Guild Wars 2

An external copy of this post (with additional formatting): http://tinyurl.com/kwkhhfj

Preface / Overview
This is an attempt to address the oft discussed “DPS / Zerker Meta” and provide a solution that improves build diversity across the board. Following, there are actually 3 different approaches described, each built around the same principles.

The initial targets of this discussion:

• The idea as a whole and any issues that it fixes or creates.
• The individual approaches and their pros / cons relative to each other.

This is not intended to be a comprehensive solution to all that ails us. The overall viability of conditions, Defiance, AI, and numerous other things would all still need to be addressed even if this were implemented.

The Problem
There are two important points to consider:

• First, the primary source of defense is player agency (Moving, Dodging, Blocking, Reflecting, etc.). This is a good thing and a large part of what makes this game fun. Reducing the efficacy of player agency will make the game less fun by shifting the focus from active interaction to raw stats.
• Second, the content can be “learned” such that an experienced player can avoid harm with relative impunity. This is a common form of expertise in single-player games (e.g. Mega Man), but those games are not meant to be played indefinitely (at least not in the same manner that an MMO is).

This means that (defensive) player agency should not be reduced, but, so long as it remains effective, experienced players will have no incentive to invest in anything that isn’t damage output. Over time, more and more players will become “experienced” and the meta inevitably degenerates into a “maximize DPS or bust” mentality.

This has already been discussed at length (along with many potential solutions) in several other threads. A few of the larger (and recent) ones:

• https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/balance/PvE-Revising-the-DPS-Meta/first
• https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/balance/To-clear-the-air-about-Berserker/first

The Solution
In a single sentence:
Convert all existing Attribute combinations on items to have a uniform offense to defense ratio.

A bit more detail:
This means that there would no longer be “offensive” (e.g. Berserker’s) or “defensive” (e.g. Sentinel’s) Attribute sets. Instead, both damage output and survivability would be provided in equal measure. This change does two significant things:

• It changes the nature of deciding what equipment to use. It is no longer about damage output vs. survivability and, instead, is about the type of damage and type of survivability. This shift encourages players to give their Profession (and their personal playstyle within it) more weight, fostering build diversity within a Profession and Equipment diversity among the playerbase as a whole.
• It provides a more reliable “base” of Attributes for all players. By ensuring every player has some offense and some defense, it helps to deliver on the original promise of “everyone can fulfill every role” — it’s just a matter of how they do it.

Ultimately what this is doing here is narrowing the band of variance on the theoretical Damage / Survivability scale, which sounds a lot like restricting customization (which it is). But this is not without precedent. Consider the fixed set of weapon skills that the player is given — a basic set of tools that gives the player a solid foundation on which to build their character. Item Attribute combinations should be guided by the same principle: each is useful and well-considered with no “bad” options.

Players who want to “unbalance” their character (either by skewing toward damage or survivability) can still do so with Skills, Traits, Runes, Sigils, and Consumables.

No doubt many who play full DPS would be upset. No doubt many who play full survivability would be upset. They would feel that something has been “taken away” from them, but they would also be getting something else in return. This is really just a matter of comfort. No one likes to have their things messed with. An advantage of doing this across the board instead of just targeting a specific combination (e.g. Berserker’s) is that no group of players is singled out. After going into effect, every player would go through the same transitional period together as a community while the equipment system normalizes.

The Actual Conversions
The following document illustrates the specifics of the proposed approaches:
http://tinyurl.com/l3s7mfc
That document contains multiple sheets: one demonstrating the state of the game as it is today and one for each approach outlined below. To best understand what’s going on, be sure to check them all (links to the relevant sheet are provided for each approach)
Disclaimer: this document only addresses “high level” (3 Attribute) items, but could easily be extrapolated to lower level items.

I’ve tried to keep the new Attribute sets as close to the originals as possible (within the constraints described above). Unfortunately, it’s not possible to make a sweeping change like this without some things getting the short end of the stick.

