Guild Wars 2

General

Vision: With this update, I am looking to lower the power of some of the strongest builds and skills in the game, while providing more build options for every class. Elementalist and Mesmer are receiving the most help, while Warrior, Spirit of Nature, Engi AoE, and bunker Guardian are seeing some slight reductions in power. In addition, access to Endurance is being lowered across the board to reduce the length of teamfights and the amount of sustain that certain classes have access to. A few ways to counter stealth were added to provide some additional counterplay to the mechanic. Also, some weak or inflexible skills and traits were targeted with redesigns, to increase their viability.

The 6-set bonus of Superior Runes of Lyssa has been changed:
(6) When you use an elite skill, lose 3 conditions and gain 3 random boons for 5 seconds (not including Stability). (CD: 45 seconds)

Superior Runes of the Traveler have been added to PvP:
(1) +10 to All Stats, +2% Critical Damage
(2) +10% Boon Duration
(3) +10 to All Stats, +2% Critical Damage
(4) +10% Condition Duration
(5) +10 to All Stats, +2% Critical Damage
(6) +25% Movement Speed

Superior Sigil of Energy — Now returns only 25% Endurance upon weapon swap, down from 50%.

Transforms — All transforms have been adjusted so that they no longer increase Power or Precision. Instead, their base damage has been increased to provide approximately the same amount of net damage. This was done to eliminate abuse of laying down an AoE, and then immediately using a transform to spike up the damage of the AoE that was previously casted (wells + Lich Form, Meteor Shower + Tornado, etc.)

Elementalist

Summary: Elementalist, as the class currently in need of the most help, is being targeted in two critical areas: sustain and mobility. Signet of Restoration was restored to previous levels, and Ether Renewal was improved. Ride the Lightning’s cooldown was lowered to add back more out-of-combat mobility. In addition, several skills on the Focus were either improved or made more easy to use. Lightning Strike (scepter air #2) was made to no longer be instant, to reduce some of the instant spike possible in the Fresh Air build, and Diamond Skin was redesigned.

Dragon’s Tooth — Now uses ground targeting.

Lightning Strike — Added a 0.25 second casting time.

Fire Shield — The cooldown was reduced to 30 seconds.

Freezing Gust — Now a piercing projectile attack, similar to Dust Devil.

Comet — The casting time has been reduced to 0.5 seconds, down from 0.75 seconds. It now uses ground targeting.

Gale — The casting time has been reduced to 0.5 seconds, down from 0.75 seconds.

Signet of Restoration — The passive healing has been returned to its previous level of 202 (0.1), up from 168 (0.08). It once again behaves the same as it does in PvE/WvW.

Ether Renewal — Condensed to 7 pulses instead of 8, but still provides the same amount of healing as before. The resulting full channel time is now 3 seconds instead of 3.5. Also, the heal has been changed so that earlier pulses provide a bit more healing than the later ones, thus punishing the user less if the heal is interrupted.

Ride the Lightning — This ability now has a 25 second cooldown regardless of if it hits a target or not. Previously, it had a 20 second cooldown if a target was hit, or a 40 second cooldown if no target was hit.

Lightning Flash — Now breaks stuns. Its cooldown was increased to 45 seconds, up from 40 seconds.

Arcane Brilliance — The casting time was reduced to 0.25 seconds, down from 0.75 seconds.

Diamond Skin — This trait has been redesigned. It now reduces the duration of incoming conditions by 100% for 2 seconds after switching to Earth Attunement.

Engineer

Summary: Engineer AoE abilities are currently dominant in high level play, making them not only good for 1v1s, but also extremely dangerous in teamfights. As such, Poison Grenade and Concussion Bomb saw a slight reduction in AoE power. Med Kit was tweaked to be more competitive with Healing Turret, opening up its use as a support kit. Elixir R is currently still very powerful team utility, and thus was given back its stun break, but saw its reviving capabilities somewhat reduced. Gadgets were somewhat buffed, and Engineer now has a way to directly counter stealth. Supply Crate’s powerful impact in 1v1s was reduced, but its cooldown was also lowered to compensate, keeping it about as strong as before in teamfighting. More options were added in terms of condition removal, which is currently a weak point. Automated Response was changed to add a bit more counterplay to the trait.

Poison Grenade — Poison clouds now last for 3 seconds, down from 5 seconds, and deal 3 seconds of Poison per pulse, down from 5 seconds.

Concussion Bomb — The radius was reduced to 120, down from 180.

All Med Kit Items — Now are immediately picked up if dropped near an ally. Previously, the player had to move to pick up the item, even if it had been dropped or thrown close to them.

Drop Bandages — Reduced casting time to 0.25 seconds, down from 0.5 seconds. Duration was reduced to 30 seconds.

Drop Antidote — Reduced casting time to 0.25 seconds, down from 0.5 seconds. Now removes 2 conditions. Duration was reduced to 30 seconds.

Drop Stimulant — Reduced casting time to 0.25s, down from 0.5 seconds. Duration was reduced to 30 seconds.

Elixir R — Now instant cast and breaks stun. The cooldown was increased to 45 seconds, up from 30 seconds.

Toss Elixir R — Now revives 12% per pulse, down from 17%.

Analyse — This toolbelt skill has been redesigned. It now called “Deploy Detector”.
Deploy Detector
Deploy a detector that applies vulnerability and reveals stealthed enemies within the area.
Casting Time: 0.5 seconds
Recharge: 60 seconds
Range: 900
Radius: 300
Duration: 5 seconds
Revealed: 4 seconds
Vulnerability(5): 8 seconds

Launch Personal Battering Ram — This skill has been redesigned. It now knocks down any foes it hits for 2 seconds, does not cripple, and has had its cooldown increased to 45 seconds.

Supply Crate — Now drops a Rifle Turret instead of a Net Turret. The stun duration was lowered to 1s from 2s, and the cooldown was reduced to 150 seconds from 180 seconds.

Elite Supplies — Now adds a Net Turret to Supply Crate instead of a Rifle Turret.

Automated Response — Now reduces incoming condition duration by 100%, rather than granting complete immunity.

