Dervish Skill Update (8/6/09)

-Makai-

-Makai-

Jungle Guide

Join Date: May 2007

WA

DH

Rt/

Quote:
Originally Posted by Game Updates, Guild Wars Wiki

PvP and PvE Changes:

Dervish

* Armor of Sanctity: functionality changed to: "All adjacent foes suffer from Weakness for 5..15 seconds. For 10 seconds, you take 5..20 less damage from foes suffering from a condition."
* Aura Slicer: functionality changed to: "If this attack hits, you deal +10..25 damage. If you are enchanted or this attack hits an enchanted foe, that foe begins Bleeding for 5..15 seconds."
* Dwayna's Touch: increased recharge to 5 seconds.
* Meditation: increased recharge to 12 seconds. Functionality changed to: "You gain 20..125 Health. If you are not enchanted, you also gain 3..8 Energy."
* Natural Healing: functionality changed to: "You are healed for 40..100 Health and an additional 40..80 Health if you are not enchanted."
* Pious Restoration: increased recharge to 8 seconds; increased casting time to 1 second. Functionality changed to: "You gain 80..150 Health and lose 1 enchantment. If an enchantment was removed in this way, you also lose 1..3 hexes."
* Sand Shards: functionality changed to: "For 30 seconds, Sand Shards ends early if you use an attack skill. When Sand Shards ends, it creates a sand storm at your location that deals 10..20 damage each second for 10 seconds to nearby foes."
* Vow of Piety: increased Energy cost to 15; reduced casting time to 0; increased recharge to 45 seconds. Functionality changed to: "Stance. For 20 seconds, you have +24 armor and +1..4 Health regeneration. Vow of Piety renews whenever an enchantment on you ends."
* Winds of Disenchantment: moved to the Wind Prayers attribute. Functionality changed to: "Lose 1 enchantment. If an enchantment was removed in this way, all nearby foes lose 1 enchantment and take 20..80 cold damage."

PvE:

* Conviction: functionality changed to: "For 10..35 seconds, you have +24 armor. If you are enchanted, you also have a 50% chance to block."
Looks like we'll have some useful toys to play with. I'm surprised they focused more on survivability than damage, though, as it's something we definitely need.

Thoughts? Opinions? Sand Shards and Conviction look like a lot of fun.

Being

Being

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: May 2007

Society Of Souls [Argh]

R/

Sand Shards got nerfed if you ask me (Bye-bye Raptor bombing with it ). Does poop damage now - 21dmg @ 16 lawl. Just doesn't look like something I'd use personally.

Armor of Sanctity and Conviction look much better now though.

Ariena Najea

Ariena Najea

Silence and Motion

Join Date: Jul 2006

Buffalo NY

New Horizon [NH]

Generally I stay away from Earth Prayers, because it pulls me away from doing what I need to do to be killing stuff. Maybe I'll bring Conviction now though!

Pious Restoration looks sick. I'll be messing around with it in RA (and maybe HB a bit) this weekend. Natural Healing and Meditation likely won't see much use though.

Raminus

Academy Page

Join Date: Dec 2007

GN

E/Me

vow of piety looks really cool for pve

citizensmith1001

citizensmith1001

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Sep 2008

Behind You

[RoaR]

D/

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sante_Kelm View Post
Thoughts? Opinions? Sand Shards and Conviction look like a lot of fun. Sand Shards has been wrecked, it was a key skill in the Raptor farm for Dervishes and now it no longer works ,GG A-Net.

Verene

Verene

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Jan 2009

[SOTA]

D/

Nice to see some attention paid to Dervishes. Too bad the skills that got changed were ones I never use

Rampage

Rampage

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Apr 2006

Quote:
Originally Posted by citizensmith1001
View Post
Sand Shards has been wrecked, it was a key skill in the Raptor farm for Dervishes and now it no longer works ,GG A-Net. They ruined a farming build to make a skill that was useless outside of it decent in general PvE, boo hoo.

Anyways, the conviction/vow of piety/sand shard buffs are pretty interesting. Also, winds of disenchantment looks pretty good now. AoE enchantment removal ftw.

citizensmith1001

citizensmith1001

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Sep 2008

Behind You

[RoaR]

D/

Quote:
Originally Posted by Rampage
View Post
They ruined a farming build to make a skill that was useless outside of it decent in general PvE, boo hoo.

