Guild Wars 2

yeh we got 10 secs reduction in QZ with the last small patch. It was needed, now the skill is more responsive if traited (6 secs quickness in 40 secs CD)

Still not really that great, spiders are still really underwhelming (rest of pets im afraid to test them)

I’m getting some pretty nasty bleed damage using Shortbow + the buffed QZ & Sharpening Stone.

- Skirmishing / Wilderness Survival / Beastmastery

- Lynx & Bristleback

Lots of quickness uptime with this build from QZ and pet swap traits. You can very rapidly stack 40+ bleed. Survival Skill trait gives you decent access to fury and condition cleansing. I’m currently using shouts for perma regen and swiftness, but I imagine there’s a viable druid variation that swaps these out. I really like “Sick ’Em” + Bristleback’s activated skill though.

It’s not all doom and gloom guys. This setup seems solid to me so far.

Just wish shortbow was 1200 range. Why do we need multiple 900 range weapons??

Rhbyn Yew.5236:

Eval.2371:

Guys, we got a buff!
QZ is 50 sec cd now…
Ranger is now saved. Were finally viable /s

Did not notice that, thanks for pointing that out. Interesting, might give it a go in WvW, see how it goes.

I’ve used it in WvW – has its moments. Not sure it is a buff though. Well, glass half full / empty I guess. Any reduction in cool down is nice but that adjustment to protection

Sad panda.

Crapgame.6519:

I’ve used it in WvW – has its moments. Not sure it is a buff though. Well, glass half full / empty I guess. Any reduction in cool down is nice but that adjustment to protection

Sad panda.

Yep actually Anet just almost destroyed the bunker build. Not that really matters as there is not other choice when playing wvw, so we are in the conundrum of the bristle nerf. The pet is trash compared to the one before, but we still use it because is the only viable choice.

Zoef.2761:

Pets keep their names. I was really waiting for that. Guard nerfed: good job. No substantial changes whatsoever. Big fat zero imo.

Guard buffed to God mode….

Sadrien.3470:

Zoef.2761:

Pets keep their names. I was really waiting for that. Guard nerfed: good job. No substantial changes whatsoever. Big fat zero imo.

Guard buffed to God mode….

Serious?….hope you are being sarcastic? Guard next to useless now….total nerf

Very glad with the pet buffs.
Interesting to see in the future how maybe pets can integrate more in small scale fights, meaning all fights with less then 15/20 ppl or bots.

I found sharpening stone an already strong skill in a full condi build/traited/krait-runed setup. This must be even better.

Wondering if water spirit or a spirit heavy build can work now too on a few occasions where you fight in 1 place, I can think of some raidbosses.

Oh and I really like the fact that I can right click my utility-skills to swap them, there were countless times I accidently popped my skill while wanting to change it.

Bast Bow.2958:

Wondering if water spirit or a spirit heavy build can work now too on a few occasions where you fight in 1 place, I can think of some raidbosses.

That was the case before when raids were first introduced and AF generation was still being tweaked. Granted, it lasted in the meta for maybe 1-2 weeks before being phased out. It can still work, by all means.

Haven’t tested the small increase in the scaling or if anything changed for the on-hit heal in an actual instance. I recall when it was bugged, the on-hit heal did not register in the combat log nor did it generate AF.

I only know the on-hit heal still doesn’t show up on our combat log when others proc it – I assume it shows up on theirs. Will test later on though if it contributes to AF and if it is affected by outgoing healing % modifiers.

Water Spirit is still garbage, albeit, niche garbage; but I have a soft-spot for Spirits. Will update the 1st post underneath the “Notes” section on it though for anyone curious.

I read the moa basic attack range and thought, “finally, they’re adding smokescale range to other melee pets”. But nope, just the moa. Why not just flat out make this the standard melee pet range in one patch? They did some feline changes, so I’m already assuming the felines aren’t getting that range. Why not?

