[Dev Update] Shadow Form Balance Changes - 2 July 2008

http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Arena...dates/20080702

The primary goal of this update is to address the high efficiency of Shadow Form farming builds. It had long been possible to maintain Shadow Form permanently, but when the duration of this skill was increased, many new and more powerful build options became viable. We are not opposed to players using Shadow Form for farming, but it is not good for the game economy for high-end farming activities to become too easy or too efficient. The new set of builds enabled by Shadow Form did exactly that.

This update is intended to bring builds based around Shadow Form more in line with other farming builds. In order to accomplish this, we’ve not only altered Shadow Form itself but also made some changes to creatures within the Chaos Plains. At this time, we have not made it more difficult to maintain Shadow Form permanently, because this would be more likely to remove Shadow Form farming as an option for many players. We will, however, continue to monitor the effects of these changes moving forward and will make further changes if necessary.

* Shadow Form Shadow Form: now reduces the damage dealt by the caster by 50% while active.

This is intended to slow down killing while under the effects of Shadow Form. We recognize that this does not affect killing by Health degeneration. That is primarily being addressed through the creature changes listed below.

Underworld

* Added Hex Breaker to Mindblade Specters found in the Underworld.
* Several Banished Dream Riders Chaos Plains region of the Underworld have been replaced with Cursed Dream Riders.
* When Cursed Dream Riders are killed, they cause Mindflay Specters to spawn. Mindflay Specters have Signet of Disenchantment instead of Hex Breaker.

The use of Hex Breaker by Mindblade Specters should require more skillful play by characters who are using Shadow Form in conjunction with hexes. Because Shadow Form does not protect against Signet of Disenchantment, these characters will also want to avoid confrontations with Mindflay Specters. The net effect of these changes should be to decrease the overall killing speed for Shadow Form characters in the Underworld.

Ecto bars go up.

I would say it's about damn time.

I tip my hat to my assassin. Now there's not much of a point.

so they do something for the economy for once

-grabs popcorn- bring on the QQ'ing

The damage is already done. -_-

It can't be healthy to let ectoplasm prices yo-yo up and down by artificial methods.

Edit: Retarded grammar.

We can still maintain it forever right? It still good to use as a tank and running.

lols do something for the economy, a bit late eh?
Imo ectos wont go up much, people have farmed so much over the past 3-4 weeks...
but you never know
theres always hope!

It's still farmable , with degen and stuff , plus the bot-like farmers will have to watch now. Good update all in all , makes farming chaos plains more a pain in the ass while decreasing the speed and lowering the success chance , nice work A.net.

Finally , my ecto's will be worth something again

As long as I can still kill my raptors, I couldn't care less about Underworld.

and dagger SF is still alive!

kool beans.

I haven't logged on in a while. What are ectos even worth right now?

I had to go official link to believe my eyes. Better late than never but as others said the damage is already done and people have hoarded stacks of ectos with much less effort than any other farming builds (many of which have been nerfed )
if splinter weapon gets nerfed (instead of damage to all adjacent), this should've got nerfed waaay earlier.

again i don't care. I don't pve really. :P

No way. NO. WAY.

They actually changed it!?!? The first good sign of many!!! It's good to know that they're not ignoring this, unlike other facets of PvE!

omg noooooooo!!!!

*looks at safe W smite build*

Ectos have been 4.1-3.7k lately.

Oh well, it's just really late. I mean....it's been like 2 months.
Too late to do anything about the ectos now.

XD people complained of nerfing plains or SF...yet they nerfed both O.o maybe A-net only cares about the upper class with their stacks of ectozzz while the guys working on their OB armor are getting shut out again. Honestly...how stupid is A-net if they don't realize that 30sec SF + GoS + deadly paradox=immortality. Why would they nerf it in the first place? Give the noob PVE farmer a chance to make some money and then slam the door in their face?

That was fast...
It seems the new coordinators and wiki-based support system is working...

All is now much tidier and fast, considering the limited resources they have.

You guys are sad. "OMG MY ECTO PRICES WILL GO UP!!!"

lol

Stop hoarding. You nabs are creating an artificial inflation.

Edit: The 50% damage reduc is a bit overkill given the changes in UW, since now it nerfs SF for any area. Oh well, I don't care, I don't farm with my sin.

Hope the community is happy with itself though. Cry loud enough and you get what you want. Bunch of babies.