November 28 Skills and Balance Update Preview

[Blazinbutcher.4136]

this is looking pretty cool, I think staff is looking really interesting for thief making it sound like more of the tools are notable than 2 excited for the change, curious about posible rifle things to tie in with weapon master  but great promise so far

[JVLPP.6053]

u should add more scourge barrier trust

[Burnfall.9573]

Power Creep+Bunker Creep+Elementalist Profession is a healer+ Healing Creep+Stealth Mechanic Untouched+One Shot Increased+Elementalist Profession is a God, as for Willbender? Thief Profession?  Celestial, Trapper? LOL, WvW ingnored once again, the players experience don't exist  etc.. = The Game Is A Big Circus Show That Will Never End

 

As i said before, it will only get worse it is happening.

Bad Game Design - Exploits, cheats and hacks remains 

Anet took us for granted, our concerns like a laughing theatric show and threw them away in the trash can, like its funny. Nothing removed? Playing with numbers all over again. In the long run.....nothing changed for the better end, 

Start looking elswhere if you want a gaming company who is serious about Competition, who treats their players like they are human beings with emotions and feelings, who does everything they can to make their concners matter and valued, who engages and communicates with their players as if they are part of their team and who doesn't treat their players like clowns during live streaming. 

(I demand For The ImmediateTermination of The Balance Team and The Design Team)

 

"Entertain a clown and you become part of the circus." Yeah, I this might be it for me. It is no brainer that Anet is laughing at us for being part of their show. Anet doesn't see us The Community as someone with emotions with having human experiences with the game, they see us as Entertaiment.

They see us as objects with wallets. They only care about their own interests, ego and their own profits.

Yeah, it was so obvious, you couldn't miss it, The Jokes were all over at our faces...laughing and it was pointing directly at us

 

“Don’t let anyone make you feel like a supporting character in their life. You are the star of your own story.”

“You are not an option for someone’s convenience. You are a necessity for someone’s happiness."

“Your time is too valuable to waste on someone who treats you like an option.”

 

"The best feeling is when someone appreciated everything about you that someone else took for granted."

 I'll check back before the balance patch goes live.

 

Until then, 

Take Care Everyone

Edited October 27, 2023 by Burnfall.9573

[Warscythes.9307]

I want to talk about the Vindicator dodge trait change, more specifically reaver's curse in the perspective of a dps vindicator in PvE

Vindicator

• Reaver's Curse: This trait has been reworked. Reduce the recharge of Energy Meld. Energy Meld enhances the effects of your next dodge.

I think this has the potential to bring out a new play style that is focused on buffing the dodges. Currently the PvE rotation for vindicator can generally be summed up as hit the damage button when is up for the most part with some optimization around animation cancel and pressing buttons faster etc. I think if this trait's math workout, it may introduce a playstyle that is focused around lining up your dodge/jumps with energy meld so you want to press energy meld on cd and line up as many of your jumps as possible. Based on my napkin math I don't think this is going to work out, but I think this trait has the potential to introduce something exciting and new to Vindicator. Please keep an eye on how this performs in the beta and adjust the numbers as needed. I think the core idea is great which is the hardest part, next is just making the numbers work.

[Tokizo.8917]

Thank you, thank you, thank you. I was hoping so much that the Revenant shield will be improved and either will grant barrier or aegis. 
And you delivered. Now shield grants aegis and is a really good support weapon and heal herald is now really usuable with a second weapon set. If the upcoming scepter will be a support weapon i will be happy as a rabbit. Barrier and Revive is now the only thing missing on rev however it now already sooo much better. Thank you again

[Lottie.5370]

13 minutes ago, Rickzter.6859 said:

Please fix Lightning Orb and other projectile shooting skills (like mes dagger 3) in Harvest Temple. They have been broken since SotO release and doesnt hit the dragons at all.

Please fix Lightning Orb and other projectile shooting skills (like mes dagger 3) in Harvest Temple. They have been broken since SotO release and doesnt hit the dragons at all.

 

(Please also fix the out of combat bug <3)

[Beddo.1907]

On 10/26/2023 at 8:40 PM, Rubi Bayer.8493 said:

• Rock Gazelle
• Headbutt: Increased the power coefficient from 0.32 to 0.415 in PvE only.
• Charge: Increased the cooldown from 15 seconds to 20 seconds in PvP and WvW. This skill now tracks its target more accurately and stops upon reaching the target.