Offense vs. Defense (A Note on “50/50”)
The notation used (X/Y) indicates the weighting of item’s Attribute bonuses. So, 50/50 means 50% offense (damage output) and 50% defense (survivability). Today, there are multiple full damage sets (e.g. Berserker’s) and no full defense sets (Sentinel’s or Giver’s (armor) are about as close as you can get), so it would seem that an asymmetrical ratio (e.g. 60/40, 75/25) with a bias for damage output is probably a better fit than the 50/50 that is used here. The actual ratio to use is subject to debate; the important thing is that it consistent across all combinations (i.e. all sets give X% offense and Y% defense).

3 Attribute Approach (50/50)
http://tinyurl.com/kogrrl5

Here, equipment retains its familiar 3-Attribute nature, but has been reworked to provide a mix of offense and defense. Each item provides 1 Major and 2 Minor, with the Minor bonuses being of opposite nature to the Major. So, either:

• 1 Major Offense and 2 Minor Defense
• 1 Major Defense and 2 Minor Offense

Additional Notes:

• All combinations retain their original Major bonus.
• Wherever possible, combinations retain their Minor bonus(es) as well. Some, like Soldier’s, Knight’s, and Cavalier’s, are even unchanged!
• Celestial does not get 7 Minor bonuses; it is only included for demonstrative purposes. In reality, Celestial more or less already follows the pattern for “balanced” equipment.

An Example
Sentinel’s Pearl Broadsword (80 Exotic Greatsword)

Note: this uses 50/50 weighting (see: above).

Re: Berserker’s (AKA: “Why did I get Boon Duration? Seriously!?”)
Because Berserker’s is the flagship / whipping boy for this issue, it’s worth (preemptively) discussing it in a bit more depth.

Here’s the thing about Boon Duration. It’s being treated as a defensive attribute as far as slotting it for combinations. But in reality, many boons help your damage output too. Might, Fury, and Retaliation all boost your DPS in very obvious ways and Stability increases it indirectly under the the right circumstances.

So combinations with Boon Duration actually have a higher damage potential than if they had another strictly defensive Attribute instead. “But,” you might say, “doesn’t this mean that everyone will just run that?” Well, that’s a possibility, but because boons are fleeting (limited durations, subject to stripping, etc.) and must be activated (unlike Attributes, which are passively applied and always-on), this seems like a tolerable amount of deviation.

The other expected issue with Berserker’s is that it has Healing Power. The only remaining alternatives are Toughness and Vitality, which are both about immediate survivability, that is, the ability to absorb incoming damage without dying. Healing Power, on the other hand, is about recovery after the fact and is a much more active concept.

While it may not be the Zerker of yore, it still represents the “spirit” of Zerker (maximum damage potential with minimal defense) pretty well.

3 Attribute Approach (70/30)
http://tinyurl.com/l684rfr

Here equipment still retains its familiar 3-Attribute bonuses, but they have been reworked to have an offensive bias. Now, each item provides:

• 1 Major Offense
• 1 Minor Offense
• 1 Minor Defense

Additional Notes:

• All combinations that originally had an offensive Major bonus retain that bonus.
• All combinations that originally had a defensive Major bonus have had that converted to a Minor bonus.
• Wherever possible, combinations retain their Minor bonus(es) as well. Some, like Valkyrie, Knight’s, and Cavalier’s, are even unchanged!
• While this approach does have a 70/30 ratio, it’s because of the forced Major + Minor offense vs. a single Minor defense. The actual scaling of Major and Minor bonuses (relative to each other) has not actually been changed.
• Celestial does not get 7 Minor bonuses; it is only included for demonstrative purposes. In reality, Celestial more or less already follows the pattern for “balanced” equipment.

An Example
Sentinel’s Pearl Broadsword (80 Exotic Greatsword)

Note: this uses 70/30 weighting (see: above).

2 Attribute Approach (50/50)
http://tinyurl.com/lpfz5m2

This takes the previous 3 Attribute idea and pushes it a little further, trimming each combination to just 2 Attribute bonuses. With this, there are no Major or Minor bonuses; they are all equal. (This would not be true if the ratio were adjusted to be something other than 50/50.) Each item provides one offensive Attribute bonus and one defensive Attribute bonus.

