Guild Wars 2

I think it is a fact that everybody doesn’t really like the condition meta and I have to agree, although I play necro. A lot of things went wrong in the balancing and the meta became a button-spamming one. Back to the good old times when people actually needed to show how skilled they are using backstab thieves, eles and mesmers where you could really see the talent, even the necros which where pretty weak were fun to play because it was all about right skill usage. Now I will dive more deeply into the matter.
Guardian:
To my mind this class is in a very good and solide state because it has always been a good bunker for mid which isn’t a problem at all. It gives the tournaments more strategies than without having any bunker in this game
Necromancer:
Even though this is my main class which I play since the beta I really have to say that the class became really horrible after the last patch. Torment should deal damage if the enemy stands still instead, because why do you get punished for having a good movement? And why does deathshroud #5 immbolizes at the end, that doesn’t make sense, furthermore the enemy would have to go out of this skills range to not get immoblized and get (I would say) tripple dmg by torment which would give it more skill. The dmg of torment itself when moving should be reduced a bit.
Thief:
I think the best fix for the class to make s/d thief viable, strong AND fair would be “making the port of the sword to be horizontal” like the mesmers illusionary leap. Because then good positioning or blinking away would pay off against it. If we look at the state of this build now it is just ridiculous. Whenever the necro for example disengages and gets in a perfect position on top of the hill on graveyard on foefire for example the thief ports there with only one skill. And necro as a pretty immobile class has not got a high chance to flee from the thief if he is on cooldown a bit. The rest of the thief is kind of O.K…some say it is too strong but I think if you know how to dodge it it is fair enough to be countered.
Warrior:
Warrior seems to be the most played class in this meta at the moment. I think to make it fair that warris with bersercer amulett don’t do incredibly high amounts of dmg while being pretty sustain and having a lot of stuns, I would suggest to reduce the amount of healing by the signet a bit, because the ele signet got nerfed as well and ele actually had to do smth to get the healing and warriors get the healing just for having it equipped. Furthermore they should reduce the dmg done by mace and the hammer skills, because even warriors with only defensive traits deal like 3-4k dmg with hammer skills for example. So they have to decide either to spend more points in the last trait to reduce the cooldown of the F1 skills or do more dmg spending more points in the offensive traits. Right now they have an easy access to stuns while dealing a lot of dmg. Furthermore they should reduce the stun duration about 20% because a stun should be something that a whole team should use to kill and enemy and not to be spammed randomly. I am sure warrior won’t be too weak then because with the thief and necro nerf warrior should be in a good state.
Elementalist:
I think the nerf of the thief port and the necro fear duration and torment and warrior dmg would give the elementalist a good chance to find back in the meta maybe with offhand focus for extra condition remove instead of dagger which won’t be fine for everyone but it is possible. Furthermore the dmg of the air weapon skills of scepter should be reduced because otherwise otherwise double ele with oneshots without any animations would be the daily problem after all nerfs.
Mesmer:
For mesmer a bonus should be introduced for the F4 skill. I think it should remove 2 conditions or at least one, so shatter mesmer would have a chance against condition classes and in bigger teamfights. I think they should reduce either the dmg of the the shatter or the phantasm a bit so they don’t do an overkill against the now a bit weaker necros etc.

Ranger:
Ranger is actually in a good state at the moment after the spirit patch, but lots of rangers complain about this class to be too passive. You have your spirits and your pet to do dmg for you while leaning back and enjoying the show. Yes you can play better than other rangers and have better timing than others but all together the shortbow autoattack dmg should be reduced a bit, not the bleedings, just the autoattack, and instead of one weapon skill maybe the #4 for shortbow there should be smth like a preperation similar to gw1 (for example: the next kittens inflict 1s burning each), which would give the ranger the ability to have a condition burst and make this clkitten passie so the ranger has to time it correctly and actually hit all of the next kittens.
Engineer:
Engineer is a really tricky class which takes a lot of skill and coordination but I think with all these nerves of condition dmg and stuns engi would be in a good position. The problem with well positioned engis in teamfights that get jumped by a s/d thief will be solved and the overdose of conditions which can’t be cleansed by any chance by the engi would be solved as well.
Conclusion:
To sum it all up I have to say that the main problem in this meta is the ability to spamm fears and stuns which is really boring to play against. Taking three stunbreaks to just be able to survive is annoying. Furthermore the s/d thiefs port is far too strong, so he can easily outtake ported mesmers and well positioned engis and necros, which totally kills their class mechanic of not being a mobile class without many evades, blocks etc.
This is just my opinion and I am aware of receiving a lot of letters of complaint about it but I have to say that I was strict with my own main class as well to be as objective as possible to get a meta back where skill is needed and every class can be a part of. Thank you for your interest. And I am open for your suggestions as well and I think Arenanet is too .

