Guild Wars 2

PvP specific, as I do not know how it affects other formats.
Originally: Mending was a 20s CD skill that removed 2 conditions
Base Heal: 5,574

Pre July 23rd: Mending went to 25s CD that removed 2 conditions
Base Heal: 5,574

Now: Mending is 20s CD that removes 3 conditions. Base heal decreased by 6% Scaling reduced by 20% Base Heal: 5,240

Overall, mending removes one extra condition but now heals less, in addition to the reduced scaling.
The result I think this change is neither a buff or a nerf because it is balanced out. Trading some slight healing ability for for condition removal.
But combined with the use of Cleansing Ire, mending now falls off, and healing surge is the dominant heal.

My suggestion is to revert to healing percentage nerf, at least in competitive PvP. I think the 20s CD is correct but healing for half the percentage of Healing surge potentially but for 66% of the skill CD just so I can remove a few conditions is a little steep.

Healing signet heals for 8000 every 20 secs with no healing power and without having to even press a button. The other heals don’t compare.

Mending is kitten poor.

Who cares about the conditions if you’re healing for so little that you can take that much damage a few seconds later.

Assuming use on cooldown, that would make Mending’s health-per-second as powerful as Stage 2 Healing Surge while also removing 3 conditions. There would be little reason to take Surge unless you wanted Adrenaline control; as its health-per-second would only be ~17% higher than Mending’s (without healing power). Additionally, with the cooldown reduction being 20%, and only a 6% reduction to base healing, the health-per-second was actually buffed post-changes, not nerfed.

I understand not everyone uses their heals on cooldown, but I think Anet balances around what can happen and allows players to make cost/benefit choices. Balancing around what you think players will do allows people to act outside of what’s expected to maximize effectiveness; sometimes to the point of being broken. Balancing for what can happen, for those of you familiar with engines, puts a type of “governor” on gameplay. The best performance is capped at X and players have to choose if they want to perform below X to gain Y or if they want to stick with X at the cost of Y.

Edit: Maybe Mending isn’t perfect right now, but there isn’t a whole lot of room left before it starts to infringe upon Healing Surge’s healing potential. All of this while removing conditions and being free Surge’s risk for a poorer heal at low Adrenaline levels.

Veritas.6071:

Assuming use on cooldown, that would make Mending’s health-per-second as powerful as Stage 2 Healing Surge while also removing 3 conditions. There would be little reason to take Surge unless you wanted Adrenaline control; as its health-per-second would only be ~17% higher than Mending’s (without healing power). Additionally, with the cooldown reduction being 20%, and only a 6% reduction to base healing, the health-per-second was actually buffed post-changes, not nerfed.

I understand not everyone uses their heals on cooldown, but I think Anet balances around what can happen and allows players to make cost/benefit choices. Balancing around what you think players will do allows people to act outside of what’s expected to maximize effectiveness; sometimes to the point of being broken. Balancing for what can happen, for those of you familiar with engines, puts a type of “governor” on gameplay. The best performance is capped at X and players have to choose if they want to perform below X to gain Y or if they want to stick with X at the cost of Y.

Use Surge and then do your F1 with cleansing Ire = 3 condis removed and a ton more health received.

Mending it just out classed by Surge and Signet.

Defektive.7283:

Veritas.6071:

Assuming use on cooldown, that would make Mending’s health-per-second as powerful as Stage 2 Healing Surge while also removing 3 conditions. There would be little reason to take Surge unless you wanted Adrenaline control; as its health-per-second would only be ~17% higher than Mending’s (without healing power). Additionally, with the cooldown reduction being 20%, and only a 6% reduction to base healing, the health-per-second was actually buffed post-changes, not nerfed.

I understand not everyone uses their heals on cooldown, but I think Anet balances around what can happen and allows players to make cost/benefit choices. Balancing around what you think players will do allows people to act outside of what’s expected to maximize effectiveness; sometimes to the point of being broken. Balancing for what can happen, for those of you familiar with engines, puts a type of “governor” on gameplay. The best performance is capped at X and players have to choose if they want to perform below X to gain Y or if they want to stick with X at the cost of Y.

Use Surge and then do your F1 with cleansing Ire = 3 condis removed and a ton more health received.

Mending it just out classed by Surge and Signet.

You have to look at it from a health-per-second point of view, not single healing instance.

Doing what you suggest: 5885/30 = 196
Cleansing with Mending: 5240/20 = 262

Mending is 33% more effective than the method mentioned, and it can be performed free of traits.

Also, see the edit on my original post.

But that’s optimally.

Optimally doesn’t happen in PvP. You’re not using mending on CD, and the conditions can be negated by Cleansing Ire and Berzerkers Stance and Sig of Stamina.

You’re overlapping a use with other skills that function better, when you could be getting a much greater burst heal when you need it.

Can’t spread sheet healing per second in a PvP mentality because it’ll never work that way.

Also some more support that Anet balances for what can happen:

The median base healing value per second for Healing Surge: 9820 + 5885 = 15705/2 = 7852/30 = 261.75 average health per second

The maximum base healing value per second for Mending: 5240/20 = 262 maximum health per second

So the maximum base healing capable by Mending is only .25 hp (.09%) away from the median base healing value of Healing Surge. I doubt that is coincidence. They balanced these heals assuming multiple uses in varying situations.

Defektive.7283:

But that’s optimally.

Optimally doesn’t happen in PvP. You’re not using mending on CD, and the conditions can be negated by Cleansing Ire and Berzerkers Stance and Sig of Stamina.

You’re overlapping a use with other skills that function better, when you could be getting a much greater burst heal when you need it.