The added damage to the axe aa doesn’t justify the removal of a bounce. I’m not using pigs – period – until they are overhauling them. Hunter’s Call buff is fine, but the warhorn trait is still crap. Canine and Drake cd reductions was needed, but again, no range buff. Funny thing is, QZ cd reduction for one of my pvp builds may be one of the more exiting changes.

But I didn’t expect anything. Looks more like a QoL patch.

Wondrouswall.7169:

Cool! Looking forward to the results.

Yes I know about spirits in raids before, and indeed I meant water spirit specifically. I also have a soft spot for spirits so was really hoping water spirit would be more viable now.

Lazze.9870:

I read the moa basic attack range and thought, “finally, they’re adding smokescale range to other melee pets”. But nope, just the moa. Why not just flat out make this the standard melee pet range in one patch? They did some feline changes, so I’m already assuming the felines aren’t getting that range. Why not?

The added damage to the axe aa doesn’t justify the removal of a bounce. I’m not using pigs – period – until they are overhauling them. Hunter’s Call buff is fine, but the warhorn trait is still crap. Canine and Drake cd reductions was needed, but again, no range buff. Funny thing is, QZ cd reduction for one of my pvp builds may be one of the more exiting changes.

But I didn’t expect anything. Looks more like a QoL patch.

Well, we’ve been on QoL patches throughout the entire xpac if not most of the game’s existence lol.

I’ve resigned to knowing they balance around spvp and spvp only. PvE and WvW are a side thought.

Ardenwolfe.8590:

Guard: Reduced the damage reduction from 50% to 33%.

Wonder what brought that about? Also noticed the death of Cleric amulet in PvP.

They made this change across the board. any 50% damage reductions got bumped down to 33%. Not just us.

Axe change: this is kinda what we asked for. People complained it didn’t do enough damage to single targets, and was only good for trash mobs. In light of the most often made complaint about Axe AA, this is pretty much the appropriate response. I don’t like it, but I was fine with the AA as it was. The loss of the potential might stack (assuming there’s something for it to bounce to) is sad, but I’ll live. Won’t stop me from using Axe.

Warhorn: the #4 skill is now useful imo. more damage and vulnerability application.

Sharpening stone: far more useful than it was previously. Might actually use this skill now, with only a 30s CD. Don’t care as much about duration increase, would rather have another stack of bleed.

Several fixes: yay!

Pet stuff: Ignoring the name thing (nice but not a game changer). Skill improvements for several pets, good. This was probably the low-hanging fruit on fixing our pets, so at least we know they are addressing the issue. If there aren’t more changes in 2-3 months (with episode 2) then I will be concerned. This is a step in the right direction.

Zenith.7301:

I’ve resigned to knowing they balance around spvp and spvp only. PvE and WvW are a side thought.

Doesn’t matter, tons of crap traits and skills in pvp aswell. Stuff that need works regardless of gamemode.

Glad to see the CA form breaking get fixed, but that’s all it was: a fix.

Patch notes are better than average notes for the Ranger due to the lack of many nerfs. Nothing that’ll improve my builds (apart from the CA fix).

But, in PVE where I reside, outside of a buffbot with a side of healing, there’s no need to play ranger. With the animation DPS nerf to sword, there’s really no reason. I still play my Ranger/Druid, but only when I really really don’t give a **** about efficiency or my party absolutely NEEDS a buffbot/healer… or when I’m just idling in LA like I am right now while I browse the forums. Sad, really, use to enjoy the ever-living kitten out of my Ranger years ago before all the nerfs. They’ve literally, I’ve come to realize, nerfed my enjoyment out of the Ranger class.

On a side note: I’ve started playing Overwatch and it’s made me see how bad Anet is at balancing PVP.

TheFantasticGuy.7206:

On a side note: I’ve started playing Overwatch and it’s made me see how bad Anet is at balancing PVP.

^yup

B;izzard has always pushed more frequent and comprehensive balanc e patches than Anet in all of its games, it’s nothing new.

And Final Fantasy XIV is the only MMO out there besides Wildstar which has classes with DPS well between 5-10% of each other.

This is the only atrocious current MMO that has some classes doing triple the DPS of others.

