[Dear ANET, do something about Necro. It's intolerable .]

I have been suggesting that lf could be adjusted just a few months ago because it was obvious that as soon as scourge would get some nerfs other necro specs would show up. Every spec was played before the final phases of mAT and only then would they swap to scourge. At some point reaper was meta with tempest and barely changed since then, core necro was seeing a decent amount of play to counter the boons and be tanky.

I think they do not need much because they are doing what they are supposed to do fine. They just need a small cut in their survivability.

[Bring this to forums attention]

3 hours ago, Leonidrex.5649 said:

tell that to 100% damage reduction classes doing raids ( rev, ranger )
some of the bonuses do add up, and you CAN have 100% dmg reduction from adding up bonuses

Could you please edit your message to either remove ranger or say that they use multiple damage prevention skills? Ranger has no such thing as stacking up to 100% damage reduction (or full or permanent damage immunity). Otherwise I could say that any profession has damage immunity with evades / blocks / barrier / distortion / damage prevention skills.

[Willbender Feedback Thread]

Pvp impression: unranked

Many people say / said Willbender is like a thief but the profession with the closest design would be revenant. It shares way more themes with them (heal on hit, sword 4, sword 5, tp, effect on hit).

I did tried to play condi build with a lot of aoes. While it was fun the results was lacking a bit of damage because of the F1 change (see trait / utilities). Power can do some good burst but I think core (which I enjoyed a lot 3 seasons ago) offers a lot more defenses for a similar range of damage. For my final attempts I ended up playing symbol and got more success but I would rather not see too many symbol builds.

 

PvE impression: tested only on golem

Same as for PvP. I did get less damage than I expected with condi but got good results with power. It plays pretty much like a dh. Without that many modifiers it is a testament to how well core guard can perform.

 

Trait / utilities:

I noticed a few things but unlike the other 2 beta specs I cannot find suggestions or adjustments at the time of this post which make it very vague (sorry about that 😞). 

 

F1 : The effects can be hard to trigger but I loved the aoe effect and combined it with more aoe utilities. Finding the correct balance is probably hard. It should be a bit easier to trigger in pvp but at the same time should be looked at carefully in PvE. 

F2: I had a hard time landing the flame and triggering the effects in PvP. Just like F1 the PvP / PvE balance is probably a key point.

F3 : Gives a lot of bonus and be very strong. It is probably fine to leave it as it is.

Sword 4 : I found it a bit hard to land a hit. Someone compared it to warrior axe 4 which is weird because I did land axe on a regular basis. Maybe I was not used to it or missed a setup.

Sword 5 : It was ok. Not great but not bad.

Flash combo :  I have not found the reason why the blink + damage missed so often but I rarely got the return. Has some good damage in PvE.

Whirling light : Burn and weakness are good for everything.

Rolling light: Just like virtuoso strunbreak it is weir to load so many effects on this utility.

 

Suggestion:

The description of phoenix protocol is very unclear / confusing. It should probably be rephrased and avoid using regeneration twice. Maybe something like disable F2 heal on hit to gain regeneration?

[Harbinger Feedback Thread [Merged]]

Pvp impression: unranked

I am happy to have correctly foreseen how tanky it can be ^^. Between constant regen and perma weakness I expected an effect similar to ranger wilderness survival on the forums and was not disappointed. I played without the elixirs because I struggled a bit with them.

I mostly played a power builds which lacks a bit of damage but is still good.

This spec has a ton of defense but at the same time can get bursted. During the beta it definitely was a bit on the + side but I am not sure if it needs a change right now. Maybe it becomes too strong as people become better or maybe it gets countered.

 

PvE impression: on golem

I got the same results as in PvP but amplified. Power did less than I expected and condi was strong. It maybe needs a shift between power damage and condi duration.

 

Trait / utilities:

I tried elixirs and the quickness trait in strikes. They are… difficult to rank. Some are really strong, (dispel /  quickness / elite ), while some do not provide much for a necro (resolution). The build with quickness, might was strong but without arc I could not tell if this was too much or not. I will probably not play the espec in fractals because I was already getting hit hard in strikes.

Pistol damage looked high. A bit too high or too frequent maybe? Something like pistol 2, axe 2, shroud 2 is a nonstop machine gun.