Scope — This trait has been redesigned. It is now called, “Antidote Pouch”, and reads, “Using a toolbelt skill removes 1 condition. (CD: 10 seconds)”

Guardian

Summary: Some of the weakest skills for Guardian saw some slight buffs, while the meta bunker build was slightly reduced in power. Purging Flames was made more useful for support in to open up additional build possibilities. DPS Guardians now have new powerful options in the classically weak Zeal tree. A bit less Vigor from the incredibly powerful 5-point trait “Vigorous Precision” will slightly nerf bunkers while encouraging DPS builds towards other trees.

Shield of Absorption — A bug has been fixed where cancelling the channel of the skill would cause the shield to become invisible.

Healing Breeze — The heal has been changed so that earlier pulses provide a bit more healing than the later ones, thus punishing the user less if the heal is interrupted.

Bane Signet — Lowered the casting time to 0.5 seconds from 0.75 seconds, and increased the knockdown to 3 seconds from 2 seconds.

Signet of Wrath — Lowered the casting time to 0.5 seconds from 0.75 seconds.

“Stand Your Ground!” — The cooldown was increased to 35 seconds, up from 30 seconds.

“Retreat!” — The cooldown was reduced to 50 seconds, down from 60 seconds.

Purging Flames — The casting time was reduced to 0.25 seconds, down from 0.75 seconds. The radius was increased to 300, up from 240.

Zealous Blade — The healing has been increased to 50 (0.03), up from 25 (0.02).

Kindled Zeal — This trait has been redesigned, and renamed “Zealous Strikes”. It reads, “Deal 5% more damage when under 50% health, and heal yourself for the same amount as the extra damage dealt.”

Vigorous Precision — Reduced Vigor duration to 3 seconds, down from 5 seconds.

Mesmer

Summary: Mesmer saw buffs to their condition build options by having the Scepter skills improved. Some of the weaker skills, including Mantras, saw some needed buffs. Mantra of Pain was replaced by Mantra of Haste, giving the Mesmer a way to quickly recharge another Mantra or to quickly burst down a target. Confounding Suggestions was bugfixed, and some Vigor was removed from Critical Infusion. Deceptive Evasion was moved to the Illusions tree, removing some reliance of the meta shatter build from the Dueling tree and thus opening up new build possibilities. Prismatic Understanding was adjusted downward slightly, mainly for WvW concerns.

Ether Blast — Now also applies Bleed(1): 2 seconds.

Ether Clone — Reduced the casting time to 0.75 seconds, down from 1 second.

Confusing Images — Reduced the channel time to 2.25 seconds, down from 3 seconds. The first pulse now occurs at 0.25 seconds into the channel, with subsequent pulses every 0.5 seconds thereafter. Reduced the base damage to 760 (2.4), down from 840 (2.5).

Mimic — The first projectile absorbed is now also negated.

Arcane Thievery — The cooldown was reduced to 40 seconds, down from 45 seconds.

Mantra of Concentration — The casting time was reduced to 2.5 seconds, down from 2.75 seconds.

Mantra of Distraction — The casting time was reduced to 2.5 seconds, down from 2.75 seconds.

Mantra of Pain — This skill has been redesigned. It is now called, “Mantra of Haste”.
Mantra of Haste
Meditate, charging a spell that will speed up your actions for a short time.
Casting Time: 2.5 seconds
Cooldown: 30 seconds

Power Speed
Quickness: 2 seconds
Cooldown: 15 seconds

Mantra of Resolve — The casting time was reduced to 2.5 seconds, down from 2.75 seconds.

Confounding Suggestions — This trait has been bugfixed to work properly with Chaos Storm.

Deceptive Evasion — Moved to Illusions Tree’s Master tier.

Critical Infusion — Reduced Vigor duration to 3 seconds, down from 5 seconds.

Prismatic Understanding — The Protection granted by this trait has been reduced to 2 seconds, down from 3 seconds.

Illusionary Invigoration — Moved to Adept tier. The cooldown was increased to 90 seconds, up from 60 seconds.

Dazzling Glamours — Moved to Master tier.

Phantasmal Haste — Moved to Dueling Tree’s Master tier.

Necromancer

Summary: The support from Putrid Mark was increased. Lich Form’s autoattack damage was reduced slightly, and two of its other abilities were improved. The duration of conditions caused by Signet of Spite were reduced a bit to lower its extreme effectiveness, especially in 1v1s. Minion Masters saw a slight reduction in minion damage from Training of the Master, and Terror was moved up to Grandmaster tier.

Marks — Marks now start to appear as they are being cast. They start off as mostly transparent, becoming fully opaque as the cast time ends.

Putrid Mark — Now also transfers 1 condition from up to 5 allies within 600 range of the mark when triggered to enemies within the mark, in addition to the 3 conditions transferred from the caster.

Grasping Dead — Returned the 3rd bleed stack to PvP.

Signet of Spite — Changed the active effect to the following:
Damage: 263
Bleeding(2): 7 seconds
Blind: 5 seconds
Crippled: 5 seconds
Poison: 7 seconds
Vulnerability(5): 7 seconds
Weakness: 5 seconds
Activation: 0.5 seconds
Range: 1200

Deathly Claws — Reduced damage by 10%.

Marked for Death — Now gives Vulnerability(10): 8 seconds, instead of Vulnerability(8): 10 seconds.

Mark of Horror — Reduced the casting time to 1 second, down from 1.5 seconds. Now summons 6 jagged horrors, up from 5.

Training of the Master — Reduced damage increase to 20%, down from 30%.

Weakening Shroud — Now applies Bleed(2): 6 seconds, instead of Bleed(1).

Withering Precision — Moved to Master tier.

Terror — Moved to Grandmaster tier.

Ranger

Summary: Greatsword, offhand Axe, and dagger got some improvements. Lightning Reflexes and Signet of Renewal got some quality of life adjustments, and shouts were greatly improved. Spirit of Nature’s healing was adjusted to match the tooltip. Pets will now scale based on the Ranger’s stats, making lesser-used pets more viable and lowering pet burst potential from defensive or condition-based builds.

Swoop — Added 0.5s of Evade at the beginning of this skill.

Path of Scars — Added a Cripple: 2 seconds to the outgoing half of the attack.

Whirling Defense — Increased total base damage to 1158 (3.0), up from 1008 (3.0).

Stalker’s Strike — Now applies Torment(2): 8 seconds instead of Poison: 10 seconds.

Lightning Reflexes — Now also removes chill, cripple, and immobilize. The cooldown was increased to 45 seconds, up from 40 seconds.

