User talk:Isaiah Cartwright/Update20080117

Guild versus Guild

• Archers: now have Precision Shot.
• Footmen: now have Pure Strike.
• Knights: now have Warrior's Cunning.
• Victory or Death: reduced the damage bonus to +15%; removed the maximum Health reduction. Guild Lords now prioritize other Guild Lords over players as targets.

GG blockway.

Make them even stronger, more skills please 07:45, 19 January 2008 (UTC)

Assassin

Caltrops

• decreased recharge time to 10 seconds.

ZOMG BEST SKILL EVAR NOW--The Gates Assassin 18:21, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

Yes Shadow Arts sin here I come! 19:48, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

Heart of Shadow

• functionality changed to: "You are healed for 30..150 Health and Shadow Step to a nearby random location."

Imo Its a buff for PvP and a nerf for PvE runners.--The Gates Assassin 18:21, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

Instant self heal pwns as a diff choice then refuge 19:48, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

Well, it still has a rather high recharge, so if your attacker follows you, you might be in trouble. Nicky Silverstar 12:13, 21 January 2008 (UTC)

Scorpion Wire

• decreased recharge time to 10 seconds.

This skill didn't need a buff because it's worse than Augury, it's Augury that needs to be nerfed. The last thing we need is another broken DA skill. --Draikin 12:22, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

Nah, this skill needed it, its more fun and usable now :), can't wait to get on GW after Uni to kick some serious ass in RA ^^" Aljazya 16:32, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

I Still see no reason to take this skill--The Gates Assassin 18:21, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

heh, use it with Deadly Haste and it recharges in like 5 seconds --Cursed Angel 05:15, 19 January 2008 (UTC)

6.7 seconds--The Gates Assassin 05:50, 19 January 2008 (UTC)

The problem here is when this skill does see play, it probably won't be a good thing (see Augury of Death). --Draikin 15:24, 19 January 2008 (UTC)

Bleh, hex a caster, run away,that caster is knocked down and you shadow step, start with a Falling attack and wooooosh, a few more attack and said target is dead ^^, you have to be creative :P when is comes to less used skills ^^ Aljazya 18:35, 19 January 2008 (UTC)

I used Shadow Walk > Scorpion > Dash as my creative way of using Scorpion then I realized how retarded it was... not to mention that scorpion surprised me half the time and I missed the falling but thats personal 21:22, 19 January 2008 (UTC)

If anything, scorpion wire would be a counter to d/a, and it is removable if in the area. Therefore, i will probably use it in a bar vs 2 d/a monks. BMShen 21:39, 22 January 2008 (UTC)

Viper's Defense

• changed Skill type to a spell; increased casting time to .25 seconds; functionality changed to: "All adjacent foes are Poisoned for 5..20 seconds, you Shadow Step to a nearby random location."

Much stronger--The Gates Assassin 18:21, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

Yea its stronger but i doubt people will use it except for maybe applying to get a hit off toxic shock, yea its better but still unuseable 19:49, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

take a look at Poisoned Heart izzy, why does it give u health degen, longer recharge, lesser poison duration and no teleport? --Cursed Angel 20:32, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

Dude, +20% enchantment mod with poisoned heart is awsome synergy--The Gates Assassin 05:51, 19 January 2008 (UTC)

12 seconds of -5 degen ftw? 13:58, 19 January 2008 (UTC)

This user knows the awsome combination with Poisoned Heart and 20% longer enchantment mods.

userbox i made some months ago :D , sry izzy --Cursed Angel 17:42, 19 January 2008 (UTC)

Lol this is bugged. It shadow stepped me to earshot not nearby--The Gates Assassin 17:53, 20 January 2008 (UTC)

Dervish

Pious Assault

• increased Energy cost to 10; functionality changed to: "You lose 1 Enchantment. If this attack hits, you deal +5..20 damage and inflict a Deep Wound for 5..20 seconds."

Good to see an alternative to Wearying Strike even if it doesn't fix Avatar of Melandru's 'overusedness'. Hope we'll see more diversity in derv bars ^^ ~~ Azul 17:15, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

make none melandru dervs suck less, good job anet, when i first saw this i was like 'HAX STOP MAKING DERV STRONGER' but in reality this is both nerf and buff 19:50, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

Elementalist

Chilling Winds

• increased duration to 30 seconds.

