Curse

Lishy · Aug 07, 2009, 04:38 AM // 04:38

Does anyone here think they would bother with sand shards? Or no?

pumpkin pie · Aug 07, 2009, 04:47 AM // 04:47

I am thinking: Winter's Embrace-Touch Hex Spell. (2...5...6 seconds.) You and target foe move 90% slower.

should become: for 3 seconds, Target touched foes move 90% slower, Caster move 90% faster otherwise who voluntarily wants to move 90% slower?? Doesn't make one bit of sense, this skill in its original state

or option: for 3 seconds, Target touched foes move 90% slower, caster move 90% slower and casting time reduce by 50%. Now, this make sense, touch someone and cast some aoe real fast so they die while unable to run away.

Master Ketsu · Aug 07, 2009, 04:48 AM // 04:48

Quote:

I'm very delighted at both the skill updates and the detailed dev notes that specifically address why and what they did to EACH AND EVERY SKILL.

That would only be good if their reasons weren't bad and ridden with fallacies.

Such as using reasons concerning PvE to balance a skill's PvP version. It is so obvious that these skill updates are from a PvE scrub perspective it is not even funny.

Ironically the best thing about this update is that they didn't fix XTH.

shoyon456 · Aug 07, 2009, 04:58 AM // 04:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by Master Ketsu

That would only be good if their reasons weren't bad and ridden with fallacies.

Such as using reasons concerning PvE to balance a skill's PvP version. It is so obvious that these skill updates are from a PvE scrub perspective it is not even funny.

Thats not the point, first off, their "fallacies" are your personal opinion. Obviously you can't have empathy or relate to other people by seeing it through their POV. They stated their perceived goals/reasons and referenced previous updates to support these goals, and I would say did a damn good job of doing that. Whether or not you agree with the updates, it was very thorough on what Linsey/The Live Team thought they wanted to achieve and for that I applaud them. Up until now they have mostly been falling over their own feet on discernable reasons and communicating those reasons to the community.

I say this was a good update because they stated their intentions and followed through pretty thoroughly, whether or not it met your personal wants (it met mine, see Derv skill changes tyvm).

EDIT: I'm pretty sure Sand Shards was meant to be a PvE directed skill anyways...it only makes sense, since that is where AoEs are most effective.

.HunTer · Aug 07, 2009, 04:59 AM // 04:59

Sand Shards
For 1...5...7 days you will see 90% more dervishs in RA,after 1 week,nothing happens.

Just played RA with my monk and got 10 wins,8 of them had AT LEAST 2 dervishs using sand shards,winter's embrace and some lame snares.
Awesome update btw...but giving aoe to dervs was a terrible idea...

Cuilan · Aug 07, 2009, 05:00 AM // 05:00

I'm actually going to try out Sand Shards with snare

Vow of Piety, Winds of Disenchantment, and Aura Slicer are quite welcome on my skillbar now. Just have to find room for WoD and AS.

Conviction does seem a bit powerful, but maybe it'll allow me to actually fit damage skills on my earthy builds.

Selfless Spirit change is a bit much, but then again I didn't see many monks use that skill.

Illusion of Pain is pretty nasty. I'll have to check what enemies use that.

Lishy · Aug 07, 2009, 05:03 AM // 05:03

I <3 the illusion of pain buff. This means we can farm The great destroyer oh so much easier.

HawkofStorms · Aug 07, 2009, 05:10 AM // 05:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by .HunTer

Sand Shards
For 1...5...7 days you will see 90% more dervishs in RA,after 1 week,nothing happens.

Just played RA with my monk and got 10 wins,8 of them had AT LEAST 2 dervishs using sand shards,winter's embrace and some lame snares.
Awesome update btw...but giving aoe to dervs was a terrible idea...

Giving AoE to a class dedicated to AoE damage is a bad idea?

Anyway, RA is always full of Dervish, sins, and warriors to a ridiculously out of proportion degree. Thus all the "stupid noob blind" comments are always fun as I roll through there on my ele.

Chocobo1 · Aug 07, 2009, 05:15 AM // 05:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by HawkofStorms

Giving AoE to a class dedicated to AoE damage is a bad idea?

Anyway, RA is always full of Dervish, sins, and warriors to a ridiculously out of proportion degree. Thus all the "stupid noob blind" comments are always fun as I roll through there on my ele.