Signet of Renewal — This skill now always transfers all conditions from you to your pet, regardless of range.

“Guard” — This skill now also grants the pet fury and might, but all boons are now granted when the pet detects a target within range to attack. The casting time was removed to make it similar to other Shouts.
Guard
Command your pet to aggressively defend an area. Your pet gains stealth until an enemy is detected.
Stealth: 10 seconds
Protection: 5 seconds
Fury: 5 seconds
Might(3): 5 seconds
Casting Time: Instant
Cooldown: 20s

“Sic ’Em” — The way that this skill applies Revealed has been changed. Instead, any stealthed enemies within 600 range of the Ranger have Revealed applied to them upon use of the skill. The cooldown has been increased to 45 seconds, up from 40 seconds.

“Search and Rescue” — The cooldown was decreased to 150 seconds in PvP, and is once again affected by traits.

Spirit of Nature — The passive healing was reduced to 320 HP/s, down from 480 HP/s.

Nature’s Voice — This trait has been redesigned.
Nature’s Voice
Shouts apply protection, swiftness and regeneration to allies, and transfer 1 condition from each ally to your pet.
Protection: 3 seconds
Regeneration: 5 seconds
Swiftness: 5 seconds
Conditions Transferred: 1
Radius: 600

Pets — Ranger pets have been rebalanced to have their stats scale based off the character’s own stats, rather than having flat stats based on the character’s Level. Different types of pets scale differently with each stat. For example, condition-based Rangers will fare best when choosing pets that scale well off of Condition Damage, like Spiders, whereas defensive Rangers will do well to pick defensive pets like Bears that give supportive effects and scale well off of Vitality and Toughness.

Thief

Summary: Thieves recently had major redesign changes, so my set of changes is relatively light. Shadowstep, the current clearly best stunbreak for all builds, had its cooldown timer swapped with Roll For Initiative to open up more build possibilities and provide extra Initiative for certain builds that need it. Thieves Guild is rarely used, partly due to its long cooldown, so the cooldown of this elite was reduced. Quick Recovery is much worse after the latest patch, so its functionality was changed to better synergize with other Acrobatics traits. Hard to Catch now also prevents CC to increase its viability.

Shadowstep — Increased cooldown to 60 seconds, up from 50 seconds.

Roll for Initiative — Reduced cooldown to 50 seconds, down from 60 seconds.

Thieves Guild — Reduced cooldown to 150 seconds, down from 180 seconds.

Quick Recovery — This trait has been redesigned.
Quick Recovery
Gain endurance for each point of Initiative spent.
Endurance: 2

Hard to Catch — Now also prevents the disable effect from occuring. Raised the shadowstep distance to 900, up from 600. Increased the cooldown to 60 seconds, up from 30 seconds.

Warrior

Summary: Some of the Warrior’s best skills: Pin Down, Healing Signet, and Berserker Stance, saw some slight adjustments. Support abilities, like shouts and banners, were given some necessary buffs in order to make them more viable in PvP.

Pin Down — The casting time was increased to 0.5 seconds, up from 0.25 seconds. The skill’s animation has been changed to be more clear.

Healing Signet — The passive heal was reduced to 342 (0.08), down from 392 (0.05). The active heal was increased to 4275 (0.6), up from 3275 (0.5).

Berserker Stance — Now reduces incoming condition duration by 100%, instead of granting complete immunity.

“Fear Me!” — This skill has been changed.
“Fear Me!”
Induce fear in your foes. Allies gain Stability.
400-600 range – Fear: 1 second
200-400 range – Fear: 1.5 seconds
0-200 range – Fear: 2 seconds
Stability: 3 seconds
Radius: 600
Breaks Stun
Cooldown: 60 seconds

Inspiring Battle Standard — This trait has been redesigned.
Inspiring Battle Standard
Banners also heal and remove conditions.
Healing: 1300 (1.25)
Conditions Removed: 1
Interval: 10 seconds (The first pulse happens immediately upon summoning the banner. A short glow animation now plays on the banner every time it pulses.)

wtb more counterplay for necro (travel time or delay on marks is ideal)

Reevz.2617:

wtb more counterplay for necro (travel time or delay on marks is ideal)

Agree, ideally I’d like to see a little animation as the mark appears or something.

Reevz.2617:

wtb more counterplay for necro (travel time or delay on marks is ideal)

I agree. Your stated changes to the Necro nerf conditions some, but do nothing to address their lack of counterplay, nor do they address the subpar sustain the Necro community has been asking for forever.

Okay, I added a note about Marks.

cymerdown.4103:

Superior Sigil of Energy — Now returns only 25% Endurance upon weapon swap, down from 50%.

And just like that, the ken document is the best document.

cleansing ire needs also rework.

cymerdown.4103:

General

Elementalist

Dragon’s Tooth — Now uses ground targeting.

I’m not sure if you guys know this but, DT started out as a Ground targeted skill. The skill is already quite slow to land, add ground targetting and the time to land could double. So no, let’s not go back to that.

hooma.9642:

cleansing ire needs also rework.

No it doesn’t. It’s the best trait Anet ever designed to give the Warrior some semblance of survivability against conditions. If anything I’d want them to create more traits like that.

cymerdown.4103:

Berserker Stance — Now reduces incoming condition duration by 100%, instead of granting complete immunity.

I have a few ideas for how Berserker stance could be changed;

Take no damage from conditions for 10s, they can still be applied to you.

OR

Become immune to poison, burn and bleeding for 10s.

i’m a casual warrior and i can accept these changes.
cheers!

but … i want my 3 seconds fears.
i think fear me is ok as it is now, later people complain about warrior having too many access to stability again? O_O

as for banners removing 1 condition every 10 seconds, this is a nice buff, but would not the warrior haters rage again, saying warriors has too many condition removals? O_O

hmmm healing signet, can consider
350 (0.10) instead? heheheh.

cymerdown.4103:

Warrior

Summary: Some of the Warrior’s best skills: Pin Down, Healing Signet, and Berserker Stance, saw some slight adjustments. Support abilities, like shouts and banners, were given some necessary buffs in order to make them more viable in PvP.

Pin Down — The casting time was increased to 0.5 seconds, up from 0.25 seconds. The skill’s animation has been changed to be more clear.