Additional Notes:

• All combinations retain their original Major bonus.
• Wherever possible, combinations retain one of their Minor bonuses as well.
• Celestial, ever the exception, is unchanged as it more or less already follows the pattern for “balanced” equipment.

I personally prefer this one because it produces a more elegant result. It also corresponds nicely with Trait line Attribute bonuses which also comes in pairs. On the other hand, it is the most significant departure from the status quo and basically does surgery with a chainsaw on a lot of items, so I don’t expect it to be too warmly received.

An Example
Sentinel’s Pearl Broadsword (80 Exotic Greatsword)

Note: this uses 50/50 weighting (see: above).

The Rise of Mix and Match
It is reasonable to expect that, in a system like this, more players would have heterogenous equipment. A full set of Berserker’s would give a huge amount of Power, but no Precision or Critical Damage to round it out. This would be fine for raw damage output, but if you also want on-critical effects, maybe you’ll need to slot in a few Assassin’s items to boost your critical rate.

Control
It’s worth noting that nothing in this proposal has really touched on Control. This is because Attributes don’t really apply to it in any meaningful way. Attributes are almost entirely a matter of damage vs. survivability and Control is largely about skill selection (and effective usage). Any enhancements to Control-heavy play would have to come from another solution.

Nomenclature
Some Attribute combinations may no longer seem to “fit” their names; these would need to be renamed to better reflect their new bonus configurations. However, for the sake of simplicity in discussing these changes, all original naming has been retained.

PvP Disclaimer
The changes proposed here are focused on solving a PvE problem. PvP equipment awards Attribute bonuses exclusively through amulets. Because this is effectively a different system, PvP amulets could (and perhaps should) remain unaffected by all of this. Balancing PvP is an entirely different beast and no one really wants PvE changes creeping into PvP or vice versa.

However, it might be worth discussing the consequences of extending this (or something similar) to PvP equipment. As PvP is not really my domain, I will defer to other PvP players for their expertise on the ramifications of this.

Outro
There’s been some talk about “destroying Zerker”. I think it’s fair to say that this would qualify as such, but it also “destroys” pretty much everything else, so that brings a sort of balance to it. This is not about fixing/nerfing/destroying Berserker’s. A spotfix like that would only cause another king-of-the-hill combination to emerge. Instead, this overhauls the entire Equipment Attribute system in such a way as to prevent any single Attribute combination from being the dominant one.

Let me be clear: I am 100% in favor of experienced players maximizing efficiency and running content “as quickly as possible”. It is the will of the players (and perhaps just human nature) to seek out the shortest / fastest route to a goal. Nothing is going to change that.

The important thing here is to shift the emphasis from passive values to player activity.
We still want to reward good players; good players will still clear content (and earn rewards) faster than less-capable ones. But we should be rewarding skillful play, not skillful play and “good gear”. Ultimately, the less bearing gear has on the equation, the closer to that goal we’ll be.

So all the Direct damage sets would take a massive hit and the Condition sets remain largely the same. Condi damage and defense.

No amount of toughness/vitality/healing is going to save me from a necro /engi that just wants to facemash the keyboard and give me all the conditions.

tl;dr No. The condi pvp meta is awful enough already.

Brutal, this was intended as a PvE fix, and Ustor stated as such.

As a PvE fix, I think it’s brilliant.

Wrong forum and thread. Its already being discussed in the profession balance section on the “zerker” thread.

Chain.4087:

As a PvE fix, I think it’s brilliant.

This is not brilliant, this is utterly stupid. As it has been stated already about half a million times by knowledgeable people, this whole affair is not a gear problem, but a content problem. Content that is partially too easy and definitely much too old has allowed even comparably bad players to use high risk/high reward gear (aka zerker) without an appropriate risk, since they had ample opportunity to learn that content.

