ArenaNet:Developer updates/20070809

[Dev Update] Skills, Heroes' Ascent, Victory or Death -- 09 August 2007
Our goal for this test week is to assess some global changes—-namely adjustments to Victory or Death and long-lasting shut-down Hexes. Specific builds that were either overpowering or uninteresting to play, such as the Shadow Prison Assassin and Ritualist spikers, were scaled down. As with previous test weeks, we'll carefully monitor the metagame throughout the week and make changes as needed. After the testing, we'll decide which changes to keep and which to revert.

Skill Changes
Assassin


 * Black Spider Strike: increased Energy cost to 10.
 * Dark Prison: decreased recharge time to 30 seconds.
 * Death's Charge: decreased recharge time to 30 seconds.
 * Expose Defenses: increased recharge time to 25 seconds.
 * Golden Phoenix Strike: decreased Energy cost to 5.
 * Shadow Prison: decreased duration to 1..10 seconds.


 * To diversify Assassin Skill Bars, we've helped some non-elite Shadow Step options by making them more readily available. Combined with the duration reduction to Shadow Prison, the increased cost of Black Spider Strike, and the decreased cost of Golden Phoenix Strike, this will hopefully lessen the Assassin's reliance on Shadow Prison and encourage interesting build choices. Expose Defenses proved a superior Assassin Hex, so we increased its recharge time to make using it more of a tradeoff.

Mesmer


 * Arcane Echo: decreased recharge time to 20 seconds.
 * Cry of Frustration: decreased recharge time to 15 seconds.
 * Drain Enchantment: increased Energy cost to 15; increased casting time to 2 seconds; decreased recharge time to 20 seconds; increased Energy gain to 15..25.
 * Echo: decreased recharge time to 10 seconds.
 * Illusionary Weaponry: decreased recharge time to 25 seconds.
 * Panic: decreased duration to 5..20 seconds.
 * Signet of Illusions: functionality changed to: "Your next 1..2 Spells use your Illusion attribute instead of their normal attribute."
 * Spirit of Failure: increased Energy cost to 15.
 * Spirit Shackles: decreased duration to 5..20 seconds.


 * The theme behind the Mesmer changes is to decrease the power of long-lasting "passive" Hexes. Decreasing the duration of Panic and Spirit Shackles and increasing the Energy cost of Spirit of Failure should make Mesmer builds more active and Energy-bound. Echo and Arcane Echo received another decrease to their recharge time to make them a possibility for dynamic new builds. Meanwhile, we're experimenting with bumping up Signet of Illusions for cross-attribute strategies.

Necromancer


 * Faintheartedness: decreased duration to 3..24 seconds.
 * Meekness: decreased duration to 5..30 seconds; decreased recharge time to 15 seconds.
 * Price of Failure: increased Energy cost to 15; decreased damage to 1..46.
 * Plague Sending: functionality changed to: Sacrifice 10% maximum Health. Transfer 1..3 negative Conditions and their remaining durations from yourself to target foe and all adjacent foes.
 * Plague Signet: decreased recharge time to 4 seconds.
 * Plague Touch: functionality changed to: Transfer 1..2 negative Conditions and their remaining durations from yourself to target touched foe; attribute is now Curses.
 * Poisoned Heart: functionality changed to: All adjacent foes are Poisoned for 5..15 seconds. For 10 seconds, you suffer -5..-2 Health degeneration.
 * Reckless Haste: decreased Energy cost to 10; decreased casting time to 1 second; decreased recharge time to 10 seconds; decreased duration to 4..10 seconds; increased miss chance to 50%.
 * Rip Enchantment: functionality changed to: You lose 30..10% Health. Remove one Enchantment from target foe.
 * Shadow of Fear: decreased duration to 5..30 seconds.


 * The Necromancer's "fire and forget" anti-melee Hexes have been an increasing source of passive defense that we would like to move away from. The longer-lasting shut-down Hexes (Faintheartedness, Price of Failure, Reckless Haste, Shadow of Fear, and Meekness) were scaled down to make them more active or to further strain resources. The Condition transferring abilities of the Necromancer are largely ignored, so we've improved Plague Touch, Plague Sending, and Plague Signet to flesh out this aspect of the profession.

Elementalist


 * Arc Lightning: decreased recharge time to 6 seconds.
 * Blinding Surge: decreased Blindness duration to 2..8 seconds.
 * Blurred Vision: decreased Energy cost to 10; decreased casting time to 1 second; decreased recharge time to 12 seconds; decreased duration to 4..10 seconds.
 * Chilling Winds: decreased Energy cost to 5.
 * Glyph of Elemental Power: increased duration to 25 seconds; increased number of Spells affected to 10.
 * Glyph of Energy: decreased recharge time to 10 seconds.
 * Glyph of Renewal: decreased recharge time to 10 seconds.
 * Rodgort's Invocation: decreased casting time to 2 seconds; decreased recharge time to 5 seconds.


