Potential Future Balance Changes

[dubidubidubidu.5308]

@Lincolnbeard.1735 said:I wonder why there aren't any holo nerfs (I actually know the answer).

Regarding mesmer, illusion of life will double nerf it into oblivion (if that's what you want - good job).Chaos storm and mantra are ok.And new CI is as useless as it can get, if you want to go down that route make it provide alacrity for x time(5sec cd equivalent) each interrupt .

How about start acknowledging your mistakes and revert some nerfs such as critical Infusion, nomads endurance, MC movement?

the alacrity is an even better idea than mine, but i think 5 secs equivalent on all skills would be way too much. the most important thing is, that it will not be random. so either alacity or my idea with a fixed rule (like only button 5 skills or each cc skill on each weaponset). or just remove the immob and replace it with soemthing else instead such a complicated and bad rng change.

[Anchoku.8142]

I would like to see passive or add-on effects for things like boon generation, condition generation, stripping/clearing and so on trimmed back in WvW to provide more emphasis on active skills; i.e., decrease the importance of stacking offensive and defensive pressure from easy-to-obtain sources.

[Scoobaniec.9561]

While i do understand your intended changes for hammer revenant you are literally killing it at the same time for roaming (some like me already run hammer with core rev for roaming).

Hammer imo need a total rework to make it more "friendly" for wvw while also being useful in spvp because right now its just used to spam 2 in zergs. I wouldnt mind to see CoR reworked into a projectile which would solve alot of issues with it without touching damage if we would also receive an escape skill (looking at phase smash) and shorter cast time on 5.

Nerfing CoR damage on it own wont solve any issue. At best hammer will fall out completely out of usage and it will end up being completely dead weapon

[otto.5684]

My input on the changes will be from sPvP perspective, since these will be game wide.

Guardian:

Sanctuary does not work and it has nothing to do with the number of hits it blocks. This change will not give it any viability. If this skill is ever to be useful it needs lower CD.

The change to ToR is okay.

ToC, you are removing aegis from all skills. Removing it from Epilogue: Unbroken Lines is okay. I think that will be a change for the better. Removing from chapter 2, renders that skill useless. And ToC will become nearly ineffective. Outside of FB support, this was the only reliable sustain FB has. With aegis gone, FB dps build has no chance to compete. FB support does need a nerf. It makes more sense to reduce the heal scaling of ToR (since support is the only beneficiary from that) and the instant rez.

Mesmer:

I do not think these changes address the issues. They also seem geared toward lower end of the competition scale. On the higher end this is basically the same. Also, lower weapon CC on interrupt? Do we want more clone spamming?

Revenant:

I think that would be a change for the better.

Warrior:

I think the warhorn changes are great. Depending on how much barrier call to arms will provide, this could make warhorn a solid weapon in sPvP.

I know you said no general feedback, but with additional slight buffs to Tactics, warrior could have an alternative build to the SB Str/disp/SB.

[CptAurellian.9537]

@Irenio CalmonHuang.2048 said:Guardian

• Sanctuary: Increase number of enemies that can be knocked back by this skill from 10 to 20 before it expires.
• Tome of Resolve, Chapter 2 - Radiant Recovery: The existing split from PvP of cleansing 2 conditions is brought to WvW as well. This ability would continue to cleanse 3 conditions in PvE.
• Tome of Courage, Chapter 2 - Daring Challenge: This skill grants retaliation for 3 seconds instead of aegis.
• Tome of Courage, Chapter 5 - Unbroken Lines: This skill no longer grants aegis or retaliation.I don't really care for the PvP/WvW stuff, but the suggested changes to Tome of Courage are just plain bad. This is something that most likely would not be split for PvE and PvP/WvW and it would be pretty dumb if the support tome didn't offer a single application of aegis anymore.

[Dennis.7856]

Feedback: With those types of questions in mind here's some of what we're looking at.First: Please since its a "competitive patch" you should also treat as a patch for competitive players and not for the standard public player.

Engineer:Chemical Field: This skill is replaced by Detection Pulse (from the old Sneak Gyro elite toolbelt) as the toolbelt skill for Purge Gyro.

• Why would you give scrapper his reveal on a gyro that is already broken. This doesn't make sense at all. Even by reducing the number of cleansing pulses the main issue of this skill will still be the insane synergy with antotoxin rune and "purity of purpose" traitline. Instead of reducing the cleanse pulses you should give this trait an internal cooldown. maybe even look into antitoxin rune and give it a small internal cooldown of 1-2 seconds max to reduce the cleansing spam.~~Purge Gyro: Reduce the number of cleansing pulses from 5 to 3 in WvW. ~~
• as already mentioned above. the problem is not the gyro itself but the synergy with antitoxin rune and "purity or purpose".Sneak Gyro: Increase the cooldown of this ability from 45 to 75 seconds in WvW.
• okay change

GuardianSanctuary: Increase number of enemies that can be knocked back by this skill from 10 to 20 before it expires.Tome of Resolve, Chapter 2 - Radiant Recovery: The existing split from PvP of cleansing 2 conditions is brought to WvW as well. This ability would continue to cleanse 3 conditions in PvE.Tome of Courage, Chapter 2 - Daring Challenge: This skill grants retaliation for 3 seconds instead of aegis.Tome of Courage, Chapter 5 - Unbroken Lines: This skill no longer grants aegis or retaliation.

• I dont see the point in taking away the aegis from the 5th skill since its the most defensive skill you have on a very defensive tome. Therefor aegis application is completely fine.

MesmerIllusion of Life: Increase the cooldown of this skill from 75 to 90 seconds in PvP & WvW and reduced the duration from 15 seconds to 8 seconds of its effect in PvP & WvW.Power Break (Mantra of Pain): This skill now requires you to face your target and respects line of sight.Power Lock (Mantra of Distraction): This skill now requires you to face your target and respects line of sight.Chaos Storm: This skill now always dazes on the first strike but can no longer randomly daze on other strikes. This change also applies to Lesser Chaos Storm. Added skill fact to show chaos storm's duration.

