ArenaNet released the latest balance patch preview for community feedback, and began Rolling out the update that will make Guild Wars 2 require DirectX 11 by April.
The new balance patch is coming on February 14th. In the preview notes, they’re looking at mantras and revisiting their 2021 rework in order to make things better. Two principles are guiding this new rework. First, recasting mantras after you change maps or die was just not fun, and second, they felt that making you use your mantra’s final charge was not a good change most of the time. In essence, they are reverting to the previous version of mantras and the old functionality will be back.
Classes, of course, get a number of balance changes. Elementalist’s staff gets some support capability boosts and tuning for scepter in competitive play. Engineer gets usability focused changes. Guardian gets some tuning for not being where they want to be just yet. Mesmer also gets some usability tweaks, particularly involving shields and group might. Necromancer gets damage boosts and more available buffs. Ranger is getting a series of cooldown reductions and a survival boost in competitive play. Revenant is getting some tuning in PvP, particularly for Vindicator, and the removal of an End of Dragons launch-era damage increase. Thief is looking at some more viability changes, with Specter getting love in PvP. Finally, Warriorgets some reductions to Spellbreaker in PvP because it has been overpowering. Gunsaber skills also get some boosts.
Overall, the list of changes seems more targeted than some of the very large major balance patches we’ve seen in recent months. This is in line with ANet’s adopted balance change philosophy, with smaller overall scope in changes some months and major balance overhauls less frequently.
Guild Wars 2 has also begun rolling out the DirectX 9 deprecation. The minimum requirements will now need you to have a DirectX X11 capable machine, particularly by April when they’ll officially stop supporting DirectX9.
