Why balance everything? Please help me understand.

Dude it easy for you to say that, you do not play in the hard areas of the game, go to DOA and say that, them do it in HM. I will admit that sometimes with a good team things are easy, but that swings both ways, and good team in PvP, and they make it look easy to. Is it the skills and how they are overpowered? Hell no, it'f the players ability to use the skills in a way that is best for the team to win.

If you have a team with the same skills same balance, then their should be a stalemate, but if the other team is able to beat them, then it shows that they just had better ability to use the skills to win.

Nothing is overpowered in this game, never has, never will because everyone has access to the same skills, it just that some teams or players play better then others.

Are you going to nerf how football is played just because one team keeps winning the superbowl. Maybe take away their ability to pass the ball to have their running backs not run as quick, just because one team complained that they or their skills are too powerful and it's unfair.

Well A Net does do that to this game!!!

heh that would be a good response to the "make PvE like PvP" thread. but it also has a point for balance purposes... strict PvP people (which incidentally is what the core testing team is made of mostly) don't really have any insight on how things work against hardmode mobs... maybe introducing some into pvp would indeed be enlightening. hehehehehe... you're evil!

Nerfing is stupid. Balance is stupid. Just leave the way it is.
Remember nerfing touchers? we found how to deal against them(smarter one before nerf),but after they nerfed it some months later we all know how to play against them.
Nerfing Paragon motivating skills? Why? They were good counter against SF ele...but they both got nerfed.
Nerfing Spirit Bond....it could deal against BoA sins,but they both got nerfed.

I found GW at the begining interesting because I though that maybe one day I will make very good build so every1 would fear me,and then they will start to think how to beat me.It was good feeling.

I though players need be smart to be good players,that they need make powerful build to prove they are good players. And when they do that,Anet nerf skill/skills and then one who made build thinks how stupid it is. ( players started to find how to counter me,but before they all learn Anet done it's job)

So,for me GW is not anymore hard for me,there is no need to think,use balanced build,play against balanced builds and then think you are the best player in the world because you maybe better play that build.And enjoy in a telekinesis ability to know what your opponent will play because 80% builds are the same,15% builds are "noob builds" and other 5 % builds are something what players try to do to make GW interesting.

I don't want say GW is boring,but sometimes it's boring when you play PvP and see every1 have same builds.And every1 call some1 else noob.
And every1 time someone make not-noob build it get nerfed.

so,I think Anet have a huge problem. Once they started to nerf they can't stop. They think they are the smartest and they don't give a damn chance to us to learn how to play against some1 build.

I really feel sorry for people who are smart and who made some powerful builds that got nerfed.




Enjoy in balanced play!

Honestly, though, how is it that much different than it is now? Just because the skills are the same, they are used to a completely different effect in PvE vs. PvP. Builds are drastically different, with many skills that see use in PvE not seeing any use whatsoever in PvP. The players treat the two worlds completely different, would it be that much of a stretch if they actually were?

For the record, I do play both, and I honestly don't see why it would be that difficult to change mindsets from one to the other (I do anyway). Can you honestly say it's that frustrating to go from, say playing GW, to playing a racing game, for instance? Those operate completely differently, too, and surely you can master both in the same time period. I play 5-6 different games, all with completely different controls and things to memorize - it's not that hard.

Gran Turismo doesn't have a skill called "Searing Flames" and you don't have any preconceived notions about what it's supposed to do.

So the names and preconceived notions are going to confuse you? The fact that your facing human opponents rather than swarms of mobs isn't going to make you realize what area of the game you're playing in? Again, PvP and PvE are already clearly different games, surely even a child could figure out which is which and realize what skills do what where. Or am I greatly overestimating the player base?

Everything's a big overreaction nowadays. 13 dmg drop on Searing flames makes it unplayable? I even use a motivation-specced Paragon from time to time - I believe for them, the drop in healing was about 10 health from the skills. OMG NERFED! Sometimes I even use other fire magic elites than SF! Put me in a straight jacket already!

Why do you have to worry about a build so much? Believe it or not, there are several combinations that work in PvE (and PvP as well, although I'm not an expert on high-level PvP). I'll admit this - I'd like to see more buffs from A-Net to lesser used skills to balance the nerfs more and make more viable options, but even so, as long as the nerfs won't make a skill totally unplayable, it's fine with me.

