May 11 Guild Wars 2 Skills and Balance Update Preview

[xXxNikiGoesWildxXx.3678]

You may not believe but Mirage will be able to provide perma 25 might, perma alacrity, quickness (24 sec with 90 sec cd) to 10 allies, on top of that aegis to 5 allies and some random fury, include with that new resolution boon from chaos storm. 

Guess what i love it, as i use to play a lot staff-staff mirage for very long but they are also buffing its dps. It will be "highest" (higher than chrono kekw) dps class, buffing dps of all allies by so much. And the fact that you need only 1 dude like that is insane. 

[xXxNikiGoesWildxXx.3678]

This is such mirage build i am talking about. Only variant of such is either going for seraph stat or plaguedoctor. 

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?PigAYZlVwSYHMN2Je6T5PLA-zRJYvRF/ZkpUIdVgHnlqM3A-e

[Lord of the Fire.6870]

Okay more or less my final words on this subject there way too many things to say about . Someone could actually write a 100 pages thesis about this.

 

 

This is because besides the balance stuff which you could illuminate what the players thinks vs what the developers thinks and what consequence this has truly. There are also the fact they wish to change core mechanics of the game which has 100.000th side effects because how they are used by the developers in the past in every mode differently.

 

For the players the problem is Arena.NET  force a new meta this way for PvE properly for sPvP too until the next add-on in 6 months or so

 

(I think in games like WoW it is not so difficult because they change the system with every add-on which comes much more often then in Gw 2 and also content becomes obsolete in wow, in Gw 2 content truly never becomes obsolete. Means with each new elite spec and each new group content things becomes harder to change)

 

(It is also true that WoW loses player with each iteration of add-ons but gw2 loses less players the first 6 years but then last 3 years really a lot 😟)

 

Also condi dmg and the usually gw2 player were never a love story this is because a long time and to some degree it still is  that condi are overbearing in sPvP . The  other problem Arena.NET went with multiply condi build for and back pushing them and then to smash them.

 

This mostly touch the expose effect which also is a result of cc which people also remind how Arena.NET nerfed the cc utility so a really thorny topic and and Arena.NET grasps into the kitten.

 

Anyway I don't think this will do anything Arena.NET went quality wise on the level of most f2p MMOs. I just wanted it off my heart.

Edited May 5, 2021 by Lord of the Fire.6870

[Nephalem.8921]

4 hours ago, Svez Poizon XD.5268 said:

You may not believe but Mirage will be able to provide perma 25 might, perma alacrity, quickness (24 sec with 90 sec cd) to 10 allies, on top of that aegis to 5 allies and some random fury, include with that new resolution boon from chaos storm. 

Guess what i love it, as i use to play a lot staff-staff mirage for very long but they are also buffing its dps. It will be "highest" (higher than chrono kekw) dps class, buffing dps of all allies by so much. And the fact that you need only 1 dude like that is insane. 

Staff is atrocious for dps. Your build will do extremely low dps. Quickness is just a useless bonus since its not even 1/3 uptime.

Dps estimates are 23-ish while alac ren does 27k.

[mixxed.5862]

With the torment change you could unsplit the d.amage coefficient. Make it 0.06 in both PvE and PvP while moving (currently it's split and 0.045 in PvP).

[xALBx.3981]

So I know everyone and their Mothers already replied, but I wanna give my 2 cents to my Main:

 

Quote

 

Warrior

Berserker has been in a great place with strong support, power, and condition builds that are successful in all content. However, Spellbreaker lacks the damage it needs to keep up, and the line between banner support and damage-oriented builds is very blurry, showing that possible alternatives to the Discipline specialization were underperforming. With this update, we're making improvements to Tactics to make it a more viable alternative to Discipline, and we're improving Spellbreaker's damage capability. We're also lowering the base target cap of banners to 5 players, with the choice for support builds to utilize the Doubled Standards trait to raise the target cap to 10. All banners are now gaining light combo fields, giving all warrior specializations some access to condition cleanse combos.

Rifle is also receiving an improvement pass, improving its ability to combat multiple targets and giving it more utility as a ranged power weapon in general mission and open-world play.

 

 Sounds Promising so far. Although Tactics will NEVER be an alternative to Discipline (talking PowerBerserker) as long as Axe Mastery is a thing and Axe is the strongest Weapon to use. Period.

 

Quote

 

Rifle

·         Fierce Shot: This attack now pierces but no longer grants bonus adrenaline against vulnerable targets. Instead, it grants 1 stack of might for 5 seconds to the warrior when hitting a vulnerable target.

• Crack Shot: Instead of granting bonus adrenaline when Fierce Shot hits, this trait now causes Fierce Shot to deal 10% bonus damage in addition to its previous effects.
• Aimed Shot: This skill has been removed.
• Volley: This skill has moved to slot 2 on the weapon.

·         Explosive Shell: This new skill takes slot 3 on rifle, previously occupied by Volley. This attack shoots a large shell at the target that explodes on contact with an enemy. The explosion creates a cone-shaped blast that fires through the target, striking foes behind them and inflicting the crippled condition and vulnerability.

