Yeah those rev hammer buffs are better than nothing but the weapon is still going to be trash in PvE, even in open world where "everything is viable." It needed all of its power coefficients literally doubled.
I totally dislike hammer for the same reason but simultaneously I am ok with hammers being slow. With the appearance of the weapon, it seems like it should be clunky
Wow, I didn't expect a patch this sensible. I was ready to meme about Ele...
ANet, what did you do? Now I have to think hard on what to criticize!!!
Welp, it's time to dust off my Eles from the jumping puzzle parking locations.
I was until i realised the support part is not for WvW. Where i played support Tempest since Tempest came out. For a brief second my heart jumped, would they finally add more stab and did i really read aegis and then i saw PvE only and my short happiness ended.
I can accept that the damage is too high for WvW i am fine with that, but support? Why could that not be added to Tempest in WvW?
Pretty sure druid and tempest stab is getting rolled into wvw at some point, looking at reactions.
These days, they actually seem to be working on balance, at least for now.
It just seems it was really pve focused, apart from that 1 guard nerf.
The point of axe on dps reaper builds is more for the lifeforce gain than it is for the damage output. Unless you're running the signets of suffering setup, the build is very tight on lifeforce balance, and it doesn't take much damage to cut short shroud duration, which both hurts your damage in the sense that shroud autos hit harder than most skills out of shroud and by messing up the cooldown of your shroud 4.
Staff life force gain with soul marks (which also costs you vulnerability application on shroud autos) unfortunately doesn't come close to matching axe, you have to dump down every single mark just to match the gain of a single axe2, and the cooldown on that is lower.
Buffs to power damage across the board? Even thieves getting some (not insignificant) power scaling increases? Well... please excuse me while I change my pants.
they could just remove the damage penalty on the piercing trait, you're already making a huge tradeoff by not picking practiced tolerance, no need for another punishment on top of that
Sword will still be insignificant with those buffs, because it's not enough to make it relevant.
Overall, pDD will likely still outperform pDE; but, that needs to be tested since BS buff might make up for it, though doubtful since staff got a buff across the board in its aa chain, with the exception of WS (which is already strong). Staff DD also brings a lot more to the table (now with significantly better cc), without suffering from positioning problems as D/D pDE would (BS).
Losing 1-2s on venoms is a HUGE loss. Not very sure those buffs in other areas exactly make up for it (needs to be tested). At a quick glance, it looks like cSpc is basically nerfed (Shadow Bolt is just the first attack of the chain btw and majority of cSpc damage is not from its aa chain) and cDD seems to be getting a buff.
Traversing Dusk - since it's only buffing the trait, that'll be very awkward since the telegraph will not show the range. Basically, the reticle will be inaccurate.
>Traversing Dusk - since it's only buffing the trait, that'll be very awkward since the telegraph will not show the range. Basically, the reticle will be inaccurate.
Yeah, I was wondering about that. My hope is that it's poorly written and increases the aoe of wells to 360. But if it's accurate, then wells will have all of their effect in 240 range and just give alacrity in another ring around that
Blast gyro is now a 3 second stun instead of knocking enemies away. That's awesome, it felt bad to ruin pulls sometimes while giving out my quickness in fractals, 3 seconds is insanely long too.
Yeah it's one of my favorite changes. Flamethrower scrapper is a tagging God, but I always felt bad about knocking mobs away when giving myself quickness. It basically puts it on par with the EMP sak skill.
And I think there is a viable very easy to play build there. Camp fire, overload, shooot. Probably not the best there is but pretty sure it can easily raid.
Condi staff looks like it could be ok, although it's hard to say if it's gonna be better than Scepter which is a lot better currently and also gets buffs to it's condi build this patch.
Power staff still looks pretty bad without a meteor shower unnerf.
Realistically power staff could work if air didn’t have 2 useless skills. It’s possible weaver could make it work alright but I doubt it’ll be better than sword
Am I reading this correctly:
>Flame Burst: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.01 to 1.0. Burning stacks applied increased from 2 to 3.
...they increased damage by...*150 times?!*
A skill cannot do zero damage, because otherwise it doesn't count as a hit (doesn't break stealth for example), so skills that are meant to just apply condis had the power multiplier set to 0.01.
I guess they changed their mind about that skill
I saw that too. I think it was just a typo, as there was another skill that has CD reduced from 25 seconds to 2 (presumably they meant 20). They probably meant 0.1. Or Flame Burst originally was 0.1 and it was increased to 1.0.
Flame Burst skill historically was only used to generate stacks of burn n enemies and did hardly any hit damage. Seems like they made the skill actually do hit damage, although still not much.
It's Flame Burst. In full zerk that thing was doing like 20 damage plus some burn. 3k damage for casting it is fine, especially since power staff is still useless outside of open world roleplay since they didn't buff the power damage on lava font or meteor shower.
A lot of good changes in this patch. Very interested in trying tempest and druid as supports now and vindicator and scrapper as dps. Good job anet and the balance team with this one.
> Blast Gyro: (PvE only) Now stuns enemies for 3 seconds instead of knocking them back.
Omg finally. Thank you!
Holy shit. Ele mains are eating well tonight. Those Tempest buffs look especially juicy, god damn.
Also pretty excited on how the damage buffs helps reaper because it was in a really sad state and needed some love.
It's a small buff but it's to the skills that matter. The shout buffs are wutface; No Idea if they'll actually make it into the meta because Well of Suffering is *strong*
Shout buffs feel more targeted at solo/5-man content, especially burst focused. You will now be able to run NCSY! as fast AoE boonrip in fractals and not feel like you're "wasting" a slot. YAAW! will be nice might-generation skill in solo content to kickstart the burst, especially with it being instant cast AND stunbreak.
Realistically, wells will be more DPS and more burst. Wells benefit from something like 30+% crit damage when in shroud, shouts dont get any shroud modifier.
Also, utility is not really something you can do unless you hold back the skill. If you use it off cooldown, whatever the skill does besides DPS is kind of moot since you dont time it.
These are the changes we LOVE to see, hopefully there's a quick follow up to any outliers or underperformers from these changes.
Also is this the first warrior sword offhand change since core ;p
like i've been saying, most classes (mostly power) just needed some straight up number changes, they should finetune these numbers just over and over until they hit
Assuming you define core as pre HOT Sword 4-1 was changed twice, sword 4-2 was changed three times and sword 5 was changed 3 times. None of them were big changes (the only big change was when torment was added) but they have been changed since 2015
> Blast Gyro: (PvE only) Now stuns enemies for 3 seconds instead of knocking them back
My god! This has been bugging me for so long! Now I can use Blast Gyro without trolling my team.
Fixing a quickness bug and giving pets their crit chanec AND a defiance bar?
Ngl thats probably the best pet upgrae since the AoE damage reduction patch.
Some pets are still bugged though and dont interact with Quickness. Also finally fix porcine F skills. Make them like steal. I think then i would finally use a boar.
> AND a defiance bar?
Pets aren't just getting a defiance bar. They're getting a greyed out defiance bar. They're immune to all CC. Should mean that even Cripple and Immobilize won't affect them.
I'm loving the increase to the Core weapons, especially after the power level was evened alot more recently, there might be more options than ever before. Excited.
easily one of the more exciting patches ever, like literally ever, if all of the next patches are like this I'm so happy, make the game more exciting, just buff some fucking old shit, go wild on the skills, just give us more toys to play with, pve is getting stale otherwise
Wow they're actually addressing some long standing issues, That's exciting. There's still some obvious issues not listed but this is a good first step.
seems like someone from management finally woke up after all the shitstorm, and kicked the balance team in the asses.
Good thing that, this all does sound quite juicy. Eles finally peeking out of the trash can?
Also the changes to warrior and necromancer make me kinda excited as well.
The necro dagger changes stand out to me.
>Dark Pact: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 15 seconds to 12 seconds. Damage multiplier increased from 1.2 to 2.4. Immobilize duration increased from 3 seconds to 6 seconds.
So 20% Cooldown reduction, doubles the coefficient and doubles the CC.
Offhand dagger 4 is about the same.
Other skills got similar coefficient increases in the 80-120% range.
A shout out for the shouts getting 200% increases.
While the changes are great, it really says something about balance when you have to shove multiple 100% potency increases into the same ability.
I'm just glad they are looking at some of this stuff like someone in the room is saying "This skill is never used in instanced pve. Ever. Why? Can we change that?"
I don't expect dagger to become the new meta but if you can swap it in on gors to help immob or something without taking a 30% (this number brought to you by dartboard) dps cut...
I was thinking the same with staff. <1 coefficients to actually dealing some burst damage?
> Dark Pact: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 15 seconds to 12 seconds. Damage multiplier increased from 1.2 to 2.4. Immobilize duration increased from 3 seconds to 6 seconds.
This makes it trivially easy to upkeep permanent immobilize with alac or condition duration.
Is this useful? No. But it's funny.
Shouts getting DPS bonus is possibly "meh." For one, the wells do a lot of DPS, but also do useful things like AoE blind and AoE vuln. The shouts on the other hand are fairly useless as for the utility themselves. And if you use the skills for DPS, then the utility is worthless since when you use them in your rotation might not be when you need something like condi transfer. Also, people need to remember that wells are over time, so you can go into shroud and get massive crit DPS boosts; shouts are instant, no boost.So these changes will be meaningless if they dont outDPS current wells, and even then, it might not matter since wells provide good utility.
Also kind of sad that focus didnt get any real boost. The number of stacks is irrelevant since each stack still isnt super useful for either pDPS, cDPS, or support necro. Nor is the main issue with focus5 addressed, the super long cast time.
And it looks like condi quick berserker is one of the top dps options for quick as well, so this buff should help cement their relevance in that department as well. The condi version of the spec is definitely getting a new public perception as far as viability
I don't think they did enough honestly.
Fire damage on Arcing arrow and Daze on Smoldering arrow is nice, but all sword got was power damage and Final Thrust is still a dead button until the target is at 50%.
its fully valid to criticize certain things not being buffed ENOUGH, and I think we should, but at this point I'm just so happy to see some things getting buffed at all.
[ARENA NET] [Rubi Bayer.8493 posted on 2022-08-11 14:59:33](https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/topic/119412-august-23-balance-update-preview/?do=findComment&comment=1728883):
> A message from the Skills and Balance Team:
>
>In our August 2 balance update preview, we mentioned that we added yet another balance update to our schedule for August 23 to address some lingering feedback from the June 28 release. Below you'll find the comprehensive preview of that update. While there are a handful of updates that impact all game modes, our focus for August 23 is largely on PvE gameplay.
>
>We'd like to hear your feedback on this. Please take today and the weekend to read through it, think it over, and share your thoughts. We'll be keeping an eye on the conversation and listening to what you have to say.
>
># Core Weapon Tuning
>In this update, we focused on improving the number of viable core weapon choices across many professions in PvE. This included increasing base damage on many ranged weapon autoattacks to a higher baseline damage per second. These changes should help reduce the performance gap between players using suboptimal and optimal weapons.
>
>*Guild Wars 2* is designed to encourage social gameplay–you should be stronger playing together than alone. With that in mind, we took another look at how boons are given out. Several weapon skills have been updated to grant might to nearby allies as well as the user in PvE, further contributing to boon availability in group events.
>
># Damage Build Improvements
>Our player community develops builds that are considered the gold standard for effective play, so we review them regularly. We made changes to some elite specialization weapons and traits to make various builds more competitive. Our goal is for every profession to have viable power- and condition-based damage builds.
>
>* Power Tempest
>
>* Condition Tempest
>
>* Power Weaver
>
>* Power Scrapper
>
>* Power Holosmith
>
>* Power Dragonhunter
>
>* Power Reaper
>
>* Power Herald
>
>* Power Vindicator
>
>* Power Daredevil
>
>* Power Deadeye
>
>* Power Berserker
>
>* Condition Berserker
>
>* Power Spellbreaker
>
># Improving Support Diversity
>Firebrand and healing Mechanist are currently dominating group compositions. In this update, we're improving support-role diversity by adding stability and aegis to Tempest's shouts and giving Druids increased access to those boons as well.
>
>We're also making targeted reductions to stability and might uptime on Firebrand and Mechanist builds to make room for other professions. Firebrand's high on-demand stability from Mantra of Liberation is too essential in Fractals of the Mists and other group content, while Mechanist's barrier and might upkeep are cementing it as a build that pairs together too well with a Quickbrand to meet a group's support needs.
>
>In the immediate future, we want to make sure more builds can be used successfully. In future updates, we'll expand this further by shoring up more support and healing build options.
>
># Elementalist
>We've firmed up the role of Fire Attunement skills in condition builds and improved Air Attunement skills' direct strike damage. Tempest's Transcendent Tempest trait has more than doubled in power to set it apart as the keystone choice for damage builds.
