The full list of changes in the March 2 update are here.
By now I'm sure most of us have had a chance to have a play around with some of the skill changes and changed builds etc. Going through the list I didn't see too much that would effect the character builds that I usually drag out, but there were a few scattered around in there.
And PvP Mesmers didn't really need that 'buff'.
Here's the kicker: Mist Form neutralizes the direct damage from the caster's wand/staff/sword/whatever, just like it neutralizes the weapon attacks of the enemy. Meanwhile it does nothing to the bonus damage from Conjure Frost. With those two enchantments Ice Blade can stand there tapping away on things without fear of riprisal in a "death by a thousand paper cuts" tactic. The Mist Form duration still hinders him (21s at Lvl16, 30s recharge) so he's untouchable 2/3's of the time at least, but then Blurred Vision can sustain him in the gap. In the past he had to rely on spell attacks to hurt, but now Conjure Frost can be effective indefinitely (with re-casts once a minute) yielding a cheap fire and forget alternative.
Conjure Lightning no doubt becomes similarly more usable and one wonders about the applications with such skills as Glimmering Mark (Blinds enemies hit by Lightning), Gale (knockdown with attacks enchantment), Thunderclap (knockdown with attack hex) in tandem with a player's other defensive enchantments.
By now I'm sure most of us have had a chance to have a play around with some of the skill changes and changed builds etc. Going through the list I didn't see too much that would effect the character builds that I usually drag out, but there were a few scattered around in there.
Quote:Updated Adrenaline behavior so that death removes all Adrenaline.Ragnar will not be impressed! This one is a PvP nerf. Ragnar used to die in RoF arena (can never remember the name) and come back at the shrine on a full tank of adrenaline, or at least as full as it was at the point of death. He could use a knock down attack for his first shot in the re-entry to combat, which given the nastiness and adrenaline requirements of Backbreaker was a neat trick to do. Oh well. Them's the breaks eh?
Quote:You are no longer considered "attacking," "using a skill," or "casting a spell" while you are running to get in range of a target.Another Warrior alteration. It used to be that a Warrior running down a Wind Rider etc. with one skill loaded up and pending would suck on a Cry of Frustration shortly after entering spell range. I used to exploit this annoying fact by making the damned things unload on a 5 point cheapo, but overall I'm actually happy this ridiculous state of affairs was changed.
Quote:Reduced the Lieutenant's Helm Hex duration bonus to 20%, and added it to the PvP character creation screen.Ugh! Fair enough that PvPers get this item, but did it really need to be rendered largely pointless in the process? With one breath they get to say "Yaaaaa- Wha-? It's only worth something to runners now? Oh FFS!"
And PvP Mesmers didn't really need that 'buff'.
Quote:Energy Drain: decreased recharge time to 25 seconds.Ooh. More energy for Eles. Interesting. Not a huge change, but it seems to fit my experiences with Kronin and Ice Blade.
Energy Tap: decreased recharge time to 25 seconds
Quote:Conjure Frost: no longer removes Enchantments.Seemingly inocuous this looks to me like one of the biggest changes in the batch. I did some testing with Ice Blade and have realized that he's now much more capable of operating in a solo tank capacity than before.
Here's the kicker: Mist Form neutralizes the direct damage from the caster's wand/staff/sword/whatever, just like it neutralizes the weapon attacks of the enemy. Meanwhile it does nothing to the bonus damage from Conjure Frost. With those two enchantments Ice Blade can stand there tapping away on things without fear of riprisal in a "death by a thousand paper cuts" tactic. The Mist Form duration still hinders him (21s at Lvl16, 30s recharge) so he's untouchable 2/3's of the time at least, but then Blurred Vision can sustain him in the gap. In the past he had to rely on spell attacks to hurt, but now Conjure Frost can be effective indefinitely (with re-casts once a minute) yielding a cheap fire and forget alternative.
Conjure Lightning no doubt becomes similarly more usable and one wonders about the applications with such skills as Glimmering Mark (Blinds enemies hit by Lightning), Gale (knockdown with attacks enchantment), Thunderclap (knockdown with attack hex) in tandem with a player's other defensive enchantments.
Quote:Mist Form: decreased cast time to 1 second.The other side of the the coin where the above combo is concerned. The caster becomes much harder to interrupt and the approximately 10 second gap in the enchantment at level 16 gets a little smaller.
Quote:Resurrect: reduced cast time to 6 seconds; increased recharge time to 5 seconds.Interesting. It's competitive against Rebirth in cast time now. Trickier for me to interrupt using a Maelstrom and the 5 second duration thing screws over Maelstrom versus Stone Summit Priests (They used to ignore and try multiple resurrection attempts, drain themselves flat and just die). Alternately those same Priests become easier to stop for Warriors stuck with adrenaline based knock downs. Somewhat Zen will be happier too I am sure.
Quote:Peace and Harmony: skill reworked. Now ends if ally casts a Spell on target foe or deals damage to a foe; reduced recharge time to 30 seconds.Haha. Good job!
Quote:Live Vicariously: increased amount healed per swing to 2..17.It's not a huge jump but considering that I was already mixing this skill with Barrage for solo runs with a result that was like having 3 or 4 self targetted Mendings multiplied by the number of targets hit, this buff is quite surprising.
Quote:Dwarven Battle Stance: now also increases attack speed by 10%.It needed that I think. Hammer attack rates are slow enough that other attacks could slip between interrupting hammer blows. Those dwarves in Sorrow's Furnace just go a whole lot more annoying.
Quote:Fixed miscellaneous bugs with the wurm monster AI.Oh dear. I suspect someone else may have discovered the sneaky little trick I stumbled on while having Somewhat Zen guide seven henchies into Tombs. Or perhaps not. I'll have to re-test it I think.