Editing error.

[daw.4923]

so qherald can still overstack all boons without single bd gear in 600 radius ... and guardian got improved hammer... amazing.

firework relic is bugged on DH for 3 months and DH is already troll pick so naturally lets buff his hp.

oh well so another  4 months of waiting for some proper balance patch i guess.

[Stx.4857]

For Thief:

-Shadow strike still won’t be used because Repeater just doesn’t have enough damage. 
-Haste and Blinding powder cooldown in PvE is great. 
-Unload basically being free to cast now is an interesting choice but will be great for open world play and won’t really impact group pve at all. 
-Why wasn’t Sword buffed?  It has been a horrible dps weapon in PvE for as long as I can remember.  
 

Engineer:

-Scrapper changes are great!  Power dps Scrapper might be too good though after adding 500 additional power. 
-Blast Gyro and Bypass coating are now mandatory to slot.  
-Holosmith could have used buffs after being gutted last patch.  It is a selfish dps spec but doesn’t have any benefits over other dps that bring utility.  
 

Warrior:

-Berserker changes look great, especially for Open world where you can’t keep Berserk rolling as easy.

 

[Juan.6124]

37 minutes ago, Falseprophet.1502 said:

Can we just stop with the guardian hammer cast time reductions and just move the symbol off the autoattack?

No.

[Milotnuis.8341]

I really wish dragonhunter got more love, you can't just look at the benchmark for its damage and say its okay because a lot of it is very contingent on 3 things:

1. You need 100% aegis uptime

2. You need to have 10 boons permanently on you

3. You need to be above 90% health

And if you do magically somehow meet all 3 of these conditions in an actual encounter you get out performed by someone playing soulbeast for half the effort. It just feels really bad that soulbeast has more burst AND more sustain without it being so dependent any annoying conditions. I'm not saying I want to see a soulbeast nerf, I just wish I didn't have to worry so much meeting those conditions to deal damage. It'd be nice if you had to struggle to decide between playing dragonhunter or soulbeast in endgame pve but at the moment it's not even close.

Edited October 27, 2023 by Milotnuis.8341

[Kilty.4906]

On 10/26/2023 at 3:40 PM, Rubi Bayer.8493 said:

Catalyst

• Hammer: Fixed an issue that caused circular projectiles to occasionally lose their ability to strike enemies when their duration was refreshed.

Is this a fix for this?

There are still some previous concerns I have for Elementalist that I wish would be addressed, like:

• Improving Lightning Orb on smaller enemies - this was buffed on the last patch but it's annoying to use it since you have to step back for maximum efficiency, perhaps adding a cap for max strikes?
• Adding some QoL adjustments for Conjured Weapon skills so they feel less clunky to use, especially when picking up the summoned weapon;
• Applying similar improvements given to the Fire Grab skill to Drake's Breath and Cone of Cold skills;
• Applying the same change from the Signet of Earth skill to the Rock Barrier skill so it prevents unwanted aggro;
• Improving condition application for the trident weapon;
• Improving Meteor Shower damage on smaller enemies, perhaps reducing the skill radius? Or working like the Vindicator's Greatsword 5? And perhaps also adding some burning stacks for condition builds?
• Improving Static Field and Unsteady Ground's CC when placing them on top of enemies;
• Allowing Comet skill to cast on top of the Elementalist if no target is selected;
• Improving Catalyst's energy regeneration when out of combat;
• Respawning Elementals after dismounting or using a zip line;

[SeTect.5918]

On 10/26/2023 at 8:40 PM, Rubi Bayer.8493 said:

Elementalist

The effectiveness of power-based catalyst builds relies on Empowered Empowerment, which either grants the user the full bonus or none at all. We think that this disparity is a bit too large, so we're updating the trait to always grant a lesser bonus, making it less punishing to drop below the maximum number of stacks. Sword skills in the third weapon-skill slot are also getting some improvements in competitive modes to make the weapon more appealing to players who aren't using the weaver elite specialization.

