Guild Wars 2

What % decrease did you apply to Simin’s heal?

Hopefully nothing more than a 10%~ nerf.

Was sad to see no mention of any spy kit nerfs in the patch notes, I suppose the stealth changes mentioned could be there to address this…would be a bit silly to break the crystals from caledon forest but leave spy kits.

What is the new internal cooldown to life stealing foods? This change affects many builds that rely on it and it would be nice to know a # instead of just a mystery number you guys like to give out, thanks.

The Caudecus’s Manor vendor in Lion’s Arch now correctly offers the Major Rune of the Monk.

I hope that’s a typo and is meant to be

now correctly offers the Major Rune of the Noble.

Puandro.3245:

What is the new internal cooldown to life stealing foods? This change affects many builds that rely on it and it would be nice to know a # instead of just a mystery number you guys like to give out, thanks.

There are builds that rely on food?

Iruwen.3164:

Puandro.3245:

What is the new internal cooldown to life stealing foods? This change affects many builds that rely on it and it would be nice to know a # instead of just a mystery number you guys like to give out, thanks.

There are builds that rely on food?

Yes.

Interesting changes to AC, though I have to test it to say further.
WPs are good, especially to TA (perhaps now I will try to solo it).
Hopefully you also fixed many map exploits!

Spy kits, life-steal food. Good (for my wallet)!

Funny, I never considered using it. After watching a video now, I’d better have I’m always too late before the nerfs come in

Iruwen.3164:

Funny, I never considered using it. After watching a video now, I’d better have I’m always too late before the nerfs come in

Spy kits have been used en masse for months now. Foods as well.

What!? No! Spy kits were the only things that made half of the fractal encounters even tolerable! It was also the absolute only thing that allowed you to seriously resurrect defeated players mid-fight, as otherwise there’s simply no feasible way to do it in encounters that are remotely difficult. I can only imagine how asinine the Dredge fractal is going to be now on 48+, or any number of other stupidly tuned encounters.

Blah! Rob, I am now putting it on you to fix the encounters that are ridiculously overtuned. I blame you for this!

Robert Hrouda.1327:

Iruwen.3164:

Puandro.3245:

What is the new internal cooldown to life stealing foods? This change affects many builds that rely on it and it would be nice to know a # instead of just a mystery number you guys like to give out, thanks.

There are builds that rely on food?

Yes, there are. Many of the glass cannon builds rely on the food buffs for lifesteal that is greater than healing. I added a 1 second cooldown after each proc to stop abuse using certain skills that could heal a character from near death to full health due purely to critting with a food item.

Alright 1 second seems fine and i thought they were too good but 1 second leaves them viable while not overly nerfing them to oblivion. 2 seconds or more and i would probably just go back to Mango Pies.

Looking forward to the AC changes as soon as my guild is on later today, any word on changing the current Warrior “meta” for dungeon runs.

This is coming from a guild that runs with at least 1-2 guard and 1 mesmer in dungeon runs with 2-3 warriors.

Puandro.3245:

Robert Hrouda.1327:

Iruwen.3164:

Puandro.3245:

What is the new internal cooldown to life stealing foods? This change affects many builds that rely on it and it would be nice to know a # instead of just a mystery number you guys like to give out, thanks.

There are builds that rely on food?

Yes, there are. Many of the glass cannon builds rely on the food buffs for lifesteal that is greater than healing. I added a 1 second cooldown after each proc to stop abuse using certain skills that could heal a character from near death to full health due purely to critting with a food item.

Alright 1 second seems fine and i thought they were too good but 1 second leaves them viable while not overly nerfing them to oblivion. 2 seconds or more and i would probably just go back to Mango Pies.

Looking forward to the AC changes as soon as my guild is on later today, any word on changing the current Warrior “meta” for dungeon runs.

This is coming from a guild that runs with at least 1-2 guard and 1 mesmer in dungeon runs with 2-3 warriors.

It basically means you can’t abuse them by doing something like 100b or BF and get all your health back via Omnomghost or what have you. I agree completely with 1 second being just right.

