Guild wars update preview

Be warned: anyone gliding when the Shatterer moves to encase players in crystals can also be caught, causing them to plummet to the Branded-infested ground below. This can be avoided by stealth gliding during this move. Meanwhile, players on the ground should watch out for whenever the dragon champion raises its front left arm; get ready to dodge, or be smashed with a large AoE purple, magical ouchy. On top of this, there are large AoE telegraphs to avoid throughout the fight, which the toughened Branded enjoy locking you down in hello Branded Ravager!

For those who manage to defeat the Shatterer, a new set of achievements exist, the completion of which will yield the brand new Branded Backpiece see below.

The reward chest loot has also been improved to include two guaranteed rare items and a nice chunk of experience, and Shatterer-themed Guild Hall decorations have been added to the game which you can acquire by collecting tokens.

Overall, the updated Shatterer fight is much improved on its predecessor. Recommended for you. GuildMag: The End of the Line. They do not look too strong while not beeing negligible.

I really like the idea to help condi builds in more fights. Obviously there is stuff I do not understand or seems overkill. No change to the cd talents yet? The mechanical changes are going to change a lot of things especially for guards and rev which are probably going to get adjustments. I feel like engie or an old full guard group could be the best power option in raids, renegade will nuke stuff to an absurd level.

I am curious about how power guard is impacted in both PvP and PvE and the future benchmark for mesmer builds. Resistance only affecting soft CC means superspeed scrappers are even stronger. Retaliation : a net improvement for Elementalist in WVW since staff's Meteor Shower makes you implode easily Mantras : firebrand became even more spammy because mantra cooldowns were not adjusted Exposed debuff : CFB needs to be evaluated in terms of its burst otherwise you will see Condi Firebrand stacking.

Profession changes. Pain absorption now will be a suicide button as anything you take from others will now kill you x5. But you do hopefully deal more torment kittenmage now in PVE. But your survivability is now close to 0. As a lot of your condition line for survivability is Resistance based. Hopefully there are more changes than the ones above. On the other side for Direct kittenmage builds " Soulcleave's Summit: Life stealing can now trigger a maximum of once per second for each affected target.

I found it very interesting with tempest auras share. I feel like elementalist's scepter fire needs more burn stacks on its spells to make it viable condi dps as tempest. Tempest is really forgotten as dps in pve and its supportive builds are outclkittened by other supports. You need some upkittente on auras in PvE to do something rather than nothing. You want a viable alternative to Discipline? See my above statement about Defense.

You also need to go rework Arms to be a viable specialization outside of the 3 traits used in Raids. You seem to be pushing Warrior Rifle into an 'kittenault rifle' setup. I greatly encourage you to delete Kill Shot then and replace it with another Burst.

I suggest this: Concussive Shell: Fire a shell that d. Deals Kill Shot Tier 1 level d. Berserker has no place in high level competitive play due to inherent limitations to the spec. Warrior players have been vocal about what those are. Please listen to them. Support was barely touched this patch. And I would have hoped we could have seen a higher diversity of professions.

But instead we got mesmer again getting alacrity instead of say elementalist or necromancer. I've experimented with Boon share Scourge builds and in order to function as a Might bot you have to sacrifice one of the strongest support tools in the scourge's kit to do the job poorly. You can't take transfusion because you need both curses and soul reaping along with an alacrity giver to ensure you can give 25 might but only if the stars align.

What am I supposed to do with this extra concentration you've given to me if there's nothing to use it with? Not even fury.

Beyond just that the removal of retaliation has changed the function of Spiteful Spirit. Now the new boon has a lot of overlap with what death magic already does but its attached to a boon corrupt GM that honestly has no right to be. It shouldn't even be called spiteful spirit since there's nothing spiteful about it. Doesn't really even seem to belong in spite now.

However necromancer is not in a good spot at all when it comes to balance and it needs a lot of work. If I had to guess, you balanced based on popularity not on how useful each of the professions are or how many useless traits and skills they have.

The issue with Minions and turrets for example still need to be addressed. These are the reason why beginner necromancer and engineer players are drawn to these professions and for many of them its heartbreaking to find out that they're not useful as a build in end game even as a tier 2 option.

