Guild Wars 2

From twitch stream balance preview:

-Taunt from Beastly Warden is no longer unblockable or undodgeable
-MDG is getting 5 stacks of might for 3s every second when below 50%.
-Natures Vengeance boon durations are getting increased from 1s to 3s(might, swiftness, regen only 3 confirmed)
-Quickdraw reduction now stacks with other weapon cool down reduction traits.
-Pets have baseline condition damage based on family.
-We Heal As One will now share all of your boons with your pet and ALL OF YOUR PETS BOONS WILL BE SHARED WITH YOU.

Also in the beginning Irenio said something about traps in general across all professions, but I couldn’t make out what he said.

Edit: note on NV change, added BW change, bit about traps

Good changes but hope there’s more. Ranger needs a lot more work than that.

But hell I don’t even care now that I’ve seen Druid.

Hype is so real.

Bryzy.2719:

Good changes but hope there’s more. Ranger needs a lot more work than that.

But hell I don’t even care now that I’ve seen Druid.

Hype is so real.

There should be more, this was just a preview.

We Heal As One change is AMAZING! I’m thinking, quickening zephyr + we heal as one = double quickness duration. As well as a load of other uses.

I still don’t like MDG. Health threshold not fun mechanic.

Mcrocha.3891:

-We Heal As One will now share all of your boons with your pet and ALL OF YOUR PETS BOONS WILL BE SHARED WITH YOU.

This one sounds amazing considering how easy it is to stack 25 might onto your pet.

Ice Bow 4 nerf 50%!! Holy hell and then the MIC DROP!

They’ve already said that there will be more.

WHAO change is insane. Fortifying Bond + WHAO, oh mah gawd yes. I literally haven’t used WHAO once since I got Healing Spring (ran HS all the way up until the trap change, and since then have been running either Water Spirit / Troll Unguent), but now? New go-to heal thank you.

Scott.7163:

We Heal As One change is AMAZING! I’m thinking, quickening zephyr + we heal as one = double quickness duration. As well as a load of other uses.

I don’t know how it will function with Might, but it seems to me that the Ranger could probably get 25 stacks of might fairly easily.

Wondrouswall.7169:

Ice Bow 4 nerf 50%!! Holy hell and then the MIC DROP!

I laughed hard IRL when Irenio announced that in the DEAL-WITH-IT manner that he did. Brilliant.

We heal as one buff is crazy.

Pets finally getting a condi stat is great.

MDG and Natures Vengeance are meh as always.

Can’t wait too see what else we are getting and I’ll repeat We heal as one sounds amazing.

So basically HaO is now an on-demand bi-directional boon transfer? That seems cool.

If only they’d do something like that with EB (pet takes ranger conditions and transfers them to people in range).

Holy biscuits! Heal as One may well be our strongest heal now. Imagine how easy it is for rangers to get 25 might now that we can just copy it from our pet!

That plus the condi damage on pets… Oh man. Our condi damage dealing friends are going to be lethal now if we take the 700 condi damage base from the new pets and assume the others will have AT LEAST this. 700 condi damage with 25 stacks of might we can maintain permanently…

Power rangers with a condi pet could be the new meta.

very minor changes, most useless. MDG and spirits still wont be seeing any play whatsoever.

WHaO change is cool, and condi damage on pets is great.

still so many useless weapons, utilities and pets. but it’s a start I suppose?

Ehecatl.9172:

Holy biscuits! Heal as One may well be our strongest heal now. Imagine how easy it is for rangers to get 25 might now that we can just copy it from our pet!

That plus the condi damage on pets… Oh man. Our condi damage dealing friends are going to be lethal now if we take the 700 condi damage base from the new pets and assume the others will have AT LEAST this. 700 condi damage with 25 stacks of might we can maintain permanently…

Power rangers with a condi pet could be the new meta.

Combine that with those new HoT pets drools

Depending on Pet family, base condition damage will be either 400, 700, or 1000.

Jaw dropped with excitement!

Darrio.6098:

I still don’t like MDG. Health threshold not fun mechanic.

I agree, but it’s a strong trait now for wherever that can be useful, just not for every build/game mode/situation. Certainly not for current pve.

Edit: Heal as one means we can now swap pets and instantly have them fully buffed, and it also means we can receive buffs while being at range with longbow. It’s a great change.

I think we’re missing the Taunt change in here. Didn’t they say it is now undodgeable and unblockable?

apocalypso.4895:

Darrio.6098:

I still don’t like MDG. Health threshold not fun mechanic.

