Guild Wars 2

Well?

http://www.strawpoll.me/10006523

#eSports

Yes or no is not sufficient.
I am happy with the patch.
But if they dont do a little more before the next season starts, we will have a problem.

no ranked/10

Agreed. It is a good patch but feels like barely 10% that is needed in each class to allow diversity.

Some changes were good, many were mind-boggling,

General impression of the patch is the same as for the one before – couple hotfixes to patch some things in the meta, but yet still no balance “Update” that would open up alternative playstyles, allow build diversification, update useless traits/skills or reduce powercreep across the board.

Rym.1469:

Some changes were good, many were mind-boggling,

General impression of the patch is the same as for the one before – couple hotfixes to patch some things in the meta, but yet still no balance “Update” that would open up alternative playstyles, allow build diversification, update useless traits/skills or reduce powercreep across the board.

That’s my biggest issue with the last two big patches.

Anet has no dedicated skill/ class update team. They merely have a few guys number tweaking meta builds, with the occasional “here’s a lower cooldown for this underpowered skill” here and there (from a guardian’s point of view).

Sure, the changes done to, say, ranger’s single-handed weapons were cool, but they were too little considering that all professions need the same treatment. Seems like the guys in charge of those changes are too busy with future eltie specs.

Hell no. Instead of scaling back power creep, it gutted a few skills and power creeped a ton more.

I can’t really answer that in a yes or no.

Overall, the patch is amazing.

But if we’re just talking about the balance patch, I’m pretty disappointed.

Not even remotely.
It shows quite clearly that they have no intentions of scaling back the power creep, and are fine with the current gimmicky game play.
This is no longer the game I bought in 2012 and enjoyed through 2014, and it certainly isn’t a game I want to play in any competitive capacity.

Asrat.2645:

Yes or no is not sufficient.
I am happy with the patch.
But if they dont do a little more before the next season starts, we will have a problem.

Then you are not satisfied, just happy.

The Necro changes were heavy handed (why not just nerf the chill damage 50%, it would have still been good instead of this bleed change which ruins the flavor/fun of being a chillmancer). Adrenal health buff for Warrior is beyond ridiculous and not touching Moa/Inspiration traitline for Mesmer had me scratching my head. Rangers are probably dead in the water now too so no Im not too happy with the changes, other than the pistol autoattack change for Thief and the added anti-boon stuff.

vana.5467:

Not even remotely.
It shows quite clearly that they have no intentions of scaling back the power creep, and are fine with the current gimmicky game play.
This is no longer the game I bought in 2012 and enjoyed through 2014, and it certainly isn’t a game I want to play in any competitive capacity.

This^

After playing a couple matches I don’t think this meta will be too terrible.

Now… what worries me is how they will change matchmaking. I can tell when I’m playing with and against competent players and when things are one sided

I am of the impression that these forums will never be happy. That’s alright. I like reading salt. On the topic, I’ve not played it much yet, but there are some changes I really like. Balance has never been a big concern for me. I think people’s expectations for balance are too high. I voted yes.

ZombieLeach.5862:

I am of the impression that these forums will never be happy. That’s alright. I like reading salt. On the topic, I’ve not played it much yet, but there are some changes I really like. Balance has never been a big concern for me. I think people’s expectations for balance are too high. I voted yes.

What you’re saying is that balance in a “competitive” game with a competitive league doesn’t matter to you?

I see you’re the person that rerolls to the fotm class every patch. Good for you.

Balance is precarious, and is never perfect.

I actually think Anet’s balance paradigms are cautious to a fault. Only getting a balance update every 3 months, and most of those changes being minor number tweaks, is arguably worse for the game than knee-jerk balance changes that happen all the time are. I also think they are bit too lackadaisical with making sure power creep is controlled.

Overall, I like more of the changes than I usually do this time, so I can’t say I’m terribly unhappy. Lack of mesmer nerfs was probably the biggest faux pas.

Not happy on scrapper nerf.
Now scrapper feels like a bad thief who cant do good damage cant stealth well and cant sustain and please still remember scrappers has only 1 weapon
Why not bing rapid regn. back as it was and nerf elixir gun wich was really strong on pvp with all sustain.
Without elixir gun scrappers could not compete so good against necros and mesmers or any high burst condition spikes.
Forget about roaming in wvw
Forget about playing scrapper hammer in pve
Forget build diversity on scrapper in pvp

My biggest issue is that they said they weren’t going to further balance prior to season 3, which I think is really naive. One-off balance patches are virtually proven not to lead to good balance, and this will be no different.

They did a lot to add more parity to the overall state of balance, but it’s still very far from perfect, or even ideal. Certain classes got overnerfed, some very strong classes didn’t even get adjusted. Certain builds or weapons were literally completely destroyed. Rifle for warriors is literally not worth equipping for any reason, anymore, for example.

Dragonhunters being nerfed was necessary but done in completely the wrong way. DH’s weren’t overpowered, but their traps were way too easy to use and be effective with with little counters. Instead of nerfing traps, however, they nerfed other stuff. Doesn’t impact low-skill play whatsoever, but made DH virtually worthless in high-end PvP.

I honestly don’t feel that Anet spends any time actively PvPing in this game, and if they do then it’s all at one level of gameplay and not spread throughout the various ranks. Balancing for high-end gameplay should be the goal, while tweaking low-end gameplay to at least still be enjoyable.

So far, they’ve managed to fail to balance the game at every level of gameplay and have effectively removed classes from competition for three seasons straight. My main class (warrior) got a nice buff, but still wont be meta. That’s fine. I just wanted to be viable. But I don’t want another class to suddenly replace warriors in being detrimental to having on your team. That’s when the patch becomes a failure.

Dwayne.6904:

Not happy on scrapper nerf.
Now scrapper feels like a bad thief who cant do good damage cant stealth well and cant sustain and please still remember scrappers has only 1 weapon
Why not bing rapid regn. back as it was and nerf elixir gun wich was really strong on pvp with all sustain.
Without elixir gun scrappers could not compete so good against necros and mesmers or any high burst condition spikes.
Forget about roaming in wvw
Forget about playing scrapper hammer in pve
Forget build diversity on scrapper in pvp

Welcome to elementalist profession world, pls enjoy your stay

bLind.6278:

What you’re saying is that balance in a “competitive” game with a competitive league doesn’t matter to you?

I see you’re the person that rerolls to the fotm class every patch. Good for you.

So what you’re saying is that you only care about competative PvP and none of the other game types? You know that this is a casual game right, not competetive? I’d think Anet not adding a proper leage for over 3 years would tell you that. And to be clear, no I don’t reroll every balance update. I main Warrior with Engi as my secondary.

To clarify what I said, I think the expectation of 3-5 builds per class, per game type is a bit extreme. 1-2 is what I expect. And to add, I can understand the salt at the lack of weak weapon, skill, & trait tweaks. It’s a legit irritation.

• PvP map updates: very positive
• some power creep fix for some classes: very positive
• most power creep still left for others: very negative
• more power creep on warrior (and a bit thief) to make it on par with other power-creeped profession: understandable because of previous point, but still negative
• literally nothing new for most classes, I feel like the builds of old are still the builds of new: negative