I also enjoy "Noob runner" and "blocking bitch".

The old Sand Shards seemed so much better though, especially since this new one deals earth damage and thus ends up dealing like 8 damage per second. I expect a revert like OoU.

reaper with no name · Aug 07, 2009, 05:18 AM // 05:18

To kick off this post, I'd like to thank Anet for once again proving that my faith in them after the rit/para buffs was not misplaced. The pet buffs look awesome. My ranger is quite pleased. And my rit is ecstatic to learn that the SoS bug has been fixed.

As for the dervish buffs...I see what you're trying to do, and I appreciate it, but you're fundamentally misunderstanding the problems of the dervish. The problem with the dervish is that warriors and assassins can use nearly all of their skills (including the ones you just buffed) better than the dervish can. You see, the dervish has no synergy with enchantments other than mysticism (which offers nothing except energy). Guess what? W/Ds with Warrior's Endurance and A/Ds with good critical strikes have more energy than a dervish could ever hope to have. They can spam enchantments better than a dervish could ever dream of. And use a scythe better than they can. And be tougher. And do nearly everything else better, too. Dervishes have no synergy with anything; enchantments, their own weapon, secondary professions, you name it. These buffs don't encourage people to use dervishes; they only encourage W/Ds and A/Ds to use more dervish skills. There is currently no reason for primary dervishes to bother with earth or wind prayers, because W/Ds and A/Ds can always make better use of those skills than a primary dervish can due to their vastly superior energy management (which far outweighs the slight benefits conferred by runes).

There have been several threads in the suggestions and dervish campfire sections on how to make dervishes a useful primary profession. Look at one of those, please, because as it stands now there are a grand total of 5 dervish builds that aren't completely redundant (note that "not completely redundant" does not mean GOOD, it just means that a warrior or assassin can't completely beat it in every single category).

Also, please look into Shadow Form (which equates to complete invulnerability for almost all of PvE, which is simply unacceptable) and Ether Renewal (PvE) (which allows elementalists to outheal the best healing monk and outprot the best protection monk simultaneously).

You'll probably never read this particular post, but nevertheless, these are the only problems really left in PvE that I can think of. Fix those, and I'll be satisfied.

moriz · Aug 07, 2009, 05:30 AM // 05:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by shoyon456

Thats not the point, first off, their "fallacies" are your personal opinion. Obviously you can't have empathy or relate to other people by seeing it through their POV. They stated their perceived goals/reasons and referenced previous updates to support these goals, and I would say did a damn good job of doing that. Whether or not you agree with the updates, it was very thorough on what Linsey/The Live Team thought they wanted to achieve and for that I applaud them. Up until now they have mostly been falling over their own feet on discernable reasons and communicating those reasons to the community.

I say this was a good update because they stated their intentions and followed through pretty thoroughly, whether or not it met your personal wants (it met mine, see Derv skill changes tyvm).

EDIT: I'm pretty sure Sand Shards was meant to be a PvE directed skill anyways...it only makes sense, since that is where AoEs are most effective.

how well they execute their goals is irrelevant, if their goals are not appropriate for what they are trying to fix. in this case, many of the updates, especially the ones regarding assassins, are geared specifically for pve only. if that's the case, those should be pve only changes. let's face it, nobody in pvp would care if some random assassin skills can suddenly deal AoE. however, the fast activation buffs, which were made so assassins can get out their combos faster in pve, will potentially break assassins in pvp, especially lower end arenas.

in the end, the changes anet made are not appropriate for the problems at hand. that's why a lot of people are pissed. after all, it doesn't matter how well you've executed your plan, when your plan is to make a giant pile of dung.

Racthoh · Aug 07, 2009, 05:43 AM // 05:43

Quote:

In order to help Dervishes survive when surrounded by enemies, we've provided two different stances that give increased armor: Conviction and Vow of Piety.

Thanks, because we all know how stances stack and how well armor stacks with other skills past +25.

Quote:

While we were at it, we removed some of the complexity from these skills, both of which used to give different bonuses depending on whether or not you were enchanted. Now they both just provide additional bonuses if you are enchanted.

Thanks, I hated having to think and build around a skill to best maximize its synergy with the rest of the bar.

