Lieutenants helm in Henge of Denravi Overpowered

Very well put. Too many people here seem to base their judgements on a few trips to arena.

Lol isn't that how it always starts? Someone gets beat in the arena and they think their build is the almighty can't be stopped uber template and then they whine about something being out of balance because they are no longer uber because someone figured out a way to put them back into "balance" or in some cases below balance, but, that's their problem. With 150 skills there's millions of combinations to be used in this game I dare say no one has even touched on an inkling of them yet.

I use a tanzit defender and this helm for PVP.
It helps not so much.
When I fight an SS necro, even with Judge's Insight against their tormentor armor I still loose. Because they cover their SS by P bond. So when they receive back their health from P bond they know it's time to recast SS.
P bond, used against this helm, assure them a complete heal every 10 secs superior from a word of healing (at 16 Curses). MAybe they can't shutdown the warrior as long as they could, but they are nearly invincible due to the fact that they heal twice as fast for minimal Cost in energy.
Seriously, Curses Necros know how to deal with these helms, once they catch a warrior wearing one, they spam him with PBond (and add Soul barbs before to add to their laugh). The necros heals himself better than a monk and still shutdown the warrior.
Empathy/hex mesmers should as well use WWorry to with their hexes. Personnally when I run my domination hex mesmer I do. And kill the poor HoD warriors so fast that they believe in an air spike.
And there are many ways to use a character, hexes are only a part of the available skills in the game. Mesmers can interrupt, E-deny really powerfully. Necros can order, steal life, make a minions factory, etc... The only really unfairly affected hexer I see is the water elementalist in this case.

Maybe a lessening from 50% to 33%, but otherwise, this helm with its drawbacks really seems fair to me.
And I speak for PVP, not PVE.

Correction, PvE players. Players with skill. No skill, go farm. The rest of us have to run.

Congratulations, good on you!

I still fail to see why PvE diversity has to suffer for your guild exploits. Good to hear you admit to your guild's shameful trickery here.

That's an odd generalization. Pretty many PvE players still farm, they need gold for their gear as well.

Or then I'm just missing the point bigtime

where can i find the helm, i went to hengi of denvail but could not find it coudl anyoen put a map or tell me were it is i want this helm thanxs leeky

The armor vendor sells it silly. (smile) Just look at the helms and read the descriptions, you'll see it.

Well personally I could never pwn OP wars as bad as some people are making out casters do and I think it stinks. I dont care if wastrels and some other spells are more effective. Fine, What if I dont have those skills in my bar at the time? If im running degen it basicly cuts my attribs by several points. For that matter where is my casters mask that gives me +100 armor v physical? Nerf please.

LOL i like this guy.

Godly timing o_O

Didn't read all posts, but couldn't this be easily solved by making it unable to switch armors outside outposts/during PvP?
PvP characters can't switch armor, so why should a PvE character be able to?
Although not being able to switch outside outposts might make a lot of PvE players angry *cough*55HP Monks*cough*
Yeah, the Helm is pretty overpowered, especially in higher level PvP. In CA and TA, it's not that bad because warriors tend to target warriors there a lot as well, making the Helm cause a bit more damage.
However, in Tombs and GvG, warriors are pretty much ignored through the game (unless it's IWAY or you're an anti-warrior build), which makes a anti-warriors mesmer/necro 's job a fair bit harder.
I think nerfing it to 20% reduction would be fair, 50% is too long.

I'm speaking as both a Warrior and an Anti-warrior Mesmer. My warrior job gets a lot easier and my mesmer's job harder.

Note to self: when I find an item that may seem overpowered, avoid making it public knowledge...

mhh 40%ì more enchacemend was considered overpowered by anet ...
-50% duration mhh i think they will nerf it.

get used to.

This seems to be the best solution for the helm - make it like other items by allowing you to reduce the length of the hex by 20%, and not 50%.

This would make the helm synch up with other items that lengthen spells, such as a staff enchantment wrapping.

"I hadn't heard about this helmet earlier, but, again FWIW, I tested it in CA yesterday, and yeah, it works as advertised. It seemed few used it in CA yet, but I expect that will change soon enough now that it's out in the open."


Out in the open???? Where have people BEEN!? Sheesh. This has been one of the most obvious pieces of armor in the game since inception.

