mungozen.2379

This has been going on since PoF. Homogenizing Boon providers was the biggest step, so all profs could provide Quick/Alac (but not equally, even today, hello Mirage). If Anet wanted to make boon applications similar why not go all in and actually make them the same? Then there would be less fuss about balance and more focus on what makes the different professions and eSpecs unique (which I hope would be playstyle and mechanics). I strongly disagree that all professions should be able to do all things or that it makes for good game design. I believe that the effectiveness of the Role should be relatively equal across builds, but not all Professions or eSpecs should be able to fulfill all Roles. I think it is more interesting game design to have some Professions focused on specific playstyles and ignore others. As long as there are enough options for Heal Support, DPS Support, and a variety of Condi and Power pure DPS, we don't need to dilute the Profession and eSpec themes. Thinking of WoW, they list their classes as DPS, Heal, Tank. Paladin, Shaman and Monk can fulfill all three roles, while Mage, Hunter, Warlock and Rogue can only DPS. Is WoW a badly designed game because not all classes can fulfill each role? If a profession is capable of fulfilling a role, I think it should be equally capable to other professions fulfilling that same role. How they execute it can be different and play into the profession themes and mechanics.

Anet making money isn't a good enough reason to suggest something. Player excitement and engagement is. Monetizing social movements for profit is probably bad. Why would you be excited about having Pronoun Titles added to the game? Why should other players be excited about this suggestion?

If you go back to May 2021 when Anet buffed Celestial (to include Concentration and Expertise) the general opinion of Celestial was that it was bad. That the changes wouldn't move the needle on Celestial being good enough to outperform 4 stat gearing. Players generally didn't realize the power of Hybrid builds yet. This change back to no Concentration and Expertise effectively removes Celestial from WvW since Hybrid builds needed those stats for Condi and Boon application. It should mean we see players gearing more for a specific role (Power, Condi, Support) which has it's positives, but removes an entire playstyle. That Anet couldn't find a way to balance Celestial builds is a shame, but they probably want simple and quick solutions to the problems game development has. And this change is that, quick and easy for them. What I think is interesting is that they decided to remove 2 of 9 stats on Celestial rather than adjust the entire stat cost down and leave Concentration and Expertise included. They could remove the same number of stat points across all stats on Celestial gear and see the impact that has. It would probably keep Celestial builds available but drop their performance against 4 stat combos.

Whats this about deer robots?

Consider the other professions using the same armor weight. Are you likely to want to pick up Necro and Mesmer, then Light. Are you likely to want to pick up Warrior and Guardian, then Heavy. As mentioned above, but worded differently, whichever Prof between Ele and Rev you make more build changes, swap more Runes and/or armor stats with, would probably benefit from using Legendary Armor.

An Otter plush skimmer skin. They fluffy irl also inflatable skinmie is a solid idea

I ummm..... /checks notes.... didn't ask for anything Homestead related. But hey, that's cool!

Combo - Guild Wars 2 Wiki (GW2W) Start with the above link.... At one point (HoT and earlier), you would find players using Blast Finishers on Fire Fields to pump up Might before a Champ or Legendary World Boss. Today, there is so much happening that we can't really control what Finishers other players will use, but we can control the Fields we put down for ourselves. As an Ele I can put down a Water Field and know that players will get some healing, or as a Mesmer I can put down a Light Field for players to remove a Condi. It is possible Combos have more value in 5-10 player groups, be it PvP or PvE but, I think it is an archaic mechanic that exists but isn't relied upon much anymore.

