Guild Wars 2

As the title says…

I’ve only played PVP since the beta. Anet is notoriously slow with the PVP balance updates but they were slowly getting there. But man, with the latest burning changes and the trait overhaul, what a huge mess they’ve created.

E-sport promises are long forgotten. That sort of expectations by the community is long gone now. But this mess is about to get even bigger when Revenant along with the specializations.

And a mess is not always a bad thing. Because a mess comes from changes and additions. And those are fantastic things. Just not when you have a balance patch every 6 months.

I’m guessing Anet will not be introducing any PVP balance patches until HoTS is out with all the specializations. So yeah – several months of a huge mess.

Just looking at some of the trait tiers, it’s hard to believe that this was created by people who have been playing this game for years. Were classes even tested? Just to use as an example – is it not obvious to even the newest players that giving eles 33% cooldown reduction on fire skills along with blinding ash and buffs to burning would make them ridiculously strong?

Changes are great. Additions are awesome. But seriously, Anet. You keep featuring these ‘pro pvp players’ on your front page. How about giving them minimum wage to actually give you some input on these changes before they’re implemented? Because all I see is just – pardon my words – arrogance from the devs by not receiving feedback prior to the implementations.

Prior to the release it was mentioned by the devs that Anet’s approach to PVP balance wasn’t simply hammering down what sticks out, but taking meticulous steps in implementing the carefully thought-out fixes. Who would’ve guessed (sarcasm) that it would mean that we would be receiving a feeble balance patch every several months.

tl; dr:

Anet should collaborate with top-tier players on balancing the tiers – as ALLsuccessful pvp games do – instead of dumping the responsibility on the very few devs that have failed us, the pvp community.

following top players suggestions would lead to 99% pve heroes not being able to do anything in pvp anymore…ez mode specs are mainly aimed at carrying ppl who would only be rallybots on balanced specs

decap engi, turret engi, spirit ranger, mm necro, lyssa hambow, celestial eles and so on…..had always been like this and always will be

The issue isn’t whether ANET consults with top players. They could consult with top players 24/7 and it wouldn’t matter.

The issue is that balance changes come way too slowly. Why is it that everyone (except those who main the class) who plays the game knows that DD ele is OP right now and yet it’s been 3 months and still no change from ANET. That’s just ridiculous. Either ANET is completely out of touch, or their balance team is incredibly slow.

Archaon.9524:

following top players suggestions would lead to 99% pve heroes not being able to do anything in pvp anymore…ez mode specs are mainly aimed at carrying ppl who would only be rallybots on balanced specs

decap engi, turret engi, spirit ranger, mm necro, lyssa hambow, celestial eles and so on…..had always been like this and always will be

I think most top players understand why easymode specs like these must exist. But what Anet needs to understand is that these specs shouldn’t be top tier like DD ele is now.

burning burning burning, nerf burning

Reduce burn stacks in fire fields and I think most of our problems are resolved. But I don’t think they have done that yet because truthfully, Conquest is only one of two game modes when Heart of Thorns comes out, and I sense that ArenaNet’s primary interest will be to balance Stronghold, not Conquest.

I had a great time in Stronghold during the previous beta weekend, and we ran a lot of different comps to much success. I don’t know if it’s just because most people are very fresh to the game mode so those familiar have a huge advantage, but a lot of the issues plaguing Conquest right now just didn’t really exist in Stronghold.

Double dagger elementalists were still good, especially when it came to camping the defense lane and protecting the lord, but they weren’t as dominant because their burns weren’t so centralized; you have entire lanes and spaces to work with, and you can easily keep your distance and aren’t forced to stand in a fire field to contest a point as there are no points to contest. Burn guardians were also absolutely useless; they’re incredibly slow as it is in Conquest, but it’s only further exacerbated when lane pressure, not point pressure, determines success. They’re successful in Conquest because their build depends on people being pulled into and kept in their fire fields to tick burning. But just as it is with elementalists, there just is no pressure to fight guardians by their game when all NPCs are moving targets and there’s multiple ledges and angles to fight them from.

This is just a personal theory on my part, but I don’t feel like their focus is balancing just around Conquest anymore. If a build is completely OP in Conquest but is completely average in Stronghold, it may not warrant as much attention as they might give it.

That said, I don’t really think being an e-sport should be ArenaNet’s concern. I think they should first create game modes that are fun and popular for more than just the die-hard (and desperate) PvP-only players. This league system will fall flat on its face if there is not a substantial population increase, and if it fails you can forget Guild Wars 2 ever becoming a real competitor of the scene just do the quality of its peers.

witcher.3197:

Archaon.9524:

following top players suggestions would lead to 99% pve heroes not being able to do anything in pvp anymore…ez mode specs are mainly aimed at carrying ppl who would only be rallybots on balanced specs

decap engi, turret engi, spirit ranger, mm necro, lyssa hambow, celestial eles and so on…..had always been like this and always will be

I think most top players understand why easymode specs like these must exist. But what Anet needs to understand is that these specs shouldn’t be top tier like DD ele is now.

lyssa hambow and spirit ranger were top tier too (Decap engi was meta but not as widely used as those 2)…but they didn’t last anywhere as long as freakin celestial eles

god they had been around for 1 year already…one…kittening…year

Removing the stat points from the trait lines is what completely unbalanced the game. It’s like one developer didn’t understand the intent and reasoning of the other developer.

