SkyCake.4216

Mail Carrier Gyro Dreadnought Fishing Rod

Gyro mail carriers.

I recently got back from a month long trip and today was the first day I got to play any Guild Wars 2. Jumped on my Ranger because I've been wanting DPS Druid for a long time. Honestly, it's so much fun! I can't wait to try it with D/D. I tried Vipers vs Celestial and even though Celestial was only doing like 80-85% the damage, I was really enjoying it. I like the new Spirits for DPS Druid. I made a new look for my Norn Ranger for it and I'm enjoying this "blood moon" look I have going on. It's a top 3 DPS character for me, now. I'm not saying it's perfect. But, I think it's a very fun.

I know it's not completely new. But, DPS Druid (Ranger) with a 2h Spear is my current most-wanted combo. Got the DPS part! Now, just need the Spear. I would like if Spear was essentially "Condition Sword" on Ranger. A lunge/disengage with maybe an ammo skill for a throw. Or, maybe 1h spears and then also add 2h halberds. Polearms tend to be one of my favorite weapon type in games.

They have interesting lore and I thought it was super cool that they were playable in GW2. My max size Ele Charr is my favorite of my kitties and she is awesome!

1000 gems for a hood and cape that still makes your character bald.

No.

Thematically and mechanically, I find it the most disappointing elite spec out of all of the EoD specs. Even as someone that likes the idea of a "hammer mage".

I'm disappointed in the current state of Wells. I would consider their movement-potential to be worse than Jaunts. The low range coupled with the cast time makes them feel like Wells that have movement tacked on and something you just deal with rather than play or engage with. Their effects aren't that great, either. I still find the Shroud to be a bit too slow and boring. Shroud 4 looks so lame and I often can't even tell if my character did the animation. Maybe it's intended, but my auto-cast lock on Shroud 1 doesn't stick and I have to re-lock it. The animation for Shroud 1 also doesn't feel very Thief-like since it's just Necro Shroud 1. I would have preferred something quicker and "snappy" like throwing little shadow knives or something. I also still want a condi-oriented adept trait.

This is all from a casual PvE perspective. I did not feel interested in doing anything else with Catalyst. - The Jade Sphere doesn't need a cooldown, energy, and shared attunement cooldown all at once. It makes situations such as swapping to water, laying down a water field, and then Hammer 4 inside it for the heal and aura unnecessarily complicated and long. Especially if you get CC'd out of the combo during those 5 seconds, wasting the energy cost. - From that point, this elite spec is crammed with 5 second (or less) durations. Auras, the F5, augments, and Hammer 3. It creates a very frantic gameplay akin to Weaver. Except, unlike Weaver, Catalyst doesn't really have the tools to deal with this. Weaver's dual attunements, lack of an F5, ammo skills, dual attacks giving barrier, and not having something like Hammer 3 to manage makes it feel much better even if you are quickly swapping between attunements. I don't mind swapping attunements. I just wish it wasn't part of the many little pieces of Catalyst while trying to manage Hammer 3, the separate auras, and dealing with the restrictions on the Jade Sphere. - The Augments are better. Maybe moving Hammer 3's mechanic to them would have made them more interesting. Gaining an orb of each type used with the Elite giving all four orbs or any missing orbs. It could have even flipped to Grand Finale. Just quick brainstormed idea. I don't find the Elite Augment Elemental Celerity is that interesting because some of the higher cooldown weaponskills aren't that exciting to cast twice in a row. Especially on Catalyst when you're probably juggling several other things. Double Molten End or Meteor Shower is kind of cool. Maybe this has more interesting applications that I missed and makes it worth the 90 second CD. I'm not a fan of the duration of the Augments, though some of them have useful effects. - The survivability of the elite spec is not a "frontline" spec like mentioned in the video. Scrapper is a frontline spec. Hammer 3 and 4 on a Scrapper will let it outlast many situations. Then it has useful toolbelt skills as well as gyros in Bulwark and Purge gyro. Fortified Earth, Hammer 4 in Earth and Water just aren't nearly as strong. I found a lot of Catalyst's survivability came from core Ele. Stone Resonance (Weaver), Armor of Earth, Conjure Earth Shield, Mist Form. These are all better than Fortified Earth even considering the cooldowns. I do not think Hardened Auras or Staunch Auras provides this gameplay. The tools I used to stick in a fight were not Catalyst tools. - Auras are important to the elite spec, but I don't think Auras are that interesting in the first place. They're, once again, another low duration with low effect theme on the Catalyst. I personally don't like Hammer 3 since it adds to that theme and would have liked to instead seen Hammer 3 changed to transmutes that differ slightly from what core Elementalist has. I think that could have made Auras more interesting to play around with on Catalyst and help give it a strong identity. I also think Auras themselves could use changes in either their durations or their effects. Removing some of the restrictions on Jade Sphere would be a huge change in my opinion. I'm disappointed that larger changes weren't made for the Catalyst during this beta for testing purposes. But, it is certainly playable now and useful. Maybe even strong in the right situations. I don't enjoy the "slightly different Weaver" flavor of it and would have rather it would leaned more into a bruiser-style gameplay more similar to Scrapper since it would have at least been different for Elementalist.

