October 8 Balance Update Preview

[ZephidelGRS.9520]

25 minutes ago, Mizu Misa.8730 said:

Scourge:
People need to realise telelporting 5 downed people out of a potentialy lethal position, and saving them from death is way too unbalanced not to mention how it triviliases certain encounter mechanics by making them less punishing. I'ts fine if necro has some skill that teleports 1 downed body like "Search And Rescue" does, that also comes at a cost/ tradeoff. 

However you should compensage for this nerf by buffing some other aspect of Scourge support to allow it to be viable in comparison to other support builds, whatever that may be(Healing/Boons).

Mesmer portals trivialize the entire 2nd phase of Drakkar, and a key part of many CM and LCM Cerus runs, nerf please. And is this the same logic that kills Confusion because Confusion trivializes fights where the target attacks too fast? 

Or you need to realize that with class unique abilities, it's inevitable that some of those abilities will become more effective than others at helping a particular encounter. With how you (and some others who say Heal Scourge trivialize encounters) phrase it, Heal Scourge is absolutely broken and should be everywhere in every single group. But clearly it isn't, anyone who does instanced content can attest to this.

You wanna know why? Because Heal Scourge is a mediocre healer outside of its gimmick, and its unique ability only helps struggling groups. Good groups have way better healer options to take with them. So in the end, who does this change target at in PvE? Certainly not the better groups who can already live without Heal Scourge, but certainly it WILL hurt casual players the most. 

[Kulvar.1239]

5 hours ago, Xarog.3172 said:

Setting aside my distaste at the idea of the celestial gear nerfs, this is a terrible idea in general.

The whole point about WvW was that it was supposed to be a style of PvP where you use your ordinary PvE gear. But if you now have to get different gear for WvW because all the stats diverge, well who the hell is gonna bother to gear up for WvW anyway? People with full legendaries, that's who.

I think this would massively discourage casual participation in WvW.

 

 

Don't worry, soon they'll complain that half the players in WvW are minstrel leechers doing absolutely no damage so boon balls are event more unkillable.

[shaddy.7159]

I demand heal scourge back. NOW!

[Beddo.1907]

17 hours ago, Joie.6084 said:

Ranger is currently in a good spot in all game modes, so this update includes a few smaller changes to underused skills and traits to make them more competitive options.

Give Ranger a ranged dps weapon that works in zergs and we are golden.

[JudyHopps.7815]

What a stupid change. Scourge pull was never strong in any gamemodes.

[Athef.6879]

Thank you, ANet---not a single of the actual issues (willbender being broken in PvP/WvW, renegade spear overperforming, ranger spear being completely and utterly useless, etc.) had been addressed, and you also managed to make an issue out of the single quirk that kept a class somewhat viable. Delusion, ignorance and favoritism running rampant, as always. Perfect!

[Teknomancer.4895]

5 hours ago, kronosxviii.2810 said:

What's ironic is that the "master of death" theme of necromancers has been and is being nerfed patch by patch. The classes uniqueness is being gutted. 😕

Player-class identity/fantasy has been gradually wiped away almost from launch; where have you been? Almost none of them retain their original uniqueness now that all classes can basically do all things (with some minor whinging about some e-specs lacking access to misc boons). Instead we have a bunch of classes that started off being their own unique thing, but over time each has gradually absorbed aspects of the others. At this point the only real difference is the aesthetic/mechanical style they do things in. E.g. Mesmer is pink & flashy, Thief is grey and stealthy, but in terms of what each can do overall, functionally do they really differ all that much otherwise?

Even the idea of a healing necromancer is literally oxymoronic, but now that it's been a thing all this time there's no going back. If the necro class fantasy was done right, when someone in your party died their life force would make you stronger (LF is any death not just enemies), and maybe you'd raise a minion from the corpse and that would be it -- because your thing is Death not Life. Strictly speaking from a class fantasy perspective, a healing necro is a contradiction in terms and thus should not exist. But that's not the game we have, and it's quite clear that's not the game the community wants.

While I would love for ANet to restore class identity, it's obviously far too late for that and there would be very little support for dropping that nuke around here anyway. 🤣 

[ShadowX.6348]

On 9/13/2024 at 10:34 PM, Joie.6084 said:

Necromancer

We need a better Spear for Necro!

• Skill 1: should have added a Range Throwing Attack, 3 Targets, Range 900, Cast 0.75 sec.
  The Chain Attacks Dark Slash, Deadly Slice and Sinister Stab, Range increase to 170, and only activate the chain attacks when in melee.  
  For short, it should work as Ranger Skill 1 Spear.
• Skill 3:  Addle, should have the range increase to 170.
• Skill 4:  Distress, should have Fear on teleport.
• Skill 5:  Extirpate, should have Weakness and Remove 2 conditions insted of the Boons negate.

