Guild Wars 2

I play my War in Knights armor with zerk trinkets and my guard as knights armor with zerk/valk trinkets and I think it gives a good balance between dmg and sustain, but with the upcoming change to the crit dmg, I think ill be pretty well forced to swap to zerker armor as well to be able to keep the damage near the same, if the large amount of crit damage on the trinkets is balanced to be similar (50%) of the total, then its a large dps loss for these characters.

Its all well and good trying to decrease the prevalence of the zerker, but the trinkets made it so that you could actually run different (support) armor and runes and keep a decent amount of crit dmg. Balance.

Also concerning is that we may not be able to run 40% or more boon duration on the runes, which will really hit support guards hard, if that’s the case, my guard will probly get shelved since a large loss of crit dmg and also boon duration would kill the build I love to play, Boon Support.

I think that they could have done this very differently, in that, they could have increased the damage that support builds do, as I see it now, they will do the opposite.

If you play PvE there is almost no reason to be in anything other than Zerkers. Unless, of course, you die in Zerkers.

This will not change after the patch.

The Ferocity change is meant to make Critical Damage work like the other stats, maybe they will change the last “offender” too, Boon Duration, Condition Duration increase does not exist on items yet so no change is needed for that yet.

The Ferocity change is not going to change the zerker meta. The new grandmaster traits and the sigil/rune changes will have a far stronger impact on the meta, we will have to wait and see how much it will change (if at all)

Just nerfing zerker is not enough. Other types of builds need to be buffed as well.
At least in PvE.

I’m just going to do a blanket “no” on this thread. There arent any steps to changing the zerker meta. And before you say “they’re changing crit damage,” yes, that’s the FIRST step they’re taking to changing the zerker meta. They havent even had a chance to see how this change plays out to be able make further changes.

Granted, this doesnt change the fact they basically brutally kitten d sets like assassin’s.

If other sets get a stat increase I would think that zerkers should get their stats back to where they belong. Its not the gear that is the problem. It is peoples attitudes and mob AI.

As neither one of these will change. I do not see the zerker meta changing. I also don’t see efficient game play as a problem.

I strongly doubt anet purpose was to reduce zerker meta.

What they are doing is hurting balanced builds, in this way they will split the meta into zerker, condition and tank.

No midground…thus reducing heavlily the build diversity.
They surely have another reason for the ferocity change.

To change the zerk meta the following are necessary:

1. Increase in damage output of mobs.
2. Reduction in HP of mobs.
3. Increase in defense of mobs.
4. Objects can take condition damage.
5. Bleed can stack beyond 25 (preferably 75 or 100), burn can stack up to 25, poison can stack up to 25.
6. Healing power scales better with healing skills (greater multiplier).

Only 4 is optional.

Simply nerfing critdmg% doesn’t do it.

You’re basing the changes on the effect it’ll have on your guardian only, ignoring the fact that the changes will hit everyone. The draw of guardians is the support and that won’t change. Your damage will be reduced, but so will everyone’s. You won’t become irrelevant.

Having said that, the way to reduce the Zerker meta isn’t by stat adjustments. The Ferocity change is being instituted to make gear more consistent and balancing easier for Anet. To change the Zerker meta however, Anet will have to 1) boost the necessity of support builds and 2) boost the availability to strong support builds.

LordByron.8369:

They surely have another reason for the ferocity change.

The reason is simple: To make Critical Damage work the same way as the other stats

The zerkers meta will never go away.

The way that the game is designed is so that damage is the most important aspect. If you are ever not connecting with your auto attacks, rotations, condi bombs, w/e you are losing.

It’s not even that there is a zerkers meta that’s an illusion cast by the Mesmers at ANet. The reality is that it’s a dps meta regardless of it being condi or direct, because of the game’s design

Support and control exist to supplement sustained dps. This is not a damage, tank, healing trinity game. GW2 essentially is a game for everyone that wanted to play the role of damage in tradition MMOs. They sprinkle in just enough support and control to hold onto people who had damage alts too.