Zenith.7301:

B;izzard has always pushed more frequent and comprehensive balanc e patches than Anet in all of its games, it’s nothing new.

And Final Fantasy XIV is the only MMO out there besides Wildstar which has classes with DPS well between 5-10% of each other.

This is the only atrocious current MMO that has some classes doing triple the DPS of others.

I will point out that both Blizzard and Square have bank accounts that are so ridiculously large as to make this comparison completely unfair to Anet.

bearshaman.3421:

Zenith.7301:

B;izzard has always pushed more frequent and comprehensive balanc e patches than Anet in all of its games, it’s nothing new.

And Final Fantasy XIV is the only MMO out there besides Wildstar which has classes with DPS well between 5-10% of each other.

This is the only atrocious current MMO that has some classes doing triple the DPS of others.

I will point out that both Blizzard and Square have bank accounts that are so ridiculously large as to make this comparison completely unfair to Anet.

bearshaman.3421:

Zenith.7301:

B;izzard has always pushed more frequent and comprehensive balanc e patches than Anet in all of its games, it’s nothing new.

And Final Fantasy XIV is the only MMO out there besides Wildstar which has classes with DPS well between 5-10% of each other.

This is the only atrocious current MMO that has some classes doing triple the DPS of others.

I will point out that both Blizzard and Square have bank accounts that are so ridiculously large as to make this comparison completely unfair to Anet.

Anet has a Farmville style cash store and they’re making 2 outfits a month, I’m not concerned for their wallets.

Nah, not really. You don’t need more fingers in the pie, you just need the fingers in the pie to be really good at it. Throwing more money at balancing by adding personnel isn’t going to fix the problem. Throwing more money at balancing by hiring personnel that is REALLY good at balancing and getting rid of the bad ones would fix the problem. So, bank account sizes really aren’t an excuse for bad balancing, IMO.

An interesting fact yes. A possible solution, fire the person responsible for all the legitimate issues rangers have had for the past four years and hire a mathematician. At the end of the day it all boils down to math, something clearly lacking.

Zenith.7301:

bearshaman.3421:

Zenith.7301:

B;izzard has always pushed more frequent and comprehensive balanc e patches than Anet in all of its games, it’s nothing new.

And Final Fantasy XIV is the only MMO out there besides Wildstar which has classes with DPS well between 5-10% of each other.

This is the only atrocious current MMO that has some classes doing triple the DPS of others.

I will point out that both Blizzard and Square have bank accounts that are so ridiculously large as to make this comparison completely unfair to Anet.

Anet has a Farmville style cash store and they’re making 2 outfits a month, I’m not concerned for their wallets.

That doesn’t even begin to compare to Square having the longest running consistently producing fantasy game franchise ever, or Blizzard having the most successful MMO ever based on a wildly popular series of RTS games, in addition to another wildly popular scifi RTS series, and a now a moba as well. They have the money, the manpower, a wealth of experience, etc etc etc. There really is no comparing those to Anet. That’s like comparing Boost Mobile to AT&T, or or Acer to IBM. They’ve been doing it longer, across more than the two titles Anet has under its belt, and have far more support and backers and everything. Anet is doing pretty well when you compare what they are up against. Comparing them is ridiculous.

And yes, it’s math, but you assume they are doing arithmetic, when it’s really multivariable calculus. Give them a break, guys. A little patience isn’t much to ask.

bearshaman.3421:

Give them a break, guys. A little patience isn’t much to ask.

lol, you’re either clueless or new

xev.9476:

bearshaman.3421:

Give them a break, guys. A little patience isn’t much to ask.

lol, you’re either clueless or new

neither, but thanks for the well-reasoned and mature response. you’re a credit to our profession.

bearshaman.3421:

A little patience isn’t much to ask.

yeah I mean it’s only been 4 years, c’mon guys be a little patient…

Jim Hunter.6821:

bearshaman.3421:

A little patience isn’t much to ask.

yeah I mean it’s only been 4 years, c’mon guys be a little patient…

^^^^^This

Oh come on guys, such a short patients you have… It’s only being 4 years!!! The earth took longer to form and nobody complained you see

bearshaman.3421:

Ardenwolfe.8590:

Guard: Reduced the damage reduction from 50% to 33%.

