Guild Wars 2

It is because they fixed the buggy way crit damage down scaled.
Yes in a lot of dungeons and zones zerker has actually been buffed.

I documented it here https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Zerker-was-buffed-in-numerous-zones-PvE/first#post3905579

Those banners stack? I am surprised.

Who can suggest the tankiest build in the game?
I don’t mean who can heal their group the best, I mean who can keep themselves alive.

I’m thinking it might be a 0/0/30/30/0 (+10) AH hammer guardian.

I think the lack of boon duration runes really harms build diversity, and promotes the zerker meta.

What radius is it?

If the answer is 240 yards or less, the group will be tightly stacked. The group is therefore likely to be pro enough to be stacking fire field blasts.
Thus is one of the major problems with ‘support’ atm.

maxinion.8396:

You know you have more than 2 sets of weapons equipped at any time, right?

(put a bloodlust sigil in your underwater weapon)

I think that only works on maps with underwater mobs. When you move into an instance it is reset?

I’m actually considering swapping scholar for strength on my guardian.
Since now you will mostly need to have at least 1 weapon equipped with bloodlust on it, the whole 2h + 1h/offhand swapping thing doesn’t work so well since greatsword with force/night is probably higher dps than 1h/offhand with night/bloodlust.

So you may as well take the staff along for prebuffs. 15/16 second 12 might empower for pugs? Sounds good.

I think it’s 43. It scaled up to roughly 61 with a cleric amulet.

Nikaido.3457:

Funnily enough, it seems like it’s a reverse nerf when it comes to low level dungeons. Even mediocre dps pugs will output more than enough to trivialize all the AC bosses.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Zerker-was-buffed-in-numerous-zones-PvE/

Just go buy some dps gear :P

Zerker is even more important now, not less important. There’s less room for slackers.

On average boss fights lasted about 0-10% longer. On fotm49 things went faster than usual because I gearchecked the group to make sure they were all zerkers. Usually I can carry some slackers, but I don’t risk it anymore.

Agree with the above. Underwhelming is the word I would use to describe them.
Unfortunately I feel like anet may have wasted development resource on this. Scholar is still the default dps rune (possibly strength) and any support diversity has been removed (boon duration)

Can anyone remember which (if any) world bosses can be crit? This might be important for guilds trying to do megabosses.

Gonna guess this isn’t happening.

It will only take 500-600g to regear into something else if you want to though.

Sergiu.3698:

im bit 2 sad for that but whatever
ferocity 1017
~before the nerf my crit damage was 109%~now is something around 72.46() if im correct.

15% dps loss at 100% crit chance.
10% dps loss at 50% crit chance.

Depends on what your crit chance is, but you didn’t do too badly

These are my stat values in 2 different specs (dps + bunker) with 3 types of gear:
As you can see you’re losing a lot of dps by not going zerker. The only place celestial is alright is in a bunker build, but honestly I’d probably go for pvt sooner than celestial for a bunker because the dps is only slightly lower but the hp and damage reduction are better.

20/25/0/0/25
zerker
14292 effective power, 12518 effective health, 10805 hp, 0 healing, 13.68% dmg reduction

celestial
10779 effective power, 22067 effective health, 15565 hp, 476 healing, 29.47% dmg reduction

pvt
9163 effective power, 28556 effective health, 18255 hp, 0 healing, 36.07% dmg reduction

0/0/30/30/10
zerker
10558 effective power, 19377 effective health, 13805hp, 300 healing, 28.75% dmg reduction

celestial
7966 effective power, 30871 effective health, 18565hp, 776 healing, 39.86% dmg reduction

pvt
7471 effective power, 38358 effective health, 21255hp, 300 healing, 44.73% dmg reduction

Finally – boon duration has been killed so it’s either dps or tank for us now.

Sergiu.3698:

i have lost 40% critical damage on my mixed armor , valk and celestial
this is not a kittening 10% nerf omg,

It’s probably not far off. Provide us with your crit chance and we will tell you.

