[Dev Update] - 11 December 2008

rits need more love but other than that great update

Nope, I got my points

Nice update! Shame they made some assissin elite's overpowered again.. *PS*

Oh well. SF farming needs more energy, but other than that it's still doable. Thank god for that.
Got my tourney points as well

All in all I like the update. Amatz got nerfed, but the Kurzick title wasn't on my list of achievable max titles anymore anyway, so meh. Now my hopes for the 30th title are on ID-ing golds from vaettir farming, since my main is pre-survivor. So please, never touch SF again Anet. My heart can't take it anymore.
Love those ranger elite buffs

OMG! Peace and Harmony became useful.

I can't wait to get home and see this update in action. gg aNet

I don't know what is worse this statement;

Or the fact they nerfed Peace and Harmony in to more of what we already have a plethora of when they could have just lifted its conditions to make it useful.

Nercos have energy regen management, Mesmers have energy regen management, Ele's have energy regen management, Monks do not have energy regen management! They have blessed sig that only works if you are a bonder and had peace and harmony that could only be used to regen in between battles and now that's gone.


On the Rit stuff;

No Rit worth his salt will ever put a Rit elite on his skil bar, Rit elites across the board are 100% epic failures. The couple that were actually usable once upon a time have been nerfed to uselessness. So do not insult the gaming community by tinkering with a couple trying to make us believe you are going to make them worthwhile, just leave that dead horse dead.


Judging from these changes in this update and past changes it is overwhelmingly apparent you at Anet have not actually played this game for any length of time for a very long time and are basing your skill changes on whines and complaints instead of experience.

Why anyone would ever invest a single cent in GW2 just to put themselves through this kind of halfass nonsense all over again is beyond me I sure as hell won't.

Why don't you run a second class and get energy management then? Secondly PnH update was a BUFF, not a nerf. What on earth are you talking about? 1 pip of regen that gets removed 5 seconds into the battle or a skill that removes hexstacks and destroys hexes and conditions completely?

Stop spamming your skills and learn to play, 4 pips is more than enough.

Looks like a fun set of buffs for PvE, and I can hardly wait to try some of these out. Signet of Ghostly Might seems like a good elite to try on an any/Rt build for Norn Fighting Tournament, and Clamor of Souls might be a good elite for a Channeling hero. Smiters finally get a ranged, direct holy nuke! Huzzah! ('bout time. I expect it will become a staple of builds for Shards of Orr, if nothing else.) Splinter-Hundred Blades builds are probably appearing on PvX as I type. My beastmaster ranger and his team of beastmaster heroes should have a fine time with the new, improved Strike as One, and the changes to Spike Trap make me want to try trapping for a while. Lots of fun in this update for just about every class. Bravo, Anet!

There is tons of hex/condition removers why another one
No love for monks ,look like christmas coming.

Gratz on very interesting mesmer skills, so I back to my mesmer girl.

Are you kidding me? They fixed the lamest Monk Elite skill EVER. It rocks against hexways and other craps.

Also, I think I'll make a Necromancer for PvE after 2 years since I deleted my old one... Just for the Aura of the Lich.

Needs more nerfs, and in my opinion the majority of elite buffs should be PvE-only.

A few tweaks:

Energy Boon - Reduce recharge to 20 and duration to 10.

Archer's Signet - Your next 1..3 bow attacks cause bleeding and poison for 1..15 seconds.

Angelic Bond - Reduce recharge to 20 and duration to 4.

Signet of Spirits - You also gain 3..8 energy per spirit in earshot.

Also:

Lots of changes here are off the "hey, that would be fun" variety, which I something I really like to see. As the skills change, the game changes, and it just feels fresh and fun with every update like this. I'd love for them to tackle a handful of useless non-elite skills next, and just make them fun, instead of attempting to achieve pure game balance. Note that my definition of fun includes nothing that is insanely overpowered, just interesting to play with and against.

Nice update imo

Well I have had it and am getting out. I am sick and tired of all the irritating tweaks to the game that make the game less fast and more frustrating. How does it make Customers happy that something that once took 1/2 hour to accomplish now takes much longer. I guess I have hung in here longer than most, but the incessant nerfing and no substantial content is pushing me to move on.