Healing Signet — The passive heal was reduced to 342 (0.08), down from 392 (0.05). The active heal was increased to 4275 (0.6), up from 3275 (0.5).

Berserker Stance — Now reduces incoming condition duration by 100%, instead of granting complete immunity.

“Fear Me!” — This skill has been changed.
“Fear Me!”
Induce fear in your foes. Allies gain Stability.
400-600 range – Fear: 1 second
200-400 range – Fear: 1.5 seconds
0-200 range – Fear: 2 seconds
Stability: 3 seconds
Radius: 600
Breaks Stun
Cooldown: 60 seconds

Inspiring Battle Standard — This trait has been redesigned.
Inspiring Battle Standard
Banners also heal and remove conditions.
Healing: 1300 (1.25)
Conditions Removed: 1
Interval: 10 seconds (The first pulse happens immediately upon summoning the banner. A short glow animation now plays on the banner every time it pulses.)

hooma.9642:

cleansing ire needs also rework.

oh cleansing ire is working nicely as intended. no rework.
do not fix what is not broken.

Deimos Tel Arin.7391:

but … i want my 3 seconds fears.
i think fear me is ok as it is now, later people complain about warrior having too many access to stability again? O_O

29 seconds of stability though… All I know is, if this were GW1, it would have been nerfed already.

I dont know if it is a good Idea to introduce travelers runes to sPvP.
They seemt much too strong, as they look like some kind of “jack of all traits”-runes by adding a +25% Speed bonus (which is basicly, why my mesmer uses atm Speed ruens in spvp) but also +30 to all stats, Crit damage, Boon duration and Condition duration.

I also dont think, Thiefes guild needs a reduced CD, as it an extremly strong skill. It is almost like fighting 1 vs a Thief + Teammate. You get pressured by the teammate, while the thief is able to set up his burst skills.

Dirame.8521:

…

cleansing ire needs also rework.

No it doesn’t. It’s the best trait Anet ever designed to give the Warrior some semblance of survivability against conditions. If anything I’d want them to create more traits like that.

no its one of the worst traits ever. its doubles adrenaline gain and provides on the same time a to powerful conditionremove.. nobody has a 3 condiremove in that timeframe(71/2 to 10secs). with 5 sec weaponswap and longbow u has a rel. 3 condiremove, in 99% full adrenalin and aoe pressure. all cause this trait.

not healing signet or zerkerstance is the problem. it was and is cleansing ire. burst skills now become more frequent without any loose in power. no wonder, nerfing burstskills would hurt all builds without cleansing ire.

on the same time berzerkers might is a grandmaster trait and give less adrenalin then cleansing ire. furios total useless trait with cleansing ire. inspiring shout underperforming compared with cleansing ire. thrill of a kill -> useless. only sharpened axes are somehow strong compared to cleansing ire.

cleansing ire is to powerful. i know they merged the old trait I into cleansing ire. it was already a strong trait but had the problem, that except of using the burst for dmg u had no reason to use them. and then the dmg wasnt on par with other attacks.

so now that cleansing ire is not only to powerful. its also in a wrong traitline providing in the same time health throught adrenaline. knowing that adrenalin is no problem with cleansing ire we have now an additional healthsource..

i cant understand how u all can not see the root of the problems and still want to fix zerkerstance (8/10s on a 60recharge) or healingsignet or anything other, ignoring that its only strong if paired together. cc – spam without cleansing ire would not be there even if we still had the condition remove. suddenly managing adrenalin would come important or using other traits to get adrenalin.

into that comes the fact that missing a burstskill dont depletes the adrenalin. so its a race who runs first out of energy. whats in 99% not the warrior with a hammer, cause he has multiple cc’s.

cymerdown.4103:

I think Cleansing Ire is fine. It’s pretty strong with Longbow, but it gives Warrior some necessary sustain and has counterplay to it. Unlike Healing Signet.

see thats the problem why u have no clue what u talking about. whats the counterplay to cleansing ire? not hitting the warrior? lol just lol..

if u think cleansing ire is needed for sustain against condis u are pretty wrong.. the war has a lot of possible ways to remove condis like mending. but yeah that involves vuln. to other gamesaspects, what would be balanced and not like the actual kitten. 3 condiremove on this short timeframe + immunity + spam. burst…

at least it has not to be in a toughness-traitline to provide more sustain.

I think Cleansing Ire is fine. It’s pretty strong with Longbow, but it gives Warrior some necessary sustain and has counterplay to it. Unlike Healing Signet.

I’d like to see the warrior longbow burst skill at first be a single target skill which creates the same field after connecting successfully with a target. Basically, hit a target and you get that massive OP damaging burning field that has like a 900 radius. This would at least add counterplay to longbow and warriors would start considering running other weapon sets.

infantrydiv.1620:

I’d like to see the warrior longbow burst skill at first be a single target skill which creates the same field after connecting successfully with a target. Basically, hit a target and you get that massive OP damaging burning field that has like a 900 radius. This would at least add counterplay to longbow and warriors would start considering running other weapon sets.

Could be fine, I’d like to see how these other changes go first, though.

Longbow Warrior will be fine if the energy sigil changes, as Kensuda suggested, were to happen.

Would be great if Vigor and endurance dodge were also nerfed in a way. Simple change like these might bring power builds back to the meta again.

I like it lol +1 ken nice doc.

Some very valid suggestions!! I hope that they can be considered!
/claps enthusiastically

add stability 5s for basilisk venon!! Delete lyssa.

+1
Ken for dev plz

if you want elixir R to be a stunbreak and increase the cooldown, you might consider making it instant cast

what exactly is wrong with confounding suggestions + chaos storm?

Reevz.2617:

if you want elixir R to be a stunbreak and increase the cooldown, you might consider making it instant cast

Sorry, yeah, I forgot to put that. You stickler :P

ahuba.6430:

what exactly is wrong with confounding suggestions + chaos storm?

It currently procs the stun more than it’s supposed to. It’s currently like 75%+ instead of 50%.

infantrydiv.1620:

I’d like to see the warrior longbow burst skill at first be a single target skill which creates the same field after connecting successfully with a target. Basically, hit a target and you get that massive OP damaging burning field that has like a 900 radius. This would at least add counterplay to longbow and warriors would start considering running other weapon sets.

hmmm no this is too big of a nerf.

the current targeting system is fine.

