Curse

around · Jun 12, 2007, 06:57 PM // 18:57

http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Gaile...-_12_June_2007

Well, it looks like ANet think there's nothing wrong with hexes, that Beguiling Haze at current functionality and at current energy isn't too clunky and that making recall radar range only is an improvement.

On the plus side, they've buffed Strength of Honor damage and made Cripshot 10e. Seems like conjures have competition.

Frantic-Sheep · Jun 12, 2007, 07:13 PM // 19:13

For lazy people:

Automated Tournaments

Participants in Daily GvG Tournaments no longer require 14-day guild membership.
Teams in Daily GvG Tournaments now require only four guild members instead of the previous eight.

After monitoring Automated Tournaments, we believe the number of eligible guilds is too low. To resolve this, we plan to relax some restrictions for Daily GvG Tournaments, and to allow guests. It is our hope that this increases the number of teams that can play and raises the popularity of the tournaments.

Hero Battles

Reduced the rate at which shrines increase the morale meter in Hero Battles.
The cannon on the Bombardment map now fires every 10 seconds instead of every 15 seconds.
To encourage more aggressive play and to make kills count for more, we slowed down the speed at which shrines award points. Also, we increased the rate that the cannon fires to make it harder to hold the center shrine if the other player controls the cannon. We noticed that many strategies focus on highly defensive builds to control shrines. With these tweaks, we hope to discourage some of these strategies.

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.

Assassin

Beguiling Haze: increased the Dazed duration to 3..9 seconds.
Expose Defenses: increased recharge time to 15 seconds.
Expunge Enchantments: now removes an additional Enchantment.
Hidden Caltrops: now triggers when the Hex ends. This skill now ends when you hit a moving foe.
Recall: now ends if the target moves out of compass range.
Sharpen Daggers: Fixed a bug that caused players using Sharpen Daggers to suffer from Bleeding when an attack skill is used against them.
Siphon Strength: decreased Energy cost to 10.

Our last change to Recall helped players better counter with Enchantment removal but, at the same time, it gave Assassins a larger freedom of movement than they had before. So, we brought back the range restriction. We augmented some weaker, less-seen Assassin skills in hopes to make a few more builds viable. We changed Expose Defenses mainly because we thought it did too good a job of countering block skills.

Mesmer

Arcane Conundrum: now affects adjacent foes.
Clumsiness: reduced recharge time to 4 seconds.
Conjure Nightmare: increased duration to 2..17 seconds.
Conjure Phantasm: increased duration to 2..17 seconds.
Ether Feast: reduced casting time to 1 second.
Fast Casting: each rank now decreases Signet activation time by 3%.
Imagined Burden: increased duration to 10..30 seconds.
Lyssa's Balance: functionality changed to: "Target foe loses one Enchantment. If you have more Enchantments than the target foe, this skill has no effect."
Mantra of Persistence: decreased duration bonus to 20..50%.
Power Block: now affects Chants as well as Spells.
Power Drain: now affects Chants as well as Spells.
Power Flux: now affects Chants as well as Spells.
Power Leak: now affects Chants as well as Spells.
Power Leech: now affects Chants as well as Spells.
Power Return: now affects Chants as well as Spells.
Power Spike: increased damage to 30..120, now affects Chants as well as Spells.
Shared Burden: increased duration to 5..25 seconds.

The Mesmer movement speed debuffs were weak compared to the Elementalist. To address this, we increased the duration of some Illusion Magic Hexes that Mantra of Persistence affects so that these skills wouldn't depend on it as much to make them attractive choices. We didn't increase the duration of Migraine or Arcane Conundrum because these spells already do enough to counter Hex removal. 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; the Energy cost should keep it balanced in PvP. To increase the likelihood that Lyssa’s Balance will remove an Enchantment, we changed the skill so that if you and your target have an equal number of Enchantments, your target still loses one. We also changed all Mesmer "Power" interrupts so they can interrupt Chants, giving them the ability to counter Paragons. Last, but not least, we've tweaked Fast Casting to benefit Mesmers who equip Signets.

Elementalist

Ash Blast: increased damage to 20..65.
Ebon Hawk: increased damage to 10..100.
Ride the Lightning: decreased recharge time to 5 seconds, increased damage to 10..100.
Shockwave: decreased recharge time to 15 seconds.
Stoneflesh Aura: decreased duration to 5..15 seconds

Although we are keeping an eye on the powerful AoE damage of Searing Flames, we haven't done anything to it because we expect a lot of destruction from Fire Magic. 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.

