Curse

Bobby2 · Sep 17, 2009, 11:48 PM // 23:48

GG ANet. That's all I have to say.

Reverend Dr · Sep 18, 2009, 12:03 AM // 00:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by Reverend Dr

Right now I'm just waiting for the update that only nerfs escape by making it end on attack, without addressing expertise or the sin skills themselves. Nevermind the fact that as soon as the update came out, zealous vow assassins and other types of sins were immediately replacing warrior slots and already outperforming existing warriors; escape will still be used on r/a's, they won't be quite as powerful, but will still have a 12 second recharge 75% block + IMS and be very dominant in the meta.

We'll see how this plays out.

Immolate, prism, sanctity, and rip I am happy about.

I did feel that patient was too strong, but until a large bit of the offence can be toned down, I'm not sure how this is going to work.

EDIT: hahaha, oh the developer's page. Is admitting that they didn't know hat to do with resolve, so they nerfed it out of the game, that difficult to do?

Quote:

Originally Posted by dev commentary

Mantra of Resolve is the sort of skill that can cause problems in how the game plays. We've made dramatic numerical changes to this skill, essentially changing its function from giving long-term protection against interrupts to allowing a player to only protect key skills from interruption. By reducing its duration to 5, we hope to accomplish three things: First, having much shorter duration compared to recharge will require thoughtful usage of the skill. It can still be used to protect key spell-casts but will not provide blanket protection. Second, by requiring the caster to use the skill right before casting a spell, we give enemies a chance to see that Mantra of Resolve is in effect. We didn't feel that it was reasonable for someone's interruption attempt to be countered by an invisible stance that was activated a full minute or more earlier. Third, we wanted to make the energy cost of the skill matter. Even though the skill only takes 5 energy, needing to use it right before casting a spell should be a meaningful change.

Sankt Hallvard · Sep 18, 2009, 12:38 AM // 00:38

I initially posted my rections in Riverside but the crowd there seems totally out of sync with my views so I'd rather post here. Basically my reaction is:

THANK YOU. GG ANET. Keep it coming!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anet Updates

Dervish

* Armor of Sanctity: increased duration to 15 seconds; increased recharge to 15 seconds.

Nice! 2ndary abuse ends and can still be viable in certain builds I guess.

Quote:

Elementalist

* Ether Prism: increased recharge to 25 seconds; decreased damage reduction to 75%.
* Immolate: increased recharge to 5 seconds.

Nice! The mind blast templates will probably still need some toning down though.

Quote:

Mesmer

* Distortion: increased recharge to 8 seconds.
* Illusion of Pain: changed the description to more accurately reflect its functionality.
* Mantra of Resolve: decreased duration to 5 seconds.

Nice! Mindless hexspam ends, but it's still viable for teams that insist on running (lame) hexes. Mindless distortion spam ends also, but still very viable. Illusion of pain could use toning down though, not just a rewording or whatever. Though mantra should probably be pvp only, I see a lot of bitching from pve'ers here now and don't want them upset.

Quote:

Monk

* Patient Spirit: increased recharge to 4 seconds.

Nice! As powerful this skill is it is still needed to keep up with the strength of offensive skills, a small adjustment is the right way to go.

Quote:

Necromancer

* Rip Enchantment: increased recharge to 15 seconds.
* Vampiric Spirit: increased casting time to 2 seconds.

Nice! Vamp spirit becomes less spikey, buh-bye blood spike. Enjoy the champ pts you earned.. Rip was the bane of good protting with guardian. 15 secs.. myeah maybe, maybe it could do with 20s recharge also. And corrupt could do with a slight nerf also, 12 secs? 15?

Quote:

PvP Only Changes

Assassin

* Death Blossom: increased recharge to 6 seconds.

Nice! I was hoping for a revert of the latest mistakes of jagged, fox fangs but I guess asking for a complete retreat would be a little hard on prestige. A sin nerf is ALWAYS a step in the right direction. I'll take it!

Quote:

Necromancer

* Signet of Agony: increased recharge to 20 seconds.
* Unholy Feast: increased recharge to 20 seconds.

Nice! Bloodspike can rot in hell. Another step in the right direction!

Quote:

Ranger

* Escape: functionality changed to: "Elite Stance. For 1..8 seconds, you move 33% faster and have a 75% chance to block attacks. Ends if you make a melee attack."

Nice! Lame builds just had their invincibility cape stripped. You can still run around with lame sin skills but at least now you can be punished for your mistakes.

Quote:

PvE Only Changes

Whatever makes the Ectoboys happy.

All in all I'm SHOCKED! This must be the best update in quite some time. When I said in another thread earlier that "this update will solve all our problems" I was being as sarcastic as humanly possible, but daam man this comes pretty close!