Puandro.3245:

Robert Hrouda.1327:

Iruwen.3164:

Puandro.3245:

What is the new internal cooldown to life stealing foods? This change affects many builds that rely on it and it would be nice to know a # instead of just a mystery number you guys like to give out, thanks.

There are builds that rely on food?

Yes, there are. Many of the glass cannon builds rely on the food buffs for lifesteal that is greater than healing. I added a 1 second cooldown after each proc to stop abuse using certain skills that could heal a character from near death to full health due purely to critting with a food item.

Alright 1 second seems fine and i thought they were too good but 1 second leaves them viable while not overly nerfing them to oblivion. 2 seconds or more and i would probably just go back to Mango Pies.

Looking forward to the AC changes as soon as my guild is on later today, any word on changing the current Warrior “meta” for dungeon runs.

This is coming from a guild that runs with at least 1-2 guard and 1 mesmer in dungeon runs with 2-3 warriors.

Food change actually nerfed Berserker Warriors (other classes too but perhaps people can’t survive glass anymore). So perhaps we will see a change.

Esplen.3940:

Puandro.3245:

Robert Hrouda.1327:

Iruwen.3164:

Puandro.3245:

What is the new internal cooldown to life stealing foods? This change affects many builds that rely on it and it would be nice to know a # instead of just a mystery number you guys like to give out, thanks.

There are builds that rely on food?

Yes, there are. Many of the glass cannon builds rely on the food buffs for lifesteal that is greater than healing. I added a 1 second cooldown after each proc to stop abuse using certain skills that could heal a character from near death to full health due purely to critting with a food item.

Alright 1 second seems fine and i thought they were too good but 1 second leaves them viable while not overly nerfing them to oblivion. 2 seconds or more and i would probably just go back to Mango Pies.

Looking forward to the AC changes as soon as my guild is on later today, any word on changing the current Warrior “meta” for dungeon runs.

This is coming from a guild that runs with at least 1-2 guard and 1 mesmer in dungeon runs with 2-3 warriors.

It basically means you can’t abuse them by doing something like 100b or BF and get all your health back via Omnomghost or what have you. I agree completely with 1 second being just right.

The biggest change is that this will affect how much you heal from multiple mobs :P.

Wethospu.6437:

Puandro.3245:

Robert Hrouda.1327:

Iruwen.3164:

Puandro.3245:

What is the new internal cooldown to life stealing foods? This change affects many builds that rely on it and it would be nice to know a # instead of just a mystery number you guys like to give out, thanks.

There are builds that rely on food?

Yes, there are. Many of the glass cannon builds rely on the food buffs for lifesteal that is greater than healing. I added a 1 second cooldown after each proc to stop abuse using certain skills that could heal a character from near death to full health due purely to critting with a food item.

Alright 1 second seems fine and i thought they were too good but 1 second leaves them viable while not overly nerfing them to oblivion. 2 seconds or more and i would probably just go back to Mango Pies.

Looking forward to the AC changes as soon as my guild is on later today, any word on changing the current Warrior “meta” for dungeon runs.

This is coming from a guild that runs with at least 1-2 guard and 1 mesmer in dungeon runs with 2-3 warriors.

Food change actually nerfed Berserker Warriors (other classes too but perhaps people can’t survive glass anymore). So perhaps we will see a change.

We don’t run full glass but a mix of knight/zerk gear so it’s NP.

Robert Hrouda.1327:

Esplen.3940:

It basically means you can’t abuse them by doing something like 100b or BF and get all your health back via Omnomghost or what have you. I agree completely with 1 second being just right.

Yeah pretty much. Stacking 3 mobs and 100B pretty much meant you were invincible. The same could be said for any class that could stack and AOE a spot rapidly over a short period.
My ranger’s penetrating arrows while using a shortbow was incredibly OP, considering I could heal 1k a second on average just by hitting multiple dudes. Running that and troll unguent for a heal meant I could just stand still and not die.

The pies doing damage is intentional i imagine?

Wethospu.6437:

Food change actually nerfed Berserker Warriors (other classes too but perhaps people can’t survive glass anymore). So perhaps we will see a change.

