January 30 Balance Update Preview

[Tru Reptile.6058]

So, Devourers finally have a use after 11 years only to have the rug pulled from under them. 

Edited January 16 by Tru Reptile.6058

[GamerToad.9248]

Anet on it's streak of 10 years of not giving a Fuuu about warrior.

[Jianyu.7065]

On 1/15/2024 at 8:13 AM, LichOverlord.6329 said:

I sincerely hope not, for all our sakes

Though I may be frustrated, I don't dislike the guy or anything, and he's been great for the PvP community imo 

I think it would be great if he was actually reading some of this feedback, taking it in, and maybe trying to see things from a different perspective. 

No shame in admitting you're wrong - he's done it before with scrapper wells, and I have faith that he'll see his mistake here, as well

I was just joking. I read through this entire post thread the morning after and almost every post that criticized the unnecessary and disappointing changes had either a confused or cry emoji - while the rare reply that saw the changes as acceptable had likes...

I know, I know...people 😒...right... 

[Panda.1967]

On 1/11/2024 at 5:26 PM, Rubi Bayer.8493 said:

We've also reworked the Radiant Fire trait to be less dependent on always having a torch equipped to make room for condition builds to swap between off-hand torches and pistols.

• Radiant Fire: This trait no longer grants Zealot's Flame when critically striking an enemy, and instead it grants an additional ammunition to Zealot's Flame. This trait also causes Zealot's Flame to inflict additional burning to enemies in PvE only.

These two statements are completely contradictory… Radiant Fire already is independent of having a torch equipped, this change does the exact opposite of the stated goal and makes the trait now require a torch to be equipped to gain any benefit.

[Doggie.3184]

Did you know Thief has a Sword? Can you like... do something with it.

and return Ricochet or baseline Pierce for Thief Pistols. asking for 100,000th time.

fix Bound's combo finisher self-priority so allys don't delete my stealth.

do literally anything that makes something more fun.

[Bladestrom.6425]

Anet can you stop your obsession with Cata maybe and stop neglecting all the other builds out there and/or repair the damage you done with your other cata patches.

[Nightcore.5621]

On 1/12/2024 at 7:07 PM, JDub.1530 said:

Am I misreading something? The changes to Radiant Fire are stated to enabled off hands other than Torch, but it seems like it's packing all the benefits into Torch instead.

Yeah it makes no sense at all right ? 

[Gaiawolf.8261]

5 hours ago, Panda.1967 said:

These two statements are completely contradictory… Radiant Fire already is independent of having a torch equipped, this change does the exact opposite of the stated goal and makes the trait now require a torch to be equipped to gain any benefit.

The difference is now it just adds ammo instead of proccing the skill and putting a time limit on the projectile. You need torch, but no longer need to keep it on both weapon sets and camp it for fear of missing out activating the additional projectile. 

Another indication of how the devs don't understand the details of the classes or care about off-meta builds. They are just preparing for the new meta when pistols come around. The rest of the game be damned. 

Edit: @JDub.1530 @Nightcore.5621    

At least I think that's how they want it to work. 

Edited January 16 by Gaiawolf.8261

[Panda.1967]

2 hours ago, Gaiawolf.8261 said:

The difference is now it just adds ammo instead of proccing the skill and putting a time limit on the projectile. You need torch, but no longer need to keep it on both weapon sets and camp it for fear of missing out activating the additional projectile. 

Another indication of how the devs don't understand the details of the classes or care about off-meta builds. They are just preparing for the new meta when pistols come around. The rest of the game be damned. 

Edit: @JDub.1530 @Nightcore.5621    

At least I think that's how they want it to work. 

You clearly have no idea how Zealot’s Flame works… Zealot’s Flame is a pbAoE skill that applies burning to up to three nearby enemies. The Current Radiant Fire trait causes the skill to proc automatically on crits once every 10sec. It also increases all burn durations and reduces CDs of torch skills. You gain 2/3 of the traits benefits without ever even touching a torch. The change they are making literally forces us to use torch to get any benefit out of this trait. How it works right now is perfectly fine and doesn’t need to change to work with the upcomming pistol off-hand meta.