Tl;dr
It’s not a zerker meta. It’s a damage meta due to the games design. Whatever gear allows for the most damage is what the meta will utilize.

Shockwave is absolutely right. As I’ve mentioned elsewhere, the reason for the zerker meta is because the game design currently has a rewards system that requires the highest/fastest damage possible in order to have the highest rewards efficiency. As long as that remains the case, every group will always be best served by whatever will enhance the total group dps overall the most.

While it may affect the meta to chane other systems to make it so that something other than power/crit would accomplish the greatest total group dps, that doesn’t change the fact that it is still all about the damage output (especially in PvE). They could nerf zerker gear into the ground, and all they would accomplish is to force players to replace zerker with the next best thing for increasing total group dps. They could buff conditions in some way (like changing stacking mechanics), and if it turns out that the change results in condi builds being better for overall damage output in groups than zerker currently is, then everyone will switch up to pure condi gear. In effect they would have changed everything in order to change nothing at all.

In my opinion, if they really want to change the paradigm so people don’t always take pure damage (at least in PvE), then they need to change the reward system drastically (as well as making conditions useful in PvE groups). The only way to get away from the pure damage meta is to make it so that players are rewarded with equal rewards efficiency even when they take another approach.

Who says they are trying to stop the Zerk meta?

I see the changes as simply: Ascended gets introduced and increases everybody’s DPS by 10%, so Zerk gets nerfed by 10%.

You are still in the same spot on the gear treadmill.

I think its hilarious people are pretending Ferocity is somehow the LAST step that will be taken towards shattering the stranglehold the DPS Role has on gameplay .

The zerk meta ‘problem’ is not rooted in the stats. It’s rooted in the encounters and the game design. Full damage gear makes risks more dangerous- But if you can control those risks through means other than gear (dodges, blinds, stacking, reflects, blocks, immunities), Zerks is a no-brainer option, and it won’t stop being a no-brainer option even as it’s nerfed. It gives the best damage and it always will give the best damage; why would you give up damage, even a nerfed amount of damage, for a stat that you have zero use for?

Always so many conspiracies.

They reduced critical damage because it was broken from a formula standpoint, the low numbers had to be rounded when distributing it across the armor parts and this resulted in a very coarse granularity and ultimately an overdistribution of points, which has now been fixed. That’s all there is to it.

The zerk meta is rooted in players minds, not the developers standpoint. I have always felt that way – there is more than one way to skin a cat, is the old saying and in this game the same can be said.

it is the players that have the issue not the game.

Dusty Moon.4382:

The zerk meta is rooted in players minds, not the developers standpoint. I have always felt that way – there is more than one way to skin a cat, is the old saying and in this game the same can be said.

it is the players that have the issue not the game.

To be fair, the game mechanics far from encourage other builds. For example, ANet intentionally makes healing power nearly useless. The only reason its useful in PvP and WvW is because bunkers (wearing Dire or PVT) are king there.

This kind of examples exist all throughout the game, and it makes no sense. In trying too hard to get rid of the trinity, they end up with no dynamics at all. It would’ve been better to find a soft point between GW1 and GW2 mechanics.

Hopefully they will address these issues in future releases…

The same people who say “no trinity” “no roles” are the same ones complaining about Zerker “meta” and making other “builds” more viable. It’s an all dps game. Moar damage pls. Thats what you wanted that’s what you got. Why would you put gear with a heal stat on it, when there is no need for that role to be fulfilled? Why would you stack HP and toughness beyond your personal survivability preference? Why go condition damage when it caps and gimps your damage output?

Aren’t some of you the same people who used to get mad at people for having magic find in their gear? Because it took away from what? Their damage output yes?

Hannelore.8153:

Dusty Moon.4382:

The zerk meta is rooted in players minds, not the developers standpoint. I have always felt that way – there is more than one way to skin a cat, is the old saying and in this game the same can be said.

it is the players that have the issue not the game.

