Epi balance nerf coming?

[ZDragon.3046]

> @"Anchoku.8142" said:

> There has been so much complaining in the other sub-forums that I think this time there will be a change to Epi whether Necro mains agree or not.

 

That does not answer my questions though and while i want to be respectful and engaging to get a true answer from you it seems that will not happen.

There are dozens of people also complaining about mesmer/mirage, scourge, firebrand, and tons of other things. IF 2 necros can strategically make the most of a skill in a niche pve game mode that bounces conditions on professions thats sold under the idea of being **"The master of conditions"** there should be nothing wrong with that. Thats called optimal play. You dont just throw the ability out there and magical things happen.

 

Thats not a reason to say that the skill needs to be trashed nor does it make all of necro good in all parts of the game.

 

> We shall see if Epi survives today's balance patch.

 

While I'm not a big fan of the skill epidemic, I don't hold it accountable for necromancers problems because the problems existed long before people started taking a major liking to the epidemic strategy.

If it does change I hope anet has a rework prepared of all of necro and the majority of its base kit.

Or have some kind of plan ready to make pve foes more annoying via their own boon spam at which point we can hope people will want necros to handle that kind of thing and that mesmers and spellbreakers don't take such roles from under necro's feet.

[Anchoku.8142]

Here are my answers you seem so interested in.

 

> @"ZDragon.3046" said:

> > @"Anchoku.8142" said:

> > > @"ZDragon.3046" said:

> > > > @"Anchoku.8142" said:

> > > > There are many ways to nerf Epi to oblivion with just a "numbers" change.

> > > > * Radius 900 -> 180

> > > > * Number of conditions transferred 25 stacks of each -> 5 stacks of each

> > > > * Number of targets 5 -> 1 (and you have to find out which one before you can bounce).

> > > > * Use of Epidemic in raids now causes its target to develop 5 minutes of resistance and will spread that resistance to all other allies within 1200 range

> > > > * Certain mobs in raids become "structures" like in WvW

> > > > * Defiance now has a 50% chance to block unblockable skills

> > > > * Epidemic has been disabled for all instanced content

> > > >

> > > > ... and so on.

> > >

> > > But why is this a problem to start with?

> >

> > 1. Other players who do not want to main Necromancer want a skill like this, or

> > 2. Players do not like seeing cheese skills they do not have.

> Then that leads me to ask

> Other professions have skills that other people do not like, Should they be culled as well?

Arenanet posted that they are investigating outliers. I think that includes Epidemic. What do you think.

 

> Why is epic. considered a cheese skill?

Any one-button skill with a big effect on a short CD can expect to be called a cheese skill. Would you define it any other way? Whether I like Epi or not is irrelevant to the balance team's review.

 

> Hang on but at the start you said and i quote "I half-hope Epidemic is deleted entirely from the game. Necromancer without its core gimmick might get some attention."

> So which is it? Do you want it removed in hopes that necromancer gets love or because you simply do not like the skill?

If Epi is deleted, broken, or replaced, at least other professions cannot complain about it. Do I hate epidemic? No, but if it satisfies the complainers and forces Arenanet to make other changes to keep Necro out of the gutter where it lived for years, I have to regrets.

 

> I want to ask you the questions to get a whole answer and not just short fragments of a whole answer.

I appreciate your not getting angry while asking for clarification.

 

I do not believe any of us individually can influence Arenanet, much less the outcome of today's update.

 

So, I ask, what changes, if any, do you predict will happen to Epidemic? We are all just guessing, here.

[Lahmia.2193]

Epidemic: Increased the travel speed of epidemic projectiles by 33%. This skill now reduces the duration of conditions it copies by 50%.

[ZDragon.3046]

> @"Anchoku.8142" said:

> Here are my answers you seem so interested in.

> Arenanet posted that they are investigating outliers. I think that includes Epidemic. What do you think.

An Outlier is simply something that does not follow traditional standards of the majority and NONE of the professions do that. Thats what makes them different to start with.

 

Ideally each profession has things that make it an outlier. Otherwise they would all be the same, with the same mechanics, with different visuals and thats just boring.

 

Thats to broad to suggest epi. by itself is an outlier issue. I could name 3-5 things off the top of my head on each profession that make it an that profession an outlier to all other professions

 

>

> > Why is epic. considered a cheese skill?

> Any one-button skill with a big effect on a short CD can expect to be called a cheese skill. Would you define it any other way? Whether I like Epi or not is irrelevant to the balance team's review.

 

No I define that as a skill not a cheese skill. Once again i can name like 3-4 skills on each profession that do alot on a short cooldown. As for how blown out they are depends on the game mode. Epic is strong in raids if coordinated properly but kind subpar in every other part of the game.

 

That does not make it cheese.

You would think that people would be happy that there is a skill to help them achieve their goals and succeed as a whole.

 

>

> > Hang on but at the start you said and i quote "I half-hope Epidemic is deleted entirely from the game. Necromancer without its core gimmick might get some attention."

> > So which is it? Do you want it removed in hopes that necromancer gets love or because you simply do not like the skill?

> If Epi is deleted, broken, or replaced, at least other professions cannot complain about it. Do I hate epidemic? No, but if it satisfies the complainers and forces Arenanet to make other changes to keep Necro out of the gutter where it lived for years, I have to regrets.

 

Ok once again.. its not hurting anyone here though. Its not pvp. If and only if it was pvp where its causing an issue because its toxic to fight against I could understand your perspective of the argument. Once again this takes 2 necros that have an understanding of coordination to make work in raids and just about only in raids, perhaps some fractals too.

Most people want the most optimal when it comes to end game content like raids. This strategy is optimal. So hoping something that can be used as optimal play in a niche game mode gets removed really makes no sense to me.

 

 

While the changes are out now they are not too bad the skill is still good enough to be useful but will not take a complete nose dive. Although as i thought it will make necros less valued when you look at this change + the other changes from this patch.