Cirrion.8951

> @"arukAdo.2047" said:

> 900g... you mean if you had to buy all the booze... but we all do get booze from the gifts so nobody had to pay that

> but now everybody has to buy those sigils/runes, some might be able to craft them, im not sure the cost of that but its probly pretty high also

> it doesnt matter how prenium something is, what is obviously annoying is to increase the value of a festival reward by a thousand gold, its not just middly annoying, it make the whole thing impossible to casuals, its just how it is, and its easly fixable, it would still be quite a commitment to get the skin, it would be about the same than others had the others years, right now its straight impossible

It doesn't matter if you farmed the drinks or bought them, they still cost the same. The cost for WP has been fairly steady year over year, all that has changed is the specific component that is the gold sink.

Season 2 is part of the Living World story line. These are multi-episode story lines that fill the space between the primary personal story and the expansions. Seasons 1 and 2 take place between the end of the Personal Story and HoT, Season 3 takes place between HoT and PoF, and Season 4 takes place after PoF. All are aimed at Level 80 players.

For technical reasons Season 1 is gone forever, but the rest of the seasons can be replayed. If you logged in while each of the episodes of these seasons were active you will have access to them. If you did not (which would be your case), you can get access by buying the episodes through the Gem store.

I'm not sure if Season 2 is worth it, but Season 3 gives you easy access to ascended accessories with HoT stats, which may be worth it for you.

...But why male models?

> @"SnowPumpkin.1809" said:

> If Anet would just add a condi block or reduction to some of the core guardian skills we could actually survive. For example if renewed focus also blocked condi we might actually survive but it only removes condi. Right now all we can do is block damage, pushing, pulling, fearing, taunting, but not condi block or reduction, only removal. With all this condi we really need a block or reduction because by the time you try to remove all the condi on you it's to late. Condi classes have the ability to block physical damage so why do we not have the ability to block condi damage? Maybe the problem isn't reducing condi but giving other classes better skills to deal with it. Coms are handing out condi reduction food right and left because we have no skills to deal with it. Welcome back to the game.

Most condi applications are tied to being hit by a skill of some sort. You can block the condi by blocking the skill that applies it.

> @"Carighan.6758" said:

> > @"X T D.6458" said:

> > Um...did you just expect everything to be the same after 4 years? A lot of stuff changed.

>

> OTOH, few MMORPGs have a power excursion *this* big in someone's absence. Pre-HoT to current is night and day, it doesn't even feel like the same game as far as combat mechanics are concerned.

>

> Now, of course, if one likes super-fast-paced and initiative-decided/-won combat, it's awesome. If someone enjoyed the more attrition-focused pre-HoT combat, they'll feel super confused because they never knew the HoT power hike compared to which the current state is actually **slower**.

>

>

Most MMORPGSs would have had a much higher level of power creep over the course of two expansions than GW2 has had, either in the form of level cap increases or new tiers of gear that completely outclass pre-expansion gear or both.

Unlocking HP's through Heroics in WvW doesn't grant any XP; I would assume that the waypoint unlocks work the same.

> @"Daedalus.4193" said:

> Infinirarium is a group dungeon, Toypocalypse can be entered solo or in groups depending on which gate you enter by. Races are solo evens, as it puzzles and choir, always ahve been and follows the norm in gw2. Only real missed team thing really is snowball mayhem.

I doubt we'll ever see a team based snowball mayhem unless they introduce a separate group v group option for it. An organized team in there against a group of randoms would utterly dominate.

If you say so. Good luck with your Sigils.

> @"Oglaf.1074" said:

> > @"Embered.5089" said:

> > Well, no matter what it is that people say is too expensive, we have to remember that it is, as stated already, a "premium item". It's not something to be handed out freely. Most "high-end" fashion items are like that. Fashion Wars needs to make their money (literally or figuratively).

> > And if everyone could get it so easily, no one want it so badly or see it as anything special.

>

> Just because you label it a premium item doesn't make it so.

>

> In fact, those are exclusive to the Gem Store.

It's not a premium item because we've labelled it so, it's a premium item because ANet has priced it so.

