Upcoming Balance Notes

[Nightmare.1234]

sounds promising, needs to be seen in action to be judged thou

[santso.9201]

> @"Asum.4960" said:

> > @"mortrialus.3062" said:

> > The 0.75s Dodge for Mirage is going to effectively kill the spec in PvE, PvP, and WW

>

> Not sure how that's going to kill the spec in PvE, but if it does in PvP and WvW, then hallelujah.

>

> That said, it will probably still be overperforming actually. But will have to see.

 

Its still too strong, they should Make IT behave like normal Dodge when cc'd, i mean thats The real problem, not The duration.

[Strider.5807]

I don't usually comment on the forums, but this time I want to share my thoughts about the changes to power chrono - which I have explained in this video:

[TheAgedGnome.7520]

> Banners can now only be picked up by the warrior who summoned them.

 

This makes the whole patch worthwhile.

[Duncanmix.5238]

If I understand this warrior change with banners: There is no more tactic BS, and from now on its all discipline. Which if true, I'm happy because tactic was so boring and slow to play anyways.

 

As someone who plays scrapper in pvp at platinum 1 and 2, you cant imagine how excited I am with this rework. I don't even know what utility I wanna use anymore. Cant wait to try at mess around with all of gyros. We get so many fields that I feel we are lacking blasts now. So maybe shredder will be necessity, but I hate its tool belt skill. On the other hand, the blast gyro might be epic because tool belt is 30 sec stun break and now gyro generates might. I mean, I wanna badly try them all.... Cmon tuesday come faster...

[Astralporing.1957]

> @"Duncanmix.5238" said:

> If I understand this warrior change with banners: There is no more tactic BS, and from now on its all discipline.

Considering that the boost from discipline trait is for warrior only, and is also a nerf compared to what we have now (255 to 200), i sincerely doubt it. If anything, dropping empower allies would be even less sensible now. Without it, barriers alone after change might not even be worth taking.

 

The whole change is just a straight nerf, without any balancing to it. hard to say yet if it will be enough of a nerf to kill banners or not, but it will definitely come close.

 

[bagniernesto.4812]

I wonder if anyone of the balance team ever played the WvW.

The WvW is still ,after more than 1 year, dominated by insane scourge AOE , firebrand and Revenant.

And you nerf Silent Scope instead of fixing the thief spike damage.

Deadeyes are almost disappeared from wvw.

/facepalm.

[Lord of the Fire.6870]

> @"Diru.4531" said:

> > @"Irenio CalmonHuang.2048" said:

> > **Mesmer**

> > After watching mesmer builds develop following our last update, we have a few more adjustments for both chronomancers and mirages.

> > While we think that Signet of Inspiration's new functionality is working well, it's a little too strong, so we're slightly reducing both the recharge time and the extension of the boon duration.

> >

> Where are you getting this information from? I haven't heard a single piece of positive feedback about the chronomancer changes. It's not fun to play. At all. That fact is infinitely more important than whether you think your particular approach to balancing was successful. The same can be said for a lot of class/builds in WvW too. If your balancing approach drastically reduces the amount of fun the game is to play then your approach was not successful and any supporting data you have is likely skewed by the fact. If you do not know whether your balancing approach will affect players enjoyment of the game, then you should ask yourselves ... why? Do you play the game enough to understand your players? Do your testers? However you are determining what players want needs a desperate overhaul.

>

> Some recent feedback from a streamer on this very subject:

>

> [

"https://www.twitch.tv/videos/386811845?t=00h30m52s")

 

They simply have another opinion how the chrono should work as the community does . They reacted like I predicted they would(posted somewhere) when they realized what is with the new SOI is possible.( I also posted how the community will adapted/react to this) On the other hand you can clearly see in the video what it means to have no boon sharing means and this was more of the better results.

