Guild Wars 2

TheLastNobody.8319:

How about chill just makes your character sneeze, would that make everyone happy?

Sounds like more AOE condi’s to me…And a cold is so OP it takes weeks to clear that condi…

vlad.4871:

Salamander.2504:

On Nov. 4, a small post-HoT balance patch came out: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/info/updates/Game-Update-Notes-November-4-2015/first#post5730086

One of the things this patch did was to buff the Reaper GM trait, Deathly Chill, despite the fact that no one believed it needed to be changed:

Reaper—Deathly Chill: Removed the 50% health threshold on this skill so that it now does the same damage at all times. Adjusted the damage ratio. Decreased the base damage from 40 to 10. Increased the level multiplier by 25%. Increased the condition damage multiplier by 87%.

This trait has been overtuned since Nov. 4, allowing Reapers to do consistent and prolonged condi damage (typically ticking between 600-1000) with zero ramp-up time, positioning constraints, or health threshold constraints. It is the archetype of a poorly designed trait that is contributing to the current power “creep” (really more of a landslide).

ANet: Want to take a very easy step in the right direction with balance? Revert the Nov. 4 Deathly Chill buff.

Source: Viper reaper main who uses and abuses Deathly Chill

Source: Viper reaper main who uses and abuses Deathly Chill and die in 5 seconds on a teamfight?

Won most of my teamfights, with a 60% win-rate this past ranked season. If you die in 5 seconds as a viper reaper that’s an l2p issue. In any case, I don’t see how my team-fight abilities are relevant to the discussion on how Deathly Chill is overtuned.

On Nov. 4, a small post-HoT balance patch came out: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/info/updates/Game-Update-Notes-November-4-2015/first#post5730086

One of the things this patch did was to buff the Reaper GM trait, Deathly Chill, despite the fact that no one believed it needed to be changed:

Reaper—Deathly Chill: Removed the 50% health threshold on this skill so that it now does the same damage at all times. Adjusted the damage ratio. Decreased the base damage from 40 to 10. Increased the level multiplier by 25%. Increased the condition damage multiplier by 87%.

This trait has been overtuned since Nov. 4, allowing Reapers to do consistent and prolonged condi damage (typically ticking between 600-1000) with zero ramp-up time, positioning constraints, or health threshold constraints. It is the archetype of a poorly designed trait that is contributing to the current power “creep” (really more of a landslide).

ANet: Want to take a very easy step in the right direction with balance? Revert the Nov. 4 Deathly Chill buff.

Source: Viper reaper main who uses and abuses Deathly Chill

Dead.5829:

Wanderer used to feel atrocious almost purely because of Diamond Skin. It also doesn’t help retal procs very much. BUT if you’re not using Spite (or not using Spiteful Spirit, specifically), and you’re playing after the patch (so you’re not a time magician), Wanderer is in a better spot.

Shrug retal has a damage coefficient of 0.075, meaning that carrion adds 67 damage to each proc (a 33% increase in retal damage). So Wanderers is 200 retal dmg vs 267 with carrion. I guess the extra dmg with power is just icing on the cake but I wouldn’t let it influence my ammy decision.

Pre-patch wanderers was definitely not too squishy (even zerker or viper with rise was perfectly viable because so many people were running low dps bunkers/bruisers) but now that all the bunkers are gonezo, who knows? We’ll have to wait and see what the meta shakes out to be.

From a purely PvP standpoint, I still prefer base ranger to druid. I think it’s the only base spec that I actually still like more than the elite spec.

Damage done per match is largely irrelevant to your performance because it is effected immensely by:
(1) the duration of the match;
(2) the amount of AOE damage you do that doesn’t contribute to a kill since burst dps is more important than sustain pressure for getting kills. For an end-member example, I once did 500k damage in a match playing a cleric bunker guard, most of which is from just spamming staff 1 waiting for cooldowns etc.; and
(3) the amount of AI (clones, etc, minions) subject to AOE.

Source: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/Damage-totals-in-pvp/first#post5878515

Evan Lesh.3295:

Soul.9280:

Evan, the last night of League play, I saw lots of people swapping classes during the 90 seconds wait period before the match started, and I was playing in the Legendary division against many of the top players. And I did see a surprising number of people who queued as thief or warrior and then switched to something meta.

I fully expect higher-skilled players to swap more, but that is a much smaller portion of the player-base.

An important question i: Would all high-skilled players be OK with profession locking if we could ensure no stacking?

