Content Update 2.6.0 Balance Changes

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Cr4zyJ03 wrote:

Feels like I'll finally not have to play a cookie-cutter build to get some damn dps! Its the biggest gripe ive ever had with poe. I want a build that is unique and still end game viable! Thanks GGG .

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tacotiklah wrote:

Vaal Discipline: The core part of this is still intact; which is that your ES regen can't be interrupted. Still highly useful in tough fights. Only negative thing is the loss of the extra ES, but given that people can easily get 10k ES on the tree + gear, it's not nearly as bad as people think. Everyone has been bitching about nerfing ES, so GGG nerfs a skill gem that gives quite a bit of extra ES as part of that, and now people are bitching about the nerfs they were asking for. Again, can't have it both ways.

If you don't make your own builds, well then now would be a good time to learn. Because the meta builds that Mathil/Ziz/Ziggy/LNB/Pohx/etc are running right now may well not be viable in a few leagues. That's the nature of a game that undergoes frequent balance changes.

tl;dr version: Wait for the actual patch notes, learn to adapt, and stop crying. You'll be a better person and a better player for it.

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shinigamiscall wrote:

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tacotiklah wrote:

Vaal Discipline: The core part of this is still intact; which is that your ES regen can't be interrupted. Still highly useful in tough fights. Only negative thing is the loss of the extra ES, but given that people can easily get 10k ES on the tree + gear, it's not nearly as bad as people think. Everyone has been bitching about nerfing ES, so GGG nerfs a skill gem that gives quite a bit of extra ES as part of that, and now people are bitching about the nerfs they were asking for. Again, can't have it both ways.

If you don't make your own builds, well then now would be a good time to learn. Because the meta builds that Mathil/Ziz/Ziggy/LNB/Pohx/etc are running right now may well not be viable in a few leagues. That's the nature of a game that undergoes frequent balance changes.

tl;dr version: Wait for the actual patch notes, learn to adapt, and stop crying. You'll be a better person and a better player for it.

No, what people complained about was how easy it was to simply use GR with VP and become Gods. Not only did ES have a significantly larger life pool than Life based builds but it could gain the same leech. Vaal Discipline without the ES is a HUGE change for auramancers. Now, if we run that we will look like greedy fuukas because there are a number of builds that DO NOT build ES, shocking truth! O.O Without that large portion of ES auramancers require higher ES gear to survive because unlike DPS they can't go CI for the extra 15% more ES or leech due to high reserves taking away any chance of hit skill dmg leech.

Also, CI Chaos Incinerate, one of the cheap high tier builds this league, doesn't use VD. All that build needs is GR+VP and it can facetank t15 twinned maps. The problem was never VD because that had a huge drawback already, the soul requirement and extremely short base duration of 3 seconds. VG, which gives nearly +50% chance to dodge spells & atks (when cast by a support) has double the base duration making it easier to sustain. Who cares about 20% recharge when you can avoid most of the dmg in the game while still instantly leaching if you do ever take dmg.

Again, the only builds that this will really hurt are the support players or casual/honest players because the cost of ES gear is extremely high and very few people get lucky on drops. Most of the people with extremely high currency got it by scamming/ripping off other players and it is something that has been brought up on the front page of the poe reddit multiple times this week.

Even when they do release the patch notes it is highly unlikely that they will make any positive changes for support Auramancers because aside from an ascendancy buff anything done would buff the builds they are trying to nerf. So, we have every reason to be upset when support auramancer will only be viable with a 40+ex build after this.

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tacotiklah wrote:

I've been reading through a lot of the responses in this thread and I honestly think people are QQ over nothing. The actual patch notes aren't out yet, so we don't know what buffs to items/new build-enabling uniques/etc. are being introduced to balance out the nerfs here. People are getting their jimmies rustled prematurely imho.

Vaal Haste: A lot of people bitched about the clear speed meta, so GGG nerfed this gem in an attempt to slow things down a bit. Now people are QQ over a nerf to a vaal skill gem which has been part of what is pushing clearing content faster and faster. Can't have it both ways peeps.

Vaal Discipline: The core part of this is still intact; which is that your ES regen can't be interrupted. Still highly useful in tough fights. Only negative thing is the loss of the extra ES, but given that people can easily get 10k ES on the tree + gear, it's not nearly as bad as people think. Everyone has been bitching about nerfing ES, so GGG nerfs a skill gem that gives quite a bit of extra ES as part of that, and now people are bitching about the nerfs they were asking for. Again, can't have it both ways.