> @"Torothin.3271" said:

> Question: Is there some sort of strategy on what to spend your heroics on? For instance, would it be wise to just unlock the 1 point randoms from the vendor instead of the HP from either the desert or verdent brink if you plan to eventually do those anyways and they give back 10 points or 30 respectfully upon completion?

If you use heroics to unlock a HP then you don't get the XP that you would have from completing it normally. Saving the expansion HP's to complete normally on the map would make grinding mastery XP a little easier. Not necessarily a big deal, but worth considering.

It's a premium skin with a premium price. The drop rate on the Sigils is almost certainly intentional to keep the price roughly consistent with previous years.

> @"narcx.3570" said:

> I know Wintersday is almost over, but can we maybe do something in the off season about not having players joining games in progress for next year?

>

> Out of the last 20 Bell Choir's I've queue'd, I've gotten to play four songs.... Four. I'd love to finish my achievements, but it's getting old staring at that loading screen over and over again.

>

> EDIT: Okay, so I guess you can just loiter for 5 minutes to wait for your map to close, which isn't so bad... But still.

A dev posted about this around the launch of Wintersday. Apparently they wanted to get to this but the upgrades to the JP took precedence. It sounded like resolving your issue was near the top of the to-do list for next year.

> @"Gambino.2109" said:

> > @"nekretaal.6485" said:

> > Drinks were 8s the first year, now the drinks are down to less than 2s. The collection gets cheaper and cheaper every year.

>

> Umm no..

>

> The drinks we're manageable if you mastered that Jp.. if not, bell choir wasn't a bad option either.. other wise a few friends to help with drinks..

>

> The sigils/runes on the other hand.. hooboy. In 2015 guess how much I spent for 50? yep 39 silvers for each, so that was about 19-21 gold for 50 and 42-50 for both sigil/rune 50 gold at most for both 50 gold man!!!

>

> So here we are 2017, where you're paying 7.6-8 gold for 1 sigil/rune.... Soooo 400 gold for one stack of 50 and another 400 for the other stack.. so 800 total..

>

> How is 50 vs 800 gold getting cheaper each year? And I don't want to hear that oooh this is a prestige shiny thingie... it shouldn't just be given away.. seriously shut up with that. I got mine for a reasonable 50 gold, and put in a ton of work on doing the jp to acquire the jp.. it felt good and fair getting all 10k drinks working hard each day and coming closer and close..

>

> Now I see my friends.. with sad faces.. cause the poorly handled sigils/runes we're grossly implemented to have a value that went way over the radar and heavily punishes those that did not acquire it in 2015 and those new to the game.. and for what? A mystic coin sink?

Not to single you out here, but you and a few others in this/other similar thread seem to be missing a key economic concept in determining how much you spent on Winter's Presence: Opportunity cost. You didn't just spend the 50g you spent on the Sigils and Runes; you also spent the money that you could have earned by selling the presents/drinks that you farmed or were gifted. If you farmed/were gifted and consumed 800g worth of drinks and bought 50g worth of sigils and runes then the skin cost you 850g, not 50g. You have to count the market value of all the items that you consumed unlocking the skin, not just the liquid gold that you spent. Not to do so makes the numbers you're using meaningless.

> @"Donari.5237" said:

> There is actually some conversion. The ley energy converter in HoT lets you daily buy things with various HoT currencies. One option for each one, each day, is to convert 25 of one to 10 of another. Not exactly what you're asking for, I know.

>

> But unless you have some need to have a currency-bought item now-now-now, just playing the game will have the currency accrue over time until you have enough for the thing you're seeking. You can weight your play towards the area of the game that generates said currency to speed it up.

There is also Heroic notes from WvW that allow you to buy a variety of PvE currency-specific rewards from the expansion.

I think this would be difficult to properly balance. Many of our skills are high-damage enough that allowing them to be multiplied like that would give us way too much potential to one-shot other players. Backstab, Death's Judgement, Pistol Whip and Unload would all become instant-death sentences even against tanky builds.

