June 27 Balance Update Preview

[Gendalfs.7521]

1 hour ago, Jonaleth.4086 said:

Remove this 360 range limitation please!

This was introduced at the end of 2022. It was a plan to make Mech more ''engaging'' to play. Many waters have flown since then and it wont be changed, now theyre talking about ''engagement'' style change from Mech stats to CD on your F1-3.

Dont you enjoy this ''active'' playstyle?

[WizardXeze.2860]

Support Scourge.

Transfusion currently tries to pull downed players, 2% revive and heal on every pulse 9 times. Added to that thanks to Ritual of Life your Well of Blood as well Lesser Well of Blood revive 7% every pulse for 5 times. On top of that the Last Rites prevents downed allies bleeding out so you can revive total of 88% as full DPS Scourge, hence "support scourge." DPS Scourge with Blood Magic is solid when you want the pull and reviving which is more problematic, you do scarifies around 33% dps. Heal Scourge is never used as Solo Healer but more like additional barrier generation with down state pull what I have seen. 

 

Solo healer should be able Heal/Barrier and provide Alac or Quick with Protection and Regeneration. For Heal Scourge all we needed was Alacrity on Barrier and Protection. No one wanted "another HAM, HAT nor DUDU." Which is Alacrity, 25 Might, Fury, Regen, Protection, Stability and Aegis with Healing or Barrier. Tempest and Druid have a lot of flexibility with great healing while Mechanist has barrier with lower healing but great condition cleansing. Scourge should not be getting Aegis, Fury nor more Might. Just Alacrity and they forgot Protection. Missing protection means the subgroup will take 150% more damage than with any other healer. You basically force Heal Scourge to play with Quick dps Herald who can provide protection easily. 

 

In my opinion:

Transfusion I think should pull up to 5 people each only once for 3 seconds when you use Shroud 4. The lowered reviving from 2% to 1% is fine. This would help with the problem of no clear indication if people are out of the Transfusion range and would allow people to pre-emptily cast it and still safe the downed person. Also it would nerf the press F4 and next 9 seconds I will pull people randomly who downstate.

For Nerfs instead of giving more might, fury and aegis as well barrier how about we don't and nerf the Ritual of Life less? The two options are 5% middle ground or 2% and additional 1% for each 250-300 healing power. (making it 250 allows us to each 9%, making it 300 allows us to reach 6-8%). This is mainly to reduce the power of DPS Blood Magic having the 88% dropping it down to 28% on DPS Scourge!

If Arena Net is worried about healing on Scourge they could add Staff 1 healing like Water staff 1 from Tempest or Druid staff 1. You could also add pure healing to Staff 2 on top of the Regen making Staff a valid healing weapon for Heal Necromancer. They could also add Protection to Horn skills so you would have to swap between Staff and Horn to upkeep Regen and Protection. In case they fear the healing lacks too much on Horn make Dagger 2 heal everyone around you. Then you can also use F4 to heal and Well of Blood, while they are your main reviving skills you can use them for healing too. But don't forget that Scourge already have Barrier generation. Making F5 pulse barrier is interesting idea. I think the balance should be lower healing and decent barrier where you can use F4 + Well of Blood to heal in case you need and think no one will downstate.

 

The weakness of Heal Scourge should be lower healing, Lack of boons other boons, lack of flexibility, lack of Self Healing and Lack of any kind of Blocks in return you get good barrier and 5 target downstate pull with double well like Tempest and Signet of Undeath which is weaker than Glyph of Renewal. Add to that normal heal scourge with protection. Do you think Scourge would be must pick with Alacrity, Regen and protection? You would not be able to tank Xera nor Desmina, but you would be decent on most encounters. Especially W2 as solo alac heal on one sub. 

Edited June 13, 2023 by WizardXeze.2860
Better wording for the chaotically written text, thanks to dyslexia and adhd.

[The Boz.2038]

1 hour ago, Gendalfs.7521 said:

This was introduced at the end of 2022. It was a plan to make Mech more ''engaging'' to play. Many waters have flown since then and it wont be changed, now theyre talking about ''engagement'' style change from Mech stats to CD on your F1-3.

Dont you enjoy this ''active'' playstyle?

