(edited by Xae.7204)
Thanks for your answers ppl. I reckon kitteno hit the nail on the head.
PvP balance got a bit worse. That might not sound too bad until you consider the massive lost opportunity. They could have used this patch to improve balance and didn’t.
As an engineer, I am particularly disappointed. They built this patch up like it was going to put us right there in the mainstream. But all they did was buff an ability that doesn’t fit into any realistic builds and nerf one of the WvW mainstays.
Are you kidding me? They added sigils effects to kits, that is a huge improvement when you think of the possibilities it could bring (I’m not an engineer so I’m not sure how the sigils function kits yet but I am very interested).
It wasn’t just grenades. All abilities on all kits had their damage reduced by between 30% and 75%
I rolled an Elementalist this weekend, to get ready for the February WvW update. This way I have both hybrid/high skill cap professions leveled and geared. I love my Engineer but it’s clear to me now that Anet just doesn’t know what to do with the profession.
It is clear to me they intend for the Engineer to be terrible.
Every time someone rolls out an Engineer build that is even slightly competitive it is nerfed next patch.
Mark my wards, Bunker builds will be nerfed next.
The devs seem to want this game to be “Guardians Warriors 2 (Classes we care about)”, I really hope someone at Arena Net shuffles the teams around so someone with an ounce of competence can lead the balance efforts.
Because no amount of theory crafting will save a class from Developer malice.
It has moved past “kitten up before Conspiracy”. The developers have specifically targeted the least played class for massive nerfs in every patch. I wish they would just delete the damn class already, because they clearly just want to. It would be less insulting for them to say “Listen, it doesn’t work, we’re sorry” rather than kittenting all over them each patch.
(edited by Xae.7204)
Wow this made me rofl
Engineesr are insanely useful and is anything but worthless in a fight, and I have a lot of rearend-kicking behind me in both PvE and PvP to prove it.
I’m sorry, but whoever called Engineer “Worthless” is a blockhead with no intelligence whatsoever. I don’t even know where to being.
Outstanding aoe healing.
Creates free retaliation combo fields.
Aoe slows and bleeds.
15-20 secs of immobilize.
Can aoe might a team.
Smoke screens and aoe confusion.
The list goes on. And anybody who says that dps is the most important factor in endgame is HOPELESSLY stuck in WoW mentality and should uninstall this game.
I don’t care if it takes 5 or 10 mins to down a boss so long as it dies.
And with no heals and just squishy players you will most likely die.“Outstanding AoE healing”
that was pathetic and got nerfed.
“Creates free retaliation combo fields”
Elemenatlist has more blast finishers.
“AoE slows and bleeds”
like what? Box of Nails? That terrible ability that the Thief gets to use on dodge instead of wasting a second to cast?
“15-20 secs of immobilize”
With what? Net turret’s toolbelt, Net turret, net shot? and why should a class have to hold another class in place for 15-20 seconds just to be able to attack without getting kittensmacked?
“Can AoE might a team”
Elementalist would REALLY like a word with you about AoE Might. Shout warriors too.
“Smoke Screens and AoE confusion”
You mean the nerfed Smoke bomb? You mean Concussion bomb? You mean the skills that actually require you to go into MELEE RANGE (when the bomb kit only really works with a glass cannon build?)
You seem to be stuck on the assumption Engineers want DPS when in fact they just want to do something that another class can do 4x as good. I dont want to do everything but have to do it at 10% the efficiency. Thats just kittening stupid
All of what I said was true prior to the godawful Engineer nerfs. As for the elixir gun, there is STILL no other class that can permanently provide area retaliation on a spot.
Smoke bomb has it’s uses, for example you can combo it with tranqualizer dart to weaken the foe while reducing the hits he gets on you.
The immobilize consists of net shot>net attack>net turret>overcharged net>net turret>net shot and if need be end with an overcharged shot.
As for the box of nails it’s meant mainly as an escape tool and does the job well. I get out alive in PvE and PvP many time by putting them behind me and run.
But yes, engineer is not what it used to be at all. I wouldn’t call it worthless though.