I am a PvE, because if you want to play real PvP, play a FPS game. I play PvE as I wanted more cooperative play than competitive play as I was getting burned out on FPS competitive play.

The question I have, now that I come to the conclusion of discontinuing my GW playing, is what to do with all my accumulated wealth and valuable items. It would be interesting if everyone that was disgruntled with the game just dumped those things into the game which may likely disrupt the game economy as protest to these incessant nerf irritations.

It just appears to me that Anet is not looking on how to retain customers, especially loyal ones to usher in GW2, but is loosing them. Having done all the chapters of GW with all 10 classes and each at least one time through and some multiple times, the changes I have seen recently have continue to disappoint.

Veterans of the game want challenging, speedy, with good rewards and many of the speed clears were providing that. First with Celerity nerf and now these other nerfs is discouraging veterans of the game from continuing. There are many other game options out there, so maybe now is the time to explore those options and send a signal to Anet.

Perma SF is very challenging.

I personally liked the update. UWSC were broken and should have been nerfed months ago. Its a shame they didn't happen sooner.

you just made me laugh out loud, thanks
and eh, plz leave the game
ktybye

OT: yay, they put effort in trying new stuff,
hope meta shifts a bit, should be an interesting weekend at least

The new Monk and Paragon buffs will make Mo/P even more effective at escorting jade carriers in Jade Quarry.... UGH.

I like this update..seems more metas will come out..also some more builds to play with..

Okay, this would make me laugh, too, but I think the dude's serious.

1. Update is great, so many underused and underpowered elites will have a use.
2. Is a horrible, horrible lie. Someone should chop off your thumbs and feed you with them for that.
3.Wait, so you think that a game should have a "PUSH HERE TO WIN AT EVERYTHING FOREVER" button? I mean, GW already has a couple of those.


Or you are just a frustrated PuG SC UW moron that doesn't understand this update will hurt only morons like yourself that can't even manage energy properly? Poor you. But seriously, better for the game if you leave now. Thanks to people like you we have no challenge in PvE.

Hey Gerg you can drop all your ecto and other goodies on me That'll show em.

its good to stat the day with a good laugh, thanks =)

lol at Anet they made Perma SF into a precise farmer, meh Anet i was already pro with A/me before perma SF, this is still easy Anet, A/me was harder.

Just saw these two beauties that I missed on my first run:
Oh, you guys crack me up!
Ursan was fun also!
Gimme!

Is that ... a ... challenge?!?!
Come on guys, let's break it!
You KNOW you want to!





And could we please stop messing around with PLeech and just make it into what we want it to be?
An elite PLeak? With energy stolen instead of lost?
Thanks!

Hurry!!! I got my blinding surge back! I am very happy with all the ele updates Thank you anet!!!. And By very happy I mean ecstatic!!! Will elaborate more once I am finished with work

If you are unable to change with the game changes perhaps you should leave. I hear there is a good farming game called John Deer that might interest you. I look at the changes as a way to try different skill combos. All in all a pretty nice update.

As if we needed more anti-melee in the meta with Glyph of Immolation + Steam and Blurred Vision, B-surge gets buffed. Long live the blind bitch..

AotL before was only used in gimmicky PvP builds before in AB and RA.

It's still only used in gimmicky PvP builds in AB.
So quit complaining.

Same to the guy whining about how the old primal rage (which was TERRIBLE) was "good." The new one isn't that much better since you still have to bring a cancel, so it kinda defeats the point of bar compression, but its still way more viable then the old one was when used properly. The only reason people might like the old primal rage is that it was mindless (you literally just c-spaced and did deccent damage). At least with the new one you actually have to use other skills.

Overall it looks like a good update, should be interesting.

Man no one is ever completely happy with everything in life. But these cryers are amazing, QQQQQQQ all the time, they are not happy with anything. Anet does the best they can on a limited staff for GW1. If you are so unhappy with a few skill changes that it destroys "your" game, you need therapy. It is their game WE play it for fun. If it's not fun for you, time to do something else.


Thank You A-net for your time and effort.

great update, well done anet.

SF needs more nerfage, UWSC/FoWSC should not exist.

