Guild Wars 2

I’m feeling it, I’m feeling it. Nothing bad, and I’ll probably actually run YAAW now. :P
+1 all around. Could still use some other larger changes later, but this is a great start.

Can someone explain to me how Chilling Force is going to function now? It seems like it’s less effective with these changes. I’m still going to run it, more than likely (because brawler build with quick LF regen) but I dunno… Definitely an improvement to Soul Eater though

Vydahr.4285:

Can someone explain to me how Chilling Force is going to function now? It seems like it’s less effective with these changes. I’m still going to run it, more than likely (because brawler build with quick LF regen) but I dunno… Definitely an improvement to Soul Eater though

And yeah technically, this is a sad nerf to this trait compared to before, which was already in need of love. Sadly, I may just end up not using it in favor of the GS trait or Desc Defenses now as it just became slightly less reliable which is never fun, depending on my Life Force situation.

They should have left it an interval of 1 second and no more than 1 target per hit. Chances are it was just allowing too much through with ground target AOE in PVE (suspecting this is a Raid nerf), but if this is the route they need to take, they should really bump the LF to 1.5-2% and might to 10 seconds.

ronpierce.2760:

Vydahr.4285:

Can someone explain to me how Chilling Force is going to function now? It seems like it’s less effective with these changes. I’m still going to run it, more than likely (because brawler build with quick LF regen) but I dunno… Definitely an improvement to Soul Eater though

And yeah technically, this is a sad nerf to this trait compared to before, which was already in need of love. Sadly, I may just end up not using it in favor of the GS trait or Desc Defenses now as it just became slightly less reliable which is never fun, depending on my Life Force situation.

They should have left it an interval of 1 second and no more than 1 target per hit. Chances are it was just allowing too much through with ground target AOE in PVE (suspecting this is a Raid nerf), but if this is the route they need to take, they should really bump the LF to 1.5-2% and might to 10 seconds.

See, your suggestion would be good. Granted, this is a fairly minor nerf overall, as it doesn’t affect things tooo much. (For instance, a shout chain to gain a bunch of LF will still work fine, just needing to keep in mind the instant cast of YAAW now. So, something like Suffer → NCSY → YSiM → YAAW and throwing in CttB if you really want to at the end. Gonna get you… Full stacks of might, and, what, 50% LF if you time it properly?)

Basically, Bruiser Reaper is still good, but any well bombing is nerfed. Yes?

Chilling Force change will almost never make a difference, as it went from a 1s ICD per target, to 1s ICD, but mult-hit attacks can proc it. So basically, the only time this would make a difference is when you were against more than 5 targets and had enough effects out that you could hit more than 5 per second, or similar situations with people moving in and out of range of hits.

Overall good changes, bit more held back than I was expecting, mostly on some of the damage fronts, and I don’t see Soul Eater competing still, but we’ve got another round to test.

Bhawb.7408:

Chilling Force change will almost never make a difference, as it went from a 1s ICD per target, to 1s ICD, but mult-hit attacks can proc it. So basically, the only time this would make a difference is when you were against more than 5 targets and had enough effects out that you could hit more than 5 per second, or similar situations with people moving in and out of range of hits.

Overall good changes, bit more held back than I was expecting, mostly on some of the damage fronts, and I don’t see Soul Eater competing still, but we’ve got another round to test.

Dagger would see a difference, as would Dagger+ Warhorn, and things like RS#4 which hits multiple times per second. Also Death’s Charge. It does have some impact, and while it’s not easy to gauge, it certainly isn’t nothing. Hence why I said to buff it a bit more to fill that gap and make it more useful in general, which it needed.

You already had a 1s ICD per target, so you’d have to hit someone with dagger, then within a second hit someone else with something else for the change to be noticeable. Not that it doesn’t need a buff, but you’ll almost never notice the difference.

Bhawb.7408:

You already had a 1s ICD per target, so you’d have to hit someone with dagger, then within a second hit someone else with something else for the change to be noticeable. Not that it doesn’t need a buff, but you’ll almost never notice the difference.

