Adrenaline: we're not even asking for a buff
That was a long time ago and the logic was sound at the time.
As I understand it for PvE, the nerf for it was because the old Berserker’s Power was so prevalent in a way that the devs didn’t like it where no one was using their Burst skills opting to just keep a 20% dmg modifier up all the time. So they nerfed Adrenaline to drain quickly ooc so that it encouraged Warriors to “use it or lose it”.
Then they completely changed how BP works so that you get a buff when you use your burst (if it actually hits and not get blinded or blocked). That’s fine and all but then the old nerf to OOC adrenaline should be looked at again. People are using their Bursts as soon as it’s up thanks to the change to BP and if possible won’t carry their adrenaline over and just sit on it, they’ll use it immediately. But thanks to the nerf, Warriors hilariously enough are never using their Burst skills because they never have enough Adrenaline to use between PvE encounters because the mobs usually die before you can even spend the Burst and the moment you get out of combat all your adrenaline disappears.
Warriors are so starved for adrenaline that their heal skill isn’t even a heal skill anymore, it’s a 4th utility. I think there was a period during WvW where Signet of Rage was better off never used because the adrenaline it generated in combat was so precious. Thus when you roamed, you had 2 skills that were better off never used for their actives, one being an elite which is acting to rectify a nerf rather than serving as an elite.
Headbutt seems like the most glaring “bandaid buff/patch” I’ve seen. It was like the devs recognized that generating Adrenaline was so terrible that they devoted an entire elite to do pretty much that instead of actually changing the terrible underlying mechanics.
At the moment Adrenaline feels terrible because you either can’t use it at all, you struggle to use, you have to use a utility/heal/trait/elite to use it, or you get punished severely if you use it and miss (Cleansing Ire and Berserker’s Power). What’s stupid is that Warriors get punished for using Adrenaline at all because you lose Adrenal Health. It’s like they hated the old BP so much that they forgot Warriors depend on this trait. And considering what people have to deal with from the new elite specs and how much burst these classes can dish out, I really doubt keeping a pocket Eviscerate before a fight starts is gonna be that game breaking.
Sometimes I wish I had a “Stressed” debuff from molten furnace fractal on all the time just so that I can keep my Adrenaline from disappearing in 1 second. That’s when you know the mechanic is terrible when you wish you were always in combat.
The worst part is really that burst skills are so telegraphed and mediocre. What I mean is that those skills were meant to stand out as moves that turned the tide of an encounter, assuming it’s pvp. Instead, they’re at best similar to existing utilities/skills of other weapons but locked out due to adrenaline.
Warriors have enough problems without having access to the burst skills and reliably landing them. A single blind mid-swing causes all that adrenaline to be worthless. A single block or evade spam does the same.
You can’t base a class on taking hits, building up a resource, and then negating it simply with half a dozen game mechanics. It would be like if Moa took the lifeforce of a necro down to zero after entering shroud.
Adren Gain is our issue,the decay wouldn’t matter at all if our actual gain was higher……
the adrenaline decay - specifically the instant nature of it - is the most anti-fun thing about warrior.
Can’t even open combat with “To The Limit!” or Rage sigil, it drops off so fast.
I forgot that if you down, you lose all your precious Adrenaline. So ressing a warrior is not as impactful. Worse is that downing during Berserk loses the Berserk and Adrenaline.