"Stalwart Bulwark: This set has been reworked. The new effect is as follows: When you are blocking, strikes against you generate stacks of Stalwart Bulwark. Your next power deals 20 bonus damage for each stack of Stalwart Bulwark on you. You may have up to 10 stacks."
Hi guys, I just red the new patch note and tought "Is today 1st of april? this must be an april fool".First, I want to point out that I'm not a rage kid 1!11 but the nerf at Stalwart Bulwark is so bad. The set was a bit OP as it grant defense and high level of power trough the 4-set bonus. The real problem is not the nerf on the set it-seft but all the enchantment/dye/edit spent on it will be lost and this seems to be a way to make all GF spend AD for buy all enchantment again or save them from their currently gear. Now I'm gonna cover the possible idea wich lead the developper make this decision.
"We wanted to rework the set, making it comparable to other t1" : Seems a good idea, as GF were the only class where t1 was stronger then t2 (Except maybe for the Archmage set for CW) but wait .. They changed a bonus that gives around ~9000 power with one that gives 200 DAMAGE in a 10 STACK build time, stack that are even harder to get and impossible to mantain.. This make the set useless like all t1 in the game.. Even newbies that reach lvl 60 from now on, will choose Knight Captain or PvP t1 set istead of that.
"Guardian fighter were made to be a Tank class" : Well, If this is the reason then there must be a competitive spec/set that can be usefull as a Conqueror Hybrid build. No defensive set can compete with conqueror in terms of utility. With a tank set you will gain like 4% of Damage Reduction and loose tons of power/crit/recovery and ArP and It will be hard to compete against group of Adds that will make loose your shield meter in less then 3 second, while with a conqueror build you will facetank them and hold more aggro.
"The set was used by 90% of GF and we wanted different kind of build" : The change on Stalwart will lead to a massive switch on Timeless hero set that provide more base power and recovery while making us loose like 1/2% of our Damage Reduction as it provide less defense but a +1 in armor class. From now on 90% of GF will use Timeless Hero, so no change if this was your idea.
"That set was too powerfull, even more then t2" Like I said before this is true but then you need to find out how to let people, that spent AD on it, to take their enchantment back. Now common GF with Rank 7 and greater Negation/Soulforged will need to spend 350k AD (700k if you care about utility slot) and start working on a new set, this is wrong in many ways.
"We will introuce a new set and want people to work for it" With the 22th of August a new patch will be introduced togheter with a new set. This new set called legendary iliyanbruen set have all defensive attribute (recovery/defence/deflection/regeneration) and the bonus will fill your guard meter by 45% over 5 second upon taking damages with 1 min ICD (Internal cooldown). If I want to be a full tank I will choose another set for sure, so this is in my opinion a useless set. If you wanted us to farm for a new set then you must know 90% of GF use a conqueror hybrid build and create a set for them, maybe less powerfull then stalwart but with t2 stats, in this way the majority of player would choose to work for that, even just for trying new thing.
Conclusion: I undestand that Stalwart Bulwark set is maybe too powerfull and also a t1 set so my Idea is to nerf it a bit, maybe with a maximum of 3 stack, or to switch it with a t2 set (First set that come to mind is the High General as It is less powerfull then the Knight captain in terms of utility) and make it a t2 set maintaining its stat.
If you have any thoughts on this change I encourage you to comment on this post, also If you have any idea that pushed the developper to change this set I will be glad to add it on the list.
P.S. Sorry for my english, I'm not a native english speaker.
Hi guys, I just red the new patch note and tought "Is today 1st of april? this must be an april fool".First, I want to point out that I'm not a rage kid 1!11 but the nerf at Stalwart Bulwark is so bad. The set was a bit OP as it grant defense and high level of power trough the 4-set bonus. The real problem is not the nerf on the set it-seft but all the enchantment/dye/edit spent on it will be lost and this seems to be a way to make all GF spend AD for buy all ench again or save them from their currently gear. Now I'm gonna cover the possible idea wich lead the developper make this decision.
"We wanted to rework the set, making it comparable to other t1" : Seems a good idea, as GF were the only class where t1 was stronger then t2 but wait.. They changed a bonus that gives around ~9000 power with one that gives 200 DAMAGE in a 10 STACK build time, stack that are even harder to get.. This make the set useless like all t1 in the game.. Even newbies that reach lvl 60 today will choose Knight Captain or PvP t1 set istead of that.
