Nope, still outraged at the Primal burst nerfs. But what can you do? It’s too close to PoF launch to change anything. Either there’s some sort of fix or there’s not – probably not. Either way, you’ll never know until you read the patch notes because ANet now provides such dismal communication to the player base.
Spellbreaker has some promise. Full Counter is awesome. And we get access to stuff we almost never did before: boon stripping, anti-stealth, Protection, etc. Nonetheless, it’s not my style. So, I’m not very excited about it.
As for Berserker, it has plenty of damage. It needs its sustain back. To their credit, ANet tried to make the “must have” trait lines less mandatory – for other classes, as well – which opens up some build flexibility. Unfortunately, they did it so hard to Berserker on the Defense line (AH & CI)- without viable alternatives – that it just crushed us for WvW/PvP (Raids/PvE are more than fine). I think some degree of undo is appropriate (some have suggested that the 1st burst in Berserk could still count as 3 bars (after all, you need 30 adrenaline to get there)). But in keeping with the theme of trying to make Defense less of a mandatory pick, ANet at least tried to offer some sustain in another line (Might Makes Right in Strength). However, it doesn’t fit well with the condi theme of Berserker and is well short of what Defense used to provide. Maybe adding some sort of sustain option to Arms would help. But, really, I just want my tier 3 bursts back.
Yup, I confirmed it, too – and filed a bug report.
My issue with the axe is the cast time on the symbol, I don’t think they need to change any skills.
Yeah, it’s especially ironic that they added a tiny daze to the traited version of the symbol, but it’s totally wasted because the wind up is so slow. “Wait for it … I’ll interrupt you in just a sec … ahhhhhhh — NOW!”
No doubt CDs on F skills need to be lower. Also, I think it’d be totally appropriate to have a blink/teleport somewhere in the 15 tome skills, but I think having 1 in each tome is probably too much. But we need SOME mobility boost.
dolyak actualy work on others tho when you share it it gives the boons just not on the ranger which is so weird
Working as intended. Buffs are for party members only.
It really needs to get fixed. It’s a great utility as printed.
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Yup, I had the exact same thought. I think it would have been the perfect timing for the reasons you mentioned.
But you realize, they changed Berserkers Power to accommodate Spellbreaker, but then made it impossible for Spellbreaker and Berserker to maintain 3 stacks of Berserkrs Power. Cooldowns on burst skills make it impossible when the duration of berserkers power is only 10 seconds.
It remains to be seen, but I don’t think Spellbreaker will have much difficulty maintaining 3 stacks of BP due to the minor trait Attacker’s Insight. Especially so if Counters end up counting as a burst as far as BP, AH, and CI go.
Yes, Spellbreaker will have a much better time of it. Both the F1 burst and the F2 Counters count as bursts. You can see it on BogOtter’s video. It’s only Berserker spec that is left in the dust.
Who intended to buy expansion to keep playing berserker?
Me!
… until this disaster patch.
WvW = Toast (roaming), but you can always run around in zergs and whatnot.
For PvE, the condi build with the improvement to Arms trait line and buffs to torch skills should be fine. Ofc, condi duration food got nerfed, but that’s across the board for all classes and probably deserved. On the power side, the 30% nerf to the Berserk Power trait is gonna hurt.
Toast.
Yes, it’s worse. The biggest hit is that it’s way harder to get and keep AH stacks and CI only clears 1 condi instead of 3 in Zerk mode.
This is insane. Probably the most shameless “buy the expansion or perish” they could have pulled.
Yup, this totally trashes the Berserker spec. I didn’t think ANet could screw the pooch this bad, but they like to surprise me.
From watching a little game play video, it’s definitely power based with lots of boon stripping. The new spec looks well suited for pvp/WvW, but not so much for raids. Some of the self-stripping of boons didn’t look very raid-friendly, but I’m guessing you might be able to avoid it with different build choices. Too early to tell for sure.
Condi build similar to yours is my fav for WvW. While some parts of a build are up to taste, I’d still suggest the following tweaks:
Smash Brawler over Last Blaze, Berserker Stance over Sundering Leap, and Sigil of Hydromancy on your shield (helps overwhelm on the CC part and you’re over the cap on condi duration for fire/bleed anyway).
Oh, and don’t do Perplexity Runes
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Like most of you, I am disappointed at the way – not the fact of – the nerfs were applied to our class. However, as mainly a WvW player, I realize I wasn’t hit with the full force of the ANet nerf bat. Between the horrible sigil changes and the extra nerfs to PvP Warrior, is a condi Warrior even competitive in PvP post-patch? I know some other classes got hit and the sigils’ impotence affects everyone. So, maybe they can still get by. I’d like to hear from the experienced PvPers. Or is the off season too random to get an assessment?
