June 27 Balance Update Preview

[Ni Stret.7819]

16 hours ago, Sapphic Savvy.8376 said:

I really don't understand the Med Blaster nerf for the WvW context. I think there aren't many people complaining about this because NOBODY willfully runs support scrappers anymore in WvW. At least organized squads don't, and haven't for a long time now. Druid and tempest do everything better with a lot less effort. It's plain as day to see with arcdps heal-add on plus watching the total cleanse per player with arcdps. I only play WvW so I can't speak for the other game modes, but the Med Blaster nerf in WvW seems unnecessary and only serves to alienate players that were playing support meta for a long time and may be intermittently playing or returning to the game mode since the series of significant nerfs. It's one thing to nerf something so that other classes are more viable, it's another to make the class/role so bad that they have no meaningful contribution to the squad.

Totally agree, now a Tempest does double the cleansing and 3x more healing.  That not balanced WvW team, come on please.

[Shae.9147]

20 minutes ago, Gee.9827 said:

Totally agree, now a Tempest does double the cleansing and 3x more healing.  That not balanced WvW team, come on please.

There is no "team" there is only cmc and the kittening goblin mode ele players that plague the devteam. solar was making this game great again. now its just the 20 ele mains on the balance team and nothing else big sadge moment for gw2 

[Downstate.4697]

Hi, I am a pve player and I am very upset. You think I have time to log in and actually learn to play? I played scourge because I could run high end content while also working from home. I hate this game so much.

[The Boz.2038]

32 minutes ago, Shae.9147 said:

solar was making this game great again

Wow!
This is the *second* Solar's alt account we've found this week! Whoo!

[Astralporing.1957]

34 minutes ago, Shae.9147 said:

solar was making this game great again

I really hope that was sarcasm, but honestly i can't tell. If it was genuine however... well, let's say that we have very different ideas on what constitutes "great".

[Sirvaleen.1379]

Like last June with my slb, I'll probably drop my qscrapper main this time. Not because of nerfs but a change of gameplay.. and that's alright. I'm well aware that you can't please everyone when it comes to that 🤷‍♂️

I don't know yet if the current build will stay effective, even if not meta but I'm doubtful. I was as well hoping for more options (hello grenades kit, everywhere I look) but it doesn't seem to be in the cards.

I would really like for the team to not forget that the fun factor do also come from the diversity of viable builds, the effectiveness of different tools. There's no need to destroy completely one type to make another effective and in turn reduce severely the diversity of potential gameplays..

[solemn.9670]

3 hours ago, Shae.9147 said:

There is no "team" there is only cmc and the kittening goblin mode ele players that plague the devteam. solar was making this game great again. now its just the 20 ele mains on the balance team and nothing else big sadge moment for gw2 

Found the condi mirage/rifle deadeye/trailblazer cele Necro main

Cope; where did the ele hurt u

[shion.2084]

It's not only that they didn't add more options for Engi aside from grenade kit.   They made scrappers fundamentally less flexible, more awkward to use, and weaker.  But they didn't stop there... they decided to further disincentive the use of kits OTHER than grenades.  The took all the toolkit CD's and made it so you can't trait them in PvP to be lower.   Just unbelievable.

So now if you want to use mortar and have some boons from your GM trait, you have to spot the guy you want to mortar...  jump up in down in a field (using up your one mobility skill) OR use up your Rez gyro after putting down some random field... then see if the fellow has managed not to move in the last 4 seconds.... so that you can shoot him with the boon you will have for the next 2 seconds.

Prior to this change, you popped one application of super speed (any gyro, or your toolbelt skills that grant it) and then fired.   Near instantaneous to boon up.

How could they think that a playstyle that made you use up random unrelated skills just to drive boons would be a good option to replace one that could be triggered at need?

5 hours ago, Sirvaleen.1379 said:

Like last June with my slb, I'll probably drop my qscrapper main this time. Not because of nerfs but a change of gameplay.. and that's alright. I'm well aware that you can't please everyone when it comes to that 🤷‍♂️

I don't know yet if the current build will stay effective, even if not meta but I'm doubtful. I was as well hoping for more options (hello grenades kit, everywhere I look) but it doesn't seem to be in the cards.