As others have pointed out, the lack of an exchange is a feature, not a bug. It allows ANet to tie specific purchasable rewards to specific content. Otherwise you would end up with everyone in whatever is deemed the 'best' farm map and the rest of the world being a ghost town.

> @"babazhook.6805" said:

> > @"Zlater.6789" said:

> > > @"Cirrion.8951" said:

> > > That's the opposite of his point =) . My friend here DOES think that condi thieves deal burst damage, which is an untrue statement. He's specifically complaining about Lotus Training and Death Blossom as being bursty skills. Both of those skills take 10-20 seconds to apply their full damage potential and need to be repeatedly applied over time to deal significant damage. That is the exact opposite of a bursty skill.

> > >

> > > Condi thieves didn't get nerfed because their skills already worked the way that ANet wants condi skills to work. THAT is my point.

> >

> > I'm actually not that concerned about the burstiness of condi thief specifically. I am concerned however about anet not addressing the problems the community has with condi thief despite them saying this is what they are trying to do. There are so many meaningful changes they could have made that would have made the game more healthy, but instead of doing something about it they left it in the too hard pile.

> > One of those things would have very clearly been condi thief (as an example), both the d/d and s/d variants in both PvP and PvE game modes. One of the biggest abusers in both is lotus training, which pumps out a minimum 3 bleeds and 3 torment on each dodge roll, not including traits and combo finishers.

>

> Lotus traing does NOT pump out a minumum of three bleeds and 3 torment per dodge roll. You get one of torment and one of bleed. You can only get more if there more targets wherein each added target will take a single strike of each up to three targets. In other words in a 1v1 Lotus gets you 1 torment, one cripple, one bleed. In this respect it very much like DB. DB can apply up to 9 strikes per use BUT in order to do so you need three enemy in range and each will take no more then 3 stacks each.

>

> That dodge roll applying one each of torment bleed and cripple will do significantly less damage then a single dodge roll in a power build using bounding.

>

> In order for those condition builds to work in an impaling build , one is relying on other traits and utilities to add more conditions , which is as it should be. If i can take multiples of Percent damage modifiers to boost my power thiefs overall damage , there no reason a condition oritented thief should not be able to take traits and utilities that boost condition damage output.

>

> So how on earth can you suggest that Lotus training "abuses" condition application?

No no, you've got it all wrong. HE doesn't think that condi thieves have a problem with being too bursty. He can kill them easily. No, he's not complaining for himself. He's complaining for 'the Community' of players less capable of killing killing condi thieves and who are being burst down by bleeds. He has yet to provide any evidence that this 'Community' exists, but as you can see he's devoted an entire thread to complaining about condi thieves on their behalf, since they cannot speak for themselves.

> @"Shard.4791" said:

> > @"Gudy.3607" said:

> > (*) At least there has been in previous years. I haven't been in there this year so far, but nothing I've heard about the reworked Wintersday Jumping Puzzle has given me any indication that ANET has fixed that particularly frustrating PvP aspect of the jumping puzzle.

>

> They've made the blue present row appear at the same time as the other presents this year. Good luck.

Yep, it wasn't in the patch notes but it another nice change to the puzzle this year. Makes that first jump a lot easier.

> @"saerni.2584" said:

> The patch didn’t nerf thief because we were already performing roughly as intended. That is, our burst damage potential wasn’t significant enough to warrant a reduction.

>

> That is what he’s responding to.

This guy gets it.

> @"HnRkLnXqZ.1870" said:

> > @"Robban.1256" said:

> > You know that there's a 5 years old girl who did complete winters day jp last year? (= 1mode=hard) in less than 2min and 30 sec

>

> Congratulations, you have unlocked teabagging level 5, go to the bar and get a free milkshake ^^. You can not relate from one person to others, we are humans, not coconuts. This community has countless of elitists, who let cm fractals and raids look like childsplay. It is easy to find a person who can solo the IMPOSSIBLE in record time, and prove all complaints and nerf-requests to be invalid. But comparisons like this are not reliable in any way. And adding a ridiculous low age, just proves you have special person with greater talent than the average. I can find a 4 year old girl, beating you in a chinese language test, because it is her naitve language and not yours. Sounds fair, huh?