I would rather fight HM Mobs than rit spike. Why? It would be easier to counter.

The easy way to keep PvE and PvP "separate but equal" is to give them a different maximum level. Say, the traditional level 20 for PvP, and lvl 30 or whatever, for PvE. Different attribute maximums as well.

That way, skills can be balanced for PvP in the traditional fashion, and the higher attribute levels can be made completely suitable for PvE without any regard to PvP balance. The numbers will be a bit higher in PvE, but things would be generally the same. Also, the people who regularly pop up asking for a higher level cap will be happy as well.

(Just a random, spur of the moment thought, don't take this too seriously. Perhaps GW2 will do something like this, having a much higher level cap. It's far too late in the lifetime of GW to bother with this anyway. The complete PvE setting would need to be rebalanced.)

Or they can buff Intensity or Elemental Lord a little bit to make up for the Ele nerf. That's the point of the PvE skills right? It gives them an extra variable to work with.

How to separate PvP and PvE in terms of skill balance?
Make more PVE only skills, and make them powerful enough to be used.
Kills two birds with one stone, you let Izzy do his job without the constant nagging about every little skill balance ("omg an overbuffed skill from 2 updates ago was nerfed!!!"), and you get to play EZ mode and blow shit up with bigger numbers. PvE only skills could also help solve the whole "OMg mesmers r useless in PvE! Gimme damage!!!" dilemma and balance the classes out among themselves.
They could even make some cool PvE only skills that actually require skill (lol) to obtain, such as by capping them off Glint, Rurik, Lich, Shiro, etc in HM. It could add loads of depth to the PvE content all while improving the overall balance of the skills in PvP.
If no one nags, Izzy can do his job properly.

Win/win situation imo.
yes/no?

it took them forever just to come up with 20 somewhat lame skills that needed nerfed the same day they were released... i think anything other than tweaking is going to be out of the question, especially as they get closer and closer to the GWEN release and full manpower into GW2.

They can modify skills to have inherent anti-monster effects built into the skill.

heres some made up examples.

Decisive Stab. Sword Attack. This skill cannot be blocked. If it hits, it causes +_____ damage and bleeding. If it hits a Non-Ascended or Non-human fleshy target, that target suffers deep wound for ______.

Fifth Degree. Spell. This spell causes _____ damage and burning for ____ seconds. If it hits a Non-Ascended or Non-Human target, all foes in the area suffer burning for ____ seconds.

Richocheting Shot: Bow Attack. This skill cannot be blocked. If this attack hits a target with armor higher than 70, target and adjacent foes suffer ___ damage. If it hits a target with armor higher than (Put armor level of lvl 24 enemies here), target and all adjacent foes suffer deep wound for ____ seconds.

Do you see what i mean?

The first half of the skill is what is balanced for PvP. This is what is tweaked for PvP.
The second half of the skill is for PvE. This added damage or effect does not affect PvP and bolsters the skill for PvE.

LMAO, yeah I'm sure PvEers complaining is why he isn't "do[ing] his job properly." Too funny, Mendes, just too funny.

how often do you see PvE players complaining that an overpowered skill is overpowered and makes their PvE experience too easy?

almost never because the majority prefer to be able to breeze through PvE, giving themselves a false sense of accomplishment

Why balance everything? Well, because otherwise you have an unbalanced game? Whats wrong with an unbalanced game?

Three games that came out at about the same time as Guild wars are the X-men Legends, X-men legends 2, Marvel Utimate Alliance series. This series features instanced gameplay, online co-op with no interaction from others once the instance is set, and sold about a much (actually a little more) as Guild wars so its a good comparison.

In an X-men Legends game, the classes are purposefully unbalanced for roleplaying reasons. If "Elektra" is Weaker than "The Hulk," then the reason for this is "duh, a chick isnt going to beat up a gamma radiated monster" and not game balance. However the X-men legends series have the following features as a result:

(1) Since the game must be completeable with the weakest classes, the game is easy (too easy?) with the other classes.

(2) The games arent very replayable once the storyline mode is finished.

