Update - Thursday August 7

RIP Communing

The attribute line is now officially dead. It's deader than Smiting was before GWEN. And that's saying something. Hopefully, Communing can make a similar comeback soon.

GvG will now be GREAT! No stupid fight at flag stand!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
movement,split and tactic wins!!!

Nice changes but I was hoping for more then just skills update.

Sorry for the spelling Bryant. My keyboard gets the better of me sometimes from typing to fast lol. But the point still stands the game is funner for more ppl than just the few whinny slags.

Oh heres what the Chaos plains is like now with the casters they effectively doubled if not more the numbers of spectres there

That's exactly what I was thinking.

Dev #1: "Hey, while we're nerfing UB, what do you guys want to do?"

Dev #2: "I dunno, how about buff Pain Inverter, Save Yourselves!, *insert more overpowered PvE-only's*"

Dev #1: "Why?"

Dev #2: "For giggles, mostly."

Unrelated: HOORAY FOR MASTER OF THE ISLE! That's the 2nd suggestion of mine that has been implemented!

Honestly, I'm just sick of Anet caving in and changing the status quo for every little whiny punk who complain about every f*ing thing. Honestly, I didn't really care if it was overpowered, I had FUN they way things were.

But this is the part that really bewilders me. They both nerf ursan and add sniper with 10% chance of +540..900 piercing damage. What in blazes is that about? I'm starting to think the folks at the wheel have lost their marbles. Mark today as the day I've decided not to buy GW2.

Despite some changes that I really don't like, I think I like most of this update. Particularly, buffing the unused elites (with the exception of a few, such as shadow form and order of undeath).

Well... It sure is a monster of an update.

omg,IT'S NEVER ENOUGH FOR YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This are GREAT updates,it will make gw interesting again!
and SO WHAT if you get +540..900dmg,SO WHAT?
Why that is a PROBLEM for you.
If you are LUCKY you will smile at little Charr,if you are NOT LUCKY you will hit 2-3more times!
what is your problem people?!
Go play Diablo 3 and get out of my sight! You are not even good players but you NEED to say something AGAINST.

Sorry Clone, but if a.net was to listen to you and unnerf Ursan, that would mean they were "caving to every whiny punk."

See what I did there?


Anyways, in response to people complaining about Master of Magic lowering attributes to 12... think outside the box.
Have a build with 13 points in Energy Storage, and spend the rest of your attribute points in something from your secondary profession. Bring Master of Magic, Aura of Restoration (cover enchant to prevent your build from being fubar, won't do any good against gaze of contempt in PvP, but Master of Magirc really is a PvE skill to use for shits and giggles now), 3 or 4 elementalist skills, and the rest into stuff from your secondary.
Bring back the Aegis E/Mos. Turn your ele into a support character again. The possibilities are out there. This is their version of Signet of Illusion.

Oh I just realized the new Ranger PVE meta dilemma:

BHA or Incendiary Arrows?

They didn't buff it, they just made the r1-5 (i believe) have higher numbers so that grind doesn't matter AS much.

only buffing the lower level one, still doing same amount of dmg/effect at lvl 10.

take the asuran summons now. at lvl 1 in asuran, they are lvl 14, , before the update, you had to be lvl 4 in asuran to have a lvl 14 summon


So, this make casuals happier, because less grind= more fun

Right. So this update is pretty... weird.

So Guild Wars isn't about thinking and strategising, it's about doing the most damage possible, and healing the highest?

Why the hell have they gone and destroyed awesome utility skills like Thunderclap (endless knockdown lulz) and Unyielding Aura (behave. why? because I told you to) - and for god's sake, the Xinrae skills! Now it's just HOLY CRAP GUYS WE'VE GOTTA STEAL ALL THEIR LIFE AND HEAL LOTS AND KILL THEM ASAP STEAMROLL LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL.

You've nerfed the Norn elites, yes, but you've replaced them with these insanely imba elites so the masses of retards that couldn't play the game before are going to be fine with Echo + Ebon Sniper Support.

Excuse me while I go and play around with Master of Magic + Glyph of Elemental Power + a minor rune in each magic line for 15-16 in all my magic attributes in PvP.

This won't work. The original functionality "This enchantment ends if you use a non-elemental skill." is still there.

The QQer got there UB wish but Anet RED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GOED up everything else LOL classic Dumb Anet move.

Wow. It's like Mesmers collectively had an illicit relationship with the buff stick. I'd elaborate on the metaphor but to go too far in doing so would probably be inviting an illicit relationship with the ban stick, and it's a cruel, merciless sadist.

Let's see... Air of Disenchantment actually looks like a good option for mass Enchantment removal now. Looking forward to using it on some dinosaurs...