I think you’d be surprised, but regardless, overall, yes it’s still small. The more important part of what I said was that it still needs buffs to be useful.

Similarly, “Suffer!”.

Yeah, the change to Chilling Force is, in most scenarios, a buff. Against one target, there is no difference. You have to have two chilled targets, then hit each one with a separate strike to even have a difference.

So, almost all of this is amazing, but can you talk to us about Chill on enemies with Defiance Bars? Currently, our whole middle line of traits just flat out doesn’t work on bosses. I know you mentioned in the mesmer forum that their traits should all work on bosses, anything you can share about this yet?

Drarnor Kunoram.5180:

Yeah, the change to Chilling Force is, in most scenarios, a buff. Against one target, there is no difference. You have to have two chilled targets, then hit each one with a separate strike to even have a difference.

That’s not entirely true. (Though the might duration is a buff), intervals allow zero hit frame delays on effect. Essentially, it was easy to get the benefit every 1 second you were attacking. With slow attacks of GS, you might trigger the 1 sec CD, attack at .8, and not get to hit again until 1.6 and trigger the 1 second from that point. In the long run you actually lose out quite a bit of potency, especially with a slower weapon. By all technicality, the Life Force generation was nerfed.

These look great. Thanks for your work!

These are very very good changes. The only problems I see now are that reaper and necro are still too dependent on Soul Reaping (weapon sets need to generate more LF, vital persistance baseline), Dark fields still have combos that don’t do anything for you (leap through dark field for blind with a skill that blinds), and that suffer needs to remove 1 condition by default.

zapv.8051:

These are very very good changes. The only problems I see now are that reaper and necro are still too dependent on Soul Reaping (weapon sets need to generate more LF, vital persistance baseline), Dark fields still have combos that don’t do anything for you (leap through dark field for blind with a skill that blinds), and that suffer needs to remove 1 condition by default.

Well, base class changes aren’t going to be until a little later. Our dependencies on SR is more of a base issue, so if it gets addressed at all (which I very much do), it won’t be until then. :S

ronpierce.2760:

zapv.8051:

These are very very good changes. The only problems I see now are that reaper and necro are still too dependent on Soul Reaping (weapon sets need to generate more LF, vital persistance baseline), Dark fields still have combos that don’t do anything for you (leap through dark field for blind with a skill that blinds), and that suffer needs to remove 1 condition by default.

Well, base class changes aren’t going to be until a little later. Our dependencies on SR is more of a base issue, so if it gets addressed at all (which I very much do), it won’t be until then. :S

Yeah, that’s definitely okay, but since it effects reaper too no harm mentioning it.

Cheers for the changes, Robert! Thank you for lowering the cooldown for “Chilled to the Bone!”

Hey not everything I wanted but no dang nerfs, and about 3/4’s of what I wanted. Only thing I have to say is maybe take a look with chilling force and let us cut loose with it to see how truly effective it is.

but 9/10, would read again.

I think the only thing missing for reaper for me since the first beta is to make Nothing can save you instant cast. As it’s the one skill you may want to use while in the middle of another cast. Start a gravedigger>guardian pops shelter>Nothing can save you before gravedigger hits>guardian gets executed and runs crying for mama.

Vennyhedgie.5369:

I think the only thing missing for reaper for me since the first beta is to make Nothing can save you instant cast. As it’s the one skill you may want to use while in the middle of another cast. Start a gravedigger>guardian pops shelter>Nothing can save you before gravedigger hits>guardian gets executed and runs crying for mama.

That’s probably why we can’t instant cast it.

Captain Unusual.9163:

Vennyhedgie.5369:

I think the only thing missing for reaper for me since the first beta is to make Nothing can save you instant cast. As it’s the one skill you may want to use while in the middle of another cast. Start a gravedigger>guardian pops shelter>Nothing can save you before gravedigger hits>guardian gets executed and runs crying for mama.

That’s probably why we can’t instant cast it.

