Curse

Pete_Lefeu · Jan 21, 2007, 10:24 PM // 22:24

Skill Name: Mighty Was Vorizun
Impressions: Finally a great energy management for channeling ritualist (PvE and PvP also). you now have enough energy to attack almost like an ele would do.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Skill Name: Spirit Rift
Impressions: Nice Casting time and nice Energy Cost. the delay to cast it is really balanced if you compare it to the time it need to hit all adjacent foes. I love the balance on that one
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Skill Name: Death Pact Signet
Impressions: Finally I'm not affraid to use that skill. The 120 seconds is really a reasonnable time for the skill. Before I was affraid to use it because I would die if my ally would die but no more. A viable skill now

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Skill Name: Power Attack
Impressions: I think it became one of my favorite skill now for the warrior. Warrior Endurance + this skill = Viable source of damage. Yay! for the new power attack!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Skill Name: Gaze of Contempt
Impressions: What else could I say except nice energy cost, Nice casting time (it's interruptable so it's really good) and a nice recharge for the effect of the skill. Really Balanced.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There's more to come

Invertation · Jan 21, 2007, 10:34 PM // 22:34

My bit--

Skill Name-Searing Flames
Impressions-I think that this could have just been left alone. There are easy ways to counter a SF ele, such as backfire.

Skill Name-Glowing Gaze
Impressions-Same as above.

Skill Name-Rampage as One
Impressions-This skill was way over nerfed. The energy cost of RaO before the nerf was enough. Now its pretty much useless in its current state.

Overall-Leave what was be.

bartwart · Jan 21, 2007, 11:12 PM // 23:12

Weakness:
Impression: Absolutely love it! Although in fairness to Rangers, don't have it affect primary attributes. This opens up a whole new world of build possibilities. Suddenly, Virulence is more than a novelty.

Might Throw
Impression: Completely rework this skill. Paragon's desperately want a mult-target spear attack. I suggest making it a line-of-sight "impaling" type of attack, that travels through up to 3 or so enemies. Give it the same damage range, cost, and recharge time as cyclone axe. Perhaps reduce the normal attack range in half for this skill. Make it the "Cyclone Axe" of spear attacks.

Leaders' Comfort
Impression: Put this back the way you had it. When the chips are down and I decide I need to use this, getting beat on for 3 seconds is getting me killed EVERY SINGLE TIME.

various shouts/chants
Impression: Make them affect all allies again. Making a distinction between party and allies here doesn't make any sense to me.

Father Blood · Jan 21, 2007, 11:14 PM // 23:14

Hex removal vs Condition removal

Divert Hex's:
TY for changing back to 1 second cast time. But it is not enough.

Conditions:
There are only 9 conditions in the game. A monk has around 7 quick spamming condition removals with an energy cost of 5 and recharge of 5 seconds or less.

Hex's:
There are over 100 hex's in this game. A monk is supposed to be the ANTI version of a Necro correct? The only class that can really counter and beat a Necro. A monk has 0 hex removals with an energy cost of 5 and recharge of 5 seconds or less. Adding Divert in NF was a nice step twoard fixing this, but it is not enough.

Bottom Line:
A monk needs a quick spamming low energy hex removal that is not elite. At least give us 1, cmon, u gave us 7 for conditions, and there are way more hex's then conditions.

shambolica · Jan 21, 2007, 11:16 PM // 23:16

Skills: Ancestor's Visage & Sympathetic Visage

impressions: Hate it! Guess what? Some of us like to farm solo, don't force us all into team play please.

Solution: Divorce pve & pvp skill attributes. Let pvp'ers argue all they like about the minutia of skill settings. You are interfering too much in pve and making the game boring, at least for me. Why keep fixing something that was once brilliant?

Age · Jan 21, 2007, 11:20 PM // 23:20

My Thoughts

Warrior seems to be fine with skill balances as well as the Elementalist.I never really tested out the Ranger as to limited time.The one I would address is the Monk.