 * After improving Glyph of Lesser Energy earlier this year, we wanted to push more Glyphs into a similar range. Elemental Power got a massive power increase, affecting your next 10 Spells, while Renewal and Energy got lowered recharge times to make them more worthy of their elite status. Chilling Winds is a hard-to-use combo Skill, so we decreased the cost to reward that build choice, while Rodgort's Invocation and Arc Lightning received recharge boosts to improve their damage over time. On the defensive front, Blurred Vision was made more active (and therefore more Energy-intensive over time) as part of our sweeping Hex balance, and Blinding Surge took a minor duration hit to pressure resources a bit more.

Monk


 * Aegis: decreased Energy cost to 10; decreased area of effect to earshot.
 * Blessed Light: decreased recharge time to 3 seconds.
 * Guardian: increased duration to 2..7 seconds; increased block rate to 50%.
 * Judge's Intervention: decreased recharge time to 8 seconds.
 * Remove Hex: decreased casting time to 1 second; increased recharge time to 8 seconds.
 * Shield of Regeneration: increased recharge time to 8 seconds.


 * Aegis received a rework this month, reducing its range from party to earshot (1/5 of the original range) to address the passive nature of "Aegis Chaining." To compensate, the more active Skill, Guardian, received a boost to both duration and block chance. Combined with effective Energy management, Shield of Regeneration's prior reduction to .25 second cast time has made it popular in 4v4 play, but we'd like to see a bit more diversity. In the same vein, Blessed Light received a buff, in the hopes that it would compete with its big-brother, Divert Hexes. Remove Hex's 2-second cast time kept it in the scrap yard, so we're hoping its superior recharge makes it viable next to Holy Veil.

Warrior


 * Berserker Stance: decreased recharge time to 20 seconds.
 * Crude Swing: functionality changed to: Attack all adjacent foes. Each foe you hit is struck for 1..20 damage. You have -40 armor while activating this Skill.
 * Flourish: decreased recharge time to 8 seconds; increased Energy gained per recharging attack Skill to 2..7.
 * "For Great Justice!": decreased Energy cost to 5; increased adrenaline gain to 100%.
 * Savage Slash: decreased Energy cost to 5.


 * The Warrior received a few boosts, mostly to Skills that often go unused. We made Flourish more worthy as an elite, hoping to see it in more builds. "For Great Justice!" now has greater potential to boost adrenaline at the expense of less Energy, while the negative end effect of Berserker Stance is enough of a drawback that a 20-second recharge time seems appropriate. Lastly, we made Savage Slash more affordable, halving its cost to promote interrupts in melee combat.

Ranger


 * Equinox: decreased casting time to 3 seconds; decreased recharge time to 15 seconds.
 * Escape: decreased recharge time to 12 seconds; decreased duration to 1..8 seconds; increased move speed boost to 33%.
 * Famine: decreased casting time to 3 seconds; decreased recharge time to 15 seconds.
 * Flame Trap: increased damage to 5..20.
 * Greater Conflagration: decreased recharge time to 15 seconds.
 * Infuriating Heat: decreased casting time to 3 seconds; decreased recharge time to 15 seconds.
 * Lacerate: decreased Energy cost to 10; decreased activation time to 3 seconds; decreased recharge time to 15 seconds.
 * Point Blank Shot: decreased Energy cost to 5; increased damage to 10..40.
 * Punishing Shot: decreased recharge time to 5 seconds.
 * Run as One: decreased recharge time to 15 seconds.
 * Storm Chaser: decreased recharge time to 20 seconds.
 * Zojun's Shot: decreased Energy cost to 5; increased damage to 10..40.


 * Elite Nature Rituals can have extensive effects, but their 5 second cast time made them interrupt-bait (when near the battle) and their long recharges made them unreliable. We lowered their casting time to 3 seconds and significantly decreased their recharge time so teams feel they can rely on them as build choices. Natural Stride left its friends Storm Chaser, Escape, and Run as One eating its dust, so we improved those run-speed Stances in hopes they'll be valid options. Additionally, we increased several Ranger bow attacks to evaluate in the various metagames.

Dervish


 * Attacker's Insight: functionality changed to: For 20 seconds, your next 1..3 attack Skills cost 5..20 less Energy.
 * Enchanted Haste: decreased recharge time to 15 seconds.
 * Featherfoot Grace: decreased recharge time to 15 seconds.
 * Grenth's Fingers: decreased recharge time to 10 seconds; increased Cripple duration to 5..15 seconds.
 * Meditation: decreased recharge time to 8 seconds.
 * Rending Touch: decreased recharge time to 5 seconds.


