Guild Wars 2

A lot of people have been posting about how this class or that class is OP or underpowered, but looking at all the Meta builds and watching some of the matches I’m curious if Anet has any thoughts on balancing out the specializations WITHIN the classes.

For a specific example, I think I would like to see Non-Elite specializations maybe get some love so every single Mesmer doesn’t need to run Chronomancer to be effective in PvP. I think, in an effort to up the ante in the expansion they made the Chronomancer really amazing. . .but does that specialization really need to have “Chronophantasma” as well.

Some of those abilities being redistributed to other specializations could help with overall balance and give people the ability to be more creative with their builds. Right now, unless you are Legendary/Platinum type player there really seems to be no reason not to be in Elite, which basically gives everyone a bunch of overpowered abilities as it is.

Just a suggestion, please don’t eat me.

The Elite spec balance issue has been discussed since HoT, but as far as I know the devs have been silent on it. It’s weird because you know they must be reading these comments. They reply on other topics, and “HoT powercreep” has got to be the most common phrase on the forums. It kind of makes you wonder if it is really a conspiracy to sell expansions.

LOL Maybe. But I was hoping if other people could put specific instances they noticed up here maybe we could get some kind of response.

I used MEZ Chronomancer just because I’ve heard people complaining about Continuum shift. I don’t think it’s continuum shift so much as shift combined with everything else that specialization gives you.

The Specializations, as far as I can tell, make HoT pay to win as far as PvP is concerned. Which honestly is ok by me but I know a lot of people don’t like it. But there are very few classes where you can be viable in league if you are not rocking out the shiniest elite specialization (Again, Disclaimer: Assuming you aren’t a Pro or Legend or Plat or whatever.).

This is definitely a balance problem in that within each class some traitlines are so superior to others. But instead of buffing core traitlines I would rather see elite spec lines either redesigned or nerfed some more to bring them in line with core traitlines.

coro.3176:

The Elite spec balance issue has been discussed since HoT, but as far as I know the devs have been silent on it. It’s weird because you know they must be reading these comments. They reply on other topics, and “HoT powercreep” has got to be the most common phrase on the forums. It kind of makes you wonder if it is really a conspiracy to sell expansions.

Devs and CS people often read, but rarely reply, to forum posts and comments. This is pretty much standard across the industry.

Anyway, you can be absolutely confident that in-class balance is watched and adjusted for, just like cross-class balance is. For example, Necro Axe got a boost because it was rarely used in the game. That is exactly to adjust for imbalance within the class.

I mean specifically the complaint that base traitlines are not as good as elite specs. That is, almost every single pvp build uses the elite spec and most classes don’t have competitive non-elite spec builds. If they are indeed balancing things, they’re sure taking their time about it. It’s been this way for well over a year now.

Traits and condition damage need to be put back to before the June 2015 build which basically butchered balance of this games. Plenty of reasons of the current issues were created by this major update to the game.

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Game_updates/June_2015

If you see the HoT specializations in beta testing that same summer they were balanced to reflect the game prior to this major change to traits and condition damage. After this build came out and all the high % damage traits which came with this new build which is outrageous to this day how they remain….they then revamped traits of HOT specializations (you can see in this link http://dulfy.net/gw2traits#build=AgABqAKoBqQ~ which is that shamans specialization calculator made during the work in progress phase of development) They had proper balanced however not complete… the concepts were basically in line with how they should of been launched. Instead they listened to people to make them how they are today. Bottom line that June 2015 build essentially through balance of this game to the rollercoaster it is today.

Along with the high % damage traits (10% and more on some traits) coupled with them simply merging 300 Power and other stats from traitlines to be baseline in gear created the issue we have today of the meta. Then you have might which is essentially balanced for the old lower power and trait damages that you then add on 300 more Power from max stacks of might (which for some reason have high durations mind you) to even esculate this even more. Oh and now it seems protection is given out to skills with double duration instead of it being 1 to 2 seconds.. we see skills having 4 seconds or more. (Updated version of Protect me gives 4 seconds of protection then you got a trait which also gives 4.. so 8 seconds of protection every 20-30 seconds without much effort.. and that is just one example as im rambling on but im sure people get the point.

This topic has been discussed to hell and back, everything from possible rebalancing to making one of the core lines a ‘vanila elite’.

