The Guild Wars 2 team has learned a lot from the recent beta featuring all nine professions and the new spear coming in the Janthir Wilds expansion ton the 20th. As a result, there are some changes, some pretty significant, to the new skill sets.
Taylor Brooks, one of the combat designers, is outlining the changes that we can expect when the expansion is out.
For the Elementalist, the weapon's power felt too soft and we can expect damage increases. there will also be some quality of life adjustments, and some rebalances. Similarly, the Ranger spear narrative was harder than its actual combat and effect. They'll give some more flexibility to stealth skills, rebalance the cooldowns, and add more damage.
Necromancer spear combat was dominated by just two skills. We'll see increases in soul shard generation and longer duration as you gain more shards. Thief with spear was strong in PvE, so expect damage reductions. ANet’s purpose was to bring skill-chaining inspired by the original Guild Wars assassin to Thief, but there were some bumps in the road, so they're adjusting how the skill chains progress.
Mesmer is getting some big changes. The community’s experience with this combo was heavily dependent on whether they had Clarity or not. Clarity will be easier to obtain and, in some cases, not be needed but instead offer a bonus if you do meet certain criteria.
Engineer was competitive, but sometimes keeping track wasn't easy enough to follow, so expect some polish and visual effects to focused targets. They'll also increase speed and rangefor Devastator.
Warrior got some very mixed feedback, and the feeling was that it was strong in PvP but didn't Stand Out elsewhere. The range threshold mechanic wasn't well received so there will be a new mechanic on the way.
The Guardian spear kit worked well in WvW, but overall, it needs some polish. The second skill in particular felt awkward and glitchy and so there will be improvements to a number of skills.
Finally, Revenant spear was heavy and powerful, but so slow that the damage dealt in the end wasn't enough and the whole thing was unwieldy and heavy. they're decreasing some casting times and increasing some skills to help with the damage.