Anyways, the conviction/vow of piety/sand shard buffs are pretty interesting. Also, winds of disenchantment looks pretty good now. AoE enchantment removal ftw. 21 damage per second at 16 Earth prayers, yeah very ''decent'' .______. , I'd rather be able to continue farming on my current character and not have to go through the nonsense of creating a new character and running it through the whole game in order to be able to farm thanks.

akio pwns

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: May 2007

ny

[KISS]

D/

i am god dam HAPPY for once from anet for making the dervish wanted again. Iv been slaving around trying to make a good derv farm build that wastnt eh 130, raptor farm nor UW smite farm. I can now use some of these skills to some advantage. Now i wont be shunned from pvp or pve.

smilingscar

smilingscar

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Oct 2007

Frontline Legion

Me/

Quote:
Originally Posted by Verene
View Post
Nice to see some attention paid to Dervishes. Too bad the skills that got changed were ones I never use Isn't that the idea?

Shayne Hawke

Shayne Hawke

Departed from Tyria

Join Date: May 2007

Clan Dethryche [dth]

R/

Unseen Fury was a Dervish buff.

reaper cryz

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Dec 2006

NJ

D/

they also killed the orders derv...the only changes i like are armor of sanctity and conviction, but they are earth prayer so basically useless in pve, unless youre trying to tank...

ewren3

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Feb 2009

D/

i think 130 builds are gonna start using armor of sanctity more often!

Hugh Manatee

Hugh Manatee

Jungle Guide

Join Date: May 2007

Nice But Deadly[nice]

N/

I bet earth shaker>Sand Shards will be a gimmick now...

SpiritThief

SpiritThief

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Jan 2008

R/Me

Armor of Sanctity was already a dope skill with high earth prayers. But it needed something to speard (I normally used veil of thornes) Now its even better.

SkekSister

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Jul 2008

Brighton UK

Its a buff for sure, but I don't see that this is going to make a major difference to Dervish inclusion into PvP. We have greater survivability now, but still, compared to a warrior, we are more fragile, do less damage and are still going to be second choice. I don't think this buff is anything like the kind of thing that was required to make Dervs popular again. It's certainly not anything like the buff that Rits got last time around.

I'm betting that in a months time when the changes have settled in, nothing will have changed. Primary Dervs will still be sidelined and their skills and weapon still far better used by secondaries.

Sorry if this sounds like QQ but I'm just calling it as I see it.

Cuilan

Cuilan

Forge Runner

Join Date: Mar 2008

Me/

I'm enjoying Sand Shards in normal mode, but it's dealing 0-11 damage in hard mode. Lots of 0's.

English Warrior

English Warrior

LEET HAXXOR!

Join Date: Feb 2007

Random Arena

N/A

Quote:
Originally Posted by citizensmith1001
View Post
21 damage per second at 16 Earth prayers, yeah very ''decent'' .______. , I'd rather be able to continue farming on my current character and not have to go through the nonsense of creating a new character and running it through the whole game in order to be able to farm thanks. Raptor farm aint full game tbh and what does raptor farm gain u? asura points nothing that worthwhile.
QQ they nerf farms all the time sand shards may be useful now.

draxynnic

draxynnic

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Nov 2005

[CRFH]

Quote:
Originally Posted by SkekSister View Post
Its a buff for sure, but I don't see that this is going to make a major difference to Dervish inclusion into PvP. We have greater survivability now, but still, compared to a warrior, we are more fragile, do less damage and are still going to be second choice. I don't think this buff is anything like the kind of thing that was required to make Dervs popular again. It's certainly not anything like the buff that Rits got last time around.

I'm betting that in a months time when the changes have settled in, nothing will have changed. Primary Dervs will still be sidelined and their skills and weapon still far better used by secondaries.

Sorry if this sounds like QQ but I'm just calling it as I see it. I think I'd agree with that analysis. Lots of buffs, but it still doesn't give the profession a focus.

And... I liked the old Sand Shards. Hardly a universally applicable skill, but when it was useful it was really useful, and something I considered one of the defining skills of the Dervish.