 

They make content harder and harder as a result fractals became super annoying instead of fun to be more clear it doesn't feel challenging and rewarding when doing them its just this annoying. This is not just the balance its everything less boons, the new fractal , the new instabilities. In raids I don't but alone that the dps of the build is going down and down with each patch is depressing because a lot of them wants to be better in what they are doing and playing often a game for themselves to see if they can be #1 on ArcDps and naturally they see their dps going down not up with this.

 

Wvw while I can't follow the guys in the video with all but the diversity problem is real and they made it worse

[Duncanmix.5238]

Oh you are right... I hope they make trait works for everyone... I don't want to play tactic....

[Kyurem.9702]

Unfortunate changes to Guardian,

 

Guardian - Power DH just won't be able to keep up anymore with these changes, considering the health pool of guardian is so low; the critical chance was the only trait keeping power based builds relevant. They nerfed it without giving it something else - and buffed the competition - maybe some more health somewhere would be nice but it would also help the condi and supports builds too... Also why not just nerf it where the problem was - PvP - 33% crit instead of 50% would be better for everyone as people who enjoy this would still have a chance if they are skilled.

 

I'm not sure if they just want people to play other things but I enjoy the Power Crit builds, and I find the supportive roles boring, I know I'm not alone in saying I just won't ever play a supportive condi build, I've tried them, and I dislike them. So, nerfing Power out of existence leaves me to just not play guardian. They just hate anything Power based it seems which should be the opposite considering that condi is the stronger option. I'm not saying there was no problem it might have been over-scaled but cutting the skill in half is a little much. I'm sure guardians will be stuck with this nerf for a year so i'll come back then I suppose.

 

The buff to the bow is nice, but it should just be 1500 range on all skills. If that's too much then make it all 1400 or 1350. Removing the Crit makes bow even WORSE then it already is so the buff really doesn't help bow since they are nerfing the builds that could use bow.

Just an idea: Dual Pistols on guardian would be nice for the next elite spec. It would be based on light like guardian is and I could go into detail but that's not what we are here for.

 

Mesmer - The Mesmer nerfs needed to be more, although I'm not sure about the chrono nerfs as mirage seemed to be the most problematic. And no, Condi mirage isn't dead, you just have to vaguely try now, not just spamming keys.

 

Ranger - I don't care

 

Engi - Interesting and I will definitely try it out

 

Warrior - I can't tell if it's a nerf or a buff, only time will tell but in my opinion people aren't playing banners because they are boring and hard to use in the dodge based combat system. The channel ability is OK I suppose for Winds of Disenchantment, but that could backfire in WvW when **everything ** stops you. Giving some love the the Rifle would be a refreshing thing to see.

ALSO I had an idea for the next elite spec for Warrior or Guardian being a Spear. it could act as a pole arm like a Roman or Trojan era weapon, it would also allow for water weapons to be used on land which would be neat!

 

Rev- why? but ok.

Also, give rev Greatsword please next spec. or at least a dagger - - - I mean the ART on THIS SCREEN up on the top left has the Rev USING a dagger, maybe it's foreshadowing :open_mouth:

 

Ele - Nice, might want to look at base ele builds for buffing.

I also found that weaver, if they go anything slightly tanky, is impossible to kill: increasing the cooldown time on water abilities would allow them to be slippery still but allow for slightly more counter-play.

 

Thief - Reasonable

 

Necromancer - The PvE changes are nice but honestly no one cares. Scourge has long needed the nerf and I think it is VERY reasonable. Reaper (power) is apparently balanced in PvP and WvW but it really needs some buffs with it's lackluster set.

 

Lastly as a general idea, I think you need to update the sounds of older weapons; mainly firing weapons like rifles and pistols.

 

 

 

[Dillah.2043]

Thank you kindly for communicating and providing us with information.

Personally I like all the reworks, I believe that moving from passive to more active gameplay is good as it complements the beauty of this combat system. Overall changes, especially for competitive modes, i think could be more drastic, i know it's risky but it's exactly what it needs, a shake-up every 3-4 month. The idea of making "winds of disenchantment" channeled - genius, it became the highlight of the patch for me (i do not main warrior myself). Well, as for the balance itself - will see, it's hard to tell for me exactly what result we will get but nevertheless, Thank you and keep up the great work and innovations with balance!