Anyway i think the way anet intends to go about this is make elite specializations equal in power, and make each cater to a play style or role, and release a new batch with each expansion. This way every build will be 1 elite spec and 2 core ones.
In this way to be able to actually play pvp (and not get obliterated) you have to purchase at least 1 expansion, you cannot be f2p and play pvp to any meaningful extent unless you like getting yelled at by teammates for playing a core build and dragging the team down and ect.

Now given the standard mmo practices of having to buy each new expansion or becoming totally obsolete this should not be that big a deal, however anet marketed HoT and elite specs as ‘a way to enable different playstyles for existing classes’ and not as more powerful mandatory trait lines which was the end result. Maybe they intentionally lied or changed their plan during development but that statement is the major reason why so many ppl were and still are adamant about nerfing elites (also because elites introduced a metric kittenton of aoe and passives but that is a different topic).

Tbh if the future waves of elite specs end up as alterations to playstyles/roles for classes and not straight up upgrades aka you can play pvp with HoT and no future expansion and not be kitten i will not complain. If we get a repeat of HoT then there will be issues.

Sure. That’d be nice. However, I’d like to play the game sometime this year.

As it is, I haven’t been playing as much because the lack of build diversity has made it uninteresting. I know I’m going to run into the same zerker build on every single roaming warrior in WvW. Every Scrapper in pvp is running the same thing. Same condi chrono. Same DH with traps/symbols, same Druid (you can’t even play base ranger any more it’s so bad).

I much preferred pre-June2015 where non-meta builds could hold their own against the rest. Sure, there were eras where certain builds got out of hand – (turret engi, hambow, cele), but on balance, you weren’t forced to run any particular spec if you wanted to be competitive.

OriOri.8724:

This is definitely a balance problem in that within each class some traitlines are so superior to others. But instead of buffing core traitlines I would rather see elite spec lines either redesigned or nerfed some more to bring them in line with core traitlines.

The problem is that elite specs are better for mechanical reasons. The only way to make them “on par” would be to straight up kitten them.

Realistically Chrono and DD are the only Especs that are superior for their traits. Most especs are just taken for the profession mechanic and/or new abilities.

OriOri.8724:

This is definitely a balance problem in that within each class some traitlines are so superior to others. But instead of buffing core traitlines I would rather see elite spec lines either redesigned or nerfed some more to bring them in line with core traitlines.

The funny thing about E=Spec balance is that, we’re using a base class as the measure of balancing here, when really it’s going to be balanced around having other Especs in the game and having to choose, If you bring current e-specs in line with core profession, we’re just going to have the same exact problem again when they release another expansion with a new set of elite specs. If anything core profession class mechanics should really be improved so there’s a difference when slotting a elite spec or rolling base.

Lucentfir.7430:

The funny thing about E=Spec balance is that, we’re using a base class as the measure of balancing here, when really it’s going to be balanced around having other Especs in the game and having to choose, If you bring current e-specs in line with core profession, we’re just going to have the same exact problem again when they release another expansion with a new set of elite specs. If anything core profession class mechanics should really be improved so there’s a difference when slotting a elite spec or rolling base.

If they balance elite specs according to other elites specs then yes things should end up ok-ish, but if they make the new batch even more absurd to push sales of the next expansion then goodbye guild wars.

coro.3176:

you can’t even play base ranger any more it’s so bad)

Be honest, you can’t play any class base anymore in pvp above gold. Almost all elite specs are straight up upgrades:
berzerker is warrior+, tempest is water magic on steroids, chronomancer straight up gives you another shatter that is stronger than anything core mesmer has, daredevil is pre-nerf acrobatics on steroids, scrapper gives you ludicrous passives, druid gives ranger a purpose otherwise you fulfill no role others cannot do better, dragon hunter supercharges your virtues, reaper gives you stability, mobility, and better synergy with shroud 1 traits.
Only class that is debatable is necromancer since you give up range and this is mostly a debate for wvw.

Crinn.7864:

OriOri.8724:

This is definitely a balance problem in that within each class some traitlines are so superior to others. But instead of buffing core traitlines I would rather see elite spec lines either redesigned or nerfed some more to bring them in line with core traitlines.

The problem is that elite specs are better for mechanical reasons. The only way to make them “on par” would be to straight up kitten them.

Realistically Chrono and DD are the only Especs that are superior for their traits. Most especs are just taken for the profession mechanic and/or new abilities.