Shield of Absorbtion: I would say that reduced cast time of less than a secound if not 1/4 then 1/2 or 3/4 as this will be easily interruptable.

Shield of Regeneration:I would reduce the amount of energy used to 10 instead of 15 as is to much with a recharge of 5 which I do like it mean I may use this skill more often.

Divert Hexs:Keep it at 1 sec as it can be interrupted as well easy.

Shield of Deflection:looks good and may get used more.

When I did my testing I took into all aspects of the game into count even those of NPCs Henchmen that use these skills and how it would effect them.

XvArchonvX · Jan 21, 2007, 11:21 PM // 23:21

A few points I'd like to touch on:

Assasin's: I'm ok with the Sharpen Daggers nerf because it looks like other skills that are usable in PvE were buffed a good amount (Flashing Daggers, Death's Blossom, etc.)

Dervish: These changes are fine with me.

Elementalist: I'm very happy to see these changes, especially for the Geomancers and Aeromancers out there. I also think the balancing of Searing Flames was a good move and done well. I do however find it unfortunate that Glowing Gaze took a hit.

Mesmer: There are some very nice improvements here (Mantra of Recovery), but it's sad to not see much buff for any type of energy management type skills.

Monk: I'm ok with the changes here. Glad to see that Divert was switched back to a 1 sec cast.

Necro: A mixed bag here, but everything looks ok for the most part. Insidious Parasite is a bit too much tho, I believe. Personally, I thought it was fine where it was at.

Paragon: I really feel sorry for anyone who prefers this class. Some of the spear buffs are nice, but this class got hit too hard imo.

Ranger: RaO got hit, which means that a ranger with a Scythe, Hammer, or Spear is a lot less powerful than it was before. For this to be a legitamate move, there really has to be done to the marksmanship line. The trapper buffs were great, but Marks is still lacking. The Glass Arrows and Incendiary Arrows buff was nice, but Marks Attack skills really need a good beefing. Arcing Shot and Keen Arrow aren't enough. Why did Power Attack get suck a good bump, while Power Shot is still just a flat out poor choice of skill (compared to alternatives such as Penetrating Shot). Please give Rangers a chance to deal some decent damage without having to go barrage (PvE speaking). It also would be nice to see this class worked in a way such that a high rank guild might actually find it worthy enough to run a ranger with a bow.

Ritualist: Ritualist isn't my strong point, but the changes here look fine to me.

Warrior: In theory making stances more spammable makes sense and would be understandable since they would be able to be used when they are needed more often, but I think they are going to be too energy heavy to be used much.

Tony The Awesome · Jan 21, 2007, 11:33 PM // 23:33

Amazing Job on ALL of the elementist Skills. Extremely impressed. Pat-on-the-back time.

I was personally really hoping the Ritualist would really be given some good spirits that would make it compareable or very decently close to a monk's healing ability. The "in earshot of a spirit" thing is really better though.

Searing Flames
I expected more, but the loss on glowing gaze halted it so all is good.

Bloodsong
Put it back into communing! there is no reason for it to be in channeling.

Paragons
Wow, Way to smack down an already lacking Support character, Shame on you. These guys need to become more powerful. Ritualists and Paragons should be able to replace a bad monk. Paragons need to Give MORE health and MORE energy. Maybe some new skills giving MORE to the team.

The Mesmers Visages
Bad Bad bad. WAYYY too nerfed. Replace back to normal.

Rend Enchantments
Wow, this along with the SoA, and visages really kills 55s in the UW. We need people to be able to get us ectos. You guys will lead us to the point where the UW will be impossible. Please let us keep our 55s and SoA monks. Return this skill to normall or Increas the casting time.

Sheild of Absorbtion
No No No No. It was a very well made skill when It had the old stats, this 1 second casting time is not needed at all. Revert back to normall.

Rangers
Very Nice job! I liked all the skills but Rampage as One. it may be just a little over buffed, but I think that will do just fine.

Warriors
Hmm, still losing importance and influence as each new game comes out.