The above was for explorable dungeons by the way.
Storymode dungeons are even easier post-patch because they are all lower level.

daros.3407:

I did COF 2 right now and i have to say that my DPS wasn’t certainly same. It was noticeably lower for sure.

You would have lost 10-15% from the ferocity nerf, clawed back some % from the scaling fix. Overall you’re right the CoF damage is probably a bit lower, but not too bad.

TLDR version:
Your dungeon tour will probably now be even quicker than before!

Due to how stat scaling worked before the patch; the average output of a character with zerker stats has increased in any map lower than level 80. I have found that for any map lower than level 70, the increase in damage output due to the fixed ferocity scaling more than makes up for the ferocity nerf itself.
For more info on why pre-patch crit damage scaling was incorrect see here and here .

You will do more damage post-patch than you did pre-patch in :
AC, CM, TA (non Aetherblade path), SE.
*You will likely do the same damage as before in CoF. *
*You will do 10%-15% less damage in: *HotW, CoE, Arah and FotM.

You will also benefit from this whenever doing megaboss events in lower level maps where either the boss or minions can be crit.

== Below are my stats across various maps ==
LA
Pre patch:
51% crit chance
107% crit dmg
(180% avg dmg)

Post patch:
51% crit chance
76% crit dmg
(164% avg dmg)

Shatterer
Pre patch:
51% crit chance
52% crit dmg
(152% avg dmg)

Post patch:
51% crit chance
75% crit dmg
(164% avg dmg)

Dredgehaunt cliffs
Pre patch:
52% crit chance
37% crit dmg
(146% avg dmg)

Post patch:
52% crit chance
76% crit dmg
(166% avg dmg)

Harathi hinterlands
Pre patch:
52% crit chance
37% crit dmg
(145% avg dmg)

Post patch:
52% crit chance
75% crit dmg
(165% avg dmg)

Gendarran fields
Pre patch:
49% crit chance
24% crit dmg
(136% avg dmg)

Post patch:
49% crit chance
72% crit dmg
(160% avg dmg)

Kessex hills
Pre patch:
48% crit chance
20% crit dmg
(133% avg dmg)

Post patch:
48% crit chance
71% crit dmg
(158% avg dmg)

Queensdale
Pre patch:
33% crit chance
5% crit dmg
(118% avg dmg)

Post patch:
33% crit chance
47% crit dmg
(131% avg dmg)

Bonus points
Fiery greatsword & frostbow will now do 5% more damage with an ascended weapon (this 5% can be multiplied by other damage modifiers) for super dps!

Zepidel you forgot the innate 150% modifier which everyone has.
He went from 240% damage 45% of the time to 193% damage 45% of the time.

Zerker is still the best pve spec by far.

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

Pray tell me, how much total damage loss is a 47% reduction (90% to 43%) of crit damage at 45% crit chance? Hint: its heaps.

PVT Armor, Zerk trinkets, max ferocity on traits with food.

Just over 10 percent. And a significantly smaller actual dps number loss to a pure zerker, since it is 10 percent of a smaller number.
Minor nerf imo. Zerker still pve meta, bunker with some condis still wvw meta.

silvermember.8941:

noobzerker to noob their way through content.

I’m not following your logic here. Zerkers get 1 shotted a lot of the time if they don’t dodge correctly. It has been proven that a cleric guard can almost afk lupicus to death. Why wouldn’t the zerker require more active skill?

I assume you have a youtube channel full of you soloing the various critical-dodge bosses in the game, since it’s such a nooby/easy thing to accomplish.

I think anet are trying to tell you to pick up some zerker gear..

~10% damage loss.
Zerkers are still the meta. Possibly more important than before due to overall decreased dps.

FGS/Frostbow buffed by 5%, which compounds with other damage modifiers. Likely outcome is full meta groups see an increase in overall dps despite the ferocity nerf.

