Taril.8619
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Posts posted by Taril.8619
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@Arheundel.6451 said:I pray for a better expansion this time around and most of all : I am expecting a WvW zerg build for rangers
Inb4 Ranger's new E-Spec has tons of AoE's that can hit 10+ targets for massive damage, while providing Stealth to the Ranger and their allies.
Kappa
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Agreed. Some trash might have minor usefulness to a particular kind of player, though.In that regard, I think Soldier's is oddly perfect for the kind of player who thinks it's a good idea to buy an 80 boost for a game they're totally new to. They're probably making a ton of assumptions about GW2 based on their other gaming experiences, are likely a bit impatient, and almost 100% do not read tooltips. For this kind of player, it probably makes sense to give them a set that stacks Vitality for a bit of anti-condi padding, Toughness to reduce those power spikes, and Power... well because on its face power is simpler than condi (the latter has duration, intensity, and type differences). Of course maximizing power bursts can take relatively complex setups too, but we're not talking about that type of player. Soldier's will help this kind of player not die instantaneously, and perhaps if they stick around long enough to try harder content, they'll come to know (or be loudly told) that Soldier's is garbage and be recommended other stats based on what/how they want to play.
Yeah, Soldier is decent for newbies that have yet to really experience content as it gives a lot of buffer for when they fail to use their dodges (Or while they figure out what all the Bounty modifiers do in PoF)
Be they insta-boosted to level 80, or someone who simply went through Core Tyria zones doing map completions and thus never really encountered anything of any note or really had to care about gear beyond the (Garbage) they were given from level up rewards/personal story and ended up picking up some gear from the Karma vendors in Orr.
Outside of that, Soldier is just kind of bad. Marauder or Zealot would provide better Tanky Power builds, while Carrion/Rabid or Dire/Trailblazer would provide better Tanky Condi builds. With Carrion/Rabid/Dire being as easily attained as Soldier gear due to being purchasable off the TP for like 30s a piece (While Marauder/Zealot/Trailblazer are HoT stats and so a bit more of a hassle to obtain)
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As someone who always plays Tank characters in Holy Trinity games...
I don't feel like GW2 is really set up to deal with Holy Trinity. As evidenced by its current state after shoehorning it into Raids in order to make Raids have some semblence of strategy to them beyond SMOrc...
As such, it would require a complete overhaul of the entire combat system and the effect of stats and likely still wouldn't result in something noteworthy. It would most likely still devolve into some method of "Tank" character auto generating "Aggro" and then just DPSing with inferior numbers until a "Tankbuster" happens where they press [insert Active Defence] button to nullify it. While "Healer" characters sit there spamming inferior DPS until a mechanic that does unavoidable AoE damage happens and then they use their AoE heal. While DPS just blindly mash DPS skills because they have literally no other player agency.
A truly unique and interesting Holy Trinity system would need to have the entire combat system designed around it, to ensure that each role has enough player agency and dynamic gameplay. Utilizing mechanics that make sense and also feel fun, rather than simply making tanks have binary gameplay of "Is boss attacking me yes/no?" and "Is tankbuster being used yes/no?" and healers alternating between not healing, spamming AoE heals or playing whack-a-mole with health bars and single target heals, with DPS just going SMOrc because that's all they can do.
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@Teratus.2859 said:As someone who has been running this set on one of my favourite Necro builds since before HoT came out I have to disagree with those who call the set worthless or trash.The main use I get out of Soldiers is on a Minon Master for several reasons.
Power, Toughness, Vitality is a good stat set that can play to Necro's strengths as a high HP, durable class without completely crippling their damage output.
Necros have access to a decent amount of sustain potential to further make use of that durability, especially through minions which also help get a little more damage out as well which is beneficial to this stat set since Minions have fixed damage and do not benefit from running Zerkers or any other DPS focused stat sets.
Necromancers can completely ignore putting precision stat on their gear and still be capable of putting out anywhere between 55%-100% crit chance purely through traits, sigils and other sources while also gaining some bonus to their Ferocity to slightly increase their outgoing crit damage without again investing any gear stats into ferocity either.In small groups/party's you can rely on your team mates to boost both your damage and your crits by a respectable amount while you can be on the front lines taking all the aggro and still contributing to the teams overall damage output and survival.
It's decent enough for soloing too if you're into that, Halloween aint far off again, I am looking forward to soloing the Lab Horror and Grand Viscount at the same time again.Just a fun thing I like to do each year ^^
I play Minion Master Reaper in full zerker gear and do just fine. The insane sustain you get from minions + Blood Magic allows you to literally face tank Champions without an issue.