>

> I grew up with platformers in my early teens, for me the wintersday JP is a walk in the park, even on hard mode. But that is not the point. I have seen and heared from friends and guildmembers who have great struggles with the puzzle. People who have never played a platformer in their entire life, people who did competitive for years, only. People who have not the best reflexes. With training it is possible for sure. Quaggan is possible, no doubt. But how many of us have a job, or go to school/university? And how many of us have a RL, family, friends and pets who want attention. All I asked for, was to remove the debuff in the quaggan path with an NPC and a reduction of the loot if done so. For those of you who have already forgotten it, the Winters Presence is locked behind that JP. If you want the shoulder-piece, you have to complete it. And if you cannot, you are screwed.

>

> In this years halloween event, ANet gave us an alternative to the JP. We were able to craft the armor-parts as well. Not the best solution, but imho a good one and one into the right direction. Away from forced content. JPs are a niche at best. The majority of the community only does them for the AP and because they are dailies, and even then most rather wait for a friendly mesmer with his portal. I am a huge fan of JPs, but I do not see a reason to force people into that content.

>

>

Nobody is being forced into that content. It is 100% optional. Nobody needs the Winters Presence skin. There are many shoulder skins that do not require completion of JPs.

No matter how easy they make the JP there will still be people who can't complete it. There will always be a minimum level of skill to complete this or any JP, and some portion of the player base will be below that skill level. If ANet were to do what you want and lower the difficulty and rewards for the Quaggan path even further it would allow some players to complete it who currently can't, but it would also nerf the rewards for the larger group of players for whom Quaggan path is well tuned now.

That's the opposite of his point =) . My friend here DOES think that condi thieves deal burst damage, which is an untrue statement. He's specifically complaining about Lotus Training and Death Blossom as being bursty skills. Both of those skills take 10-20 seconds to apply their full damage potential and need to be repeatedly applied over time to deal significant damage. That is the exact opposite of a bursty skill.

Condi thieves didn't get nerfed because their skills already worked the way that ANet wants condi skills to work. THAT is my point.

> @"Zlater.6789" said:

> > @"Cirrion.8951" said:

> > > @"Zlater.6789" said:

> > > > @"Leo Schrodingers Cat.2497" said:

> > > > > @"Zlater.6789" said:

> > > > > > @"Zacchary.6183" said:

> > > > > > > @"Sobx.1758" said:

> > > > > > > > @"Zacchary.6183" said:

> > > > > > > > > @"Kallist.5917" said:

> > > > > > > > > Honestly. They buff stuff and your not happy? Is it because you dont use these things? Is it because they didnt give you a button that says you win? Or maybe its because they didnt buff your meta play build? Im not sure what you want, they are finally working on giving a thief more options that you are mad about it.. Hybrid DE is in a far better place today than it was yesterday, and P/D is a great set for focused damage on a venom build, they helped both of those today with this. And considering we were all fully expecting a nerf to Condition, this is all welcomed news. Also, that Cursed bullet can hit for 20K. I would love to see you doing that with your auto attack.

> > > > > > > >

> > > > > > > > None of the buffs make it easy to faceroll. That's probably why. No other explanation makes sense.

> > > > > > >

> > > > > > > Nah, most of these buffs just don't matter, that's probably why.

> > > > > > > I mean hey, they're buffs, that's good. But I REALLY don't understand the point of... well, probably most of them.

> > > > > > >

> > > > > > > -Weakening charge is indeed a good QoL change. Or it WOULD BE, except for the fact that the skill really wasn't (and still isn't?) worth using anyways.

> > > > > > > -**Cursed bullet buff -ok. Actually ok, but the skill is still kind of weird to use and awkward to even land imo.**

> > > > > > > -Spotter's shot buff for pve is just straight up useless. The skill is useless in pve -ok, it's a buff, why would anyone complain... But as I said above -what exactly is the point of this buff? I don't see it.