Energy Surge
Awesome Job! Maybe mesmers wont ALWAYS be e-denial now in PvP.

All in all I'm still disappointed in how Rts and P are slowly being pushed aside and soon will be extinct. Visages are absolutely horrible, change back now. Let us do 2 man UW teams, for some of us, it is the only way to get some cash. SoA should be a fast casting skill, why not?! As a monk it is nice not to be constantly interupted. I LOVED what you did with the ele, Very Very nice job. Pull up earth magic more out of the dark, maybe it will surpass air or fire nukers someday. Improve Rts is really all I've been wanting for a long time. It is rare to see them anymore. Maybe 1 or 2 here or there, but still out there.

LC-Evo · Jan 21, 2007, 11:51 PM // 23:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by Missara Leon

Monk:

Shield of Absoption
Impression: This skill also never needed to be nerfed. It only lasts 7 seconds what's the point? This skill should have been left alone.

Like i said before...shield of absorption needed recharge time nerfing cause it was previously used as a solo uw monk build. Each second it lasts it absorbs 5 more dmg so in 7 seconds youd have absorbed 140 dmg. with a 105 health monk and protective spirit, you wont be taking dmg after the first hit. the maximum enchantment increase with blessed aura and enchant mods can keep soa on at all times.

mqstout · Jan 22, 2007, 12:14 AM // 00:14

Leader's Comfort
The increased cast time makes it pretty bad. Lower the healing values instead.

If you want to scale back on the power of the paragon's self heal (Leader's Comfort), please do it this way instead.

skie88 · Jan 22, 2007, 12:42 AM // 00:42

Weakness - favor Necros too much..

MESMER
Spiritual Pain:
Giving SP longer cast time or lower damage against non-spirit will be much better, it has a long recharge anyway so why change it?

Energy Surge:
Not sure why change it, still ok though..

unmatchedfury · Jan 22, 2007, 12:46 AM // 00:46

Heres you feedback for rit skills
Apologize for the dirtyness of the format, will clean it up later when I've time.

All spells that had a requirement of being “near a Spirit” or “in the area of a Spirit” have been changed to “within earshot of a spirit.”
Good buff. Much needed and will help mobility quite a bit.

Ancestors' Rage
Would rather have the shorter cast time back. When using on another char, its hard to time this skill correctly.

Anguished Was Lingwah:
Good for helping us set up spirits quickly. Too bad you’ve screwed over communing so that it doesn’t matter

Blind Was Mingson:
There are other skills that blind better, faster, and more. With condition removal as it is this simply doesn’t make this skill more usuable.

Bloodsong:
I love having this on the channeling line. But it was a huge blow to communing.

Brutal Weapon:
Good buff, will make it more energy sensible in a energy intensive attribute.

Caretaker’s Charge:
Not sure why I’d use this as an elite now. I can get healing from elsewhere that far surpasses this and its damage is negligible.

Channeled Strike:
Good buff, wasn’t necessary.

Cruel Was Daoshen:
Good Bread&Butter skill to meet “if you have item” condition

Death Pact Signet: changed to:
Still wouldn’t use this. Too risky

Destruction:
General Mobility buff and energy help. Very good actually. I would have preferred a range buff as this spirit rarely affects foes. ( although that might make a spirit bomb a little too good.)

Destructive Was Glaive
10% would be a more blanced armor penetration. You’ve over nerfed this skill.

Displacement:decreased block rate to 75%.
The 2 uses for displacement were foiling disrupt rangers and giving shelter and union a breather. Now blocking interrupts isn’t guaranteed, and shelter and union can be killed while displacement is up. We’re now also vulnerable to skills that punish block. Pointless nerf.

Empowerment:
Good change here , was far too long in the cooldown to be usefull.

Explosive Growth:
Cost too much energy in the first place.

Flesh of My Flesh:
The general buff of hard rezzes was very nice.

Gaze from Beyond:
Does less damage now at 16 attribute. Its hurting spirits wasn’t really a problem. In fact since it hurt opponents spirits this could be considered a nerf.