And fix the Necromancer Axe auto attach animation! Its been what? It is nice to see some upkittentes for boons that counter conditions.

However i personally can't see such boons useful in PvE not many fights spam condis on you, it is either one shot mechanics or just pulsing physical kittenmage. In PvP and WvW there is another problem that comes with it: 1. Which mechanics are really in the game requiring heavy anti-condi setups? Can we get a note for each line of patch notes with description where such change fits the current game mechanics? I see you wrote a text before any change but it tells not much what is the result of such changes to be made.

Condi weaver simply deserves higher sustained kittenmage comparing to simple power weaver gameplay style. I don't quite understand nerfing on Lightning orbs. It is the strongest skill on power tempest, yet power tempest is only viable on huge hitboxes bosses, while also has innate low critical chance. It is quite hard to achieve good number in real combat, based on my own play experience and comments from Roul from Snowcrows. The change on exposed buff is kinkitten weird. Most pug these kittenys simply stack 4 firebrand and 1 rev.

It may not be the optimal compo, but really safe and strong for pugs, with the burst potential of cFB when people CC slowly, while cFB is also really easy to play. Should probably reconsider this tuning. Condi thief is gonna be stronger. It is actually not bad atm for some boss, though not many people use it.

One general trend is to nerf man boost to 5-man: warrior and thief. Not bad, since power creep was the main theme of last patch. This change will probably make speedrun record harder to break in next patch, and make pug life harder. Not like I raid anymore.. The change on torment and resistance kinkitten hits condi herald hard. It is a really strong clkitten in WvW roaming and small scale fight, but is the nerf too heavy? Let's see. I thought change on retaliation would be adding an internal cooldown so that fast hitting clkitten won't suffer too much.

Well, guess on torment is kinkitten right. But completely wrong on retaliation. I don't quite like the change on retaliation, since it has much higher uptime than protection in general especially on guardian , which basically much lowered condi kittenmage taken. You need to be a member in order to leave a comment. Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy! Already have an account?

Sign in here. Buy Now. All rights reserved. All trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Recommended Posts. ArenaNet Staff. Fire Attunement. Posted April 30, Update May 6: The name change for the Revenant trait "Spiritual Reckoning" will not be part of the May 11 update, and we have removed "This trait has been renamed Spiritual Resolution" from the notes below.

This only affects the trait's name, not any functionality. The name change will be part of a build later this month. Please see our follow up post for updates to this preview as well.

Stacks duration. Unless otherwise specified, skills and traits that formerly granted or used retaliation now use resolution. Resistance Nondamaging conditions currently on the player are ineffective.

Torment Deals damage every second. Deals additional damage to foes that are not moving. Stacks intensity.

Duration Caps for Boons and Conditions Duration-stacking boons and conditions now behave consistently. General To better indicate which skills will deal defiance damage, icons within skill tooltips that represent applied control effects are now purple. Text on many damage-increasing profession traits, runes, and sigils has been clarified to indicate whether they increase outgoing strike damage, condition damage, or all damage, as appropriate.

Items The Superior Sigil of the Stars now also increases concentration and expertise. The Celestial stat combination on gear now also increases concentration and expertise. The per-stat values have not been decreased.

Mounts Griffon: Swoop now deals additional damage based on your velocity. Profession Skills Elementalist We feel that the elementalist has been in a very good place since the July balance update. Warhorn Wildfire: Burning duration increased from 2. Lightning Orb: Reduced power coefficient per strike from 0. This matches the existing power coefficient in PvP and WvW.

Engineer While the Scrapper can be played as an effective healer, it hasn't had access to the offensive boons it needs to be truly valuable as a support role in group PvE content. Utility Goggles: Duration of resistance increased from 2 seconds to 3 seconds. Rifle Overcharged Shot: This skill no longer knocks the engineer back.

Scrapper Kinetic Stabilizers has been reworked and renamed. It is now Kinetic Accelerators. Kinetic Accelerators: When you grant superspeed to a target, also grant quickness 2 seconds. Applied Force has been reworked to grant stability instead of quickness and to grant extra power from might. Players now gain stability when they gain might above the threshold.

