Guild Wars 2

A very contradictory title I would say but that’s not the end of it, any profession in this game should not be considered UP and that’s true, I didn’t lie but let me be more specific : every profession in this game can be OP with a min number of changes because they all share the same brainless gameplay as base design

No matter what you play, from elementalist to revenant, all it takes is few changes and your profession suddenly becomes the new FOTM , where each match in PvP will have min 5 of them.

Like in every MMO; every profession will go from a extremely OP phase to a less prominent phase , what will never change it’s the basic brainless gameplay attached to each profession.

I do not believe that is possible or even required to have all professions in the same phase at the exact same time and that’s why nerf/buff threads will always occur.

What should never occur is the creation of hardcounters, they kill all the fun and make the outcome of each fights very predictable.

“Hardcounters” are created when the devs listen to the wrong type of audience, the toxic part of every MMO community, which will be sadly always present.

I refer to this part of the community as carebears; these are individuals who want to achieve victory with the min amount of effort and possibly with no chance of losing that specific encounter.

Carebears normally create threads asking for nerfs, they will never consider the strength and weaknesses of the profession they want to see nerfed…and neither they will consider the plus/cons of their own profession.

They will normally ask for nerfs that will purposely neuter that specific class when dealing with them, by neutering that specific class, making it extremely easy to deal with..all challenge removed.

A typical example of carebear balance is Diamond Skin.
Yeah yeah I know..I’m biased..but so you are as well so bear with it.

The trait was introduced in the Dec 2014 patch after the dhuum meta explosion and the reason was(still is) ele has no ways to deal with condi bursts that apply several condis at the same time

For the first time ever, ele did not need to slot water trait line, the class had an effective way to deal with condi specs without being forced to use the same traitlines.

That was an increase in build diversity..but that didn’t last. The trait was effectively removed and eles got back to water once again, as the only way to deal with condis……….( not enough by a long shot on its own)…..

I don’t want to go in details about this whole argument, it would take too much time…

Another classical example are nerf threads against Thieves, yeah everybody hates assassins…in every MMO hate assassins and for obvious reasons but…should people enjoying thief be barred from having any fun?

NO! Why should they?

They’re called thieves/rogues/assassin for a reason…people should either deal with itor just quit the MMO genre.

Like the people complaining that longbow ranger does incredible dmg..oh really?! Good thing the class is called Ranger and not sandwichmancer.
Here take a good reading!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ranger_

Ranger and Thief are just examples, all other classes should be considered in the same situation, they’re called mesmer, elementalist etc etc because they’re meant to do something specific…so people should really get down from their high horse

Now all this doesn’t mean that Ranger and Thief do not require nerfs/buffs, all professions need nerfs/ buffs at all time..that’s what MMO are for.

But there is a difference between asking to neuter and nerfing/buffing one profession

I opened several threads asking to nerf warrior/dragonhunters, I won’t lie about it ofc.

But I don’t remember ever asking to nerfhammer specific elements of certain classes, I know that certain changes would have dire consequences and would make both classes unplayable

All I ask is to up the level of skill required to perform well on these classes, not to straight out delete their advantages over others.

For example Warrior:
- address “Eternal Champion”
- Arcing slice

That’s all really that need to change : too much stability uptime and too easy to land aoe burst

Guardian:
- Make the pull blockable and reduce change to 600
- Add cast time to Test of Faith
- Wings of Resolve base healing reduced to 2.1k

That’s all really…no carebear balance, just rightful nerf/buff cycle

A better name for it is “Scrub pandering” -people who want to win but don’t want to improve themselves to do so.

For the most part you are right about hard counters. They are bad for the game. Nothing should ever be a blowout. Good example is warrior vs DH. DH should have the upper hand in that fight but a skilled warrior can outplay a lesser skilled DHs blocks and win that engagement anyways. Every counter to every class should be like that IMO.

Supreme.3164:

What should never occur is the creation of hardcounters, they kill all the fun and make the outcome of each fights very predictable.

Why is predictability a bad thing? Expected outcomes makes the game far easier to balance, and also makes the game mode far easier to learn and get into. If every build could reasonably 1v1 every other build, there would also be very little role identity between the classes and everyone would end up feeling the same outside of their obvious differences in aesthetic.

It’s important to have hardcounters. Every competitive game has them.

Supreme.3164:

Guardian:
- Make the pull blockable and reduce change to 600
- Add cast time to Test of Faith
- Wings of Resolve base healing reduced to 2.1k

That’s all really…no carebear balance, just rightful nerf/buff cycle

Do you think Purification healing for over 10K with a Mender amulet is balanced?