The fact of the matter is that their claim that it is being changed to make the trait less reliant on having a torch equipped is a bold faced lie.

[Gaiawolf.8261]

4 minutes ago, Panda.1967 said:

You clearly have no idea how Zealot’s Flame works… Zealot’s Flame is a pbAoE skill that applies burning to up to three nearby enemies. The Current Radiant Fire trait causes the skill to proc automatically on crits once every 10sec. It also increases all burn durations and reduces CDs of torch skills. You gain 2/3 of the traits benefits without ever even touching a torch. The change they are making literally forces us to use torch to get any benefit out of this trait. How it works right now is perfectly fine and doesn’t need to change to work with the upcomming pistol off-hand meta.

The fact of the matter is that their claim that it is being changed to make the trait less reliant on having a torch equipped is a bold faced lie.

I know exactly how it works and how the current meta uses it. Currently, every time Radiant Fire procs, it starts Zealots Flame, which gives you only 3 seconds to throw Zealots Fire (projectile). The meta builds depend on Zealots Fire for their DPS benchmarks, so if you have any other weapon equipped instead of a torch when Radiant Fire procs from a crit, you will lose a throw of Zealot's Fire unless you can get back to your torch in less than 3 seconds.

So, the meta is to use axe/torch and scepter/torch because nothing else will outdps the Zealot's Flame/Fire combo on a condi hybrid build. The new design will allow meta players to run axe/torch and pistol/pistol instead of using a torch in both sets.

I agree the current Radiant Fire design is better for any build that doesn't use the meta setup, but unfortunately the devs don't care about off meta builds. 

[Yerlock.4678]

On 1/11/2024 at 5:26 PM, Rubi Bayer.8493 said:

Hi, everyone,

Welcome to the preview for the January 30 balance update! As always, the goal of previewing these changes is to gather your feedback before the live release. We'll be following the conversation and making further adjustments as needed.

 

Thanks,

Cal "cmc" Cohen

Skills and Balance Lead

 

This update is a smaller set of changes intended to address outliers that came out of the November balance update, plus a handful of changes to prepare for the new weapons coming in the following release. Due to the smaller nature of this update, there won't be an accompanying livestream. We'll be previewing changes to the new weapons themselves at a later date. This update will only include changes to existing skills and traits. After that we'll be working on the next regular balance update that is currently scheduled for mid-March.

General

As with the November update, this update also includes improvements for some underperforming relics.

• Relic of Karakosa: Lowered the healing multiplier from 0.8 to 0.5 in PvE and WvW.
• Relic of the Flock: This relic now heals instead of granting barrier. Excess healing is converted to barrier.
• Relic of Resistance: This relic now triggers when using a healing skill instead of when using an elite skill. Reduced the resistance duration from 5 seconds to 2.5 seconds. Reduced the cooldown from 30 seconds to 10 seconds.
• Relic of the Pack: This relic now also grants might and fury to affected allies.
• Relic of Durability: This relic now also grants resolution.
• Relic of the Weaver: This relic no longer has an internal cooldown.
• Relic of Dagda: The projectile fired by this relic now dazes enemies that it strikes. Reduced the warmup duration from 1.5 seconds to 1 second.
• Relic of the Citadel: Reduced the warmup duration from 2 seconds to 1 second.
• Relic of the Krait: Reduced the warmup duration from 2 seconds to 1 second.
• Relic of the Nightmare: Reduced the warmup duration from 2 seconds to 1 second.
• Relic of the Wizard's Tower: Reduced the warmup duration from 2 seconds to 1 second.

Elementalist

The changes to hammer in November pushed condition builds for tempest and weaver a bit higher than we like to see, so we're making a few tweaks to bring those builds back in line.