Deimos Tel Arin.7391:

infantrydiv.1620:

I’d like to see the warrior longbow burst skill at first be a single target skill which creates the same field after connecting successfully with a target. Basically, hit a target and you get that massive OP damaging burning field that has like a 900 radius. This would at least add counterplay to longbow and warriors would start considering running other weapon sets.

hmmm no this is too big of a nerf.

the current targeting system is fine.

Combustive Shot kills build diversity with warriors because it makes longbow by far the best option on Warrior. It gives warrior a free condi cleanse on an extremely short cooldown and deals massive damage both with conditions and burning. It requires literally no skill to use due to the face that it covers a huge radius and pulses multiple times. Until longbow is nerfed to become a skill based weapon, it will remain the staple warrior weaponset.

Deimos Tel Arin.7391:

infantrydiv.1620:

I’d like to see the warrior longbow burst skill at first be a single target skill which creates the same field after connecting successfully with a target. Basically, hit a target and you get that massive OP damaging burning field that has like a 900 radius. This would at least add counterplay to longbow and warriors would start considering running other weapon sets.

hmmm no this is too big of a nerf.

the current targeting system is fine.

I’m sorry, are we talking about the same thing here? Because I’m talking about a guaranteed, unavoidable 3 condition clear on a 8 second cooldown (best condition clear in the game), uncounterable huge point pressure skill. It’s fire a forget at it’s best demonstration. You press the skill, and the skill WILL be worth it, no matter what you do with it. You can aim it at the ceiling of clock tower and remove conditions with it for kittens sake. And you say that it’s “fine”? Maybe in your little realm of hotjoin glory it feels fine because everyone is still try harding bullscharge hundredblades for maximum hotjoin trashtalking.
This skill is the dps version of healing signet, you put the shiny aoe circle down and the skill will go off and damage something, and there’s nothing your opponent can do about it.
What infantrydiv said is NOT a nerf. Where the hell do you see a nerf? All it does is add skillfull play to the skill, you know? Like, awareness of conditions on you, boons on target, position of target, position of yourself. Probably this would be too much for some warriors to handle because they got so used to just faceroll through the game, and THAT is the reason warriors like you oppose to these kind of changes. You know you can’t handle this kind of gameplay, it’s too hard for you. And Anet agrees with this! They want to keep their game simplified (and simple can be good, as long as it is simple AND fair) and that is why skills like these or diamond skin are here to stay. Or why rangers won’t have more buttons to control pets because apparently “they already have too many buttons” (Arena Net ^tm). But who cares, this game is dead. A new balance patch is approaching and no one can really tell yet what the last patch did to the meta game, because there is absolutely ZERO competition.

Can’t wait for the January patch notes! Get ready for the new living story installment: “How to deliver a balance patch with no players to explore our previous changes – The desolation of Karl”

^
Perfect example of a Mesmer playing martyr thinking his class takes any ounce of skill. Its insufferable, please stop. Your class has berserker stance, endure pain, and balanced stance in one package.

I honestly think thieves guild is perfectly fine. However I believe daggerstorm is a bit ridiculous in the competitive environment. I don’t even see a revamp of that skill even being moderately useful. I understand its utility in wvw/pve but in pvp it’s a complete waste. Perhaps completely change that skill to a larget aoe blind field larger than BP for more team fight utility.

Deimos Tel Arin.7391:

infantrydiv.1620:

I’d like to see the warrior longbow burst skill at first be a single target skill which creates the same field after connecting successfully with a target. Basically, hit a target and you get that massive OP damaging burning field that has like a 900 radius. This would at least add counterplay to longbow and warriors would start considering running other weapon sets.

hmmm no this is too big of a nerf.

the current targeting system is fine.

deimos, i really think you should stop posting in the sPvP forum.

Your “casual” attitude is really insulting for those few players still believing in this game to become competitive.

I already explained why a game can’t be built for causals only, but needs to let “casual” players able to play the game with simple builds still effective at low Elo while high Elo rating PvPers crush them with serious builds.

This is not the case in Gw2, where simplest builds ( wars/spirit rangers/necros and also S/D thief/bunker guard to a certain degree) are the strongest ( S/D thief aside, at least currently, but it has been meta for months).

Your attitude is exactly what should be avoided: you ask for short term benefits while this game needs a serious “planning for the future” balance, since the PvP part of this game is already on the edge of disaster while skilled players ( the ones CREATING the competition every game needs in order to succeed) flee at masses due to skill floor/ceiling being nonexistant ( a rank 10 necro can be able to win against a top 100 ele).

Seriously, just stop.

no, seriously, you all should stop.
combustion shot has already been nerfed.
it is really fine now.

it is working exactly as intended.
it is not hard to step out of the fire field to avoid the burning.

again, guild wars 2 is a game for casual players.
the 10 dec 2013 patch has proved that.
more casual players are trying out sPvP now.

more will follow in the future patches to come.

Nice post Ken as always great idea’s. Just few things with the ranger idea’s.

Stalker’s Strike, I do not approve off many of my builds require the dagger for the poison upkeep. By changing this skill it feels like your favoring the Carrion/Forge SB -S/D Spirit Build, which doesn’t really favor the other builds, if anything it nerfs 3 builds I run which require the offhand dagger with poison upkeep.

Lightning Reflexes, (Evades/Base Damage, Vigor 10seconds, Stun Break) with your update (removes chill, cripple, and immobilize.) It would be awesome skill but its overpowered. It’s almost perfect counter skill vs Warriors that run H/LB means I can break there LB spike and dodge there hammer. Every single ranger build within 1 week would be running LR as its first save me skill.

What I recommend, is there currently trait in Nature’s Magic, that is called Evasive Purity it removes poison and blind on dodge with a 10 second ICD. Now I would change that trait as its rather useless and no ranger uses it at all so it removes chill, cripple, and immobilize rather then poison and blind. Now you might say that could be tad overpowered but it isn’t the only real builds you could run it with is Power builds. Spirit build’s can’t invest into the trait so won’t make them stronger, Trapper builds require 0/30/30 to be decent so they won’t ever trait 20 into NM and final Beastmaster would – there damage in order to get extra condition remove making an already dead build even more useless.

I would recommend adding torment to our trap’s to make the build more viable, Frost Trap is already useless and no viable trap build in SPvP would ever take it. So why not just change it so it pulses torment the longer they stand in the trap. It’s active it isn’t spam-able and opens the window for more builds besides Spirit Ranger to enter the meta.

