Update 6/18/09

You would move CoP to Dom and CoF to Sunspear? What.

I have a question about Lingering Curse, from GW official site and wiki developer update :

Both mentioned:
Lingering Curse: decreased recharge time to 5 seconds; increased Energy cost to 15.

But the recharge wasn't changed, it's still 10 seconds.
Is 15en with 5 recharge still overpowered?

no as much as it was. it would take a lot more e-management to be able to keep it on the entire opposing team.

This, along with shameful fear and enduring toxin is 47dps. This along with a melee training you, you're going to die. Especially in areas like FA/JQ/AB where moving is one of the most vital things to do. If you're hexed with these and there are no monk around, you're screwed. That necro just completely screwed you over. Sometimes a skill isn't overpowered by itself, but because of its effect with other skills and tactics.

Thank you a-net You outdid yourselves on this one, now on to the SF nerf

Excerpt, PUGging as a Post-Nerf Mesmer, Day 1:

Finding a PUG proves noticeably more difficult than previously. In fact, the first group that "accepted" me dropped me after about thirty seconds without asking for my build or giving an explanation. Must have realised they'd accidentally accepted a hated Mesmer into their group.

I don't think it's that bad... but enough people seem to think it is to be a problem, and turning one of the few generally effective Mesmer elites into a niche skill doesn't help. Some more buffing of other Mesmer skills and elites to compensate does seem in order.

VoR still antisynergises with the rest of the Mesmer skill line even if you only have one.

Frankly, I'd probably still use it if they'd just reduced the damage by, say, 15%. In its current form, though - keeping VoR at its maximum effect isn't worth holding off from throwing other hexes, and if you do have other hexes - even the humble Fragility - the remaining damage (less than Empathy, for comparison purposes) isn't worth the elite slot.

To be fair, it's a nerf to builds and teams that involve other sources of degen, too (I'm rethinking using Conjure Nightmare as Auspicious Incantation fodder, for instance). That's a minor niggle, though, even if a lot of degen sources are from Mesmers.

To be fair, the real reason bundle tanking got killed was because of how it interacted with Ritualist ashpots. (I think it even worked during the Factions PvE weekend.)

It's to compensate for not having the staff or weapon/offhand set... and remember that the pots themselves are magic.

And it's still fine when playing outside of the gimmick team build that it gave its name to. You just can't have several Mesmers getting together to pummel groups of foes into dust with it anymore, which is a good thing.

This response is... epic. (And I never ever use that word)

The rit changes are really bizarre. All people wanted was a revert to Rit Lord days instead they try some new totally untested stuff... thanks?

"Shelter: decreased casting time to 1 second; increased spirit level to 1..12."

Still 25 energy? Why?

That Necro wells skills text 'bug' thingy. Does that mean that Linsey's thinking about reworking wells? Like if there's no corpse around that you sacrifice health instead like some blood skills?

That'd be pretty interesting.

Yay finally some love for the Paragons

from update (anet):
i think we can all agree that when players "know" they like to play the game it's "good" for the game.

Due to the overpopulated server combined with my kinda slow internet I wasnt able to read every page and don't know if this was posted before:

Ritualist Binding rituals cast pretty fast now. Which i think is great. Saves me about 5 minutes worth on castingtimes in long HM missions which in factions can be the difference in master or expert reward.

But here is my point:

----------------------------------------------------------
Soul twisting...This elite skill was already useless in my opinion.
But now with the casting times down to less than a second in most cases, this elite has lost the very little use it had completely.

For those not familiar with this skill: Soul Twisting reduces the casting time of your next binding ritual by 66% and makes it recharge instantly.
----------------------------------------------------------

This skill should get a functionality change right away.
I have an idea about that which wouldn't hurt the game.
Since it is a skill that makes the next binding ritual recharge instantly, why not make it kill a spirit and in return recharge all your binding rituals.



@Kotetsu Rain: I believe they reworked the wells in a recent previous update already. Not sure about which 'bug thingy' you are referring.

About CoP and RoJ: Hawk of Storms is right about the damage on CoP. Personally i like the idea behind this update. The same goes for RoJ for the very same reason:
It is more fun to play imo when you have a group full of different builds instead of a spike team.
I know that in a lot of cases a spike team works best, but it starts to bore very quickly in my experience. (Don't judge me on this one, you may think otherwise and I wouldn't blame you for it)

About Spirit Siphon: The targeting is indeed bugged as ManmadeGod mentions.

@ManmadeGod: Signet of Spirits does NOT have an attacking delay if you call a target outside of the spirits bubble but within spiritrange (which is about halfway between the bubble and the compass' edge.)