• Singeing Strike: Reduced the burning duration from 3 seconds to 1.5 seconds in PvE only.
• Surging Flames: Reduced the burning duration from 9 seconds to 3 seconds in PvE only.
• Ground Pound: Reduced the bleeding duration from 10 seconds to 6 seconds in PvE only.

Engineer

Condition holosmith and power scrapper are both a bit overtuned in PvE and are getting brought down in this update. We've also slightly reworked Bulwark Gyro to be more reliable for supporting allies, and Adaptive Armor has been reworked to be an effective grandmaster trait for support builds to prepare for the introduction of the short bow.

• Blowtorch: Fixed an issue that caused this skill to inflict more burning than intended.

·         Bulwark Gyro: This skill no longer redirects damage from nearby allies to the user, and it now grants barrier to nearby allies upon activation and on each pulse.

• Adaptive Armor: This trait has been reworked. Your function gyro has two ammunition and grants barrier to allies when cast. Function Gyro no longer has an increased recharge when creating additional gyros but has a higher base recharge.

·         Applied Force: Reduced the bonus power per might stack from 35 to 30 in PvE only.

Guardian

Support firebrand still isn't quite at the level we'd like to see in PvP, so we've made a few more improvements to it in this update. We've also reworked the Radiant Fire trait to be less dependent on always having a torch equipped to make room for condition builds to swap between off-hand torches and pistols.

• Radiant Fire: This trait no longer grants Zealot's Flame when critically striking an enemy, and instead it grants an additional ammunition to Zealot's Flame. This trait also causes Zealot's Flame to inflict additional burning to enemies in PvE only.
• Soaring Devastation: The movement speed granted by this trait is no longer removed when Wings of Resolve is on cooldown.
• Mantra of Solace: Reduced the cooldown from 30 seconds to 24 seconds in PvP only.
• Mantra of Liberation: Reduced the ammunition recharge time from 45 seconds to 35 seconds in PvP only.
• Chapter 3: Azure Sun: This skill now also heals affected allies. Increased the cooldown from 8 seconds to 15 seconds in PvP and WvW.
• Chapter 2: Igniting Burst: This skill is now a blast finisher. Reduced the casting time from 0.86 seconds to 0.68 seconds.
• Chapter 4: Shining River: Reduced the casting time from 0.86 seconds to 0.68 seconds.
• Merciful Intervention: Reduced the cooldown from 32 seconds to 25 seconds. Increased the radius from 180 to 240. Reduced the base healing from 2,344 to 2,024 in PvP and WvW. Reduced the healing coefficient from 1.1 to 0.8 in PvP and WvW.
• Reversal of Fortune: Fixed an issue that prevented this skill from healing while in the air. Fixed an issue that prevented this skill from triggering on-heal effects.

Mesmer

Condition mirage's damage output is getting toned down after it landed too high with the changes in the November update. The November update also pushed mesmer support builds a bit over the top in WvW, and we're starting with some reductions to its alacrity and quickness access. We'll be keeping a close eye on the effectiveness of these builds once the rifle is available, and we will make additional adjustments as needed to bring them in line with other support builds. Supportive mantras are also getting minor usability improvements to prepare for the release of the rifle.

• Lingering Thoughts: Reduced the number of whirl finishers from 4 to 2.
• Lacerating Chop: Reduced the clone condition durations from 3 seconds to 1 second in PvE only.
• Imaginary Axes: Reduced the clone torment duration from 4 seconds to 3 seconds in PvE only.
• Mantra of Pain: Increased the radius from 240 to 360. This mantra no longer requires a target.
• Mantra of Recovery: Increased the radius from 240 to 360.
• Mantra of Resolve: Increased the radius from 240 to 360.
• Mantra of Distraction: This mantra no longer requires a target.
• Split Second: Increased the cooldown from 12 seconds to 15 seconds in WvW only.
• Illusionary Membrane: Reduced the condition damage bonus from 10% to 7% in PvE only.
• Chaotic Persistence: Reduced the expertise from 250 to 150 in PvE only.
• Restorative Mantras: This trait now triggers when using a mantra ammunition skill instead of when charging a mantra. Reduced the base healing from 1,640 to 820. Reduced the healing coefficient from 1.0 to 0.5.
• Escape Artist: Reduced the distortion duration from 5 seconds to 1.5 seconds in WvW only.
• Improved Alacrity: Reduced the alacrity recharge speed from 50% to 35% in WvW only.
• Flow of Time: Reduced the alacrity per clone from 1.5 seconds to 0.75 seconds in WvW only.
• Seize the Moment: Reduced the quickness per clone from 1 second to 0.75 seconds in WvW only.