Really happy to see the changes! I think a lot of people were worried we either wouldn't see changes, or wouldn't see bigger changes needed. While not all the changes are exciting to me, just that they're happening is a good sign. These are my quick thoughts. - Harbinger traits still relatively boring. In comparison, I think Reaper has wonderful traits. They're creative and fill an idea/role without being so direct, such as Deathly Chill. I would really like if Harbinger traits could be more interesting than "do more [damage] with Blight." I'm worried about the Life Force change. - I'm not convinced this will fix Catalyst's "frontline" potential. I also worry about the e-spec being held back by its energy resource still. Auras themselves need a look at before trying to force them to be so important to Catalyst. The 5 second duration on fields, the low duration on augments, the low duration on Hammer 3, low duration on auras. This spec is going to feel like you're always in a rush to do something because whatever affect you have going on doesn't last long at all. Elementalist already has a frantic e-spec, I'm not sure why Catalyst also has to be so frantic. - I'm sad that the Specter nerfs came without any of the QoLs or fixes people have been asking for. I'm actually one of the weirdos that enjoy the single-target healing aspect of it. I'm disappointed that Wells weren't touched because I believe they could use some tuning. I'm curious about the Shroud changes in-game. But, the Shroud already felt really lackluster and relatively boring for a Thief. I still feel like it needs more than what it got. - Mace is being forced onto Mechanist and I don't think that's a good idea. Rocket Punch needs to be accessible to Pistol and Rifle as well. - I don't really want to talk about Virtuoso too much because I really only have negative things to say about it and it makes me sad as someone that has spent well over a thousand hours on Mesmer. But, Anet didn't listen to the feedback at all. Thank for the post!

Specter is something I've been wanting in a Thief. It still has some tweaking issues and such, but also felt the most complete and founded during the betas. I can't wait to WvW with it more. Especially since after EoD releases, I'll be able to partner up with one of my friends for some Specter shennigans. There are several others I'm either looking forward to or I'm still hopeful for, as well.

I wanted Hammer. I did not want Catalyst, though. Something more akin to an Enhancement Shaman in WoW with a more primal feeling to it. Or, even something like a Rune Priest in Warhammer where they hammer the winds of magic in submission, storing them into stone. I wanted it to feel like an Earthbender in Avatar with how sturdy and strong their bending is relative to the other elements (obviously would apply to all four elements on Elementalist). There was a time where I was slightly hopeful that the bullet icon was for Elementalist and before that posted how I wanted Rifle the most. It's kind of silly thinking about how if you took current Catalyst's mechanics, they would work so much better with a Rifle. Setting up a field to stand in wouldn't be so bad if you had 1200+ range. The Augments could have been loading special ammo and been based on shots fired (like Thief poison) rather than these weak, timed utilities with an extra stipulation.

I'll usually tip 2 gold to comms that are fun and interact with the squad. If the comm has a lieutenant that does all the talking, I'll tip the LT instead.

I'm cautiously excited for the upcoming beta. I really enjoyed Specter and think it still needs some work. But, a lot of the other e-specs need more than some tweaks or adjustments. Some, such as Catalyst, need a whole lot more! This upcoming beta will give us an indication of how much Anet is really willing to change and what feedback (if any) they deem is appropriate. I worry that nothing will really change and they won't release a blogpost about it. I get they said something about breaking all the rules. But, it's kind of strange that the theme of these elite-specs is "I don't normally play [profession], but I really liked this e-spec!"

