They changed the very bones of Viper and that does objectively change the job. "Melee Summoner" is a subjective opinion but the Balance wouldn't be thinking about triple reawaken strings now if nothing changed.
Printable View
If you have not noticed a difference, then one could assume that you have alternated combo starters already, which would mean you have played the job wrong. That is just an assumption, and is not a criticism of you or your playstyle, mind you, just an objective fact to consider.
For people that did play the class right however (making a conscious note of the timer of Noxious Gnash, and deciding how and when to reapply it), they do notice a change in how the class plays, and that should be considered.
Dread Fangs, and Dreadwinder, both applied 20s of Noxious Gnash, up to a maximum of 40seconds.
When playing the class right, you never wanted to use either Dread Fangs or Dreadwinder before the Noxious Gnash Debuff was below 20s duration. Doing so would mean playing the class wrong, as you do less damage (Dread Fangs was weaker than Steel Fangs), and also wasting ressources, as any Noxious Gnash generated above 40s would disappear into the void.
Hey, just making a note in this forum as well.
To give context, I was actively running Viper in both EX Fights prior to Patch 7.05, and I am still presently running Viper in Savage content (M1S cleared, M2S almost cleared as of last night).
The changes made to Viper's kit are substantial, and I feel are a significant negative to the core of Viper's rotation, and I feel this needs to be stated as clear as possible as to why I feel this way.
The job was already very simple within Patch 7.01. Every weaponskill combo was effectively drawn out for you after the first weaponskill combo completed.
The Noxious Gnash debuff provided the job with a time-sensitive decision that needed to be made during the fight, between the rest of the monotony; a mental check that allowed players that actively and consciously choose between which weaponskill combo they wanted to open with.
Dreadwinder/Pit of Dread also applying Noxious Gnash provided additional routes of optimization that allowed VPR players to work on boss fights to minimize Dread Fang usage and maximize potency. It was a delicate dance, but it was a hint of complexity that allowed people who wanted to optimally play VPR to experiment .
Aligning your resources to maintain all of your buffs, Noxious Gnash, and have two Reawakenings within the game's own directed 2-minute window timers felt absolutely fantastic.
The complexity of the job was completely removed when Noxious Gnash was removed. Outside of the singular choice of Steel Fangs / Reaving Fangs when you open a fight, there is absolutely no choice made anymore. There is no reason not to use Vicewinder immediately on cooldown. There is no reason to ever deviate from the glowing buttons available on your hotbar. Outside of holding resources for 2 minute burst windows in harder fights or for pots, or perhaps using Uncoiled Fury stacks during forced downtime (which isn't even a major choice, since you can stock 3), literally every single weaponskill option is made for you.
And before someone brings up Triple Reawakening during pot window as a potential new burst, I don't feel like that is enough of a silver lining for this change.
I understand the necessity of making job classes more accessible, but I genuinely believe that this change goes too far and strips a portion of VPR's identity from it.
I'm open to having more discussions about it, of course. I loved this job when it released, and I want to see it better.
I am disheartened by the change this patch, but I am hopeful that the job can regain a bit of the identity it lost.
I disagree. There wasn't much thinking involved in Viper, but removing NG make any thinking redundant. Usually you'd save a Dreadwinder charge if your NG timer was over 20 seconds to avoid overcapping but now its quite literally just pop it when it's off CD