Curse

makosi · Jun 12, 2007, 06:47 PM // 18:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by Feminist Terrorist

Interesting. No explanation of why Spiteful Spirit's cost was increased. Buffing wells? Why?

Spiteful Spirit's cost was reduced from 15 to 10 energy at the last SR update so I'm guessing this re-increase is to align SS with the new 'improved' soul reaping.

People barely used wells which and I think the devs wanted to see some more usage.

Alianna Mayrune · Jun 12, 2007, 06:49 PM // 18:49

Yeah, the SS nerf seems a little uncalled for...

VitisVinifera · Jun 12, 2007, 06:50 PM // 18:50

so the leaked steaming poo pile that is called 'soul reaping' really was intended to be so......totally weak
then SS gets put back to 15e as if the above change would help

and recall got nerfed......so sin farming gets another kick in the groin
I don't think I've used a single skill that got buffed

Healers Wisper · Jun 12, 2007, 06:52 PM // 18:52

I hate the SR changes, I tested this out last week and it made my energy management in PvE worse not better! I think you guys are going the wrong way with the timer limits, I mean the spirits things are cool and the Not counting gains when full energy is a plus, but getting three quick busrsts of energy then waiting 15 sec in the middle of a fight for more energy gain is retarted. I was hoping you would FIX SR, not make it worse. I will adapt and I'm not getting rid of my necro but this is bad. To top it off, you guys increased energy cost of SS.... Do you hate this class or what?

sixdartbart · Jun 12, 2007, 06:55 PM // 18:55

Sorry guys but thats not a fix for the ATs. You have just reinstalled a bunch of problems you tried to get rid of in past tournaments. Welcome the smurf guilds back to the tourney system [Grenth knows we don't have enough smurfs everywhere already]

No Guests for the ATs was one of the few good ideas you people had for this mess of a system. Oh well I guess in 3 or 6 months you will look at it again and say "well that didn't work"

Where is the fix for the broken Jade isle map???????

Diddy bow · Jun 12, 2007, 06:55 PM // 18:55

Yet another usless prargon elite...G.G...

As for the ohter buffs they seem ok, nothing wrong with the sin

Just when i start to use crip shot...Buff very nice

Balthazar's Pendulum still needs some work before it has a purpose

Loving FC with sigs ^^ (even though i dont mes much)

Please just remove the friggin shrine points in hb already...

Ride the ligtning is gonna need its exaulstion removed

After so much time SS is nerfed O_o

"you gain no Energy when other Spirits die"
I like this too but then again i love any spirit spam nerf

.

Quantum Duck · Jun 12, 2007, 06:59 PM // 18:59

Great update overall. I'm particularly fond of the Power X line getting expanded a bit.

Armor stacking joins the list. I wasn't really expecting it, but I can't say I'm at all surprised. This is an interesting roundabout way to nerf full teams of cross armor buffing Paragons without hitting single Paragons much. It also has a little collateral to a few specific warrior builds and a couple of others, but nothing particularly terrible. Is there anything left that stacks without a cap? If so, I'd expect to see it capped in an upcoming balance update.

I don't like the hit to all of the Illusion skills under MoP that didn't get their base durations buffed. Most of the Illusion line was already struggling anyway. Basicly, MoP really doesn't seem worth it's cost anymore. Maybe just lowering the energy cost would make up for it, but it would be nice to see something in exchange for the hit to MoP, more than a few specific buffs (Which are nice, of course).

FC effecting signets should be interesting. It's too broad of an effect for me to really judge without putting in a fair bit more play time to see how much it really impacts things.

Spawning Power needed help, and this just might do it. I'll have to play around with it and see how much this really effects anything. This could be really good with Warmonger's Weapon or Weapon of Quickening...

The Well of X changes are great. They pretty much all needed help, and Well of Power is now an amazing group support skill in PvE.

I like the fact that they hit DA in a way that won't make it notably worse in PvE, since it's fairly reasonable for an elite when defending against mobs. It needed a small PvP hit and it got it without getting broken on either side.

Last but not least, the SR change fixes everything that was actually wrong with the last change. The energy per time curve is much smoother and it functions exceptionally well (as it should) in all typical PvE combat situations. The passive effect is pretty weak in PvP now with no good way to control gains, but it still has some excellent PvP skills and I'm told that people who PvP more than I do are happy to see it go. Not triggering while at max energy is a nice touch that ensures that it stays useful in just about any case it was ever useful in.