Soldier gear is still trash.
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@Headcase.4618 said:
@"Taril.8619" said:Kralk still existed pre-Zhaitan's death. And was notable for having rekt a lot of Ascalonian regions. (As well as the whole Destiny's Edge thing where they went to try and kill Kralk)Also, the first time anyone saw Zhaitan, was when we killed him. So literally there cannot be a hologram of Zhaitan since no-one knows what he looks like.There could have maybe been a hologram of Jormag or Primordus instead, but Kralk has been the most visible of the Elder Dragons.Let me restate my question then, if this is pre-Zhaitan's death, then why have a Dragon Bash at all? Remember, the first bash came about canonically because of Zhaitan's death (which led into the appearance of the Aetherblades, but that's another story)Dragon Bash was about showing resistance to Dragons.
"Lion’s Arch honors the defiant spirit of its citizenry with the rousing Dragon Bash festival, when revelers laugh in the face of fear!" - The official website
Which doesn't necessarily require having killed Zhaitan, only that people are resisting Elder Dragons (Which they have been for generations, sylvari and humans have been dealing with Zhaitan encroaching on their territories, norn have been dealing with Jormag's influence, charr have been dealing with Kralkatorrik and asura are literally only on the surface to begin with due to Primodus)
@Headcase.4618 said:The current festival returned after Kralk's death, which happened long after Mordremoth died in HoT.
Except that's not how time bubbles work. Central Tyria is still pre-Zhaitan death.
Whether or not the in-game activity is celebrating Zhatian's death in the story, or Krakatorrik's death in the story, the NPC's of the world are still in a time period before any Elder Dragon deaths.
Hence why even in the original 2013 event, it still featured Kralk holograms:
Despite being way before even HoT, let alone PoF LW4 when Kralk was actually killed.
@Headcase.4618 said:P.S. Kralk was not as visible as you suggest, cuz during that time, he was supposedly in hiding recovering from his fight with Destiny's Edge
It doesn't matter if he was active at that specific time or not. Since the holograms aren't based on using live targets to create them.
All that matters is if people would know what he looked like so to be able to design a hologram about him. To which, Kralk has been the most visible of the Elder Dragons.
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@ConorT.5396 said:
@Taril.8619 said:@ConorT.5396 said:It was done because a lot of new players where doing the personal story and then getting upset when they get trucked by enemies much higher level than them because the game never prevented them from going into their level 20 personal story quests at level 5...Non-sense.Players will be MUCH more upset by been restricted in a cage than failing because they are not high enough level. When the "RECOMMENDED LEVEL" was highlighted so clearly.Except, literally the case is the opposite of what you state.People complained a lot back on the old system. Which is why it was changed. Very few people complain in the new system.Very few players complain now, because there is substantially less NEW players entering the game.That is not a win.You got data to back up that claim?
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@Headcase.4618 said:
@Taril.8619 said:Probably because Dragon Bash, along with the rest of Central Tyria, is still in the pre-Zhaitan's death Time Bubble.Which means, pre-Mordremoth awakening and thus no reason for Mordrem minions to be a common occurance enough to be utilized in a fun activity such as a festival.If that were the case, then why is Kralk being projected in the sky and not Zhaitan?Kralk still existed pre-Zhaitan's death. And was notable for having rekt a lot of Ascalonian regions. (As well as the whole Destiny's Edge thing where they went to try and kill Kralk)
Also, the first time anyone saw Zhaitan, was when we killed him. So literally there cannot be a hologram of Zhaitan since no-one knows what he looks like.
There could have maybe been a hologram of Jormag or Primordus instead, but Kralk has been the most visible of the Elder Dragons.
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@"ConorT.5396" said:
It was done because a lot of new players where doing the personal story and then getting upset when they get trucked by enemies much higher level than them because the game never prevented them from going into their level 20 personal story quests at level 5...Non-sense.Players will be MUCH more upset by been restricted in a cage than failing because they are not high enough level. When the "RECOMMENDED LEVEL" was highlighted so clearly.Except, literally the case is the opposite of what you state.
People complained a lot back on the old system. Which is why it was changed. Very few people complain in the new system.
@"ConorT.5396" said:People were motivated to get better & work on their level because they WANTED TO. Not because they were FORCED TOO.
Does this not make anyone else absolutely furious?
Not really.
Since you're not FORCED to do anything in the game.
You don't have to "Grind" in order to get levels. You don't HAVE to even play the personal story if you don't want to.
