[Dev Update] Skill Balances for Early April

For soul reaping it seems it will be 1 energy gain every 5 seconds but Gaile Gray has mentioned the net gain is higher for player deaths so I'm thinking a players death is worth double soul reapings level and NPC's,Pets,Minions and monsters should be equal to soul reaping and spirits half.

I find the rest of the changes pretty good for all of the classes except mesmers that have been nerfed a bit more due to diversions change.

One of the real intresting changes I can see is dwarven battle stance just put on brutal weapon 1st then run up to the target(Magic user) and samsh down on them with fast attacks with a 10...25 bonus and interuption.

I've never played a M.M. for a necro; however, they are my favorite class.

Soul Reaping every 5 seconds... blah! It's rediculous that you gave a way for the energy abundant minon masters to still maintain their function, BUT ripped off the rest of the creative necro builds that do not spam minons. Wasn't minons and spirits the problem in the first place? Why not reduce the energy gain from them dying or just remove it.

P.S. - How many of the necro's skills are actually minon skills? Answer = very few yet that's what's getting babied.

EDITED: sorry for my bad mood... i'm probably being to quick to judge.

You can only have 1 weapon spell at a time.

So you have 1 unremovable skill, but you cant have multiples

but you can have a ton of enchants,

Its a fair trade off if they're were multiple Weapon spells there be a problem, removable or not they are rather strong.

Soul Reaping isn't nerfed for PvE. The majority of the energy you gain is from dead creatures, followed by minions anyway. If anything, this soul reaping update may strengthen Necromancers in the PvE environment. I can't speak for PvP though.

Is this it for skill changes? i thought there were supposed to be a lot more than just this...Maybe im mistaken.

Where is the updates on the other 100 useless to every degree skills?

Oh wait DIVERSION GOT NERFED WTF IZZY?!@

NECRO'S STILL OWN HA JUST MAKE THEM NOT GAIN ENERGY FROM SPIRITS BUT MINIONS YES.

Please Gaile... tell me it's April 1st 11am...

I have no idea what to say, this feels like the Fable hype gone 100x worse.

Assasin: Definitely the only good part of this skill balance update. This is a huge step in the correct direction. Keyword step. I would really reconsider alot of the lead attacks and their restrictions but I cannot complain.

Dervish: Nicely done IMO, I would like the longer durations except I would still love it if you changed Grenth's mechanic.

Mesmer: This is a huge slap in the face, you take away GoLE and then give us NO energy management anymore? In all honesty I am about to really look at every single skill in GW and post it in these forums, you guys really aren't thinking half of these skills through, period.

Paragon: Acceptable there seems to be a problem with the general population that the paragons have too much armor. In a real sense I agree, although if you downed the armor I would give them increased energy. Is there a problem having paragons AL 70(+30 phy)?

Ele: The reduction on the cast time is acceptable, and highly needed...sadly the enchantment doesnt overlap the cooldown, SDH is still going to be widely used.

Monk: ZB nerf?... wow... that was the only good Hybrid monk build left... you really want RC/WoH combinations back don't you? Hex removal still sucks. Why not nerf half the hexes on the necro?

Necro: Not going there right now... this is a slap on the wrist.

Warrior: Good move on crippling slash, although there were alot of good suggestions in my thread already. I'll just change the skill. Shields up I agree was too much for its effect, good nerf... where is the incentive to use any shouts on the warrior though anymore? I think you need to really look at the warrior line, and decide what it actually does.

Ranger: Nice! Nothing bad to complain about. Yet where is our Crippling Shot buff? What about the overcosted bow attacks?

Rit: I don't care anymore, my rit is a useless storage mule.

i think this may be it for skills (could be wrong, but i dont think so). but i think from the hints dropped that we will see a fair amount of non skill changes as well.

*prays for gvg map changes*

Of course we know how it works. It was just explained above:

After a death, there is a 5 second period where soul reaping is disabled. Otherwsie it works as it does now.

So, suppose you have 10 soul reaping. the maximum amount of energy you can get from soul reaping is 10 every 5 seconds (which will be greater than 5 seconds in reality because deaths are unpredictable), and you also get 7 energy from narural energy regen.

How are you supposed to use bone fiends, which cost 25 energy, if you are capped at 17 energy in the 5 second period after a death?

Granted, Bone horror had its cost reduced, but (1) bone horror sucks (2) Vampiric Horror and shambling horros did not have their casts reduced either, and (3) minions tax your energy by needing to be healed all the time and healing the minions requires that you heal yourself which additionally, (4) Bone horror is still too expensive in both its casting cost and recharge to be a primary minion, and (5) bone horror is a prophecies only skill so Nightfall and Factions MMs, your out of luck.

MM as we know it is dead.

And it doesnt "fix" pvp either, except to force teams into spiritway.

I'm happy with this update. The mesmers took a beating but everything else, including Soul Reaping, is fine. Can we please enhance Ether Feast please?

