Update - January 5, 2012

Skill Balance
For more information on these changes, please see the Developer Updates page.

Hard Mode
Reduced the armor level for Hard Mode enemies.
Raised the maximum Health of Hard Mode enemies.

Exhaustion
The amount of Exhaustion caused by a skill is now represented numerically next to a gray dot with a downward arrow.

Elementalist
Armor of Frost: reduced recharge to 20 seconds; added the following functionality: “You have +1 Water Magic.” Removed “Ends if you use Fire Magic.”
Blinding Surge: added the following functionality: “This spell has 25% armor penetration. If this spell strikes an attacking foe, all adjacent foes are also struck and this spell deals 50% more damage.”
Celestial Storm: improved description.
Chain Lightning: now always causes 5 Exhaustion instead of conditionally causing 10 Exhaustion.
Churning Earth: reduced casting time to 2 seconds.
Double Dragon: increased casting time to 1 second; increased cost to 10 Energy; increased recharge to 20 seconds; changed functionality to: “Invoke the power of the Dragon. For 8 seconds, you and target ally are enchanted with Double Dragon. Adjacent foes are dealt 5…30 fire damage each second. Additionally, when you or your ally use skills that target a foe, that foe is set on fire for 0…3 seconds.”
Elemental Attunement: rescaled duration to 25…60 seconds; reduced recharge to 20 seconds; added the following functionality: “You are attuned to Air, Fire, Water, and Earth and gain +1…2 to these attributes.”
Energy Blast: reduced casting time to 1.5 seconds.
Energy Boon: changed skill type to enchantment spell; increased casting time to 1 second; increased cost to 10 Energy; reduced recharge to 20 seconds; changed functionality to: “For 36…60 seconds, Energy Boon raises the maximum Health of you and target ally by 1…3 for each point of your respective maximum Energy. When this enchantment is first applied, you and your target gain 1…12 Energy. You gain an additional 1 Energy for every 2 points you have in Energy Storage.”
Ether Prodigy: increased duration to 8…20 seconds; reduced damage per point of Energy to 2.
Fireball: reduced casting time to 1.5 seconds.
Freezing Gust: increased recharge to 8 seconds.
Glimmering Mark: added the following functionality: “For 10 seconds, target foe and all foes adjacent to your target take 5…25 damage each second. Foes using attack skills are Blinded for 3 seconds.”
Glyph of Energy: increased recharge to 25 seconds; now affects your next 1…3 spells; reduced Energy savings to 10…25; added the following functionality: “Your elemental attributes are increased by 1…2.”
Gust: changed functionality to: “For 5…11 seconds, both you and target ally move 33% faster. When you cast this spell, all foes near you and your target take 15…70 cold damage. Foes struck by Gust while attacking or moving are knocked down.”
Ice Prison: removed the following functionality: “This effect ends if target takes fire damage.”
Ice Spikes: reduced casting time to 1.5 seconds.
Invoke Lightning: now always causes 5 Exhaustion instead of conditionally causing 10 Exhaustion.
Lightning Surge: reduced cost to 10 Energy; reduced casting time to 1 second; added the following functionality: “Target foe has Cracked Armor for 5…20 seconds. This spell has 25% armor penetration.”
Master of Magic: reduced recharge to 10 seconds; changed elemental attribute scaling to 8…14; removed Energy regeneration; removed the following functionality: “This enchantment ends if you use a non-Elementalist skill.” Added the following functionality: “Your elemental spells return 30% of their Energy cost.”
Mind Burn: changed functionality to: “Target foe and all adjacent foes take 15…60 fire damage. If you have more Energy than target foe, that foe and all adjacent foes take an additional 15…60 fire damage and are set on fire for 1…8 seconds.”
Mind Freeze: increased damage to 10…60; increased additional damage to 10…60; reduced Exhaustion to 5; reduced recharge to 5 seconds; reduced duration to 1…5 seconds.
Mind Freeze (PvP): split for PvP; reduced Exhaustion to 5; reduced recharge to 5 seconds; reduced duration to 1…5 seconds.
Mind Shock: reduced Exhaustion to 5.
