Balance team's vision for specialization reworks

[meri.9187]

Hi all,

 

This question comes from a PvP/WvW perspective although obviously it will affect PvE too.

 

Herald is seeing the second major rework in recent memory, with deadeye being the first. Obviously, I'm concerned about the future of my class considering I've played it roughly the same way for 3 years, and I'm not sure how it's going to change. If I had to guess, the raw damage of the class will go down significantly in exchange for better group support (although I'm not sure how much you guys can speak on it and I obviously haven't seen the full trait line or patch).

 

That said, my question is more general.

 

**When reworking a specialization, to what extent does the balance team (or, the new "systems" team) consider how the rework is going to affect the currently extant playstyles for that specialization?**

 

Just using herald as an example, it was originally intended to be boon-oriented group support, but the playstyle over the last 3 years has been that of a powerful, glassy, high-ish skill cap teamfighter and +1.

 

Knowing that there may be many more specs in line for a rework due to underuse, such as (just spitballing) tempest, renegade, and berserker amongst others, **how do you weigh current playstyles against your vision for the class? **

 

Thank you for your time. I'm excited to see what the Systems Team can accomplish!

[Irenio CalmonHuang.2048]

We try very hard to consider how it is going to play in/around with the existing playstyles.

We seek to preserve them as long as the playstyle is not degenerate or counter to the purpose of the re-work.

If we can achieve both preservation of existing playstyles AND push a build in terms of its theming/synergy/role, then we have won that particular battle.

[meri.9187]

Thank you for your answer Irenio, always very well-spoken. I'm optimistic to see what the team has in store for the Herald, and I'll just hope that your last statement applies to the upcoming rework this Tuesday! ;)