Quote:

Armor of Sanctity was an interesting but often impractical defensive skill. By applying the Weakness condition to adjacent foes when it is first used, it ensures that the damage reduction will have some effect.

Thanks, because in a team game having to do all the work yourself is the best way to go.

Mesmers Are Bad · Aug 07, 2009, 05:44 AM // 05:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by smilingscar

Thank you Anet, for giving us skill update on the first Thursday of the month when you are still busy tackling other bugs/issues (Xunlai Tournament, content update, etc).

Surprisingly, I no longer see a good reason not to play any particular class in pve. I've dusted off my para and rit with the last update, now I'll be revisiting my derv.

^Thanks for this. Seriously people, it never ceases to amaze me how badly most of this community reacts to anything anet does or doesn't do! I for one appreciate the fact that we even GOT a skill update, and on the first Thursday of the month no less! So thanks Linsey and all you guys working on the dev team for making me want to play my ranger/rit/para/derv again

reaper with no name · Aug 07, 2009, 06:10 AM // 06:10

Well, to be fair, while they have fixed pets (or so I assume; haven't tried the changes out yet), they haven't fixed dervs, not by a long shot. W/Ds and A/Ds can make use of all these new dervish buffs just as well (better actually, since they have better energy management) than primary dervishes. Unfortunately, dervishes still suck.

Thamior Shamus · Aug 07, 2009, 06:10 AM // 06:10

Some odd skill changes... Like the ele buffs and the Mel Shot nerf. Burning Arrow ftw!

Still waiting for MB to be nerfed... surpised Anet doesn't see it as an overpowered skill.

Ugh · Aug 07, 2009, 06:22 AM // 06:22

Quote:

I for one appreciate the fact that we even GOT a skill update, and on the first Thursday of the month no less! So thanks Linsey and all you guys working on the dev team for making me want to play my ranger/rit/para/derv again

*grumble grumble* mel shot *grumble*

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thamior Shamus

Some odd skill changes... Like the ele buffs and the Mel Shot nerf. Burning Arrow ftw!

Still waiting for MB to be nerfed... surpised Anet doesn't see it as an overpowered skill.

BA is the only elite I can use for PvP, now. T.T

And yes, MB and SF should have been fixed. QQQQ

reaper with no name · Aug 07, 2009, 06:30 AM // 06:30

Hmmm...You know, I just thought of something.

Dervishes with pets! That's something warriors and sins can't do (well, if they want to use a scythe)!

Ok, make that 6 dervish builds that W/Ds and A/Ds can't do better.

Link6590 · Aug 07, 2009, 06:48 AM // 06:48

Ahmagod! Assacasters are 10 times more annoying now with Illusion of Pain on their bar =_=. Glad that mesmers got looked at though, spent like 45 minutes contemplating how to incorporate the new skills into a mesmer. Was hugely disappointed that a secondary mesmer just took my cake and ate it.

Ahmagod, it seems like A-Net doesn't like the complexity synergy with both your team and your own bar! Seriously. Some of those skills were fine. The reason they couldn't fit in a bar most of the time was because dervishes had other better alternatives.

Quote:

Originally Posted by reaper with no name

snip

The real problem with dervishes.

The Mel's shot nerf had it coming. (I play a ranger too). Surprised it wasn't nerfed harder. You know something is wrong when Mel's Shot is chosen over the 5 other ranger elites 75% of the time. I love the buff to pets in pve though. Nothing else to say other then someone should be receiving a cake for that. (and only that)

I don't play an ele myself but i liked where a-net was coming from when they looked at Earth Magic.

Quote:

Originally Posted by a-net

Regarding ele skills
These skills were all simply underpowered.

Hah, too bad only secondary profs are going to be taking that update seriously.

Anyone else starting to feel bad that aegis has gone through the washing machine for the nth time?

upier · Aug 07, 2009, 07:22 AM // 07:22

I approve:
Chain Lightning.
Invoke Lightning.
Pets.

Dislike:
The fact that the things I approve are still shit.
No mesmer-love. I guess this RED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GOer needs his own update and there wasn't enough time to do it this time.
Potentially Maso, but I kinda gave up on my para.

Deimos Zargarda · Aug 07, 2009, 07:26 AM // 07:26

Boo for no warrior skill updates.

Still a great one, the game is gonna be interessting again, now to wait and see all the new kick ass builds ppl are gonna come up with.