"Guardian fighter were made to be a Tank class" : Well, If this is the reason then there must be a competitive spec/set that can be usefull as a Conqueror Hybrid build. No defensive set can compete with conqueror in terms of utility. With a tank set you will gain like 4% of Damage Reduction and loose tons of power/crit/recovery and ArP and It will be hard to compete against group of Adds that will make your shield meter down in less then 3 second. While with a conqueror build you will facetank them and hold more aggro.
"The set was used by 90% of GF and we wanted different kind of build" : The change on Stalwart will lead to a massive switch on Timeless hero set the provide more base power and recovery while making us loose like 1/2% of our Damage Reduction as it provide less defense but a +1 in armor class.
"That set was too powerfull, even more then t2" Like I said before this is true but then you need to find out how to let people that spent AD on it to take their enchantment back. Now common GF with Rank 7 and greater Negation/Soulforged will need to spend 350k AD (700k if you care about utility slot) and start working on a new set, this is wrong in many ways.
"We will introuce a new set and want people to work for it" With the 22th of August a new patch will be introduced togheter with a new set. This new set have all defensive attribute and the bonus will fill your guard meter by 30% upon taking damages with 1 min ICD (Internal cooldown). If you wanted this well then you must know 90% of GF use a conqueror hybrid build and create a set for this, maybe less powerfull then stalwart but with t2 stats, in this way the majority of player would choose to work for that, even just for trying new thing.
Conclusion: I undestand that Stalwart Bulwark set is too powerfull and also a t1 set so my Idea is to nerf it a bit, maybe with a maximum of 3 stack, or to switch it with a t2 set (First set that come to mind is the High General as It is less powerfull then the Knight captain in terms of utility).
If you have any tough on this change I encourage you to comment on this post, also If you have any idea that pushed the developper to change this set I will be glad to add it on the list.
P.S. Sorry for my english, I'm not a native english speaker.
why do you have to nerf the set? as a GF, stalwart set is still not really that OP. i suggest that instead of nerfing the set, make a new set that will make ppl leave stalwart. change the Rune that gives HP, instead of HP, replace it with something. becaus more HP, it gives more power. if it has more Pdef, then atleast reduce it. to be honest, i invested some money to gain this set. but if its true that it will be nerfed, then ill be pushed to play another MMO. that would be the Elder scroll.
YOUR DOWNFALL IS MY GAIN.
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aladia1732Member, Neverwinter Beta UsersPosts: 7Arc User
edited August 2013
I totally agree with you. I'm a control wizard, not a guardian fighter, but I think it's stupid to nerf this set, because you can't nerf a set when there isn't a good alternative... I don't think it's smart to give rise to a massive quit from players deceived and frustrated with last minute notice nerf.
It sucks because the difference between Stalwart we have now and the new Stalwart is like 100 damage at full stacks. The problem is that full stacks is going to be stupid hard to get on the new Stalwart.
Tactician and Protector tanks are going to hit about as hard as declawed kittens, without Stalwart to rely on for damage.
why do you have to nerf the set? as a GF, stalwart set is still not really that OP. i suggest that instead of nerfing the set, make a new set that will make ppl leave stalwart. change the Rune that gives HP, instead of HP, replace it with something. becaus more HP, it gives more power. if it has more Pdef, then atleast reduce it. to be honest, i invested some money to gain this set. but if its true that it will be nerfed, then ill be pushed to play another MMO. that would be the Elder scroll.
See I happen to agree with this, I dumped a lot of money into this stupid set and I really don't know what I'm gonna do when this is changed... Obviously, they should really have a better alternative set instead of nerfing this one.
everyone needs to stand up boycott the game and then when they see dead servers they with change their minds. i love how they say they are listening to us but obviously thats a lie. im about to quite thank god i didnt invest much.
My tanky GF agrees with the changes. He's been very popular in pugs/premades recently, he'll be even more successful after that.
By the way, the AP changes to the CW and DC class should make tanky GFs viable. If you don't want to play a tank, well, there are already 2 dps class in game.
