Fractals as chrono isnt fun anymore

Chrono nerfs were deserved, and had been a long time coming. But i feel this nerf is Way off the mark from what was needed. Raid chronos just got stronger but chrono in 5 man content just feels unfun.

Theoretically chrono can keep 100% uptime but ive found in actually this is never possible in pugs. It requires people to stand in your well and be grouped up for tides of time to hit everyone. People are usually spread out and buffs miss them This has made it for me at least, a non strop struggle to keep boon uptime.

I hope they can buff and nerf chrono in a more appropriate way, so its not OP but still is fun to play.

If the problem here is people being dumb and not staying near wells, then don't play with randoms and play with people you know who use voice chat or at least know what they're doing.

For a long time, my go to for pug fractals has been healer chrono (and then non-healer chrono if the pug group has a druid). But honestly, pugging fractals hasn't been fun in a long time, and chronoing was a band aid solution for me, and its just something I do for money/mystic clovers. Social awkwardness is awful for pugging, lots of small damage ticks rather than large spike damage makes restrictive comps where its much better to pug with a healer, and now chrono has trouble keeping up boons. Of course you can prestack at the singularity, but 50/50 chance your pugs run straight past it.

Fractals just are not fun for me unless I'm playing with 4 friends, and well, I have a job and a life. I have a raid static I play with twice a week. I don't want to form a fractal static and have more 'scheduled fun'. I miss the pre-hot days where I could play a ps warrior and basically guarantee fractals were smooth with banners/might/fury.

@thrag.9740 said:I have a raid static I play with twice a week. I don't want to form a fractal static and have more 'scheduled fun'.

This is how i feel about hoodies suggestion.

I find people usually stack for pre buffs but then stand for 10s at the singularity saying they arent ready. Buffs run out by the time you activate the boss.

Once we get rid of social awkwardness, your party will be much happier to stack tight.

To be honest I find fractals fun because I never looked to play it in any optimized way whatsoever, but I play Chrono quite often and yes, it's not as efficient as it is before. You can solo heal much more easily now, on the other hand. Social awkwardness is the only thing that makes the experience a bit bitter but it's still barely fun enough to keep going (and Ben did say they are looking into changing it).

What I like the most about fractals is that it's a pug&play activity and I don't have to ever turn it into "scheduled fun" as thrag mentioned above. I love raiding but the static aspect (even though having a static is much better than pugging) is a glaring drawback to me - to the point I consider leaving my group every week because I could/should be doing a lot of other stuff during these 3 to 6 hours (I have a son and a job, and yes, this is A LOT of time and not a trivial thing I can fit anywhere in my week). There are of course drawbacks to pug&play activities - for one, you don't know the "quality" of the people you're joining at any moment, and must be ready to get folks who will very often refuse to get boons from you. Also people who will kill themselves inside orange circles, etc. This is part and parcel of not having to schedule and train for the content, and I'm ok with dealing with it. Finally, I don't think OP's issue (this should be clear from my post lol) has much to do with actual balance: even if they did nothing to change Chrono it was still a mess to pug on it and let us be frank, people didn't stay up with boons even when we had lesser soi and chaos was a thing.

@zombyturtle.5980 said:Chrono nerfs were deserved, and had been a long time coming. But i feel this nerf is Way off the mark from what was needed. Raid chronos just got stronger but chrono in 5 man content just feels unfun.

Theoretically chrono can keep 100% uptime but ive found in actually this is never possible in pugs. It requires people to stand in your well and be grouped up for tides of time to hit everyone. People are usually spread out and buffs miss them This has made it for me at least, a non strop struggle to keep boon uptime.

I hope they can buff and nerf chrono in a more appropriate way, so its not OP but still is fun to play.

In fractals you don't really need 100% uptime. Everything there is happening in short bursts, so the chrono only needs to buff the shit out of everyone for few seconds.

@Feanor.2358 said:

@zombyturtle.5980 said:Chrono nerfs were deserved, and had been a long time coming. But i feel this nerf is Way off the mark from what was needed. Raid chronos just got stronger but chrono in 5 man content just feels unfun.

Theoretically chrono can keep 100% uptime but ive found in actually this is never possible in pugs. It requires people to stand in your well and be grouped up for tides of time to hit everyone. People are usually spread out and buffs miss them This has made it for me at least, a non strop struggle to keep boon uptime.

I hope they can buff and nerf chrono in a more appropriate way, so its not OP but still is fun to play.