Sylvari female with Jennifer Hale. What really sells them for me is when the Sylvari PC will yell "Look around, you're killing your own. You don't want this, I know you don't!" to Vishen in Drizzelwood Coast. She sounds more pained than even the Charr PC voice for that line. The delivery is so good and makes me believe that a Sylvari would genuinely care about the situation. Asura female with Colleen O'Shaughnessey. But, I admit that Asura get bonus points for the lines they have. "You're dumb. You'll die and you'll leave a dumb corpse." is hilarious. I enjoy the confidence and the sass in their delivery. Very Asura-like.

My vote goes towards number one with a Sylvari Thief. As for themes, Daredevil, Deadeye, and Specter mixed with a Sylvari gives you practically unlimited options. Sylvari are practically blank slates due to how young their race is and how it grew. They have fun outfit options too thanks to their glow. I love finding the perfect mix of "planty" and normal in their outfit designs by mixing in Cultural or Twilight Arbor pieces. There's some fun and unique potential there. I find Thief playstyles in Open World to also just be fun. It feels very quick and active. I'm constantly bouncing around, porting all over to get in or out of danger, or using stealth to run ahead. I know you want to primarily play Specter (me too!), but Daredevil and Deadeye both offer fun and different playstyles. Deadeye Rifle is so much fun for Open World PvE with the right build. Renegade is also fun. I really like it's F[x] skills. Hope you enjoy whichever choice you go with!