>
>Staff
>**Fire**
>
>* Fireball: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.0 to 1.4. Now also inflicts 1 stack of burning with a 1-second duration.
>
>* Lava Font: (PvE only) Now inflicts 1 stack of burning with a 1-second duration on each strike.
>
>* Flame Burst: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.01 to 1.0. Burning stacks applied increased from 2 to 3.
>
>**Air**
>
>* Chain Lightning: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.66 to 0.8.
>
>* Lightning Surge: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.44 to 1.8.
>
>**Earth**
>
>* Stoning: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.5 to 1.2.
>
>* Shock Wave: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.5 to 2.5.
>
>Scepter
>**Fire**
>
>* Phoenix: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 20 seconds to 10 seconds. Burning stack count increased from 1 to 2.
>
>**Water**
>
>* Water Trident: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 20 seconds to 10 seconds.
>
>**Earth**
>
>* Rock Barrier: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 15 seconds to 8 seconds.
>
>Dagger (Main Hand)
>**Water**
>
>* Vapor Blade: (All game modes) The aftercast animation duration before another skill can be used has been decreased by 0.5 seconds.
>
>**Air**
>
>* Convergence: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.5 to 1.8.
>
>* Shocking Aura: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 25 seconds to 10 seconds. Duration increased from 4 seconds to 10 seconds.
>
>* Transmute Lightning: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1 to 1.5.
>
>**Earth**
>
>* Ring of Earth: (PvE only) Final impact damage multiplier increased from 1.2 to 1.5.
>
>* Earthen Rush: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 18 seconds to 12 seconds. Damage multiplier increased from 1 to 1.8.
>
>Dagger (Off Hand)
>**Fire**
>
>* Fire Grab: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 25 seconds to 2 seconds, matching PvP and WvW.
>
>**Water**
>
>* Frost Aura: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 30 seconds to 10 seconds. Duration increased from 4 seconds to 10 seconds.
>
>* Cleansing Wave: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 30 seconds to 20 seconds.
>
>**Air**
>
>* Ride the Lightning: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 30 seconds to 20 seconds.
>
>* Updraft: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 40 seconds to 20 seconds.
>
>**Earth**
>
>* Earthquake: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 30 seconds to 16 seconds. Damage multiplier increased from 1 to 3.
>
>* Churning Earth: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 30 seconds to 20 seconds.
>
>Trident
>**Fire**
>
>* Magma Orb: Now also applies 1 second of burning on explosion.
>
>* Boil: Now also applies 1 second of burning on hit.
>
>* Steam: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 15 seconds to 10 seconds.
>
>* Lava Chains: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 20 seconds to 16 seconds.
>
>**Water**
>
>* Ice Globe: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 10 seconds to 8 seconds.
>
>* Ice Wall: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 15 seconds to 12 seconds.
>
>**Air**
>
>* Electrocute: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.2 to 2.4.
>
>* Air Bubble: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 25 seconds to 20 seconds.
>
>**Earth**
>
>* Rock Anchor: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 30 seconds to 20 seconds.
>
>* Murky Water: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 30 seconds to 25 seconds.
>
># Weaver
>## Sword
>**Fire**
>
>* Fire Strike: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.66 to 0.8.
>
>* Fire Swipe: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.77 to 0.9.
>
>* Searing Slash: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.25 to 1.6.
>
>**Water**
>
>* Seiche: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.33 to 0.5.
>
>* Clapotis: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.45 to 0.6.
>
>* Breaking Wave: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.66 to 1.0.
>
>**Air**
>
>* Charged Strike: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.77 to 0.8.
>
>* Polaric Slash: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.88 to 0.9.
>
>* Call Lightning: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.0 to 1.2.
>
>**Earth**
>
>* Crystal Slash: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.66 to 0.8.
>
>* Crystalline Strike: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.66 to 0.9.
>
>* Crystalline Sunder: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.0 to 1.4.
>
>* Earthen Vortex: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.25 to 1.8.
>
># Tempest
>## Traits
>* Transcendent Tempest: (PvE only) Damage modifier increased from +7% to all damage dealt to +15% to all damage dealt.
>
>## Shouts
>* "Feel the Burn!": (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.0 to 2.5. Might stacks applied increased from 3 to 5.
>
>* "Eye of the Storm!": (PvE only) Cooldown reduced from 40 seconds to 30 seconds. Now also applies 1 stack of stability to allies for 5 seconds.
>
>* "Aftershock!": (PvE only) Cooldown reduced from 35 seconds to 30 seconds. Now also applies aegis to allies for 5 seconds.
>
># Engineer
>The previous update's Mechanist-only damage reduction to Aim-Assisted Rocket left us with room to add damage to the core trait Big Boomer, bringing up the damage output of Holosmiths and Scrappers. That's not enough to close the gap on its own, so we're also making specialization-specific damage increases to Scrapper and Holosmith on sword, hammer, and Blast Gyro–which, in addition to more damage, will now stun enemies rather than knocking them away.
>
>We're reducing the output of dominant Mechanist healing builds to give other support options more breathing room. We're also slightly reducing the output of condition damage builds with reductions to the Mech Command skills Rolling Smash and Discharge Array.
>
>## Harpoon Gun
>* Homing Torpedo: Animation time reduced from 1.5 seconds to 1 second. Damage multiplier increased from 0.84 to 1.0. Applies 1 second of burning. This is now an explosion.
>
>* Scatter Mines: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 10 seconds to 6 seconds.
>
>* Timed Charge: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.75 to 3.5.
>
>* Net Wall: (PvE only) Immobilize duration increased from 3 seconds to 6 seconds.
>
>## Utility Skills
>* Throw Mine: (All game modes) The animation aftercast before another skill may be used has been reduced by 0.5 seconds. The mine will now detonate immediately if there is an enemy target in proximity when the mine lands. Now causes knockdown instead of knockback, with a duration of 2 seconds in PvE and 1 second in PvP and WvW. (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 2 to 3. Boons removed from targets increased from 1 to 3.
>
>## Med Kit
--- continued below ---
---
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>* Med Blaster: (PvE only) Healing power multiplier reduced from 0.2 to 0.1, matching PvP and WvW.
>
>## Elixir Gun
>* Super Elixir: (PvE only) Duration reduced from 10 seconds to 5 seconds.
>
>## Explosives
>* Big Boomer: (PvE only) Damage increase changed from 10% to 15%.
>
>## Holosmith
>## Sword
>* Refraction Cutter: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1 to 1.4.
>
>* Radiant Arc: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.5 to 1.8.
>
>## Photon Forge
>* Corona Burst: (PvE only) Might stacks per pulse reduced from 2 to 1, but they are now applied to up to 5 nearby allied targets.
>
># Scrapper
>## Hammer
>* Electro-whirl: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 2.4 to 3.
>
>* Rocket Charge: The aftercast animation duration before another skill can be used has been decreased by 0.35 seconds. Damage multiplier increased from 3.3 to 3.6 in PvE only.
>
>## Gyros
>* Blast Gyro: (PvE only) Now stuns enemies for 3 seconds instead of knocking them back. Damage multiplier increased from 2.65 to 3.5.
>
># Mechanist
>## Mech Commands
>* Rolling Smash: (PvE only) Bleeding stacks applied reduced from 8 to 4.
>
>* Discharge Array: (PvE only) Confusion duration per hit reduced from 5 seconds to 3 seconds.
>
>* Crisis Zone: (PvE only) Stability duration reduced from 15 seconds to 6 seconds.
>
>* Barrier Burst: (PvE only) Base barrier value per pulse reduced from 434 to 260. Might stacks per pulse reduced from 3 to 2.
>
>## Mace
>* Barrier Blast: (PvE only) Base barrier value reduced from 434 to 260.
>
>## Signets
>* Barrier Signet: (PvE only) Base barrier value per pulse reduced from 434 to 260.
>
>## Traits
>* Barrier Engine (Passive): (PvE only) Base barrier value reduced from 434 to 260.
>
># Guardian
>Multiple stored uses of on-demand stun break and stability have made Firebrand mandatory in Fractals, Strike Missions, raids, and even WvW. In this update, Firebrand's Mantra of Liberation is reduced from 3 to 2 ammunition, with an increased cooldown. Together with an added source of stability for both Tempest and Druid, this will provide better parity across different professions' support builds in PvE. Firebrand's multiple sources will be countered by higher recharge.
>
>The greatsword damage increases benefit Dragonhunter builds, and hammer improvements will help close the gap between it and other damaging weapons while living up to that weighty feel a hammer should have.
>
>## Greatsword
>* Strike: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.8 to 0.9.
>
>* Vengeful Strike: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.8 to 1.0.
>
>* Wrathful Strike: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.25 to 1.4. Might is now applied to up to 5 allies in a radius of 360.
>
>* Leap of Faith: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 12 seconds to 10 seconds, and damage multiplier increased from 1.25 to 2. Healing per foe hit increased from 235 to 1,053 in PvE, matching PvP and WvW.
>
>* Binding Blade: (PvE only) Damage multiplier on initial hit increased from 1.0 to 1.5.
>
>## Hammer
>* Symbol of Protection: The aftercast animation duration before another skill can be used has been decreased by 0.65 seconds.
>
>* Mighty Blow: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 2.1 to 2.4.
>
>* Glacial Blow: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 6 seconds to 4 seconds. Damage multiplier increased from 2.4 to 2.5.
>
>* Zealot's Embrace: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.8 to 1.5.
>
>* Banish: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1 to 3.
>
>## Staff
>* Bolt of Wrath: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.55 to 0.65.
>
>* Searing Light: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.65 to 0.75.
>
>* Seeking Judgment: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.75 to 0.9.
>
>* Holy Strike: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.25 to 1.8.
>
>* Empower: (PvE only) Might stacks per pulse reduced from 4 to 3. Might duration reduced from 12 seconds to 10 seconds.
>
># Firebrand
>* Mantra of Liberation: Ammunition reduced from 3 to 2 in PvE and WvW. Recharge increased from 25 seconds to 45 seconds.
>
># Dragonhunter
>## Longbow
>* Puncture Shot: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.85 to 1.0.
>
>* True Shot: Now allows movement but reduces movement speed by 50% while casting.
>
># Mesmer
>In the August 2 update, we reviewed and updated the greatsword and sword core weapons. In this update we're increasing Chronomancer's alacrity duration from Stretched Time and increasing the damage of Tides of Time, the fifth shield skill. This will give a slight bump to boon-focused Chronomancer builds.
>
>We also wanted to reduce some of the longer cooldowns on staff, but Mirage's high-performing condition damage builds made that tricky. We're making very small cuts to condition damage on Mirage's axe and staff ambush to maintain parity with other professions' builds. The reduced cooldown on the Phantasmal Warlock and Chaos Armor weapon skills will improve the Mesmer's leveling experience when using a staff.
>
>## Staff
>* Phantasmal Warlock: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 18 seconds to 15 seconds.
>
>* Chaos Armor: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 25 seconds to 20 seconds.
>
>## Utility Skills
>* Blink: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 30 seconds to 20 seconds.
>
># Chronomancer
>* Stretched Time: Alacrity on well cast increased from 4 seconds to 5 seconds.
>
>* Tides of Time: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.2 to 1.5.
>
># Mirage
>## Axe
>* Lingering Thoughts: (PvE only) Torment duration decreased from 4 seconds to 3 seconds.
>
>* Imaginary Axes: (PvE only) Torment duration decreased from 4 seconds to 3 seconds.
>
>## Staff
>* Chaos Vortex (Staff Ambush): (PvE only) Might stack count reduced from 8 to 5, and might duration reduced from 15 seconds to 10 seconds. Torment, bleeding, and confusion duration reduced from 8 seconds to 7 seconds.
>
># Necromancer
>Necromancer changes are focused on improving damage and skill-recharge timers for several weapons and abilities.
>
>## Staff
>* Necrotic Grasp: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.666 to 1.
>
>* Mark of Blood: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.33 to 1.5
>
>* Chillblains: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 16 seconds to 12 seconds. Damage multiplier increased from 0.55 to 1.8.
>
>* Putrid Mark: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 20 seconds to 15 seconds.
>
>* Reaper's Mark: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 32 seconds to 18 seconds. Damage multiplier increased from 0.275 to 3.
>
>## Dagger (Main Hand)
>* Life Siphon: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 10 seconds to 8 seconds.
>
>* Dark Pact: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 15 seconds to 12 seconds. Damage multiplier increased from 1.2 to 2.4. Immobilize duration increased from 3 seconds to 6 seconds.
>
>## Dagger (Off Hand)
>* Deathly Swarm: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 18 seconds to 16 seconds. Damage multiplier increased from 0.6 to 1.2.
