March 19 Balance Update Preview

[Shaman.2034]

I am happy about the buffs to power Mirage, I think they are good changes, but mesmer desperately needs core traits or something that gives it increased crit chance (that also applies to illusions). As it stands, playing non-Virtuoso power mesmer builds requires awkward gearing or questionably reliable situations. It doesn't come with 100% crit chance independent of the situation without investing far more heavily into Precision than any other profession. And it does have to be Precision, because phantasms don't take percent modifiers to crit chance except where explicitly stated. It feels like power mesmer either has to play Virtuoso only, or has to take an unfairly limiting set of equipment.

Dueling traits are mandatory as any power mesmer build because of Phantasmal Fury. You need to rely on Fury to hit 100% crit chance, so you need to put it on your phantasms too. So, just take away Virtuoso's Quiet Intensity 15% crit chance bonus, and add it onto Dueling's Master Fencer. Then change Chronomancer's Danger Time to crit damage instead of crit chance, or something else. That puts all power builds regardless of elite spec on equal crit chance footing, but most importantly brings power mesmer into the modern realm where full Berserker stats are enough to cap crit chance and a greater diversity of equipment choices can be made to tailor that build archetype in certain ways.

Mesmer elite specs can be given additional crit chance on top of this, of course, but mesmer desperately needs a core Dueling trait that increases crit chance by at least Quiet Intensity's 15%. Increasing it further to 25% crit chance would open up Berserker + Scholar equipment as an option for once.

[Nepster.4275]

4 hours ago, PrinceValentine.9320 said:

All these Mesmer fan boys here complaining about the upcoming nerfs when the class needs more toning down than mentioned. Smh

Man where do you want to tone mesmer down even more?
There are classes with easier gearing hitting higher numbers with easier rotations

[Vooksa.2941]

2 hours ago, Titan.7853 said:

I would like to chime in here regarding the changes to Guardian,

*all this*

I for one truly appreciate that.

>Guardian, a class with aegis and more stability than any other class in the game, usually getting free downs as a Willbender with the only cost being the time needed to channel, an action accelerated by quickness, gets an evasion finisher with a 600-range shadowstep with a 1.75s cast time on a 20s CD
>This guy: "It's totally like this other class that doesn't have quickness and has a three-step, 2.75s combined cast time, non-evasion non-shadowstep finisher move on a 25s CD you guys"

I think Heaven's Palm being a finisher is cool. I want there to be more classes that have special finisher moves. But I NEED to know, how far away does "enemies nearby" prevent the finishing move effect, and what the notification system is for if you aren't going to get the finisher, before I can say if it's justified. You sound smug enough to maybe not realize, but the average player HATES Willbenders, because of the lengthy catalogue of nonsense they have at their disposal. Gapcloser? Escape techniques? High damage, Blocks, literally Unkillable phases, Condi Cleanse, Stability, Protection, Resistance and Resolution, Projectile Reflects? Alacrity AND Quickness? It's exhausting.

Tossing on an evasion teleporting finisher move on one of the shortest elite-skill CDs in the game in the same patch that they're adding bonus damage, reduced condition damage, aegis, and longer duration to a grandmaster trait that literally already made you unkillable is not going to make it friendlier with the neighbours.

Edited February 20 by Vooksa.2941

[ShadowKatt.6740]

12 minutes ago, Nepster.4275 said:

Man where do you want to tone mesmer down even more?
There are classes with easier gearing hitting higher numbers with easier rotations

Look at the profile picture. They wouldn't know what a nerf is if Hasbro gave them a tour of the factory.

[YTKafka.4681]

On 2/16/2024 at 5:25 PM, arazoth.7290 said:

REVENANT CENTAUR ELITE:

If you don't like the spaminess in WvW, fine.  But not a 15 second cd => max 5 second cd in WvW. Ontop of this the boon duration of this skill got nerfed a lot..., buff these boon durations back up while the 15 second cd gets reduced to 5 second cd.

It won't be able to get spammed in rotation and other abilties can still je used while this is on cd.

