RyuDragnier.9476

Wait, so the spec with 5 shadowsteps...lost lots of mobility? I...what?

Don't think it's meant to be a power spec, too much support and condi traits. Sadly you'll probably have to stick with DD for the power spec.

They do work on Siphoning...but not on allies. Only when hitting an enemy, and there's a delay on Hidden Thief's stealth (when there shouldn't be).

Having played it for a little while, I say I do love the Scepter. It feels quite nice and I didn't have much issues with it. Shroud however is incredibly lacking, with a delay on most moves and overall feeling very lackluster. I mostly used it to detonate it for the big barriers and heals. Wells and Siphon need to be looked at as well, the requirement that you need to be on the same footing as your target destination is a big nuisance.

There's a 1s delay on Hidden Thief with Siphon. Thrill of the Crime will activate immediately upon the animation completion, but Hidden Thief will be delayed.

In almost every MMO I've ever played, a rogue type cannot re-enter stealth mid-combat without having to use a move on a long cooldown (usually 1-2m long). In return the rogue knows they go all in and make the first move from stealth, or they die. GW2 is one of the only MMOs I've seen that allows such liberal use of stealth. Perhaps it's you who doesn't understand the archetype and needs to play other MMOs.

A well put together list, and definitely things we should all check. The sooner we figure out whatever bugs and problems Specter has, the sooner they can be fixed by the devs before either next beta weekend or launch.

One of the traits makes it so if an attack would kill us, we'll enter Shroud instead. Note however that it'll instantly drain our Shroud and heal the ally instead if they would die. 60s ICD.

Siphon probably is still considered Steal for all intents and purposes in relation to traits, so I expect it will be effected by everything that you'd get upon using Steal with the traits.

Multiple Specters tether the Commander. All of them enter Shroud and start doing damage. The Commander will receive ALL the healing and barriers from their attacks. Remember, it's not just targeting a single person for AA, you can merely just use Siphon to mark the Commander in advance and then just feed him any and all healing and barriers you can give from Shroud.

Look at the traits. Traversing Darkness in particular. "Heal allies in the area around you when you shadowstep. Gain shadow force for each ally in the radius. Wells grant alacrity on their initial impact." 4s Alac on that, 4/6 Wells have a 20s cooldown. It's going to be VERY easy to give Alacrity, and Well of Bounty gives every boon you DON'T have on you. 5 Allies total can be hit.

You DO know how support roles function, right?

It may mean nothing to us, but it means a lot to everybody else.

I don't think full support will be what is ran on Specter since most of SA is going to require stealth (thereby making it kinda useless). If anything, I do suspect it'll be a condi support build, with Deadly Arts taken along with Trickery. Siphon has a lot of condis on it and it seemed like the wells did also. That way you're giving alacrity while also doing some heavy condis. However this likely also means we're locked into Plaguedoctor's since there's not much that gives concentration and condi damage.

Bottom traits add AoE healing, alac and barrier. Combined with Trickery, it could make for some pretty good AoE support. The only hard part is the last trait line if we're trying to make it a condi support or just plain support, there isn't much that seems to synergize well with it for raids/strikes.

Ranger pets get Shadowstep, and when they have Untamed you do and take less damage. When you have Untamed, you do and take more damage.

Alac thief exists. SOOOOO happy right now!

ALAC THIEF EXISTS! BETTER WELLS THAN CHRONOMANCER! I'm literally screaming right now, it's the support I've wanted for so long!

I feel like they were playing Borderlands 2 when they came up with this, because it sorta makes me think of Gaige, the Mechromancer. You used the skill/trait lines in that game to adjust what Deathtrap (the mech) was capable of doing alongside you. If it can get as awesome as it does in that game, then it may actually get me to play Engi again (haven't played in years).

It sounds like something made with Strikes/Raids in mind, because in those you're most of the time stacked and rarely moving from melee range anyway. I could see the movement coming in handy in WvW while in the zergs.

Ooof, an elite based around the wonkiest part of Ranger (and my personal least favorite part). I'm hoping UI changes and general changes for the pets come with this so I can actually try to give pets a shot again.

I'm hoping that if something has to take a hit at least on the Elite Spec side (in terms of what unique thing this elite spec will penalize), I'm really hoping it's stealth. With access to the Shadow Shroud, do we really need to use stealth when we're literally shrouding ourself in the shadows anyway?

I'm assuming they're adjusting stealth for this spec...because I want to believe they're smart enough to realize stealth can and will cause problems otherwise.

I am excited. Got some support there and possibly condi. C'mon Anet, don't screw this up, give me a reason to bring my thief into Raids again!

It's more the order. Imagine if instead of the order we got, it started with the funeral, but when we went to see Taimi, she mentions then that Primordus is active, and we start Rising Flames. Then it goes to A Crack in the Ice. After that THEN we do Out of the Shadows, to The Head of the Snake. We'd have a better flowing story leading into Flashpoint. Keep in mind said order would also include having dialogue moved around a little so there's nothing conflicting with it. With such an order, the story would start escalating, with the Elder Dragons for the first two episodes, the White Mantle for episodes 3 and 4, then events from both would combine into dealing with Balthazar and the loose ends for Episodes 5 and 6. Saddens me that Lazarus was a loose end along with Livia, but I have a feeling the writing team was mostly working on PoF at that time.