Oh dear. Check the date of the patch notes. April 1st .. get it?
They are just posted for a laugh.
Kinda shocked that, as a Warrior, none of the “on swap” sigils look tempting. The might and vulnerability ones are strictly inferior to the “on hit” versions. Doom getting nerfed from 8 s to 5 s is harsh. And 18 s CDs on the better effects don’t appeal to a frequent swap play style.
Oh well, happy to see Absorption get put back in the mix, at least.
Thanks, Evan, for listening to feedback. Here are my thoughts:
- Strength >> Battle; seems like going back to a 3s ICD for Strength would be closer to balance
- Removing all access to Chill via sigil seems like an over-reaction. Chill is useful both as an offensive and defensive option and almost equally usable for condi vs power builds
- Agree with some other posters … +25% on damaging condis may be too much, but +25% (or more) on say Vul is fine
- Sad to see on crit sigils go (and I’m a condi player w/ just base precision!); they are great for flavor/theme (a crit doing something extra just kinda makes sense); and provides a good risk/reward for those wanting to go more aggressive at the expense of defense
- An on swap, next X (3?) attacks are unblockable sigil makes a lot of sense
- No need to remove the healing sigils; they weren’t OP or anything; and giving players a defensive option is totally fair
The buffs are appreciated, but I won’t be touching it because it’s too slow and has a lot of counters as Cygnus mentions. But I’m happy Liewec and others will have more fun with it.
I think the balance changes will be tiny with very little change in the meta or build diversity in general. I do think the rumors about having certain gotta-have-it raid class/abilities extend to 10 ppl instead of 5 may be true to allow a more diverse raid composition. I wish they would be a bit more bold in buffing the skills that no one plays. Shaving 5 sec off the CD of a useless skill doesn’t suddenly make it desirable.
BTW, your suggestion to reduce the range of Skull Grinder is way too harsh. If needed, take away a condi or increase the CD, but don’t nerf the range like that. There’s a reason no one played mace MH in WvW/PvP pre-HOT – and the 130 range of the F1 skill was a big part of it.
1st Q isn’t so easy. You’re mainly right. But it depends on the other OH weapon. If torch, it can do a fair bit of damage w/ the roaming fire field and all. But the other popular choice – shield – does jack for damage. Keep in mind, too, that some run a more hybrid damage build; so even the direct damage hits contribute decently as well.
I’m not sure you can do much to prevent a warrior from building up adrenaline. If you can totally disengage from combat our adrenaline quickly goes away, but we heal up too. We get it from passive sources like getting hit and weapon swapping and such. Also know that when we switch into Zerk mode, we already have a full bar for a mace primal on your head.
Unfortunately for you, I find Reapers to be one of our best match-ups.
I agree Warriors have the short end of the stick on down skills. I think the rally chance should be 100% baseline. But if not that, your suggestion of going back into the down state is pretty decent.
In theme, I agree with you. However, Rampage has always been a gimmick (and at one point a very strong one), but hardly suited as the HoT compatible go-to rage skill. Headbutt is now too fundamental and designed to work with other skills. Rampage doesn’t compliment any skills; it replaces them. In practice, I would hate it if your suggestion were implemented.
just pointing out:
- guardian got buffs everywhere.
- warrior got buffs to promote more braindead class mechanics.
- thief got buffs for the same reason.
- mesmer got buffs.
- revenant got buffs.
- ele being the top Dps got nerfs. Not really that big nerf only around 10% dps loss. Still top DPS like will always be. Buffs in healing and sustain.
- Ranger got nerfs. nerfs again and again.
It would help your case to be more accurate.
Warriors did not get buffs; Thieves got some nerfs mixed in with the buffs; DHs got some needed buffs (but they were on the bottom) and Rangers got more buffs than the few nerfs.
Could they have gone farther w/ Ranger? Sure. The Sharpening Stone buff is a big boost to where it was. Yes, I know, it was under-powered to begin with. QZ got a buff. The non-HoT pets got buffs. Yes, they still have trouble hitting moving targets, but it’s a step in the right direction.
You make it sound like doom and gloom. And it wasn’t.
So you want ANet to spend precious developer time to help the people that refuse to spend a little $$?! Do you see a flaw in that logic?
Hint: they’re a for profit company.
Hmm … banners could use a rework, for sure. I don’t have any great suggestions.