===> Centaur coming changes 😢😓=====>

• Energy Expulsion: Lowered the stability duration from 5 seconds to 3 seconds in WvW only. Increased the cooldown from 2 seconds to 15 seconds in WvW only.

One thing I'm mostly worried about with this is that it's anti-synergistic with the core concept of the trait line itself. That the first skill you use upon summoning the tablet is more powerful. The only way to get rid of the tablet is to swap out of legends and back in (~10 Sec... soon to be 15 sec.), destroy the tablet with Energy Expulsion (2 -> 15 sec CD), or move 1500 units away (you can only move the tablet manually 900 units away so you literally have to walk away 700 more units just to despawn it)

The if the increased power to skills isn't reliable to activate more then twice every time you invoke Ventari in a realistic way then it makes a core concept of the salvation traitline useless and as a point seems like a regression in the quality of the Legend back to a more clunky state where things have to be planed out strategically far in advance to an unrealistic degree. Even 10 seconds would be more reasonable, but kittenING 15 SECONDS??? You want me to wait 15 seconds so I can get the 25% increased healing? You want me to wait 15 Seconds so I can give 4 seconds of protection?

Here's an idea: Don't load Resistance, Stability, Healing, Clensing, and a Blast Finisher on a single skill. Do you see what the REAL problem is now?

... ok I'm getting a little... ugh...

[Phyxrgon.7305]

5 hours ago, PrinceValentine.9320 said:

All these Mesmer fan boys here complaining about the upcoming nerfs when the class needs more toning down than mentioned. Smh

Willbender iterations need a big tone down, not Mesmer.

[arazoth.7290]

3 minutes ago, YTKafka.4681 said:

One thing I'm mostly worried about with this is that it's anti-synergistic with the core concept of the trait line itself. That the first skill you use upon summoning the tablet is more powerful. The only way to get rid of the tablet is to swap out of legends and back in (~10 Sec... soon to be 15 sec.), destroy the tablet with Energy Expulsion (2 -> 15 sec CD), or move 1500 units away (you can only move the tablet manually 900 units away so you literally have to walk away 700 more units just to despawn it)

The if the increased power to skills isn't reliable to activate more then twice every time you invoke Ventari in a realistic way then it makes a core concept of the salvation traitline useless and as a point seems like a regression in the quality of the Legend back to a more clunky state where things have to be planed out strategically far in advance to an unrealistic degree. Even 10 seconds would be more reasonable, but kittenING 15 SECONDS??? You want me to wait 15 seconds so I can get the 25% increased healing? You want me to wait 15 Seconds so I can give 4 seconds of protection?

Here's an idea: Don't load Resistance, Stability, Healing, Clensing, and a Blast Finisher on a single skill. Do you see what the REAL problem is now?

... ok I'm getting a little... ugh...

That's why I suggested to make this elite skill in WvW 5 second cd for ventari elite skill. You have room to reset but still time to wait and good decision making when to use since it's still 250% increased cd then the 2 sec in WvW.

[Titan.7853]

5 hours ago, Titan.7853 said:

Will I prefer the new Glacial Heart that heals instead of chills?  I don't know yet.  I suppose it depends on how much it heals for, but I can say that I doubt that any of these changes are going to dramatically change the balance of Guardian much one way or another, aside from making it more fun to play, and I for one truly appreciate that.

Vooksa, you can call me whatever you want, that's fine, but if you are going to quote me, at least quote me in context (see above).  I gave a very detailed post as someone who has actually taken Heaven's Palm on Willbender extensively in competitive gameplay and tried to make it work.  If anyone has more experience with it competitively, please chime in.  Then entire TLDR was that you have to sacrifice more to take it then you will likely gain by doing so, therefore it's unlikely to be the buff that you think it is.  Since I love the skill, I would be thrilled if adding an evade and a finisher brought it on par with Renewed Focus.  If it even gets close I'll be happy.  Let's give it a few months for the novelty to wear off, and have a look then at how many people actually take it.  Particularly in WvW, Renewed Focus grants you two additional condi cleanses, an invul, and an additional Crashing Courage.  Do you really think people are going to give that up?

