Guild Wars 2

If anybody wants to add to this, please do, as I won’t be as specific as some people like.

Basically we’re seeing buffs in a few areas, and I’m not seeing any real nerfs (other than zerg nerfs… Sorry Meteornado)

Signets are buffed, each in a different way. Fire gets a damage buff, earth gets bleeding, air and water get a cooldown buff.

Glyphs of elementals are buffed in a way which should allow for more control (this will be great with the frost elemental. Frost aura wahoo!) as they’re receiving an individual skill which you can command them to use.

Elemental Contingency is going off its universal cooldown and into an attunement based cooldown. So for this grandmaster arcana trait, you will be able to get a boon per attunement basically when you’re struck.

Blinding ashes gets a much needed buff. You’ll be able to apply this in an aoe fashion. This is what some eles who like burstier builds have been waiting for.

The air grandmaster buff was rather underwhelming IMO.

Well that just about recaps it. All in all not a bad patch. Ele isn’t coming out behind as a whole, and it might open up/buff some existing builds.

P.S. The only real nerfs are to fire trails (they no longer stack) and to the nado (which we knew was coming)

One thing I did miss was the Glyph of elemental storm seems to be overpowered now.

• This glyph which creates a storm in a location can stack 25 stacks of vulnerability now for each hit on a target that stands inside it.
• Each different storm gets a different condition, water just seems the most overpowered.

Yeah, think nuking some zergs from above with staff with all the + % dmg traits taken.

It’ll be a few more hours before I get a chance to watch the Ready-Up video; I’m hoping someone who has seen it can satisfy my curiosity before then. Are they just talking about a nerf to just the FGS fire trail, or would it affect Burning Speed/Burning Retreat as well? Or were they too vague to be certain?

Thanks!

What air GM buff? I’m on my phone in a car so I have no idea what happened in the video!?

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Posted this in another thread, too.

They will not only nerf the FGS #4 fire fields, but also nerf the fields for Burning Speed and Burning Retreat (can not be stacked onto each other – at 24:55). I don’t think that nerf is needed at all on those two later skills.

air GM buff was a buff to the new GM air trait that strikes foe with lightning on interrupt… it will strike any foe that is disabled. so it will synergize with earthquake now and other like skills.

the glyph of storms: fire storm will proc a second of burning for every foe it strikes, air storm will proc 2 stacks of vulnerability for 4seconds for each foe it strikes.

looks like burning speed + lightning flash is taking a hit

Quite happy about the signet changes. 00626 was already a fairly effective build, in my experience, so flat buffs to all three utilities certainly won’t go to waste. Reducing the stunbreak’s CD does quite a bit.

Raven Twospirit.9342:

It’ll be a few more hours before I get a chance to watch the Ready-Up video; I’m hoping someone who has seen it can satisfy my curiosity before then. Are they just talking about a nerf to just the FGS fire trail, or would it affect Burning Speed/Burning Retreat as well? Or were they too vague to be certain?

Thanks!

They did nerf these two effects, yes. You will no longer be able to stack the trails atop one another.

You’ve forgot a major note and that is a nerf to Vapour Form. It’s no longer immune to cc’s. No more sneaking inside a keep in WvW.

What disappoints me is the lack of buffs to a new meta. I feel completely lost.

Forgotten Legend.9281:

air GM buff was a buff to the new GM air trait that strikes foe with lightning on interrupt… it will strike any foe that is disabled. so it will synergize with earthquake now and other like skills.

This is the air GM buff.

It doesn’t seem to be a big deal. Still not worth taking IMO.

Raven Twospirit.9342:

It’ll be a few more hours before I get a chance to watch the Ready-Up video; I’m hoping someone who has seen it can satisfy my curiosity before then. Are they just talking about a nerf to just the FGS fire trail, or would it affect Burning Speed/Burning Retreat as well? Or were they too vague to be certain?

Thanks!

In addition: Don’t forget they did not mention any boost on the damage of Burning Speed and Burning Retreat like FGS#4 gets, so because those three skills share the same “fire field” mechanic, two skills that did not call out for a nerf got hit the most.
I hope they take a look at this problem of “unwanted balancing” to other skills they did not work on.

