Guild Wars 2

Zalani.9827:

I would rather have courtyard then skyhammer…

Me too, courtyard was a nice change of pace.

incisorr.9502:

dh = braindead overpowered as kitten
tempest storm = the hell were u smoking m9
mesmer = still the most op class in the game, needs deletion
thief = dodges hit for 6k dmg and 3shot semi tank builds now, as if they weren’t easy and op enough before
scrapper = made engineers even more cancer and overpowered also hammer 1 spam is kittening overpowered, what a joke, you cant balance this class cuz you want it to do everything at the same time and it does it better than everybody else, just delete it
revenant = nerf the kittened omnislash fiora ulti yurnero ulti kitten and it’ll be fine
reaper = broken as kitten, chill does 20k dmg if u cant instacleanse it and they have 500k hp in shroud, i dont know u guys are so funny from arena net when u get on a smoking trip and you start adding some ridiculous kitten

Yep pretty much, new classes are so much more powerful, I guess that gives us motivation to buy HoT.

A DH is like a trapper ranger that also gets daze, stability, blind, swiftness, vulnerability, stun break, instant cast traps, revealed, protection, fury, slow, and might, instant high damage (instead of condi over time), shortbow that procs knockback every 10 secs and a 1200 range unblockable pull.

So would everyone be saying “oh just l2 dodge” if the ranger trapper had all that? I think not.

So what would you guys say about giving ranger traps daze, stability, blind, swiftness, vulnerability, stun break, instant cast, revealed, protection, fury, slow, and might, bump up the damage 50%, and give shortbow a knockback proc every 10 secs and change shortbow 5 to a 1200 range unblockable pull?

Should be ok right since its so easy to deal with traps and all.

Ski Cask.1457:

Yasha.5963:

Exemplar.1479:

Look, a couple of you keep saying that a DH can’t “one-shot” a high toughness target, but my ranger runs rabid and has pretty high protection uptime and yet this thing can 100-1 me before I get a chance to react. Its happened several times and I have seen it done to other players as well. If I was running something with no toughness I could understand it.

Try runnig the “Signet of Stone” and pop it up if you get caught in them evil DH traps

I don’t particularly want to kitten about DH, because I don’t think its the most OP build in the game. Its just that because I often play a trapper ranger, the sheer brilliance of the DH set up is almost painful to watch.

Like earlier today I had the perfect set up, goaded the guy onto my traps, had range, doggies were going in to disarm his traps, all my offensive cds were up, and then bam out of nowhere leash pulled and 100-0ed. If only my ranger traps and utilities could do that.

Ski Cask.1457:

Ragnarox.9601:

Haha another one caught in a trap too bad you don’t have dodge or stability

You can’t dodge out of it, I believe. Can’t even stun-break (e.g. “Lightning Reflexes”, tho I’m not sure if it’s possible to blink out of it)

Exactly.

I like DH, in fact I love DH. It is one of the best, most well thought out and synergistic classes/builds in the game. Many of the new specializations are like that, really well done. The trouble is they are so much better than much of the regular specializations.

Exemplar.1479:

As above. The Initialy HOOK has a 17.5 CD when TRAITED. The PULL however is 45 CD. No matter what, a DH cannot simply Hook AND Pull you every engagement. If you DO get Hooked, the Hook duration is rather short (it is much shorter than the GS #5 duration). Stability will deny the Pull.

Guardian finally has a way to engage targets and punish them for simply walking away from him so easily (as is always done against core game Guard). Let’s not QQ it right out of existence before two full weeks even pass.

EDIT: And NO…Guardian/DH CANNOT simply “one-shot” a high toughness target. Can they burst them fairly low if they land every burst skill and use all their damage utilities? Yes. Every class can if they use EVERYTHING at their disposal on one target, and not a single attack is evaded/negated.

Good to know the CD on the pull (ty @Ragnorox as well for that).

I don’t want to QQ it “out of existence”, but it is clearly much, much more powerful than a trapper ranger. You don’t even see many guards who are not running DH these days. In fact, guard is one of my favourite classes to play, but DH just seems so much more powerful than even my burn guard that I don’t get the urge to play guard.

Look, a couple of you keep saying that a DH can’t “one-shot” a high toughness target, but my ranger runs rabid and has pretty high protection uptime and yet this thing can 100-1 me before I get a chance to react. Its happened several times and I have seen it done to other players as well. If I was running something with no toughness I could understand it.