20 seconds was long enough to cast a water hex, even 5 seconds is so why this? --Cursed Angel 03:06, 20 January 2008 (UTC)

So that you can use it on multiple people, then hit all the multiple people with an AoE water hex, like Deep Freeze, making it effect more than 1 person for longer at the same time. It's a nice little Quality of Life buff.167.206.248.12 19:26, 24 January 2008 (UTC)

Elemental Flame

• increased Burning duration to 3..5 seconds.

this should be fun and interesting to come up with a build now, Fire/Water/Air seems like fun now =D!! Aljazya 16:35, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

Steam + Elemental Flame ftw? 19:51, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

This is almost like...the next frag spike. Elemental Flame -> Shatterstone -> Vapor Blade -> Steam Lightblade 03:30, 20 January 2008 (UTC)

go see this skill Glyph of Immolation --Cursed Angel 04:45, 20 January 2008 (UTC)

I think this requires less attribute points to be somewhat effective, so it is more useful to lowattribute-Fire Magic users. Nicky Silverstar 08:56, 20 January 2008 (UTC)

Why not make this cause burning when Echantments end? It might even be useful then.--130.113.226.6 00:02, 22 January 2008 (UTC)

Glyph of Essence

• decreased recharge time to 20 seconds.

The only use I can think of is to hide energy with a negative energy set, cast a rez spell and then switch back to the high energy set. Still, people will really prefer to use Glyph of Sacrifice instead of this. --Longasc 00:17, 19 January 2008 (UTC)

Mesmer

Hex Eater Vortex

• decreased damage to 30..90; increased recharge to 15 seconds.

Looks like all the good Mesmer elites are going down the drain. 70.132.2.120 03:56, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

Doesn't make any sense to me. There's almost no hexes in the current meta in 8vs8 battles although i saw few guilds running Me and N midliners last weeks. I don't know where this skill was a problem according to the restricted frequency at which you use it, it shouldn't have been nerfed imo even if it has a powerfull effect indeed. ~~ Azul 17:20, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

Exactly. No one used this, the meta didn't have hexes besides diversion and shame. There was no reason to even touch this, besides its elite. It should go back.--The Gates Assassin 18:23, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

You're missing the point.. this skill was the ultimate reason people stopped running water eles, or really, any hex build in general. I think the point was to make a comeback for some of those skills by destroying the ultimate counter for them. This still seriously owns face if you can get it off on a frontliner.--67.164.57.79 00:50, 19 January 2008 (UTC)

Kitah's Burden

• reduced recharge time to 30 seconds.

Ethereal Burden

• reduced recharge time to 30 seconds.

Mind Wrack

• increased duration to 30 seconds.

Wastrel's Worry

• increased damage to 20..80.

Woot Wastrel + Backfire 19:52, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

336 damage over 10 seconds, at best (more likely to only hit with 3), for a mere 35 energy + babysitting? The Wastrel's damage is still too conditional and unscary to actually build any of the tension that it is theoretically intended to.

It competes with Overload, which is ~40 unconditional damage at its worst, and up to 90 if you use it well. I don't think Overload sees all that much play aside from monsters bars, though. MA Anathe 17:52, 19 January 2008 (UTC)

Monk

Aura of Stability

• decreased duration to 1..16 seconds.

Divine Healing and Heaven's Delight

• increased the area of effect to earshot.

There 2 skills are the same, so I merged the sections. On topic...WTT less healing for faster recharge. Lightblade 19:56, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

nah leave the healing alone and just reduce recharge 20:04, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

All the party wide healing skills have 2 seconds casting time. This one heals for quite a lot, and gets a Divine Favor bonus too (meaning it heals 308(!) at DF is anyone uses that) health to every ally within earshot. That seems powerful enough to me to warrant a long recharge time. You don't want it to overshadow all of the Healing Prayers, do you? Nicky Silverstar 08:54, 20 January 2008 (UTC)

Skills with long recharges usually suck. To make this skill good Make it like 20 recharge and a 150 heal.--The Gates Assassin 17:55, 20 January 2008 (UTC)

People behave like monk deserves every skill to have short recharges and short casts. TBH monk skills have huge power creep and are ridiculously powerful profession compared to most others. --195.210.249.164 17:59, 21 January 2008 (UTC)

Monk is having power creep because they need to be able to hold the stand with 5 people. When hex was heavy, even 3 monks are needed to prevent people from dying. Making monks stronger is only going to promote split teams. And all the other updates recently is looking to achieve the same goal. Lightblade 19:45, 23 January 2008 (UTC)

Patient Spirit

• decreased duration to 2 seconds; increased healing to 30..120 Health.