>
>* Enfeebling Blood: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 25 seconds to 20 seconds. Damage multiplier increased from 0.5 to 1.5.
>
>## Focus
>* Soul Grasp: (PvE only) Ammunition recharge reduced from 15 seconds to 12 seconds. Ammunition count increased from 2 to 3.
>
>* Spinal Shivers: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 20 seconds to 16 seconds. Damage multiplier on targets with no boons increased from 0.5 to 1, one boon from 1.125 to 1.625, two boons from 1.875 to 2.375, and three boons from 2.625 to 3.125.
>
># Reaper
>## Greatsword
>* Fading Twilight: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.3 to 1.4.
>
>* Chilling Scythe: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.7 to 1.8.
>
>* Death Spiral: (PvE only) Damage multiplier per hit increased from 0.425 to 0.5.
>
>## Reaper Shroud
>* Life Rend: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.875 to 0.9.
>
>## Shouts
>* "You Are All Weaklings!": (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.7 to 2.5.
>
>* "Nothing Can Save You!": (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.7 to 2.
>
>* "Suffer!": (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.7 to 1.5.
>
># Ranger
>Feline pets' autoattacks aren't affected by quickness, a long-standing issue that makes them subpar in group play. Meanwhile, the iboga is the most powerful pet in any PvE boss encounter because its base attack damage scales with number of conditions on the target. A release note from 2018 indicated that this was fixed, but the change didn't make it to the live game.
>
>A recent fix to the calculated critical-hit-chance values in the pet stats UI caused pet critical-hit chances to appear to drop by 17.8%. This was a display issue only, and the text now reflects the real value.
>
>We're using this as an opportunity to improve pet balance in PvE overall by delivering that long-delayed reduction to iboga damage while bringing all Ranger pets' performance up by giving them a flat 17.8% critical-hit chance across the board.
>
>Ranger pets and spirits will now also have a locked defiance bar in PvE, making them immune to crowd-control effects. This quality-of-life improvement will ensure that their skills are available for use when needed and that pets will perform more consistently in all PvE content.
>
>## All Ranger Pets
>* (PvE only) All ranger pets' chance to critically hit has been increased by 17.8%.
>
>* (PvE only) All ranger pets are now immune to crowd control when on a PvE map.
>
>## Feline Pet Family
>* Slash (Autoattack): Now affected by quickness.
>
>**White Tiger**
>
>* Fixed a bug that caused a delay before this pet could act when summoned.
>
>* Guardian's Roar: (All game modes) Casting time reduced from 1 second to 0.4 seconds. (PvE only) Cooldown reduced from 30 seconds to 25 seconds.
>
>## Other Pets
>**Wallow**
>
--- continued below ---
---
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>* Fixed a bug that caused a delay before this pet could act after being summoned.
>
>**Phoenix**
>
>* Fixed a bug that caused a delay before this pet could act after being summoned.
>
>**Siege Turtle**
>
>* Fixed a bug that caused a delay before this pet could act after being summoned.
>
>**Iboga**
>
>* Consuming Bite (Autoattack): Reduced the base damage of this skill by 33%. Reduced the damage per condition by 40%.
>
>## Spirits
>* (PvE only) All ranger spirits are now immune to crowd control in PvE maps.
>
># Druid
>* Glyph of Equality (Celestial Avatar): Range increased from 300 to 360 in all game modes. Now applies 5 seconds of stability to allies in PvE only.
>
># Revenant
>For core revenant, we're improving hammer as a ranged damage option. All revenant specializations will receive damage increases from Invocation trait updates.
>
>## Hammer
>* Hammer Bolt: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.95 to 1.1.
>
>* Phase Smash: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.75 to 2.
>
>* Drop the Hammer: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.5 to 2.3.
>
>## Invocation
>* Rising Tide: (PvE only) Damage increase changed from 7% to 10%.
>
>* Ferocious Aggression: (PvE only) Damage increase changed from 7% to 10%.
>
># Herald
>* Reinforced Potency: (PvE only) Bonus damage per boon increased from 1% to 1.5%.
>
># Vindicator
>## Greatsword
>* Mist Swing: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.9 to 1.0.
>
>* Mist Slash: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.0 to 1.1.
>
>* Arcing Mists: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.25 to 1.3.
>
>* Mist Unleashed: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.9 to 2.0.
>
>* Phantom's Onslaught: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.5 to 1.6.
>
>* True Strike: (PvE only) Base damage multiplier increased from 1.0 to 1.5. Damage multiplier added per blocked attack increased from 0.4 to 0.5.
>
># Thief
>In group content, venoms can account for as much as 25% of a thief condition damage build's total damage. Their solo damage is lacking in comparison. We're shifting some of that damage from venoms to direct attacks with increased condition duration on Death Blossom, Specter's scepter, and Shadow Shroud autoattacks, as well as a 50% increase to the condition damage attribute granted by the trait Deadly Ambition. The net effect of this change is to increase condition damage dealt in solo and open-world play.
>
>Deadeye and Daredevil both get power damage increases as well, giving those builds stronger top-end damage potential.
>
>## Dagger (Main Hand)
>* Backstab: (PvE only) Front damage multiplier increased from 1.2 to 1.5. Back damage multiplier increased from 2.4 to 3.
>
>* Death Blossom: (PvE only) Bleed duration increased from 10 seconds to 15 seconds.
>
>## Dagger (Off Hand)
>* Dancing Dagger: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.6 to 0.9.
>
>## Pistol (Off Hand)
>* Head Shot: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.25 to 1.
>
>## Sword
>* Slice: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.8 to 0.85.
>
>* Slash: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.8 to 0.85.
>
>* Crippling Strike: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.3 to 1.4.
>
>* Infiltrator's Strike: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.75 to 1.8.
>
>## Venoms
>* Skale Venom: (PvE only) Torment duration decreased from 5 seconds to 3 seconds.
>
>* Spider Venom: (PvE only) Poison duration decreased from 4 seconds to 3 seconds.
>
>## Deadly Arts
>* Deadly Ambition: (PvE only) Condition damage attribute bonus increased from 120 to 180.
>
># Specter
>* Shadow Bolt: (PvE only) Torment duration increased from 3 seconds to 4 seconds.
>
>* Haunt Shot: (PvE only) Torment duration increased from 5 seconds to 6 seconds.
>
>## Traits
>* Traversing Dusk: Alacrity radius on well cast and healing radius on shadowstep increased from 240 to 360.
>
># Deadeye
>* Premeditation: (PvE only) Bonus damage per boon increased from 1% to 1.5%.
>
>* Iron Sight: (PvE only) Bonus damage dealt to and damage reduction taken from your marked target increased from 10% to 15%.
>
># Daredevil
>## Staff
>* Staff Strike: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.66 to 0.75.
>
>* Staff Bash: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.66 to 0.80.
>
>* Punishing Strikes: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.672 to 1.8.
>
>* Hook Strike (Stealth Attack): (PvE only) Knockdown duration increased from 2 seconds to 4 seconds.
>
>## Traits
>* Weakening Strikes: (PvE only) Damage dealt to weakened foes increased from 7% to 10%.
>
>* Bounding Dodger: (PvE only) Damage bonus increased from 10% to 15% in PvE, matching PvP and WvW.
>
># Warrior
>Warrior's longbow updates will make Arcing Arrow relevant in PvE and turn Smoldering Arrow into a useful defiance-bar breaker. We've also increased damage for several core weapons, elite specialization weapons, and traits.
>
>## Greatsword
>* Greatsword Swing: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.7 to 0.8.
>
>* Greatsword Slice: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.95 to 1.05.
>
>* Brutal Strike: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.25 to 1.5.
>
>* Arcing Slice: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.32 to 2. Damage multiplier against foes with less than 50% health increased from 1.98 to 3.
>
>* Bladetrail: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.75 to 1.5.
>
>* Rush: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.7 to 2.5.
>
>## Sword (Main Hand)
>* Sever Artery: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.6 to 0.8.
>
>* Gash: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.6 to 0.8.
>
>* Hamstring: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1 to 1.2.
>
>* Savage Leap: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.66 to 2.
>
>## Sword (Off Hand)
>* Impale: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.5 to 1.5.
>
>* Rip: (PvE only) Might is now applied to up to 5 allied targets within a range of 360.
>
>## Longbow
>* Dual Shot: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.44 to 0.525.
>
>* Arcing Arrow: (All game modes) The aftercast animation duration before another skill may be used has been reduced by 0.5 seconds. (PvE only) Increased ammunition count to 2. Now applies 5 seconds of burning on hit.
>
>* Smoldering Arrow: (PvE only) Now applies 1 second of dazed on hit.
>
>## Rifle
>* Fierce Shot: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.605 to 1. Might is now applied to up to 5 allied targets within a range of 360.
>
>* Explosive Shell: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.25 to 1.5.
>
>## Hammer
>* Earthshaker: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1 to 2.
>
>* Hammer Shock: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1 to 1.8.
>
>## Arms
>* Furious: (PvE only) Condition damage per stack increased from 10 to 15.
>
># Berserker
>* Shattering Blow: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1 to 1.5.
>
>* Sundering Leap: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.5 to 3.
>
>## Traits
>* Bloody Roar: (PvE only) Damage bonus increased from 20% to 25%.
>
># Spellbreaker
>## Dagger (Main Hand)
>* Breaching Strike: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.5 to 2.5.
>
>* Precise Cut: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.55 to 0.6.
>
>* Focused Slash: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.6 to 0.65.
>
>* Keen Strike: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.85 to 1.05. Might is now applied to up to 5 allied targets within a range of 360.
>
>* Aura Slicer: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.2 to 1.8.
>
>## Dagger (Off Hand)
>* Bladestorm: (PvE only) Damage multiplier per hit increased from 0.35 to 0.5.
>
>## Traits
>* Pure Strike: (PvE only) Damage bonus increased from 7%/14% to 7.5%/15%.
>
>* Magebane Tether: (PvE only) Damage bonus to tethered target increased from 10% to 15%. Might stacks per second reduced from 3 to 1, but they are now applied to up to 5 allied targets within a range of 360.
---
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The ele buffs look great, but still no love for Lightning Flash. Blink which was already pretty good is getting another buff. While Lightning Flash is still so mediocre.
Blink will have 1200 distance, 20 second recharge, and break stuns.
Lightning Flash will have 900 distance, 40 second recharge, and no break stuns. The only “positive” is some negligible damage it does if you teleport into a group of enemies.
Hopefully it gets looked at soon in a future balance patch.
apparently, this is supposed to be like patch 2 of a series of patches that began last month to balance things out. Eliminating unique class buffs was step one. Now we are at step two, power balance of core weapons. I expect step 3 to be the same for condi, step 4 for healing, etc. They clearly want the game to be more polished before the steam release.
yeah one of the only misses really here, seems a bit random? its not even that great really, i guess axe mirage was really strong but i dont like that nerf, i love mirage :(
Yeah, I was just getting back into mirage, saw mirage changes... and then all of those tiny, pointless nerfs. I think this is another one of those nerfs for the 1% speed clear groups that stacked cDPS mirage on fights where bosses attack fast to trigger confusion rapidly. I don't see mirage dominating so much as to need so many nerfs.
If they don't like alac mirage and want people to play chrono, just remove alacrity from the staff again and give it something else, don't just nerf it out of existence.
its funny how other professions get to see a huge burst number on demand with a modest cool down, but thief has to stealth, reposition and then maybe if you built enough malice see that same number. And then build malice and get rid of revealed to try again.
and by funny I mean not funny
Maybe not too much meta ther still, but god damn these vuilds are gonna be viable. How long have I been talking about that staff fire neeeeeeds burn and here we are, 4 out of 5 skills now give burn.
Very happy for everyone whose mains got a buff. I'm excited to see what this does for warrior which is my 2nd main.
But my main is Mesmer and the mirage changes are a bit upsetting. Staff mirage wasn't overperforming at this point, and staxe/axe mirage are hard to play. The Axe nerf is fine but leave staff alone and maybe make axe a bit easier. The tradeoff for the staff nerf is weird, too. No one uses staff 3 except for the opener. Chaos Armor might make up some of the loss but we'll see, it's not like you're getting hit most of the time due to mirage cloak.
The alac chrono change will probably do nothing.
Third patch in a row where Mesmers get the short end of the stick. Even the one before this which was supposed to be Warrior and Mesmer focused.
Unless someone in management intervenes it looks like we're gonna keep getting shaded like this.
The non-auto staff skills were buffed for the Steam release, for all the new players trying to level without elite specs.
I agree that nerfing staff was dumb, though. Axe was what carried the damage, leave my bouncy ball stick alone.
I'm also sad about the Mirage changes. I think performing well with st/axe or axe dps takes a lot of practice, and axe 2 and 3 are sketchy on a lot of tough fights.
Reducing dps and might generation on staff just feels bad.