This … “suggestion” (that word is too nice for what is really is) totally ignores the core problem and, instead, just dumbs down the PvE part even further. This would mean that any halfway competent player loses a massive amount of DpS and gains nothing at all in return. And no, don’t start with boon duration, that one is useless even for boon-heavy classes, too. This means that the same old, stale encounters will simply last the double time. Greeeeeeeeeat idea.

I’m going to stick with brilliant as Chain. No matter what you zerker fanboys may cry about… the world isn’t about you.

And who decreed that the world is about you forum communists and dragging everyone down to the same miserable level?

why don’t we just dumb it down to 4 sets, PowVT, ConD VT, PreVT, and CritD, call it a day…. maybe instead of getting all fancy why not add soft caps and hard caps to precision and crit dmg, even fury cant make you pass the hard cap and receive DR from soft cap. Whatever they do, the people that number crunch everything and set the pve standards will shortly figure out the new best, and things will go back to as they were. You gonna complain if it switches to a condi meta that all they do is kite the boss while it dies? no one gets hit because its spam immob/crippled while everyone hides out of range/behind reflects or blocks?

I’d rather them look at this lol tanky condi meta crap thats going on in pvp. Its not like the only posts in lfg are zerker only ping gear, you all try to make it sound like you cant get groups ever.

And I’m sorry either power or condi dmg deserves to be on gear, sure mix and match the other 2 but make sure one or the other is on the gear. Gonna allow just Vit Tough gear? boosted stats so warriors can just hit 4k+ armor and like 35k+ health pools? Sit full adrenaline with healing sig, melandrus runes and lemon grass… don’t forget until they split wvw and pve one effects the other and vice versa.

You’re all whining and complaining about people who want to play optimal(got a hint for you, they will keep doing so regardless of what you do), because everythings “viable” but people want optimal.

Sorry for terrible structure, seems all over the place, too tired to care.

#adaptordie

ustor.3759:

Players who want to “unbalance” their character (either by skewing toward damage or survivability) can still do so with Skills, Traits, Runes, Sigils, and Consumables.

It’s not like gear balances your damage/survival, with traits and runes soft-tuning that choice. It’s EXACTLY THE OPPOSITE.

Chose a berserker meta build and replace weapons and armor with soldier (which is exactly the more even distribution you’re proposing) and you don’t even lose 20% of your damage output.
Take the same build, keep it in full berserker and change traits, runes and sigils for a more defensive setup and you can lose up to 50%, maybe even more, of your damage output.

For me, this is not anymore about if speedkills need or not a nerf. It’s about why so many people is failing so kitten addressing the real causes of the “issue”.

Terrible idea. I’m against it.

Boon duration and healing power on berserker gear? In that case I suggest they change the name from berserker gear to “erectile dysfunction”gear.

What I, personally, think about what would help break the ‘Meta’. This is purely a PvE Opinion, it MIGHT affect WvWvW, or rather, its’ PvE component (Keeps, Mercs).

As it is now, mobs in PvE (Dungeons mainly) currently seem to have no proper ‘Autoattack/Anytimer’ chain that does low, but constant pressure. Instead, they only seem to have well telegraphed ‘heavy hitters’, most the time combined with a control mechanic and very high damage, and a rather lowish attack rate that allows the current meta of ‘activate invulnerability frame’ (aka Dodge, which isn’t a real dodge to begin with).

So my idea would be:
- Revise NPC Attack skills so that their current ‘spammed’ moves deal less damage, with no control capability.
- Keep their current ‘Heavy Hitters’, a Damage revision on those might be in order, too, or as alternative (maybe even added): Increase the cooldowns on them, so one mob does not throw a Spike Trap every 5 Seconds. Unless it is a unique monster skill, a Mob using the clone of a player skill should cast it with the cooldown of a player that has the full Cooldown reduction specced out for this type of Ability.
- Unique Mob skills would work like a lower cooldowned Elite Skill. Also, enemies should not get multiple ones, except the true and proper ‘one of a kind’ opponents.
As example, King Adelbern in AC Story, while named, is not ‘Unique’. He is still a ghost of Ascalon, just stronger. Zhaitan on the other hand is unique, since there is only one Elder Dragon of Undeath. Unique should actually be regarded as this, when categorizing mobs, not as ‘Has name, is Unique’.