Ghostly haste: decreased recharge time to 20 seconds.
One more thing to cast for a class that has to cast a lot of stuff before it goes to work.

Grasping Was Kuurong:
Still wouldn’t waste and elite slot on it. The knockdown options on other classes make this look silly.

Guided Weapon:
Too energy intensive. Might be useful for something but not in the current metagame.

Lamentation:
Very conditional, a perfect example of why rits Aren’t used.

Life:
Energy intensive for a restoration line. Not usable as a spirit that would be used to meet the “ when a spirit is within earshot condition.”

Mighty Was Vorizun
It would be nice if items didn’t mess with your energy bar. Good useuable skill though

Nightmare Weapon:
Love this buff. Can be used on wands and spears quite effectively.
.
Offering of Spirit
Good balance. Now useable as a justifiable source of energy

Preservation:
Perhaps the “ In the Area” is an oversight. But with no options for energy management in the restoration line this skill is a luxury that can’t be afforded.

Protective Was Kaolai
I liked the item the way it was. And used it for channeling builds. It was a great way to heal oneself without worrying about the sacrifice from generous was tusungrai. However I'm torn because i love the party heal on this version.

Resilient Was Xiko:
Bug? Making this remove 1..2 hexes instead would help ritulists out a lot. Perhaps you’ve noticed that rits don’t have any hex removal.

Resilient Weapon:
BUG? A needed change. Now this weapon will be run with out AwS, were as before it was too energy intensive.

Signet of Ghostly Might:
Killing a spirit that fast isn’t desirable. Perhaps on necromancer summons this might be useful.

Signet of Spirits:
Outdone by offering of spirit.

Spirit Channeling:
Why was the cool down nerfed on this? Unless I’m mistaken it used to be 10 second cool down and now its 30. Which pretty much rules out this skill as useful.

Spirit Light Weapon:
The weapon that has been buffed 3 times to get people to use it.
The key problem with this skill? Its an elite.

Spirit Light
Very helpful change.

Spirit Rift:
The 3 second till detonation time is the real problem with this skill not the cast time.

Spirit Transfer:
Really good spike heal. Almost as good as infuse. Now if rits had some prot to go with it…

Splinter Weapon
Nice change. Made it useable.

Tranquil Was Tanasen:
Too energy intensive to use. Shouldn’t even be an elite. Doesn’t make you invulnerable to knockdown, and stops weapon switching plus it limits your mana bar to lower than 40.

Vital Weapon:
Nice buff. This is how rit weapon spells should work. On the whole party
Wailing Weapon:
Nice buff. Makes it les energy intensive on an inturpt build

Warmonger's Weapon:
Killer on an assassin vs. Monk. Very good skill now.

Weapon of Fury:
Nice buff for warrior. But there are so many better elites out there that this elite isn’t really helpful

Weapon of Quickening:
Not useful on the rit. It has other skills that serve the same function. And casting 25 energy spells even faster does nothing for energy management.

Weapon of Shadow:
Since you have to be struck for this skill makes a spiked person still vulnerable to other sources of dmg. Mediocre at best because it removes the option of other rit protection.

Weapon of Warding:
About time this ridiculous cast time got nerfed.
Also, this skill is useless. Why? Putting block on a target cause melee to switch target or use block punishing skills. Now you’ve got to use more energy to protect the next target and so on. Also, 1 second is too slow to stop a spike. I’d much much rather have this skill as :
¼ cast time. 5 mana no regen and 7 second duration. This would be much more useful and effective.

Wielder's Boon:
Very conditional. I don’t really bring this skill on a resto rit. Its more useful on A Spiritual strength rit. Though this change should stay.

Phades · Jan 22, 2007, 01:06 AM // 01:06

Elementalist

AoE functionality improved through the damage increases and cost reductions. The active time versus the recharge time still needs to be looked at though for the following skills:
Breath of Fire
Churning Earth
Fire Storm
Searing Heat/Tenai's Heat
Unsteady Ground

These are not spike skills and could be argued for pressure instead. Allow them a better recharge to serve that purpose.