Mind Shock (PvP): split for PvP.
Mirror of Ice: reduced casting time to 0.75 seconds; reduced Energy cost to 10; reduced recharge to 12; changed functionality to: "Shatter a Mirror of Ice. All foes near you and target ally take 15…70 cold damage and move 66% slower for 2…6 seconds. If you strike a foe hexed with Water Magic, Mirror of Ice recharges 50% faster.
Mist Form: reduced cost to 5 Energy; changed functionality to: “For 10…45 seconds, you take 33% less damage from foes under the effect of Water Magic hexes. Whenever you cast an elemental spell, all non-spirit allies in earshot are healed for 50…250% of the Energy cost of the spell.”
Mist Form (PvP): split for PvP; reduced cost to 5 Energy; changed functionality to: “For 10…45 seconds, you take 33% less damage from foes under the effect of Water Magic hexes. Whenever you cast an elemental spell, all non-spirit allies in earshot are healed for 50…250% of the Energy cost of the spell. This spell does not heal allies above 80% Health.”
Obsidian Flame: reduced Exhaustion to 5; reduced casting time to 1.5 seconds.
Ride the Lightning: reduced Exhaustion to 5; reduced damage to 10…70; you can now teleport to allies as well as enemies; added the following functionality: “All adjacent foes are Blinded for 1…5 seconds.”
Ride the Lightning (PvP): split for PvP; increased cost to 15 Energy; increased recharge to 10 seconds; reduced Exhaustion to 5; reduced damage to 10…70; you can now teleport to allies as well as enemies; added the following functionality: “All adjacent foes are Blinded for 1…5 seconds.”
Sandstorm: reduced recharge to 25 seconds.
Second Wind: reduced casting time to 1 second; reduced Exhaustion to 5; changed functionality to: “You gain 1 Energy and 5 Health for each point of Energy restricted by Exhaustion. You lose all enchantments.”
Shatterstone: reduced cost to 10 Energy; changed functionality to: “Target foe is struck for 25…100 cold damage and is hexed with Shatterstone for 3 seconds. When Shatterstone ends, that foe and all nearby foes are struck for 25…100 cold damage.”
Shockwave: changed functionality to: “All foes in the area take 15…60 earth damage and are Weakened for 1…10 seconds. Nearby foes also take +15…60 earth damage and have Cracked Armor for 1…10 seconds. Adjacent foes suffer the previous effects, take +15…60 earth damage, and are Blinded for 1…10 seconds.”
Star Burst: reduced recharge to 7 seconds; changed functionality to: “Target touched foe and all foes in the area are struck for 7…112 fire damage and set on fire for 1…4 seconds. For each foe you hit, gain 2 Energy.”
Stone Sheath: reduced recharge to 12 seconds; changed functionality to: “For 5…20 seconds, you and target ally have +1…35 armor and are immune to critical hits. When you cast this spell, all foes near you and your target take 15…70 earth damage and are Weakened for 5…20 seconds.”
Teinai’s Prison: removed the following functionality: “This effect ends if target takes fire damage.”
Thunderclap: reduced recharge to 8 seconds; reduced damage to 10…50; added 25% armor penetration; changed functionality to: “Create a massive shockwave at target foe’s location. Deals 10…50 lightning damage to target and all adjacent foes. Struck foes are interrupted and suffer from Cracked Armor and Weakness for 5…20 seconds. This spell has 25% armor penetration.”
Unsteady Ground: reduced recharge to 15 seconds.
Ward Against Harm: changed functionality to: “Create a Ward Against Harm at this location. For 5…15 seconds, non-spirit allies in this area have +1…3 Health regeneration, +12…24 armor, and an additional +12…24 armor against elemental damage. This spell is disabled for 20 seconds.”
Ward Against Harm (PvP): split for PvP; increased recharge to 30 seconds; changed functionality to: “Create a Ward Against Harm at this location. For 5…15 seconds, non-spirit allies in this area have +1…3 Health regeneration, +12…24 armor, and an additional +12…24 armor against elemental damage. This spell is disabled for 30 seconds.”
Water Trident: changed functionality to: “Send out a fast-moving Water Trident, striking target foe and up to 2 adjacent foes for 10…90 cold damage if it hits. If it hits a moving foe, that foe is knocked down.”