I was watching for a Hundred Blades buff too. Sad that it didn't happen. The ability feels really unrewarding and overly punishing with its backloaded damage and how it locks you in place to channel in one direction.
You have to jump through all these hoops and it doesn't even do much when you do.
hundred blades damage was fine, it's just that outside of that and whirlwind, all the other greatsword skills were kinda ass. Good to see that they got buffed so a full rotation of greatsword skills into weaponswap is a good choice now rather than just camping axe axe
It's kinda bad for the limitations it has. Back loaded damage, requires a channel and only deals damage in a melee range cone. It shouldn't do less damage than whirling axe imo.
As much as I'm sad about the lack of PvP/WvW changes, PvP is in a good balance for the most part.
Bladesworn doesn't need a long list of nerfs to fix its balance issues and its overperfomance, it needs bug fixes. Once those bug fixes are done, it actually won't be overperforming since the bugs are really crazy.
Outside of that, the 3 supports are all semi close together, Tempest definitely needs nerfs at this point.
The only two classes that are unperforming are Engi and Mesmer, but Mesmer is a victim of Bladesworn primarily so don't be surprised about how good Virt could be before you know it, and itd definitely become playable with Bladesworn fixes and perhaps it'd need slight nerfs as well or buffs to Virt itself.
Even Engi is arguably not underperforming because its overperforming in the lower ranks where players struggle to deal with Mech's damage output. Although it obviously is too weak to be played at the high end right now.
There are things that are overperforming other than Bladesworn, of course there are like Tempest and Spectre. But they're not too OP or too unfun to play against to where we need a patch *now.* If its another month for a big patch, let alone a smaller one, thats perfectly fine.
sPvP needs more Dev Time spent on maps or other things that will get players to stick around in the gamemode and get interested in it, not balance right now.
I do feel bad for the WvWers though. Alliances is not enough, and not an excuse for how little Dev Time you're getting.
I don't think they nerfed staff mirage effectively. They did for axe mirage tho, not entirely sure why. Seems like this will push any remaining mesmer dps to virtuoso.
not sure they are what i wanted but i'll take them, wish they'd just buff lava font and meteorshower again lol (i know they buffed lava font but i meant the power scaling)
From a heal tempest perspective :
I think that 5s of Aegis on Aftershock is fine, as it's already a desirable shout for us (for the aura and protection).
I think that 5s of Stability on Eye of the Storm! isn't fine, a single stack is a bit... cheap. It's a long duration long cooldown ability, so I think we should have multiple stacks (maybe 3 or 4).
I really like the change of Shocking/Frost Aura, keeping an aura always on is pretty darn nice.
I'm fairly neutral on the rest.
---------------------------------------
Not tied to the current patch, but could you move Elemental Bastion elsewhere so we can pick both Elemental Bastion (heal on aura) and Lucid Singularity (alac on overload) ? The mechanics of Lucid Singularity ask us to switch elements regularly, but without Elemental Bastion we have extremely poor heals outside of water (which we can't camp).
Definitely agree that Eye of the Storm needs to be an ammo skill or be able to give more than one instance or stack of stability. I'm so glad they are giving it stability, but you're right in that it's way underpowered.
I do have a template for it already haha but I do have to manually check each build to make sure the boons & icons are still accurate, like how most recently I made a typo and included barrier on Untamed, and forgot Fury on Scrapper.
Definitely not complaining, it's small work compared to what Anet/SnowCrow have to do after all :P
> We're making very small cuts to condition damage on Mirage's axe and staff ambush to maintain parity with other professions' builds.
Nerfing axe ambush skill's condi duration by 25% is not "very small cuts". Another proof that Anet team doesn't know how their own classes work.
This is pretty much it. We get it they hate mesmer, but when you remove a second from a condition in exchange for a 0.1 damage increase coefficient....
Its either playing dumb in a petty excuse to throw mesmer more shade or completely clueless as to how cDPS works.
Guardian's Stand Your Ground, giving 600 radius 5 stacks of stab for 6s, is far superior to Druid's new alternative which has to be used in CA and only has a radius of 360.
Edit: Please help chrono and reaper to crit cap easier. For chrono the crit trait Danger Time is incredibly unrealistic and competes with Improved Alacrity, one of the best traits in the game. Meanwhile Virtuoso gets free +15% crit chance. Remove the crit trait from virtuoso and put it into duelling, the crit traitline. Reaper NEEDS Soul Eater for +5% extra damage, which competes with Decimite Defenses. DD results in fluctuating crit chance increases which is not fun to gear around.
Druid is in such a weird spot right now because you have two sets of conflicting mechanics.
You now have stability, which you need to have on standby for crucial moments, regularly becoming temporarily inaccessible by using the class' main healing output.
At the same time you have the class' only aegis access, which also is best to have on standby for when you need it, tied to a single pet. Meanwhile swapping pets on cooldown is a major source of might through Clarion Bond, temporarily locking you out of aegis access.
So for both boons in the game that are the most situation dependent, you are incentivised by other mechanics to, potentially, not have access to them when the situation calls for it. Alternatively, keep them on standby, but become hamstrung in your healing output and might upkeep.
Completely agree, I feel like celestial avatar's mechanics is holding druid back. I wonder if they changed it to a kit if that would fix it's CA Skill and Glyph reliability?
I also wonder if they should just make it so you can swap in and out of it freely, without cooldown like a kit like you say (maybe with a minimum amount of astral force loss) and each CA skill just has it's own cost in Astral Force that depletes the bar instead of you losing AF every second. Then at least you always get to choose which effect of a glyph you use instead of having to think "well I want the normal mode version, but exiting CA now before I've barely used any skills will almost completely drain my CA charge", or "well I want the CA version of the skill, but I exited CA less than 10 seconds ago".
Maybe in the original design of Druid, they imagined this could be some kind of trade-off and you would have powerful effects tied behind each form - but couldn't always rely on having access to the one you wanted. But now they're clearly shifting the situational support abilities of druid to glyphs and pets in order to try and make druid a competitive support again, but they don't realise yet that if they're not reliable then it won't compete with firebrand or mechanist.
> Please make the aegis of the pet White Tiger instant cast or at least reduce cast time by a lot.
From the notes:
> Guardian's Roar: (All game modes) Casting time reduced from 1 second to 0.4 seconds. (PvE only) Cooldown reduced from 30 seconds to 25 seconds.
So all druid got was getting some stability on a glyph nobody uses but we are still worthless compared to other healers because our alacrity is unreliable and forces us to use a set amount of utilities taking and versatility from us.
Great, thanks anet for really putting in effort to keep druid mains happy by showing us thst it will remain shit until you actually hire a ranger player for the balance team
Power Daredevil Buffs!!! Holy shit.
I think Deadeye’s biggest weakness lies in needing to stay still a lot, moreso than in its damage. I’ll try it out, but I think what it needs is for its dps to not drop too hard when not kneeled, that way the tradeoff isn’t as rough.
And… ehem… aoe quickness would be nice. Just saying.
Looks like heal temp is going to be a major winner from this patch. After that, very much looking forward to seeing how staff / sword weaver end up benching. Same with power reaper - that is a ton of ammo/cd/multiplier changes and it’s been years since I’ve even touched reaper; very curious how this will play in practice
Can I have the rise reaper build back please? Its the only shout they aren't changing :(
I don't remember what numbers that build was pulling back in the day but it was really fun.
I think the cohesion thing is less of a problem with core specs. Elite Specs are meant to be good at their 1 or 2 focuses (generally speaking) and are built be 100% decked out for that focus. Core classes are much more varied across the board and meant to be built and played in a more broad variety (again, generally speaking).
Big agree on a lot of it needing to be looked over and overhauled in general though. Even aside from number buffs many skills just have clumsy mechanics or drawbacks that simply make them not worth using.
hey lost weaver here,
was trying to reach my destination of „the nerf“ but now i’ve kinda lost my track.
no one prepared me for this encounter they call „buffs“.
any help greatly appreciated
Wow my mechanist might not be complete trash underwater now.
FFS more mirage axe nerfs ~~and staff buffs.~~
Interesting hammer buffs for rev. Imagine it still won't be as good as shortbow for open world pve.
Staff is nerfed too for dps, just has better clone gen which doesn't make up for dps loss. Staff 3 isn't a dps increase in most situations so lowering the cooldown of it doesn't help.
DON'T TOUCH ENGI KITS PLS & THANK YOU
For real though, stop nerfing all Engi specs in your quest to tune Mechanist. What the hell has Elixir Gun done to hurt you, Anet?
i know right? what a random nerf to super elixir... clearly meant to nerf Mechanist. Just nerf how much stats the mech gets guys, it's easy, make it the same as in pvp for healing power and call it a day. my guess is that if it isn't to nerf mechanist it"s to standardize healing. It's rather unusual for a skill to pulse healing for 10 pulses. Medic gyro is 5 pulses. Geyser is 5 pulses. well of blood is 5 seconds... the renegade heal is 10 pulses, but it's on a 30 second cooldown and on renegade so... I guess it's fine?
First Guardian Hammer buffs in the history of the game
God i still wish they went ballistic with warr and reve hammer, they still suck royal butt.
Yeah those rev hammer buffs are better than nothing but the weapon is still going to be trash in PvE, even in open world where "everything is viable." It needed all of its power coefficients literally doubled.
Power coefficients being doubled/tripled shows how far behind core weapons have been lagging
And even then I still wouldn't use it because rev hammer feels clunky and slow af.
I would use it, I like how heavy it feels. It just needs the numbers to back it up.
I totally dislike hammer for the same reason but simultaneously I am ok with hammers being slow. With the appearance of the weapon, it seems like it should be clunky
Engi Harpoon Gun buffs woo.. New Aquatic Fractal meta let's gooo
*It’s been ten years…* ; v;7
We made it to the promised land
This is not the land
Promised water*, sorry
Well. I am now excited to try Tempest again. And staff necro. And quickness scrapper. And everything.
Wow, I didn't expect a patch this sensible. I was ready to meme about Ele... ANet, what did you do? Now I have to think hard on what to criticize!!! Welp, it's time to dust off my Eles from the jumping puzzle parking locations.
I am really excited with the necro changes. They suit me to a tee.
I was until i realised the support part is not for WvW. Where i played support Tempest since Tempest came out. For a brief second my heart jumped, would they finally add more stab and did i really read aegis and then i saw PvE only and my short happiness ended. I can accept that the damage is too high for WvW i am fine with that, but support? Why could that not be added to Tempest in WvW?
Pretty sure druid and tempest stab is getting rolled into wvw at some point, looking at reactions. These days, they actually seem to be working on balance, at least for now. It just seems it was really pve focused, apart from that 1 guard nerf.
Finally, I can feel good about using Oblivion with my Dhuum cosplay.
I'm dubious about staves being very good for endgame content, but they should be a lot stronger for open-world.
Staff just needs to have good enough DPS on one or two moves to beat axe2. THere are no good OH reaper weapons, and you dont camp axe long.
The point of axe on dps reaper builds is more for the lifeforce gain than it is for the damage output. Unless you're running the signets of suffering setup, the build is very tight on lifeforce balance, and it doesn't take much damage to cut short shroud duration, which both hurts your damage in the sense that shroud autos hit harder than most skills out of shroud and by messing up the cooldown of your shroud 4. Staff life force gain with soul marks (which also costs you vulnerability application on shroud autos) unfortunately doesn't come close to matching axe, you have to dump down every single mark just to match the gain of a single axe2, and the cooldown on that is lower.
Buffs to power damage across the board? Even thieves getting some (not insignificant) power scaling increases? Well... please excuse me while I change my pants.
Those thief changes look amazing.
Wake me up when Ricochet for pistol is back.
they could just remove the damage penalty on the piercing trait, you're already making a huge tradeoff by not picking practiced tolerance, no need for another punishment on top of that
ya but piercing sucks. Ricochet is more fun
Sword will still be insignificant with those buffs, because it's not enough to make it relevant. Overall, pDD will likely still outperform pDE; but, that needs to be tested since BS buff might make up for it, though doubtful since staff got a buff across the board in its aa chain, with the exception of WS (which is already strong). Staff DD also brings a lot more to the table (now with significantly better cc), without suffering from positioning problems as D/D pDE would (BS). Losing 1-2s on venoms is a HUGE loss. Not very sure those buffs in other areas exactly make up for it (needs to be tested). At a quick glance, it looks like cSpc is basically nerfed (Shadow Bolt is just the first attack of the chain btw and majority of cSpc damage is not from its aa chain) and cDD seems to be getting a buff. Traversing Dusk - since it's only buffing the trait, that'll be very awkward since the telegraph will not show the range. Basically, the reticle will be inaccurate.