The only thing that's existing now that wasn't back then, is a minimum level requirement on personal story quests. Which is not out of place, given the minimum level requirements to access skills (2, 4, 7, 10, 11, 15, 19, 31), minimum level requirements to access dungeons (30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 76, 78, 80), minimum level requirements to access equipment rarities (14, 30, 62) which have all existed since the start of the game.
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Probably because Dragon Bash, along with the rest of Central Tyria, is still in the pre-Zhaitan's death Time Bubble.
Which means, pre-Mordremoth awakening and thus no reason for Mordrem minions to be a common occurance enough to be utilized in a fun activity such as a festival.
It's also why many of the NPC's are constantly talking about how ALL DRAGONS ARE EVIL despite PoF/LW4 highlighting Glint, Aurene and to an extent Vlast (Though, people wouldn't know much about Vlast back in Hoelbrak... Even as a norn commander, people aren't going to be singing songs about "That time you got rekt by a god and almost killed sitting on your butt until a dragon saved you")
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@ConorT.5396 said:Why has aNet done this? Do they not see this is driving potential new players away because this is not a generic MMORPG and personal story should not be gated by level.
It was done because a lot of new players where doing the personal story and then getting upset when they get trucked by enemies much higher level than them because the game never prevented them from going into their level 20 personal story quests at level 5...
So, instead of having the personal story jump up 2 levels per quest and be unrestricted in minimum level, they changed it so each arc of the personal story is now entirely done at the previous maximum level for the arc in a single block (10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70 and 80) so there's no issues with players being underleveled in their personal stories.
@Mil.3562 said:You call that grinding? Wait till you try to get the mount Skyscale. It's kind of ridiculous to lock a mount under such intensive grinding thus discouraging many veterans get it.
Wait... What part of Skyscale is grindy?
I literally started it 3 days ago and am almost finished, just a few mistborn motes left to get (Luckily today is Dragonfall daily for bonus motes). With much of the reason it even took that long being the timegates enforced on it (2 hours after each step and then can only feed skyscale 4x a day meaning 3 days minimum to get the 12x feed done)
Griffon feels grindier... Farming out 250g is pretty grindy (I guess unless you happen to luck across a precursor then it's pretty quick)
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@"Ayrilana.1396" said:The question that keeps popping up in my mind is whether Anet will actually follow through and add voice lines for episodes missing them. The majority of players will have moved on from those episodes as they’d have already completed the story.
From a financial perspective, Anet gains nothing by adding the voice lines. Costs appear to be a major concern for them as they forego fixing long existing bugs in the game which leads me to believe they won’t bother with the voice lines.
One thing to note is that there's a significant number of people waiting until VO is added before playing through the latest story episodes.
Not to mention, new players will likely find it odd to suddenly enter some episodes that don't have VO and that is another reason to go through with adding it to these episodes.
Also, from a financial perspective, the Voice Actors likely have contracts where they get paid upon recording their lines. Even if ANet doesn't want to pay the "Extra" costs, the VA's certainly would like to get their full contract.
Their hands are tied if there does exist a contract between them and the VA's (Which there likely does and it likely stipulates providing VO for all IBS episodes). They cannot simply renege on a contract without being liable (Thus end up having to pay the full amount, or more, anyway and not get the VO's and also miff off the VA's they've had working for them for years and likely plan to work with going forward)
Unlike other decisions that can be reversed or ignored due to not being contractually obligated in any way to fulfil them.
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@fabulous.3742 said:So I would like to pick a class that has at least some viability in all game modes.
Ah, so that would be Ele/Guard/Rev/Engie!
@fabulous.3742 said:Ele: I'm not so sure if I'm willing to learn god kitten complexe rotations again only to be on par with other stronger professions.
Oh...
@fabulous.3742 said:Guardian: Played one to 80 once. Didn't klick for me (I can't even point the finger at the reasons why). Deleted it.
Oh dear...
@fabulous.3742 said:Engi: Have one at 80. Don't really like core Engi or a lot of Kit play.
Oh dear, oh dear...
@fabulous.3742 said:Rev: Actually another class I don't know since it wasn't even released yet back when I left. But the whole "fixed skill bar" thing with it's stances doesn't really appeal to me.
Well... RIP...
@fabulous.3742 said:So the top contestants would be Thief (with the fear of being useless to the group), Ele (my fingers will hate me for it) or maybe Engi...But I'm also open for all other professions except Mesmer or Guard. But I would like to hear some input beyond "play what you like to play" from some of you guys who have more expierience with the state of the professions and the whole game as it is now.
Well, Ele/Guard/Rev/Engie are the only classes that are good in all game modes. With Ele/Guard/Rev being able to play multiple roles in most game modes and Guard being able to do everything in all game modes very well.