I would really like for the team to not forget that the fun factor do also come from the diversity of viable builds, the effectiveness of different tools. There's no need to destroy completely one type to make another effective and in turn reduce severely the diversity of potential gameplays..

 

[shion.2084]

This silly conflation of only occasionally related effects occurs for engi in the tools trait line too.  Somehow they thought it would be a good idea to give a trait that grants quickness.... on your fifth toolbelt use.

See the problem with that is that you don't just burn toolbelt skills, cause those are things that are critical to keeping you alive.  So it's basically not viable to strategise around the quickness... you just kind of get it at some random time and hope that at that moment you're in a position to want to attack with quickness.

So now to get fury or might to shoot at someone, I have to first jump up in down in a field... essentially meaning they've further pigeon holed scrapper into the stealth nuker build that everyone hates.

Because to make use of those boons, I'm going to want to run up to someone in stealth, unleash blast on them, drop thunderclap and bounce in it.    If I want to play a mid range scrapper with occasional mele closings I'm kind of out of luck... because you won't be blasting fields on yourself while trying to shoot someone at a distance. 

Since a scrapper can only be viable by stacking every damage effect possible, it means that we're going to see an even further limiting of playstyle.

[Gendalfs.7521]

Anet dont play engie. That results in some random ''brainstormed'' changes.

Maybe they could give all classes quickness on blowing fields?

 

[Zephire.8049]

3 hours and 21 minutes left in the business day as of this post to get a response on this patch. At this point it's not the contents of the patch that gets me, it's the utter silence. One would think a preview like this would be to garner player feedback and respond to it to explain decisions or say you're removing changes ahead of time, or even just stick to PR speak to keep things calm.

So much for the umpteenth promise of having better communication.

[idpersona.3810]

I came here to check to see if there was any further updates from anet in response to all of the (mostly negative) feedback. Looks like a no. Ah well. Guess we'll see what tomorrow brings. Disappointment, most likely.

[Wiseguy One.1782]

What's the point in asking or feedback if they don't use it or provide their own feedback or justifications to these changes? Its solar all over again just with a different name and philosophy. Would have hoped given all the negative feedback, we would have had something from anet. What a shame things never change despite their insistence that they will "do better". 

Edited June 26, 2023 by Wiseguy One.1782

[Artemis.8034]

On 6/9/2023 at 3:50 PM, NoggDog.5486 said:

Why put the alac on Desert Empowerment and reduce the shroud lifespan to 8 seconds with the justification of a target cap, and not simply  put alac on Sand Savant? Sand Savant already had a target cap of 5 and is an underused trait... I don't understand this.

I agree sand savant makes more sense , oh well maybe next time.

[prototypedragon.1406]

18 minutes ago, Wiseguy One.1782 said:

What's the point in asking or feedback if they don't use it or provide their own feedback or justifications to these changes? Its solar all over again just with a different name and philosophy. Would have hoped given all the negative feedback, we would have had something from anet. What a shame things never change despite their insistence that they will "do better". 

I mean things didn't change after jobs were being called for aside minuscule things but eh after 10 years why should they start now?🤷‍♂️🍿

[MuscleBobBuffPants.1406]

I feel like this silence means one of two things.

1.  They are in brainstorming mode, because they realize their balance system and philosophy has been flawed for some time.  They are thinking of a new balancing system and methodology which will be much more holistic including a fundamental overall game design philosophy which incorporates player feedback as well as internal data.

2.  They are completely ignoring feedback provided.  Will release the patch as is tomorrow, maybe provide some token adjustments, claim it has to do with some timeline that they need to maintain.  Promise to "do better" like some kind of politician.  

I would highly advise against option #2.

[Lithril Ashwalker.6230]

I'm not ok with binding shadow change...I mean I could DEAL with removing the knockdown but if it ONLY immobilized now, what's the point? Keep boonstrip, keep immobilize, keep poison at least. If it's just immobilize uve gutted 2 skills of deadeye

 

Here's to hoping not an overglorified spider venom

Edited June 26, 2023 by Lithril Ashwalker.6230

[Spell Bound.2471]

RIP Berserker and Heal Vindi... I need my refund

[MJxD.4251]

Gonna be real sad if these Necro changes go into effect tomorrow.
please reconsider these changes.