The shroud is really fast and has short cds. It was fun to use. Shroud 4 was a bit weird. Because of the jump animation I expected to be able to kite / do some jumps but could not do most of them. Shroud 5 offers a Super strong cc. I do not remember the values in PvP (cd / duration [I should have written some notes earlier]) but it felt frequent.

I said that it does not need some huge changed in pvp but the lf increase / decrease / regen ratio should probably be looked at. It was extremely rare to run out of lf or care about it.

 

Other:

While trying builds on the golem I did not see any effects for the shroud 5 on multiple occasions.

[Virtuoso Feedback Thread [Merged]]

duplicate

[Virtuoso Feedback Thread [Merged]]

Pvp impression: unranked

I liked the feeling of the virtuoso. Dagger was ok, it had average damage but Gs felt way better for my playstyle because it offered a higher ranged and more burst. Power builds stacked vuln super fast had some nice and frequent damage while keeping had some decent defenses. I tried a hybrid but it did not seem to work. I have seen some duelist builds (maybe with chaos because of all the boons) which seemed to work better for 1V1 but with the ones I tried were not the best option.

 

PvE impression: tested only on golem

Here dagger felt strong. It had a small difference with sword but because the skills are so fast I did not feel like I was missing much. Power gave me some decent results. I have seen the benchmarks but this was on a large target, I think for smaller targets chrono could still to be the preferred choice (I am not a chrono player so I am just guessing because it offers a lot of utility). I tried a viper set but I guessed most of my damage was power so I went destroyer and then back to berserker. I cannot tell what the issue was with my condi attempts. Maybe it is just me, maybe it is the cd on the F2, the lack of variety or strong (to potentially op) conditions sources.

 

 

Traits / utilities:

No matter which grandmaster I picked, I was loaded with swords.

At first I thought the Rain of sword damage looked low but the vuln stacking and the aoe end up making it a strong utility. 

Blade renewal + Sword of decimation are good but situational. Not much to add.

F1 felt nice. It did hit hard and was frequent.

F2 : (I barely remember it sorry 😞, I think it was just ok)

F3 : was hit and miss. It has some decent damage but was mostly used in close combat. Maybe add a small reward for a successful long range interrupt? 

 

additional suggestion:

I think the F4 with Master of fragmentation would be stronger with a reflect during the block (and not the full duration) rather than increasing the duration.

For the elite Thousands cuts I like the idea to control an area but it is super thin. So thin that I managed to miss some downed targets. This leads to the following question. Is it for damage or area control? If this is for damage I would make it slightly larger (also it took me a while to realize how huge the range was). If this is for area control I would take inspiration from mobas which have damaging lines that slow (probius from hots / dark seer from dota 2) make the cast way shorter and add some soft cc like cripple.

The knockback is nice. But it is loaded with effects. As it stands it does too much and has a cd too high. I would remove the boons, lower it to 35 and see if this is too strong.

 

[Fractal Druid/Ranger advice please]

It is not just you 🙂.  I hope you can still find some fun with slb and still try some druid gameplay in raids. Some bosses are fun because you are in charge of mechanics, some are a bit boring because you just rotate your heals.

 

@Xukavi.4320 gave a great and detailed answer.  I will just add that if you just plan to do standard T4 (not cms) as a druid once in a while, having your friends fill those roles the will make it easier to lfg and a bit less likely that somebody asks you to swap so (s)he can play hfb instead.

[Fractal Druid/Ranger advice please]

Sadly @Infusion.7149is right you can play it but you will not find that many groups asking for druid in high level fractals. Even when people were saying that druid was used for everything you could see the cracks in the kit.

Last time I played it, it was because we did not want to take too long to find someone and I did not want to swap gear to my hfb (now with leg armory I cannot say that anymore X) ).

 

The heal / aoe / range are relatively small, you do not have some (broken) boons to defend your allies, your reactions are bound to your CA and kind slow.

Druid as a healer works in raids because this environment is mostly predictable, there is way less damage and you can use some offensive utilities.

 

Now that I got all the negative points out of the way, you could play it with harrier if you want to play it in raids too, you could add some minstrel if you want some defense and the build would pretty much be the same as the one in raids.