It’s not worthless, but the point of this thread is whether or not refusing to take this class for progression content is warranted or not.
Idk.
Considering how much self might engineers can stack now… I do good dmg in PvE with my flamethrower.
How many stacks of might does it take to counter the 200+ Stats lost by not getting weapon stats?
so…basically, all the Engineer is/was good for is/was switching to the Grenade kit and pressing 1 over and over again?
is that what you are telling me?
Serious question, because I am leveling an Engineer right now. But I guess is 100% of the class is absolutely, 100% useless outside of a single solitary skill in one kit….then whats the point of leveling one, even without the 30% nerf to Grenade 1 damage.
guess I’ll go back to looking for another class to play. One-button spamming is no fun. I understand that some of you enjoyed the “spam 1 grenade repeatedly” gameplay before it was nerfed, but it just sounds ridiculously boring.
All Kits were nerfed between 30% and 75%. They just listed grenades specifically. But things like Flamethrower got a 50% nerf and the Heal on Elixir Kit was nerfed by 75%.
With competent developers, sure.
LoL manages pretty good balance with over one hundred champions and dozens of items.
With the current developers: No. They have proven themselves to be only interesting in increasing the imbalances in this game.
I give money (to a charity) for them to post the stats showing Engineers needed nerfing and Warriors and Thieves needed buffs.
It is the Sigil of an Engineer killed the balance lead’s Thief, so nerf that kitten into the ground and buff Thieves!
I really hate to jump into the bias train, but at this point there is no other logical explanation. The balance devs hate engineers.
Totally saw this coming!
You guys who are griping over this just don’t get it.Competitively speaking, Grenades overshadow every single kit. A similar nerf would have happened, with or without the sigils-change.
Also: Don’t any of you dare ignore the fact that Flash grenades and poison grenades now do damage when they explode. That is a legitimate buff in its own right.
AND DON’T FORGET.
ANet is working on making all kits scale with weapon damage
So none of you have the right to complain. Grab some patience and munch on it.
I have a job for you:
Get punched in the dick for a week.
After that I give you $5.
Because that is what this is.
We get major nerfs now with the promise that are some unspecified date in the future they may give Engineers some buffs.
Good plan?
Necro isn’t that strong, but buffs to thieves and eles? Really?
I feel like insert name here has literally gone mental, while working on balance.
I have never seen such blatant and obvious incompetence when it comes to MMO balance in my life.
And I played Warhammer Online.
WoW, who wouldnt take an eng?
Have you ever seen a full support eng?
Have you seen one since the patch?
They nerfed Engineer healing by 75%
Hey guys we’re trashing your DPS so you can focus on being a support!
Pay no attention to the fact that we are also castrating your Support abilities!
I can’t give what doesn’t exist.
In WoW they called it a “Hybrid Tax”.
They let a class do two roles poorly then said that was a good as being able to do one role well.
It never worked, and eventually they abandoned it.
As every MMO and RPG has done in the last 10 years.
The TL;DR on Might Math™ is that you need somewhere between 5 and 10 stacks just to equal the stats you lose by being an Engineer.
So, I guess I’m Out.
I have just been informed I will be banned from Guild Wars 2 if I continue to criticize Arena Nets handling of Thieves.
Edit: Almost every post defending Retaliation has been removed. I guess it doesn’t matter because Arena Net has clearly made up their mind.
(edited by Xae.7204)
A good Thief will beat any non-bunker build, and beat it hard. Bunker or die.
Thieves already cried enough to get Retalation nerfed once, lay off the waterworks a bit.
Bunker builds are a hard counter to your class (Thieves), you don’t get to kill everyone, some people get to kill you too.
I’d rather have a game where player skill and reflex > profession picks / trait builds in importance. Do you agree or disagree? Why?
There is skill in knowing who you can and who you can not beat.
There is teamwork in having builds be strong against some, and weak against others.
Do you not think that some class/builds should be able to beat a Thief?
Do you not think that teamwork should be rewarded?
Knowing what you can and can’t beat isn’t a skill – it’s merely knowledge, and spending half a day in sPvP would pretty much set the score in that regard.
