I really tried to get back into this game...

[Jax.5261]

I really did but the issues that were beginning to surface when I quit 4 years ago have been emboldened and have now made the game so impossible to like I don't think I can ever come back. I started trying to really get back into the game about a month ago by playing 4-8 hours a day and I kept telling myself "As I improve these issues I'm having with the game balance are going to seem like nothing". Boy was I wrong.

Everybody's biggest issue years ago was how spammable conditions were and that there was no real windows of opportunity. Engi's could sit in their nade kit and swap to a completely defensive build when you try burst them down and Necro AoE was ridiculous how high the damage was to single targets with AoE spells. But if you worked as a team these big issues would go away and if you dodged these telegraphed abilities you would find that the better you got the more windows of opportunity you found.

Fast forward to today and every class is just pure spam, every class has an absolute crap ton of abilities that aren't only not telegraphed they're hugely impactful and used offensively. Instant abilities used to be mostly defensive with a few scattered offensive ones that have clear telegraphs for the next abilities in the offensive chain. I just don't understand how it can be seen as acceptable to have interrupt spam, cc spam, aoe spam, evade spam, block spam on every bloody profession.

I used to think so much about how 90% of the issues in pvp are L2P issues and you just need to learn how to evade certain abilities and if they use 1 or 2 cc abilities you're fine to use your heal or ability that you don't want interrupted but that's not the case anymore. There's no downside to using f3-4 on the Firebrand or P4 on the Mesmer or the 65 fears you get to spam on the Scourge because everything has such a high up time for no reason. There's no downside for spamming literally any theif abilities or warrior meditations/stances because the amount of skills properly telegraphed is so severely reduced you may as well spam it so you at least hit something.

I used to really love this game and I really wanted to get back into it but these issues have completely destroyed the player base and I can clearly see it won't get fixed in the near future. I wish this game could return to its former glory but I guess that's just too crazy.

[Amityel.5324]

game was quite balanced before POF launch tbh.....

[cursE.1794]

What I've learned playing this game for 5 years is that your pvp experience is highly dependent on the class you play. You can't just stick to one or two classes all the time and expect having fun. That's not how pvp works in this game. You need to play what's strong at the moment. So the key is to embrace learning new classes and builds. If I hadn't switched from tempest to spellbreaker and daredevil (which I started playing from time to time a few months ago) after the release of PoF, I'd probably quit the game for good. I think there are currently at least three viable options to choose from to have fun in pvp:

• daredevil (very steep learning curve)
• spellbreaker
• scourge

According to some posts in this forum, Mirage also seems to be quite strong but currently remains in the shadow of spellbreaker and scourge. So once ArenaNet nerfs those, Mirage is probably what I'll be playing next.

[shippage.1983]

Attacks are badly telegraphed, or not at all. This has been an issue since launch and is simply not going to be fixed until we get Gw3. It's not terrible, as there are still key moves that you can recognize and dodge to win fights, but in team fights it's a lot more about management of skills and playing the UI then it is reacting to player animations.

The problem is, coming from Gw1 they had 489332 skills that you spam in order with little telegraph, this tends to be MMO combat. WoW is a very similar way. Gw2 attempted to strike a middle-ground by being an Action-MMO with less skill spam and more reacting to your opponent. Unfortunately, it's drowned in unnecessary effects and the game is unwatchable unless you're the one playing it.

If they went full telegraphed mode, they would lose the Gw1 player base even further and it would be much more "action" then MMO combat. It would change a lot of the direction of the game, and it would probably lose a lot of PvE players for this reason, which is the main playerbase of this game.

[Crinn.7864]

It's my understanding that there is a balance patch tomorrow?

[STIHL.2489]

@Jax.5261 said:I used to think so much about how 90% of the issues in pvp are L2P issues and you just need to learn how to evade certain abilities

I have got to be honest with you, if during your absence from GW2 you played any MOBA, like Team Fortress or the like. the balance in GW2 is soo bad it's painful and so easy to see now why GW2 never made it into the E-Sport arena.

[Azel.4786]

@Crinn.7864 said:It's my understanding that there is a balance patch tomorrow?

I hope, but all we know is that tomorrow the Halloween event starts. I have not seen any ANET comments saying that balance patch would come out tomorrow.

[Crinn.7864]

@Azel.4786 said:

@Crinn.7864 said:It's my understanding that there is a balance patch tomorrow?

I hope, but all we know is that tomorrow the Halloween event starts. I have not seen any ANET comments saying that balance patch would come out tomorrow.

