Patch Notes 23/03/2019

[retekelek]

Spoiler:

The guard effectiveness wasn't halved, it was reduced to a third.

25% damage reduction is +33% effective health increase.
50% damage reduction is +100% effective health increase.

"Balance" is not something that exists on its own.
Any balance change should always have a context, cause and goal. What were you trying to achieve out there?

So far it seems the devs are determined to shoehorn all 2h tank builds into DPS role, which isn't particularly exciting since it just reduces build diversity and makes the game more boring.

If the goal was to make SnB more appealing to play then you should've started with making SnB stronger and more interesting to play, instead of having them be boring Guard/HtL buffbots with weaker CC and worse utility/buffs/debuffs compared to 2h.

Tottaly aggre, i also can't see the point of changes, until this patch you could play def 2hander or full offense or hybrid bettween these too end points. Now this change forcing you to play snb for def and full offense dps spot for 2hander which make this game less diversity, and more boring. Also snb has weaker cc than 2hander because of earlyer patches what basecly was already making you have a decision to have blocks and hold the line for more deffensivness or 2hander for more cc for ur team.

[Nishka]

Spoiler:

The guard effectiveness wasn't halved, it was reduced to a third.

25% damage reduction is +33% effective health increase.
50% damage reduction is +100% effective health increase.

"Balance" is not something that exists on its own.
Any balance change should always have a context, cause and goal. What were you trying to achieve out there?

So far it seems the devs are determined to shoehorn all 2h tank builds into DPS role, which isn't particularly exciting since it just reduces build diversity and makes the game more boring.

If the goal was to make SnB more appealing to play then you should've started with making SnB stronger and more interesting to play, instead of having them be boring Guard/HtL buffbots with weaker CC and worse utility/buffs/debuffs compared to 2h.

Tottaly aggre, i also can't see the point of changes, until this patch you could play def 2hander or full offense or hybrid bettween these too end points. Now this change forcing you to play snb for def and full offense dps spot for 2hander which make this game less diversity, and more boring. Also snb has weaker cc than 2hander because of earlyer patches what basecly was already making you have a decision to have blocks and hold the line for more deffensivness or 2hander for more cc for ur team.

Here I can agree, in the light of the latests changes, snb cc nerfs should be reverted (for example, KOTBS banish darkness tactic was nerfed to give 50% knockback cd reduction only for 2handers)

[Egoish]

Did gunbad on my sorc, snb chosn, 2h bo, sorc, choppa...

2h bo guards sorc, might as well not be guarded. Keeps stealing agro from main tank, agro results in lots of damage.

2h bo guards choppa, choppa dies several times due to **** guard.

Neither dps wants **** guard, tbh it's pointless. Offtank used to be a good role for 2her in pve, not any more.

[Parallell86]

Nothing about Choppas... Again!
Guard nerf is questionable.
I really imagined that a new design would be made for the fort, the current one is pretty broken and now I understand perfectly why Live does not use it.

I fixed some choppa abilities one and two patch ago

Yes, i appreciate, but choppas don't need fix, need buff... or simple rework Rampage of slayer, this skills is OP and drop da basha is ridiculous compared for exemple. Rampage is the skill most used by slayer why have low CD and ignore all parry and block!

Rampage broken all defensive lines why Slayer spam AOE, and ignore all Destruction defensive of all player status of parry and block and this skill have 30sc CD.
Drop da Basha aply one debuff of 50% parry and block and this skill have 60sec CD.

I really dont see sense.

Can you explain to me why you are comparing these two abilities? How are they in any way related? Drop da Basha is a ST debuff plus core ability, Rampage is a self buff and requires you specc for it.

These abilities are completely unrelated.

[spiritbull]

I'd just like to voice disagreement with the change of 2h tanks. The change decreases gameplay diversity. First DD heals, which now don't have a place in organized play, now 2h tanks. It looks like we're herded into mass RVR gameplay only. I like mass RVR, but that shouldn't be the only gameplay available...

Apart of single spec for tanks now I see the following issue with the change:
even prior the change, it was extremely hard to kill organized 2-2-2 group. Previous tournaments showed loooong fights. Now with snb tanks group damage is reduced and surviability increased, so we'll face much more fights with no kills till exhaustion

[rmpl]

Here I can agree, in the light of the latests changes, snb cc nerfs should be reverted (for example, KOTBS banish darkness tactic was nerfed to give 50% knockback cd reduction only for 2handers)

how many times u gonna mention this. give this man his punt cd back or he wont ever stop

[Nishka]

Here I can agree, in the light of the latests changes, snb cc nerfs should be reverted (for example, KOTBS banish darkness tactic was nerfed to give 50% knockback cd reduction only for 2handers)

how many times u gonna mention this. give this man his punt cd back or he wont ever stop

It's a relevant issue

[Telen]

The guard effectiveness wasn't halved, it was reduced to a third.

25% damage reduction is +33% effective health increase.
50% damage reduction is +100% effective health increase.

Only when you balance in a vacuum. Everyone has infinite health due to the existence of healers. All the pools represent is how much burst you can survive. Guard increases that level by 100%.
The reason AM/Shaman, the burst healers, are the least effective healer is because guard just does that job for them. Its also why in pug/lower tiers where guard isnt as prevalent that these healers are stronger. With a lower guard on 2h this is a buff to the need to counter burst through heals, something AM/Shaman and RP/Zealot to a lesser degree are more designed around.

[Smellybelly]

Did gunbad on my sorc, snb chosn, 2h bo, sorc, choppa...

2h bo guards sorc, might as well not be guarded. Keeps stealing agro from main tank, agro results in lots of damage.

2h bo guards choppa, choppa dies several times due to **** guard.

Neither dps wants **** guard, tbh it's pointless. Offtank used to be a good role for 2her in pve, not any more.

Tried to mention this a few times, but its like talking to a wall. This change was not thought through. It messes with the core mechanic of the game and the core balance

[roadkillrobin]

Actually like the guard changes. The trade off of dropping sheild for free dps increase is actually almoast nothing in small scale. A sheild in small scale usually means 20% less guard damage and in some specific cases opens up a skill. Noone really focus the tanks anyway so the sheild usually doesn't impact the outcome much. HTL is for large scale combat and have a minimal impact on small scale. This change actually opens up for more planned out group builds which is how a proper meta should be.

For example, pairing a light armor high dps class with a 2hander with these changes seems like a rather bad idea, but before was pretty much a nobrainer as you would pretty much increase the dps without really losing anything significiant. With these changes you should in theory be e getting a more ballanced group composition in ragarding damage in and output.

That said, for this to actually work out you need to ballance out the dps capability based on armor type. Medium armor classes just can't have dps burst capabillity that that of light armor classes. I'm looking at WL and Maruader specificly.