Why does arenanet have to nerf?

Question

if ur a guild wars nerd like me, you understand my confusion. why does arenanet release expension packs before they can accurately balance all the skills. i know people are creative with exploiting broken skills, but they shouldnt be broken to begin with.

Answer 1

Compared to my previous online game, Dark Age of Camelot, where they took the smite cleric template and totally destroyed it because it was deemed to powerful by other players etc I think whatever Anet do they have done with patience, little changes over time to try and balance any problems. I would much rather have this than totally destroy a character line.

As said, with so many skills and combinations, it is in reality impossible to check every combination to see there affect, will be more so when Nightfall releases and people start to combine those new skills and classes.

We have to remember developement testing will be done on less than 100% of all combo's, with the numbers of players, players will probably do 100%.

Answer 2

The skills that they nerf are not actually broken. They are just too powerful in certain combinations with other skills, making them unfair in their current state. There are 454 skills in Prophecies and 570 skills in Factions. It is simply impossible to test every combination beforehand. That's why skills need to be balanced somtimes to make the game as fair as possible.

To be honest: There have always been only slight changes in the skills and nothing to ruin your fun in playing the game overall.