Necromancer

Necromancer is currently in a pretty good spot in PvE. We considered some improvements for power harbinger builds, but we want to see where the build lands with the introduction of swords before making any additional changes. Transfusion is a trait that overperforms in support scourge builds in WvW, so we're making a change similar to what we did with Path of Corruption, in which the trait will increase the cooldown of its related scourge skill in WvW only.

• Transfusion: This trait now increases the cooldown of Garish Pillar to 60 seconds in WvW only.

Ranger

Condition-based quickness untamed is another build that's overperforming in terms of damage and is getting a few adjustments to bring it more in line. Quickness untamed builds can struggle with might generation for their allies, so we've added might to the Let Loose trigger in PvE to improve this. Greatsword is also getting a handful of tune-ups with the goal of making it a more competitive option for power builds.

• Slice: Increased the power coefficient from 0.8 to 1.0 in PvE only.
• Enduring Swing: Increased the power coefficient from 1.4 to 1.6 in PvE only.
• Maul: Increased the power coefficient from 1.75 to 2.0 in PvE only.
• Swoop: Increased the power coefficient from 1.0 to 2.18 in PvE only.
• Counterattack Kick: Increased the power coefficient from 1.3 to 2.25 in PvE only.
• Hilt Bash: Increased the power coefficient from 0.72 to 2.25 in PvE only.
• Barrage: Increased the ammunition count from 1 to 2 in WvW only.
• Twin Darts (Devourer Family): Reduced the power coefficient per hit from 0.25 to 0.15 in PvE only.
• Poisonous Cloud (Carrion Devourer): Increased the cooldown from 20 seconds to 30 seconds in PvE only.
• Sundering Volley: Reduced the bleeding stacks per hit from 3 to 2 in PvE only.
• Let Loose: This trait now grants 5 stacks of might for 10 seconds in addition to its previous effects in PvE only.

Revenant

In addition to toning down the damage of power vindicator in PvE, we've made some minor adjustments to axe to improve its usability for condition builds.

• Frigid Blitz: This skill no longer inflicts slow. This skill now also inflicts torment.
• Temporal Rift: Reduced the time the rift takes to collapse from 0.9 seconds to 0.75 seconds.
• Echoing Eruption: Reduced the number of blast finishers from 3 to 1. This skill now also grants might to the user.
• Leviathan Strength: Reduced the damage bonus from 15% to 10% in PvE only.

Thief

Deadeye has been growing in popularity in PvP over the last few months, and we've seen that it can be a bit too difficult to lock down for the damage it's capable of dealing. We're increasing the initiative cost of Death's Advance to require a larger resource investment for the survivability that it provides.

• Skirmisher's Shot: Reduced the power coefficient from 0.8 to 0.7 in PvP only.
• Death's Advance: Increased the initiative cost from 2 to 4 in PvP only.

Warrior

Power-based quickness berserker is the final overperforming build that we're tackling in this update, shifting a bit more of the power away from Bloody Roar and into Blood Reaction to create a larger damage tradeoff for the quickness build.

• Blood Reaction: Increased the precision to ferocity conversion from 10% to 12% in PvE only.
• Bloody Roar: Reduced the damage bonus from 20% to 15% in PvE only.