Pick some spirits and nature vengeance (Nature magic), spotter (skirmishing), Grace of the land (druid) and healing spring for some great cleanse + explosion combo thanks to quickdraw (skirmishing) and find pets with strong cc and damage.

 

Also with a druid you are still bound to an alac and a quickness giver. I would recommend starting a group with friends that can fill these roles.

[Virtuoso Feedback Thread [Merged]]

4 hours ago, Axl.8924 said:

So far i'm enjoying it i'm glad it has so much front burst it seems kinda low on things like mobility and heavy on dmg and range.

I also did feel a bit low on mobility when I started playing it (compared to some of the new standards). After a few rounds I swapped dagger with sword and discovered the new 3 which helps a lot. 

 

Edit : but you might already be playing with it.

[Harbinger is awesome.]

At first I did not see it in pvp because it has a lot of weaknesses and is so different from the standard necro (if elixirs or the trait are not nerfed then we are going to see them 100% in raids) .

But the more I look at it the more I wonder how the shroud hp regen works and how much a multishot build will take of a carry hp. Sure you might need a dedicated support but I really want to try it during the beta ^^.

[Meet the virtuoso]

A good amount of traits seems to be duplicates of the core traits which is really weird... There are defensive traits for PvP and with mesmer base defense it is not going to be a glasscanon unless you build  for it (which is what a lot of us guessed but strangely some players thought that the spec would be defenseless).  All especs try to give different playstyles but condi feels a bit out of place here (even if it could be good). 

 

When they started showing the traits one of my first thought was they want to make it compete with chrono. While it does not have the boon generation / cc of chrono it has higher modifiers, the possibility to stack blades before a fight, decent defense which will make it find a spot in every game mode.

[The Virtuoso: Traits Discussion]

16 minutes ago, Lincolnbeard.1735 said:

Well, everyone else seem to understand it.
As for pve, everything works in pve.

🙄 no since it is absolutely not said anywhere you can misinterpret that and no I do not remember seeing spellbreakers outside of quadim 6  which is why they try to buff mid / close range.

[The Virtuoso: Traits Discussion]

1 minute ago, Lincolnbeard.1735 said:

I know, hence the suggestion on making it more than 600.

That was a suggestion? Nothing in your post indicates that. And that would be a no from me because they are trying to get it to work in PvE

[The Virtuoso: Traits Discussion]

11 hours ago, Lincolnbeard.1735 said:

 

 

Mental Focus - makes no sense, +15% damage if more than 600 range. (and even that seems kind of bad)

 

 

 

WITHIN the range. Stream between 41min30s and 42min

 

[Necro Elite Spec: The Harbinger]

At first I thought it was power but there are so many condi traits and ways to get torment on this that it will probably be a hybrid (but leaning towards condi). The mechanic is going to be challenging and is going to be quite exiting to discover. Get perma regen but lose health, get high damage but lose the second health bar.

The elixirs combined with the high damage potential are going to be used in raids. If I have to guess most people will avoid playing it in fractals (except if you are confident in yourself and your group). At first I did not see it in PvP but then I joined the end of teapot stream and the idea of a bursty necro with a support got me curious.

I know a lot of players enjoying necro tankyness who will skip it but it could how change we usually see necro.

[Guardian Elite Spec: WILLBENDER]

This spec looks tailored for PvP and turns guard into a revenant. I do not think it is going to compete in PvE group content with fb / dh but it looks fun to play.

I will check the values in pvp (especially cds) because they are so scary. With all of guards core skills it is going to be a challenge to kill one.

The new mechanics could be hard to grasp and get value from at release. It looks like they trying to keep condi builds available on this spec so it could end up being an hybrid.

[Balance Update Preview for August 17, 2021]

I do like this patch. The combo changes look small but are nice, many bug fixes are really welcome and so are the QoL with mounts. I think a lot of people do not give enough appreciations to those changes.

 

Confusion : No opinion

Weaver : Maybe for solo gameplay? No idea, I play tempest when solo.

Engineer : So you really want to push scrapper in pve :) (not sure if this is enough), holo nerfs are welcome. It is good that you are thinking about elixir or mortar.