H-lord

Pre-Searing Cadet

Join Date: May 2007

D/A

Anet is coming in the right direction now, but still i would like they are alot of useless skill out there.
Also, they should look at some of the elite too, especially vow of strength, near overpower when use it on non-condition foe but it's near impossible to use cuz there will always be condition on foes, good skill in theory but bad in real use.
BTW in my opinion just make sand shard armor ignoring like it use to be cuz the new one just lame. 1-7 damage in HM is too lame.

aga

aga

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Feb 2009

England

A/

Quote:
Originally Posted by H-lord View Post
BTW in my opinion just make sand shard armor ignoring like it use to be cuz the new one just lame. 1-7 damage in HM is too lame. It doesn't say earth damage in the skill description, so maybe they did intend it to be armor ignoring...doubtful though =P

I hope this is just dip in the ocean, and a-net will change more dervish skills for the better. they are such a drag to play these days, moreso in PvE...

I want to see something added to mystism something like "for every 3 ranks in mystism you hit 1 additional foe" or "when ever a enchantment ends on you all adjence foes take 1...15 damage"

Axel Zinfandel

Axel Zinfandel

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Sep 2007

Northeastern Ohio

LaZy

P/W

All this update really did was make some skills better for dervishes, but mostly better for dervish secondaries. It was good, but it didn't address some of the issues I would have hoped.

reaper with no name

reaper with no name

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Apr 2009

FaZ

D/

Axel hit the nail on the head.

At first glance, it may seem like dervishes got a buff this update, but in reality dervishes are just as useless now as they were before it.

Why?

Because W/Ds and A/Ds (our mortal enemies) can use these newly buffed skills better than we can.

Think about it. What synergy does the dervish class have with enchantments? Mysticism. That's it. What does mysticism do? It gives us a small amount of energy (less than the cost of the enchantment) and a negligible amount of health when an enchantment ends on us. So, basically, it doesn't actually make enchantments any more effective; it just gives us energy.

Guess what? A/Ds and W/Ds have more energy than they know what to do with. They can spam enchantments until the cows come home (something we true dervishes can't do). And this superior energy management of theirs far outweighs the tiny benefits that runes give to the effects of enchantments (who cares if the weakness from that AoE I cast lasts one more second when the W/D can spam an entire new enchantment that I don't have the energy for?).

Buffing earth and wind prayers is meaningless. There are only 3 ways to make dervishes useful:

1) Buff primary (and ONLY primary) dervishes so that they are better at using enchantments/scythes/whatever than A/Ds and W/Ds

2) Nerf every other user of the above so that primary dervishes are better at those things than they are

3) Give primary dervishes (and ONLY primary dervishes) more unique utility skills in the same vein as AoM and AoD

Any other "buffs" to the dervish class will only make the W/Ds and A/Ds that much more powerful.

shoyon456

shoyon456

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Jul 2006

D/

Suggestions:

Sand Shards: Do NOT make it armor ignoring. It hits all NEARBY foes... which would be a balance concern for a 10 second long, 20 armor ignoring damage per sec skill. If you want it to be armor-ignoring, change the AoE to adjacent.

Instead, double the damage of Sand Shards and make it "ends early if you use a scythe attack" to balance it out a bit.

Aura Slicer: Drop to 6 recharge

Meditation: 1/2 cast

Overall, a very good update for dervs in the sense that we HARDLY ever get any skills substantially changed. I look forward to seeing more critical examination of derv skills (hopefully this will be a pattern, instead of a one shot thing).

Wiseman Pelz

Pre-Searing Cadet

Join Date: Oct 2007

Elysian Knights

A/

Alright I first want to start off with this. This may be my first post, but i have been playing guildwars since it came out, so please keep the flaming low if you could lol.

Anyway ontopic. What the dervish needs is a skill like critical agility. Make it depend on the rank of mystisim. It could be classified as a skill, and it can renew itself every time an enchantment ends on the dervish. So it fits the idea of the dervish, gives them a dedicated non enchantment ias, and gives them something only they can use.

Basic a rough idea of the skill would be something like this

10e 0c 30r
Sunspearskill: Mystic Agility: (skill) for 4 seconds (+1 second for every 2 ranks of mystisism) you attack 33% faster. This skill is renewed everytime an enchantment ends on you.

that way dervish get their own special skill that only they can take advantage of. Also most dervish run at least 12 mystisism so that would give a 10 second duration, plenty of time for it to be renewed.