Extend Conditions... looks like its basically an elite Epidemic now. Might try it out with the support of an air ele and dazebot Ranger, but Fevered Dreams might still come out ahead.

Lyssa's Aura... Oh, the energy.

Signet of Midnight: Nerfed, but it was being complained about, so fair enough.

Tease: From pretty much worthless to a combined Cry of Frustration and energy management. This might replace Power Block on some of my hero interrupters...

Visions of Regret: From being overspecialised at best (doing nothing at all to all but two professions, and hardly guaranteed to affect them) to... dare I say it, the Mesmer's answer to Spiteful Spirit? Shame about the duration/recharge comparison, though - I'd probably prefer it with a 15 energy cost and a recharge that at least allowed it to be reapplied on expiry. Still, definitely going to take this one for a spin.

It ends if you use a non-Elemental skill, though.

I think the idea is to still have a primary element or two, so you aren't completely shut down if MoM is stripped, but MoM brings everything up to the same level.

It looks like we've also seen how they've decided to reduce the grind on PvE skills - by making them stronger at lower attribute levels. If people who say they're now capped at rank 8 are right, that makes going the whole way on the title is now just a vanity thing... as it should be. (Ideally, I'd rather they weren't tied to titles in the first place and titles were purely vanity with the possible exception of Lightbringer, but... *shrug*)

As one of the people who didn't like Ursan before, I at least cautiously approve of its current version. People now actually have to think about how to use it and consider what they're going to be doing when it isn't up, making it part of a build rather than making the build irrelevant. It may prove to still be overpowered, but at least it doesn't make the other skills in the game irrelevant any more.

Great, so the Ursanway isn't really "dead" its just more required to be of some skill. Basically all caster ursan are dead because of the armor disadvantage, but with skill war ursan should still be in good shape.

The Elemental attributes will be 12 regardless of runes or Glyph of Elemental Power.

Man why do people keep saying this. Can't you read the skill text, your attributes are SET to 12. They can't go up or down. If you get Weakness, they stay 12! Procs & runes & WHATEVER don't up it.

:|

It's like ex-Ursan and BIP.

I'm liking the Unyielding Aura change for PVE. It's similar to healer's boon but not quite as good. The neat part though is that it allows an off-radar rebirth.

[QUOTE=Kikuta]Right. So this update is pretty... weird.

So Guild Wars isn't about thinking and strategising, it's about doing the most damage possible, and healing the highest?

Why the hell have they gone and destroyed awesome utility skills like Thunderclap (endless knockdown lulz) and Unyielding Aura (behave. why? because I told you to) - and for god's sake, the Xinrae skills! Now it's just HOLY CRAP GUYS WE'VE GOTTA STEAL ALL THEIR LIFE AND HEAL LOTS AND KILL THEM ASAP STEAMROLL LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL.

You've nerfed the Norn elites, yes, but you've replaced them with these insanely imba elites so the masses of retards that couldn't play the game before are going to be fine with Echo + Ebon Sniper Support.

QUOTE]
O SHUT UP,you never used Thunderclap and Unyielding Aura before! don't lie that you did. that 2 skills are more effective now.
You don't deserve food! period

This is what they call a Tactical way to use Ursan...........

yay more skills for my mesmer, very unique update still reading it, but my mesmer has new tools . huzzah

damn I forgot my popcorn. Love the 'ZOMG!!!! ANET RUINED US!!' comments already, and I've only read a few random pages.

Personally I liked the update. Didn't mind it. I thought that the ursan-nerf could be a little better, but it's something. (I'm not complaining about it.) At least this appears to be a start of getting PvE back on the tactical side, rather than the button smashing side.

Vod change is baffleing.

lol but i picture it more like this

Dev #1: "Hey people are acctually teaming in Guild Wars agian"

Dev #2: "No them bastards, i thought we killed people liking to play with random people"

Dev #1: "Well we can put a stop to it again, lets nerf the skill that has them teaming"

Dev #2: "What skills that"

Dev #1: "Ursan Blessing, but while were at it lets nerf anything else in eye sight"

Dev #2: "Lets also improve hero AI so people will wanna use them more" (i acctually like that nerf tho)

Dev #1: "Yes now every1 will want GW2, expecially if they think were gonna chnage the game every month"

to dumb it down for A-Net because i know there slow(they never take a hint on nerfs) if u keep nerfing the game ur not gonna have much of a customer line for GW2, i can name hundreds of people i talk to online that arent gonna bother with GW2 and each of them would know hundreds more

well simply said once i max out all my titles im quitting GW and buying WoW(they dont seem to nerf that)

PvP and PvE always results in button mashing wether the build requitres skill or not.

Ehwot? Well, I suppose that's good then. Restricts it's insane OMGWTFKILLEVERYTHING ability.