2h sigils mostly remove the bloodlust change. Scholar runes unchanged.

Not worried, zerkers are still #1 by miles.

Not seeing the magnitude you’re talking about. Even at 100% crit change that ‘nerf’ is only roughly a 12% dps loss. I think the FGS/Frostbow buff makes up for that.

Ragion.2831:

well people asked for a less zerk dependent game and we got it. LOL

You got the opposite. Zerkers are more important than ever now, there is less room for slack in the meta groups.

Weaken:
Ferocity lowered overall damage output
Stat stacking sigils now need to be equipped (only an issue for dual wielders)

Reinforce:
Boon duration nerfed
2 sigils for 2h weapons
Strength runes could make might stacking easymode
FGS and Frostbow are considered bundles and will now do 5% more damage with an ascended weapon equipped
If overall dps is lower yet mob hp remains the same – dps becomes more important (less slack room)
Bloodlust sigil becomes a freebie on any map with underwater enemies.

Your thoughts?

Night + Monster specific 10% sigil.
Night + Force.
Force + Bloodlust.

In that order depending on the scenario.

Until I see games without the trinity offering complex fights such as vashj, sunstrider, alar, hydross, gorefiend, Council, firefighter mimiron, etc I will conclude that the trinity offers far more opportunity for complex fight mechanics than a pure “everyone is dps” approach.

What would really help the tank/healer shortage would be allowing everyone to be a tank healer or Dps whenever they felt like it without rerolling or regearing.

Grassrab.9302:

Keep in mind that in low level zones (1-15) your stats 2 and 3 are not used only stat 1 on the gear. This is because there is not level 15 gear with a 2nd stat. Crit damage is usually the 3 stat so is only effective in higher level areas

Unfortunately that’s not correct.
Here are stats for a completely naked, untraited level 80 guardian with 1 ascended amulet on.

Soldier amulet:
LA
1042 power
1001 vitality
1001 tough
916 precision (4% crit)
0% crit damage

Kessex
196 power
188 vitality
188 tough
172 precision (4% crit)
0% crit damage

Zerker amulet:
LA
1042 power
916 vitality
916 tough
1001 precision (8% crit)
9% crit damage

Kessex
196 power
172 vitality
172 tough
188 precision (8% crit)
2% crit damage

In all cases apart from the crit damage… the downscaling was to 18.8% of the original stats.
With the soldier amulet your average bonus damage went from being +2% in LA to +2% in Kessex. (No change).
With the zerker amulet your average bonus damage went from being +4.72% in LA to +4.16% in Kessex. (My zerker gear gave me a bigger boost in LA than it does in Kessex).
Scale that up to a full gearset and you see the loss in damage caused by incorrect scaling of crit damage.

You get the full benefit of all 3 stats, apart from crit damage which scales incorrectly. It should scale like crit chance.

Wethospu.6437:

I have been thinking Ferocity was introduced to fix problems like this.

Don’t forget multiple dungeons are flagged as sub-80. Exp AC for example.
If this is ‘fixed’ alongside ferocity we could see zerker gear being even better in ac, cm, some ta, se and cof.

So is this still being considered?

Crit damage is unfairly downscaled. As most people know, the way to calculate your ‘effective power’ is to run your power through a series of crit chance/dmg modifications followed by overall damage modifications (eg +10% dmg traits). Obviously players need to be scaled.. and if you are in a zone which demands players do half their 80 damage.. then of course power will be halved. Crit damage should therefore remain static if we want to achieve the same benefits from those stats wherever you are in the world as is the case with precision, toughness, vitality, power etc.

