Guild Wars 2

Thanks for the update!

Features and balance news are what personally attract me to the Ready Up episodies, so I’ll definitely check this one.

How long is ready up and how much time is dedicated to each segment?
Will player feedback from the ready up be taken into account for the proposed changes?

Is there something like ‘rewards’ coming soon?

Josh Davis.6015:

To clarify a point in the original post:

Regarding the “Skill Bar” segment, we’re going to be covering future balance updates for both the ranger and engineer. We’re only covering two on each episode because we want to make sure we’re conveying the information in a more easily digestible manner, and we want to make sure we’re giving every profession its due in terms of coverage.

More professions will be covered in the coming weeks.

-Grouch

Okay I totally understand ranger being first, but why engineer so soon? Or is it just picked randomly? Just wondering, though, since I’m just glad that we get to hear about what you guys have in mind at all and that we’ll hear about each profession eventually

nearlight.3064:

Okay I totally understand ranger being first, but why engineer so soon? Or is it just picked randomly? Just wondering, though, since I’m just glad that we get to hear about what you guys have in mind at all and that we’ll hear about each profession eventually

Maybe they’re picking the professions that were the most voted for in the CDI, and coupling them with the remaining ones. Ranger was the most voted, elementalist the second most, so maybe we’ll get them in that order.

EDIT: Or not. :P

Or casual how ever you want to pour it out its cool

So you’re covering 2 professions every 2 weeks. Which means at least 2 months until any balance? Hilarious. In reality I wouldn’t expect a balance patch until october at the earliest. At least its summer :P

Josh Davis.6015:

nearlight.3064:

Josh Davis.6015:

To clarify a point in the original post:

Regarding the “Skill Bar” segment, we’re going to be covering future balance updates for both the ranger and engineer. We’re only covering two on each episode because we want to make sure we’re conveying the information in a more easily digestible manner, and we want to make sure we’re giving every profession its due in terms of coverage.

More professions will be covered in the coming weeks.

-Grouch

Okay I totally understand ranger being first, but why engineer so soon? Or is it just picked randomly? Just wondering, though, since I’m just glad that we get to hear about what you guys have in mind at all and that we’ll hear about each profession eventually

We thought about doing it alphabetically, but then we were like, “BOOM, WE’RE SPONTANEOUS!”

Hahaha I appreciate that spontaneity!

I just hope necro and mesmer won’t be last as they need almost as much love as the ranger and patience is not my virtue!

Lordrosicky.5813:

So you’re covering 2 professions every 2 weeks. Which means at least 2 months until any balance? Hilarious.

:(

Maybe anet could also say in the episode why they went in with this new balancing schedule, and if they think if it is working for them or not.

Josh Davis.6015:

Kiriakulos.1690:

How long is ready up and how much time is dedicated to each segment?
Will player feedback from the ready up be taken into account for the proposed changes?

Regarding length: we’re aiming to keep Ready Up a lot shorter than we have previously – the two hour episodes are killer.

As for feedback, the our new way of splitting up the balance segments will make it easier for us to track feedback, as we’ll only be talking about two professions every two weeks, rather than 8 in one week.

Sounds like a good approach! It seems that you, Karl, J. Sharp, and Roy have been a bit pressed for time trying to cover all eight professions in past Ready Up installments, so perhaps the narrowed focus will allow for more in-depth discussion and Q&A.

Glad to hear rangers are one of the first on deck, I’ve recently grown interested in playing the profession!

Josh Davis.6015:

As for feedback, the our new way of splitting up the balance segments will make it easier for us to track feedback, as we’ll only be talking about two professions every two weeks, rather than 8 in one week.

would it be possible that you open up threads each two weeks for the feedback? a thread called “Skillbar – Ranger + Engi” or something.

I agree with Jekkt. It would be nice to have some discussion threads openned up so we could maybe get some questions together that the devs may be able to answer. Or maybe to organize feedback and discussion for after the readyup concludes so the forums aren’t filled with ‘lawl Aquaman 2.0’ posts.

Has there been consideration in making balance tweaks to 2 professions, then the next two professions, etc. etc. instead of doing all professions at the same time?

Will this and/or the timeline of balance patches be discussed?

