The Update Cycle

In regards to this patch, the problems were obvious at the beginning.

As to why people complain, well not only do all the issues come out in a place we can all see them, but it's a measure of how the players reacted to it. It's useful for everyone, even if you dont want to read the rants. If we were all silent and calm and didn't express our feelings then we, and Anet would assume nobody cared enough about the changes to comment and that it went smoothly.

You cant sit back and make out everythings ok just because a patch is new, things will get done slower or forgotten about. It's the people who complain that make things happen in these games. Not always for the better, but for the most part the people who are always happy with everything only hurt the game more.

I saw people saying they loved the patch right after it was put in, with no absolutely no mention of any of the problems. Obviously there were glaring problems that testers somehow missed, so they must have a very slack approach to patches and the only people who notice the mess they put in are the vocal 'whiners'.

There actually is no such thing as whining in an online community.
There is a large pool of opinions that differ from each other. And there is a little kid throwing a heavy stone into the pool of opinions. Some are masochists... they like getting hit and they welcome the stone. Some are sadists, they like seeing others getting hit and they welcome the stone. Then there are the casuals... they don't care. Then there are the Victims of said Stone. They are called whiners.

Why? Because they voice their opinion and state their disliking of the stone. Therefore, i also disagree on this thread. By simply declaring someone elses opinion as "whining" you also forfeit your very own opinion. If you think the words of another person are worth less than yours, then your words are truely without worth.

Thus said, there are no whiners... there are only people out of arguments that resort into the last option they have - try to mock and bully the other opinions by calling them "whiners" or "cry babies" or "carebears". Happens a lot in teenie based scenarios too.

So I know I'm a little late in talking about the Nov update with AoE....but I don't get to play that often. I also decided to give it a try before complaining or really deciding about it. My builds i consider to be pretty balanced, I never had more than one or two AoE, and only relyed on them if I was getting ganged up on. I've recently started new characters to try new classes, and after taking my first elemtalist/monk post-searing, I have to say the update kicked my butt, even with constant healing. There was no way to protect myself from more than two AI, and weak armor doesn't help when you have to fight one-on-one. My new-ish warrior/necro is doing pretty well, just tweaked one skill. Took the warrior with my new build out questing with a guild membor who was a monk/necro and the monk's skills are completely nerfed. The AI were attacking him even if he stood on the sidelines to heal me. (Is there an update where AI attack the healers that we don't know about? I looked around to see if there was anythign posted and saw nothing.) Overall we were very disappointed and did not have fun. And isn't that the point of the game? To have fun? We've both tried to adapt to this new update, but it's hurt many of our characters more than it's helped. For people not farming who just want to play, it's really killed some of the reasons I love to play. I feel the update has made warriors too strong of a character, and has drastically limited other characters. (I have looked through the forums at builds, but for a once-in-a-while player who gets on for stress relief and fun this has really taken a toll).

I know it's only fair to give suggestions, and I've thought of one way that this update could be improved. I'm not totally against AI improving and "learning" as it may be. But I think it a bit unfair that they have the foresight to know when AoE is being done. Perhaps the first AoE could have full effect, but each subsequent use of it on a group would have less probability of hitting all the intended targets. This way, the first time AoE is cast, it would still give you a chance to get out of there alive

I do believe monsters are programed to attack your healer(s) first.

They attack the most low armored targets (of course they somewhat calculate some sort of threat level).

Sorry, as i've said before the AoE update absoloutly rocks. Its an amazing defensive ability.
Besides if you're worried they will move out of fire storm, use or get a party member to use any of the following: Ice spikes, ward agaist foes, water trident, imagined burden, erruption, knock down skills and more besides - If they cant move or are on their floor they cant escape.

Don't state nonsense please. 50 % Slowdown is nowhere near enough to keep them inside. It is barely enough to let them take one more hit from the AOE Spell.

I honetsly don't think it is nosense for a few reasons, 1 it is a way round the update, as is blocking a boss in around SF. But yeah 50% slowdown doesnt do much but it helps and i did something more than complain about the update, i thought how could i make them stay there.
On the 50% slowdown, they usually take 2-3 hits before they are out of the radius anyway so 2-3 more hits is worth it, water magic is reducing it by 66% so what another 1-2 hits so its just become a viable option. Knockdown - Oh on the floor for three seconds (the time between them going down and are moving again) thats them not moving - 3 hits for firestorm.
So in breif not non sense just a thought.