Teamwork is irrelevant to having strong or weak builds, especially if you consider my comment just below.
Teamwork is still rewarded through combo fields, not through sheer, shallow “I can’t beat you, but my friend can so suck it!”
I think that every class should beat every class. I initially thought this might actually be a possibility with GW2 having the dodge mechanic, blinding affecting the next attack, no healers, limited buff removal, and such, but there are many things trivializing these high skill capped features.
You do not considering being informed to be useful.
I really don’t know how to respond to that.
You can beat a Guardian or Engineer on a Thief. People do it every day, the problem isn’t that Thief isn’t powerful enough, or that Retaliation is too powerful. The problem is that you are not good enough.
Don’t put words in my mouth. I already have a hard time deciphering what you try to say, you don’t need to start arguing poorly on top of it. Being good or bad is irrelevant in this discussion – retaliation remains a boring boon to fight against, and boon removal is too scarce. If the game was as shallow as “knowing what you can beat and what you can’t”, we might as well go ahead and skip the 60$ to play rock-paper-scissor.
You put words in my mouth, I put them in yours. Simple is it not?
Slow you roll and read more carefully, you are getting way too worked up over this.
You can’t beat everyone. Deal with it.
Edit: They also already nerfed these builds last patch. Another example of Thieves crying and Arena Net crawling over themselves to nerf something.
(edited by Xae.7204)
Thieves already cried enough to get Retalation nerfed once, lay off the waterworks a bit.
Bunker builds are a hard counter to your class (Thieves), you don’t get to kill everyone, some people get to kill you too.
I’d rather have a game where player skill and reflex > profession picks / trait builds in importance. Do you agree or disagree? Why?
There is skill in knowing who you can and who you can not beat.
There is teamwork in having builds be strong against some, and weak against others.
Do you not think that some class/builds should be able to beat a Thief?
Do you not think that teamwork should be rewarded?
Knowing what you can and can’t beat isn’t a skill – it’s merely knowledge, and spending half a day in sPvP would pretty much set the score in that regard.
Teamwork is irrelevant to having strong or weak builds, especially if you consider my comment just below.
Teamwork is still rewarded through combo fields, not through sheer, shallow “I can’t beat you, but my friend can so suck it!”
I think that every class should beat every class. I initially thought this might actually be a possibility with GW2 having the dodge mechanic, blinding affecting the next attack, no healers, limited buff removal, and such, but there are many things trivializing these high skill capped features.
You do not considering being informed to be useful.
I really don’t know how to respond to that.
You can beat a Guardian or Engineer on a Thief. People do it every day, the problem isn’t that Thief isn’t powerful enough, or that Retaliation is too powerful. The problem is that you are not good enough.
Thieves already cried enough to get Retalation nerfed once, lay off the waterworks a bit.
Bunker builds are a hard counter to your class (Thieves), you don’t get to kill everyone, some people get to kill you too.
I’d rather have a game where player skill and reflex > profession picks / trait builds in importance. Do you agree or disagree? Why?
There is skill in knowing who you can and who you can not beat.
There is teamwork in having builds be strong against some, and weak against others.
Do you not think that some class/builds should be able to beat a Thief?
Do you not think that teamwork should be rewarded?
I can be a sarcastic too you know.
Being “good” at a game comes down to more than just PUSH BUTTAN, there is the whole mental aspect and knowledge of mechanics. Most builds do not have 100% Retaliation uptime. It is up to you as the player to outplay the person on the other end, and bait out their cooldowns, then beat them.
Also, thieves CAN spec for boon removal. You just choose not to.
(edited by Xae.7204)
I have never seen 25k, care to enlighten me with a screen shot?
25k?
Doubtful, a more realistic number would be 10-15k.
However you can not prove that they ARE reading. Granted they almost certainly are reading but simply reading something doesn’t mean it will shape their thoughts or actions. Because of this you can not say for certain that any feedback we give them has an impact.
How would posting shape their thoughts or actions more then reading player feedback would? Your statement is kind of backwards.
Points in my post:
1. You can not prove Devs Read anything here
2. They probably do though
3. Reading posts does not mean they act on them
4. Reading posts does not mean they even “take in” the information given
How are they “bound” to see it?