Same as TR's semi-avorted nerf. They wanted to counter the "too much" dps side of the GF but they ruined all the class. Stalwart was considered (for real GFs) as the Vengeance we have in WoW, to fill the dps lack and help with aggro generation. I know the benefits were too stronk (atm, got 13K power with a bear tank conqueror CN build, because Protector spec is fully bugged) but still, they should just have reduce the number of stacks to 3 instead of 5 stacks or the benefits of one stack to 2,5/3% instead of 5%.
Now, instead of fighting some GWF or CW at Damage metter while we handle aggro of tons of adds, we gonna let GWF/CW/TR take aggro (i joke a bit) and fight DCs at Damage Metter. Hopefully, i still have my Grand Regent set ready to serve in my bank, the Timeless does'nt suit me and it's not that bad, i will have no regrets to sell that set to an even more expensive price than actual price.
Let's farm Timeless !
Top tip for passing the time : Read a book, write a book or book a holiday for your book !
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ambisinisterrMember, Neverwinter ModeratorPosts: 10,462Community Moderator
edited August 2013
Honestly I think the Stalwart Bulwark Set was way overpowered and needed a hefty change.
The Stalwart Bulwak is a defensive set. If you look at the actual sets Guardian Fighters can obtain it is clear that it was intended to be the T1 version of the Grand Regent Set yet the four set bonus far exceeded the four set bonus of the Grand Regent. It should never of been both the top defensive and offensive set with a four piece set better than the Tier 2.
I think this was needed but not nearly to the extent it was done. Getting even two stacks of Stalwart Bulwark would bring it in line with my Grand Regent Bonus (5K Defense only grants 40 Bonus Damage for me) but such a bonus should not be limited to one attack. It should be a passive stack which generates and degenerates over time after blocking attacks. Even if you do manage to get to 10 stacks (easily possible) it is less than useful if it wears off after a single strike.
If such a degrading nature was built into the set it would need to give less bonus damage, perhaps +10 per stack, depending on how fast the benefit degraded but no matter what this current change, while needed, should not go into effect as a single hit or miss set-up.
This is not a nerf, it's a total different set. They are replacing the armor you INVESTED in with something so inferior that you are forced to change it. Now you either unslot all of your enchants or buy all new ones. What a screw job. I swear they actively trying to HAMSTER everyone off with all of their changes.
For the developers.... You made a few mistakes with items/drops/ect in the game. It is understandable that you want to fix a few things. START SMALL!!! Do not take one thing and make it something totally different. Do not nerf a class/item into the ground all in one shot. Do it gradually so the blow is not as severe. These items/skills/or whatever have been in the game for a while now and people have INVESTED money to build their characters based on what you put in the game. You can't just change it overnight and expect people to smile and move on. Every day you force more and more people to quit with all these huge changes you are making.
I agree Stalwart Bulwark bonus is too good for t1 set and beats t2 High General by far (another set that never buffs the owner, how sucky, not even with the pathetic bonus it gives), but since it's become so wide spread, where it's gonna leave the current users now? Especially, that the different kinds of builds were especially using this particular set to compensate the desperately low power/crit stats those other builds enforce. If they really want to promote other paragon paths, they should diminish the stat boost the conqueror gives or improve what the other paths offer - and this by far. I have Gf with Knight Captain set (and it's useless bonus which does nothing to my char and does seem to do nothing to my team as well), I used to be using Protector path since I wanted to have a GOOD TANK, but it not only it WASN'T much better at tanking than the same char respecced to Conqueror, but her power simply SUCKED, both in pve and pvp. I wouldn't even mind if she could really tank those tons of adds or bosses way better than with conqueror. But she couldn't, the block meter was breaking like matchsticks from 3 mobs hitting even with fully feated shield talent which, adding insult to injury, were too hard to even scratch well solo. You think you're gonna fix it with ruining some sets? Think again.
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ambisinisterrMember, Neverwinter ModeratorPosts: 10,462Community Moderator
edited August 2013
I get what you're saying...
But understand that is a Tier 1 Set which was without any shadow of a doubt better than the Tier 2 Sets. I bet if Grand Regent and Stalwart Bulwark were reversed from the start the change wouldn't have occurred to begin with but that fact that a Tier 1 item set was so much more visibly powerful than any other set by such a large gap can't be solved by simply increasing the other gear.