About SC's: Love to do them, hate the fuss about it before you can enter.
And even when you have a group, 80% fails.
They wont nerf perma SC's because the build already relies on consets.
But they aren't encouraging the use of different build either.
So instead of whining about perma this, perma that, you should cry about the lack of other professions to do (almost) the same thing and come with suggestions so the devteam might get some good ideas that won't destroy the game.

(And if you want to do SC's for the money you are in the wrong place to get it)

"Find Their Weakness!" functionality changed to: "For 5..20 seconds, the next time target ally attacks, that ally also inflicts a Deep Wound and does 5..50 additional damage for 5..20 seconds."

Just realised that this is just conditional on attack only so the DW is triggered by wanding. (someone prolly pointed that out already and ive just missed it)

Not sure on the thinking behind that , although it seems good i cant help but think that would have been better activated on next attack skill.

Mesmers don't suck in PvE without Cry spamming.

It's just that many party leaders don't know mesmers can do good PvE builds, or don't trust mesmers to do good PvE builds. And I can sympathize with the latter because I've seen plenty of mesmers with builds that look like they were just randomly thrown together (of course this happens with any class, but it's easier to do a bad PvE build with a mesmer than most classes).

wow i really like this, especially the changes to VoR and CoP, they're skillful make people think about how they use them without ruining their usage.
fair enough about their ideas for changing SCs, i'm glad they won't nerf SF, cuz it's vulnerable to many things the same as 600/smite is (actually 600/smite is probably prone to less) and so it gives another class than monks an effective way of farming.
whoever says about nerfing mind blast... why? they only buffed it a few months back, i love this skill, it's like flare + attunement and it's elite. so it's got its elite status for that reason which i think is fair
i also very much like the buffs to rits...never played one before but i'm very much tempted by this, and paras look like they'll be used more as they were meant to rather than just for imbagon usage, hooray!

thank you to the devs for the update, by the looks of it it was definitely worth the wait.

It might give blood magic a reason to exist in PvE outside of some Orders and Spoil Victor builds.

Maybe they also find some ways to make Necros more interesting in PvP. Without everyone crying for a hex nerf or so and basically removing the class again in favor of other hexers like Mesmers, which is a bit sad.

After testing a AP ver. of the Rit Lord setup, I have to agree. 15 energy at most, please?

Recup also still 25. way too high. Whatever, just roll with those on a necro (LOLz).

Ah...so anytime there isn't a monk you're screwed? Oh my, lol! In those areas you mentioned, it's usually necessary to bring some kind of self heal. It's not my fault if the melee or whoever didn't bring one.

Perhaps it's the power creep on mostly all skills that got us spoiled however, I still think it's a steep nerf for necro primaries. I would've gone for a nerf like those skills that disable other skills (if they aren't of the primary profession---sorry, don't remember names). Besides, no one ever said a warrior couldn't bring PnH, lol.

I agree on the weakened knees update. Before, unless you got a healing monk staying on the carrier in JQ(patient spirit is too slow), the popular A/N will kill the carrier, the damage+degen is simply too much for the PS to handle(it's only 96 pts heal anyways).

But now WK is still powerful, you can't underestimate it. But it's power has gotten reduced to the level where it is actually manageable. Even with a self heal, in the usual JQ, you need at least 1-2 aoe attack, 1 or more e-management skill, and other attack/heal skills, but usually it isnt a good idea to bring more than one healing skill. Since most of the time you will be clearing shrines, attacking player and attacking carriers.

Now....only if they made palm strike 10e 1/2 cast and 10rc ...:/ (7rc really doesn't do that much, by the end of the skill chain, you got 1-2 sec left, with vamp daggers, you can still pressure the enemy while waiting for the last 1-2 seconds. 5e can be gained back way to easily, so it doesn't restrict the assa at all)

It could be that an Ele's primary attribute is there for the soul purpose of giving them a larger base energy pool, and Necro's don't have more energy. But to entertain the thought in the manner you intended: Necro's primary attribute was put in place as a battery for minion making, and as a reward for killing things. Then this awesome class of spirit poopers came along and screwed everything up. It's not Ele's or Necro's fault they play Rit better than a primary Rit.

Or at least did, I haven't played any of the 3 since the update. Judging by the Spawning Power update primary rit is far more appealing since you won't need to use weapons as much to keep them up.
Theoretically, of course. Everyone knows that pro's 40/40 spam weapon spells in a race to get as many on their party as possible. And that's only a little sarcastic.

One final note: If you're holding an item and can't grasp the concept of dropping it to give yourself energy (or if you just hold it 24/7 post PwK armor nerf), don't touch the Rit class. Paragon seems more for you.

EDIT:
So are Ele's, Necro's, Mesmers, and Monks. I think instead of magical energy, though, they should get magical unicorns to frolic around in the magic meadows with.

EDIT2:
~40 from initial heal, follow with a dismiss, and then the PS hits. Rarely is that not enough to save someone unless they are well under half and getting raped.