Mesmer
Mistrust: reduced damage to 10…100.
Mistrust (PvP): reduced damage to 10…75; reduced recharge to 12 seconds.

Ritualist
Ancestor’s Rage: lightning damage from this skill no longer ignores armor.
Ancestor’s Rage (PvP): increased damage to 1…41; lightning damage from this skill no longer ignores armor.
Cruel was Daoshen: reduced damage to 15…85.
Destructive was Glaive: reduced damage to 15…85.
Destructive was Glaive (PvP): reduced damage to 15…85.
Signet of Spirits: reduced spirit damage to 5…20.
Spirit Rift: reduced damage to 25…125.

Automated Tournaments
Updated the 2012 Automated Tournament Series Trophy in the Great Temple of Balthazar.
Updated the Automated Tournament map rotation.

Link to update:

http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Game_updates

Pol

Won't change much in pvp, not sure about pve. But it's still good to see that Anet is still trying.

Now I have to get out of bed to try this out, good bye sleep, time to become nocturnal again.

time to start playing Guild Wars again (for a little while). gotta abuse those OP skills while they're fresh :P

Fragility, Shockwave then Crystal Wave is fun.

im looking foward for a 4 ele team, me, vekk, sosuke and zhed. 2 Double Dragons and 2 mind burns sound like crazy dmg

Shockwave looks nice to.

Pol

Eh not much of a big deal when it's mostly just elites so far, some cool new toys though.
So EA is for higher damage and MoM is for versatility?, Anxious for the next ele update already.

Domt forget that Razah can also be changed to an elly. Enjoy

well it's a start

Reduced the armor level for Hard Mode enemies.
Raised the maximum Health of Hard Mode enemies.

hmmm

Just doing a quick test using armor respecting damage and it's taking up to 50% longer to kill the enemies than before the update. I'm testing on the Jade Brotherhood Warriors in Cantha using my old W, D, P, and R heroes. My old builds I'm currently testing don't really rely on too much armor ignoring damage so I'm not sure what to make of this huge increase in the time it takes to kill.

Ironically, my Channeling Rt, N, and Me heroes (who deal armor ignoring damage) can still kill things at around the same speed as before the update.

Maybe it's because I've only tested against W enemies but from what I'm seeing so far, the lower armor to higher HP ratio in its current state actually increases the gap between armor respecting damage and armor ignoring damage.

Hopefully, I'm just getting false results since I only tested for a few minutes and only against W enemies. I would like to see what people have to say after completing several missions and vanquishes and compare the time between now and prior to the update.

YEAHHHH

I cant wait to nuke all of the things

Some of these Ele spells are really quite interesting.

I'd love to see the stat changes on the HM monsters but I can't find them.

I'm waiting for a Speed Run with 8 eles that use nothing but Gust and Double Dragon. Permanent +33% speed boost, permanent +30 DPS on everything adjacent, and when the enemies run from the AoE Gale knocks them back down again.

Armor if Frost is rather underwhelming, I think it should also give a small armor boost of 1 point per every other water magic rank.

Im not trying the changes yet though, Im too tired.

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The squishiness of that team makes it seem rather unlikely tbh. It wont be bulletproof without heals.

Keep in mind that spell DPS which is the meta for heroes is not as sustainable as physical dps after the first initial few seconds of combat.

More HP on monsters discourages armor ignoring damage and encourages physical damage.

Granted we need more evidence of the impact of these changes as well as the numerical statistics of every monster.

