I greatly appreciate the intentions of this patch, but I disagree with the implementation because it is still hurting players at all skill levels and isn't actually achieving its goals. With the discussion about making the gap between the floor and the ceiling smaller, I feel that buff sets are being largely overlooked in their utility and power. Higher end groups have higher uptimes of the major buff and debuff sets used in the game, thus increasing their overall group damage compared to groups where the overall uptimes are lower.

Making these sets easier to use and maintain will do more for accessibility than nerfing damage across the board or buffing medium weaving. There are also some skills, especially support based skills, that can be tweaked to make tanking and healing more accessible.

The change to PA that was included in u35 week 5 PTS is a good example:

Powerful Assault:
Increased the duration of this set to 15 seconds, up from 10, to better match the durations of many of the morphs in the skill line.
Increased the radius to 12 meters, up from 10.

With that in mind, I'll be going over some of the more commonly used buff/debuff sets used in group compositions (or will be expected to be used in u35) and highlighting how to make them more accessible.

Aegis of Galenwe
Current 5 piece: (5 items) When you Block, you grant Empower to 11 allies within 15 meters for 3 seconds, increasing the damage of their Light and Heavy Attacks by 40%. This effect can occur once every 2 seconds.

Proposed change: Remove the ICD and raise the buff to 10 seconds as proposed earlier for empower in the u35 PTS cycle. Increase the radius to 28m since empower is now a PvE only buff and this set will be on tanks who will often be more than 15m away from the group.

Elemental Catalyst
Current 5 piece bonus: Whenever you deal Flame, Shock, or Frost Damage, you apply a stack of Flame, Shock, or Frost Weakness to the enemy for 3 seconds. Each stack of an Elemental Weakness increases their Critical Damage taken by 5%. An enemy can only have one stack of each Elemental Weakness at a time.

Proposed change: Increase the duration to 6 or 8 seconds (possibly even 10) to be more consistent with sticky dots ticking every 2 seconds. Allow enchants to proc the set again for greater build flexibility.

Encratis's Behemoth
Current 2 piece: Dealing Flame Damage to an enemy grants you Behemoth's Aura for 12 seconds that reaches up to 12 meters. You and up to 11 group members in the aura reduce Flame Damage taken by 5%. Enemies in the aura increase their Flame Damage taken by 5%. This effect can occur once every 15 seconds.

Proposed change: Please let enchants proc this set again, to allow for supports to have greater build flexibility.

Master Architect/War Machine
Current 5 Piece: When you use an Ultimate ability while in combat, you and the closest 5 group members within 28 meters of you gain Major Slayer for 1 second per 10 Ultimate spent, increasing your damage done to Dungeon, Trial, and Arena Monsters by 10%.

Proposed change: Make these sets smart target those without the debuff to make it a more viable alternative to ROJO. Change the max stat 2 piece on each set to be spell/weapon critical to make it more attractive for DDs.

Vestments of Olorime
Current 5 piece bonus: Casting abilities that leave an effect on the ground in combat will create a circle of might for 5 seconds. You and your group members in the circle gain Major Courage for 20 seconds, increasing your Weapon and Spell Damage by 430 for 20 seconds. This effect can occur once every 10 seconds.

Proposed change: The cooldown and circle need to match each other once again. Either allow the proc to occur every 5 seconds (preferred for more mobile or spread out fights), or make the circle last for 10. Buffing this set which can be single barred, over SPC which cannot be in order to obtain reliable uptimes, will allow supports to utilize arena weapons more often and offer more group support.

Way of Martial Knowledge
Current 5 piece: While your Stamina is below 50%, your Light Attacks cause the enemy to take 8% additional damage for 5 seconds. This effect can occur once every 8 seconds.

Proposed changes: Decrease the stamina requirement to 60% so this set is easier to use in PvE scenarios. Increase the damage window to 8 seconds and increase the cooldown to 12 seconds to allow for a greater opportunity for stamina management.

Skills

Glacial Colossus: Remove the stun from this morph and have it extend the duration of Major Vulnerability to 16 seconds at max rank (1 second added for each rank up)

Stonefist: Increase the duration of Stagger to 10 seconds.

Other Buffs/Debuffs

Minor Brittle: Remove the ice staff requirement for this debuff. Increase it from 4 seconds to 10 seconds to allow it to be kept up more passively.

@ZOS_Liforce I would be especially interested in your feedback on the above set changes.

Thanks to @Krymsyn_Panda for reading this over!