Guild Wars 2

Today, I played 10 games (6 wins so 60% win rate for those who don’t know math). There are a few things I noticed.

Professions are actually pretty equal…but not balanced. Every single fight was full of AoEs and condi spamming. If I stopped spamming my cleanse (was playing the meta warrior spec, and yes it’s OP, so don’t kittening deny it), I would be loaded with 6+ condis, usually doing what seemed to be 5k (or more in extreme cases) of my hp every second. CC is through the roof. If you didn’t have stability, you’d be CCed from 100-0 or close to. If I had defensive CDs ready, I could stay alive almost no problem. But as soon as they were done, I would be dead seemingly instantly. And Dead or Alive only delayed my death because the condis would tick for 5k, immediately downing me.

Another thing, people still stand in DH traps…and those are no longer the most OP AoEs in the game…and they still hurt like hell.

Most games were blowouts. The 9th game was something like 500-150, and then the one after that was about 500-450. The least fun game followed by the most fun game. Most of the fun game was running around spamming AoEs because we couldn’t see any animations. The screen was so cluttered with animations and downed players. That wasn’t the fun part (though I do have a guilty pleasure for chaotic situations like that, but it’s still not good for the game). The fun was when I stood back and had time to process what was happening and who to target. It felt good to have time to make a decision and see what was going on.

Powercreep is alive and well and it showed today. I urge you anet, nerf everything except amulets. Literally, stop kittening around with amulets. Just stop. Stop. Now. They are not the problem, and they never were (except maybe Cele).

Don’t nerf offensive attacks without nerfing defensive ones. The meta will become tanky and boring again. Season one didn’t work because defensive powercreep interfered. There were too many defensive skills. But then you buffed offensive skills and now there are too many defensive and offensive skills.

You need to nerf both defensive and offensive skills and how quickly they can be used. This will help reduce powercreep and also clutter. The game will still be fast pace, but we’ll be able to see what’s going on and be able to make quick decisions without dying faster than a quick decision can be made.

TL;DR: Nerf every skill and increase CDs. Reduce the amount of boons and boon corruptions/removals, conditions and cleanses, CCs and stability, AoEs, healing, etc. I could go on. Also, stop standing in DH traps.

Sorry if this is really disorganized. It’s midnight, I’m tired and just wanted to get my thoughts out. I know there’ll be disagrees to what I think is the solution, and that’s fine.

Thanks for reading!

I agree on certain points. I have not enjoyed this season compared to previous, including S1 bunkering. The huge amount of conditions being spammed is insane. It is not fun in the slightest. The conditions put out there are faster than a character can reasonably take, unless you have resistance.

At least in season 2, it did not feel this bad. I think it would be reasonable to decrease the condi damage or direct damage in general to where you don’t die in 1.5 seconds (boring as it is also dependent on your internet connection). If damage were to decrease, then certain amulets also need to get adjusted so that you can’t be so tanky that it takes 2 minutes to take you down.

Balancing is tough, but with the way S3 is going, it is not fun. It really feels limiting in the amount of builds you can play effectively.

Thanks for your post.

Zintrothen.1056:

(was playing the meta warrior spec, and yes it’s OP, so don’t kittening deny it)….

If I had defensive CDs ready, I could stay alive almost no problem. But as soon as they were done, I would be dead seemingly instantly.

So which is it. Warrior OP, or warrior instantly dead once your stances ran out?

Problem is powecreep. Not warrior being dead/op. That point is just a flavor in the text. Do not try to change the direction of this argument please.

alain.1659:

Problem is powecreep. Not warrior being dead/op. That point is just a flavor in the text. Do not try to change the direction of this argument please.

Then he shouldn’t derail his own thread? XD

If you’re silly enough to make claims in your opening post, prepare to have them pulled apart.

Ross Biddle.2367:

Then he shouldn’t derail his own thread? XD

he didn’t. your reading comprehension, however, is suspect.

op is correct.

It really is a huge issue. Anet keeps trying to fix it with ammy changes as you mentioned but it doesn’t change much.

The biggest example of this logic has been anet trying to balance mesmer. Since HoT, mesmer has been considered op in every meta. The first and biggest problem was bunker mesmers, which provided a ton of support and couldn’t die on top of that. Anet removed their ammy and halved their support potential. Next iteration was condi mesmers which still had ridiculous sustain potential and high offence potential. So they removed their ammy, but guess what? They’re still meta and its still a problem. The build has barely changed because why would it? The issue isn’t the ammy, it’s that chronomancer allows strong utilisation of extra-effect-on-all-shatter traits and frequent access to elite skills which normally can’t be used. Namely the one from inspiration which heals and removes conditions on shatters, the one from chaos that adds a boon and stability (although this one isn’t used any more but would be given one of the others gets hit), and the entire illusions line. Running a power build would be stupid with sustain that allows next to perfect condition removal and high condition application.