> > > > > > > -**TRB dmg buff -solid.** I get why it's pve only, because the whole DE class will be hard to properly balance to make it not terrible and not simply overpowered. **But it's a cool pve buff.**

> > > > > > > -Death's retreat cost buff is just... well, useless. It's simply not worth using in pve anyways, but at least on rare occasions when you missclick it when you're not kneeling, you'll have 1 ini more. Yay! Yay? ...really, again, I don't see the point of this change (for pve).

> > > > > > > -DJ cost reduction for pve, when in the same patch the dmg of TRB is buffed also seems like it won't see a lot of use. Maybe some. Maybe not. Kind of meh, but w/e.

> > > > > > > -Caltrops change, jesus kitten, give me a break. What. Was. The. Point?? I honestly don't know. It changes nothing.

> > > > > > >

> > > > > > > -Ok, here I was really wondering what the hell "The Ripper" is. Underwhatever skill. Hoooly moly, let me ask once again: WHAT'S THE POINT? :D

> > > > > > > -**Shadow strike change... hmm.. meh? Doesn't change a lot? If literally anything? But hey, a slight buff, ok.**

> > > > > > > -Pressure striking. I don't know. Someone who actually uses it can comment on this one.

> > > > > > > -Sundering strikes/shade -IMO it wasn't a good trait. Now it's worse. Why. Why is this change even here?

> > > > > > > -**and bugfix is a bugfix, yay!**

> > > > > > >

> > > > > > >

> > > > > > > Overally that's how I see these changes (also I didn't read the patch notes so I just believe in the first post of this thread :p), I really don't see any reason to be ecstatic about these buffs (in most cases: """""""buffs""""""") or changes. Am I mad? Nah, why would I be. But if someone will go ahead and explain to me **what's the point** of most of these changes (other then "see? We DID buff a thief! HA!"), then I'm all ears.

> > > > > > > And just a note: I REALLY don't think "not being able to faceroll" has anything to do with what I wrote above.

> > > > > >

> > > > > > Like someone else said in this thread the whole point of the condition changes was to make conditions less bursty while not nerfing the damage they could put out. Every profession got the same treatment more or less. But throwing a tantrum about buffs is more pointless and annoying than the buffs themselves.

> > > > > >

> > > > > > Its like Anet makes a change. Then suddenly:

> > > > > >

> > > > >

> > > > > So you're saying that those changes are meant to stop condi thief from being so bursty, I only see 1 change, that's right only 1 that will make it less bursty. And it's so small it's insignificant. Can you please explain every other change aside for the Caltrops change.

> > > >

> > > > You deal the same damage, but spread out across a longer duration. Most of the condi that professions uses applies them with short duration but multiple stacks. Thief was a major abuser of this because we don't have cool downs on our weapon skills, and our venom share is pretty insane.This patch reduces the DPS of Condi FOR ALL PROFESSIONS, but their effective damage PER affliction remains the same if not greater.

> > >

> > > You have to be trolling right?

> > > You said thief was a major abuser of condi burst, that was because of venom share like you said. And I'm adding to that by saying it was from death blossom and to a much greater extent lotus training.

> > >

> > > SHOW ME those nerfs to condi thief in the patch notes, the only thing I see that resembles that is a change to the Ripper which is an underwater skill lol. Everything else that made condi thief so bursty remains untouched.

> > >

> > > The developers told you one thing and then did another thing. But regardless you still believe that those magical venom share changes and "condi application from no CD weapon skills" exist, but aren't on the patch notes or on the tooltips. GG

> >

> > You keep using that word 'bursty'. I do not think it means what you think it means.

>

> Show me a nerf to a bursty condi skill that condi thieves use if you doubt me, copy paste from patch notes pls.

There wasn't one, because condi thieves don't have any bursty skills that needed nerfing. Again, it comes down to the meaning of the word 'bursty' and your misunderstanding of that.

