Skyroar.2974

Glacial Heart will still replace Hammer's #2 to its chill version. That means all non-AA hammer skill will self-heal the user with this trait.

In PvE, this trait will only be good for solo OW builds, which is fine, if you're willing to balance for it. Make sure the numbers are high enough to justify taking it against strong bosses, and not very reliant on healing power (hammer is a power weapon and therefore its user will want power stats). Also, Guardian's hammer in PvE needs a few QoL updates and balance changes. Skill #2 is a DPS loss compared to just AAing, and skill #5 doesn't work on stationary bosses, if I'm not wrong, and it's just not that good in that game mode anyways. Perhaps #5 should deal damage whenever a foe gets CC'd by it in PvE. That would be really cool and fun. Until hammer gets good QoL/balance updates in PvE, a firebrand with traited axe spamming 2 CCs with their DPS rotation will always be a much better Glacial Heart user. Similarly to Glacial Heart's change, this trait will only be useful in PvE for solo content, so make sure the numbers are decent enough and we're not getting PvP balance for PvE here. Because the competition is strong for grandmaster WB traits and courage has such a short window under a long cooldown, you'll either need to add an additional effect for PvE, or make the numbers really high.

Why? You wanted it to stay useless?

I don't think they should change existing weapons, but simply to continue experimentibg with new ones. I like that Scepter is getting an upkeep skill, and I would also love to see a new DPS legend in the future without it (or have it tied to a niche skill instead of a DPS skill). I guess Alliance's legend already kind of does that if you stay in Luxon, but I hate the legend-swap-inside-legend-swap concept.

I think this change is a bit misguided. Revenant, as an energy-driven, low-cooldown class, doesn't needs a full, 5-weapon skill DPS rotation. The entire point of the class's main mechanic, similar to Thief's initiative, is about rewarding decision making, not about spamming everything you have. Otherwise, what's the point of energy? Why not just remove it entirely, or at least why not just remove energy costs from weapon skills, if you want every single skill to be used in rotations? I do think the slow effect didn't have much purpose in it neither (it's a mobility skill, not a defensive skill), and maybe torment will be slightly better, but Anet should actually worry about improving this skills' primary purpose first, before turning it into generic DPS skill number 5. As it is now, Frigid Blitz is kind of clumsy as a mobility skill. It's slow, it puts the player in a weird position (behind the target' back) and has some additional animation after the shadowstep is over. It feels bad to use it. Make it faster; improve its range slightly too; and it'll feel much better to use. Perhaps give it an additional effect, like a leap finisher, to give us an aura. Something that stands out, that leads to decision-making. "Should I spend energy for this skill, or for another one?" is the essence of Revenant's gameplay. Even with additional damage, I don't think the clumsiness of the skill will make it enjoyable to use in instance PvE, as it forces players to teleport behind target's backs.

Guardian's torch changes are very welcome, but there's still something in that offhand that Anet didn't touch yet, and they should: the usefulness of torch #5. It's the coolest skill of the two, but also the worst. The new Radiant Fire trait should have improved it, instead of improving the already good #4. Or, perhaps, #5 should have had some QoL changes, like better (and stronger) burning distribution across its duration, lower casting time, etc. Condi Guardians are stuck with torch, and they will continue to be after the patch. For this reason, torch #5 should be an enjoyable skill to use that is part of the rotation, instead of a dead skill.

Yeah, I just got kicked out of the game because of a crash, but I shouldn't have closed the window. What a wonderful thing. A crash that is not actually a crash until you manually click it. Wasted 20 minutes, which I was having fun chatting with people while battling bosses. The game gave me no way to get back to the instance. I was playing with a friend, and there was never an option to rejoin their instance. Nothing. Just a "kitten you, you're out" feeling that I got from it.

This weapon needs a lot of polish. It's slow > a few improved cast or aftercast times would help. Too focused on single target, making it really underwhelming in OW > needs more piercing or AoE skills. Not enough condi-damage application outside of fire/earth > all water skills should apply bleeding regardless of bullets (AA included; make it ice-themed instead of water-themed); air skills should have some synergy with condi damage beyond vulnerability. Water's bullet chains should be standardized so that skill number 2 has enhanced DPS instead of number 3. Water's and air's #3 skills are the most enjoyable and creative, so they should be further capitalized: give water #3 a lower cooldown and air #3 ammunitions. Skill effects are a bit bland, some of them are barely distinguishable from AAs > Anet should add a few more bullet flurry effects, I think, and perhaps fit a "aoe bullet barrage" somewhere in there. Perhaps a "laser" effect like Virtuoso's elite, for example? As it is now, there is too little mechanical variation.

I think the best solution is somewhere inbetween. I agree that it's best to have 2 main DPS attunements, but I disagree that the remaining 2 should be dreadful at DPS. Having water and air being "decent but not great" at condi dps would be a good compromise. You wouldn't want to use them if you don't need the extra utility, but, if you do, your DPS loss wouldn't be too big. Currently, however, "condi-damage" Pistol has 0 condi-damage in air.

Pistol is meant to be, by Anet's own words, a condi-damage weapon, not a jack-of-all-trades weapon as if we were still stuck in 2012 ele design. If we look at all post-expansion weapons: Warhorn is a good support weapon regardless of attunement. Hammer is a good DPS/bruiser weapon regardless of attunement. Sword is a good evade-and-damage weapon regardless of attunement (on Weaver, at least). Reworked Scepter became focused on DPSing regardless of attunement (EXCEPT for condi damage builds). MH Pistol, so far, is mostly a slight variation of Scepter. Modern ele weapon design revolves around all attunements having a single, shared purpose, and then differing, secondary goals, which is probably the best way to do it. Anet's problem with pistol, however, is that they don't know what kind of damaging conditions they should put in air, which in turn forces their new condi-damage weapon (and condi scepter, as well) to be stuck in old 2012 design in that regard.

