Preface: I main necromancer and thief.
I think the current problem in GW2 at the moment is the power creep that has injected into the game ever since the specializations patch (more stats, more traits) and HoT (elite specializations). Conditions that might not have been as powerful before, like chill, have become much more powerful because of its ease of application and uptime. The same goes for powerful boons such as protection, stability, and resistance. Arenanet seems to have a super-charging approach to balance; solving one OP solution by providing another OP solution. I’m looking at you, boon corruption.
The issue is, this method of problem solving is that it soon becomes some what of a baseline requirement, for any mode of play. If a certain elementalist can achieve 100% uptime on protection, we simply cannot do without it. I think there are two sides to this argument. If meta revolves around people doing the same exact things because such and such aspect has become a baseline requirement, we are watching players duke it out in pvp relying on almost mechanical skill alone. But on the other hand, I think this really reduces build options and locks out entire classes.
My suggestion is, lets take a step back. Lets take a big step back. Lets bring it back to the days when activating protection just before an eviscerate was a clutch move. What I’m suggesting is a complete rework of conditions, and boons. Maybe even combos.
The basics:
Conditions and boons from a single player cannot stack in intensity, i.e. you can only inflict one stack burning by yourself. Your teammate will be able to inflict a second stack. Conditions will require a rework, such that they have more counterplay associated with them.
For instance:
Bleeding: Moderate damage scaling, also reduces endurance regeneration, low base duration.
Poison: Low damage scaling, reduces healing, high base duration.
Burning: High damage scaling, high base duration, removed upon dodge rolling.
So just comparing these 3 reworked conditions, theres a specific element of counterplay associated with them. Class skills will need to be reworked so that you can’t freely apply conditions at will. .’. there will be a more important timing associated with when you apply conditions.
e.g. do you burn an opponent when he has no endurance left, or do you do it so they might waste a dodge to get rid of the burn? The opponent getting burned might then think, do I dodge now to get rid of the burn, or do I dodge later to both evade a powerful attack and remove the burn.
Some other reworks include:
Weakness: Enemy has a % reduced chance to crit. Scales with toughness.
Vulnerability: Intensity % scales with precision, also prevents going into stealth. ‘Revealed’ is removed.
Reworked boons for example:
Vigor: Increased endurance regeneration, removes bleeding on application. Scales with vitality.
Protection: Intensity % scales with toughness, removes vulnerability on application.
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There’d be a cap for some of these things so that a team of 5 in PvP cannot walk around with 100% reduced damage from protection etc etc.
If this sounds a bit like Guild Wars 1 (no stacked intensity) well, yes, it does. Condition removal will become more specific. Bandage for instance might only remove bleeding. Conditions and boon mechanics will become more specific in general.
So this will require a rework of almost every skill in the game. Certainly conditions and boons cannot be applied on every auto attack. But there is one aspect of the game this rework can be directed to: combos.
If all classes had a higher access to different combo fields and finishers, and this is where most boons and condition are applied from. Combat will involve a lot more counterplay and mind games. Players will see combo fields being laid down as a byproduct of an attack, and will need to think whether the enemy will leap through the field to inflict vulnerability, or blast the field to inflict cripple.
/Discuss?
