Guild Wars 2

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Upcoming-Stat-Changes-in-the-Q3-Balance-Update/

Gaile Gray.6029:

A message from the Skills and Balance Team:

Hi everyone, we have some big news today regarding item changes in an upcoming balance patch. These changes may impact which gear and consumables you want for your build, so let’s dive in and see what’s different!

CONCENTRATION AND EXPERTISE

With the release of Heart of Thorns, we added new stat combos for equipment that included Concentration and Expertise as stat replacements for Condition Duration and Boon Duration. Having both of these systems available on equipment and consumables is redundant, so in the upcoming balance update we will be converting all equipment and consumables that provide a bonus to Boon Duration or Condition Duration to use Concentration or Expertise instead. This allows players more granular control over how much benefit they receive and makes it easier to balance and scale those values across the game. Runes and Sigils are not included in these changes and will remain in their current form.

Consumables

Food buffs that provided Condition Duration and Boon Duration will now provide normalized stat values for Concentration and Expertise similar to other consumables of the appropriate levels. Level 80 food that once provided +20% Condition Duration or Boon Duration will now provide +100 Expertise or Concentration, respectively. This change should lower the power of condition-based builds overall as well as encourage support players to invest more heavily in gear to acquire the boon duration they desire.

We are making this change for a couple of reasons. First of all, condition builds received a significantly higher damage boost from using food than power builds, which made it much harder to balance them across game modes. This change will bring the impact of optimal condi food in line with optimal power food. With the use of food imparting a consistent amount of DPS for all damage-dealing builds, we are able to more easily make changes to the skills and traits themselves, especially base amounts of condition duration. That in turn makes it easier for all players to understand roughly how much benefit they will receive from consuming food.

Secondly, we wanted to clean up a number of inconsistencies with consumables in general, and the upcoming balance patch gave us the perfect window to make these changes. When we made the change to Seaweed Salad, we knew that there were a lot more things that needed attention, but the scope of the changes to consumables was too broad to get out the door at the same time.

Equipment and Upgrades

The Giver’s weapon and armor sets currently are the only stat combos that provide Condition Duration (weapons) and Boon Duration (armor). In the upcoming build, these will be converted to Expertise and Concentration as well! While this will result in a small loss in stats for the weapons, it will greatly increase the benefit of the armor once Concentration is provided in level- and rarity-appropriate values. This change not only completes the standardization of stats on gear, but also will greatly improve the armor stat combo for those looking to play in a support role.

Additionally, Snowflakes and Doubloons have been switched over to use Concentration as well. Doubloons will now grant bonuses in line with other upgrades of their level and rarity, and level 80 Snowflake upgrades will provide the same bonuses as before, now with consistent stat messaging.

CHANGES TO UTILITY CONSUMABLES

We are also taking this opportunity to standardize the way Utility buffs provide bonuses, rework the theming, and ensure that they feel unique and different from Food buffs. All Utility buffs will consistently provide stat conversion from now on. Additionally, Sharpening Stones will always benefit Power-based builds, Tuning Crystals will always benefit Condition-based builds, and Maintenance Oils have been repurposed to benefit Support builds.

As the chart at the bottom of this post reveals, we are making some pretty significant changes, and those changes warrant discussion. When we sat down to talk about consumable balance, we came away with three goals: convert %Boon/Condition Duration into Concentration / Expertise, establish consistency in the damage boost from consumables, and make Utility buffs and Food buffs feel distinctly different. So we reviewed all the different Utility buff models we had tried since the game launched, and decided that the coolest build decisions involved converting stats into other stats. After that, the data showed us that Maintenance Oils were worse than Sharpening Stones for power DPS, so we threw out their concept and repurposed them as the Utility category for support builds.

The damage boost from using the new Utility buffs will be slightly higher for Berserker builds than it was before, and somewhat weaker for Condition builds than it was before. The effects of the baseline buffs also have changed to not convert from defensive stats anymore. That effect is now on the “Magnanimous” prefix, which was introduced in Episode 5 of Living World Season 3. If you’re still interested in that conversion but don’t have the episode or don’t want to do the reward track, the Compact utilities available from Canned Food Crates in WvW will provide a reduced-effect version of the Magnanimous utilities.