 

Sounds good, but please buff the base damage of the Rifle. I hit harder without a Weapon qq

 

Quote

 

Banners

• Reduced the number of allied targets affected from 10 to 5. The Discipline trait Doubled Standards now increases the number of allied targets from 5 to 10.
• Banners no longer cause blast finishers. They now create a light combo field that persists for 5 seconds after the banner is summoned.

 

• Interesting take, especially with trying to get tactics to be an alternative to discipline, you jail a BS to Discipline. Okay.
  Please get rid of the Light Fields. Warrior has A LOT of Condicleanse already.

Strength

• Quote

  • Peak Performance: Reduced the additional strike damage applied for a period of time after using a physical skill from 15% to 10% in PvE only.
  • Great Fortitude: This trait now increases ferocity by 10% of vitality.

  Okay, so you wanna buff Spellbreaker and you Nerf the one trait, although everybody plays, ONLY SPELLBREAKERS USE ACTIVELY (And some speedrun Berserker gods in fractals). Why?
  Great Fortitude change is mostly whatever, but could be interesting in certain builds.

 

Quote

 

Defense

• Cull the Weak: Increased damage bonus from 7% to 10% in PvE only.
• Spiked Armor has been renamed Hardened Armor.

 

• Nobody plays Defense in PvE Endcontent anyways, so I dont see the reason for the buff. It would need much, much more to e anywhere competetive.

 

Quote

 

Tactics

• Marching Orders: Reduced internal cooldown to gain Soldier's Focus from 15 seconds to 10 seconds.
• Leg Specialist: Increased damage bonus from 7% to 10% in PvE only.
• Roaring Reveille: Increased duration of the resistance boon granted to the warhorn skill Call of Valor from 2 seconds to 3 seconds.
• Warrior's Cunning: Reduced health threshold for bonus damage from 90% to 80%.

 

• These are actually good Buffs.

 

Quote

 

Discipline

• Warrior's Sprint: Increased damage bonus from 7% to 10% in PvE only.
• Doubled Standards: Reduced bonus effect from banners from 100% to 50%. This trait now additionally increases the maximum number of allied targets on banners from 5 to 10.
• Axe Mastery: This trait no longer grants additional ferocity for a second equipped axe.

 

• Why Buff Discipline the same way you Buff Tactics if ... whatever. It is still a must have for any BS anyways, especially with new Doubled Standards. Axe Mastery is still a must have for Power Berserker, see no changes there.

 

Quote

 

Spellbreaker

• Sun and Moon Style:
  • Fixed a bug that could cause trait bonuses to be temporarily lost after recovering from the downed state.
  • The main-hand dagger bonus has been reworked to deal an additional 10% strike damage to foes with no boons.
• Attacker's Insight: Each stack of the Insight effect now grants an additional 50 power, precision, and ferocity at level 80 in PvE. Each stack now grants an additional 35 power, precision, and ferocity in PvP and WvW. Previously each stack granted 45 power and ferocity.
• Full Counter: The attack portion of this skill now correctly triggers if the spellbreaker is in midair, allowing the skill to end correctly.

 

• Actually good Buffs. I dont like the precision on Attacker's Insight because it makes Gearing a pain in the kitten (50 precision is ~2,5% Crit) because you either overcap hard or you run the risk of undercapping and therefore losing lots of DPS, but I like the buffs altogether.
  
  I guess all in all I feel like 2 different People did the Warrior changes. "We want to make Tactics an alternative to Discipline(, but we make Discipline a must have). We want to buff Spellbreaker(, but we nerf one big Damage Trait that basically only he uses actively)." Not sure what will come out of it.

Edited May 4, 2021 by xALBx.3981
Typo

[Lan Deathrider.5910]

7 minutes ago, xALBx.3981 said:

So I know everyone and their Mothers already replied, but I wanna give my 2 cents to my Main:

 

 Sounds Promising so far. Although Tactics will NEVER be an alternative to Discipline (talking PowerBerserker) as long as Axe Mastery is a thing and Axe is the strongest Weapon to use. Period.

 

Sounds good, but please buff the base damage of the Rifle. I hit harder without a Weapon qq

 

• Interesting take, especially with trying to get tactics to be an alternative to discipline, you jail a BS to Discipline. Okay.
  Please get rid of the Light Fields. Warrior has A LOT of Condicleanse already.

Strength

• Okay, so you wanna buff Spellbreaker and you Nerf the one trait, although everybody plays, ONLY SPELLBREAKERS USE ACTIVELY (And some speedrun Berserker gods in fractals). Why?
  Great Fortitude change is mostly whatever, but could be interesting in certain builds.

 

• Nobody plays Defense in PvE Endcontent anyways, so I dont see the reason for the buff.

 

• These are actually good Buffs.

 

• Why Buff Discipline the same way you Buff Tactics if ... whatever. It is still a must have for any BS anyways, especially with new Doubled Standards. Axe Mastery is still amust have for Power Berserker, see no changes there.

 

• Actually good Buffs. I dont liek the precision on Attacker's Insight because it makes Gearing a pain in the kitten (50 precision is ~2,5% Crit) because you either overcap hard or you run the risk of undercapping and therefore losing lots of DPS, but I like the buffs altogether.
  
