Guild Wars 2: Breaking Down The June 27th Balance Update

mmorpg.com:

Another round of balance updates are making their way to Guild Wars 2 . This round of changes are a bit different this time, as they are specifically targeting boon support roles and how they work operationally and mechanically. There has long been some controversy among how some of these supports play; with many of them feeling “samey” or “spammy”. 

With the preview stream now done (you can find the VOD here! ), let’s jump right into it:

A lot of this is to be expected, but the removal of skill type specific recharge reduction traits is also a welcome change. Classes like Untamed, while powerful previously, were completely hinged on their cooldown reduction, and if this doesn’t shout a rework for that specific class, I don’t know what is. Additionally, the confusion damage change is noted to allow for more consistent damage dealing, which may hurt confusion condition damage classes a bit on the very high end, but allow for much more consistent damage against foes that don’t attack as quickly.

Sword rework

Spirit rework

Untamed switched to be a quickness provider

Druid given a DPS spec

The Sword rework aims to give a bit more evasion, some nice vigor and poison, while also giving a lot of CC. Strider’s Strength replaces Strider’s Defense, giving power, and more power with a Sword. Spirits will no longer give alacrity, but will instead function like the Warrior banners of old. Note that the Stone Spirit specifically was seen providing Aegis. This is a very good change, as it’s been made pretty clear that Quickness and Alacrity boons shouldn’t have been tied to core spec abilities. Grace of the Land will be the trait that provides Alacrity, solidifying Druid as the Ranger spec that provides Alacrity.