About class balance (Taken from the Ama)

[zealex.9410]

"Will the DPS be pushed up from the older classes to be more in-line with the newer ones or will the newer ones be pushed downwards to be in-line with HoT classes – We’re going to try to bring them together bit more, but we don’t want them to be the same. That’ll require some combination of up and down changes based on what each spec is aimed at – for some it is more damage, for others more utility, movement, support, etc. We tend to be more critical of the things we work on – at the moment Scourge is an outlier with high value both defensively and offensively. I’d like to separate those options a bit more. "

Im like, what does that even mean? U will intentionally have some specs (prob the pof ones) be stronger? Could we get some more clarity on this one?

[castlemanic.3198]

It seems like they want each elite spec to fulfill a unique role. The best example i can think of is scourge vs reaper, in that reaper is supposed to be an offensive power spec while scourge is supposed to be a supportive condi spec. As it is currently balanced, reaper has a condi option way more powerful than it's power specs, but even that is underpowered compared to anything scourge can bring to the table. So getting all the elite specs more in line with their intended roles, whether that's through buffs or nerfs, is their intention. That's what it seems like to me. The wording is vague enough that it can be misleading.

Hope that helps.

[Arzurag.7506]

Stronger is not always more damage, so probably they want to create specs with a clear character. So some do more damage while other give more utility.

[CptAurellian.9537]

That would certainly be interesting, since this answer can mean everything and nothing at the same time. Also, the "for some it is more damage, for others more utility, movement, support, etc" part seriously bothers me. It's probably true in sPvP and WvW, but I've always had the impression that the devs don't realise that most of these aspects are completely irrelevant in PvE. The two things that matter there are damage and offensive support, yet a bunch of classes seem to be held back by defense or "utility" no one cares for. You devs have the possibility to make skills separate for game modes, so use it accordingly.

[castlemanic.3198]

Support has a lot of space in pve, and this is as someone who plays primarily support specs in pve. There's also a ton of utility options that are viable in pve that may not be combat related (portals from mesmers comes to mind for particularly difficult jumping puzzles).

Also, while I would appreciate more splitting between the different game types (and even between fractals, raids and open world), the reality is that for newer players, the more splitting there is between different game modes, the less they'd be willing to play in different game modes, so keeping splitting as minimal as possible has it's reasons. Veterans are not the only players that arenanet caters to, nor should we be.

[GrubySzymek.1362]

I can't see a reasonable option for support outside of chrono+druid combo in current balance. You need to either nerf these specs or make new ones literally OP versions of them. Or maybe hard cap on specific profession buffs, like you can't get more than 20% of dmg buff and you can use different options in the future, instead of constantly stacking GotL + Frost Spirit.

[zealex.9410]

If 2 classes are basically dp's then i dont see a reason why the balance shouldnt put relativelly close to the same level. Same with healers or buffers etc. For example why a somewhat supportive spec like renegade is allowed to do more dmg than another supportive spec like herald. Or rather why herald does so little while firebrand does so much.

[castlemanic.3198]

@zealex.9410 said:If 2 classes are basically dp's then i dont see a reason why the balance shouldnt put relativelly close to the same level. Same with healers or buffers etc. For example why a somewhat supportive spec like renegade is allowed to do more dmg than another supportive spec like herald. Or rather why herald does so little while firebrand does so much.

That's what i interpret as their intention. Not all elite specs are damage focus, but those that are should be relatively close. The support/healing specs should also be relatively close too, and if there's a mix of the two, then a balance maintained between them, making sure that, while they are viable, they aren't overpowered in one aspect. If their intention is for herald to be geared more heavily to support, then it's damage should be low, where as renegade is a mix of damage and support, thus it shouldn't be as strong as herald in terms of support, but should be stronger in terms of damage. It's a delicate balance, made all the wobblier by all these viable builds and the way min-maxers can get the most use out of a seemingly innocuous trait, so it'll take time to figure out the balance, but it does seem that their end goal is to make all elite specs of similar types relatively close.

[TexZero.7910]

Here's the TL:DR version of whats said

Max Damage comes at the trade off of minimal utility/defense.

So if you made a scale where the X is Damage and the Y is utility they're going to aim for a midpoint for classes like scourge but bring other classes who sac utility (Deadeye comes to mind here) up on X.

[zealex.9410]

@TexZero.7910 said:Here's the TL:DR version of whats said

Max Damage comes at the trade off of minimal utility/defense.

So if you made a scale where the X is Damage and the Y is utility they're going to aim for a midpoint for classes like scourge but bring other classes who sac utility (Deadeye comes to mind here) up on X.

Well lets hope. I want my might stacking de,