Again - Chuck has made some excellent points and people need to listen to those, like IQ, with enough experience to see the impact of this particular piece of armor.

There may be an argument here for limiting the number or type of "special" pve items that can be used in pvp. I must say I would regret that, since I like the mmo pve aspect of GW and have always had fun taking unique items from my pve toon into pvp. But there are certainly arguments here worth considering.

By the way - you can take different weapon sets into pvp with a pvp toon. Once you "open" an item by getting the requirements high enough (usually 9 points), you can select it and then drop those points down and open up another item. Not much, but it adds a little flexibility.

One of the things I like about my pve monk is that it is instantly ready to play any role in pvp - prot, bonder, healer, martyr, you name it. I HATE having to delete and reroll pvp toons and keep the whole group waiting just because I need to change my spec a little. I think there ahould be some options for pvp toons to be able to do this in-game, without always rerolling.

But I'm diverging a little. :-)

The helm has its ups and downs - as mentioned. Shorter hex time isn't always a good thing.

How about instead of complaining about the helmet - you make a PvE warrior and get one yourself?
Honestly there is nothing remotely unfair about it - it's not like a limited edition +15% damage sword with no penalties or a HoD sword/axe that is not obtainable any more.

It's an item open to every warrior.

Anti-PvE and think it's not fair that you have to grind to get one?
How about PvE players that participate in PvP and have to grind to get "perfect" weapons/offhands in order to compete on a "fair playing ground"?

I think it's safe to say that the majority of PvE players who PvP do not have sup vigor runes and the like, but probably close to all PvP players do

PvP players already have an obvious advantage in PvP over PvE (immediate access to all unlocked equipment with perfect mods) and now they are complaining about a little advantage that PvEers have.
The only things that should be disallowed in PvP are perhaps HoD swords and flame spitters, but even those are balanced, IMO.

So instead of b**ching and moaning about how the helm makes the game unfair, realize that you too, can have one This is a trait that defines fairness.

Because it should be the players choice whether or not they want to PvE or not? There are loads of people who don't PvP, so are you surprised that there are people who don't PvE?

And yet every top PvP guild runs warriors with them... For a good reason. And no, its not because they just love PvE.

Every PvE Warrior.

You mean the perfect weapons and offhands that are available straight away when you create a PvP character? Yeah. Thats grind.

...Because they only cost a few thousand faction to a PvP character, not 70 plat or whatever the price is at right now.

You are missing the point entirely. This thread has absolutely NOTHING to do with PvE vs PvP. It is NOT talking about PvE players having any kind of advantage

So you think HoD swords and Flame Spitters are MORE imbalanced that a helmet that halves hex duration? Wow.

Again, you miss the point of this thread entirely. It has NOTHING to do with PvP players moaning that they can't get this helmet, but PvE players can. It is about an item that is game breaking. Whether it was a PvE item or a PvP item would make no difference what so ever.

fact: almost 100% of the people who want the helm kept are warriors who use the helm.

I say, let them keep the helm, and provide all caster classes with a helm that reduces all conditions by 50%, or cuts physical damage by 25%.

When I first saw the Helm I ruminated on these issues and I suspect that it is pretty balanced "meta-wise".



Now I am not willing to do a SonofRah thing here, but I know there are others that can do something like this (and I am not even trying to say that I looked all these things up....just go with me conceptually here):

Getting hit on the head is 12.5% of all hits. So 12.5% of the time, the head is protected at 60AL instead of 80AL which means that a Hammer Strike of 100pts is reduced to X instead of Y.


Now, lets say that a W/Mo with Denravi helm goes up against a Hammer/Me warrior. Let's say the W/ME uses Conjure Phantasm for 12 seconds of duration, which is now 6 seconds (I always thought the Helm was 33% reduction like every other mod in game, but hey if you say it's 50%).....so.....

Out of 10 Hammer hits lets say the Hammer hits the head twice (you have a bigger sample obviously) and so has a "bonus" of that damage....vs.... Two conjure phants and their -DPS total damage amount.......

What would be the damage compared to a Normal Helm?