The Soul Reaping issue had to be fixed because too many teams in HoH were using that Spirit spamming necro/monk build. From peoples' previous calculations, its as effectively like the Necros have greater regen than an ele with Ether Prodigy so I suppose fair is fair.

Also, Glyph+ZB monks were too common that it was predictable. Virtually every Mo/E in the top Guild Battles was using the very same build. ZB isn't dead though.

Assassin:

-looks good enough-

Dervish:

* Avatar of Balthazar: increased duration to 10..90.
* Avatar of Dwayna: increased duration to 10..75.
* Avatar of Grenth: increased duration to 10..45.
* Avatar of Lyssa: increased duration to 10..90.

- you are going not to keep theese changes anyway ... 90 secs on lyss? no way -

Elementalist:

* Glyph of Lesser Energy: now reduces the cost of your next 2 spells by 10..18 Energy, based on the Energy Storage attribute.

- can live with it, its in fact buff for primaries -

Mesmer:

* Auspicious Incantation: changed to "For 20 seconds, the next spell you cast is disabled for an additional 10..5 seconds, and you gain 110..200% of that spell's Energy cost."

- nerfs ... again? this is no funny anymore. plus, auspicipius change is gonna be regreted, its bascially two free spells regargless of cost, even with 0 inspiration its GoLE back and still kicking -

Monk:

* Reversal of Damage: decreased recharge time to 6 seconds.

- still to slow recharge ... -

Necromancer:

* Soul Reaping: now only provides Energy at a maximum rate of once every 5 seconds.

- I think i missed part where ALL necromancer skill costs were reduced. big, BIG thumbs down, this is hardly good change, i fact its quitecatatrophic for PvE. would simple: "Sould reaping provides no energy for allied spirits" be too much? -

Paragon:

* Anthem of Fury: decreased recharge time to 10 seconds, now only affects party members.
* Anthem of Flame: now only affects party members.
* Anthem of Guidance: now only affects party members.
* Crippling Anthem: now only affects party members.

- I missed part where it was overused and breaking game, way to bring down clever usage of skills -

Ranger:

* Otyugh's Cry: changed to "For 10..25 seconds, all allied animal companions gain +24 armor and cannot be blocked."

- wow, finbally touched it? -

Ritualist:

- promoting gimmics? eww -

Warrior:

* Dwarven Battle Stance: increased attack speed boost to 33%.

- interesting, finally with skill looks decent, for nonelite, shame its still elite. -

---

Over all i am extremelly EXTREMELLY disappointed with SR change - taking spirits out of equation would fix it for PvP for good while leaving PvE intact. seems like someone out there really want to add fuell PvE vs PvP arguments :-/

In fact, PvE sr nerfs overshaddows any positive stuff from this update for me ... sigh.

according to what has been stated, it in fact does not work as it currently does. and until this bit is explained, im reserving judgment.

reading ftw!

That is beause not every skill is good and all monks must react to the same meta.
While PvE allows you more flexibility in builds (because you know the EXACT skills you need to counter and the behavior is exactly the same), PvP in reality has a limited skill pool they can take from.

It does not mean new combinations can't be found.

Wow I love the small but good buffs for Eles. Although I'm not sure how will GoLE work with Heal Party in PvE? It might be interesting now.
I can't wait untill I test my Dervish in AB. Gotta love Balthazar
Poor necros and their minions! Guess they won't be getting a lot of energy from wiping minions with pbaoes. Well I guess necros will rely on hexes now. Although I do not understand why didn't you lower the energy cost of Animate Bone Fiend since this nerf. POOR MM HEROS!
As far for Rangers I can see them pwning in the Hard Mode . Was that the intention?

Do you even play mm, cause it dosesnt sound like you do. and if you are sitting and waiting for energy then soul reaping isnt your problem, you need better energy management.

Wow, I just noticed. 90 seconds of frickin' panic when you have Avatar of Balthazar. 90 seconds out of 150 (152) will be filled with a 33% speed boost and +40 armor. Are you insane?

Overall it looks pretty good.

I don't see why everyone is complaining about The soul reaping nerf.

I notice while playing MM my energy goes from 0 to max often because I get a lot of energy when everything dies but after I use 2 minion spells I go back to 0.

With this I can use more Minion spells over time. Also the Rit/N MM could be a little more viable.



With the pet command system I'm wondering if a pet pressure build could be viable.

Its actualy 90 out of 120 seconds, disabled doesn't stack with recharge.

yeah, i really want to see how the new avatars are used. its going to be a fun couple of weeks ahead lol.

Dervishes on roids and GHB for about 90 seconds, then suicidal and depressed for 30, well done.

Wheres the nerf to BoA sins?

Soul Reaping should have stayed the same except no energy gain for spirits, bam problems solved, and PvE and PvP would be balanced. And if they want this to stay PLEASE MAKE BONE FIENDS A LOWER ENERGY COST

Can't wait to try out these new changes!