Eruption A needed change to apply blind on every wave.

Please keep savanah heat on a lower recharge time. I realize that 5s is not very long, but the effect on savanah heat lasts on a shorter timeframe than sandstorm. I realize that the bonus damage on sandstorm compensates for the higher AL on attacking targets, but savanah heat denies the same space for a much smaller time frame. Gale traps are useful for all kinds of spikes that occur and arguably more effective than Savanah heat.

Glowing gaze did not need a recharge time nerf considering the majority of the fire line costs 10e or more. Eles need to be less reliant on energy recovery elietes and attunements in general, not more reliant on them.

Frigid Armor Why does frozen armor exist? The cast time change is useful for frigid armor, but considering the effect of frigid armor there is no point in bringing frozen armor ever.

Earshot range for spirit trigger effects is good.
Spiritual pain Too conditional given earshot range requirement. If it is to remain 10e, double the damage vs spirits/summoned creatures and increase the cast time to 2s, while restoring the oringinal aoe effect.

Wither/Malaise This feels like a good change, but it also feels more like a mesmer skill. Consider reviewing mind wrack as well, given the current change.

Ritualist
Channeling
Damage increases are good, but not at the same time while including the option for armor penetration. Do one or the other and remeber that elementalists have no effective method to augment their damage.

Anguish consider moving this skill to channeling.

Communing
Spirit spam is not as strong as it once was and is easier to deal with now (excluding nerco energy engines). Allow for more manageable energy costs and placement times for the following: Dissonance, Disenchant, Soothing, and Shelter.

Anguished was lingwah Allow it to create a spirit with the current stats, but use a different classification for it in order to allow the possibility for more variety.

Jagged Bones Adjust the energy interaction with soul reaping, in addition to spirits.

Avatar of Grenth Recharge time is not enough in this instance. Add a life sacrifice clause to help balance out the enchantment removal.

Critical Chop The recharge time feels a little too long now.

Vermilion · Jan 22, 2007, 01:22 AM // 01:22

First I'd like to say I liked a lot of the changes introduced in the weekend. That being said..

Energy Surge: Again? I don't think this deserved a change. Buffing the other domination magic elites and skills is a nice start, and it is the lack of good elites in this line that allows energy surge to be the only real viable elite in Dom. Regarding AoE damage in the Domination line, there is really little that is worth taking. Hex Eater Vortex is far too conditional, and I believe the other elites centered around interrupts are as well. Also, hexes are mostly viable in the Illusion line..skills like Panic! might be useful, but unless the majority of offense in a team build is hexes, it will be easily removed. Point being, hexes aren't very viable in the Domination line.

zalxixmavon · Jan 22, 2007, 02:27 AM // 02:27

On the whole I really liked the changes, well done anet. Included is my critique of some skills that got changed as well as some that perhaps should.

Assassin

Augury of Death, Exhausting Assault, Beguiling Haze, Feigned Neutrality.
All adjusted very well. It would have been very easy to overnerf feigned. GJ.

Sharpen Daggers
I see no reason for this change than to match that of assassin's remedy. Was crit barrager that good?

Blades of Steel
Needed a buff, if its too much then perhaps reduce the damage per recharging attack but leave cap the same. Will still be very strong but work best in specific builds.

Repeating Strike
Reduce the recharge penalty and it might see play.

Dark Prison
Slow should be 66%. Cost and recharge would still keep it far from the elite shadow prison.

Lift Enchantment
Skill desrciption should read "touched" foe. Or change it to work at range.

Iron Palm
Change to 15 second recharge and it should be quite playable.

Shameful Fear
Reduce recharge or cast time. Probably not both.

Shadow Walk
Is the no enchantment clause that necessary?

Wastrel's Collapse
Make it a 3 second knockdown so that when it actually does trigger its relevant. Will probably make it good with blackout but nothing an elite shouldnt do.

Elementalist

Searing Flames/Glowing Gaze
Good job on this one. A slight change is all this needed and it got it.

