Guild Wars 2

Based on the announcement here:
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/linsey-murdock-unveils-new-high-end-ascended-gear/

Agony:

condition ticks percentages of player health away and can’t be cleansed by normal means.

Infusion:

The only way to mitigate Agony damage is by building up resistance through Infusions

Essentially these are that i can infer (not gonna make a pros and cons study yet until i get more guardians to provide input)

> Percentage of a low HP pool will benefit low HP characters, ie. Guardians, because the net eHP loss is much less
> Inversely, it is very damaging to high HP characters, ie. Warriors
> It penetrates toughness/defense/armor which renders heavy armor and toughness builds useless against it
> the above benefits light armor wearers, ie. elementalists
> for the guardian, the net survivability requirement would be high healing power builds (possibly with condition removals) for locations/dungeons that specialize in inflicting agony
> infusions will be another stat sink which effectively increases the stat gaps between builds (bigger difference between full offense and full defense)
> the above might bring out a more uber defensive build, possibly triggering the birth of the “real” tank among guardians

Comments:
I’m a pow/tou/vit hammer guardian. I can see this as a significant buff to our class, but i will be seriously disappointed if i have to suddenly spec into healing power (which i think is a super sucky stat) to maintain my tankiness; while at the same time making vit completely counter-productive (which would be bad game design if a place/dungeon is focused on agony damage).

Lastly, i read a post somewhere where a guy claims that small HP pool is better which is complete BS but “if you can’t say anything nice…” so i didn’t reply to it. It was one of the durnbest analyses i’ve ever read in my life… but after this change, it might actually make sense.

Nothing will change, to overcome Agony you will simply need to get the Ascended gear with Infusions just like in GW1 (Infused gear to ignore Spectral Agony).

edit: Also, according to the quote it’s a % of health, so without Infusions it will effect all professions equally.

What I understood when I read about Agony and its relation to Ascended gear is this: Ascended gear lets you negate Agony.

If this is not what they were suggesting, then this will be only a mechanic build to punish players, which is not good. I’m assuming Agony is a form of gating which will prevent players without Ascended gear from being able to complete Agony-heavy areas.

This is the first step into the WoW clone they want GW2 to be.

I honestly can’t guess how it’ll be for Guardians, because I don’t intend to be playing WoW over again, I’m kinda tired after so many years running after the next gear ceiling.

It’s a shame, though, I wish I could’ve played my Guardian with unbugged Traits and with maybe a better role at WvW.

AbsintheMinded.4609:

Also, according to the quote it’s a % of health, so without Infusions it will effect all professions equally.

I think you mean “WITH” Infusion as it’ll negate the effect for every class.

Let me clarify what i mean by better for low HP pools:

Guardian = 1,000 HP – 10% = 900 HP
Warrior = 5,000 HP – 10% = 4,500 HP

If we stop here, then te effect is equal, but then…

Guardian = 900 HP + regen + heal = quick health turn-over
Warriors = 4,500 HP + regen + heal = longer health turn-over

In a battle of attrition, the guardian will last longer for as long as they both have equal access and power of heals and regens.

But they don’t… actually guardians excel with heal and regen sources… this leads me to say: “this seems like an effective buff on the guardians/low max HP characters/healing power builds/light armor classes”.

Thoughts?

gabo.6721:

AbsintheMinded.4609:

Also, according to the quote it’s a % of health, so without Infusions it will effect all professions equally.

I think you mean “WITH” Infusion as it’ll negate the effect for every class.

Let me clarify what i mean by better for low HP pools:

Guardian = 1,000 HP – 10% = 900 HP
Warrior = 5,000 HP – 10% = 4,500 HP

If we stop here, then te effect is equal, but then…

Guardian = 900 HP + regen + heal = quick health turn-over
Warriors = 4,500 HP + regen + heal = longer health turn-over

In a battle of attrition, the guardian will last longer for as long as they both have equal access and power of heals and regens.

But they don’t… actually guardians excel with heal and regen sources… this leads me to say: “this seems like an effective buff on the guardians/low max HP characters/healing power builds/light armor classes”.

Thoughts?

No, I meant exactly what I said. And this turn-over of health that’s suddenly an issue? It was there before. All professions are designed differently, and right now Guardian is one of the best at surviving.

I think the idea behind is correct, but the assumption is a bit flawed.
Yes in generell defense and heal get more powerfull then vit, cause they dont get penalized (yet).
The counterpart of this – having low HP means, you have even lower with agony, so more and more high dmg hits get onehit kills. You also have much less time to heal the dmg you recived.
Enemys in an Agony area which do condition dmg, can really knock you out of your shoes.

I think in an Agony area the old calculation vit vs tough vs heal get totally reviewed and even further potentially high dmg builds are super important, cause suddenly there is a need to kill the enemy fast – you cant outheal the enemy

I think the perfect Agony group will be High HP, very high dmg builds + real healing turtle tanks.
But you are right, Agony is better for Guardians then for warriors.
For Elems and Thiefs, this is a hard hit i guess.