Also I would nerf Geomancy Sigil, if you compare it to Spike Trap (Trait) its almost stronger. Geomancy = 6 bleeds 7 seconds every 20 seconds with 2x base damage on swap. Now Spike trap is 3 bleeds 10 seconds every 20 seconds with 3x base damage with cripple + imob. But in terms of damage Geomancy needs to be taken down to atleast 2 bleeds with no base damage. It shouldn’t play such big roll in so many builds.

Deimos Tel Arin.7391:

no, seriously, you all should stop.
combustion shot has already been nerfed.
it is really fine now.

it is working exactly as intended.
it is not hard to step out of the fire field to avoid the burning.

again, guild wars 2 is a game for casual players.
the 10 dec 2013 patch has proved that.
more casual players are trying out sPvP now.

more will follow in the future patches to come.

There’s no point in a game with tons of players but that nobody takes seriously.

a PvP game ( or the PvP part of a game) needs COMPETITIONS, LEAGUES, SPONSORSHIPS, VIEWERSHIP, tons of HARDCORE PLAYERS in order to succeed, while low skill players have fun with their passive, AI, no brain, spammy builds at low ELO.

What you say makes no sense, nor from a business perspective, neither from a logic perspective: a game built for casual players will fail undoubtly.

This is what we’re trying to avoid, while that’s exatly what you’re trying to pursuit with your illogical “casual” attitude.

So please, stop.

Sol.4310:

Nice post Ken as always great idea’s. Just few things with the ranger idea’s.

Stalker’s Strike, I do not approve off many of my builds require the dagger for the poison upkeep. By changing this skill it feels like your favoring the Carrion/Forge SB -S/D Spirit Build, which doesn’t really favor the other builds, if anything it nerfs 3 builds I run which require the offhand dagger with poison upkeep.

Lightning Reflexes, (Evades/Base Damage, Vigor 10seconds, Stun Break) with your update (removes chill, cripple, and immobilize.) It would be awesome skill but its overpowered. It’s almost perfect counter skill vs Warriors that run H/LB means I can break there LB spike and dodge there hammer. Every single ranger build within 1 week would be running LR as its first save me skill.

What I recommend, is there currently trait in Nature’s Magic, that is called Evasive Purity it removes poison and blind on dodge with a 10 second ICD. Now I would change that trait as its rather useless and no ranger uses it at all so it removes chill, cripple, and immobilize rather then poison and blind. Now you might say that could be tad overpowered but it isn’t the only real builds you could run it with is Power builds. Spirit build’s can’t invest into the trait so won’t make them stronger, Trapper builds require 0/30/30 to be decent so they won’t ever trait 20 into NM and final Beastmaster would – there damage in order to get extra condition remove making an already dead build even more useless.

I would recommend adding torment to our trap’s to make the build more viable, Frost Trap is already useless and no viable trap build in SPvP would ever take it. So why not just change it so it pulses torment the longer they stand in the trap. It’s active it isn’t spam-able and opens the window for more builds besides Spirit Ranger to enter the meta.

Also I would nerf Geomancy Sigil, if you compare it to Spike Trap (Trait) its almost stronger. Geomancy = 6 bleeds 7 seconds every 20 seconds with 2x base damage on swap. Now Spike trap is 3 bleeds 10 seconds every 20 seconds with 3x base damage with cripple + imob. But in terms of damage Geomancy needs to be taken down to atleast 2 bleeds with no base damage. It shouldn’t play such big roll in so many builds.

I dunno, I disagree that Lightning Reflexes would be OP that way, it’s basically Roll For Initiative but gives Vigor instead of Initiative and on a little shorter CD. It’d be good, but no team utility compared to the signet, which is what I’m going for. A later update could increase the CD to 50 seconds if 45 seconds isn’t the sweet spot.

Thanks for the feedback, though. Good suggestions.

Mrbig.8019:

Deimos Tel Arin.7391:

no, seriously, you all should stop.
combustion shot has already been nerfed.
it is really fine now.

it is working exactly as intended.
it is not hard to step out of the fire field to avoid the burning.

again, guild wars 2 is a game for casual players.
the 10 dec 2013 patch has proved that.
more casual players are trying out sPvP now.

more will follow in the future patches to come.

There’s no point in a game with tons of players but that nobody takes seriously.

a PvP game ( or the PvP part of a game) needs COMPETITIONS, LEAGUES, SPONSORSHIPS, VIEWERSHIP, tons of HARDCORE PLAYERS in order to succeed, while low skill players have fun with their passive, AI, no brain, spammy builds at low ELO.

What you say makes no sense, nor from a business perspective, neither from a logic perspective: a game built for casual players will fail undoubtly.

This is what we’re trying to avoid, while that’s exatly what you’re trying to pursuit with your illogical “casual” attitude.

So please, stop.

also, you have no right to tell me to stop.

as for these:
COMPETITIONS, LEAGUES, SPONSORSHIPS, VIEWERSHIP,
these will not happen unless the sPvP player population increases.
at the moment, the only way for that to happen is to attract more players from PvE / WvW as they are still a lot of players over there.

tons of HARDCORE PLAYERS
hmmm no. lots of casual players. not hardcore players.
tons of casual players who will play the game on a daily basis.

all i see are the so called “hardcore players” threatening to leave the game if xxx profession is not nerfed etc.

on the other hand, casual players who never bothered with sPvP in the first place have started to play sPvP more often. this is a good sign.

however, the so called “hardcore players” does not seems to be appreciative of the new blood. as in, the old blood refuses to mix with the new blood. this is unhealthy.

perhaps all the minority old blood must be purged completely before the majority new blood can settle in nicely.

There’s some good ideas in the OP’s post, but I’m glad these aren’t actual patch notes. I remember the days when eles were really imba, so I think it’s going to take a more delicate buff than what is listed here to get them in the right spot.

Also, don’t buff Thieves Guild. It’s fine for PvE, but in PvP, it’s a terrible cheesy I WIN button for 1 v 1s. Basilisk Venom is very popular for PvP, but that’s ok. It’s powerful, yet can be countered. It also requires smart use to utilize well.