Might grants bonus power 10 per stack. This matches the current value in PvP and WvW. Guardian Guardian has always been a very flexible and powerful profession. Chains of Light: This skill now requires a target to activate. Symbol of Resolution: Reduced cooldown from 20 seconds to 12 seconds. Consecrations Wall of Reflection: Reduced base duration from 10 seconds to 8 seconds.

Reduced cooldown from 30 seconds to 25 seconds. Purging Flames: Reduced radius from to This skill no longer burns foes that cross the outside of the field.

Instead, it now applies one stack of burning with a 4-second duration on foes inside the radius when cast and again on each pulse for the duration of the effect. Cooldown reduced from 35 seconds to 25 seconds in PvE only. Sanctuary: Reduced cooldown from 60 seconds to 50 seconds.

Shouts "Save Yourselves! Virtues Inspired Virtue: This trait now additionally increases strike damage for each boon on the guardian. This effect was formerly on Power of the Virtuous. Absolute Resolution: This trait has been renamed Absolute Resolve.

Power of the Virtuous has been reworked. Symbolic Power: Symbol strikes no longer charge the virtue skill-1 passive effect more quickly. Eternal Armory: Spirit weapons now only apply burning on their first strike per cast. Increased burn duration from 4 seconds to 8 seconds in PvE, from 2. This is a reduction to total burning from Sword of Justice and an increase in total burning to Hammer of Wisdom and Shield of the Avenger when used with this trait.

Firebrand Stoic Demeanor: Fixed a bug that caused a 3-second interval rather than the correct 1-second interval. Mantras: Mantras no longer need to be charged before use. They now hold three charges by default, and the final charge is no longer stronger.

They regenerate ammunition normally. Dragonhunter Defender's Dogma: This trait now uses the correct icon. Reduced internal cooldown to 1 second in PvE only. This matches the current cooldown in PvP and WvW. Pure of Sight: This trait now uses the correct icon. The description has been clarified to communicate that strike damage dealt increases with distance from the struck enemy. Longbow Puncture Shot: Removed the bouncing aspect of this skill.

This skill now pierces enemies and inflicts the crippled condition on all enemies if it hits more than one, with a cap of 5 targets. Symbol of Energy: Cooldown reduced from 15 seconds to 12 seconds. Casting time reduced by 0. Hunter's Ward: This skill's cast has been reworked. The dragonhunter will now channel the skill for 1 second and then release the barrage, allowing movement while the attacks occur and traps are formed. Mesmer Chronomancer has been steeply overperforming in a damage role in all content, leading to an environment in which the best way to tackle almost any challenge is to throw more Chronomancers at it.

Deception Downed Skill 2 : This skill is now ground targeted while on land and no longer displaces the player when summoning a clone while underwater. Arcane Thievery: This skill now requires a target to activate. Time Warp: Reduced cooldown from seconds to seconds. Reduced duration from 10 seconds to 5 seconds. This skill now applies 1 second of quickness and slow per pulse, for a total of six pulses over a 5-second duration.

Mantras: Mantras no longer need to be prepared before use. Up to 10 nearby allies gain boons. The boons gained are now might 8 stacks, second duration in PvE; 4 stacks, 6-second duration in PvP and WvW and alacrity 3-second duration. Note: Boons are applied near the mesmer only, not near clones. Chronomancer Danger Time: Removed the critical-damage bonus.

Seize the Moment: Quickness duration per clone shattered has been reduced from 1. Chaos Illusionary Membrane: This trait has been reworked. Chaotic Persistence: This trait has been reworked. Gain concentration and expertise while regenerating. Chaotic Dampening: This trait has been reworked and renamed Chaotic Potency. Chaotic Potency: Gain condition damage. Gain additional condition damage while wielding a staff.

Recharge of staff skills is reduced. Player or World vs. No-fly zones have been implemented at the ends of some jumping puzzles and will knock you out of flight if you ignore the warning to turn back.

Associate Game Director John Corpening was up next to talk about upcoming goals and changes to World vs. He said that the team has been very busy working on bug fixes and core balance, and there are a number of changes in the works. Adjustments to automatic upgrading will allow players to kill dolyaks to stop upgrades, and players who enjoy skirmishing will receive points for both kills and finishers in equal measure.