Thief is great in PvP and when roaming in WvW. But sucks in WvW blobs (Which is a majority of WvW) and is mediocre in PvE (It's not bad, it just doesn't excell anywhere)Mesmer is pretty much trash in PvP/WvW due to recent nerfs (Also, the Clone mechanic has changed since back in 2012 quite significantly, I'd suggest giving it another try if the class wasn't on ANet's hit list)Ranger is probably the closest to being good in all game modes. It just sucks in WvW blobs because pets are literally useless there and it's support relies a fair amount on Spirits which don't work well in blob fights. It's good everywhere else though, PvP, roaming in WvW, PvE.Necro is good in PvP, recently got nerfed a bunch in WvW (So it's kind of meh there now), and can do okay in PvE though lacks in optimized Raid parties due to having lacklustre potential DPS and no real support.Warrior Sucks in PvP, is decent in WvW just because of 2 skills (Winds of Disenchantment and Dragon Banner) and in PvE it's really just a Bannerbot which is at least wanted in parties.
So yeah...
Engie is good right now, but relies heavily on kits (Notably, Grenade Kit, Bomb Kit (PvE), Elixir Gun and Med Kit) which you aren't a fan of.
Guardian is all around the best class in the game right now, but does have the caveat of being somewhat simple which can fail to work for some people.
Revenant is also quite good right now. But the energy mechanic and lack of customization of utilities can put some people off.
Elemenatlist would be the likely best choice for class for you. Tempest has a more down to earth rotation to it due to the Overload mechanic which increases the cooldown of attunement swapping and thus lowers the necessary APM, while also being able to function in all game modes in multiple roles (Can play Conditions/Power/Support). Weaver probably not a good choice though, it's much higher APM than even core Ele and doesn't perform higher than other classes/specs...
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Vanilla for me.
Even though the expansions added in addition stat types, it feels like E-Specs powercreep has created a far larger rift between optimized and suboptimal builds that stifles diversity (These days you can have a fun, supoptimal build that does like 5k DPS and then an optimized build that does 40k DPS...)
It also felt like there was more emphasis on playing the maps you found fun and less sightseeing to tick off Dailies... With a greater variety of zones and events/hearts in areas.
With instanced content, i.e. Dungeons and later Fractals, feeling more relevant and less like zerg/skip fests (It still happened, but felt much less common)
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@Dadnir.5038 said:Warrior's and Ranger's longbow also have AoE ability that bypass proj hate. Same goes for mesmer GS and revenant hammer. Being able to bypass projectile hate from 1200 range is not something specific to staffs. (that's what I wanted to convey, apology for the fixation on mark or anything that appeared misleading)
Yes, but non-staff weapons also have a lot of skills that are projectiles:
Warrior's Longbow is all projectiles except for skill 3 and F1.Warrior Rifle is all projectiles.Ranger Longbow is projectiles except for skill 5.Dragonhunter Longbow is projectiles except for skills 4 and 5.Deadeye Rifle is all projectiles.Engie Rifle's 1200 skill that hits multiple targets (The auto attack) is a projectile.Mesmer Greatsword skill 2 is a projectile and skill 4 is a projectile (Also, a super squishy NPC which can be countered by rando AoE damage if the proj actually lands)
Compared to Staffs which have far fewer projectile skills:
Elementalist staff Earth auto attack.Weaver Earth/Air dual skill.Druid staff has no projectiles.Necro staff auto attack.Guardian staff auto attack.
The existence of 1-2 attacks on a weapon set that can bypass proj hate is far different to staff in which basically just auto attacks are subject to proj hate (Which are typically also not AoE anyway) as the difference is only being able to use 1-2 skills every 20-30s when there's proj hate and having your full weapon set to utilize sans crummy auto attacks.
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@Fat Disgrace.4275 said:Only issue I see is aa could be a little faster, same speed as rev sword aa, all else is pretty good atm.
Rev sword auto attack is slower than thief sword.
Thief sword is 1.88 seconds per full combo.Rev sword is 2.05 seconds per full combo.
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@Dadnir.5038 said:Ranger can hit multiple targets from farther (yep arrows tend to be broken in this aspect).
It's not arrows being broken, but the fact that Ranger's LB literally has 1500 range.
@Dadnir.5038 said:I would say that the fact that the marks last for a long time if not triggered is the most relevant point of the staff's.
I mentioned STAFFS plural. As in, the weapon type. Not just Necro staff.
Ele, Druid and Guardian staffs don't use marks. They do however use ground targets that still bypass proj hate.