My thoughts are kind of all over the place for the elite specs. I'll try to keep it short since I have a bad habit of rambling and repeating myself in these feedback posts. I'll start with worse and work my way up! This is mostly concerning themes, feel, fun, and other subjective views rather than effectiveness or numbers. But, I will bring that up when relevant. I've posted more in-depth in the individual threads and wanted this to be more of a "general feel" kind of feedback. I'll try to end each one with a TL;DR. Catalyst - I feel like it's not a controversial opinion to suggest this needs a lot more time in the oven. I'm actually one of the relatively few that liked the idea of Hammer Ele. I know it's my fault for even having an expectation. But, I was kind of hoping for something more like Enhancement Shaman in World of Warcraft. Like a brute and raw control over the elements. Smashing out elemental attacks with sheer force. What Catalyst ended up being was some weird mix of Tempest and Weaver with a weapon that, similarly to the e-spec, doesn't know what it is. The Jade Sphere is also just awful to use. It had some fun uses in WvW, but that was thanks to core Ele rather than Catalyst. Weaver or Tempest could do the same thing or even better. If you wanted this spec to be a "frontliner" like the trailer said, then it just did not reach that mark. Most of the animations were boring, the sound design was way worse than Tempest, the traits were terribly boring. Everything about this e-spec needs another look. This is the only e-spec where if Anet came out and said "Lol, jk. Here is the real Ele spec!" I wouldn't even be mad. All of it's utilities skills are also terrible. Even with the stipulation, they're just awful and mostly boring. Change everything. Untamed - I never liked or really even played Bunny Thumper, so I was kind of excited to try out Untamed after the stream. I want to also admit that I didn't play this one as much because of it coming with Thief and Engineer, the e-spec I was looking forward to (Specter) and my main since the three day headstart (Engineer). It just didn't do what I think it was meant to do. The wombo combos turned out to be "do this to deal any damage" and the unleash mechanic felt very limited. Hammer felt too important and if you wanted to use anything else, you were better off just using Soulbeast or even Core. The limitation on Pet diversity was kind of lame. Some of the utilities needed a lot more work. The cleanse one and the trap one mostly. The knockdown mushroom utility was the only fun one, but was also just difficult to use since you had to clip into the enemy to really use it. Overall, I think the spec leaned too hard in the CC part of it and not hard enough in the pet part of it. The Ranger forums are usually either "MOAR PETS!" or "REMOVE PETS!" for e-specs and I don't think Untamed satisfied either of those. Make Hammer combos more impactful, add pet diversity, fix utilities to be less simple and/or stronger, change the Unleashed animation. Not entirely sure what this elite-spec is suppose to actually be. Especially with how clearly defined Soulbeast and Druid are. Virtuoso - This e-spec feels like a low-level caster in a generic MMO. The defensive trait line was the only one with any fun interactions. The GM traits were "meh" at best such as Bloodsong. I'm totally fine with getting rid of clones even though it's part of the reason why I consider Mesmer to be one of the most interesting classes in any MMO. But, they should be replaced with something that isn't essentially clones with a cast time. There are other downsides to them compared to clones, too. When I was playing Virtuoso and started to have some fun with some strange build, I switched to Mirage and was instantly having more fun because Mirage offers mechanics that core Mesmer doesn't. Vindicator - This is where I personally feel like the base ideas of the e-spec are mostly fine, but the execution is lackluster. I like the idea of a Dragoon in GW2. I also play a lot of Mirage and didn't mind the new dodge or only having one. But, Renegade is better in pretty much every way. Their F2 is boring, unlike Renegades F2-4. Any single F[x] skill on Renegade is more interesting (and usually useful) than Vindicator's F2 skill of gaining 50 Endurance and flipping if you're on Alliance. Kalla's utility skills may have not been the most exciting. But, at least they all did what you wanted them to do and were all useful. Vindicator needs another F3 skill that is actually fun to push. Forerunner of Death needs serious number tuning. It's asks way too much of the Revenant. And, it feels awful to use in Open World PvE. It takes a lot for something to feel bad for me in Open World PvE. But, I couldn't with Vindicator when I had to pay 150 Endurance for a dodge and lackluster attack. Remove the flip mechanic, add F3 with literally anything, and rethink the GM traits. Willbender - I think a large part of why Willbender didn't feel great is because of numbers tuning and, more importantly, animations. If Willbender is suppose to be cross-classed as a Thief (Daredevil), then it missed one of Thief's biggest and most fun advantages. Thief is fast. You can port all over the place with little-to-no cast times or animations. I'm not suggesting Willbender should be a blue Thief. But, the comparison really highlights why Rushing Justice felt terrible. OH Sword was "fine" even though it didn't feel like a Guardian weapon. The Physical utilities were also fine. It's fine you combine them that it really makes the e-spec feel slower than it has to be. Something as simple as speeding up and/or reducing the animations will do a ton for Willbender. I actually think the GM traits are fairly okay, which is not how I feel about most e-specs. Number tuning and animation fixes are the biggest part for me. Mechanist - I find the spec disappointing as an Engineer main because I wanted something more. When the rename bug came out before the e-spec reveal, I was then hoping it was more than just a pet-spec. That's all Mechanist is. It's Core Engineer with a pet. Kits are still the optimal way to play. The Mechanist has a mind on its own. BUT! I do realize the "value" of having an e-spec that essentially has the easiest skill floor we've seen in any spec/class. You can run full signets if you want and be totally successful in most areas of the game. The gap between the skill floor and ceiling is massive in this game. Legit, we're talking about a difference of like 500% or more. The Mechanist closes that gap a lot by shifting so much power to the mech. It has a cool theme and can be fun to watch the mech do its thing. I really think the mech needs more customization. Dyes would be huge, but new models would be amazing. I feel like that's a bit hopeful, though. I worry about it's future due to the easier skill floor. But, I do appreciate that a lot