Very true indeed and good points here!

It was probably the first post about s/d thief being not op. ^^

“making the port of the sword to be horizontal”
Obviously this change will affect current gameplay by thieves but it wont be drastic.
Beside thief can port to the enemy using inf signet, shadowstep and shortbow.

The thing with Torment is it becomes soft-cc like Confusion.

Confusion also conflicts with CC since it prevents people from attacking thus prevents Confusion from doing dmg.

And you’re already punished for standing still in this game, which is why Immobilize can mean death.

Although it’s not ideal to have immobilize and torment together the deathshroud 5 skill does it’s job of punishing people for running and helps keep them from running.

Guardian as the only viable mid-bunker class? Since no other class can perform this role, I say that’s pretty much OP. But that’s just me.

I play warrior. I don’t have a single stun, nor do I have heavy sustain. I use banners and conditions. So explain to me again why if I use healing signet I should have it reduced because of these so called stuns and sustains that I have neither of?

Guardian is not in a good place for a game that claims all professions can roll all roles. Guardian is about as far away from any sort of roaming build. If it invests in any substantial D.P.S it has to roll with circa 11K Hp, very limited condition counter, and one set of isolated traits because there is no other traits that will truly work with a D.P.S build.

Necro is in a terrible place. All it weapons mostly use conditions. That means it can heavily invest in condition damage trait trees and the left over points it can spec into toughness/healing/vit..unlike a direct damage build that needs to invest across three trait trees being power/precision/crit damage that are never in the same line. Death shroud is insta-use and therefore acts G.T.F.O substitute stun break/dmg mitigration/ zerg defense. Pair this all with runes of undead and you have a “Squishy” class that need not fear going toe to toe with any sort of power build. Not to mention signet of spite is entirely elite power. To drop the center of disease control on anyone’s head for 13 seconds is better than most other professions elites combined.

ele/mesmer. A ot of their issues have been addressed by a-net, albeit halfheartedly. They have condition control..nobody wants to use them because they are attached to weapons and found in trait tress that just don’t have synergy. This has lead to halting strike mesmers builds now. If you haven’t seen it, try 10K dmg from one Chaos storm that you get interrupted/cripple/chilled in. (Bye-bye roaming guardian build..also good night warrior with reduce sustained survival.) Overall this mesmer build has freed up utility slots now that house condition removal.

However good post. It is always a good thing to see how others view the same game.

I’ll say mine.

Thief

Finally someone who understands the problem is Inf strike and not the rest.

Z-axis inf strike is ridicolous, you pass beyond walls, you can train mesmers and eles like if there’s no tomorrow, positioning is not important, and as soon as an S/D thief goes to treb, you pretty much know you can leave it because it will be destroyed and you will be able to do NOTHING in order to stop him.

Making it horizontal only would not solve this issue, since you would just lose the “no positioning” issue, and it’s not like mesmer and eles have tons of re-positioning tools ( blink + lightning flash, that is all).

We would fix thieves going through walls and z-axis ( treb included), but the meta will be unchanged, mesmers and eles will still have a hard time against thieves in teamfights.

Imho inf strke should be changed: too much mobility for a single skill, it’s a cool skill but it’s obvious that is not balanced, while other skills ( OH dagger and even Pistol whip) are bad and lackluster.

A redesigning is needed.

Guardian

Guardians are OP, and they’ve been from beta: nobody complains about them simply because they don’t kill anything.

Unreplaceble bunker, no other class can even go near its utility, and when it’s like this, we have a balance issue.

Ranger

Ranger should be worked on.

This prof is too passive, too much relying on AI of any sort ( both pets and spirits) and due to this it will always be OP or UP.

