Guild Wars 2

So, a little before the launch of Blade and Soul, I quit GW2 in a real huff.

A lot of you remember how bad the balance got in PvP right after HoT launch, and the community was desperate for a balance update. For me, the last straw was when, after weeks of waiting for said patch, it came out and buffed condi reapers (the only necro spec not suffering) absurdly. Seemed like A. Net was just playing nerf/buff roulette in their offices.

I said some pretty harsh stuff about ol’ A. Net, but a recent hankering to come back and play struck me. I was expecting the worst, especially since I’m a big fan of running a squishy greatsword reaper build with a warrior alt. A few months ago, these were builds that could not compete in PvP at all. (There may have been a few particularly good players, but most people were running tempest, druid, chronobunker, and scrapper. Few heralds in there).

Well, A. Net, things are looking a lot better now. The insanely OP specs clearly got toned down. I honestly was convinced that would never happen. I owe you guys an apology.

Probably a few specs out there still need love, but nothing is striking me as absurdly strong. Tempest sustain is pretty strong and Dragonhunters really pack a punch, but whatever balance issues exist now are basically null and void compared to 4 months ago. Keep it up and keep giving into our hysterical whining. Thanks.

They are on the right track. The power creep is still very real, but at least you can have fun on any profession now.

Thief burst still to high. Let’s nerf that

:D

Ross Biddle.2367:

Thief burst still to high. Let’s nerf that

:D

NO. Nerf Ele protection first

Profession balance within the scope of elites is good now. That’s a plus. The next step is to balance elites and base builds.

Shovel Face.4512:

Ross Biddle.2367:

Thief burst still to high. Let’s nerf that

:D

NO. Nerf Ele protection first

Thieves can just steal it.

XD

This is one of the most balanced meta we ever had. with 8/9 prefessions being meta.

You’ll soon learn to avoid anything a DH can throw at you.

warbignime.4610:

This is one of the most balanced meta we ever had. with 8/9 prefessions being meta.

Thank you non stacking esl rule.
Reality is that 3 to 4 prof are meta and 1 is really weak.

warbignime.4610:

This is one of the most balanced meta we ever had. with 8/18 prefessions being meta.

Fixd for you.
Balance is great yes when on each HoT profession you are forced to run exactly 1 build and core is just dead.

Thief burst is fine where it is.

infinitenoah.8296:

Thief burst is fine where it is.

Over the top?

Ok then.

Ross Biddle.2367:

infinitenoah.8296:

Thief burst is fine where it is.

Over the top?

Ok then.

How else do you expect for a thief to get a kill without a good burst?

I’m a big critic of Anet, because this game showed, and can still show so much potential. It has probably the best mechanical and combat play of any MMO but the constant failings on pvp balance, and lack of it, has slowly ruined it over the years.

This meta however, is the best so far post HOT. I feel like anyone can be burst down if switch focused. Ele only has 13k hp despite keeping all it’s aoe support, Rev’s actually have to think about their burst rotations now rather than spamming AA, engi’s are still very strong and ‘tanky’ but they are forced to play marauder now so a good focus switch does harm them. Mesmer too, while moa+portal is still ridiculously strong in the hands of a good player, they have lost their toughness so again, can be switch focused quite well if you track their cd’s. Warr finally have a top tier build. Finally, it looks like DH and thief are slowly creeping into the meta, however i feel thief is still weak unless you know exactly how to play it.

I’m also a fan of the QOL changes. The aoe ground target for skills are clearer, the HP bars are cleaner etc etc.

So yeh, thumbs up from me Anet but still along way to go if this game is ever going to reach its full potential……

ps. Make power shatter mes meta again, fix boon corrupt, and giv us MORE VIABLE BUILDS per class god kitten it.