• makes no sense nerfing mesmer even more in wvw considering the fact that mesmer will already suffer enough from the "Illusion of life" nerf.Chaotic Interruption: This trait has been re-worked and now reduces the cooldown of one of your weapon abilities by 5 seconds when you interrupt a foe.
• as with other traits and skills. JUST PUT AN ICD on it maybe something like 5-10 seconds max. The reworked trait doesn't make any sense and is way too weak for a grandmaster trait.

NecromancerFeast of Corruption: Reduce damage by 20% in PvP & WvW. The existing split from PvP of corrupting 2 boons is brought to WvW. This ability continues to corrupt 3 boons in PvE.

• good changeDevouring Darkness: Reduce damage by 20% in PvP & WvW. The existing split from PvP of corrupting 2 boons is brought to WvW. This ability continues to corrupt 3 boons in PvE.
• good changeSand Cascade: Reduce the barrier granted by this skill by 33% in WvW & PvP.
• this doesn't make any sense at least for wvw since its not the additional effects that make shades broken. The broken part about shades is that they can affect 10 people since you hit 5 with the casted shade and 5 ppl around you. It's very hard to balance the shades at this point so my 2 suggestions are:1: Split the passive and the active affected targets from shades:
  • The casted f1 will only affect enemies while the shade proc around you only affects allies.2: Add an internal cooldown to f2 f3 f4 f5 like you did with mesmer shatters. So if you cast f2 you have a 1 second cooldown before you can use the next f skill. By doing this you might consider buffing f2 f3 f4 f5 to keep them relevant. Potential buffs can be:Nefarious Favor: revert the corrupt nerf of "path of corruption" and make f2 corrupt 2 boons again.Sand Cascade: increase the healpower scaling of barrier.Garish Pillar: increase fear duration from 1 second to 2 seconds.Sand Flare: increase the power scaling from 3.15 to 3.5Sand Flare: Reduced the barrier granted by this skill by 25% in WvW.
• okay change but if you take away base barrier you should always consider buffing healpower scaling in exchange to keep it relevant for support/ celestial builds and less rewarding for pure power or condi builds.

RevenantCoalescence of Ruin: This skill would no longer deals increased damage with successive impacts; instead it deals damage equal to what was previously the middle impact damage. Damage remains split between game modes. A red warning rectangle visible to enemies has been added to this skill.

• very questionable.First: why would add more visual effects to the game while its already stacked with visuals such as shades etc.Second: By nerfing the Hammer 2 dmg even more you would completely kill power hammer on revenant. If you want to nerf this skill like that you need to give revenant something in exchange.Gaze of Darkness: This skill would reveal stealthed enemies up to 600 range away in addition to striking enemies within its 360 radius.
• you dont need to increase the radius at all. As it is right now you need to have awareness to reveal enemies with it. By increasing the radius you would just make it more casual friendly which isnt the purpose of a "COMPETETIVE PATCH".

WarriorCharge: This skill would only removes movement impairing conditions and then increases the damage of affected allies' next 2 attacks by 25% in addition to its previous effects. Increase swiftness duration from 10 seconds to 15 seconds. This skill becomes a blast finisher.

• okay changeCall to Arms: Removes 3 conditions from affected allies instead of specific conditions. Grants barrier in addition to vigor.
• okay changeSight Beyond Sight: Increase the radius of this ability to reveal hidden enemies up to 600 range away.
• Literally the same as with "Gaze of darkness"... dont make the game easier than needed.Quick Breathing: Thinking of kicking re-working it a bit to pair with the warhorn skill changes so they feel more cohesive. Continues to increase number of targets for warhorn skills from 5 to 10 and causes warhorn skills to grant an additional boon instead of reducing the cooldown (Fury for Charge and Resistance for Call to Arms). Grant +120 Concentration.
• Good reworkI hope you read the feedback and think about changes in a more competitive way for the future.Cheers \o

[DanAlcedo.3281]

Buffs to Warrior Warhorn are worthless as long the rest of tactics are not good enough.

[Lala.8752]

y tactitc need to be up

[dubidubidubidu.5308]

@"Irenio CalmonHuang.2048" said:

Mesmer

• Illusion of Life: Increase the cooldown of this skill from 75 to 90 seconds in PvP & WvW and reduced the duration from 15 seconds to 8 seconds of its effect in PvP & WvW.
• Power Break (Mantra of Pain): This skill now requires you to face your target and respects line of sight.
• Power Lock (Mantra of Distraction): This skill now requires you to face your target and respects line of sight.
• Chaos Storm: This skill now always dazes on the first strike but can no longer randomly daze on other strikes. This change also applies to Lesser Chaos Storm. Added skill fact to show chaos storm's duration.
• Chaotic Interruption: This trait has been re-worked and now reduces the cooldown of one of your weapon abilities by 5 seconds when you interrupt a foe.

if you want to make wvw orientated balance than release these changes only in wvw if this is possible! some planned changes are not necessary in pvp at all.

only talking about mesmer but some changes would kill a skill completely in pvp. looking at illusion of life, are there even any issues in wvw with that skill? and can these issues be solved with that changes? I think in wvw the problem might be, that in bigger fights (like 10vs10 and more) the chance to get a fast kill for a full rally is so high that Illusion of life becomes a sure full rally skill comparable to guards signet of mercy. that also means it has a way lower skill ceiling in wvw also comparable to guards rezz signet. if you see downstates on your side you just use it, you dont even need to check if it is a good situation to use it (see if you can get a kill fast enough or not) because the rallied player can just run into your backline to get rezzed in safety). you cant rly do more in the big mess and chaos of a zergfight. so yes in wvw zergfights/ gvg iol has a lower skill ceiling and an almost 100% chance to fully rally your targets. so you want to bring it more in line with that guard signet of mercy. i get that.

but first you have to consider that what i wrote to iol in wvw is only like that in wvw in larger zergfights its not the case in a 5v5 scenario on pvp maps with pvp balance. means nerfs on iol in pvp are not needed and even more would make this skill not worth using at all anymore. it barely gets used in pvp anyway and even back then during core days when this skill was meta in high lvl pvp gameplay no one ever complained about that skill being op in pvp in its current state.