I agree, but it’s a strong trait now for wherever that can be useful, just not for every build/game mode/situation. Certainly not for current pve.

I think that its efficacy was increased by the introduction of Druid in that it may actually be viable to let yourself drop below 50% now and then burst heal. Especially if you for instance are running Fortifying Bond and get the might stacks on the pet and then transfer them to yourself with WHaO, could make for some long duration might stacking on the ranger and the pet. We will see.

No healing power on pets!? Gasp!

Gotejjeken.1267:

I think we’re missing the Taunt change in here. Didn’t they say it is now undodgeable and unblockable?

Ty forgot that one, will edit post

I believe they said Taunt currently can’t be evaded or blocked but that’s getting fixed?

Gotejjeken.1267:

I think we’re missing the Taunt change in here. Didn’t they say it is now undodgeable and unblockable?

i don’t think he said that correctly. I understood that it was bugged, and therefore went through dodges and blocks. this is now getting fixed, so it’s going to be a huge nerf. not because of the dodge part, but because a couple of professions can actually spam blocks. taunt wont be hitting much once the change goes live.

OH MY GOD HEAL AS ONE. I’m drooling, that’s an amazing change. SYNERGY SYNERGY SYNERGY.

I’m hear testing the might created through Strength of the Pack on testing dumbies, easily 25 stacks of might on the pet. Tie in Quickening Zephyr before you use your heal, 25 stacks of might and about 10-11 seconds of quickness for you and your pet

FINALLY I’ll be able to stack might in a good way.

Also now with pet condi baseline + 25 might lol this patch is gonna be fun.

I predict they will nerf We Heal as One after someone records a video of a ranger easily stacking permanent quickness.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/ranger/Very-high-quickness-uptime-theorycrafting/first#post5510079

Cristobal.8640:

I predict they will nerf We Heal as One after someone records a video of a ranger easily stacking permanent quickness.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/ranger/Very-high-quickness-uptime-theorycrafting/first#post5510079

Maybe, but we don’t know the functionality of the skill. It could only give partial durations like Fortifying Bond does.

Most Dangerous Game is just bad. It’s on a critical strikes skirmisher traitline, not a tanking traitline.

50% of most ranger’s health is ~7-8k, a mob in Verdant Brink nukes you for that much and more.

They should set the Most Dangerous game threshold to 70% instead. Even then it would never be used in group PvE.

Nature’s Vengeance is still pathetic.

3 stacks of might, please. Phalanx Warrior swings a 100b and the group is stitting at 18+ might stacks.

The Storm Spirit should give super speed, not swiftness.

No buff to greatsword/changes to mainhand sword autoattack.

No buff to mainhand axe’s terrible autoattack damage or shortbow.

No changes to the useless shouts we have.

Pets/spirits still die to aoe spam.

Zenith.7301:

Most Dangerous Game is just bad. It’s on a critical strikes skirmisher traitline, not a tanking traitline.

50% of most ranger’s health is ~7-8k, a mob in Verdant Brink nukes you for that much and more.

They should set the Most Dangerous game threshold to 70% instead. Even then it would never be used in group PvE.

Nature’s Vengeance is still pathetic.

3 stacks of might, please. Phalanx Warrior swings a 100b and the group is stitting at 18+ might stacks.

The Storm Spirit should give super speed, not swiftness.

No buff to greatsword/changes to mainhand sword autoattack.

No buff to mainhand axe’s terrible autoattack damage or shortbow.

No changes to the useless shouts we have.

Pets/spirits still die to aoe spam.

This was just a balance preview, there are more changes we will see on Tuesday.

mistsim.2748:

Gotejjeken.1267:

I think we’re missing the Taunt change in here. Didn’t they say it is now undodgeable and unblockable?

i don’t think he said that correctly. I understood that it was bugged, and therefore went through dodges and blocks. this is now getting fixed, so it’s going to be a huge nerf. not because of the dodge part, but because a couple of professions can actually spam blocks. taunt wont be hitting much once the change goes live.

From what I heard, he said that it was not working as intended that Taunt was going through dodges and blocks, therefore it is now no longer able to do so.

Mcrocha.3891:

mistsim.2748:

Gotejjeken.1267:

I think we’re missing the Taunt change in here. Didn’t they say it is now undodgeable and unblockable?

i don’t think he said that correctly. I understood that it was bugged, and therefore went through dodges and blocks. this is now getting fixed, so it’s going to be a huge nerf. not because of the dodge part, but because a couple of professions can actually spam blocks. taunt wont be hitting much once the change goes live.