Why can everyone else combo but us? :P WTB some skill ceiling! It’s like Pistolwhip+steal, it just simply makes sense to do it that way. :P

Edit: Also makes for a good removal of blind/aegis. o.o

All the changes seem pretty good. I liked the cooldown being tied to grave digger more, and wanted to simply see a value change, but this works out nicely too. All in all looks very good. Especially the change to Rise!

Can someone just hit the fast-forward button and make it October 23rd already?

striker.3704:

All the changes seem pretty good. I liked the cooldown being tied to grave digger more, and wanted to simply see a value change, but this works out nicely too. All in all looks very good. Especially the change to Rise!

The grave digger set up had some logical issues, being that usually when you could use it most, you were less likely to want to use your other skills.

Personally, I much prefer this. I wish there was less leeching on Reaper and more mix of boon removal/condition removal though. Like Boon rip on Grave Digger with trait or Condition consumption on Augury of Death when you shout (consuming conditions to heal you). Both would be more useful than minor siphons, personally.

Thanks for the update, Robert! Any word on axe / scepter changes? You’ve probably been busy with everything else understandably but I’d figured I’d ask anyway.

ronpierce.2760:

striker.3704:

All the changes seem pretty good. I liked the cooldown being tied to grave digger more, and wanted to simply see a value change, but this works out nicely too. All in all looks very good. Especially the change to Rise!

The grave digger set up had some logical issues, being that usually when you could use it most, you were less likely to want to use your other skills.

Personally, I much prefer this. I wish there was less leeching on Reaper and more mix of boon removal/condition removal though. Like Boon rip on Grave Digger with trait or Condition consumption on Augury of Death when you shout (consuming conditions to heal you). Both would be more useful than minor siphons, personally.

This. This so much.

I’ll have to test it to be sure, but I am happy with some of the changes (shouts). As for chilling force it still doesn’t seem to be enough, but I will check it thoroughly in BW3. I was really hoping that nightfall would become a self aura so I didn’t have to remain within it, but with an increased aoe it may be more useful. Bring on bw3.

“You are all Weaklings!”: This skill now has instant activation. Increased weakness duration from 6 seconds to 8 seconds. Removed stability.

I was really looking forward to access another ability with stability. /sigh

Since there’s no indication of buffing reaper shroud auto to not be a DPS loss over just autoattacking with greatsword let alone Gravedigger spam <50% health, the only PvE changes of note here are Soul Eater, which can now happily take the place of Reaper’s Onslaught since reaper shroud damage is bad in PvE.

The shouts will not be used in PvE, and developers seem happy with this outcome. I won’t bother since it’s clear by now we’re being told this set of utilities are not being balanced around PvE concerns.

The minors are still pretty terrible. Shivers of Dread are borderline useless in PvE, with the low availability of fear on power reaper to begin with, and 3 seconds of chill on fear being a mediocre effect, especially since bosses and champs are immune to Chill.

The change to Augury of Death will do nothing for PvE. I don’t understand how a 150 hp life steal is going to help against 10k+ damage from sniper shots in PvE. It follows a tradition of undertuned life steals in PvE. And since shouts are pretty much useless in PvE and will NOT be taken over Wells, we can move on to the last PvE relevant change.

Chilling Nova. A 50% damage increase on a 103 damage tooltip increase will still make for inconsequential damage on a 10 sec ICD in PvE. It will remain less damage than a single autoattack from any of our weapons, and the target count of the nova does nothing on PvE content where bosses are single targets.

And once again, we have no appropriate adepts to choose from in PvE. Augury of Death is useless because shouts are useless. Relentless Pursuit is useless in PvE content — the guardians and eles will be aoe removing conditions all the time in a group.

So we’re stuck with Chilling Nova, which still does a mediocre damage effect, and centers around a condition that any of the enemies of note, be they bosses or champs, are IMMUNE TO IN PVE.