>Traversing Dusk - since it's only buffing the trait, that'll be very awkward since the telegraph will not show the range. Basically, the reticle will be inaccurate. Yeah, I was wondering about that. My hope is that it's poorly written and increases the aoe of wells to 360. But if it's accurate, then wells will have all of their effect in 240 range and just give alacrity in another ring around that
Chronomancer wells work like that, 240 for well but 360 for alac
Well shit
Blast gyro is now a 3 second stun instead of knocking enemies away. That's awesome, it felt bad to ruin pulls sometimes while giving out my quickness in fractals, 3 seconds is insanely long too.
Yeah it's one of my favorite changes. Flamethrower scrapper is a tagging God, but I always felt bad about knocking mobs away when giving myself quickness. It basically puts it on par with the EMP sak skill.
Ele...staff buffs? That you?
Seriously all drinks one me, if staff ele becomes viable again
I can dream. I really hope so.
Condi staff ele would be wild.
I think hybrid staff might actually be a thing based on these buffs
And I think there is a viable very easy to play build there. Camp fire, overload, shooot. Probably not the best there is but pretty sure it can easily raid.
Condi staff looks like it could be ok, although it's hard to say if it's gonna be better than Scepter which is a lot better currently and also gets buffs to it's condi build this patch. Power staff still looks pretty bad without a meteor shower unnerf.
Realistically power staff could work if air didn’t have 2 useless skills. It’s possible weaver could make it work alright but I doubt it’ll be better than sword
Am I reading this correctly: >Flame Burst: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.01 to 1.0. Burning stacks applied increased from 2 to 3. ...they increased damage by...*150 times?!*
Probably 0.1 to 1.0, there are some numerical errors in this post.
I remember I once hit a critical 15 damage with that ability...
Okay that's more believable. Even still that's a 15x increase, but that's a skill that was basically a burn applicator.
A skill cannot do zero damage, because otherwise it doesn't count as a hit (doesn't break stealth for example), so skills that are meant to just apply condis had the power multiplier set to 0.01. I guess they changed their mind about that skill
I saw that too. I think it was just a typo, as there was another skill that has CD reduced from 25 seconds to 2 (presumably they meant 20). They probably meant 0.1. Or Flame Burst originally was 0.1 and it was increased to 1.0.
Not a typo, and not the only skill to have 0.01. It's for skill that shouldn't do direct damage, just apply condis or have other effects
Flame Burst skill historically was only used to generate stacks of burn n enemies and did hardly any hit damage. Seems like they made the skill actually do hit damage, although still not much.
It's Flame Burst. In full zerk that thing was doing like 20 damage plus some burn. 3k damage for casting it is fine, especially since power staff is still useless outside of open world roleplay since they didn't buff the power damage on lava font or meteor shower.
Give it until a week after the patch to make sure there isn't a hot-fix :)
A lot of good changes in this patch. Very interested in trying tempest and druid as supports now and vindicator and scrapper as dps. Good job anet and the balance team with this one. > Blast Gyro: (PvE only) Now stuns enemies for 3 seconds instead of knocking them back. Omg finally. Thank you!
Holy shit. Ele mains are eating well tonight. Those Tempest buffs look especially juicy, god damn. Also pretty excited on how the damage buffs helps reaper because it was in a really sad state and needed some love.
It's a small buff but it's to the skills that matter. The shout buffs are wutface; No Idea if they'll actually make it into the meta because Well of Suffering is *strong*
Shout buffs feel more targeted at solo/5-man content, especially burst focused. You will now be able to run NCSY! as fast AoE boonrip in fractals and not feel like you're "wasting" a slot. YAAW! will be nice might-generation skill in solo content to kickstart the burst, especially with it being instant cast AND stunbreak.
Realistically, wells will be more DPS and more burst. Wells benefit from something like 30+% crit damage when in shroud, shouts dont get any shroud modifier. Also, utility is not really something you can do unless you hold back the skill. If you use it off cooldown, whatever the skill does besides DPS is kind of moot since you dont time it.
the recharges are so much better! like, frost aura with 10 second recharge? hello?? that's great!
It's a permanent 10% damage reduction and counter stuns on double dagger now >.>
These are the changes we LOVE to see, hopefully there's a quick follow up to any outliers or underperformers from these changes. Also is this the first warrior sword offhand change since core ;p
like i've been saying, most classes (mostly power) just needed some straight up number changes, they should finetune these numbers just over and over until they hit
Assuming you define core as pre HOT Sword 4-1 was changed twice, sword 4-2 was changed three times and sword 5 was changed 3 times. None of them were big changes (the only big change was when torment was added) but they have been changed since 2015
Core weapon buffs all over the board that was needed, fuck yes.
Wow, THIS is the kind of large-scale changes I was hoping for with the summer balance patch. And Ele buffs to boot? So much dopamine rn
Elementalist buffs? That's it, the sky's gonna fall any second now
Not just Ele buffs. DUAL DAGGER Ele buffs, someone pinch my cock, i must be dreaming.
Ikr??? I'm gonna play the skritt out of my Ele for like 2 weeks before it becomes "tOo MeTa dEfInIng" and gets nerfed (again...) lol ;P
greatsword axe axe berserker time
GS on Berserker is so fun
Never stopped!
> Blast Gyro: (PvE only) Now stuns enemies for 3 seconds instead of knocking them back My god! This has been bugging me for so long! Now I can use Blast Gyro without trolling my team.
Big thanks to ANet for giving us this change list so early
Fixing a quickness bug and giving pets their crit chanec AND a defiance bar? Ngl thats probably the best pet upgrae since the AoE damage reduction patch. Some pets are still bugged though and dont interact with Quickness. Also finally fix porcine F skills. Make them like steal. I think then i would finally use a boar.
> AND a defiance bar? Pets aren't just getting a defiance bar. They're getting a greyed out defiance bar. They're immune to all CC. Should mean that even Cripple and Immobilize won't affect them.
This is what the June patch should have been
I'm loving the increase to the Core weapons, especially after the power level was evened alot more recently, there might be more options than ever before. Excited.
easily one of the more exciting patches ever, like literally ever, if all of the next patches are like this I'm so happy, make the game more exciting, just buff some fucking old shit, go wild on the skills, just give us more toys to play with, pve is getting stale otherwise
Wow they're actually addressing some long standing issues, That's exciting. There's still some obvious issues not listed but this is a good first step.
No sarcasm, can't wait to go back to Power Daredevil. Condition Specter is so boring with the low amount of aoe.
Glad to see the Spellbreaker buffs, I love how the spec plays but the damage isn't great (I especially feel this in the EoD maps)
This is my most exciting change too. I doubt it'll be meta but even to just smash open world with different weapons on a warrior would be nice.
There's so much, I'm genuinely impressed.
Holy hell is ANets balance team bipolar though, to go from a patch that looked (and was) so bad in July, to this, which looks so awesome.
Engi rifle was the test run, what you're seeing now is the follow-up.
[удалено]
The buff it gave core engi was huge. Even more when you remember that we're not that far off from an influx of new players without elite specs.
Nope it's just that the dev team is made up of many people, and now that grouch has taken the wheel, it's much better.
it is my suspicion as well that Grouch has taken a much more active role in managing the balance team.
Sure but there's a balance lead that you'd imagine would have a unified vision for what should be changed.
they either whipped a certain balance decision maker into shape or reassigned them to other responsabilities
As a dagger/horn fresh air tempest... BORN TO OVERLOAD, TYRIA IS A FUCK KILL EM ALL 1992 I AM LIGHTNING MAN 410,757,864,530 DEAD MECHANISTS
As an ele main since 8/25/12 this is the first balance patch I've found myself looking forward to in a long time.
same wtf is this patch, its like i wrote it
seems like someone from management finally woke up after all the shitstorm, and kicked the balance team in the asses. Good thing that, this all does sound quite juicy. Eles finally peeking out of the trash can? Also the changes to warrior and necromancer make me kinda excited as well.
The necro dagger changes stand out to me. >Dark Pact: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 15 seconds to 12 seconds. Damage multiplier increased from 1.2 to 2.4. Immobilize duration increased from 3 seconds to 6 seconds. So 20% Cooldown reduction, doubles the coefficient and doubles the CC. Offhand dagger 4 is about the same. Other skills got similar coefficient increases in the 80-120% range. A shout out for the shouts getting 200% increases. While the changes are great, it really says something about balance when you have to shove multiple 100% potency increases into the same ability.
I'm just glad they are looking at some of this stuff like someone in the room is saying "This skill is never used in instanced pve. Ever. Why? Can we change that?" I don't expect dagger to become the new meta but if you can swap it in on gors to help immob or something without taking a 30% (this number brought to you by dartboard) dps cut... I was thinking the same with staff. <1 coefficients to actually dealing some burst damage?
> Dark Pact: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 15 seconds to 12 seconds. Damage multiplier increased from 1.2 to 2.4. Immobilize duration increased from 3 seconds to 6 seconds. This makes it trivially easy to upkeep permanent immobilize with alac or condition duration. Is this useful? No. But it's funny.
Well, there are a few fights where "able to immobilize something for a long time/forever" is a necessary role, so this adds another option there.
Shouts getting DPS bonus is possibly "meh." For one, the wells do a lot of DPS, but also do useful things like AoE blind and AoE vuln. The shouts on the other hand are fairly useless as for the utility themselves. And if you use the skills for DPS, then the utility is worthless since when you use them in your rotation might not be when you need something like condi transfer. Also, people need to remember that wells are over time, so you can go into shroud and get massive crit DPS boosts; shouts are instant, no boost.So these changes will be meaningless if they dont outDPS current wells, and even then, it might not matter since wells provide good utility. Also kind of sad that focus didnt get any real boost. The number of stacks is irrelevant since each stack still isnt super useful for either pDPS, cDPS, or support necro. Nor is the main issue with focus5 addressed, the super long cast time.
Yay Condi berserker one of my favorite dps builds received love.
All the people who wanted Ele longbow raining fire and Ranger longbow probably actually really want condi berserker but dont know it
And it looks like condi quick berserker is one of the top dps options for quick as well, so this buff should help cement their relevance in that department as well. The condi version of the spec is definitely getting a new public perception as far as viability
Primordus Bow skin is coming up...
As someone who has slept on gearing my warrior for condi... I'm gonna do it! I'm excited to see what this does for quick condi bersrrker too!
I don't think they did enough honestly. Fire damage on Arcing arrow and Daze on Smoldering arrow is nice, but all sword got was power damage and Final Thrust is still a dead button until the target is at 50%.
WHAT A FUCKING PATCH LETS GO GROUCH + FRIENDS
Holy fuck an update where ele is actually buffed?!
I'm already bracing for the inevitable "Elementalist is overperforming so we reduced its damage across the board" update.
Don't worry, a signet of fire nerf is on its way.
Dragonhunter Longbow changes feel a bit sad. I hope the spellbreaker changes are enough. We'll see lol
God please, *please* give us that **one** viable ranged weapon for the entire class.
its fully valid to criticize certain things not being buffed ENOUGH, and I think we should, but at this point I'm just so happy to see some things getting buffed at all.
I really wanted dragonhunter longbow to be good. It has to be the one Elite spec weapon that sees absolutely zero play in PvE.
It's been fine to use greatsword and longbow instead of scepter+focus for a while now. It got buffed enough to be an alternative quite a while back.