The worst part is I really wanted to get into chronomancer because it was described as a high risk high reward mesmer, but it’s not. It’s low risk, high reward and it made me stop playing mesmer entirely. I’ve played 900 games pre hot on mes but I haven’t even cracked the 1k barrier on chrono. It’s too simple, and thinking things through on it, rather than button mashing, makes you play worse.

It’s barely been touched. The reason why it’s so strong has been entirely ignored. Instead ammy removals which have done nothing. It’s still boring to play and its still easy as hell.

Mini chrono rant aside, all professions have this issue. HoT upped the power creep and now it’s over taken a lot. There are theories as to why but that’s irrelevant. It needs to be fixed. Period.

You’re talking about powercreep, but expressed more on visual effects clutter than detailing what’s actually overpowered.

You said Warriors had bursts but once he exausts his sustain cooldowns that he’s easily bursted himself… you’re not being clear about what’s overpowered about him. I don’t mean to sound facetious, he’s definitely OP if you don’t cleanse his 5k+ burst skills. But i’m a Guard with instant cleansing tools & don’t have issues in team fights.

In SoloQ, things are actually very balanced from a Guardian’s class prospective. That said, matchmaking needs work. Heavy work. There has to be a glitch somewhere.

I bolded the above because game blowouts, 500 to 50 or 50 to 500, has been ridiculous..

• i’ve had this particular Ele+Rev duo in my 3 man group. Lost 275-500 and blamed these two guy’s rotations (saw them 2 man a taken point). Got them on the opposite team only they were trio teamed now… i crap you not, we 500 – 10 them.

Their skill level was obviously low. So low that they shouldn’t have been anywhere near our playing field. If Anet are prioritizing Duo or Trio teams as 10% higher mmr… they need to revert those changes asap.

Mahkno.7593:

Ross Biddle.2367:

Then he shouldn’t derail his own thread? XD

he didn’t. your reading comprehension, however, is suspect.

op is correct.

Please show me where I misquoted the OP in his own opening paragraph XD

Reading comprehension. Good one.

I completely agree with the OP – it’s gone way too far. The days of calculated decisions and good timing from early GW2 are gone, there is too much damage and CC in general. I would be fine with the damage bit if it wasn’t too easy to pull off.

Figure of speech, metaphor, ways of writing and climax/anti climax. Learn it. Do not try to poke the op’s ideas just because you want to bash someone.

Power creep is destroying the game. There should be something from devs, an idea or a solution a.s.a.p.

OP is spot on. Power creep has killed any fun in GW2 PvP.

Exedore.6320:

OP is spot on. Power creep has killed any fun in GW2 PvP.

and WvW, for how much it counts =.=

Overall i agree. Some suspect points but mostly solid.

Make skills and boons matter again.

It been 2 seasons yet not much was done to the core spec. I feel like at first Anet tries to make Elite spec better/stronger than the core spec so people would bandwagon and buy the expansion, make money for the company ( I’m ok with this, business needs to make money somehow). But now, the plan backfires, the game lost its big streamers, players are upset and yet nothing is being done about this powercreep issue.

geekilo.8512:

It been 2 seasons yet not much was done to the core spec. I feel like at first Anet tries to make Elite spec better/stronger than the core spec so people would bandwagon and buy the expansion, make money for the company ( I’m ok with this, business needs to make money somehow). But now, the plan backfires, the game lost its big streamers, players are upset and yet nothing is being done about this powercreep issue.

Lordhelth quit streaming gw2 for different reason, don’t try to press the issue by misleading.

I don’t understand this game’s community.

GW2 has less powercreep than any mmo on the market, yet the players here kitten about powercreep 3x more than any other game on the market.

At this point I feel like people have just decided that something isn’t right, but can’t actually figure out what’s disturbing them, so they just blame power creep and call it a day.

Crinn.7864:

I don’t understand this game’s community.

GW2 has less powercreep than any mmo on the market, yet the players here kitten about powercreep 3x more than any other game on the market.

At this point I feel like people have just decided that something isn’t right, but can’t actually figure out what’s disturbing them, so they just blame power creep and call it a day.

Because it many games it may be an accepted fatality. For example most MMOs increase the level cap. That is necessarily power creep. You know it.

Now instead, we have a game which pretends “ooh we won’t increase the level cap, and the new specs will be side grades and not upgrades”. When I heard that statement, I was super happy: no power creep, more build diversity, yeah!!!

Instead we have power creep and reduced build diversity.

And honestly, outside of just feeling cheated, this does hurt severely the game play experience.

Crinn.7864:

I don’t understand this game’s community.

GW2 has less powercreep than any mmo on the market, yet the players here kitten about powercreep 3x more than any other game on the market.

At this point I feel like people have just decided that something isn’t right, but can’t actually figure out what’s disturbing them, so they just blame power creep and call it a day.