From what I heard, he said that it was not working as intended that Taunt was going through dodges and blocks, therefore it is now no longer able to do so.

correct.

mistsim.2748:

Mcrocha.3891:

mistsim.2748:

Gotejjeken.1267:

I think we’re missing the Taunt change in here. Didn’t they say it is now undodgeable and unblockable?

i don’t think he said that correctly. I understood that it was bugged, and therefore went through dodges and blocks. this is now getting fixed, so it’s going to be a huge nerf. not because of the dodge part, but because a couple of professions can actually spam blocks. taunt wont be hitting much once the change goes live.

From what I heard, he said that it was not working as intended that Taunt was going through dodges and blocks, therefore it is now no longer able to do so.

correct.

Ah. I use zephyr’s speed, but that is a horrible change then. Makes the skill kinda useless against a lot of the professions.

Gotejjeken.1267:

mistsim.2748:

Mcrocha.3891:

mistsim.2748:

Gotejjeken.1267:

I think we’re missing the Taunt change in here. Didn’t they say it is now undodgeable and unblockable?

i don’t think he said that correctly. I understood that it was bugged, and therefore went through dodges and blocks. this is now getting fixed, so it’s going to be a huge nerf. not because of the dodge part, but because a couple of professions can actually spam blocks. taunt wont be hitting much once the change goes live.

From what I heard, he said that it was not working as intended that Taunt was going through dodges and blocks, therefore it is now no longer able to do so.

correct.

Ah. I use zephyr’s speed, but that is a horrible change then. Makes the skill kinda useless against a lot of the professions.

yes, I’ll most likely be dropping BM altogether in favour of the druid + 2 other lines. taunt was absolutely fine going through blocks, but you can thank all the esport kiddies for this. they raised a lot of noise after getting killed by rangers a whole bunch. I find this quite funny: it wasn’t ok for a 2s cc to go through blocks, but it’s perfectly fine to spam blocks on the engie, guard, ele, and Mesmer.

Gotejjeken.1267:

mistsim.2748:

Mcrocha.3891:

mistsim.2748:

Gotejjeken.1267:

I think we’re missing the Taunt change in here. Didn’t they say it is now undodgeable and unblockable?

i don’t think he said that correctly. I understood that it was bugged, and therefore went through dodges and blocks. this is now getting fixed, so it’s going to be a huge nerf. not because of the dodge part, but because a couple of professions can actually spam blocks. taunt wont be hitting much once the change goes live.

From what I heard, he said that it was not working as intended that Taunt was going through dodges and blocks, therefore it is now no longer able to do so.

correct.

Ah. I use zephyr’s speed, but that is a horrible change then. Makes the skill kinda useless against a lot of the professions.

Taunt was going through dodges and weapon skill evasion was too much, plain and simple. However, I do believe it should’ve remained unblockable. The number of skills which block and the amount of aegis application in PvP is huge.

Soilder.3607:

OH MY GOD HEAL AS ONE. I’m drooling, that’s an amazing change. SYNERGY SYNERGY SYNERGY.

remember that little minor in NM that copies boons to your pet but only for a few seconds, even less depending on buff type?

im thinking this will work the same way. otherwise we will be copying 10sec of prot (and possibly stealth?) every other time we use guard.

so its cool, but not amazing.

Raven.9603:

otherwise we will be copying 10sec of prot (and possibly stealth?) every other time we use guard.

That would be hilarious, but stealth isn’t considered a boon

Raven.9603:

Soilder.3607:

OH MY GOD HEAL AS ONE. I’m drooling, that’s an amazing change. SYNERGY SYNERGY SYNERGY.

remember that little minor in NM that copies boons to your pet but only for a few seconds, even less depending on buff type?

im thinking this will work the same way. otherwise we will be copying 10sec of prot (and possibly stealth?) every other time we use guard.

so its cool, but not amazing.

Yes it will obviously have to function that way. Anyone can see that if it didn’t then the potential for abuse would be huge.

But even just transfers of three or four seconds is awesome. The skill has a cooldown of 16s when traited. The synergy is there, and its excellent.

It’s funny that they called giving pets condition damage a “Quality of Life change”. A flat DPS increase is NOT a QoL change, it’s a balance change. Although it’s definitely just a small tongue slip I found it interesting. Will definitely make some pets viable that weren’t before. Using condi pets on power builds? Could be cool.