And shouts … extra support doesn’t need to be in the form of healing. How about just making the effects better? Come on. “Fear Me” – how about a single-target Taunt + an AoE remove Fear? “On My Mark” – IDK, ANYTHING else! Even before HoT, I thought “Shake It Off” was a little bit under powered. Now, for sure. Add just a bit: AoE 1 condi clear + a self-only remove blind.
I’m mostly a roamer and I wouldn’t mind if the camps were bumped up in difficulty a bit. But no where near what the OP was proposing. HoT made our characters more powerful, but the NPCs in WvW didn’t get scaled up to match. So, they’re due for a buff – something like 20% more damage and 20% more health and Supervisor gets some boons (?).
personally, i think they should replace bleeding, confusion with weakness 8s, 5 vulnerability 8s and it should be fine.
Spoken like a power Warrior.
I think it’s better for build diversity to keep some damaging condis on. Condi/Hybrid builds like CC, too, ya know!
Thanks for posting, Josh! It’s good to hear dev communication – and get bug fixes, of course!
I would suggest Shattering Blow over Outrage any day, unless you’re running RR (which you’re not).
Also, I switched from LB | S+T to M+Sh | S + T and I’m having much more fun. But since you’re used to running LB from before and you’re enjoying Furajir’s build, I won’t go into it.
To each his own. I like the mace just like it is. It’s a great control weapon within a condi/hybrid context, too.
Yup, you got good advice on going BM w/ WHa1 and SotP.
If you keep MM as your 3rd traitline, take Moment of Clarity and Remorseless. Keep in mind that Fury from SotP is pulsing; so it will proc Remorseless a bunch.
I would switch out the Jungle Stalker. Having 2 pets very squishy and a 3 sec F2 cast time is a killer.
I agree that Tactics is under-powered and Arms is way too limited, but Discipline is a great trait line. If you leave it out of your build, it’s because there are 3 other trees better than this wonderful tree for your play style. That’s a GOOD thing!
There was a time when Discipline was the hands-down best trait line we had – and it didn’t get nerfed. Some of the others caught up. Be thankful.
Umm … if you’re talking this Build Editor:
http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/
ANet doesn’t control it / edit it.
- guardian got nerfed perfectly; they needed a slight offensive toning down and cc toning down and they got it- they also got considerable CD decreases to Virtues to compensate.
You made some decent points, but you totally missed on this one. I would not call the 20% cut to True Shot “slight.” And the CD reductions on Virtues were to base guardian only. These had no effect on Dragon Hunter.
I liked where they nerfed DH, but they deserved compensation elsewhere and didn’t get it (Mobility buff? Sword, scepter rework? Honor line improvements? Base Health buff?). And no, shout CD reductions don’t count.
Terrible change. Who thought those amulets were OP? Oh wait, no one!
Replaced with 4 amulets … where? Hope you’re not counting the ones from the 26 Jan patch, because they were added when you took out 6 amulets. So much for build diversity.
Ahh, the Crusader Amulet. Good question! Yep, the team is aware of concerns about that amulet and they’ll be addressing those in the very near future.
Concerns? As in … Please don’t take it away! Thanks, Gaile.
I think having the Elite specs be at least a little better than core on average was a marketing necessity. I wish the gap wasn’t so huge, tho. There’s at least some room to narrow it without people getting too upset. A little more toning down the elite specs across the board is probably needed. But also, a simple step is to make the new class weapon accessible to core. It’d be a rare sight to see a core Ranger running around with a Staff, but I’m thinking core Guardians w/ a long bow or core Engis with a hammer would definitely be a thing.
With all your changes since your OP, posting your new modified build would probably help. If you’re still looking for advice, give glyphs a 2nd look. As was pointed out above, you had 3 redundant means of perma-swiftness. Assuming you dropped the SotH and don’t really need Natural Stride, you have room to make some sweet Glyphs. You could then equip at least 1 glyph in the emptied Signet spot (and I’d recommend another in the Search&Rescue slot) and trait Verdant Etchings. This will both shore up your defense (you don’t have a stun breaker or condi removal) and your offense with utilities on rather short CDs. Now, G of Alignment does AoE 3 stacks of poison, criple, weakness, blind on a 16 s CD and heals you for 500 + 1/2 your healing power and cures 2 condis. How can you turn that down? And G of Equality does AoE Daze, blind, heal, 2 condi clears on a 24 s CD and combos with your Ancient Seeds trait for immob and bleed.
I wasn’t crazy about the super heal focus of the Druid when it came out, but now I’ve converted my old condi Ranger survival build to a condi Druid and have been having fun with it.