There is no use just denying it and saying “it doesn’t happen”, or its “sci-fi”, or making some random insulting comment. I get hit by an unblockable instant cast pull with a longer range than any weapon I am using (even though I have a bow) into an instant death trap. Its all the more infuriating because the ranger traps do bugger all in comparison.

Ragnarox.9601:

Yasha.5963:

choovanski.5462:

it’s f1 to leash, and f1 again to pull the leashed person. very similar to GS5

Seriously? It doesn’t say that in the skill descriptions.

A 1200 range unblockable pull on a class that that one shot even high toughness builds? Sounds good, I guess I better buy HoT.

Now you talking sci fi. You cant oneshot high toughness builds. Pull have high CD. Buy HoT.

Just wanted to note that Justice (the pull) has a 17.5 second CD when traited which is pretty short considering the synergy with the rest of DH abilities.

Also not only was I running rabid (high toughness) and at full health, but I had protection (-33% damage) from a ranger trait. Yet I have still been blown up (100-0) several times.

choovanski.5462:

Yasha.5963:

choovanski.5462:

Yasha.5963:

choovanski.5462:

it’s f1 to leash, and f1 again to pull the leashed person. very similar to GS5

Seriously? It doesn’t say that in the skill descriptions.

A 1200 range unblockable pull on a class that that one shot even high toughness builds? Sounds good, I guess I better buy HoT.

engi has a 1200 range unlockable pull. it’s nothing new.

if you’re getting 1shot by DH then you have bigger problems than not owning HoT.

Yes and when engi was able to go stealth pull and then do the “100 nades” they got nerfed because it was one shotting people everywhere. Nor can they pull you into traps that auto daze making it impossible to react.

it’s not impossible to react.

When I get caught in a DH trap, I can’t dodge, or use any skills. Even if I use a stun break I seem to get dazed again immediately. That could be because the DH lays down another trap which triggers a second daze, not sure.

It is therefore impossible to react.

Note: I am not sure why I can’t dodge, since I should be able to- maybe that is an effect from Dragon’s maw?

Note: I don’t particularly want DH nerfed, I am just upset that the DH trap build is so much better than Ranger trapper.

Like today for example a DH just ran up on to all my traps (without dodging or anything, he just ate it all but was relatively fine afterwards), I had moved to range so I set my dogs on to him to trigger his traps then suddenly I get chained into his full trap set up (two DH traps are instant cast lol), and I am dead- running rabid, from full health.

DH is like the ultimate, most awesome, the dream trap build. I guess I just have trap envy.

choovanski.5462:

Yasha.5963:

choovanski.5462:

it’s f1 to leash, and f1 again to pull the leashed person. very similar to GS5

Seriously? It doesn’t say that in the skill descriptions.

A 1200 range unblockable pull on a class that that one shot even high toughness builds? Sounds good, I guess I better buy HoT.

engi has a 1200 range unlockable pull. it’s nothing new.

if you’re getting 1shot by DH then you have bigger problems than not owning HoT.

Yes and when engi was able to go stealth pull and then do the “100 nades” they got nerfed because it was one shotting people everywhere. Nor can they pull you into traps that auto daze making it impossible to react.

Ragnarox.9601:

Yasha.5963:

choovanski.5462:

it’s f1 to leash, and f1 again to pull the leashed person. very similar to GS5

Seriously? It doesn’t say that in the skill descriptions.

A 1200 range unblockable pull on a class that that one shot even high toughness builds? Sounds good, I guess I better buy HoT.

Now you talking sci fi. You cant oneshot high toughness builds. Pull have high CD. Buy HoT.

I have been blown up several times on Ranger running rabid amulet. If DH traps are traited for daze you can’t stun break to heal, you just die.

choovanski.5462:

it’s f1 to leash, and f1 again to pull the leashed person. very similar to GS5

Seriously? It doesn’t say that in the skill descriptions.

A 1200 range unblockable pull on a class that that one shot even high toughness builds? Sounds good, I guess I better buy HoT.

Is that the pull or just the leash that does condition damage?

Just wondering what is the DH ability that looks like a leash comes out toward you and then pulls you into them?

I read the abilities on the internet but the only thing I could find was “Dragon’s Maw” which only pulls in a 180 range. This pull seems like maybe up to 900 range, looks like a black chain or something comes out of guard towards you.