Wonder what brought that about? Also noticed the death of Cleric amulet in PvP.

They made this change across the board. any 50% damage reductions got bumped down to 33%. Not just us.

Also if we compare to what other classes got off relatively light. Necros not only had their defense cut, but their minions got their health and toughness reduced. Meanwhile rangers and engies just got a flat cut with no extra nerfs, while mesmers got their nerf balanced out with extra protection as well.

Which means all in all, the only nerfs we actually got were to taunt and protective ward (PvP only). Maybe some people will consider the ax change a nerf, I haven’t made up my mind about that. Arguably the taunt nerf was part of their efforts to reduce CC across board as well, and protective ward has always been kinda strong.

Everything else was either a bug fix or a straight buff. Which is pretty decent.

But lets be real, I lurk on the forums regularly and I’ve seen the common complaints here. Anet does make an effort at addressing the largest complaints:

We don’t have party support, they give us druid.
We think shouts were garbage, they finally reworked some.
Shortbow and sword are awful, they changed them a bit.
Survival skills like sharpening stone is useless, they buffed it.
Warhorn 4 is stupid, they changed it.
Pet skill cooldowns are ridiculous for what they do, they kiiiinda tweaked them.
Why can’t pets remember their names?!!?! Finally they can.

From what I’ve seen over a time, a giant thread filled with lots of complaints and suggestions won’t necessarily get a response. But if you can rally people behind a specific targeted skill or thing you want changed, your more likely to see it happen. Eventually.

Basically, pick ONE thing (trait line, weapon, utility type) and kitten about it for a month, and they’ll probably address it in the next big update.

Victa.1439:

Jim Hunter.6821:

bearshaman.3421:

A little patience isn’t much to ask.

yeah I mean it’s only been 4 years, c’mon guys be a little patient…

^^^^^This

Compared to how long has WoW been running? or FF 11 then 14? Comparatively, yes. 4 years is a short period of time. If you’re gonna compare it to these, at least understand the scale you are comparing it to.

bloodpyrope.8630:

bearshaman.3421:

Ardenwolfe.8590:

Guard: Reduced the damage reduction from 50% to 33%.

Wonder what brought that about? Also noticed the death of Cleric amulet in PvP.

They made this change across the board. any 50% damage reductions got bumped down to 33%. Not just us.

Also if we compare to what other classes got off relatively light. Necros not only had their defense cut, but their minions got their health and toughness reduced. Meanwhile rangers and engies just got a flat cut with no extra nerfs, while mesmers got their nerf balanced out with extra protection as well.

Which means all in all, the only nerfs we actually got were to taunt and protective ward (PvP only). Maybe some people will consider the ax change a nerf, I haven’t made up my mind about that. Arguably the taunt nerf was part of their efforts to reduce CC across board as well, and protective ward has always been kinda strong.

Everything else was either a bug fix or a straight buff. Which is pretty decent.

But lets be real, I lurk on the forums regularly and I’ve seen the common complaints here. Anet does make an effort at addressing the largest complaints:

We don’t have party support, they give us druid.
We think shouts were garbage, they finally reworked some.
Shortbow and sword are awful, they changed them a bit.
Survival skills like sharpening stone is useless, they buffed it.
Warhorn 4 is stupid, they changed it.
Pet skill cooldowns are ridiculous for what they do, they kiiiinda tweaked them.
Why can’t pets remember their names?!!?! Finally they can.

From what I’ve seen over a time, a giant thread filled with lots of complaints and suggestions won’t necessarily get a response. But if you can rally people behind a specific targeted skill or thing you want changed, your more likely to see it happen. Eventually.

Basically, pick ONE thing (trait line, weapon, utility type) and kitten about it for a month, and they’ll probably address it in the next big update.