  I guess all in all I feel like 2 different People did the Warrior changes. "We want to make Tactics an alternative to Discipline(, but we make Discipline a must have). We want to buff Spellbreaker(, but we nerf one big Damage Trait that basically only he uses actively)." Not sure what will come out of it.

You are right to point out that so long as Axe/Axe is the max power dps possible that Discipline will be mandatory in PvE for warrior because of the trait.

 

The answer is either to move the trait into another traitline, or to make another weapon as powerful as Axe/Axe for DPS.

 

The prime candidate would be greatsword, which could mostly be done by reducing the cast time of 100Blades to 2s and buffing Arcing Slice's damage a little bit.

[Vennyhedgie.5369]

Someone please explain why they chose to give Mirage Alacrity. It's not that I'm against this since I don't really play mesmer, but isn't Chronomancer supposed to be all about quickness and alacrity to begin with? It feels like giving shades to reaper. I'm just baffled by some of these changes.

 

Also they're destroying Mallyx rev yet again, but they've reworked that legend so many times I already don't feel any sorrow when it happens. 

[SkyCake.4216]

Please, rethink Inventions for Engineer. It genuinely feels like the most "left behind" traitline in the game. There's a lot of skills and traits that feel that way among the professions. 

[Scorgrim.5290]

4 hours ago, Lan Deathrider.5910 said:

You are right to point out that so long as Axe/Axe is the max power dps possible that Discipline will be mandatory in PvE for warrior because of the trait.

 

The answer is either to move the trait into another traitline, or to make another weapon as powerful as Axe/Axe for DPS.

 

The prime candidate would be greatsword, which could mostly be done by reducing the cast time of 100Blades to 2s and buffing Arcing Slice's damage a little bit.

Even if they do those things the most optimal build would be axe/axe greatsword (something that i think that would happen anyway with the slight nerf in axe mastery in the next patch), so it wouldnt push axe/axe out of the meta dps wise to make discipline less mandatory

Edit:but an 100blades rework would be most welcome.

Edited May 4, 2021 by Scorgrim.5290

[Lan Deathrider.5910]

1 hour ago, Scorgrim.5290 said:

Even if they do those things the most optimal build would be axe/axe greatsword (something that i think that would happen anyway with the slight nerf in axe mastery in the next patch), so it wouldnt push axe/axe out of the meta dps wise to make discipline less mandatory

Edit:but an 100blades rework would be most welcome.

100Blades has been in need of a QOL update for years. It either needs the root removed or a faster cast time on the order of 2s. Right now you have higher dps on the AA chain if you whiff the last hit from 100Blades.

[Asum.4960]

15 hours ago, Svez Poizon XD.5268 said:

Well they provide aoe utility, indirectly buffing dmg/sustain or w/e of other allies, that is where their damage is, from allies. There is no need for such classes to also deal more damage than classes that are purely meant to be dps dealers and only that. Quickness, might, fury and alacrity. Anything that provides those boons/buffs/support needs to have halved or even less dps than real dps class.

Condi firebrand is everywhere, the best role. They needed to split roles in same specialization, it can't be done now as they put everything in same class, so the only way is to gut its dps by a lot, so we can say: fine, it provides healing and quickness but nothing else more, so you won't see 4 firebrands in fractals but 1 or none. Same for any other playmode.

If their damage isn't worthwhile, you'd just exclusively run them as full supports instead + pure DPS's. 

All you would have accomplished is eradicating hybrids and making the game less interesting with less build variety. 

 

There does need to be a cost though, I agree. But it's not as simple as just X class has utility so it can't have personal damage.

For one, the game doesn't consist out of just group content (quite the opposite), and secondly, it's lazy and inelegant design. 

 

The Trait system can and should facilitate these choices, providing support/utility Traits in direct competition with the best personal DPS Traits. 

 

Firebrand for example has two out of three Grandmasters pretty much dead since it's launch (after Quickfire was obliterated).

It wouldn't take that much to redesign one of them to be mandatory for permanent/reasonable Quickness uptime, at the cost of another that's mandatory to maintain current levels of personal DPS - so it can do both, but not at the same time. 

 

In general, ~25k DPS is probably a good number to aim for with Hybrid builds (Quickbrand, Alacrigade, Bannerslave etc.), with options via Traits and Utilities to raise that to the 35-38k of pure DPS's, at the cost of being able to provide that support. 

 

That way, both "hybrid" and "pure" comps would remain viable, without any one profession being pigeonholed into any of the two. 

 

In of itself, the fact that Firebrand can choose to either be a full support/healer, Hybrid DPS/boon support, or full DPS - but not any two or even all three of them at once, isn't a problem of the spec being able to do too much, rather than it being a rolemodel for how all specs should imo be designed at large. 

It's not perfect and it is lacking some tradeoffs (slightly too much DPS as Hybrid, slightly too much Utility as DPS), but imo it's the right direction, and I'd be careful with asking for that to be obliterated to yet another boring single use spec, rather than being held up as example for what we should expect for all specs.

[MaLong.2079]

It looks like  all these changes apply to pve only unless state otherwise. Is that how this works? 