Can’t spread sheet healing per second in a PvP mentality because it’ll never work that way.

I addressed that:

I understand not everyone uses their heals on cooldown, but I think Anet balances around what can happen and allows players to make cost/benefit choices. Balancing around what you think players will do allows people to act outside of what’s expected to maximize effectiveness; sometimes to the point of being broken. Balancing for what can happen, for those of you familiar with engines, puts a type of “governor” on gameplay. The best performance is capped at X and players have to choose if they want to perform below X to gain Y or if they want to stick with X at the cost of Y.

As far as the “overlapping” issue, I’d bet you my favorite pair of underwear that’s by design. They want people to be able to access the same results through multiple methods. Unfortunately, sometimes one method is slightly better than another, but in the case of Mending vs CI + HS, Mending runs a medium heal and requires no traits. Meanwhile, CI + HS runs the risk of a reduced heal and requires 20 trait points invested. It may be a “no-brainer” to you, but this isn’t a 100% case of “this works better than that… all the time”.

I also understand the anti-spreadsheet jokey mindset. I don’t pretend that being good at math makes anyone good at games, but what it does do is give someone a baseline; a maximum level of performance within the perfect storm, and it’s up to the players to find a way to force themselves into the eye of that perfect storm in order to unleash the full potential of the build, so when we take a mechanic as simple as a healing skill (push your key of choice) and buff it up assuming less-than-optimal conditions (push your key of choice less often), and a player figures out how to force the conditions he needs, (push your key of choice on cooldown), that tool implemented to create balance in sub-optimal conditions now creates imbalance in optimal conditions… which we established can be easily achieved by pushing your key of choice on cooldown.

I’m not taking sides here. I’m just playing devil’s advocate. I think Mending is much more viable than you or K-pop make it out to be, but, for the record, I don’t use it.

I used mending up until the recent patch, because I was not using cleansing ire much. But now that I can 10k heal, I think that out weighs any mending use. Because once you hit half health with mending you are in trouble but for some reason with surge you can recover.

Interpret Interrupt.3824:

I used mending up until the recent patch, because I was not using cleansing ire much. But now that I can 10k heal, I think that out weighs any mending use. Because once you hit half health with mending you are in trouble but for some reason with surge you can recover.

Ya, I understand that. It really sounds to me like Mending just isn’t the heal for your build. I probably wouldn’t couple it with CI either, but that still leaves lots of builds that can put it to good use. It sounds to me like it is almost edging out Healing Surge for you. I would argue that is exactly where Anet wants it to be. If certain builds will make you scream, “Gosh darn it! Mending, if only you were a little better for my build!” and others, “Healing Surge, You’re so close! But I need my Mending.”, then a skill is balanced, and Anet has succeeded.

Look at Defektive’s comments, he obviously doesn’t like the thing, and you seem to be right on the fence of running it; same skill, two players/builds, two very different opinions. I promise you, there are warriors out there that are running it and love it, and the math shows some pretty involved thought and deliberate choices went into making Mending what it is now. Maybe Anet will agree with you? I don’t know. I love the warrior and want to see it succeed. I’m only here to do my best to provide moderate opinions supported with objective evidence.

A big reason I take surge is to start fights with full adrenaline. I also like having the choice between adrenaline and healing mid-fight.

Doesn’t synergize the best with ire though; when you’ve got poison on you and need to heal, it’s kind of a no-win.

Mending really needs to just remove all conditions, similar to Necromancers Consume Conditions. Or at least 5 as a compromise. It obviously cannot be exactly the same as Consume Conditions, which increases healing for every extra condition. It would be nice for it to remove conditions and give 1 or 2 seconds of Retaliation for each condition removed. Anything would be better than what it is now. It just doesn’t heal for enough for the utility that offers.

As I said before, mending’s CD should be reduced to 15 seconds and be instant cast.

Daecollo.9578:

As I said before, mending’s CD should be reduced to 15 seconds and be instant cast.

Heals can’t be instant cast. Because then there would be no way to interrupt it. Which is a key part of any strong fight.

Defektive.7283:

Daecollo.9578:

As I said before, mending’s CD should be reduced to 15 seconds and be instant cast.

Heals can’t be instant cast. Because then there would be no way to interrupt it. Which is a key part of any strong fight.

Well, how about 15 seconds and a 1/2 second cast? We already suffer a lot from being interrupted during burst.

Daecollo.9578:

Defektive.7283:

Daecollo.9578:

As I said before, mending’s CD should be reduced to 15 seconds and be instant cast.

Heals can’t be instant cast. Because then there would be no way to interrupt it. Which is a key part of any strong fight.

Well, how about 15 seconds and a 1/2 second cast? We already suffer a lot from being interrupted during burst.

Interesting point along those lines are the heals that block or heals that evade, and interrupting those can be a challenge. I would like to see heal signet become instant cast though.

Interpret Interrupt.3824:

Daecollo.9578:

Defektive.7283:

Daecollo.9578:

As I said before, mending’s CD should be reduced to 15 seconds and be instant cast.

Heals can’t be instant cast. Because then there would be no way to interrupt it. Which is a key part of any strong fight.

Well, how about 15 seconds and a 1/2 second cast? We already suffer a lot from being interrupted during burst.

Interesting point along those lines are the heals that block or heals that evade, and interrupting those can be a challenge. I would like to see heal signet become instant cast though.

Healing Signet should mostly be for its Passive, I wanted it’s CD to be raised to 40 seconds and be an all our big small heal. (Not as kittenurges, but have a longer CD.)

Mending should be the lower CD heal, it could be our version of withdraw. (low CD insta cast heal.)