Update - Thursday June 12

Skill Updates

In this update, we are again changing a few key skills for PvP only or for PvE only. However, most of the skill balances are the same for both the PvP and PvE aspects of the game.
PvE and PvP

Most of these changes improve upon existing skills. A few are power reductions that are not expected to be detrimental to PvE play. Three skills (Soul Bind, Rust, and Lightning Touch) are having their core function changed to make them more useful outside of niche circumstances. The following skills will change in both PvE and PvP:

Elementalist

* Rust: increased Energy cost to 10; decreased casting time to 1 second; functionality changed to: "Deals 10..70 cold damage. For 5..20 seconds, target foe and all adjacent foes take twice as long to activate signets."
* Lightning Touch: functionality changed to: "Target touched foe and all adjacent foes are struck for 10..60 lightning damage. Foes suffering from a Water Magic hex are Blinded for 3..8 seconds. This skill has 25% armor penetration."
* Arc Lightning: increased conditional damage to 15..75.

Mesmer

* Drain Enchantment: increased Energy gained to 8..17.
* Drain Delusions: increased multiplier for Energy gained to 4; increased recharge to 12 seconds.
* Wastrel's Worry: increased damage to 20..100.

Monk

* Strength of Honor: increased recharge to 15 seconds.
* Holy Wrath: increased recharge to 10 seconds.
* Aura of Stability: decreased duration to 3..8 seconds.
* Balthazar’s Pendulum: decreased duration to 5..10 seconds.

Necromancer

* Fetid Ground: decreased Energy cost to 5.
* Suffering: increased Health degeneration to -1..3.
* Vile Miasma: increased Health degeneration to -1..5.
* Soul Bind: decreased casting time to 1 second; functionality changed to: "For 30 seconds, every time target foe is healed, the healer takes 20..80 damage. This hex ends if target is suffering from a Smiting Prayers hex."

Paragon

* "Can't Touch This!": decreased Energy cost to 5.
* Barbed Spear: increased Bleeding duration to 5..20 seconds.

Ranger

* Antidote Signet: functionality changed to: "Cleanse yourself of Poison, Disease, Blindness, and one additional condition."
* Barbed Arrows: increased duration to 24 seconds; removed easily interruptible; you now have -40 armor while activating this skill.

Warrior

* Bull's Charge: increased movement speed to +33%.
* "Charge!": increased duration to 5..13 seconds.
* Symbolic Strike: increased conditional damage to 12.

PvE Changes

The improvements here are appropriate for PvE but would not benefit PvP play balance. The following skills will change in PvE:

Dervish

* Mystic Regeneration: decreased recharge to 5 seconds; increased the maximum number of enchantments counted to 8.

Mesmer

* Energy Drain: increased multiplier for Energy gained to 3.

PvP Changes

The significant power reductions here are important to address current PvP play balance but are not necessary for PvE. The following skills will change in PvP:

Mesmer

* Mantra of Inscriptions: decreased the recharge of signets to 5..35% faster.

Ritualist

* Ancestors' Rage: increased duration to 2 seconds; decreased damage to 5..50; functionality changed to: "For 2 seconds all foes adjacent to target ally are struck for 5..50 lightning damage each second."
* Splinter Weapon: decreased damage to 5..30.

Warrior

* "For Great Justice!": functionality changed to: "For 20 seconds, when you hit with an attack, you gain 1 additional strike of adrenaline."

Bug Fixes

* Rift Wardens in the Underworld now only teleport the player speaking to them if the Underworld Chest has appeared.
* Fixed a missing player name in Norgu’s dialog in the Throne of Secrets.
* Fixed a bug that caused Heroes and henchmen to occasionally respond improperly to placed flags when fighting enemy Spirits.
* Fixed a bug that caused some catapults to hit the area around themselves with their attack.
* Fixed a bug that caused Siege Devourers in Assault the Shaman to occasionally not hit enemy Charr they were targeting.

Brace for impact

Mystic Regeneration is back!

FOR GREAT JUSTICE! Takes a hit in PvP...

Not any more slowerpoke... they fixed the catapults

Someone in the ToA district I was in was yelling, "This is it! The nerf to perma!" It had me worried as well tbh, but now that I see it, this update doesn't bother me a bit, haha.

Edit: Actually, scratch that. I see the FGJ was changed, don't like that. XD

antidote sig PURE LOVE <3 <3 <3

Hell yes! Antidote Signet sure as hell is replacing Mending Touch for me!

Edit: Anyone think the Barbed Arrows just looks really obscure now?

splinter taking a hit,

and just, wth

'Soul Bind: decreased casting time to 1 second; functionality changed to: "For 30 seconds, every time target foe is healed, the healer takes 20..80 damage. This hex ends if target is suffering from a Smiting Prayers hex."

?

Reward points?? Give plox.

Ahhh, Izzy.... Antidote Signet buff <> Mending Touch nerf. The skill is almost too good now, limited only by self-usage.

Ancestor's and Splinter won't be missed.

