Guild Wars 2

HoT specs were designed, at least in part, for raids. That being the case, they couldn’t make major power changes to the elite specs without also affecting raids.

I don’t honestly think ANET has the ability to make major PvP and Raid content changes at the same time.

So, ANET can’t really make major changes to power levels in PvP. Changes would be restricted to those that wouldn’t compromise raids. This may explain some of the design choices.

It also implies that vanilla specs won’t ever be equivalent, since that path would require major changes to the pve world. Such an undertaking would be even larger than revamping raids.

The sigil changes are brilliant, seen in that light, since they affect PvP in isolation.

Sadly, this means that the next expansion specs will likely have the same issues.

From where I sit, ANET would be wise to nerf raids and HoT specs along with them. This would permit better PvP balance.