Where are the DH trap nerfs in pvp? Test of Faith's passthrough strike damage is too high right now. It's clobbering newer players in unranked and just in general for teamfights. The cc access with high damage for traps is a massive pain and needs some slight damage nerfs.

[Iskarel.7240]

I wrote an extensive analysis of the state of DPS Deadeye in the current meta. There's a lot of work that could be done for this elite spec to help dredge it out of its massively-underplayed status in Endgame PvE (Raids, Strikes, Fractals).

[Angesombre.4630]

I don't understand Anet's way of thinking about the vindicator:
September 26, 2023: "Leviathan Strength": Increased damage bonus from 10% to 15% in PvE only.
November 28, 2023 change of dodges on the vindicator: "Reaver's Curse" with these power increases.
January 30, 2024: power reduction: "Leviathan Strength": Reduced the damage bonus from 15% to 10% in PvE only.
In the space of 4 months an increase, modification with increase, nerf. Where's the logic? After making it viable, several months after its release from EoD where it was bad and barely exceeded 3% usage before November 28, to force players to use an F2. I'm not a fan of the new Major Master trait system. One was good Song of Arboreum before November 28, the other 2 weren't, so 2 sure had to change.  The change on the 28th has made the profession more boring from my point of view.

I won't talk about the successive nerfs the vindicator has experienced since its release, the list would be too long, nerf GS which is just around the corner and the numerous bugs still uncorrected. Nor will I talk about the mass, where I'm still skeptical about the changes, with the expectation that a future nerf will have too much impact later on.

I'd say that even the modification of axe skill 4 isn't going to be easy. Situational before, modifying afterwards, will perhaps be more annoying to use, with the problem that if a mob is on the edge of a void, well, how can I put it, it's a guaranteed fall... So you might as well say that its flaw will always be there.

Edited January 17 by Angesombre.4630

[Dualumina.1760]

Yeah uhh.. what others are saying. Why nerf mesmer/mirage axe so much? Like, what's it doing, and where, that needs all these nerfs? It's already a lot of forced movement, are you worried rifle/axe mirage is going to be the ultimate healer build or something?

[Fueki.4753]

9 hours ago, Gaiawolf.8261 said:

I know exactly how it works and how the current meta uses it. Currently, every time Radiant Fire procs, it starts Zealots Flame, which gives you only 3 seconds to throw Zealots Fire (projectile). The meta builds depend on Zealots Fire for their DPS benchmarks, so if you have any other weapon equipped instead of a torch when Radiant Fire procs from a crit, you will lose a throw of Zealot's Fire unless you can get back to your torch in less than 3 seconds.

So, the meta is to use axe/torch and scepter/torch because nothing else will outdps the Zealot's Flame/Fire combo on a condi hybrid build. The new design will allow meta players to run axe/torch and pistol/pistol instead of using a torch in both sets.

I agree the current Radiant Fire design is better for any build that doesn't use the meta setup, but unfortunately the devs don't care about off meta builds. 

Have you even stopped to consider that top end cookie cutter "meta" builds aren't everything in the game?

Because they are not and it sucks that Arenanet is trying so hard to design the game around those.

Radiant Flame and Zealot's Flame in their current iterations work just fine. You don't use Torch? That's fine! You can burn foes around you with it. You use Torch? That's fine, too! You have a choice between burning foes around you OR throwing the flame.

With the upcoming change, we lose the flame for other weapons, which will feel bad for many players.

Just because the cookie cutters prefer Torch doesn't mean other weapons need to lose the flame.

Edited January 17 by Fueki.4753

[Thevaultdwellinggamer.4267]

41 minutes ago, Fueki.4753 said:

Have you even stopped to consider that top end cookie cutter "meta" builds aren't everything in the game?

Because they are not and it sucks that Arenanet is trying so hard to design the game around those.

The issue stem from the fact that Anet wants everything to be viable. Hense every class having access to quickness and alacrity, Weapon master training, ect ect. Because in their mind, they're creating more choices for the player to use. 