Now if you only had killed off stonesoul strike in the same update, you wouldn't have to delete TA.

Please ignore all the people whining about this update, my guess is 90% of them just whine because that's how they've been raised to believe the world works. This update was definitely a step in the right direction, a path leading away from the power creep and button-mash.

I think I might just start playing again, not just idling in guild hall staring at empty friendslist. Thank you for restoring some of my faith in you!

Keep TA! (nerf stonesoul strike, tone down all hexes just a weeeee bit and it's okie-dokie!)

Nighty-night Bellevue!

kosh · Sep 18, 2009, 12:40 AM // 00:40

so il guess will start seeing more r/p escape now? lol. how f hard was it to say in the description :bow only. gfg.

as for rest, this was supposed to be a BIG pvp update, all ic is13 changes that of out those Armor of Sanctity,Ether Prism,Distortion,Iop, and vemp spirit got buffed last time' so that's not even making something now, just fixing what u F'ed last time.

I Angra I · Sep 18, 2009, 12:45 AM // 00:45

conditioning your community to be absolutely overjoyed when you finally do something slightly right makes me sad ):

though it is a decent update, I guess. just a lot more to go still before they actually fix actual problems (that they didnt create themselves last update (R/A's) )

Atro · Sep 18, 2009, 12:47 AM // 00:47

I'm glad to see that Distortion got nerfed, I am a big meta tester/user and these are a few that I think that were overpowered in PvP, as for R/A Escape Rangers, I only experience only one and I owned it lol, it sucked cuz im a horrible Ra'er.

Red Apple · Sep 18, 2009, 01:02 AM // 01:02

As a monk I feel sad for mantra of resolve

, any other thing is out of my playing scoope xD

Sankt Hallvard · Sep 18, 2009, 01:06 AM // 01:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by Red Apple

As a monk I feel sad for mantra of resolve

, any other thing is out of my playing scoope xD

Why would you feel sad for mantra as a monk? Having WoH or PnH available on your bar is a great nuisance?

God_Hand · Sep 18, 2009, 01:06 AM // 01:06

Lemme just grab a quote from the AUGUST skill update thread... let's see... here we go!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stranger The Ranger

The lack of a Mind Blast nerf makes my face hit my palm.

AoS was probably the best decision in the update. It's still viable, but it's now viable to remove the condition or enchantment.

Ether Prism wasn't hit hard enough.

Immolate wasn't hit hard enough.

Distortion is a little better now.

Illusion of Pain needed a nerf (or Glimmering Mark), and didn't get one.

Mantra of Resolve is... well, you could use it for a FEW spells... seems useless now.

Patient Spirit wasn't hit hard enough.

Rip Enchantment is fine now.

Death Blossom is fine now.

Unholy Feast and Sig of Agony needed that.

Escape is near-useless now.

In terms of builds, here's what everyone will do:

X/D's = Stop running AoS, because they can't actually time it decently.

R/A's = Run Shattering Assault and Nat Stride instead of Death Blossom and Escape

E/Me's = Keep doing their thing

E/D's = Keep doing their thing

E/X Prism Flaggers = Keep going their thing

Mo/X's = Keep abusing Patient Spirit, Guardian, and Word of Healing, Balanced Stance, Shield Bash, Dark Escape, and Return against melee

N/X's = Delete their characters and roll something better

EDIT: Everyone who used X/Me for Mantra of Resolve = Go X/D for Pious Concentration instead, because it recharges in 5 seconds and is thus maintainable even at zero Earth Prayers (although you do lose enchantments if you've got any).

Well, that's how I see it going. But what the hell do I know?

Animate · Sep 18, 2009, 01:08 AM // 01:08

A joke:

Carefully look at
1. Mantra of Concentration
2. Mantra of Resolve
3. Pious Concentration

and then compare them with each other
especially 3. Pious Concentration

done? Fine. Now read this statement:

Quote:

Mantra of Resolve is the sort of skill that can cause problems in how the game plays. We've made dramatic numerical changes to this skill, essentially changing its function from giving long-term protection against interrupts to allowing a player to only protect key skills from interruption. By reducing its duration to 5, we hope to accomplish three things: First, having much shorter duration compared to recharge will require thoughtful usage of the skill. It can still be used to protect key spell-casts but will not provide blanket protection. Second, by requiring the caster to use the skill right before casting a spell, we give enemies a chance to see that Mantra of Resolve is in effect. We didn't feel that it was reasonable for someone's interruption attempt to be countered by an invisible stance that was activated a full minute or more earlier. Third, we wanted to make the energy cost of the skill matter. Even though the skill only takes 5 energy, needing to use it right before casting a spell should be a meaningful change.

Balance update, huh.

Another joke: The E/Me goes E/D and uses Mirage Cloak. The Mesmer still dies.