Water Trident
Still needs something, perhaps a dmg boost to keep in line with the flare and stone dagger buffs.

Swirling Aura
Make it 75% block.

Grasping Earth
Too long of duration with no points in earth.

Blinding Surge
Eh..hard to say, personally Id have made it 5 energy+exhaustion which would make it spammable in bursts and reduce its useage as a general purpose damage skill. See next skill for more...

Monk

Mending Touch
A slight nerf will make sense if B-Surge is changed in this way. Will make certain conditions more relevant. 5 second recharge or 1 second cast would be fair.

Dwayna's Sorrow
Give it a slight heal when cast.

Shield of Absorbtion
The one-second cast was a great change, sure its less useful in spikes but still quite powerful especially on a bonder.

Divert Hexes
I understand the cast time revert due to the buffing of several hexes but that just makes it harder to use other hexes. I think it should be target other ally (whatever cast time) so that support hex removal is still important. Restore Condition is a good comparison for this skill.

Ritualist

Wailing Weapon
Recharge could come down to 20.

Weapon of Fury
Skill description should read "1 energy on hit". The on hit is currently missing.

Ranger

Dual Shot
Last time the recharge was increased R-spike wasnt even that popular and it sees almost no use now. 7 second recharge should be fine.

Tripwire
Make it 20 second recharge.

Disrupting Accuracy
Perhaps lower the duration again but give a small increase to critial chance. Will be able to function as a slight damage boost then.

Warrior

Critical Chop
Too much, leave the damage low but lower the recharge. This will make it less of a spike skill while still allowing a random interrupt attempt on a relevant time frame. Even on a A/W with high crit strikes the chance is too low to be reliable, certainly not every 15 seconds.

Auspicious Blow
Lower adrenaline to 6 or 7. Aside from something like a devastating hammer, enraging charge, on your knees! kd-combo (yes ive tried it) this has no use. Hammer wars have an energy problem that this could nicely deal with.

Mesmer

Ethereal Burden/Kitah's Burden
Reduce recharge (30?) and energy gained (to like 1...10).

Arcane Mimicry
Reduce recharge to 45

Dervish

Avatar recharges
I think these may be enough. The change rewards good play on both sides by allowing interrupts to be effective as well as pulling back to cast. Some feel more was necessary, in which case the cast time could be increased to 3.

Mystic Regeneration
Increase recharge to 10 or cap regen.

Attacker's Insight
Buff to 10 second recharge.

Onslaught
Increase duration a bit.

Rending Aura
1/4 second cast and modify duration to less than recharge.

Test of Faith
Needs a bit of a buff. With the recent change, having it apply weakness if below 50% would be both relevant (skill debuff, cover condition) and flavorful for the skill without making the damage too high.

Intimidating Aura
Give it a moderate +max health effect. The duration is long enough to support it but the recharge would present a good choice for the player of enchantment removal or survivability.

Necromancer seems fine. Paragon is hard to say, I dont play it enough to comment.

yoshigwguru · Jan 22, 2007, 02:48 AM // 02:48

Skill: Blinding Surge
Impression: Too much nerf. Compare this to, say, Blessed Light, which has the same cost, cast time, and similar recast. Blessed Light heals for 120 at 12 Divine favor or so and removes 1 enchantment and 1 hex. Blinding surge does about 60 damage and inflicts blindness. Blinding surge is about half as effective as Blessed Light. Or compare Blinding Surge to Restore Condition. It is clear that Blinding Surge is about half effective as most monk elites. I realize that monk elites are reactive in nature so it should be more effective than offensive skills, but as of now Blinding Surge, and other ele elites, are too less effective. If you increase the energy to 10, Blinding Surge need damage increase by 30% or so (needs to be more than shock but less than lightning orb). Or keep energy at 5 but increase the recast to 5 and take away 25% armor penetration.

Skill: Guided Weapon
Impression: Too weak compared to Warmonger's Weapon. Decrease energy to 10 and increase recast to 10.

