Guild Wars 2

base ratings, maximal ratings and scaling versus the meta.
there are several threads that discuss the topic of lack of viable build options in the current “meta” and debate whether nerfing berzerker will be the salvation or the doom of the game.
as we all know, the berzerker “meta” is lucrative because damage is everything and if you only invest in damage, with the basic sets of survival which include
two immediate dodges , occasional vigor ,protection, regeneration and aegis boons , some blocks and reflects and innate healing abilities are enough for a “decent” player can conquer almost any content in the game.
we also know that the opposite is not available,
a person that invest only in protection (toughness, vitality, healing power, etc) will not get the same return on his investment, he gains very little survivability while losing lots of offensive power, making his build ineffective.

the reason for this is that the game balanced around base defensive stats and high offensive stats supported by dodging, which means: you can heal yourself very well with basic healing and boon duration stats but you cant deliver any damage with low power or condition damage.

In this post I will try not to deviate from the current game mechanics but to suggest that a different approach to base ratings and scaling can open the game to different viable builds and in the same time not renouncing the berzerker from being the top of DPS.

I suggest, reduce the effectiveness of the base ratings of the following attributes by approximately 50%:
vitality
toughness
healing
boon duration.

and increase the direct scaling while more or less maintaining the current maximum without consumables.
for example:

vitality
base vitality for all classes is 916 that comes over base health.
maximum obtainable vitality is 300 from traits , 1003 is from complete vitality gear, runes are another 165 for total 2385 vitality, each vitality point is 10 HP on level 80. which leads to 23850HP increase.
then we halve the base: 458+300+1003+165=1926. the maximum remains: 1926*x=23850 x=12.38 so each vitality point will add 12.4 health instead of 10.

toughness
base toughness for all classes is 916
maximum obtainable toughness is: 300 from traits, 1003 from toughness gear, 165 from toughness runes, for total 2385 toughness
damage equation is: Damage done = (Weapon strength) * Power * (skill-specific coefficient) / (target’s Armor)
Armor: is base (armor + toughness), where base armor and toughness have ratio of 1:1 i.e. 2385 toughness are 2385 extra armor.
we want the targets armor to remain the same while lower the base toughness.
458+300+1003+165=1926 toughness that have to represent 2385 armor 2385/1926= 1.238
so each point of toughness will add 1.24 armor rating instead of 1.

healing
healing dont have standard formula, each healing source ( skill or effect) have its own base heal and it own scaling.
healing also dont have 916 base rating but 0, which actually makes it easier.
maximum obtainable healing is: 300 from traits, 1003 from gear , 165 from runes which is 1468 (i will ignore signet of mercy and banner of tactics bonus, as they are not persistent)
for example, the current “ether feast” healing skill heals 5560HP base (scaling 1:1) and for each active illusion 640 (scaling 0.1:1)
so for 1468 the skill will heal 5560+1468=7020 and for each illusion 640+146= 786.
lets recalculate the same skill with half the base heal 2780 with zero healing power.
2780+1468*x=7020 —> (7020-2780)/1468=x x=2.88 ,320+146*x=786 -->(786-320)/146=x, x= 3.19
so the new “ether feast” healing skill will have base healing of 2780 but will have 2.88 scaling coefficient with healing power and for each illusion it will heal another 320 but with 0.319 scaling with healing power.

this way people that will not invest at all in defensive stats will be more vulnerable but their damage output will not be decreased, while people that do invest in defensive stats will see that their investment worth something while not being overpowered.

boon duration is little tricky because of direct percentage increase instead of an attribute, which also leads tha? rune bonus is the main bonus while gear bonus is negligible, for boon duration i would have standardized it to attribute like ferocity and fixed givers gear to match the new stat instead of 1% boon duration.

TLDR
the game balanced around base defensive stats and high offensive stats.
low defensive stats does not significantly decrease your survivability and high defensive stats does not significantly increase your survivability, because if they do, they would have been OP.
low offensive stats do significantly decrease your damage output in comparison to high offensive stats.

my suggestions is to keep the current obtainable maximum for defensive stats like:
vitality
toughness
healing
boon duration.
but reduce the base rating and increase the inside scaling.

I dislike not knowing what a thread is about. A title is there for a reason, I did read through your post. But do not have much to contribute, besides I would suggest that you provide a more appropriate title next time.

title changed to match the topic,
also, why not to contribute?
because my ideas are remarkably eloquent and so well put that you must agree with them.
or because they are raving nonsense?