Disappointing changes to be honest, especially with no buffs to reaper shroud autoattacks for PvE. We are balanced around PvP and will be stuck with a class mechanic that is a DPS loss, and by default Reaper’s Onslaught will be unattractive because of it.

None of these changes are particularly meaningful for PvE, the game format the class needs the most help with.

Rhizo.5089:

“You are all Weaklings!”: This skill now has instant activation. Increased weakness duration from 6 seconds to 8 seconds. Removed stability.

I was really looking forward to access another ability with stability. /sigh

It was only 1 second to cover the cast of the stunbreak. o.O This version is much much more useful.

ronpierce.2760:

striker.3704:

All the changes seem pretty good. I liked the cooldown being tied to grave digger more, and wanted to simply see a value change, but this works out nicely too. All in all looks very good. Especially the change to Rise!

The grave digger set up had some logical issues, being that usually when you could use it most, you were less likely to want to use your other skills.

Personally, I much prefer this. I wish there was less leeching on Reaper and more mix of boon removal/condition removal though. Like Boon rip on Grave Digger with trait or Condition consumption on Augury of Death when you shout (consuming conditions to heal you). Both would be more useful than minor siphons, personally.

I disagree. In any situation where you would want to spam grave digger, your other skills that were important to get off cooldown for the next engagement were on cooldown, and you wouldn’t want to use them instead of grave digger in those situations anyway.

I agree with you on the other point. However, atm blood magic and reaper don’t play nicely together, so more leeching helps remedy that.

ronpierce.2760:

Drarnor Kunoram.5180:

Yeah, the change to Chilling Force is, in most scenarios, a buff. Against one target, there is no difference. You have to have two chilled targets, then hit each one with a separate strike to even have a difference.

That’s not entirely true. (Though the might duration is a buff), intervals allow zero hit frame delays on effect. Essentially, it was easy to get the benefit every 1 second you were attacking. With slow attacks of GS, you might trigger the 1 sec CD, attack at .8, and not get to hit again until 1.6 and trigger the 1 second from that point. In the long run you actually lose out quite a bit of potency, especially with a slower weapon. By all technicality, the Life Force generation was nerfed.

No, it is entirely true. Chilling Force before would not proc on successive pulses of Locust Swarm or a well, for example. Now it still won’t, but multiple Reapers can all get life force from the same foe at the cost of rapid hits hitting two separate, chilled targets without overlap on the first strike not proccing it on the second one hit.

The “interval” was still an ICD with all that entails, but it was on the target instead of the player.

Drarnor Kunoram.5180:

ronpierce.2760:

Drarnor Kunoram.5180:

Yeah, the change to Chilling Force is, in most scenarios, a buff. Against one target, there is no difference. You have to have two chilled targets, then hit each one with a separate strike to even have a difference.

That’s not entirely true. (Though the might duration is a buff), intervals allow zero hit frame delays on effect. Essentially, it was easy to get the benefit every 1 second you were attacking. With slow attacks of GS, you might trigger the 1 sec CD, attack at .8, and not get to hit again until 1.6 and trigger the 1 second from that point. In the long run you actually lose out quite a bit of potency, especially with a slower weapon. By all technicality, the Life Force generation was nerfed.

No, it is entirely true. Chilling Force before would not proc on successive pulses of Locust Swarm or a well, for example. Now it still won’t, but multiple Reapers can all get life force from the same foe at the cost of rapid hits hitting two separate, chilled targets without overlap on the first strike not proccing it on the second one hit.

The “interval” was still an ICD with all that entails, but it was on the target instead of the player.

That’s how intervals work? o.O Is there a source for that?

I was under the impression they were just personal time lapses that reset at certain intervals. Well my bad if that is the case, but I’m a bit surprised they’d design anything like that, where as what I assume was how they worked would technically be the best way to handle short ICDs to normalize against attack speeds.

We’re not talking about how Chilled to the Bone cannot be stun broken? Okay.. I guess Reaper will just have an AOE Deep Freeze. That’s cool I guess.