After so many hours playing GW2 (it became my only MMO), I can say that the game was more strategic before HoT (see here the powercreep curve that happened with HoT).

Before HoT, the fights were more intense, more strategic. You had to be on your toes since you did not have that many passive tools that would save you if you were caught off guard (did not say there were none, there was a few, yet they were not the norm).

You had to call targets in order to land some good hits. Nowadays, most people I see call targets and proceed to drop their AOE. Just drop the bomb and then bunker up. Good thing is that the AOE you just dropped also act as the downstate killer. Back then you had more of those situation where 1 person cleaved while someone else went for the dunk or the famous punt off to prevent rezing followed by a dunk. Nowadays it’s mostly brainless aoe on the downs… Also, a lot of players now play either a condition build, a hybrid with a good amount of condition or a condition clear machine with lots of tankiness (aka bruiser). Basically, the game shifted to a point where everyone plays the no risk high reward build that require a very minimal amount of hours to learn.

Back then (before HoT), it felt more skilled, more diverse. Nowadays its all about those elite specialization and meta battle, since core builds are usually left in the dust since they are under performing against their elite counterpart.

The best balance was achieved before HoT (after the fix to burn damage). Truly enjoyed that time (not to say balance is completely off the window as of today, but there is a lot of work to be made before we get a balanced scene). Otherwise, I would go for the Hambow meta (before cele).

To sum it up, yes GW2 balance and power creep is not completely atrocious, but you can’t justify the power creep simply because in another game the power creep is horrendous.

Crinn.7864:

I don’t understand this game’s community.

GW2 has less powercreep than any mmo on the market, yet the players here kitten about powercreep 3x more than any other game on the market.

At this point I feel like people have just decided that something isn’t right, but can’t actually figure out what’s disturbing them, so they just blame power creep and call it a day.

This is how the official forums work. Complain first, think of a reason later, bonus points if it contradicts with what you just said. :P

Warrior is OP but also dies instantly. Professions are equal but not balanced. Nerf condis but don’t make classes tanky. It’s not a big surprise that Anet devs are not very active on the pvp forums.
The word powercreep is being used to explain a hundred different issues, to the point that there’s no way to distinguish between them and actually understand the precise problems that need fixing.

In my experience with GW2 and other MMOs, the better the spot a game is in, the more the community finds relatively minor problems unacceptable. Players in BDO put up with glaring faults like incredibly uncompetitive PvP and infinite grind with just a few complaints, meanwhile players in GW2 seem to struggle to even explain their issues and give feedback.

Crinn.7864:

I don’t understand this game’s community.

GW2 has less powercreep than any mmo on the market, yet the players here kitten about powercreep 3x more than any other game on the market.

At this point I feel like people have just decided that something isn’t right, but can’t actually figure out what’s disturbing them, so they just blame power creep and call it a day.

We know something isn’t right and we know what it is. When people say “powercreep” here, they really mean everythingcreep.

There is too much sustain, cleansing, stun breaking, etc. which has necessitated more damage, cc, AoE etc. It may all even out, but it’s just a mess. Walking into a teamfight is basically a blinding rainbow of perma cc condi burst insta death. Unless of course you pop stability, invuln, protection, resistance, perma dodge or what have you. 1v1 or 2v2 is more reasonable, but any more than that is just not interesting.

Every from HoT are just way overloaded with bullkitten.

I’ll just take Scrapper’s hammer as an exemple, auto attack has insane might + vuln stacking, #2 is kittening good damage (cleave) + reflect on a 6s cd, #3 has evade frame triple leap finisher on a good damage gapclose, etc etc.
Everyone (but necro and war) has access to evade/block/invul frame with like 50% uptime, it’s extremely frustrating to play against this.
People can spam AoE with 8 millions condi and cc on them, when I play base necro and I have no stability, I get locked down unable to use any skill for 10 kittening seconds straight.

I agree with OP, nerf kittening everything. And I mean BIG nerfs, not a little slap on the wrist, go back to when Hambow Condi cleansing was considered insane.

Agree with OP, but the solution is much more complex than he makes it out. As long as pve and pvp skills are the same, then nerfs to pvp will generally nerf pve, too. As a pvp and a pve player, I cheer when a nerf happens in pvp to something obviously strong (like Deathly Chill), but then I shudder at the nerf in pve bc from a pve perspective it seems ham-fisted.

ANET is attempting to balance these skills across both game modes simultaneously and it just doesn’t work that way. There’s a reason GW1 had split skills.

HoT basically destroyed spvp. Balance was best soon after launch of GW2, now its a complete joke.

What you guys describe isnt a problem with “power creep”.

Its the problem that hot introduced WAY too many aoes. Thats fine in pve. But for pvp its toxic.

In the past it was the cause for more and more bunker builds. Now anet scrapped those (good thing too) but without reducing amount of aoe.

Small capture points + no bunker builds + tons of aoe → makes for bad conquest matches.