It was rather OP with sword guardians or in certain fractals with AoE weapons.

haviz.1340:

Wethospu.6437:

Food change actually nerfed Berserker Warriors (other classes too but perhaps people can’t survive glass anymore). So perhaps we will see a change.

It was rather OP with sword guardians or in certain fractals with AoE weapons.

Guardians can’t have high CritChance.

By the way, Robert, thanks for updating the Caudecus tip from Monk to Noble, I was panicking on my chair while watching my patcher.

Or for whoever updated it, give them a thanks from me.

Glass cannon Warrior no longer a viable choice after i wasted 80 gold speccing for it last night. So awesome. At least i got to have fun with this game for just 1 night =D

Please tell me you didn’t “adjust” Lupus projectiles, my team needs a new speedkill world record.

Glass cannon Warrior no longer a viable choice

Here’s an interesting tidbit. I’ve been running full zerker warrior since October and never used heal on crit food until recently. Not suffering much.

Iehova.9518:

Please tell me you didn’t “adjust” Lupus projectiles, my team needs a new speedkill world record.

Glass cannon Warrior no longer a viable choice

Here’s an interesting tidbit. I’ve been running full zerker warrior since October and never used heal on crit food until recently. Not suffering much.

Not viable in WvW anymore, sorry.

Wethospu.6437:

Guardians can’t have high CritChance.

Heh ;D

Robert, so i managed to log in and i saw the new spy kit changes, so now its a bundle with a 1 min cooldown, thats is a pretty good change but i have some suggestions.

Can you add a CD to the actual item instead of just the CD once you use it, or maybe if you don’t use the #1 skill on the bundle and drop it can you regain back the spy kit and not waste it.

Since its 1 minute CD now, how about letting people move after going into stealth.

HatSimulator.9362:

Not viable in WvW anymore, sorry.

Not giving a kitten about wubwub, sorry.

HatSimulator.9362:

Not viable in WvW anymore, sorry.

It’s a dungeon subforum -.-

Any word on when we can get Ascended earings/amulets from fractals?

No changes to veggie pizza? that’s a 40% overall extra condition duration. It is more than any other trait other classes can ever achieve.

Also a bit disappointed that only AC got touched in this update. I thought the phase 2 you mentioned in your post would revamp all dungeons, specially Hotw with the massive damage sponge bosses

Nebilim.5127:

No changes to veggie pizza? that’s a 40% overall extra condition duration. It is more than any other trait other classes can ever achieve.

Also a bit disappointed that only AC got touched in this update. I thought the phase 2 you mentioned in your post would revamp all dungeons, specially Hotw with the massive damage sponge bosses

Don’t know why they’d do anything they said they’d do

About time Spy Kits got the nerf bat. Now the playerbase might actually have to learn how to do fights properly.

Nebilim.5127:

No changes to veggie pizza? that’s a 40% overall extra condition duration. It is more than any other trait other classes can ever achieve.

And still pure condition builds are inferior in PvE.

Nebilim.5127:

No changes to veggie pizza? that’s a 40% overall extra condition duration. It is more than any other trait other classes can ever achieve.

Also a bit disappointed that only AC got touched in this update. I thought the phase 2 you mentioned in your post would revamp all dungeons, specially Hotw with the massive damage sponge bosses

Yea, nerf condition builds in pve, that sounds about right. o0
Seriously, I don’t like so much of cond duration coming from a consumable alone, but losing this without compensation would be such a huge nerf to condition builds…

Well, actually… I fully expect this is the path anet will take with it.

Robert Hrouda.1327

Great catch – I did in fact do something to spy kits (both OOW and Ash Legion) that got dropped out of the patch notes by accident (Stealth stealth nerf!). I’ll go make sure they are properly put into the patch notes.

When you say that you did ‘something’, did you mean ‘I nerfed them so bad that they now got a 60 seconds colldown, so they are pretty much wortless in the fractals’ or did you mean ‘no, you don’t get reimbursed for the ones you got’.

Oh, wait, you did BOTH.