Xytl.8659:

We’re not talking about how Chilled to the Bone cannot be stun broken? Okay.. I guess Reaper will just have an AOE Deep Freeze. That’s cool I guess.

At a 90 second cd elite slot it is. Or would you prefer it become a crappier version of Jade Winds instead?

Xytl.8659:

We’re not talking about how Chilled to the Bone cannot be stun broken? Okay.. I guess Reaper will just have an AOE Deep Freeze. That’s cool I guess.

For, what, 2 seconds? It’s an elite skill. It’s supposed to be a game changer. In a team fight, it’s a game changer. In a 1v1, it’s less potent but still not toooo bad. Still. The love is nice, don’t try to nerf CttB when it just got a little love

I Geelieve! Thank you Robert Gee, another around of well thought-out, reasonable changes. Reapers get to stay fun woot!

Before people freak out about any of the changes (or changes that didn’t happen), please remember there’s going to be another BWE. So take these changes, run with it during BWE3, and give more feedback.

ronpierce.2760:

Drarnor Kunoram.5180:

ronpierce.2760:

Drarnor Kunoram.5180:

Yeah, the change to Chilling Force is, in most scenarios, a buff. Against one target, there is no difference. You have to have two chilled targets, then hit each one with a separate strike to even have a difference.

That’s not entirely true. (Though the might duration is a buff), intervals allow zero hit frame delays on effect. Essentially, it was easy to get the benefit every 1 second you were attacking. With slow attacks of GS, you might trigger the 1 sec CD, attack at .8, and not get to hit again until 1.6 and trigger the 1 second from that point. In the long run you actually lose out quite a bit of potency, especially with a slower weapon. By all technicality, the Life Force generation was nerfed.

No, it is entirely true. Chilling Force before would not proc on successive pulses of Locust Swarm or a well, for example. Now it still won’t, but multiple Reapers can all get life force from the same foe at the cost of rapid hits hitting two separate, chilled targets without overlap on the first strike not proccing it on the second one hit.

The “interval” was still an ICD with all that entails, but it was on the target instead of the player.

That’s how intervals work? o.O Is there a source for that?

I was under the impression they were just personal time lapses that reset at certain intervals. Well my bad if that is the case, but I’m a bit surprised they’d design anything like that, where as what I assume was how they worked would technically be the best way to handle short ICDs to normalize against attack speeds.

Gee explained the reason for the change as to allow multiple Reapers hitting the same target to benefit in the first post.

It’s not so easy to code a proper per-enemy ICD that allows multiple people with the same ability to benefit. Unfortunately, doing that would also put a heavy strain on the server.

Consider a standard PVP match where one team is all Reapers with Chilling Force and the other team has none. That is a minumum of 25 separate cooldowns the game has to track, and this is assuming no summons, pets, or NPC’s on that map. Say one on the non-Reaper team is a Ranger. Immedietly, another 5 cooldowns need to be tracked.

Expand this to WvW where it can easily add another 300+ cooldowns to be tracked and you can see where things get dicey for the server.

Drarnor Kunoram.5180:

ronpierce.2760:

Drarnor Kunoram.5180:

ronpierce.2760:

Drarnor Kunoram.5180:

Yeah, the change to Chilling Force is, in most scenarios, a buff. Against one target, there is no difference. You have to have two chilled targets, then hit each one with a separate strike to even have a difference.

That’s not entirely true. (Though the might duration is a buff), intervals allow zero hit frame delays on effect. Essentially, it was easy to get the benefit every 1 second you were attacking. With slow attacks of GS, you might trigger the 1 sec CD, attack at .8, and not get to hit again until 1.6 and trigger the 1 second from that point. In the long run you actually lose out quite a bit of potency, especially with a slower weapon. By all technicality, the Life Force generation was nerfed.

No, it is entirely true. Chilling Force before would not proc on successive pulses of Locust Swarm or a well, for example. Now it still won’t, but multiple Reapers can all get life force from the same foe at the cost of rapid hits hitting two separate, chilled targets without overlap on the first strike not proccing it on the second one hit.

