Guild Wars 2

As some of you may know, the patch on June 23rd is going to see the removal of attribute points in specific trait lines (now called Specializations) and the increase of attributes on existing gear. For reference, here’s the exact blurb from the patch notes uploaded on http://www.dragonseason.com/activity/390/:

Attribute points on equipment have been increased by ~30%

While I generally agree with this change, I’ve noticed a drastic decrease to Boon Duration in almost all classes with only minor compensation. For example: Let’s take a look at the Guardian’s Honorable Staff Trait which grants 20% Boon Duration while wielding a staff and recharges staff abilities by 20%. If one were to assume that pre-patch, a support guardian had 6 in Virtues and 6 in Honor, he would have gained 30% baseline Boon Duration. Therefore, with this new specialization trait, a support Guardian has lost 10% Boon Duration while wielding a Staff and 30% Boon Duration when switching to their second weapon set. Therefore, while I feel like this is a huge nerf to Support, we can fix this problem by actually making Giver’s Armor (Primary: Toughness, Secondaries: Boon Duration and Healing Power) a worthwhile set to pickup.

Currently, Giver’s Armor gives a whopping 1% Boon Duration PER Armor Piece. Taking the patch note from above, we’re left with a whopping 1.3% Boon Duration per piece which is pitiful. I feel like this is the perfect opportunity for Arenanet to buff this armor set by drastically increasing the boon duration and introducing the remaining weapons of this attribute set. Below is a sample (obviously not final and subject to testing/changing) of the new Boon Duration numbers, taking into account also the above +30% base buff:

Existing Exotic Giver’s Armor Pieces:
Helmet: +3% Boon Duration
Shoulders: +2% Boon Duration
Chest: +5% Boon Duration
Gloves: +2% Boon Duration
Pants: +4% Boon Duration
Shoes: +2% Boon Duration

Introducing new Exotic “Prophet’s” Weapons: (since existing Giver Weapons give Condition Duration, Vitality and Precision)
1 Handed: +4% Boon Duration
Offhand: +3% Boon Duration
Two Handed: +7% Boon Duration

Existing Exotic Snowflake Trinkets:
Amulet: +5% Boon Duration
Rings: +4% Boon Duration * 2
Earrings: +3% Boon Duration * 2
Backpack: +2% Boon Duration

Assuming someone equips a full set of Giver’s/Prophet’s/Snowflake, they will have a total of 46% Boon Duration. I feel like this would go a long way in giving Support Players even more options to gear (Do I get Nomad’s to have more survivability? Do I get Clerics/Apothecary’s to do more damage and more healing? Do I get Giver’s to have more boon utility?) and is an incredibly fair trade off as you gain no offensive attributes whatsoever. Eventually, Arenanet can also add Ascended options for acquiring this set through the usual means (Rings – Pristine Fractal Relics/WvW, Accessories – Guild missions/Laurels…etc). Since Giver’s/Prophet’s does not have any offensive stats on it, there shouldn’t be an issue of heavily stacked Boon Duration damage dealers (as was the case a while back where you were allowed to get +45% Boon Duration by equipping 2 Traveler Runes, 2 Monk Runes, and 2 Water Runes).

KinkyPotato.4219:

• Attribute points on equipment have been increased by ~30%*

Have they actually stated by how much boon duration will change? What if most stats change by 28% and boon duration increases by more? Until we know the specifics, I think it’s premature to ask for specific new prefixes or sigils or runes.

Well, it seems as we can change stats on ascended gear with an exotic insignia/inscription with the patch, we will get ascended givers gear.

Wanze.8410:

Well, it seems as we can change stats on ascended gear with an exotic insignia/inscription with the patch, we will get ascended givers gear.

Linsey Murdock said on reddit that you can only change your stats to stats that are currently available on ascended gear, so no givers.

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

Have they actually stated by how much boon duration will change? What if most stats change by 28% and boon duration increases by more? Until we know the specifics, I think it’s premature to ask for specific new prefixes or sigils or runes.

I don’t think it’s premature at all, considering the fact that Giver’s armor has been in this state for quite some time (I believe it was introduced two Winterdays ago). It may have easily been overlooked with the big list of changes coming our way (which don’t get me wrong, I am very appreciative of).

Also, nowhere in the post did I mention about adding new sigils or runes or even prefixes. This prefix already exists, I was merely just extending it by adding it to the remaining missing pieces (weapons). I’ve edited my initial post because I completely forgot about the Snowflake Trinkets (which are the Giver equivalent of trinkets).

I believe you may have been confused because I used a different name for it (as stated above, this was only done because “Giver’s” weapons already exist but have different stats on them).

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

KinkyPotato.4219:

• Attribute points on equipment have been increased by ~30%*

Have they actually stated by how much boon duration will change? What if most stats change by 28% and boon duration increases by more? Until we know the specifics, I think it’s premature to ask for specific new prefixes or sigils or runes.

I guess now’s the time we should be asking about this since Giver’s armor is still 1% ingame…

KinkyPotato.4219:

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

KinkyPotato.4219:

• Attribute points on equipment have been increased by ~30%*

Have they actually stated by how much boon duration will change? What if most stats change by 28% and boon duration increases by more? Until we know the specifics, I think it’s premature to ask for specific new prefixes or sigils or runes.

I guess now’s the time we should be asking about this since Giver’s armor is still 1% ingame…

Fair enough. It seems almost deliberate that they have drastically reduced the number of ways (and amounts) to extend boon duration. If that was intended, I’d like them to say so explicitly. If it wasn’t, then I’d be interested to find out how they intended to un-nerf the current state of boon duration buffs.