if I have it in me to cover so I am going to ask just a few things….

Why is Detonate Plasma removing quickness? In lamp, they need that. Why are you NERFING such a niche class of boon DD?

Why is Steal Time from the player? It should be from the target so if people want to, they can play range. Please let people play range boon givers. Look at mech. Look at Cata. Look at current druid with spirits. While it sucks if you’re not range, it allows varied playstyles and freedom.

Why must I be in shroud to give alacrity as specter? Unless you give us better shroud generation or less degeneration while in shroud, I think that needs to not be our only source.
 

WARRIOR:
Thanks for soldier’s comfort.
Thanks for CDs.
Thanks for access to resolution easily.

Berserker:
Don’t play, can’t comment.

Spellbreaker:
Can’t you please for the love of god stop touching winds? Everything you have done thus far has given more boons in WvW. We need to step away from the boon balloon. Or have more ways to break it. You removing Spellbreaker’s ability to do so is beyond frustrating and annoying. Ditto to your changes you aim for for necro. Please enough.

Not sure where to put it yet because I have been writing too much, but please give spellbreaker alacrity. Not bladesworn. Make spellbreaker your support. Bladesworn is a pure dps. Berserker should be either dps or support dps.

 

Bladesworn:
No alacrity. None. Stop.

Edited June 12, 2023 by shinkamalei.2574

[Meva.8327]

There is a always a lot of backlash when skill updates are out.

Unfortunately, the backlash is totally justified. Whenever there are skill updates, it always feels like the GW2 devs do not really play their own game.

Moreover, many changes place players on one side or the other, hating or welcoming the new update.

I believe that, in this Age of Information and Data, ANet could and should base their decision-making process on hard and real data, not on whimsical ideas, good intentions or pure theorycrafting.

Like other games, ANet could implement tests to scientifically assess the effects of a given change. It could be just a weekend with a an optional test or matchmaking.

Examples of tests that I would implement, if I was given the chance:

1. Want to give back 2 dodges to Mirage but they can no longer evade when CC'd? Have a "new Mirage dodge weekend" in sPvP where you always place at least 2 "new Mirages" on every side, every match.
2. Want to see if alacrity Scourge is more desirable / balanced than res-heal Scourge? Have a "No res Scourge weekend" in a given raid where res Scourge is meta.
3. Want to see if players in WvW want more or less boon strips? Have a "no-cooldown boon strip weekend" in WvW followed by a "no boon strip weekend"  and see the reaction of WvW players, both boonball lovers and haters, ingame and in forums.
4. Do you think Alacrity and Quickness are great, despite the forum actually asking for the deletion of the two? Have a "no-quickness, no-alacrity weekend" in all game modes and see how all players behave ingame and react in forums.

 

Edited June 12, 2023 by Meva.8327

[FalsePromises.6398]

I know I've already made a few posts about scourge here, but I really thought hard about it and thought up a list of pros and cons to the new alacrity model on scourge, and scourge as a support in general: 

Pros: 

• Gains alacrity, aegis, and fury
• Barrier is a little more consistently applied

Cons

• Nerfing burst barrier in favor of passive barrier upkeep (to make mechanist's copied barrier model work on scourge) reduces the capability of scourge to use barrier to preemptively absorb big hits
• Shade duration reductions to "reduce target cap" of shade skills inadvertently nerfs dps scourge's stat bonuses from per-shade minor traits (Sand Sage and Blood As Sand granting 75 expertise/concentration and 5% damage reduction per shade) as well as reduce dps scourge's area damage capabilities.
• The alacrity trait conflicting with the radius increase on shades from Sand Savant makes scourge the game's first 180 radius alacrity support (Lord have mercy). Bonus points: you need your teammates to be standing evenly dispersed inside two 180 radius circles for it to cover them properly, since each shade can't hit more than three people. There's even boss mechanics in this game that aren't THAT strict positioning-wise. 
• Transfusion nerfs remove the capability of scourge to preemptively or continuously save allies when a continuously lethal mechanic is present (e.g. Whisper of Jormag chains/orbs), so why not just pick druid or tempest for instant revives instead? Druid is the only class left with a preemptive revive-pull skill via Search and Rescue. 

There's three important parts of a support scourge at the moment: continuous ally downstate teleports, burst barrier to counter heavy hits for the team, and sand savant enhancing the radius of shade skills to cover the team easier. This change erases all three. 

You might be thinking scourge's transfusion is really strong, but it's a valid niche that people rely on, and makes scourge useful because of it. Making them trade transfusion's usability for alacrity is telling necromancer "you can't have boons AND a strong role", which is incredibly unfair in light of things like revenant's total projectile counter with Ventari's bubble, druid's powerful knockback and rooting, chronomancer's blocking and tanking capabilities, etc. Transfusion is not an issue. 