The “interval” was still an ICD with all that entails, but it was on the target instead of the player.

That’s how intervals work? o.O Is there a source for that?

I was under the impression they were just personal time lapses that reset at certain intervals. Well my bad if that is the case, but I’m a bit surprised they’d design anything like that, where as what I assume was how they worked would technically be the best way to handle short ICDs to normalize against attack speeds.

Gee explained the reason for the change as to allow multiple Reapers hitting the same target to benefit in the first post.

It’s not so easy to code a proper per-enemy ICD that allows multiple people with the same ability to benefit. Unfortunately, doing that would also put a heavy strain on the server.

Consider a standard PVP match where one team is all Reapers with Chilling Force and the other team has none. That is a minumum of 25 separate cooldowns the game has to track, and this is assuming no summons, pets, or NPC’s on that map. Say one on the non-Reaper team is a Ranger. Immedietly, another 5 cooldowns need to be tracked.

Expand this to WvW where it can easily add another 300+ cooldowns to be tracked and you can see where things get dicey for the server.

So it does mention that. I had read the bullet points, must have glossed over the technical mention. Thanks for pointing that out. It was just my understanding that was how it worked when the mechanic showed up on a Mesmer trait. Excuse my ignorance on that behalf.

Well that’s sort of good news then. All around benefits. I do however still think the trait will need a bit more to keep in like with the others, but that’s somewhat of another discussion at this point.

Robert:

Thanks for the changes!

We really appreciate the “You are all weaklings” activation time change to instant.

Cheers,

Reaper sounds great.

I think however you need to communicate the Tempest designer because you guys are walking straight into a class balance disaster. As you are buffing something that is already pretty good, and tempest is getting nerfs to the only skill that does kinda decent damage (fire overload).

Hello.

Great to see fixes done so fast (suffer too much life force, animations and dash movement corrections. At this pace the reaper may even come out without any bugs at all

The changes look ok, tho reaper and chrono are solid enough, that this is more of a revision check.

So, at this point, the only thing causing problems is base necro. Inb we see double greatsword builds , ill list the most important quirks, bugs and issues:

• starting with zero lifeforce
• losing -23% of lifeforce on respawn
• weapon swap sigils on regular DS
• signets, leech procs, well of blood and other self applied stuff that doesnt work in shroud
• outside healing in shroud – wrote it seperate as it needs consideration and lets go step by step
• regular DS#1 attack speed – blinds are everywhere since june23 , same DPS but over a faster firerate would bring it alive and maybe less QQ about sudden oneshot procs
• axe
• scepter
• focus, (even offhand and #2 #3 dagger tbh)
• corruptions, the extra condi trait and all healing skills

Dream solutions:

• like revenant energy, lifeforce settles on fixed ammount out of combat.
  It just removes the extreme min/max scenarios, bypasses the -23% respawn bug, and doesnt make blighters boon pre-fight spamming a MUST.
  I suggest an equal , easy to umderstand 50% (maybe down to 30 but remeber it also drops and doesnt carry into next fight)
• axe#3 and dagger#5 and their traited counterparts are blast finishers.
  The payoff is you need to be very careful blasting stealth with a 600 radius aoe and the traited ones can only happens under your feet
• any axe & scepter improvements like range, dps and reliable lifeforce increase
• spectral pull and greatsword pull become RELIABLE PULLS. Dodge, block etc counterplay stays but not SIDESTEP and random obstructed

I know this is mostly base stuff but better mention it since you do have 2 other lines beside reaper ill write more if i get a good reaper only idea

Robert Gee.9246:

• “You are all Weaklings!”: This skill now has instant activation. Increased weakness duration from 6 seconds to 8 seconds. Removed stability.

I imagine I can’t be the only one disappointed the the necro/reaper once again is losing and or not getting stability. Robert it would be nice to hear your definitive answer on why you the necro designer or the development team doesn’t want the necro to have a decent stability? Compared to many other classes necro’s stability options are extremely limited. It was really nice to see stability, but now to see it removed doesn’t make a lot of sense. I can understand not wanting it on a particular skill thinking that specific skill has to much benefit. Why not work it into another skill that would round out that skill more; or even work it into the reaper trait line.