• Flame Wheel: Increased the damage and condition damage bonus from 10% to 15% in PvE only.
• Crescent Wind: Increased the critical strike chance bonus from 10% to 15% in PvE only.
• Ground Pound: Reduced the cooldown from 30 seconds to 20 seconds in PvE only. Increased the power coefficient from 1.3 to 2.0 in PvE only.
• Ring of Fire: Increased the power coefficient from 1.2 to 2.0 in PvE only.
• Tidal Surge: Reduced the cooldown from 35 seconds to 30 seconds.
• Water Globe: Reduced the cooldown from 35 seconds to 30 seconds.
• Cauterizing Strike: Increased the power coefficient against burning enemies from 1.6 to 1.8 in PvP and WvW.
• Aqua Siphon: Increased the base healing from 1,150 to 2,255 in PvP and WvW.
• Quantum Strike: Reduced the cooldown from 18 seconds to 16 seconds in PvP and WvW.
• Glyph of Elemental Power: Reduced the cooldown from 30 seconds to 25 seconds in PvP and WvW.
• Arcane Shield: Reduced the cooldown to 35 seconds in all game modes.
• Tornado: Reduced the cooldown from 150 seconds to 60 seconds in PvE only.
• Whirlpool: Reduced the cooldown from 150 seconds to 60 seconds in PvE only.

Weaver

• Aquatic Stance: This skill now also grants endurance. Increased the base healing on activation from 2,640 to 4,000. Increased the base healing when striking an enemy from 573 to 650.
• Woven Stride: This trait now additionally removes a condition when gaining superspeed or swiftness, with a 3-second internal cooldown in PvE and a 5-second internal cooldown in PvP and WvW.

Catalyst

• Hammer: Fixed an issue that caused circular projectiles to occasionally lose their ability to strike enemies when their duration was refreshed.
• Empowered Empowerment: This trait will now cause Elemental Empowerment to always be 50% more effective. Effectiveness at the maximum number of stacks is unchanged.

Engineer

Rifle and pistol are both receiving some general improvements to make them more compelling options, with pistol filling the role of a hybrid damage off-hand weapon to play alongside both sword and pistol main hands. We've also made some improvements for support-focused scrapper builds and reworked some of the passive trait triggers in alchemy for more active gameplay.

• Net Shot: Increased the casting time from 0.24 seconds to 0.62 seconds. This skill now inflicts vulnerability in addition to immobilizing enemies. Increased the power coefficient from 0.5 to 1.25 in PvE only.
• Jump Shot: This skill will now evade for 0.5 seconds at the start of the animation.
• Static Shot: Reduced the casting time from 0.4 seconds to 0.2 seconds. Reduced the cooldown from 12 seconds to 10 seconds in PvP and WvW.
• Blowtorch: Increased the minimum power coefficient from 0.33 to 1.0 in PvE only. Increased the maximum power coefficient from 1.0 to 2.0 in PvE only.
• Glue Shot: Increased the missile velocity from 900 to 1,200. This skill is now a blast finisher and deals strike damage to enemies in the impact area with a power coefficient of 1.5. Reduced the cooldown from 20 seconds to 12 seconds in PvE only.
• Bandage Blast: This skill will now directly target up to 5 allies with bandages instead of firing them in a fan-shaped area. Bandages will now only hit their intended target unless that target is at full health.
• Elixir B: Reduced the cooldown from 25 seconds to 20 seconds.
• Toss Elixir B: This skill no longer has a chance to grant swiftness.
• Toss Elixir U: Reduced the cooldown from 32 seconds to 25 seconds.
• Soothing Detonation: Increased the healing coefficient from 0.2 to 0.5 in PvP only.
• Health Insurance: Increased the outgoing healing bonus from 7% to 10% in PvP only.
• Invigorating Speed: This trait will now also activate when gaining superspeed.
• Transmute: This trait will now activate after using a healing skill instead of upon reaching a threshold of conditions.
• Emergency Elixir: This trait will now activate after using an elite skill instead of when being struck below a health threshold.
• HGH: Adjusted might from 3 stacks for 6 seconds to 2 stacks for 10 seconds in PvP and WvW.

Scrapper

• System Shocker: The barrier granted by this trait is now also applied to nearby allies.
• Mass Momentum: Increased stability stacks from 1 to 2. Increased the number of targets from 3 to 5.
• Expert Examination: This trait has been reworked. Your function gyro grants protection to allies when summoned. Using a healing skill's associated toolbelt skill grants protection to nearby allies.
• Rapid Regeneration: Increased the swiftness base healing from 88 to 101 in PvP and WvW. Increased the superspeed base healing from 176 to 214 in PvP and WvW.
• Applied Force: The condition damage penalty from this trait has been removed. Increased the bonus power per stack of might from 20 to 40 in PvE only.
• Blast Gyro: Reduced the cooldown from 20 seconds to 15 seconds in PvE only.
• Bypass Coating: Reduced the cooldown from 30 seconds to 20 seconds in PvE only.