Now Meta that out......sometimes you face an IWAY tombs build.......so all those warriors are getting that "bonus" damage to your head....that probably translates to quite a bit more damage over a match. Sure you can swap....but I have a 2 off hand curses foci, one that reduces bleeding...and another that reduces poison....as a caster I have swapped meself...so swapping is a fact of life (darn those monks who meet my Mes and deny my energy denial etc.)

Now how many all Hex Teams are their in Tombs? I see a lot of Direct Damage spells and not a huge amount of hexing unless it consists of covering hexes....(not debating that though)....

So against a balanced build.....how much Damage did the Helm actually reduce damage vs how many times did you get bonked on the head by their two W/Es?

Sorry I was up late so not the best prose here......


Anyway, point being....I am not so sure that you would find out (if you did a fair test) that the DHelm was UBER....but...prove me wrong.

we're not just talking tombs, here. Let's discuss GVG.

Also, if you're fighting an IWAY team, you're not getting hexed. People don't use the helm 100% of the time, they use it when they realize they're facing hexers.

That's why it's broken. You can selectively decide when you want to halve hex damage. If you fight hexers, equip the helm. If not, remove it and replace it with a high AC one. It's that "on the fly"ness that breaks it.

Otherwise... yes. It would be fine.

Based on this argument it should also be the players choice if they want to delete a PvE character just to make a PvP one.

You missed the point. Say I have 4 PvE characters and I primarily participate in PvE. I don't want to delete them because I use them all regularly. Yet in order to be on a truly level playing ground I would need to grind a lot to get those +15/-5en weapons with +30 health and 10% furious or whatever. That would take a LONG time for the average PvE player. So do you still say that accounts full of PvE characters are not at a disadvantage?

Before you say "well just delete one and make a PvP character... Let me remind you that PvE-centric players are just as enthusiastic about deleting a PvE toon as PvP-centric characters are to grind through the PvE world.
Right, again - PvPers have the distinct advantage here. You don't hear PvE-centrics whining about it.
It IS talking about how PvPers with PvE warriors have an advantage though, isn't it? Don't really see what your point is here.
Yes, because again if YOU REALLY WANT a L. Helm you can get one without farming for 100K or perfect upgrades, etc. You can't get a HoD sword for less than 400K - see my point? (flame spitter isn't really a big deal I guess - no imbalance here, my mistake before)
If winning is important to you then you should explore all possible avenues of the game. It's easy to say "We lost because the other team had L. Helms" and difficult to say "We lost because we don't have the same understanding of what is/isn't available to EVERYONE who plays GW. (Yes, it is available to everyone - you just need to make the choice to have a PvE warrior. Choose not to and you choose to play without the helm!)

Hope I cleared things up And I hope you're not taking it personal, it's a game - supposed to be fun

Sorry I wasn't clearer above but let me phrase it another way:

As a Me/Ne in the ring (PVE Chars are more flexible here) I frequently run an E-Denial Build. I have 4 weapon slots...that are configured 4 ways.....two -1 +15 foci are together to switch to at 0 energy....and another set to make my energy lower.....guess why? As any monk will tell you, when you see that 3rd Energy Burn coming your way, you switch temporarily into that lower energy set so you are zeroed out...

Energy Burn
Spell. Target foe loses (Min: 4 - Max: 10) Energy and takes 8 damage for each point of Energy lost.


Now see why I have a set to Lower my energy? And any stupid monk can totaly (not just halve) but defeat the majority of my spell line? And then just switch back to instantly having 30 energy? IS THAT FAIR TO THE MESMERS? Why Can't Energy burn go negative? UNFAIR SWITCHING! You can selectively decide when you want to totally negate all my spell damage.

So go back again and show us some numbers....switching is not an argument.



PS> I remember when I was a noob back in pre-start....I tried this Axe Warrior set up with Dwarven stance as the elite....no points in it really, I would just switched into a hammer and hit the skill using it for interupts.....Unwieldly to say the least.....I also tried for awhile to do a gauntlet switch on the fly (Gauntlets are my choice for weapon runes).......again Unwieldy (literally)...

So if you are going to argue that every warrior has his inventory open during the match...perfectly switching helms before each War Machine Mes hex and then switching as War Machines Hammer Warrior starts their swing.....bwhahahahahaha.....


PPS. Im not at home but think this is right..."Gladiator helm is 80 def. It has an addition +20 against physical.
So all in all, it has 40 more defense than HoD helm."

