Game Update Notes: March 19, 2024

[Asra.8746]

 

 

Quote

 

Thief

Quickness deadeye was significantly overtuned when it was introduced but got brought down a bit too far from that point. This update includes a few tune-ups for the build's damage to hopefully bring it more in line with other options. We've also made usability improvements to some traits in the critical strikes and daredevil specializations along with some minor improvements to acrobatics.

New Changes

• Meld with Shadows: Reduced the superspeed duration from 1.5 seconds to 0.75 seconds when the Silent Scope trait is equipped in PvP only.
• Shadow's Rejuvenation: Reduced the initiative gain on enter from 2 to 1 when the Silent Scope trait is equipped in PvP only.
• Death's Retreat: Increased the initiative cost from 6 to 7 in PvP only.
• Death's Advance: Increased the initiative cost from 4 to 5 in PvP only.

(March 19 Balance Update Preview)

• Double Tap: This skill now pierces.
• Three Round Burst: This skill now pierces.
• Tactical Strike: This skill now dazes for 1 second instead of blinding when striking from the front. Increased the power coefficient from 1.0 to 1.33.
• Larcenous Strike: Increased the power coefficient from 1.3 to 1.4 in PvP and WvW.
• Shadow Portal: This skill no longer breaks stun.
• Keen Observer: Reduced the health threshold from 75% to 50% in PvE only. This trait now gives base critical chance that is increased above the health threshold.
• Twin Fangs: Reduced the health threshold from 90% to 50% in PvE only. This trait now gives base critical damage that is increased above the health threshold.
• Deadly Aim: This trait no longer reduces damage and now increases damage from pistol and harpoon gun attacks by 10%.
• Vigorous Recovery: This trait has been reworked and renamed to Pumping Up. Gain might when you dodge.
• Upper Hand: This trait now additionally restores initiative when you dodge.

Daredevil

(March 19 Balance Update Preview)

• Havoc Specialist: This trait now gives a flat damage bonus when your endurance is not full instead of scaling with remaining endurance.

Deadeye

New Changes

• Malicious Tactical Strike: This skill now dazes for 1 second instead of blinding when striking from the front. Increased the power coefficient from 1.0 to 1.33.
• Malicious Cunning Salvo: This skill can no longer consume malice when recalled.

(March 19 Balance Update Preview)

• Stolen Skills: Increased the power coefficient from 0.5 to 1.25 in PvE only.
• Shadow Meld: Reduced the count recharge from 45 seconds to 25 seconds in PvE only.
• One in the Chamber: Increased the damage bonus from 10% to 25% in PvE only.
• Mercy: Increased the ammunition count from 1 to 2 in PvE only.
• Collateral Damage: Increased the damage coefficient from 1.5 to 2.5 in PvE only.

 

More initiative cost increases.

They literally NEVER learn.

Trickery continues being MANDATORY in PvP.

Edited March 19 by Asra.8746

[Lithril Ashwalker.6230]

is MCS a blast finisher yet? if not im uninstalling this piece of shite

[Axelteas.7192]

Always nerfing, always ruining the fun

[Doggie.3184]

The Axe sound effect is still literal painful ear kitten which kinda drowns out the excitement of a few ancient problems finally being fixed. They really gonna leave it that way?

It's put me closer to just finally giving up on the class more than all the other things for them to add something just that incredibly annoying on purpose. I get it Anet, you're scared of Thieves and want their skills to be as telegraphed as possible for all the newbies but a massively amplified screeching sound effect isn't the way to go about it.

[Szymon.5369]

The axe change is really weird, it's like they didn't even look at it after the beta and only now are adjusting it. First they shipped it with range for A/P so we could assume it was actually intended, but it was not; now they took away the Malice reset - which was there all the time, it was literally the main and obvious reason why the weapon is so strong on Deadeye, and if they wanted to tune DE down they could have started with it instead of slashing the damage overall, so we could assume it was intended, but it was not. I'm not saying the changes are unreasonable, but boy are they confusing.

[Lithril Ashwalker.6230]

-_-

[Seraq.4692]

I swear the nerf to Malicious Cunning Salvo is some of the most tone deaf nerfs I've seen in quite a while.

The rotation was excessively hard, required some cursed timing, couldn't be stacked easily because venoms and was unplayable on like half the encounters anyways because the axe from MCS disappeared underneath the ground. And yet, instead of answering any of these issues, and tuning the numbers(which could have been done easily if they bothered to think about it for a bit), they just decided to nuke the entire build to the ground based on nothing but golem numbers.

And the funny bit is that guess what, the spec is still insanely strong on golem, so I guess we'll be due another set of nerfs, which will once again be unwarranted but well, at least we'll get in line with cvirt on the golem.

[Geoff Fey.1035]

41 minutes ago, Seraq.4692 said:

I swear the nerf to Malicious Cunning Salvo is some of the most tone deaf nerfs I've seen in quite a while.

I thought this change was really good for PvE.

