Guild Wars 2

Before we start I would appreciate it if you did not troll this thread or leave a rude comment. If you disagree state why as that will promote discussion which can potentially help this game. Now that that’s over, let’s begin:

I have taken some time since the patch to play around a bit with each class and try some different builds out to see what each class felt like (so trust me I have at least a basic level of understanding with what I am talking about) and there are some things that definitely need to be changed while others are fine the way they are. Cleave for necro and thief daggers was a great change and I’m very happy they did that. But then there are the changes to FS which I don’t agree with at all considering it is easily countered and basically makes that set almost unplayable. So changing that would be nice but that’s not the main point of this thread, the main point is: Looking at the changes in general, it is now more profitable than ever to run a condition build. First idea i would have for that is make it more like GW1’ s condi system so it can still be usable but ends up being more of an effect of combat rather than a spammable playstyle that is OP in some areas while being completely ineffective in others. This also, if you have not noticed already, removes the need of condi damage as a stat. I know it sounds ridiculous, but condi could still be somewhat playable as condi damage could be replaced with condi duration as an armor stat and then you eliminate the condi spam issue that plagues many game modes right now. Second thing that needs to be looked at is the effectiveness of might as a boon. I propose it stack in duration rather than intensity and give a 200 power bonus. With that change it will still be a strong buff but it will not allow pure bunker builds to hit like a zerker because of might stacking ability.

That’s part 1, which was meant to talk about combat mechanics, now for part 2 which is skills/ traits:

Ranger:
This class has been talked about a ton since the implementation of the buffs, do I think it is op? Not really, people just need time to find the right counterplay which will cause this whole fuss to settle down.

Mesmer:
First the implantation of my previous suggestions will start the balance as condi bunkers will no longer be a full playstyle, but become a more manageable consequence of fighting a certain spec. Mesmer needs more access to mobility on weapon sets other than staff to compensate for their lack of sustain outside of the ether signet.

Necromancer:
The necro, imo, should have the unholy sanctuary trait built into ds, giving necro an actual form of legitimate sustain. The ability to receive heals in ds would also be a nice addition to make necros feel less clunky. Unholy sanctuary could then be remade to keep the move into ds mechanic but also grant a full life force bar upon entry when the trait activates. (just to keep it gm worthy)

Elementalist:
With the proposed might changes this class will pretty much balance itself out. There are some other things that I’m probably not aware of but that can be changed as needed.

Thief:
Needs bug fixes and with the proposed condi changes p/d will lose it’s domination over 1v1s. Shortbow should have cluster bomb range increased to 1200 to give thief a better form of keep defense in wvw. (that can be discussed but that’s how I feel at the present time)

Guardian:
Needs a movement speed increase either through traits or skills. Mostly balanced from what I have seen so far so that’s that.

Engineer:
Proposed condi and might changes will balance engi. Nothing else significant that i can think of at the present time.

Warrior:
Might changes will fix hambow being op in some settings, CI needs to be changed with it’s interaction on LB to only proc when an enemy is hit. Adrenaline should have a 5-10 second period before it starts decaying out of combat to give warriors some choice in adrenaline usage.

Feel free to discuss the proposed changes as others may have a different view of how this should be done. I main thief so if you all have experience on other classes that make you see these differently I would love to hear your thoughts.

Thanks for your time and patience, let’s get A-nets attention and actually start balancing this game

Just to clarify, how much time did you have on each profession before the patch?

I don’t know exact numbers but if it helps I was able to play each up to level needed to get on the pvp leaderboards before I explored other games for a few weeks. I apologize if that doesn’t help but right now it’s the best I can give.

Generally speaking I think balance could long-term look into the following things:

• Gameplay is generally “too spammy”. It needs more deliberation. This isn’t a problem with conditions specifically. For both boons and conditions, I’d seriously cut access to it. And I mean seriously, if your class can buff a party with 5s of Fury every kitten , that’s enough Fury access for you, done, that’s it. Ofc, in turn each individual effect should be much stronger, that Fury should set people to 100% crit and increase Ferocity by 50% on top of that. Poison should drop healing by 90% (and still deal some little damage), in turn even a Necro can maybe apply 5-6 seconds every 30 seconds – 45 seconds.
• Also, overspecialization is a problem in that it creates too big a variable space for balance. What I’d do is cut stat income for traits and gear by 50% (or 60%, even), and increase base stats accordingly. In effect, everyone becomes a bit more “Celestial”, better at what they didn’t spec on and worse in what they specced on, but still significantly better at what they specced than what they didn’t.
• Then take into account the different nature of PvE-group and WvW balance. Balancing for sPvP makes balance worse in those formats outside of smallest-scale, which makes sense because now balance is being done for smallest-scale, which clashes with larger-scale balance.
• PvE needs a balance of identity more than a balance of power. If each class brings something highly unique (or two or three) to the table and each situation constantly includes effects where that class would be really overpowered to have, then the limit of 5 players versus 8 classes (and hence 8 ~ X*8 special effects) creates a better balance as you always notice the sting of the classes you don’t have.
• WvW needs a balance of scaling. A class which has a powerful effect in a 5v5 fight should not have the same effect be useless in a 40v40. The scaling needs to be so the relative power is identical (if 20% of your zerg is Mesmers, Feedback needs to have the same effect it has when 1 of your team of 5 is a Mesmer). This makes all classes valid to bring and stack as they scale smoothly. On the downside, this cannot be scaled down to smaller sizes too much, bringing me to…
• If in doubt, axe sPvP. It’s balance is too unique compared to the other and apparently much larger game modes, creates too big a conflict of interests for balancing. Makes it a separate game, integrate it as sub-instances into WvW where “strike teams” enter castle maps to infiltrate them, something like that. But contextualize it either on it’s own or as a sub-system of PvE or WvW (PvE makes very little sense :P ) so that it doesn’t clash as much.

This game would have been balanced a long time ago if they quit playing the meta game. Every balance patch since launch they have over nerfed some class while over buffing another just to shake things up. They introduce some OP skill or trait, let it go for 6 months then they nerf the kitten out of it and give someone else an OP skill or trait and let them go to town for 6 months and the cycle keeps going and going.

It’s quite discouraging to know that the game will never be balanced because of this philosophy.