The theme of sacrificing one thing to gain another carries straight through the patchnotes.  It's not all just extras.  You are concerned about Willbender having quickness with a faster finisher, but as I have described in detail, in order to take Heaven's Palm, you will have to sacrifice Feel My Wrath (Willbender's source of quickness).  Since you are concerned about Willbenders gaining reduced condition damage with Deathless Courage, just realize that in order to take that grandmaster trait, they would have to sacrifice Tyrant's Momentum, a major damage modifier, or Phoenix Protocol, their source of alacrity.  I more often than not play with Dragon Hunter these days, and have to fight Willbenders myself.  I don't want them broken.  Do you think that the devs are gonna give Deathless Courage the same damage modifier as Tyrant's Momentum, in addition to reduced condition damage?  No!  Of course not.  Let's not forget that Guardians base health is like 12k, so in order to even survive it needs things like Aegis or Resolution.  Anyway, I've said all that I have to say.

Edited February 20 by Titan.7853

[Tulki.1458]

On 2/16/2024 at 10:34 AM, Butterfly Kingdom.8349 said:

•  
• Automated Medical Response: This trait has been reworked. Grant regeneration to nearby allies when you use your healing skill's toolbelt skill.

... eh? Why change this from a trait that works on mechanist to one that doesn't, or at the very least doesn't make sense? Engi also isn't really hurting for ways to apply regeneration on support builds. It just seems like this will see less use now, not more.

[ZTeamG.4603]

With the glacial heart change, what are the odds they forget to add an internal cooldown and it results in willbenders running around in WvW using the buffed Heaven's Palm + Relic of the Ice as a free full heal?

[Zyreva.1078]

Wilderness Survival is already a pretty decent traitline and doesn't really need any changes (except maybe Emphatic Bond, which is bad because pets are buggy/bad).

Unless the new lifesteal trait is op, those changes will make the traitline worse for power and condi alike.

[Dinas Dragonbane.2978]

Glacial heart, nooooo. I have run a tanky bruiser firebrand whose sole purpose is to cc/hinder enemies while holding the front line and giving some stability support to allies. This build used to use stoic demeanor, but they got rid of the slow so it went bye bye. Glacial heart was a major source of hindering enemies and mixed well with stoic's slow, but now it's going to lose the added chills. What a bust, what does guardian hammer need this healing for exactly?

[ViolentMuffin.9573]

Comments for PvE only 'cause I don't play WvW.

Mesmer

• Desperate Decoy: This trait has been reworked. Gain vigor when you evade an attack. - I don't know, I'm kinda torn on that. The old trait is more creative and interesting, but more useful in context of PvP. New one will be more reliable would let more frequent dodges, so her is some kind of tradeoff. But I feel like mesmer is more about deceiveing and disappearing, additional vigours seems like athief idea.
• Master Fencer: This trait now gives increased personal fury duration. - Cool
• Temporal Enchanter: This trait no longer increases the duration of glamour skills. - Why remove that? It's a good buff to glamours, I'm not sure superspeed and resistance are that useful. But also they are used very occasionally in PvE groups.
• Sympathetic Visage: This trait no longer affects nearby allies and only pulls conditions from the player. - I think it would be good to still have it pull condis from allies if we're opening options to support mesmer. Maybe just make the player a priority with pulling condis.

Chronomancer

• Well of Precognition: This skill now grants allies 3 stacks of stability for 5 seconds on its first pulse. - I mean, it's good, but I just think that wells should have all effects spread evenly to every pulse. It would make getting their effects more consistently in PvE and in competitive modes. It would be good to make "All's Well that Ends Well" give healing on every pulse if we're making a mes support.