And maybe rework Dodge into an actual dodge that requires one to get out of the line of fire, not just a tumble while one runs towards the open maw of a creature vomiting a beam of pure death, doom and lollipops at one (at ground level, since that is what the game uses in-engine, so the ‘but you could roll underneath’ , while a great RP explaination, is just defense of an ‘invulnerability window’.)

General

• Endurance now regenrates 50% faster
• Players are not longer invulnerable while dodging
• Decreased the AoE of most spells

… now THAT would be a game changing update. Not sure if good or bad, but a change for sure

Every character in a dungeon is DPS+something. DPS+Banner, DPS+Reflects, DPS+Might Stacking, you get the picture.

Your traits, class & weapons determine your playstyle. Your gear is just a reflection of how much damage you intend to have to soak up.

TL;DR

But from the quick overview, I just don’t think you could be more wrong.

Very early on you state that experienced players can escape almost all damage by dodging.

Than you suggest solutions to this by changing gear. However this doesn’t accomplish anything because the root problem, that damage can be mitigated easily with any gear, persists.

This cannot be addressed via gear, or traits, it will either take a a fundamental change to the dodge mechanic, or fundamental changes to almost all PvE encounters.

HOW TO FIX GEAR STATS IN GW2
Step 1

• Remove all stats from weapons and armor.

Step 2

• Reduce trinket options to 4 slots (amulet, ring, ring, backpiece).
• Normalize trinket option slots between PvE and PvP (they both have the same number and type of slot options now.
• Normalize stats between PvE and PvP (all stats granted by trinkets are now consistent with current PvP-level stats).
• Adjust current legendary, elite and veteran hp throughout PvE to compensate for the overall player stat-reduction in PvE.

Step 3

• Add bonuses for each stat set akin to rune set bonuses.
• Tie these set bonuses to specific, non-spammable activation-bound abilities (i.e. specific skill activation such as a healing, elite or utility skill, combo finishers, swapping weapons, interrupting an opponent, successfully evading or blocking attacks, etc.).
• As a hypothetical example off the top of my head:
  • Berserker (1/4): Swapping weapons grants you might (1 stack; 15 seconds; 30-second cool-down).
  • Berserker (2/4): Whenever you combo with a fire field, you gain fury (5 seconds; 30-second cool-down).
  • Berserker (3/4): Whenever an opponent blocks one of your attacks, you gain might (3 stacks; 15 seconds; 30 second cool-down).
  • Berserker (4/4): If you strike a foe with stability, you destroy up to 3 boons on that foe (90-second cool-down).

Swagg.9236:

HOW TO FIX GEAR STATS IN GW2
Step 1
Step 2

• Reduce trinket options to 4 slots (amulet, ring, ring, backpiece).
• Normalize trinket option slots between PvE and PvP (they both have the same number and type of slot options now.
• Normalize stats between PvE and PvP (all stats granted by trinkets are now
• Remove all stats from weapons and armor.
  consistent with current PvP-level stats).
• Adjust current legendary, elite and veteran hp throughout PvE to compensate for the overall player stat-reduction in PvE.

Step 3

• Add bonuses for each stat set akin to rune set bonuses.
• Tie these set bonuses to specific, non-spammable activation-bound abilities (i.e. specific skill activation such as a healing, elite or utility skill, combo finishers, swapping weapons, interrupting an opponent, successfully evading or blocking attacks, etc.).
• As a hypothetical example off the top of my head:
  • Berserker (1/4): Swapping weapons grants you might (1 stack; 15 seconds; 30-second cool-down).
  • Berserker (2/4): Whenever you combo with a fire field, you gain fury (5 seconds; 30-second cool-down).
  • Berserker (3/4): Whenever an opponent blocks one of your attacks, you gain might (3 stacks; 15 seconds; 30 second cool-down).
  • Berserker (4/4): If you strike a foe with stability, you destroy up to 3 boons on that foe (90-second cool-down).