I'm definitely looking forward to seeing this one go live.

Gaile Gray · Jun 12, 2007, 07:00 PM // 19:00

Thanks for the comments and insight, everyone. I will be passing it along to the designers.

Quote:

Originally Posted by AlienFromBeyond

So, still no update on Sunspear skills? Because this update is pretty underwhelming for me as a whole, though I suppose Mesmers will be happy.

The Sunspear/PvE-only skills will be included in this week's update. They were not included in the Dev Update because they are new, rather than changed, and therefore didn't really need the discussion at this point.

assassin_of_ni · Jun 12, 2007, 07:01 PM // 19:01

bah so.....3 times every 15 seconds BUT! if your at full energy it doenst count. ffs why is it multiples of 5? 3 seconds would work much better =P
mesmer buffs are fun but still doesnt make them feasible as a main or even off source of DPS just more hexey hexey.
back to necros....i actually like the well buff quite a bit since i do use wells every now and then in RA/AB as anti MM and for aoe support.
stoneflesh nerf hurt me quite a bit in the sense that my pve earth build uses stoneflesh as a personal support so i can use PBAoE like shockwave and aftershock without making myself a big squishee target. but since runes still stack the mystic regen build is still very feasible using kinetic armor+mystic regen+ether renewal+stone daggers+blessed insignias.
ritualist buff was needed very badly since their feasibility as support is all but naught. everyone may disagree with me but whateva.
warrior buff is pretty much minor minor stuff. same with para.
ranger buff is pretty decent but could be better.
assassins didnt get hit as hard as i hoped but what can you do.

thanks for linkin me ^_^

FoxBat · Jun 12, 2007, 07:01 PM // 19:01

In a futile effort to stop mass hysteria, let me re-emphasize this is NOT THE ENTIRE UPDATE. Only notes that explain pvp-relevant things. (Rebalancing skills for PvE is still vaguely PvP relevant.)

Tea Girl · Jun 12, 2007, 07:02 PM // 19:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mokone

........

you buffed one of the most dangerous and lame things; hexes.

you buffed stuff NOBODY will EVER care about. (see: warrior & elementalist stuff

you buffed ritualists - one of the most common spikes. GOOD JOB!!

you nerfed SR - i'm not sure if this is better or worse regarding the PvP spirit abuse, but at least you made a step in the right direction with your own spirits. now if you did the same with minions only.

you nerfed griefing builds in ra very poorly.

you tried to promote the smiting line, and it basically made zero changes.

you did not even manage to balance hero battles, not to speak of ACTUAL PvP.

just..wow.

the only good changes are the ATS and the Cripshot buff. oh and the armor cap, along with a defensive anthem nerf which might possibly be quite dangerous with the mesmer buffs but yeah..i want to see some actual game dominating things that just make stuff hilarious easy to win nerfed.

QFT.

I should run off to HA with a zergway group now because so few current HAers have the skills to run good hex builds (lulz killcount).

edit: almost missed the SS changes too. 10nrg went well in pve with the SR changes... but now it's 15nrg again?! o.O

Kyp Jade · Jun 12, 2007, 07:05 PM // 19:05

Not to bash anet or anything, I always enjoy skill rebalances, and generally have had a high level of faith (only been dissapointed a few times), since if some team runs rampant, there is generally a way to counter it (but usually if you spec your build for that your hosed vs other teams).

I noticed they are closely monitoring Heroes Ascent when they mention SF, which largely isnt too much of a problem for most teams, and isnt even all that common, i see one team in 10 playing SF, yet they fail to notice Ritualist spike, which is more common and more powerful in both offense and defense than SF is. And Rt's get ANOTHER buff to vital weapon.

Yay for the Strength and Honor Upgrade

MSecorsky · Jun 12, 2007, 07:06 PM // 19:06

You know... my basic Illusion build looks like this:

[skill]Clumsiness[/skill][skill]Ineptitude[/skill][skill]Conjure Phantasm[/skill][skill]Conjure Nightmare[/skill][skill]Frustration[/skill][skill]Power Drain[/skill][skill]Drain Enchantment[/skill][skill]Ethereal Burden[/skill]

... and in ABs, I've had great success with this. But if I change Frustration now to [skill]Arcane Conundrum[/skill] I can even be a bigger pain in the arse than I already am...

