Since the condition damage buff, I’ve noticed a lot of enemies in PvE being WAY more challenging. That wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing; however, the particular aspects I’d like to discuss are just way over the top.
First example: Guild bounties. Specifically, Half-Baked Komali. This boss has a fire shield that applies burning to whoever hits it. I see on the wiki that there are supposed to be some kind of jellies or something to remove his fire shield, but I’ve never seen them.
Prior to the condition damage update, constant burning wasn’t a big deal; you could just keep attacking the boss, healing through the burn or simply ignoring it if you have enough passive regeneration.
After the update, it’s a horrible, hopeless mess. The burning doesn’t stack duration anymore, it stacks intensity, and that’s a very different situation. You hit the boss a few times and you’re dead; you can try to cleanse the burning as much as you can, but it’s just delaying the inevitable. Unless you’re at a waypoint with a large, DPS-heavy group, this is an unrealistic fight.
I don’t even want to think about Diplomat Tarban. That guy was a pain before, but with a small (and skilled) enough group, it was possible, though having more people scaled it up a bit. I’m glad I haven’t had to try fighting him since the condi buff, but I can’t give specifics on the balance of that encounter.
Second example: Ascalonian Catacombs. This dungeon is no longer suitable for level 30/35. The spider queen is much harder now than it was before, though that’s only one of many enemies that pile on the conditions here. Kholer is certainly no pushover these days, but he can be avoided easily enough. Gravelings… Gravelings are everywhere, and they can no longer be ignored. The massive condition damage from those guys is overwhelming.
For a party full of skilled players on level-80 characters, this may not be so bad. I’m sure there are plenty reading this who complete this dungeon daily. But even those players will have to admit that if a group of 5 players at the recommended level (30 story, 35 explorable) tried to play through this dungeon, they would find it much more challenging now than it was before (and it was never exactly a cakewalk for new players, anyway).
There are probably more examples, but I’m tired of typing. Probably more of the guild bounties, like Yanonka, 2-MULT, etc. I haven’t tried playing through any other dungeons since the update, but there are probably encounters there that could use a balance pass, too.
Has anyone else noticed any other bosses that seem much more deadly after the condition damage update? Do we expect some PvE balance changes in the near future?
“It is the stupidest children who are the most childish
and the stupidest grown-ups who are the most grown-up.”
- C. S. Lewis
A simple trait swap can give decent sustained healing. For example and Ele’s “soothing mist”, a Guardians “Symbol Healing” and “Battle Presence”, and a Necro’s “Vampiric Presence”, all add additional passive healing beyond just the Regen boon. Individually they aren’t that strong but, together they work well. Then we have proc’ing dark fields for Life Stealing too. Little things that don’t require investing into healing power to get.