Yes, I’d think so. If you lock professions, it would be great to reinstate profession-specific MMR though so we aren’t overly “punished” for trying new classes etc.

I don’t have strong opinions on all of the your ideas, but here are the ones I have comments on:

Minors:
Armored shroud: I think it should be a simple 5-10% damage reduction just like in ranger’s Wilderness survival line instead of adding toughness

Shroud already gives 50% damage reduction. The toughness is mainly there for % conversion modifiers, I think.

Shrouded removal: Change to decrease duration of damaging conditions by 33% maybe even move it to Grandmaster tier and double the reduction while in shroud (Note: Relentless pursuit does the same thing with movement-conditions so it wont stack with each other)

This trait is the best thing DM has going for it. I wouldn’t touch it.

Master:
Necromantic corruption: Instead of sending conditions through you minions into your foes increase the damage for every minion in control. Maybe again by 2-3%.

Have you ever used this trait? It’s amazing. I think your suggestion is quite a bit worse.

Deadly strength: I like it to be fair. Imo i would change it to “give 150 more power to nearby allies, 250 while in shroud” so we can finally bring something useful to raid/fractal/dungeon table

Cool.

Corrupter’s fervor: Move to adept and switch with Shrouded removal as i mentioned before. Change to grant Increased damage by 1-2% for each condition on enemy

Have you ever actually used this trait? It’s amazing, and directly comparable (and frankly better) to the Scrapper GM trait that contributes to Scrappers OP status. Changing this would be the last nail in the DM coffin.

DM is already perfectly viable in certain build setups. As a personal anecdote, this past PvP season I had a 60% ranked win-rate with ~250 games using Death Magic (I’d offer a screenshot but the leaderboard was disabled). DM offers a different playstyle—no you cannot fit it in your signet boon corrupt build. But the only thing that really needs to be changed is the useless minor soul comprehension.

I don’t have enough (any :P) experience playing a warrior to give more specific advice, just general stuff:

The two most important things to not get hit by are RS4 and 5. RS4 can drain half of your health if you let all the hits connect, and RS5 can deal a lot of chill damage + the CC. Luckily they are both really well telegraphed.

It’s hard to kite a reaper while in shroud because of the 5s CD gap closer on RS2, but its your only real chance to kite them since you can’t kite the scepter or staff, so try and make the most of it. A reaper going into RS can either be an opportunity to catch your breath if you have a very evasive build (ranger, thief, mesmer with blink or staff, etc.) or it can be a death sentence if you aren’t (guardian, etc.).

The staff and scepter animations are much harder to tell apart so its not really realistic to be able to dodge them in the heat of battle, you can only hope for the best and bring ample amounts of condi clear. If I see a team with 3 or more reapers I’ll switch to rune of the svanir before the match, which is most optimal if you are also a reaper, but still worth using in any case unless you’re using a very “build-centric” rune like soldier or guardian, etc.

Reaper has only two ways of getting stability, but it’s very long duration, so watch their bar before you CC; you really can’t afford to waste it.

I try to avoid popping stability while fighting a reaper since they’ll just corrupt it into fear (and chill!). The only boons I really feel comfortable having up are fury (corrupts to blindness, easy to take care of), might (if I’m a condi build because it corrupts to weakness, who cares), and protection (corrupts to vuln, not a big deal). If you are traited to deal with movement impairing conditions, having your swiftness or resistance corrupted is also an acceptable loss.

If I follow my own advice and I’m playing a reaper, I usually kill other reapers 1v1 (somewhere >50- 70% chance, who knows). If I’m playing a different spec (I frequently play base condi ranger, for example), I feel lucky if the fight ends and we’re both downed. Chances of killing a reaper 1v1 vary widely just because their performance is tied to how much LF they have going into the fight.

Unfortunately Reaper is OP right now because Deathly Chill damage has been overtuned since the Nov. 4 patch which removed the “executioner-style” 50% health barrier, and the Jan . 26 patch introduced an overkill of boon corrupts.

Source: Reaper main.

Right on.

Serious Thought.5394:

I usually try to share my builds, but people tell me they should never work. And then they do.