Developers are perfectly capable of ignoring feedback.
How are they not? They obviously read the forums.
Whether or not they reply is their choice.When you browse the forums; are you more likely to click a thread with more replies?
That generally means there’s a conversation going on between players.
If there is a conversation happening; that means there is usually valid player views on both sides; not just someone running their mouth that isn’t getting their way.
You are correct in that they can read with out posting.
However you can not prove that they ARE reading. Granted they almost certainly are reading but simply reading something doesn’t mean it will shape their thoughts or actions. Because of this you can not say for certain that any feedback we give them has an impact.
If you aren’t using Rifle 5 for damage you are doing it wrong.
I couldn’t care less about the one time event, other than with out it there is jack and kitten for content in the new zone.
If you just ignore the damage of 2 on ToolKit it goes to show how bad the kit is.
There are then two abilities that do damage.
I would change the Toolkit 3 to an immobilize , and Tool Kit #2 to be a field that does damage when the target moves, scaling on power. That would get rid of the stat split for one kit.
1 Kit down, 3 Kits and 2 Weapons to go.
I still do not understand why people are so negative about tool kit dps. It is a little bit low compared to grenade and bomb, that’s true, but it is a great kit.
With the pull changes and the buff to gear shield it is now a great tool for countering thieves / kiters.
If you play smart you can use net shot / throw wrench to bait dodges at range, and then swap / pull them in for a pry bar 1-2 hits, before swapping back to rifle for blunderbuss / net shot.
If you pair it with elixir U you can get super fast magnets that are hard to spot / dodge, that lead into a fast 3 hit + pry bar.
You can also run the quickness sigil for this. Use rifle to proc the sigil then do a quick pull / burst.
Because it is a mishmash of Condition and Power Damage. Auto attack scales on power only, while the other damaging abilities (2 and 3) scale on condition damage.
In addition the 1 second swing on Thack makes it nearly useless in PvP.
So what cripples the damage of toolkit is poor design, and poor design frustrates a good engineer.
The Entire “Kit” mechanic was a last minute thing to give Engineers more weapons, with out having to add them for other classes.
They need to scrap it, so long as they have a “Kit” mechanic engineers will be subpar. Think about it for a minute. If there was a Grenade Weapon, a MedKit weapon, etc, etc would we be in a better spot?
Our class “mechanic” was a bandaid to prevent Arena Net from having to do extra work, and it shows.
Mercy kill it before it wrecks the class for good. It is still close enough to release to fix, but the longer you go the harder it will be to fix.
Not quite. Kits are different then weapon swaps. No cooldown. Multiple kits.
A thief can’t have shortbow, d/d AND s/p.We CAN have p/p, grenade AND flamethower. if we wanted to.
Of course, part of the problem is traits don’t accommodate that at all.
FT and EG use similar traits. About the only ones that do have cross use potential.
Sure, Engineers have the “potential” to have more weapon sets, but how often does a viable spec run them?
The most popular specs in WvW, PvE and SPvP almost all have one kit and one kit only.
I almost wonder if it would be better to have Kits on F1 and F2, with a spec to open up F3 or even F4 to switch, but to give “real” Utility skills.
How are they “bound” to see it?
Developers are perfectly capable of ignoring feedback.
FYI:
Here is the single post by a Developer in this forum:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/engineer/Weapon-Kit-Auto-Attack
The only other “interaction” Arena net has had with Engineers in this forum has been to lock threads.
In almost 90 days they have only managed to speak three sentences to Engineers.
You disagree that communication is key?
You disagree that honestly reviewing problems is good?
Words
And as a Developer outside of Video games Here is my input:
1. Under Promise, Over Deliver
2. Communicate
3. Manage Expectations
These are the top three rules rammed into my head from the minute I graduated.
You’ll notice that none of them are technical. The most difficult part of any development job isn’t writing the code, it all revolves around communicating.
I worked as a consultant for a while, and if I had pulled the crap these guys pulled with the patch I would have been rolled off the project and a black mark would be on my record. I wouldn’t be fired, but it would impact my career negatively.