Chrono is superior for mechanical reasons imo. Its traits address the mechanical shortfalls of mesmers class mechanic. Mainly, that phantasms are a very large source of our damage and utility, yet our mechanic destroys them. I mean the entire class revolves around letting us shatter without being without illusions for too long, if at all. I would rather they redesign mesmer entirely and then redo parts of the chrono line to mesh better.

OriOri.8724:

Crinn.7864:

OriOri.8724:

This is definitely a balance problem in that within each class some traitlines are so superior to others. But instead of buffing core traitlines I would rather see elite spec lines either redesigned or nerfed some more to bring them in line with core traitlines.

The problem is that elite specs are better for mechanical reasons. The only way to make them “on par” would be to straight up kitten them.

Realistically Chrono and DD are the only Especs that are superior for their traits. Most especs are just taken for the profession mechanic and/or new abilities.

Chrono is superior for mechanical reasons imo. Its traits address the mechanical shortfalls of mesmers class mechanic. Mainly, that phantasms are a very large source of our damage and utility, yet our mechanic destroys them. I mean the entire class revolves around letting us shatter without being without illusions for too long, if at all. I would rather they redesign mesmer entirely and then redo parts of the chrono line to mesh better.

Even within chrono line, there is no balance at all. Chronophantasm and illusionary reversion are the obvious choice.

I tried so hard to make a build using danger time and lost time. But they are so trash to make any use out of it.

Tempest traitline is also similar, elemental bastion is so much stronger than the other 2 GM traits.

This resonates with me a lot to be honest. Friends always ask me “do I need to buy the expansion to be relevant in pvp?” My response to them is always that they’ll have a steep hill to climb with f2p builds. I feel like they would bring in SO many new players if they put some power into f2p specs or nerfed elite specs to be in line with them.

And in ANet’s delusional mind they think everyone with the expansion wants to play the elites and that it’ll incite the free players to buy power via the expansion.

How are those profit margins working? Not well.

DeceiverX.8361:

And in ANet’s delusional mind they think everyone with the expansion wants to play the elites and that it’ll incite the free players to buy power via the expansion.

How are those profit margins working? Not well.

About those profit margins……https://articles.pvplive.net/article_images/OverwatchRev.JPG

It might surprise you but the main players of gw2 are not pvp’ers but ppl who enjoy raids and idk pve i guess? Anyway these players do not have much concern about class balance or build diversity or whatnot.
So yea as long as the numbers are good no reason to majorly change anything, just pump out the next expansion.

Exciton.8942:

OriOri.8724:

Crinn.7864:

OriOri.8724:

This is definitely a balance problem in that within each class some traitlines are so superior to others. But instead of buffing core traitlines I would rather see elite spec lines either redesigned or nerfed some more to bring them in line with core traitlines.

The problem is that elite specs are better for mechanical reasons. The only way to make them “on par” would be to straight up kitten them.

Realistically Chrono and DD are the only Especs that are superior for their traits. Most especs are just taken for the profession mechanic and/or new abilities.

Chrono is superior for mechanical reasons imo. Its traits address the mechanical shortfalls of mesmers class mechanic. Mainly, that phantasms are a very large source of our damage and utility, yet our mechanic destroys them. I mean the entire class revolves around letting us shatter without being without illusions for too long, if at all. I would rather they redesign mesmer entirely and then redo parts of the chrono line to mesh better.

Even within chrono line, there is no balance at all. Chronophantasm and illusionary reversion are the obvious choice.

I tried so hard to make a build using danger time and lost time. But they are so trash to make any use out of it.

Tempest traitline is also similar, elemental bastion is so much stronger than the other 2 GM traits.

This is true. Be on the lookout in the next week or two, I’m gonna post a redesign I would like to see for mesmer and those two traits are heavily changed, along with making danger time a more lucrative option if you invest into slowing enemies. Right now I’m trying to finalize some damage modifiers, a lot of traits and changes to a few skills that I can’t make up my mind on.

foste.3098:

DeceiverX.8361:

And in ANet’s delusional mind they think everyone with the expansion wants to play the elites and that it’ll incite the free players to buy power via the expansion.

How are those profit margins working? Not well.