^^^^^This also.

bearshaman.3421:

Zenith.7301:

bearshaman.3421:

Zenith.7301:

B;izzard has always pushed more frequent and comprehensive balanc e patches than Anet in all of its games, it’s nothing new.

And Final Fantasy XIV is the only MMO out there besides Wildstar which has classes with DPS well between 5-10% of each other.

This is the only atrocious current MMO that has some classes doing triple the DPS of others.

I will point out that both Blizzard and Square have bank accounts that are so ridiculously large as to make this comparison completely unfair to Anet.

Anet has a Farmville style cash store and they’re making 2 outfits a month, I’m not concerned for their wallets.

That doesn’t even begin to compare to Square having the longest running consistently producing fantasy game franchise ever, or Blizzard having the most successful MMO ever based on a wildly popular series of RTS games, in addition to another wildly popular scifi RTS series, and a now a moba as well. They have the money, the manpower, a wealth of experience, etc etc etc.

Those studios are independent from the other things that those companies work on. Do you seriously think blizzard is using overwatch money to fund WoW or that Squeenix is using their other game sales to fund FF14? If neither one of those properties could stand on it’s own via their sub fee systems, they would just shut them down.

The reason they have good balance patches is because they actually hire people who know what they are doing and actually care about doing their jobs. Not people who fart out some half-baked pet tweaks the night before.

bearshaman.3421:

Victa.1439:

Jim Hunter.6821:

bearshaman.3421:

A little patience isn’t much to ask.

yeah I mean it’s only been 4 years, c’mon guys be a little patient…

^^^^^This

Compared to how long has WoW been running? or FF 11 then 14? Comparatively, yes. 4 years is a short period of time. If you’re gonna compare it to these, at least understand the scale you are comparing it to.

11 had nothing to do with 14 and 14 was so atrocious at launch they had to take it down and rework nearly the whole game. A Realm Reborn came out on August 27, 2013 making it a year younger than GW2.

Anet also has years of experience with mmo design via GW1 so don’t try and act like they get some “greenhorn” free pass.

bearshaman.3421:

Zenith.7301:

B;izzard has always pushed more frequent and comprehensive balanc e patches than Anet in all of its games, it’s nothing new.

And Final Fantasy XIV is the only MMO out there besides Wildstar which has classes with DPS well between 5-10% of each other.

This is the only atrocious current MMO that has some classes doing triple the DPS of others.

I will point out that both Blizzard and Square have bank accounts that are so ridiculously large as to make this comparison completely unfair to Anet.

Point taken, but not applicable. It takes money to make money. Short term micro transactions will not last too long. That and of course the overall state of the current expansion everyone recently bought.

Not only that there is a thing called pride. Sort of like the wagon wheel maker. Sure, the craftsman could make the wheel has cheap has possible, and has fast. However, the craftsman sees that wagon go by daily….and if that was me I’d make kitten sure I made the best kittening wheel this side of the Mississippi for the world to see and be proud.

Substance E.4852:

bearshaman.3421:

Zenith.7301:

bearshaman.3421:

Zenith.7301:

B;izzard has always pushed more frequent and comprehensive balanc e patches than Anet in all of its games, it’s nothing new.

And Final Fantasy XIV is the only MMO out there besides Wildstar which has classes with DPS well between 5-10% of each other.

This is the only atrocious current MMO that has some classes doing triple the DPS of others.

I will point out that both Blizzard and Square have bank accounts that are so ridiculously large as to make this comparison completely unfair to Anet.

Anet has a Farmville style cash store and they’re making 2 outfits a month, I’m not concerned for their wallets.

That doesn’t even begin to compare to Square having the longest running consistently producing fantasy game franchise ever, or Blizzard having the most successful MMO ever based on a wildly popular series of RTS games, in addition to another wildly popular scifi RTS series, and a now a moba as well. They have the money, the manpower, a wealth of experience, etc etc etc.

Those studios are independent from the other things that those companies work on. Do you seriously think blizzard is using overwatch money to fund WoW or that Squeenix is using their other game sales to fund FF14? If neither one of those properties could stand on it’s own via their sub fee systems, they would just shut them down.