Nabuko Darayon.9645:

You’ve forgot a major note and that is a nerf to Vapour Form. It’s no longer immune to cc’s. No more sneaking inside a keep in WvW.

What disappoints me is the lack of buffs to a new meta. I feel completely lost.

So I didn’t actually realize this was a change. Yes a huge nerf. I thought this was just a visual thing.

Honestly though, this was a merited change. Nobody should be able to sneak into keeps untouched. No other class can.

I agree. All they did was buff utilities that are still niche or unused because we need survivability utilities for most of pvp, and fix crappy GM traits to have some purpose or use. I’m honestly sad that they didn’t do anything positive to weapon skills, since stuff like like shatterstone or scepter autos will still suck.

Oh well. 6/6/0/0/2 blind ashes fresh air S/F nuke build anyone?

Gorani.7205:

Raven Twospirit.9342:

It’ll be a few more hours before I get a chance to watch the Ready-Up video; I’m hoping someone who has seen it can satisfy my curiosity before then. Are they just talking about a nerf to just the FGS fire trail, or would it affect Burning Speed/Burning Retreat as well? Or were they too vague to be certain?

Thanks!

In addition: Don’t forget they did not mention any boost on the damage of Burning Speed and Burning Retreat like FGS#4 gets, so because those three skills share the same “fire field” mechanic, two skills that did not call out for a nerf got hit the most.
I hope they take a look at this problem of “unwanted balancing” to other skills they did not work on.

So yeah I was going to reply to this but didn’t get a chance yet.

I know we will need to wait to know for sure the parameters of what is happening precisely but I will say they should compensate the damage somehow. Someone should mention it in the Balance forums.

But yes, this is an across the board fire field stacking nerf.

Nabuko Darayon.9645:

You’ve forgot a major note and that is a nerf to Vapour Form. It’s no longer immune to cc’s. No more sneaking inside a keep in WvW.

I am pretty sure the “retreating to tower safety” in WvW with Vapor Form (being immune to CCs) is not possible right now and is no new nerf to the skill. You can “dodge” in Vapor Form though, which increases the path travelled and being able to evade some CC, but not e.g Immobilize or other non dodge-able CCs.

nearlight.3064:

I agree. All they did was buff utilities that are still niche or unused because we need survivability utilities for most of pvp, and fix crappy GM traits to have some purpose or use. I’m honestly sad that they didn’t do anything positive to weapon skills, since stuff like like shatterstone or scepter autos will still suck.

Oh well. 6/6/0/0/2 blind ashes fresh air S/F nuke build anyone?

I’m thinking D/F 6/0/6/0/2 signet build honestly.

I’m pretty happy that this patch they’re only really buffing the poorer things and not nerfing the used items to compensate.

They’ve done that in the past and it is a NIGHTMARE.

Looked like blinding ashes reapplied blind on each burn tick. can’t be right… would be as problematic as current pre-nerf black powder.

Wonder why they didn’t make the elental active skill break the current action like they changed the ranger pet F2 to in order to feel less laggy.

Current pre-buff glyph of storms has decent effects in water and earth – nice to see similar strength in fire and air.

The signet of earth active so needed that buff imo. happy

Mbelch.9028:

Forgotten Legend.9281:

air GM buff was a buff to the new GM air trait that strikes foe with lightning on interrupt… it will strike any foe that is disabled. so it will synergize with earthquake now and other like skills.

This is the air GM buff.

It doesn’t seem to be a big deal. Still not worth taking IMO.

Would work well with tornado Really well, actually.

Mbelch.9028:

Nabuko Darayon.9645:

You’ve forgot a major note and that is a nerf to Vapour Form. It’s no longer immune to cc’s. No more sneaking inside a keep in WvW.

What disappoints me is the lack of buffs to a new meta. I feel completely lost.

So I didn’t actually realize this was a change. Yes a huge nerf. I thought this was just a visual thing.

Honestly though, this was a merited change. Nobody should be able to sneak into keeps untouched. No other class can.