[Gehenna.3625]

For Guardian it says:

• Honorable Staff: This trait now grants 120 concentration, plus an additional 120 concentration while wielding a staff, in addition to reducing staff skill recharge times.

 

I do not like changes like this because it forces you to use a specific weapon to get a good benefit from this choice. When I do not use a staff but do want to use Honor this just weakens my options there particularly because the alternative choices for honorable staff are not nearly as good. I really wish that recharge bonuses to weapon skills were handled differently. Just my two cents.

[Rhede Waykh.5867]

So Warrior is still trash tier, neat.

[PeLi.5498]

GJ for Engi changes. But, what happened with Function Gyro? :V

[Elku.6429]

Why would you nerf Warrior banners that way? You basically destroyed the utility of banners in every other aspect of the game that isn't raiding or high-end fractal. One banner is great for open-world stuff and WvW because it provides constant regen and a way to apply AoE swiftness with 67%+ uptime. You've literally destroyed the only 2 aspects that has made banners **a utility skill**, and basically made it a dead skill unless you're doing raiding.

Especially the change to Inspiring Battle Standard, I don't get that one.

 

It's as if you gave the job to nerf banners to 3 different teams, and they all provided a nerf, and then decided to implement all 3.

[CasualWanderer.5824]

How does making banners basically not have any active skills and being destroyed when picked up make them less passive and give them more flexibility?

 

Also banners give 40% less stats now to other group members.

 

In 5 man content, you can basically drop the BS and get a 3rd dps. In good groups, there will be enough CC without a warr, and the chrono can purge boons just as well.

 

That's a huge nerf to warriors in fractals, they're not that much needed in raids as is.

[TheAutumn.1694]

Thank you for getting the notes out to us early. I'm extremely disappointed with the lack of change in wvw. Rangers & Holos are still going to be busted. I do appreciate the condi mirage nerfs & the lowered duration on DE rifle dodge, both were extremely cheesy. Looking forward to seeing more scrappers roaming & dueling. DH true shot, shall be interesting. It'll definitely help counter some lb rangers.

 

All in all semi-decent patch, but left much to be desired.

 

I extremely urge you to look at the broken state of ranger & holo. Rangers are literally every class combined into 1, plus a pet that 8k's you with a CC.

[Quadox.7834]

> @"Strider.5807" said:

> I don't usually comment on the forums, but this time I want to share my thoughts about the changes to power chrono - which I have explained in this video:

 

Can you not do the following?

activate cont.split -> summon phantasms -> signet of ether -> summon phantasm -> end cont.split -> summon phantasms -> signet of ether -> summon phantasms.

Genuine question; I don't know PvE.

[Queen.5837]

Really looking forward to the scrapper changes. Always preferred it over holosmith, so I'm hoping the gyro changes will bring its power level up a bit.

[Spike.5073]

> @"Strider.5807" said:

> I don't usually comment on the forums, but this time I want to share my thoughts about the changes to power chrono - which I have explained in this video:

 

High quality feedback. Love it.

[BatelGeuce.3591]

Well, the spirit rework looks interesting even though it would be better if it worked like engi gyros. Now all I need is prolonged bear stance in PvE or lower cooldown so I can effectively condi-cleanse on Siren's Reef. I was also kinda hoping for a buff for condi soulbeast in PvE because it seems to be underperforming right now but I guess I'll just migrate to power build :)

[Anchoku.8142]

Make Harbinger Shroud also either a whirl finisher or blast finisher when it detonates, please.

 

In general, the changes to gyros and banners look good.

 

Thank you for improving Necro elite utilities in PvE. The four changes may help them feel more useful.