A better option that dodges ALL of the problems proposed by the current changes is to tie alacrity to regeneration applications, and then push just a little bit more regeneration quirks into scourge traits, e.g. area regeneration around you for five targets when you cast Nefarious Favor. This makes well of blood even more useful all around, and since regeneration on necromancer comes from staff too, you'll have a great foundation for the mechanic that makes less used weapons more useful. Tie alacrity-on-regeneration to Sand Savant and bam you've got a perfect model. 

Edit: please also do something about Trail of Anguish ally coverage. It needs a burst of stability in an area on cast, instead of having to run around inside a stack to cover allies with it. General usability improvement, that would be. 

Edited June 12, 2023 by FalsePromises.6398

[SummonMinion.7306]

What I like:

"Quickening Thirst + Life Siphon Changes"

Anything to buff MH dagger and dagger's usability in general in competitive game modes  is appreciated. 

"Signets of Suffering now removing boons"

Anything that adds more tools to counter the brainless boon spam kitten meta is greatly appreciated. Sad to see that many niche builds around its current functionality will be disappearing, but I feel like the addition of more boon counter play on necro results in either a net even or net gain for necros in competitive game modes. 

What I dislike:

"Well of Blood: This skill now applies regeneration with every pulse."

This is an unnecessary nerf. I understand the need to tone down scourge's rez capabilities but this could've been done by reducing baseline heal and scaling instead of turning it into pulsing regen. The nerfs to Ritual of Life and Life from Death were arguably justifiable but reworking Well of Blood is an overreach. 

"Banshee's Wail: This trait no longer increases outgoing healing."

Unless Locust swarm gets buffed to the point of being usable in anything outside of PVE or this trait gets buffed to do that same change, both WH and this trait will continue to be ignored since WH will continue being half a weapon as WH4 is the only useful part of the weapon. A 24 sec CD for a singular application of swiftness is weak (all other aspects of WH5 are unusable and have such little impact in competitive game modes that they might as well not exist).  

"Enfeebling Blood and Lesser Enfeeble no longer corrupting boons."

Please don't give players the bs excuse that you're still trying to "balance" boon application vs boon removal in competitive game modes. You've consistently nerfed any and all counter play to boon spam while continuously bloating more skills with more boon application. We're not idiots like the mentally handicapped dev(s) that thought and continue to think that the changes to Locust Swarm were good and its current state definitely doesn't need a complete overhaul.

"We don't want there to be a bunch of tiny packets of boon rip/corruption spread across a bunch of different skills, but we're totally okay with continuously adding a bunch of boons to these random skills. Boon rip/corruption should be dedicated to certain skills only so that there's counter play and players can avoid it, but we don't wanna apply that logic to boon application so players can continue to boon spam without thought."

To anyone with the counter argument about the Signets of Suffering trait now having boon removal: 1) It'll probably be a worse version of it's past iteration and will only remove a single boon as any more would be "too much counter play against boon spam builds both in smalls and large scale fights". 2) Only one of the signet skills hits multiple targets.

Signets of Suffering did little to counter the boon spam meta back when its boon corruption functionality was initially implemented and will do even less now with the far greater boon spam present. I'm fine with the return of this trait having boon counter play but not with removing boon removal/corruption options in other areas (Enfeeble and Lesser Enfeeble). It's 1 step forward two steps back when it comes to countering the boon spam meta no one enjoys. A weapon with boon counter play can be implemented into any build but Signets of Suffering locks boon counter play behind a specific set of utilities under a specific trait line and trait.  

[mirage.8046]

I am happy to see alacrity and quickness being tied to profession mechanics or specific weapon skills thanks to traits; unfortunately, the boons are being given to specs that unthematically don't work with them. Alac bladesworn is a very weird idea. Even though you're supposed to generate a lot of flow, this will not only work in combat, but you're gonna grant alacrity every 6s at least with full alacrity uptime. then you have to build up flow quickly to give more alacrity uptime. Alacrity and scourge don't go together. How is time reduction coherent for a spec that is all about sand and barriers?

This power spec reaches 40k dps already. Tying boon support to extremely high specs IMO is gonna cause a massive number of nerfs, like what happened to Firebrand last year. 

Tbh, I would not mind if druid's might generation were tied to a minor trait, like in addition to live vicariously or natural mender. Druid is not gonna cap 25 might on its own without other people stacking it. 

For WvW, I don't buy that boon removal should be cut even more. There's way more boon application than before, and now boon removal is getting nerfed. If this patch goes through, we still won't even keep up with the boon application with the current number of strips and transfers. Either reduce boon duration from skills or traits; or increase the boon removal if boon application stays prevalent. 
 