It is now very energy efficient for a huge heal. It will take some time till people will accept such a delayed heal, which is also due to the fact that you can only place 8 skills on your bar. This might break this one the neck. --Longasc 00:21, 19 January 2008 (UTC)

I like this update. i already used it so now its even better Mashav 01:03, 19 January 2008 (UTC)

Don't think of it as a delayed heal, Think of it as a 2 second cast time skill while you can heal during the cast time.--The Gates Assassin 05:53, 19 January 2008 (UTC)

Kind of like a delayed heal? — Skadiddly[슴Mc슴]Diddles 20:05, 23 January 2008 (UTC)

Renew Life

• decreased casting time to 4 seconds.

Touch range res is just bad. I would put this to 3 sec cast. Lightblade 19:56, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

Except that this does more than just resurrect people, it functions as a Heal Party as well and really shines with the new buff to Healer's Boon. I would keep it the way it is. Nicky Silverstar 22:37, 19 January 2008 (UTC)

It's only a heal party when it's successfully cast. A touch range res need you to walk over to that ally. While you're ressing, the warrior that just killed that party member can just shock you and get another kill. The touch range itself already cost you 2 seconds for just walking over to that ally. Lightblade 02:33, 20 January 2008 (UTC)

The Acolytes in the Desolation use this skill to great effect though, at least let them keep it (and I still see uses on a secondary Monk). Nicky Silverstar 08:57, 20 January 2008 (UTC)

Meh 3 sec cast??? Overpowered much? Compare it to things like Ressurect which is still 5 sec cast for 25% HP and 0% energy and rezes from Ritualist and the Rez signet etc....comparing these with other ressurects might put it into perspective for you. --195.210.249.164 18:03, 21 January 2008 (UTC)

Compare to flesh of my flesh and you'll see why. Touch range res requires you to move all the way up to them, and alot of times when someone dies, its not in a place you would want to be in. Antiarchangel 14:23, 23 January 2008 (UTC)

Put it on a ranger. That is, if they won't be parked in the middle of the wrong team... --24.179.151.252 17:21, 23 January 2008 (UTC)

Restore Life

• decreased casting time to 4 seconds.

Touch range res is just bad. I would put this to 3 sec cast. Lightblade 19:56, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

See comment above. Lower casting time would unbalance this skill IMHO. Nicky Silverstar 22:38, 19 January 2008 (UTC)

Vengeance

• increased damage bonus to +25%; decreased recharge time to 30 seconds.

While I love this buff, I hate it same time, people in RA keeps rezzing me with this then I die again because of shatter enchantment >_> 19:54, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

This skill needs longer duration to be useful. 87.189.202.243 16:56, 19 January 2008 (UTC)

Necromancer

Signet of Agony

• increased damage to 10..70.

Wail of Doom

• decreased Energy cost to 10.

I have not seen people use it before. 10 energy looks much better. Why is the life sac needed? It is not blood magic, which is plagued with life sac, but can at least compensate for it. Death Magic cannot do this as well. --Longasc 00:25, 19 January 2008 (UTC)

it was already one of my 5 most favorite elites, much like powerblock. keep it up with weakness (enfeeble) and Insidious Parasite, maybe toss in reckless haste for moar fun and *[image] meele shutdown is ftw --Cursed Angel 02:55, 19 January 2008 (UTC)

When ever I see someone use that skill on the other team I die a little bit inside...I hate facing it soooo much. Makes it so not fun because there is nothing you can do about it. It's not a hex so you can't remove it, its not a condition. It really has no drawbacks. Im glad its really unpopular.--The Gates Assassin 05:56, 19 January 2008 (UTC)

Its because its practically a elite blackout for just melee 14:00, 19 January 2008 (UTC)

Each anti-melee buff is a small victory for the casters. This skill rocks. Nicky Silverstar 12:18, 21 January 2008 (UTC)

doesn't really matter though necros are built around their elites and building a necro around an elite that does no damage and is in soul reaping which is mostly devoid of skills is pretty hard it could come into play if their were a decent build that did damage without the elite for necro but their isn't...130.13.72.175 16:12, 26 January 2008 (UTC)Draken

Paragon

"Fall Back!"

• decreased Energy cost to 10.

"We Shall Return!"

• decreased Energy cost to 5.