It would also be nice, at least regarding the ranger discussion time, with there could be some follow up about the direction the Devs are taking with information gathered from the Ranger CDI.

Additionally, any follow up regarding the ongoing discussion that was occurring in the Ranger Balance thread the Allie commented on at some point and said was being passed around to the dev team would be a pleasant surprise.

Also, there is another community discussion currently ongoing about rangers here: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/ranger/Ranger-Balance-2/first#post4231484

Please note that I am not trying to hassle you guys (devs)! I just wanted to reiterate the amount of community effort that has gone into, and goes into providing feedback, and as much I personally am aware that you don’t have the time in the day to go and make every single person who provides constructive praise/feedback feel special, it would be nice in these Ready Up balance segments if the devs do mention any, or if, they have taken any notes from any of the efforts put into the feedback provided by the community.

Anyhow, I’d also like to say I love the intended direction of the Skill Bar portion of the Ready Up, and genuinely hope to see it succeed!

Mark Katzbach.9084:

Just to clarify, the Skill Bar segment is a pre-recorded balance preview, much like the previews that used to be posted on the forums. Each segment will cover 2 professions and Karl will talk about the changes as they are demonstrated. We decided to pre-record these segments because it allows us to cut down each profession from over 15 minutes to about 5 and it allows us to show off the changes without making you wait for Karl to make build changes on the fly.

For your feedback, please feel free to open a new thread (for each profession previewed) in the profession balance subforum after the preview and I’ll make sure the balance team knows where to find it.

Ah, that’s actually pretty awesome! Very GW1-esque with the old Developer blogs.

Mark Katzbach.9084:

Just to clarify, the Skill Bar segment is a pre-recorded balance preview, much like the previews that used to be posted on the forums. Each segment will cover 2 professions and Karl will talk about the changes as they are demonstrated. We decided to pre-record these segments because it allows us to cut down each profession from over 15 minutes to about 5 and it allows us to show off the changes without making you wait for Karl to make build changes on the fly.

For your feedback, please feel free to open a new thread (for each profession previewed) in the profession balance subforum after the preview and I’ll make sure the balance team knows where to find it.

sounds like good news, hopefully it is good news too. I will be looking forward to this.

Lordrosicky.5813:

So you’re covering 2 professions every 2 weeks. Which means at least 2 months until any balance? Hilarious. In reality I wouldn’t expect a balance patch until october at the earliest. At least its summer :P

You count weeks almost as well as you count the amount of times you’ve posted QQ threads about you dying to X class.

Not to be a downer, but I suppose this means we won’t see any major balance updates for awhile, which is somewhat disappointing.

According to DnT, Engineer is currently the second highest damage source in PvE after Elementalist, yet requires an immense amount of effort on the player’s part in order to achieve so.

And from personal experience, Grenades are amazing in the condi-PvP game with great range and long bleeding application.

This couldn’t possibly be buffs, could it? Plz keep your nerf-bat AWAY from my favorite class… Keep it AWAY! AWAY! AWAY WITH YOU! SHOO! GO AWAY! Go AWAY, you chicken fat, GO AWAY!!!

On the other hand, as someone who plays Ranger as their secondary, I am super excited to hear what balance updates they have in store for us, both for PvE and PvP. I remember hearing in the CDI thread that we would be able to perma-stow our pets in exchange for unique buffs depending on our pet. I’m super-excited to see that come into fruition, since pets have the capabilities to be an incredibly versatile and interesting mechanic (being a variable skillset of buffs we are able to pre-select before a battle…)

Lordrosicky.5813:

So you’re covering 2 professions every 2 weeks. Which means at least 2 months until any balance? Hilarious. In reality I wouldn’t expect a balance patch until october at the earliest. At least its summer :P

So no balance updates until September?

It does seem to make sense from a timing standpoint, since that is when Season 2 of Living Story is likely to end (assuming the finale is in August…)

wwwes.1398:

Not to be a downer, but I suppose this means we won’t see any major skill fact changes for awhile, which is somewhat disappointing.

I fixed that for you

BTT:
Well, thanks for the initiative. I really hope it’s not only empty talk and promises. The update/balance policy at the moment is the worst. Some more insight is really appreciated.

thanks for letting us know, really looking forward to it!