Not only are there no upsides to the mandatory tether of the Mechapet, but the resultant gameplay of this change is just... Mech might as well not be its own entity, if they're just always there on the engineer.
Truly a baffling change, built upon a baffling change intending to fix an aspect that was never problematic.

[Gendalfs.7521]

6 minutes ago, The Boz.2038 said:

Not only are there no upsides to the mandatory tether of the Mechapet, but the resultant gameplay of this change is just... Mech might as well not be its own entity, if they're just always there on the engineer.
Truly a baffling change, built upon a baffling change intending to fix an aspect that was never problematic.

As someone here already said, those 2 balance team members are artistic style people. They cannot just tweak numbers, they ''need'' to invent something on they own. 

I wont say its bad or good or whatever (because who t f cares what I think), let just their work speak for themselves.

[Bararix.6218]

June 27th balance patch looks good for elementalist,

I really like those changes. There are few things that I would like to have,

some basic game options, etc.

Also, some comments on some the e-specs.

 

NEW GAME OPTIONS:

1)    option to disable auto sheathe.

 

2)    option to force charr to move on their back feet,

compared to many of the charr npc’s and tengus.

 

Friend of mine stopped playing this game 7½ years ago,

mostly because of this.

He once told me that if these changes would come to this game,

he would be willing to come back after all these long years.

 

3)    option to have those shiny orbs, from legendary trinkets like aurora and vision, floating around my head, regardless of whether my character is wielding any weapons and when my weapons are sheathed.

 

4)    option to use helmets, like reaper hood, as a skin for those underwater breathers. In addition, an option to use hats and half-helmets underwater, while still having breather on my face.

 

ELEMENTALIST:

Those traits that provides CDR for conjured weapons are not providing CDR properly. Reported few years ago. In addition, those traits are rarely used because other traits are simply better options. I would rather have a trait that would allow elemetalists to use them as “kits” instead. This would hopefully provide more versatility and opening doors for new builds. This could also make elementalists more complex and even more powerful, if that would happen, the devs need to find a way balance it afterwards.

HOLOSMITH:

After the balance patch goes live, the holosmith would remain as a very selfish e-spec, with a minimal build diversity other than DPS. I do understand that holosmith was designed as damage dealer, and I do acknowledge that holosmith still has a good DPS and good mobilty and good utilities.

BUT,

A traits like [Crystal Configuration: Storm] and [Photonic Blasting Module] still feels a sub-par compared to traits like [Crystal Configuration: Eclipse] and [Enchased Capacity Storage Unit], which not only feels better but they ARE better.

Even selfish e-spec like the holosmith should have an option for more support by sacrificing portion of DPS for it.

Therefore, I recommend that the devs will change [Crystal Configuration: Storm] and [Photonic Blasting Module] to be more supportive traits like having AOE might/fury from utilities, AOE heal/cleanse from toolbelt, and AOE aegis for personal healing skill and elite skill, or something like that…

SCOURGE:

Other posts give a clear image just how effective scourge is going to be, when, and if, those changes come to live servers….

(RIP Scourge)

 

Thank you for listening.

GW2 best MMO ever.

[Cleru.7284]

Another stomp on the non-last-charge-using FB Playstyle... Honestly, what is your issue with it? The 20% from Weighty Terms made it that the Durations and CDs of the traits and Quickness JUST evened out on my build (12s Rechage -> 9.5s with Terms -> 7.125 with Terms + Alac, matching the 7s ICD for Liberator's Vow). Again, you seem to want to force me to pick 3 Quick Skills instead of just 2 or just move over to Stalwart Speed? Or do you want us that much to use up the last charge, which just feels AWFUL mid-combat due to "doing nothing" during the Mantra Charge Animation?

Scrapper only granting quickness on Finishers kind of looks bad. I mean, it again pushes more towards using Rifle Scrapper (since the Orbital Command Strike gives a 2nd Blast Finisher at least!), Also kind of killing the main Synergy of taking Gyros...

I wonder how many current Boon DPS will be able to 100% uptime a group after all these changes...

And: If you want to push Alacbender, consider rolling an AoE Alacrity into Phoenix Protocol, with Battle Presence either increasing the range or just becoming an open slot.

Edited June 13, 2023 by Cleru.7284

[SevlisBavles.3059]

Why isn't Rune of the Trapper being removed from PvP? It is long, long, long overdue.