First, if you got downed beforehand, you didn’t sneak in. Second, he didn’t say the skill changed functions. Vapor form has never been immune to cc. It makes you invulnerable so most cc skills don’t affect you. However, wards and unsteady ground still stop you. Mist form goes through wards. He didn’t say anything about earthshaker hitting you in vapor form. Pretty sure it is a purely visual change to vapor form so people understand it isn’t identical to mist form.

Cecilia.5179:

looks like burning speed + lightning flash is taking a hit

How so? I don’t feel like it is at all taking a hit. When you use burning speed, when do you intend to use it for the flame trail? I can count on my fingers and toes the amount of times I’ve done that..

The flame trail isn’t disappearing, either. The most damage on the burning speed flame trail has always been fire anyways. So not a huge deal.

Tei.1704:

Mbelch.9028:

Nabuko Darayon.9645:

You’ve forgot a major note and that is a nerf to Vapour Form. It’s no longer immune to cc’s. No more sneaking inside a keep in WvW.

What disappoints me is the lack of buffs to a new meta. I feel completely lost.

So I didn’t actually realize this was a change. Yes a huge nerf. I thought this was just a visual thing.

Honestly though, this was a merited change. Nobody should be able to sneak into keeps untouched. No other class can.

First, if you got downed beforehand, you didn’t sneak in. Second, he didn’t say the skill changed functions. Vapor form has never been immune to cc. It makes you invulnerable so most cc skills don’t affect you. However, wards and unsteady ground still stop you. Mist form goes through wards. He didn’t say anything about earthshaker hitting you in vapor form. Pretty sure it is a purely visual change to vapor form so people understand it isn’t identical to mist form.

Okay, so I didn’t misunderstand him. Then it’s not a nerf at all just a visual change. I’d still appreciate a nerf to the ability to move thru portals tho.

Mbelch.9028:

nearlight.3064:

I agree. All they did was buff utilities that are still niche or unused because we need survivability utilities for most of pvp, and fix crappy GM traits to have some purpose or use. I’m honestly sad that they didn’t do anything positive to weapon skills, since stuff like like shatterstone or scepter autos will still suck.

Oh well. 6/6/0/0/2 blind ashes fresh air S/F nuke build anyone?

I’m thinking D/F 6/0/6/0/2 signet build honestly.

I’m pretty happy that this patch they’re only really buffing the poorer things and not nerfing the used items to compensate.

They’ve done that in the past and it is a NIGHTMARE.

Maybe I’ll try that out too.. If it doesn’t use clearasil diamond skin lol.

The only satisfaction I get out of ele anymore is blowing things up with scepter builds. If I want condition builds I might as well go play the soon to be buffed torment spam PU mesmer, like why did anet buff the most toxic build in the game? I guess I’ll also out cheese people on celestial might stacking ranger in pvp.. it’s just disenheartening for anet to buff low risk high reward builds even further.

nearlight.3064:

Mbelch.9028:

nearlight.3064:

I agree. All they did was buff utilities that are still niche or unused because we need survivability utilities for most of pvp, and fix crappy GM traits to have some purpose or use. I’m honestly sad that they didn’t do anything positive to weapon skills, since stuff like like shatterstone or scepter autos will still suck.

Oh well. 6/6/0/0/2 blind ashes fresh air S/F nuke build anyone?

I’m thinking D/F 6/0/6/0/2 signet build honestly.

I’m pretty happy that this patch they’re only really buffing the poorer things and not nerfing the used items to compensate.

They’ve done that in the past and it is a NIGHTMARE.

Maybe I’ll try that out too.. If it doesn’t use clearasil diamond skin lol.

The only satisfaction I get out of ele anymore is blowing things up with scepter builds. If I want condition builds I might as well go play the soon to be buffed torment spam PU mesmer, like why did anet buff the most toxic build in the game? I guess I’ll also out cheese people on celestial might stacking ranger in pvp.. it’s just disenheartening for anet to buff low risk high reward builds even further.

Am I the only one that thinks some PU mesmers might switch to shatter condition???

Mbelch.9028:

Cecilia.5179:

looks like burning speed + lightning flash is taking a hit

How so? I don’t feel like it is at all taking a hit. When you use burning speed, when do you intend to use it for the flame trail? I can count on my fingers and toes the amount of times I’ve done that..