[Lan Deathrider.5910]

7 minutes ago, MaLong.2079 said:

It looks like  all these changes apply to pve only unless state otherwise. Is that how this works? 

Yes, but some things are global like the boon and condition changes.

[ShroomOneUp.6913]

"its not fun to play against retaliation"

I bet you forgot that in iron marches you put up a veteran mordrem wolf that has permanent self generating boss ability retaliation that is probably NOT effected by the mere swap to resolution to the player accessible one?

cause that the only time to not have fun against retaliation when you play a class that has no boon rip

Edited May 5, 2021 by ShroomOneUp.6913

[Astralporing.1957]

Yeah, i wonder how that's going to work with some boss-specific mechanics. Gorse retal is another that comes to mind here.

[Jski.6180]

Thinking on it there an added nerf to tempest that no one seem to think about yet the skill Sand Squall that buffs all boons for 3 sec is weaker now due to the new boon cap of 10 sec. More then likely it will only add 1 sec at most to boon that are already cap most of the time.

 

It realty feels anet did not even consider the ele class in this update for both the class update of ele AND the update of boons, condis, and gear combo that effects all classes. Just the bad mind set of "well we got read of retaliation so be happy" when most good ele could play arone the effect with out dying.

[Lan Deathrider.5910]

2 hours ago, Jski.6180 said:

Thinking on it there an added nerf to tempest that no one seem to think about yet the skill Sand Squall that buffs all boons for 3 sec is weaker now due to the new boon cap of 10 sec. More then likely it will only add 1 sec at most to boon that are already cap most of the time.

 

It realty feels anet did not even consider the ele class in this update for both the class update of ele AND the update of boons, condis, and gear combo that effects all classes. Just the bad mind set of "well we got read of retaliation so be happy" when most good ele could play arone the effect with out dying.

Boon cap is 30s.

 

Edit: Except for Aegis, Stability, Might, and Regeneration apparently. Those appear to not have the new 30s cap...

Edited May 5, 2021 by Lan Deathrider.5910

[arielwind.8921]

Removing Retaliation is a bad movement. Support guardian in WvW could have chance to get bags without DPSing opponent, and allow free casters attack zerg without taking damage from far above cliffs/walls like Red BL Keeps. 
In PvE, retaliation is one of the unique boon especially boss fight like Orr champions. I thought retal is a really good counter attack in the game in every game mode.

[Jski.6180]

9 hours ago, Lan Deathrider.5910 said:

Boon cap is 30s.

 

Edit: Except for Aegis, Stability, Might, and Regeneration apparently. Those appear to not have the new 30s cap...

Thank you for point that out but i think its worst the way then my though of 10 sec for the game over all. 30 sec is perma level duration with any number of skills / classes.

 

[NecroSummonsMors.7816]

When you changed torment you clearly didn't even consider this would completely destroy the synergy of necromancer and fear with it.

Torment was the perfect condition for a class that need to keep its enemies far away or at least punish them for moving closer. If this change is a nice buff for pve, it completely destroys the synergy of the necromancer in pvp/wvw.

What this change does is killing the best combo possible, which was stack torment on your foe then fear it for increased damage. This will now be stack torment on your foe, it won't get punished for moving toward you and not only that, if you fear it and the enemy was standing still, now you'll lose damage too.

How many ways has a condition core necromancer to keep an enemy standing still? None

Tainted shackles with this change is useless, since the enemies will now be even more encouraged to get out of the tether since torment does less damage if you move, negating even the small immobilize it had.

Scourge has access to 1 knockdown each 25s, which is laughable considering the rest of the time enemy will be free to roam with torment on themselves without getting punished.

This change will heavily nerf condition condi core necro in pvp/wvw, leaving it as a pathetic bleed/poison dmg dealer, not to mention now scourge, which basically is all about torment, gets its dmg nerfed too. Either find a way to restore the true competitive synergy beetween torment/fear and necromancer, or the scenario is the one I mention above, a butchered result in favor of pve buff, which could have been implented just by increasing stacks/duration just in pve.

Comments on the changes proposed.

Axe

• Ghastly Claws: This skill now requires a target to activate. (ok)

Lich Form

• Deathly Claws: This skill is no longer fires projectiles at enemies located behind the player. (just rework transformations once and for all please)

Curses

• Barbed Precision: Increased duration of bleeding inflicted from 2 seconds to 3 seconds in PvE only. (i guess pve wise, it's ok)
• Insidious Disruption: Increased duration of torment from 3 seconds to 5 seconds. (this trait was weak before 2 seconds more does nothing especially for pvp, plague sending is just better anyway)

Blood Magic

• Mark of Evasion: This trait no longer has an internal cooldown.
• (please remove this trait, it's horrendous game design skill on dodge should exist. this skill is very problematic vs every profession with a counter, especially warrior, if they know how to exploit it. At some you'll have to dodge leaving a mark against your will and the spellbreaker will walk over it triggering full counter against your will. So this skill in the end will cause you harm instead of helping. Try fighting as blood necro against spellbreaker who know how to use this against you, it's obscene)
•  
• Blood Bond: Reduced internal cooldown from 20 seconds to 16 seconds. (decent change)
• Blood Bank: In addition to its previous effects, this trait now grants barrier for health gained while below full health at a 15% rate.
• (this trait was problematic in pvp before, now you double down again. from a pve point of view it might be fine, but in competitve we'll see even more tanky scourges) 

Soul Reaping

• Soul Barbs: This trait now increases all damage dealt, not only strike damage.
• (very good change)

Reaper

• Infusing Terror: This skill can now be used in midair so that it better functions with Death's Charge.
• (finally, it was about time. thank you)

[Jski.6180]

This small update not enofe to make up for what is about to happen in the other game types due to these pve changes. The split balancing and not split balancing is too random to ever work out right. To makes things worst there is making un-spliting the balancing where it seems more of a bate and switch method of pushing out nerfs.