Necromancer

Soul Reaping: Energy gain now triggers 3 times every 15 seconds (if you are already at maximum Energy when something dies, it does not count toward this limit). You now gain full Energy when a Spirit you control dies; you gain no Energy when other Spirits die.
Signet of Sorrow: fixed a bug that prevented this Signet from recharging properly when near an exploited corpse.
Spiteful Spirit: increased Energy cost to 15.
Well of Blood: decreased casting time to 1 second.
Well of Darkness: decreased casting time to 1 second.
Well of Power: decreased Energy cost to 5, decreased casting time to 1 second.
Well of Silence: decreased Energy cost to 10, decreased casting time to 1 second.
Well of Suffering: decreased Energy cost to 10, decreased casting time to 1 second.
Well of Weariness: decreased Energy cost to 5.

As we mentioned in previous notes, we’ve wanted to refine the changes we made to Soul Reaping. In many cases, the 5 second timer capped the effectiveness of Soul Reaping to the right degree, but when multiple creatures died all at once, this limitation was more severe than we liked. We've extensively tested an Energy gain process of 3 times every 15 seconds and determined this flowed a lot better with the rate at which things die, while keeping the overall Energy gain per second the same. Also, if things die when Necromancers already have full Energy, it does not count toward this cap, which means they are more likely to gain Energy when they need it.

We've also changed the way Soul Reaping works with Spirits. You now gain full Energy when a Spirit you control dies, but you gain no Energy when other Spirits die. We hope this will dissuade Necromancers from being the super Spirit Energy engines that they are in some game types, and restore balance

Lastly, we reduced the Energy cost and cast times of Wells so they feel different than Hexes and minion skills. Because the corpse requirement is the main limitation of these spells, we can safely lower their casting times and Energy cost.

Warrior

Agonizing Chop: decreased activation time to .5 seconds.
Battle Rage: increased movement speed to 33%.
Dwarven Battle Stance: decreased recharge time to 20 seconds.
Warrior's Endurance: increased duration to 5..35 seconds.
Yeti Smash: decreased adrenaline cost to 6 strikes.

Though we continuously monitor anti-Warrior Hexes and how they affect the frontline, we are leaving those Hexes alone. We've buffed some unused Warrior skills to encourage more builds.

Monk

Balthazar's Pendulum: decreased casting time to .25 seconds.
Empathic Removal: decreased recharge time to 7 seconds.
Shield Guardian: decreased casting time to .25 seconds.
Signet of Rage: decreased casting time to 1 second, increased conditional damage to 5..20.
Strength of Honor: increased damage to 3..15.

We improved some underpowered skills to increase their likelihood of being equipped but have generally kept changes small so as to not upset the current play style of the Monk.

Ranger

Barrage: no longer removes Glyphs.
Crippling Shot: decreased Energy cost to 10.
Heal as One: now states that it heals instead of giving a Health "gain."
Melandru's Resilience: decreased recharge time to 15 seconds, increased Health regeneration gained for each Condition to +4.

We've returned Crippling Shot to 10 Energy provide players with an alternative to the ever-popular Burning Arrow. The number of Condition counters has grown since our last major skill balance update, and it is now safe to reduce the Energy cost. Heal as One has been extremely prevalent in Hero Battles, and after looking it over, we've found a number of bugs, all of which we have been fixed. We haven't changed the functionality of the skill much because we want to see how it plays before we make any further adjustments. Finally, we changed some Ranger skills to make them more attractive.

Ritualist

Spawning Power: each rank now adds 2% to weapon spell duration.
Weapon of Warding: Decreased duration to 3..8 seconds.

We decided to be conservative with Ritualist changes in this update. We continue to monitor them in Heroes' Ascent, and we want to see how the Soul Reaping changes affect them. Recent balance changes encouraged greater use of Weapon spells, but secondary Ritualists could still use many of these with similar effectiveness. To address this, we modified Spawning Power so that it now also increases the duration of weapon spells. Weapon of Warding seemed overpowered with a longer duration, so we reduced its duration in conjunction with the change to Spawning Power.

Paragon

"Never Surrender!": increased duration to 15 seconds.
Defensive Anthem: increase casting time to 2 seconds.

We increased the casting time of Defensive Anthem to weaken it in PvP while not detracting excessively from its effectiveness in PvE. Now it should be easier to interrupt, especially when combined with the changes to Mesmer Power spells. We intend for Paragons to have a supplemental defensive role, not a dominant one, and to encourage active play.

================================================== ======

Feels kinda like its just half work, some make things worse again, some are fixed, and some are untouched :\

moko · Jun 12, 2007, 07:16 PM // 19:16

........

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.

^quote from the other thread in riverside.

Blame the Monks · Jun 12, 2007, 07:42 PM // 19:42

Horrible. Anet drops the ball again. Can you please for the love of God just hire Ensign?

Riotgear · Jun 12, 2007, 07:53 PM // 19:53

Does Izzy still play this game?