The general pattern of how Arena.net handles problems:

-Problem #1: GvG at VoD, Arena.net's Solution: We remove VoD.
-Problem #2: Smiter's Boon, Arena.net's Solution: We remove Smiter's Boon.
-Problem #3: TA and HB, Arena.net's Solution: We remove TA and HB.
-Problem #4: Mantra of Resolve, Arena.net's Solution: We remove Mantra of Resolve.
-Problem #5: GW sucks, Arena.net's Solution: We remove ou... err never mind.

(nooooo we did not remove Smiter's Boon; we just balanced it, so that players must think more carefully on when to use it before casting a skill that they want to trigger the bonus on!)

Ec]-[oMaN · Sep 18, 2009, 01:09 AM // 01:09

So a few things got hit that have been discussed to death since MB eles started seeing play again, and a few skills got hit because a previous update caused them. Only now they've altered an Elite skill. The rest has been suggested half a year or more ago(necro/mesmer ones). Can't say I'd be overall thrilled with the outcome. The meta will probably just go back in time 2 months, with the odd ball guilds maybe playing balanced since the shit storm is over.

Also God Hand summed it up.

God_Hand · Sep 18, 2009, 01:12 AM // 01:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ec]-[oMaN

Also God Hand summed it up.

I'm flattered. Does it really look like I know what the hell I'm talking about? Cause if it does, I pieced that all together in about 5-10 minutes worth of thinking.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Animate

A joke:

Carefully look at
1. Mantra of Concentration
2. Mantra of Resolve
3. Pious Concentration

and then compare them with each other
especially 3. Pious Concentration

done?

Well, well, well. /D is the new king of uninterruptibility. I should put a little note in my first post.

Sankt Hallvard · Sep 18, 2009, 01:19 AM // 01:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by Animate

The general pattern of how Arena.net handles problems:

-Problem #1: GvG at VoD, Arena.net's Solution: We remove VoD.
-Problem #2: Smiter's Boon, Arena.net's Solution: We remove Smiter's Boon.
-Problem #3: TA and HB, Arena.net's Solution: We remove TA and HB.
-Problem #4: Mantra of Resolve, Arena.net's Solution: We remove Mantra of Resolve.
-Problem #5: GW sucks, Arena.net's Solution: We remove ou... err never mind.

According to your list Anet gets every 2nd try at solving problems right. Using this logic we are looking at a bright, bright future:

Today's update was awesome, though not complete. Next month's update is cancelled by changing to updates every 2 months instead, so no bad solution of a problem next month. The next month(update time) they will according to the rule make another good solution. And so it will repeat and repeat.

Krill · Sep 18, 2009, 02:06 AM // 02:06

Still worried about the dagger attack chain being too powerful on primary sins and possibly dervs or rangers, guess we'll see how it plays out. If they are absolutely determined to keep these 1/2s activation attack skills it would have made a lot more sense to go 4s recharge on jagged and fox fangs with 8s on death blossom, along with the escape nerf which was good.

Prism, immolate and rip, pretty good I think these skills are where they should be now. Although the later two will still be quite powerful when you factor in half skill recharges.

Resolve was smiters boon'd, won't miss it, pious concentration should have been looked into too but oh well TA is gona be gone anyway.

Decisive blood nerf came about a year too late.

subarucar · Sep 18, 2009, 03:44 AM // 03:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by kosh

so il guess will start seeing more r/p escape now? lol. how f hard was it to say in the description :bow only. gfg.

as for rest, this was supposed to be a BIG pvp update, all ic is13 changes that of out those Armor of Sanctity,Ether Prism,Distortion,Iop, and vemp spirit got buffed last time' so that's not even making something now, just fixing what u F'ed last time.

When will people understand that it was the dagger skills and not escape that caused the problem. Almost nobody ran dagger Rangers before the skills got buffed, people will not switch to an escape spear, it has nowehere the damage output of what R/A's had. To get any decent damage from a R/P you need and IAS, which means no escape.

Update seems good, I think putting MB back to 3 second recharge and maybe giving it 1 less energy gain would balance that up a bit more.
PvE/PvP Mantra split would be nice, that way Mesmers can still farm raptors.
AoS is still very viable, but now suffers more from enchant strips and cant be used as a throwaway enchantement.
Distortion probably needs to be 10 second recharge.
Patient Spirit doesnt matter to much, if you needed to use it on recharge you were probably going to fail, run out of energy and die anyway.
GG bloodspike.
Rip needs to be more carefully used now, rather than just using it on random enchanted foes.
Im glad they didn't make escape end on attacks in generall, so it is still useable with a bow (But probably not much good).

Selfless Spirit stops skillspam easy PvE monking.
Finale is good for making healer paragon's more viable again.