[Gendalfs.7521]

11 minutes ago, TheRunningSquire.3621 said:

When people overreact to a balance patch in a video game, A VIDEO GAME, none of this is real life, you people need to chill or take a break from the game.

I sorta agree with you. But you know, be it food, car, house, video game is also a product, a product you pay you money. 

p.s. Bad AngryJoe dont play this anymore, he would find right words for whats happening now 😁

[Sahne.6950]

55 minutes ago, Bararix.6218 said:

Those traits that provides CDR for conjured weapons are not providing CDR properly.

What if i told you, they completly removed the CDR from the conjurer traits months ago.

Edited June 13, 2023 by Sahne.6950

[Huck Chaser.8721]

These changes are going to be REALLY rough for solo scrappers.

I've seen a lot of commentary on the scrapper changes from a group PVE and PVP point of view, but basically none from a solo PVE point of view.  Every post I've seen has totally glossed over the field portion of executing combos, either implicitly by not mentioning them at all, or even explicitly with statements like, "there will always be a field under whatever the group is fighting."  This, however, completely ignores the additional challenges you'll see when you're responsible for your own fields AND finishers. 

Sure, engineer has access to a lot of abilities that create fields, but they're all on longish (20+ sec) cooldowns, and now you have to line up those long cooldowns with the cooldowns of your blast finishers if you want to grant quickness.  You're going to have to constantly micromanage your cooldowns to keep quickness up, which means you can't use your abilities based on the needs of the fight.  So combat will turn from a fun, reactive encounter that rewards skillful use of the right ability at the right time to just mindlessly executing a rotation to keep up quickness.

Lots of our fields are stationary once cast.  In a moving fight (e.g. any time you're fighting in the open world), this means you're going to have to choose between keeping up with the fight and waiting behind to execute finishers inside the fields.  This is going to feel like absolute garbage to play, especially for a class that's so naturally mobile.

Some fields move with you, but that creates its own problems because you'll sometimes have to choose between using a finisher on an enemy at range, or using it at your feet to grant quickness (but wasting the ability's actual effect).  For example, throwing a mine at the enemy for the damage and cc but not granting quickness, or just blowing it up at your feet, wasting the damage and cc but granting quickness.

Yes, the current system strongly encourages you to take and use certain utility abilities, but those abilities jive so well with the class's overall design and playstyle that those are the abilities you'd be taking anyway.  After the changes, we'll theoretically (but not really) have more flexibility in what abilities we use, but we have to use them in a way that is counterproductive to the class's strengths and natural playstyle.

[Jerus.4350]

1 hour ago, Bararix.6218 said:

HOLOSMITH:

After the balance patch goes live, the holosmith would remain as a very selfish e-spec, with a minimal build diversity other than DPS. I do understand that holosmith was designed as damage dealer, and I do acknowledge that holosmith still has a good DPS and good mobilty and good utilities.

BUT,

A traits like [Crystal Configuration: Storm] and [Photonic Blasting Module] still feels a sub-par compared to traits like [Crystal Configuration: Eclipse] and [Enchased Capacity Storage Unit], which not only feels better but they ARE better.

Even selfish e-spec like the holosmith should have an option for more support by sacrificing portion of DPS for it.

Therefore, I recommend that the devs will change [Crystal Configuration: Storm] and [Photonic Blasting Module] to be more supportive traits like having AOE might/fury from utilities, AOE heal/cleanse from toolbelt, and AOE aegis for personal healing skill and elite skill, or something like that…

Just last patch condi Holo received some very impactful buffs.  PBM condi holo is now one of the highest damage builds in the game and that relies on Crystal Configuration: Storm to do so.  If you swap off that your heat management gets screwy and you lose quite a bit of damage.  I don't really have a number on the PBM build but on the TRV (Thermal Release Valve) condi build not taking CC:Storm results in about 1k less DPS, PBM should be more than that because of how it impacts the rotation as a whole.

 

As far as Holo support, yeah, not much there.  Hard Light Arena is pretty great though, and you can block for your teammates with Photon Wall.  Crystal Configuration: Zephyr for superspeed is quite nice when applicable as well.  