Lodurr · Jun 12, 2007, 07:57 PM // 19:57

Does anyone have Izzy's e-mail? I want to copy-paste Ensign's post and send it to him.

Burton2000 · Jun 12, 2007, 08:23 PM // 20:23

lol crip shot ownage I predict. Ranger builds now instead of hexes? Love how they completely ignore everything that needs some serious balance. However they did nerf soul reaping finnaly which is very long waiting.

Seamus Finn · Jun 12, 2007, 08:28 PM // 20:28

Guys quit complaining, ok? They buffed empathic removal! Hexers are screwed!

BDZeres · Jun 12, 2007, 08:37 PM // 20:37

Finally an excuse to run wammo on a frontline warrior! THX ANET! <3 <3 <3.

bungusmaximus · Jun 12, 2007, 08:39 PM // 20:39

I think assa buffs are generally a bad idea, and SP should be nerfed out of the game, that annoying stuff has been going on long enough, yuck.

I'm quite disappointed that searing flames didn't take a hit, and I wonder if a buff to empathic removal will be enough to deal with necro hexes.

Avatar of melandru is retarded, i would love to see that skill redirected to the trashcan.

At least they upped the cost of spiteful and they nerfed soul reaping, which is good. but for the rest I think it's a rather disappointing patch. Stop supporting numb passive play plz!

Quote:

Originally Posted by wuzzman

HAHAHAHHAAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA. Teaches the kids at guru some sense. Now all the spoiled children to run home and cry to mommy. Now after 1% of the community rage quits I can finally start enjoying reading threads about pvp.

Pff why should I cry to my mommy if I can win that easily, the only thing I have to do is roll some stupid imba toon and own some.

bashar pvp · Jun 12, 2007, 08:55 PM // 20:55

Dear Anet, why don't you let your pvp community take care of all those skills balance?

Narayanese · Jun 12, 2007, 08:59 PM // 20:59

*looks at agonizing chop buff*
Time to go sharpen my axe!

(adrenal critical chop but easier to interrupt with... sweet)

crippling shot and siphon strength will also be fun to run after the buff.

Farin · Jun 12, 2007, 09:00 PM // 21:00

Quote:

Although we are keeping an eye on the powerful AoE damage of Searing Flames, we haven't done anything to it because we expect a lot of destruction from Fire Magic.

That's the best line.

Blind is active defense wuzzman, wtf are you? You're dumb, that's for sure.

Zuranthium · Jun 12, 2007, 09:08 PM // 21:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by RaZoO

That's the best line.

I thought the Recall line was the best!

~Z

bungusmaximus · Jun 12, 2007, 09:16 PM // 21:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by wuzzman

nerf aegis, wards, and blind botting, and we can talk about "active" play.

bleh they're much easier to work around, especially wards, aegis seems to give GvG-ers trouble, but I'm not into that too much so I'll refrain from comments on that. Blindbotting actually requires good battlefield awareness and careful timing.

TheOneMephisto · Jun 12, 2007, 09:31 PM // 21:31

I don't understand your posts wuzzman, and I never will. I think ignoring them might be a better option...

But agonizing = new crit chop?

Basically, the only good things in this are SR nerf, cripshot, power interrupts interrupting chants, and defensive anthem = 2 sec cast. The nerf to WoW for E/Rits just pisses me off.

I was so excited when I saw this up, hoping that ANet had finally given us the big changes that the game needs to stay competitive. Now I just want Starcraft 2 and Hellgate: London to come even more.

FoxBat · Jun 12, 2007, 09:41 PM // 21:41

I'm pretty bored of water being the "only" runner, and mind blast is hardly affected. Maybe we'll even see some rit primaries on the job again. (I wish)

Agonizing buff isn't great... that basically counters the increased cost of shadow prison. GG eurospike?

Relambrien · Jun 12, 2007, 10:42 PM // 22:42

We wait weeks and weeks...and this is what they give us. The last skill update was TWO MONTHS AGO, and they pull this out: a half-hearted attempt at skill balancing that does nothing to one of the biggest problems in GvG right now.

I'm disgusted.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Update

Though we continuously monitor anti-Warrior Hexes and how they affect the frontline, we are leaving those Hexes alone. We've buffed some unused Warrior skills to encourage more builds.

I honestly can't believe this...

Qual · Jun 12, 2007, 10:49 PM // 22:49

WoHoo another paragon nerf ! Have anyone from A-net been in halls lately, so many rit teams, and now they got buffed. Bye bye balanced teams in HA...

bungusmaximus · Jun 12, 2007, 10:53 PM // 22:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by Qual

WoHoo another paragon nerf ! Have anyone from A-net been in halls lately, so many rit teams, and now they got buffed. Bye bye balanced teams in HA...

Ritualists are a problem anyway, another example of passive play, drop spirits, grab a beer, watch the show

.