Odd that it’s always bad news that gets forgotten.

Good job!

You know, I understand that some people looked down on spy kits, but they added a dimension of skilled play to lots of encounters where team members could actually resurrect other team members in battle while the others kited and mitigated damage. While they did nullify some of the challenge inherent in many events, many events are totally unfeasible to achieve without them. Guardians are now more necessary than ever in Fractals because how else can you possibly keep someone from getting hit once during a level 49 dredge control panel event? The Dredge are immune to blind already, which is one of the major contributors to most classes’ damage mitigation! Even better, try the Dredge door gun event after that on left path on level 49. That one’s going to be a blast. The only possible alternative to double guardian in this instance is double Thief using SR to keep certain players stealthed the entire event. Both of these are bad for team-composition and team-building. I could see this being doable with one particularly exceptional Thief and SB 2 spam in a smoke field, though the likelihood of finding one of those in a pub is nigh-impossible. Another one that’s going to be hilariously stupid is the L49+ Snowblind bonfire event. At least that one can sort-of be kited, though.

The point is that many events in fractals weren’t complained about previously precisely because Spy Kits existed. You could use these items to compensate for poor design and poor scaling. I never used Spy Kits anywhere else in the game because the content is so easy that it is unnecessary. Before I used to see the Dredge fractal as the second fractal and go “Nice, time to get some Dredge bags and Destroyer Cores”. Now I am going to see it and reroll because the events are horrific, and I’d rather repeatedly do the Swamp fractal and try for a different second fractal than try to get crafty and get by the Dredge fractal with a pub group.

tl;dr: This is not a l2p problem, this is a problem with overtuned events incentivizing the use of Spy Kits and Spy Kits getting made worthless in all content without the events being patched up in tandem.

Rising Dusk – I don’t really want to pick apart your post, but your examples on the Dredge fractal is proof of why I think Spy Kits were harmful for the game, because it shows that you have never had to deal with the events properly.

1. The mobs on the left door only spawn at certain door-health percentages (Nuke door -> clean up mobs -> nuke door -> clean up mobs).
2. The cage event requires someone to aggro the veteran away from the panel guy, as well as having the other party members not on a button controlling the adds.

The bonfire event in Snowblind is the only difficult part of that fractal if done without spy kits, so I don’t care that it is very dangerous at high levels.

Then, on top of that, you generally have to play well enough to not constantly die, because your party can no longer res you with impunity under almost all conditions. I don’t call it “skilled play” when your party is dying.

With spy kits mostly out of the picture, it will be clear what the truly poorly designed mechanics are (the ones that you can’t get better at with practice). Then, from that, the designers can learn from them and hopefully fix them / never make the same mistake twice, and the dungeons will be better for it.

Pinch.4273:

Rising Dusk – I don’t really want to pick apart your post, but your examples on the Dredge fractal is proof of why I think Spy Kits were harmful for the game, because it shows that you have never had to deal with the events properly.

1. The mobs on the left door only spawn at certain door-health percentages (Nuke door -> clean up mobs -> nuke door -> clean up mobs).
2. The cage event requires someone to aggro the veteran away from the panel guy, as well as having the other party members not on a button controlling the adds.

The bonfire event in Snowblind is the only difficult part of that fractal if done without spy kits, so I don’t care that it is very dangerous at high levels.

Then, on top of that, you generally have to play well enough to not constantly die, because your party can no longer res you with impunity under almost all conditions. I don’t call it “skilled play” when your party is dying.

With spy kits mostly out of the picture, it will be clear what the truly poorly designed mechanics are (the ones that you can’t get better at with practice). Then, from that, the designers can learn from them and hopefully fix them / never make the same mistake twice, and the dungeons will be better for it.

My thoughts on spy kits and the dredge fractal summed up in one. Also it doesnt surprise me again to see people complaining that the content is impossible after a nerf to a easy tactic is dropped in. The whole idea behind most of the dredge fractal is pacing yourself, people rush too much in dungeons and on high level dredge you rushing will just end up biting off more than you can chew. Amazes me how few people actually realize how a lot of dredge works.