(3) The pvp modes (starting with x-men legends 2) are underdeveloped, unbalanced and unplayed. Some teams are just stronger than others. Its only a toy to fool around with, and nobody takes it seriously.

I dont think that X-men Legends/Marvel Ultimate alliance would work too well as a monthy-fee MMO. It just wouldnt be cool to have everyone as wolverine or a healer. Players in such a game, racing for status or grinding for high levels and gear (Guild Wars 2) wolnt invest time in characters that wolnt ever be good. As such The x-men legends series, while enormously fun, similar to guild wars in a lot of ways, and also enormously profitable... is also disposable PvE.. where players play the game and return it to gamefly after they beat it in one weekend.

I dont want to disparage unbalanced games. Unbalanced games are fun, when they arent "too easy." Unbalanced games can even be done online as co-op with success. But they lose a lot on replayability and dont have pvp.

Let me first state: I agree with u

Well as with all nerfs they can be circumvented one way or the other. I don't recall whether bots used fow, and whether they still use it. Bus tome places have been effectively cleaned, while others just harm players. The problem with farming is that you actually don't want to hurt players, whil u want to hurt professional farmers. UI guess this is impossible. Unless farming gold items/greens is the ones we should go after. For normal loot, u should probably have full scaling. But then bots don't require attention, they just do their jobs.

As to heroes, we can discuss long whether they are good or not. Selfimposing challenges, most people won't do that. The goal will be for many to pass without too much effort, while there are some "crazy" people out there that like such challenges. What is maybe more important (and I forgot to mention) is that you don't want profession discrimination. SO nerfing one can be good for another. But so far my reaction on your post.

I think that the concept "stale" is mis-used on their part. With regular churning via nerfs on ANets part, they must find anything more than 5 or 10 days old "stale".

The comparison in the old thread was to the card game Magic - and how they kept the metagame going with orders of magnitude less capability of alterations than ANet.

The point of the thread about the meta was to show that, as Lord_Nibiru stated, counter-builds will come up with time.

ANet is discouraging innovation and evolution by regular nerfing. Why do anything when the dominant meta changes in a few weeks?

Thanks!
TabascoSauce

wow... this thread is so full of fail...

Which came first the chicken or the egg?

When a gimmicky build becomes obviously domininant in the metagame and people jump on the bandwagon, whats easier to do?

Develop a counter-build to force the metagame in a new direction?

or

Whine to Anet to change it?

Say the metagame was....i dunno...something stupid....like....Pet Smite Monks with Paragon healers. Lets say 90% of the builds were that or variations of that. Whats that create? A very boring metagame.

Anet sees this. Theres people calling for a nerf. Theres people saying, just counter it.

So....lets take the first option. Anet nerfs the build. Hurray. Now Pvers are gonna pissed (somehow) and complain that Anet loves only PvP. The meta shifts and here we go again.

Lets look at option 2. Anet does nothing. Maybe they go do something and let the meta take care of itself. PvPers get pissed that Anet is doing nothing and they love PvE more.

What should happen is a counter build develops. Since the meta is saturated with a dominant build, the counter-build has a good chance of winning based on killing the dominant build. Slowly...the meta shifts away from the original gimmick to the counter, which no longer has anything to counter and gets demolished by a new dominant build. And it continues.

While there ARE times when theres no way to change the metagame outside of Anet's help, since the builds involve insanely overpowered due to broken skills, theres times when shifting the metagame can be done by the players without Anet's help.

The existing situation with the nerf to hexes and slight buff to Hex removal is a "nudge" to shift meta, vs what Anet has done before with more drastic skill changes.

So what should Anet be doing? Meddling with the metagame or letting the players control it? What about the players demanding change? Should they be ignored? Just how viable or unviable are the counters to existing dominant builds in the metagame?

Not a regular poster, but thought I'd add my $0.02 to the sports analogy that keeps springing up.

"Nerfs/buffs" (or rule-changes) happen in professional sports.

Example #1 - the three point line (basketball). Prior to 1979-80, the three-point line did not exist. Now, it's hard to imagine a basketball game without it. Argueably, it gives more "power" in the sport to individuals of shorter stature. Moreover, it increases the # of "builds" a team can run and still be successful. Indirectly, it opens up the paint area and allows your big men to get the ball and score more easily.

