Guild Wars 2

Weaken:
Ferocity lowered overall damage output
Stat stacking sigils now need to be equipped (only an issue for dual wielders)

Reinforce:
Boon duration nerfed
2 sigils for 2h weapons
Strength runes could make might stacking easymode
FGS and Frostbow are considered bundles and will now do 5% more damage with an ascended weapon equipped
If overall dps is lower yet mob hp remains the same – dps becomes more important (less slack room)
Bloodlust sigil becomes a freebie on any map with underwater enemies.

Your thoughts?

My prediction about stacking sigils being exploitable was correct. Only downside is you can no longer double stack.

wonder how long it will take before they fix the reign of lusty tridents.

Weaken:
Mesmer empowering mantras moved to useless line (Domination)

Cotser.7015:

Weaken:
Mesmer empowering mantras moved to useless line (Domination)

Yeah and that just suck!

Jeremlloyd.6837:

Cotser.7015:

Weaken:
Mesmer empowering mantras moved to useless line (Domination)

Yeah and that just suck!

noooooo

rip mesmers

Cotser.7015:

Weaken:
Mesmer empowering mantras moved to useless line (Domination)

Dang i missed that one, wonder how that will change things…

Oh jeez…

Cotser.7015:

Weaken:
Mesmer empowering mantras moved to useless line (Domination)

Never used a mantra on my mesmer for that :P

My thought:

They nerfed builds and equipment to push sigils and runes that are far easier to balance and accessible to everyone.

Mistake: they didn t touch conditions that get access to sigils and runes boost anyway….but that is more a www issue.

It didn’t hurt the zerker meta at all, it did hurt some of the other options though.

/sigh /mourn boon duration.

Zerker dps is hugely buffed in all zones/dungeons lower than level 80

Added the above to the list of things to consider.

I don’t think this patch touched the meta at all. Zerker is still the highest damage and best option, because players still don’t need any additional defense to survive game content. Until the latter changes, zerker will be king.

I don’t think this enforced the meta via slack room, though. You can complete all of the game’s content in full cleric gear, even without using heals, and you can still solo the hardest bosses in the game in full zerker gear (effectively cutting group DPS by 80%). DPS is done more out of practicality than necessity.

Wipe means nothing. You can simply redo it. With wipe = gameover a lot of people would have to start running more defensively.

Just do it gw1 style and watch people swarm the forum, having it crash with an onslaught of qqing.

And the answer they would receive would probably be in line with “get more toughness, vitality and healing power”. Which is what they want right now.

Until the balance of attack patterns are so slow that it’s dodgeable often without vigor and other active defenses negate infinite amount of damage, while totally independent from gear, zerker stays the best option.

The other thing people wish for is unavoidable damage. Damage that can’t be mitigated, something like Slick and Sparky have is a cheap mechanic. I’m not sure it would solve anything.

As haviz pointed out and i often say it too, fail is not punishing enough. You wiped? Not a big deal, WP back, try again. Sometimes you can waypoint back halfway inside the dungeon.

Punishing discourages people from playing, though. The advantage of having gameplay that isn’t punishing is that you can crank the difficulty up much higher than normal. When death is cheap, you can make death more abundant.

My hope is that, by adding faster attack rates, creatures with better behaviors I.E. kiting mobs and faster melee mobs, skill rotations that are cohesive and dangerous, groups of enemies with collaborative effects, and enemies with diversified defenses, the game becomes a harder environment that will take advantage of players with passive defenses and healing abilities.

Your second paragraph does look like a description of dredges.

Ferocity increased the damage in low level dungeons by a huge amount. That reinfirced the Zerker-meta.

But frankly, the Zerker meta was never a stat-balancing issue in the first place. It was a game-design issue. Nothing but DPS matters for dungeons and nothing about that has changed.

So neither has the “Zerker meta”.

Blood Red Arachnid.2493:

Punishing discourages people from playing, though. The advantage of having gameplay that isn’t punishing is that you can crank the difficulty up much higher than normal. When death is cheap, you can make death more abundant.

My hope is that, by adding faster attack rates, creatures with better behaviors I.E. kiting mobs and faster melee mobs, skill rotations that are cohesive and dangerous, groups of enemies with collaborative effects, and enemies with diversified defenses, the game becomes a harder environment that will take advantage of players with passive defenses and healing abilities.

Fully agree with the first paragraph.

Second one… /shrug. I think zerk should always be an option. People just need to understand the choices they are making. Do you want to optimize and go full bore through with zerk gear, basically taking the “go big or go home” attitude? Or do you want to have a bit more leeway in mistakes, and while it may take longer, it’s a much less stressful occasion? That’s your choice between zerk or the more defensive builds.

They’re both valid choices. I can play zerk, I’ve been playing it more and more often as I’ve gotten better. But, there are times I still prefer to drop to more defensive options just because it’s nice to not be screaming obscenities at my screen because I mistimed a dodge by .1s. Playing Defensive builds doesn’t make you bad necessarily, I still use all my active defense tools while I do it, it’s just nice to not wipe if you screw up =). This is a game, it’s supposed to be fun, sometimes a relaxing run through dungeons that takes a few more minutes is more fun /shrug.

So that’s my issue, people want them to get rid of something that doesn’t need to be gotten rid of. Zerk play is the psuedo hard mode option. Higher risk, higher reward. It’s far from the only way to play though. And it doesn’t make you bad to not go zerk, it just makes you bad if you don’t read the LFG description and come in a zerk group without zerk.

I keep hearing that nothing but dps matters. In that case, why would you ever bring a guardian or a mesmer? Just run with eles, one war and thieves.

Screw the thief, eles all the way.

haviz.1340:

I keep hearing that nothing but dps matters. In that case, why would you ever bring a guardian or a mesmer? Just run with eles, one war and thieves.

Pugs don’t use reflects. Fact.

Guardian brings more than just reflects.

haviz.1340:

I keep hearing that nothing but dps matters. In that case, why would you ever bring a guardian or a mesmer? Just run with eles, one war and thieves.

Every class can bring awesome DPS. But support is nice too, especially if it helps apply more DPS more easily.

“Zerker meta” is about gear choices, not class performance.

And for PvE there is only one choice.

Dee Jay.2460:

“Zerker meta” is about gear choices, not class performance.

Hm?

deSade.9437:

Dee Jay.2460:

“Zerker meta” is about gear choices, not class performance.

Hm?

That’s why we see so many of those 5 mesmers/Engies/Necro parties farming dungeons.

Dee Jay.2460:

“Zerker meta” is about gear choices, not class performance.

Ah, so the gear choice is about dps but the rest isn’t. Gotcha.