of people enjoy the spec due to it as well. Bladesworn - I thought the idea of Bladesworn was a lot of fun. I admit that I would rank this lower if I mained Warrior. Playing it in casual PvE was usually fun. But, the more I played it, the more its issues popped up. The hitbox for the Dragon Triggers all need to fixed. Especially for Force. They're too easily dodged, especially in PvP. Boost has serious terrain issues. Flicker Step needs some kind of animation. Maybe something like a tear drop or something commonly used to symbolize "zen". I really want MH Pistol on it. But, admittedly only because I think OH Pistol is so cool. The explosions on it sound and look so good. Even with just 2 skills, I enjoy how they work together. I just want more! The actual kit on it is interesting, but the numbers felt really low outside of Dragon Trigger. I think the damage on Dragon Trigger needs to be lowered some and that damage redistributed to the rest of Bladesworn. It should still be the big payoff. But, the relatively low damage on the rest of the skills to accommodate DT's exceptionally high damage makes everything feel bad just for a single use skill (or two with a trait) that has a ton of its own issues. I think the gunsaber is too cool to be relegated to "use this while you wait for Flow". Also! Increase base Flow generation and then change the Flow augment. It felt essentially mandatory to take that utility since so much of Bladesworn's potential is solely in Dragon Trigger. I think the two fence utility skills could be combined and a new utility added. I also didn't understand the trait Fierce as Fire since it felt kind of random to have a single Condi trait. Fix Dragon Trigger issues, reallocate some Dragon Trigger damage, increase base Flow, combine both fence utilities. It had some fun highs, but some really bad lows. Harbinger - I like that Harbinger took the usual Shroud mechanics and flipped them. I don't know if it's more interesting than how Scourge uses Shroud. But, it's at least new to Necromancer. The UI for it needed a lot of tweaking since it was kind of difficult to read at a quick glance. I also think the Blight mechanic as a whole was too simple. It also wasn't as impactful as I kind of hoped. It was a defensive loss to the Necromancer. But, Necro is so bulky with utilities and traits that isn't wasn't a big deal to run a stat set such as Vipers. The Elixirs are boring. The icons for them are boring. The effects were boring. I think Vile Vials and Twisted Medicine should just be baseline. I'd prefer more "dangerous" concoctions. The symbol for the class has a typical demon eye symbol in it used in a lot of media, yet the results are just boons. I want to drink something that greatly harms the Necro aside from Blight, but also devastates the nearby enemies. I think Anet played it way too safe with the Blight mechanic and greatly underestimated Necro's defensive prowess. I would go as far as to suggest that all Elixirs should be reworked with a "Risk vs Reward" in mind since currently they're just "Minor Risk vs Okay Reward". Fun Shroud, Blight has little impact on actual play, Elixirs are super boring, the spec's design space is too safe compared to what it could have been. Specter - This was my favorite. I've been wanting something like this for Thief since early HoT. It's quite buggy. I worry that due to targeting, it won't see play in areas that Thief is already having trouble in. But! It's so much fun in WvW and casual PvE. The adept traits need a DPS trait. The Wells need a longer range and/or shorter cast times because they feel too much like Jaunt at the moment. So close to being a useful movement skill, but still teeters on the side of just using the Well and then dealing with the movement. Well of Tears is pointless partly because of this. Anet usually goes with "this is a caster, so it's slow" idea. But, I think Specter should really just drop that idea completely and be a quick caster. If there is any class that would have a quick caster, it should be Thief. Scepter 2, for example, is too slow (and boring). The dual skills were both pretty good. Quicker e-spec with reduced cast times, balancing of traits, adept DPS trait, make Wells more useful as a movement skill and not just an affect-utility, a lot of the Shroud skills need cast-time and animation touch-ups. Overall, these specs were quite hit-or-miss with me. I think they all need a lot of work, even my favorites. But, there are some really great ideas there. I also want to mention that I do not like when e-specs try to be three things at once. This really limits build creativity. I'd like to see elite-specs with clearly defined roles that they can fill in creative ways. The next beta is going to be extremely important. It's going to show if Anet is listening/reading feedback and how much they're willing to change their own ideas. I'm not saying my feedback is the best way or that everything has to change. I think some changes I want are unrealistic. But, a lot of these e-specs need to see massive growths or people are going to really write them off more than they already are. Really looking forward to it! Another issue that I've seen commonly mentioned are the general themes of EoD specs compared to HoT and PoF. I understand that HoT and PoF specs have changed and been more refined over the years (usually meaning they actually lost something such as Chrono) and that we're only seeing a beta for the EoD specs. The EoDs feel really "safe" in their themes and mechanics compared to previous e-specs. Reaper is a lot like Core Necro. You go into Shroud to get new skills and the AA is very powerful in both. The Reaper shouts aren't that exciting. Yet Reaper is a fan-favorite for many. Because the way it feels to play a Reaper due to heavy themes and proper execution still allowed it to stand on its own. Even though Harbinger plays differently to a Core Necro relative to a Reaper does, Reaper still feels less "rushed" because of this. Reaper has tasteful traits and knows what it is. It doesn't have a "Deal more Condi damage" trait. It has a trait to allows you to Chill more effectively and then a GM to turn Chill into a Bleed for condi damage. Harbinger has "deal more condi damage with Blight stacks." That's just not exciting and it doesn't really change anything. It's just a bonus on what you were already doing. A lot of the EoD e-specs feel like this relative to their previous e-specs. Not that previous e-specs didn't also do this. Just not nearly as often as EoD specs. I'm also not saying theming is more important than effectiveness. Reaper was often excluded from the highest play because of it. Just that those should both be considered in designed, and the "themes" or creativity for a lot of EoD isn't there. A lot of the traits for EoD specs you just don't interact with. This is really my biggest general issue with EoD elite spec design.