I LOVE this update!

lennymon · Jun 12, 2007, 07:10 PM // 19:10

The mesmer buffs on the whole seem interesting, In response to everyone wondering why arcane conundrum is now aoe? compare the single target arcane conundrum to frustration... now that that is answered.... Does anyone else think it's safe to say mantra of persistence just got nerfed out of existence, not that it's too bad now, but just isn't worth the skill slot/energy expenditure anymore except in rare farming builds?

*Runs out to go play around with Melandru's Resilience toucher again

*

pork soldier · Jun 12, 2007, 07:20 PM // 19:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gaile Gray

Hi, there,

We've just posted two significant Dev Updates on the GWW. Please head to this page to read about Chat Channels and Trade "Spam" as well as the much-anticipated notes on the upcoming Skill Balances and PvP Changes.

If you're going to start handing out mini-bans for spamming local chat you need to offer a better way to trade. The current system is stupid. MMO's from 5 years ago have better implementations (Lineage2 private store anyone?). Even district hopping to check all the seated people would be better than the system that's in place now.

I don't care what form it takes, as long as it's not as broken as the current one, at least it would be something instead of nothing.

One last thing: Do you really think we like spamming local chat? Do you think we do it to be obnoxious? That seems to be the consensus on the forums. We spam because it's the only effective method. Offer a better one and spamming will slow down greatly.

If you've ever tried to sell a large number of items you know exactly what I'm talking about, it's a giant pain in the arse and spamming is the only way to make it worth the time.

zknifeh · Jun 12, 2007, 07:20 PM // 19:20

i love the assassin changes

now if beguiling haze was 10e instead of 15, i would DEFINATELY use it... ut 15e is still kinda iffy... altho proved nice in gate of pain HM against the 400dmg hits from torturewebs

@vitisvinifera - i dont think recall was ever supposed to let u go waay out of the radar even past the bonds reach... altho it was now maintained on u not ally... but its like maintaining an invisible bond on ur ally but having it show up on u

Alderin · Jun 12, 2007, 07:21 PM // 19:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skill Balances and PvP Changes

We tweaked some Earth Magic skills to encourage Earth Elementalist builds, but overall we like the current balance of the Elementalist and are happy to see them in all styles of play and game types.

That would hold more merit if not for these two statements as they don't really add up:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skill Balances and PvP Changes

We added a cap of +25 to the armor buff when stacking skills. A single skill can still bring the bonus over +25, but multiple skills with smaller bonuses will not do so. Armor bonuses from shields, weapons, insignias and inscriptions are not affected and still stack.

So now the Earth armor skills don't stack....

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skill Balances and PvP Changes

Stoneflesh Aura: decreased duration to 5..15 seconds

Good way to balance around RA and AB.... There are so many counters, that are viable to many in many other cases as well, to this skill the way it was but I take it that counters aren't important anymore and just complaining about a skill to get it nerf is the way to go?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skill Balances and PvP Changes

We changed Arcane Conundrum to an adjacent AoE so that Mesmers can better handle large clumps of casters as are sometimes encountered in PvE. We dropped the recharge time on Clumsiness to improve its usefulness in the faster, large-group combats of PvE....

Wow, now teams will surely be begging for my Mesmer in PvE almost as much as they are for the Monk or Elemenalist.
Note, that was sarcasm

Side note, I do like the Well buff.

lacasner · Jun 12, 2007, 07:21 PM // 19:21

Big dissapointment...

The Great Al · Jun 12, 2007, 07:25 PM // 19:25

"General

We added a cap of +25 to the armor buff when stacking skills. A single skill can still bring the bonus over +25, but multiple skills with smaller bonuses will not do so. Armor bonuses from shields, weapons, insignias and inscriptions are not affected and still stack. "

*cries*
*cries more*
Ooh!! SUNSPEAR SKILLS!! YES!!
*Thinks about earth ele farming, cries again*

I don't understand...you want to encourage earth eles, but give them a huge nerf at the same time...oh well, I'm super happy about the sunspear skills at least..

the_jos · Jun 12, 2007, 07:26 PM // 19:26

Does the Power Block change also affect the Chants that are on the Para (in the same attribute) or does it just interrupt?

Overall, the changes look fair from a PvE perspective.
A lot of the skills in Ensign's wishlist remain untouched, so not sure on the PvP outcome of the changes.

The SS reset to 15e seems fair, with the SR change.
It's not like it has become the weakest necro elite out there because of this.