Guild Wars 2

So I know it hasn’t been long since the patch and recent balance changes, but it doesn’t take a genius to realize that + duration foods were extremely overpowered before the critical damage changes and are even more so now.

As someone who has played every class I find these foods a must on practically every condition build leaving little room for diversity. Anet has previously stated a philosophy of toning down “apex predator” builds; well +40% condition duration foods are now the apex predator of consumables.

I suggest converting the + duration bonus from a general duration bonus to a condition specific bonus (such as increase bleed duration by 20%). This makes total sense considering sigils that give duration bonuses only offer 10% increases in duration which demonstrates how out of proportion the +40% bonus from food is.

These changes would also somewhat offset the critical damage changes in wvw which would please many people by the looks of the forums.

Bacon.4918:

These changes would also somewhat offset the critical damage changes in wvw which would please many people by the looks of the forums.

they would probly whine that they cannot defend themselves from condition builds becuase they lost their -40% condition food, plus that 20 % is still too much.

Its been pointed out so many times its amazing they havent taken notice yet.

I mean… How they can justify food giving a (theorical) 40% damage increase I will never know, and the same goes for the duration reduction food.

They both need to be lowered to 20%, or something in that region. Maybe we’ll see it in the next big patch… in 10 months time… T . T

We’ve had multiple threads about exactly this issue a number of times even weeks before the patch. But ANet has chosen to ignore the issue. They must find condition spam really engaging.

The kicker is that the 40% condition duration is so massively overpowered, even when compared to other level 80 condition foods. I mean your normal level 80 food might add 15% Poison duration or 15% Burn duration. This food adds almost thrice that and applies its bonus to ALL conditions.

It’s ridiculous.

Dee Jay.2460:

We’ve had multiple threads about exactly this issue a number of times even weeks before the patch.

Yes, I have noticed this as well, in fact I think I may have borrow the +20% bleed idea from someone else. However, if enough of us voice our concerns here we might be able to get a developer post and eventually someone to look into the issue. Also, thanks for all the constructive responses!

+% duration food is only going to add possible damage, not guaranteed damage.
if the food made the extra % not be able to be cleansed then I would request a nerf.

Cufufalating.8479:

Its been pointed out so many times its amazing they havent taken notice yet.

I mean… How they can justify food giving a (theorical) 40% damage increase I will never know, and the same goes for the duration reduction food.

They both need to be lowered to 20%, or something in that region. Maybe we’ll see it in the next big patch… in 10 months time… T . T

Yes a theoretical 40% damage increase.

Assuming that the condition applied lasts 5seconds or 10seconds baseline. Assuming it cannot be reapplied before its duration expires.
Assuming it doesnt get removed. Assuming it doesnt get dodged/blocked/blinded.

Assuming these kind of conditions make up all of your damage.

Could you by any chance provide any condition build, no matter what profession, that would meet these criteria?

@Terrahero: Condi Necro is about as close as it gets, I believe, to being an “only condition damage” build. I believe most of the bleeds last over 5 seconds base, and with 30 points in Spite, the 3 seconds of base burn from Dhuumfire is bumped from being 3*1.3 or 3.9 seconds to 3*1.7 or 5.1 seconds. IF it ticks on the second, that means that the 30 points in Spite actually wouldn’t add any damage, and this food adds two ticks of damage instead of just one that a 20% food (or any lower % food) would provide.

Just fleshing out a specific example of how it can have an impact on damage abilities, since that’s potentially 2k more damage from food. Of course, -40% food counters this, but the problem in my opinion is that it forces people into this food. +1000% condi duration food being canceled by -1000% condi duration food doesn’t make 1000% a balanced number. Anyone who doesn’t run +40% is going to have a REALLY hard time against a class that has -40%. Anyone who doesn’t run -40% is going to have a POTENTIALLY REALLY hard time against a class that runs it.

That’s no good, imo. I’d love to see this food get neutered. I also think that the bigger problem is in the utility conditions like Immob/Chill/Weakness and them being too long/too short depending on combinations of food used, but damage produces numbers so people look at that first.

Cogbyrn.7283:

Just fleshing out a specific example of how it can have an impact on damage abilities, since that’s potentially 2k more damage from food. Of course, -40% food counters this, but the problem in my opinion is that it forces people into this food. +1000% condi duration food being canceled by -1000% condi duration food doesn’t make 1000% a balanced number. Anyone who doesn’t run +40% is going to have a REALLY hard time against a class that has -40%. Anyone who doesn’t run -40% is going to have a POTENTIALLY REALLY hard time against a class that runs it.

That’s no good, imo. I’d love to see this food get neutered. I also think that the bigger problem is in the utility conditions like Immob/Chill/Weakness and them being too long/too short depending on combinations of food used, but damage produces numbers so people look at that first.

While I understand your point, you have to realize that the ONLY reason this became meta was due to the Melandru/LPS combo with traits that reduced many conditions -65% and some as much as -99%. This effectively rendered several condition builds completely useless, or worse, negated the need for condition clearing, allowing for more offensive direct damage traits and skills.

After breaking down one of these Mel/LPS Warrior builds, I did the calculations that allowed me to return to my previous level of conditions on my Engineer, with approximately +90% condition duration using foods, runes, sigils, and traits.

This build, like all condition builds, can be countered pretty easily by cleansing, especially in team fights, and it is basically the only damage I can do. It is effective because of how I play it, using chills, immob, blinds, and confusion to slow or prevent actions while punishing players or act or move. In 1-v-1s I still lose to backstab thieves, stun warriors, PU mesmers, condi warriors, condi bomb necros, etc. because with the focus on condition duration, I have no condition reduction, and poor cleansing.

Consider that for a second, every person running with +condition duration food (or anything else) isn’t running condition reduction food, at the very least.

Well 40% condition duration also gives you 40% more time to get rid of the condition.
In other words, it isn’t 40% more damage in most circumstances.
Does it burn thru your cleanses and clears faster? Of course!
Does it increase the rate at which you die due to conditions? No, just gives you the opportunity to kill something slower actually.

It is pretty balanced and often I don’t touch +condition food on condition builds. There isn’t always a need as you can just reapply short term conditions and nothing is worse than someone cleansing a really long condition. Any number of stat foods can be quite a bit better.

+40% condition duration food is not the apex predator food.

The best food in game is seaweed salad +10% damage while moving. Even DnT is running this in dungeons now. Power builds in WvW haven’t gotten wind yet but nothing beats this food even the old 100 power 10 crit damage food can’t beat seaweed salad.

oZii.2864:

+40% condition duration food is not the apex predator food.

The best food in game is seaweed salad +10% damage while moving. Even DnT is running this in dungeons now. Power builds in WvW haven’t gotten wind yet but nothing beats this food even the old 100 power 10 crit damage food can’t beat seaweed salad.

If I could turret I would use it, but I need my chills/immobs to affect people for max control of the situation, so I’d use +40% condi duration anyway, personally.

If people start dropping -40% duration food for 10% damage, I’m going to start sneaking a lot more incremental control out of my conditions.

For PvE though that’s a great idea.

The food in question;
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Koi_Cake
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Rare_Veggie_Pizza