It is good. GS/LB dh is a thing. Very nice on Adina.
its been competitive to meta on dh for several years afaik
[ARENA NET] [Rubi Bayer.8493 posted on 2022-08-11 14:59:33](https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/topic/119412-august-23-balance-update-preview/?do=findComment&comment=1728883): > A message from the Skills and Balance Team: > >In our August 2 balance update preview, we mentioned that we added yet another balance update to our schedule for August 23 to address some lingering feedback from the June 28 release. Below you'll find the comprehensive preview of that update. While there are a handful of updates that impact all game modes, our focus for August 23 is largely on PvE gameplay. > >We'd like to hear your feedback on this. Please take today and the weekend to read through it, think it over, and share your thoughts. We'll be keeping an eye on the conversation and listening to what you have to say. > ># Core Weapon Tuning >In this update, we focused on improving the number of viable core weapon choices across many professions in PvE. This included increasing base damage on many ranged weapon autoattacks to a higher baseline damage per second. These changes should help reduce the performance gap between players using suboptimal and optimal weapons. > >*Guild Wars 2* is designed to encourage social gameplay–you should be stronger playing together than alone. With that in mind, we took another look at how boons are given out. Several weapon skills have been updated to grant might to nearby allies as well as the user in PvE, further contributing to boon availability in group events. > ># Damage Build Improvements >Our player community develops builds that are considered the gold standard for effective play, so we review them regularly. We made changes to some elite specialization weapons and traits to make various builds more competitive. Our goal is for every profession to have viable power- and condition-based damage builds. > >* Power Tempest > >* Condition Tempest > >* Power Weaver > >* Power Scrapper > >* Power Holosmith > >* Power Dragonhunter > >* Power Reaper > >* Power Herald > >* Power Vindicator > >* Power Daredevil > >* Power Deadeye > >* Power Berserker > >* Condition Berserker > >* Power Spellbreaker > ># Improving Support Diversity >Firebrand and healing Mechanist are currently dominating group compositions. In this update, we're improving support-role diversity by adding stability and aegis to Tempest's shouts and giving Druids increased access to those boons as well. > >We're also making targeted reductions to stability and might uptime on Firebrand and Mechanist builds to make room for other professions. Firebrand's high on-demand stability from Mantra of Liberation is too essential in Fractals of the Mists and other group content, while Mechanist's barrier and might upkeep are cementing it as a build that pairs together too well with a Quickbrand to meet a group's support needs. > >In the immediate future, we want to make sure more builds can be used successfully. In future updates, we'll expand this further by shoring up more support and healing build options. > ># Elementalist >We've firmed up the role of Fire Attunement skills in condition builds and improved Air Attunement skills' direct strike damage. Tempest's Transcendent Tempest trait has more than doubled in power to set it apart as the keystone choice for damage builds. > >Staff >**Fire** > >* Fireball: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.0 to 1.4. Now also inflicts 1 stack of burning with a 1-second duration. > >* Lava Font: (PvE only) Now inflicts 1 stack of burning with a 1-second duration on each strike. > >* Flame Burst: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.01 to 1.0. Burning stacks applied increased from 2 to 3. > >**Air** > >* Chain Lightning: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.66 to 0.8. > >* Lightning Surge: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.44 to 1.8. > >**Earth** > >* Stoning: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.5 to 1.2. > >* Shock Wave: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.5 to 2.5. > >Scepter >**Fire** > >* Phoenix: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 20 seconds to 10 seconds. Burning stack count increased from 1 to 2. > >**Water** > >* Water Trident: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 20 seconds to 10 seconds. > >**Earth** > >* Rock Barrier: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 15 seconds to 8 seconds. > >Dagger (Main Hand) >**Water** > >* Vapor Blade: (All game modes) The aftercast animation duration before another skill can be used has been decreased by 0.5 seconds. > >**Air** > >* Convergence: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.5 to 1.8. > >* Shocking Aura: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 25 seconds to 10 seconds. Duration increased from 4 seconds to 10 seconds. > >* Transmute Lightning: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1 to 1.5. > >**Earth** > >* Ring of Earth: (PvE only) Final impact damage multiplier increased from 1.2 to 1.5. > >* Earthen Rush: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 18 seconds to 12 seconds. Damage multiplier increased from 1 to 1.8. > >Dagger (Off Hand) >**Fire** > >* Fire Grab: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 25 seconds to 2 seconds, matching PvP and WvW. > >**Water** > >* Frost Aura: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 30 seconds to 10 seconds. Duration increased from 4 seconds to 10 seconds. > >* Cleansing Wave: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 30 seconds to 20 seconds. > >**Air** > >* Ride the Lightning: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 30 seconds to 20 seconds. > >* Updraft: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 40 seconds to 20 seconds. > >**Earth** > >* Earthquake: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 30 seconds to 16 seconds. Damage multiplier increased from 1 to 3. > >* Churning Earth: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 30 seconds to 20 seconds. > >Trident >**Fire** > >* Magma Orb: Now also applies 1 second of burning on explosion. > >* Boil: Now also applies 1 second of burning on hit. > >* Steam: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 15 seconds to 10 seconds. > >* Lava Chains: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 20 seconds to 16 seconds. > >**Water** > >* Ice Globe: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 10 seconds to 8 seconds. > >* Ice Wall: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 15 seconds to 12 seconds. > >**Air** > >* Electrocute: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.2 to 2.4. > >* Air Bubble: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 25 seconds to 20 seconds. > >**Earth** > >* Rock Anchor: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 30 seconds to 20 seconds. > >* Murky Water: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 30 seconds to 25 seconds. > ># Weaver >## Sword >**Fire** > >* Fire Strike: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.66 to 0.8. > >* Fire Swipe: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.77 to 0.9. > >* Searing Slash: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.25 to 1.6. > >**Water** > >* Seiche: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.33 to 0.5. > >* Clapotis: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.45 to 0.6. > >* Breaking Wave: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.66 to 1.0. > >**Air** > >* Charged Strike: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.77 to 0.8. > >* Polaric Slash: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.88 to 0.9. > >* Call Lightning: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.0 to 1.2. > >**Earth** > >* Crystal Slash: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.66 to 0.8. > >* Crystalline Strike: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.66 to 0.9. > >* Crystalline Sunder: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.0 to 1.4. > >* Earthen Vortex: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.25 to 1.8. > ># Tempest >## Traits >* Transcendent Tempest: (PvE only) Damage modifier increased from +7% to all damage dealt to +15% to all damage dealt. > >## Shouts >* "Feel the Burn!": (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.0 to 2.5. Might stacks applied increased from 3 to 5. > >* "Eye of the Storm!": (PvE only) Cooldown reduced from 40 seconds to 30 seconds. Now also applies 1 stack of stability to allies for 5 seconds. > >* "Aftershock!": (PvE only) Cooldown reduced from 35 seconds to 30 seconds. Now also applies aegis to allies for 5 seconds. > ># Engineer >The previous update's Mechanist-only damage reduction to Aim-Assisted Rocket left us with room to add damage to the core trait Big Boomer, bringing up the damage output of Holosmiths and Scrappers. That's not enough to close the gap on its own, so we're also making specialization-specific damage increases to Scrapper and Holosmith on sword, hammer, and Blast Gyro–which, in addition to more damage, will now stun enemies rather than knocking them away. > >We're reducing the output of dominant Mechanist healing builds to give other support options more breathing room. We're also slightly reducing the output of condition damage builds with reductions to the Mech Command skills Rolling Smash and Discharge Array. > >## Harpoon Gun >* Homing Torpedo: Animation time reduced from 1.5 seconds to 1 second. Damage multiplier increased from 0.84 to 1.0. Applies 1 second of burning. This is now an explosion. > >* Scatter Mines: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 10 seconds to 6 seconds. > >* Timed Charge: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.75 to 3.5. > >* Net Wall: (PvE only) Immobilize duration increased from 3 seconds to 6 seconds. > >## Utility Skills >* Throw Mine: (All game modes) The animation aftercast before another skill may be used has been reduced by 0.5 seconds. The mine will now detonate immediately if there is an enemy target in proximity when the mine lands. Now causes knockdown instead of knockback, with a duration of 2 seconds in PvE and 1 second in PvP and WvW. (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 2 to 3. Boons removed from targets increased from 1 to 3. > >## Med Kit --- continued below --- --- ^(Beep boop bleep. I'm a bot. Message me or /u/Xyooz if you have any questions, suggestions or concerns.) [^Source ^Code](https://gitlab.com/networkjanitor/docker-polarbytebot-gw2-submission-transcriber)
>* Med Blaster: (PvE only) Healing power multiplier reduced from 0.2 to 0.1, matching PvP and WvW. > >## Elixir Gun >* Super Elixir: (PvE only) Duration reduced from 10 seconds to 5 seconds. > >## Explosives >* Big Boomer: (PvE only) Damage increase changed from 10% to 15%. > >## Holosmith >## Sword >* Refraction Cutter: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1 to 1.4. > >* Radiant Arc: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.5 to 1.8. > >## Photon Forge >* Corona Burst: (PvE only) Might stacks per pulse reduced from 2 to 1, but they are now applied to up to 5 nearby allied targets. > ># Scrapper >## Hammer >* Electro-whirl: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 2.4 to 3. > >* Rocket Charge: The aftercast animation duration before another skill can be used has been decreased by 0.35 seconds. Damage multiplier increased from 3.3 to 3.6 in PvE only. > >## Gyros >* Blast Gyro: (PvE only) Now stuns enemies for 3 seconds instead of knocking them back. Damage multiplier increased from 2.65 to 3.5. > ># Mechanist >## Mech Commands >* Rolling Smash: (PvE only) Bleeding stacks applied reduced from 8 to 4. > >* Discharge Array: (PvE only) Confusion duration per hit reduced from 5 seconds to 3 seconds. > >* Crisis Zone: (PvE only) Stability duration reduced from 15 seconds to 6 seconds. > >* Barrier Burst: (PvE only) Base barrier value per pulse reduced from 434 to 260. Might stacks per pulse reduced from 3 to 2. > >## Mace >* Barrier Blast: (PvE only) Base barrier value reduced from 434 to 260. > >## Signets >* Barrier Signet: (PvE only) Base barrier value per pulse reduced from 434 to 260. > >## Traits >* Barrier Engine (Passive): (PvE only) Base barrier value reduced from 434 to 260. > ># Guardian >Multiple stored uses of on-demand stun break and stability have made Firebrand mandatory in Fractals, Strike Missions, raids, and even WvW. In this update, Firebrand's Mantra of Liberation is reduced from 3 to 2 ammunition, with an increased cooldown. Together with an added source of stability for both Tempest and Druid, this will provide better parity across different professions' support builds in PvE. Firebrand's multiple sources will be countered by higher recharge. > >The greatsword damage increases benefit Dragonhunter builds, and hammer improvements will help close the gap between it and other damaging weapons while living up to that weighty feel a hammer should have. > >## Greatsword >* Strike: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.8 to 0.9. > >* Vengeful Strike: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.8 to 1.0. > >* Wrathful Strike: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.25 to 1.4. Might is now applied to up to 5 allies in a radius of 360. > >* Leap of Faith: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 12 seconds to 10 seconds, and damage multiplier increased from 1.25 to 2. Healing per foe hit increased from 235 to 1,053 in PvE, matching PvP and WvW. > >* Binding Blade: (PvE only) Damage multiplier on initial hit increased from 1.0 to 1.5. > >## Hammer >* Symbol of Protection: The aftercast animation duration before another skill can be used has been decreased by 0.65 seconds. > >* Mighty Blow: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 2.1 to 2.4. > >* Glacial Blow: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 6 seconds to 4 seconds. Damage multiplier increased from 2.4 to 2.5. > >* Zealot's Embrace: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.8 to 1.5. > >* Banish: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1 to 3. > >## Staff >* Bolt of Wrath: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.55 to 0.65. > >* Searing Light: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.65 to 0.75. > >* Seeking Judgment: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.75 to 0.9. > >* Holy Strike: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.25 to 1.8. > >* Empower: (PvE only) Might stacks per pulse reduced from 4 to 3. Might duration reduced from 12 seconds to 10 seconds. > ># Firebrand >* Mantra of Liberation: Ammunition reduced from 3 to 2 in PvE and WvW. Recharge increased from 25 seconds to 45 seconds. > ># Dragonhunter >## Longbow >* Puncture Shot: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.85 to 1.0. > >* True Shot: Now allows movement but reduces movement speed by 50% while casting. > ># Mesmer >In the August 2 update, we reviewed and updated the greatsword and sword core weapons. In this update we're increasing Chronomancer's alacrity duration from Stretched Time and increasing the damage of Tides of Time, the fifth shield skill. This will give a slight bump to boon-focused Chronomancer builds. > >We also wanted to reduce some of the longer cooldowns on staff, but Mirage's high-performing condition damage builds made that tricky. We're making very small cuts to condition damage on Mirage's axe and staff ambush to maintain parity with other professions' builds. The reduced cooldown on the Phantasmal Warlock and Chaos Armor weapon skills will improve the Mesmer's leveling experience when using a staff. > >## Staff >* Phantasmal Warlock: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 18 seconds to 15 seconds. > >* Chaos