Tier 1 and Tier 2 have pretty strict definitions. Tier 1 have 4557 points to work with and Tier 2 have 5027 for Guardian Fighters.
If we pretend you have a really low HP Value of 20K, 5% of that is 1K. My Grand Regent only generates 800 Additional Power and a single swing from Stalwart Bulwark is better than the benefit from my Tier 2 set which is supposed to grant power. That can't be balanced by increasing the other sets. The set was just blatantly far too strong.
I'm with you guys that it's too weak now. Far, far too weak. But to pretend this nerf wasn't a long time coming is simply turning a blind eye to the reality of the Stalwart Bulwark set. It wasn't used by "90% of the Guardian Fighters" as the original poster stated because it was slightly better. It was used by 90% of the posters because it was blatantly better in every way.
I think switching to Timeless might not be as big a downgrade as some expect it to be (in fact in certain situation it already was superior to the Stalwart). But with the decreased defense and deflection there's nothing hybrid about the DPS build any longer. I still fully expect it to be more viable in PVE compared to a tank build though.
But as others have noted: DDs are already running with 3CW TR DC and with the current nerfs to AP regen, GFs will be completely benched. That's kinda annoying for a player like me, who is running the GF since day one and didn't bother to look into other classes at all.
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aladia1732Member, Neverwinter Beta UsersPosts: 7Arc User
But understand that is a Tier 1 Set which was without any shadow of a doubt better than the Tier 2 Sets. I bet if Grand Regent and Stalwart Bulwark were reversed from the start the change wouldn't have occurred to begin with but that fact that a Tier 1 item set was so much more visibly powerful than any other set by such a large gap can't be solved by simply increasing the other gear.
Tier 1 and Tier 2 have pretty strict definitions. Tier 1 have 4557 points to work with and Tier 2 have 5027 for Guardian Fighters.
If we pretend you have a really low HP Value of 20K, 5% of that is 1K. My Grand Regent only generates 800 Additional Power and a single swing from Stalwart Bulwark is better than the benefit from my Tier 2 set which is supposed to grant power. That can't be balanced by increasing the other sets. The set was just blatantly far too strong.
I'm with you guys that it's too weak now. Far, far too weak. But to pretend this nerf wasn't a long time coming is simply turning a blind eye to the reality of the Stalwart Bulwark set. It wasn't used by "90% of the Guardian Fighters" as the original poster stated because it was slightly better. It was used by 90% of the posters because it was blatantly better in every way.
You simply don't understand that you're ruining the game everytime you do such patches, and bit by bit players will get more and more disappointed... Yeh but who cares, it's more important to nerf a set than the fact that lots of players got already their set with enchantments and such things (so many AD spent). Why didn't you think about it before? It's been like that for months... MONTHS!! And... Why don't you give refund of AD, free enchantment un-bind from set then?
Yeh, and last minute news.
Mhh...
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aladia1732Member, Neverwinter Beta UsersPosts: 7Arc User
edited August 2013
Edit. With refund of AD I mean AD spent to change appereance, unenchant armor and dye color (like giving back dyes used).
Oh and yeah: A respec token would be the least devs could offer (better add free unbinds). 90% of the players now have to retool their builds, no-one will use the Stalwart. I worked hard for my 3M AD and half of it should be gone in re-enchanting the inventory and cat... harsh.
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ambisinisterrMember, Neverwinter ModeratorPosts: 10,462Community Moderator
aladia1732Member, Neverwinter Beta UsersPosts: 7Arc User
edited August 2013
It wasn't a "YOU" meant to your person :P anyway I'm not quitting for now because I like to play my CW. Several nerfs in the future will result in the quit of many players.
This was the point of my post. I'm not complaining with nerf, I agree that It was needed, but I'm complaining about the AD spent on the gear. With a compensation this should be good
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powereddjinnMember, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian UsersPosts: 1Arc User
edited August 2013
Unbind runes etc & the salvager offer a swap with another set of gear!
But understand that is a Tier 1 Set which was without any shadow of a doubt better than the Tier 2 Sets. I bet if Grand Regent and Stalwart Bulwark were reversed from the start the change wouldn't have occurred to begin with but that fact that a Tier 1 item set was so much more visibly powerful than any other set by such a large gap can't be solved by simply increasing the other gear.
