Guild Wars 2 Previews Massive Class Balance Pass Coming On June 27

June 12, 2023 Marc Marasigan Comments

ArenaNet is preparing to shake up the Guild Wars 2 class meta once again with another round of balance changes coming later this month. The studio shares more details on the massive balance pass with the release of the preview patch notes for the update.

According to the devs, the goal is to improve the overall gameplay experience for boon support builds, introduce alternative playstyles for certain specializations, make some of the less-used weapons more appealing, and incorporate skill-type recharge reduction traits into baseline skills where necessary.

The patch notes dive into the specifics, outlining the adjustments coming to each class. Some of the noteworthy changes include updates to the Spectacular Sphere skill which will allow Catalysts to use any jade sphere for added quickness instead of just the air sphere and improvements to Tempest DPS builds.

For Engineer elite specs, the penalty for Mechanists who stray too far from their jade mechs will be changed from a mech stat reduction to a longer cooldown for mech command skills, while the Scrapper will see adjustments to its Kinetic Accelerator skill which will subsequently trigger when successfully finishing a combo with either a leap or blast finisher.

The update will also address complaints about the Mirage’s evasion in PvP by buffing the Mesmer spec’s endurance but removing its ability to dodge when immobilized of under crowd control effects. “We believe that this is a good middle ground between the current version of Mirage Cloak and a potentially larger rework, and we'll be keeping a close eye on how it plays out,” explained ArenaNet.

Finally, Rangers can expect nerfs to their Spirits as they’ll no longer grant alacrity once the patch goes live. Instead, Spirits will trigger a smaller effect when summoned, a more powerful effect in the form of a slam, and will grant boons for a shorter period of time. Druids, on the other hand, will get access to a new alacrity build with unrestricted access to quickness alongside Nature Magic adjustments to further cement its role as a support spec.

All in all, it’s a massive patch that will touch on every class in the fantasy MMORPG so it’s probably best to get up to speed on the changes before the patch drops on June 27^th. You’ll find the beefy preview patch notes on the Guild Wars 2 official forums.