Curse

Azza · Aug 22, 2008, 09:08 AM // 09:08

all this skill nerfing, has made me wanna buy GW2 even more...NOT!!

TY a-net u and ur mods have made me realise buying GW2 will be a waste of time, cus soon as a little fan base cries about a skill it'll be changed...so NTY i will not be purchasing any games with your logo on it ever again.

and for people reading i dont really use any of the skills changed, it just comes to show me that anything A-Net has will be nerfed so its no longer the game, us veterans use to have...GG anet GG

Joe Fierce · Aug 22, 2008, 09:10 AM // 09:10

heroes now = dumber than a bag of hammers.

Koudelka · Aug 22, 2008, 09:19 AM // 09:19

[Smiter's Boon]
Smiter's Boon: recharge time increased to 90 seconds, Energy cost increased to 25, duration reduced to 5 seconds.

I thought April Fool's Day was over. What on Tyria has just happened to this skill? Before it was unpopular for being aligned to smiting, and I must have been one of the only monks to use it regularly. Now... it's the slowest recharging skill in the game... the most expensive monk skill (pretty much) the shortest duration... and for what? A teeny bit of healing that doesn't even come with the skill. I'm not angry, I actually laughed in disbelief!

I guess arenanet didn't like my [Smiter's Boon] [Shield of Judgment] [Reversal of Damage] [Judge's Intervention] [Smite Hex] [Smite Condition] that I use to solo mobs :P.

Any thoughts on why areanet sat on this skill...?

*Note* Just found this on wiki. Someone mistook today for the first of April too!

Quote:

Man? 90 seconds recharge and just last 5 seconds? 25 energy cost? what a joke, hahahaha! thanks for the big laugh! I love you ArenaNet! this is maybe the biggest nerf in GW history? anyone knows a worst one?

Should have added exhaustion and a 5 sec knockdown xD.

*EDIT* Ooh moved.

Shasgaliel · Aug 22, 2008, 09:21 AM // 09:21

which mobs did you solo in pvp? Skill was changed for Pvp only.

Azza · Aug 22, 2008, 09:22 AM // 09:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joe Fierce

heroes now = dumber than a bag of hammers.

Yes i have noticed the stupidity of heroes since this update..well since the update before, u have ur melee characters(set on guard)+melee henchmen that just run towards a group(even if not close) and start fighting then leg it back to u...Monk even on flag are coming into my sons tanking position to heal him with ranged spells, and any second u let heroes or henchmen off flag they run up to tanking position(well do it on flag aswell with ranged attacks)...they wont attack the targets u call...alls i got to say, if A-net did this as some sort of tactic to get people teaming, then they should of left ursan(as overpowered as it was)LMAO..

SpotJorge · Aug 22, 2008, 09:30 AM // 09:30

when i looked at heros running in circles it looked like anet team messing the skills and nerfing all game ... what i ask is why after 3 years of a game all this changes are still needed ... want to fix the game? ... make a reboot to jan 2006 and all will be fine again

around · Aug 22, 2008, 10:49 AM // 10:49

Anyone who's calling Izzy lazy is completely missing the point.

If he'd done anything less than completely obliterate it, it would still be usable and ridiculous, and then they'd only have had 1 more update slot before the mAT turned into (even more) shit.

He's just taking the safe option.

Also you're all still missing the point. Yes, he could have shat upon it from less of a height, but Smiter's Boon would still have been nerfed to unusability, and this way he sends out a message to everyone: if you use this skill you have a small penis.

free_fall · Aug 22, 2008, 11:35 AM // 11:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kumu Honua

Yep, they ruined hero AI.

My minion bomber stops casting ANYTHING after combat is over.

He will not maintain infuse condition anymore, he will not attempt to keep Jagged Bones on low health minions, he will not cast death nova on any low health minions, and most importantly. He will instantly stop summoning minions if not in direct combat.

It doesn't matter if he has zero current minions out of 10 available, full energy, and standing on top of 5 unexploited corpses.

If I attack an enemy nearby he will jump into action though.

This extends to ALL heroes. While not in combat they simply refuse to cast anything.

My ritualist is not dropping life everywhere she stops, she is not maintaining Protective was Kaheni. The list goes on.

I am this exact same problem. Olias will not raise minions after combat ends. e can be standing by several corpses wth a full energy bar and he just stands there until the corpses vanish.

Nor will he cast Blood of the Master as his minions start dying between mobs.

I've had to start keeping his bar open and manually managing his skills for him.

I hadn't really been experiencing the problems that others were having with the H&H (at least not to the same degree, I guess), but neither was I having any problems with them prior to the original update, alleged problems which that update was meant to correct. And now we have this update that's meant to fix the 1st one but has just made things worse in some ways.

Not saying this to bash Anet - I think they do a bang-up job, overall - but this isn't the first time they've tried to 'fix' something that wasn't broken to begin with and only succeded in really breaking it, then breaking it some more when trying to fix that.

Hopefully, they'll get this straightened out soon, maybe by next Thursday.

*Darcy* · Aug 22, 2008, 01:31 PM // 13:31

Thank you to Kumu Honua and free_fall. Once again, I thought I was losing my mind (no comments needed).

I'm running around with my rit doing Luxon side and wondering why I have no minions half the time. I didn't connect it to the unexploited corpses lying around NOT being used by Olias.

I would like to point out that this is why longer testing period for AI changes should be a requirement at ANet. I understand that this was done to resolve the complaints of changed hero/hench behavior after last weeks update, but the cure is worse than the disease.