Mainly True, the Real pain is on 99 and 100 cm where its hard er to skip some mechanics now. But the Main problem for me is lacks of stability, more than quickness and ala

@Safandula.8723 said:

@Feanor.2358 said:

@zombyturtle.5980 said:Chrono nerfs were deserved, and had been a long time coming. But i feel this nerf is Way off the mark from what was needed. Raid chronos just got stronger but chrono in 5 man content just feels unfun.

Theoretically chrono can keep 100% uptime but ive found in actually this is never possible in pugs. It requires people to stand in your well and be grouped up for tides of time to hit everyone. People are usually spread out and buffs miss them This has made it for me at least, a non strop struggle to keep boon uptime.

I hope they can buff and nerf chrono in a more appropriate way, so its not OP but still is fun to play.

A quick tape solution would be to bring a FB and ask him/her to rotate specifically through their stability sources, specially if the Chrono can do solo heals, and now we can quite easily as long as people dodge the key damage sources such as green fields in 99 and Arkk's bouncing fields. It will probably last long enough with the other 3 DPS doing all they can to phase the boss.

@Safandula.8723 said:

@Feanor.2358 said:

@zombyturtle.5980 said:Chrono nerfs were deserved, and had been a long time coming. But i feel this nerf is Way off the mark from what was needed. Raid chronos just got stronger but chrono in 5 man content just feels unfun.

Theoretically chrono can keep 100% uptime but ive found in actually this is never possible in pugs. It requires people to stand in your well and be grouped up for tides of time to hit everyone. People are usually spread out and buffs miss them This has made it for me at least, a non strop struggle to keep boon uptime.

I hope they can buff and nerf chrono in a more appropriate way, so its not OP but still is fun to play.

Planning to try Chrono + Support FB + BS + 2DPS. Should be nice boon spam, including Stab with tome and elite Mantra, while also covering gaps in quickness when mechanics demand moving out.Tbh, the times where I already had someone else join as FB, I barely noticed the difference to Druid in terms of DPS, while things were a lot smoother in terms of avoiding mechanics such as constant knockbacks, dazes and what have you in Fractals.

Renegade + FB should work as well, where you could opt for hybrid builds on both for more DPS, considering the insane healing output of both support Renegade and FB.

The comp gets even better with a power Soulbeast as dps, which can take a spirit without losing much dps at all.

I'm really glad these nerfs happened. As much as I want Chrono to be still viable for a variety of content, I'm really tired of it dominating all group content and being present in every group.I'm glad these changes seem to make people at least slowly consider all the other specs out there who actually bring nice but overlooked things to the table.

@Asum.4960 said:

@Safandula.8723 said:

@Feanor.2358 said:

@zombyturtle.5980 said:Chrono nerfs were deserved, and had been a long time coming. But i feel this nerf is Way off the mark from what was needed. Raid chronos just got stronger but chrono in 5 man content just feels unfun.

Theoretically chrono can keep 100% uptime but ive found in actually this is never possible in pugs. It requires people to stand in your well and be grouped up for tides of time to hit everyone. People are usually spread out and buffs miss them This has made it for me at least, a non strop struggle to keep boon uptime.

I hope they can buff and nerf chrono in a more appropriate way, so its not OP but still is fun to play.

I was also thinking about fb + chrono, im Just curious(im noob) who can make fury and might?

@Asum.4960 said:

@Safandula.8723 said:

@Feanor.2358 said:

@zombyturtle.5980 said:Chrono nerfs were deserved, and had been a long time coming. But i feel this nerf is Way off the mark from what was needed. Raid chronos just got stronger but chrono in 5 man content just feels unfun.

Theoretically chrono can keep 100% uptime but ive found in actually this is never possible in pugs. It requires people to stand in your well and be grouped up for tides of time to hit everyone. People are usually spread out and buffs miss them This has made it for me at least, a non strop struggle to keep boon uptime.

I hope they can buff and nerf chrono in a more appropriate way, so its not OP but still is fun to play.

The problem is you want more than 1 spirit. Frost is 10% damage, but then you can take storm if the group doesn't have a fast and reliable vuln source and stone if needed. And then there's the might and fury, and then there are the two cc pets.

@Feanor.2358 said:

@Asum.4960 said:

@Safandula.8723 said:

@Feanor.2358 said:

@zombyturtle.5980 said:Chrono nerfs were deserved, and had been a long time coming. But i feel this nerf is Way off the mark from what was needed. Raid chronos just got stronger but chrono in 5 man content just feels unfun.