The full quote from Gaile is ambiguous.

The clause "a player death will provide more net energy," imho, seems, in the context of the sentence to state "a player death in the 5 seconds will provide more net energy than a spirit death."

I didnt get the reading "we will modify soul reaping to increase energy gained from player deaths and create a three-tieres stucture where spirits give you half energy, allies and minions give you regular energy and players give you bonus" out of the sentence.

And, if that is indeed the change: isnt a random swing of 10 or more energy over the next 5 seconds depending on whether the game engine triggers the soul reaping on the teammate who died or the Nature' renewal spirit you killed... isnt that also kind of a garbage?

Fixed a few major errors there.

Please. What skill buff/nerf was good for PvE?

I can't see any.

And how the heck do you buff/nerf PvE based on ladder and tournament play?

The avatar changes are great. Did you *EVER* see anybody use one of those buffed Avatars in high rated PvP? I sure as heck didn't.

exactly my point. as you said, its open to different interpretation. and so far, almost everyone here has had some different interpretations. until we get a clarification, anyones guess is as good as anyone elses. it could be a stead stream of energy, come im big lumps, or just be doubled from living things. we dont know yet. saying either "the change sucks!" or "the change rocks!" is short sited.

and thats all i was trying to point out.

Hmm. Changes to para and sin don't really change anything outside of recall. The nerf to diversion may not have been necessary, but 2sec more recharge (1 sec under MoR) doesn't do really anything. Auspicious looks kind of good on a mesmer, certainly not worth it on a monk. I mean, how would that work?

Auspicious>aegis? 3+sec/20 nrg to do, and it gains you 30. Hmm. How often do monks have that kind of energy in the first place? Needs testing. But whatevs, Avatar of Grenth is bringing Enchant removal back.

That's a little harsh. 11 seconds at 16? For 10 energy? Might as well delete the skill all together. Lower it to 5 or make it adrenaline. It'll get shelved for that stiff a hit. The soul reaping hit should be PVP only too. PVE is a different monster.

So... they're like rampage as one thumpers with an armor boost you don't care about because you're too busy hitting the casters anyway. Minus the IAS.

Well hurray for you Anet, another load of garbage to make sure that paragons are even less attractive in PvE. Like they really needed that.

Unremovable, and uninteruptable prot = not good for the game, this skill was imba and is going to be nerfed, cry less.

How is this a nerf? I see it more as a really good buff to the skill.
As Gaile wrote it, it no longer adds the spell's cost to the recharge and gives more energy. So where is the nerf??

About the nerfs to the other mesmer skills... it's about time imo (especially Diversion).

Guys.....this is a TEST weekend. Though I didn't find this update appealing at all, there just have to be enough complaints about a certain skill or mechanic (SR) for it not to be changed or reworked. They will actively be changing the skills around the whole week and not just keep them like last testing events so there's a chance for more changes. People always jump to assumptions and don't read the whole post...

Spirit's Strength buff FTW!

Hooray for "gimmicky" AB builds!

Now that the devs are actually going to fix Soul Reaping itself, can we have jagged bones back at 5s recharge?

Harsh?

It is a NON elite skill, that stops the 2 professions [Para and Ranger] - not just a skill or two but the main weapon skill line. Not to mention, you can't remove it. Can't interupt. It is party wide and the range is the entire aggro bubble.

Remember, it is not an elite. 2 of these can stop any spear or bow based builds.

Is it possible that Soul Reaping will only give energy every 5 seconds from minion and/or spirit sources only meaning that it will still function normally when players die?

I feel this would be fair enough, what do you ppl think?

EDIT: When I saw "Skill Balancing", being an ele at heart, I went straight to the elementalist section. And man was I happy to see that my ele totally dodged the nerf bat this round!

For the love of...

Ok, before this thread gets derailed by thirty people all saying the same thing because they apparently didn't read the previous people saying the same complaint. Here's your answer.

# of skills that cause blind: 20 across six Professions
# of skills that block attacks: 39 across nine Professions
Hell even... # of skills that cause KD: 57 skills across nine Professions
as well as the Pacifism-like skills.

There you go. Any one of those skills will kill an assassin's chain, and many of them are spam-able.

On behalf of all assassins everywhere... I apologize that we are doing what we were created to do.

Soul reaping took the bat pretty hard..

Reducing the duration and armor buff of Shields Up but keeping it at 10nrg? Doubt I'll ever have a warrior primary use it with those stats.

I don't fully agree with the Anthem of Flames nerf either. Party members only means your pets don't trigger it. That's kinda lame.

Everything else is great. Crip Slash in particular, I like.

Funny how a couple of the Animate skills droped in energy cost.

Mesmers are weak in PvE for the most part and a single buff to Signet of Clumsiness will not make a difference in this.

Also, I'm still waiting to see anything on a fix for [skill]Keen Arrow[/skill]. This skill still only provides bonus damage on critical hits. When this skill does not crit, there is no additional damage at all.