[TheBravery.9615]

Skills

Mechanic
issue	Suggestion
Full Counter: For a profession mechanic this has become a very weak attack in competitive modes. Overnerfed. Initial issues came from it's behavior, activating from ranged attacks and punishing allies near the spellbreaker if hit accidentally.	Change it's behavior so it's similar to Riposte, blocking ranged attacks and only activating when struck by a melee attack by an opponent within range. Make this skill have animation priority over other skills instead of queuing behind so this can be used reactively instead of predictively. Reduce block duration to 1 second. Return the damage in competitive modes.
Hammer
issue	Suggestion
Earthshaker: The damage nerf in competitive mode really guts this weapon..	Return the damage in competitive modes.
Rupturing Smash: Part of the reason why berserker warriors don't run with hammer, there's little reason to take it over other weapons because it's burst is weak and awkward to use with it's unusual hitbox.	Change AOE to full circle. Return the cascading attack effect. Reduce daze duration to half second, Remove immobilize.
Staggering Blow: The damage nerf in competitive mode really guts this weapon..	Return the damage in competitive modes.
Backbreaker: The damage nerf in competitive mode really guts this weapon..	Return the damage in competitive modes.
Longbow
issue	Suggestion
Auto Attack: Would be nice to have the condi damage here without taking the trait, it has a decent condi set but the auto attack lacks it.	Add bleeding effect to auto attack.
Mace
issue	Suggestion
Skull Crack: CC Damage nerf should not exist on burst skills.	Return the damage in competitive modes.
Auto Attack: The final attack has a longer windup than necessary	Reduce Pulverize cast time to half second to align with rest of mace auto attack.
Counter Blow: From a design perspective, warrior has 3 skills that are nearly identical to Counter blow (Sword Riposte, Spear Parry)..	Scrap Counter Blow. Replace with a new skill: Armor Crush. Leap 300 units and strike your target with an overhead blow. Unblockable. Removes protection, dazes if target is blocking or has protection.
Pommel Bash: This is a low damage skill and used primarily to interrupt. Would be nice to make more use of it.	Give 2 charges, increase cooldown to 20 seconds, reduce daze to 1/2 second.
Tremor: It does decent damage, but it's awkward to use at range mainly due to it's slow projectile speed in which enemies can simply sidestep it. Also looks weird, like you're unleashing a gopher.	Make ground targeted, make it an ranged AOE attack instead of projectile. Return the damage in competitive modes.
Sword
issue	Suggestion
Flurry: This is a pretty awful attack to spend adrenaline on. Long cast time, self rooting, poor damage. Final Thrust is more worthy of being a burst attack..	Just swap places with Final Thrust
Final Thrust: This is a good attack, worthy of being a burst. More so than flurry..	Just swap places with Flurry
Riposte: In need of a usability update	Allow control over the counter attack, continue blocking until struck. If struck, replace adrenaline rush with Counterattack. Make this skill have animation priority over other skills instead of queuing behind so this can be used reactively instead of predictively.
Harpoon Gun
issue	Suggestion
Puncture Shot: Inaccurate tooltip, low damage	Appears to do more damage than tooltip suggests. Update tooltip. May also want to increase damage, autoattack does more damage.
Split Shot: Inaccurate tooltip, low damage.	Update tooltip so it shows that 5 shots are fired in a fan. Update tooltip damage so it shows (5). May also want to increase damage.
Knot Shot: Low damage (183)	Increase damage
Spear
issue	Suggestion
Wild Whirl: Leaves much to be desired. Whirling strike is superior in damage and control. Not worthy of a berserk skill.	Give this the arc divider treatment underwater. Remove burning.
Parry: Usability Update	Allow control over the counter attack, continue blocking until struck. If struck, replace adrenaline rush with Counterattack. Make this skill have animation priority over other skills instead of queuing behind so this can be used reactively instead of predictively.
Healing
issue	Suggestion
Natural Healing: Zero reason to take this when it removes your boons.	Add the benefit of refreshing your full counter ability as well.
Utility
issue	Suggestion
Outrage: What I dislike about the changes to the rage skills and h ow they tie with berserker duration is the fact that they don't benefit the warrior outside of berserker. It could be given a Glyph / physical treatment which would give it more uses	While in berserk mode, this increases berserk duration (more if breaking a stun). Outside of berserk mode, you gain adrenaline. Gain 2 additional charges, increase cooldown to 20 seconds.
Shattering Blow: Same issue as outrage.	While in berserk mode, increase berserk duration. Outside of berserk mode, gain adrenaline.
Sundering Leap: Same issue as outrage, doesn't have a use scenario or niche to use.	While in berserk mode, increase berserk duration. Outside of berserk mode, gain adrenaline. Reduce cast time to half second, change from vulnerability and cripple to burning, bleeding, and torment.
Wild Blow: Same issue as outrage, niche use. Damage nerf in competitive mode makes this a terrible skill.	While in berserk mode, increase berserk duration. Outside of berserk mode, gain adrenaline. Return damage in competitive modes.
Sight Beyond Sight: That recent 2 second revealed increase did not change the underlying flaws with this ability and how stealth works in game.	Grants self the ability to see stealthed players within range for 10s. Instead of having the next attack critically hit, change it so it inflicts  Exhaustion for 3 seconds on enemies you strike.
Featherfoot Grace: No longer used in competitive settings	Normalize to PVE cooldown of 30 seconds in competitive modes.
Imminent Threat: High cooldown with low benefit. The resolution and adrenaline feels more of an afterthought than anything.	Reduce cooldown to 30 seconds, reduce taunt to one second. Remove the resolution and adrenaline gain. Replace with Protection. Gain new effect: Cause all incoming damage to glance for 5 seconds.
Fear Me: Cooldown too high for low benefit.	This is a gimmick so I guess embrace the gimmick? If the 5 target cap limit is lifted and this is able to fear 15 enemies, this would be worth taking in such a scenario even with a 60 second cooldown.
Frenzy: Reason why this isn't taken is because this is only a damage modifier skill and there are better options out there for warrior. If this offered more utility in the form of something else, this would be considered.	Rework this. No longer breaks stuns. For 10 seconds, burst attacks use reduced adrenaline. Pulse quickness and alacrity. 30s cd.
Banners: Banner of Defense and Tactics will never see use in any game mode. Banner of Strength and Discipline see good use in PvE. Unequal weight of banners, favoring strength and discipline.	Make the banners single stat @ 170 points. (Power / Ferocity / Condition Damage / Expertise). Deal damage when planted. Reduce CD to 30s, banner duration to 20s
Stomp: Was hardly ever used in competitive modes before damage CC nerf. The damage nerf made this trash.	Return the damage in competitive modes, lower cd by 5s
Kick: Was hardly ever used in competitive modes before damage CC nerf. The damage nerf made this trash.	Return the damage in competitive modes
Bulls Charge: The CC damage nerf was overbearing, the long cooldown makes this unjustifiable to take.	Return the damage in competitive modes, alebit at a lowered amount.
Signet of Stamina: Too long of a cooldown for its active when condi re-application is rampant. Usability would improve if the CD was reduced in exchange for reducing the # of conditions cleared..	Instead of removing 12 conditions, have it just remove damaging conditions. Grant 8s of Resolution, reduce CD to 30s.
Elite
issue	Suggestion
Battle Standard: Tooltip doesn't specify how many downed enemies will it finish. The might/swiftness/fury does not benefit from compassionate banner trait, benefit is heavily loaded into the initial cast and the lasting effect of the banner is underwhelming.	Remove the might/fury/swiftness. Replace it with a +100 gain in power, toughness, Concentration, and precision. Update tooltip so it specifies how many downed foes it can finish.
Signet of Rage: Totally obsolete skill that's been forgotten.	Rework this. While passive: Adrenaline decay outside of combat is slowed down by 75%. While active: your cleave cap is increased by 5 additional targets for 20 seconds. Killing enemies during this time will fill your adrenaline and refresh your burst cooldown.
Headbutt: Same issue as outrage. Having this deal no damage while stunning yourself makes this a terrible unusable skill.	While in berserk mode, increase berserk duration. Outside of berserk mode, reduces the berserk mode cooldown. Increase CD to 30s. Return damage in competitive modes.