Theoretically chrono can keep 100% uptime but ive found in actually this is never possible in pugs. It requires people to stand in your well and be grouped up for tides of time to hit everyone. People are usually spread out and buffs miss them This has made it for me at least, a non strop struggle to keep boon uptime.

I hope they can buff and nerf chrono in a more appropriate way, so its not OP but still is fun to play.

Frost is only 5% dmg. And you never need storm spirit unless you play with a full weaver comp or something else suboptimal.Support fb is quickness overkill though. 1-2 Dhs are usually enough. 2 dhs are already 20sec quickness every 45sec and they also bring strong cc. Even weaver has very strong cc access now without losing much dps but taking a healer in the first place is a huge dps drop.Fury is usually not a problem in fractals since weaver can prestack 1min+ and blast fire fields with arcane brilliance. Dh's elite shout also grants fury. Fb can also stack might quite well. The only downside is not having GoE though but like 99% of the pug druids don't time that anyways.

-> Druid only brings GoE when there is a soulbeast and that isn't used properly most of the time anyways. FB quickness is overkill.

The thing that feels bad for me is that beforehand it was rather easy (maybe too easy) to maintain buffs. SoI or the lesser SoI were always available and even if you did screw up or had to delay part of your buff rotation due to mechanics or instabilities it was not that big of a deal.

Now however the rotation is pretty punishing (playing with Mimic) if you do mess up your split. Getting off four SoIs over the spawn of 20+ seconds provides rediculous uptime on previously rare boons like Resistance (if playing Chaos) but also opens glaring holes in your coverage if people can't join you for the share (mechanics) or you have to wait for Mimic or Continuum Split to come off CD as it's not worth sharing otherwise. Playing a healer or DPS is not this punishing on the other hand and it feels weird that Chrono has to play so much better comparatively.

Played with a healing Scourge today rather than a Druid (SB brought frost spirit) and It didn't feel any slower than playing with a Druid. Bonus points for counteracting Social Awkwardness with barrier. CC (fear + Golem) and might was good. Had to play Chaos for Fury though. There is probably an optimal way to play Chrono now yet it feels like pugging T4+CMs is still easier with Chaos/Inspiration due to stability, boons and Aegis sharing. Muscle Memory is annoying though.

@Feanor.2358 said:

@Asum.4960 said:

@Safandula.8723 said:

@Feanor.2358 said:

@zombyturtle.5980 said:Chrono nerfs were deserved, and had been a long time coming. But i feel this nerf is Way off the mark from what was needed. Raid chronos just got stronger but chrono in 5 man content just feels unfun.

Theoretically chrono can keep 100% uptime but ive found in actually this is never possible in pugs. It requires people to stand in your well and be grouped up for tides of time to hit everyone. People are usually spread out and buffs miss them This has made it for me at least, a non strop struggle to keep boon uptime.

I hope they can buff and nerf chrono in a more appropriate way, so its not OP but still is fun to play.

Been bringing my fb friend when I have to chrono and its way better. I dont mind playing chrono at all in this comp. Fury is fine as fb can upkeep 100% with sword. We also run sb for frost spirit and if necessary, engie for vunerability so nothing is missed. Vunerability is usually fine anyway tho. Gazelles CC is enough to cover whats missed.

@Grogba.6204 said:The thing that feels bad for me is that beforehand it was rather easy (maybe too easy) to maintain buffs. SoI or the lesser SoI were always available and even if you did screw up or had to delay part of your buff rotation due to mechanics or instabilities it was not that big of a deal.

Now however the rotation is pretty punishing (playing with Mimic) if you do mess up your split. Getting off four SoIs over the spawn of 20+ seconds provides rediculous uptime on previously rare boons like Resistance (if playing Chaos) but also opens glaring holes in your coverage if people can't join you for the share (mechanics) or you have to wait for Mimic or Continuum Split to come off CD as it's not worth sharing otherwise. Playing a healer or DPS is not this punishing on the other hand and it feels weird that Chrono has to play so much better comparatively.

This is what bothers me I feel. On dps or heal I can just enjoy the content, on chrono Im playing the UI, which is alot less fun.

I dont see a problem with boons being harder to achieve 100% uptime, 100% boon uptime is too OP anyway

Yet Renegade and Firebrand can potentially easily keep up 100% without being reliant on SoI. Their biggest problem is lack of proper power builds and much of the Chrono's utility.

@Safandula.8723 said:

@Asum.4960 said:

@Safandula.8723 said:

@Feanor.2358 said:

@zombyturtle.5980 said:Chrono nerfs were deserved, and had been a long time coming. But i feel this nerf is Way off the mark from what was needed. Raid chronos just got stronger but chrono in 5 man content just feels unfun.

