skill-update
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Flameseeker Chronicles: The great nerfbat of '10 (or why ArenaNet didn't fail)
Last week's Guild Wars skill update sparked discussion among players that shows no sign of slowing any time soon. Player reactions ran the full spectrum, from delight to the infamous (and ineffective, since the player in question never intended to stop playing and the box didn't burn very well anyway) box burning. Whatever your feelings on it, there's no doubt that this huge skill update had a pretty big impact on the community over the past few days. Follow along after the jump for a closer look at the aftermath.
Guild Wars releases long-awaited skill update
We were told last week it was coming, but the huge Guild Wars skill balance that has been long promised finally arrived last night. The Guild Wars Live Team and Test Krewe have been working on this one for quite a while, in part because of the size and significance of the update. The unusual length of time was also partially because they were striving to address some underlying issues rather than just swinging the nerfbat at a few choice skills, only to create a new flavor of the month build to take over. While the changes to Shadow Form and the entire concept of invulnerability are creating the loudest buzz at the moment, they weren't the only things to get a look over by any means. This is one of the largest skill updates ever to come to Guild Wars, and the update notes were released at the same time as a developer update elaborating on the thought processes behind many of the changes. Watch for this Monday's Flameseeker Chronicles, when we'll take a more in depth look at the update.
Guild Wars skill update planned for next week
Earlier this evening a skill update preview landed on the Guild Wars wiki for an update expected to go into effect next Thursday the 25th. From the look of the notes, it's the big one we've all been waiting on. The notes begin by asserting that Shadow Form, Obsidian Flesh, and a few 600/Smite skills will be getting some changes. However, this won't be a general nerf that causes players to simply move on to the next overpowered flavor of the month build. The team has taken a long look at the underlying issue of overpowered builds in general, so it will be very interesting to see what comes of it. Moving beyond that, the notes gave much more specific information on other skills and builds that will be getting updates. Many of the things we've come to accept as a cliche -- Spirit Spamming Rits, weak Hammer Warriors, and more -- will be getting shaken up next week. The notes are of course preliminary and subject to change, but for now they serve as a good indication of what will happen next week, so take a look here, and gather ye DTSC groups while ye may.
Lord of the Rings Online talks about skill upgrades for Volume III
With some major combat upgrades going hand-in-hand with the last major expansion, Lord of the Rings Online drew a few raised eyebrows over the lack of major skill updates at launch. However, as the official site's most recent developer diary explains, it wasn't for lack of interest so much as wanting to see how the new combat system played out before making changes. With the upcoming Oath of the Rangers, the systems team has been hard at work adding level 64 upgrades to help each class play better and more enjoyably in all areas of the game. Outlining a simple design philosophy -- make underused skills interesting, give exciting bonuses, and leave general class balance alone -- the diary goes on to highlight the upgrades offered to each class. Champions, Guardians, and Captains get improved buffs for themselves, Burglars and Hunters see their Power concerns addressed, and other classes got underused skills happily improved to bring them better to the forefront of play. Lord of the Rings Online has always had a respectable diversity among its classes, and the coming update seems poised to improve the game as a whole by making everyone just a little stronger.
Guild Wars releases preliminary skill update notes
No, they are not nerfing Shadow Form. Yet. But Guild Wars community manager Regina Buenaobra released a preview of some skill updates and updated GvG restrictions that are coming. Since they'll be released shortly before a Monthly Automated Tournament, and affect PvP heavily, the preview is being offered to give players a chance to plan for the changes. Regina does note, however, that these are preliminary notes, and subject to change. So what about the rest of the promised skill update? Regina says "While we continue a larger playbalance project that includes drastic changes to Shadow Form, we believe it is important to release a small skill balance to address a few other pressing issues" So the project is still underway, and Shadow Form is still in the crosshairs. (You can either be glad of that, or farm even faster while you still can, depending on your point of view on the entire issue.) We'll continue watching for further information on the update.
New information on Guild Wars Wintersday redux and next skill update
The Guild Wars Wintersday festival had a few issues this year, but ArenaNet kindly offered up a Wintersday redux. Anyone who missed out on their hats or didn't get to participate as much as they wanted thanks to lag now gets a second chance. If you were lucky enough to have smooth sailing on the first round, just enjoy the bonus! We've been waiting on a date for the festivities, and yesterday community manager Regina Buenaobra announced that it will begin January 29 and run until the finale on February 7. (It doesn't look like the event will overlap Canthan New Year, of course.) Regina's announcement also included new information on the large skill update that the team originally planned to roll out in full this month: "The next skill updates will be rolled out in stages. First, GvG skills will be updated, and this will come next week, before the Monthly Tournament. We will release preliminary patch notes with details of those GvG changes later this week, so that those participating in the Monthly Tournament will have some notice of the changes". We'll keep a close eye out for those patch notes for you, and happy Wintersday! (Again)
Gracia Epilogue launches on Lineage II's test server today
Just when we thought Gracia, the 2nd throne, was done and over with in Gracia Final, we get a tasty surprise in the form of Gracia Epilogue, the next patch coming out for Lineage II.Gracia Epilogue is hiding many a tasty treat for Lineage II fans, with teasers pointing towards a new mail system, enhanced skill updates, and new hunting areas for high level players. However, these teasers are exactly that -- teasers. The official patch notes have not been released yet, leaving many to speculate what exactly will be in this patch.However, if you're looking to get some hands on the Epilogue, you can cruise on over to NCsoft's test server for L2 today and try it out! See if you can track down some of these elusive changes in the test environment!
Guild Wars skill balance targets Elites
If you've noticed a change in your Guild Wars Elite skills since yesterday, there's a good reason. The folks at ArenaNet are in the midst of a pretty hefty overhaul to the Elite skills, and yesterday kicked off the first update in the process. As an accompaniment to this update, an extensive dev diary has been released, detailing the entire process for a skill balance of this magnitude. There are three main factors that need to be taken into consideration when looking at which Elites to change: The skill has to be generally unused across all formats, all professions should have about the same number of updates and the skill has to be weak regardless of trends in the game. A skill that's strong as a counter to certain PvP builds but not others would not generally qualify, according to the dev diary.Be sure to check out this complete dev diary for more information on the process and which skills in each class were changed exactly.
