New downed skill

[Adotiln Urthadar.1823]

I haven't seen this mentioned elsewhere, but could we please remove the new downed state skill being visible to all players? Already chaotic events are even more of a mess of AoEs now once people start getting downed.

 

I would also be interested in understanding why the skill was changed at all - the previous version couldn't be used anywhere "competitive" so I don't see why it was necessary to nerf it.

[AgentMoore.9453]

It's actually just a rework of an old downed skill from Heart of Thorns (I think?)

 

> Spectral Agony: This skill has been renamed Channeled Agony, and it has been significantly reworked. Its base damage has been increased by 77%, from 0.9 to 1.6 multiplier. The baseline damage over time from agony has been increased by 100%, from 500 per second to 1,000 per second at level 80. This skill no longer inflicts confusion or cripple. The duration of torment has been increased from 3 seconds to 6 seconds. It now grants 3 stacks of stability for 3 seconds when the skill is activated. The visual effect has been sped up to better match with the filling circle, and the animation length has been aligned to match that, reducing the casting time from 3 seconds to 2 seconds. The tooltip description of this skill has been fixed.

 

So, bigger (huge, actually, compared to how it used to work), faster, does more damage, does more damage over time, gives stability, doesn't confuse or cripple anymore, still launches dudes up into the air/away from you.

 

As for why they changed it, I.. I don't know. It does make me yearn for a 'show/hide player effects' setting real bad though.

[Khisanth.2948]

> @"AgentMoore.9453" said:

> It's actually just a rework of an old downed skill from Heart of Thorns (I think?)

 

It is from Lake Doric(LWS3E4)

 

[firedragon.8953]

Yeah, I don't like that it is visible to other active players as well. I keep thinking it is something I have to avoid and waste dodges when a downed player uses it.

[Eloc Freidon.5692]

I really don't want to see this AoE for all the reasons above. It tells me to get away from the player who needs help getting rallied.

[Esterie.7409]

> @"firedragon.8953" said:

> Yeah, I don't like that it is visible to other active players as well. I keep thinking it is something I have to avoid and waste dodges when a downed player uses it.

 

Same here. I knew the skill had been changed but had no idea it was now visible to everyone. I kept seeing expanding red circles at Gerent and thought it was an attack I hadn't noticed before or something, so I'd dodge out of it to be safe. Interesting.

[Danikat.8537]

I have sometimes wished someone could see I'm using this skill and wait until it's finished to revive me, because the CC can be useful on enemies with a defiance bar. But showing the AoE field to everyone isn't a good way to do it. I agree that it looks like an enemy AoE, something you need to avoid and will confuse players and/or put them off appproaching downed players who need help because they think they're going to be attacked.

 

If Anet really wants everyone to see the AoE it should be a different colour to make it clear it's not dangerous to other players.

[Kitich.4580]

Yes, you try to dodge out,because of it looks like an enemy AoE until you notice a purple animation inside. However changing a color would not help as for me. The most of latest encounters are full of visual noise so adding some purple circles on top of orange, red and green ones should be avoided. If you want others to see cast is in progress, why not add kind of cast bar over the head of downed player?

[Raizel.1839]

Maybe they changed it because it'll help navigate Cantha open world maps.

[Halcyon.7352]

The new AoE visual effects are really, really stupid.

 

PLEASE change it back.

 

It's not even an exaggeration to say that they take up literally the entire screen.

[Hesione.9412]

Adding my voice to the people who want this removed. Between large enemy AoEs and revenant buff AoEs, it's darn confusing what is on the ground - particularly when it's in water.

 

I haven't played WvW for a while, is it there, too?

[Vegeta.2563]

So many times I have wasted dodges thinking it was some boss attack. Please remove the visibility of this effect to other players, or change the way it looks.

[CaelestiaEmpyrea.2617]

I agree it needs to be visible only to the player using it. The skill looks like a hostile aoe attack.

 

[flog.3485]

Yes I don’t like the new animation of the downed skill. Make it invisible to allies, the screen is already enough cluttered with effects.

[Warming Hearth.3819]

I don't understand why they would change this skill. The lifesteal was amazing and made downed state more balanced between professions. It was only usable in open world and story, maybe in fractals too?

 

If they are not going to put the lifesteal back, I seriously hope they take a look at all downed states and do some balancing work.

 

And balance the drowning state while they are at it, a few classes have a skill that makes them float to the surface that is completely useless if you are in an underground area without access to the surface

[synk.6907]

I have no need to see downed players popping off their Agony AoE. Regardless of the skill details, please go back to NOT showing me their AoE circles. It's unnecessary for me to know, and it can blend in with enemy AoE.

[Batel.9206]

Ran into this today - someone used their AoE downed skill and I instinctively dodged out of the way. *Please* hide this skill again. it's unnecessary, looks like enemy AoE, and badly clutters up the screen even more. (Or better yet, a "show/hide player skill effects" option would be ideal...)

[Hannelore.8153]

> @"Warming Hearth.3819" said:

> I don't understand why they would change this skill. The lifesteal was amazing and made downed state more balanced between professions. It was only usable in open world and story, maybe in fractals too?