...right up to the point where he discovers it's under Divine Favour? XD

Indeed Glacial but I've seen it in JQ and I was initially just letting him go until I realized that nothing was coming off, lol.

I agree that A/N is tough but maybe WK could be one of those Elites that disable all your non-necro skills for 10 secs or something like that. The step up from ATT 12 to 16 should be a little more than 1 more degen and 1 more damage. But it's all good, I'll make due.

For low end PvP where monks are pretty scarce, you were screwed. A self heal wasn't enough to keep you alive, especially if the necro was camping you. A camping necro along with any other damage dealer meant you were done. I mean really, what can you do when you have 10 degen, about 30 damage whenever you moved, and a melee chasing you? You could a) run and die, or b) stand still and die. Lose lose. As for high-end GvG, the spell was pretty laughable by itself. But it was mainly run in hex heavy builds. It was overpowered, and deserved this nerf. It was bad for the game.

And, uhh, PnH at 0 divine favor removes 0 hexes and conditions. No one said a warrior couldn't bring PnH, but a warrior with PnH is absolutely useless.

I like the changes, lots of good things. It looks like a step in the right direction.

There are still other items left to be changed, bspike, HB, etc.

Just a pity about the quality of the update, i.e. wrong skill descriptions, MM's not working that good anymore, XTH points, client crashes, etc.

VoR could have used a PvE/PvP split IMHO, since it was mostly a PvP issue...

I think they didn't want to wait any longer to release the update. Another week of delay and the QQ's would have reached massive proportions. Now we have QQ's about the quality ofcourse. (not that I see your post as a QQ, you just stated your opinion that it's a pitty and I agree)

The big April update probably had a long after effect on the team, together with that gw2 meeting and the new xunlai house, they prolly got behind schedule and are still struggling.

Riiiight. Overload your sarcasm filters much?

Keep in mind that my response was to your implication of absurdity for holding a pot granting magic energy. However, there is precedent. Staves, offhands, even weapons with the right inscription grant energy. There's no reason to be derisive about the idea of ashpots also granting energy in a similar manner.

Whether it's beneficial in game mechanics for them to do so is up for debate. Some might say it is - losing up to 20 energy for summoning a pot (plus the energy cost of a pot spell itself) can be a pretty serious disincentive to using them...not to forget the other benefits of the staff or weapon/offhand set that you may be losing. Others would say it provides an interesting set of tactical choices - whether to drop a pot to regain the energy or hold onto it to maintain the benefits when short on energy or, conversely, to take advantage of the effect by using it to 'hide' energy.

But there's nothing stupid about the idea itself, and your attitude towards it is completely uncalled for.

The scatter update to ROJ pretty much killed VSF (Voltaic Spear Farms). Its actually quicker (and a lot less aggravating) now to do 2 normal mode runs instead of 1 hard mode run but people are still insisting on doing it in HM. Voltaic Spears should drop in normal right?

Yes, but the difference is that on NM you got only one drop from chest.

god forbid you do what people did before roj and cryway and used a bunch of aoe eles to kill

But if you can get 2 NM runs done in the same amount of time as 1 HM run, you're getting the same number of drops.

I was adding to your sarcasm, check your filters.

Adding a clause that says "If you're a Ritualist, when you use this you can have 40 extra energy on top of the rest of the effects of this spell just because you're a cool guy!" still seems dumb.

I think Ritualist is a pretty cool guy, eh carries bundle and doesn't afraid of anything.

First of all, I always thought ROJ was overrated and the best groups had a combination of ROJs and Cryers. Secondly, I've done this many, many times without ROJs in HM and we've had no trouble getting to the chest in 2-3 minutes.

I, for one, think they made COP stronger, not weaker. Sure, the damage is 50, not 100, but, they added a -5 degen and made it an interrupt skill, which, when used right, is way more effective than it used to be. I know this because I've been using this the past couple of days in the Z-quests with great results. Of course, most of the morons doing VSF can't understand this and it's impossible to get into a VSF group unless I go back to my old school SH build.

A self heal only isnt enough IF you're really that bad.
I have yet to die by any pressure do to WK. If you suck that bad don't play.
CoP for a single player was indeed buffed. BUT for spiking it was nerfed.

In JQ? All the monks are pretty much Roj with PS as their heal, some got hex/con removal but that's only about 40% ish

And Reversal of Damage which incase you didnt know dmgs the caster of WK.
I have yet to die under WK.

I must say, you're hilarious.

Tell me this: When you have a single self heal, no monks around you, have weaken knees + enduring toxin + shameful fear on you, and a warrior/assassin chasing you, how do you survive? Do you run and die of the hexes, or do you stand still and get ripped apart by the warrior/assassin? Or are you so amazing that you can somehow magically keep yourself alive with a single self heal? I must know.