About those profit margins……https://articles.pvplive.net/article_images/OverwatchRev.JPG

It might surprise you but the main players of gw2 are not pvp’ers but ppl who enjoy raids and idk pve i guess? Anyway these players do not have much concern about class balance or build diversity or whatnot.
So yea as long as the numbers are good no reason to majorly change anything, just pump out the next expansion.

What article are you pulling that imagine from? Those numbers seem irregular. WoW at the very least should have exceeded gw2 in revenue if nothing else.

Crinn.7864:

What article are you pulling that imagine from? Those numbers seem irregular. WoW at the very least should have exceeded gw2 in revenue if nothing else.

for some reason it will not let me link the article itself so here is the website, you gonna have to do some searching to find it. Filter it by ‘revenue’, it was posted 22 days ago i think.
https://pvplive.net/m/news/

Idk how valid the info is but at least it gives you a number that you can reference to other sources. If it matches up then chances are it is accurate.

coro.3176:

The Elite spec balance issue has been discussed since HoT, but as far as I know the devs have been silent on it. It’s weird because you know they must be reading these comments. They reply on other topics, and “HoT powercreep” has got to be the most common phrase on the forums. It kind of makes you wonder if it is really a conspiracy to sell expansions.

Dev’s have made specific comment regarding the HoT powercreep and their interest in reducing over the top features.

Will they do a decent job of it? That remains to be seen.

Ross Biddle.2367:

coro.3176:

The Elite spec balance issue has been discussed since HoT, but as far as I know the devs have been silent on it. It’s weird because you know they must be reading these comments. They reply on other topics, and “HoT powercreep” has got to be the most common phrase on the forums. It kind of makes you wonder if it is really a conspiracy to sell expansions.

Dev’s have made specific comment regarding the HoT powercreep and their interest in reducing over the top features.

Will they do a decent job of it? That remains to be seen.

They have?

foste.3098:

Crinn.7864:

What article are you pulling that imagine from? Those numbers seem irregular. WoW at the very least should have exceeded gw2 in revenue if nothing else.

for some reason it will not let me link the article itself so here is the website, you gonna have to do some searching to find it. Filter it by ‘revenue’, it was posted 22 days ago i think.
https://pvplive.net/m/news/

Idk how valid the info is but at least it gives you a number that you can reference to other sources. If it matches up then chances are it is accurate.

Oh they are referencing Superdata’s report.

The chart you linked seems to be only for PC games with competitive scenes, but it is excluding MOBA’s for some arbitrary reason. Probably to make Overwatch look better, since League murders everything in terms of revenue.

foste.3098:

DeceiverX.8361:

And in ANet’s delusional mind they think everyone with the expansion wants to play the elites and that it’ll incite the free players to buy power via the expansion.

How are those profit margins working? Not well.

About those profit margins……https://articles.pvplive.net/article_images/OverwatchRev.JPG

It might surprise you but the main players of gw2 are not pvp’ers but ppl who enjoy raids and idk pve i guess? Anyway these players do not have much concern about class balance or build diversity or whatnot.
So yea as long as the numbers are good no reason to majorly change anything, just pump out the next expansion.

Except a lot of the PvE people have expressed concerns with class balance and in particular HoT elite specs.

A lot of classes can output enough healing to make raids easy but why is druid the only healer you really see? The unique buffs, quite frankly it’s beyond broken in its role.

Can other classes stack 25 might? Sure, eles can keep nice might uptime and other classes can but nothing comes close to the ease of warrior + unique buffs.

Are classes able to cheese through mechanics with invulnerability? Sure but only a mesmer can carry the whole 5 player party through. They also have a monopoly on quickness and alacrity which drastically decrease cool downs.

Now sure raids and high level fractals can be done with any mix of classes pretty easily if you’re that good but you are dilibrately playing sub standard builds but you play them optimally.

Balance within roles took a nose dive in every single area of the game with HoT, doesn’t matter if you’re PvP, WvW or PvE and I don’t honestly know anyone who is happy about the state of balance.

apharma.3741:

Except a lot of the PvE people have expressed concerns with class balance and in particular HoT elite specs.

A lot of classes can output enough healing to make raids easy but why is druid the only healer you really see? The unique buffs, quite frankly it’s beyond broken in its role.

Can other classes stack 25 might? Sure, eles can keep nice might uptime and other classes can but nothing comes close to the ease of warrior + unique buffs.

Core condi ranger is one of the highest dps specs in the game. Engi doesn’t even use scrapper in PvE.