Recipes

While we were going through and making changes to the function of the Utility buffs, we also took a hard look at the crafting costs associated with them and made some adjustments to bring down the costs of making Furious, Toxic, and Bountiful utility items. It should be significantly less painful to craft these items going forward, and we are hopeful that the reduced cost of entry leads many more people to experiment with new utilities they may not have considered before.

So they ruin my expensive ascended gear. Nice. Do i get my money back or something?

hope condi will be nerfed to the ground lamest way to fight huehue i add condi then i run till u bleed out or ill re apply, dont tell me to cleanse cus i made a huehue condi thief just to huehue dodge in my choking gas and i huehue every single person to dead and in blob fights i huehue dodge only cus lotus training alone does enough mean while i added a huehue stamina sigil on my weapon so i can heuhue dodge 24/7 while fighting blobs its huehue easy and yields me more bags then a kitten lootstick guardian.

reddie.5861:

hope condi will be nerfed to the ground lamest way to fight huehue i add condi then i run till u bleed out or ill re apply, dont tell me to cleanse cus i made a huehue condi thief just to huehue dodge in my choking gas and i huehue every single person to dead and in blob fights i huehue dodge only cus lotus training alone does enough mean while i added a huehue stamina sigil on my weapon so i can heuhue dodge 24/7 while fighting blobs its huehue easy and yields me more bags then a kitten lootstick guardian.

Actually power specs are lamest like tempest and berserker. Condi reaper is free kill compared those.

reddie.5861:

hope condi will be nerfed to the ground lamest way to fight huehue i add condi then i run till u bleed out or ill re apply, dont tell me to cleanse cus i made a huehue condi thief just to huehue dodge in my choking gas and i huehue every single person to dead and in blob fights i huehue dodge only cus lotus training alone does enough mean while i added a huehue stamina sigil on my weapon so i can heuhue dodge 24/7 while fighting blobs its huehue easy and yields me more bags then a kitten lootstick guardian.

Have you seen the Condi stats for the new elite specs of some of the classes ???

Any reductions to condi damage from adjustments to foods/utilities will be totally wiped out by the over tuned stats from the new specs.

It’s a refreshing change that was needed. However, don’t fool yourself because adjustments being done up until September have more to do with PoF and the meta shifts it may bring than anything else.

i hope they also address 10% damage reduction food, not just pve foods

An overall reduction to boon and condi duration is probably good for everyone. Other targeted food changes will also go far. I said so in the other thread but I’m very happy to see this.

Sarrs.4831:

An overall reduction to boon and condi duration is probably good for everyone. Other targeted food changes will also go far. I said so in the other thread but I’m very happy to see this.

It might help with the WvW skill lag, too, especially if it’s not having to perform separate calculations for Concentration and Boon Duration modifiers or Expertise and Condi Duration modifiers.

Condi duration is obvoiusly good but I’m unsure exactly how much it will change the meta because duration has always been offset by cleanses.

This seems like the tip of a good thing. They’re somewhat acknowledging the mess they’ve made and are taking one step towards fixing it. It remains to be seen if they plan to call it a day here or continue towards meaningful change.

Given that Ranger’s elite spec seems to be condi focused its almost a guarantee that condi will be nerfed into the ground.

Mr Pin.6728:

Given that Ranger’s elite spec seems to be condi focused its almost a guarantee that condi will be nerfed into the ground.

I actually snerked at that, so true.
Though I wasn’t aware the new ranger spec was condition based. I figured it’d be some sort of hybrid seeing as they’ll be able to use their pet abilities.

~ Kovu

Kovu.7560:

I actually snerked at that, so true.
Though I wasn’t aware the new ranger spec was condition based. I figured it’d be some sort of hybrid seeing as they’ll be able to use their pet abilities.

~ Kovu

The mainhand weapon is condition based but there’s not really any distinct “you must play condi” in the build. The theme obviously lends itself well to a lot of power damage though.

steffen.9607:

i hope they also address 10% damage reduction food, not just pve foods

Yea, those foods are kitten as well. But one step at a time if nothing else. These changes were sorely needed and I’m happy that they are finally being implemented

Mr Pin.6728:

Given that Ranger’s elite spec seems to be condi focused its almost a guarantee that condi will be nerfed into the ground.