Testing damage in Raisu Palace HM and so far pretty uninspired. 16 Fire magic Rogdort's Invocation hitting for ~50 against warriors, ~80 against squishies.

ohhhh Mind burn is nice, along with a bunch of other skills

As for HM, less armor means 100b is better so im happy.

It sounds like HM is harder now then, the reduced armor isnt as much as the extra health the mobs have gotten, which would be a very good thing if true.

The ratio of the reduced armor to health gained is kinda important.

I hope if things go awry that ANet will review this update and make any necessary changes

I can confirm mind burn is problematic to go up against. Afflicted Kam in today's zaishen vanquish took out my group quickly.

Haha oh wow, shiroken star bursters in NM do 180 damage to your entire party. With burning its about 250. Mind burn is nothing in comparison, Star Burst's AoE is like 10x as big to the point where its nearly unavoidable.

HM Star Burst bosses might now set the record for fastest instagibs of unsuspecting parties.

Currently playing around with PBAOE builds w/Kinetic Armor and/or StoneFlesh Aura. Star burst is awesome alone, but being able to push the survivability skills in to use other already strong things like Phoenix (215 damage per hit!) is insane.

My guess are people testing it and getting longer kill-times may be still using their typical Mesmer/Necros with the armor ignoring damage.

I hate it. They ruined my air ele build and they must hate ritualists because they nerfed SOS again. They may as well remove its elite status too while they're at it.

Interesting and a good start - looking forward to the revision of the ele non-elites as well (hopefully sooner rather than later).

Looks like enemy AmFah Necro and Sins in HM (level 26) look like they have 60AR as my spells are doing exacly the damage that is listed. Kind of makes me want to get rid of weaken armor now...

Gust is going to seriously destroy the game.

I really like what they did to Air Magic with the unconditional exhaustion, now I need to see how much the demand for ele mob shutdown has increased in pve :P


Mhh, Mist form states that it heals non-spirit allies, but it only allies it heals is summons like ice imps, not minions.

I couldn't find the developer update link until I looked under the 2011 headline. Oops.

Developer Update - January 2012 Skill Balances

Anyone else concerned about Energy Boon?
I mean...you can easily boost you and an ally to +250-300 HP for a whole minute and it only takes 20 seconds to recharge.

Call me crazy, but ever since this update I have been thinking about a better kd Dhumm build for heroes.

Seeing mist form makes some huge possibilities for an elementalist healer. I'm thinking mist form + a few wards and enemy damage reduction spells on the kurzick side of Fort Aspenwood.....

Oh, I'm just standing in the isle of the nameless with mistform, burning speed and a bip. Imbas will feel at home.

10e = 25 HP a second. Really worth the effort? AoD Dervs can do ~40 HP/s and don't require the BiP.

Yeah, the interesting question is how many months ANet will let it ruin PvP for. I'm setting the over/under at 4.5 months, and am still tempted to take the over.

you stole my build concept...

might as well post the rest, then. theorycraft:
1. Mist Form
2. Burning Speed
3. Frigid Armor
4. Frozen Burst
5. Channeling/
6. Glowing Ice
7. Water Attunement
8. Fire Attunement
heal, snare, tank, and a little bit of short range AoE damage.

The +HP for ally depends on the ally's energy, not the elementalist's. Still, good communication on telling your monk to switch to a high set can give them a cool 225 health.

For PvE or PvP? You mention tanking but I don't really see how it excels for PvE. Something like it could be a PITA to fight in PvP and do well as a flag runner, though I think Mirror of Ice would be more efficient for general usage.

You're not concerned about the proper effect of the spell. The HP buff makes it hard to spike something out, but it's an enchantment and can be ripped easily enough. The powerful portion of the set of effects is the ability to carry an elite which gives you and an ally some energy, which should open up some new bar combinations that were previously impossible.

I'm currently coming up with Air & Water Magic hero builds that work together.

Something like Chilling Winds + Blurred Vision...

It's a start.

They still haven't really addressed Onslaught, Twin Moon, Crippling Victory. And no telling what other derv templates are hidden beneath the one really overpowered one.