also do the planned changes even solve the problem in wvw? the shorter duration clearly doesnt. 8 secs are still enough to get a fast kill in zergfights or enough time to run into your own backline and get rezzed in safety protected by the masses. it will only make the skill not worth taking in pvp. you already completely destroyed portal by overnerfing its duration. why you wanna kill another high skill ceiling skill allowes mesmer some different and supportive playstyle in pvp than just using 3 easy life and selfish duel utilities? this skill is balanced in pvp because it has a very high skill ceiling (in pvp, not in wvw zergfights) and can be countered well. dont dumb mesmer down once again by overnerfing a high skill ceiling skill allowing different playstyles in pvp for wvw reasons dont even solve the problems in wvw.

in short: this is a big no to shorten the duration ((so drastically)) for no reason (esp in pvp).

the planned increase of the cd ofc will not solve the porblem but clearly will lower the problem. i dont think it is necessary (esp in pvp not) and if you can split the balance here inbetween pvp and wvw i would say ok, increase the cd to 90 in wvw only. i would not quit the game if you increase the cd in pvp too but i think its not necessary here. at least doing only that would not be an overkill like the half duration would be in pvp.

in short: 15 secs cd increase is an unnecessary (esp in pvp) but acceptable nerf

what you need to balance is the 3 secs invuln after getting rallied by iol. that rly needs to go in wvw and pvp. that also would help way more than a shorter duration vs the problem that iol turns into an almost 100% sure rally in bigger zerg fights. because when the rallied ppl are not immune to enemies cleave and cc for 3 secs they might go down again before they can kill something or before they can reach the own backline. if you could remove the 3 secs rally invuln you dont even need to make any other nerfs to that skill.

short: remove the 3 secs invuln after rally that will solve way more of the wvw problems than the shorter duration and no other nerfs are needed than

mantras (at least i know it for mantra of distraction) already respect line of sight, you can test it yourself. i even tried on a golem to be totally sure and i couldnt daze an obstructed target one single time. so what are you rly planning to change here? do you want to make it behave like a projectile without turning it into an projectile, so it gets buggy like projectiles and obstructed by every little culm/ stone in the way or on just a little uneven ground? if yes than a big no to that. if it is simply a bugfix wihtout changing the nature/ behave of mantras than ofc do it. mantras should and do respect line of sight.

how i have to understand the "you need to face your target thing". mantra of distraction is an aoe skill, does it at least work on targets behind me standing in aoe range when i target someone right in front of me? or do all targets i wanna aoe daze need to be in front of me (that would be insanely bad). its the nature of instant skills to be able to hit behind, i dont see any reason to change that for mantras (also would i waste a charge when using it on a target behind me or would it go on short interrupt cd or would it just not activate? you need to make automatic char alignment work on instant skills to make it fair and not clunky… with other words you try to give an instant skill stuff that is not there for a reason because it would make instant skills too clunky and unhandy). better would be you give the mantra buff with the recharge counter back into the buff list of the mesmer, so ppl can see that i have a mantra equipped and how many charges i have left.

and mantra of pain needs other nerfs like dmg reduction and way more cds or just turn it into somehting else, for example applying blind instead instant dmg.

chaosstorm changes are great the randomness was nothing the mesmer or the enemie could tactically work with, so removing rng is alway a good thing in terms of higher skill ceiling.

but why you then wanna bring back rng into the ci trait? make a fix rule, like the weaponskill on button 5 gets reduced cd. dont make it random. if you can, make it the most useful skill on each wesponset (means on every weapon another skill) but fixed. so the target now knows: ok this mesmer uses sword focus and he could interrupt me so the focus pull now has 5 secs less cd. or the mesmer was on greatsword and interrupted me, so the cd of the gs5 knockback is lower now. the mesmer used staff and interrupteds me so chaosstrom is on lower cd now. that is something the mesmer and the enemie can tactically and active work with. i would just take the skill on button 5 no matter what weapon (or just the cc skill on each weaponset), this is mostly the skill with the highest cd and the biggest impact. but pls dont make it random. random stuff is bad for skillfull gameplay on both sides, mesmer and enemie. give a defensive boon in addition so a mesmer without the skill on cd still get a reward from that trait for interrupting. or take the idea with the alacrity instead, that waqs a good one too...

changes i miss

revert the (power) chrono destruction, at least give illusionary persona as baseline trait back. chrono is clunky and unfun to play now. also the combination from cs and f4 doesnt make any sense, both shatters get used for totally different purposes at totally different times. the invuln during cs is like 98% useless. chrono is not just overnerfed that way its also turned into an unfun and clunky spec, lowered the skill ceiling by not allowing skillfull shatter combos anymore. (and pls dont even think about giving mirage such bad trade off treatment!)

could you fix the bug that skills removing only one condition often do not remove a condition when used (like torch 4 and jaunt). its gamebreaking and can be totally deadly when the very few condiremoves i have on power mes do not work when used for that.

can you also pls fix the bug that blink just goes on cd with porting you on spot or even backwards and the bug that "no valid path" and "no line of sight" prevents blink/jaunt uses also on even ground and on spots it normally should work? (same issue i guess that causes projectiles get obstructed by every little culm, stone or little uneven ground).

could you fix the bug that instant skills like blink and torch 4 can be interrupted (even self-interrupted sometimes for no reason)?

could you also unbug power block that it doesnt have an 3 secs icd on dmg and weakness application in pvp?

sry for the wall of text… but was needed!

[Anput.4620]

This whole game is a meme.

Nerfing longrange shot when there is still no dismounting skill and when boonbeast which doesn't even use longbow is better smh.

Heck, it is already impossible to 1v1 a mesmer or a holo as a longbow ranger given equal skill.

[Oslaf Beinir.5842]

I have not given feedback for a long time cuz i didnt care but now with a new low i decided i have to say what i could to help this sinking ship that we all love...if this helps the game we love then here goes feedback you requested:-

Would your gameplay change as a result?Yes but by very littleDo you feel these changes would improve or worsen the state of the game?Yes most of them doAre you looking forward to these potential changes?I do because it is a change and we dont see that oftenWhat are your concerns with this set of changes?that you make things nonviable instead of changing the right things. reshuffling the deck isnt an answer either.
What consequences do you expect would come from these changes?the game does not all that much by balance changes. it changes with content and content gives you new balance options. change things about what wvw actually IS! maps objectives things to do meaningful rewards to activities reward killing people more than pip farming and camping objectives like an npc. . other than that the next section has more opinions of mine.

