Guild Wars 2

From the twitch feed from those who missed it:

Crit damage % is being removed from gear and replaced with “Ferocity”

Ferocity will be balanced across all gear and will function similarly as precision except for crit damage. (Previously jewelry provided significantly more crit dmg than other gear, now it will be balanced between all gear)

Overall PvE crit damage will be reduced 10%

NO CHANGE IN DAMAGE FOR PVP.

Zerker will still be the #1 dps set so no gear respecs will be given.

Nerfs thieves into oblivon (It affects wvwvw = Roaming = only thing we can do right now), and now we’re being obsolete there…

What does “PvE crit damage will be reduced 10%” mean technically?

Not sure about this yet. Will have to see it first, let’s just hope that they don’t destroy zerker builds…

This only hurts precision builds built around crit damage and precision, this won’t make any other stat sets more desirable. This kinda blows in my opinion, I wasn’t a full zerker because I preferred precision and crits more, but now I’m starting to think I should go pure.

Thanks Anet. Totally fixing the zerker meta. #sarcasm

Well, obviously before in full zerk you could have 80% crit damage from gear before traits and food, and after with the new stat and formulas we’ll drop to 70%.

Fake numbers of course but you see the idea.

Lord Kuru.3685:

What does “PvE crit damage will be reduced 10%” mean technically?

I’m not sure. They weren’t terribly specific. They said they are still tweaking the numbers too.

stof.9341:

Well, obviously before in full zerk you could have 80% crit damage from gear before traits and food, and after with the new stat and formulas we’ll drop to 70%.

Fake numbers of course but you see the idea.

Unfortunately this isn’t just to Zerker gear though, there are plenty of other stat sets that use Critical damage and if the rumors about rune changes are true too, then they are likely nerfing Crit damage in those areas too.

ANYTHING that has critical stats attached to it… is going bye-bye. Ferocity is the replacement, with 10% decrease in stats.

How is this “Profession Balance” when the issue is the same across all professions?

Talonblaze.3175:

Unfortunately this isn’t just to Zerker gear though, there are plenty of other stat sets that use Critical damage and if the rumors about rune changes are true too, then they are likely nerfing Crit damage in those areas too.

Yeah well, those other stat sets got survivability stats. They are just changing the way crit is computed for a system that better allows them to maintain correct stat allocation on parts. You expected that only zerk gear set would lose crit damage without it getting replaced by another stat and so making zerk the only endgame set with lower than normal stat allocation?

The only people that are really hurt by this change are those that optimized their gear by replacing some zerk pieces with less crit allocation by tank stats.

I’m hoping this is just step one. They make this change, see how it works “live”, and then move on to step 2. Step 2 being boosting other kinds of builds to start making them more on-par with Zerker.

If that’s what they’re up to, then it makes sense to bring it down a bit before bringing the others up to its level. Especially for the more defensive builds, as that requires giving us more fights that are a) A challenge, and b) Not one-shot kills. That’s easier to do if things are dying a bit slower.

They might as well buff condition damage to further increase condition spam domination in W3.
Why the hell they mess with stats at all ? Conditions are dominating pvp side of game and they nerf physical damage. Logic?

Palador.2170:

I’m hoping this is just step one. They make this change, see how it works “live”, and then move on to step 2. Step 2 being boosting other kinds of builds to start making them more on-par with Zerker.

If that’s what they’re up to, then it makes sense to bring it down a bit before bringing the others up to its level. Especially for the more defensive builds, as that requires giving us more fights that are a) A challenge, and b) Not one-shot kills. That’s easier to do if things are dying a bit slower.

Will they be “bringing down” non zerk condi and bunker builds in WvW and spvp and “bringing up” zerker/glass cannon in those facets of the game at the same time?

Fenrir.3609:

Palador.2170:

I’m hoping this is just step one. They make this change, see how it works “live”, and then move on to step 2. Step 2 being boosting other kinds of builds to start making them more on-par with Zerker.

If that’s what they’re up to, then it makes sense to bring it down a bit before bringing the others up to its level. Especially for the more defensive builds, as that requires giving us more fights that are a) A challenge, and b) Not one-shot kills. That’s easier to do if things are dying a bit slower.