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@dDuff.3860 said:These buffs are crazy and should never happen unless you want beast thief and thousands of complaints.
Care to elaborate?
Such as why Sword is so brokenly OP that some buffs would completely destroy all balance in the game?
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@jiggle puff.9347 said:Am I mistaken if I say that necro staff is one of the very few weapons that can consistently hit multiple targets from 1200 range? I know ranger longbow has piercing as well, but besides that I think that's it?
Elementalist Staff, Guardian Staff, Mirage Greatsword, Deadeye Rifle, Revenant Hammer, Dragonhunter Lulbow, Druid Staff and Warrior Lulbow can all hit multiple targets at 1200 range.
Warrior and Engie Rifles also have a limited number of skills that can hit multiple targets at 1200 range (Engie's auto attack and Warrior's skill 3 and F1 in both core and Zerker)
One of the main advantages offered by Staffs over most other 1200 range weapons, is that their attacks aren't projectiles they're mostlly ground target AoE's and so bypass the plethora of Proj Hate that can exist in a WvW Blob.
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@WheezerX.4367 said:I don't see a problem with them doing micros for cosmetics, but stuff like mounts... Well, I think the most basic raptor should be available for all of the game, do a living event to justify it, but keep all of the others behind Path of Fire. One of the issues a few of my friends had was they weren't (one still isn't) completely sure if they wanted to commit to buying the expansions just yet, they feel "pay walled" by not even getting a starter mount. The world is huge, even the basic content, plus the raptor is just cool.
Mounts don't impede your ability to play in the base game, nor in HoT. They're only a necessity in PoF and even then the actual level of "Necessity" is pretty low. They're nice to have but aren't vitally important to play.
It is very possible to get everywhere in the base game and HoT without mounts.
@WheezerX.4367 said:Let us hunt for SOME of the skins for armors or weapons, that are otherwise cash shop-only, in some way. Is there a way to do this already and we're not aware as a returning group?
There is a way to earn cash shop exclusive skins without paying real money. That is, by farming gold and converting gold into gems and then purchasing those skins.
It's not as exciting as actually getting the skins as rewards for doing something in game. But then again, we also have stuff like the Sunless weapon skins, which are oft complained about being so ridiculously rare that getting half of them, let alone the full set, within a persons lifetime while farming Tequatl every single day is a slim chance...
@WheezerX.4367 said:Go back and re-tweak and bug scrape the dungeons, optimize them for lower level play that they are advertised in game for being, as an example; Ascalonian Catacombs to be for level 35 players in yellow gear but add an option for a "max level" version with slightly higher rewards. Right now, most guides and discussions seem to expect you to be a moderately geared level 80, and it definitely feels like that at times.
Honestly, in order for this to be worthwhile, they'd really need to make the rewards for dungeons actually worthwhile. Currently they're really not... Back in the day they were somewhat useful for obtaining Exotics, but these days it's far, far easier to just nab a full set of exotics from the TP for like 5-10g (Or farm Verdant Brink for Bladed Armour)
@WheezerX.4367 said:Are there events besides the Bloodstone-crazed beasts and remnants that could be added to entice more population to play around in the lower level areas occasionally, the increased local population might provide some form of enticement to new players to keep pushing through the game.
I'm sure there could be.
One of the issues with this is that people are already complaining about how it breaks the immersion for newer players whom get these snippets of later storylines from these events (As well as the overall continuity issues of a zone existing in like 3-4 different time periods simultaneously)
While they're trying to be cautious about sticking in more stuff into older zones that exist in a specific time bubble so that the NPC's and events that occur make sense.
@WheezerX.4367 said:I'm curious if changes like these are made, would it effect the statistics of how long new players stick around on average?
Probably.
But the crux for ANet, is does it make those new players spend money? Getting free mounts and free cash shop exclusive skins doesn't sound like it'd be very profitable for ANet... While money is required to pay employees to work on the game and to maintain servers.
@WheezerX.4367 said:There's a bunch of other, smaller critiques that our play group has about the game that I feel like they should look at doing and the changes could pull in more players because it would make it more approachable, without sacrificing game integrity by "making it casual".
Is this a drum beat to death or is this something we could have a discussion on? These are just some of our thoughts.
Discussions are possible. Many of these things have been brought up a ton. At the end of the day, it'll be up to ANet to decide what they consider worthwhile investments.
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If we look at the E-Specs we have... Reaper is Power DPS. Scourge is Condi/Support. It's likely that the next E-Spec will be a Tanky/Bruiser spec.