Tier 1 and Tier 2 have pretty strict definitions. Tier 1 have 4557 points to work with and Tier 2 have 5027 for Guardian Fighters.
If we pretend you have a really low HP Value of 20K, 5% of that is 1K. My Grand Regent only generates 800 Additional Power and a single swing from Stalwart Bulwark is better than the benefit from my Tier 2 set which is supposed to grant power. That can't be balanced by increasing the other sets. The set was just blatantly far too strong.
I'm with you guys that it's too weak now. Far, far too weak. But to pretend this nerf wasn't a long time coming is simply turning a blind eye to the reality of the Stalwart Bulwark set. It wasn't used by "90% of the Guardian Fighters" as the original poster stated because it was slightly better. It was used by 90% of the posters because it was blatantly better in every way.
I get what you are saying....
BUT
When you drastically change anything in game that is tied to upgrades, a reset, in this case a FREE unsocket is in order. I don't have a GF nor do I have this set but it only makes sense when you take something and downgrade it drastically you need to give the ability (free of charge) to unsocket what is on it. I do feel for those who have this gear set and it only makes sense that they offer those who have it the ability to unsocket it. Same goes for respec's when they, in their infinite wisdom, drastically change class abilities....
A Proud Member Of THE 300 Guild - Tene's are nothing but P2W, Nerf or Remove please!
I feel ripped off by this move, I spent alot of real money just recently to get this set, mainly the helm I got everything else myself, doing countless runs at the mad dragon, most unsuccessful so alot of wasted time so i broke down and bought more zen and more AD to buy the helm (350K). I also slotted alot of rank 6s into it including addition radiants into my other defense slots (which I wouldn't for using another set).
I do like the game and don't mind spending some cash, but to have it taken away is just not cool.
I don't know if they could introduce a new stalwart set without removing the old one, or if they could just reduce the stacks or stack % to maybe 3 stacks or reduce to 4% I could totally live with that.
Otherwise you could try boosting some of the T2 sets so they don't totally stink, right now people are using either the Timeless or Stalwart since everything else stinks.
PWE/ Cryptic's new AD sink scheme "make a set totally useless so you waste all those AD's dying, transmuting" after the stupid nerf's to TR and GWF i didnt think they would be able to top that... but not even a month a they preview this HAMSTER. im amazed cryptic.
Is there any reason why they can't just assign the Stalwart Bulwark set a T2 ranking and change the dropzone for such items to higher difficulty dungeons? Or make the stalwart nerf for all new stalwarts that come out after patch but keep the ones that are currently in people's inventory the same?
SO basically gf is to no damage.. no able to kill anything anymore, an the gear is built to try to turtle an pretty much be useless.. great.. ffxiv till they revert changes
FearITsSelf#1 GF From #1 Guild Pve/Pvp [ Lemonade Stand ]
I'm not surprised by the Stal set being reworked and if you look at the trend with Cryptic they ALWAYS overkill their nerfs. The set gives myself over a 60% damage increase which is broken and needed tweaking. But as normal Cryptic breaks what they touch and NEVER test the changes. If you do have testers then they would know that a change like this completely makes the set worthless.
I'm sure you'll back out again just like you did with the TR nerf from all of the QQs.
A simple fix would be to limit the STAL Set to 3 Stacks instead of 5.
This means 15% of a players max health vs. 25%. On my build of 38,000 HP that's 5700 Power bonus or 228 Weapon Damage.
The flat bonus damage of 200 is garbage and should be changed to Weapon Damage so it scales the damage on your encounters. Also if you do continue with the broken change, I'll just find and post another broken build that gives GF's a large DPS damage boost with tanking ability. I've already been working on a new build with a different set.
I'm actually surprised you haven't nerfed regeneration as that is what's really broken in this game.
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sirjestoMember, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Hero Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users, Neverwinter Knight of the Feywild UsersPosts: 176Bounty Hunter
edited August 2013
Well as for someone who has had 1 character (GF) up until 1 week ago, and has been here since the beginning of open beta, this is going to really hurt. The real money (not going to say how much, but it's obscene) and time i spent on this character and, in truth, this game as it is the only class i like, is in serious jeopardy. I put my stalwart set together when the helm was at 1.5 million AD....that's right, not 350k or 450k but 1.5 MILLION, and I bought it. I have changed all the pieces appearances, colored it, and socketed rank 8 and perfect enchants into it. Significant time and money.............and now this...... I'm more than a little disappointed to say the least. I suppose this character will be retired now, and no more money will be spent on this game.
