Next Tuesday!
Official, up-to-date thread listing all the skill and trait changes: https://forum-en.guildwars2.com/forum/game/gw2/June-23-Specialization-Changes/first
That's a huge wall of text, btw. The first part describes some very fundamental changes to Conditions and Boons, and it's pretty math-y. You might prefer watching the first part of the video version to help wrap your mind around it (I did!): http://www.twitch.tv/guildwars2/b/669362853
If you want to the basics of the new trait system, I recommend watching the first few minutes of this older video for an overview: http://www.twitch.tv/guildwars2/b/653059691
Conditions Changes
I read some player analysis and I'd like to sum it up in simple terms to give you a headstart at understanding the changes before next Tuesday.
Vulnerability & Slow
- Now increases condition damage (as well as direct damage) by 1% per stack, up to 25 stacks
- The new condition Slow will be in game -- it slow skill activation by 50%.
Stacks for damaging Conditions
- Conditions that do damage will stack to 1500 now
- Each player can put up to 25 stacks per condition on a target
Have 80 people fighting a world boss? Still unlikely to cap condition stacks. Bottom line: condition builds aren't gimped in large groups any more!
Condition Damage stat matters more now
In other words, your Condition Damage stat becomes a larger factor in the damage a condi skill does than before. The exact numbers are in the first link at the top of the post, but here are the broad outlines.
- Conditions will do less damage than before if you have a low Condition Damage stat
- Conditions will do more damage than before if you have a high Condition Damage stat
- The "tipping point" (from less damage to more damage than before) is around 700 Condition Damage
- How much Condition Damage is needed to match your prior damage differs by condition type (burn, bleed, poison, etc), and your ability to stack it
Add the Vulnerability change and it's possible to do significantly more condi damage than today, especially with skills that are already easy to stack -- like Bleed. It's probably true for all condis, but stacking will be required to get good damage. For Burning and Poison, for example, you'll need to maintain at least 3 stacks to see more damage over today.
Boon Changes
Again, read the first link above for all the details. Here are some highlights:
- The new Resistance boon will be in game -- it causes conditions to be temporarily ineffective. (It doesn't clear or prevent new conditions, so as soon as Resistance drops those all kick in again.
- Vigor is nerfed! Now increases endurance regen by 50% (down from 100%)
- Skills that convert between conditions and boons will now pick one at random, not the last applied
- Some of the details of boon|condi conversion have changed -- see linked post
Hope this helps!
~Lakshmi