Guild Wars 2

Condition vs Power

My warrior has a 33% chance to passively inflict vulnerability on target with a critical hit. My warrior is deeply invested in power/precision/critical damage gear.

My necro Inflicts vulnerability on its axe auto attack and focus skills/wells. My necromancer is heavily invested in hybrid gear and carries a far greater condition damage stat than my warrior.

Both inflict a lot of vulnerability leading to vulnerability stacks easily reaching a peak 25 stacks quickly.

However my warrior benefits from this condition more than my necro does, even though my necro has the superior condition stats running. I guess this is called support. However support doesn’t mean being purely unselfish and acting like a shrinking violet.

It does make me wonder whether vulnerability needs to be split in vulnerability/frailty.

My necromancer is stacking superior condition damage and duration, but can only make 50% use of it being a hybrid and all other pure damage builds best benefit from it. How is it that my necro higher condition stat plays out exactly the same as my warrior vulnerability stacking even though they have no condition stat at all?

How is it my conditions do no more/no less damage from stacking high amounts of vulnerability, but the warrior standing next to me is now doing between 1%-25% more physical damage.

Is it just that a stat one profession has invested in can also be replicated by other professions that have invested nothing in it to the same point of efficacy?

Vulnerability= more physical damage received.
Frailty= Longer condition duration or higher condition base damage.

It just makes sense.

Pure condition builds that stack vulnerability can’t make any use of it because it does not affect their condition damage, and they soon become redundant when other professions are also stacking the exact conditions (Increasing physical received by 1% per stack to a maximum of 25 stacks) even though they have invested nothing into conditions.

Another reason the berserker method is running rampant. Guardians/warrior/power rangers can effectively stack their own vulnerability and don’t ‘need’ support players to do it for them. They also best benefit from this vulnerability stacking and anything outside of zerker/assassin is just their to fill the numbers. If ‘we’ want power builds to stop looking at condition professions with the view point of, “we found this rampagers condition guy out by the rubbish bins..we took him home and called him necro.” Changes like this would help. A good reason to bring a condition stacker is because of all their conditions they can also maximize our damage and keep a heavy amount of ticks going in DPS down time. This creates a ‘together we’re better’ attitude.

Just say’n.

With the coming nerf to Power Builds (outside of pvp), the last thing conditions need are buffs except in PVE. I’m tired of seeing 10s+ immobilized on top of other conditions.

Another counter argument is that there is no boon that reduces Condition Duration or Condition Damage.

Condition damage is balanced by not having any multipliers affect it. True, Vulnerability doesn’t increase it, nor do traits, but at the same time, it isn’t reduced by Protection or Weakness.

The way it currently works is fine. Only thing it needs is a way around the stack cap in PvE.

I perhaps could’ve been more specific. I didn’t add the PvX prefix to title as this was not intended to highlight vulnerability stacking issues in Pvp, just direct commentary on the application of damage, boons etc currently are hectic and just dog piling on each other in PvE, rather than being purposeful and/or specific to styled builds. A build that maximises damage output through condition stacking/duration and also adds condition removal/regen to a party (Such as a necro or guardian) is near obsolete in this support role as multiple other professions have highly similiar abilities whilst still applying the exact same damage maximizing conditions with little, to no investment in any sort of condition stat and still carrying viable DPS power builds.

Kyon.9735:

With the coming nerf to Power Builds (outside of pvp), the last thing conditions need are buffs except in PVE. I’m tired of seeing 10s+ immobilized on top of other conditions.

Another counter argument is that there is no boon that reduces Condition Duration or Condition Damage.

I personally feel that Immobilize and Fear are CC, and that all CC must have an exclusivity rule and immunity before another one can be put on, and that duration cannot be increased. Meaning if you just immobilized me, you cannot pull/knockdown/knockback/fear me while the immobilize is on, nor can you pull/knockdown/knockback/fear me until 3-5 seconds AFTER the immobilize has ended.

RyuDragnier.9476:

Kyon.9735:

With the coming nerf to Power Builds (outside of pvp), the last thing conditions need are buffs except in PVE. I’m tired of seeing 10s+ immobilized on top of other conditions.

Another counter argument is that there is no boon that reduces Condition Duration or Condition Damage.

I personally feel that Immobilize and Fear are CC, and that all CC must have an exclusivity rule and immunity before another one can be put on, and that duration cannot be increased. Meaning if you just immobilized me, you cannot pull/knockdown/knockback/fear me while the immobilize is on, nor can you pull/knockdown/knockback/fear me until 3-5 seconds AFTER the immobilize has ended.

Yes the CC in this game absolutely needs diminishing returns as it keeps getting applied and possibly an immunity to certain effects when you have just suffered one, in order to stop chain Fear, Stun / Immobilize.

The developers said that they wanted to create a set of game mechanics where CC was limited and would never require a system of diminishing returns, which is sound in principle but they failed in execution.

GW2 has highly accessible Fear, Stun, and Immobilize. Two forms of snare through Cripple and Chill. And several control abilities though Knockback, Knockdown, Launch, Blow-out, Pull and Push.

So on top of creating game mechanics with more CC than I’ve ever seen in an MMO before they then also went and allowed Immobilize to be stacked like a damaging condition and be hidden from condition removal amongst the other 11 condition effects GW2 has, but it acts as a control condition…

They failed their original CC promise, they created too many conditions, too much CC accessibility, too many opportunities for chain CC builds.

Diminishing returns and CC immunity required, or a total overhaul of this terrible condition system.

I don’t see an issue with being chain-CC’d to death, so long as it is a group effort. The problem right now is that a single person can do it.