That's the best change, that they can do to this horrible broken OP-set. I hope for a wonder and the devs make it real.
Every Gf, that told, this set isn't op with it's 4 piecebonus, should look how stupid stats the set give in this way!
I have 30k HP, that i can easy stack up, which grants alone with my path 7.500 Power! That's alone 300 damage increase. For Con it's stupid with 15k! +600 Damage on each attack only with this ****! The best GF-Weapon has was? ~550 damage? LOL! We only double our damage with this... not op no...
They changed all buffs. O.o One Boon grant you with a chance 10% of your power as arcane damage to your attack.
That was 1,5k damage with 15k Power! 2,1k damage alone with this setbonus. So the set should be renamed in destroyer set - nothing other it do. Now the choose grants 400 arcane damage.
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prophaelMember, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users, Neverwinter Knight of the Feywild UsersPosts: 8Arc User
edited August 2013
The problem is not that they are fixing it. The problem is that it sounds like they are doing it retroactively so that it breaks currently invested-in gear. Make all new stalwart the "fixed" version. But when you break something people have spent a great deal of time/money to acquire/update/personalize you're going to HAMSTER them off. And in this case, it is going to be a LOT of pissed off people. If the old version is still just "way too powerful" then tone down the buff, but leave it largely unchanged. People will quit over this change. Don't let it go live as is.
Comments
why do you have to nerf the set? as a GF, stalwart set is still not really that OP. i suggest that instead of nerfing the set, make a new set that will make ppl leave stalwart. change the Rune that gives HP, instead of HP, replace it with something. becaus more HP, it gives more power. if it has more Pdef, then atleast reduce it. to be honest, i invested some money to gain this set. but if its true that it will be nerfed, then ill be pushed to play another MMO. that would be the Elder scroll.
Tactician and Protector tanks are going to hit about as hard as declawed kittens, without Stalwart to rely on for damage.
See I happen to agree with this, I dumped a lot of money into this stupid set and I really don't know what I'm gonna do when this is changed... Obviously, they should really have a better alternative set instead of nerfing this one.
By the way, the AP changes to the CW and DC class should make tanky GFs viable. If you don't want to play a tank, well, there are already 2 dps class in game.
Now, instead of fighting some GWF or CW at Damage metter while we handle aggro of tons of adds, we gonna let GWF/CW/TR take aggro (i joke a bit) and fight DCs at Damage Metter. Hopefully, i still have my Grand Regent set ready to serve in my bank, the Timeless does'nt suit me and it's not that bad, i will have no regrets to sell that set to an even more expensive price than actual price.
Let's farm Timeless !
The Stalwart Bulwak is a defensive set. If you look at the actual sets Guardian Fighters can obtain it is clear that it was intended to be the T1 version of the Grand Regent Set yet the four set bonus far exceeded the four set bonus of the Grand Regent. It should never of been both the top defensive and offensive set with a four piece set better than the Tier 2.
I think this was needed but not nearly to the extent it was done. Getting even two stacks of Stalwart Bulwark would bring it in line with my Grand Regent Bonus (5K Defense only grants 40 Bonus Damage for me) but such a bonus should not be limited to one attack. It should be a passive stack which generates and degenerates over time after blocking attacks. Even if you do manage to get to 10 stacks (easily possible) it is less than useful if it wears off after a single strike.
If such a degrading nature was built into the set it would need to give less bonus damage, perhaps +10 per stack, depending on how fast the benefit degraded but no matter what this current change, while needed, should not go into effect as a single hit or miss set-up.
For the developers.... You made a few mistakes with items/drops/ect in the game. It is understandable that you want to fix a few things. START SMALL!!! Do not take one thing and make it something totally different. Do not nerf a class/item into the ground all in one shot. Do it gradually so the blow is not as severe. These items/skills/or whatever have been in the game for a while now and people have INVESTED money to build their characters based on what you put in the game. You can't just change it overnight and expect people to smile and move on. Every day you force more and more people to quit with all these huge changes you are making.