Thats just what I have been thinking anyway lol.

gerlin

gerlin

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Sep 2007

W/

Axel is right, even with the buffs the just made dervish an even more favorable secondary.

I personally love the conviction, i think it's even too powerful, you can easily maintain gaurdain that gives extra armor. Thats any melees dream, i'd consider taking 6-7 points into earth on my sins to be truely invincible with Critical agility. Critical Defense is better, but the duration is much shorter and in case of enchant strip or blind you're still oke.

The other buffs are also very nice but still mysticism didn't get enough love for me to consider making a dervish again.

As for Sand Shards, they should make the damage earth as it's relation to sand no?

What they need to do is make an ias just for dervishes that only they can maintain. And although wind prayers got better it should get some sort of IAS so that Zealous Vow is worth to invest in.

And finally, if they would make AoHM to be like Critical agility depended on Mysticism would mean an already immense advantage towards dervishes.

Celtus

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Jun 2009

D/

Ok...from a pvp standpoint...

Sand shards is fine,balanced, usable, etc. i think it should possibly have different damage scaling throughout the levels..just so we stop seeing hammer wars running it with 0 earth prayers without much of a drawback. ---Maybe it isnt awesome in hard mode pve, but QQ most skills dont do much damage in hard mode...considering how ridiculous some of the pve-only skills are, dont expect a pvp/pve skill to instantly work in every area of pve.

Armor of sanctity is wildly overpowered. period. It was already a strong skill, now it is maybe the most spammable weakness in the game, and very strong prot..i just hope when they nerf the skill it doesnt get destroyed.

Vow of Piety...overpowered. needs a scaling change on duration or armor bonus. im not sure why they did this the way they did...but its basically a conviction clone except it also grants regen, and requires absolutely no investment in wind prayers to maintain (assuming you have an enchant ending every 20 sec..never need to recast it). < talking about pvp here. ofc conviction is better in pve now that they buffed it, but in pvp vow of piety needs to be adjusted to be more along the lines of conviction. it isnt fair that any profession can take the skill with any enchant ending every 20 sec or less, and get permanent 24 armor,+1-4 regen with absolutely no points in wind.

smilingscar

smilingscar

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Oct 2007

Frontline Legion

Me/

First thing I thought when I saw the buffs: "ooh, my monk can use that."

Anyone else think earth prayers is the best defensive line in the game?

Expherious

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Dec 2007

Wolfenstein Fuel Dump

Melandru's Elite Hunters [Hunt]

D/

I think SS got a nice buff, makes Earth prayers more viable in PvE now, I actually like to pair it with crippling sweep, or twin moon sweep.

Verene

Verene

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Jan 2009

[SOTA]

D/

I'm with celtus - I love Earth Prayers. The sheer variety offered in that single attribute line is amazing. A lot of the stuff is fairly situational, yes, but I just love the number of different things you can do just by speccing into one attribute when normally you'd probably need to spread between several attributes from both professions to do that sort of thing.

I've always loved the caster/melee hybrid that Dervishes are, so I've always leaned heavily towards using Earth Prayers. And the more I look over the skills from this update, the more I've been playing around with my builds in my mind.

ИσιR

ИσιR

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Jun 2009

[BoA]

D/W

Conviction is officially viable in UW Ecto farming!

Azadaleou

Azadaleou

Academy Page

Join Date: Jun 2005

Ohio

A/W

They should of buffed Mysticism because its absolutely a horrible primary attribute, the worst in the game imo.

Lishy

Lishy

Forge Runner

Join Date: Jan 2008

Guys, does sand shards scatter? Its nearby range makes me worry for PvE.

kanuks

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Nov 2005

I love how Dervishes got a stance that grants 24 armor and 50% chance to block for like 30 seconds for 5 mana (they have 4 pips of energy regeneration) while warrior's (2 pips of energy regeneration) equivalent barely lasts 5 seconds and have major drawbacks like ending when attacking or moving or using a skill. I hope that in the next upgrades they will fix that pathetic tactics line because it is ridiculous how bad it is.