One of the routinely stated design goals about Guild Wars 2 is that you should be able to wander out in the world and be happy to see others. Interacting and working with other players should be welcome. But it’s hard to welcome others when you’re playing a build focused around stacking bleeding effects on the target, since in the live game there’s a hard limit to how many stacks of that debuff can be applied, making your bleeding useless past a certain point.
Good news, though: That limit is being removed for Heart of Thorns, allowing players with condition-based damage to work together more comfortably with the expansion launch. Game design lead Jon Peters posted about this on the official forums, stressing that while there was a need for more balancing and testing, it was indeed an intentional change to make group play more satisfying for condition-based players. More information about how this system will work for other conditions and more potential balance changes is incoming, but it’s definitely a step toward making the bleeding cycle feel less exclusionary.
[Source: Official forums via TTH]
One of the main reasons I quit GW2 as a Necro player based on condition damage. I did zero damage on large group fights because of the bleed cap. Good job GW2 team for finally removing the cap, but it’s literally a few years too late.
I love many of the things that gw2 has done but … man… they take forever. Barely at first xpac with only one class being added. No new race, no new weapons, etc. Honestly I wish the cap was 20 and they focused on making the game more expansive. Least we are getting (a) subclasses.
Styopa alexjwillis Always build condi removal into your skills. Always!
DugFromTheEarth paragonlostinspace alexjwillis Yeah, I hear what you’re saying. I’m actually surprised at how many people DON’T use condi removal skills. But I do regularly see 15-bleed stacks on people — it’s not hard to get there when some attacks immediately apply up to 6 at one go.
alexjwillis I think this just forces people to actually contemplate that they have to play SOME defense in their choices, with some sort of condition removal in the group, if not individually. Â Frankly, I felt that I could largely ignore condition-removal most of the time, but now with the idea that bleeds can stack to the sky I’ll have to have something that can shed them without relying on someone to do it for me.
DugFromTheEarth paragonlostinspace alexjwillis
Good to know. I was basing my opinion more on all the other mmo-rpgs that I’ve played and being a fan of pvp. My experience with pvp in GW2 is still in the neophyte phase. Though I do love my necro. heh.
paragonlostinspace alexjwillis When there are so many ways to instantly remove conditions, there is hardly anything to worry about.
Ive played a condition necro for a long time, and the 25 cap has never been my issue in PvP (except in zergs vs guards and keep lords, which is still pve). My conditions get removed before they can even stack half way to 25. This isnt going to affect pvp really much at all. If you do see 25+ stacks, its most likely because you arent using ANY condition removal, or… gasp… multiple people are attacking you, in which case… conditions or no conditions, you are going to die due to sheer numbers.
alexjwillis Yeah I’d worry about them in pvp, but I think its wonderful for pve.
Nothing new about it. There are many of us who’ve been playing that build for quite a while
thegirlwiththehair Eh people are patient enough to sit in the tower. They want bags, and all the loot for taking stuff.