 

 

Traits

Strength
Issue	Suggestion
Brave Stride: 2s of stability on 10s cd that's dependent on use of a skill makes it difficult to choose over peak performance which grants a static passive benefit without any active input	Normalize to 5s cd, 5s stability across all game modes
Body Blow: Competes directly in line with Forceful greatsword, which has benefits even on warriors running without greatsword / spear. Condi damage based trait in a power based traitline, zero use case scenarios to take this over great fortitude or forceful greatsword, even on condi builds.	Make it so attacks that deal control effects also deal more damage in addition to current effects.
Merciless Hammer : A niche trait that mainly benefits hammer (for those that don't use hammer, the adrenaline is not worth taking. Control windows are far too short to take any benefit of the damage increase on controlled foes), competes with berserker's power and might makes right which are superior choices to take, yet not in any means overpowered.	Remove the damage increase on controlled foes while using a hammer. Change it so interrupting foes reduce all hammer skill (including burst) cooldown by 3 seconds.
Arms
Issue	Suggestion
Wounding Precision: Unusual combination and lazy by design. Precision benefits critical strikes, which is power based. This expect players to have high precision before condi based stats to maximize benefit, but would typically be the other way around. (max condi damage, precision would be an afterthought)	Rework this. Gain 180 expertise for 5 seconds when landing a burst attack.
Signet Mastery: Inaccurate tooltip, grants might	Update tooltip to reflect the might gained.
Opportunist: Warrior only have 5 skills in their entire arsenal that inflict immobilize. 1 of which is from an aquatic weapon, another 1 from a utility, and another from a burst attack- meaning only 2 weapons skills inflict immobilize For a trait that benefits when you inflict immobilize, this is extremely lacking. Need to turn it around and have it inflict immobilize under special conditions. Would be great if was in tactics with leg specialist.	Rework this. Critical strikes against foes under 25% health will immobilize them for 1 second (15s cd). Gain 5s fury when striking foes under 25%. (15s cd)
Unsuspecting Foe: Window of opportunity is too low to make use of this trait as is. CC effects usually last under 3 seconds at a time, stun breaks and stability abundance makes this useless. Adding more opportunities may make this worth taking.	Rework this. Increase critical chance against foes when striking from the side, from behind, or when disabled. Reduce crit chance from +50% to +20%. Increase crit damage when striking a disabled foe or from the side/behind by 10%
Furious: Similar issue with Wounding precision and the arms trait line in general, how it mixes critical hits with condition damage. The grandmaster traits all seem to lack any traits to offer to pure condi builds without requiring precision.	Rework this. Burst attacks inflict multiple conditions based on boons on you and as long as you have fury. (based on boon-condition conversion table; e.g. if you have aegis, your burst will also inflict burning). (maximum 6 conditions inflicted per foe per burst, 8s icd)
Dual Wielding: Too much of a niche and the benefit is minimal even when wielding dual weapons. The speed increase conflicts with the speed cap that comes with quickness.	Scrap this, replace with Concussive Blows. Critical strikes against a foe with 25 stacks of vulnerability will inflict a concussion. [Concussion: 1/4 second daze. If target was interrupted, stuns for 1/2 second instead. inflicts 4s weakness and 2 stacks of 6s confusion, and deals some damage. Loses all stacks of vulnerability, 8 second icd]
Defense
Issue	Suggestion
Defy Pain: Despite it's history of nerfs it remains a prime choice in the defense trait line, but mostly because of the fact it competes with the likes of sundering mace and armored attack. It's likely in the best interest of the balance of this game to just move it to swap it with Rousing Resilience in Major Grandmaster, so the Major Grandmaster traits offer the choice between physical damage mitigation (defy pain), condition damage mitigation (Cleansing Ire), or control mitigation (Last Stand). Needs an active component to reduce passive traits.	Swap places with Rousing Resilience in Major Grandmaster. Revert PvP splits. Add an activation requirement: Must land a burst attack to activate trait for 60 seconds. Revert cooldown back down to 60s.
Sundering Mace: Trait only benefits mace.	Make it so taking this trait grants a +15% outgoing CC effect duration, where the duration is doubled to +30% when wielding a mace.
Last Stand: Tooltip is inaccurate. Trait will proc when warrior has stability and isn't disabled. Also a passive trait that needs active components.	Either update tooltip so it clarifies so this will proc when struck by an attack with a disable effect or account for when the warriors have stability. Add in a activation requirement: Must break a stun in order to activate trait for 60 seconds. Revert PvP splits. Revert cooldown back to 40s.
Cleansing Ire: Fell out of favor due to rampant condi re-application. In need of a minor tune up. Conflicts with spellbreaker's "Revenge Counter", removes condition before they're transferred.	Update this so you remove 3 conditions regardless of amount of adrenaline spent. Rework it so transfer effects occur before the conditions are removed. Removes Blind before burst.
Rousing Resilience: See notes on Defy pain.	Swap with Defy pain in Major Master.