I noticed the same thing today, I don’t think it was the auto proc bow knockback.

Simeonus.9237:

I have to admit that traps hit hard but you have to sacrifice your defensive and mobility utilites for them, also you suffer from conditions, because you can’t cleanse them and since traps deal damage in short distance any range DPS can avoid them. So stop Q.Q how OP is it just learn how to counter..

But that’s just the thing- a DH doesn’t have to sacrifice defensive/other utilities when they take traps. The traps come with strong utility and strong damage. I think this is fine, but compared to ranger traps a DH doesn’t have to sacrifice anything really to take traps.

So leave DH as is, but buff those ranger traps. Just chuck some stability, stun breaks, agesis, blinds, pulls, slows, swiftness, and auto dazes on those ranger traps, maybe bump up the damage to nuclear bomb levels, leave CDs as is and we’ll be sweet.

I really liked courtyard as well, sure you could have some bad games, but I also had the best games there as well.

I really don’t understand why Skyhammer was forced down our necks despite a huge and protracted outcry by the community but courtyard was so lightly discarded.

Rezzet.3614:

uhohhotdog.3598:

Elxdark.9702:

Yasha.5963:

I think DH traps a fine, the problem is Ranger traps are too weak. Please throw in some stability, daze, blind, ageis procs on the ranger traps as well and give them a trap elite.

You can’t compare a mere abilities from ranger (traps) with an elite specialization.

but yeah ranger traps need a buff, they’re garbage besides the burn trap.

Yes you can because elite has nothing at all to do with how strong it is or rather how strong it’s supposed to be.

try running a condi build with ranger traps that’s the diference between ranger and guard DH does power damage and ranger is condi damage traps

Its true that ranger traps are condition based and DH is direct damage, but the amazing thing about DH traps are the utility they bring. As a ranger running full traps you get no stun break, no stability, no auto daze on traps, no aegis, no swiftness etc.

DH traps are legendary, they are like what trapper rangers have dreamed they could have since launch, but were too scared to even suggest because you thought everyone would laugh at you for asking for such OP skills.

“Please take all the downside away from traps while boosting the damage to the point I can one shot people”.

Druid seems quite strong as well, but the DH traps really make ranger trapper builds seem underwhelming.

The thing is Ranger trapper builds are actually reasonably good at low/mid tier play levels but the DH traps just give all the utility you have to sacrifice when taking traps as a ranger.

Its like a ranger trapper that also has stun breaks, stability, dazes, pulls/cc to keep players in traps or bring them into traps, plus more damage.

Mcrocha.3891:

Elxdark.9702:

Yasha.5963:

I think DH traps a fine, the problem is Ranger traps are too weak. Please throw in some stability, daze, blind, ageis procs on the ranger traps as well and give them a trap elite.

You can’t compare a mere abilities from ranger (traps) with an elite specialization.

but yeah ranger traps need a buff, they’re garbage besides the burn trap.

Elite specialization aren’t supposed to be vertical upgrades, so actually you can compare them. To theif traps as well.

“Aren’t supposed to” being key here

Look I am really surprised by these Guard traps. Someone earlier in this thread said “You can’t have it all”, but these traps have fantastic built in utility that triggers automatically and do enough damage to one shot some builds (I have been blown up a couple of times even running a high toughness build). They seem to have long durations, have built in mechanics to keep players inside the trap, as well as some being instant casts!

Some people are saying that the traps are easy to negate and that DH’s have to sacrifice defensive cooldowns to take the traps, but rangers have been in this situation all along, and in the case of rangers you really do have to sacrifice a lot to take the traps because they don’t come with all that built in goodness like stun breaks, stability, daze, etc.

The DH design is awesome, its exactly what traps should be- but its weird that the archetypal Ranger trapper now feels like a second rate hunter. I guess its because you need to be that much better to hunt dragons?

I think DH traps a fine, the problem is Ranger traps are too weak. Please throw in some stability, daze, blind, ageis procs on the ranger traps as well and give them a trap elite, oh yeah- and also put a stun break on ranger traps- thanks!

sinject.4607:

FeelsAlright.5860:

Nah thief is the only balanced thing in the game. Gut everything else.

this is the real issue. thief has been left out of the drastic power creep since the spec. update way back. we’ve remained as strong as before whilst everything else has gotten drastically stronger making us contextually underpowered.

