Girth.9731

This has always been the status quo. Anet is absolutely terrible at responding to player feedback and communication in general. If we do get the patch as is, what the heck was the point of the preview? I've never seen a patch preview so universally criticized by the player base. The hate for this patch might even up there with the infamous Feburary balance overhaul disaster. Some excellent points have been raised by the community, lets see if Anet actually gives a kitten about this game.

I made a post about this a few weeks ago. Would giving Mending a 16s cooldown baseline break Def SB? No lol. The build is mediocre as is and far from meta. Regardless, something should be done or this is just a straight up nerf to the already dead Str builds. The easiest solution would be to buff either Restorative Strength, which is is a laughably underpowered trait, or increase the healing of MMR, which is probably still a bit undertuned. Two easy solutions. I suspect Anet will do neither and instead continue to destroy the build diversity of Warrior.

I made a post similar to this one a few years back, trying to provide ideas for improvements that could realistically be implemented. First off, from a PvP/WvW standpoint, the skill isn't terrible if you have a build that can utilize it properly. From my testing its about a 40% increase in DPS compared with autoattacking so it does do respectable damage. The problem, in my mind, is that much of the damage of the skill is tied up in the final hit which, without quickness, will essentially never land on a good player, even if you get a long CC like Bull's Charge to connect (this is why I love using Sigil of Celerity on my GS). This is not an acceptable state for a skill and it desperately needs QOL changes. Many people have argued that we should be allowed to move during 100b, similar to what Anet plans to do to Flurry. While this would improve usability, the problem with this suggestion is that the animation of 100b would look very bizarre if the character model were moving. Thus, Anet would have to either create a new animation or replace it with an existing animation that would work better with player movement. Neither is likely to happen. Additionally, the stationary channeling of 100b is what gives the skill its unique feel. So, what should be done? Well, I think there are a two easy changes Anet could implement to dramatically improve the usability of the skill without changing its identity or power level significantly. 1. Reduce the total channel time and damage of the first 8 strikes proportionally, but add damage to the final hit The goal here would be to make the final hit easier to land and more rewarding when it does land, without significantly changing the DPS of the preceding 8 strikes. I think a total channel time of 2.5 seconds would be ideal. Thus, even without quickness, it would be feasible to land the entire skill on a CC'd opponent. The damage of the first 8 strikes would be lowered so that their DPS does not change, but the final strike would have its damage slightly increased to make it more rewarding to land. I think the final strike should hit for a little less than a >50% health Arcing Slice. This would dramatically improve the usability of 100b and incentivize Warriors to channel the entire skill to get the damage of the final hit. 2. Increase the max targets from 3 to 5 I mean, the skill is called Hundred Blades, why the hell does it only hit 3 targets?

The skill will probably be better in 1v1 fights in PvP and WvW, especially against good players who can easily dodge or interupt the current iteration of Arc Divider. Its definitely a nerf for zerg fighting in WvW. In PvE it will just depend on the numbers.

Would literally be a dream come true. People have been asking for this QOL change for years though so I'm not holding my breath.

Well said. This would be a disaster. They need to slow the balance patches down, the game is mostly well balance across the game-modes right now. This feels like change just for the sake of change.

It's weird how they said they are reducing the cooldown of Mending from 20 to 16 seconds in PvE only, but Mending already has a cooldown of 15 seconds in PvE? Some decent changes overall, but if they don't reduce the cooldown of Mending in PvP/WvW that will basically be the last nail in the coffin for Strength-based builds. That, or they need to add more sustain to the Strength tree to compensate. Weird change there.

If the cooldown reduction to Mending is PvE only, it will further nerf all of the Strength based builds that rely on having a shorter Mending cooldown for sustain. I assume it may be a typo because Mending already has a cooldown of 15 seconds in PvE, but if it is not then they need to add some sustain buff to the Strength tree to compensate for this heavy nerf.

You don't understand what I am saying. This is an unintentional nerf to ALL of the Strength-based Warrior builds. (i.e. Core Warrior, Strength Spellbreaker, Strength Bladesworn). These builds are mediocre at best and will become even WORSE. They must add some sustain to the Strength tree as compensation or simply reduce the cooldown of Mending to prevent this from happening.

You are mistaken, the reduced cooldown of Mending was one of the few things keeping Strength based builds alive in PvP/WvW. If they remove that without any sustain buffs to the Strength tree, it will further kill those mediocre builds and essentially force everyone to play X/Defense/Discipline. Horrible change.

It already has a cooldown of 16 if you take the Strength tree. You understand taking that away will further kill all of the Strength-based builds right? What if I don't want to play X/Defense/Discipline? With this terrible update I will be forced to. Or, more realistically, I'll just quit the game.

Anet, I know this must be a typo because Mending already has a cooldown of 15 seconds in PvE. However, if it is not and you actually intend not to reduce the cooldown of Mending in PvP/WvW, please let me inform you why that is an absolutely horrible decision. This small oversight will further kill what little build diversity is left on Warrior. Core Strength Warrior = nerfed. Strength Spellbreaker = nerfed. Strength Bladesworn = nerfed. These builds are already mediocre compared with the X/Defense/Discipline builds and will become even worse if you remove the best reason to take the Strength tree in the first place. If you are hardstuck on nerfing Mending for Stength builds, I would HIGHLY recommend adding some type of sustain buff to the Strength tree to compensate. Perhaps increase the healing of Might Makes Right for example. Or add a 20% reduction to heal skill cooldown to a very underpowered trait like Restorative Strength. In short, if you do not intent to reduce the cooldown of Mending in PvP/WvW you will actually be hurting Warrior build diversity by making the best builds better (Bull's Charge now has a 24 seconds cooldown baseline) and the mediocre builds worse. I know this must be an oversight. Please reconsider nerfing the already very dead Strength tree. Thank you.

Yeah, I'm just hoping it was a typo considering Mending already has a cooldown 15 in PvE. Tbh if they accidently nerf every build that uses Strength because of a simple oversight, it might push me over the edge of quitting this game. I'm so tired of them unintentionally nerfing mediocre builds because of haphazard balance changes.

Same. It wouldn't be a balance patch if Core Warrior wasn't inadvertently nerfed by poorly thought out changes.

I assume they must have meant PvP/WvW only right? Mending already has a cooldown of 15 in PvE. If they don't reduce the cooldown of Mending in PvP/WvW as compensation it would be yet another nail in the coffin of any builds trying to utilize Strength. One of the best reasons to take the Strength tree was the lower cooldown of Mending. I'm sorry, but this whole patch feels really pointless and poorly thought out... times like these push me closer to quitting the game.