For Bunker, if you own Hot stick on Chronomancer and drop Mercenary Amulet. Grab stun traits and utilities, then just yolo. You won’t “crush fights” but anyone dumb enough to fight you will experience the purest manifestation of cancer. As for Ele, use Mender’s. Not the same broken level as pre-patch, but fairly decent. Guardian Support is a thing if you get a Reaper with Blighter’s Boon and you run shout. Otherwise, meh. This game has a lot of damage right now as people figure out how to bunker again. My advice is wait for metabattle to declare what is weak and what is strong (something everyone is forgetting and is whining about, forgetting that if they are lost metabattle will show the way) then to build to counter it.

Why a shout guard with a blighters boon reaper? Ever since the nerf they don’t have the same synergy.

I guess I should clarify: when I say “condi meta” I don’t mean the new meta which will result after the 1/26 patch, just the post HoT meta. Also, I don’t even mean “meta” as the formally defined “tournament meta”, just what’s really commonly and effectively used by good players.

Laraley.7695:

Salamander.2504:

Laraley.7695:

Salamander.2504:

Laraley.7695:

Salamander.2504:

reikken.4961:

“the rest of us” don’t lack other defensive mechanics while having the lowest base defenses in the game while lacking reliable ranged damage

Mem no Fushia.7604:

Also someone in ele subforum said something like : that ele lack so many mechanics that other classes have to this degree that it is unique.

What? Ele’s lacking mechanics? facepalm Ele’s have active damage mitigation in the form of invulns; say hi to necro and thief. Ele’s have great mobility; say hi to necro and guardian; Ele’s have cleave; say hi to ranger and thief. Ele’s have boons up the wazoo; say hi to necro. Ele’s have stability; say hi to thief and base necro. Ele’s have good condi clear; say hi to rev, engi, mesmer. Ele’s have great healing abilities independent of the #6 skill; say hi to base ranger, necro. Ele’s have great access to CC; say hi to base guardian. Ele’s have the most useful downstate; say hi to everyone.

Ele’s lack health and toughness; say hi to mercenary amulet or paladin amulet.

That’s funny. Ele having sooooooo much over necro, yet necro is on top and ele is on bottom.

Necro is OP right now because of 2 things: (1) necro chill damage is OP right now because the damage coefficient (0.3) is too high, and (2) the scepter AA boon corrupt can corrupt stability on auto.

That doesn’t change the fact that it lacks all of the defensive mechanics that other classes have, as outlined in my post above. Necro chill damage needing a nerf is entirely separate from the perma-protection spam that was rightfully removed from Tempest.

You’re right, they should buff necros more.

I think you need to reread my post? If you do, it’s pretty clear that my opinion is that necro will be in a good spot once chill damage is nerfed and the scepter boon corrupt buff is reverted. Necro lacking defensive mechanics is part of the class design, and I don’t want that to be changed. I’m only pointing out that its kitten y to claim that “ele lacks defensive mechanics”. The moral of the story from this thread is that perma-aoe-protection from tempests is gone, and that’s a good thing.

Of course it’s a good thing ele was removed from pvp completely. I ain’t even mad about the protection, it was just one of the things that destroyed the class anyways, but you acting like necro is sooo much worse than ele is hilarious.

I’m really not man, just listing the facts.

Thieves have always countered necros and reapers; perhaps the thief buffs will keep necros in line even moreso?

Laraley.7695:

Salamander.2504:

Laraley.7695:

Salamander.2504:

reikken.4961:

“the rest of us” don’t lack other defensive mechanics while having the lowest base defenses in the game while lacking reliable ranged damage

Mem no Fushia.7604:

Also someone in ele subforum said something like : that ele lack so many mechanics that other classes have to this degree that it is unique.

What? Ele’s lacking mechanics? facepalm Ele’s have active damage mitigation in the form of invulns; say hi to necro and thief. Ele’s have great mobility; say hi to necro and guardian; Ele’s have cleave; say hi to ranger and thief. Ele’s have boons up the wazoo; say hi to necro. Ele’s have stability; say hi to thief and base necro. Ele’s have good condi clear; say hi to rev, engi, mesmer. Ele’s have great healing abilities independent of the #6 skill; say hi to base ranger, necro. Ele’s have great access to CC; say hi to base guardian. Ele’s have the most useful downstate; say hi to everyone.

Ele’s lack health and toughness; say hi to mercenary amulet or paladin amulet.

That’s funny. Ele having sooooooo much over necro, yet necro is on top and ele is on bottom.

Necro is OP right now because of 2 things: (1) necro chill damage is OP right now because the damage coefficient (0.3) is too high, and (2) the scepter AA boon corrupt can corrupt stability on auto.