Dahkeus.8243:

There’s some good ideas in the OP’s post, but I’m glad these aren’t actual patch notes. I remember the days when eles were really imba, so I think it’s going to take a more delicate buff than what is listed here to get them in the right spot.

Also, don’t buff Thieves Guild. It’s fine for PvE, but in PvP, it’s a terrible cheesy I WIN button for 1 v 1s. Basilisk Venom is very popular for PvP, but that’s ok. It’s powerful, yet can be countered. It also requires smart use to utilize well.

Many, including myself, believe that the Ele changes were quite overdone. The major things that needed to happen for eles were: range reduction for RTL, being able to proc signet multiple times with Evasive Arcana, and being able to heal in Mistform. Their damage was fine, and their other ways to sustain in combat were fine IMO.

Thieves Guild still won’t get used in PvP after this, but at least it will be up more often for those that enjoy it as a casual alternative.

Thief changes:

- why would you nerf stun break from squishy class that has no access to stability outside of very long CD elite that is not even that good in pvp?
- thief guild is silly elite that is only good for HJ… pvp is already plagued by AI, why would you reduce CD on it?
- why would you nerf quick recovery? was initiative gain not nerfed enough already?
- hard to catch should just break CC but not port thief somewhere where they don’t have any controll over… that was always major issue with that trait…
- i understand lyssa is makes warriors too good, but it was only reliable stability thieves had…why nerf it?

overall all i see is more nerfs to most thieves builds except for pistol main hand gimmicky HJ build; the class is already weakness for the team in many cases, why nerf it more? did you even play a thief in tpvp?

Deimos Tel Arin.7391:

no, seriously, you all should stop.
combustion shot has already been nerfed.
it is really fine now.

it is working exactly as intended.
it is not hard to step out of the fire field to avoid the burning.

again, guild wars 2 is a game for casual players.
the 10 dec 2013 patch has proved that.
more casual players are trying out sPvP now.

more will follow in the future patches to come.

You are casual and have limited knowledge and experience of the game. Stop postin on a thread about class balance and how it affects your limited experience of PvP. Your derailing an otherwise constructive thread.

@Deimos Tel Arin and MrBig
problem is cleansingire.. but yeah more talking and dont touch the real problem

Cynz.9437:

Thief changes:

- why would you nerf stun break from squishy class that has no access to stability outside of very long CD elite that is not even that good in pvp?

Shadowstep is a very powerful stunbreaker for its cooldown, and the existence of it invalidates every other stunbreak utility that the Thief has access to. Double teleport stunbreaker that removes 3 conditions is a very, very good rate for a 50 second cooldown. A mere 10 second increase won’t make it unviable, and 60 seconds is a very reasonable recharge for the ability (compare to Spectral Walk, for example). If a 10 second shorter cooldown is what you’re after, maybe Roll For Initiative will be a good option.

Cynz.9437:

- thief guild is silly elite that is only good for HJ… pvp is already plagued by AI, why would you reduce CD on it?

Because, if it’s a “silly elite”, as you say, then maybe it needs to be more powerful. One of the ways to increase the power of an ability is to lower the cooldown. For instance, if the cooldown was 10 seconds, you would clearly always take it, right? At some number, it becomes worth it to run over Basi Venom in some build. I’m just trying to get it closer to that number.

Cynz.9437:

- why would you nerf quick recovery? was initiative gain not nerfed enough already?

It’s not a nerf, it’s a buff. Getting 1 Initiative back every 10 seconds is a pretty bad rate now. In fact, S/D thief really has very little reason to want to put more than 15 points into Acrobatics at all, now. A bit of extra Endurance regen to couple with Feline Grace might be very tempting, though.

Cynz.9437:

- hard to catch should just break CC but not port thief somewhere where they don’t have any controll over… that was always major issue with that trait…

Understood on that. Rather than trying to totally redesign the trait (which I could have taken a shot at), I was attempting to give it at least a bit more merit. Keeping control of your character at least helps a little bit.

Cynz.9437:

- i understand lyssa is makes warriors too good, but it was only reliable stability thieves had…why nerf it?

Thief honestly doesn’t need access to Stability in order to be good; it’s absurdly good already. Low cooldown access to Stability for un-CCable openers, Stability stomps and such is just not needed in order for Thief to be strong. On the other hand, Lyssa runes are very powerful and often build-defining. Classes using low CD elites to abuse the rune set are commonplace, and a nerf is certainly warranted.

BTW, Thief is nearly required on high level teams.

Some nice steps in the right direction. A couple of points:

(Warrior) Cleansing Ire: a very powerful skill because of the condi clear (good). Remove the additional adrenaline gain to bring the power level down slightly but keep the key functionality. If you want the additional adrenaline to spam condi clears, then spec for it.

(Mesmer) Deceptive evasion: CAN NOT be moved to the illusion line. Even with the slight nerf to critical infusion (good) and energy sigil, do you really want to put all of the required shatter traits in ONE line? Just think about 30/0/0/0/30 shatter/lockdown builds (with another 10 somewhere else). You would essentially be merging two of the stronger mesmer builds and making it WAY to strong. This should only happen if you put an ICD on deceptive evasion.

(Ele) Fire shield: should have a lower CD than shocking aura (which is 25s) straight up. 30s is a step in the right direction, but something like 20s is even reasonable. Its a worthless aura unless you have aura traits, and is only worth using at any time now simply b/c its instant cast and “why not?”

(Ele) Lightning strike: putting a cast time doesn’t really fix the instant-burst problem, but does neuter the dps of the scepter completely. Scepter auto dps is pretty low, especially in air, because the proc from lightning strike is factored in. A better option would be to increase the auto dps rate and put some utility on the #2 skill, perhaps a short CD way to apply a short weakness, or a slow projectile that can daze.

Also, I am not sure if you have seen this suggestion for ele survivability, but to remove the reliance on arcana for real:

Elemental attunement:
- Now ALL eles gain boons (as a baseline) with duration equal to 66% of the current duration in elemental attunement.
-Elemental attunement now makes those boons AOE (slightly larger radius than today), and extends their duration by 50% (bringing it back up to current durations with the trait).

BlackBeard.2873:

Some nice steps in the right direction. A couple of points:

(Warrior) Cleansing Ire: a very powerful skill because of the condi clear (good). Remove the additional adrenaline gain to bring the power level down slightly but keep the key functionality. If you want the additional adrenaline to spam condi clears, then spec for it.