I'm concerned about what uniqueness virtuoso will have with f5 becoming a typical f1 or f2 shatter. This whole spec needs a rework as it is, from the skills to projectiles, to the dagger, and to bladesongs. Tides of Time won't grant alacrity and quickness anymore it seems unless it gets them baseline again lol. 

Overall I'm worried these new alacrity and quickness options will not only be clunky, but not even available in competitive modes because of high uptime of these boons. If both of these boons are gonna stay, I'd rather see more ICDs on traits that grant quickness and alacrity, or just reduce their durations in WvW and PvP. 

[Crey.5263]

2 hours ago, shinkamalei.2574 said:

What you should do is change life from death into something more… boon based (cough protection out of shroud cough).

Death Magic has a trait that gives party protection.

[SummonMinion.7306]

Btw, thanks Anet for finally proving to everyone that you don't play anything besides PVE and have zero clue about the state of the game in competitive game modes with this recent balance concerning boon application vs boon removal/corruption. Not only did you manage to kitten off the players who main boon strip classes like necro or spellbreaker (that's an expected reaction), but you finally managed to also kitten off the players who main those boon spam builds (wow imagine how many times/how hard you have to kitten up for that to happen). 

You should really consider having your next studio project be an auto-battle PVE gacha game since you've shown everyone you're unwilling to play/look at competitive game modes and your "balance" team keeps trying to turn everything into brainless skill spam gameplay. I mean who needs to care about movement, positioning, or skillful timing of skills when everyone can kitten out every boon in the game with 100% uptime and no counter play. It's all good, who cares about being punished for misplays since you can ignore everything if you have all the boons. Just hold the w-key and slam your face against all the other keys so your other hand is free to do whatever because you no longer have to be looking at the game to play effectively. 

[Eloc Freidon.5692]

What is the purpose of removing skill activated revives on downed allies. Changing all those Necro skills and Specter's Shadestep.

[HonesltlyX.7164]

On 6/10/2023 at 10:02 PM, Myror.7521 said:

@HonesltlyX.7164 your wrong sir. Or at least a Bit. GS will be still worth it using on Berserker. The only difference in at least instanced gameplay will be that its Just a 5 seconds Loop instead of a 7+ Seconds one. You could see it like a faster dps Rotation. Tho in Open World or better Said as long as you Camp on Greatsword longer than 5 Seconds it is indeed a nerf. Out side of this the Skill itself will not only fit better to the "big fast burst" theme Berserker runs but also though PvP where you could get your Channel skills eziliy get interrupted. 

 

Though the Animation one Well okay thats Just Personal opinion i gues.

I disagree they not only reduces the number of strikes but cut the overall power in half. It's not gonna be worth using.

[shinkamalei.2574]

34 minutes ago, Crey.5263 said:

Death Magic has a trait that gives party protection.

I don't see it. I see carapace and self-defense abilities. Not group protection

Here is the Death Magic Line

Soul Reaping has a single trait for protection when entering shroud but it is self.

Edited June 12, 2023 by shinkamalei.2574

[Merloin.4816]

24 minutes ago, SummonMinion.7306 said:

Btw, thanks Anet for finally proving to everyone that you don't play anything besides PVE and have zero clue about the state of the game in competitive game modes with this recent balance concerning boon application vs boon removal/corruption. 

I doubt they even play PvE properly. It is as messier as WvW (I play both gamestyles) with all the boons and whatnot. 

The game is getting boring in expanse of every class getting boons. Meh

[isakaswe.3815]

While i am fond of the changes to untamed i do think it still needs a dps trait for the 2nd traitline, right now while the traits are decent using cleansing unleash is something you will pretty much never do, however i do think cleansing unleash has a nice place with restorative strikes which is slighty underpowered at the moment. Therefor why not merge the two, they both have the same cd and i think it would be a needed buff making it more viable while adding the options for slighty higher dps with untamed. Asfor what trait should be added instead of cleansing unleash id say maybe a trait that buffs ur pet f1-f3 and makes it scale off your own stats instead, or just a flat increse to untamed damage making it be more on par with the rest of the power dps. 

[Acheron.1580]

16 minutes ago, isakaswe.3815 said:

While i am fond of the changes to untamed i do think it still needs a dps trait for the 2nd traitline, right now while the traits are decent using cleansing unleash is something you will pretty much never do, however i do think cleansing unleash has a nice place with restorative strikes which is slighty underpowered at the moment. Therefor why not merge the two, they both have the same cd and i think it would be a needed buff making it more viable while adding the options for slighty higher dps with untamed. Asfor what trait should be added instead of cleansing unleash id say maybe a trait that buffs ur pet f1-f3 and makes it scale off your own stats instead, or just a flat increse to untamed damage making it be more on par with the rest of the power dps. 