[Angesombre.4630]

Another nerve-racking patch for the revenant.
-Forced Engagement, still nerfed even if it regains a little range, remains well below the mesmer's focus (900 range and 600 radius), the necro's grapple which has a range of 1200 with 5 targets, the guard's grapple 1200 range or even the thief's with a range of 1200 also with 2 charges.
-The vindicator is becoming more and more of a joke in wvw. At the time, we were afraid to use the incendiary for these buffs, but on the vindicator, we don't hesitate to reduce it to a minimum.
-Banish Enchantment, which is already expensive to use, now has a 5-second CD, so what are we going to do to reduce it to zero use?

Hammer 2 is an infamous null with the space between the attack and the player, not to mention the weapon's slowness.

At a time when the vindicator's dodging has been buggy for over a year in its aquatic form, and it has reduced speed on stairs while in the air.

That in WvW, attack skills still guide supply for many years.

Edited June 27, 2023 by Angesombre.4630

[Thevaultdwellinggamer.4267]

1 hour ago, MJxD.4251 said:

Gonna be real sad if these Necro changes go into effect tomorrow.
please reconsider these changes.

Oh they're going in tomorrow, mark my words. Some slight changes maybe, but what we're seeing is what we're getting.

But they will change it, don't worry. They're just going to spend good chunk of their time and resources fixing a problem they created for themselves by shoehorning quickness and alac into every class that don't have it.

As long quickness and Alac remains in the game, They can't balance boons worth kitten without cutting out key mechanic belonging to a class. These two boons are a tumor that needs to be removed.

Edited June 27, 2023 by Thevaultdwellinggamer.4267

[Angesombre.4630]

The harbinger is already a cheater and we're making it even better? It's got dps, buff and resistance. And now we're reducing those CDs even further?

(in WvW)

Edited June 27, 2023 by Angesombre.4630

[Eddie.9143]

I have a feeling they're changing some things behind the scenes before tomorrow. We can definitely expect something different than the quickness on spheres, and I'm sure they've addressed their oversights with engineer tool kit cooldowns and slick shoes etc. 

 

They got a ton of feedback on very small errors they made as far as cooldowns and how some changes would cause interactions that they didn't think of.

 

Really hoping they fixed the little things in all this time and silence 

Edited June 27, 2023 by Eddie.9143

[Astralporing.1957]

2 hours ago, Eddie.9143 said:

I have a feeling they're changing some things behind the scenes before tomorrow.

Past 10 years taught me not to hold onto too much hope. They can be unreasonably stubborn once they have announced a course, and usually, even if reversals happen, it can take literal years for them to come. For issues in patchnotes to get addressed before launch something else needs to blow up spectacularly, like it happened previously - and notice that they've only addressed some of the most major issues then, only partially, and that most of the rest of it remained as it was till today (some things like quickness on banners will get changed in this patch, but only for another equally bad idea to replace them - and while killing banners in the meantime)

[Zephire.8049]

2 hours ago, Astralporing.1957 said:

Past 10 years taught me not to hold onto too much hope. They can be unreasonably stubborn once they have announced a course, and usually, even if reversals happen, it can take literal years for them to come. For issues in patchnotes to get addressed before launch something else needs to blow up spectacularly, like it happened previously - and notice that they've only addressed some of the most major issues then, only partially, and that most of the rest of it remained as it was till today (some things like quickness on banners will get changed in this patch, but only for another equally bad idea to replace them - and while killing banners in the meantime)

Stubborn and/or think they know better than players. I have no doubt that they know their preferred classes in their preferred mode(s) but that doesn't cut it for other classes or when changes are made for modes they're not as familiar with. But like you, I don't have much hope for any changes. Maybe some cursory number changes but it's been over a week since they had the livestream and posted this thread (to supposedly get feedback) and haven't said a word since.

My prediction: We'll get the patch with a tweak here, the changing of something minor there, and then we'll be told to wait until the next balance patch for them to revert anything not utterly game-breaking (as in makes encounters too easy, not that a class/spec is rendered DOA for 1/4 of the year) and to just be patient and trust them. Maybe that's cynical but that's what they told warriors for the banner change patch, after telling players that the first big balance patch after EoD was going to be great and trust them on how great it will be.

49 pages of the preview feedback thread and they haven't said a thing, not even to indicate they've read it. So yeah, no hope of any significant change to what we've seen already.