[Aerulight.7250]

The proposed changes to Necromancer destroys who they are.
The entire identity of the Necromancer profession is mastery over positive|life and negative|death energies: the ability to revive or siphon life and the ability to corrupt positive boons into negative banes. This is in contrast to a Mesmer, master of cognizance, who will strip boons because they are taking away one's delusions of grandeur. If you make Necromancers boon strip instead of corrupt, not only is a unique tactical element removed, but a unique identity for 2 classes is destroyed - what makes them who they are after this? This one is green and that one is fuchsia? Not good enough.
It is the same concern for the way a Necromancer revives and heals, not only is it inherently enjoyable to do as it currently stands, but without the traits and skills functioning the way they are now they cannot compete with any true healing specialist (they barely do as is). With the intended changes an Arcane Water Elementalist would then becomes more Necromancer than the actual Necromancer, able to revive life better and faster than the Necromancer can, ergo, more identity loss.
These changes also remove another unique tactical element as already pointed out by others: as aforementioned, as it currently stands the Necromancer already cannot compete with pure healers, but, they ARE crucial in learning scenarios, which is crucial to the friendly identity of the GW2 player base as compared to other games and communities - again, more identity loss, not a good thing. It IS okay for them to fill this small niche need.

So, please, leave the profession's identity intact. It was something you had already done well.
If you cannot accept your prior success and must meddle, then ALSO remove these capabilities from every NPC enemy in the game as well, lest you end up further breaking the original promise that the player can do whatever any NPC can do.
If you must change the way Necromancers revive then make it so they can turn fallen allies into additional, autonomous (other player controlled), Flesh Golems - similar to but also very different from how a Mesmer can turn an enemy into a Moa for a while. This will preserve some of the Necromancer's identity as a master of life and death, and harmonize with their minion creation expression of that mastery. This could be implemented as an F5/SAK skill and can be limited to only once per unique ally per encounter (revived ally gets a debuff countdown preventing a second resurrection for a time). Returning a "We're down, but we're not out yet!" morale boost to any team they are on. (This would also return some of the GW1 flavor to the profession, which would be a bonus for any long standing members of your core player base.)

That's my 2 to 5 cents worth of opinion on that for the time being. I haven't even touched on my thoughts for Ele signets... Which has been my last remaining joy for Elementalist and now that's going to be removed too...
If these changes go through because they are not actually proposals and you've already committed resources to programming and asset creation/changes to them before getting proper feedback, thereby making the whole "getting feedback from the community" thing a ruse, then I expect I will never play my Necromancers again and will probably mourn yet another round of Elementalist main pain that makes it all one more level of sour taste to my fading happy memories of Guild Wars 1 & 2 and my dying willingness to engage with them any further. I've already started "speaking with my wallet" and stopped further gem purchases for some time now. But I doubt that voice has been making it through any better than this text is nor anyone else's will. It hurts enough now that I had to try expressing it one more time before a full surrender and quit. So there it is for whatever it is or isn't worth anymore.

[vrauns.3215]

Why do traits need to be removed anyways, why can't we have a little arrow next to the traits that allows us to pick which one we want instead of removing them, of course you have a right to change them or replace them but giving us that option to pick a play style just seems right.

Edited June 13, 2023 by TheRunningSquire.3621

[Zok.4956]

2 hours ago, TheRunningSquire.3621 said:

When people overreact to a balance patch in a video game

I haven't seen much overreaction lately. Just lots of opinions and constructive discussions from players who care about the game (or parts of it).

2 hours ago, TheRunningSquire.3621 said:

A VIDEO GAME, none of this is real life, you people need to chill or take a break from the game.

If you don't care, that's perfectly fine, but please respect that other players do care.

[vrauns.3215]

1 minute ago, Zok.4956 said:

I haven't seen much overreaction lately. Just lots of opinions and constructive discussions from players who care about the game (or parts of it).

If you don't care, that's perfectly fine, but please respect that other players do care.

Maybe we should careless.

[vrauns.3215]

3 minutes ago, TheRunningSquire.3621 said:

Maybe we should careless.

This patch isn't not going to end the world as we know it.

[Zok.4956]

1 minute ago, TheRunningSquire.3621 said:

Maybe we should careless.

The final "not caring" would be to stop playing the game and not spending money on it. Do you want all players to do this?