Oh man you got me all hyped up now :/

Please tell me you got flamethrower changes please tell me you do >.<

I’m really hyped that you’ll be doing balance previews again! The long silence preceding the big Feature Patch was maddening, and it’s a relief that you’ll be including us in the process again!

On the downside, the timing of your previews gives me some scope for concern: Ready Up is once every 2 weeks. If you continue previewing 2 professions per episode, that means that the next balance patch is AT A MINIMUM 8 and a half weeks away! That’s way too long guys! Bimonthly is ok for a major rebalancing, but I would like to see smaller balance tweaks on AT LEAST a monthly basis!

And so WvW is left to die

Lordrosicky.5813:

So you’re covering 2 professions every 2 weeks. Which means at least 2 months until any balance? Hilarious. In reality I wouldn’t expect a balance patch until october at the earliest. At least its summer :P

Agreed – I laughed as well. It’s better than nothing though I guess.

Edit: I can’t believe people are actually happy with this. I don’t think people realise what this means. It’ll be over TWO MONTHS till next balance update.

Obsidia.5127:

Lordrosicky.5813:

So you’re covering 2 professions every 2 weeks. Which means at least 2 months until any balance? Hilarious. In reality I wouldn’t expect a balance patch until october at the earliest. At least its summer :P

Agreed – I laughed as well. It’s better than nothing though I guess.

Edit: I can’t believe people are actually happy with this. I don’t think people realise what this means. It’ll be over TWO MONTHS till next balance update.

I don’t think you realize how little the majority of the player base cares
This game is littered with casual players. Why would they care about balance changes? everything is viable in PvE, which is what the majority of the players do

PvP is beyond dead to anet, it doesn’t help bring any money to anets pockets, why would they bother spending resources with balancing and what not?
Its probably the least active of the big 3 (PvE, WvW and PvP)

Its not a surprise at all that we will see balance updates every 6 months or so.
It’s just not worth it to anet to actually give a kitten about it.

I generally get nervous whenever Grouch talks about Engineer balance because he has always been the bearer of bad news in regards to Engineer balance.

December.3946:

I generally get nervous whenever Grouch talks about Engineer balance because he has always been the bearer of bad news in regards to Engineer balance.

Yes, because those new turret traits were soooooooo bad. :p

wwwes.1398:

Not to be a downer, but I suppose this means we won’t see any major balance updates for awhile, which is somewhat disappointing.

This is my concern. Remember that ready-up is only every other week. That means 8 weeks to get through all the classes, and then who knows how long after that until the release.

A serious question for the ready-up show: Why does it take so long to release balance patches? That is especially true for certain specs that are obviously OP. Why not “shave” them as needed. It’s how other games do it, and it works well, especially if you ever want an esport.

December.3946:

I generally get nervous whenever Grouch talks about Engineer balance because he has always been the bearer of bad news in regards to Engineer balance.

something something engies heal for 1000 hps something something incin powder something something potential 100% vigor/ perma swiftness and high prot uptime something something 3 sec shield block on 20 sec cd something something unblockable pull that can bait infinite dodges and some other things

Oh, am I getting a buff?

Oh good, I will watch the skill bar bit, just to see if Ranger gets any love, (pigs might fly too), not played my 80th lvl Ranger for about a year, they that annoying.

Great idea pre-recording (so you can do a decent edit) and only covering 2 professions at a time. 8 at once was far too much.

Hope you actually come up with some interesting changes and not the usual, ‘meh’ boring rubbish that does not matter like you usually do…

So at least another 2 months till balance patch.
So PVP patches in gw2 every ~5 months confirmed.
Seems it wont be even 3 years then before PVP season 1 starts.

Hopefully this is an indication of more than bi-yearly balance updates.

Mark Katzbach.9084:

Just to clarify, the Skill Bar segment is a pre-recorded balance preview, much like the previews that used to be posted on the forums. Each segment will cover 2 professions and Karl will talk about the changes as they are demonstrated. We decided to pre-record these segments because it allows us to cut down each profession from over 15 minutes to about 5 and it allows us to show off the changes without making you wait for Karl to make build changes on the fly.

