Guild Wars 2

We all know that conditions are an affliction that affects characters differently depending on the type(s) applied. What I do not understand is the mechanics behind the timers and the damage when more are added.

There are 2 types of condition variables: Damage, and Duration. Certain conditions will stack either upon one another after additional players introduce them.

Poison will stack duration, while bleed would stack a multiplier for damage.

Lets use these both as our control for Duration Vs. Damage. This is where I get to the portion of the mechanic which I hope to be explained by a developer.

(I will capitalize the condition types for easier reading)
If Person A places 10 seconds of POISON on a target for 100 damage per tick(DPT), and THEN Person B places 10 seconds of POISON on the same target after Person A for 150 DPT, what would the damage output be for those 20 seconds?

A) 100 DPT {Because Person A placed the condition on first?}
B) 150 DPT {Because Person B has more condition damage?}
C) 125 DPT {Split the difference?}
D) 100 for 10 seconds, and then 150 for 10 seconds? {Lets take turns!}

Lets move on to bleeding!

If Person A places 10 stacks of BLEEDING on a target for 50 Damage Per Stack (DPS*), and THEN Person B places 10 stacks of BLEEDING on a target for 100 DPS, do the same rules apply as with POISON? Do they each gain their own individual damage for their stacks at the same time for the duration?

This may be common knowledge to most, but I still would like confirmation. What happens if Person A’s stacks last for 10 seconds, and Person B’s stack lasts for 20 seconds?

A) Person A and B’s stacks last for 10 seconds and 20 seconds, respectively
B) They combine {20 seconds of 150 DPS}
C) Other?

Time to get technical

What if person A places 20 stacks of BLEEDING on a target for 50 DPS, and then Person B places 20 stacks of BLEEDING on the same target for 100 DPS?

A) Person B gets shafted, and only applies 5 stacks of 100 DPS
B) Since Person B has more damage output than Person A, they get 20 stacks of 100 DPS
C) They (try to) split the difference evenly
D) Person A has 20 stacks of BLEEDING on the target, Person B has 5, and when bleeding runs out, Person B’s 20 becomes 15 stacks.
E) Other?

How would this work if 3 people were introduced instead of 3? What if we used different numbers in duration for BLEEDING? I’ll leave you guys with the questions above.

If you have anything to contribute to my post, please let me know and I may make some edits to the original post in hopes that we can get an answer from a developer, or someone on the team.

I’m pretty sure that the new additions add on at the values they are supposed to unless you hit the cap. At that point, the stronger ones override the weaker ones.

But, I’m not an expert, so someone else feel free to correct me.

Rhysati.4932:

I’m pretty sure that the new additions add on at the values they are supposed to unless you hit the cap. At that point, the stronger ones override the weaker ones.

But, I’m not an expert, so someone else feel free to correct me.

Thank you for your input. It looks like you’re leaning more towards a “modified B” in regards to the stacks.

I hope that others see this thread and comment on it.

Lot of this stuff is immensely hard to test in game under any semblance of controlled circumstances, just working out the damage/tick/duration/cyclic attack time for every a single weapon to work out the overall damage done is immensely difficult.

Would really appreciate an Anet developer input for some hard answers to Ayusaki’s questions.

First question: no idea.

Second question: A

Third question: B

At least that’s how I think it works.

Thanks for all the input guys. Unfortunately, as Thresher had mentioned, “it’s hard to test”. I hope this discussion gets more views and posts. I know a lot of my necro friends had been wondering this ever since I asked the question, and a definitive answer would probably do the community some good.

If there are any cross-linked threads that could be posted here to similar discussions, do not hesitate to submit them. Thank you.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Effect_stacking

That page has some useful, but conflicting information.

First it says “If there are two unique sources of Burning, the effect with the greater condition damage value will be used until that source ends, at which point, the intensity from the second source is used for the remaining duration.”

Then later notes “When a boon or condition stacks in duration from multiple sources, its strength is applied in the order of application, using the relevant stats for each source. For example, a stronger stack of poison applied over a weaker one must first wait for the weaker stack’s original duration to expire before the increased damage takes effect.”

For bleeding I fairly sure it works like this.
Ex: Person A applies 10 stacks of bleeding at 50 damage per stack for 10 seconds. Person B applies 10 stacks of bleeding at 100 damage per stack for 10 seconds. Both players see “20” on the stack count for 10 seconds, but they only see the damage text fly up from their own stacks, at a rate identical to if theirs alone were the only stacks. The total damage done is unchanged from if both players had applied their bleeds sequentially rather than simultaneously.

Ex: Person A applies 10 stacks of bleeding at 50 damage per stack for 20 seconds. Person B applies 20 stacks of bleeding at 100 damage per stack for 10 seconds. For the first 10 seconds, B will see 20 stacks worth of his bleeding, but A will only see 5 stacks worth of his, as stack count is capped at 25 total. After B’s stacks run out however, I’m not sure if A will revert to the full 10 stacks for another 10 seconds, or if the game “throws away” the excess stacks and would only be at 5.

Undertow, this is a great find, it brings a lot of information to the foreground. Thanks for this.

You did mention that there’s conflicting information in the post, and I see what you mean.

Thanks Brunohstein, I just hope someone gets to answer them (Sorry for the late replies, as well)