Commenting on each skill from your post :-

Engineer

Chemical Field: This skill is replaced by Detection Pulse (from the old Sneak Gyro elite toolbelt) as the toolbelt skill for Purge Gyro.This is a good change for WvW but it makes Scrapper worse off in PvP because the poison field is more valuable than a reveal in pvp.

Purge Gyro: Reduce the number of cleansing pulses from 5 to 3 in WvW.This change is meaningless if you do not address its synergy with rune of Antitoxin that makes this skill so strong but nonetheless it is a start. just revert this if you nerf the rune instead. Do not do both.

Sneak Gyro: Increase the cooldown of this ability from 45 to 75 seconds in WvW.75 seconds is too long. 60 seconds is more reasonable as zergs is not the only place it is used at.

Guardian

Sanctuary: Increase number of enemies that can be knocked back by this skill from 10 to 20 before it expires.This skill will not be used and thus the change serves no real purpose as the guardian class has so many other utility skills which are SO MUCH better than this. but ok...

Tome of Resolve, Chapter 2 - Radiant Recovery: The existing split from PvP of cleansing 2 conditions is brought to WvW as well. This ability would continue to cleanse 3 conditions in PvE.Good change while also keeping its full power in PvE. no one will be hurt.

Tome of Courage, Chapter 2 - Daring Challenge: This skill grants retaliation for 3 seconds instead of aegis.This is a bad change. On top of retaliation being a very passive way to punish certain builds with high rate of attack and AoE, there is ample supply of this boon which turns this skill into a 'NEVER USE' skill. we re balance skills not delete them. The books use pages and we like to use more skills than to dumb it down to never touch.You either leave the skill alone which is the better option or put more thought into it so that it is not worthless. Also very important to note that you WILL AFFECT PvE Firebrand Viability. We do not want tension between communities please. You have made the previous change to Tome of Resolve, Chapter 2 - Radiant Recovery so it does not affect PvE balance and you should be able to do the same with this skill as well.

Tome of Courage, Chapter 5 - Unbroken Lines: This skill no longer grants aegis or retaliation.You should not change this skill same as above and if you have to then remove the retaliation. same as above do not change read above.

Mesmer

Illusion of Life: Increase the cooldown of this skill from 75 to 90 seconds in PvP & WvW and reduced the duration from 15 seconds to 8 seconds of its effect in PvP & WvW.There is no reason to increase the cooldwon of this skill. The duration of 8 seconds is too short as well. kindly leave it be and think about the viability of the class asa whole and how you affect it to the point of being below obsolete. if you had to reduce the radius and the duration of the buff to 10 seconds. This class in zerg play has been facing too many nerfs mainly chrono and this skill mostly is better used in organized squads than pug play as if used in pug play the chances of the revived person making it are very slim.

Power Break (Mantra of Pain): This skill now requires you to face your target and respects line of sight.Thank you. range reduction is nice you could.Power Lock (Mantra of Distraction): This skill now requires you to face your target and respects line of sight.same as aboveChaos Storm: This skill now always dazes on the first strike but can no longer randomly daze on other strikes. This change also applies to Lesser Chaos Storm. Added skill fact to show chaos storm's duration.might be problematic but we will seeChaotic Interruption: This trait has been re-worked and now reduces the cooldown of one of your weapon abilities by 5 seconds when you interrupt a foe.No please this is a bad change. Mesmer weapon skills do not have that long of a cooldown and if we assume this trait is triggered for multiple interrupts you could recharge key skills very quickly in an AoE environment. Gravity Well, Chaos Storm, Temporal Curtain>Into The Void and Magic Bullet paired with its traits could set this off too many times and you could only use the weapon CC skill on the bar to make sure you get the recharge on that one skill only. No one wants too many Temporal Curtains and Chaos Storms. also alacrity exists. please no spammable Aoe cc potential. otherwise in a 1vs1 or small scale situation the trait is very lacking. give the boons granted by the trait previously back. Those boons are in ample supply in zergs but not solo or in small fights. make the trait worth it in a smaller scope but do not make its potential terrifying in an AoE fight. PugZerg Chrono will still run Staff and scepter/Focus with both focus and staff traited and gravity well. The potential of AoE CC spam is too great and while the class needs something back into its kit this isnt it and its not healthy for large scale fights.

Necromancer

Feast of Corruption: Reduce damage by 20% in PvP & WvW. The existing split from PvP of corrupting 2 boons is brought to WvW. This ability continues to corrupt 3 boons in PvE.Both changes are unnecessary and bad. The strike damage is already low and a single target corruption on 900 range does not need this nerf. You affect small scale balance here which you shouldnt.

Devouring Darkness: Reduce damage by 20% in PvP & WvW. The existing split from PvP of corrupting 2 boons is brought to WvW. This ability continues to corrupt 3 boons in PvE.Same as above except I do agree with the corruption reduced to 2 when this trait in equipped.

Sand Cascade: Reduce the barrier granted by this skill by 33% in WvW & PvP.Unnecessary change. The Big Shade granted by Sand Savant is what makes it strong in WvW and in PvP you should not affect it at all.