Thats a smart comment, keep pushing them until they break it for good. Then instead of you LOLing at anet you will be crying about it. They are already uncomfortable with it as outlined below:

"We recognize the fact that farming with Shadow Form-based builds can be really fun, so we have not resorted to breaking the ability to keep Shadow Form up permanently. However, we continue to be uncomfortable with the speed in which players are able to complete various popular farming runs."

Well said I second that sentiment!!!

An interesting update, I always see buffs to little used elites as a good thing.

I think the nerf to amatz was a little severe though.. from 25 points per refugee to 1? I would have thought an 80% drop to 5 per refugee would have been enough, but I guess its the price we have to pay for anet allowing permas to farm UW.

I suppose I should really do UW with my perma at least once before its finally nerfed out of existence though.

There's something I don't understand: I have seen ALOT of people whining about how monks are nerfed... But why, exactly? Boon Signet got a sweet buff, whereas before it was just bad, Life Sheath got majorly buffed and will (should) get nerfed soon, PnH, probably the same, and Ray of Judgement is actually decent now.

Cya.

I agree overall skill changes made to this game since day one have done nothing but drive players away and make the game worse. They have designed a game that can never ever be balanced and they cannot seem to grasp that fact. We are over three years in to this game, it is high time they stop this madness, leave GW alone and go screw up GW2 as only they can.

Perma SF still exist...
C'mon guys.. Its Shadow FORM, so it should be a FORM.
End of discushun.

Otheriwse, very good update.
Elite Rof, boon sig is now decent. Elite frenzy? Might be interesing. Elite bull strike? Seems too dangerous, but at least it requies proper skill to perfectly land bulls. Cultist should be nerfed, the new boon prot is better than all together before.
AND OMG PEACE AND HARMONY!

Keep going anet

Within a week people will scream about how unfair the new skills are and they will be nerfed again. Kurz title is even more of a grind than it was before hfff got boned in their effort to "reduce grind". And assassins got one more kick in the crotch to the one and only method of farming they have ever had. Sounds pretty much like anet bizniz as usual.

I did get a kick out of peace and harmony though. Functionality changed to: target ally loses all conditions, hexes, illness, taxes, and inhibitions they would ever have in any pvp match ever. Your smiting prayers are disabled for the length of time it takes the other team to resign.

at least anet is trying with these skills. wastrels collapse and PnH got changed..took long enough.

I appreciate the updates, and the constant tweaking of skills to help the underutilized skills get some play, and encourage new builds. I love getting to take a new look at old skills in these updates.

Some of the changes though, are so dramatically different from the original intent of the skill, that all older builds that made any use of them are now useless. For example. Aura of the Lich. The new skill is in no way related to the old functionality, and any build that used it in the past is now broken.

It used to be about minimizing health loss with sacrifices, maximizing heals, etc., and in any build that used it, that was it's role. Now it is a totally unrelated minion master skill, and while it's cool, we have to lose the original skill, with no replacement for it.

We lose the unique builds that it used to enable, and we gain... another minion master skill, that raises minions all at once, rather than one at a time. So minion masters are still minion masters, with perhaps one or two skill changes, but any Aura of the Lich build is gone forever, with no substitute.

I'd like to see skill changes that enable as many build options as possible, rather than eliminating options and replacing them with skills that already have similar substitutes (Skills that raise minions).

Looking at the developer reasoning, it's a little underwhelming... they didn't think the skill was Lich-ey enough. OK. So I lose a couple fun and unique builds and get to make yet another minion master because the dev's thought the skill name didn't fit? It wasn't close enough to... what... real liches?

There are many in the list that have the same issue... Life Sheath, etc. A similar argument can be made for them.

I'd suggest, that if one wanted to make a skill more useful, to tweak it in smaller fashion. It's worked fine for other skills. Lower casting cost, time, or recharge. More powerful effects, longer durations, etc. Things that will encourage a new look at a skill without breaking it's entire concept and existing role in the game.

If the dev's have a new idea for a minion master skill. Just add a new one. Slap it on a new boss and drop it in the game. We'd all love the new content, and old skills need not be destroyed so that the dev's can test drive new ideas.

Just my two cents.

izzy finally did a good update ? hallelujah