> @"Zlater.6789" said:

> > @"Leo Schrodingers Cat.2497" said:

> > > @"Zlater.6789" said:

> > > > @"Zacchary.6183" said:

> > > > > @"Sobx.1758" said:

> > > > > > @"Zacchary.6183" said:

> > > > > > > @"Kallist.5917" said:

> > > > > > > Honestly. They buff stuff and your not happy? Is it because you dont use these things? Is it because they didnt give you a button that says you win? Or maybe its because they didnt buff your meta play build? Im not sure what you want, they are finally working on giving a thief more options that you are mad about it.. Hybrid DE is in a far better place today than it was yesterday, and P/D is a great set for focused damage on a venom build, they helped both of those today with this. And considering we were all fully expecting a nerf to Condition, this is all welcomed news. Also, that Cursed bullet can hit for 20K. I would love to see you doing that with your auto attack.

> > > > > >

> > > > > > None of the buffs make it easy to faceroll. That's probably why. No other explanation makes sense.

> > > > >

> > > > > Nah, most of these buffs just don't matter, that's probably why.

> > > > > I mean hey, they're buffs, that's good. But I REALLY don't understand the point of... well, probably most of them.

> > > > >

> > > > > -Weakening charge is indeed a good QoL change. Or it WOULD BE, except for the fact that the skill really wasn't (and still isn't?) worth using anyways.

> > > > > -**Cursed bullet buff -ok. Actually ok, but the skill is still kind of weird to use and awkward to even land imo.**

> > > > > -Spotter's shot buff for pve is just straight up useless. The skill is useless in pve -ok, it's a buff, why would anyone complain... But as I said above -what exactly is the point of this buff? I don't see it.

> > > > > -**TRB dmg buff -solid.** I get why it's pve only, because the whole DE class will be hard to properly balance to make it not terrible and not simply overpowered. **But it's a cool pve buff.**

> > > > > -Death's retreat cost buff is just... well, useless. It's simply not worth using in pve anyways, but at least on rare occasions when you missclick it when you're not kneeling, you'll have 1 ini more. Yay! Yay? ...really, again, I don't see the point of this change (for pve).

> > > > > -DJ cost reduction for pve, when in the same patch the dmg of TRB is buffed also seems like it won't see a lot of use. Maybe some. Maybe not. Kind of meh, but w/e.

> > > > > -Caltrops change, jesus kitten, give me a break. What. Was. The. Point?? I honestly don't know. It changes nothing.

> > > > >

> > > > > -Ok, here I was really wondering what the hell "The Ripper" is. Underwhatever skill. Hoooly moly, let me ask once again: WHAT'S THE POINT? :D

> > > > > -**Shadow strike change... hmm.. meh? Doesn't change a lot? If literally anything? But hey, a slight buff, ok.**

> > > > > -Pressure striking. I don't know. Someone who actually uses it can comment on this one.

> > > > > -Sundering strikes/shade -IMO it wasn't a good trait. Now it's worse. Why. Why is this change even here?

> > > > > -**and bugfix is a bugfix, yay!**

> > > > >

> > > > >

> > > > > Overally that's how I see these changes (also I didn't read the patch notes so I just believe in the first post of this thread :p), I really don't see any reason to be ecstatic about these buffs (in most cases: """""""buffs""""""") or changes. Am I mad? Nah, why would I be. But if someone will go ahead and explain to me **what's the point** of most of these changes (other then "see? We DID buff a thief! HA!"), then I'm all ears.

> > > > > And just a note: I REALLY don't think "not being able to faceroll" has anything to do with what I wrote above.

> > > >

> > > > Like someone else said in this thread the whole point of the condition changes was to make conditions less bursty while not nerfing the damage they could put out. Every profession got the same treatment more or less. But throwing a tantrum about buffs is more pointless and annoying than the buffs themselves.

> > > >

> > > > Its like Anet makes a change. Then suddenly:

> > > >

> > >

> > > So you're saying that those changes are meant to stop condi thief from being so bursty, I only see 1 change, that's right only 1 that will make it less bursty. And it's so small it's insignificant. Can you please explain every other change aside for the Caltrops change.

> >

> > You deal the same damage, but spread out across a longer duration. Most of the condi that professions uses applies them with short duration but multiple stacks. Thief was a major abuser of this because we don't have cool downs on our weapon skills, and our venom share is pretty insane.This patch reduces the DPS of Condi FOR ALL PROFESSIONS, but their effective damage PER affliction remains the same if not greater.