Woah. That is revolutionary and very very interesting. If they did this, I would certainly go with it.

You should really make a new thread with this as a proposal and multiple examples for other things like Cleric, Valkyrie… that no longer provide a stat bonus, but a skill effect.

There is no solution with the gear because the problem isn’t the gear, the problem is the content and the professions.

Content is scaled to green gear and there are no combat roles. This means the only stat that matters is DPS. you can change around stats all you want but whatever combination gives the best DPS will still be the only one worth wearing.

Until different profession have different roles and content is scaled to ascended gear then it won’t matter what you do to gear because it will all come down to dodge and DPS.

@OP: Maybe I’m missing something, but it seems to me that forcing defensive stats on players without first making them useful is going to cause a giant headache for no real gain. Defense/offense mixes are already available by choosing a mix of gear types. Many people just don’t run such mixes because there’s no reason to. IMO, anything that ANet changes should provide a purpose for the stat, not just force people to use it.

@Swagg: Your idea seems to be a compromise between the current PvP stat system (very limited) and the current system in PvE/WvW (complicated). However, it also seems like a huge step backward in ANet’s concept of customization and horizontal progression. It would drastically reduce the possibilities for custom stat mixes by taking the stats on 19 separate potential gear pieces and condensing them into 4. That might seem like a good move toward simplicity, but it isn’t going to appeal to min/max’ers or people who enjoy experimenting with their gear, and it ultimately doesn’t address the issue at hand, which is the usefulness of the defensive stat types.

If you read Blood Red Arachnid’s post that was linked by the OP, there are quite a few reasons why nerfing individual stats or stat combinations is not likely to resolve the issue.

Vick.6805:

@Swagg: Your idea … seems like a huge step backward in ANet’s concept of customization and horizontal progression.

You mean to say that it would be a huge step forward in the concept of horizontal progression because stats wouldn’t be such a huge focus anymore and now you can mix and match stat combinations for different effects as you might with runes.

Vick.6805:

It would drastically reduce the possibilities for custom stat mixes by taking the stats on 19 separate potential gear pieces and condensing them into 4. That might seem like a good move toward simplicity, but it isn’t going to appeal to min/max’ers

There will always be something to min max. Adding or subtracting stat-granting armor pieces will not change that. Besides, the point of “min/maxing” isn’t to derive enjoyment all day from carefully slotting your stats into the perfect optimization; it’s to slot your stats quickly and then go accomplish a goal as fast as possible because of those stats. If anything, adding unique abilities to certain stat combination sets could even throw some variety into min/maxing depending on the type of scenario presented by an encounter or boss. Limiting the stat-granting armor pieces to 4 would also facilitate this process of min/maxing for different scenarios.

Actually, now that I think about it, it would maybe be an interesting idea to do something like have 2 parts to every trinket.

• Part 1: Greater Stat Bonus – stats only
  • Example would be the PvP Amulet. It provides by far the greatest number of stats to the player.
• Part 2: Lesser Stat Bonus – small amount of stats as well as a stackable effect
  • Example would be the PvP jewel. It provides a much lower stat total when compared to the amulet, but in this case, this smaller stat bonus would also be accompanied by a stackable passive bonus similar to what one would get with a rune.
• End result
  • Players could play with loads of berserker stats by taking berserker amulets, but could then also get clerics bonuses by slotting clerics jewels if they chose too. The goal to making this balanced would be to make every stat combinations’ passive bonuses very attractive in their own ways to promote mixing and matching.

Vick.6805:

or people who enjoy experimenting with their gear,

See above. People will mix and match different abilities to try out stat combination bonus sets for themselves. Again, because there would be only 4, this would be much easier to do monetarily.

Vick.6805:

and it ultimately doesn’t address the issue at hand, which is the usefulness of the defensive stat types.

