Guild Wars State of the Game: on nerfs, dead spirits, PvP shake-ups

With skills in NCsoft‘s competitive MMORPG Guild Wars changing ever so often, the metagame is constantly facing shake-ups. The latest issue of State of the Game tackles a handful of big changes that may make life harder for monks, make assassins less deadly, and turn the spiritway build into something less efficient.

More on shake-ups at the full article!

After recent changes, 8v8 battles in NCsoft‘s Guild Wars have experienced a “shake-up.” Or at least, that’s what one observer noticed and wrote about in the latest State of the Game issue. Monks now work harder to keep the entire team alive, assassins need to be more careful when moving around the map, and spirits may no longer be competitive.

With nerfs applied, the monk favorite Light of Deliverance is almost a liability with its two-second casting time. Word of Healing, however, has become more attractive since it can now be used as a self-heal. As Harold Chow (known as Guild Informant) points out in this State of the Game, we can see the shake-up in guilds trying to still make a place for Light of Deliverance.

Gone are the days when assassins can swiftly kill a target, due to nerfed damage of Horns of the Ox, Trampling Ox, and other skills that made combos deadly. If the nerfs remain, assassins can still do decent damage, but an experienced player will be able to run away with a few remaining health points.

Spiritway, an 8v8 build which used to effectively pressure opposing teams and include Heroes in the battle plan, is expected to appear less now that Soul Reaping puts out less energy than before. Guild Informant noted that necromancers can still be competitive and fight for themselves in spiritway, but hammer rangers will have a hard time.