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Tactics minors are probably the worst in the game. Here’s some suggestions: Only 1 minor focused on reviving with a 10% revive boost (like all the other classes have). Pull out one of the generic major traits to sit in the freed up minor slot: either Empower or Empower Allies. And add a Banner major trait option: -20% CD on all banners + something (maybe add Inspiring Battle Standard effect(AoE regen)? ). And any replacement in the Disc Major slot is already competing with DotE and BR, so it won’t be too popular, anyway.
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I may have my gripes with the class balance, but trying to accuse ANet of pay-to-win is ridiculous. To have an expansion that didn’t increase the level cap and didn’t make all your gear obsolete is awesome! ANet deserves some serious praise for that. And look at the Gem store … all QoL or fun stuff. Almost nothing that gives an advantage in power. Give it a rest and stop whining.
I can only talk for WvW but basically having a profession that can do AoE attacks from 1200 range that do as much if not more damage than a thief’s backstab is insane. Being able to do such high damage should come with risk, being able to do it from range lowers the risk immensely. Another issue is cooldown, which is still ridiculously low.
Basically this skill is all benefit. You don’t have to manage energy (low cost), don’t have to time it properly (low cooldown), don’t have to get in melee range and it does huge damage.
Gaile,
This is your answer to what’s still wrong with CoR.
Sounds like a Druid would be right up your ally
Positives:
1) Gliding in core Tyria
2) Dolyaks matter again in WvW
3) Amulet changes in PvP
4) Rez & Stomp unaffected by quickness/slow
5) Reducing the bunker meta in PvP
Negatives:
1) All base classes worse than elites; better if they were at least somewhat competitive
2) Not enough trait rework
Balance Specifics:
Rev: needed a nerf! But why not buff the under-used Jalis and Ventari at the same time?
Scrapper: sneak gyro nerf justified
Reaper: WAY overboard on boon corruption!!
Mesmer: Alacrity tone down justified
Ranger: Nice shout rework
Dragon Hunter: Good to tone down traps; Wish there were sword/scepter improvements
Daredevil: overcooked AA buffs
Warrior: trait changes on core warrior was biggest need; received none. Some buffs in right direction: headbutt range, adren decay, bump to healing, Shattering Blow buff. But mostly missed on core issues. Please read Warrior forum!
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The only reason they removed condi conversion from warhorn a while ago was that condi conversion “isn’t a Warrior thing.” So, I doubt ANet will be giving Warrior any form of condi conversion any time soon.
Well, the Devs have said on several occasions that they want Warriors to be able to take some hits. But they’re clearly short of that goal in this juiced up meta.
Physical Skills were always rather weak with the Warrior. Unfortunately, when ANet realized it went overboard w/ Rampage, the first thing they did was hit Peak Performance, nerfing it from a +100% damage to what it is now. Rampage got toned down later, too. But PP will continue to pay for the sins of the past.
About the Warrior’s Sprint baseline, that I don’t agree on and never will. No class has baseline 25% movement speed, and other classes arguably need that just as much as we do if they go double melee. If you don’t go double melee, then there is no solid argument at all.
Combine that with the fact that warrior has amazing access to swiftness and can easily get it permanently at a very reasonable cost (for instance, Rune of the Pack and sigil of Rage), baseline Warrior Sprint seems unneeded.
I totally agree that no class should have +25% movement baselined. That’s crazy greedy.
We, like most classes these days, have a trait for +25% movement (Warrior’s Sprint, ofc). But I wouldn’t by any stretch say we have “amazing access to swiftness.” If we assume an untraited SoR and Pack Runes, that’s barely over 50% coverage out of combat (32.5 sec on 60 sec CD). And a traited SoR is not likely due to Runes of the Pack (power oriented) don’t go well with the Arms Traitline (Condi oriented, but has Sig Mastery). We’re actually quite behind compared to some other classes:
Ranger: a good heal (WeHealAsOne) + a single trait choice in the already popular Beast Mastery line gives real perma Swiftness + perma regen + -20% CD on shouts.
Engi: Streamlined Kits Trait choice + ANY kit = perma Swiftness.
Both are more flexible and effective than Warrior’s option.
I tend to agree with Thug. There are some small synergies, but the opportunity cost (esp. for RR and Distracting Strikes) is huge.
And CntrlAltDefeat is right about needing more Trait line synergies (great example from Reaper).
I really think it’s the core Warrior that needs the most rework rather than the Berserk Trait line (which on it’s own is pretty nice). And the Rage skills need to be redone/improved. Headbutt is the only one that seems at least creative and fresh.
I dunno. Savage Instinct has a nice synergy with Headbutt=>enter Berserk.