Guild Wars 2

Normally, condition builds would be expected to kill tanks which kill power builds. While power builds kill condition builds. However, it so happens that conditions kill both power and tanks while glass cannons can only take eachother out. Gw1 implimented cracked armor unblockable skills and unblindable enchantments to make power usefull verses tanks. It would seem these sort of elements are what Gw2 needs more of. For example, it would be fair to have an ammy with the same trait points as knights ammy with around 900 armor penetration instead of toughness. This would allow players to sacrifice power precision and defence for armor penetration.

Power simply needs a way to play verses tanks on an even playing field.

Pure power is pretty weak in general now. Even pure bunker has basically been replaced in favor of more cele builds. How needs a pure bunker guard when you can take a Shoutbow and pair it up with a Cele Ele and Engi? They all have enough of their own healing and with the heals from the War…well…who needs a specialized bunk when you’ll just do better with a bunch of cele builds that do everything well?

There’s also the issue of some classes’ power build options being lacking. I love playing Static Discharge Engi, but I have nowhere near the sustain/escape potential as the builds listed above. Skullcracker is good fun and strong 1v1, but obviously has weaknesses of its own. Power Necro can hit like a truck…until a Shatter Mes strips the stability of Lich or simply kills their DS. It’s no wonder why some classes get stuck in one role, the alternatives aren’t as good.

Sure, you can run what you want, but if the build like like is flat out less effective than the meta then all you’re doing is hurting your team.

So ANet, can we please get Cele under control and buff underpowered specs so that we get some more diversity? Even the condi meta was more enjoyable because it was possible to go all in to removal and thus counter it.

GW1 was arguably more balanced because of things that have no pressence in GW2:

- Movement.
In very few skills could be used on the move. When someone stands still, they become a target.
In GW2, most skills can be used on the move, and many skills fail if people get behind you, but they can still spam stuff while behind you. THe result is less skilled play in which people just runs around trying to get behind you and never have to risk leaving an opening.
Skills being used on the move need to be less effective in some way than when moving. For example, melee hits dealing less damage, projectiles straying more, AoEs taking longer to cast… these are just examples, but something must be done to give reasons to try to find openings to stand still.

- Spam:
In GW1, spamming was not possible. Skills that did not use energy took a lot longer to recharge or required hitting the enemy to get adrenaline, or some other condition to recharge.
In GW2, too many spam-based skills work too well too often. Skill usage should be more about timing and using skills at the right time. There has to be ways to ‘break’ someone’s sequence of skills like in GW1. There has to be skills more dangerous and slower for which you really want to save your interrupts for, other than healing skills and finishes. There has to be timing for conditions. Using them at the right time for maximum effeciveness and in the right order, instead just throwing them around aimlessly like candy in a parade. Boons should be usable less often, and be more meaninful. Spamming and stacking conditions and boons should not be the way to get more effect from them, but using them at the right time.
Hopefully Resistance will help a little against condition spam. But agaisnt the rest of the mindless spam I see nothing being done.

- Lack of autobalance measures.
In GW1 there was not enough autobalance but there was nice caps and downsides. If you you added an upgrade, it had conditions to work or downsides. Effect DPS and healing was autobalanced, and past a maximum cap you could not stack more on a target, and there was no generic attributes to spike stats towards offense or defense. You instead changed the way you fought.
In GW2 there’s no autobalance measures. There’s no meaningful caps you can reach. There’s no wasted efforts or overkill. You can go all out for damage and it’ll all be effective, you won’t go “Well, with these attributes I reached the Power cap, better use a different amulet”. That should not be the case. If your teams brings and uses too much of one thing, that should not be as effective as bringing less of that one thing and more of everything else.

But there was stuff that was wrong and still is. Like how cleaves and AoEs can hit through obstacles they should really, really not cross.

Yes there are allot of issues with balance. Right now power builds could use some help. I want to ad to my post something that may be brought up against it. Vulnerability obviously was supposed to act like cracked armor. Perhaps buffing it or making it scale off of armor would do it more justice.