Linnael.1069

You implied this was inappropriate, giving the total opposite impression of what you state now. Honestly based on your other posts you seem like a bad troll...

What do you think is the point of a beta if not to suggest changes before something hits the game? Also this doesn't even seem relevant to the thread?

I know this will be controversial since the majority of players only play PvE, but I ask that when you are giving feedback and people have legitimate concerns about other game modes, do not try and hit back with the common refrain "But it's good in PvE though". PvE Viability is literally the bare minimum for a spec. Anet doesn't have to do anything but increase damage numbers (which can even be mode split) to make anything PvE viable. There are plenty of successful specs which are powerful in PvE and also dominant in other modes (FB, Scourge, Ren, Holo, Tempest, the list goes on.) Some of the new specs really need a lot of help in other modes, like Virtuoso and Bladesworn or Catalyst to a lesser extent. It's not ok to just say "This is only meant for PvE" as if that solves their issues. And any older specs that don't pass this bar should be fixed as well.

The sword skills should all be Blade skills. Seems like an oversight.

Repeating this from another thread: Energy is super unnecessary. Currently it serves the purpose of not letting you spam every other sphere on its own cooldown. You have to choose either one of each sphere or the same one 4 times, but can't get each sphere 4 times each. But there's another mechanic which does the same thing way more elegantly: Ammo. Just make the spheres use ammo. Same restrictions, no clunk.

Nobody’s trying to argue that heal catalyst is better than HB. Firebrand is laughably overpowered and obviously nothing will shake it out of the meta without big nerfs. Doesn’t mean nobody should consider heal catalyst for beta testing. It demonstrates potential to bring all the essential boons, and I want it out there as something people are aware of. The regen from mist is seriously strong and water is only ever a ten second cd away so I don’t feel you are really locking yourself out. Could even run water signet to tide you over. Plus you are playing fresh air so you literally can’t lock yourself out of quickness access, that is just not an issue at all.

Energy is super unnecessary. Currently it serves the purpose of not letting you spam every other sphere on its own cooldown. You have to choose either one of each sphere or the same one 4 times, but can't get each sphere 4 times each. But there's another mechanic which does the same thing way more elegantly: Ammo. Just make the spheres use ammo. Same restrictions, no clunk.

I'm coming from a fractals perspective since that's my main pve thing. Catalyst definitely won't compete with tempest as a 10 man healer but adding quickness to the mix is invaluable in 5 man and there aren't many things you need to rebound in fractals. I haven't sat down to grind a benchmark or anything but I'm floating around 10-15 while playing with heal rotations. I'm sure someone actually good could do better. Cele firebrand can bench very high but drops DPS if it actually needs to focus on healing. This catalyst build is mostly just swapping to water every 10 seconds to refresh regen and soothing mist so I would wager the dps holds up better under pressure. I'm not sure but I feel with some sphere tweaks or rotation adjustments permanent prot might be possible too. Unfortunately as you point out FB is really hard to push out of the fractals meta. Maybe catalyst doesn't quite get there but I still want to encourage other theorycrafters to think about it since I haven't heard many people talk about catalyst as a healer.

I am using Cele Scepter/Dagger but Dagger/Dagger might be better. Take spectacular sphere and boon duration traits. Water/Air for Powerful mist and Fresh Air. I am able to maintain permanent: Quickness Fury 25 might Regen Soothing Mist And you can provide a lot of burst aoe healing with water weapon skills. You are basically a full healer, provide every offensive boon, and deal decent DPS yourself. Cele gear also overstacks boon duration to the point where allies only need to stand in about half of your air spheres to keep up quickness. I feel this build is a very strong PUG carry support for things like fractals. Main issue is no aegis or stab for your allies. Compared to HB you are trading that for better personal DPS and a lot more raw healing. But maybe ? AlacBender ? will come in and solve that issue.

Rest of the spec is actually decent, better than I thought. Traits are still boring but at least there is power in the numbers. There are two remaining pain points: The cooldown after attunement swapping where it doesn't let you spawn the sphere feels AWFUL. You want a certain sphere, so you swap to that attunement right? But then you have to WAIT for some reason? 1. Get rid of the attunement swaps putting cd on sphere. Can't emphasize this enough, it feels AWFUL. This is the most important thing. 2. Hammer will be unused until a problematic bunker spec arises. No real reason to use hammer over dagger or scepter. But the heal and barrier values on this spec are absurd. 20 second cooldown earth augment to block for 3 seconds then 3k barrier? You are putting power in the wrong place, hammer needs to be less clunky, have some utility, then you wouldn't need to overload the numbers.

Yeah, it would be way cooler if Virtuoso did all the phantasm moves themselves. Feels kitten to get rid of clones but not phantasms.

If you are going to forget about one game mode pretty sure most people would prefer anet forget about pvp.

This is so true. ANET plz just make actual skill 3s for the hammer. More low CD leap/blast finishers and evades would go so far to fixing the spec.

Chrono is in the meta for zergs and quite mediocre at roaming, your statement is just inaccurate.

I see a lot of people pushing for more large scale viability for virtuoso but I fear that is a lost cause. To me the design with no inherent durability, projectile focus, etc. all make more sense for a small scale roaming build. You build up daggers between fights and burst hard as a +1, using blink and stealth to get out. I feel the focus of our beta 4 feedback should be aiming to improve this angle, especially because Mesmer already has some viable zerg builds. Trying to make virtuoso fit there would be like trying to make deadeye a zerger. Let’s instead ask for instant cast shatters, mobility/swiftness, stealth, way better stunbreaks and condi cleanse.

Yeah firebrand is busted OP in wvw tho so it’s overwhelmingly op in 2/3 modes and core guard and DH are both in the meta in spvp.

This would actually be great if it were true but it’s not. If you nerf guardian nobody else can do quickness/dps/aegis/stab all at once. There is no second best to fall back to, things would seriously change without aegis/stab spam. Guardian doesn’t do things a little better than other classes, that would be fine. It literally does more functions, some that are impossible for anyone else to even get close to.

Nobody cares about half the incoming elite specs because Guardian has been allowed to be so OP for so long. Harbinger and Catalyst are obviously designed to fit into a DPS+Quickness role in PvE. But nobody will ever play these classes because of Guardian. Guard does Quickness + DPS + Aegis + Stability. It does 4 roles in one: why should we ever care about new specs that can only do 2? How come nobody else is allowed to give decent amounts aegis or stability? Why should these critically important boons be reserved for Guardian only? But guardian is even allowed to have alacrity now even though that doesn't fit its theme at all?

Bump of the day!

Hello! I'm an experienced WvW player returning to the game. I'm looking for a guild that enjoys organized group fights, with a mature and tolerant attitude. I'm usually available around 10:00 pm to 12:00 EST, but family obligations mean that strict requirements on raid attendance are not a good fit for me. I can play DPS tempest, heal tempest, DPS weaver, and spellbreaker, in that order of familiarity. I also greatly enjoy solo/small group roaming on fresh air tempest. I am an avid theorycrafter and I prefer flexibile compositions with room for experimentation. See you in the Mists!

Hi all, I've recently come back into the game. I was a hardcore fractal vet back in the day and I've been clearing CMs+T4s daily for a few weeks now. I'm running into an issue going for the sunqua peak achievement where everyone seems to already have DwD and everyone uses /gg at the phase split. So I'm stuck without ever a chance to get DwD. If anyone else is reasonably experienced with CM100 and wants to join a group for getting DwD shoot me a message or add me in game. I usually play around 10pm. EST.