Spear of Fury

• increased adrenaline gain to 2..6 strikes.

People already commented on the skill page: It was already very good and very popular. Why buff it even more? --Longasc 00:26, 19 January 2008 (UTC)

I think it was because it wasn't used that much except from TNTF/ToF paras. Give it more power when not used with FGJ or that para skill with double adrenaline.

Ranger

Interesting move with the activation times. Power Shot still needs a recharge buff to see any use, but the others I might consider. 10 Energy on Magebane is right where it should be. Since I'm feeling not-angry about this update, I'll refrain from bringing up the usual long list of nearly useless Ranger skills that need attention. Except one, of course: Punishing Shot needs additional on-interrupt bonus damage. Arshay Duskbrow 05:06, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

Magebane Shot

• increased Energy cost to 10.

From 2 energy to 4 energy. Big whoop--The Gates Assassin 18:26, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

yah NERF EXPERTISE --Cursed Angel 18:42, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

Its an attempt at least to balance it >_> though at least none rangers will have a slight bit more trouble spamming this 19:55, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

None Rangers shouldn't be running ranger skills.--The Gates Assassin 05:57, 19 January 2008 (UTC)

A/R Bow Sins are getting SLIGHTLY more popular in small arenas 06:22, 19 January 2008 (UTC)

Compared to Savage Shot and Punishing Shot, this skill is now well balanced. I don't see anyone else complain about the fact that Savage Shot costs only 4 energy, so why is this skill to cheap, considering that it is an elite and thus should be relatively more powerful? Nerf this even more and Savage Shot becomes a better choice, which should be avoided IMHO. Nicky Silverstar 22:40, 19 January 2008 (UTC)

Just nerf Savage shot too then, actually this ones fine now, its not used in millions of masses anymore, though now savage really thus need a looking at... either savage or punishing should be changed (either buff one or nerf the other)10:51, 20 January 2008 (UTC)

need better counters to rangers with magebane in my opinion distracting + mage bane is alot of pressure for a monk its hard to monk when you get 2 skills disabled ontop of having them interupted. This is forcing teams to go two monks or monk rit combos in TA because one monk is too easy to lock down. I would like one good hard counter blinding only works till they get your blind and none of the hex's have good recast130.13.72.175 15:41, 26 January 2008 (UTC)Drakens tired of being interupted

Penetrating Attack

• decreased activation time to 1 second.

Sundering Attack

• decreased activation time to 1 second.

Power Shot

• decreased activation time to 1 second.

Compared to the other 1 sec activation skills... power shot still sucks 76.26.189.65 10:53, 20 January 2008 (UTC)

Uh..no? +7 more damage is more than that 20% armor penetration. Lightblade 19:39, 23 January 2008 (UTC)

20% AP is much more then +7 dmg, not to mention that it has double the cooldown 05:32, 24 January 2008 (UTC)

Precision Shot

• decreased activation time to 1 second.

Ritualist

Rejuvenation

• increased Spirit's level to 1..16.

Sight Beyond Sight

• increased duration to 12..25 seconds.

Sundering Weapon

• now affects the next 3 attacks.

Warmonger's Weapon

• increased recharge time to 30 seconds.

Good change, although I think the duration should have been reduced as well (by 4-5 seconds). --Draikin 12:29, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

Agree. Doesn't fix the main problem : its duration, although it's obviously one step forward. ~~ Azul 17:24, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

Warrior

"Coward!"

• decreased adrenaline cost to 4 strikes.

IMBA. If a monk in 4v4 doesn't have anti KD the monk dies is going to die.--The Gates Assassin 14:59, 23 January 2008 (UTC)

Unless, you know, they don't suck and stop kiting for a second to prot themselves. 88.109.187.245 16:37, 23 January 2008 (UTC)

"You're All Alone!"

• increased duration to 8 seconds.

Miscellaneous

• Added the option to bind keys that activate Hero Skills. These keys can be bound through the "Action: Order Hero (1-3) to use Skill (1-8)" option in the Control options panel (Menu > Options > Control).

Very nice, thanks. A single "Next Minion" binding would be nice, pretty please? When no minion is selected, starting with the oldest (or highest age degen) and nexting to the next newer minion would be really useful (and, of course, shift w/key would go backward). Crystalion 07:12, 21 January 2008 (UTC)

General comments

first of all..