>

> You have to be trolling right?

> You said thief was a major abuser of condi burst, that was because of venom share like you said. And I'm adding to that by saying it was from death blossom and to a much greater extent lotus training.

>

> SHOW ME those nerfs to condi thief in the patch notes, the only thing I see that resembles that is a change to the Ripper which is an underwater skill lol. Everything else that made condi thief so bursty remains untouched.

>

> The developers told you one thing and then did another thing. But regardless you still believe that those magical venom share changes and "condi application from no CD weapon skills" exist, but aren't on the patch notes or on the tooltips. GG

You keep using that word 'bursty'. I do not think it means what you think it means.

> @"HnRkLnXqZ.1870" said:

> This years wintersday is a dream, better than I expected it. The changes to the JP are great. Finally we have three real difficulty scales with different loot. Gingerbread was and still is my favourite path ^^, so the +5 gifts per run are a welcome reward. I am doing the puzzles for years now and can do them blind as most of you. Sometimes some trolls log with max sized chars with skirts and big shoulder-skins. Not fair, but not much of a problem. I sometimes challenge myself to outrun the farmers with shortcuts and better aiming. It is still a lot of fun, although I have run the course for hundrets of times. I wish all JPs were that well designed. They are all worth runing, each is a masterpiece of mapping and design ... except for the stinky volcano ^^.

>

> Anyway we are on the one side, the veterans who enjoy wintersday every year. But on the other side there are newbies, returners and people who usually do PvP and WvW and ignore the rest of the game. The quaggan path is ok, for an easy course. However, the cold-debuff seems to be a huge obstacle still. I heared several reports of people not managing to reach Tixx, not falling off, but dying from the debuff. I know, from our perspective this sounds ridiculous and I can already hear the "git gut" shouts. But it is a serious problem.

>

> So I'd like to ask, if we could get a super-easy mode as in the SAB? Just an option at the quaggan-path to turn off the debuff (damage). In return a player receives 1 gift and half of the karma for completing. Wintersday is a celebration for the community and the games are all about fun. JPs are always something not everyone likes, but it would be nice to give everyone a good chance.

The cold debuff on the Quaggan path has been significantly nerfed with this change. Health ticks down much slower than on the other paths, giving users much more time to complete the course than in previous years. My 10 year old son, who has never played the game before, was able to master it with 20 minutes of practice. I can't see them changing it any further; the current rewards and difficulty feel well balanced. They can't just add a new path to the map without a lot of Dev work, and I don't think reducing the Quaggan path difficulty and rewards further would be fair to the rest of the player base for whom this is very well tuned. The current challenge level there is appropriate for the content; ultimately this JP is a test of skill, which should require the player to demonstrate at least some skill to complete.

> @"Zlater.6789" said:

> > @"Cirrion.8951" said:

> > They were pretty specific that this balance patch was intended to make some small changes to the way that condis are applied (trading intensity for duration) to make them less bursty. The changes to Rifle are an unexpected bonus. This patch wasn't intended to completely balance the thief class around your own perceptions of what is worthwhile.

>

> The problem with saying this is thats not what they've done. All of these conditions changes we irrelevant. IF they actually did what you and they were saying, they would have changes lotus training or death blossom, those were the serious offenders.

>

> Then the issue with the rifle changes is that even if they want rifle to be viable in pvp or WvW they need to buff it seriously, not just ship insignificant fixes that do nothing for anybody except make it even more cancerous. Now for the next couple of months I will have thieves on my teams who say "duh they buffed rifle, rifle is op now" despite them being pve only.

You are completely missing the point. Nobody is getting burst down with lotus training or death blossom in seconds like was happening with Scourges. Both of those skills take time to apply their full potential damage and to apply in significant enough quantities to win a fight. That is the balance that ANet is seeking here. They WANT condi builds to become more effective in drawn out fights vs power. D/D Daredevils don't kill aware opponents quickly; if you're dying to them then you need to learn how to combat them.