But understand that is a Tier 1 Set which was without any shadow of a doubt better than the Tier 2 Sets. I bet if Grand Regent and Stalwart Bulwark were reversed from the start the change wouldn't have occurred to begin with but that fact that a Tier 1 item set was so much more visibly powerful than any other set by such a large gap can't be solved by simply increasing the other gear.
Tier 1 and Tier 2 have pretty strict definitions. Tier 1 have 4557 points to work with and Tier 2 have 5027 for Guardian Fighters.
If we pretend you have a really low HP Value of 20K, 5% of that is 1K. My Grand Regent only generates 800 Additional Power and a single swing from Stalwart Bulwark is better than the benefit from my Tier 2 set which is supposed to grant power. That can't be balanced by increasing the other sets. The set was just blatantly far too strong.
I'm with you guys that it's too weak now. Far, far too weak. But to pretend this nerf wasn't a long time coming is simply turning a blind eye to the reality of the Stalwart Bulwark set. It wasn't used by "90% of the Guardian Fighters" as the original poster stated because it was slightly better. It was used by 90% of the posters because it was blatantly better in every way.
But as others have noted: DDs are already running with 3CW TR DC and with the current nerfs to AP regen, GFs will be completely benched. That's kinda annoying for a player like me, who is running the GF since day one and didn't bother to look into other classes at all.
You simply don't understand that you're ruining the game everytime you do such patches, and bit by bit players will get more and more disappointed... Yeh but who cares, it's more important to nerf a set than the fact that lots of players got already their set with enchantments and such things (so many AD spent). Why didn't you think about it before? It's been like that for months... MONTHS!! And... Why don't you give refund of AD, free enchantment un-bind from set then?
Yeh, and last minute news.
Mhh...
I'm ruining nothing. That would be Cryptic and PWE.
The nerf was needed...but not to the extent it was done.
And some sort of compensation for this change should be given.
*Moved to Preview Forums*
What Class Are You?
I get what you are saying....
BUT
When you drastically change anything in game that is tied to upgrades, a reset, in this case a FREE unsocket is in order. I don't have a GF nor do I have this set but it only makes sense when you take something and downgrade it drastically you need to give the ability (free of charge) to unsocket what is on it. I do feel for those who have this gear set and it only makes sense that they offer those who have it the ability to unsocket it. Same goes for respec's when they, in their infinite wisdom, drastically change class abilities....
A Proud Member Of THE 300 Guild - Tene's are nothing but P2W, Nerf or Remove please!
I do like the game and don't mind spending some cash, but to have it taken away is just not cool.
I don't know if they could introduce a new stalwart set without removing the old one, or if they could just reduce the stacks or stack % to maybe 3 stacks or reduce to 4% I could totally live with that.
Otherwise you could try boosting some of the T2 sets so they don't totally stink, right now people are using either the Timeless or Stalwart since everything else stinks.
From #1 Guild Pve/Pvp [ Lemonade Stand ]
I'm sure you'll back out again just like you did with the TR nerf from all of the QQs.
A simple fix would be to limit the STAL Set to 3 Stacks instead of 5.
This means 15% of a players max health vs. 25%. On my build of 38,000 HP that's 5700 Power bonus or 228 Weapon Damage.
The flat bonus damage of 200 is garbage and should be changed to Weapon Damage so it scales the damage on your encounters. Also if you do continue with the broken change, I'll just find and post another broken build that gives GF's a large DPS damage boost with tanking ability. I've already been working on a new build with a different set.
I'm actually surprised you haven't nerfed regeneration as that is what's really broken in this game.
Every Gf, that told, this set isn't op with it's 4 piecebonus, should look how stupid stats the set give in this way!
I have 30k HP, that i can easy stack up, which grants alone with my path 7.500 Power! That's alone 300 damage increase. For Con it's stupid with 15k! +600 Damage on each attack only with this ****! The best GF-Weapon has was? ~550 damage? LOL! We only double our damage with this... not op no...
They changed all buffs. O.o One Boon grant you with a chance 10% of your power as arcane damage to your attack.
That was 1,5k damage with 15k Power! 2,1k damage alone with this setbonus. So the set should be renamed in destroyer set - nothing other it do. Now the choose grants 400 arcane damage.