The reason they have good balance patches is because they actually hire people who know what they are doing and actually care about doing their jobs. Not people who fart out some half-baked pet tweaks the night before.

bearshaman.3421:

Victa.1439:

Jim Hunter.6821:

bearshaman.3421:

A little patience isn’t much to ask.

yeah I mean it’s only been 4 years, c’mon guys be a little patient…

^^^^^This

Compared to how long has WoW been running? or FF 11 then 14? Comparatively, yes. 4 years is a short period of time. If you’re gonna compare it to these, at least understand the scale you are comparing it to.

11 had nothing to do with 14 and 14 was so atrocious at launch they had to take it down and rework nearly the whole game. A Realm Reborn came out on August 27, 2013 making it a year younger than GW2.

Anet also has years of experience with mmo design via GW1 so don’t try and act like they get some “greenhorn” free pass.

Apologies. I was unclear. I was referring to Realm Reborn as 14. I am well aware of how bad it was at launch. However, the fact that they could recover from such a colossal failure does prove my point. I don’t think Anet could have survived that, no offense to Anet.

In response to Substance E, yes I do think they used money from previous projects to get newer projects rolling. That’s how corporations work. Money from the success of Warcraft fueled Warcraft 2, which in turn fueled 3 and frozen throne, which all fueled WoW. Along with the success of the starcraft line. Which all fueled their ability to have Blizzcon. And launch Heroes of the Storm.

GW2 was funded initially by money from earned from GW1. That’s just how it works.

I won’t go through the final fantasy series, I don’t have all day.

You are right in that if those products failed after launch to be self-sustaining, they would shut them down (like the original FFXIV). But I never suggested otherwise.

Crapgame.6519:

bearshaman.3421:

Zenith.7301:

B;izzard has always pushed more frequent and comprehensive balanc e patches than Anet in all of its games, it’s nothing new.

And Final Fantasy XIV is the only MMO out there besides Wildstar which has classes with DPS well between 5-10% of each other.

This is the only atrocious current MMO that has some classes doing triple the DPS of others.

I will point out that both Blizzard and Square have bank accounts that are so ridiculously large as to make this comparison completely unfair to Anet.

Point taken, but not applicable. It takes money to make money. Short term micro transactions will not last too long. That and of course the overall state of the current expansion everyone recently bought.

Not only that there is a thing called pride. Sort of like the wagon wheel maker. Sure, the craftsman could make the wheel has cheap has possible, and has fast. However, the craftsman sees that wagon go by daily….and if that was me I’d make kitten sure I made the best kittening wheel this side of the Mississippi for the world to see and be proud.

That is true. The game (unlike WoW and FF: realm reborn) is fueled by microtransactions, and that makes for a less stable budget. Another reason why comparing this to those two games is ridiculous. They have to rely on people choosing to spend money on optional stuff that isn’t necessary to do well (thank god this isnt’ pay-to-win). They aren’t subscription-based, so they aren’t gonna have the resources other companies will have. There is a reason those two are what they are, and it isn’t because the gameplay is so much better (it’s not, but that’s another conversation).

As far as your wagon wheel analogy, I’ll take it a step further. You’re right. He can make a bunch of wheels cheap, or he can make one really good one. But while people are waiting for him to make that really good one, they get impatient and go to another wagon wheel maker for their wheels. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve seen people say they were gonna go play X because there was no new content, or they were bored, or whatever reason they made.

I’m not making an argument for the cheap wheel either. No one will buy your product if it breaks a mile down the road. But you have to find a happy medium, and that’s not easy to do. No matter what you do, someone is gonna be upset. (See all profession forums currently, with the possible exception of guardian surprisingly).

@bearshaman.3421 – yup, I believe we are on the same page.

bearshaman.3421:

Substance E.4852:

bearshaman.3421:

Zenith.7301:

bearshaman.3421:

Zenith.7301:

B;izzard has always pushed more frequent and comprehensive balanc e patches than Anet in all of its games, it’s nothing new.