For your feedback, please feel free to open a new thread (for each profession previewed) in the profession balance subforum after the preview and I’ll make sure the balance team knows where to find it.

So 5 minutes to every class, 2 class every ready up, 1 ready up every 2 weeks. Uhm we will see the end in 2 months? Seriously? Another 2 months to see a couple of tweaks and a big amount of tooltip editing? Lol, i hope this time we will see some big changes (new skill, new traits, new weapons).
But i’m sure this will remains only hopes.

What’s with all the “We think the engineer is in a good place”?

Maybe they will change retaliation so that it only hits once per second, so engies and rangers no longer kill themselves in seconds using aoe skills?

It’s almost as if retal is designed to dissuade people from spamming skills

SkiTz.4590:

I don’t think you realize how little the majority of the player base cares
This game is littered with casual players. Why would they care about balance changes? everything is viable in PvE, which is what the majority of the players do

PvP is beyond dead to anet, it doesn’t help bring any money to anets pockets, why would they bother spending resources with balancing and what not?
Its probably the least active of the big 3 (PvE, WvW and PvP)

Its not a surprise at all that we will see balance updates every 6 months or so.
It’s just not worth it to anet to actually give a kitten about it.

Yet, PvE has the worst meta out of the three, as the result of a combat system designed and balanced around pvp tactics, pvp improvization and human intelligence put into an AI environment with no AI.

maha.7902:

It’s almost as if retal is designed to dissuade people from spamming skills

It’s almost as if you didn’t understand the point of the user above your post (if you were replying to him). :P

Address the major game affecting balance issues, but other than that all I care about at this point is bugs. Please make a concerted effort to address the massive amounts in game right now. Frankly, if that was the primary focus this year and completed, that’d be a major accomplishment. Shouldn’t have to be this way of course but we are where we are.

A major bug fixing effort across all classes could also potentially shift balance as players start experimenting with long bugged skills and traits.

Hoping this is more than just pageantry.

DiogoSilva.7089:

SkiTz.4590:

I don’t think you realize how little the majority of the player base cares
This game is littered with casual players. Why would they care about balance changes? everything is viable in PvE, which is what the majority of the players do

PvP is beyond dead to anet, it doesn’t help bring any money to anets pockets, why would they bother spending resources with balancing and what not?
Its probably the least active of the big 3 (PvE, WvW and PvP)

Its not a surprise at all that we will see balance updates every 6 months or so.
It’s just not worth it to anet to actually give a kitten about it.

Yet, PvE has the worst meta out of the three, as the result of a combat system designed and balanced around pvp tactics, pvp improvization and human intelligence put into an AI environment with no AI.

maha.7902:

It’s almost as if retal is designed to dissuade people from spamming skills

It’s almost as if you didn’t understand the point of the user above your post (if you were replying to him). :P

PvE has the worst meta because of the lack of trinity which results in a power meta
There’s no roles anyone needs to fulfill…. everyone can just wear zerk gear and set their traits to best dps possible, boom done. Never need to change from this. Theres no diversity in PvE. Conditions are utterly useless in PvE. Same with trying to be a healer or cc spec
All you have to do is spec to zerk and power and you win in PvE. Really simple lol.
This won’t change unless anet completely redesigns the core of the combat system, which lets be real, is not happening.

It took them 18 months to decide healing signet needs to be nerfed.
Not trying to sound bashful, but I call it like I see it. The balance/PvP team is terribly shorthanded and anet really doesn’t care too much about it

You thinking there’s no roles to fulfill, thinking that there’s no diversity and that conditions are useless tells me you flat out just don’t understand PvE at all.

maha.7902:

You thinking there’s no roles to fulfill, thinking that there’s no diversity and that conditions are useless tells me you flat out just don’t understand PvE at all.

Really? Cause I can hop on my guardian and spam 1 with staff and tag for days and get plenty of loot for any open world PvE events (not including teq/wurm) I want to do.

If i want to do dung /frac runs, Just hop on my ele and FGS to victory

Now if you talkin about soloing dungs and open world champs and stuff… sure you can have some different specs for that, but why would I do that? thats not rewarding lol (unless you just doin it for the challenge/fun)