Sand Flare: Reduced the barrier granted by this skill by 25% in WvW.Unnecessary change and in this case it is horrible when you offer no compensation

Ranger

Long Range Shot: Reduce the damage range of this skill from 0.7-0.9 to 0.65-0.75 in WvW only.While I do not like rangers in WvW even I would have to say dont target the weapon but target soulbeast damage mods. Unnecessary change.Revenant

Coalescence of Ruin: This skill would no longer deals increased damage with successive impacts; instead it deals damage equal to what was previously the middle impact damage. Damage remains split between game modes. A red warning rectangle visible to enemies has been added to this skill.thank you

Gaze of Darkness: This skill would reveal stealthed enemies up to 600 range away in addition to striking enemies within its 360 radius.wasnt needed but ok ty

Warrior

Charge: This skill would only removes movement impairing conditions and then increases the damage of affected allies' next 2 attacks by 25% in addition to its previous effects. Increase swiftness duration from 10 seconds to 15 seconds. This skill becomes a blast finisher.I didnt expect this but ok im all in for giving warrior a new viable role besides dmg and boon rip

Call to Arms: Removes 3 conditions from affected allies instead of specific conditions. Grants barrier in addition to vigor.tySight Beyond Sight: Increase the radius of this ability to reveal hidden enemies up to 600 range away.not sure why and how anyone could fit to slot this bad skill on their bar but a buff is a buff tyQuick Breathing: Thinking of kicking re-working it a bit to pair with the warhorn skill changes so they feel more cohesive. Continues to increase number of targets for warhorn skills from 5 to 10 and causes warhorn skills to grant an additional boon instead of reducing the cooldown (Fury for Charge and Resistance for Call to Arms). Grant +120 Concentration.might be too strong a buff but we will see.

That is all and thank you reading my personal opinions on the matter. I hope you make it betterpeace

[Kaladel.1670]

@Irenio CalmonHuang.2048 said:

• Tome of Courage, Chapter 2 - Daring Challenge: This skill grants retaliation for 3 seconds instead of aegis.
• Tome of Courage, Chapter 5 - Unbroken Lines: This skill no longer grants aegis or retaliation.Greetings to you too,As long as you limit those changes to WvW, ok.PvE doesn't need to be affected by balance changes dedicated to other game modes.Thanks.

[Simonoly.4352]

@Irenio CalmonHuang.2048 said:

Mesmer

• Illusion of Life: Increase the cooldown of this skill from 75 to 90 seconds in PvP & WvW and reduced the duration from 15 seconds to 8 seconds of its effect in PvP & WvW.
• Power Break (Mantra of Pain): This skill now requires you to face your target and respects line of sight.
• Power Lock (Mantra of Distraction): This skill now requires you to face your target and respects line of sight.
• Chaos Storm: This skill now always dazes on the first strike but can no longer randomly daze on other strikes. This change also applies to Lesser Chaos Storm. Added skill fact to show chaos storm's duration.
• Chaotic Interruption: This trait has been re-worked and now reduces the cooldown of one of your weapon abilities by 5 seconds when you interrupt a foe.

• Illusion of Life: Raising the CD would be enough in this case when one considers other potent revive skills in the game. But reducing the duration by 7 seconds as well feels a bit heavy handed. Maybe drop it to 12 initially?
• Power Break/Power Lock: Line of sight change is good (although I swear it already does respect LoS in some cases). I'm not a fan of having to face your target to activate the mantra as there's nuance to being able to activate these instant-cast skills regardless of the position or circumstance you're in. It's just going to be another change that makes the combat more prescriptive and therefore ultimately more dull. Can we not just add the mantra charges back to the skill bar, so opponents know if a Mesmer has mantra charges ready? That was a pretty good thing for creating counterplay by promoting preparedness.
• Chaos Storm: Was a one in four chance of being dazed really that strong? It doesn't do very much damage and the conditions it can randomly apply aren't an enormous threat either. What it lacked in damage, it made up for in potency due to random the nature of the dazes within. It just won't be very much of a threat after the initial daze pulse. If this change is made, you should probably put something else in there to ensure opponents still want to avoid sitting in a Chaos Storm.
• Chaotic Interruption: I assume this means any of the weapon skills currently equipped (not including auto-attack) could be reduced by 5 seconds at random? As long as an ICD isn't placed on this, this could be a grandmaster worthy trait (just about). It could create fun scenarios where you interrupt the max of 5 players at the same time with a Power Lock and CI procs on the same weapon skill for an immediate 25 second CD reduction. But most of the time, it will be the odd 5 seconds here and there and most of your opponents will have stability anyway making the trait redundant. That probably makes it quite a good trait then!

It's nice seeing a preview like this. Thanks a bunch :)

[Delofasht.4231]

Answering the questions:

No, it largely will not affect how I play WvW.I feel the changes will have little impact other than shuffling a profession here or there in big groups, gameplay is still the same.Indifferent to these changes, they do not resolve major issues (sea of red still exists, small group and roamers contributions almost worthless).Changes fail to really make any positive changes that will actually change the style of combat or gameplay.I expect people will adapt, it may be different in profession choices, but the play remains the same.

Try focusing on what makes WvW work instead, it is the general push and ebb of the maps themselves that are extremely lacking. I could see rallying NPCs together and building or choosing a tower to attempt to assault, done by small groups (as in large scale combat, such groups of NPCs would just die in a sea of red anyhow). Even solo play would allow for building up of troops to assault a camp, tower, or even keep. This kind of change is what the mode needs, not just a profession exchange in larger scale combat.

[Dadnir.5038]

All in all, this set of change moderately reduce the survivability of the zerg. If the goal is to shorten the fight then it's fine, you'll achieve this goal. If the goal is to shake the meta or change WvW then I'm affraid all of this is useless.

• Would your gameplay change as a result?

It won't change the general gameplay, nothing here have the potential to shake things up.

• Do you feel these changes would improve or worsen the state of the game?

I feel it would worsen it.

• Are you looking forward to these potential changes?

Nope.

• What are your concerns with this set of changes?

By reducing the survivability of the zerg, the state of the game will shift toward glassier builds (especially on the scourge side). Which will lead to heavier damage, reducing even more the opportunity to duck it it out at melee range.

• What consequences do you expect would come from these changes?

This set of change lead us to another pirateship war alongside another increase in the number of scourges in zergs (I know it's ironic since they take a big hit, but this is because they are nerfed that they will be even more needed).

If you want to shake the meta and open spot for more diversity, what you need to do on the necromancer side/scourge's side isn't to nerf core weapon skill or the barrier output of the scourge. What you need to do is more something like this:

Necromancer

• Feast of Corruption: Reduce damage by 20% in PvP & WvW. This skill now corrupt 3 boons into vulnerability (5s) instead of the standard corruption.
• Devouring Darkness: Reduce damage by 20% in PvP & WvW. This skill now corrupt 3 boons into vulnerability (5s) instead of the standard corruption.
• F1 effects no longer proc on other F skills
• F5 no longer pulse damage, torment and cripple, it now pulse weakness (1s) and reduce the damage taken by 15% for allies that stand in the area of effect of your shades (this effect cannot be stacked).