The flame trail isn’t disappearing, either. The most damage on the burning speed flame trail has always been fire anyways. So not a huge deal.

(Theorycrafting, not being able to check in game right now)

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Burning_Speed

Base damage blast: 672
Field: 34
Burn: 328

since fields can’t stack on each other and assuming we got 5 fields before and now get only one (because we use it against an object, like a choke point in a WvW camp, I will get 34 damage instead of 170 base damage on the attack. If you add up both possibilities and compare them, that’s a 12% damage reduction (assuming 5 fire fields, more if there are more of them, less if there are less)

Mbelch.9028:

Nabuko Darayon.9645:

You’ve forgot a major note and that is a nerf to Vapour Form. It’s no longer immune to cc’s. No more sneaking inside a keep in WvW.

What disappoints me is the lack of buffs to a new meta. I feel completely lost.

So I didn’t actually realize this was a change. Yes a huge nerf. I thought this was just a visual thing.

Honestly though, this was a merited change. Nobody should be able to sneak into keeps untouched. No other class can.

But in the pool of useless Downed Skill we have it was the only safe benefit for us. We don’t have a push back, no healing sybmols, nothing to help us get up, no good SKill 1 Downed, nothing to hide us, and we’re still the squishiest out there….

Mbelch.9028:

Forgotten Legend.9281:

air GM buff was a buff to the new GM air trait that strikes foe with lightning on interrupt… it will strike any foe that is disabled. so it will synergize with earthquake now and other like skills.

This is the air GM buff.

It doesn’t seem to be a big deal. Still not worth taking IMO.

I’m still trying to understand how that air trait will work because it’s twin is halting strike. It procs for the same damage when you CC someone, so couldn’t you just chain CC and deal tons of damage? I know I’ve seen mesmers crit for over 3k with their version and they actually have to interrupt something. Couldn’t things like static field do huge damage in WvW? And then considering if people teleport out, they’d be struck twice, doing even more damage. I’m not seeing a weak trait here but then I don’t main an ele so idk.

Does the buff the Lightning Storm (glyph skill) also carry over to the Lightning Hammer skill?

Mbelch.9028:

Okay, so I didn’t misunderstand him. Then it’s not a nerf at all just a visual change. I’d still appreciate a nerf to the ability to move thru portals tho.

Psssst, IIRC Thieves can Shadow Escape at 600 range trough portals without being affected by CCs.

Adrian Guardian.9480:

Wonder why they didn’t make the elental active skill break the current action like they changed the ranger pet F2 to in order to feel less laggy.

Ranger pets are the only pets in the game that have a “break current skill” function for their additional ability. All others simply que the skill to be used next time the pet attacks. Turrets, Spirit Weapons, Necro Minions, they’re all the same across the board.

I’d imagine they just don’t think its necessary for secondary minions / pets to have an action break. Rangers get it because its a central profession mechanic, not secondary.

I’m pretty happy with these changes overall. I mean, its not everything I’d ever hope for or anything, but its a nice set of changes.

Elementals getting trigger-skills is great and makes them more in line with all the other pet summon abilities. Hopefully the skills themselves are solid.

More debuffs for Glyph of Storms is cool. Should definitely give more reason to use the ones not Earth or Water (though I’d imagine Earth will still be the best overall, blind is so good).

Blinding Ashes and Elemental Contingency seem like nice buffs, though I haven’t really used either of those traits so I can’t really say for sure whether they’re what the traits “needed”.

Lightning Rod changes are so very welcome. The delay on many of the Elementalist interrupts means it was pretty hard to time them on reaction and actually score an interrupt (or at least it was for me) which meant it was really hard to use the trait effectively, and it also meant that Static Aura was nowhere near as good at applying the trait as it should, as single-hit attacks don’t seem to trigger the stun until after they’re already done, which means no interrupt. But now, just use those skills any time and get free Weakness and a bit of bonus damage? I’ll take that happily, thanks. Plus, it’ll actually work with Static Field now, where it only would in very specific circumstances before, so that’s really nice.

Signets… I dunno. Seem nice, but like Blinding Ashes / Contingency I never use Signets (except Air for run speed when doing harvest runs) so I can’t say for sure. Signets are pretty boring to me.