I agree that the combination of Cleansing Ire, its associated adrenaline increase, and Adrenal Health is pretty strong, but I’m not convinced that it’s too strong. A decrease in adrenaline generation would severely decrease the viability of weapons that depend on frequent use of their burst skills to be viable, like Longbow. I believe the right angle of attack here is first addressing their over-the-top regeneration, and then possibly adding more counter play to Combustive Shot before taking a look at Cleansing Ire.

BlackBeard.2873:

(Mesmer) Deceptive evasion: CAN NOT be moved to the illusion line. Even with the slight nerf to critical infusion (good) and energy sigil, do you really want to put all of the required shatter traits in ONE line? Just think about 30/0/0/0/30 shatter/lockdown builds (with another 10 somewhere else). You would essentially be merging two of the stronger mesmer builds and making it WAY to strong. This should only happen if you put an ICD on deceptive evasion.

I disagree. After reducing Vigor access and Energy Sigils as well as bug fixing Confounding Suggestions, I don’t believe combining it with Illusionary Persona would be too good. Seeing what happens when you combine Chaotic Interruption and Imbued Diversion would be kinda cool, too. Having different shatter flavors instead of 20/20/0/0/30 would be mega refreshing, and that can never happen when 50 trait points are locked in from the get-go.

BlackBeard.2873:

(Ele) Fire shield: should have a lower CD than shocking aura (which is 25s) straight up. 30s is a step in the right direction, but something like 20s is even reasonable. Its a worthless aura unless you have aura traits, and is only worth using at any time now simply b/c its instant cast and “why not?”

Fair enough. Focus does have some pretty strong abilities in Earth and Air, so I didn’t want to go overboard. Also, Shocking Aura is a main-hand ability, which usually have shorter cool downs than off-hand abilities, so it’s not the best comparison, though power level-wise I certainly agree with you.

BlackBeard.2873:

(Ele) Lightning strike: putting a cast time doesn’t really fix the instant-burst problem, but does neuter the dps of the scepter completely. Scepter auto dps is pretty low, especially in air, because the proc from lightning strike is factored in. A better option would be to increase the auto dps rate and put some utility on the #2 skill, perhaps a short CD way to apply a short weakness, or a slow projectile that can daze.

Except that you don’t usually sit in air attunement while scepter air 1 is channeling. You want to swap out to another attunement during that to get a crit to proc fresh air, so it wouldn’t really affect scepter damage much at all, really. And I don’t really want to mess with adding casting time to arcane abilities, that goes against the whole design of them.

BlackBeard.2873:

Also, I am not sure if you have seen this suggestion for ele survivability, but to remove the reliance on arcana for real:

Elemental attunement:
- Now ALL eles gain boons (as a baseline) with duration equal to 66% of the current duration in elemental attunement.
-Elemental attunement now makes those boons AOE (slightly larger radius than today), and extends their duration by 50% (bringing it back up to current durations with the trait).

Interesting idea, I hadn’t seen that. Thanks for mentioning it.

Amitabh Bachan.4385:

You are casual and have limited knowledge and experience of the game. Stop postin on a thread about class balance and how it affects your limited experience of PvP. Your derailing an otherwise constructive thread.

just because i play casually does not deny my rights to express my opinions on these forums as long as i do politely. thank you.

this topic is constructive but people asking for ridiculous nerfs to perfectly working fine things is not being constructive.

i will it say it again, if warriors is truly overpowered as many claimed to be, we will be seeing a lot of warriors in the game.

is this true? no, it is not.
therefore, warriors are not overpowered.

I’m only gonna quote the ones I disagree with.

The 6-set bonus of Superior Runes of Lyssa has been changed:
(6) When you use an elite skill, lose 3 conditions and gain 3 random boons for 5 seconds (not including Stability). (CD: 45 seconds)

I don’t think RNG helps anyone, if anything the 3 boons should be conversion from the condis removed or something. To be used efficiently, the way cleanses currently prioritize would have to be reworked, though. Overall, this proposition pretty much neuters all Lyssa users instead of just the classes that can abuse it. The easiest way (not necessarily the most efficient) to balance the (6) bonus would be to just increase the ICD to 75s.

Lightning Strike — Added a 0.25 second casting time.

The problem with Fresh Air is that there is no tell to when they got a proc (unless you’re keeping track of every single crit they get). If Fresh Air had an animation, like a bright glow when it procs, then that would add sufficient counterplay. Flat out nerfing Lightning Strike, won’t really solve any issues, and it’ll just create more when Fresh Air does get rebalanced.

Comet — The casting time has been reduced to 0.5 seconds, down from 0.75 seconds. It now uses ground targeting.

I think reducing the cast time of this is fine (because it has air time), but making it ground targetted is not. A ground targetted, fast activation, unblocakble Daze seems too strong. It’s already fairly simple to hit this skill with the appropriate setup.

Gale — The casting time has been reduced to 0.5 seconds, down from 0.75 seconds.

I don’t think we should be reducing the cast times of any CC without travel time. It dumbs down the game to the point where you wouldn’t need coordination to land CC.

Ride the Lightning — This ability now has a 25 second cooldown regardless of if it hits a target or not. Previously, it had a 20 second cooldown if a target was hit, or a 40 second cooldown if no target was hit.

The reason this skill got changed was because Eles could just go in an out of a fight very quickly and very often. I actually like the [ideal] current functionality of RTL, but the problem is that it’s too easy to just put the skill on a 40s CD if you block/dodge/blind the animation. So, what could possibly be done is reduce the CD when it does hit from 40 to 30s, since this skill pretty much never hits anything.

Lightning Flash — Now breaks stuns. Its cooldown was increased to 45 seconds, up from 40 seconds.

Nope. In fact, I don’t think this skill should be castable while stunned/dazed. If you’re looking for better stunbreaks out of an Ele, we should reduce the CD of Armor of Earth and Arcane Shield.

Diamond Skin — This trait has been redesigned. It now reduces the duration of incoming conditions by 100% for 2 seconds after switching to Earth Attunement.

I don’t think this would be a healthy change at all. Attunement swapping is already on a low enough CD, that adding this would make Eles immune to 15-20% of incoming conditions. The current functionality of this trait is pretty bad too, since all it accomplishes is making Eles HARD counter full condition classes. The entire trait should just be deleted.