P A L P H R A M O N D · Aug 22, 2008, 02:45 PM // 14:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arutima

i still prefer the "verata sacrifice'd"

I personally like the 25/90 term. Something gets 25/90'ed . . . = forever pwned.

Obey The Cat · Aug 22, 2008, 02:54 PM // 14:54

normal while they are in combat

cgruber · Aug 22, 2008, 03:38 PM // 15:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by around

What part of 'he has no time' do you not get? If he made any less of a nerf to Boon during that update, it would still have been usable and (here's the part you don't understand) people would still have rolled face with it.

That would have left him with 1 update slot remaining before the mAT, when he would have completely wrecked the skill anyway to stop it being a nuisance.

I heard rend enchantments was good. Adding a 60 sec recharge would be plenty good for a nerf.

Bug John · Aug 22, 2008, 03:45 PM // 15:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by around

What part of 'he has no time' do you not get? If he made any less of a nerf to Boon during that update, it would still have been usable and (here's the part you don't understand) people would still have rolled face with it.

That would have left him with 1 update slot remaining before the mAT, when he would have completely wrecked the skill anyway to stop it being a nuisance.

what you don't understand is that your points are clear, but not valid

"he has no time" :
- he has no time because he's always late balancing skills, smiter's boon has been overused for weeks
- he doesn't need time, one update should be enough to balance a skill like smiter's boon

"people would still have rolled face with it" :
- Izzy's job is not to decide what skills can be used in pvp and destroy the rest, his job is to balance skills so that there are different viable options
- lots of people had good ideas to make smiter's boon balanced, believe it or not

Gun Pierson · Aug 22, 2008, 04:02 PM // 16:02

lol @ Smiter's Boon. Next in line: 'Smite Hex': remove one hex from target ally and target ally farts, all nearby foes turn green.

More reason for me to permanently quit PvP as I like to play as a smiter. First direct dmg signet smiter nerf, now support boon smiter. While crazy spike builds remain untouched. PvE is the way to go as a smiter.

Tearz1993 · Aug 22, 2008, 04:12 PM // 16:12

Not even going to bother arguing, around is right and everyone saying "izzy sux" obviously didn't read even the first page of this thread before they posted.

Oh and yes, the monthly is more important than your RA smiter bar.

ajc2123 · Aug 22, 2008, 04:14 PM // 16:14

I'm happy they killed smiter's boon. Shouldn't be able to heal and do damage like that at the same time. Now you can still heal and do damage but not as much.

Smite monks in pvp were just wrong, in pve they are fun.

GG

Tyla · Aug 22, 2008, 04:19 PM // 16:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sniper22

Well it destroyed my RA smiter which was definitely NOT unbalanced seeing as good spikes or aoe will easily take it down compared to other monk builds. Smiter's boon wasn't really used in pve anyway.

Where are you going to find good spikes or AoE being strong in RA? Legitimate groups, only.

Oh, wait...

Snow Bunny · Aug 22, 2008, 04:35 PM // 16:35

First and foremost, it was a PvP balance. The one PvP format that's given more attention then others is GvG, for obvious reasons. This was an update targeted at GvG with TA in consideration.

No one cares about AB or RA balance, mainly because they're not organized enough to be competitive.

It wasn't anything of note in HA, so HA'ers shouldn't care.

So, unless you GvG or TA frequently, you shouldn't care. Most people don't use smiters, except in degenerate GvG or TA builds that focus on destroying shutdown.

Any players who PvE and whose sole venture into PvP is AB should really stop commenting on this.

Izzy is pressed for time and has a group of other balancers to contend with when balancing skills. Smiter's Boon was seriously wrecking GvG and TA, and with the imperative for a balance at the threshold and not enough time to properly do it, it's best that he did what he did.

No one cares about RA smiter monks, or smiters in AB. This was a nerf for GvG and TA, and was done expediently, as opposed to the agonizingly slow drawn out process it normally is.

THANK YOU GW BALANCE TEAM.

Teh Jace · Aug 22, 2008, 05:06 PM // 17:06

Smiter's boon was basically an OP'ed elite skill wihout a golden frame. It allowed dumb and bad ppl to be good at pvp.
The nerfage of this skill is just one of many steps that have to be taken in order to recover pvp.

It's pretty obvious this nerf was a bit over the top but who cares. The mechanic of this skill was just retarded. Such a skill should have never ever existed. Same goes for mantra of inscriptions, RaO, expertise, WS, foul feast, WoD, SoM, unstrippable paragon buffs and other garbage.

mr_stealth · Aug 22, 2008, 05:18 PM // 17:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sniper22"We recognize that the changes to this skill will essentially [B

remove it from play[/B]. In the future, we may consider whether or not there is an incarnation of this skill that would be viable but balanced. For now, we do not expect it to see serious use."

The bolded parts are exactly where the problem is, not the fact that it was nerfed/killed. A temporary killing of the skill was not the only (or the best) option, but was faster/easier than a total rework. It got the job done as far as removing an OP'd skill for the upcoming mAT and mixing up builds/tactics a bit. The problem is that they are even considering leaving the skill like this permanently. Any change that completely removes a skill from the game does nothing but promote an even more stale playstyle. What is needed is to have as many viable build options as possible.

If the solution to everything OP'd is to nerf it into the ground, its only a matter of time before the nerf cycle comes full circle. Once everything is nerfed, all that left is the same imbalance, just at a lower power level.