Um yea, that would not stack for 150 dmg spikes with scourge healing/enchant.
Wise decision.

GG no real neff to sway

prevent stacking with scourge healing.

nice update
gotta love those mesmer buffs

I can see antidote signet bringing blackout rangers back big time.


WOOOOOOT

* Soul Bind: decreased casting time to 1 second; functionality changed to: "For 30 seconds, every time target foe is healed, the healer takes 20..80 damage. This hex ends if target is suffering from a Smiting Prayers hex."

is this useful yet?

Antidote Signet <3
Mystic Regen <3

Everything else....meh xD

Liking the buffs to PvE warrior and ranger. A better Charge will make Devona even more useful as a hench.

Woot, goodbye cripple!

Quite a dull update if i may say so... :s

Oi, what was that for?

ANet come back and update the game again so I can get my damn reward points.

so the answer to conjures stacking with strength and honor is to give it a 15 sec recharge?

and i see wounding strike is as lame as ever still

how many more times can you nerf arage and splinter?

i like the buffs to the ranger line, gives other choices than mending touch

rust>sig mesmer

not enough imo

Sweeeet update <3

wow didnt notice the change to "For Great Justice!" and splenter weapon wonder what the thought posses was behind that.

aahhh, ty (you too the other person who said so)

never even thought of that

What's the point of Remedy Signet now? Both have 1 sec casting and 4 second recharge. Both remove one condition and Antidote Signet removes poison, disease and blindness in addition.

About time for Barbed Arrows...

Anet is going full blown noob now.

Mystic Regen wtf? Not everyone who plays pve is a complete noobcake. Soul bind = scourge healing with 1 sec less in casting time, and its ELITE. It also doesn't deal the holy dmg either... lthis has made my list of the worst elites ever. Antidote signet got buffed way too much. Balthazar's Pendulum and Splinter Weapon...?

Ya remedy signet too.... do they check other professions skills when they do this crap.

Antidote signet is now useful? Never thought I'd see the day.

So basically it's still a weaker Apply Poison?

Remove -40AL aswell in my opinion.

And lol at the Soul Bind change. Weaker Scourge Healing is so awesome.

Oh yeah, I believe it lacks a Wounding Strike nerf. Nice one.

Okay now I'm hearing that other people got their reward points, and I blatantly remember having my predictions saved and there before the time it ended..but me and some others didn't get them apparently.

Sigh.

Nice buffs to mesmers! Don't like the change to FJG! in PvP though, but still effective IMO... and even less the Aura of Stability gen. change O_o.

Soul Bind is pretty much another Scourge Healing now, from what I get. Opens new possibilities though (EDIt: Forgot it was elite /doh...). Oh and I like the Antidote Sig buff. One more reason to use it!

And about ****ing time they fixed those bugs, especially the UW one, if I undertood correctly... isn't that to avoid having your WHOLE team mapped again and again after opening chests?

This is awesome. It seems PvE has finally got to a state of godliness. There are so many PvE titles to grind for (HM) , it's about time they made it easier.

*Final Stage before release of GW2: Allow party of 7 Hero's (PvE Only)...

For the sake of revenge: DERVISH UNITED

Finally mystic regen is back!!!!!!!!!!

EDIT: ele update to be nerfed as soon as possible

You've got to be kidding me if you think this is fair in PVP play. You just made it even easier NOT to have to play a MONK 2ndary to get the kind of condition clensing of a monk. Yahboy more loving for the Ranger class with this pos skill balancing. Why don't you just go ahead and make it a FREE MONK PURGE skill I mean what's left when you purge blind, bleeding, disease and one other condition? Bye bye deep wound on rangers anymore. (only leaves cripple and weaken and cracked armor and daze whoopity doo) This is retarded and is worse than Ursans Blessing. Whatever it gives rangers an unfair advantage of removing conditions without monk class. Where's the warriors? paragons? dervishers? assassins FREE condition remover in their class?? huh where?

Other than that the rest of the skill nerfs/buffs look fine.

Meh, all that really got my attention was Barbed Arrows and "FGJ!". Barbed will now, instead of get interrupted, get you killed. Very nice... "FGJ!" took a serious hit. Anyone who was still running DSlash in PvP just took a suckerpunch. Me and my PvE GodMode are still fine. XD

Nice change to rust :F

Though seems like they'll keep nerfing ancestors and spilnter to the point no one will use it

gogogo /R and r/mes!

hehe i like that Soul bind had the ends if target has a smite prayers hex on them, scourge healing+soulbind could have been pretty powerfuls.

interesting changes, i like anitidote sig, prolly gonna take it over remedy sig now.

Drain enchant es even better now^^ i approve

I kinda lol'd at the smite nerf. Ok it's for pvp balance, I understand, but a buff to the smiting line in pve would be appreciated, without hurting pvp ofcourse.

On top a little nerf to mantra of inscriptions in pvp. I guess after last weekend, they discovered that fort aspenwood is a good place to have some fun with a signet smiter. Meh!