Holosmith

• Spectrum Shield: This skill no longer has a reduced recharge when used above a heat threshold and now grants stability when used. Reduced the cooldown from 30 seconds to 20 seconds in PvE only.
• Flash Spark: Reduced the cooldown from 40 seconds to 25 seconds.

 

Mechanist

• When equipped, the following relics' effects will now activate when the mech's abilities fulfill their requirements but affect the mech and the engineer separately:
  • Relic of the Herald
  • Relic of the Brawler
  • Relic of the Scourge
  • Relic of the Aristocracy
• When equipped, the following relics' effects will now activate when the mech's abilities fulfill their requirements, but cooldowns are shared with the engineer:
  • Relic of the Monk
  • Relic of Antitoxin
• Mechanical Genius: For a short period of time, the effect will remain active even after the mech moves out of range of the engineer.
• Rectifier Signet: Reduced the base pulse healing from 142 to 115 in PvP only.
• Superconducting Signet: Reduced the burning duration from 3 seconds to 1 second in PvP only.

Speaking as an Elementalist and engi main, thank you so much for these changes, I ve been waiting so long for some useful hammer changes like these ones above.
I m speaking about the cooldown decreases which help to keep up Elemental Empowerment because sword/wh had it far easier with that. Now the struggling to keep up the stacks hopefully has an end, thank you.
Also the adjustments of the Elemental Empowerment buff itself i really like a lot.

As for engi, i am so glad you will finally do something to "Glue Shot", I ve been waiting for years (even tho i hoped for minimal poison too, but strike damage seems fine).
Also since i like to play cele scrapper in open world, i m glad you removed the condi tradeoff from Applied_Force.
i like the blast gyro change and the change to its toolbelt too, helps a bit with might generation.


What i really hoped for tho are mace changes. It really lacks damage.

Anyway this preview gave me hope, thanks a lot. I mean i hate to say that but finally a balance patch i will be hyped for, because i couldnt say that about the last ones.

[Rosey.1608]

While I was hoping for some sort of scrapper quickness application rework (at least add whirl finishers to the pool of eligible ones to provide quickness so that we have more flexibility), overall this preview gives me some hope.

I'm a bit concerned that power scrapper will make power holo somewhat obsolete, but at least mechanical genius isn't so obnoxious with the penalty.  The ranger pet changes look very promising, I hope to see that much love given to each class going forward.  All in all, I think this is a step in the right direction.

[crazyhusky.2985]

Virtuoso got nothing this patch. What about adding some condition removal for the spec. You could make the heal skill cure 5 conditions like rev and warrior's heal skill?

Could we get a redo/rework to Virtuoso's Bladeturn Requiem (F5) It's kinda pointless now, since you removed the block from it.

In the stream they went on about how it's not good having melee attacks on ranged pets so you fixed that. Virtuoso is ranged spec but the profession skill Bladeturn Requiem (f5) is a melee skill. The skill was suppose to block incoming attacks but in an update the block was removed, and without that block, the skill just do not do much and sits there rarely being used, because you can't really use it when you to. How about making a 1200 range ground target skill like Dagger3?

 Though I have a better idea by changing the move completly.

Bladeturn Requiem - F5 "Cure up to 5 conditions, stocking a blade per condition cleared then Fire all stocked blades at your target. Also Inflict a stack of bleed per condition cured."

Edited October 27, 2023 by crazyhusky.2985
gramamar fix

[Rym.1469]

You guys might want to look a bit into support/healing balance in WvW. Barrier Scourge has been going pretty rampant with insanely big barriers on top of the rest of the utility and the gap, especially in raw healing, between Druid/Hvindi and other supports like Hscrapper or Tempest is very wide and push alternatives aside. Evening it out could help.

 

Celestial gear remains a major issue for anything under zerg-scale WvW and results in very unfun builds and experiences - perhaps giving some WvW-specific nerf to the statline could be an option, especially now when all WvW players have easy access to stat-selectable exotic gear.