Edited Monday at 04:37 PM by ShadowX.6348

[ShadowX.6348]

17 hours ago, Joie.6084 said:

 

Edited Saturday at 01:18 PM by ShadowX.6348

[Kyon.9735]

Anet has been hilariously conservative with buffing Ele spear. It doesn't have any advantage over any other weapon for any game mode. Such a shame as it has amazing animations, and it's all that. I guess we have to wait another 3 months for another miniscule buff. At this point it feels like the devs are simply at intern level, at least the effort they put into balancing lol.

[RasSativa.5109]

17 hours ago, Joie.6084 said:

Transfusion: This trait no longer teleports downed allies to the user. This trait no longer increases the cooldown of Garish Pillar in WvW.

This will just destroy the reason to play heal scourge in PVE. In competitive its fine to remove it but on PVE it will destroy scourge; I guess Druid is is the only allowed spec to pull downed ppl.

The cele nerf is very welcome since it was bloated on roamers. The reign of cele harbinger is gonna be over.

Ranger might be in a good position in your eyes but Longbow burst Souldbeast can one shot from ranged with no or any counterplay.

In the next PVE patch i would like to see nerf on overall benchmarks since a lot classes are hitting way more then 44 kdps and i remember you ldeliberate nerfing MIRAGE since he was hitting 44k Once. Maybe look at mirage as a spec in its whole

Other changes seem good

 

[Camniel.7238]

Re: Necromancer, Scourge, Transfusion:

I'm not qualified or well-read enough to say if this change is good or bad (especially long term), however, I do think the Balance Team NEEDS to put out an entire blog post just on explaining why they even want to change this unique staple of a trait. It is not enough to just say a big change like this is coming, A LOT more detail is needed, and it's needed quickly.

[RasSativa.5109]

14 minutes ago, Athef.6879 said:

Thank you, ANet---not a single of the actual issues (willbender being broken in PvP/WvW, renegade spear overperforming, ranger spear being completely and utterly useless, etc.) had been addressed, and you also managed to make an issue out of the single quirk that kept a class somewhat viable. Delusion, ignorance and favoritism running rampant, as always. Perfect!

as you can see it is a competitive balance. Willbender is the only one getting a free pass. as far as competitive changes go

 

[Gaiawolf.8261]

Fundamentally changing the bonuses that gear gives between PVE and WVW is a bad idea. Sure, you have to change builds by swapping build tabs between the two modes, but separately gearing for PVE and PVE now? That's more than just taking your PVE gear into WVW, which is supposed to be the design.

If you think celestial gear is a problem in WVW, drop all stats by 15-20% to bring it in line. Don't change the way it works between WVW and PVE. Or at least give us a new, free equipment  tab on each character to compensate. 

[TheModestNarcissist.7581]

wonder how much boneskinner completions is going to drop by

 

[Poplolita.2638]

So, I bought the new expansion since they basically sold me on the weapon, especially with the new Extirpation debuff on necromancer's spear, which was a major selling point for me. And now they’re just taking it away like that? For weakness ?? Not even slow? Wtf kind of scam is this? What did I even buy this expansion for? Trust me, when the next expansion comes around, I'll think twice before getting it. 

[Hikaru.6704]

1 hour ago, ZephidelGRS.9520 said:

Mesmer portals trivialize the entire 2nd phase of Drakkar, and a key part of many CM and LCM Cerus runs, nerf please. And is this the same logic that kills Confusion because Confusion trivializes fights where the target attacks too fast? 

Or you need to realize that with class unique abilities, it's inevitable that some of those abilities will become more effective than others at helping a particular encounter. With how you (and some others who say Heal Scourge trivialize encounters) phrase it, Heal Scourge is absolutely broken and should be everywhere in every single group. But clearly it isn't, anyone who does instanced content can attest to this.

You wanna know why? Because Heal Scourge is a mediocre healer outside of its gimmick, and its unique ability only helps struggling groups. Good groups have way better healer options to take with them. So in the end, who does this change target at in PvE? Certainly not the better groups who can already live without Heal Scourge, but certainly it WILL hurt casual players the most. 

I totally agree, they destroy classes after classes all the time and their identity when in fact, one healer is better on some fights and another on others ones. Why ? Because they all have strong points and inconvenients. I'm a multiclasses player and yes HS is strong when you know how to use it but not too strong either. you can't save everyone and not a squad that don't follow mechanics.

More you should check other MMO and see that GW2 was balance on healer for once. And on revival mechanics. Definitly.

Hoping anet will stop killing classes xithout reason, and now we just don't play anymore (quick scrapper for example), and stop killing the fun of a game, because it's what it is for. FUN !

Edited Saturday at 02:02 PM by Hikaru.6704

[Teknomancer.4895]

12 minutes ago, Hikaru.6704 said:

Hoping anet will stop killing classes xithout reason, and now we just don't play anymore (quick scrapper for example)

A minor quibble:  "quick scrapper" is not a class. It's an e-spec build, but the class itself is Engineer.

/nitpick

[Bris.7984]

22 minutes ago, Poplolita.2638 said:

So, I bought the new expansion since they basically sold me on the weapon, especially with the new Extirpation debuff on necromancer's spear, which was a major selling point for me. And now they’re just taking it away like that? For weakness ?? Not even slow? Wtf kind of scam is this? What did I even buy this expansion for? Trust me, when the next expansion comes around, I'll think twice before getting it. 