That doesn’t change the fact that it lacks all of the defensive mechanics that other classes have, as outlined in my post above. Necro chill damage needing a nerf is entirely separate from the perma-protection spam that was rightfully removed from Tempest.

You’re right, they should buff necros more.

I think you need to reread my post? If you do, it’s pretty clear that my opinion is that necro will be in a good spot once chill damage is nerfed and the scepter boon corrupt buff is reverted. Necro lacking defensive mechanics is part of the class design, and I don’t want that to be changed. I’m only pointing out that its kitten y to claim that “ele lacks defensive mechanics”. The moral of the story from this thread is that perma-aoe-protection from tempests is gone, and that’s a good thing.

Laraley.7695:

Salamander.2504:

reikken.4961:

“the rest of us” don’t lack other defensive mechanics while having the lowest base defenses in the game while lacking reliable ranged damage

Mem no Fushia.7604:

Also someone in ele subforum said something like : that ele lack so many mechanics that other classes have to this degree that it is unique.

What? Ele’s lacking mechanics? facepalm Ele’s have active damage mitigation in the form of invulns; say hi to necro and thief. Ele’s have great mobility; say hi to necro and guardian; Ele’s have cleave; say hi to ranger and thief. Ele’s have boons up the wazoo; say hi to necro. Ele’s have stability; say hi to thief and base necro. Ele’s have good condi clear; say hi to rev, engi, mesmer. Ele’s have great healing abilities independent of the #6 skill; say hi to base ranger, necro. Ele’s have great access to CC; say hi to base guardian. Ele’s have the most useful downstate; say hi to everyone.

Ele’s lack health and toughness; say hi to mercenary amulet or paladin amulet.

That’s funny. Ele having sooooooo much over necro, yet necro is on top and ele is on bottom.

Necro is OP right now because of 2 things: (1) necro chill damage is OP right now because the damage coefficient (0.3) is too high, and (2) the scepter AA boon corrupt can corrupt stability on auto.

That doesn’t change the fact that it lacks all of the defensive mechanics that other classes have, as outlined in my post above. Necro chill damage needing a nerf is entirely separate from the perma-protection spam that was rightfully removed from Tempest.

reikken.4961:

“the rest of us” don’t lack other defensive mechanics while having the lowest base defenses in the game while lacking reliable ranged damage

Mem no Fushia.7604:

Also someone in ele subforum said something like : that ele lack so many mechanics that other classes have to this degree that it is unique.

What? Ele’s lacking mechanics? facepalm Ele’s have active damage mitigation in the form of invulns; say hi to necro and thief. Ele’s have great mobility; say hi to necro and guardian; Ele’s have cleave; say hi to ranger and thief. Ele’s have boons up the wazoo; say hi to necro. Ele’s have stability; say hi to thief and base necro. Ele’s have good condi clear; say hi to rev, engi, mesmer. Ele’s have great healing abilities independent of the #6 skill; say hi to base ranger, necro. Ele’s have great access to CC; say hi to base guardian. Ele’s have the most useful downstate; say hi to everyone.

Ele’s lack health and toughness; say hi to mercenary amulet or paladin amulet.

Protection is one of (if not the) most powerful boon in the game. The uptime was too high to begin with.

As someone said in the diamond skin nerf thread: “welcome to how the rest of us play the game.”

Serious question. Can two builds (malyx revenant and condi reaper) really make team aoe condi cleanse obsolete? Let’s review the facts: pre-HoT, condi builds were kept out of the meta by team aoe condi cleanses, most notably by only three builds:
1) D/D cele ele, from water traitline
2) Shoutbow, from traited warhorn and soldier rune
3) Bunker Guard, from honor traitline and soldier rune

Post HoT, the same number of classes have the ability to provide team condi clears:
1) Tempest, from aurashare+water traitline, plus shouts and soldier runes.
2) Ranger, shouts are now amazing and very low CD, so we should start to see more rangers running around with ~ 3-4 shouts and soldier runes.
3) Reaper, shouts are low CD and quite good. Soldier rune works great with vipers, marauders, wanderers, etc. We should start seeing more Reapers running bruiser builds with ~3-4 shouts and soldier runes.

And honorable mentions:
4) Warrior hasn’t been great since HoT…maybe with the new amulets and minor patch changes another shoutbow type build might work? (this is not rhetorical, please someone fill me in).
5) Unfortunately Bunker guard is no longer viable, but maybe it will be depending on how the new meta/amulets shake out.