Mirage

• Phantom Razor: Increased the power coefficient from 0.8 to 1.0 in PvE only. - Cool
• Split Surge: Increased the power coefficient from 0.45 to 0.85 in PvE only. - Cool
• Mirage Thrust: Increased the power coefficient from 1.0 to 3.0 in PvE only. - Cool
• Dune Cloak: This trait has been reworked. Gain Mirage Cloak when you shatter 2 or more clones. - Seems ok, i didn't see much use for old Mirage Cloak. Potentially good as an additional dodge in tight situations, but still not as good as Infinite Horizon.

Virtuoso

• Sword of Decimation: This skill now applies its bonus damage and inflicts additional defiance damage on defiant foes.  - Cool
• Infinite Forge: This trait now refunds two blades after casting a Bladesong skill with 5 blades in addition to its previous effect. - Cool

[Shaman.2034]

4 minutes ago, ViolentMuffin.9573 said:

Dune Cloak: This trait has been reworked. Gain Mirage Cloak when you shatter 2 or more clones. - Seems ok, i didn't see much use for old Mirage Cloak. Potentially good as an additional dodge in tight situations, but still not as good as Infinite Horizon.

It gives power Mirage a grandmaster choice. Condi Mirage wants Infinite Horizon because clones do condi damage, but power Mirage doesn't care for Infinite Horizon because clones do 0 strike damage. Power Mirage would rather Ambush more frequently than take a trait that does basically nothing

[Fwog.9387]

On 2/18/2024 at 5:20 AM, Buzzbugs.1236 said:

The only toxic & hostile thing about this game is it's community. Just look at how you all behave each time a balance patch comes out and how you treat each other on these forums and in-game every day. GW2 is the last MMO I'll ever play and it's not because of anything Anet did.

The only thing that is betraying and annihilating the community is yourselves.

Avoid other mmos. Aside from maybe Palia. I have never seen a more pleasant community in the mmo space than this one. If you go to WoW your in for the rudest awakening. 

[SeTect.5918]

On 2/17/2024 at 5:08 AM, ZephidelGRS.9520 said:

Power Mirage buffs are……interesting, to say the least. Though it’s funny that they decided Mirage to become power DPS while Virt stays as the condi DPS.

That Sword Ambush coefficient buff is huge, from 1.0 to 3.0 means it deals 3x times the damage compared to before. Assuming a power of 2250, a ferocity of 220% (Fencer’s Finesse included) and the usual modifiers (Egotism, Fragility, Vicious Expression, Superiority Complex, Thief Relic and Force Sigil) of 67.5%, a single Ambush swing deals over 30k damage. 

And with new Dune Cloak being basically 2-3 free Mirage Cloaks for power Mirage, this seems pretty fun as a new playstyle of “aggressively chasing and bursting enemies”.

Now Anet, if you can share the love with heal Mirage as well please.

Seems like a huge buff yes, tho the dagger ambush deals more than double of the damage of sword ambush atm. 

Sword ambush now maybe does slightly more power damage than dagger ambush, but has no condis while dagger has. The skills 2 & 3 of dagger also deal more than sword 2 & 3. So actually power dagger could still be better than power sword. Especially since sword ambush has a higher casting time than dagger ambush. 

Yes, the increase of damage is insane, but it seems kind of low if we compare it to dagger ambush. 

Even more so because they also increased dagger ambush power damage. Maybe dagger ambush even still does more than sword. Now that i think about it, most likely it does still more than sword. 

Technically dagger should deal more:

Dagger does 3x 1.0 multiplicator and sword does 1x 3.0 multiplicator. It ends up with the same power damage, just that dagger has additional bleed, torment and vulnerability. Not sure but i think the cc is also higher on dagger.

 

 

Still nice to see these buffs tho.

[ZiyLovesMMOs.1438]

Is there any clarification on the purpose of buffing hammer after buffing GS the previous tuning patch? It seems kind of odd to make GS a viable option only to put Hammer back in its slot again.

[Oneill.5837]

It's been a while that Ranger is always affected by these patches and everytime being more useless in general terms of pvp, gret. We lost the cc on smokescale that was both defensive and ofensive option, now we'll lose the Shared Anguish trait which give us some strategy defensive options and also was good for example to finish down players... this is really kitten... 