And Final Fantasy XIV is the only MMO out there besides Wildstar which has classes with DPS well between 5-10% of each other.

This is the only atrocious current MMO that has some classes doing triple the DPS of others.

I will point out that both Blizzard and Square have bank accounts that are so ridiculously large as to make this comparison completely unfair to Anet.

Anet has a Farmville style cash store and they’re making 2 outfits a month, I’m not concerned for their wallets.

That doesn’t even begin to compare to Square having the longest running consistently producing fantasy game franchise ever, or Blizzard having the most successful MMO ever based on a wildly popular series of RTS games, in addition to another wildly popular scifi RTS series, and a now a moba as well. They have the money, the manpower, a wealth of experience, etc etc etc.

Those studios are independent from the other things that those companies work on. Do you seriously think blizzard is using overwatch money to fund WoW or that Squeenix is using their other game sales to fund FF14? If neither one of those properties could stand on it’s own via their sub fee systems, they would just shut them down.

The reason they have good balance patches is because they actually hire people who know what they are doing and actually care about doing their jobs. Not people who fart out some half-baked pet tweaks the night before.

bearshaman.3421:

Victa.1439:

Jim Hunter.6821:

bearshaman.3421:

A little patience isn’t much to ask.

yeah I mean it’s only been 4 years, c’mon guys be a little patient…

^^^^^This

Compared to how long has WoW been running? or FF 11 then 14? Comparatively, yes. 4 years is a short period of time. If you’re gonna compare it to these, at least understand the scale you are comparing it to.

11 had nothing to do with 14 and 14 was so atrocious at launch they had to take it down and rework nearly the whole game. A Realm Reborn came out on August 27, 2013 making it a year younger than GW2.

Anet also has years of experience with mmo design via GW1 so don’t try and act like they get some “greenhorn” free pass.

Apologies. I was unclear. I was referring to Realm Reborn as 14. I am well aware of how bad it was at launch. However, the fact that they could recover from such a colossal failure does prove my point. I don’t think Anet could have survived that, no offense to Anet.

In response to Substance E, yes I do think they used money from previous projects to get newer projects rolling. That’s how corporations work. Money from the success of Warcraft fueled Warcraft 2, which in turn fueled 3 and frozen throne, which all fueled WoW. Along with the success of the starcraft line. Which all fueled their ability to have Blizzcon. And launch Heroes of the Storm.

GW2 was funded initially by money from earned from GW1. That’s just how it works.

I won’t go through the final fantasy series, I don’t have all day.

You are right in that if those products failed after launch to be self-sustaining, they would shut them down (like the original FFXIV). But I never suggested otherwise.

Your entire point is that we can’t compare the balance/maintenance if the games due to their company size.

If you want to make this about the budgets that funded the initial development of each title then go for it but that has nothing to do with balance years down the line.

Hooray bearshaman. Well put! I could not

i cant understand what has to do budgets with balance changes.

The big chunk of the budget (understood as number of employees) is always needed for expanding the content, creating new assets and how Anet call it ‘new technologies’ which it isnt more than a programmer that make a new library to get new functionality.

that needs time and resources.

Having a couple of dudes just playing with skills stats (duration, cd, dmg…) shouldnt need much cash. With this i want to express that there is no excuse for a game badly balanced.

Even if the dude just hardcoded all the numbers there is no reason a couple of dudes couldnt actually balance the game right.

There was a story where an Anet employee learned about a small text bug or something in the game. In order to perform all the actions needed in order to make that change almost 3-4 days passed before it was added into a hotfix. This happens in every company. This is the nature of software design. Since you’re paying salaries, you’re paying people regardless of whether they actually do anything that day. Some fixes aren’t actually that important. Some fixes are very important, but may take a lot of time to fix.

There is always more to do than there is time to do it.

anduriell.6280:

i cant understand what has to do budgets with balance changes.

The big chunk of the budget (understood as number of employees) is always needed for expanding the content, creating new assets and how Anet call it ‘new technologies’ which it isnt more than a programmer that make a new library to get new functionality.

that needs time and resources.

