Guild Wars 2

I think that their are three different archtypes to classes right now and i think the only thing that is really wrong with balance is the hit point pool of classes.

We have high support/sustain/boon classes: Revnant, Engineer and Elementalist. They all have high boon up time, a strong ability to heal and good access to block and invulnerability. All they classes perform above the curve when allowed to maintain boon stacks.

We have the medium versions: Guardian, Ranger and Mesmer. They can all operate with limited boons and have a limited ability to reset their hit points. The primary defenses are utility cool downs and they have limited boon application.

We have the Low versions : Warrior, Thief and Necromancer. They can operate with no boons and have almost no ability to heal. The main defensive mechanic is some kind of avoidance, either blocks or immunites, but they have a hard time sustaining long fights and resetting health.

So my proposal is to tie health pools to these archtypes rather than the current ones, which would lead to the following changes:

High HP pool classes:

Warrior (stays the same)
Thief ( up from low extra 7.5k hp)
Necro (stays the same)

Medium HP pool Classes:

Guardian ( up from low extra 4k hp)
Ranger ( stays the same)
Mesmer ( stays the same)

Low HP pool classes:

Revnant (down from mid losses 4k hp)
Engineer (down from mid losses 4k hp)
Elementalist ( stays the same)

I think these changes will do the following:

Revnant: Add some risk vs reward for using glass builds and bring their survivability back in line with other classes. It will make amulet choice more defining.

Engineer: Will compensate for their high sustain and mitigation, engie’s have very high block and invuln uptime combine with srong sustain.

Guardian: Will open up viable support and burst builds again. The extra hp will let Guardian Tanks and Medi bursters be a thing again.

Thief: Will open up thief bursters and brawlers. It will open up full zerk builds for thieves again and you could even see soldier brawlers or sentinel evade tanks with 31k health. Can you even imagine being scared to see a they again?

Warrior: I think with the meta shift from the other changes that warriors will find a place in the meta again, i feel it’s the Engineers and Revnants taking their spots right now. With those classes being down tuned a little, warriors should make a comeback too.

Let me know what you think!

There is no hotfix coming. Wait 2 months until season is over. No hotfixes, no balance changes. Nothing. Just wait

I understand that. I am more looking for what you think rather than what we already know. My idea isn’t a balance pass, I actually more or less like were things are at. It is just a HP tweek that i think would make a huge difference. That being said thank you for reading and commenting!

Changed to a more appropriate title, still want to know what people think.

terrible “idea”

Why not just bring revenant survivability in line by toning down their actual defenses? Why is adjusting their HP pool a better option?

Does engineer sustain actually need to be toned down? Why? The most popular build as of late are variations of scrapper with preferences skewed towards very defensive choices in build. Why should an engineer that builds defensively be easier to kill? Won’t reducing the base HP just pigeonhole engineers into running tanky bruiser builds even more than they already are?

Why is it desirable to open up burst builds for guardians by buffing their base HP (which honestly, if you’ve been looking around, is already viable given the prevalance of dragonhunters), but not for engineer? Guardians have high sustain and mitigation inherent to the class already. They have at least as many blocks as engineers. Is their HP not already balanced around those defenses and mitigation? Why then buff the base HP of guardian but lower it for engineer?

Does thief need to be able to deal more damage? What’s preventing them from running soldier or sentinel amulet right now? A thief with a sentinel amulet has 23,645 HP. Don’t they already have a lot of mitigation with evades? Why do we need to see a strong thief bunker or bruiser in the meta?

Are warriors outclassed by revenants and engineers because those two classes have too much HP? Isn’t there an inherent difference in the tools available to each class and their utility? If warrior is pushed out of the meta by revenant and engineer, who’s to say it won’t be pushed out by thief if its HP is buffed?

I think the hp will let Guardian be a more effective bunker choice again and allow non elite burst builds to be viable again, not just the dragon hunter trap burst. Engineers and Revnants have the same levels of mitigation and sustain as Elementalists so why shouldn’t they share the same base hit points?

By toying sorely with HP’s you’re actually changing very little as to what makes them strong or not… and, in fact, you’re not even taking into account the current skills and traits that makes some classes strong…

As Nomdeplume said, engineers already have a very defensive build… why make it easier to kill? DragonHunters are currently built around a fairly offensive meta build… why make them harder to kill?

To me it just sounds like you took the meta, looked at it, didn’t know what to do on a skill and trait-wise perspective, so you decided by using a fairly linear and simple aspect of their construction: Health Pool

This is why I hate these kind of posts… there doesn’t seem to be any empirical data that proves the usefulness of your “solution” you mashed ideas together, came up with HP because no one ever used it, thought it was original, without adressing the real problem that makes some classes to strong…

Let me queue you in, it has never been a HP problem, or else, we’d have the same classes at the top since release (which is clearly not the case)

But the Elite burst build, dragonhunter, would have the same HP as the non-elite burst, standard meditation, assuming you used the same amulet. Why is the amount of HP the specific problem that makes it currently unviable?

Elementalists don’t have as many blocks and active defenses as either revenant or engineer. Their HP pool is balanced around the amount of healing and defensive boons they have access to, which is greater that of revenant or engineer.

Guardians and Thieves fold way to fast under pressure and are not able to live long enough to deliver their damage. I think it is the biggest reason they are out now. I actually think most skills and traits are fairly balanced right now. Getting a little more damage out of some of the better burst build will help push past the kittenty bunker meta.