Skill UpdatesOctober 09, 2008
Developer Notes

We made some Fire Magic skills more powerful, modified a few skills which were too powerful at 0 attribute investment, fine-tuned the balance between Ranger elites and make Lyssa's Aura more attractive.

Assassin

Hidden Caltrops' previous durations allowed someone to be permanently snared without the caster having any attribute investment in Shadow Arts. We reduced the hex duration and reduced its overall effectiveness at low attributes.

Elementalist

We increased the damage of Immolate and reduced the casting time of Meteor to give Fire Elementalists a few more options.

Mesmer

Lyssa's Aura required a hefty 14-point Inspiration Magic investment to get 4 Energy regeneration, which is unrealistic on most builds. We increased the Energy regeneration by 1, which in turn lowers the attribute requirement to make this skill useful.

Ranger

Since being reworked, Incendiary Arrows has outshined other, previously desirable Ranger elites for most players. We toned down Incendiary Arrows by increasing the recharge, but we also decided to raise the Burning duration of Burning Arrow and lower the recharge of Melandru's Shot. This should better balance the Ranger condition-spreading elite skills against each another.

Warrior

Along with the "For Great Justice!" change below, this is targeted specifically at Assassins using a particular multi-weapon build to keep enemies permanently knocked down. This change will have no effect on most Warriors who use a hammer. "For Great Justice!" made it too easy to fuel adrenal skills when used with daggers, considering their double-strike capability. This was used commonly within Hero Battles to rapidly build adrenaline. We've reduced the duration to limit this interaction.

  • Note: All skill ranges are for Attribute 0...12...15.
  • Hidden Caltrops: reduced hex duration to 1...8...10 seconds; reduced Crippled duration to 1...12...15 seconds.
  • Immolate: increased damage to 20...64...75.
  • Meteor: reduced casting time to 2 seconds.
  • Lyssa's Aura: increased Energy regeneration to 0...4...5.
  • Burning Arrow: increased Burning duration to 1...6...7 seconds.
  • Incendiary Arrows: increased recharge to 5 seconds.
  • Melandru's Shot: reduced recharge to 8 seconds.
  • "For Great Justice!": reduced duration to 8 seconds.
  • Backbreaker: functionality changed to: "Deals +1...16...20 damage. Causes knock-down (2...4...4 seconds)".