Example #2 - the shot clock (basketball). If you think basketball is boring now, you've ever seen old footage of the old 4-corners offense. Teams held the ball FOREVER. Some credit the shot clock with "saving" the game of basketball.

Example #3 - the pitching mound (baseball). Pitching mounds were reduced from 15 to 10 inches in height in 1968. This was done to decrease the advantage that pitchers had in the game - a larger vertical drop translates to a higher velocity on the ball. Based on what I've seen recently in the sport, I wouldn't mind some "rebalancing" and see the mound go back up a bit.

And there are many, many more. Rules changes happen in sports; sometimes they happen, and then change back depending on circumstances. The main game, however, stays the same. If you enjoy PLAYING the game, you find your new niche, and keep PLAYING.

This game is no different.

Imagine one tennis player had brought a racket that made it extremely easy to hit the ball in the best possible place on the court (im not a tennis expert <_<), then the people who were in control of the game would say "its unfair that one player has the advantage to win by using a different racket" and so that racket would be disquailified.

AMEN!! People are just to damned lazy or stubborn to change their precious skill bar. They think they have the perfect setup and along comes Searing Flames. What do they do? They try to continually beat Searing Flames with there tried and true skill bar and REFUSE to change even one skill. When they can't beat it they cry UNFAIR IMBALANCE!! Oh noes!! Now I know that there are many ways to counter Fire Damage and Burning but people just plain refuse to bring these skills as that would upset their precious builds they always use.

The same goes for the Ele/Derv with Stoneflesh and Mystic Regen. THEY ARE ENCHANTMENTS people! Lord knows there are countless ways to strip enchants. But do people go to battle prepared to meet an E/D? Hell no. They cry IMBALANCE and sit back til Anet nerfs Stoneflesh.

God forbid you people learn to counter something in this game.
End Rant

It seems like trying to make each class equal to every other class is a long hard road.

I wonder if trying to balance on a scissors, paper, rock approach is better; i.e., balancing so that one role (mesmer, ele, warrior, etc.) is always meant to be the bane of another. We semi have it now, with some supporting chars (sin/para) to support the whole team.

And maybe instead of focusing on nerfing, just focus on counters. If one build becomes way overpowered/used then throw in some counters. That way the builds and counters keep growing, adding to the fun intricacy and complexity of pvp.

And the if you really want it balance and based on a skill, have an area severely limited in skill choice where folks can go pvp... say you just allow 10 skills or template builds only. Then it's really about how you use the skills.

This would only go up if GW's skills would all be thesame, like your Football.
Imagine Baseball haveing multiple balls, each with their own properties. Now, one team finds a way, a non-fun way, to exploit this and all of a sudden everyone plays thesame boring style. This is NO fun, therefor the Baseball association decides to ban the ball, so there will be more diversity and their game will be more fun.



All your sports arguments can be mirrored in this way.

Balance is needed to make PvP fun. PvE can have repeatable missions, mindless titles who mean nothing and mindless dumb AI. PvP has a competition, it's fast paced, vastly supported money-wise.

You can have fun in PvE with ANY skill, you need balance in PvP to make things fun. Therefor ANet should ONLY pay attention to PvP balance and not to PvE. Only nerf something pve-wise of it's completely broken. And if it's broken in PvE, it's most likely broken in PvP aswell. Think of Searing Flame.. R.I.P

Because, quite simply, if you buff all the skills then you'll have problems with armor not being strong enough or weapons doing too little damage in comparison. Skills are not only only balanced against each other but with regards to armor and weapons, maximum health and energy... it all has to be taken into consideration.

The true reason skills are balanced like this is because, primarily, of the brilliance of the level 20 cap, which is the true equalizing force behind it all. The level 20 cap put a limit on health and energy, which limits how much damage can reasonable be absorbed or issued, etc.

There's a big picture behind the balancing. If you think of it as a small part of the whole, it makes perfect sense.

i am looking foward to as many PVE ONLY skills as fast as possibly.

there is a brand new nerf bat in the game with the PVE ONLY label

it has already struck and you cant blame PVP for the PVE ONLY nerfbat.

OMG i cant blame pvp for this one,,,,,,,,what to do...what to do?