Edited October 27, 2023 by Rym.1469

[AquaBR.9250]

2k hours on p/p thief alone here

Ok nice change to thief pistol but...

I've been playing condi deadeye p/p and is more enjoyable than power because of two things:

1. skill 2 deals damage by applying immob because of panic strike

2. skill 4 deals damage by applying torment on interrupt with another trait

So i don't just Unload, i use other skills and the gameplay is much more enjoyable because of that, the problem is i can't make shots pierce in this build cause no critical strikes spec, to make those aspects reflect on power p/p is very simple:

Reduce cast time and improve vulnerability of Skill 2 (bolas shot) so you are rewarded with bonus damage for Unload.

Make Skill 4 (headshot) deal a ton of bonus damage on interrupt, that will also not reduce my damage by 95% when a breakbar comes and i have to spend all init on that skill.

Because right now power p/p gameplay punishes you for using any skill other than unload, also the stealth pistol attack needs and improvement i think it deals the same damage as unload, and theres no bonus for power builds by spending more Malice.

(Also i think the initiative change could be taken to PvP and in no way that would make the worst PvP thief weapon OP compared to mech for example)

Edited October 27, 2023 by AquaBR.9250

[Kjubi.2694]

Pls rework the firebrand mantras, the cone effect is so bad for boon application, maybe a boonradius like herald would be nice. Also the recharging on the mantras mid battle feels so clunky.

[Khalni.3864]

Sorry, where are warrior rifle improvements???

[Ariurotl.3718]

These changes to the Inspiration spec are going to take a while to wrap my head around. Always happy to suddenly provide more support but two of the traits I use are now on the same tier which sucks. Does Blurred Inscriptions really need to be a GM trait? I remember Anet balance folks talking about moving skill type related traits to lower tiers some time ago.

[Sereath.1428]

On 10/26/2023 at 12:40 PM, Rubi Bayer.8493 said:

Vindicator

• Song of Arboreum: This trait has been reworked. Energy Meld grants more energy and also grants its energy and vigor to nearby allies.

One question.
No longer getting
Vigor Effectiveness Increase: +25%
?

It made a lot of sense thematically and had good synergies.

Edited October 27, 2023 by Sereath.1428

[Jokuc.3478]

10 minutes ago, Kjubi.2694 said:

Pls rework the firebrand mantras, the cone effect is so bad for boon application, maybe a boonradius like herald would be nice. Also the recharging on the mantras mid battle feels so clunky.

I do not want a rework. Having a cone is nice. Firebrand mantras actually have a circle already on them AND a cone. But the circle radius is just extremely small (180) and the cone honestly isn't that large either (450). So since herald has 600 radius (which I think is too much tbh, nerf to 550). I would like to see a buff to the range of the quickness mantra, so buff the cone range to 500 and buff the circle to 200. Would help a lot.

[rank eleven monk.9502]

With these changes you are taking away the cooldown reduction for Torch and Scepter for mesmers in PvP, essentially making sub-par weapons even worse. Cd reductions obviously should be game-wide instead of PVE only. I assume this is only an oversight.

[Icefyer.9208]

I like the Bandage Blast change! It always sucked having to be point-blank to be useful and people being able to walk between the bandages and force a miss due to the slow projectiles and how spread apart the are beyond shoving your arm-needles up their butt and firing then to make sure they get them like a mid-combat suppository. Even then you often had bandages going wide and only hit them with one if you're lucky. So having them be heat-seeking bandages is a nice change.

Are there any plans to change how two Inventions minor traits work with support mechanist and medkit? Support mechanist uses medkit, but because of the mech we lose access to Bandage Self, which is the only method to trigger Cleansing Pulse or Reconstructive Enclosure. Without the self-heal, those two traits don't function at all. Maybe tie them to the first mech skill when using medkit, since they and Bandage Self are roughly the same cooldown +/- a second or two? Or Medit's 4th skill would make sense since that's the same cooldown too. Don't want to suggest on medkit swap like Streamlined Kits because that's a lot less controlable than the other trigger methods.

Edited October 27, 2023 by Icefyer.9208

[Ariurotl.3718]

Also, while you're fiddling with Parasitic Contagion and Terror, any chance of Fear damage from Terror actually healing you with PC? Cause it currently doesn't (and never did).