A bit disappointed by lack of any sort of weapon skill changes, though. Particularly Focus.

Hmm… did anyone notice the “no changes to focus & scepter” segment? So far most classes got underused weapons slightly buffed (e.g. Ranger main hand axe), but all our changes happened at the utility skills (with the probably unintended nerf to Burning Speed and Retreat).

Gorani.7205:

Posted this in another thread, too.

They will not only nerf the FGS #4 fire fields, but also nerf the fields for Burning Speed and Burning Retreat (can not be stacked onto each other – at 24:55). I don’t think that nerf is needed at all on those two later skills.

I was afraid of that! Thank you (and the others who replied to my query) for the info.

I don’t think the nerf should be applied to Burning Speed/Retreat either. Or maybe I just don’t want it to be, because I so enjoy burning down structures by stacking a Burning Speed on it.

Gorani.7205:

Hmm… did anyone notice the “no changes to focus & scepter” segment? So far most classes got underused weapons slightly buffed (e.g. Ranger main hand axe), but all our changes happened at the utility skills (with the probably unintended nerf to Burning Speed and Retreat).

Focus is pretty well used as is Scepter. Scepter is just really lacking decent AAs.

This buffs my D/F signet condi build, so I’m somewhat happy. That Signet of Fire “buff” is a joke though. A real buff would have made it an AoE burn at least.

Gylph of Storms seems borderline viable for condi builds now…will definitely check it out. IMO Gylphs could have used adiditonal CD reductions.

Elementals getting their own active skills was something I suggested a looong time ago! Glad to see it’s been implemented. Still think the CD is too high on the elemental glyphs though.

I don’t know if we really have a viable elite now :/ Tornado seems like it works well with Lightning Rod, but using it is still losing access to Attunements while posting a huge “TARGET ME!” sign on yourself. Was looking forward to it at least getting projectile reflection, but no dice. At least I can still use FGS for mobility…

Overall, I don’t see people moving away from Cantrips in serious PvP….so if their goal was to open more non-Cantrip builds, I think they’ve fallen short…

No real issues adressed with some heavy handed nerfs on the side.

Laughable.

data.4093:

Mbelch.9028:

This is the air GM buff.

It doesn’t seem to be a big deal. Still not worth taking IMO.

I’m still trying to understand how that air trait will work because it’s twin is halting strike. It procs for the same damage when you CC someone, so couldn’t you just chain CC and kill deal tons of damage? I know I’ve seen mesmers crit for over 3k with their version and they actually have to interrupt something. Couldn’t things like static field do huge damage in WvW? And then considering if people teleport out, they’d be struck twice, doing even more damage. I’m not seeing a weak trait here but then I don’t main an ele so idk.

The major issue with the trait, long cooldowns on ele cc, hasn’t been addressed. If we’re comparing this to halting strike, halting strike is an adept trait on a profession with shorter cooldown cc. It takes triple the trait point investment for eles to get a comparable trait. Weakness and an easier trigger condition are nice, but not 4 trait points nice.

Here are some ways to make lightning rod attractive. It could decrease the cooldown on your cc skills in addition to what it already does. The lightning could strip stability and deal more damage on strip. The lightning could be delayed by 2 seconds or so, but stun foes again. If lightning rod is going to be based on cc, it needs an effect that helps the player do that better. Otherwise, it’s just a subpar damage trait with some weakness utility. Fresh air helps with damage more, the attunement swapping utility is stronger and they are in direct competition with each other.

I was kind of hoping for more buffs (particularly to some skills on the focus) and some more buffs or changes to unused traits than the amount presented today. This feels really underwhelming compared to the engi and ranger buffs.

Really underwhelming this ready up was, not like i expected anything differently.

I really like the change to elementals’ control

Mbelch.9028:

One thing I did miss was the Glyph of elemental storm seems to be overpowered now.

• This glyph which creates a storm in a location can stack 25 stacks of vulnerability now for each hit on a target that stands inside it.
• Each different storm gets a different condition, water just seems the most overpowered.

Yeah, think nuking some zergs from above with staff with all the + % dmg traits taken.

This buff makes me quite wet, yes.