This set of change reduce the damage output of the scourge which will naturally lead zerg to add more source of damage in the zerg at the expense of the number of scourge.

[Bruncvik.9216]

WvW Necromancer: Devouring darkness is indeed too strong but nerfing barrier is a no-brainer. As it was aimed to be support oriented specialization at the start of PoF and never got to that point where it was used as support class and now to even nerf the barrier output...

[Ghos.1326]

@"Irenio CalmonHuang.2048" said:Greetings fellow Tyrians,

We've been thinking about implementing the following changes and wanted to share them with you to hear your thoughts and feedback. We’re aiming to bring into line some of the more dominant builds and compositions of the current WvW meta so that new options can be brought to the table, so the bulk of the changes shared here are WvW-centric. This is not the full list of changes that are being considered for the next balance update.

This is not a call for general profession feedback. Here are a few questions to think about while looking over the potential changes:

• Would your gameplay change as a result?
• Do you feel these changes would improve or worsen the state of the game?
• Are you looking forward to these potential changes?
• What are your concerns with this set of changes?
• What consequences do you expect would come from these changes?

With those types of questions in mind here's some of what we're looking at.

Engineer

• Chemical Field: This skill is replaced by Detection Pulse (from the old Sneak Gyro elite toolbelt) as the toolbelt skill for Purge Gyro.
• Purge Gyro: Reduce the number of cleansing pulses from 5 to 3 in WvW.
• Sneak Gyro: Increase the cooldown of this ability from 45 to 75 seconds in WvW.

Guardian

• Sanctuary: Increase number of enemies that can be knocked back by this skill from 10 to 20 before it expires.
• Tome of Resolve, Chapter 2 - Radiant Recovery: The existing split from PvP of cleansing 2 conditions is brought to WvW as well. This ability would continue to cleanse 3 conditions in PvE.
• Tome of Courage, Chapter 2 - Daring Challenge: This skill grants retaliation for 3 seconds instead of aegis.
• Tome of Courage, Chapter 5 - Unbroken Lines: This skill no longer grants aegis or retaliation.

Mesmer

• Illusion of Life: Increase the cooldown of this skill from 75 to 90 seconds in PvP & WvW and reduced the duration from 15 seconds to 8 seconds of its effect in PvP & WvW.
• Power Break (Mantra of Pain): This skill now requires you to face your target and respects line of sight.
• Power Lock (Mantra of Distraction): This skill now requires you to face your target and respects line of sight.
• Chaos Storm: This skill now always dazes on the first strike but can no longer randomly daze on other strikes. This change also applies to Lesser Chaos Storm. Added skill fact to show chaos storm's duration.
• Chaotic Interruption: This trait has been re-worked and now reduces the cooldown of one of your weapon abilities by 5 seconds when you interrupt a foe.

Necromancer

• Feast of Corruption: Reduce damage by 20% in PvP & WvW. The existing split from PvP of corrupting 2 boons is brought to WvW. This ability continues to corrupt 3 boons in PvE.
• Devouring Darkness: Reduce damage by 20% in PvP & WvW. The existing split from PvP of corrupting 2 boons is brought to WvW. This ability continues to corrupt 3 boons in PvE.
• Sand Cascade: Reduce the barrier granted by this skill by 33% in WvW & PvP.
• Sand Flare: Reduced the barrier granted by this skill by 25% in WvW.

Ranger

• Long Range Shot: Reduce the damage range of this skill from 0.7-0.9 to 0.65-0.75 in WvW only.

Revenant

• Coalescence of Ruin: This skill would no longer deals increased damage with successive impacts; instead it deals damage equal to what was previously the middle impact damage. Damage remains split between game modes. A red warning rectangle visible to enemies has been added to this skill.
• Gaze of Darkness: This skill would reveal stealthed enemies up to 600 range away in addition to striking enemies within its 360 radius.

Warrior

• Charge: This skill would only removes movement impairing conditions and then increases the damage of affected allies' next 2 attacks by 25% in addition to its previous effects. Increase swiftness duration from 10 seconds to 15 seconds. This skill becomes a blast finisher.
• Call to Arms: Removes 3 conditions from affected allies instead of specific conditions. Grants barrier in addition to vigor.
• Sight Beyond Sight: Increase the radius of this ability to reveal hidden enemies up to 600 range away.
• Quick Breathing: Thinking of kicking re-working it a bit to pair with the warhorn skill changes so they feel more cohesive. Continues to increase number of targets for warhorn skills from 5 to 10 and causes warhorn skills to grant an additional boon instead of reducing the cooldown (Fury for Charge and Resistance for Call to Arms). Grant +120 Concentration.

We look forward to seeing your thoughts and feedback!

Sincerely,GW2 Systems Team

EngineerChemical Field: Would be an interesting change to swap it with detection pulse. But if you keep it, just have the poison last longer than it does currently, keeping the field up for 5 seconds and pulsing poison every second. Keep in mind, this is a source of applying weakness through the Hammer 3 leap and other leap finishers, so weight that in before deciding on changes as well.

Purge Gyro: the reduced cleansing would be interesting to see in WvW, but all in all, condition cleanses don't need to be so beefed up if you just cut down on the output of conditions across professions overall. Some example offenders of "pooping out conditions" would be mesmer and necromancer. I'd explore options but if reducing purge's conditions cleansed seems the most feasible, then i'd be for it to prevent mass cleansing and invalidating condition damage application as a whole in large groups.