Warrior’s might gen is purely coming from core traits. Druid is the alpha healer because of spotter and SnR both of which are core.

Honestly, I think it would be better to just remove elite specs from PvP. Re-balance the classes even if it means removing things entirely or adding things baseline across the whole game even if it borrows from current elite spec mechanics.

THEN reintroduce modified elite specs to PvP, and keep them as side-grade options to ALREADY viable builds. Make giving up the third trait mean something.

Crinn.7864:

apharma.3741:

Except a lot of the PvE people have expressed concerns with class balance and in particular HoT elite specs.

A lot of classes can output enough healing to make raids easy but why is druid the only healer you really see? The unique buffs, quite frankly it’s beyond broken in its role.

Can other classes stack 25 might? Sure, eles can keep nice might uptime and other classes can but nothing comes close to the ease of warrior + unique buffs.

Core condi ranger is one of the highest dps specs in the game. Engi doesn’t even use scrapper in PvE.

Warrior’s might gen is purely coming from core traits. Druid is the alpha healer because of spotter and SnR both of which are core.

It’s not just because of spotter and SnR, like I say they give out anything from a 9-25% damage buff while healing, no other healer spec can touch it or do close to the total level of buffing a druid offers while healing. They also offer some very substantial constant healing ticks many wouldn’t be able to do

Warrior also pumps out a lot of CC with berserker as well as having a flat out damage buff and it does enough damage to have an impact, about 15-20k compared to the other buffers who do between 2-8k.

You mention core ranger having high DPS and same for engy and that both use core however they require targets to not be moving much at all to come close to that. Compare this to the real top tier damage dealers who can DPS while moving and core ranger falls behind fairly rapidly and the top DPS classes all use elite specs.

Remember is said within roles, within roles the elite specs are the absolute best and others don’t come close. Even a core warrior pales to an elite spec warrior.

They either need to tone down the new Elite specializations or buff the vanilla trait lines. The first option is actually hard to do, as the Elite specializations allow players to use an extra weapon (and often better weapons) and often open up a whole new set of extra abilities (for example CA of Druids). Basically every build you see nowadays in PvP contains the HoT Elite specializations. That is just a sign that they are much more powerful than regular traitlines.

I nearly always endorse any propositions that stimulate build diversity, and touching balance within classes is definately one of them. They could for starters remove the restriction of being able to use the new weapons only when you equip the Elite specialization.

Crinn.7864:

apharma.3741:

Except a lot of the PvE people have expressed concerns with class balance and in particular HoT elite specs.

A lot of classes can output enough healing to make raids easy but why is druid the only healer you really see? The unique buffs, quite frankly it’s beyond broken in its role.

Can other classes stack 25 might? Sure, eles can keep nice might uptime and other classes can but nothing comes close to the ease of warrior + unique buffs.

Core condi ranger is one of the highest dps specs in the game. Engi doesn’t even use scrapper in PvE.

Warrior’s might gen is purely coming from core traits. Druid is the alpha healer because of spotter and SnR both of which are core.

Druid is the default healer because of its GotL effect, which is in addition to its massive healing output.

HeadCrowned.6834:

They could for starters remove the restriction of being able to use the new weapons only when you equip the Elite specialization.

The entire purpose of locking the weapons (and skills) to the traitline is so that so when they introduce more elite specs they don’t have to worry about them cross-pollinating and causing huge balance issues.

Elite specs are designed to be balanced against other elite specs (the mechanical advantages, including class mechanic changes, provided make them a superior option to a core spec unless nerfed to the point of uselessness), it’s just we only have the one right now.

Hyper Cutter.9376:

HeadCrowned.6834:

They could for starters remove the restriction of being able to use the new weapons only when you equip the Elite specialization.

The entire purpose of locking the weapons (and skills) to the traitline is so that so when they introduce more elite specs they don’t have to worry about them cross-pollinating and causing huge balance issues.

Elite specs are designed to be balanced against other elite specs (the mechanical advantages, including class mechanic changes, provided make them a superior option to a core spec unless nerfed to the point of uselessness), it’s just we only have the one right now.

The fact that Elite specs are balanced against each other and not to vanilla trait lines is actually the core of the problem. They therefore remain superior, and that is not what I and many other players would like to see. I play only necro and ranger myself, but I wouldnt see any issues with being able to wear the GS as necro without reaper, or the staff as a ranger without druid. They made certain skills function in a ‘’pvp-only’’ way, I think it wouldnt hurt if they did this as well for the Elite spec weapons.