The reality is that it does the complete opposite. It only force people to shoehorn cookie cutter build because off meta build absolutely pale in comparison. As a result, Anet has to work even harder to maintain the shambling balance they created, but now it's worse, because we're at a point where we are using a sledge hammer and nerfing and buffing stuff while blindfolded. They have absolute no idea how to fix the mess they created.

 

I mean why the hell is barrage is getting an Ammo count for wvw? Where does that add value? Who the hell said, "Boy, I really wish as could spam barrage over and over in wvw."

 

They don't know what to do anymore, and they're opting for a dart board for a random solution.

Edited January 17 by Thevaultdwellinggamer.4267

[Fueki.4753]

2 hours ago, Thevaultdwellinggamer.4267 said:

The issue stem from the fact that Anet wants everything to be viable.

Notably, everything but Warrior. They've shown again and again that they don't Warrior to be good or even decent.

2 hours ago, Thevaultdwellinggamer.4267 said:

The reality is that it does the complete opposite. It only force people to shoehorn cookie cutter build because off meta build absolutely pale in comparison.

It's no necessarily the opposite. It feels like they want everything (but Warrior) to be viable, but in a very small capacity with little to no room for variation.

They actively try to push out things that don't fit into said capacity. Radiant Flame's upcoming change is a prime example for this, as it currently makes sword and focus somewhat fine choices for condition builds. But with the change, they just make them worse for that role. This also reduces their workload regarding this trait, as only Torch needs to be considered for adjusting this trait.

This way, they can point towards a very specific builds and say "look, your profession is viable (unless it's Warrior)!", completely brushing away issues about certain play styles existing in the game or not.

And I mean existing, not viable, because some things have been straight up deleted from the game. For examples, summoning effects from rune, or the playstyle of old Ranger's sword are simply gone. I guess there's no fun allowed for people who enjoy things that vary from cookie cutting.

Given how they design the game these days (or years, really), I wouldn't be surprised if the next over-priced mini expansion's "big feature" will recommended builds (obviously sourced from cookie cutter websites).

I also would not be surprised, if they hate having to deal with traits in the first place and would love, if the game was closer to FF14, where all jobs have set abilities and talents and have minimal to no variation in gameplay due to semi-fixed GCD rotations. Only Dancer is a bit different, because Dancer's GCD abilities becoming available depends on RNG.

2 hours ago, Thevaultdwellinggamer.4267 said:

As a result, Anet has to work even harder to maintain the shambling balance they created, but now it's worse, because we're at a point where we are using a sledge hammer and nerfing and buffing stuff while blindfolded.

They would have to work even harder, if they considered all the things in the game.

But by narrowing down which things they want to be playing, they also narrow down what they have to work on, effectively reducing their workload.

At least it feels that way to me.

2 hours ago, Thevaultdwellinggamer.4267 said:

They don't know what to do anymore, and they're opting for a dart board for a random solution.

I don't think this is true. There are some misfires here and there, but in general it feels very targetted to make a select handful of builds remain viable, while trying to put out the others.

Edited January 17 by Fueki.4753

[Gaiawolf.8261]

5 hours ago, Fueki.4753 said:

Have you even stopped to consider that top end cookie cutter "meta" builds aren't everything in the game?

Because they are not and it sucks that Arenanet is trying so hard to design the game around those.

Of course I have. Didn't you read the last paragraphs of all my posts? Why do you think I said repeatedly that I don't support the new design and lament that the devs only care about meta builds?

I was just explaining the design because other players seemed confused about the change. That doesn't mean I like it. 