Sneak Gyro: A longer cd in WvW doesn't sound too bad, would be interesting to see how group comps would play around this cooldown increase.

and please, PLEASE, mainhand engineer pistol autos need sped up. the cast time is currently .8s, while ranger's shortbow autos are only .5 or .6. reduce cast time of mainhand pistol auto on engi to .5 or .6 please!! #makemainhandpistolgreatagain

in PvP, i'll add this on to Engineer.Impact Savant: Inceased the damage to barrier conversion from 15% to 20%. Currently, 15% damage to barrier, while have taken away 10% damage from having toughness on Mass Momentum seems a little underwhelming. Impact Savant wants us to stay in combat, but the -300 Vitality with no gains in anything else besides having a permanent source of barrier (small amounts of barrier at that) is very lacking and kind of defeats the purpose of "trade offs". the extra 5% could make up for this by adding that little bit of barrier on hits for builds that roll with less damaging amulets, like say for example Knight's amulet.Or, switch Impact Savant with Adaptive Armor, making AA the Grandmaster Minor and IS the Grandmaster Major selectable. As well, bring back the old functionality of AA and heavily nerf IS. It would look like this:Adaptive Armor (now Grandmaster Minor): Gain barrier when struck (either direct damage or condition damage). your vitality is reduced, but your toughness is increased.Vitality Reduced = -300Toughness Increased = +300Barrier on hit = 624The addition to toughness and the heavily nerfed barrier gained on hit will help in remaining tanky, but not as tanky as the old scrapper was with 1k+ barrier on hit (and with the -300 vit it puts it in a happy medium). then for Impact Savant:Impact Savant (now Grandmaster Major): damage you deal to enemies is converted to extra barrier (this effects condition damage too). Reduce condition damage on you while you have barrier.Damage to Barrier Conversion = 5%Condition Damage Reduced While Having Barrier = -20%

MesmerChaotic Interruption: Change this skill to where it only happens one time when you interrupt a foe, going on a cooldown (30s or so). Also have it apply 1 stack of confusion and 1 stack of torment (themes of chaos) and vulnerability.

Chaos Storm: Interesting change.

In Dueling trait lineSharper Images: reduce the chance for illusions to bleed on crit from 100% to 50%.

Illusions (both Phantasms and Clones): have them both count toward the illusion count (if I'm not mistaken, you did this before). That way, you can have only 3 illusions up at any given time. Use the FIFO (first in first out) method for spawning new clones/phantasms past the cap, destroying the clones/phants that were put out first before the new clones/phants after the previous.

Phantasmal Duelist: Fine as is, except the clones that attack hit 8 times while the actual skill itself hits only 3. normalize this, and reduce the amount of times clones hit as well to match the skill itself (3 times instead of 8).

Confusing Images: still hits pretty darn hard, reduce direct damage to equalize with the amount of confusion it applies in one go.

Mantra of Distraction (Power Lock): either add a small .5 or .6 cast time to the casts of this skill, or lower the damage some since it can also daze and, currently, it's instant daze. Either of these solutions would be beneficial for counterplay.

NecromancerAll of these changes look really good. Yes please.

Also, please look into reducing some of Reaper's power, and core necro's ability to very very quickly generate shroud. Reapers that run passive spinal shivers can still knock a hefty chunk of damage out of you, has great sticking potential despite having "lower" mobility (thanks chill), and now even has access to quickness along with that crazy power to decimate opponents. Maybe lower some damage here and there? and not over the top either, slightly lower, SLIGHTLY.

RangerLong Range Shot: If I'm not mistaken, this is the Longbow Auto? Reduce its power coefficient in PvP as well. It has a longer range than other weapons, having it hit harder while being generally more safe is not just healthy.

WarriorI kind of feel Bull's Charge shouldn't have an evade frame attached to it. Warrior is already a scary presence even without having to use Bull's Charge, so you have to use up evades and different cooldowns to either mitigate or avoid entirely their arsenal of high damaging skills. It's very easy, then, to bait out all of your kit, wait for both your evades to blow, and then go in with a Bull's Charge that would be very easy to land without it being stopped. Bull's Charge also deals high damage and also stuns for a long time. Something has to give. Either the damage, stun duration, or the evade frames on use. Pick one.

These are my thoughts.

[Deax.1572]

@Irenio CalmonHuang.2048 said:Ranger

• Long Range Shot: Reduce the damage range of this skill from 0.7-0.9 to 0.65-0.75 in WvW only.
• What consequences do you expect would come from these changes?With all the projectile hate going around in wvw this really isn't going to improve anything. Ranger has literally zero impact in huge fights and only serves as a skirmisher/small scale fighter. This hurts builds that are not full berserk far more than the full glass rangers and generally makes the gameplay even less fun. Generally people are tanky enough in wvw aside from some light armored back-line builds or classes. However nobody in their right mind is going to seriously run a 100% glass setup in the current wvwWarriors for example are tanky enough by default with no investment, with this change i'm forced to go full glass to do the same damage as before and then the question is why bother playing this class in the first place.
• What consequences do you expect would come from these changes?Worsen the already low build list. Druid is garbage tier and this will make it even less appealing.
• What are your concerns with this set of changes?This only addresses the full berserk meme builds that already sacrifice defense for offense and can be dealt with easily in melee. Tankier builds will have their damage reduced with no compensations anywhere else.

[Ghos.1326]

@Deax.1572 said:

@Irenio CalmonHuang.2048 said:

Ranger

• Long Range Shot: Reduce the damage range of this skill from 0.7-0.9 to 0.65-0.75 in WvW only.
• What consequences do you expect would come from these changes?With all the projectile hate going around in wvw this really isn't going to improve anything. Ranger has literally zero impact in huge fights and only serves as a skirmisher/small scale fighter. This hurts builds that are not full berserk far more than the full glass rangers and generally makes the gameplay even less fun. Generally people are tanky enough in wvw aside from some light armored back-line builds or classes. However nobody in their right mind is going to seriously run a 100% glass setup in the current wvwWarriors for example are tanky enough by default with no investment, with this change i'm forced to go full glass to do the same damage as before and then the question is why bother playing this class in the first place.
• What consequences do you expect would come from these changes?Worsen the already low build list. Druid is garbage tier and this will make it even less appealing.
• What are your concerns with this set of changes?This only addresses the full berserk meme builds that already sacrifice defense for offense and can be dealt with easily in melee. Tankier builds will have their damage reduced with no compensations anywhere else.