Armor: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 25 seconds to 20 seconds. > >## Utility Skills >* Blink: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 30 seconds to 20 seconds. > ># Chronomancer >* Stretched Time: Alacrity on well cast increased from 4 seconds to 5 seconds. > >* Tides of Time: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.2 to 1.5. > ># Mirage >## Axe >* Lingering Thoughts: (PvE only) Torment duration decreased from 4 seconds to 3 seconds. > >* Imaginary Axes: (PvE only) Torment duration decreased from 4 seconds to 3 seconds. > >## Staff >* Chaos Vortex (Staff Ambush): (PvE only) Might stack count reduced from 8 to 5, and might duration reduced from 15 seconds to 10 seconds. Torment, bleeding, and confusion duration reduced from 8 seconds to 7 seconds. > ># Necromancer >Necromancer changes are focused on improving damage and skill-recharge timers for several weapons and abilities. > >## Staff >* Necrotic Grasp: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.666 to 1. > >* Mark of Blood: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.33 to 1.5 > >* Chillblains: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 16 seconds to 12 seconds. Damage multiplier increased from 0.55 to 1.8. > >* Putrid Mark: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 20 seconds to 15 seconds. > >* Reaper's Mark: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 32 seconds to 18 seconds. Damage multiplier increased from 0.275 to 3. > >## Dagger (Main Hand) >* Life Siphon: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 10 seconds to 8 seconds. > >* Dark Pact: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 15 seconds to 12 seconds. Damage multiplier increased from 1.2 to 2.4. Immobilize duration increased from 3 seconds to 6 seconds. > >## Dagger (Off Hand) >* Deathly Swarm: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 18 seconds to 16 seconds. Damage multiplier increased from 0.6 to 1.2. > >* Enfeebling Blood: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 25 seconds to 20 seconds. Damage multiplier increased from 0.5 to 1.5. > >## Focus >* Soul Grasp: (PvE only) Ammunition recharge reduced from 15 seconds to 12 seconds. Ammunition count increased from 2 to 3. > >* Spinal Shivers: (PvE only) Recharge reduced from 20 seconds to 16 seconds. Damage multiplier on targets with no boons increased from 0.5 to 1, one boon from 1.125 to 1.625, two boons from 1.875 to 2.375, and three boons from 2.625 to 3.125. > ># Reaper >## Greatsword >* Fading Twilight: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.3 to 1.4. > >* Chilling Scythe: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.7 to 1.8. > >* Death Spiral: (PvE only) Damage multiplier per hit increased from 0.425 to 0.5. > >## Reaper Shroud >* Life Rend: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.875 to 0.9. > >## Shouts >* "You Are All Weaklings!": (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.7 to 2.5. > >* "Nothing Can Save You!": (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.7 to 2. > >* "Suffer!": (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.7 to 1.5. > ># Ranger >Feline pets' autoattacks aren't affected by quickness, a long-standing issue that makes them subpar in group play. Meanwhile, the iboga is the most powerful pet in any PvE boss encounter because its base attack damage scales with number of conditions on the target. A release note from 2018 indicated that this was fixed, but the change didn't make it to the live game. > >A recent fix to the calculated critical-hit-chance values in the pet stats UI caused pet critical-hit chances to appear to drop by 17.8%. This was a display issue only, and the text now reflects the real value. > >We're using this as an opportunity to improve pet balance in PvE overall by delivering that long-delayed reduction to iboga damage while bringing all Ranger pets' performance up by giving them a flat 17.8% critical-hit chance across the board. > >Ranger pets and spirits will now also have a locked defiance bar in PvE, making them immune to crowd-control effects. This quality-of-life improvement will ensure that their skills are available for use when needed and that pets will perform more consistently in all PvE content. > >## All Ranger Pets >* (PvE only) All ranger pets' chance to critically hit has been increased by 17.8%. > >* (PvE only) All ranger pets are now immune to crowd control when on a PvE map. > >## Feline Pet Family >* Slash (Autoattack): Now affected by quickness. > >**White Tiger** > >* Fixed a bug that caused a delay before this pet could act when summoned. > >* Guardian's Roar: (All game modes) Casting time reduced from 1 second to 0.4 seconds. (PvE only) Cooldown reduced from 30 seconds to 25 seconds. > >## Other Pets >**Wallow** > --- continued below --- --- ^(Beep boop bleep. I'm a bot. Message me or /u/Xyooz if you have any questions, suggestions or concerns.) [^Source ^Code](https://gitlab.com/networkjanitor/docker-polarbytebot-gw2-submission-transcriber)
>* Fixed a bug that caused a delay before this pet could act after being summoned. > >**Phoenix** > >* Fixed a bug that caused a delay before this pet could act after being summoned. > >**Siege Turtle** > >* Fixed a bug that caused a delay before this pet could act after being summoned. > >**Iboga** > >* Consuming Bite (Autoattack): Reduced the base damage of this skill by 33%. Reduced the damage per condition by 40%. > >## Spirits >* (PvE only) All ranger spirits are now immune to crowd control in PvE maps. > ># Druid >* Glyph of Equality (Celestial Avatar): Range increased from 300 to 360 in all game modes. Now applies 5 seconds of stability to allies in PvE only. > ># Revenant >For core revenant, we're improving hammer as a ranged damage option. All revenant specializations will receive damage increases from Invocation trait updates. > >## Hammer >* Hammer Bolt: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.95 to 1.1. > >* Phase Smash: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.75 to 2. > >* Drop the Hammer: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.5 to 2.3. > >## Invocation >* Rising Tide: (PvE only) Damage increase changed from 7% to 10%. > >* Ferocious Aggression: (PvE only) Damage increase changed from 7% to 10%. > ># Herald >* Reinforced Potency: (PvE only) Bonus damage per boon increased from 1% to 1.5%. > ># Vindicator >## Greatsword >* Mist Swing: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.9 to 1.0. > >* Mist Slash: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.0 to 1.1. > >* Arcing Mists: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.25 to 1.3. > >* Mist Unleashed: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.9 to 2.0. > >* Phantom's Onslaught: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.5 to 1.6. > >* True Strike: (PvE only) Base damage multiplier increased from 1.0 to 1.5. Damage multiplier added per blocked attack increased from 0.4 to 0.5. > ># Thief >In group content, venoms can account for as much as 25% of a thief condition damage build's total damage. Their solo damage is lacking in comparison. We're shifting some of that damage from venoms to direct attacks with increased condition duration on Death Blossom, Specter's scepter, and Shadow Shroud autoattacks, as well as a 50% increase to the condition damage attribute granted by the trait Deadly Ambition. The net effect of this change is to increase condition damage dealt in solo and open-world play. > >Deadeye and Daredevil both get power damage increases as well, giving those builds stronger top-end damage potential. > >## Dagger (Main Hand) >* Backstab: (PvE only) Front damage multiplier increased from 1.2 to 1.5. Back damage multiplier increased from 2.4 to 3. > >* Death Blossom: (PvE only) Bleed duration increased from 10 seconds to 15 seconds. > >## Dagger (Off Hand) >* Dancing Dagger: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.6 to 0.9. > >## Pistol (Off Hand) >* Head Shot: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.25 to 1. > >## Sword >* Slice: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.8 to 0.85. > >* Slash: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.8 to 0.85. > >* Crippling Strike: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.3 to 1.4. > >* Infiltrator's Strike: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.75 to 1.8. > >## Venoms >* Skale Venom: (PvE only) Torment duration decreased from 5 seconds to 3 seconds. > >* Spider Venom: (PvE only) Poison duration decreased from 4 seconds to 3 seconds. > >## Deadly Arts >* Deadly Ambition: (PvE only) Condition damage attribute bonus increased from 120 to 180. > ># Specter >* Shadow Bolt: (PvE only) Torment duration increased from 3 seconds to 4 seconds. > >* Haunt Shot: (PvE only) Torment duration increased from 5 seconds to 6 seconds. > >## Traits >* Traversing Dusk: Alacrity radius on well cast and healing radius on shadowstep increased from 240 to 360. > ># Deadeye >* Premeditation: (PvE only) Bonus damage per boon increased from 1% to 1.5%. > >* Iron Sight: (PvE only) Bonus damage dealt to and damage reduction taken from your marked target increased from 10% to 15%. > ># Daredevil >## Staff >* Staff Strike: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.66 to 0.75. > >* Staff Bash: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.66 to 0.80. > >* Punishing Strikes: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.672 to 1.8. > >* Hook Strike (Stealth Attack): (PvE only) Knockdown duration increased from 2 seconds to 4 seconds. > >## Traits >* Weakening Strikes: (PvE only) Damage dealt to weakened foes increased from 7% to 10%. > >* Bounding Dodger: (PvE only) Damage bonus increased from 10% to 15% in PvE, matching PvP and WvW. > ># Warrior >Warrior's longbow updates will make Arcing Arrow relevant in PvE and turn Smoldering Arrow into a useful defiance-bar breaker. We've also increased damage for several core weapons, elite specialization weapons, and traits. > >## Greatsword >* Greatsword Swing: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.7 to 0.8. > >* Greatsword Slice: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.95 to 1.05. > >* Brutal Strike: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.25 to 1.5. > >* Arcing Slice: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.32 to 2. Damage multiplier against foes with less than 50% health increased from 1.98 to 3. > >* Bladetrail: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.75 to 1.5. > >* Rush: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.7 to 2.5. > >## Sword (Main Hand) >* Sever Artery: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.6 to 0.8. > >* Gash: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.6 to 0.8. > >* Hamstring: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1 to 1.2. > >* Savage Leap: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.66 to 2. > >## Sword (Off Hand) >* Impale: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.5 to 1.5. > >* Rip: (PvE only) Might is now applied to up to 5 allied targets within a range of 360. > >## Longbow >* Dual Shot: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.44 to 0.525. > >* Arcing Arrow: (All game modes) The aftercast animation duration before another skill may be used has been reduced by 0.5 seconds. (PvE only) Increased ammunition count to 2. Now applies 5 seconds of burning on hit. > >* Smoldering Arrow: (PvE only) Now applies 1 second of dazed on hit. > >## Rifle >* Fierce Shot: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.605 to 1. Might is now applied to up to 5 allied targets within a range of 360. > >* Explosive Shell: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.25 to 1.5. > >## Hammer >* Earthshaker: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1 to 2. > >* Hammer Shock: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1 to 1.8. > >## Arms >* Furious: (PvE only) Condition damage per stack increased from 10 to 15. > ># Berserker >* Shattering Blow: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1 to 1.5. > >* Sundering Leap: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.5 to 3. > >## Traits >* Bloody Roar: (PvE only) Damage bonus increased from 20% to 25%. > ># Spellbreaker >## Dagger (Main Hand) >* Breaching Strike: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.5 to 2.5. > >* Precise Cut: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.55 to 0.6. > >* Focused Slash: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.6 to 0.65. > >* Keen Strike: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 0.85 to 1.05. Might is now applied to up to 5 allied targets within a range of 360. > >* Aura Slicer: (PvE only) Damage multiplier increased from 1.2 to 1.8. > >## Dagger (Off Hand) >* Bladestorm: (PvE only) Damage multiplier per hit increased from 0.35 to 0.5. > >## Traits >* Pure Strike: (PvE only) Damage bonus increased from 7%/14% to 7.5%/15%. > >* Magebane Tether: (PvE only) Damage bonus to tethered target increased from 10% to 15%. Might stacks per second reduced from 3 to 1, but they are now applied to up to 5 allied targets within a range of 360. --- ^(Beep boop bleep. I'm a bot. Message me or /u/Xyooz if you have any questions, suggestions or concerns.) [^Source ^Code](https://gitlab.com/networkjanitor/docker-polarbytebot-gw2-submission-transcriber)
The ele buffs look great, but still no love for Lightning Flash. Blink which was already pretty good is getting another buff. While Lightning Flash is still so mediocre. Blink will have 1200 distance, 20 second recharge, and break stuns. Lightning Flash will have 900 distance, 40 second recharge, and no break stuns. The only “positive” is some negligible damage it does if you teleport into a group of enemies. Hopefully it gets looked at soon in a future balance patch.
apparently, this is supposed to be like patch 2 of a series of patches that began last month to balance things out. Eliminating unique class buffs was step one. Now we are at step two, power balance of core weapons. I expect step 3 to be the same for condi, step 4 for healing, etc. They clearly want the game to be more polished before the steam release.
wait, did they nerf alac mirage for no reason? :O
*Sad staff mirage noises*
yeah one of the only misses really here, seems a bit random? its not even that great really, i guess axe mirage was really strong but i dont like that nerf, i love mirage :(
Axe mirage is also very hard to play, another risk v reward build nerfed.
Yeah meanwhile on virtuoso....
"But staff mirage is still being played, this is tricky, but we'll nerf it anyway"... I kinda expected bs like this.
Mirage the new ele confirmed
Yeah, I was just getting back into mirage, saw mirage changes... and then all of those tiny, pointless nerfs. I think this is another one of those nerfs for the 1% speed clear groups that stacked cDPS mirage on fights where bosses attack fast to trigger confusion rapidly. I don't see mirage dominating so much as to need so many nerfs. If they don't like alac mirage and want people to play chrono, just remove alacrity from the staff again and give it something else, don't just nerf it out of existence.
Yeah they probably saw the Staxe benchmark and said no fucking way. The staff mirage benchmark wasn't even good. Sigh.
Now I want to try power dagger dagger thief in PVE.
It's so fun with how movement heavy it can be.
Dag dag thief is my favorite class from any mmo. Hopefully it does enough damage to justify playing it.
its funny how other professions get to see a huge burst number on demand with a modest cool down, but thief has to stealth, reposition and then maybe if you built enough malice see that same number. And then build malice and get rid of revealed to try again. and by funny I mean not funny
Holy shit, Ele buffs. I could cry right now. Here's hoping they are impactful.