So see what a hammer strike against the critical hit Head area is on a Glads Helm vs a Lts.....and see if that is 6 seconds of conjure phant.

Switching out and knowing when to switch out is part of the SKILL of the PVP game. Been around a longggggggg time, they ain't gonna nerf that.

You have to remember, though. It does not just affect PvP players. Many PvE players (regardless of whether they play both PvP and PvE) make use of this helm as well for non-PvP purposes (running, fighting in areas where hexes are dominant, such as against imps or eyeballs, etc). A decision to nerf (or remove) the helm to protect the PvP'ers can also harm PvE'ers, sacrificing one for the other.

I stand by my earlier suggestion: don't integrate PvP and PvE so tightly. Allow items in PvE that can't be used in PvP. It's a neat idea to have both PvP and PvE in an MMO, and an even neater idea to have them completely balanced and integrated. However, I think it would be best to start off with just having them both exist and loosely integrated rather than tightly integrated.

Disclaimer: I PvP and PvE.

BTW (to Ensign as well as the guy that quoted me earlier), we were right. On this very page I noticed someone starting to bring up the idea that PvE characters can have multiple armour sets and change them :-) It is coming lol.

EDIT: I guess it was the previous page that someone commented about switching armours (got bumped while I was posting).

Too many are also forgetting what the warrior gives up at least +1 into one of their main attributes which is at least 20 attribute points (cost of highest one) and then also 20 Armor class (actually 30 if you count using the gladiator helms). 20 attribute points are a lot of points that could go elsewhere instead of back into the weapon attribute to maintain high critical chances or they can gimp themselves that 1 point, be less likely to critical and put those 20 points into something else more critical.

It's really a small help for the 50% hex reduction compared to what is lost overall, and it's a fair one since there are so many hexes in the game and a warrior without monk 2ndary has no other way to counter these hexes. I'm enjoying myself much more in the PVP arenas now since I can finally do some damage to those necros and mesmers before I'm drained to smithereens. (smile) I still say the Devs knew what they were doing and calculated it correctly for warriors to have a way to reduce hex damage and still play other 2ndaries. Now if they just made some "condition" boots, I would be even happier. (smile)

Hey OP do you know where there are some "condition boots"??? (smile) 50% reduction would be nice. (smile)

But the problem with this helm is BALANCE. Balance is just simply not an important factor in PvE.

My primary character is a Mesmer.. t'was my first, is my favourite, and is the only one I PvP with.

I've never had an issue with HoD helms. Quite honestly, it's worked in my favor more times than not. Considering it's current popularity I've used pretty much a static build as of late for PvP. Looks sorta like this:

1 - Channeling
2 - hex of your choice
3 - hex of your choice
4 - hex of your choice
5 - Fragility
6 - Echo
7 - Epidemic
8 - Energy Tap

Slot 2, 3, and 4 can be set accordingly to wether or not you want to operate a shutdown build. Regardless, against a HoD helm those hexes will expire quickly, and Fragility will do the majority of damage dealing. With good energy management, you should be able to hit one skill right after the other, have everything cast and be back at square 1 in less than 10 seconds. You could easily drop Echo and Epidemic and stack two more hexes in front of Fragility before the HoD helm had any effect on the first hex you cast. Or you could toss in some defensive spells.. doesn't matter much. If you have another caster stacking hexes on the HoD wearer with you, they're going to take a crapload of damage in a very very short amount of time, all thanks to Fragility. Even more so if you've a Necro on your team casting Soul Barbs.

I honestly don't get this big cry for nerfing the HoD helm.. IMO it's more of a boon then a bane for Hex wielders. I would have expected to hear the Warriors crying over its ineffectiveness in PvP before seeing a thread like this.

But hey.. that's just my $0.02

Why is using an available item shameful trickery>? I'm more mad at IQ for using the z-axis bug to scam the relic than for actually looking around and acquiring what they think is best for their build. Anyways gl IQ in taipei, I'll be rooting for you.

I agree that switching is part of the PvP skillset. But, I don't think ANet thinks switching ARMORS is part of the GW PvP skillset. They only give you ONE set of armors for PvP characters. They don't give you "armor sets" comparable to "weapon sets" that you can change at the push of a button.

