Elite Specs Discussion/Predictions

[Night Wolf.7016]

Necro- Spectre or whatever you want to call it.weapon-long bowshroudless spec that uses x amount of life force to teleport x meters in a direction(basically a more mobility focused necro)the bow can also have some cool abilities for example and arrow that turns into a ghost/spirit that fears all enemies in its path and can also move through terrain or maybe an arrow that summons skeletal hands from the ground to hold an enemie in place. They can also add an arrow that leaves a large ground aoe if aimed at the ground but if you hit someone the aoe will follow that player instead.... I really just want a bow necro spec.

[MatyrGustav.6210]

@Kodama.6453 said:

@MatyrGustav.6210 said:@Kodama.6453

Everytime Anet has given a melee style class a staff it was used as a Bo Staff kinda like Revenant as well. I just cant really see them adding it as a Spear since we already have spears in the game, and most of the staff skins wouldnt look right if one used it as a Spear. Same with banner because most skins wouldn't have a banner on it.

I mean they wouldnt need to fight with it in a kung fu martial arts way, but what meant is it should be melee oriented and not magical. Stick fighting basically.

Some skins not making sense with a polearm playstyle is not really an argument in my opinion.....

Look at daredevil, who uses the staff as a bo with martial arts attacks. There are many staff skins which make no sense (or even look absolutely ridiculous) with that playstyle.We have many rifle skins in the game which look like sniper rifles, etc, but engineer has a straight shotgun attack on their rifle kit, which doesn't make sense with a sniper rifle skin.

So I think warrior can still use staff in the same fashion like a halberd or even spear (many people are asking for land spear, I doubt that they will make underwater weapons available on land, so this would be one way to satisfy some of these people). Which would also give it a more unique niche between the other staff users in my opinion.

I guess its just difference in opinion / artistic choice.

A bo staff fighting style still makes sense to me because striking with staves makes sense. Stabbing and using it to pierce makes less sense to me. Most skins just dont look like they can stab.

Having a sniper rifle skin with a shotgun blast still makes sense because its a gun. In real life there are plenty shotguns that look like auto rifles, and at that there are also shotgun attachments. Its not farfetched.

At the end of the day, Anet cannot make a staff a Spear. It will still be a staff and called a staff. The only thing Anet can do is make them fight as if it was a spear, but its still a staff and will be called a staff.

So its still a staff even if they add pokey moves. They cant make it a spear. With revenant and thief its still a staff, the only thing anet can do is change the way you fight with it. They cant change the weapon.

If warrior is given a staff it will always be a staff regardless on how they fight with it. It will never be a spear

[nopoet.2960]

@sitarskee.5738 said:

@Out Mapped.3407 said:I'm sure there's other posts about this but if not just wanted to know what everyone's hopes were for certain class weapons for the next expansion or just general predictions? For me it'd be:

Warrior - Pistol or Melee staff I guess

Please don't give warrior a pistol, please, ANet, please!

Now you've done it! Warriors are going to get a melee pistol.

[Fueki.4753]

@nopoet.2960 said:

@sitarskee.5738 said:

@Out Mapped.3407 said:I'm sure there's other posts about this but if not just wanted to know what everyone's hopes were for certain class weapons for the next expansion or just general predictions? For me it'd be:

Warrior - Pistol or Melee staff I guess

Please don't give warrior a pistol, please, ANet, please!

Now you've done it! Warriors are going to get a melee pistol.

Pistol slaps for days.And all it does is confuse and taunt the opponents.

[Aerick Blackmoore.8167]

Hmm some predictions, based on weapons and skills received / missing from professions in previous expansions:Guardian:Either Dagger main (and offhand )like Warrior did in PoF or offhand Warhorn.Type: Melee Bruiser Daggers / Commander like with a Warhorn.Skill: StanceRevenant:Daggers main (and offhand), Scepter or Greatsword.Type: Melee Bruiser with Daggers / Greatsword or Ranged Caster with Scepter.Skill: Legendary AspectWarrior:Short Bow or Staff, possibly main and offhand Pistols.Type: Ranged Direct DPS with Short Bow / Pistols or Melee Evasive attacks with Staff.Skill: Either Cantrip or Trap for Ranged, Deception or Mantra for StaffEngineer:Main or offhand Mace, possibly Torch.Type: Melee Bruiser or Ranged UtilitySkill: PhysicalRanger:Hammer or RifleType: Melee Heavy Direct Damage or Ranged DPS both Beastmaster Focussed.Skill: Physical Hammer or Shouts RifleThief:Mace or Greatsword, possibly ScepterType: Melee Bruiser or Caster RangedSkill: Mace and Greatsword Stance, Glyphs ScepterElementalist:Long or Short bow, possibly HammerType: Ranged Caster big Single Target DPS in all 3 cases.Skill: Wells for AoEMesmer:Long or Short bowType: Ranged Direct DPSSkill: CantripNecromancer:Mace,Pistol or Sword mainhandType: Control / Corrupter Melee or RangedSkill: Cantrip, Deception or Stance

[Jski.6180]

Ele will get something that lets it give others reg protection swiftness and might as well as applying chill weakness cripal burning and bleed just like core ele, tempest and weaver. So it will just be the same class for the 4th time...

[draxynnic.3719]

@MatyrGustav.6210 said:@Kodama.6453

Everytime Anet has given a melee style class a staff it was used as a Bo Staff kinda like Revenant as well. I just cant really see them adding it as a Spear since we already have spears in the game, and most of the staff skins wouldnt look right if one used it as a Spear. Same with banner because most skins wouldn't have a banner on it.

