Guild Wars 2

So… we learned today on livestream that Mending is becoming a physical skill and Healing Surge a shout…. Where is the synergy there??

Did I hear wrong? did they swap them. Healing surge is all about adrenaline how is that NOT a Physical change??? And I think Mending would be a better shout, it has the same CD and heal. Healing surge is all about different adrenaline stages which is what all physical skills are becoming. Makes more sense to me as mending a shout and Healing surge a Physical skill.

Also with the shout trait suddenly Healing surge is giving you… 38 Adrenaline. so you get more then you can even have…

Am I way off base here or get something wrong. Whats with this???

Good point. Hopefully the devs will take a look at that.

Oh and I realize that shouting Mending doesnt sound as cool as healing surge but.. the only tthing that matches is the name.. barely as justification for healing surge to be a shout

Turning Mending into a shout would make shoutbow nigh-immune to conditions. I think ArenaNet might rework the skill so that the number of conditions it removes scales with adrenaline level.

Nope.

ANET made a good decision, a change about mending that was demanded way back in the past to be a physical skill.

A shout based build is already strong, while any build based on physical skills is trash at best, physical skills builds needed this so badly.

To be fair, healing surge already maxes out your adrenaline. So yes, the bonus adrenaline from the shouts goes away, but it was already giving you maximum anyways. I think the main benefits are the cooldown reduction.

Mending has a similar issue being a physical skill. Physical training gives you a damage bonus, but that does nothing for mending. The only point is to receive the cooldown reduction.

Also keep in mind that shouts function with things like runes of the trooper (and I think some other runes), whereas physical skills don’t have that sort of extra benefit to them.

Mending also has a small dilemma with being a physical skill. One of the things that made mending even remotely powerful in the current environment is that taking restorative strength with it would enable it to be an almost full condition cleanser. However, now people will have to choose between restorative strength and physical training, meaning they can’t really have it all with mending. On the other hand, healing surge, as a shout, would be able to benefit from restorative strength as well as the cooldown reduction, in addition to further condition cleansing from runes of the trooper if they were using those.

However, you do make a good point about how healing surge does synergize better with physical training in that it gives you the adrenaline to benefit your physical skills in the first place. Although, perhaps they think that could be a little too powerful? I’m not sure. But it seems like they’re doing quite a bit of an overhaul, neither mending nor healing surge is really a “shout”, per se.

Healing Surge as Physical could add another interesting mechanic;
They mentioned Physical Skills will also be affected by endurance levels, it could be interesting to add a ‘remove 1 condition per 50% endurance’
Also the Physical Skills trait could also affect Healing surge in its healing efficiency when traited, as the trait affects physical skills based on adrenaline, but that would probably mean a little nerf to the healing values to compensate as the skill itself already works with adrenaline.

Mending as shout, well, would have huge synergy with shout trait and trooper runes, probably a little too much. Heal + Heal from Shout trait + 3 condi removal + 1 more condi removal with trooper rune, and potentially more with the remove conditions on heal trait. Maybe lower the 3 condis down to 2, and slightly (just slightly) nerf the base healing to compensate for the possible trait.

Thematically, I agree both seem like they should switch place, but of course, a lot of balance is needed.

Actually with mending becoming physical, they could merge the condition removal and the endurance mechanics;
100% Endurance >> Remove 3 conditions
<100% Endurance >> Remove 2 Conditions
<50% Endurance >> Remove 1 condition

I can hear it now it they make mending a shout

“I’m putting a bandaid oooooooonnnnnnnnnn”

ProtoMarcus.7649:

Actually with mending becoming physical, they could merge the condition removal and the endurance mechanics;
100% Endurance >> Remove 3 conditions
<100% Endurance >> Remove 2 Conditions
<50% Endurance >> Remove 1 condition

I’d prefer they add to the skill rather than nerfing it. But I agree, they could simply make Restorative Strength a kind of addition to Physical Training + Mending so that the effects of restorative strength is added piece-wise depending on Adrenaline:

@ 0 adrenaline >> Removes 3 conditions
@ stage 1 >> Removes Cripple and Chill + 3 conditions
@ stage 2 >> Removes Cripple, Chill, Immobilize and Weakness + 3 conditions
@ stage 3 >> Same as stage 2 but provides a stack of regen for each damaging condition removed.

But that might be a kind of nerf to non-mending builds…so maybe just keep Restorative Strength and if you happen to be a build that uses Mending + the Strength line, you have the option to pick Restorative Strength and remove extra dibilitations that way or slot Physical Training and have additional affects rely on adrenaline. In which case, you can make different adrenaline effects like:

@ 0 >> Removes 3 conditions
@ stage 1 >> Also heals you (150 HP) for each condition that is removed
@ stage 2 >> Also applies a stack of regen (2sec) for each condition removed
@ stage 3 >> Also grants a stacking Max HP boost (5% for 10sec) for each condition removed

As for the debate about the logic of Mending as a Physical Skill and Healing Surge a shout: You can raise your adrenaline by shouting or hearing people make loud noises. It makes sense. With Mending, and from the icon of the skill, I imagined Mending as a kind of “whip out a med-kit and put on a band-aid or a sling/brace/some ointment” skill as it kind of makes sense. You’re only giving yourself a short time to bandage yourself up so you can only take care of 3 ailments at a time. That seems pretty physical. I think that’s why people always considered it a physical type utility heal.

As for the synergy of the traits, just change the traits. The proposed changes to skill types and traits isn’t final. If the whole “gain adrenaline with a shout” doesn’t blend well with the skill, you can also suggest a change to the skill or the trait or an addition to said skills/traits when adrenaline is full along with suggesting a different skill category. Why not suggest Mending be a Banner? Think about it! Your Warrior pulls out a sewing kit and Mends some banners together :P