Actually thief has had some of its specs nerfed considerably. Good players are still dangerous, but I wonder if they would be even moreso if they played an OP class/build.

Its almost impossible for me to play a burst thief now, because I’m not an awesome player and I have 300-plus ping. Basically any bit of stray random aoe is life threatening, and if you miss any dodge you are dead.

Similarly playing against thieves, I will encounter a rare good player that makes me sit up and think, but most just die horribly.

Its kind of sad considering how good they used to be. I remember awesome plays like stealing a warrior’s axe whirl, laying down a smoke field and taking out three lowish health players after a group fight, shadow refuge and stomp all of them. These days I would probably just die from the downed aoe damage if I tried that.

In spvp it just seems like the new guard traps are way more powerful than the ranger traps. They can pretty much instantly kill you even if you have stun breaks and high toughness. There is also an elite trap which ranger doesn’t have.

Random Weird Guy.3528:

Yasha.5963:

Random Weird Guy.3528:

Yasha.5963:

Can Rangers also have nice traps, pretty please?

Someone’s clearly never been to WvW.

I am talking about spvp. I forgot they merged the WvW and spvp forum.

It’s the same traps.

Yeah same traps but WvW has food and so forth so balance is often different to spvp.

Random Weird Guy.3528:

Yasha.5963:

Can Rangers also have nice traps, pretty please?

Someone’s clearly never been to WvW.

I am talking about spvp. I forgot they merged the WvW and spvp forum.

Can Rangers also have nice traps, pretty please?

TheLastNobody.8319:

It’s not just what stick and move said. See burn guards apply a lot of AoE burn, and MM have a trait in DM that makes it so minions draw condis off the master AND Transfer them back. So let’s say you use Judge’s intervention on the MM with his minions nearby and hit the minions in addition to the MM, all of them now have three stacks of burning. So when they hit you, they transfer all that burn back.

So take 3 times 5….that’s 15 burning sent right back in your face.

Suggestion, lead the MM away from his minions, or get help bursting them down. Otherwise, either find another build or just avoid MM like the plague.

Thanks, I am pretty sure this is what happened. kitten , a straight out counter to that condition guard build. Will just have to keep away from those mms on my guard!

On my guard I keep getting all my burst conditions transferred back to me (at least I think that’s what’s happening) whenever I attack a MM necro with all its minions up. I haven’t played for a while, but I don’t remember facing this before.

Could anyone tell me what the skill is that is doing this and the suggested counter play?

Velimere.7685:

I consistently lost to Trap Ranger as a Dagger/Dagger Elementalist today while practicing 1v1; it was harsh because he would time his condition stacking against my Water Attunement. I got lucky once and beat him once, though.

.

Are you saying that player condi-spiked when you when into water or just after you came out of water?

Archaon.9524:

Velimere.7685:

Archaon.9524:

harcounter, for those who apparently can’t read or understand means “Forcing someone to disengage 1v1 or die on point with basically no chances for the other guy to win considering same skill level”

got it now? i can also make a simple drawing if needed…sorry if i didn’t explain some basic term, i forgot i was writing on forums….my bad

That’s great and all, Lad, but the rest of us were talking about a hard counter. Feel free to go back to your simple drawings now.

Just for you man…hope it helps

That’s great, haha. So if y= d/d ele, x = pretty much everything else?

Random Weird Guy.3528:

Yasha.5963:

Random Weird Guy.3528:

Celestial necros counter d/d eles (constant boon removal, transferring burns). Condi rangers, condi mesmers and condi engis are all capable of killing d/d eles on point, though those are hardly meta.

How do condi rangers conter d/d ele? That is the hardest match up for me when I play condi ranger.

Random Weird Guy.3528:

When I posted this response, the question was ‘who can kill a d/d ele on point’, nothing about hard countering.

I can’t kill a d/d ele on a point or anywhere else on my condi/trap ranger build (unless that ele is very, very bad or hasn’t traited properly).

They are the one build that can chase me down and kill me consistently; if its 1vs1 I just run most of the time (I have to run well in advance because they also have incredible mobility and I can’t get away if they decide to chase).

So again please share how a condi/trap ranger can kill these d/d eles on point? If you can do it please teach us how, I am quite sick of being chased around by d/d eles who I don’t stand any chance against.

Random Weird Guy.3528:

Celestial necros counter d/d eles (constant boon removal, transferring burns). Condi rangers, condi mesmers and condi engis are all capable of killing d/d eles on point, though those are hardly meta.