We have the tools to bring aoe condi cleanse back in a big way (tempest, ranger, reaper), and not necessarily from dedicated support builds, either. Even having a dps ranger and dps reaper on the team, both running soldier runes would trash a condi team easily. I’m going to clarify that I’m not against a condi meta, only that I find it kind of odd that we are in one since the same factors that previously prevented a condi meta (aoe cleanse) are still at play, just shifted to other classes.

To clarify, the new feature of people being grouped together on a team of similar MMR is for ranked only? Or is it also active for unranked?

Dead.5829:

Salamander.2504:

So whats the point of spiteful spirit now if weakening shroud does it all better?

Dagger 5 is now a ground-targeted boon corrupt…whats the point of axe 3 now?

Different traitline, different mainhand, doubling up on entering-shroud effects. Plus, Spiteful was buffed with this.

Wasn’t just the ICD removed?

Nay of the Ether.8913:

I am NOT impressed with Guard change… tested it, it pretty much sucks. The old Guard was much, much better and allowed for better strategic placement of pets as well as increased their survivability by a ton. I do like the other shouts, but for me they have effectively ruined Guard. Will never find it’s way on my bar.

What didn’t you like about the new Guard?

Evan Lesh.3295:

I’m happy all these changes are out now! I’m looking forward to watching all the graphs and charts and player perception change :P

Evan, is there any chance that the data can be shared with the playerbase on the forums at some point? It sounds really interesting for us bean counters…

Also, for the first point “Changed matchmaking to use games played per arena instead of rank. For example, matchmaking in Unranked Arena will consider total Unranked games played.”

I’m a little confused; I thought the total number of games was already used in the MMR?

It’s not impossible to gain an impression on your MMR…just look at who is in the games you are matched with. Once you’re MMR gets high enough, the pool of players you are matched with/against becomes very small, and you’ll recognize tournament players/very talented casuals.

It’s going to get easier after this patch now, since now everyone in your party will have similar MMR to you.

They serve such different purposes, so I’d say Guard > SoS and Protect Me over a glyph or some other stun breaker. Personally I used LR, Guard (was using for swaftness/regen/stealth taunt), and QZ…but now my bar might look like LR, Guard, Protect Me.

Maybe bears will make a comeback to absorb the Guard :P

Does activating F1/F2/F3 cancel Guard like it used to with Protect Me?

How long does the new Protect Me taunt “buff/boon” stay on you after using it?

Rock paper scissors best case scenario: (?) (soft counters)

Necro counters Ele, Rev, Guard, Engi, Mesmer
Thief, Ranger, and Warrior counter Necro
Thief counters Mesmer, Ele
Ranger, Guard, and Engi counter Thief
Mesmer counters Ele, Rev
Rev counters Warrior
Ele counters Ranger
Revenant counters Warrior

Just for fun :P

In case anyone missed it:

Structured Player vs. Player

-Changed matchmaking to use games played per arena instead of rank. For example, matchmaking in Unranked Arena will consider total Unranked games played.
-Changed matchmaking to not consider rating deviation. Deviation is still used when updating ratings as part of the Glicko algorithm.
-Changed matchmaking to have a smaller fixed starting rating search range instead of using rating deviation.
-Changed matchmaking to use inflated party ratings when scoring potential rosters against each other. Inflated party rating is still used when collecting the initial roster list.
-Changed matchmaking to favor queue time less. This prevents other scoring factors from being obscured.
-Changed matchmaking to not favor rosters with unique professions and instead disfavor rosters with duplicate professions. This prevents other scoring factors from being obscured.
-Changed default rating to a lower value to account for the removal of deviation adjustments in matchmaking.
-Fixed a bug in matchmaking in which rosters could be skipped when forming teams.
-Fixed a bug in matchmaking in which guild teams were not properly favored to play against each other.
– Fixed a bug in Ranked Arena matches in which players who never connected show as amber division on the scoreboard.
-Fixed a bug in which players would unintentionally get dishonor.
-Forfeits are reenabled. Losing a game in which a teammate received dishonor will result in a forfeit. Players partied with the dishonorable player receive a desertion on loss, but they will not get dishonor.

+1 to OP

Thanks Shadelang and kevvy, much appreciated. Sounds great wowza…

kevvy.5081:

Mouse.3608:

How long does the guard effect last for?