I mean, the tankier you get, the less damage you should be doing, especially if it's consistent damage. It would be rather odd and sort of defeating the purpose if you have the current model, which is high sustainability, high damage. It's like being as tanky as the old scrapper with the damage of a power mesmer's burst. no thanks. again, the tankier you get, the lower your damage output should be. gotta tip the scales properly, else the imbalance will never equalize.

[Melian.5368]

Nobody even plays chrono anymore, and you nerf it even more? I sure quit playing it after the shatter changes, and zergs now don't have one single chrono most of the time. In fact, you nerfed the whole class to the point that the only viable builds are power stealth mesmer and shatter mirage. That's it. Thanks ANet.

[montaraz.5963]

I personally would like to increase the life of the Guardian 15k minimum, really for pve the life of the Guardian

[Deax.1572]

@Ghos.1326 said:

@Deax.1572 said:

@Irenio CalmonHuang.2048 said:

Ranger

• Long Range Shot: Reduce the damage range of this skill from 0.7-0.9 to 0.65-0.75 in WvW only.
• What consequences do you expect would come from these changes?With all the projectile hate going around in wvw this really isn't going to improve anything. Ranger has literally zero impact in huge fights and only serves as a skirmisher/small scale fighter. This hurts builds that are not full berserk far more than the full glass rangers and generally makes the gameplay even less fun. Generally people are tanky enough in wvw aside from some light armored back-line builds or classes. However nobody in their right mind is going to seriously run a 100% glass setup in the current wvwWarriors for example are tanky enough by default with no investment, with this change i'm forced to go full glass to do the same damage as before and then the question is why bother playing this class in the first place.
• What consequences do you expect would come from these changes?Worsen the already low build list. Druid is garbage tier and this will make it even less appealing.
• What are your concerns with this set of changes?This only addresses the full berserk meme builds that already sacrifice defense for offense and can be dealt with easily in melee. Tankier builds will have their damage reduced with no compensations anywhere else.

I mean, the tankier you get, the less damage you should be doing, especially if it's consistent damage. It would be rather odd and sort of defeating the purpose if you have the current model, which is high sustainability, high damage. It's like being as tanky as the old scrapper with the damage of a power mesmer's burst. no thanks. again, the tankier you get, the lower your damage output should be. gotta tip the scales properly, else the imbalance will never equalize.

The point is you would be doing even less damage when tanky. Few days back i fought a holo and did at best 2,2k autos with 2,9k power and 224% crit damage. It's understandable that people serious about wvw bring defenses, but rangers power scaling has always been trash compared to rev, holo, warrior, thief.Why don't we nerf warriors damage scaling for once. A class which has higher damage and higher sustain higher base healthpool/armor and mobility with the only drawback of not being able to stealth from time to time.

[RUNICBLACK.7630]

This is not a call for general profession feedback. Here are a few questions to think about while looking over the potential changes:GuardianSanctuary: Increase number of enemies that can be knocked back by this skill from 10 to 20 before it expires.Tome of Resolve, Chapter 2 - Radiant Recovery: The existing split from PvP of cleansing 2 conditions is brought to WvW as well. This ability would continue to cleanse 3 conditions in PvE.Tome of Courage, Chapter 2 - Daring Challenge: This skill grants retaliation for 3 seconds instead of aegis.Tome of Courage, Chapter 5 - Unbroken Lines: This skill no longer grants aegis or retaliation.Would your gameplay change as a result? Yes a great deal because while so many of the changes to Tome of Courage on Chapter 2 and 5 with regard to the removal of Aegis and Retal is geared towards scaling back a FB impact in WvW you are only considering its impact on a FB running with a Zerg while totally ignoring that this would gut a roamer and end up forcing a FB to only run with a Zerg . This would basically remove access to Aegis from ToC entirely except for while it is a passive, sorry this isn't increasing diversity the only thing I see as doing is pushing players away from the class.Do you feel these changes would improve or worsen the state of the game? Worsen without any doubt. If you want to limit the impact of those two Chapters there are better options than totally removing the boon , you increase the individual recharge time of those Chapters and or decrease the range of the Area of Effect so number of people gaining the benefit isn't as great in the think of a combat situation.Are you looking forward to these potential changes? Honestly noWhat are your concerns with this set of changes? I'm sorry but with the increase in unblockable attacks making Aegis less useful along with the fact the so many of a Guardian's proc's are dependent on Aegis(healing, retaliation, damage attack, condition removal) to now decrease access to them on the tomes even more than has already been done comes across as inherently flawed and lacking in consideration.What consequences do you expect would come from these changes? Forcing FB players to have to run with the Zerg or just swap to another class but with all this talk of diversity in at least the past 3 to 4 balance patches only a few classes have actually received much in the way of increases in options for alternative builds to many have had nerfs to alot of Core build traits without bring anything to the table as a realistic alternative ....instead closing the door an opening a window it feels more like your closing the door but you bricked up the window.

[Jski.6180]

Anet needs NEEDS to spread out stab support to the other classes keeping it on FB / gurd only is both making the class a must have and a dead class. No one wants to play a support class of FB / gurd out side of just be helpful and wanted because its a boring class and its a boring class because of it being the only means of generating stab support for a group. All support elite aimed classes should bring viable stab support. FB / gurd should bring more then just stab support and should be usable for that cc support.

[Fang.8291]

@Irenio CalmonHuang.2048 said:

Warrior

• Sight Beyond Sight: Increase the radius of this ability to reveal hidden enemies up to 600 range away.

Would your gameplay change as a result?No There Is currently no slot to use this skill over the current ones

Do you feel these changes would improve or worsen the state of the game?SBS need a full rework until it might have an impact

Are you looking forward to these potential changes?If SBS gets a meaningful interesting rework, I do. Otherwise. No

What are your concerns with this set of changes?No practical functionality outside of GvG/WvW where players sometimes use group stealth

Suggestion:**New SBS: Fires an Orb with his hands ( Orb loos like Guardian Staff 1 but Golden)Can reactivate to Detonate! (Detonate looks like current SBS just around the flying orb)affects up to 5 targets with Fancy Spellbreaker Sight600 Orb Range300 Detonate RangeAmmo Count: 2If it hits a target apply:+Blind

• Reveal
• Root ****