How do condi rangers conter d/d ele? That is the hardest match up for me when I play condi ranger.

unlucky.9285:

you do realise as a thief you just need to daze the necro and 111 your way to victory right? shove a blind on them and daze the right skills not much they can do.. shadow step away from tainted shackles breaks its contact and continue to smack away.

it might take a while but by then your team mate is there to help or the necro will have run out of deathshroud

Maybe that would work on sword/dagger thief? On d/p (before the patch) I did it by wilting them down with blinds/auto attack and stealth to heal/condi cleanse, then timing backstab burst and stolen fears to finish.

However, I can’t do that since the patch because everything hits so hard. Also note that if its taking a long time the necro’s teammates are also very likely to show up, which probably means instant death these days.

Looks like you haven’t played for a while, there has been a lot of changes.

You can easily play with your friend(s) now in spvp, just group with them and select the “play” option in the spvp game selector, this will queue you in the “unranked” game mode. This is now the base mode, all games are 5vs5 and its a lot of fun.

The old Hotjoin mode is totally different now, its called “practice” and due to various changes the mode has been completely destroyed- do not play it, trust me.

Armor and weapon skins have also been overhauled. You can now wear whatever you want into spvp (no armor/weapon stats are applied of course).

You can also now level through spvp and get gold and other rewards that you can use in other areas of the game.

However, it sounds to me as if you had some misconceptions about the game from the start, because as far as I can remember you could always join spvp with friends, even in hotjoin, you just had to manually select the same room/server.

In terms of skill- although it is a team based game, it also has a high individual skill cap compared to other mmo pvp. Different classes and different builds within a class play very differently though, some are more active/skill based than others.

Abaddon Dies In End.3794:

So I main d/p thief, and, until recently, I thought I was pretty good at it. Before, I could take down most classes 1v1 most of the time (with the exception of engi, guard, and sometimes warrior), but now, I find myself running from fights so often that I’m thinking about switching my main to mesmer.

My question is are other experienced thieves finding the same thing? Or have I just gotten worse all of a sudden?

Same here, the rot started for me when black powder was nerfed , but now its much, much harder; I really feel my ping, its completely unforgiving.

Personal score means little, and its great to say hello to everyone at the start of the match.

Dawdler.8521:

So OP as a Thief faced the class that counters Thief easily due to heavy AoE and thus, its OP… when fighting 3 of them. Good thinking there. Really logical.

I am sure OP would have done better facing 3 rampage Warriors or 3 Guardians putting 40 stacks of burning on him. Or 3 Mesmers killing him before the next frame updates.

I used to be able to beat most necros (inc minion) 1vs1 on my d/p thief- they were one of my favourite classes to play against as a thief because the steal is so good. Pretty sure I have no chance of doing that anymore even against inexperienced players.

Anyway, necros do seem quite a bit stronger atm, not sure if that is necessarily a bad thing though, and they are not as OP as ele/Mesmer atm (imo).

Archaon.9524:

Yasha.5963:

Reduce might stacking to max of 10?

that would nerf every single spec…

pvp needs celestial eles to be nerfed…not everyone, cause after equally nerfing everything they still gonna sit on top spamming their crap and trolling everyone else all day long

It seems to me that a key problem is the ability of some classes to run highly defensive builds that can also do high damage by stacking might. Eles have fairly easy access to might stacking and can maintain high might stacks in an optimal build.

In other words reducing might stacking (it would have to be a big cut like to 10 or so) would not nerf all classes/builds equally- it would nerf a main cause of cheese in pvp.

There are other areas that need to be cut imo, but you guys have already talked about that a lot.

I know might stacking will never be addressed though because I imagine the pve crowd would have a heart attack if ANET did that, even though it would clearly be good for balance in pvp.

Reduce might stacking to max of 10?

Just played ranger a bit more- this class has been gutted- why? Were they that dominant before the patch? Spirits don’t even move anymore- complete joke (not to mention SON nerfs); rampage as one’s duration has been cut??? It wasn’t even that strong to begin with compared to other classes ults. Pets are weaker than ever, wow no wonder most people are ranking ranger as the weakest class recently.

Oh my god, I just discovered this today- this is insane! How about making necro minions immobile as well. A complete joke, really wtf are you thinking.

How about just give all other classes OP ults?