So, if ANet updates the game so you can't switch armors during PvP, is the Helm still overpowered?

...

Ok, say it with me:
"November 10th AoE NERF"

I knew you could

I would agree with this. A change like that, in addition to making the item available for PvP characters, would accomplish all goals, maintaining equipment diversity and PvP balance. I honestly enjoy equipment diversity and obscure items, they make the game a lot more interesting, they just become problematic when they break aspects of the game. A helm that gives a Warrior some help against hexes has a place, alongside all sorts of creative equipment that I hope to see in chapter 2. Within reason, this game can absorb a lot of cool effects without causing problems. =)


In fairness it did take people a while to find it. Denravi has been kinda quiet for a long time and a lot of people just skip over the weapon and armor crafters there. On top of that, using PvE characters in serious PvP took quite a while because, well, getting the equipment to play a warrior in PvP competitively takes a *lot* of time and money. It didn't really become practical until the chests, prices were just too high on all PvP-caliber gear.

I know that we noticed the helm as an important PvP item around the end of last summer and made some noise about it then. It didn't start to become a problem for a couple months, and by then the current tourney season had started and they didn't want to mess with it. But now I think it's pretty obvious something is wrong and it'll be addressed after the tourney season. It's getting the same treatment as skills, for instance it's pretty clear that, say, Crippling Shot is nuts and needs a tweak, but you won't see it for another month because of the tourney season.


Honestly I think that'd just be a disaster. Again the casual PvP market is so much bigger than the competitive one, and telling people they can't use their PvE loot would just be a mess. I don't think it matters though, Guild Wars has a pretty balanced endgame and they aren't about to start adding uberloot anytime soon. There will be some slight variations in PvE loot, and some of it will give people an advantage in PvP...but who cares, as long as it isn't game breaking. If something becomes an important PvP mod they can just add it to the PvP-only character screen and bam, no complaints. They just need to avoid putting game-breaking items into the game in the first place. =p

The real argument that might not be shown explicitly is that the hardcore PvE only crowd, in general, violently opposes *all* change that does not give them new farming opportunities. You have to remember that hardcore PvE is *entirely* about uberloot. There have been a couple posts made here about an agenda that's been around for a while, the complete separation of PvE and PvP. As far as I can tell, the hardcore PvE-only community has picked up this cause as a first step of adding the completely unbalanced, ultra-rare uberloot that they truly covet.

All I can say, then, is that I'm thankful that arena.net has decided to go in a different direction.


You take roughly 4.4% more damage, and deal 3.5% less when using the hex helm instead of a weapon attribute helm.


I think that really hits the proverbial nail on the head, though I disagree somewhat. I think that balance in PvE is more tricky, because it is static and monsters can't exactly adjust to a player's skill combo. Countering and bad matchups just don't matter. Hence you get super-specialized builds that are good against certain types of enemies for really efficient farming, and basically crap against just about everything else.

At the same time, PvE does not *appreciate* balance. In fact imbalance is celebrated and encouraged. The difference is attitude is so stark in this game. If you go to tombs and form an iWay group, you are going to be insulted and accused of ruining the game by every other group you run into while playing. iWay is overpowered, it's everywhere, and people who want to be creative hate it. On the other hand, go to Augury Rock district 1, and you'll see a scene even more degenerate - hordes of 55 monks and W/Mo griffon farmers. But the attitude is so much different, people there celebrate the poor mob design, bad AI, and exploitative builds.

If iWay gets a nerf, there will be a thread on this very forum thanking arena.net for fixing the game and making it fun again. If the 55 monk gets a nerf, there will be multiple threads on this forum screaming at arena.net for ruining their game, linking to petitions to reverse the decision, and general threats to leave Guild Wars forever.

Make of that difference what you will.

Peace,
-CxE

Ensign, I recognize to be a noob regarding to your guild's exploits.
But I use this helm, and this is not making me uber.
Many mesmers and necros cover their hexes with hex which have a beneficial end, necros have Parasitic bond, and I use WWorry to cover my mesmer's one, so if I backfire then WW a caster, if he does something, he takes damage, if he does nothing, he takes damage (same with empathy-but less powerful as warriors will still strike through empathy).