• Condi Dagger/Dagger Death Blossom build is 3-3-3-5-1(stealth attack) repeat
• Axes
  • Before Patch: 2-2-3-5-1(stealth attack)-2-2-2-3-2-2-3-5-1(stealth attack) repeat
  • After Patch: 2-2-3-5-1 (stealth attack) repeat

Don't have to worry about skill 3 screwing up the rotation for Malice generation. And having a simpler rotation makes it function better in PvE since you don't have to think too much for the rotation. Sure, the damage may not be as high, but it's much more consistent and easier to master.

Am I missing something?

[Seraq.4692]

52 minutes ago, Geoff Fey.1035 said:

I thought this change was really good for PvE.

• Condi Dagger/Dagger Death Blossom build is 3-3-3-5-1(stealth attack) repeat
• Axes
  • Before Patch: 2-2-3-5-1(stealth attack)-2-2-2-3-2-2-3-5-1(stealth attack) repeat
  • After Patch: 2-2-3-5-1 (stealth attack) repeat

Don't have to worry about skill 3 screwing up the rotation for Malice generation. And having a simpler rotation makes it function better in PvE since you don't have to think too much for the rotation. Sure, the damage may not be as high, but it's much more consistent and easier to master.

Am I missing something?

The main point of axe was that it was a completely different rotation in essence compared to the rest of thief, with an extra layer of complexity coming from MCS axe on the ground and how you decide to interact with it. In practice, this lead to a more complex but extremely satisfying rotation when mastered, aside from a few pain points that could have been ironed out. But instead of addressing those pain points, they just decided to completely delete that playstyle.

And from the early testing, it's hard to say that the rotation is easier than before. You still have the most egregious pain point that is to wait about .1s every loop in order not to loose dps. The main difference is that before it was just a dps loss because you were missing axes from harrowing storm, but now it'll lead you to not stealth and ruin the entire rotation.

And for consistency, a weapon that can't be played on half the raid bosses because of bugs can't hardly be considered consistent, no matter what happens on the golem.

If you really wanted to lower the skill floor btw, the most efficient method would have been to increase the auto attack dps and nerf axe 2 dps(which would have also enabled axe on other specialisations than deadeye). This way, even if you failed a M7 proc, you'd still have some damage. because currently, while having less M7 procs, the rotation is as punishing as before the moment you miss one of those procs.

Edited March 19 by Seraq.4692

[Asra.8746]

57 minutes ago, Geoff Fey.1035 said:

I thought this change was really good for PvE.

• Condi Dagger/Dagger Death Blossom build is 3-3-3-5-1(stealth attack) repeat
• Axes
  • Before Patch: 2-2-3-5-1(stealth attack)-2-2-2-3-2-2-3-5-1(stealth attack) repeat
  • After Patch: 2-2-3-5-1 (stealth attack) repeat

Don't have to worry about skill 3 screwing up the rotation for Malice generation. And having a simpler rotation makes it function better in PvE since you don't have to think too much for the rotation. Sure, the damage may not be as high, but it's much more consistent and easier to master.

Am I missing something?

Yes, you are. You are slow.

That's the only reason those rotations work for you; which also means you perform worse than others who are actually better players with faster reactions and apm.

Also, they literally didn't address any of the bugs and issues plaguing axe, instead of just nerfing it first. This is the most backwards logic in balancing I've seen in games.

Edited March 19 by Asra.8746

[Geoff Fey.1035]

1 hour ago, Asra.8746 said:

Yes, you are. You are slow.

That's the only reason those rotations work for you; which also means you perform worse than others who are actually better players with faster reactions and apm.

Also, they literally didn't address any of the bugs and issues plaguing axe, instead of just nerfing it first. This is the most backwards logic in balancing I've seen in games.

The only axe change was how skill 3 for the Axe/Dagger setup handles Malice

I'm finding the DPS is roughly the same so... not really any difference except the rotation is simpler.

[Asra.8746]

1 hour ago, Geoff Fey.1035 said:

The only axe change was how skill 3 for the Axe/Dagger setup handles Malice

I'm finding the DPS is roughly the same so... not really any difference except the rotation is simpler.

You're finding it the same for your skill level. This is not to insult you or something (not everyone is of the same skill level); but, the dps for it has dropped by about10k from initial testing on just golem.

The worst part of it being the fact that it completely butchers any kind of smooth rotation/gameplay loop. So, if someone thought axe was awful to play with before, they will think (and realize) it is even worse now after this patch.

Edited March 19 by Asra.8746

[Seraq.4692]

For anyone wondering, CDE is still indeed performing really strong on golem, but is even harder and more unplayable on boss than before.

[FrancisN.9276]

Different skill effects for different game modes always feel kind of off-putting for me in terms of game design - It is unimmersive, which is self-defeating for RPGs. But it is too late for GW2 to restart balancing for every game mode to have the same skillset effects, so I guess I'll just stick with PvE only.

[Tharan.9085]

6 hours ago, Geoff Fey.1035 said:

I thought this change was really good for PvE.

