User:Shard/21Feb2010
My computer had been acting up, so I was not here for the last few weeks. I saw the most recent skill preview today for the first time like many of you.
Despite being on the test krewe, I was unaware of about a third of the content on this list, because it's been about two weeks since I've even visited their forums, so I read this change list for the first time and found a few things that surprised and disappointed me.
Glimmering Mark will join other damage-over-time hexes and will ignore armor. To balance this change, the damage will be reduced to 5...25.
What the shit? You balance something by making it ignore armor!?
Auspicious Parry will now provide adrenaline when it ends, even if it didn't block anything.
Cause that's what a parry is, right? A parry is when you do nothing?
Defensive Stance will also provide adrenaline when it ends, though the amount will depend on how many melee attack skills you have on your skill bar (maximum 0..4).
I know being defensive puts my nerves on edge! Also, why is "Defensive Stance" reliant on attack skills?
Shield Stance will provide 2 points of damage reduction for each rank of Strength (maximum 15)
Yes! Now my warrior can move slower while not taking damage in pvp!
"Retreat!" is being reworked to no longer require dead allies within earshot. It will provide 33% faster movement and a 50% block chance, but will end for anyone who attacks or uses a skill.
This sounds like a nice change. Let's combine Aegis and Fall back into one really really broken skill.
Barbed Signet, the most dramatic of these, is being reworked as a 1…24 second self-buff that inflicts bleeding on your target whenever you cast a Necromancer spell on a foe. This very powerful, non-removable buff is balanced by a hefty 12% health sacrifice.
Saying it doesn't make it true, but it does make for good comedic value. You sac 12% of your health to apply free degen to their whole team whenever you want? Well, it should be ok as long as you can strip it. . . oh.
Jaundiced Gaze will remove an enchantment and, as a bonus, enchant you, speeding up your next enchantment spell and reducing its energy cost.
Necromancers aren't mesmers, they aren't eles, and they definitely dont need more enchant strips.
I'm profoundly disappointed by this preview. The last balance update we got was actually good. That's rare for this game. I was hoping they would become more common.