I think many of us Robert would really love to hear your thoughts and opinions on why these design decisions were made?

Vunter.6245:

Robert Gee.9246:

• “You are all Weaklings!”: This skill now has instant activation. Increased weakness duration from 6 seconds to 8 seconds. Removed stability.

I imagine I can’t be the only one disappointed the the necro/reaper once again is losing and or not getting stability. Robert it would be nice to hear your definitive answer on why you the necro designer or the development team doesn’t want the necro to have a decent stability? Compared to many other classes necro’s stability options are extremely limited. It was really nice to see stability, but now to see it removed doesn’t make a lot of sense. I can understand not wanting it on a particular skill thinking that specific skill has to much benefit. Why not work it into another skill that would round out that skill more; or even work it into the reaper trait line.

I think many of us Robert would really love to hear your thoughts and opinions on why these design decisions were made?

The stability was in that skill because it had a cast time to stun break, so the stability served to not get stuned while casting your stun break.

Since it is instant now, the stability is gone.

Think about it like Well of Power’s stability.

Yeah, the stability on YAAW! was a single stack for a single second. You get the same thing on other stunbreak skills that have cast times (Stomp, Rumble, Well of Power) – it’s meant to make them harder to interrupt, as (IIRC) a stun break goes on full cooldown if interrupted (unlike most other skills, which only go on a 5 second cooldown). Since YAAW! no longer has a cast time, it got removed.

Glad you listened to the suggestion to CttB. Also like the trait changes to bring augury in line with the others. Another thing, thank you oh so much for removing the after cast icd on reaper shroud, flashing shroud is a great mechanic. Only thing I could say is I would like to see the shouts have some sort of baseline action by default even in if it only hits one person or none. This would greatly support shouts being used all around. Another interesting thing I saw was someone here suggested that NCSY be instant as well. This would definitely be a cool addition to counter play against blocks (for example like they said, during a gravedigger cast.) Overall, reaper is all i have played the past 2 betas and watching this class flesh itself out more and more each time, using different methods is awesome. Great job overall.

The Augury of Death change is weird. Instead of giving it a static recharge + bonus, we’re getting a lifesteal component. So now, against a single target, it still doesn’t recharge worth a darn, but now it also does a paltry hit + heal. I guess in a target rich environment this would go from a paltry heal to a minor one. Maybe that is what they were going for.

The good news is, a lot of the shouts were buffed with reduced CDs anyway, so Augury of Death being good isn’t a necessity for shouts being good. The other changes are pretty nice, though.

Blood Red Arachnid.2493:

The Augury of Death change is weird. Instead of giving it a static recharge + bonus, we’re getting a lifesteal component. So now, against a single target, it still doesn’t recharge worth a darn, but now it also does a paltry hit + heal. I guess in a target rich environment this would go from a paltry heal to a minor one. Maybe that is what they were going for.

The good news is, a lot of the shouts were buffed with reduced CDs anyway, so Augury of Death being good isn’t a necessity for shouts being good. The other changes are pretty nice, though.

It lets shouts function like mini locust signets on top of their base effect. It certainly helps defensive shout-condi-clear builds out a lot, as does the hopefully more useful Rise.

I don’t think shouts needed more help in zergs tbh. They needed help for PvE, which the changes did nothing for.

I will be trying out YSIM next BWE though and see how it shapes up against the blood fiend in drawn out sustain without needing to kitten DPS via reaper shroud.

Overall excellent changes. As a necro I am worried that after so many buffs, we are just getting baited into the nerftrap! Over the past 3 years we have learned to be cautious :p .

The Chilled to the kittenecharge reduction will likely convince me to play it over Plague in many situations. Also, do you guys reckon the new model for the minion from Rise will be an unique one? I am quite curious.