To be fair, the game mechanics far from encourage other builds. For example, ANet intentionally makes healing power nearly useless. The only reason its useful in PvP and WvW is because bunkers (wearing Dire or PVT) are king there.

This kind of examples exist all throughout the game, and it makes no sense. In trying too hard to get rid of the trinity, they end up with no dynamics at all. It would’ve been better to find a soft point between GW1 and GW2 mechanics.

Hopefully they will address these issues in future releases…

I use other builds in PvE and have no problems playing solo. A.Net doesn’t do anything, the healing power is an excuse. The choice is there but it is the players choose the easiest way.

MrDmajor.7084:

The same people who say “no trinity” “no roles” are the same ones complaining about Zerker “meta” and making other “builds” more viable. It’s an all dps game. Moar damage pls. Thats what you wanted that’s what you got. Why would you put gear with a heal stat on it, when there is no need for that role to be fulfilled? Why would you stack HP and toughness beyond your personal survivability preference? Why go condition damage when it caps and gimps your damage output?

Aren’t some of you the same people who used to get mad at people for having magic find in their gear? Because it took away from what? Their damage output yes?

We don’t need the trinity, we already have the DPS monotheism.

lazarus.1639:

MrDmajor.7084:

The same people who say “no trinity” “no roles” are the same ones complaining about Zerker “meta” and making other “builds” more viable. It’s an all dps game. Moar damage pls. Thats what you wanted that’s what you got. Why would you put gear with a heal stat on it, when there is no need for that role to be fulfilled? Why would you stack HP and toughness beyond your personal survivability preference? Why go condition damage when it caps and gimps your damage output?

Aren’t some of you the same people who used to get mad at people for having magic find in their gear? Because it took away from what? Their damage output yes?

We don’t need the trinity, we already have the DPS monotheism.

Nerfing crit damage to “make other builds more viable” is a contradiction to that monotheism, yes?

its the 1st step, by lowering the dps by 10%, the fight will take 10% longer, so players will take more damage during the fight, so zerker might be less tempting to certain players.

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

I play my War in Knights armor with zerk trinkets and my guard as knights armor with zerk/valk trinkets and I think it gives a good balance between dmg and sustain, but with the upcoming change to the crit dmg, I think ill be pretty well forced to swap to zerker armor as well to be able to keep the damage near the same, if the large amount of crit damage on the trinkets is balanced to be similar (50%) of the total, then its a large dps loss for these characters.

Its all well and good trying to decrease the prevalence of the zerker, but the trinkets made it so that you could actually run different (support) armor and runes and keep a decent amount of crit dmg. Balance.

Also concerning is that we may not be able to run 40% or more boon duration on the runes, which will really hit support guards hard, if that’s the case, my guard will probly get shelved since a large loss of crit dmg and also boon duration would kill the build I love to play, Boon Support.

I think that they could have done this very differently, in that, they could have increased the damage that support builds do, as I see it now, they will do the opposite.

Completely agree. Many of us agree on this topic. We’re talking PVE I assume. They’ve need to improve the damage output of PVE healers. the healing output so that they are actually healers even a healer lite would be better than what we have now, and improve the damage on DoTs.

Part of the problem is the damage on DoTs when they crit is terrible.

I’ve been saying for months if they did just 3 things they’d change the dynamic of the builds overnight.

Increase the crit damage on DoTs to be a multiplier of the crit they have now, and add a 90% AOE damage resistance to all pets, and all summons, and replace immunity with temporary resistance on all CC’s after CCs break in PVE. Combat would be a very different if they’d just do those three things.

LordByron.8369:

I strongly doubt anet purpose was to reduce zerker meta.

What they are doing is hurting balanced builds, in this way they will split the meta into zerker, condition and tank.

No midground…thus reducing heavlily the build diversity.
They surely have another reason for the ferocity change.

I think you hit the nail on the head. What they’re doing is forcing you to choose what you want. None of this, “best of all worlds” anymore. Personally, I like this idea. I’m not sure how successful it will be but it’s a step in the right direction.