[vrauns.3215]

Just now, Zok.4956 said:

The final "not caring" would be to stop playing the game and not spending money on it. Do you want all players to do this?

If they don't like the way the game is going, than yes, don't play anymore, Ive seen tons of people saying horrible things about these patches and about the devs, which is not right.

[Zok.4956]

8 minutes ago, TheRunningSquire.3621 said:

If they don't like the way the game is going, than yes, don't play anymore, Ive seen tons of people saying horrible things about these patches

Anet said: "the goal of previewing these changes is to gather your feedback before the live release." and now you're complaining that players give their (mostly negative) feedback (mostly) very constructively?

[Xora.2581]

Scourge support

 I have been waiting for a viable support scourge option for a while now. However, there are some issues with the approach.

1. Sand shades: Heavily reducing their time means that you are crippling dps scourge just to control alac and barrier application. Please consider changing the mechanic to have a target cap of 5 instead (possibly for dmg too) regardless of how many shades there are. I suspect that shades are separate entities right now, and making them a shared entity will probably not straightforward, but I think this is a healthier way forward than patching the target cap by making scourges only have 1 shade at the time. This is a straight out loss in terms of the stats and dmg reduction per active shade. Having a target cap, would probably also fix the issues in PVP/WVW in a healthier way than putting a target cap of 1 on every shade (or at least make it easier for future balances). This would also prevent the inconsistent behaviour of the sandstorm shroud extra barrier only working around the scourge, which is very contradictory considering the rest of the skill works on the shades.

2. The current approach to make it a support feels like slapping on some random things like might and aegis on various mechanics and skills. However, it still misses a main defensive boon like protection. Depending on the amount of barrier, this can possibly be offset and protection won't be needed, but that depends on the amount of barrier. Furthermore, scourge does not have the greatest amount of healing to recover players when dmg does get through (if you don't count the vacuum cleaning which even though unique in a bad mechanic). So I'm not convinced of the current approach and no idea how these changes will play out and whether it will be an enjoyable experience.

Overall, I just hope that scourge support becomes a viable support and not a meme wheelchair, at the same time I would like DPS scourge to also remain viable.

[GeraldBC.4927]

3 minutes ago, Xora.2581 said:

I suspect that shades are separate entities right now, and making them a shared entity will probably not straightforward, but I think this is a healthier way forward than patching the target cap by making scourges only have 1 shade at the time.

They're already a shared entity for conditions, it shouldn't be difficult to do the same with boons. 

[DylanLucas.6058]

As a mesmer main this is really sad to see.

More nerfs

[Relco.2708]

Tempest DPS build - this aura share % buff will add some DPS, mainly on benchmarks but not in reality as the trait is in same row as stability on overload and if you don't take that youll lose dps, as overload may get interrupted and you won't get the 15% buff after, preferably swap the trait with the one in first row that gives protection on using healing skill DPS tempest don't need auras on overload but need stab on overload and heal tempest has enough prot uptime as it is. Overload is one of the longest animations locks there are (if not the longest of specs I played so far) you get swift thus easier to move out of red, but it's not always possible and having stability there makes it no brainer if rather eat the damage or move out. One of solutions would  also be  superspeed on overload, could be short, it would help move and stability would not be needed so much. Tempest traits are kinda full as it is to put more DPS options and giving it to core is not an option but stability on overload and  getting 15% DMG on every overload without interruption is way more worth, considering most DMG comes from overloads. Please swap it with the protection trait in first row (there are plenty classes that have DMG bonuses in first trait row, so any trait ideology should be fine)

[Lalary.3561]

1 hour ago, TheRunningSquire.3621 said:

Maybe we should careless.

Then maybe you should stop commenting on things you care less about.

1 hour ago, TheRunningSquire.3621 said:

If they don't like the way the game is going, than yes, don't play anymore, Ive seen tons of people saying horrible things about these patches and about the devs, which is not right.

Since when it's wrong for consumers to disapprove products? For a guy who couldn't care less, you sure care about what others have to say.

[Anais.6728]

As a casual player who mainly focuses on open world content, I am greatly disappointed to see Signets of Suffering change. It not only kills the last remaining low intensity reaper build there was which takes the fun out of the game for people like me but also doesn't provide enough of a benefit for anyone to pick it over Awaken the Pain on higher levels of gameplay.