Archaon.9524:

lyssa hambow and spirit ranger were top tier too (Decap engi was meta but not as widely used as those 2)…but they didn’t last anywhere as long as freakin celestial eles

god they had been around for 1 year already…one…kittening…year

Sadly enough Lyssa Meta were one of the better times for GW2 PvP. Despite all the imbalances this used to be the meta I personally enjoyed the most. Also: almost any class had a viable build and no boring D/D Eles – god how I miss this. S/D Primetime.

laquito.5269:

Archaon.9524:

lyssa hambow and spirit ranger were top tier too (Decap engi was meta but not as widely used as those 2)…but they didn’t last anywhere as long as freakin celestial eles

god they had been around for 1 year already…one…kittening…year

Sadly enough Lyssa Meta were one of the better times for GW2 PvP. Despite all the imbalances this used to be the meta I personally enjoyed the most. Also: almost any class had a viable build and no boring D/D Eles – god how I miss this. S/D Primetime.

meh i remeber CM running triple hambow….dat wasn’t what i would call a good time XD

— thieves have no choice but to go d/p
— mesmers – pu is too cheesy
— dd ele is too… god
— very low diversity overall

Archaon.9524:

witcher.3197:

Archaon.9524:

following top players suggestions would lead to 99% pve heroes not being able to do anything in pvp anymore…ez mode specs are mainly aimed at carrying ppl who would only be rallybots on balanced specs

decap engi, turret engi, spirit ranger, mm necro, lyssa hambow, celestial eles and so on…..had always been like this and always will be

I think most top players understand why easymode specs like these must exist. But what Anet needs to understand is that these specs shouldn’t be top tier like DD ele is now.

lyssa hambow and spirit ranger were top tier too (Decap engi was meta but not as widely used as those 2)…but they didn’t last anywhere as long as freakin celestial eles

god they had been around for 1 year already…one…kittening…year

Actually a lot more than a year now – cele patch was at 2014 April.

Archaon.9524:

meh i remeber CM running triple hambow….dat wasn’t what i would call a good time XD

Dunno, I remember the teamsetups mostly to be: Thief, Mes, Bunker Guard, 1-2 Hambow of which 1 can be switched with a Spirit Ranger or a condi Eng. Might be wrong though. As of now, anything is more fun than min. 2 godlike D/D Eles on any team.

laquito.5269:

Archaon.9524:

meh i remeber CM running triple hambow….dat wasn’t what i would call a good time XD

Dunno, I remember the teamsetups mostly to be: Thief, Mes, Bunker Guard, 1-2 Hambow of which 1 can be switched with a Spirit Ranger or a condi Eng. Might be wrong though. As of now, anything is more fun than min. 2 D/D Eles on any team.

Hambow was stupid, spirit ranger was stupid and celestial eles are stupid

Problem is that hambow and spirit ranger didn’t last anywhere as long as celestial eles still facerolling around untouched (Well they actually got buffed on trait patch) after more than 1 year while they nerfed the other 2 main celestial specs (Shoutbow and celestial engi)

But trying to find any logic in this is like looking for water in the middle of the desert…you just gonna get mad for nothing

Archaon.9524:

Hambow was stupid, spirit ranger was stupid and celestial eles are stupid

Problem is that hambow and spirit ranger didn’t last anywhere as long as celestial eles still facerolling around untouched (Well they actually got buffed on trait patch) after more than 1 year while they nerfed the other 2 main celestial specs (Shoutbow and celestial engi)

But trying to find any logic in this is like looking for water in the middle of the desert…you just gonna get mad for nothing

Yeah I get your point and I agree that all these specs are cancer, but my point is that despite all the hambow and spirit ranger cheese, these builds still had unfavorable 1v1 matchups. Spirit Ranger got wrecked by Hambow and Hambow could be killed by a good thief. Right now you not only have 0 variety in terms of classes and builds, you also got a D/D Ele that doesnt have any unfavorable 1v1 situations and can easily yolo inc 1v2 situations. kitten’s more broken now than it was back then.

laquito.5269:

Archaon.9524:

Hambow was stupid, spirit ranger was stupid and celestial eles are stupid

Problem is that hambow and spirit ranger didn’t last anywhere as long as celestial eles still facerolling around untouched (Well they actually got buffed on trait patch) after more than 1 year while they nerfed the other 2 main celestial specs (Shoutbow and celestial engi)

But trying to find any logic in this is like looking for water in the middle of the desert…you just gonna get mad for nothing

Yeah I get your point and I agree that all these specs are cancer, but my point is that despite all the hambow and spirit ranger cheese, these builds still had unfavorable 1v1 matchups. Spirit Ranger got wrecked by Hambow and Hambow could be killed by a good thief. Right now you not only have 0 variety in terms of classes and builds, you also got a D/D Ele that doesnt have any unfavorable 1v1 situations and can easily yolo inc 1v2 situations. kitten’s more broken now than it was back then.

that’s true

This game will never be “balanced” theres to many variables, if everyone wants balance well…go play pong :’)

Just for reference: they fixed dozens of bugs in profession skills in today patch. I would assume there are still quite a few bugs that were not addressed.

The bug fixes that happened will impact profession balance (admitted only a little but still). It would be unwise to push more changes at time.