Honestly I found all untamed traits just really really bad. There's a reason that the same 2 get picked. Nature's shield is just awful. I tried to use Debilitating Blows for condi dps and it just doesn't even compare to Blinding Outburst's damage. Cleansing Unleash and Corrupting Vines might have a decent home in wvw/pvp but were very underwhelming otherwise.

Also I am haven't tested it but I'm pretty sure pet unleashed F1-3 IS technically your damage, which is why it A)isn't complete garbage and B) got cooldown reduction from fervent force when other pet skills didn't.

[isakaswe.3815]

while i def agree that in pvp and wvw cleansing unleash may be more useful in pve it just isnt good enough, and i agree a lot of untamed traits are very underpowered, but the pet f1-f3 do not scale off your own stats, you can test this yourself as well by using 100% crit chance but pets like bears and you will see that they still do not crit all the time. However i understand the confusion as they are pretty bugged, untamed does have a lot of bugs, they do display ur own stats example if u run condi ur f1 shows it doing a lot of poison damage and if u run power it shows power but ur damage stays the same (which scales off ur pet)

Edited June 12, 2023 by isakaswe.3815

[isakaswe.3815]

10 minutes ago, Acheron.1580 said:

Honestly I found all untamed traits just really really bad. There's a reason that the same 2 get picked. Nature's shield is just awful. I tried to use Debilitating Blows for condi dps and it just doesn't even compare to Blinding Outburst's damage. Cleansing Unleash and Corrupting Vines might have a decent home in wvw/pvp but were very underwhelming otherwise.

Also I am haven't tested it but I'm pretty sure pet unleashed F1-3 IS technically your damage, which is why it A)isn't complete garbage and B) got cooldown reduction from fervent force when other pet skills didn't.

while i def agree that in pvp and wvw cleansing unleash may be more useful in pve it just isnt good enough, and i agree a lot of untamed traits are very underpowered, but the pet f1-f3 do not scale off your own stats, you can test this yourself as well by using 100% crit chance but pets like bears and you will see that they still do not crit all the time. However i understand the confusion as they are pretty bugged, untamed does have a lot of bugs, they do display ur own stats example if u run condi ur f1 shows it doing a lot of poison damage and if u run power it shows power but ur damage stays the same (which scales off ur pet)

[isakaswe.3815]

42 minutes ago, isakaswe.3815 said:

While i am fond of the changes to untamed i do think it still needs a dps trait for the 2nd traitline, right now while the traits are decent using cleansing unleash is something you will pretty much never do, however i do think cleansing unleash has a nice place with restorative strikes which is slighty underpowered at the moment. Therefor why not merge the two, they both have the same cd and i think it would be a needed buff making it more viable while adding the options for slighty higher dps with untamed. Asfor what trait should be added instead of cleansing unleash id say maybe a trait that buffs ur pet f1-f3 and makes it scale off your own stats instead, or just a flat increse to untamed damage making it be more on par with the rest of the power dps. 

Another issue is untamed has a problem when using f1-f3 skills that are on cooldown ur pet will restart its autoattack loop, try unleashing ur pet then spamming f1 or any other of the skills with any pet and you will see, and i also do think if u take away the trap cd reduction trait you should reduce the cd of all traps not just heal spring and spike even if its just for pve.

[prototypedragon.1406]

 @Rubi Bayer.8493 Fingers crossed that warrior may  one day return to something like this in the days to come  https://youtu.be/9g0kfOzK8lI

[Aothix.3624]

Having spent the last long while playing Specter in an alac build, I am super impressed about how bad the changes being made to that spec is.

So, we're moving the ability to give alacrity from our Wells and going to Shadow Shroud. And how are you handling Shadow Force generation? Are we still going to need to bring the Wells you're taking alacrity off to build our Shadow Force at any speed to make it so keeping alacrity up on a party/sub is going to be worth it?

So we're going to need to go from hitting Wells off cooldown to upkeep alacrity, to spamming Wells off cooldown to generate Shadow Force to upkeep alacrity? Seems like an absolutely ridiculous change on the spec.

Good to know Bladesworn is getting an alac build. I'll throw my Thief back onto a jumping puzzle and play Bladesworn alac until that becomes a waste as well.

[TheBaker.3294]

On 6/10/2023 at 1:34 AM, DeceiverX.8361 said:

You don't have to hire more people to keep more eyes close to the balance patch effects, it's sufficient that you learn to read the traits that you that you have written yourself!

Sand Savant is perfect to solve all of your worries and also add alacrity to Scourge.

I really don't understand your point of view.