Simon.3794:

its the 1st step, by lowering the dps by 10%, the fight will take 10% longer, so players will take more damage during the fight, so zerker might be less tempting to certain players.

For WHAT though?

I hope they introduce more content like the Marionette so I get to see all the idiots laying dead on the ground.

Seriously half the time I had to finish that thing alone.

Talyn.3295:

If other sets get a stat increase I would think that zerkers should get their stats back to where they belong. Its not the gear that is the problem. It is peoples attitudes and mob AI.

As neither one of these will change. I do not see the zerker meta changing. I also don’t see efficient game play as a problem.

I’m sorry, but vs 1shot what did you want?
The enemies to dodge? After that they’d still get 1shot anyway.
They blind, block, push, if they up the frequency of that there would be no end to the rage and you’d have the same problem, 1shot.

Now what about the non trash mobs? Specially in dungeons/fractals where you have a 5 player limit?
Same story, it’s a case of all zerkers kill it as quickly as possible, anything goes wrong and someone dies here comes the rage fest, others are to blame because they aren’t doing it fast enough, “the enemy was allowed time to kill us! How dare they?!”

In a trinity MMO 92% of the players go for DPS, 7% tank, 1% heal.
In a game like GW2 DPS didn’t need to be over the top, players already love to play a damage class even if they’re heavily dependant, but thanks to way crit damage works in GW2 playing anything else just looks silly.

Dean Calaway.9718:

I hope they introduce more content like the Marionette so I get to see all the idiots laying dead on the ground.

Seriously half the time I had to finish that thing alone.

Talyn.3295:

If other sets get a stat increase I would think that zerkers should get their stats back to where they belong. Its not the gear that is the problem. It is peoples attitudes and mob AI.

As neither one of these will change. I do not see the zerker meta changing. I also don’t see efficient game play as a problem.

I’m sorry, but vs 1shot what did you want?
The enemies to dodge? After that they’d still get 1shot anyway.
They blind, block, push, if they up the frequency of that there would be no end to the rage and you’d have the same problem, 1shot.

Now what about the non trash mobs? Specially in dungeons/fractals where you have a 5 player limit?
Same story, it’s a case of all zerkers kill it as quickly as possible, anything goes wrong and someone dies here comes the rage fest, others are to blame because they aren’t doing it fast enough, “the enemy was allowed time to kill us! How dare they?!”

In a trinity MMO 92% of the players go for DPS, 7% tank, 1% heal.
In a game like GW2 DPS didn’t need to be over the top, players already love to play a damage class even if they’re heavily dependant, but thanks to way crit damage works in GW2 playing anything else just looks silly.

This is my experience with MMOs as well. I have played games with heavy trinities and those without trinities, and its always a DPS game. The DPS players will also always be the vocal majority, always going on about how their class isn’t balanced, doesn’t do enough damage or gets killed too easy in PvP.

The reason people hate trinities so much is having to form balanced groups of DPS, tank and healers because finding enough of each (especially healers) is a huge pain and can have a waiting time of hours. Think about that.

It all boils down to DPS, DPS, DPS, in every single game. Thats why many games even have the DPS of the weapon listed right on it instead of damage.

Guild Wars 2 just takes it to the farthest extent: zerk meta is all there is.

Hannelore.8153:

Dean Calaway.9718:

I hope they introduce more content like the Marionette so I get to see all the idiots laying dead on the ground.

Seriously half the time I had to finish that thing alone.

Talyn.3295:

If other sets get a stat increase I would think that zerkers should get their stats back to where they belong. Its not the gear that is the problem. It is peoples attitudes and mob AI.

As neither one of these will change. I do not see the zerker meta changing. I also don’t see efficient game play as a problem.

I’m sorry, but vs 1shot what did you want?
The enemies to dodge? After that they’d still get 1shot anyway.
They blind, block, push, if they up the frequency of that there would be no end to the rage and you’d have the same problem, 1shot.