Sure it would. One would just have to be careful in designing the abilities associated with so-called defensive stat abilities. Defensive gear types would have party-support procs based on things like dodging, blocking and usage of healing skills along with limited offensive capabilities based on doing something support-oriented such as granting boons, healing and the like.

Vick.6805:

If you read Blood Red Arachnid’s post that was linked by the OP, there are quite a few reasons why nerfing individual stats or stat combinations is not likely to resolve the issue.

This isn’t a nerf. It’s a functionality change.

I remember at release when not only was zerker gear considered suidical, the concept of meleeing was also considered suicidal.
There really weren’t many nerfs to pve content. We just got better.

I won’t pretend to possess knowledge equal to others in terms of how this would affect everything, but why not just make attributes other than power, precision, and critical damage more attractive by making them affect more things? If we think the main reason for attributes like toughness, vitality, and healing power being largely ignored is because active defenses overshadow passive defenses, why not make those attributes affect active defenses in some way as well? Vitality could still increase health but also enhance the rate of endurance regeneration by some factor, for instance. Again, I’m not an expert at balancing, but it seems from a casual perspective that making defensive attributes more attractive by taking both active and passive defense into account would help alleviate the problem somewhat.

whoa, you guys talking about GW3?

Major change to game mechanics? Not gonna happen.
Anet will just band-aid the problem until GW3.

dem traits help with dealing more damage, some classes rely on it. remove it, then its gonna go ugly.

besides, its not even broken. traits or gear wise, i find them to be fine atm. gonna wait for patch notes to see whats gonna happen. if its bad then maybe its not the game for me

the constant changing of traits and builds and playstyle is just getting annoying. tbh how many times have u not noticed a “patch” where your toon gets totally trait reset?

ive went into dungeons and wvw with 0 traits alocated until i died a few times and wonder wtf am i doing or taking this kinda damage? or why do i have so little HP?

not once, but multiple times, and with the amount of characters i have, its a pita to keep doing it over and over and over and over again. what for? get used to it, it gets changed, find a new one, it gets changed again.. HUH? WHAT?

yea well, come on… just do it once and for all, remove all skills, make it SAB mode, 1 stick 1 hp pool of 1k hp , 1 attack single target 10hp per hit. may the best man win.

Swagg.9236:

HOW TO FIX GEAR STATS IN GW2
Step 1

• Remove all stats from weapons and armor.
  …

I like Swagg’s idea and would like to see it explored further. It’s a more radical departure from the current system than I was willing to put forward.

DHK.8406:

This cannot be addressed via gear, or traits, it will either take a a fundamental change to the dodge mechanic, or fundamental changes to almost all PvE encounters.

I agree with you. This would not fix everything.

Normalizing equipment stats relies on other things being fixed as well. There are many issues with the way PvE encounters work and it will take many changes to many systems to get it to where it needs to be. What it would do, though, is help prevent any single gear type from becoming the dominant one. Otherwise we’ll end up with a Whac-a-Mole fixes: adjust Critical Damage here, Condition Damage there, and the meta (and everyone’s equipment) shifts all around in response. I suppose you could consider this an attempt to improve Equipment diversity / viability more than anything else because, without other improvements, that’s all it would amount to.

CptAurellian.9537:

This would mean that any halfway competent player loses a massive amount of DpS and gains nothing at all in return. And no, don’t start with boon duration, that one is useless even for boon-heavy classes, too. This means that the same old, stale encounters will simply last the double time.

There are some valid points here. If Boon Duration is really lacking, it could be scaled up to be more effective. Similarly, enemy Health and Armor would need to be adjusted to compensate for the change. Although, according to Vargamonth’s calculations:

Vargamonth.2047:

Chose a berserker meta build and replace weapons and armor with soldier (which is exactly the more even distribution you’re proposing) and you don’t even lose 20% of your damage output.

So, encounters taking “double time” is probably a bit of an exaggeration.

Asumita.2174:

whoa, you guys talking about GW3?

Major change to game mechanics? Not gonna happen.
Anet will just band-aid the problem until GW3.

Sadly, this.