Curse

josh axiom · May 31, 2006, 01:37 AM // 01:37

The third and final season of the Factions World Championship is upon us, and with it brings some interesting updates to the game in the form of skill-balancing. Skill-balance is a constantly evolving process, and one of the things that makes Guild Wars so unique in the way it approaches competitive play. From the development team’s perspective, as long as it’s in the game (skill, map bug, or otherwise), it’s legal to utilize in a match, which has led to some questionable ethics on the parts of some teams, especially during this past season. But in a larger sense, if you’re not taking advantage of the unbalanced items, you’re giving an edge to your opponent, so ArenaNet has devoted a core of their team to monitor and update the game regularly.

Check out the full article, which details some of the most dramatic updates here: http://www.ampedesports.com/news/2378

JR · May 31, 2006, 08:53 AM // 08:53

Interesting read as usual, thanks Josh.

suiraCLAW · May 31, 2006, 01:18 PM // 13:18

I wonder if siphon strength is more usefull at all "now". Opinions about the idea of a Me/A (or N/A or whatever) with it could hurt the DPS of warriors (or assasins)?

Man With No Name · May 31, 2006, 02:14 PM // 14:14

I don't know if I quite share your optimism for Vengeful Weapon, if only because it's got the on the next time tag.

I assume it ends after the first trigger -- like the other "on the next time" skills.

5e to steal ~60 health if they hit through it -- doesn't seem too impressive regardless of the 3 second recharge. The heal certainly isn't @ RoF levels.

At first glance I thought it functioned like a health-stealing variant on Guardian -- maybe I'm missing something...??

suiraCLAW · May 31, 2006, 04:33 PM // 16:33

vengeful weapon = a rof without divine favor that steals health...

Allmightybob · May 31, 2006, 05:01 PM // 17:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by suiraCLAW

vengeful weapon = a rof without divine favor that steals health...

That doesn't negate damage either.

Ensign · May 31, 2006, 06:49 PM // 18:49

RoF that does the damage instead of preventing it, but more importantly doesn't get Divine Favor. On the plus side, it always triggers for full - on the minus, it doesn't stack with other weapon spells at all. It's not exactly a bad skill, but it suffers from the same problem almost all the ritualist 'heals' do - they're balanced against their monk counterparts, but don't get the 30-50 extra healing on top that makes them efficient. Hence the only ones you end up wanting to use are those with stronger, more expensive effects (which don't suffer from the missing DF as much) - like Weapon of Warding or Spirit Transfer - or spells you're using for reasons other than healing, like Mend Body and Soul.

Peace,
-CxE

Rey Lentless · May 31, 2006, 07:39 PM // 19:39

Quote:

Stolen Speed: reduced casting time to 1 second; reduced recharge time to 3 seconds; corrected the wording on this skill.

Anyone know what this means? I thought the description was pretty straight forward.

I already thought this was a great skill at 2 sec cast/6 recharge personally. Was there something I was missing? My current understanding is that the 25% was pretty simple.. 1 sec casts became 1.25.. and the 25% you gained was combined with Fast casting up to 50%. Something I missed here?

dansamy · May 31, 2006, 07:40 PM // 19:40

Ensign makes good points regarding the healing potential of rits. I think the greatest use of rits in PvP will be (& is already shaping up to be) spamming useful defensive spirits.

josh axiom · May 31, 2006, 09:35 PM // 21:35

The overall benefit from Vengeful is somewhat different than RoF - it's the dual nature of the skill that has boosted it up a level, in my opinion. In the midst of high-attack rate, warriors often open themselves up to incurring large damage (defensive air ele's, surge/burn mesmers, an opposing warrior who comes back to support, etc.). One of the tricks to being a successful warrior is how able you are to read gaps in your opponent's defense, and this skill buff provides a dynamic twist in the way healing/defense gets done. The point is also true that the 60-hp steal is guaranteed, even if the damage is 1 point - coupled with RoF, it has some solid potential.

Ensign · May 31, 2006, 09:47 PM // 21:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by dansamy

I think the greatest use of rits in PvP will be (& is already shaping up to be) spamming useful defensive spirits.

And spiking people's faces off with Gaze from Beyond. Don't forget that part.

Peace,
-CxE

Divineshadows · May 31, 2006, 10:13 PM // 22:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ensign

And spiking people's faces off with Gaze from Beyond. Don't forget that part.

Peace,
-CxE

That skill is unique in its spiking power due to its one second cast time and armor ignoring damage (despite the skill description stating lightning damage).

Ensign · May 31, 2006, 11:48 PM // 23:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by josh axiom

The overall benefit from Vengeful is somewhat different than RoF - it's the dual nature of the skill that has boosted it up a level, in my opinion.

Generally two-effect powers are weaker than simply doubling one of the effects - because they are generally much less wieldly, and both effects are rarely, if ever, optimised. With Vengeful Weapon, you're usually going to get a 60 point heal coupled with some random, relatively meaningless damage on some warrior. Alternatively, you'll get 60 lifesteal damage on a target you care about - though doing so has a lot of targeting restrictions and really is a lot of trouble - and the heal will be but a side effect. It is very rare that you'll get both effects out of a single cast in places that actually matter.

I think it's easy to argue that the effect of RoF is going to be much stronger on any reasonably large trigger - since both effects are going to be useful as they do roughly the same thing - and you get the Divine Favor carrier to push it even further over the edge.

Quote:

Originally Posted by josh axiom

In the midst of high-attack rate, warriors often open themselves up to incurring large damage

I'm assuming you're talking about Frenzy here. Granted, Frenzy does make you vulnerable, but not overly so. What is going to punish you under Frenzy is largely armor ignoring, normal damage - largely mesmer and physical +damage hits. Warriors do have close to 100 damage against every armor type by default, more with certain armors, with some damage reduction on top of it - Frenzy doesn't make them particularly vulnerable, as much as makes them as soft as a regular target.

Lifesteal is good against warriors in the sense that their armor does not hose it horribly, but it does not punish Frenzy. 60 lifesteal is 60 lifesteal during a Frenzsig as well. 60 random lifesteal, without some sort of backup to finish off the spike, is ignored at worst and makes the warrior stop and Healsig at best. Not the worst thing, but not exactly threatening either.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Divineshadows

That skill is unique in its spiking power due to its one second cast time and armor ignoring damage (despite the skill description stating lightning damage).

That it's unique is largely irrelevant. If Arena.net felt like it, they could make thousands of terrible skills for every profession without affecting how a character is played in the slightest. People are going to use the best skills, or those that fill important roles, and it's those best skills that define the profession.

Or, in other terms, it's the quantities in use, rather than the quantities in the skill lists, that define a profession. If you make a list of ritualist skills seeing the most use it'd go something like Shelter, Union, Gaze from Beyond, Shadowsong, Displacement, Spirit Burn, Essence Strike, Soul Twisting, Ritual Lord. That's the profession is - spirits and spike - not pots and spam heals and weapon buffs, or other mechanics that might exist on paper but are rarely, if ever used in practice. Same theory if you go down the elementalist list - Ether Prodigy, Heal Party, Blinding Flash, Gale, Ward Against Melee, Lightning Orb, Deep Freeze, Ice Spikes, Windborne Speed.

All I'm really saying is that Gaze from Beyond might be a special case when looking at it on paper, but from a practical standpoint it's what the ritualist does. I don't like looking at it as an oddball skill when I see it every other match - it's all those terrible skills that I barely even know what they do that seem like orphans.

Peace,
-CxE

suiraCLAW · Jun 01, 2006, 04:36 PM // 16:36

Gaze from beyond isn't armor penetrating anymore. (or better: won't be anymore)