Well, Lyssa's Aura it is.

Hmm... didn't realize the "ends with non-elemental" was still in there. When they change the functionality of a skill, they really should just list the ENTIRE skill description.
Anyway, using E/x with points in secondary professions STILL would work. MoM's recharge IS 20 seconds after all. That means you can lay down spirits, cast passive defense/use chants, etc and then cast it, and just reapply it (at only 5 energy) every time you use a non-ele spell.
Makes it slightly more complicated and require more skill to use. But it could be done.
Honestly, this skill is still not very pratical, but I'm sure a few creative people will find fun niche builds for it.

I just wish [snow storm] was change to work with [Water Attunement] but the -5 energy drop is nice.

Nice change to the [Lightbringer Signet] I still see no use in it but no one would give up an elite for more energy.

[Shadow Form] 33% reduction still kills some monk / rit boss farms. If I am reading the UW update the cursed are gone now so we are back up to 400+ kills on the chaos plains and don't have to worry about getting body blocked when grouping. Banished Dream riders will no longer follow but what about mind blades?

[Ebon Vanguard Sniper Support] you just made this skill a requirement for vanquashing in charr territory, dang just dang.

I am not going to comment on [ursan blessing] but I do have one question, does it still work with Insignia (I know survivor wont mater)?

1. GAAAAAAAHHHH!!!! They ruined Order of Undeath. What the hell? I thought they were supposed to be buffing unused elites, not ruining good ones.

2. Ursan nerf. Probably not enough.

3. UW nerf. I'll need to see, but it sounds like it's the only thing they got right.

4. Elite buffs. A few are just too dang strong now.

5. PvE-only skill buffs. Shorter ramps is good. Now, you SHOULD have completely removed any sort of scaling with rank (grind is BAD!), but I'll settle for shorter ramps.

I feel like some of the elites should just get new names to go with all of their new functionalities. Also, updates should continue to be posted with considerations to how the skill looks normally, and not according to what the concise skill descriptions would look like.

PvE skill buff doesn't affect me much as I already have mostly high ranks. I do find it stupid though that they're pretty much all buffs, aside from the Norn blessings. It doesn't make sense, since some of those PvE skills are already quite powerful.

Ursan "nerf" is lol. It wasn't even a great nerf, and we'll probably still see plenty of "URSAN TEAM ELITE AREA #63, OLOL".

So, that leaves tanking ... to the tanks! Just like in the old days!
No more Mesmers, Necros and Eles hitting monsters with a sword!

Still not seeing the downside here!

Ok I am starting off by saying, I logged onto a horrible Imac in a laundrymat to post in THIS thread.

This is the best update EVER.(as far as pve goes)

- they made the pve skills useable without needing them maxed.
- they buffed near useless leets into something useable
- they gave us some breathing room to play what we want to play instead of cookie cutter Pvxwiki B.S.
- they nerfed ursan and made it feasable for any class to use any blessing
- they basically gave us a new game.
- monsters now have good leets to use against us.

I personally can not wait to get home and go play some new builds with real people for fun.

To all the downers that posted, read what they gave us. Sure there will be a few newly overpowered skills that will need a touch here or there but overall this is fantastic. Sure there is still room for more but this is more than a step in the right direction, this is a giant leap. No, I do not want pve to be easier quite on the contrary I want pve HM to be Hard again. To do this tweak a few skills and kill consumables in HM and leet areas and the game will be litterally reborn. Am I the only person that vanquished HM before consumables? Am I the only person that does HM areas and missions even side quests in HM just to try and make it a challange again? I think I am not.

This build gives us freedom to chose any elite and not be stiffled by trinty or cookie cutter teams.

I am so excided I may go out and join a pug group.


cheers a-net!

E/P
12+1+2 Air Magic
12+1 Energy Storage
3 Spear Mastery
Shocking Spear of Fortitude and an Air Focus.

Thunderclap + Iron Mist + anything else you want. You just completely shut down a player.

Unyielding Aura was the elite of choice when pugging with known retards.

Very nice update =D, pve power creep is always good, keep teh complaints to pvp.

Thunderclap builds were still limited to RA/AB where there was lack of deccent hex removal support.
Now its usable everywhere.

But yes, I will miss the fun of PUGing with Unyielding Aura.

Just noticed: Lyssa's Aura is in the Inspiration attribute? Good god, I never used it before and always thought it was Fast Casting.

+4 Energy regen for any offensive caster.

where is a monster update?
it's just a skill update...

URSAN NERF URSAN NERF URSAN NERF URSAN NERF URSAN NERF URSAN NERF URSAN NERF URSAN NERF URSAN NERF URSAN NERF

In other words, my faith has been restored in ANet, and I do believe I'll be playing again. Good job ANet, good job.