I recognize not to switch between helms when I use HoD helm (and I'm maybe a noob for that). So when I face a no-anti warrior-hexing team (and they are numerous), this helmet is more a dead weight than a useful tool.

As pointed many times before, I think it's the helm switching which is the problem, not the helm itself.
Imagine, I'm a ranger or elementalist. Many spells strike in chest. So I could bring an armor set of each element when I face elementalist-heavy build so I could adapt to what I face by armor switch. Thus reducing to nothing the usefulness of skills like Winter. Is this fair? Finally, you could do that if you run ranger-heavy builds.

What do you think?

Armor switching in my opinion is not the problem, its the magnitude of the effect of the Helm that is unbalanced. Getting 50% less duration on hexes against you is huge - if I could use that in pvp, I would - even though I couldn't use a weapon attribute helm. The helm does increase damage, but it is not that much damage and sluffing off hexes that do put a damper on your activities helps that much more.

As for armor switching reducing the usefulness of something ala winter, I would have to say that winter (in pvp at least) is a defensive skill not an offensive one. Bringing mantra of frost and frost armor when the other team will not be is the benefit to your own team, not because one element is better than another offensively. In the extreme case - how many ranger do you see wearing anything but druids, or actually switching out armor - not a whole lot. Although I think I still get your point that armor switching is still powerful, and does make a fully funded PvE character a small bit better than a PvP one, but its not game-breakingly powerful, its a tiny amount that doesn't particularly matter in the long run unless your build centers around you switching your armor.

I think it needs to be 10% bonus, not even just dropped to 20%. Compare it to the recharge/casting bonuses - you can either get a 10% chance for a recharge bonus for all skills, or a 20% chance for a recharge bonus for skills of a particular attribute. You get less benefit by broadening the scope of the bonus. Since the quick recovery from X condition bonuses are 20%, logically if Anet was to put in quick recovery from all conditions it would probably be a 10% faster recovery, again because it applies to all conditions there is less bonus. 10% faster recovery from all hexes seems like it would be about the same class as that hypothetical bonus (all conditions) - a fair tradeoff, because the damage you lose by not having a +1 helm is in the same ballpark, but 50% faster recovery is outrageous.

My god....
If it is so overpowered make a warrior and buy one. Case closed. It is only in henge. This is another post whining for a needless nerf. if it is a good helm bring warstels worry. this game is about countering strategies right?

Okay, howbout you guys get back to thinking what the main point of a warrior is. A warrior is there to absorb damage from all sources. This helm isnt meant to save only the warrior and help them be a pain...because thats his/her job. To prevent you from killing his team and get you to put as much damage on him as possible. While dishing out some damage of his own. They give the warrior all that armor and damage reduction for a reason, and even throw in some skills like "defy pain" and "endure pain" so the warrior can last longer in battle dragging out the time it takes to get to his spellcasting allies. Warriors that go out like lonewolfs work well against an unorganized team of course. But pretty much fails without backup. So in other words the Lt. Helm is just their to increase the warriors survivability. You all think of it from a strictly "if I dont kill him I die" view. Warriors need advantages for their shortcomings like any other profession. Mesmers long cast time spells cut down by fast casting, energy rangers skills cut down by expertise, monks divine for healing boosts and so on. Nerfing this helm would just be a waste of effort, if you're smart enough you can counter anything in this game.

You're right. For me to compete, I should have to level a warrior to 20, deck him out in perfect gear, and stop bitching. I mean, it's not like this game is advertised as being emphasized on skill. Everyone knows that you need to spend a lot of time getting items before you're good. Countering strategies isn't about using the skills you have, but about leveling characters.

Don't be a dumbass.

ah, comeon, it takes 2 days to ascend and be level 20.
just 170p for a sup vigor and absorption and then another 100p for some good equipment.

and now you are ready to be competitive


Just one question for the "this helm is balanced" crowd: what about a helmet for casters that increases their running speed by 20%?

Ya know, that's just how some people choose to enjoy the game. Why it's beyond some people to understand this just truly befuddles me. Some people don't want to play PVP. Some people don't want to go through all the missions and quests again. Some people just want to kill stuff. A lot of people farm and grind because they find it fun. Why it seems to be such an alien concept is mind-boggling. I paid my $50 for this game; if I want to solo 75% of the time, that's my right and priviledge.