Kinda random skills got buffed. Id like to see nerf to dancing daggers. Asscasters need to be nerft to the ground. Other than that the skills were kinda lame. Give all spirits more health back, they are so useless. 24.141.45.72 03:02, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

The problem with Assassin casters is Augury of Death. Riotgear 01:33, 21 January 2008 (UTC)

Regarding Ranger bow attack activation times: Good idea! Sundering/Penetrating attack cost 6 energy usually, at high expertise (13) 5 energy, at 14 expertise only 4 energy. I know there needs to be a limiting factor, otherwise both would be spammed like there is no tomorrow. It will try it with Expert Focus, but as some people already said...: Would it really be so bad to make Powershot, Sundering and Penetrating attack 5 energy?
Ritualist skill buffs: Sight beyond Sight is very nice for physical attackers having a ritualist secondary. But I would beg for some more health/higher level for Shelter and Union. Both skills were dead before spirit health got reduced, they are now so dead it is not funny. They will not see use in GvG again in this state, and this is good. But for all other areas of the game these spirits could use some more health to work properly and would not break things either.
All in all, the skill changes are fine with me. The assassin changes make sense and are good, as well as the Pious Assault change. Very good ideas. Some buffs are just too minor to make some bad skills used, they will still not be used, e.g. Vengeance. I also miss a balancing of PvE skills. It was unnecessary to buff Spear of Fury. There are many extremely weak and underused PvE skills out there. But I do not think buffs to PvE skills are needed. There are some PvE skills out there that outshine all others, e.g. Ursan Blessing can replace a whole skill bar. It needs to be put in line with Volfen and Raven Blessing, it has just too much utility and power right now. --Longasc 09:03, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

Sight beyond Sight is Spawning Power so useless to x/Rt's :( --SK 13:07, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

Uh, wrong. It lasted 8 out of 15 seconds, activated quickly, and was cheap (only 5e). Warriors, dervishes and assassins all used this as standard back when BSurge was huge. -Auron 13:12, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

Wow. I really like this balance, even if Pious Assault just seems like a lol@Wounding Strike now. Good job, Izzy & co. --71.229.204.25 12:41, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

I found the skill choice in this update a little bit random. Ritualist has lots of issues yet none of them were solved. Instead skills were buffed that mostly effect x/rt builds. Elementalists have big issues outside support and elite dmg spells, yet you pick those skills that are beyond help anyway. The only pve skill you buffed was an already powerful and much used one while there are lots of underpowered and hardly ever used skills around (lots of vanguard skills, Elementalist PvE skills, selfless spirit having to long recast, never rampage alone costing way to much energy etc). On the other hand i liked the changes for monks. And the Ranger changes are an interesting approach. With a weapon that has the longest swing time in the game coupled with lowest dps and with every other physical getting lots of activation time attacks that was long overdue. But with all of them beeing 10 energy skills it won't change that much because they are just to much of an energy drain to be used extensively for dps and for spikes 1 sec is just to long. Beetlejuice 16:08, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

Yea it was random skills that were buffed but thats none a bad thing since there are a LOT of useless skills that need to be buffed, so good job izzy 19:58, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

haha about the energy limiting the updates to ranger skills, introducing old useless skill that now has a small niche! Spam to your hearts content, yeah i know elite. --Lou-Saydus 00:30, 19 January 2008 (UTC)

I think this is a cool idea. You could have a bar of 4 totally underunsed skills that now have some synergy. Powershot, Sundering Attack, Penetrating Attack... now I would like to read minds if Izzy had the same idea...^^ --Longasc 00:40, 19 January 2008 (UTC)

I believe it would be bad to make those skills cost 5 energy. Expertise makes 5 energy skills almost free, and I play a ranger a lot, so it is not ranger bashing. Every professions gets depth by having to choose between (relatively) slow and powerful or quick and weak. Nicky Silverstar 08:58, 21 January 2008 (UTC)

AI skill issues

It's great to see Anet fixed the incorrect AI skill usage of Faithful Intervention, but unfortunately this update introduced three other problems: Pious Assault is not used by heroes unless they're enchanted, and Divine Healing/Heaven's Delight are used to (try and) heal allies who are outside of earshot range (they already use it when allies are at 2 x the radius of earshot range from them). --Draikin 13:09, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

TBH, I don't want my heroes to use pious assault without being enchanted, deep wound ftw.

You still inflict a deep wound even when you're not enchanted. --Draikin 21:22, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

Missed that part I guessJelmewnema 21:42, 18 January 2008 (UTC)