I strongly agree with you!  balance in this game = kill the pleasure to play it ! And the sadness thing is that there is no one taking the hit! Just pure silence and ignorance! We will turn into ro-bots  soon, so they can do their thing to grab cash for almost nothing to quality, progress, real fair balance! Warriors are the most killed class/profession and guardian is the most kissed class/profession in this game!

[ShatteredStars.6548]

1. 29 minutes ago, Poplolita.2638 said:

   So, I bought the new expansion since they basically sold me on the weapon, especially with the new Extirpation debuff on necromancer's spear, which was a major selling point for me. And now they’re just taking it away like that? For weakness ?? Not even slow? Wtf kind of scam is this? What did I even buy this expansion for? Trust me, when the next expansion comes around, I'll think twice before getting it. 

   They did not make this whole expac about the spear, it's the housing for this expac and raid, and if you think they weren't going to balance anything, you thought wrong, how is that their fault.

[Astralporing.1957]

17 hours ago, Zuiy.8721 said:

I think its not the end of the world to remove. I'd argue it is too strong. However, without it scourge needs buffs in other areas as a support. 

No, it would need a complete overhaul from ground up. Especially as  (from what we've seen so far) any scourge buffs are invariably accompanied by nerfing something else in that spec. While the nerfs aren't accompanied by anything.

[HnRkLnXqZ.1870]

18 hours ago, Joie.6084 said:

• Celestial equipment will no longer grant concentration or expertise while in a WvW map.

That is of-course not a revert, because you never do reverts ;). I do not really care how you call/wrap it. The fact that you finally do it is a great step into the right direction.

18 hours ago, Joie.6084 said:

With this update, we're introducing the tech to adjust equipment's attribute distribution and the amount of attributes it provides on a per game–mode basis.

This can get really messy. But you never know if you never try. I wish you the best of luck with this, hoping it does not go side-ways.

18 hours ago, Joie.6084 said:

Catalyst

• Sphere Specialist: Increased the boon duration increase from 100% to 150% in PvE only. This trait now also allows the catalyst to gain energy while a jade sphere is deployed.

I've been waiting for this change for a very long time. Especially the 2nd sentence. The first sentence is just the icing on the cake. Catalyst is back on the menu again. This is going to be so much fun ...

18 hours ago, Joie.6084 said:

Scrapper

• Kinetic Accelerators: This trait now applies might in addition to quickness in PvE only.

I do not mind. As long as you do not wake up one day and decide to remove quickness, because we can supply might - like almost every profession in the game right now. You have nerved us a few times too often. When I see unnecessary freebies handed to Scrapper, my alarm turns on.

18 hours ago, Joie.6084 said:

Necromancer

Transfusion: This trait no longer teleports downed allies to the user. This trait no longer increases the cooldown of Garish Pillar in WvW.

That is not going to make the Necromance healer useless, but it is really painful. As far as I can see, you are empowering the active&passive defenses and also boost barrier generation. I think we can get along with the change. It will lead to more wipes for sure. 

18 hours ago, Joie.6084 said:

Reaper

• Soul Eater: The healing from this trait can now heal the player while they are using Reaper Shroud. Healing while in shroud has reduced effectiveness in PvE.

I've seen that one coming ^^. I'd increase the coefficient for Soul Eater and weaken it for "Your  Soul is mine!" while the trait is active, as a 'trade off'. 

18 hours ago, Joie.6084 said:

Thief

• Helmet Breaker: This skill can no longer be used multiple times in a row. ...

At last. It was fun bonking people to death, but felt really broken.

18 hours ago, Joie.6084 said:

Warrior

• Dolyak Signet: The passive effect of this skill now grants reduced incoming damage instead of toughness.

At last. It is one of the last signets that still granted toughness. Only Signet of Stone is missing now. Can you adjust that next, please?

Overall a great patch-preview. Looking forward to it. GJ
 

[SleepyBat.9034]

When can we get a rework to Crystal Configuration: Storm on Holosmith? This trait is so useless and it's completely overshadowed by the other two options.

[ShatteredStars.6548]

3 hours ago, Vegeta.2563 said:

If they seriously changed a trait everywhere in game just because of raids.. what the actual f

Some players will do anything to try and skirt mechanics in raids, look at all the stuff anet had to fix or change because of it, if you are going to do a raid, do it like it's meant to be done and learn it, not take the cheap way out, like the people who sell raids, they tell you to die and the lay there while others finish the raid and you get credit for it, that person didn't learn anything, he decided to take the lazy way, that's one of the big problems with this game.

[Sunyavadin.7962]

1 hour ago, Teknomancer.4895 said:

Even the idea of a healing necromancer is literally oxymoronic🤣 

I dunno, Tactical Breach Wizards did it pretty well, where the Heal Necro has to actively directly kill your characters to rez them, because it doesn't work on living targets.