The lack of change to master tier traits in fire and air is really sad

Gorani.7205:

Hmm… did anyone notice the “no changes to focus & scepter” segment? So far most classes got underused weapons slightly buffed (e.g. Ranger main hand axe), but all our changes happened at the utility skills (with the probably unintended nerf to Burning Speed and Retreat).

Well the reason of S/F is underused is rather that it is more sophisticated than being underpowered I think.
At least in PvP most Elementalists i met using S/F or S/D (okay they are very rare) were rather strong.
One could keep 3 ppl busy with 0/2/4/2/6 or something like that.

Zelyhn Lekovitch.2867:

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Lol I for one and pretty happy with the changes, although I do feel sorry to the ele speed clearers out there, was thinking of you when they announced the fgs change

I’m a little surprised shatterstone didnt get changed, or dagger earth AA, or the resurrecting glyph but im super happy with the changes for my roaming build in wvw.

Rocketmist.5436:

Zelyhn Lekovitch.2867:

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Lol I for one and pretty happy with the changes, although I do feel sorry to the ele speed clearers out there, was thinking of you when they announced the fgs change

Oh ye I really don’t mind about FGS4, I never liked the skill :p
But at least it was useful!

Zelyhn Lekovitch.2867:

The lack of change to master tier traits in fire and air is really sad

AoE blind is big for ele it makes staff ele into something very powerful for wvw and large group fights. Even d/d melee builds should get a nice effect from this that and now you can have 2 blinds or dodges rolls.
The air changes seems good it makes all of your air aura into a weeken and dmg its going to be nice for a d/d build.

Jski.6180:

Zelyhn Lekovitch.2867:

The lack of change to master tier traits in fire and air is really sad

AoE blind is big for ele it makes staff ele into something very powerful for wvw and large group fights. Even d/d melee builds should get a nice effect from this that and now you can have 2 blinds or dodges rolls.
The air changes seems good it makes all of your air aura into a weeken and dmg its going to be nice for a d/d build.

I can’t disagree with that, apart from the blinding ashes part, because it still lack the synergy with burning precision that we asked for!
But anyway, you are talking about grand-master tier traits while I was criticising the state of master tier traits

Zelyhn Lekovitch.2867:

Jski.6180:

Zelyhn Lekovitch.2867:

The lack of change to master tier traits in fire and air is really sad

AoE blind is big for ele it makes staff ele into something very powerful for wvw and large group fights. Even d/d melee builds should get a nice effect from this that and now you can have 2 blinds or dodges rolls.
The air changes seems good it makes all of your air aura into a weeken and dmg its going to be nice for a d/d build.

I can’t disagree with that, apart from the blinding ashes part, because it still lack the synergy with burning precision that we asked for!
But anyway, you are talking about grand-master tier traits while I was criticising the state of master tier traits

Ya the update this time was only about the new traits so grand-master only. Ya there are many less traits that need updated for sure.

Jski.6180:

Zelyhn Lekovitch.2867:

Jski.6180:

Zelyhn Lekovitch.2867:

The lack of change to master tier traits in fire and air is really sad

AoE blind is big for ele it makes staff ele into something very powerful for wvw and large group fights. Even d/d melee builds should get a nice effect from this that and now you can have 2 blinds or dodges rolls.
The air changes seems good it makes all of your air aura into a weeken and dmg its going to be nice for a d/d build.

I can’t disagree with that, apart from the blinding ashes part, because it still lack the synergy with burning precision that we asked for!
But anyway, you are talking about grand-master tier traits while I was criticising the state of master tier traits

Ya the update this time was only about the new traits so grand-master only. Ya there are many less traits that need updated for sure.

Well it’s more like it’s a waste of developer resources: we are not going to go all the way up to grandmaster tier in fire nor air until they give us something desirable in the previous tiers!

2 out of 3 elites neutered. FGS might still be worthwhile for whirl and firestorm., and for the fact that the other 2 elites are really bad, Glyph is only useful for soloing and spawning a tank, Tornado was only useful for upping meteor damage.

Will anyone use tornado after the change? Ever? I really can’t see myself doing it. Maybe on the way to defending or capping a Lord’s room it can push people out so it isn’t challenged. But that’s it.