Skill Paragon Changes:
Impression: Paragons did not need nerfs. Light of Deliverance monks or E/Mo Mo/E heal party monks are much better party healers than paragons. Especially with glyph of lesser energy you can cast heal party and extinguish or Aegis with 5 energy. Undo the nerfs and buff them instead by decreasing the recasts.

Dark Knyt · Jan 22, 2007, 03:18 AM // 03:18

I'd really like to see Shadow of Haste and Feigned Neurality restored. If not, then assassins really need some more defense buffs.

Golden Skull Strike really sucks as an elite, especially compared to Temple Strke.

I'd like to see Rampage as One nerfed a bit more.

Harakiem · Jan 22, 2007, 03:38 AM // 03:38

General note to the devs:
You really need to arrange dev meetings with large alliances as opposed to just going into intl. districts and having to deal with all that spam. Large alliances tend to have more experienced players, which will result in more experienced imput. Just a suggestion, but it'd be a good idea to followup on (gaile...).

anywho, on to my skill balance opinions!

skill name: feigned neutrality
impressions: thank you, that skill needed a nerf, it was a pain in AB.

skill name: general avatar change
impressions: oh great, you made them even more worthless now. if it gets interrupted, you have to wait for 30 seconds to cast it. those elites are useless enough in PvP as they are, since you can't maintain them.

skill name: avatar of dwayna
impressions: w00t, now I've got more healing while I'm running!

skill name: ebon dust aura
impressions: that skill was hardcore enough as it was, but I'm not complaining.

skill name: poius haste
impressions: hmm... I think with this and the change you made to shield of regeneration I can create another solo UW build

skill name: glowing gaze
impressions: thank you, now all you need to do is acutally nerf SF (not the 1 second burning decrease, I'm talking the conditional damage here) so people can't run it in HA and own you before you have a time to bond anyone...

skill name: searing flames
impressions: needs a serious nerf, not this pathetic nerf it just got.

skill name: ancestors visage/sympathetic vasage
impressions: BAD!!! if you're trying to stop all the UW soloing with this, maybe try something else. I swapped a few attribute points and runes out, got a 20% enchant mod for my scythe and it works just as well. you're hurting the PvPers here, but to seriously affect the UW farms, you'll have to make it worthless in PvP. either change it back or remove it completely.

skill name: energy surge
impressions: good job, it's not as painful, but still effective.

skill name: spiritual pain/unnatural signet
impressions: I appreciate the damage increases, since spirit Rits tend to be a major pain in HA.

skill name: rebirth
impressions: still worthless in PvP, in PvE this will help noobs that use this skill in the middle of a fight. I like the change

skill name: renew life/restore life/res chant
impressions: when paired with holy haste, these become hard rezes with casting times identical to rez sigs, and if you go mo/e with glyph of concentration, they are also un-interruptable. this may unbalance some PvP battles, although I really appreciate the combo.

skill name: shield of absorption
impressions: the 1 sec cast time sort of ruins this skill for PvP, it wasn't that great to begin with anywho, since the recharge is so long. in PvE, however, it doesn't really change anything (including the new 55's and 105's).

skill name: shield of regeneration
impressions: woo-hoo! I love the change! this skill needed the improvement! now it's an upkeep, and will most likely be overly exploited by wammos, and used by me in a new PvE monk build... that's probably all the use it's going to see though.

skill name: shielding hands
impressions: still unusable by monks

skill name: signet of mystic wrath
impressions: this won't stop the mystic wrath spikes... just lower the DPS of a lot of dervishes running this sig, in my opinion

skill name: vengance
impressions: that's exactly what this skill needed to be worthwhile, good job a-net.

skill name: word of healing
impressions: not much of a difference, a lot of people appreciate the extra healing though.

skill name: barbs
impressions: sweet!

skill name: deathly swarm
impressions: might make the 3s cast worth it, might not.