>

> If they are not going to put the lifesteal back, I seriously hope they take a look at all downed states and do some balancing work.

>

> And balance the drowning state while they are at it, a few classes have a skill that makes them float to the surface that is completely useless if you are in an underground area without access to the surface

 

Because on a Necro you could stack the lifesteal from it, on their normal downed attack, and other sources to basically never die in PvE. It wasn't nearly as effective on other classes and now its about equal between them.

 

@ Thread:

The purpose of the massive visual is to let you know someone is downed. The problem is for some reason made it look like an enemy attack, and players get confused and try to dodge out of it; it should at least be white or green in color.

[Ubi.4136]

> @"AgentMoore.9453" said:

> As for why they changed it, I.. I don't know. It does make me yearn for a 'show/hide player effects' setting real bad though.

 

We have been asking for a "hide other players effects" since launch. Every mmo for 20 years has had this option, except Guild Wars.

No one in the game even knows what any of the bosses in the game look like, because every fight is a giant, seizure-inducing light show.

[Pifil.5193]

It's amazing to me that their lengthy patch notes on this, detailing the changes they made to the damage being done, the conditions and boons being applied, the cast time, animation and so on failed to mention that they completely removed the most important part of the skill; the Life Siphon. Kind of shady.

[Balsa.3951]

People keep asking for "less Visual clutter" and anet hears " more visual clutter" I fear already what the next xpact will bring on skill animation.

[Pifil.5193]

> @"Balsa.3951" said:

> People keep asking for "less Visual clutter" and anet hears " more visual clutter" I fear already what the next xpact will bring on skill animation.

 

I fully expect 9 new "celestial" elite specs where we're all just balls of light shooting balls of light at other balls of light. :)

[Hesione.9412]

The other issue is that the visual is basically pointless when I'm with a lot of people. I have player number rendering turned down, because basically I don't want to see 80 or so people on my screen and my PC would grind to a halt with all the rendering. I can see the AoE, I still dodge or move out of it because I think it is an AoE attack, but what I _don't_ see is the downed player or players.

 

And multiple players downed simultaneously, all doing the same skill at the same time, with overlapping circles, means I ignore them all. I can't work out who is downed, where. At least with the different coloured symbols (dead versus downed) I could instantly see who was downed near me, and render assistance if possible. I can't tell where the centre of the circle is.

 

Basically, implementation of this change means I try to revive _fewer_ players than I did before the change.

 

The law of unintended consequences....

[Shadowmoon.7986]

> @"AgentMoore.9453" said:

> It's actually just a rework of an old downed skill from Heart of Thorns (I think?)

>

> > Spectral Agony: This skill has been renamed Channeled Agony, and it has been significantly reworked. Its base damage has been increased by 77%, from 0.9 to 1.6 multiplier. The baseline damage over time from agony has been increased by 100%, from 500 per second to 1,000 per second at level 80. This skill no longer inflicts confusion or cripple. The duration of torment has been increased from 3 seconds to 6 seconds. It now grants 3 stacks of stability for 3 seconds when the skill is activated. The visual effect has been sped up to better match with the filling circle, and the animation length has been aligned to match that, reducing the casting time from 3 seconds to 2 seconds. The tooltip description of this skill has been fixed.

>

> So, bigger (huge, actually, compared to how it used to work), faster, does more damage, does more damage over time, gives stability, doesn't confuse or cripple anymore, still launches dudes up into the air/away from you.

>

> As for why they changed it, I.. I don't know. It does make me yearn for a 'show/hide player effects' setting real bad though.

 

They changed it to nerf necro down state. Necro down state was op ckmpared to other classes.

[Atomos.7593]

> @"Shadowmoon.7986" said:

> > @"AgentMoore.9453" said:

> > It's actually just a rework of an old downed skill from Heart of Thorns (I think?)

> >

> > > Spectral Agony: This skill has been renamed Channeled Agony, and it has been significantly reworked. Its base damage has been increased by 77%, from 0.9 to 1.6 multiplier. The baseline damage over time from agony has been increased by 100%, from 500 per second to 1,000 per second at level 80. This skill no longer inflicts confusion or cripple. The duration of torment has been increased from 3 seconds to 6 seconds. It now grants 3 stacks of stability for 3 seconds when the skill is activated. The visual effect has been sped up to better match with the filling circle, and the animation length has been aligned to match that, reducing the casting time from 3 seconds to 2 seconds. The tooltip description of this skill has been fixed.

> >

> > So, bigger (huge, actually, compared to how it used to work), faster, does more damage, does more damage over time, gives stability, doesn't confuse or cripple anymore, still launches dudes up into the air/away from you.

> >

> > As for why they changed it, I.. I don't know. It does make me yearn for a 'show/hide player effects' setting real bad though.

>

> They changed it to nerf necro down state. Necro down state was op ckmpared to other classes.

 

Yes, the survivability and damage in down state for necro indeed was over the top compared to other classes. I agree that more unnecessary visual clutter is not needed though, since we get a lot of that already.