I’m not going to lie, spamming OOW Kits for 100% invis uptime was just cheese, and this is coming from a Mesmer, meaning I’m there for pretty much every dirty trick in the book.

Let’s focus on the most important issue here. Ascended accessories and amulets in fractals. Either that or lift the kitten agony so we can progress.

DancingPenguins.9875:

Let’s focus on the most important issue here. Ascended accessories and amulets in fractals. Either that or lift the kitten agony so we can progress.

You can progress to 49 with 30 AR. If you think you’re ever going to get enough AR to survive 50 Jade Maw, I have some bad news for you.

Pinch.4273:

DancingPenguins.9875:

Let’s focus on the most important issue here. Ascended accessories and amulets in fractals. Either that or lift the kitten agony so we can progress.

You can progress to 49 with 30 AR. If you think you’re ever going to get enough AR to survive 50 Jade Maw, I have some bad news for you.

We could you know if they added Ascended gear to fractals that we could infuse to 10 AR for each trinket.

All the knockdown on AC path 1 seems excessive…hilarious, but excessive.

Pinch.4273:

DancingPenguins.9875:

Let’s focus on the most important issue here. Ascended accessories and amulets in fractals. Either that or lift the kitten agony so we can progress.

You can progress to 49 with 30 AR. If you think you’re ever going to get enough AR to survive 50 Jade Maw, I have some bad news for you.

Nobody would really care about AR or the new ascended gear being inaccessible to people that actually could use them if they let us use res orb or ranger res at 50+ again.

Robert Hrouda.1327:

I can’t do anything about ranger pets since that is not my area of expertise, and I doubt we will ever make ranger pets perma stowed.

very very excessive

Ac path 1 review: Add adds, lots of bleeding, a lot more knockdown, huge dmg immobilize move to spider. 2/10 not impressed.

Ac path 2 review: Ghost Eater, I did this fight when it was called Simien Priestess of Dwayna in Arah p4, the ghostbusters/super cool skin and effects were SO awesome. 8/10 would be 10/10, but penalized for lack of creativity.

Ac path 3: Babysit an npc who can’t keep himself alive because without him you can’t survive. Let 3+ rocks fall and hit the exact same spot so that 1 knockdown can equal death. Add a knockback because it combos so well with Grast’s stationary bubble. 1/10: Just dumb.

Summary: The way I can recognize that these designers are the absolute best money can buy, is that they follow these 4 extremely complicated rules to increase difficulty: 1. Add adds, 2. Add more HP, 3. Add more CC, 4. Increase damage – 1 shots preferred. I think you have good artists though.

The revamped AC is a huge disappointment. If you took all that time and all those resources to change what, in my experience, is your best and most popular dungeon, then it needs to be excellent. One of the 3 paths is excellent and the other 2 are quite bad.

When a subordinate turns in work of this quality, I would be seriously concerned. This transcends the typical good person tried something new and missed the mark, this is so poor that it makes me concerned about the overall capabilities of the individual(s).

Very poor, and as the lead content designer, I’d love to hear your thoughts on this. At the end of the day, everything related to content has your stamp.

ok I’m going to be honest. AC’s new design choices are very good in theory. But unfortunately, most groups are not as organized as a group of friends chatting on skype or a group of devoted dungeoners from a hard core guild. The new mechanics are so demoralizing for most that the dungeon is now not worth doing for most pugs. AC is suppose to be the intro dungeon. I can’t even see a group of 35’s getting past the spider queen anymore. I appreciate the attempt to make things more interesting. I really do. But I would have liked it better if the dungeon was still fun and worth doing for most of the player base after the changes.

Hmm Ninja buff to Arah Path 3. I’ve never been one to subscribe to exploiting the fights, but it was interesting that even pulling the twin bosses out of their area so we have more room to move makes the door-mobs keep respawning so you have those 4 on top of the two bosses. I like it, but I don’t like it. Also it seems that both Crush and his buddy got updated skills, that poison AoE cloud is impossible to see through =/ I don’t mind the changes but it would have been nice if we were told, lol.