Guild Wars 2

Like the title says, would you rather have patches once every 3 months or would you rather have mid season?

The main argument I see against having them mid-season is “Well that would shake up the meta too much” or something along those lines. Honestly, I would prefer it if there were patches more frequent than 3 months apart, even if it disrupts the season.

Would anyone be against that, and if so why?

If possible, can someone from the pvp team give a reason against it?

I think it is an important issue that would make the game far more enjoyable depending on how frequent we get the game balanced out.

Three months seems reasonable to me, not so long and I believe time is needed to achieve good results.

We need MANY patches per three months… On the DAY after the season ends that will do some harsh changes… The last will be one week before the next season… This will keep all balance patches out of the mid season.

After the initial patch you would then have small tweaks between the seasons to allow for the best balance tweaking. That way your not in the thought process “well we didn’t right this time, guess it will have to due till 3 months later!”.

Current rate seems fine to me. with small hotfixes in between only when things are really out of control. ( like bunker mesmer was )

But the 3 months patch really need to adress stuff right. the fact that Warrior are a joke two season in a row is unacceptable for example.

Every two weeks. Balance changes need to get to the point where they can fine tune things. 3 month patches aren’t tuning, they’re just bashing the meta into a new shape with a hammer.

I wouldn’t want to see balance changes mid-season because I have played one class (other than for achievements) to legendary for the past 2 seasons (bunker ele last season, druid this season) and to have to adapt to something new in the middle of a season would be really annoying for me. I use the break between seasons to get used to new stuff.

I think balance patches every 3 months is perfect as long as they change the meta and different classes become more powerful/weaker so everyone gets there chance to be a meta class. The last balance patch did change the meta from bunker to dps, but the classes that were powerful last season are still powerful this season which is something I hope changes for season 3, but overall I really like the way balance is being done.

suffish.4150:

I wouldn’t want to see balance changes mid-season because I have played one class (other than for achievements) to legendary for the past 2 seasons (bunker ele last season, druid this season) and to have to adapt to something new in the middle of a season would be really annoying for me. I use the break between seasons to get used to new stuff.

I think balance patches every 3 months is perfect as long as they change the meta and different classes become more powerful/weaker so everyone gets there chance to be a meta class. The last balance patch did change the meta from bunker to dps, but the classes that were powerful last season are still powerful this season which is something I hope changes for season 3, but overall I really like the way balance is being done.

To be fair, change mid season only forces you to adjust if you insist on playing optimal classes at all times, or if they happen to completely gut your build. I’m sure many of the people who main warrior, including myself, don’t care whether or not it’s a top tier class. Just that it be viable. A small shift in how optimal something is shouldn’t drive you away entirely.

Secondly, I am entirely in disagreement with you over the timing of balance patches. What you suggest is not attempting to keep the game reasonably balanced; it’s essentially just having the classes play musical chairs once every few months to swap between their perpetually unbalanced positions. “Shaking up the meta” is all well and good as long as that isn’t the sole goal of balance.

I don’t want warriors to be functional in pvp at the cost of pushing, say, revs out. I want both to be perfectly viable classes at all levels of play. If a balance patch puts someone else in the same position warriors have been in, even if it’s just their turn on the wheel, it’s still a poor balance patch.

Onlysaneman.9612:

suffish.4150:

I wouldn’t want to see balance changes mid-season because I have played one class (other than for achievements) to legendary for the past 2 seasons (bunker ele last season, druid this season) and to have to adapt to something new in the middle of a season would be really annoying for me. I use the break between seasons to get used to new stuff.

I think balance patches every 3 months is perfect as long as they change the meta and different classes become more powerful/weaker so everyone gets there chance to be a meta class. The last balance patch did change the meta from bunker to dps, but the classes that were powerful last season are still powerful this season which is something I hope changes for season 3, but overall I really like the way balance is being done.

To be fair, change mid season only forces you to adjust if you insist on playing optimal classes at all times, or if they happen to completely gut your build. I’m sure many of the people who main warrior, including myself, don’t care whether or not it’s a top tier class. Just that it be viable. A small shift in how optimal something is shouldn’t drive you away entirely.

Secondly, I am entirely in disagreement with you over the timing of balance patches. What you suggest is not attempting to keep the game reasonably balanced; it’s essentially just having the classes play musical chairs once every few months to swap between their perpetually unbalanced positions. “Shaking up the meta” is all well and good as long as that isn’t the sole goal of balance.

I don’t want warriors to be functional in pvp at the cost of pushing, say, revs out. I want both to be perfectly viable classes at all levels of play. If a balance patch puts someone else in the same position warriors have been in, even if it’s just their turn on the wheel, it’s still a poor balance patch.

I agree that total balance would be better than just rotating classes in/out of the meta, but since HoT (no idea about before HoT) there has always been good classes and bad classes no matter how much effort is put into balancing so I think it would be better to make sure that previously weak classes get their chance in the meta rather than trying and failing to balance the game and ending up with the same classes being very powerful and the same ones being very weak, which is what happened last balance patch.

Once a month would be ideal for me. Esports is killing this game.

Every 3 months is fine.

The problem we have right now is that balance is so bad that players want it fixed right away.

Well. one thing is for sure: If the next balance patch does not fix the most outsatnding issues, they can not do another entire season without one.
With all the whining and ‘I quit the game’ around already…It will only intensify.
Im also quite suprised with how many people say 1/season is ok. I did a poll on this recently and the outcome was…quite diffrerent to say the least

I think there should be balance changes every month.

I don’t understand this thought process that there should be this long term meta and its somehow healthy for the game.

It only creates salty players.

Balance every month would probbaly not even be doable if they wanted to. remember there’s manpower and dev time to be used over this kind of stuff.

it’s also very easy when balancing too often to overreact to stuff and nerf / buff where you didn’t need to.

I think 3 months is really the perfect spot. But those patches just need to be meaningfull enough.

Nocta.5274:

Balance every month would probbaly not even be doable if they wanted to. remember there’s manpower and dev time to be used over this kind of stuff.

it’s also very easy when balancing too often to overreact to stuff and nerf / buff where you didn’t need to.

I think 3 months is really the perfect spot. But those patches just need to be meaningfull enough.

Well that is my personal issue with this whole thing. Does it really take 3 months to move numbers around? I don’t think that it does, and if they do have a whole team dedicated to balance (like they say they do), I don’t think they should have 1 day of work every 3 months

Topher.5631:

Nocta.5274:

Balance every month would probbaly not even be doable if they wanted to. remember there’s manpower and dev time to be used over this kind of stuff.

it’s also very easy when balancing too often to overreact to stuff and nerf / buff where you didn’t need to.

I think 3 months is really the perfect spot. But those patches just need to be meaningfull enough.

Well that is my personal issue with this whole thing. Does it really take 3 months to move numbers around? I don’t think that it does, and if they do have a whole team dedicated to balance (like they say they do), I don’t think they should have 1 day of work every 3 months

Balancing impacts a lot of things, and it takes time to know how much you need to change the number for it to feel right.
I know it often seems as easy as " Change the number", but it really isn’t most of the time.