6 seconds.

How much % damage is transferred to the pet, what is the radius, and does the ranger count as an ally? Is it still ground-targeted? (At work, thanks!)

Levetty.1279:

I’d argue the Mesmer scepter change was more worse then useless since in their minds they have probably ‘fixed’ scepter and will need 3 more years of complaining to get through to them that they didn’t.

Honorable mention to Ranger Axe trait as well, showing they completly missed the point.

Justine.6351:

Ranger shortbow is not the most underpowered weapon in the game.

Yeah that would be Ranger staff.

Malicious sorcery really isn’t a bad trait. The new 20% increase in casting speed counts towards everything—weapon skills, utilities, etc. It used to work towards rezzing and stomping too, but I’m guessing the new patch nixed that. While the 5% increase (from 15%) is essentially useless, at least it’s ANet acknowledging that scepter did need help. That being said, the new thief buffs to acrobatics includes a huge amount of torment and confusion removal, and the new diamond skin is going to eat condi mesmers alive, so that sucks. But you lost me as to how the druid staff is even remotely underpowered…

So whats the point of spiteful spirit now if weakening shroud does it all better?

Dagger 5 is now a ground-targeted boon corrupt…whats the point of axe 3 now?

Justine.6351:

Ranger shortbow is not the most underpowered weapon in the game.

Salamander.2504:

…why is one of the most underpowered weapons in the game, ranger shortbow, not on this list?

ANet buffed a bunch of “underused and under-appreciated” weapons:

Mesmer scepter (trait buff but useless)
Ele scepter
Guardian scepter (trait buff)
Guardian shield (trait buff)
Necro dagger offhand
Thief sword
Thief pistol/dagger
Warrior everything
Thief staff (not underused)
Thief dagger/pistol (not underused)
Ranger axe (trait buff, useless)
Thief dagger (not underused)
Necro dagger (not underused)
Necro scepter (not underused)

ANet, why is one of the most underpowered weapons in the game, ranger shortbow, not on this list?

You are traited for it?

I’m gonna miss that 15s CD.

More importantly where the hell are the shortbow changes? ANet, for real?

Look at the thief changes—thief will eat mesmer alive (again)…especially condi mesmer, because guarded initiation removes confusion on a 1s ICD.

Chokolata.1870:

That Protect me!!! 30 second base CD…. WOW!!

Not ingame, did they change Guard CD?

Speculation: With quickness not working on rezzes/stomps in the coming patch, fewer rangers will take zephyr’s speed (?). Bristleback f2 won’t be so fierce then.

shrug

Got 3 pips away from diamond about a month ago (reaper), got bored with the lame meta and OP elite specs. Stopped playing for 3 weeks, then made a f2p account so I could play a base spec at low MMR. Even fighting newbies with elite specs as a base ranger could be an uphill battle. Game balance/power creep is at an all time low.

Yeah this is the “immobilize bug” that comes up in the forums pretty regularly. For some reason, Revenants appear to cause it a lot, which might be a contributing factor as to why the frequency of this bug increased after HoT was released.

LughLongArm.5460:

Salamander.2504:

Fluffball.8307:

…Staff is a great weapon and you can win fights with it. I wouldn’t be offended if you said it was our best weapon. But without checking the wikie I suspect it’s the worst damaging weapon across all 9 professions (shields and whatnot aside.)

Other (non-condi) ranged weapon auto attacks that are lower than druid staff (0.66/s dmg coefficient) are:

ranger axe AA (0.5/s)
guardian staff AA (0.6/s)
thief shortbow AA (0.58/s)
warrior longbow AA (0.55/s)
warrior rifle AA (0.63/s)
necromancer staff AA (0.47/s)

Plus a bunch of condi weapons like mesmer scepter, mesmer staff, engineer pistol, thief pistol, etc.

Ranger shortbow is 0.74/s for comparison, similar to ranger longbow (0.7-0.9/s), necro axe (0.81/s), engi rifle (0.77/s), revenant hammer (0.76/s), etc. So, like Fluffball was saying, ranger shortbow dps > staff dps, even without any added conditions.

Anyways, I agree that shortbow needs some love. How would you guys fix it? Personally I’d like SB3 to give 3s of superspeed, SB4 to immobilize instead of cripple, and somehow SB2 needs more oomf.