Now what about the non trash mobs? Specially in dungeons/fractals where you have a 5 player limit?
Same story, it’s a case of all zerkers kill it as quickly as possible, anything goes wrong and someone dies here comes the rage fest, others are to blame because they aren’t doing it fast enough, “the enemy was allowed time to kill us! How dare they?!”

In a trinity MMO 92% of the players go for DPS, 7% tank, 1% heal.
In a game like GW2 DPS didn’t need to be over the top, players already love to play a damage class even if they’re heavily dependant, but thanks to way crit damage works in GW2 playing anything else just looks silly.

This is my experience with MMOs as well. I have played games with heavy trinities and those without trinities, and its always a DPS game. The DPS players will also always be the vocal majority, always going on about how their class isn’t balanced, doesn’t do enough damage or gets killed too easy in PvP.

The reason people hate trinities so much is having to form balanced groups of DPS, tank and healers because finding enough of each (especially healers) is a huge pain and can have a waiting time of hours. Think about that.

It all boils down to DPS, DPS, DPS, in every single game. Thats why many games even have the DPS of the weapon listed right on it instead of damage.

Guild Wars 2 just takes it to the farthest extent: zerk meta is all there is.

There is more than that but it is the easiest to roll and that is what most players focus on.

I don’t know if we’re playing the same game but whenever I pug I get 2 support guardians and 1 support ele. So where exactly is that zerker meta?

Moreover, the game becomes extremely enjoyable with team full of support players because I can focus on real life stuff than pay attention to gw2.

Dean Calaway.9718:

In a trinity MMO 92% of the players go for DPS, 7% tank, 1% heal.
In a game like GW2 DPS didn’t need to be over the top, players already love to play a damage class even if they’re heavily dependant, but thanks to way crit damage works in GW2 playing anything else just looks silly.

Oddly enough, the reason why I mostly play healer on trinity based games is the same why I go full berseker in GW2. It just offers the most reactive gameplay :P

Pretty darn funny that they have to change and nerf the entire stat because thief backstab was hitting to hard and stealth is op and warriors are not squishy at all when specing glassy. Both of which were class issues. Now classes who hit like wet noodles and dont have op stealth or high hp armor etc like ele will be even more useless.

Crit Damage Nerf is not being done because of PvE. If you honestly believe that I got a couple miles of beach front property on Mars for sale.

This is being done solely because of WvW

TooBz.3065:

If you play PvE there is almost no reason to be in anything other than Zerkers. Unless, of course, you die in Zerkers.

This will not change after the patch.

Aye but it screws up knight mixes and similar for WvW.

61% crit dmg from zerk armor/trinkets, but 44% of that comes from trinkets. If they spread the stats to even them out across the board, then the trinkets only setup loses 14% immediately. Then take into account the general nerf and you have a lot more than a 10% DPS loss.

The reason I do not run full zerk is that I cannot rely on the game to not lag enough that during encounters where timed dodges are required, that it will happen at the same time that I do the dodge. It just leaves leeway for being able to survive content and dealing with lag at the same time. And lag is a big problem with this game atm.

I play with setups like this in WvW mostly also, my thief runs PVT with Zerk/Valk trinkets so that is going to be hit hard also, don’t even get me started on my main Ranger in full zerk, he’s just going to be even more of a wet noodle now.

Change the way “Dodge/Endurance” works.

1.GREATLY reduce the amount of endurance and the regen.
2.Make endurance regen increase with Healing Power.
3.Make total endurance increase with Vitality

*just a thought…

So guards, thieves and eles get less dodge and wars get 80% more than them?

Nike.2631:

I think its hilarious people are pretending Ferocity is somehow the LAST step that will be taken towards shattering the stranglehold the DPS Role has on gameplay .

Stranglehold… really? What the heck is that even supposed to mean? What is this, some form of prejudice of my damage vs your damage??? Because if that is the case, then the next change should be armor reduces condition damage.