HeadCrowned.6834:

but I wouldnt see any issues with being able to wear the GS as necro without reaper, or the staff as a ranger without druid.

This is a future-proofing design choice.
Let’s say hypothetically they did as you suggest and decouple new weapons from elite specializations.
Four expansions down the line they have added 1 thief mainhand and 2 thief offhands. This means they need to add and balance… How many 3-slot skills? I think it’s something in the field of 16 in total. They’ve added more 3-slot skills than they have any ‘real’ weapon skills!
For the fourth expansion they decide they want to add a new Elementalist attunement and they’ve already given Elementalist 3 weapons. They’ve got that much more work for themselves but it doesn’t actually add that many options because they can tailor Ele standing weapons and their new ES weapon for the new attunement but they can’t tailor all of the 3 other weapons they’ve done and create interesting player choices. They are adding work (they still NEED to make those extra weapon skills) but they aren’t actually gaining anything from that work.

HeadCrowned.6834:

Hyper Cutter.9376:

HeadCrowned.6834:

They could for starters remove the restriction of being able to use the new weapons only when you equip the Elite specialization.

The entire purpose of locking the weapons (and skills) to the traitline is so that so when they introduce more elite specs they don’t have to worry about them cross-pollinating and causing huge balance issues.

Elite specs are designed to be balanced against other elite specs (the mechanical advantages, including class mechanic changes, provided make them a superior option to a core spec unless nerfed to the point of uselessness), it’s just we only have the one right now.

The fact that Elite specs are balanced against each other and not to vanilla trait lines is actually the core of the problem. They therefore remain superior, and that is not what I and many other players would like to see. I play only necro and ranger myself, but I wouldnt see any issues with being able to wear the GS as necro without reaper, or the staff as a ranger without druid. They made certain skills function in a ‘’pvp-only’’ way, I think it wouldnt hurt if they did this as well for the Elite spec weapons.

Keep elite weapons tied to the elite specs, but just balance the specs against core traitlines

OriOri.8724:

Keep elite weapons tied to the elite specs, but just balance the specs against core traitlines

It’s practically mandatory for future proofing otherwise one elite spec will get better synergies than other elite specs.

Maybe they’ll make only one selectable elite spec.. stop multiclassing! ????

HeadCrowned.6834:

Hyper Cutter.9376:

HeadCrowned.6834:

They could for starters remove the restriction of being able to use the new weapons only when you equip the Elite specialization.

The entire purpose of locking the weapons (and skills) to the traitline is so that so when they introduce more elite specs they don’t have to worry about them cross-pollinating and causing huge balance issues.

Elite specs are designed to be balanced against other elite specs (the mechanical advantages, including class mechanic changes, provided make them a superior option to a core spec unless nerfed to the point of uselessness), it’s just we only have the one right now.

The fact that Elite specs are balanced against each other and not to vanilla trait lines is actually the core of the problem. They therefore remain superior, and that is not what I and many other players would like to see. I play only necro and ranger myself, but I wouldnt see any issues with being able to wear the GS as necro without reaper, or the staff as a ranger without druid. They made certain skills function in a ‘’pvp-only’’ way, I think it wouldnt hurt if they did this as well for the Elite spec weapons.

is not the problem, ELITE must be elite, the problem is that is along term design and not having another set of elites in 2+ years after xpac and posible having to wait for the third set a couple of years more after the 2 xpac this is the real problem, is that that makes that unbalanced sense

Sorry I forgot to clearly mention that I was talking from a PvP-perspective. They adjusted several skills recently to function in a certain way in PvP ONLY. I think they could do that as well for unbinding the Elite spec weapons, for PvP only. I have basically zero understanding of PvE so sorry bout that.

HeadCrowned.6834:

Sorry I forgot to clearly mention that I was talking from a PvP-perspective. They adjusted several skills recently to function in a certain way in PvP ONLY. I think they could do that as well for unbinding the Elite spec weapons, for PvP only. I have basically zero understanding of PvE so sorry bout that.

First off, that’s entirely separate from making skills function differently in different game modes. Secondly, PvE or PvP doesn’t matter as it doesn’t change the fundamental problem with doing this.