Guild Wars 2

http://www.twitch.tv/mmorpgcom/b/358339359

So they discussed various topics in detail. I really recommend watching it. IF you are ele’s fan, you might want to skip around 25-30 when they talk about AoE and some balance.

From what Colin said, they select a few AoE that is too strong and bring them back to balance. I might be a little optimistic but I think Staff Ele is safe from the upcoming change. None of Staff skill is too strong or “can be used all the time”. Staff skills usually have high opportunity cost because of their high cast time or activation time and high CD.

If you know about the coefficient. Staff skill have low coefficient. The only two that potentially be strong are Lava Font (with above 3 coefficient if all hit connects) and Meteor Shower. However, Lava has 1 sec activation time and really small AoE (with or without blasting staff). Thus, it is very easy to dodge. Even in choke point or very small area, it is mostly impossible to connect all hits. Meteor Shower is random and I don’t see it as a problem at all.

I think these change might be directed toward burst AoE skills . Sad but true, Fire Grab and Churning Earth are potentially in danger. I think Warrior’s Hundred Blade is also one of the burst AoE skill. ( Yes it is AoE).

I think we should calm down a bit about the upcoming change.

I don’t think so. WvW tacticians are using meteor shower in stacking. And to ANet, this is not a valid tactics in their opinion. But they fail to realize, in a WAR, you utilize your soldiers to get the best outcome. This is the mark of a good tactician. If the enemy can’t counter it, it is because they can’t think of something else to counter it. These people only know how to charge head first into combat without thinking if it is a trap or not. If because AoE is the reason many zergs are not getting past a certain point, it is not because spamming AoE. It is because these zergs have a useless commander who rely on “sheer numbers” instead of tactics. If you can’t get past a point because the enemy is spam bombing, then retreat and think of some strategy. If you cannot do that, that mean the commander title is not meant for you!

It like in a war, if you know the enemy if coming through to an area, what would you do? I would set up multiple machine guns turrets, some bazookas..etc…. I see the enemy, I shoot. I shoot and shoot! Do I need to stop? Sure, if no more enemies run in, I will stop. Then what do I do? Nothing I just wait. If more enemies run in, shoot some more.

Of course the enemy general won’t be that stupid to fall for the same trap over and over. They would think of something else or some strategy to counter it. And they don’t have anyone to complain about the enemies tactics of spamming bullets at that at choke point.

So, what to do? Call in the airforce. ( i know, some will say in WvW, there is no airforce.)

Vanillea.5764:

http://www.twitch.tv/mmorpgcom/b/358339359

So they discussed various topics in detail. I really recommend watching it. IF you are ele’s fan, you might want to skip around 25-30 when they talk about AoE and some balance.

From what Colin said, they select a few AoE that is too strong and bring them back to balance. I might be a little optimistic but I think Staff Ele is safe from the upcoming change. None of Staff skill is too strong or “can be used all the time”. Staff skills usually have high opportunity cost because of their high cast time or activation time and high CD.

If you know about the coefficient. Staff skill have low coefficient. The only two that potentially be strong are Lava Font (with above 3 coefficient if all hit connects) and Meteor Shower. However, Lava has 1 sec activation time and really small AoE (with or without blasting staff). Thus, it is very easy to dodge. Even in choke point or very small area, it is mostly impossible to connect all hits. Meteor Shower is random and I don’t see it as a problem at all.

I think these change might be directed toward burst AoE skills . Sad but true, Fire Grab and Churning Earth are potentially in danger. I think Warrior’s Hundred Blade is also one of the burst AoE skill. ( Yes it is AoE).

I think we should calm down a bit about the upcoming change.

Fire grab and churning earth are the only really useful attacks eles have, and they don’t even compare to thief auto attacks. Nerf that and you basically make D/D some kind of hired “dancer” in any real combat situation (in either pvp or pve)

Great stream. I’m a tad worried for my D/D ele, but I could see the reasoning behind a nerf for them. A good number of our AoEs are near instant attacks that deal decent damage. I could see them adding more windup or even an after cast.

Ele’s make places go BOOM!

It’s what they do, it’s in every build. I can’t see them making ele’s not have effective AoE. Look for tweaks, but no reason to over worry.

The cast time on churning earth alone should make it immune to any nerfing. I am perfectly ok with the damage being reduced directly or via the bleed stacks if they reduce the time on it so it can be used more readily. More often than not, in order for an ele to land it anyways on a player, they have to use lightning flash because it is too easy to move away from.

Nerfing the damage on it without reducing the cast time would make it go from situational use to never use.

They have no business nerfing D/D eles. People should be faced with choices in their utilities, and there are utilities out there that can dispatch D/D quickly.

Corrupt boon at the right time swats them like flies, as do a few well placed CC’s.

The damage of D/D bunkers is pathetic as-is, hurting the survival does not make the more offensive builds more viable, it just makes the whole weapon set worthless.

I hope Meteor is safe, it has a huge CD compared to some AoE.

Would love to see some staff coefficients increased. Need to compensate the horrendous HP pool and cloth somehow :p

(pretty sure 100 blades is on the block, so to speak)

Churning is quite good, but as others state, it does require the usage of other skills to really get it to land. The cast time imho is the balancing feature already to the skill coefficient.

It scares me very much that they would even consider “making mobs resistant to AoE”

That is pure lazy, and admits that the damage on 30% of the skills in the game have been broken since alpha….

I wonder if that would include all the ‘cleave’ moves (which staff has as a minor AE to single target skills)

Why do you think they will nerf Firegrab? the radius is pathetic enough