Feedback:Skill update previews/20110317

Intro
In an update next week, we will address some PvP issues that came up as a result of our latest Dervish update. To give our tournament players time to plan ahead, we’re releasing all the skill-related update notes in advance. After the last MAT, we decided to tone down several Dervish skills that proved to be stronger than intended. Additionally, this update will address the power of Blood Magic Necromancers and some other builds that have gotten a little out of line. Finally, we will make a few small buffs to Mesmers and Elementalists.

Dervish

 * : decreased Cripple duration to seconds.
 * : decreased life stealing to Health; decreased inflicted Disease duration to 3 seconds.
 * : decreased bonus damage to.
 * : increased duration to 30 seconds; decreased bonus damage to ; increased recharge to 20 seconds.
 * : decreased duration to 7 seconds.
 * : decreased duration to seconds.
 * : decreased duration to seconds.
 * : decreased duration to seconds.
 * : decreased unconditional Disease duration to seconds.

Elementalist

 * : decreased casting time to 1 second; decreased recharge to 30 seconds.
 * : decreased casting time to 1 second; decreased recharge to 30 seconds.
 * : decreased casting time to 1 second; decreased recharge to 30 seconds.
 * : decreased casting time to 1 second; decreased recharge to 30 seconds.
 * : decreased damage to ; decreased recharge to 6 seconds.
 * : decreased casting time to 1 second; decreased recharge to 30 seconds.

Mesmer

 * : split for PvP.
 * : decreased duration to seconds; increased recharge to 20 seconds.
 * : decreased Energy cost to 10.
 * : decreased Energy cost to 10.

Necromancer

 * : decreased Energy gain to.
 * : decreased Sacrifice to 8%; changed functionality to: "You inflict Bleeding for  seconds on target foe and all adjacent  foes."
 * : merged with PvE version; this skill now functions the same in PvE and PvP.
 * : decreased Energy gain to.
 * : decreased Poison and Weakness durations to seconds.
 * : changed attribute to Blood Magic; removed casting time; decreased recharge to 4 seconds; changed functionality to: "You  suffer from Bleeding for 6  seconds. The next Necromancer skill that  targets a foe causes Bleeding  for  seconds."

Ritualist

 * : changed functionality to: "Elite Spell. You steal  Health from target foe. All hostile summoned creatures in the area of  that foe take  damage."

Bug Fixes

 * Fixed a bug that caused Ebon Dust Aura to add bonus damage for ranged attacks.
 * Fixed a bug that caused damage from Rending Aura to ignore armor.

Coming Soon
These changes—along with a full Developer Update explaining them—will arrive early next week.