Shield is probably the most likely thing, given Jhavi... However Mace/Mace could be a thing.
Imagine, bopping things over the head with maces, inflicting Confusion. Whilst also having Shroud skills that make you tankier and give Retaliation.
Could be fun in WvW/PvE just wading into groups of enemies, taunting them all to attack you and having things die because they're hitting you and taking damage from all the Confusion and Retaliation procs, which fuels your Shroud making you even stronger! (Until it gets nerfed to heck because of WvW)
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@jiggle puff.9347 said:
@"Josiah.2967" said:Necro is the bottom of the barrel for end game\instanced PVP in all specs. It is so far down I would not consider it viable based on dps and healing benchmarks with the lack of raid buffs thrown in just because... It is viable for ever other mode. Sure you can do it, but your always going to be suboptimal.If you want to the best at everything go guardian. There is a reason other mmo forums call this Guardian Wars.I’ve read this a few times now on the forums. Necro is at the bottom of the barrel, guardian is great at everything, etc. But is there actually any proof for this? On snowcrows the highest dps build for necro is power reaper and it’s not completely at the bottom of the list. I’m not saying that necro doesn’t have any problems, I’m just curious as to why people keep emphasizing the fact that necro = bad.Edit: perhaps knowing why necro is bad for endgame/instanced pvp could help players to come up with valuable suggestions for neat changes that will overall add depth to the class as a whole.Necro's DPS benchmarks are below every other class. It's not the lowest DPS build (Except for Condi Scourge), but the ones that are below it in DPS also offer other things, notably it's mostly Bannner Warriors that do lower DPS, but they offer significant party DPS increases due to Banners (Which are actually used during Benchmarks tests which will of course be unfavourable to Banner Warriors numbers...) - The reason for this discrepancy seems to be based around the fact that their DPS hinges around utilizing Shroud, which is a natural defensive tool and so for balance reasons they are not given equal DPS to other classes that don't also get defensive boosts while DPSing. Also the Shroud dependence hurts when facing Bosses and so Life Force generation is limited due to nothing dying.
Necro offers nothing to PvE in Raids. Since all of their support is based around applying conditions to enemies, which have no effect against targets with Defiance (I.e. Bosses) or their plethora of Boonrip/Booncorruption which has no effect in PvE (Due to the complete lack of Boons applied by PvE enemies - Also, the complete lack of effect that most Boons have on PvE enemies - Vigor, Swiftness, Aegis all do little to nothing. With also corrupted boons being useless due to the aforementioned lack of effect many conditions have against PvE enemies, such as Blind, Chill, Cripple, Fear, Immobilize, Slow, Taunt and Weakness doing nothing vs enemies with Defiance other than some breakbar damage)
Meanwhile, what makes it weak in PvE, is what makes it strong in PvP. Shroud is very useful defensively, with deaths of enemies providing additional LF to fuel it. Boonrip and Booncorruption is super strong in PvP where people will often have a number of boons and can be heavily impacted by all the debuffing conditions (Whilst also having them "Cover" offensive conditions like Burning/Bleeding/Torment by having Cleanses prioritize the debuff conditions rather than the damage ones allowing condition damage to be more effective and harder to negate)
It is also what makes Necro strong in Open World PvE, where there's a lot more random trash mobs to give Life Force and which are affected by conditions (Trash, Vets and Elites are all vulnerable to conditions and CC) and the extra defence from Shroud can be impactful when not being backed up by healers and supports providing boons.
The answers to Necro's problems are simple, and have been noted a plethora of times over the games life. 1) Untie the defence and DPS boosts of Shroud to justify buffing their damage potential to that of other classes. 2) Allow Necro's to have boon support for allies. With a potential option 3) Make Defiance not a complete trash mechanic that takes a huge dump on Necro.