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

So guards, thieves and eles get less dodge and wars get 80% more than them?

Good point…

So make endurance regen and total scale off of Healing Power.

Healing Power is equal for all classes, right?

Valar Morghulis.7049:

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

So guards, thieves and eles get less dodge and wars get 80% more than them?

Good point…

So make endurance regen and total scale off of Healing Power.

Healing Power is equal for all classes, right?

No it’s not actually. Completely depends on the trait tree and the usage of the profession.

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

So guards, thieves and eles get less dodge and wars get 80% more than them?

Vitality is actually equal across all professions: everyone has a base of 916.

Health, however, is not. That Vitality only accounts for 9,160 health. The rest is base values.

Drarnor Kunoram.5180:

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

So guards, thieves and eles get less dodge and wars get 80% more than them?

Vitality is actually equal across all professions: everyone has a base of 916.

Health, however, is not. That Vitality only accounts for 9,160 health. The rest is base values.

Good point…

Hannelore.8153:

Dean Calaway.9718:

I hope they introduce more content like the Marionette so I get to see all the idiots laying dead on the ground.

Seriously half the time I had to finish that thing alone.

Talyn.3295:

If other sets get a stat increase I would think that zerkers should get their stats back to where they belong. Its not the gear that is the problem. It is peoples attitudes and mob AI.

As neither one of these will change. I do not see the zerker meta changing. I also don’t see efficient game play as a problem.

I’m sorry, but vs 1shot what did you want?
The enemies to dodge? After that they’d still get 1shot anyway.
They blind, block, push, if they up the frequency of that there would be no end to the rage and you’d have the same problem, 1shot.

Now what about the non trash mobs? Specially in dungeons/fractals where you have a 5 player limit?
Same story, it’s a case of all zerkers kill it as quickly as possible, anything goes wrong and someone dies here comes the rage fest, others are to blame because they aren’t doing it fast enough, “the enemy was allowed time to kill us! How dare they?!”

In a trinity MMO 92% of the players go for DPS, 7% tank, 1% heal.
In a game like GW2 DPS didn’t need to be over the top, players already love to play a damage class even if they’re heavily dependant, but thanks to way crit damage works in GW2 playing anything else just looks silly.

This is my experience with MMOs as well. I have played games with heavy trinities and those without trinities, and its always a DPS game. The DPS players will also always be the vocal majority, always going on about how their class isn’t balanced, doesn’t do enough damage or gets killed too easy in PvP.

The reason people hate trinities so much is having to form balanced groups of DPS, tank and healers because finding enough of each (especially healers) is a huge pain and can have a waiting time of hours. Think about that.

It all boils down to DPS, DPS, DPS, in every single game. Thats why many games even have the DPS of the weapon listed right on it instead of damage.

Guild Wars 2 just takes it to the farthest extent: zerk meta is all there is.

No, people hate trinity because its boring. It always has been always will be.

@ Dean, I have read your post twice and I don’t know what your trying to say to me. In my zerker groups we don’t die. So if your suggesting all zerker groups end in rage that would be incorrect.

Valar Morghulis.7049:

Change the way “Dodge/Endurance” works.

1.GREATLY reduce the amount of endurance and the regen.
2.Make endurance regen increase with Healing Power.
3.Make total endurance increase with Vitality

*just a thought…

If you do this you greatly reduce class variety in all facets of the game. Simply because some classes are more reliant on dodges than others and have better healing power lines than others. Example; necro only has dodge to avoid damage. You nerf dodge or energy sigils and you completely kill the option to have a glass cannon necro in pve. So your suggestion actually hurts build diversity and class diversity more than it solves it.

The game is already very diverse. The zerker meta is actually just the most efficient way to play in a skilled group but its not viable for terrible players. If you stack tanky and healing builds the game becomes a hell of a lot easier but takes a bit longer to complete stuff.