Here is where they failed:
1. They did not have adequate resources
2. They did not gather requirements from stakeholders.
3. Of if they did they went to the wrong stakeholders.
4. They claimed to make changes they did not make.
5. They did not catch #4 in testing
Plan -> Analyse -> Design -> Build -> Test -> Deploy
They failed on every step on the SLDC except deploy.
To compound that they utterly failed at communication.
They also failed process wise by not giving out patch notes before the patch went live.
Something I learned early as a consultant is that sugar coating failure prevents it from being corrected and guarantees it will happen again in the future.
After each project we did a brutal self-assessment, for ourselves, our peers and the project. Not the typical corporate bullkitten ones I also did for clients, but real honest analysis is what went right and what went wrong. After a while I realized the lessons we learned by being willing to call out specific failings and own up to our mistakes was why clients hired us in the first place.
Pretending that things went fine or avoiding the issues by clamoring about niceties doesn’t build better software, it builds failure.
(edited by Xae.7204)
That assume the Thief is bad and stays in the refuge for more than a second or two to stack stealth.
He has to stay in the refuge for 4 seconds before he can leave, else be revealed instantly.
If he leaves before the refuge disappears, it’s a waste of a utility skill.
If he doesn’t, you’ve been given quite a bit of time to mutilate him.
You are also assuming that Shadow Refuge is the only stealth skill. He setup a strawman, don’t try to reinforce his misdirection.
Your post says “stays in the refuge”
No strawman here.
Probably because the post I was quoting talks about it.
Read, THEN post.
That assume the Thief is bad and stays in the refuge for more than a second or two to stack stealth.
He has to stay in the refuge for 4 seconds before he can leave, else be revealed instantly.
If he leaves before the refuge disappears, it’s a waste of a utility skill.
If he doesn’t, you’ve been given quite a bit of time to mutilate him.
You are also assuming that Shadow Refuge is the only stealth skill. He setup a strawman, don’t try to reinforce his misdirection.
That assume the Thief is bad and stays in the refuge for more than a second or two to stack stealth.
Your working assumption is that everyone who plays a thief is good and everyone who doesn’t is bad.
That is more evidence of Thieves being overpowered.
SPvP doesn’t have a grind, you can play a thief in SPvP minutes after character creation. Do you really think those of us asking for Thieves to be nerfed haven’t played them ourselves?
I’ve been dealing with stealth in MMO PvP for well over a decade, and played a Thief extensively, ditch the condescension.
So thieves should have to “set up their burst” like the other professions? How viable do you think that would make them? The fact that they can get in, do damage and escape is what makes a thief a thief. So do not try to take away a thief’s uniqueness because you haven’t learned to anticipate and deal with it yet.
And here we have the winner.
Thieves should be unstoppable. That is literally what you posted. That a thief should be able to get in, kill someone and get out, with out a chance to be stopped.
If thieves don’t need to “setup” burst, then they need less burst. That is called “balance”. You trade off the need for setup time for doing less damage. You are saying that your class should have no downside, and not be able to be countered.
I play elementalist for your information, and I do not think that thieves should be unstoppable. I think that as time goes on players will develop better awareness and thieves will go down in popularity (think of spies in tf2 if you have played that). Arena Net has already nerfed thief burst and may continue to do so but they will not just nerf backstab by 20% or something to appease the forum posters.
The near constant nerfs against Spys in TF2 helped as well. Also, Stealth in MMOs isn’t a new concept. People have been dealing with it since 2001 and DAoC.
You can’t have a class built around “Get in, Kill, Get out”, because that is the definition of overpowered.
You’re talking about high initiation (“Get In”), extreme Burst (“Kill”), and high durability (“Get Out”), that makes a class overpowered.
If you want high Initiation and good burst you need very low durability.
If you want high Initiation and High Durability you need low damage.
Right now Thieves are high Durability (stealth), high burst (25k+) and High initiation (multiple gap closers, stealth).
Arena Net can either jump on the power creep bandwagon and buff every other ability in the game (all 500 of them), plus items/HP pools, or they can nerf a couple of overpowered traits/abilities.