Confusion is based upon Dot + Activation, and the general issue has been that the faster a target activates skills, the more damage they take from Confusion. Confusion has been adjusted both up and down in the past due to how it interacts with different Raid Bosses. A slow attacking boss makes confusion bad, a fast one makes confusion amazing. Yet holistically, the intent of any damaging condition is to apply full value over time. If Bleed or Burn run their full duration, then the damage component is going to be a predictable value (base skill + modifiers). The affected target can only interact with the Condi by cleansing it or transmuting it. Confusion however, has variable damage over time based upon how the target activates skills. This creates a lack of predictability when looking at the value of Condition damage and tells us why it has been changed so much. Confusion has always been some form of Dot + Activation, and I think it would be a lot cleaner and more predictable if the Skill Activation consumed the stacks of Confusion and applied the remaining damage. Example: Player applies 1 stack of Confusion, say 5 seconds and 200 dmg. It would tick for 40 dmg a second for 5 seconds if the target didn't activate any skills. If they activated a skill after 2 seconds, they would have had 2 dots at 40 dmg and an activation for the remaining 120 dmg. If they activated a skill after 3 seconds they would have had 3 dots at 40 dmg and an activation of 80 dmg. In the above example, the application of Confusion applies the expected damage regardless of skill activation timing. This is predictable and easier to balance around than what we have existing. At the same time, it maintains the 'dmg on skill activation' theme of Confusion. I would not have Confusion deal damage on cleanse or transmute, only Dot and Skill Activation. I could see this form of Confusion being managed in two ways; Consume All Stacks, or Consume Oldest Stack. By consuming all stacks, it weighs the damage more to skill activation, while consuming the single oldest stack, would weigh it more towards the Dot. The first option would mean Confusion stacks are being applied and consumed very quickly, removing the opportunity for cleanses. At this moment I think the latter, consuming the oldest stack, is potentially better for PvP and WvW as it allows for cleansing interplay.

I agree with this thought. The opportunity cost for adding more play options dilutes the build potentials. We have Power, Condi, Hybrid, Sustain, Heal, Alac and Quick as build archetypes. A single trait line usually supports two of those options, while some try to support three (or even more, hello Chrono). Before adding healing, quick or alac to pure DPS eSpecs, I would much rather see existing Heal+Boon and DPS+Boon solidified and outliers cleaned up.

I'd simplify this a little bit. Confusion deals damage over time, but all stacks are consumed when target attacks, dealing all remaining damage. The player would be working to apply stacks and the target would be removing them and taking damage on attacks. A faster attacking target would take a lot of small damage triggers, a slower attacking target would have the dot and potentially larger damage triggers. The net is similar damage numbers over a long enough timeline.

Some people don't like dying to those other professions..... and thusly recommend you play the FOTM specs to save you the anguish they feel. If you enjoy the profession choice, and can put up with the learning curve, it doesn't matter too too much what you take. I'd suggest you take the profession you enjoy learning the nuances of playstyle more as the more you can invest into being good at the profession, the more you will get out of it (regardless of which prof it is). The FOTM specs will always change and your preferred Profession could end up floating up the Meta with the next release or update anyway. To answer your question directly, I had a Tempest build for WvW years ago and have been using it since cause it works for me and I am too lazy to make another character for WvW. However, if I was starting fresh, I would actually take Mesmer as I far prefer the playstyle options available to it.

I.....kitten.....yes, Skimmer should get the plush treatment as well! Updating my post...

I like the plushie mounts. They are immersion breaking and silly and I am glad they keep adding new mount skins as plush each Wintersday. I am looking forward to the (I assume) expected Warclaw Plushie this year, and wanted to request some more! Springer Plushie would be awesome. Having the Cuckoo Plushie is okay but it is the only one I haven't bought as I would far prefer a Springer plush. I would also really like a Roller Beetle Plushie and Skimmer. Having the Warclaw, Springer, Beetle and Skimmer turned Plushie would complete the set. While I am asking..... I would also like Plush armor. We have some hats and backpacks that are similar, I would be excited to get an armor set or outfit that fits the Plush theme.

Form a PoF + S4 Meta train, have it stop at Pinata and then Serpent's Ire then something else like Forged with Fire. I did so a few years back and it kept enough people active between metas to get Serpents Ire done. In your LFG description put the Metas you are going to do, and a note about 'for collections/achieves' so people know what to expect and that they can also work on collections.