[Tofu.1865]

Mechanists been begging for a buff for PvP and yet they buffed the 2 already OP specs which is Holo and Scrapper 🙃

Edited February 21 by Tofu.1865

[Shiyo.3578]

A lot of cool, fun and good changes. None to ele, as usual, not even sure why the class is in  the game but whatever.

A shame none  of this matters since they don't add meaningful content to do, or things to work towards. The last farm map we got was Drizzlewood and it's a 4 year old map at this point.

That's two WoW expacs, or 16 PoE leagues.

[Angesombre.4630]

If you look in less than a year, small nerf herald, nerf GS, nerf axe, nerf mass, rework renegat, nerf vindicator several times, nerf ventari. I'm beginning to think that's a lot. For a small modification of the shield and hammer. So yes, I don't know what it will do for the renegat.

[Hiro.2573]

On 2/16/2024 at 10:34 AM, Butterfly Kingdom.8349 said:

Zealot's Defense: You can now move while using this skill. Adjusted the projectile behavior to interact better with gaps in terrain.

The more skills that get unrooted the better!

[godofcows.2451]

too early for april

[Crowfang.8529]

On 2/19/2024 at 11:19 AM, bq pd.2148 said:

 I like this change, not neccesarily for PvE where Phantasmal Fury will often remain better and vigor can be provided by others, but it will have its uses for WvW roaming/clouding.

this basically kills the trait in my eyes as the line has enough cleanse, only for a support build i would consider slotting it and it already competes with mantra heal so i don't see a need for a nerf here.
 

reducing core mesmer stab just to give it back on chrono which also locks chrono more into using this aegis spamming skills, not a fan of this change. especially as it increases stab frequency. generally i would prefer longer boons with less frequency so that strips gain a bit more value and the gameplay becomes less spammy.
 

i would prefer to give up Elusive Mind for such a new trait.
Dune Cloak could however use a radius increase so it can be used more reliably in competitive modes.
in WvW large scale power mirage is not a meta damage dealer mainly because holo overheat is able to oneshot players, but any other classes burst usually wont down a target in a single hit so you will need multiple damage dealers to hit the target anyway.
with maybe a bit of that split surge increase from PvE and a more reliable Dune Cloak power mirage could be a more viable pick once holo will be nerfed. In the more Pug blobs we have on EU mirage has the advantage that it can better pressure clouds and has its damage on a longer range than berserkers, for less focused burst.


while not part of the current changes:
mantra of pain and distraction that now can be cast without a target (completely wasting the skill except for mantra heal trait) would be nice if they applied their effect around the mesmer when nothing is targeted.

As you said core mesmer is actually one of the worst class. Rev core might be worse?

Dune Cloak: we will see. I also thought that an increased radius would make the trait more viable than the change they made.

For the rest nerfing a class in WvW which provided an alternative to boons spam is a joke imo. WvW raids will be even worse than they are now.

On 2/20/2024 at 4:23 AM, Nepster.4275 said:

Man where do you want to tone mesmer down even more?
There are classes with easier gearing hitting higher numbers with easier rotations

This guy is a troll: "I dont know about you guys but I think the devs are doing great with the balancing tasks."

They're buffing a class that is currently at the top like they did with ele last year. We all saw what it brought us. Tournaments in sPvP where winning teams were composed of 5 eles.

 

Meanwhile devs still trolling:

Sword of Decimation

Notes[edit]

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/images/thumb/e/e9/Game_bug.png/18px-Game_bug.png Bug:

Although the patch notes of June 27, 2023 game update state the cooldown of this skill is reduced from 25 seconds to 18 seconds, this is not actually the case. The cooldown is still 25 seconds.

Version history[edit]

For a detailed skill history, see here.

Patch	[hide]Changes
June 27, 2023	Reduced cooldown from 25 seconds to 18 seconds.

Edited February 22 by Crowfang.8529

[Tofu.1865]

still no fix for Mechanized Deployment?? still doesnt work for Mechanists on PVP