Daggers: Crit completely shit-wrecks content in this game and literally the only one-hander that was of any real use were daggers. Naturally, GGG wants to buff other one-handers and nerf daggers to balance the game. Welp, now people are QQ about how they can't get 80% crit on a single one-handed weapon. Never mind that it was dominating the game to the point that it was pointless to use any other one handed weapon. If people really didn't see this nerf coming at some point, they were either blind or new to the game. Daggers NEEDED to be nerfed. I love crit builds like anyone else, but when a weapon dominates the game the way daggers did, it made for very boring, repetitive builds.

AoE: It really feels like people didn't read all of what was written about it and saw "nerf" and started bitching. This was both a buff and nerf at the same time. It was a buff because you're able to get more AoE early on, but also a nerf for those that try to squeeze every bit of aoe out of their build that they can (I'm looking at you fire nova mines. Also, if you're smart, you'll see that there's a potential way around this for at least one possible 2.6 build :P ;) )

Blade Flurry: Anyone that didn't see this nerf coming is either blind or new. Everyone knew this skill was going to get nerfed hard when it came out. You can't have that much dps + AoE + double dipping from poison and pretend to be blindsided when it gets a nerf. It's a good skill, but was way too op compared to the other channeling skills that got released. And again, if you're smart, you'll be able to change your build to make use of it in other ways than just a crap ton of phys/poison/bleed and still be able to use blade flurry successfully.

Let's be honest here, how many people here that are complaining actually theorycraft their own builds? If so, then adapt. That's the whole theme of the game, in case no one was paying any attention. Survive, adapt, grow. Anyone that's been playing ARPGs for a while has come to expect that nerfs are gonna happen. And when they do, simply build around them. It's not nearly as hard as people think it is.

If you don't make your own builds, well then now would be a good time to learn. Because the meta builds that Mathil/Ziz/Ziggy/LNB/Pohx/etc are running right now may well not be viable in a few leagues. That's the nature of a game that undergoes frequent balance changes.



tl;dr version: Wait for the actual patch notes, learn to adapt, and stop crying. You'll be a better person and a better player for it.

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Ashriel wrote:

Can't say I'm happy with many of these changes. Pyre getting nerfed sucks and I have a feeling the change will be of Blizzard Entertainment proportions, i.e. no one will ever use it again. Area nodes and general AoE being made worse is awful. AoE clusters, if anything, needed a buff, not some idiotic diminishing returns system. I love AoE and was really hoping the rumored change would be beneficial, but as usual, GGG is taking the easy way out.

Some passive tree changes are good, like the physical attack damage leech being made into plain attack damage. Every physical attack damage node on the tree of any kind needs the same treatment.

Lowering dagger base crit won't change anything except piss people off. The "buffs" to other weapon types barely makes them any more desirable than they currently are, which is to say, zero.

I like the threshold jewel change, but having many still being limited to ONLY ONE is a mistake. You're giving Freezing Pulse users free GMP since you can use two jewels, but the EK jewel that grants 10 projectiles but fires in a nova (making it a worse skill especially with the new AoE changes) is limited to one. Viper Strike giving Unholy Might sometimes is pointless, as the current ways of getting that buff are far superior and don't require, you know, using Viper Strike. No one will ever use Vigilant Strike still.

Ice Crash and Sunder will continue to be only used while leveling, or by new players. Vaal Haste and Discipline will never be used again.

Blade Flurry needed a nerf, so I'm curious to see if it does 0.5% less damage now or 0.6%.

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Hughs wrote:

so i guess you only play in Standard, or you are a troll. So i am sure that you might know what i am talking about. You are wrong, only a very few people/builds can reach those 12K es.

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Tarttycat wrote:

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Ashriel wrote:

Can't say I'm happy with many of these changes. Pyre getting nerfed sucks and I have a feeling the change will be of Blizzard Entertainment proportions, i.e. no one will ever use it again. Area nodes and general AoE being made worse is awful. AoE clusters, if anything, needed a buff, not some idiotic diminishing returns system. I love AoE and was really hoping the rumored change would be beneficial, but as usual, GGG is taking the easy way out.