Answer me this. How did the current alteration of skills reduce your enjoyment for the game? HHm you complain about a slight nerf in dmg to searing flames, so um it might take you how many more seconds to kill a mob? 1s?2s?3s? more...
Where as Searing flames within a PVP setting has greatly altered my enjoyment and might I say just about everyone else's.
I love these threads.
To the OP, how did a 10 second increase in recharge effect your build? You cast mark on a group of mobs that are bunched and you proceed to barrage them with conjure fire, are you telling me that you do indeed waste these mobs way too fast and it has ruined your enjoyment? Just another example of PVE'ers wanting things easy, I don't think such a current build should be so powerful to begin with. Furthermore fact of the matter is pve'ers couldn't care less for balance,(see the god awful reasons listed in the soul reaping threads that have gone on for months) simply give them the most overpowered skill(searing flames for 1000dmg)and be done with them. I hope Anet continues to keep balancing skills for PVP.
To answer your question about how fire eles are meant to do high damage AOE. Who's to say that is correct? I remember back in proph fire ele's were not so great. You PVE'ers have been getting a power creep in every freaken expansion and still complain, amazing.

Posts like this and the likes from Sauce really make me wonder if you guys actually understand the skills within the game. Countering builds has gone out the window ever since the release of factions. Too many added skills with either one really good effect or multiple dmg effects ruin the counter statements you use. The sheer amount of added skills, without the same added amount of shutdown/disruptive/utility skills killed what you speak of. It's build wars, I'd love to see you GvG and counter said builds, if you try, you'll just lose to all the other builds out there, good day. Less crap talk plz.

1. You're not a PvP player (hence your disgust for them) and so you don't get to say "People are just to damned lazy or stubborn", because you don't know these people.
2. RA is not designed for balancing, and is hardly PvP. "the Ele/Derv with Stoneflesh and Mystic Regen" is in RA, and anyone using that in GvG would be laughed at/ kicked from the guild. Its that simple. If PvPers were up against that, it would die as quickly as they wanted it to, using the enchantment removal that they could afford to bring within 64 skill slots.
3. Same with Searing Flames, but to a greater extent, you cannot change your skillbar to combat one type of build. If everyone ran Searing Flames (literally everyone) then using builds designed to combat it would work perfectly. However you can never guarantuee what the enemy will bring, and so if your anti fire damage + burning build goes against a heavy pressure based build designed around hexes, you will die very easily. Much like Rock, Paper, Scissors, which is a very unskilled game, and is all about luck. Rock, Paper, Scissors is not what the game needs as your quoted has said.
4. Moving on from the last point, you are now up against a team that is designed to kill whatever it wants without too much skill involved, and you do not have the defences to deal with it because you changed your build to deal with Searing Flames. That team kills you because you changed your skillbar, and not necessarily because they are better players.
5. The builds people run when the latest game comes out is the build that they use that will best kill as many different teams as possible. Just because one extra team is possible, does not mean you should now change your working build to deal with something so specific.
6. The skills you mentioned are overpowered (in my opinion), but only if you cannot deal with them. If you can, then they suck, if you cant you will most likely die, which is exactly what Rock, Paper, Scissors, is again about (which I repeat, is not a good thing; people should win through their good play of their skillbar, not because their skillbar is superior). If you have 8 Melandrus Dervishes against Searing Flames, you should win. If you have 8 Melandrus Dervishes against a hex team, you will lose probably.

Dont rant about things you dont understand, it gets very annoying.

As people said, seperate Pve and PVP. Simple as that.

I was looking for the original thread, entitled "Does ANet know how to properly balance a metagame?" however I cannot find it. If you did not follow it before, suffice it to say that I came out of it feeling educated.

It was pointed out in that thread that there were successful examples that ANet is not emulating. And, as is happening here, sports was being used as an example too, as well as CCGs like Magic.

As far as your points, I can see how you would advocate that there are times that balance can and should occur. I'll agree with you on that.

ANet's balancing efforts are not subtle, however.

A good sports metaphor would be football - compare 40 years ago to now. The players are substantially heavier, necessitating a change in the game. That is why offensive linemen can now use their hands to block for the quarterback. This rule is totally about protecting players from injuries. Being tackled by a 240 lb man is not the same as a 300 lb man.