It's a major patch that been on the books for months, it's also the day after the season ended. If they are going to patch, tomorrow would be the day to do it.

[zealex.9410]

@Amityel.5324 said:game was quite balanced before POF launch tbh.....

Its to be exoected with a new expac hope it recovers fast

[ellesee.8297]

@Crinn.7864 said:

@Azel.4786 said:

@Crinn.7864 said:It's my understanding that there is a balance patch tomorrow?

I hope, but all we know is that tomorrow the Halloween event starts. I have not seen any ANET comments saying that balance patch would come out tomorrow.

It's a major patch that been on the books for months, it's also the day after the season ended. If they are going to patch, tomorrow would be the day to do it.

When hambow was incredibly broken, I'd say 2 weeks would've been the day to do it, to bring it in line. Then a month passed. Then 2 months passed. Then 3 months passed. Then 4 months passed. Then 5 months passed. On the 6th month they finally changed hambow. 8% shave to healing signet. Don't be so sure my frand.

[Saiyan.1704]

Honestly OP, you left at the wrong time and played at the wrong time.

Wait for the next balance patch. That's when you can make the decision to jet :)

[P Fun Daddy.1208]

@ellesee.8297 said:

@Crinn.7864 said:

@Azel.4786 said:

@Crinn.7864 said:It's my understanding that there is a balance patch tomorrow?

I hope, but all we know is that tomorrow the Halloween event starts. I have not seen any ANET comments saying that balance patch would come out tomorrow.

It's a major patch that been on the books for months, it's also the day after the season ended. If they are going to patch, tomorrow would be the day to do it.

When hambow was incredibly broken, I'd say 2 weeks would've been the day to do it, to bring it in line. Then a month passed. Then 2 months passed. Then 3 months passed. Then 4 months passed. Then 5 months passed. On the 6th month they finally changed hambow. 8% shave to healing signet. Don't be so sure my frand.

I remember those days.Back then it seemed like Hambow was just stupidly broken, with long invuln phases, point-covering AoE, easy cleanse, and stupid amounts of CC. Now that it seems like that's the norm, I imagine even old hambow would feel impotent now.I mean, just compare it to scourge: with hambow they at least had to try to hit your enemies and land some combos, scourge just throws things in their general direction/on the point and people melt.

[Swagg.9236]

@Amityel.5324 said:game was quite balanced before POF launch tbh.....

Gw2 has always suffered from the same problems just as OP described. They have only gotten worse as time has gone on.

[Burnfall.9573]

@STIHL.2489 said:

@Jax.5261 said:I used to think so much about how 90% of the issues in pvp are L2P issues and you just need to learn how to evade certain abilities

I have got to be honest with you, if during your absence from GW2 you played any MOBA, like Team Fortress or the like. the balance in GW2 is soo bad it's painful and so easy to see now why GW2 never made it into the E-Sport arena.

Hard Truth!

[Swagg.9236]

@Burnfall.9573 said:

@STIHL.2489 said:

@Jax.5261 said:I used to think so much about how 90% of the issues in pvp are L2P issues and you just need to learn how to evade certain abilities

I have got to be honest with you, if during your absence from GW2 you played any MOBA, like Team Fortress or the like. the balance in GW2 is soo bad it's painful and so easy to see now why GW2 never made it into the E-Sport arena.

Hard Truth!

TF2 really can highlight one of gw2's biggest flaws: skill bloat and the illusion of choice. Gw2 would have been far better off limiting the choices of players and culling skill totals and homogenizing skill/utility types. Why have full sets of signers for every class when only a few classes only regularly use one respectively? Why have different utility types when the other players have no active relationship with or influence on them?

Despite the fact that wildstar's PvP was basically a joke, at least that game made the choice to limit classes to just one, unique weapon type. That sort of design paradigm, just like in TF2, helps keep visual clutter low and sharpens combat legibility. Moreover, it keeps a tight cap on viable options. Gw2 lets players run power scourge despite the fact that condi scourge is clearly more effective? For what purpose?

[Aza.2105]

The most bizarre design choice is the lack of visible cast bars. Anet said they would not be added because they wanted players to observe the animations themselves instead of focusing on the cast bar. From the beginning only warrior had highly telegraph animations that you could dodge upon reaction, the rest of the classes have animations you can't make out or at the very least it surrounded by sort of visual effect clutter.

Anyone who claims that they dodge skillfully would be lying. What they are really doing is dodging by anticipation or read but not reaction. I've actually ran up to many players during pvp with the intention of not using a skill. And nearly every time they dodge when I'm not doing anything.