 * We improved the Dervish's largely unused speed boost Stances to grant this profession more access to mobility without cross-classing. Attacker's Insight was adjusted to take into account the low cost of Dervish attack Skills. Situational skills, such as Meditation and Grenth's Fingers received lower recharge times so that they are more likely to be available when the opportunity to use them arises.

Ritualist


 * Ancestors' Rage: this Skill now causes Exhaustion.
 * Anguish: decreased Energy cost to 10; decreased recharge time to 20 seconds; this Skill now causes Exhaustion.
 * Defiant Was Xinrae: decreased Energy cost to 5; decreased recharge time to 5 seconds; increased duration to 5..15 seconds; this Skill now causes Exhaustion.
 * Disenchantment: decreased Energy cost to 10; decreased recharge time to 20 seconds; this Skill now causes Exhaustion.
 * Dissonance: decreased Energy cost to 10; decreased recharge time to 20 seconds; this Skill now causes Exhaustion.
 * Gaze of Fury: decreased recharge time to 20 seconds.
 * Recovery: fixed a bug that caused the effect to persist even after the Spirit had died.
 * Sight Beyond Sight: decreased recharge time to 15 seconds.
 * Spirit Burn: decreased recharge time to 6 seconds; decreased damage to 5..50 damage; decreased conditional damage to 10..40.
 * Spirit Rift: increased casting time to 2 seconds.
 * Splinter Weapon: decreased recharge time duration to 20 seconds.
 * Vital Weapon: decreased duration to 5..35 seconds.
 * Wanderlust: this skill now causes Exhaustion.
 * Wielder's Strike: this skill now causes Exhaustion.
 * Xinrae's Weapon: decreased Energy cost to 10; decreased recharge time to 10 seconds; this skill now causes Exhaustion.


 * A while back, we adjusted expensive Ritualist spells. This week we wanted to examine Exhaustion and see if the reduced sustainability of these skills would make them more balanced and interesting. We scaled down a number of Ritualist damage Spells as well, to further move away from "Rit Spike" builds that combine too much damage and defense on a single character. Vital Weapon, a staple of Ritualist builds, took a light shot to duration because it so easily enables many other Ritualist skills.

Paragon


 * Awe: decreased recharge time to 10 seconds.
 * Signet of Aggression: increased the strikes of adrenaline you gain to 2; decreased recharge time to 5 seconds.


 * The Paragon remains largely untouched, although we did boost a couple underused Skills.

Heroes' Ascent Changes
After monitoring the impact of last week's update on Heroes' Ascent and reading player feedback, we are adjusting some maps. Map changes take time to implement and test; so they will not be ready this week. We aim to increase the playable space in Fetid River and smooth out the height advantage around the river. We are also changing Forgotten Shrines by removing the middle path and altering the area around each point. This will encourage more of a tactical choice about which points you can capture, and reduce the chaos of a more open map layout. Overall, we feel that the last update improved Heroes' Ascent and we plan to continue in this vein. We understand that the Relic gametype in the Hall of Heroes needs adjustment and that a lot of people miss Sacred Temples. We will evaluate these and other changes for future updates. Once again, we appreciate the feedback.

Victory or Death

 * Victory or Death now occurs at 18 minutes.
 * The Guild Lord now walks to the flag stand at 20 minutes.
 * The Guild Lord no longer deals 300% damage to non-Guild Lord NPCs.
 * Guild Battle NPCs now deal 300% 200% damage to Guild Lords.
 * Guild Battle NPCs now march out in three waves. The first wave arrives at the stand at 18:45, the second wave arrives at 19:00, and the third wave (Bodyguards and Knights) arrives at 19:15.

The long-awaited VoD adjustments are ready for testing. The focus of these changes is to emphasize the NPC resource and to reward fluid tactics (such as splitting) and NPC advantage at VoD. We also ensured NPCs won't bunch up at gates during VoD, and cleaned up their pathing and placement—making them harder to annihilate with simple area-of-effect attacks. The additional deadliness to the Guild Lord at the flag stand should mean that NPCs become a valuable resource again.
 * Updated 9 August 2007 6:22 PM Pacific time

Additional Skill Balance Updates -- 10 August 2007
We will be evaluating the following Skill changes over the course of the next week. Additional adjustments may be made during that time period.

Dervish


 * Rending Touch: increased recharge time to 8 seconds.

Necromancer


 * Reckless Haste: increased Energy cost to 15; increased duration to 6..12 seconds; increased recharge time to 12 seconds.

Ritualist
 * Wielder's Strike: reduced recharge time to 5 seconds.
 * Ancestors' Rage: reduced Energy cost to 5.

Warrior


 * Desperation Blow: This skill will now knock you down only if it hits.
 * Drunken Blow: This skill will now knock you down only if it hits.