Pretty good QoL surprise. Those skills were unpredictably hard to hit at times.

I'm fine with no poison, it doesn't fits thematically. Bleeding, however, is a generic enough condition that you can put it in every class. Condi elementalists usually deal most of their damage through burning; so, if pistol had 3 attunements with consistent bleeding application, it would, at the very least, make pistol a bit more unique in this aspect. Instead, it seems like fire/earth are still the only worth using, just like scepter, with fire specifically being the best out of the two, just like scepter. Also a very heavy focus on single-target skills (just like non-fire scepter, although scepter as a whole used to be a lot more focused on single-target than it is now, after its rework). At the moment, pistol is scepter v2.0. They already occupy the same design space (ranged condi damage), and even rely on the same two attunements to do so (fire/earth).

After watching the stream, I have 2 main issues with Pistol. 1. Not enough condition application outside of fire/earth. Anet devs were too conservative at adding additional condi-damage/bleeding sources to air/water attunements. There was one or two skills in water that did it, but still too few. It's Scepter v2.0 so far. 2. Not enough AoE/piercing damage. In contrast with Guardian's pistols, that felt more like grenade-launchers in contrast, Ele's pistol being mostly single target makes it underwhelming and unfavourable to the wider casual audience (open-world players). Anything else, I won't comment until I get to try it.

Low shaders seems to be my problem as well. I just entered the instance with medium shaders, used my skills and nothing happened. Changed to low, and got an instant crash.

Same. Nearly every skill I use crashes the game.

Anet, can you clarify on what you mean by legendary armor's tier 1/2? Does this means t1 is the precursor while the legendary functionality proper is only for t2? Or will t1 offer us the legendary functionality, and t2 merely be a cosmetic upgrade?

What about effects like stun/fear duration increase?

The relic system, itself, is a pretty awesome improvement to the game. The effects are more interesting, it being an equip slot means all players will have a much easier time swapping between different effects, and it should be easier to balance for WvW, now that they can split its effects, which is something that they couldn't do with runes. The effects themselves also seem to be creative (based on their examples) instead of uninspiring and boring, so it's already a step in the right direction after EoD's rather uninspired elite specs/skills. The legendary rune compensation system, however, is a bit unsatisfying. We ARE losing the most important functionality we've crafted those for. Also, not everyone cares about underwater for the 7th rune, but the blogpost implies that those who did will be closer to get back their lost functionality than those who didn't. I also don't like that. And we have to wait half a year or more until the legendary relic is out. Yeah... At the very least, give players with 6 legendary runes a box with all core+expansion relics.

Demon Slayer-inspired Elementalist Greatsword. Give me that alongside a legendary GS katana skin, and I won't care for anything else.

Sigil of Frailty contributed to the buff, yes. Outside of that sigil, I'm not sure. Staff's ambush DPS was nerfed, but confuse also got overall stronger.

For instanced content, wait for the next patch this month, where they'll rework a trait to boost staff's alac numbers back to previous numbers. For solo open world content, Mirage has been buffed. 14.5k dps (before) > 16.2k (after) according to Lord Hizen's latest video.

I like the idea of pistol elementalist, but I agree it would probably be better as an off-hand, which seems to be the slot where we're more lacking. Focus is a defensive set that gets used for condi damage due to lack of any alternative. Warhorn is support. Dagger is melee power damage. We need both a condi-dedicated offhand, ranged or melee, as well as a ranged power-focused one. Still, I'm curious to see what we'll get.

That's a good idea. Alacrity applied to both Staff and Trident is consistent with the Chaos trait that buffs both weapons at the same time.

There are a few problems here. 1. Staff still relies on a grandmaster damage trait (Infinite Horizon) to improve its alacrity usage, which the mesmer community in general seems to think it's a bad idea. Staff's damage has been nerfed really hard because of this. Wouldn't it be a better idea to just put alacrity into a GM trait, competing with IH? This way, players would be able to choose between more damage or alacrity, which would be consistent with other quickness/alacrity changes being done elsewhere (example: Chrono having to choose between those boons and double phantasms). If "Mirage Mantle" were, simply, to be a GM trait that reads "All your ambushes inflict alacrity", it would be more elegant and more enjoyable overall, wouldn't it? It would give players the freedom to apply alacrity with any weapon, and an universal choice between stronger ambushes (IH) vs. alacrity ambushes. 2. Mirage Mantle being in the same tier as Mirrored Axes means that players will have to choose between 2 axe-buffing traits. That will feel bad. Perhaps consider moving one to a different tier, so axe players can pick both. 3. Not a big fan of some of those added effects (PvE perspective). Cripple on axe, for example, is useless in PvE. Random suggestion: add blindness to it instead, so it can synergy with dueling's GM Ineptitude trait, where blinding a foe applies additional confusion. Alternatively, blind could be put into scepter's ambush, for the same reason. In general, I think this trait adds way too many different effects that just feel kind of random and all over the place. Some are useful for PvE, some are useless, and that feels bad. GS damage boost is generic but good. Sword's boon rip is niche and is going to do nothing to make power mirage better in PvE. Staff's alacrity is obviously good, but then Axe has a pointless buff. It all feels very uneven. You should opt for simpler or more standardized effects. Historically, traits that add way too many different effects to way too many different skills always feel unpolished. EDIT: And someone else's suggestion to add alacrity to trident was perfect.

I definitely agree. But unless/until Anet is willing to rework Hammer, I'd take Weaver's current QoL changes over something that would have been overcomplicated.