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@Kodama.6453 said:
@"Taril.8619" said:Should Scrapper be reworked into a [full] Support?Probably. Unless they fix the fundamental flaw in the game that makes Tank based E-Specs totally useless because Tanking is totally useless outside of Raids (Which don't require much more than access to Blocks (I.e. A shield) and a functioning dodge button) and PvP (Where incidentally it's more about having sustain via healing or other such methods of retaining life (I.e. Shroud) than using traits that provide defence)Hence why every single Tank E-Spec currently is not used as a Tank and instead relies entirely on its secondary role (Daredevil and Spellbreaker both play as DPS, Scrapper and Herald both play as Support) while the builds thatAREused as Tanks are not E-Specs with a Tank role (Chrono is used as a Tank in PvE, Core Necro is used as a Tank in PvP) with exception of Herald playing as a Tank in PvP.Though, it'd be hard to actually fix the flaw in the game that makes Tank specs useless. Which is the fact that in PvE, you have Blocks and Evades which negate 100% damage so you don't need extra Barrier/Damage Reduction/Health from a Tank spec because you literally are able to negate any attack without that stuff. While in PvP the issue is that Conditions simply bypass Damage Reductions (While Herald can function because Mallyx farts out Resistance which provides Condi immunity...) and extra health often simply puts you on to the same level as Condi builds running Carrion stats (Which is actually what the "Tank" builds in PvP usually opt for anyway... That or Sage for extra healing)So, in lieu of overhauling the entire game to make Tank specs actually worthwhile, it'd be easier to simply rework the specs into alternate roles;Scrapper: Tank/Support > Support/DPSDaredevil: Tank/DPS > DPSSpellbreaker: Tank/DPS > DPS/SupportHerald: Tank/Support > Support/DPSThe problem with reworking the existing tank specs into different roles is that they will compete with other elite specs instead of having their own niches.For example, reworking daredevil into a dps class when thief already has deadeye for that niche and the class doesn't really need more melee damage.Though, this is already the case. With the likes of Daredevil, Spellbreaker and Herald competing with Deadeye, Berserker and Renegade for DPS (Unfavourably, outside Daredevil being more useful than Deadeye in Fractals due to having AoE damage with Staff as well as on certain bosses where breakbar damage is important)
Also, it highlights how terribly designed Thief E-Specs are when they all boil down to "Do more [Power] damage" as opposed to having any sort of nuance to them to differentiate them.
@Kodama.6453 said:And keep in mind that there is a third set of elite specs coming most likely when the expansion drops. One more spec that will compete with these e-specs. If we reduce the roles elite specs are filling to 2 roles (dps and support), then some elite specs will totally extinct and just the option which does the job better will find use.
That entirely depends on how they are balanced. It's very possible to have multiple specs share a role and be equally viable (For example, look at how Deadeye and Daredevil both function as DPS and both have places where they're best)
Not to mention there's also potential to split "DPS" and "Support" into multiple variants. I.e. Power DPS vs Condi DPS (See: Mirage vs Chrono, Reaper vs Scourge, Dragonhunter vs Firebrand) and Boonshare vs Healing. Which would allow similar but different roles between specs, so long as they avoid making "Do Everything" E-Specs.
@Kodama.6453 said:The approach to make tanks actually needed in PvE is the healthier approach for the game as a whole.
Maybe that's true.
The question is, how exactly could they do that?
Given that the basic premise that completely nullifies Tanks in PvE, is how powerful active defenses are. With Evades, Blocks and Aegis providing 100% damage reduction irregardless of stat usage. With also things like the downed state and thus ability to be picked up by allies preventing death contributing to the lack of need for Tanks (Especially in open world with metas and events getting zerged by tons of players allowing for plenty of opportunities to get revived)
Unless they completely trash active defenses, downed state, boons like Protection/Aegis/Resistance/Stability and healing (Both self heals as well as healer builds). Whilst also implementing a proper threat system into the game (In all areas of PvE, not just Raids/Strikes) and the necessary tools to enable interaction with such a system (Threat boosts, taunts, visual indicators of threat levels etc). Which would be necessary in order to get "Tanks" to be more viable in PvE.
Meanwhile, the alternative is just to say "Okay, guys, we dun goofed. Tanks don't work in our game" and then stop pushing "Tank Specs" and instead focus on making balanced DPS/Support instead (I.e. Stop just powercreeping on existing builds... Including making Core builds viable with E-Specs being the "Sidegrades" that change gameplay like how was mentioned upon their initial release...)
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Should Scrapper be reworked into a [full] Support?
Probably. Unless they fix the fundamental flaw in the game that makes Tank based E-Specs totally useless because Tanking is totally useless outside of Raids (Which don't require much more than access to Blocks (I.e. A shield) and a functioning dodge button) and PvP (Where incidentally it's more about having sustain via healing or other such methods of retaining life (I.e. Shroud) than using traits that provide defence)
Hence why every single Tank E-Spec currently is not used as a Tank and instead relies entirely on its secondary role (Daredevil and Spellbreaker both play as DPS, Scrapper and Herald both play as Support) while the builds that ARE used as Tanks are not E-Specs with a Tank role (Chrono is used as a Tank in PvE, Core Necro is used as a Tank in PvP) with exception of Herald playing as a Tank in PvP.