[Laila Lightness.8742]

Just remove soi already no one will use it anyway

[incisorr.9502]

You completely destroyed mirage axe but didn't touch staff at all? This is a joke? STAFF WAS ALREADY THE PROBLEM, LOL. Axe is an active weapon which requires player to be active while staff is a passive weapon as most of your damage comes from illusion auto attacks and from auto attacks bouncing around in general. Staff also makes you tankier and has better CC so it's easier to play with but it had less potential if played correctly but it was already the meta for a reason because it's easy and effective to use. When guns were invented hundreds of years ago in their primal forms they were still worse than bows but bows required a lot of skill and practice to use which is why guns replaced bows slowly, because everyone could learn to use one and be effective with one. Skill should be REWARDED AND PROMOTED in video games but you're literally doing the opposite?

 

im completely baffled by this one

> • Imaginary Axes: Reduced the amount of torment stacks applied in PvP and WvW from 3 to 1. This skill can no longer be used on targets behind the mesmer.

>• Ambush Assault: This skill can no longer be used on targets behind the mesmer.

>• Split Surge: This skill can no longer be used on targets behind the mesmer.

 

you're making the game clunkier instead of doing the opposite, which is a random suggestion i threw awhile ago in a random thread that the game should be modernized by completely removing stuff like this (from all classes) and making your character turn around to make the game feel more fluid and better but instead you're going in the OPPOSITE DIRECTION? That makes no sense whatsoever.

 

on top of that

 

> Cry of Pain: The number of confusion stacks that this trait allows Cry of Frustration to apply has been decreased from 2 to 1 in all game modes.

 

so a 3 illusion combo with axe which requires all your resources and cooldowns and to be in exposed melee range and for your enemy to fail dodging, fail cleansing, fail using resistance, fail by using skills while confused will now have 7 confusion stacks as opposed to 18? That's a 70% nerf , it's not even an adjustment or anything, what sort of a game developer nerfs a value by 70%?

With this, condition is completely dead in gw2 because mirage was already the only viable condition build spvp class because all others are underpowered because you don't understand the game and now mirage is also dead, oh, except staff i guess which you completely ignored and didn't touch xDxDDDDDDDDDDDdD. You nerfed the build that had risk and reward and promote the build that's actually toxic for the game.

 

 

I don't understand how can you even come up with these changes but it doesn't look like we've been playing the same game. Mirage has consistently been the least represented class in high elo, along with elementalist and the game suffers from some major problems but only one of those problems was addressed (guardian's free crit rate) but you nerfed the only fun class in the game to a point where it won't even be worth playing any more when it already wasn't really worth playing it because it was underperforming on a high level. Looks like instead of modernizing gw2 it's going back to be a last decade game.

 

The majority of these changes are completely random and not what the game needs, absolutely destroying mesmer axe and conditions aside you didn't "change " any other class except guardian. Ele didn't get any dmg/animation speed buffs instead it gets tankier (as if anyone wants that for spvp), gyros buffs when nobody likes gyros. I guess that's what happens when your balance team are not actual pvp players and when you listen to too many low rated streamers that can't play.

 

mirage actually had more than 1 playable build in spvp which is a GOOD THING but now you completely target-destroyed one of the two builds and leave the already meta one untouched, what am i even looking at ? i can balance this game better in 30 minutes. Why do you even ignore statistics? I'm sure you have statistics on X class play and win rate in X elo

[Apocaly.2786]

I think you should do more changes, that are actually relevant. For **mesmer **f.e.:

1. Scepter: Reduce the power-dmg-modifier of #3, nerf condi on Scepter Ambush skill like u do with axe, maybe increase the CD of the block on #2

2. Mirage-Dodge: Apply a general 1sec Exhaustion or 2sec maybe for using an ambush skill

3. revert the cooldown change for Signet of Inspiration for PvP/WvW since its used for Invul with blurred inscriptions.. so less cooldown is actually better

4. remove all target-breaking-abilities

 

in general i would say u should remove the mirage dodge completly and let them do normal dodges - just create a 5-7sec cd f5-skill (like continuum split on chrono) to activate ambush interval without using a dodge

 

i dont know, that are some change comming into my mind now, guess there can be more

** [These are my personel thoughts and i do not expect people to follow them] **