However, let us not put sports onto GW, lets put GW onto sports. If rules changes happened every month, then where would any sport be?

Nowhere.

There has to be middle ground, and ANet is not there.

Thanks!
TabascoSauce

Agreed...I call it skill balancing fatigue and the game is suffering from it.

Some skill adjustments once or twice a year one can understand, but not like this.

Currently it feels like we're either playing a beta game in development or a dying creature on its last legs trying anything it can do to extend its fading life. Neither should be the case.

Ok, I am having a bad day and I am a little bit irratable. I didn't mean to come off so harsh.

First off I don't hate PvPers. I have been getting into it and have been enjoying myself.

I am having trouble understanding your point. Especially 5 and 6. If you don't bring some sort of counter how do you ever expect to shut the other team down? By simply overwhelming and overpowering them? I thought the reason for teams communicating and planning thier battles was so that skills could be discussed that way everyone doesn't have to change thier bars drastically, but at least one counter is brought.

point 5, "The builds people run when the latest game comes out is the build that they use that will best kill as many different teams as possible. Just because one extra team is possible, does not mean you should now change your working build to deal with something so specific." Are you saying that if a new gimmick build comes out, and everyone and their dog is running it and you have a pretty good idea that your going to be up against it, that you won't try to counter and that you'll just run your usual skills?

dang, work calling so have to cut it short.

Skill balances are required to balance PvP, the majority of the time, and PvE. Sometimes skills that are changed because of PvP are used in PvE and PvE'ers are unhappy. Point Soul Reaping nerf. It had to be done for PvP, but many PvE'ers were very unhappy with it.

The main reason for the nerf was SF/Mindblast builds with Mark Of Rodgort in PvP were overpowered after the buff anet gave it. SF and Mark Of Rodgort were changed in the last update to balance them.

Skill balances don't come in every few days, but over a much more elongated time as to not interfer with ongoing seasons/tournaments. These skills might have been fine to you, but you may not notice their imbalances because you are happy with their effectiveness. You may not see that they are imbalanced because you don't pvp and see them in competition. Other changes might affect skills that weren't altered and resulting in a seemingly 'uncalled for' change.

No, it isn't.

It is true that PvP'ers are the minority of the game, but they are still there. Since the begging of the game skills have been balanced around PvP and PvE. The game is balanced around both aspects of the game and every time Izzy makes a skill change he looks at the reprocussions in both gametypes.

Players find new ways to use skills everyday. How long did it take to find IWAY or Me/El spike? Players are finding new ways to use skills and often they will abuse them. These skills, when used a certain way become imbalanced and a nerf is called for.

Also changes affect other skills in a ripple-like way. If you can imagine lengthening the recharge time of all hex removal in the game you would have a problem. All of a sudden Hexes are imbalanced and hex removal can't keep up. So in the next update look for changes to hexes or hex removal.

I agree with 1 and 2 completely. 3 I wouldn't be sure of as I don't PvE anymore. One thing I really took from that list, and everyone should, is that changes are made for PvE too.

You are so far from the truth its laughable.

SF was imbalanced in PvP, and probably in PvE. The skill had to be changed and skills that accompanied it like Mark Of Rodgort and Glowing Gaze. SF is still viable, however its not the powerhouse it once was.

Sadly for you PvP and PvE are entertwined by skills that they share. Guild Wars has always been this way and its not going to change now, keep your hopes up for GWII though. So for now suck it up I guess.

Skill changes are made around both aspects, but mainly PvP and when there are 100,000 dollar cash tournaments going on the PvP side of the game better be damn well balanced. More so Anet does try to please the PvE community. Sorrow's Furnace ring a bell?

lol no.

Objection changes were once proposed by players for HA, but were never implemented. GvG really doesn't have a problem with its mechanic, but TA and HA could use changes to their mechanics to promote more engaging play, but what you propose is off the wall and it sounds like you want PvE hard mode in PvP.

PvP'ers play PvP because its PLAYER VERSUS PLAYER. So it really defeats the purpose.

You're done.

I love you.

Stupid people say WHAT?!