Though, it'd be hard to actually fix the flaw in the game that makes Tank specs useless. Which is the fact that in PvE, you have Blocks and Evades which negate 100% damage so you don't need extra Barrier/Damage Reduction/Health from a Tank spec because you literally are able to negate any attack without that stuff. While in PvP the issue is that Conditions simply bypass Damage Reductions (While Herald can function because Mallyx farts out Resistance which provides Condi immunity...) and extra health often simply puts you on to the same level as Condi builds running Carrion stats (Which is actually what the "Tank" builds in PvP usually opt for anyway... That or Sage for extra healing)
So, in lieu of overhauling the entire game to make Tank specs actually worthwhile, it'd be easier to simply rework the specs into alternate roles;
Scrapper: Tank/Support > Support/DPSDaredevil: Tank/DPS > DPSSpellbreaker: Tank/DPS > DPS/SupportHerald: Tank/Support > Support/DPS
@Fueki.4753 said:Also, Hammers being slow weapon doesn't fit with Quickness. The Elite Spec weapon would need to be replaced with something swifter.
To be fair, it's a ROCKET POWERED HAMMER. Rocket powered things tend to be fast.
Not to mention that current Scrapper already has a theme of Quickness, Applied Force providing self-Quickness and bonus power for having Quickness.
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Sounds like the free gear you get with a level 80 boost.
Yes, it is trash. Soldier gear is really not very good at all. It has some niche use if you want to make a Champ soloing build (But there are better options and various classes can actually still just solo Champs while wearing full Berserker gear)
It is however, useful for its intended purpose, which is to stop newbies from getting rekt after using their shiny new level 80 boost and trying to participate in level 80 content (Especially if they hop right into HoT/PoF which has some very deadly enemies in it).
Beyond that, just delete the gear once you've got some actual stuff with good stats on as there's nothing else you can do with it (Though, I haven't checked if you can toss that stuff into the Mystic Toilet... I know other unsalvagable/unsellable stuff that you get from level up rewards/personal story can but haven't tested the free gear from level boosts)
Sword
in Thief
Posted
Sword 2 is not so much better than the likes of Shadow Shot or Vault to necessitate Sword's abysmal damage (Which is also completely and totally irrelevant for PvE)
Increasing tactical strike damage by 100% would make it a 2.0 coefficient, yes. Backstab is 2.4 from behind though.
In addition to all the effects it already provides? Well there's a reason I suggested the damage only from the FRONT. So you choose Damage + Blind or Daze (Could even have the Vuln only on behind too so you opt for burst damage and soft CC or hard CC and set up for additional skills)
Adding more complexity to the weapon while also making it not trash for DE damage which relies on using stealth skills to dump Malice (It'd still be far lower damage than DE Backstab though, since DE Backstab gets damage per malice while DE Sword gets Endurance from malice)
My reasoning is that it feels hella clunky outside maybe a specific scenario where you want to swap to a better weapon set after engaging with Sword 2 and then still rely on Sword 2 to disengage.
15 seconds is a huge amount of time to wait to be able to re-engage again, especially within a Thief kit which is notable due to the lack of CD's on skills.
Yeah, but the stun is really short. The evade is negligable with the amount of things that don't care about it (Also the ease at which the slow animation allows people to set wait to burst you when it ends) and the damage is a joke in all game modes, especially PvP/WvW where it should be renamed pistol tickle.
Reducing the cost of the skill by 1 initiative makes it at least a bit more usable, even if it still retains the nerfed damage and stun duration.
Not to spam evades more, but to be able to utilize Larcenous Strike without it being an objective DPS loss in PvE.
Hence why the later concession of init refund on hit.
Yes, and it requires use of a 0.8/0.5 coefficient skill before hand, drastically lowering its burst and DPS (As well as telegraphing to any enemy "Hey, I only have like 2 seconds to use this skill, hopefully you don't have a functioning dodge button!")
Unblockable and Removes Boons are useless in PvE.
Again, Backstab is 2.4 coefficient from behind. While in PvP/WvW LS would only be 1.95 (Also again, only vs boonless targets)
I also conceded that there could be a competitive split. +50% damage boost in PvE while retaining a lower damage in PvP/WvW.
3 target AoE, yes, to make it somewhat more comparable to Staff, which can cleave people pretty nicely.
Because Sword is total garbage in PvE.While in PvP/WvW it kind of pales in comparison to D/P or even condi builds with P/D.Whilst also being pretty much just garbage for DE as a whole.
Also, other stuff that needs addressing doesn't prevent the ability to talk about stuff. Like, mentioning about Sword's lackluster performance doesn't necessarily negate discussions about D/D which is in a horrible state or other topics that you deem more important.