Just wanted to start out by saying that I played DAoC, I understand the theory behind the orbs. Relics were a fun and exciting component of RvR, but I just don’t see the coordination in WvWvW ever getting to the level of what it was in DAoC, simply because of the match timeframe. Servers will be rotating, and two weeks isn’t that long to become accustomed to a new matchup and work with another server versus the dominant one.
Many are claiming that 150 points to every stat and a 15% health bonus isn’t a tide changing boost. Yes, it is. It’s absurd to think otherwise. If that’s how you feel then do us all a favor and remove all of your trait points. That’s essentially what the orbs boil down to, 60 extra trait points being tossed into the four base stat lines. And don’t forget the 15% extra HP on top of that.
I play on Dragonbrand and we are doing fairly well in WvW. We’ve certainly improved since the start. We’re currently winning our WvW matchup with two of the orbs. The problem is that the orbs tend to snowball the leading side, and make equal size forces of the leading size much more potent than the opposing servers.
Anyway, here’s and example of what the orbs do. This is an old picture, I believe it’s at the beginning of a match with only two orbs. Crit chance is 88% (sigils), 92% without the precision signet popped, with 10 seconds of steal fury that it caps at 100% for the duration. Crit damage is at 120%.
Edit: Didn’t even have sharpening stones on in the pic. Also, as for the 25 stacks of precision, I always have those in WvW. It would be silly not to run stack sigils as a thief.
http://imageshack.us/a/img821/5886/gw005eu.jpg
This isn’t the main issue, though. The real problem is that even when I have exactly zero vitality gear/traits, and zero toughness gear/traits — I am still rather tanky. In my actual spec (yes I just used that spec so everyone could see stat inflation), I sit at 24k hp, 140% endurance regen, and 1400 toughness. The damage is still through the roof (condition spec), and I’m quite literally unkillable if I choose to disengage after I apply bleeds. The extra 4500 HP and 150 toughness from the orbs, without even including the other stats, is completely absurd.
TL;DR: Orbs are too strong. Switch the outmanned buff and the orb buff. They cause snowballing, and contrary to what anyone would like to say, the bonus of 50 stats and 5% HP per orb is massive.
