Guild Wars 2

I’m going to be speaking from a Staff-wielding Necro’s point of view.
We’ll assume a 100dmg base and that hitting 3 Mobs is the Anet goal of an AoE.

1 Target = 120dmg
2 Targets = 110dmg
3 targets = 100dmg
4 targets = 90dmg
5 targets = 80dmg

The 10% damage stairstep will need tweaking to balance, but the concept is what we are looking at here. Also, lift the number of mobs hit cap. There should be no reason for a mob to be immune to the hit if it is standing in the Area of Effect.

Calculated simply by the number of mobs and a set differential
1 Target : 100 * 1.2 = 120dmg
2 Targets : 100 * 1.1 = 110dmg
3 targets : 100 * 1 = 100dmg
4 targets : 100 * 0.9 = 90dmg
5 targets : 100 * 0.8 = 80dmg

It was said that Anet doesn’t want us to use AoE’s on a single target, but for a Necro with a Staff that is basically saying DO NOT USE A STAFF. The auto-attack is so slow, it is almost useless. The piercing of it is the only saving grace.

We can also set a baseline (for Necro) that an AoE hitting 3 targets should deal 100% more damage (total) than the auto-attack. So if my Staff auto-attack can hit 150dmg, a total of 300dmg hitting 3 targets would be “right”.

Why does the damage go up for fewer targets?
If my auto-attack hits for 150 and my AoE hits for 120, it is still better for me to use my auto-attack and promotes the Anet idea of not using an AoE on a single target.

Also, keep in mind, the Auto-attack may not be the best baseline, but its is the concept I am sharing here.

In my philosophy, an AoE should deal more damage than an auto-attack when dealing with multiple mobs. That is the point of an AoE. If it is strictly better to auto attack then it is best to single target, focus fire, everything. Forever. Just take the AoE out of the game.

What are your thoughts?