Here are my stats when in different places around the world:

LA (80)
51% crit chance
107% crit dmg

Shatterer (50-60)
51% crit chance
52% crit dmg

Dredgehaunt cliffs (40-50)
52% crit chance
37% crit dmg

Kessex hills (15-25)
48% crit chance
20% crit dmg

At 80 my stats show a 80.07% increase in my average damage thanks to my crit chance and crit damage.
When I fight shatterer or travel in that zone, my stats show a 52.02% increase in my average damage thanks to my crit chance and crit damage.
When I run around dredgehaunt cliffs my stats show a 45.24% increase in my average damage thanks to my crit chance and crit damage.
When I run around kessex hills my stats show a 33.6% increase in my average damage thanks to my crit chance and crit damage.

See the problem? Crit chance and crit damage is a percentage based modifier on your damage output. There’s no reason it should be a lower percent in a low level map.

FEROCITY APPEARS
Any idea how this will be scaled?

Ignore tapdatmouse for pve builds. He usually suggests trashy celestial ah tanks or something.

Obal (stickied) is your best bet for pve.

Those backpacks are the only thing that have stopped me rolling an engineer.

0.0.20.30.20 with mace and battle presence is incredible healing.
Mace is useless in the zerker meta, but outside of the meta it does aoe regeneration / virtue / dodge healing / symbol healing really well.

The offhand choices are terrible and protectors strike needs buffed, but for pure party wife sustain it’s not so bad. Just needs some pve meta and mechanic changes.

Hoping some of these will be addressed in the patch!

I’m fine with mace not being a great Dps weapon, but at the moment mace support is not very good. And the mace trait gives 5% more dmg.. No idea why since mace users obviously aren’t focusing on damage.

OK so new map instances will be generated as required.

Has anything been said about the average amount of players on one map? Personally I enjoy events more when there is not a massive zerg.

Some people work hard, figure out the tp, plan ahead and read patch notes. Those kind of rich people are fine.
Some people have ridiculous rng luck finding precuesors, that’s not fine.

Thanks for the replies all.

I’ve jumped into the API and made a spreadsheet which updates whenever I tell it to with up to date buy/sell/profit etc style data on the markets I’m currently interested in.
Hoping to develop it further, no idea how to play the tp currently though so if anyone wants to chat – please pm me!

Guardians have decreased hp because their utilities and traits make them more survivable. Vigor was one of those things given to us to bring the survivability back up..

If we get Mai I usually just put my cleric gear on and respec 0/0/20/30/20 mace Guardian with battle presence. It allows the whole group to facetank her on one spot and makes it very easy.

What are your favorites and what do you use them for?

One of my favorites is gw2crafts.net as it will show what crafters are about to buy over the next 30 mins to level up. If you get in early, you can make a quick buck.

Which race would you like to see?

Incredible amount of suggestions here.

To me this says that the ability to decide your own stat combos would be a fantastic addition to the game.

I would love to see a stat combo dedicated to support roles. At the moment if you go tanky and/or support you get landed with at least one useless stat (eg cleric – why do I want power? Why does my toughness gear always come with power+precision, power+crit dmg, or condition dmg!? I don’t need that on my toughness gear!!

I appreciate needing to balance in a bit of dps.. but the zerker standing next to me is going to do 10x my dps if I am trying to support.. let me do the support job properly and let him do the dps job properly!

Toughness / Vitality / Power (A bit like soldier / sentinel but with more emphasis on mitigation)
Toughness / Vitality / Healing power (No dps, pure tank/support)

Toughness / Boon duration / Healing power (This already exists but boon duration on gear is kitten!! Please fix!!)
Toughness / Boon duration / Vitality (As the above but with vitality instead of healing power for those low hp support players).

Jerus.4350:

Doesn’t mesmer’s staff phantasm hit pretty well when you have the full gambit of conditions on the enemy? IIRC it was like 40-50k+ /shrug.

Staff warlock on a zerker build is actually quite incredible in raid settings. Possibly the highest dps of all classes. Guang knows a lot more about phantasms than I do, he once made a list showing mesmer was pretty good once all phantasms were reliably out.

Eles and Guardians will definitely dominate heals. You can’t dodge megaboss oneshots forever.. there’s a reason people don’t run zerker gear at teq. This is when healing becomes important.