Some passive tree changes are good, like the physical attack damage leech being made into plain attack damage. Every physical attack damage node on the tree of any kind needs the same treatment.

Lowering dagger base crit won't change anything except piss people off. The "buffs" to other weapon types barely makes them any more desirable than they currently are, which is to say, zero.

I like the threshold jewel change, but having many still being limited to ONLY ONE is a mistake. You're giving Freezing Pulse users free GMP since you can use two jewels, but the EK jewel that grants 10 projectiles but fires in a nova (making it a worse skill especially with the new AoE changes) is limited to one. Viper Strike giving Unholy Might sometimes is pointless, as the current ways of getting that buff are far superior and don't require, you know, using Viper Strike. No one will ever use Vigilant Strike still.

Ice Crash and Sunder will continue to be only used while leveling, or by new players. Vaal Haste and Discipline will never be used again.

Blade Flurry needed a nerf, so I'm curious to see if it does 0.5% less damage now or 0.6%.

Have you ever used that EK?
it is not an aoe and it's a projectile spell :(

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4thReich wrote:

ES gear isn't so expensive, with a bit of patience you can craft yourself a good 300 helmet, a 650 chest and a 400/450 shield, with that and some passives is easy to reach 9k ES and that is more than sufficent don't be oneshoted and usually are cheap on leagues, for the rest VD and GR still works

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shinigamiscall wrote:

Vaal Discipline: The core part of this is still intact; which is that your ES regen can't be interrupted. Still highly useful in tough fights. Only negative thing is the loss of the extra ES, but given that people can easily get 10k ES on the tree + gear, it's not nearly as bad as people think. Everyone has been bitching about nerfing ES, so GGG nerfs a skill gem that gives quite a bit of extra ES as part of that, and now people are bitching about the nerfs they were asking for. Again, can't have it both ways.

If you don't make your own builds, well then now would be a good time to learn. Because the meta builds that Mathil/Ziz/Ziggy/LNB/Pohx/etc are running right now may well not be viable in a few leagues. That's the nature of a game that undergoes frequent balance changes.

tl;dr version: Wait for the actual patch notes, learn to adapt, and stop crying. You'll be a better person and a better player for it.

No, what people complained about was how easy it was to simply use GR with VP and become Gods. Not only did ES have a significantly larger life pool than Life based builds but it could gain the same leech. Vaal Discipline without the ES is a HUGE change for auramancers. Now, if we run that we will look like greedy fuukas because there are a number of builds that DO NOT build ES, shocking truth! O.O Without that large portion of ES auramancers require higher ES gear to survive because unlike DPS they can't go CI for the extra 15% more ES or leech due to high reserves taking away any chance of hit skill dmg leech.

Also, CI Chaos Incinerate, one of the cheap high tier builds this league, doesn't use VD. All that build needs is GR+VP and it can facetank t15 twinned maps. The problem was never VD because that had a huge drawback already, the soul requirement and extremely short base duration of 3 seconds. VG, which gives nearly +50% chance to dodge spells & atks (when cast by a support) has double the base duration making it easier to sustain. Who cares about 20% recharge when you can avoid most of the dmg in the game while still instantly leaching if you do ever take dmg.

Again, the only builds that this will really hurt are the support players or casual/honest players because the cost of ES gear is extremely high and very few people get lucky on drops. Most of the people with extremely high currency got it by scamming/ripping off other players and it is something that has been brought up on the front page of the poe reddit multiple times this week.

Even when they do release the patch notes it is highly unlikely that they will make any positive changes for support Auramancers because aside from an ascendancy buff anything done would buff the builds they are trying to nerf. So, we have every reason to be upset when support auramancer will only be viable with a 40+ex build after this.

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tntkiller wrote:

amen to that my fellow auramancer/curseguardian......

i play auramancer/curseguardian due to my health(parkingson as i posted a few pages ago) i really fear me not be able to play a ALTERNATE PLAYSTYLE that depends on VD to survive,,w cant leech and cant flask other then VD or ZO flask wich is not the same as a flask, as i said at least add a ES flask then to the game whenwe can orb.

auramancer is the only way i can enjoy high lvl playstyle...with parkingson i have a hard time concentraating on difficult fights, so i can play combat its mostly simple maps, shapers and stuff is inpossible for me with pakinson..