Edited January 17 by Gaiawolf.8261

[Lincolnbeard.1735]

9 hours ago, Angesombre.4630 said:

I don't understand Anet's way of thinking about the vindicator:
September 26, 2023: "Leviathan Strength": Increased damage bonus from 10% to 15% in PvE only.
November 28, 2023 change of dodges on the vindicator: "Reaver's Curse" with these power increases.
January 30, 2024: power reduction: "Leviathan Strength": Reduced the damage bonus from 15% to 10% in PvE only.
In the space of 4 months an increase, modification with increase, nerf. Where's the logic? After making it viable, several months after its release from EoD where it was bad and barely exceeded 3% usage before November 28, to force players to use an F2. I'm not a fan of the new Major Master trait system. One was good Song of Arboreum before November 28, the other 2 weren't, so 2 sure had to change.  The change on the 28th has made the profession more boring from my point of view.

I won't talk about the successive nerfs the vindicator has experienced since its release, the list would be too long, nerf GS which is just around the corner and the numerous bugs still uncorrected. Nor will I talk about the mass, where I'm still skeptical about the changes, with the expectation that a future nerf will have too much impact later on.

I'd say that even the modification of axe skill 4 isn't going to be easy. Situational before, modifying afterwards, will perhaps be more annoying to use, with the problem that if a mob is on the edge of a void, well, how can I put it, it's a guaranteed fall... So you might as well say that its flaw will always be there.

As a mesmer main I can explain their reasoning.

Step 1 - buff skill/trait X

Step 2 - nerf skill/trait Y Z A B using the reasoning that X made it too good.

Step 3 - nerf skill/trait X

I mean, look at mirage dodge, every trait and skill got nerfed because mirage dodge was too good, then mirage dodge was nerfed into one dodge and then when it got "buffed" into two dodges again several more nerfs came with the reasoning we have to nerf something in order to give the dodge back. None of the previous nerfs were reverted.

 

[Ascency.3580]

i think most changes are good, but dont think condi mesmer changes are justified, or rather the scope of those nerfs, especially since targetting mirage virt is gonna get hit while it wasnt really overperforming that much.  mirage from being a bit overtuned it gonna again become borderline useless , especially becouse of its complexity. also thx for changing the expertise values u get from the build, thank kitten ive got legendary gear. f in chat for ppl who will have to spend resources on changing their gear to accomodate.

still cannot comprehand why fb is not getting any changes done to its spam-utility-to-upkeep-quickness nature. not getting any fixes for its abysmal ranges. 180 range on a kay boon? in 2023? and also having misleading tooltips, for theyr key mechanics (tome spells saying 600 range and not mentioning the fact its cone shaped). and its not the toltip that should get fixed but rather the fact its cone shaped. frustrating to not be able to affect allies standing right in ur face cos the cone was just a tad to the right. this couses fb to either overperform or underperform cos u cant get 100% uptime on key boons in any fight where u deal with any kind of mechanics and 2 ppl just decide to dodge in opposite dirtections.

also what happend to moving key boons away from utility spam? fb has to cast potence mantra off cd, spam thru the charges, and recast asap off cd, while supplementing with heal mantra every 7 seconds cos even with alac it would not be enough while having 100% boon duration to upkeep quickness. while also praying ppl will stand still for 3 seconds while doing it, otherwise some might drop quickness for 20 seoncds cos of stupid 180 range

[Angesombre.4630]

1 hour ago, Lincolnbeard.1735 said:

As a mesmer main I can explain their reasoning.

Step 1 - buff skill/trait X

Step 2 - nerf skill/trait Y Z A B using the reasoning that X made it too good.

Step 3 - nerf skill/trait X

I mean, look at mirage dodge, every trait and skill got nerfed because mirage dodge was too good, then mirage dodge was nerfed into one dodge and then when it got "buffed" into two dodges again several more nerfs came with the reasoning we have to nerf something in order to give the dodge back. None of the previous nerfs were reverted.

 

I understand, but it's Anet's general idea that if the line added in decay had been weaker after the ridiculous change, he wouldn't have had to nerf the first one.

After all, I know that mirage has the same problem with dodging in another genre, so we understand each other. But on mirage I don't think they've changed the way you dodge, like forcing you to use a button to be able to use it properly, or just amplifying it.