I mean they wouldnt need to fight with it in a kung fu martial arts way, but what meant is it should be melee oriented and not magical. Stick fighting basically.

Playing devil's advocate somewhat, having a staff skin with 'wave the banner' type skills could probably be handled by having the banner be part of the skill animation, rather than the weapon itself.

@Dadnir.5038 said:

@Kodama.6453 said:

@Dadnir.5038 said:

Engineer have few weapons because they do have kit if I remember properly. Fortunately kits work just as well with e-spec than they work with core. Having a main-hand, an off-hand or a 2 handed weapon won't change this fact. I believe that engi getting an off-hand isn't necessarily a bad option, sure you'll get "less" new skill, but that's all.

I don't really consider that a fair treatment for the engineer, to be honest.

Engineer literally has just 1 single mainhand weapon, meaning that if you want to use the new offhand weapon of the elite spec, you

have

to use it together with a mainhand pistol.

That is not true for any other class. Berserker can use the torch with 3 mainhand weapons, allowing way more build diversity that way: mace, axe, sword.Even elementalist, another class with alot of extra skills through the attunement system, can pair their warhorn with 2 other weapons, dagger and scepter, but they get more skills from an offhand weapon on top of that anyway, since a new mainhand weapon means 8 new skills for them instead of just 2.

If even elementalist has more options to pair an offhand weapon, on top of them getting 4 times the amount of weapons skills than engineer, then I think it is not really fair to give engineer an offhand weapon with legit just 1 possible combination....

If e-specs weapons were matter of "fairness", Any weapon the elementalist would get would end up into an unfair advantage for the elementalist since he got 4 attunments making him effectivelly getting 4 weapons skillsets each time he got a weapon.

That's not the case, the elementalist get it's 4 weapon skillset as a part of the way it work. The engineer work with the possibility to use kit in any builds, that's why whether he got a main hand, an off hand or a 2 hand weapon, it's not "unfair". Other professions could see it as "unfair" that the engineer can always switch between 6 weaponkits with basically no CD (actual weaponset + 5 Kits) having potentially access to the widest variety of range and effects out of all professions.

It's always a matter of point of view, we all tend to be focused on our limits and ignore the depth within our limits. Engineer having an off-hand on an e-spec isn't that unfair when you consider that the engineer's gameplay involve kits and you can have as far as 5 of them sloted on top of your weapons skillset.

Yeah, I have to agree with @Kodama.6453 on this one.

The professions that got offhands had multiple weapons to pair it with. The worst off were chronomancer and tempest, which had two each. Engineer only has one mainhand weapon, which already has two offhands to pair it with. The last thing engineer needs is an elite specialisation which pairs an offhand weapon with pistol. A chronomancer or a tempest still has a decent number of options to pair with their shield or warhorn respectively: a chronomancer can pair it with a ranged hybrid weapon or a melee power weapon, while a tempest can pair it with a reasonably long-range, generally single-target-oriented weapon, or a weapon oriented towards close range area effects. An engineer elite spec getting an offhand will only ever be able to combine it with a ranged condition weapon, unless it's part of a pair like spellbreaker daggers.

Sure, you could say "but kits", but the (il)logicial end result of that line of thinking is why have an elite specialisation weapon at all when you have kits? Why bother making new utility skills for an elite specialisation when they're just going to be replaced by kits anyway? (Answer: because engineer elite specialisations have tended to try to push engineer out of "healing turret and three kits" skillbars, but hey, if the presence of kits means that the standard of the weapon doesn't matter, why not apply that theory to everything else that kits can potentially replace, which is basically everything but the traitline?)

Finally, the elite specialisation's weapon is generally something that is intended to work with the profession's theme. Chronomancer shield grants defence, CC, quickness, and alacrity - which is kinda encapsulating everything the chronomancer does in two skills. Tempest warhorn is a combination of support and attacks that generally reward fighting in close combat - which fits the tempest's own focus on PBAOE overloads and supportive shouts, even if there are often circumstances where focus and/or dagger would work better. Any hypothetical engineer elite specialisation whose weapon is an offhand would be straitjacketed into being an elite specialisation which works well with pistol... and pistol is, ultimately, pretty straightforward as being a condi DPS weapon (maybe you could call it hybrid if you squint, but I don't think anyone has seriously suggested using pistol with a power build since Coated Bullets got nerfed). So any elite specialisation who's weapon is designed to work with pistol is pretty much going to have to be an elite specialisation oriented towards condition DPS.

And while that could be interesting, I don't think that's the best choice for the engineer, or the game as a whole, right now.

[MatyrGustav.6210]

@draxynnic.3719 said:

@MatyrGustav.6210 said:@Kodama.6453

Everytime Anet has given a melee style class a staff it was used as a Bo Staff kinda like Revenant as well. I just cant really see them adding it as a Spear since we already have spears in the game, and most of the staff skins wouldnt look right if one used it as a Spear. Same with banner because most skins wouldn't have a banner on it.

I mean they wouldnt need to fight with it in a kung fu martial arts way, but what meant is it should be melee oriented and not magical. Stick fighting basically.

Playing devil's advocate somewhat, having a staff skin with 'wave the banner' type skills could probably be handled by having the banner be part of the skill animation, rather than the weapon itself.

That's interesting to have the banner part of the animation. It could even be a permanent addition to the weapon when you attach the Espec. The banner style / effect could change based on F2 - F5 buttons and anyone near you will recieve the effect.

But i don't know how people would further feel being even more of a banner slave with the new espec and all core banner skills becomimg meta.