Having a couple of dudes just playing with skills stats (duration, cd, dmg…) shouldnt need much cash. With this i want to express that there is no excuse for a game badly balanced.

Even if the dude just hardcoded all the numbers there is no reason a couple of dudes couldnt actually balance the game right.

Honest question – how long did it take you to complete the new story?

You or anyone else.

Half the ppl upset haven’t tried the changes I think like they see moa and go no one uses moa who cares. They should honestly try it along with the other fixes/updates to skills/pets warhorn actually does pretty sweet damage now on top of the vul application.

Disappointing not a single developer thought about anything the ranger community had shared (even after appearing in some of the threads)…

Time to wait another 6months for minor ranger fixes.

GG everyone.

Lalainnia.3598:

Half the ppl upset haven’t tried the changes I think like they see moa and go no one uses moa who cares. They should honestly try it along with the other fixes/updates to skills/pets warhorn actually does pretty sweet damage now on top of the vul application.

The moa change made them close to the usefulness of cats and drakes?

The WH buff made it better than axe oh for power builds?

For every dull buff rangers get many severe nerfs are made …

Lalainnia.3598:

Half the ppl upset haven’t tried the changes I think like they see moa and go no one uses moa who cares. They should honestly try it along with the other fixes/updates to skills/pets warhorn actually does pretty sweet damage now on top of the vul application.

That always happens. People start crying without actually playing with the changes and trying new strategies with what they have.

And United Chaos, why 6 months? they said the episodes should be every 2-3 months with balance patches accompanying.

Belzebu.3912:

Lalainnia.3598:

Half the ppl upset haven’t tried the changes I think like they see moa and go no one uses moa who cares. They should honestly try it along with the other fixes/updates to skills/pets warhorn actually does pretty sweet damage now on top of the vul application.

The moa change made them close to the usefulness of cats and drakes?

The WH buff made it better than axe oh for power builds?

For every dull buff rangers get many severe nerfs are made …

What exactly severe nerf was made I seriously only read about a few passive traits getting a few seconds added on to their overall cds. Otherwise please show what severe nerf there is.

You should really at least log in and try it out.

Rangers didn’t get any big nerfs imo; it seems that way and stand out like Axe OH because, Rangers have SO FEW options. I will admit pet names sticking was one of my biggest gripes and lets be honest same with many ppl BUT if that’s where the majority of Ranger changes went man that’s absurd – a lot of issues with Ranger is PvP/WvW. I enjoy Ranger in PvE. I like warhorn buff; Axe nerf imo isn’t end of world; and ok Moa’s can compete cool. But… there’s so much more that could have been done like was done to Guardians (and I am so glad as my 2nd main is a Guardian). Rangers rightly feel ignored; and a honestly unnecessary nerf to Axe is a slap in a face; buff to WH just essentially replaces OH; don;t get it but whatever, I am not hating like others just disappointed.

Ardenwolfe.8590:

Guard: Reduced the damage reduction from 50% to 33%.

Wonder what brought that about? Also noticed the death of Cleric amulet in PvP.

Aye. Now there’s no reason outside of small group composition to use this over Protect Me, (which just grants the 33% damage reduction via Protection outright, and comes with a taunt & a stun break.)

I like that they’re addressing the core pets, but I feel like cooldown reduction doesn’t help all that much. Rangers need some burst potency, something HoT pets can provide and core pets cannot.

~ Kovu

Guard being reduced is definitely a good thing… The effect can apply up to 5 people (including yourself). That means 50% damage taken by up to 5 people is redirected to your pet. That means that your pet would die so fast its stupid most times you even thought about touching that skill…

Sure it is a slight nerf in 1vX situations but the game isn’t based on a 1vX model…

Crapgame.6519:

Honest question – how long did it take you to complete the new story?

You or anyone else.

Maybe 3 hours. NPC talked a lot and I took the time to discover the mobs mechanisms by myself on a very squishy thief Oh and there was also the fact that I had to unlock the mastery. I should be able to do it again with my other character in 1 hour.