Tactics
Issue	Suggestion
Shrug it Off: Weak due to it's nerf of being a passive trait, redundant shout trait, and only removes one condition on a high cooldown.	Change it so you use "Shake it off" when you revive an ally with no cooldown. Increase conditions removed to 3.
Martial Cadence: Soldier's focus has a 15s cd and to have a trait dependent on soldier's focus makes this unattractive vs the other grandmasters.	Have this trait reduce the cooldown of burst skills in addition to current effects.
Phalanx Strength: Fell out of favor with the nerf and made it no longer a viable option.	In addition to it's current effects, increase personal might cap from 25 to 30.
Discipline
Issue	Suggestion
Vengeful Return: Too much of a niche with limited benefit. Requires you to actually go into downed state to make this beneficial and must wait for vengeance to become available.	Scrap this and rework it. When your health falls below 50%, gain 10 strikes adrenaline and recharge your burst attack. Outgoing power/condition damage is increased by 20% for 10 seconds (60s cd).
Fast Hands: This has long been an issue of controversy for warriors. Being the profession with the least amount of skills available at a given time, a large percentage of skills are locked behind the weapon swap cooldown. This is the reason why warriors are so dependent on this trait. Not totally in favor of making weapon swapping 5 seconds, but willing to compromise.	Make warrior baseline weapon swapping reduced down to 8 seconds. Keep trait at 5 seconds.
Axe Mastery: Have an issue with how the 3 major grandmaster traits in discipline all compete for power damage. Axes have decent combo-chains, so adrenaline is hardly an issue.	Rework this. Burst attacks deal 10% more damage regardless of weapon wielded. Gain 200 ferocity while wielding axes, reduce axe skill cooldown.
Heightened Focus: Have an issue with how the 3 major grandmaster traits in discipline all compete for power damage. Heightened focus is the only option that gives condi builds some place, yet it's slightly weaker than burst mastery.	Also restore a portion of Adrenaline spent in addition to current effects.
Burst Mastery: Have an issue with how the 3 major grandmaster traits in discipline all compete for power damage. Heightened focus is the only option that gives condi builds some place, yet it's slightly weaker than burst mastery.	Scrap this trait. Move the adrenaline recovery to heightened focus, move the burst damage increase to axe mastery. Create a new trait in it's place that specifically benefits condition builds. Rename to Reckless Abandon. Swapping weapons will now cause you to throw your weapon at your target (600 range), inflicting multiple conditions.
Berserker
Issue	Suggestion
Smash Brawler: My issue with this is that it's pve minded only and is not a viable option for PvP and WvW due to the uncontrollable nature of berserk and when it's needed most.	In addition to current effect, Rage skills are now able to reduce the cooldown of berserk mode outside berserk mode.
Last Blaze: Panders to condi builds, but requires usage of rage skills. Only condi rage skill available is shattering blow. Berserker being a condi oriented spec should have an option for their primal bursts inflict more condi as a trait. No such option exists, this would address that issue.	In addition to its current effects, primal burst attacks inflict burning. Can only occur once per interval per target for multi hit burst skills.
Savage Instinct: Seeing how long berserk mode is now, this trait is only useful when you enter berserk mode. Incredibly useless trait due to it's' limited use scenario. Warriors enter berserk mode to deal damage and this punishes warriors from entering berserk mode unless it's used defensively. Granting primal bursts stun breaks will provide more situations to use this trait. Damage reduction in berserk kind of goes against berserk design philosophy.	Remove the damage reduction. Add stun breaks to primal bursts.
Burst of Aggression: Similar problem with Savage instinct. Activating berserk mode is far and wide in between, can be extended to beyond 30 seconds. Having this trait only activate when entering berserk mode makes this trait too limited for any real lasting benefit.	Move the quickness and superspeed to (on primal burst hits). Reduce duration to 1s each..
Dead or Alive: Benefit scenario of the fatal damage healing is too limited and specific. Competes yet is outperformed by blood reaction and heat the soul.	Instead of healing while taking fatal damage while in berserk mode, make it so landing primal bursts grant barrier.
Eternal Champion: Bloody roar and king of fires outright outperform this. Requires you to be controlled in order for this to take effect, even then the benefit is limited.	Rework this. Prevent berserkers from gaining stability and protection while in berserk mode. While in berserk, your attacks are uninterruptible and any incoming stability or protection you gain is immediately converted to vigor, fury, resolution, regeneration, and resistance. Daze nearby foes when you break stuns. Getting interrupted outside of berserk mode will grant adrenaline.
Spellbreaker
Issue	Suggestion
Sun and Moon Style: While Loss aversion and Slow counter aren't overpowered traits, Sun And Moon Style is specific to dagger and even as a niche falls short in comparison.	Change it so 3% of outgoing damage heals you regardless of weapon wielded. Effect is doubled when wielding daggers.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 14, 2021 by TheBravery.9615