• Condi Dagger/Dagger Death Blossom build is 3-3-3-5-1(stealth attack) repeat
• Axes
  • Before Patch: 2-2-3-5-1(stealth attack)-2-2-2-3-2-2-3-5-1(stealth attack) repeat
  • After Patch: 2-2-3-5-1 (stealth attack) repeat

Don't have to worry about skill 3 screwing up the rotation for Malice generation. And having a simpler rotation makes it function better in PvE since you don't have to think too much for the rotation. Sure, the damage may not be as high, but it's much more consistent and easier to master.

Am I missing something?

The fact that you don't even know the before patch rotation doesn't really support your point

[Blind.4162]

They nerfed stealth on thief but no other class. They nerfed super speed on deadeye but no other class. Why ANet? When GW2 was published in 2012, the assassin/rogue/thief/ stealthed single target killer, was the quintessential. You didn't take very long to "correct" the axe when it was first introduced, you've never "corrected" rangers shooting over walls with barrage or clones coming through gates. Must be a lot of people losing sleep just trying to come up with yet another nerf to the thief. So either embrace the class and stop the continual nerfs or get rid of the class.

[Asra.8746]

2 hours ago, Blind.4162 said:

So either embrace the class and stop the continual nerfs or get rid of the class.

They will never do that. Know why?

It's quite simple actually; because they want the class there to act as the archetype that attracts those players who like that thief/stealthy/rogue archetypes...it's all about numbers.

More players = potentially more gem sales = more potential profits.

It's the whole reason they added the stealth mechanic to GW2 and added a class that's supposed to specialize in it, even though GW1 never had, nor needed stealth. They had Assassin; which, imo, was/is a significantly better designed class. However, ANet will never admit it, nor correct it. The game is over a decade old - that ship sailed a long time ago.

[Asur.9178]

I see the GW2 balance team's trend continues with the increases in initiative costs - impressive.

[Lithril Ashwalker.6230]

On 3/20/2024 at 10:13 AM, Asra.8746 said:

They will never do that. Know why?

It's quite simple actually; because they want the class there to act as the archetype that attracts those players who like that thief/stealthy/rogue archetypes...it's all about numbers.

More players = potentially more gem sales = more potential profits.

It's the whole reason they added the stealth mechanic to GW2 and added a class that's supposed to specialize in it, even though GW1 never had, nor needed stealth. They had Assassin; which, imo, was/is a significantly better designed class. However, ANet will never admit it, nor correct it. The game is over a decade old - that ship sailed a long time ago.

Yet they keep butchering the class to the point metrics for thief playerbase is going to drop. I say we alt for a month and see if they get freaked out more or altogether quit for 1 month on thief and see if they squeeze

Edited March 22 by Lithril Ashwalker.6230

[Artemis.8034]

Knew this was going to happen, in beta testers were saying it was an outlier. It was 10k dps above the next highest dps. These are builds played by the best players in the world so it wasnt a skill issue it was a numbers issue.

[AikijinX.6258]

Inflation around the world going up, gas prices going up, and now even initiative costs in game (once again)

One thing that seldom goes up in tandem? 

Quality of life and in Gw2's case Quality of Thief.

Unfortunate.

[Lithril Ashwalker.6230]

2 hours ago, AikijinX.6258 said:

Inflation around the world going up, gas prices going up, and now even initiative costs in game (once again)

One thing that seldom goes up in tandem? 

Quality of life and in Gw2's case Quality of Thief.

Unfortunate.

dang, been a while. xD yeah it happened with inf arrow and now rifle in pvp. slap me with a crash dummy outfit because thats how i feel its good and fits in gw2 rn

[FrancisN.9276]

11 hours ago, AikijinX.6258 said:

Inflation around the world going up, gas prices going up, and now even initiative costs in game (once again)

One thing that seldom goes up in tandem? 

Quality of life and in Gw2's case Quality of Thief.

Unfortunate.

I don't like how Anet keeps nerfing thieves' numbers, but in terms of QoL, I would say they at least they gave us a couple of improvements: DE got walking and piece, DD got proactive reflect (which is a bit worse but gameplay wise it is more controllable).

[Doggie.3184]

So did anyone test if Dual Pistols were actually buffed and it's just a visual bug or that it's really still -5%? Tooltips show it lowering damage when putting Deadly Aim on.

Still doin' way lower damage than Rifle. 

Edited March 24 by Doggie.3184

[Axelteas.7192]

On 3/19/2024 at 8:40 PM, Geoff Fey.1035 said:

I thought this change was really good for PvE.

• Condi Dagger/Dagger Death Blossom build is 3-3-3-5-1(stealth attack) repeat
• Axes
  • Before Patch: 2-2-3-5-1(stealth attack)-2-2-2-3-2-2-3-5-1(stealth attack) repeat
  • After Patch: 2-2-3-5-1 (stealth attack) repeat

Don't have to worry about skill 3 screwing up the rotation for Malice generation. And having a simpler rotation makes it function better in PvE since you don't have to think too much for the rotation. Sure, the damage may not be as high, but it's much more consistent and easier to master.

Am I missing something?

In snowcrows the build has been retired and the rotation deleted with the text: "the rotation does not work anymore". Do you have any idea about the actual DPS of the axe build after the nerf?