Imagine me being a GW developer.
I would have to think about skills and balance and stuff and go to guru to learn how the community thinks about them.
Just reading the threads would be a day-time job, since people post 24/7 and I only work Mo-Fri, 9 hours/day.
That means I cannot work on the game.
I could appoint someone else to do this for me, but he also has not really the time to read all. So add someone else.
Those two people are going to tell me what needs to be fixed.
But how would they know that what they tell me is right?
And not the opinion of a few players that scream.
They both read different areas of the forum and sometimes the fixings bite each other. Which should I take?

Oh wait, Guru is not the only GW forum, there are more?
Time to get some more people to read them....

It gets even more complex, because when I change this one skill, it could influence a lot of other skills.
I know a lot about the game mechanics, but am not as bright as all GW players together.
They could come up with builds I have never thought of.
I need to hire someone to think about that.

Now I don't have to spend my days reading forums anymore, instead I'm constantly in meetings talking to my people how they think the game needs to be changed. I need to hire a developer, I guess. And find time to tell him what to change.

I also get complaints about not playing GW myself, but how am I going to find time for that?

What I would like as an developer is a central place with posts like Ensign's 'wish-list'.
But then with more detail why certain skills are overpowered (I'm not that bright). And why the proposed nerf is better than a buff to the counters.
And these posts are gathered in a restricted area, where only good quality posts get. Comments are welcome, but also moderated.
Something like Forest of True Sight -> Outstanding Bugs, but then more alligned to the meta-game.
And with all data from all possible forums.

But then, I am no GW developer

No, you're playing a game that supports two totally different game modes, and each mode really needs different values per skill. Which ever way you look at it, you are playing a game that is more predominately PVE sided and plagued by cash grab business tactics. Anet needs to a have a steady inflow of revenue, which is fueled by new chapters, every new chapter many new skills are released, overpowered so all the PVE'ers go wow I want those, and all the PVP'ers go wow we NEED those or we will be left in the dust to lose most GvG games. Month's later they put these skills into a more respectable state because PVP'ers have been fuming for months how their game is now broken. Lastly, Guild Wars PVP at least in the American/Asian markets is fading or already has faded if you ask me. This is for the health of the game.

Yes PvP does need (in a few areas) some new objectives and mechanics to keep things fresh or rework things that are currently flawed, but your skill selection will play just as much a factor as game mechanics. So both will need to be balanced in order to obtain a true balance.
What exactically about "PLAYER VS PLAYER COMBAT" do you not comprehend. Is it the Player part or the Vs Player part?
Your argument died here...
Every week? If balance changes and skill updates came every week this game would be a lot more interesting and exciting to play. Yes, youre right it is obviously clear that anet cares nothing for the PVE community. Please try again....
Elementalists are ment to deal Elemental damage yes, and the fire line happens to be one of the highest damage areas of their skill list, but no where in any form of the game does it ever say that an ele is the end all to be all high damage character of the game. An SS necro will only outdamage an ele if youre in pve and you fight stupid AI. Anyone with half a brain knows to either stop attacking or stop casting if SS is thrown on your character, so thus we arrive that any player with half a brain will know otherwise.... Anet caters skill balances to the PVP crowd because the PvP community requires balance in order to function correctly. The more balanced things are, the better the gameplay becomes. And no anet will not remove a class from the game. The PvP community has ongoingly joked about rits, sins, paragons, and dervishes being in the game and guess what, they are still in here....
Searing flames on a single skillbar did not need a nerf in its damage. Searing Flames needed a nerf in its damage when there were multiple copies of it.
This is why you failed to see why these skills were balanced... nothing else left to say.
The same can be said comming from the PvP side of things. A skill should not be left in a form that causes it to be better than all other options available simple because it makes PvE even easier.
Oh please... if anet always chose to please the PvP community and NEVER favor the PvE community, your part of the game wouldnt even exist, much less have 3/4 of the weekend events, titles, and gameplay catered towards getting you a shiny item that you hope to sell for money to buy your new shiny armor or run around drinking ales...
Youre welcome.

Aparently everyone must have missed the big ass notation on the side of the box that said "Gameplay Subject To Change"

Far too many classes and skills in the game to keep everyone happy when it comes to skill balances. I really hope in the future we have less classes and skills in GW2. There is just too much work in making everyone happy when skill changes come about.

I give Anet alot of credit in trying to balance everything out because there are so many combination of skills used by many people. Better days ahead for sure