So thieves should have to “set up their burst” like the other professions? How viable do you think that would make them? The fact that they can get in, do damage and escape is what makes a thief a thief. So do not try to take away a thief’s uniqueness because you haven’t learned to anticipate and deal with it yet.
And here we have the winner.
Thieves should be unstoppable. That is literally what you posted. That a thief should be able to get in, kill someone and get out, with out a chance to be stopped.
If thieves don’t need to “setup” burst, then they need less burst. That is called “balance”. You trade off the need for setup time for doing less damage. You are saying that your class should have no downside, and not be able to be countered.
@Xae
You are making a joke, but you said everything right except i would replace “thief” with “high burst specs”. This is how guild wars is played. This is not other mmo where u sit there fighting for 3 hrs, this is the game where you can die in under 3 seconds if you are bad. Bad players think they can play glass cannon but they get owned and cry for nerfs. Thankfully arenanet not paying attention to them.
Show me another class that can burst for 20K in ~2 seconds (with haste) and do it while mixing in CC while approaching from stealth and a 0 cooldown gap closer.
Do that and I will change it to “burst damage”, instead of “Thieves”.
The “Problem” with thieves isn’t the burst just by the numeric value, but by how trivial it is to get off the burst.
A warrior and burst for 15K, but the move requires a build up, is telegraphed and the delay in casting lets CC fall off avoiding “CC-> Dead”.
Also, wake me up when an Engineer, Necro, Ranger, Guardian or Mesmer can, in the first 2 seconds of the fight, burst for 20K. Other classes require build up to burst that high. If they can at all, and that is a mighty big “if”.
That build up is key. If a Mesmer gets out 2 Berserkers and times a shatter and a channel to match the ’zerkers attack to burst you for 15k he spent 15+ seconds setting that up.
You’ll have a point when Rogues start fights at 0 initiative, until then you do not.
The others are right.
You need to completely spec, trait and gear yourself to counter Thieves.
Specs are only good if they can survive a Thief.
All class balance is described as relative to a Thief or Warrior.
You need to play perfectly have save all cooldowns, and use teamwork to counter a Thief.
But Thieves are not overpowered.
(edited by Xae.7204)
The Entire “Kit” mechanic was a last minute thing to give Engineers more weapons, with out having to add them for other classes.
They need to scrap it, so long as they have a “Kit” mechanic engineers will be subpar. Think about it for a minute. If there was a Grenade Weapon, a MedKit weapon, etc, etc would we be in a better spot?
Our class “mechanic” was a bandaid to prevent Arena Net from having to do extra work, and it shows.
Mercy kill it before it wrecks the class for good. It is still close enough to release to fix, but the longer you go the harder it will be to fix.
My perspective is that structure PvP is a perpetual clusterkitten of leavers and 2v6 games that are not fun for any players. Anything you do to structure PvP that doesn’t address these issues is completely useless.
Edit: And team Switches.
(edited by Xae.7204)
Elixir S was nerfed. Damage is sometimes bleeding through it, and myself and several others have had interrupts bleed through the effect as well.
Overall I’m really confused as to what they expect engineers to do.
They nerf damage builds.
They nerf Utility builds.
They (indirectly through rune changes) nerf durability builds.
I do not see a clear role where Engineers can excel, and I see few where Engineers can even perform to par with other classes.
You guys think that ring is bad, have you check out Solaria Circle of the sun yet? It has even crazier stats and the infusion on the image was even worse …
Where are you seeing the new items?
http://www.gw2db.com/items?filter-item-rarity=8
Enjoy gazing upon the ruination of this game.
WOW!
They even added them with stat combinations that were never available before.
Power/Toughness/Crit damage with significantly more stats than exotics? WvW pWnAge ftw!!1 grinderZ!
I used the correct lingoZ right?
I think that’s how they do it, don’t quote me.
Ascendant items have the Upgrade bonus rolled into the main stats. Adjust for the lack of “normal” upgrade and it is about a 5% increase.
I like the idea.
Near Trivial improvement doesn’t bother me.
This ins’t Molten Core → BWL.