On the other hand, it looks like Daredevil didn't have to worry about that.

[MorningGlow.5376]

On 1/12/2024 at 12:26 AM, Rubi Bayer.8493 said:

Thief

Deadeye has been growing in popularity in PvP over the last few months, and we've seen that it can be a bit too difficult to lock down for the damage it's capable of dealing. We're increasing the initiative cost of Death's Advance to require a larger resource investment for the survivability that it provides.

• Skirmisher's Shot: Reduced the power coefficient from 0.8 to 0.7 in PvP only.
• Death's Advance: Increased the initiative cost from 2 to 4 in PvP only.

Death's Advance: Fair. I've seen this change coming since the skill was implemented. It took so long to get rid of perma-stealth deadeye, just to get accidently reestablished a few patches later?

Skirmisher's Shot: This one makes me a bit twitchy. Skirmisher's Shot is a make-or-break skill, the way rifle is currently balanced in sPvP. I like the direction the devs are taking deadeye in sPvP utility-wise, but if you fiddle to much whith the damage of this skill, without rebalancing the damage of the weapon as a whole, you always run the risk of breaking it.

I hope the Devs can have a look at it in the next competitive update, after they've finsihed implementing axe.

[Tofu.1865]

Still no Buff for Mechanist's Condi Mace? 😕
all other spec got good weapon alternative while Mechanists at stucked at using pistols lol.

[Tofu.1865]

On 1/13/2024 at 8:46 PM, ShadowKatt.6740 said:

Do you want power creep? Because that's how you get power creep.

All joking aside, there's a very good reason, and you have to look long term. If everyone is at power 5 when the game launches and you see some builds over performing, some under performing, you boost a couple up to 6 and a couple down to 4, and you see how well it's going. This is how balancing works in general. But if we were to just boost everyone up  then suddenly not only did some of our builds go up to 6, a couple of them went up to power 7 as well. And the meta changes. People are using new abilities, and other builds are lagging behind. So they get boosted up to 7 as well, and the meta changes again. next balance patch some need to boost up to 8, and six months later some go up to 9.

But the CONTENT of your game hasn't changed. Everything is still tuned to a base power of 5 that you had at launch and now your players are basically double that. Think of how you can go back to core how and just melt everything effortlessly even on a new character, and then consider how much worse that might be if they didn't nerf more than they buffed. That's the reason we don't always uplift bad builds, we also have to weigh down the overly powerful builds.

I still find it funny that they buffed Power Mechanist so hard rendering Condi Mechanists useless on both PvP and PvE
Heck... Condi Mechanists doing abit lower DPS as other specs while having 0 utility at all

[RainbowTurtle.3542]

On 1/14/2024 at 3:40 PM, BumboJumbo.1308 said:

You can use sun spirit on power quickness untamed... nothing is stopping you.

You say this like the change isn't listed- 5 might for 10 seconds per ambush from Let Loose. 10 might per loop.

 

People aren't going to use it if it's less optimal. I certainly wouldn't- I'd much rather just keep my damage up and not give any might, since healers generally are going to be the ones providing might for your subgroup, boon DPS might is just a bonus in most cases. However, player perception of a boon build (and in some compositions, it's actual effectiveness) is based around the boons it can provide on it's own. 10 might isn't a whole lot, but it's certainly welcome on power quickness untamed, and condition quick untamed will also benefit (despite already providing might from sun spirit, as the damage of sun spirit is more than acceptable for condition builds).

 

In addition, the fringe Heal Untamed player base appreciates it as well. Looking at the build, you choose between better healing output (staff/staff) or better boon output (staff/axe/wh). With this change, you can provide more might without sacrificing the potential need for more healing (as you're a healer, and will be expected to provide the bulk of the boons a squad needs). The build (in my opinion) already isn't that great, but some people like it and helping enable playstyles without destroying other ones should be pretty welcome.