Many of the new elites have a heavy condi element.

So I guess this means you’ll need trailblazer gear (which I heard takes a while to complete a set), along with runes and sigils for higher combined duration, rather than rely on veggie pizzas and toxic oils so much.

I was making a condi reaper..

not much is going to change sadly

I just hope it wont end with more condie overload with one button and traits which will proc even more condies upon inflicting condies.I understand that new pve content will probally ask for higher dmg overall,just dont bring that stuff into WvW/PvP please.This game seriously lacks the most basic formula high dmg = low survivability,and vice versa.

im sceptical about this changes….. the difference wont be noticeable i would bet.

The question remains as to how this will affect other condition duration type foods. As example given the PIZZA added a flat 20 percent duration, there was simply no need to take any of the duration foods that focused on a single condition.

A bowl of Fire meat Chili adds 15 percent to all burns , but no one could be bothered taking that as Pizza so much better. From what I can see, these will just be dropped which in some respects a shame when it comes to diversity and buildcrafting.

I would have HOPEd that those other foods could garner higher “expertise” on use then the Generic All condition types.. This would lead to more granular builds wherein IF that duration wanted , it could only be done to a specific duration via the foods.

Quite frankly , I think this would be a better way to address condition durations (and for that matter boon durations ) overall as it the very defintion of more “granular”. Rather then suiting up in a set of armor that adds flat rates to a given condition via expertise, have one set that does that at a lower level , and another set that uses the percentage method but focused on a single condition only. (Thus working like duration sigils).

Negative duration foods could do much the same with the universal ones lowering durations of applied conditions on the self far less than those focusing on a single condition.

Ultimately, at the end of the day , a better system would be one were a single condition could be brought up to full 100 percent duration wherein all of the others would cap at a much lower level and or a mixture where it MIGHT be possible to take two to 80 percent through combinations of gear whereas all of the others would eke out an extra 20 percent max.

It certainly much more complicated and harder to manage from the perspective of ANET , but a system that clumps all conditions and boon durations under one umbrella system leads to those two traits (boon duration and condition duration) having an exponential effect as they increased as it will affect every underlying boon and condition that player can access.

(this one of the reasons I am opposed to having ones toughness affect condition ticks. It just overloads toughness)

I just hope they will introduce new stats, and new foods that will give -condition duration and damage so we have that as an option if we want to be virtually immune to condi as its already possible to make a build to make you virtually immune to power damage.

Junkpile.7439:

So they ruin my expensive ascended gear. Nice. Do i get my money back or something?

Gaile, this is incredibly wrong. We worked hard – hundreds of gold pieces to make those ascended armors and now you’re going to take ALL of our hard work and gold away?

Redundant? What about power? What about condi? Those are on gear and food?

What about ferocity? What about precision? Those are on weapons and gear too.

This is incredibly unfair and not well though out at all!

atheria.2837:

Junkpile.7439:

So they ruin my expensive ascended gear. Nice. Do i get my money back or something?

Gaile, this is incredibly wrong. We worked hard – hundreds of gold pieces to make those ascended armors and now you’re going to take ALL of our hard work and gold away?

Redundant? What about power? What about condi? Those are on gear and food?

What about ferocity? What about precision? Those are on weapons and gear too.

This is incredibly unfair and not well though out at all!

Are you all forgetting they did this with ferocity too? All of us that used to play power had to deal with our builds getting nerfed and having to change our mixed gear sets because what we ran was no longer viable after the change. Then the condi meta we’ve had to deal with for the past few years as a result of power getting shafted and becoming irrelevant in roaming and condi being bumped up with every single patch. Now they’re finally starting to balance out how broken and unbalanced its been, and people that got used to their easy ride are having panic attacks.

I’ll say what you all said to us back then. I’d link the posts from back then if this forums search feature wasn’t compete trash. “Suck it up, adapt. Grind a bit and change your build and find something more effective.” I hope this is only the beginning of changes to come to address the massive imbalance currently in roaming. It would be nice to fight something besides condi mesmers and condi thieves and the occasional condi warrior for once. Oh and lets not forget the occasional run away, non stop healing druid with 2+ minutes of every boon in the game on them. Hopefully the concentration nerfs curb them in as well.