Spirit ranger will soon be no more viable ( they’re already on the edge) and the only builds for ranger that actually require skills is Power or Trapper ( both non viable).

Indeed there’s something wrong with their design.

Necro

OP and meta ruling.

Torment is fine, let burning go.

If not, let necro “huge damage” come from torment, burning has no place with the necro.

They should also reduce weakness uptime.

Warrior

The problem here resides in Merciless Hammer being on the “cleansing ire” traitline ( a defensive one).

That trait alone allows you to outdamage GS by a long shot as soon as you get your enemy stunned ( you can basically stunlock him to death if you pull your Earthshacker off, or even worse if you also play with Mace and land your skullcrack).

Maybe they should just tone down stun duration for the mace, but mace is already not the best, so i really dunno ( even mace/shield-GS is outshined by Hammer-longbow).

I have no problems in wars being strong, they’ve been UP for too much and currently they’re not that OP.

Maybe they should just tone down stun duration and healing, and problem is solved.

Damage is fine.

Mesmer, ele, engi

They’re all fine. They should just change the way how air burst works, no animation burst is ILLOGICAL and gives you no counterplay at all.

CntrlAltDefeat.1465:

I play warrior. I don’t have a single stun, nor do I have heavy sustain. I use banners and conditions. So explain to me again why if I use healing signet I should have it reduced because of these so called stuns and sustains that I have neither of?

I think the OP’s point is the passive play, which comes with the healing signet. You get heal while you don’t have to do anything for it. Overall the healing signet pretty much counters whole classes (especially elementalists), just by taking it. In every competitive game, that should be never the case. Atleast not unintended.

Empathetic Fighter.2065:

CntrlAltDefeat.1465:

I play warrior. I don’t have a single stun, nor do I have heavy sustain. I use banners and conditions. So explain to me again why if I use healing signet I should have it reduced because of these so called stuns and sustains that I have neither of?

I think the OP’s point is the passive play, which comes with the healing signet. You get heal while you don’t have to do anything for it. Overall the healing signet pretty much counters whole classes (especially elementalists), just by taking it. In every competitive game, that should be never the case. Atleast not unintended.

Well, to be fair, since it’s a regen over time kind of heal, it should easily be counterable by burst. However I’ve yet to see a sustain warrior be burst down with all those toughness and HP. O___O

But that’s just me.

i really dont see how guardian is OP in anyway… everytime im on my necro.. and im in tpvp… i literally go after ALL guardians first.. because i know i can kill them without my health ever dropping below 15k… HOW is guardian OP in anyway shape or form lol… i just dont get that.. and tbh.. ive seen an MM necro tank and survive 4 players… while the guardian on there team dropped to just 2.. so.. yea i dont even see that class as OP atm.. maybe when this condi meta goes down a bit.. but even still. they are just a balanced class for now.. no where near Op..

Lordryux.9785:

i really dont see how guardian is OP in anyway… everytime im on my necro.. and im in tpvp… i literally go after ALL guardians first.. because i know i can kill them without my health ever dropping below 15k… HOW is guardian OP in anyway shape or form lol… i just dont get that.. and tbh.. ive seen an MM necro tank and survive 4 players… while the guardian on there team dropped to just 2.. so.. yea i dont even see that class as OP atm.. maybe when this condi meta goes down a bit.. but even still. they are just a balanced class for now.. no where near Op..

You’re a necro.

In regard to ele this is a pretty weak argument for a nerf:

“Furthermore the dmg of the air weapon skills of scepter should be reduced because otherwise otherwise double ele with oneshots without any animations would be the daily problem after all nerfs.”

No class should be balanced on what it does to someone in a 2v1 situation. If you are being 2v1ed by any class with burst — war, thief, mes, nec, ranger ect — you’re most likely going to die. It has nothing to do with scepter air damage being the problem. You’re being 2v1ed. Should thieves be nerfed because you got backstabbed by two of them and died?

Furthermore, reducing ele scepter air damage and making fire the only attunement with any burst will cause ele to have no viable burst build at all. Ele is already in short supply in spvp and further reducing burst would make them even scarcer.

I think it’s pretty reasonable to say that air attunement to lightning strike isn’t going to kill anyone. What will kill someone is eating air attune, lightning strike, ride the lighting, updraft, ring of fire, pheonix, arcane blast, arcane wave. Most people anticipate that combo and so know that they need to dodge it.