Eirh.1439:

It’s funny that they called giving pets condition damage a “Quality of Life change”. A flat DPS increase is NOT a QoL change, it’s a balance change. Although it’s definitely just a small tongue slip I found it interesting. Will definitely make some pets viable that weren’t before. Using condi pets on power builds? Could be cool.

This is true, it could bring some more obscure pets into favor, but it will be interesting to see which families get the 400, 700, and 1000 levels.

Mcrocha.3891:

This is true, it could bring some more obscure pets into favor, but it will be interesting to see which families get the 400, 700, and 1000 levels.

I’m guessing…

Spiders, Devourers, possibly Drakes – 1000

Drakes (if they don’t get 1000), Cats, Birds, Sharks, possibly Dogs – 700

Everything else – 400

Will be funny if anything with 1000 doesn’t even get conditions on any attacks. Wouldn’t really put it past them to do something like that, either.

I just (almost) shed a tear of joy to read that pets are getting condi damage and that change to WHaO is simply perfect.

Irenio, man, I had my doubts, but I kept faith and you have done so much for this class it is really just off the charts.

They [pets] will get either 400, 700 or 1000 condition damage.

+ Expertise training + Companion’s might

2000 pet condi damage anyone?

Irenio has been a godsend for the ranger class. Everything he has done for the ranger looks like its amazing. With the being said I feel like “Spirits” being the rangers strongest group support ability still need some fixes. The first of which being Spirit of nature which is an ELITE skill that is immobile and only has a 240 range on its effect. Sprites being immobile really kills their usefulness but as long as Anet is heart-set on them being immobile they should at least make them stong and able to effect the battlefield they have been planted near.

I think they said they would do that last patch. Instead they made them useless.

Did I tell you that you can trait Heal as One to be AOE Warhorn Swiftness??? + the new Boon stuff OMG it will be amazball

Bears probably are the only thing getting 1000 condition damage =).

That being said, I wonder if you use FB and HaO and say get a boon that lasts 4s…it gets transferred to your pet for say 2s, if you then use HaO, do you get another 1.5s or something? Assuming the duration halves each time its transferred that is.

Gotejjeken.1267:

Bears probably are the only thing getting 1000 condition damage =).

That being said, I wonder if you use FB and HaO and say get a boon that lasts 4s…it gets transferred to your pet for say 2s, if you then use HaO, do you get another 1.5s or something? Assuming the duration halves each time its transferred that is.

Aye it will probably work somewhat like that otherwise it would be pretty broken.

http://dulfy.net/2015/09/26/gw2-twitchcon-skill-balance-update-preview/

I’m not sure if I’m more happy about HaO, pets finally getting condi damage, or the nerfs ele burning and mes PU are taking. Today was a good day.

Mcrocha.3891:

apocalypso.4895:

Darrio.6098:

I still don’t like MDG. Health threshold not fun mechanic.

I agree, but it’s a strong trait now for wherever that can be useful, just not for every build/game mode/situation. Certainly not for current pve.

I think that its efficacy was increased by the introduction of Druid in that it may actually be viable to let yourself drop below 50% now and then burst heal. Especially if you for instance are running Fortifying Bond and get the might stacks on the pet and then transfer them to yourself with WHaO, could make for some long duration might stacking on the ranger and the pet. We will see.

I don’t think that will be the case. MDG was designed for necro, Irenio just ripped it off and changed the name, even tho Robert Gee got rid of it because it’s such a bad idea.

By using DS necro could change form under 25 % and soak up many hits, without the ICD that MDG has and the trait was still useless. Adding extra stacks does little when you’re below 50 % and taking damage. Since Might doesn’t increase HPS you can’t really hope to out-heal the incoming damage which has forced you to heal in the first place, also 5 stacks of 3 seconds, isn’t going to let you stack very high. I’d argue that it could grant 25 stacks for 5 seconds and would still be pretty much worthless.

I have no idea why anyone would think that this trait was worth salvaging or why it would be worth crow-barring it onto ranger. I can only imagine it’s an act of cynical laziness. A place-holder trait that is there because no one can be bothered to to create a new trait that would have to be balanced. Too much effort. Just stick in MDG and fiddle the numbers knowing full-well that noone will use it.

Heal as One sounds overpowered. I think it would suit the glyph more, which is underpowered at the moment.

Guard-> Heal as One

In fact, I think ranger and pet should share the same boon-pool. Because currently we can’t see pet boons anyway.

So all boons on the ranger also affect the pet. And all boons applied to the pet are given to the ranger instead. Then rebalance based on this new situation.

Conditions would still be seperate.