The overall power creep seems negligible, and it is only being introduced a slot or two at a time.
The thing that I am disappoined about was investing 600 hours into a game because it wasn’t going to have a gear treadmill. Now everything indicates we got bait and switched, and there is going to be a rediculous gear treadmill.
TLDR: got tricked into putting 600 hours into just another WoW clone.
I REALLY don’t understand why people are super pissed about 2 the extra 2pts of stats that the ascended gear gives you (the ring goin from 58 on exotic to 60 for ascended). I view it as something else to attain, the stat change isn’t big enough to cause THAT much of a difference in WvW, and it definitely wont make that much of a difference in PvE.
Its not a WoW clone, you aren’t paying monthly unless you’re an idiot. Without that monthly subscription fee, you are entitled to nothing. Nope, not a kitten thing other than the game out of the box. The game was playable and complete when it came out of the box, and that is all Anet owes you. Sure there were and still are some bugs, but go look at any other PC/Xbox/PS game and tell me they are perfect. I am having a blast in every single aspect of this game with each profession I try (engineer, ranger, warrior, necro), I think people need to quit being so kitten entitled and let the devs do their job.
Constructive criticism is always a good thing, but if you’re going to get on the forums and kitten about why the game isn’t perfect and how you hate it so much just don’t play it. Games are to have fun, if you’re not having fun, you’re doing something wrong.
TLDR: Quit complaining unless you have something constructive to say. Entitlement will get you no where, you don’t pay a monthly fee, all you are entitled to is the game out of the box.
The funny thing is that for people who use the non-stat effects of runes Ascendant gear is a downgrade. But people still flipped their kitten.
I would hate being a game developer.
First Rule of Development (and everything to do with business)
1. Under promise, over deliver.
They failed the first rule. It doesn’t matter if it is game dev or Fry Cook.
Complete Failure to manage expectations.
Most of the class “changes” seem to be tool tip clarifications that should have been fixed months ago.
Did not pay enough (any?) attention to class communities.
Most popular classes buffed, least popular classes nerfed.
Most complained about abilities either as overpowered or underpowered left unchanged.
Random abilities reworked to side grades.
Overall I would give the following feedback:
1. Manage expectations.
—Deliver Patch Notes before Patch Day
—Avoid “x bullet points” when those “bullet points” means tooltip fixes
—Consistent messaging. If this is a content patch make sure that is the message. Not “Balance+ Content” if you have mainly content.
2. A. Improve communication with the community. Ask people in the community what items they would like to see changed the most. Even if no change is made clearly communicate that you are either holding on changes until more information/later date or that you disagree with the assessment.
B. Control the message. Ascendant gear being announced was a Charlie Foxtrot. I know that giving exclusives is a standard, but you should have had a response standing by, posted moments later.
3. Give context. Random “Changed X to Y” doesn’t tell us WHY. Why is the most important question to answer. It is also the easiest to criticize. When someone is afraid to tell you the “Why” it is normally because they know they did not do their “homework” before making the change. Having a solid answer to “Why” is evidence of proper thought and is a great showing of honesty and openness.
(edited by Xae.7204)
1. Epic fail on Arena Net PR to manage expectations.
2. Arena Net’s solution to a class being the least played is to nerf that class’ most viable spec?
Bad PR, bad Patch.
Rework The Tool Kit to be an Electrified two handed wrench.
Flavor wise it would be less about brute force, and more about gadgetry. In a practical sense it would be designed to be a defensive “get off me!” kit. Have it heavy on utility like Knockbacks, Blinds, etc.
One of the key issue with Toolbelt skills, and Kits is having two abilities that are mediocre is not as good as one solid skill.
“Kits” are partially a problem because they are all poorly designed and do not display nearly the level of attention seen in other weapon sets. Kits seem to be a collection of random abilities, frequently with out thought as to how practical it is to use them together, or how to spec/itemize for a single kit.
The question about Kits and Tool Belts comes down to this: Is the mechanic helping or hurting the class?
I do not think anyone can say that Engineers are better off for having Kits instead of an actual “Weapon” for that kit. Or a different mechanic entirely.