ArenaNet:Developer updates/20080117

[Dev Update] Skill Balance – 17 January 2008

For this skill update, the primary goals are to further reduce the power of passive defense (and provide alternatives for those defenses), improve the late game mechanics in GvG, and improve some underused skills. As normal, this test period will be monitored closely by the play balance team so necessary adjustments can be made.

Guild versus Guild

• 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.
• Archers: now have Precision Shot.
• Footmen: now have Pure Strike.
• Knights: now have Warrior's Cunning.

These changes are primarily intended to adjust the impact of the block mechanic during Victory or Death and restore the importance of aggressive play throughout the match. Heavily defensive teams were too successful at consistently stalling games until Victory or Death, then using defensive skills to negate the impact of enemy NPCs while taking advantage of the damage bonus to compensate for their lack of offensive skills.

Assassin

• 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."
• Heart of Shadow: functionality changed to: "You are healed for 30..150 Health and Shadow Step to a nearby random location."
• Scorpion Wire: decreased recharge time to 10 seconds.
• Caltrops: decreased recharge time to 10 seconds.

Viper's Defense and Heart of Shadow were far too unreliable and could, for example, cause the caster to Shadow Step away while in the middle of using a skill. This change is meant to give more control to the caster, and make these skills more active and fun to use. Scorpion Wire, an underused skill overall, became less attractive with the addition of Augury of Death, warranting a recharge reduction to improve it. Caltrops needed to be more readily available to compete with other Cripple applications, so we brought the recharge down there as well.

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."

Aside from the Avatar of Melandru/Wearying Strike combination, options for inflicting Deep Wound were extremely limited for Dervishes. This rework of Pious Assault aims to grant that option to other Dervish builds.

Elementalist

• Elemental Flame: increased Burning duration to 3..5 seconds.
• Glyph of Essence: decreased recharge time to 20 seconds.
• Chilling Winds: increased duration to 30 seconds.

We took this opportunity to increase some underpowered Elementalist skills. Elemental Flame gets much more attractive at low attribute levels, Glyph of Essence receives a nice recharge reduction to find room on crowded skill bars, and Chilling Winds gets a duration increase to allow it to spread to multiple targets.

Mesmer

• Wastrel's Worry: increased damage to 20..80.
• Mind Wrack: increased duration to 30 seconds.
• Kitah's Burden/Ethereal Burden: reduced recharge time to 30 seconds.
• Hex Eater Vortex: decreased damage to 30..90; increased recharge to 15 seconds.

Hex Eater Vortex was too prevalent in spikes on a single target, wiping off important protection spells while inflicting solid damage. The damage reduction and recharge increase should put more emphasis on the double-removal aspect. Kitah's Burden and Ethereal Burden had overly long recharges for movement reduction Hexes, so we knocked a third of that time off the top on both. Wastrel's Worry is intended as a staple-yet-conditional Mesmer damage spell, but its low, unguaranteed damage made it unattractive. Upping the damage here should more appropriately reward the times when it does succeed. Finally, many of the skills that could cause problems with Mind Wrack have received power decreases over the last several months, which makes us comfortable inching this skill back up a notch.

Monk

• Divine Healing/Heaven's Delight: increased the area of effect to earshot.
• Patient Spirit: decreased duration to 2 seconds; increased healing to 30..120 Health.
• Restore Life: decreased casting time to 4 seconds.
• Renew Life: decreased casting time to 4 seconds.
• Vengeance: increased damage bonus to +25%; decreased recharge time to 30 seconds.
• Aura of Stability: decreased duration to 1..16 seconds.

Touch-range, repeatable-use resurrection skills still proved too unwieldy for common use in PvP, so we'd decided to give them a generous casting time reduction to make the payoff more in-line with the difficulty of use. Patient Spirit is intended to be a slow but efficient maintenance-style heal, but was far too weak to perform that function previously. Divine Healing and Heaven's Delight received an aggressive range change to serve as an alternate heal for an entire group within the Divine Favor line, while Aura of Stability received a duration decrease to stop endless chains of it to invalidate knock-down.

Necromancer

• Signet of Agony: increased damage to 10..70.
• Wail of Doom: decreased Energy cost to 10.

Wail of Doom had a high price even before casting: it's both an elite and in a primary-only attribute line. We wanted to make the skill more usable for those who did decide to make those investments by reducing the Energy cost. Signet of Agony's damage was far too low to warrant any use, so we increased that to add some raw power to this overlooked skill.

Paragon

• Spear of Fury: increased adrenaline gain to 2..6 strikes.
• "We Shall Return!": decreased Energy cost to 5.
• "Fall Back!": decreased Energy cost to 10.

Spear of Fury gets a boost to its adrenaline to help out Paragons, especially in PvE. "We Shall Return!" fits our goal of improving resurrection as a whole, while the lower Energy cost for "Fall Back!" will make it a more viable choice for split tactics in GvG.

Ranger

• Power Shot: decreased activation time to 1 second.
• Precision Shot: decreased activation time to 1 second.
• Penetrating Attack/Sundering Attack: decreased activation time to 1 second.
• Magebane Shot: increased Energy cost to 10.

Power Shot, Penetrating Attack, Sundering Attack, and Precision Shot were a bit lackluster in their effects. The intent of a faster speed is to increase overall bow damage output. Magebane Shot has become the clear elite choice for Rangers in GvG due to its low cost and high effect. At 10 Energy, this skill should now be more appropriately priced.

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.

Rejuvenation's low Health made its lifespan too short to take advantage of its effect, so we increased the level to compensate. Sundering Weapon gets additional attacks for more chances to spread Cracked Armor on different foes. Sight Beyond Sight's duration came up slightly, further rewarding this skill choice on Ritualist builds that include melee attacks. Warmonger's Weapon was an endless, unremovable, powerful enhancement that could lock players down for a whole game in 4v4 PvP formats; the recharge increase means it will not be a permanent factor.

Warrior

• "Coward!": decreased adrenaline cost to 4 strikes.
• "You're All Alone!": increased duration to 8 seconds.

"Coward!" and "You're All Alone!" are primarily split-friendly skills that enable Warriors to engage in skirmish tactics, so improving them should help Warriors perform better when away from the main group in GvG.