Guard : I remember a forum post about the name change some time ago, that seems like a big wink  ^^. I never experienced the fb bugs but it is good to see a fix

Mesmer : Standard values for rez. I used it on chrono 2 seasons ago it was fun 😄

Necro : Forcing a support trait to have the heal apply to allies is interesting. Obviously scourge is very delicate to balance in PvP. I think a mini cast on F5 would have been a good change but with all the values getting decreased it probably will not be needed.

Ranger : Usually I smile at ranger bugfixes because they are a staple of balance patches. I experience those bugs on a regular basis and just love the one wolf pack change. Thank you.

Revenant : ok.

Warrior : ok

[Guardian Elite Spec: WILLBENDER]

21 hours ago, Lan Deathrider.5910 said:

There was a leap that did an AoE and granted Aegis. I bet that was the new F3.

It does look like a good guess.  

 

I hope we get to see some talents during the stream / replay but I would already be happy with the tooltips 🙂 

 

[Guardian Elite Spec: WILLBENDER]

Most I got out of the trailer was flashy animations and flashy effects.

 

I do not dislike it, it is just that unlike necro I have no idea what is a mechanic, a utility, a weapon.

[Necro Elite Spec: The Harbinger]

I am waiting for the full presentation and more details, in 1min and without the tooltip it is hard to get an opinion. The animations are great, elixirs fit perfectly but the pistol and agile looking skills did not attract me that much.

[Our New Mesmer Elite Specialization: The Virtuoso]

18 minutes ago, Jijimuge.4675 said:

The skill type for the Virtuoso's utility skills was "Psionic" IIRC, so that similarity is perhaps not too surprising.

oh right I forgot about that! 

[Our New Mesmer Elite Specialization: The Virtuoso]

I am really excited about this specialization (mainly for sPvP). Mesmer in general does not appeal to me. I recently played some chrono stun in sPvP and it was fun but still not enough to get me into the profession. I also tried some power burst and am thinking about trying chrono power phantasm.

 

Virtuoso looks like it could fit me perfectly! Clear animations on F skills (finally!), a somewhat range damage dealer feeling and some aoe in addition to the base kit of mesmer which can give defense / burst. It reminds me a bit of a psionicist in an other mmo, also with a blade skill, aoe control and psychic abilities.

 

I just hope it does not get too many defensive traits (the recharge + invuln got me a bit scared because it was the first thing shown).

[The legendary Armory is AWESOME!!!!!]

It took me a few min to get how everything works, see some interface changes (at first I expected a new menu with H ), notice that I need to go on a character wearing the legendary first to be able to share it, try the skins on 2 set.

 

I love it! It is going to be super helpful and encourage me to level up a few additional professions and I am now even thinking about getting some weapons (armors always were my priority). Thank you so much for your work!

 

The only (small) downside is that this is one of the many things the game will not introduce properly to a new (or older) player getting a legendary.

[Valk Core Ranger/Condition Soulbeast will be the new Prot Holo]

3 hours ago, Trevor Boyer.6524 said:

 

Oh please.

 

Unless they've figured out some strange bug to exploit or some otherwise incredibly inobvious way to wield a Drake, the Drake sucks dude. I don't know what else to tell you. I don't care how good or bad a player is, Drakes suck and there are better options.

People who will copy it now probably have no idea either so not sure we will have the answer. If I have to guess this is to increase your defenses (maybe). At least this is why I was suggesting to pick drake after the February patch even if the chances to hit with it are (really really) low.

[So when are pets gonna be put at a reasonable level?]

1 hour ago, Arheundel.6451 said:

I honestly don't know what's the allure of keep answering to a nerf thread....people in a nerf thread are not interested in any sort of balance, they merely want to delete a class/spec that bothers them....they won't change their mind or anything so...even 20 pages worth of explanation and theories are wasted on them...so I am baffled ...I simply wouldn't bother answering back after 2-3 posts..

Well that most likely was my last answer ^^.

 

I check the forums on a regular basis to see what people say about every professions (in sPvP and PvE) even if I rarely comment (there also are some posts or people I avoid answering to). Sometimes there are things that I take away from reading people debate so who knows. But still like most people I have a hard time changing my mind 😁