[xXxNikiGoesWildxXx.3678]

Until every class has its purpose and slot in PvE, don't even think about adding new elite specializations from EoD. 

There must be more work on splitting pure dps and utility classes from each other. Define which one is dps and which one is not(support).

Firebrand shouldn't deal any damage with amount of boons and support it provides, especially not strongest damaging condition-burn which leads to bursting. As addition change how burning condition works, make it last longer and do less stacks(reduce intensity)-less bursty and harder to ramp up.

From renegade, you just need to make renegade to sacrifice its damage traits/effects/stats to be able to provide that alacrity which is currently not the case. Reduce power dps on renegade-nerf shortbow power dmg, so people with diviner stat will only provide alacrity uptime, and if they wanna go for dps then they have to go for full viper stat and give up from alacrity uptime. Easy fix easy balance, not all in one. 


Change how confusion works in PvE, currently it can't be included as "dps" but neither it needs to be like bleeding. 
Example:
        - Confusion does X amount of damage +additional damage when target is not using a skill, damage occurs once per second. (Only in PvE).

So if there is no defience bar, we can use crowd control to actually boost our confusion damage same as torment damage. Against bosses with defience bar, they attack slowly(once every few sec) so confusion may proc more often without disabling the boss. 
- split confusion effect and how it works from PvE and WvW+PvP(split)

Same for torment, keep current torment in WvW and PvP while adding new torment for PvE.

 

[xXxNikiGoesWildxXx.3678]

For Mirage, add something more to be done with its rotation rather than dodge+1 dodge+1 dodge+1, especially how it gonna be with staff-staff. It makes no sense as such class can parry or even be better than elementalist with 20-30 buttons to press, reconsider rotations and how much investment is needed for each then grant gratis dmg to elementalist and nerf dmg from mesmer. 

It is unfair that elementalist have less health, more buttons to press and still being worse than braindead classes with 2 buttons.