Eg: Triple the damage of Thief’s bladestorm, equipping ele’s sword also grants stability, Ranger’s rage as one increases damage by a stacking 10% for every hit the pet/ranger makes, Mesmer already has an OP ult, but still a bit lacking comparatively, so maybe make Moa aoe, etc.

Note that all these buffed ultimates would be countered easily so should be fine (as explained by above posters).

xDudisx.5914:

nacario.9417:

xDudisx.5914:

If you observe the patch notes from the last 2 years, you will see ranger is one of the class which got the most buffs.

Just to list a few:

-longbow dmg buff
-GS dmg buff
-reduce dc on shouts
-entangle reduced cd to 60s
-reduce the cd on signets
-warhorn cd reduction
-axe might on autoatck
-countless trait buffs
-etc…

So you went through all the countless patch notes the last two years in detail to come up with that conclusion

I play this game since 2013. During that time I’ve read pretty much all class balance patch notes.

Yes, ranger is one class has been getting constant buffs, patch after patch. Compare the today’s ranger with the 2.5 years ago ranger. Now look at classes like thief, ele, guard, that are always getting nerfs….

They also got a lot of nerfs, for example pet leash distance was reduced, shortbow was severely nerfed, the grandmaster trait that transfers conditions to pets was nerfed, a first tier trait (quickness on pet swap) was moved to grand master, pet damage was nerfed, and much more.

The best buffs are not on your list though- imo the buff to Longbow (not damage) utility with the stealth shot was a game changer, as was the signet buff, which allowed rangers to use that immunity CD without traiting for it. Those two changes basically made power rangers viable in pvp.

However, I feel rangers were comparatively stronger at launch than they are now- especially against certain classes (necro and ele in particular), but possibly are now a little stronger against thieves (which have had some pretty severe nerfs over the years).

After playing ranger a bit again, I think pets need a buff, short bow needs some love, and bonfire needs to be more of a bonfire than a small camp fire considering its CD.

Puck.9612:

Pets are only receiving half the stats they used to get from the beast mastery line. Anet said the other half would become baseline but that hasn’t happened.
.

Really? If true that is pretty severe.

One thing I would like to see is the remaining pet related traits bundled into the BM line, basically as standard (without having to “pick” them) since we now have to go fully into any particular tree.

Pretty sure black powder got a heavy nerf a while back, not sure thief needs to be punished more.

OP as to your suggestion about changing how blind works for various classes, I would say blind should remain the same on thief, but be nerfed as you suggest for other classes. Also warrior’s auto-condi cleanse on bow f1 should only work if it actually hits (or have they changed that already?, if so good).

How do you find Ranger pets these days? To me, even with full BM they feel somewhat lacklustre, easily killed in the overwhelming aoe and cleave you see in nearly every game, and they just don’t seem to have the bite they used to.

I like some of the new traits that give the pet f2 a bit of utility, but something still seems off. Don’t know if the short leash, lowish damage (was it nerfed since launch?), or pretty much everyone now seemingly having fast run speed and various abilities that auto proc blind, cripples, etc, but I just can’t find that classic BM playstyle atm. The BM trait line has its good points, but the pets just don’t feel that powerful to me.

Any rangers had success in pvp recently with BM and pets? Any pointers?

OP, GW2 is a great pvp game, but it has had constant issues with certain classes being both extremely hard to kill and able to dish out high damage. They change/rebalance things but in the end there is always a few specs like this.

One great thing that came out of the recent changes is that some of the high damage/high survivability builds have been neutered, they just need to heavily nerf ele and Mesmer, and perhaps tweak necro and warrior and burn/guard (tweak as in slightly nerf) a bit. Why d/d ele seems to have constantly been the most OP class in the game (apart from a brief time after launch) is beyond me. Just nerf that kittener and give another class a chance in the sun.

Ironically, in many ways I feel the game was more balanced at launch- but it might just be because people didn’t know how to play/build properly at the start. I will say though that ultimates like Lich and Rampage were no where near as strong at launch, although I am not totally against making ultimates feel more like “ultimate” abilities rather than just another utility.

Yeah, agree with the OP: ele again is king, Mesmer got a huge buff, engi thankfully is not completely OP any more, thief depends so much on the player (used to be my favourite class, now I can’t even play it anymore, its weird), warrior and necro are good, guard is pretty easy- great aoe burn damage, ranger is ok but just outshone by the top tier classes.