Sure you have your bots and sweatshoppers, but find me an online RPG that doesn't have them. There is no unbalanced uberloot in this game. People farm for rare skins and stuff like that. Who cares if it's a Fellblade, Crystalline, or just plain old Gladius, the best it's ever going to be is 15>50, 15-22 damage. Some shields and focii offer quick recovery from certain conditions. Those are *true* rares, because they can't be bought from crafters or obtained from collectors. But none of them are uber. None of them are imbalanced.

I love the words you use. "Game-breaking." "Imbalanced." Somebody even said that the helm was "worse than the 40% enchant axe." I can imagine 1/2 hex duration being worse than an Spell Breaker running 100% of the time. Yeah. It was a REAL imbalance, and was dealt with accordingly. Funny that the same people who scream "IWAY isn't overpowered, you just need to change your play habits" can't deal with this item. Wastrel's Worry, Phantom Pain, Parasitic Bond... change your play habits? NEVER!

Your conscience must have killed you to play through console RPG's, where you had to go outside of town and kill the same enemies over and over to get enough EXP to take on a boss or enough GP to buy your party new armor. Did you ever write to Squaresoft, Enix, Sega, Climax, Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft, et al, to let them know how flawed this system was? Down with the grind! And overpowering the enemies... Gosh, the horror of playing "New Game Plus" on Chrono Trigger and starting from the beginning with level 99 characters! Those poor Roly Polys never saw it coming! There are those of us who have always played RPG's a certain way, and that's how we still enjoy playing them.

If ANYTHING gets nerfed, SOMEBODY will bitch about it. Nerf Otyugh's Cry and somebody, somewhere, will raise cain. I personally couldn't care less about the HoD helm. I bought and used it only to run to the cave to get Icy Dragon Swords. Take it away, and I couldn't care less. I guarantee you that if / when IWAY gets nerfed, there will be just as much bellyaching as anything else, because for as much as people complain about it, there must be a hell of a lot of people using it. They're not the ones posting on the forums because they're too busy winning matches. It's the people who lose that come here and complain. The IWAY fanboys will show up en masse after the nerf though; I can put money on that.

I just get so sick of the elitist attitudes and the "I'm right, nobody else can be" narcissism on BOTH sides. The main reason I'd like to see PVP and PVE separate is because of the rift it creates in the community. Everybody wants to tell everybody else how to play the game they paid $50 for. Of course Factions is only going to make this worse with its "integration" premise, so this is only the beginning.

What in the world does the AoE nerf have anything to do with this topic? Why do all the farming monks and fire eles have to bring this up? I mean god forbid we can’t have the rangers, necros, and mesmers joining a party. We sure as hell can’t have necros playing anything other than a battery. How hard is it to look at the rest of your skills you’ve acquired and tweak your skill bar to include an AoE slow? Whenever I read this statement I interpret it as, “OMG! I hate ANet for making me use more innovative builds!!! Why won’t you let us fire eles just run Meteor Shower, Arcane Echo, Echo, Glyph of Sacrifice, and Fire Storm!!”

People then decide to bring up the topic on how nerfing the helm would ruin running. I want to thank the PvE runners for totally screwing up the lower level arenas because if it weren’t for them there would be no level 10s griefing up the arenas. Too bad they don’t give a damn because as long as they make some money it’s just fine and dandy. Now, they come here whining about the HoD helm getting a nerf because they love being an uber Wammo that can solo everything themselves. He can’t be a Wa/Me with hex breaker and inspired hex with someone on the team maintaining holy veil on him. Another case of people unable to think outside of the box.

Finally, the PvE Wammos are complaining about being unable to farm the mesmer and necro mobs. Boo freaking ass hoo!! Farm something else then or, god forbid, think of a better build to farm them instead of being intent on being a mending using Wammo.

meh, I got one of these the other day out of curiosity, but I don't see myself seriously ever using it, save maybe on scant occaision. Biggest reason for this is that I don't see it as being worth the time and effort to pull up my inventory and switch to a help with 20-25 less armor just to get a hex to go away faster. While some may not see that armor difference as much, something like a lightning orb could make a lot more dmg with that lowering in armor to the point where the usefulness of a different helm is null.

That and I'd rather not have to mess with my armor in mid battle...