Sure lightning strike could use a tell. And I suppose backstab could use one as well, and eviscerate, and mes shatter from stealth, and necro terror fear, ect. I think almost all professions have access to moves that do huge damage without a tell, and I think by now most have learned to anticipate these moves and found ways to mitigate the damage.

Gallrvaghn.4921:

Empathetic Fighter.2065:

CntrlAltDefeat.1465:

I play warrior. I don’t have a single stun, nor do I have heavy sustain. I use banners and conditions. So explain to me again why if I use healing signet I should have it reduced because of these so called stuns and sustains that I have neither of?

I think the OP’s point is the passive play, which comes with the healing signet. You get heal while you don’t have to do anything for it. Overall the healing signet pretty much counters whole classes (especially elementalists), just by taking it. In every competitive game, that should be never the case. Atleast not unintended.

Well, to be fair, since it’s a regen over time kind of heal, it should easily be counterable by burst. However I’ve yet to see a sustain warrior be burst down with all those toughness and HP. O___O

But that’s just me.

however, this kind of passive play doesn’t create a large skill-ceiling and that’s the main-issue with it. As a sidenote: the regen is absurd which lets the warrior sustain easily against eles (especially with shield, whirlwind, stuns and stances).

MTC.9536:

Furthermore the dmg of the air weapon skills of scepter should be reduced because otherwise otherwise double ele with oneshots without any animations would be the daily problem after all nerfs.

while i dont like doing any instant damage thats can crit for like 4k(strike +air minor on squishes) as much as i dont like unavoidable burn and kitten like that id hope they dont just reduce the air spells damage. The reason is that the sustain damage scepter produce is very low and if you remove the air skills would be extremely low. Currently if you sit on air and spam auto +l strike you ll do less damage than spamming lightning whip on daggers on a way more defensive build and fire spells require a lot of set up and are on long cooldowns while 2 of autos are cond based and 1 is pure crap to justify being your bulk of sustain damage.
earth 2,4 +arcanes +air spells =very good burst on a long cd=mediocre sustain
Fresh air increases sustain drastically but it still doesnt feel too much (sustain)damage considering what you give up.Someone could do some math so we are sure

Minoru.1237:

In regard to ele this is a pretty weak argument for a nerf:

“Furthermore the dmg of the air weapon skills of scepter should be reduced because otherwise otherwise double ele with oneshots without any animations would be the daily problem after all nerfs.”

No class should be balanced on what it does to someone in a 2v1 situation. If you are being 2v1ed by any class with burst — war, thief, mes, nec, ranger ect — you’re most likely going to die. It has nothing to do with scepter air damage being the problem. You’re being 2v1ed. Should thieves be nerfed because you got backstabbed by two of them and died?

Furthermore, reducing ele scepter air damage and making fire the only attunement with any burst will cause ele to have no viable burst build at all. Ele is already in short supply in spvp and further reducing burst would make them even scarcer.

I think it’s pretty reasonable to say that air attunement to lightning strike isn’t going to kill anyone. What will kill someone is eating air attune, lightning strike, ride the lighting, updraft, ring of fire, pheonix, arcane blast, arcane wave. Most people anticipate that combo and so know that they need to dodge it.

Sure lightning strike could use a tell. And I suppose backstab could use one as well, and eviscerate, and mes shatter from stealth, and necro terror fear, ect. I think almost all professions have access to moves that do huge damage without a tell, and I think by now most have learned to anticipate these moves and found ways to mitigate the damage.

Quoted for Truth!

Also I’d like to add something of mine.

What Anet should do is to change arcane skills to team support utilities ( I apologies to all eles who love arcane skills but rather than seeing them getting nerfed in dmg for the fourth time I prefere to see them become our strong team support utilities)

Increase by little the dmg coefficient of arc lightning, then give 3/4s activation skill to lightning strike and increase its dmg by 15% and CD by 4s , add dmg to shatterstone ( 6s CD ground targeting version of dragon’s tooth with vulnerability instead than burning) and dust devil ( remove the blind and add cripple 8s on every striked target or 2s immobilize striked targets in a line)

Let’s leave the role of burst caster to mesmer and let’s give to eles the versatile role