Theoretically chrono can keep 100% uptime but ive found in actually this is never possible in pugs. It requires people to stand in your well and be grouped up for tides of time to hit everyone. People are usually spread out and buffs miss them This has made it for me at least, a non strop struggle to keep boon uptime.

I hope they can buff and nerf chrono in a more appropriate way, so its not OP but still is fun to play.

Support Fb, in fact Fb could provide perma quckness/max stacks of might, also give tons of defense boons and massive healing if FB use Full minstrel build

@Safandula.8723 said:

@Asum.4960 said:

@Safandula.8723 said:

@Feanor.2358 said:

@zombyturtle.5980 said:Chrono nerfs were deserved, and had been a long time coming. But i feel this nerf is Way off the mark from what was needed. Raid chronos just got stronger but chrono in 5 man content just feels unfun.

Theoretically chrono can keep 100% uptime but ive found in actually this is never possible in pugs. It requires people to stand in your well and be grouped up for tides of time to hit everyone. People are usually spread out and buffs miss them This has made it for me at least, a non strop struggle to keep boon uptime.

I hope they can buff and nerf chrono in a more appropriate way, so its not OP but still is fun to play.

I tested it with a mostly Harrier and some Magi FB with Altruism runes. Staff // Mace/Shield.

Empower and Altru Runes with Mantra of Potence cover Might and Fury, while also covering the Quickness downtimes I noticed with Chronos now when mechanics push the group apart at the wrong moment.Sword MH works as well for Fury, but at least together with a Chrono I haven't noticed the need for it yet (when I check remaining duration after a fight it's often still 40 sec, so I assume uptime is fine).

For CC I run Radiance with Perfect Inscriptions with Bane Signet, to also share out the 216 extra power on top of 25 Might to the group to make up for the loss of Glyph of Empowerment/Frost Spirit. Additionally Shield 5 knockback and Justice 3, which then also triggers Wrath of Justice for the immob and sharing 216 condition Damage.

This variant loses Virtues, but that's usually overkill anyway for healing, especially if you run Bow of Truth for big AoE heals to cover for being in Tome 1 or 3, or having to move away from the group while a lot of pressure is incoming.

Usually run Stab Mantra, especially useful for 100 CM, at least on the first boss, otherwise Feel my Wrath or Signet of Courage work as well for when you don't need Stab at all, or just in rare bursts for a specific mechanics with Tome 3, but generally you don't need the extra Quickness/Fury or Heals and the ability to break allies out of stuns and Stab on demand is nice (+more Retal when running with a DH dps).

Both Holo and DH at least keep up 25 Vuln easily by themselves.Considering support FB can keep up Protection pretty much 100% of the time, that replaces Spirit of Stone rather well.

Switching out two Traits in FB and taking Feel my Wrath provides perma quickness too, for easy content such as Recs where you don't need alacrity, if the Chrono want's to go DPS for that.

Couldn't agree more... It makes you hate your idiot pugs who can't stand in a well and sometimes can't even stay within range of SoI and then complain about boon uptime. The last thing we need is more fuel for the resentment fire that is chronojail.... :bleep_bloop:

Also, the only fun thing about chrono in fractals before was how you could do so much... With the new setup, it's a clunky chore to carry cc by cs'ing moa while still keeping boons up. And you can just flat forget about utility things like feedback or phantasmal disenchanter. I mean, it was probably too strong that chrono could do all of this before (also while acting as the group's healer), but still now there's never an instance--aside from portal skips--where your utility bar will not be mimic/soi/WoA, since if people have to pick, boons are going to beat out utility every time.

If anet wanted to weaken chronomancer in 5 man content, and make it so they couldn't act as a one man boonbot/healer/cc-monster/assorted mechanics negator, that's definitely warranted, but I wish they would have just separated a chrono's boon power from their healing in 5 man content or something... This would have been easy to do by adding conflicting traits for 5 man q/a uptime against Alls Well that Ends Well and in trait-lines other than Inspiration.

@Lahmia.2193 said:Once we get rid of social awkwardness, your party will be much happier to stack tight.

My thoughts exactly. GS 5 + GS 2 on my Guard tends to get me into trouble with Last Laugh as well :anguished:

@Hoodie.1045 said:If the problem here is people being dumb and not staying near wells, then don't play with randoms and play with people you know who use voice chat or at least know what they're doing.

Clearly everyone has the lifestyle and schedule to commit to set time runs with an organized group rolls eyes.