One of the better updates I have seen recently, would like to see some more buffs to make more intyeresting builds viable. A-Net are probably trying to stay away from buffing for a while as almost everything they buff ends up becoming the next imba skill.

Catchphrase · Sep 18, 2009, 06:02 AM // 06:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by subarucar

When will people understand that it was the dagger skills and not escape that caused the problem. Almost nobody ran dagger Rangers before the skills got buffed, people will not switch to an escape spear, it has nowehere the damage output of what R/A's had. To get any decent damage from a R/P you need and IAS, which means no escape.

I agree escape is only partial to R/A's OP, but it has always been abused to death in every gimmicky melee ranger builds.

lutz · Sep 18, 2009, 06:19 AM // 06:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by God_Hand

Lemme just grab a quote from the AUGUST skill update thread... let's see... here we go!

AoS was probably the best decision in the update. It's still viable, but it's now viable to remove the condition or enchantment.

Ether Prism wasn't hit hard enough.

Immolate wasn't hit hard enough.

Distortion is a little better now.

Illusion of Pain needed a nerf (or Glimmering Mark), and didn't get one.

Mantra of Resolve is... well, you could use it for a FEW spells... seems useless now.

Patient Spirit wasn't hit hard enough.

Rip Enchantment is fine now.

Death Blossom is fine now.

Unholy Feast and Sig of Agony needed that.

Escape is near-useless now.

In terms of builds, here's what everyone will do:

X/D's = Stop running AoS, because they can't actually time it decently.

R/A's = Run Shattering Assault and Nat Stride instead of Death Blossom and Escape

E/Me's = Keep doing their thing

E/D's = Keep doing their thing

E/X Prism Flaggers = Keep going their thing

Mo/X's = Keep abusing Patient Spirit, Guardian, and Word of Healing, Balanced Stance, Shield Bash, Dark Escape, and Return against melee

N/X's = Delete their characters and roll something better

EDIT: Everyone who used X/Me for Mantra of Resolve = Go X/D for Pious Concentration instead, because it recharges in 5 seconds and is thus maintainable even at zero Earth Prayers (although you do lose enchantments if you've got any).

Well, that's how I see it going. But what the hell do I know?

You're right. After all, R/A's with Shattering Assault and Natural Stride are definitely on par with R/As with Escape. I mean, who wouldn't want to spec heavy 3 ways for a sub-par speed boost that doesn't really function well as a block?

IMMORTAlMITCH · Sep 18, 2009, 07:26 AM // 07:26

Worried the blood changes won't be enough to stop the 347895389569 bspike guilds out there. Not really sure why bspike needs to stay a viable build but whatever.

Pretty good update otherwise, still a long way to go though, I'm calling dual paras winning gold next mat.

M @ T · Sep 18, 2009, 08:51 AM // 08:51

A similar thread exists here, dunno which one is gonna get closed..

PvP:

AoS: Good! i mean come on, I was able to tank 2 wars and a derv with this skill alone.. Way too OP. Agrred with God Hand below.

Quote:

Originally Posted by God_Hand

It's still viable, but it's now viable to remove the condition or enchantment.

Ether Prism: Nice, will it help kill sway? Hmmz.. On the GvG side I'd say that the recharge should remain on 20 secs.

Immolate: So and so, MB should have that recharge.

Distortion: Thank you!

Patient Spirit: So and so, never thought it was THAT OP.

Escape: It won't stop R/As. They just have to be a little more carefull that's all. Agreed the God Hand below too.

Quote:

Originally Posted by God_Hand

R/A's = Run Shattering Assault and Nat Stride instead of Death Blossom and Escape

Rip Enchantment: Now it looks balanced.

Vampiric Spirit: Can't really say, I'll have to see it in action.

Death Blossom: Looks ok still, but uhm, if that was meant to hurt R/A it's bad.

Unholy Feast&Signet of Agony: Not a lot to say really,

.

PVE:

Selfless Spirit: I actually don't like that

. Ye it was OP but it was fun too >.>

Finale of Restoration: Meh, tbh I was always biased on Paras so I'll just shut up

General:

Quote:

Originally Posted by God_Hand

E/Me's = Keep doing their thing

E/D's = Keep doing their thing

E/X Prism Flaggers = Keep going their thing

Aggreed and

on E/Me/D, I need to see the Prism Flaggers in action to have a viable point. Same goes for R/A but Shattering Assault says hai!

EDIT: WHAT ABOUT SF GAWDDAMIT! SMITER'S BOON THE DAMN THING NAO!

Gift3d · Sep 18, 2009, 12:03 PM // 12:03

nerf to nearly invincible eles, nerf to being uninterruptable forever, nerf to blood spam, nerf to sway shitters. all good.

nerf to patient spirit i just don't get.