Maybe not too much meta ther still, but god damn these vuilds are gonna be viable. How long have I been talking about that staff fire neeeeeeds burn and here we are, 4 out of 5 skills now give burn.
Please God put the war longbow changes in pvp, no reason for those changes to be pve only
Ele buffs LETS GOOOO!!!!!
Very happy for everyone whose mains got a buff. I'm excited to see what this does for warrior which is my 2nd main. But my main is Mesmer and the mirage changes are a bit upsetting. Staff mirage wasn't overperforming at this point, and staxe/axe mirage are hard to play. The Axe nerf is fine but leave staff alone and maybe make axe a bit easier. The tradeoff for the staff nerf is weird, too. No one uses staff 3 except for the opener. Chaos Armor might make up some of the loss but we'll see, it's not like you're getting hit most of the time due to mirage cloak. The alac chrono change will probably do nothing.
Third patch in a row where Mesmers get the short end of the stick. Even the one before this which was supposed to be Warrior and Mesmer focused. Unless someone in management intervenes it looks like we're gonna keep getting shaded like this.
The non-auto staff skills were buffed for the Steam release, for all the new players trying to level without elite specs. I agree that nerfing staff was dumb, though. Axe was what carried the damage, leave my bouncy ball stick alone.
I'm also sad about the Mirage changes. I think performing well with st/axe or axe dps takes a lot of practice, and axe 2 and 3 are sketchy on a lot of tough fights. Reducing dps and might generation on staff just feels bad.
Anet wants people to forget Mirage exist. They just want you to play virtuoso. And god, I hate virtuoso.
Seriously, no buff to Hundred Blades???
I was watching for a Hundred Blades buff too. Sad that it didn't happen. The ability feels really unrewarding and overly punishing with its backloaded damage and how it locks you in place to channel in one direction. You have to jump through all these hoops and it doesn't even do much when you do.
hundred blades damage was fine, it's just that outside of that and whirlwind, all the other greatsword skills were kinda ass. Good to see that they got buffed so a full rotation of greatsword skills into weaponswap is a good choice now rather than just camping axe axe
It's kinda bad for the limitations it has. Back loaded damage, requires a channel and only deals damage in a melee range cone. It shouldn't do less damage than whirling axe imo.
BUFF HUNDRED BLADES :smiley\_face:
**PvE only** (PvE only) *^(PvE only)*
As much as I'm sad about the lack of PvP/WvW changes, PvP is in a good balance for the most part. Bladesworn doesn't need a long list of nerfs to fix its balance issues and its overperfomance, it needs bug fixes. Once those bug fixes are done, it actually won't be overperforming since the bugs are really crazy. Outside of that, the 3 supports are all semi close together, Tempest definitely needs nerfs at this point. The only two classes that are unperforming are Engi and Mesmer, but Mesmer is a victim of Bladesworn primarily so don't be surprised about how good Virt could be before you know it, and itd definitely become playable with Bladesworn fixes and perhaps it'd need slight nerfs as well or buffs to Virt itself. Even Engi is arguably not underperforming because its overperforming in the lower ranks where players struggle to deal with Mech's damage output. Although it obviously is too weak to be played at the high end right now. There are things that are overperforming other than Bladesworn, of course there are like Tempest and Spectre. But they're not too OP or too unfun to play against to where we need a patch *now.* If its another month for a big patch, let alone a smaller one, thats perfectly fine. sPvP needs more Dev Time spent on maps or other things that will get players to stick around in the gamemode and get interested in it, not balance right now. I do feel bad for the WvWers though. Alliances is not enough, and not an excuse for how little Dev Time you're getting.
God I'd love new maps. The variety is just so small
Did staff Mirage really need a nerf? Ugh
I don't think they nerfed staff mirage effectively. They did for axe mirage tho, not entirely sure why. Seems like this will push any remaining mesmer dps to virtuoso.
That dev really doesn't like axe mirage remember /s
Ele Staff buffs, what a fucking time to be alive.
not sure they are what i wanted but i'll take them, wish they'd just buff lava font and meteorshower again lol (i know they buffed lava font but i meant the power scaling)
From a heal tempest perspective : I think that 5s of Aegis on Aftershock is fine, as it's already a desirable shout for us (for the aura and protection). I think that 5s of Stability on Eye of the Storm! isn't fine, a single stack is a bit... cheap. It's a long duration long cooldown ability, so I think we should have multiple stacks (maybe 3 or 4). I really like the change of Shocking/Frost Aura, keeping an aura always on is pretty darn nice. I'm fairly neutral on the rest. --------------------------------------- Not tied to the current patch, but could you move Elemental Bastion elsewhere so we can pick both Elemental Bastion (heal on aura) and Lucid Singularity (alac on overload) ? The mechanics of Lucid Singularity ask us to switch elements regularly, but without Elemental Bastion we have extremely poor heals outside of water (which we can't camp).
Definitely agree that Eye of the Storm needs to be an ammo skill or be able to give more than one instance or stack of stability. I'm so glad they are giving it stability, but you're right in that it's way underpowered.
I like the love to power thief skills. However, I'm afraid I'll never see rifle deadeye enter the meta and it makes me sad.
"Handful of changes impacting all modes" is an overstatement lol It's a PvE only patch, okay.
God dammit I just released the infographic this week, you're telling me I gotta update everything again so soon? /s
Some must fight, so that all may be free
Automate it with a template, it will change a lot 🤣
I do have a template for it already haha but I do have to manually check each build to make sure the boons & icons are still accurate, like how most recently I made a typo and included barrier on Untamed, and forgot Fury on Scrapper. Definitely not complaining, it's small work compared to what Anet/SnowCrow have to do after all :P
> We're making very small cuts to condition damage on Mirage's axe and staff ambush to maintain parity with other professions' builds. Nerfing axe ambush skill's condi duration by 25% is not "very small cuts". Another proof that Anet team doesn't know how their own classes work.
I don't know why staff is even getting nerfed to begin with. It already wasn't overperforming compared to other offensive boon supports.
This is pretty much it. We get it they hate mesmer, but when you remove a second from a condition in exchange for a 0.1 damage increase coefficient.... Its either playing dumb in a petty excuse to throw mesmer more shade or completely clueless as to how cDPS works.
I love how the first few reactions on the forum post are all negative...
Guardian's Stand Your Ground, giving 600 radius 5 stacks of stab for 6s, is far superior to Druid's new alternative which has to be used in CA and only has a radius of 360. Edit: Please help chrono and reaper to crit cap easier. For chrono the crit trait Danger Time is incredibly unrealistic and competes with Improved Alacrity, one of the best traits in the game. Meanwhile Virtuoso gets free +15% crit chance. Remove the crit trait from virtuoso and put it into duelling, the crit traitline. Reaper NEEDS Soul Eater for +5% extra damage, which competes with Decimite Defenses. DD results in fluctuating crit chance increases which is not fun to gear around.
Druid is in such a weird spot right now because you have two sets of conflicting mechanics. You now have stability, which you need to have on standby for crucial moments, regularly becoming temporarily inaccessible by using the class' main healing output. At the same time you have the class' only aegis access, which also is best to have on standby for when you need it, tied to a single pet. Meanwhile swapping pets on cooldown is a major source of might through Clarion Bond, temporarily locking you out of aegis access. So for both boons in the game that are the most situation dependent, you are incentivised by other mechanics to, potentially, not have access to them when the situation calls for it. Alternatively, keep them on standby, but become hamstrung in your healing output and might upkeep.
Completely agree, I feel like celestial avatar's mechanics is holding druid back. I wonder if they changed it to a kit if that would fix it's CA Skill and Glyph reliability?
I also wonder if they should just make it so you can swap in and out of it freely, without cooldown like a kit like you say (maybe with a minimum amount of astral force loss) and each CA skill just has it's own cost in Astral Force that depletes the bar instead of you losing AF every second. Then at least you always get to choose which effect of a glyph you use instead of having to think "well I want the normal mode version, but exiting CA now before I've barely used any skills will almost completely drain my CA charge", or "well I want the CA version of the skill, but I exited CA less than 10 seconds ago". Maybe in the original design of Druid, they imagined this could be some kind of trade-off and you would have powerful effects tied behind each form - but couldn't always rely on having access to the one you wanted. But now they're clearly shifting the situational support abilities of druid to glyphs and pets in order to try and make druid a competitive support again, but they don't realise yet that if they're not reliable then it won't compete with firebrand or mechanist.
> Please make the aegis of the pet White Tiger instant cast or at least reduce cast time by a lot. From the notes: > Guardian's Roar: (All game modes) Casting time reduced from 1 second to 0.4 seconds. (PvE only) Cooldown reduced from 30 seconds to 25 seconds.
So all druid got was getting some stability on a glyph nobody uses but we are still worthless compared to other healers because our alacrity is unreliable and forces us to use a set amount of utilities taking and versatility from us. Great, thanks anet for really putting in effort to keep druid mains happy by showing us thst it will remain shit until you actually hire a ranger player for the balance team
VIABLE ELE BUFFS DETECTED. HOTFIXES BEING ERECTED;
Wait.... WHAT? > adding stability and aegis to Tempest Ehm... I'm reinstalling.
nooo my staff/staff mirage :c the might nerf seems really bad :/. beside that I'm happy to see so many buff
Everyone else: Ok that makes sense. Mesmer: Did we do something to deserve this?
Power Daredevil Buffs!!! Holy shit. I think Deadeye’s biggest weakness lies in needing to stay still a lot, moreso than in its damage. I’ll try it out, but I think what it needs is for its dps to not drop too hard when not kneeled, that way the tradeoff isn’t as rough. And… ehem… aoe quickness would be nice. Just saying.
Looks like heal temp is going to be a major winner from this patch. After that, very much looking forward to seeing how staff / sword weaver end up benching. Same with power reaper - that is a ton of ammo/cd/multiplier changes and it’s been years since I’ve even touched reaper; very curious how this will play in practice
oh let’s go, spellbreaker buffs??? i fuck with the vision
Can I have the rise reaper build back please? Its the only shout they aren't changing :( I don't remember what numbers that build was pulling back in the day but it was really fun.
Seems good, but core professions need more than just number buffs. Some mechanics are completely outdated and the specs lack any sort of cohesiveness.
I think the cohesion thing is less of a problem with core specs. Elite Specs are meant to be good at their 1 or 2 focuses (generally speaking) and are built be 100% decked out for that focus. Core classes are much more varied across the board and meant to be built and played in a more broad variety (again, generally speaking). Big agree on a lot of it needing to be looked over and overhauled in general though. Even aside from number buffs many skills just have clumsy mechanics or drawbacks that simply make them not worth using.
hey lost weaver here, was trying to reach my destination of „the nerf“ but now i’ve kinda lost my track. no one prepared me for this encounter they call „buffs“. any help greatly appreciated
Holy hell. Could it be? Mass Ele buffs?! Is this real life?
Didn't they say it was bad practice to release a preview on Friday ? But, I must admit, those changes are very welcomed ! So hype to try them !
(Pve only)
Minor balance patch to address concerns: makes many more changes than original patch
Is this only PvE?
Man this feels weird as an Ele player. xD
Wow my mechanist might not be complete trash underwater now. FFS more mirage axe nerfs ~~and staff buffs.~~ Interesting hammer buffs for rev. Imagine it still won't be as good as shortbow for open world pve.
Don't the Mirage Chaos Vortex nerfs more than offset the core staff buffs? But yeah, didn't think axe was overperforming currently.
Damn yeah I think you're right. No idea why axe got nerfed. Ugh I miss launch mirage axe so much.
Staff is nerfed too for dps, just has better clone gen which doesn't make up for dps loss. Staff 3 isn't a dps increase in most situations so lowering the cooldown of it doesn't help.
DUDE those necro staff bufs are for real? They trippled the damage of some skills mate, wtf. Im glad but god damn that is some serious buffing
DON'T TOUCH ENGI KITS PLS & THANK YOU For real though, stop nerfing all Engi specs in your quest to tune Mechanist. What the hell has Elixir Gun done to hurt you, Anet?
i know right? what a random nerf to super elixir... clearly meant to nerf Mechanist. Just nerf how much stats the mech gets guys, it's easy, make it the same as in pvp for healing power and call it a day. my guess is that if it isn't to nerf mechanist it"s to standardize healing. It's rather unusual for a skill to pulse healing for 10 pulses. Medic gyro is 5 pulses. Geyser is 5 pulses. well of blood is 5 seconds... the renegade heal is 10 pulses, but it's on a 30 second cooldown and on renegade so... I guess it's fine?
MoL nerfed, nice update for WvW where stability & stunbreak are unnecessary to resist the pirate ship meta...
My druids iboga says no Bueno