Hi, perheps I missunderstood somthing, druid ‘s staff base damage is 121 with 0.3 damage coefficient. I think its the lowest weapon’s damage coefficient in the game. But it shoots very fast(one of the fastest in the game) , 1200 range, no projectile and pierce targets on base. So ya, staff AA is fine.

There is no such thing as “base damage” for power damage. The staff hits 3 times in 1.35 seconds, and each hit has a damage coefficient of 0.3. That yields a damage coefficient over time of 0.666/s. You can compare that value with all the other values listed in my post above.

Fluffball.8307:

…Staff is a great weapon and you can win fights with it. I wouldn’t be offended if you said it was our best weapon. But without checking the wikie I suspect it’s the worst damaging weapon across all 9 professions (shields and whatnot aside.)

Other (non-condi) ranged weapon auto attacks that are lower than druid staff (0.66/s dmg coefficient) are:

ranger axe AA (0.5/s)
guardian staff AA (0.6/s)
thief shortbow AA (0.58/s)
warrior longbow AA (0.55/s)
warrior rifle AA (0.63/s)
necromancer staff AA (0.47/s)

Plus a bunch of condi weapons like mesmer scepter, mesmer staff, engineer pistol, thief pistol, etc.

Ranger shortbow is 0.74/s for comparison, similar to ranger longbow (0.7-0.9/s), necro axe (0.81/s), engi rifle (0.77/s), revenant hammer (0.76/s), etc. So, like Fluffball was saying, ranger shortbow dps > staff dps, even without any added conditions.

Anyways, I agree that shortbow needs some love. How would you guys fix it? Personally I’d like SB3 to give 3s of superspeed, SB4 to immobilize instead of cripple, and somehow SB2 needs more oomf. A fun idea I thought of last night was to make the shortbow GM trait allow shortbow projectiles to act as finishers through enemy fields…haha.

TheOneWhoSighs.7513:

I’m going to try a hybrid with Scepter/Torch & GS

With mercenary amulet. And then also try out viper’s amulet.

I really don’t like staff for anything other than kiting on certain maps. So I’m kind of hoping I can get greatsword incorporated for a bit of extra burst.

I don’t think it’ll replace power. I don’t think it’s as strong as power mes…

Niekas has a thread floating around here somewhere on his scepter/sh + GS viper build. It’s worth checking out. The shield really makes the build shine.

Malediktus.9250:

Evan Lesh.3295:

Avectius.3271:

Evan Lesh.3295:

Sunshine.5014:

Evan Lesh.3295:

The changes for season 2 will make this less of a problem. Each team will have a tight MMR grouping such that each teammate should be very similar in skill to you. This is different from season 1 and unranked where we balance players on each team, i.e, high MMR and both sides and low MMR on both sides.

The goal is to ensure than if the higher skilled team wins, all the higher MMR players go up the ladder. Less unlucky high MMR players will drop on the ladder, and fewer low MMR players will get carried up the ladder.

So if you’re unlucky and got matched with a low MMR team, you will keep losing and have no way to recover?

You wouldn’t be matched with a low MMR team unless you also have low MMR.

But what about the opposing team? If the system’s going to choose team mates as skilled as us, then what about the enemy players? What if we get paired up against enemy players with a much higher MMR?

Then that would mean either you climbed to high in divisions and you need to drop some, or the other team isn’t high enough yet and they are climbing out.

But loosing or even dropping divisions is not fun. People want to see progress because the permanent pvp progression system (rank 1-80 was made laughable short) is no longer of interest.

In the “everyone wins” mentality the leagues mean nothing. They should represent skill level, and not cater to people’s desire to always get more, more, more.

Pre HoT classes with a CC as an elite:
Thief

HoT elite specs with CC as an elite:
Mesmer
Thief
Necro
Warrior
Guardian

The game is already experiencing an overabundance of CC and power creep. And you want to make it worse by making CTTB require zero thought to use?

I think you can still get by. Try it out and see…

Unblockable AOE knockdown. CD is fine.

@ Arcaeudus +1
@ Coronit, seems logical about well of precog, hope that’s true.

Kuya.6495:

Salamander.2504:

Kuya.6495:

By disappointing balance preview, OP seems to mean that his favorite class didn’t get a massive buff.

I main reaper. Which class did you think I mained?

So you’re mad that your class didn’t get nerfed?

You’re right. You should be outraged.

Yeah…because game balance should be, and is more important than my own personal class. The balance patch preview they showed does nothing to solve any of the problems plaguing PvP right now.