Will they be “bringing down” non zerk condi and bunker builds in WvW and spvp and “bringing up” zerker/glass cannon in those facets of the game at the same time?

I couldn’t begin to say, I play PvE.

What does “NO CHANGE IN DAMAGE FOR PVP” mean? Will they still have the critical damage trait or will it be replaced by ferocity, just with bigger numbers than in PvE?

Also, moving PvP further away from PvE is probably not the best idea.

Palador.2170:

I’m hoping this is just step one. They make this change, see how it works “live”, and then move on to step 2. Step 2 being boosting other kinds of builds to start making them more on-par with Zerker.

If that’s what they’re up to, then it makes sense to bring it down a bit before bringing the others up to its level. Especially for the more defensive builds, as that requires giving us more fights that are a) A challenge, and b) Not one-shot kills. That’s easier to do if things are dying a bit slower.

This makes little sense. Zerk is the only defenseless stat set used in PvE. (Well Assassin too but it’s practically the same).

Dire armor should NEVER under any situation have even remotely close DPS than Zerk, except for the currently inexistent mobs that are very resistant to direct damage.

So basicly, instead of reworking somes other mecanic or stats, Anet just nerf the maximum damage possible via % crit damage ?

super interesting ! ( sarcasm )

i’am happy to know that, since i recently spend quite a lot of money and time and laurels to get a stuff for my thief with % crit damage on all my stuff…
so you message is "too bad we “nerf” it, go farm durings weeks another stuff" ?

thanks Anet, i’am happy to know that i’am going to need to start another gear farming to change builds..

really cool !

glad i play GW2 where the farm isnt needed… ( sarcasm bis )

Palador.2170:

Fenrir.3609:

Palador.2170:

I’m hoping this is just step one. They make this change, see how it works “live”, and then move on to step 2. Step 2 being boosting other kinds of builds to start making them more on-par with Zerker.

If that’s what they’re up to, then it makes sense to bring it down a bit before bringing the others up to its level. Especially for the more defensive builds, as that requires giving us more fights that are a) A challenge, and b) Not one-shot kills. That’s easier to do if things are dying a bit slower.

Will they be “bringing down” non zerk condi and bunker builds in WvW and spvp and “bringing up” zerker/glass cannon in those facets of the game at the same time?

I couldn’t begin to say, I play PvE.

Alas the game has three pillars, two of which are tied together. Two thirds of the game is already condi/bunker meta driven. Both of which are, if not optimal, viable in pve.

Are people really advocating changes which promote the condi/bunker meta even more just to shaft glass cannons in terms of being able to speed run dungeons?

On the surface at least, I think this is an acceptable change. Crit damage + Crit % created a problem with hyperbolic scaling at the end of the game that was unique to that set. All other sets provide more linear scaling. If it’s done right, it might also help non-condition builds work better prior to 80.

Zerker will still reign supreme, but people who don’t like it will be less gimpy. They need to improve encounter structure too to make defensive stats less pointless.

Lord Kuru.3685:

What does “PvE crit damage will be reduced 10%” mean technically?

it means if with full +crit damage gear if you hit for 10,000 you will now hit for 9,000 with full ferocity. So since its a percentile nerf it will knock down some of the super hi hits you see in wvw. This may lead into having to go look at some of the base damage on professions that stack high amounts of +crit damage just to hit for a decent amount (necro axe 1, mesmer GS, some ranger attacks etc)

So just what is this, “Ferocity,” they are replacing it with?
Will it be like Fury, as in a temporarily built thing, or some kind of new gear stat?

It’ll be exactly like Precision.

Terminsel.5728:

So just what is this, “Ferocity,” they are replacing it with?
Will it be like Fury, as in a temporarily built thing, or some kind of new gear stat?

You know how precision increases crit chance?
Ferocity now increases crit damage.

It means a they are going to keep adjusting the ferocity formula until they have power based builds where they want them.

Heaven knows how long it will be until they acknowledge the condition bias in this game.

So a gear-only based thing like Precision, without a trait line like Precision?

i wonder why there is no flat 10% condi dmg nerf… would be approriate