Source: http://youtu.be/b2VhmwLwvrM

The problem is elitism creates hate towards a valid playstyle even when most players who play the meta arent the ones creating the elitism. Its the pug minority of toxic players and others who refuse to read lfg posts that cause all the conflict.

There are basically 2 reasons why zerker is optimal zerker:

-you don’t need much defense so you get as much attack as you can.
-the damage difference between zerker and non-zerker is so large that not going zerker loses you damage. It’s effectiveness increases exponentially.

The first reason will likely always exist for at least some players, regardless of how tough you make npcs. The second reason however, was adressed slightly. It’s not that anyone opposes people going zerker if they’re good enough. What people object to is that zerker was (is?) so strong that it makes all other gear useless in PvE. As some people have argued, going full zerker makes defending easier instead of harder because the fight is that much shorter.

Of course there’ll have to be some changes to make defense and healing desirable. I know of at least 1 planned change to make conditions more powerful in PvE. But closing the relative gap is a step in the right direction. Not the ultimate solution, but a step.

They also need to edit bosses to have significantly fewer, if any, one-shot attacks that render all defensive gear worthless. When any hit kills you, regardless of what you build, you might as well go pure damage.

Drarnor Kunoram.5180:

They also need to edit bosses to have significantly fewer, if any, one-shot attacks that render all defensive gear worthless. When any hit kills you, regardless of what you build, you might as well go pure damage.

They should also make bosses and mobs like they did in the scarlett event, where you need condition damage to kill it or render it vulnerable.

Until all this changes though, Zerker is still the way to go.

MrDmajor.7084:

The same people who say “no trinity” “no roles” are the same ones complaining about Zerker “meta” and making other “builds” more viable. It’s an all dps game. Moar damage pls.

Not really.
I know a lot of people that would rather the dungeons and content reward you for having group diversity and build diversity rather than going straight dps, which is the problem now.

Anet isn’t addressing that issue, rather they are taking the easy way out and making things take 3 seconds longer to kill with the overall DPS nerf.

We need mechanics that reward you for having condition damage.
That reward you for build something with healing power or toughness.

Right now, if you dont go full DPS, you aren’t running at full efficiency.
This game was designed to be a dps race.
Anet needs to introduce other systems in this game that reward players and groups for not sticking in one Zerker meta.

I would love to see the new dragon with minion that are immune to damage unless you condition their shield off. Or a boss that has a mechanic that damages you for a percentage of your power or has an attack that is directly mitgated through your toughness stat and either you have the healing power to heal the damage or you have the toughness to mitigate it.

Something to promote diversity.

The zerker meta problem is only relevant to PvE gameplay. And the choice of gear is purely a symptom of mob mechanics rather than the stats themselves.

In any case, there was no need to restrict direct damage burst in WvW. If the goal was to make crit damage function the same way as other stats, then they should have make the ratio better than 15->1%.

http://dulfy.net/2014/01/17/gw2-ready-up-skill-and-balance-developer-livestream-notes/

From the notes on that very first ready up where they mention Ferocity, “We want to make support roles more viable so they are not supporting other players by just killing things faster.” This is what’s coming, the direction balance is moving from here on out.

http://www.twitch.tv/guildwars2/b/496005243?t=8m40s

Specifically, watch this point in the stream for their statement of intent on why they are making this change now and only this change.

This is where the people are coming from who keep trying to beat into everyone’s heads that Ferocity is not the end all solution the community at large is making it out to be. They say that they had to make this change to crit damage calculation before they could move on to the other changes and they can’t make all of the changes at once. They haven’t even said what those other changes are yet and people assume they know what’s coming. They have been intentionally vague on their long term goals. I really feel that these posts on how Ferocity alone will not change the zerker meta are pointless. Of course it won’t! You know it won’t, arenanet knows it won’t, even your zerker armor knows it won’t. Everyone is in agreement! Stay tuned folks!

edit: added time code to twitch link for easier access. I also realized instead of being so negative, I should ask, what does everyone want to add to the conversation about improving build diversity? Is there something on this subject that hasn’t been covered yet?