skill name: defile flesh
impressions: perfect, I love it now

skill name: insiduious parasite
impressions: great for those pesky wars that like to follow you around

skill name: malise
impressions: the -2 to -1 decrease sort of hurts, and the supposid -2 degen (I think it's still glitched at -1, right) almost make me not want to use this skill, but it's still one of the better skills, and the +damage on 0 energy really helps in PvP.

skill name: spoil victor
impressions: good start, but this skill's still too powerful if you ask me. it really hurts monks pretty bad, almost to the point where they can't heal while they're hexed with it.

skill name: ulcerous lungs
impressions: great for killing those para builds, the decreasted recharge makes it skillbar worthy.

skill name: wither
impressions: *removes skill from skillbar* nope

a general note on the ritualist skill updates:
the decreased cast time/recharge and increased duration/effect of some of the weapon and healing spells make ritualists useable now. thank you, now I've gotta go cap some elites.

skill name: defensive stance
impressions: why... just why? it's going to hurt the PvErs... a lot

skill name: galdiators defense
impressions: same as defensive stance, these need to be upkeepable as a war (negating wild blow).

skill name: "you're all alone"
impressions: good overall change.

VGJustice · Jan 22, 2007, 04:04 AM // 04:04

Rampage as One - I think that this skill did need to be nerfed a bit, but I think that this may have been a bit too strong. The energy requirement for the skill now makes it excedingly prohibitive, and you can't use it effectively with other energy cost skills anymore (not that you really could before, but now you just need to forget about it). Yes nerf the skill, but not so much as to make it useless. The recharge would be very nice if it didn't cost so much, so I'd recommend the temp. update's rechage and length numbers, combined with a 15 or 20 energy cost and bringing down the attack speed increase to 25%.

Spirit Rift, Chained Strike - Oh, thank you for these. This greatly increases the usefulness of the skills, allowing them to be cast more often. Casting them too often should be self correcting, but having the option is greatly appreciated.

Kipp27 · Jan 22, 2007, 06:26 AM // 06:26

Skill: Shadow of Haste

Quick Impression: It was a very strategic tool in its old form, return it to how it was and instead increase energy or take away 15% or something else.

Extended Response:
I believe that the Shadow of Haste skill should be returned to its original form. It was a very wonderful and strategic tool. First, the skill itself did not grant much in the way of anti-kiting or self healing, but if used correctly by a skilled player with the addition of another stance, it could be used as a way to safely evade large dmg, or snare fleeing opponents. The +15% running boost will only grant a few extra hits on fleeing foes, but if activated and release at the correct moment it could be used to effectively snare. The reason why i think it was balanced how it was and not an over powered skill, for it certainly can accomplish a lot, is because it required carefully thought out execution and skill to use it properly, thus balancing its high amount of usage. Also, it could only be properly used with the use of another stance, such as dash, and not very effective by its self. In addition, while using it, other stances such as Burst of Aggression become virtually useless, therefore again countering its wide usage.

If Arena Net still feels it is too powerful, i suggest they return the recharge time and duration to its original form and change one of the following:
*Increase energy cost
*Take away the 15% boost
*Or some other something that adds a negative effect to the player, like increase dmg received, or can't block attacks, or something of that effect.

Skill: Lightning Hammer

Quick Impression: Love it, works well with Elemental Attunment(sp), and since it is such a long cast it is very easy to counter so it is not over powered.

Skill: Shield of Regeneration

Quick Impression: Very nice, this skill is actually useful now by primary monks, not just as a back up for eles, its high energy cost counters its high regen and +40 armor. Maybe make the +40 armor variable.

Skill: Blades of Steel

Quick Impression: Pretty good, but the thing is in RA or TA it is a bit over powered, no one will use it in GvG because it requires so many other attack skills to work, but in TA and RA it can spike pretty high.

Skill: Shield of Deflection

Quick Impression: Better, but i think it should have the energy cost brought down to 5, so it is easier to use as a monk, but then also reduce stats a bit so it is just a bit better then guardian. I tested it very extensively as a monk, and found the 10 energy just not worth the little bit of extra protection, i still largely preferred guardian.