That's exactly how Scrapper used to work with Gyros. Even had a self-detonate button as they "followed" you around except for shredder gyro. I'm not against the idea. It's just that Engineer already had that and Anet deemed that it didn't work. On one hand, I'd be surprised if they revisited that idea. But, on the other, we did get Mechanist. I think turrets deserve more love than that. Still, I always appreciate reading a turret idea thread.

Eh, I'm not really sure. I typed up a long post about it in the feedback section. But, I have a massive headache and the feedback is poorly-written as a result. I have a lot of issues with it. The Mech Commands are very unresponsive even relative to a Ranger pet. It's easily countered and kind of awkwardly countered in PvE since you can go hours without worrying about it, but then it's suddenly just standing in the wrong spot and just melts. The Signets are mostly awful. But, it has some cool moments. I think I wanted something that had a greater impact on how Engineer played. Mechanist feels very similar to a toned-down core Engineer. The PvP scene has already started to accommodate it. People just CC the mech and then slap the Engineer. I want to like it even though I was against a pet-based Engineer. But, I'm concerned about its future. Extra customization for it would be fun, though.

I'll admit upfront. I'm biased against the Mechanist. I mentioned several times and farmed confusions that I didn't really want a pet-based spec, and especially not one that was only a pet-based spec. And that's what Mechanist is. Engineer is my most played class in GW2 and is also my go-to fantasy for games that actually have an Engineer-like class. I'm not going to bother too much going into the numbers similar to my other feedback posts because I suspect (and hope) they'll change regardless. - The Signets aren't great. Better than Catalyst augments! But, not enough to replace kits even with the loss of the Toolbelt. The only one I really consider useful is Shift Signet and that's because the Mech will do whatever it wants, so the signet is used to reel it back in. Even though I mentioned they were better than Catalyst (very low bar), I actually think Augments would have worked great on the Mechanist. Higher benchmarks, WvW builds, and sPvP builds are currently using kits. Some even use kits in all slots except healing. The only positive I have for them is that they play into the Mechanists greatest strength. More on that in a bit. - The traits are mostly fine. They're all for the Mech rather than the Engineer. But, I think something like that is needed. The Mech is allowed to be strong because the Engineer gave up a lot for it. The idea of giving the e-specs access to clearly-defined power/condi/support lines is frustrating in some ways because it removes choice. But, since the Mech changes (even physically) based on trait choice, it gets a pass. Mech Frame: Conductive Alloys is awful. Mech Core: Jade Dynamo is very easy to dodge even for PvE mobs. The minor traits are just tooltips. The mech could have done these attacks without them being minor traits. - Mace is okay. It's an Engineer weapon so I didn't really expect much. Mace 3 is actually kind of a great, though. I personally find P/P much better for Condi builds. But, that may have just been the build I was usually running. I used Rifle for power. Mace was decent in PvP. - The Mech itself is very strong for a pet. It needs a much shorter tether to the Engineer that it can't break or something. It'll run halfway across the map chasing a rabbit that you accidentally clicked on. It feels like a majority of the time, I'm having to mash the Mech Commands to get it to actually activate. Especially Mech Frame commands. In sPvP or WvW, once people figure out that "just kill the Engineer and that will take out the mech" isn't a good idea, they're just going to CC the mech and then smack a defenseless Engineer. It's currently strong in these situations because people think they can ignore it. The moment they decide to focus the mech, it goes down. There has been times such as Drizzlewood Coast north when its break bar will get broken and then it'll just topple over. I get why it needs this bar because it needs some kind of counter-play. But, it might be too easy to break at the moment. Especially since you don't really have too much control over it. I defended a 3rd wave camp in Verdant Brink solo fairly easily with it. But, with all the immobilize that HoT mobs use, the mech was going down fairly quickly. With how quickly it can go down in certain situations, it makes me weary to use the elite signet for damage. It shouldn't be immortal. But, for PvE I think it could use a breakbar buff. Mechanist is great for casual content. There's nothing wrong with that and it's not exclusive to that. I prefer casual content nowdays, anyways. I just wanted something more. Some kind of twist on the pet idea. That's what I meant in the Signet section. Signets are easy to use thanks to their passive. Mechanist is easy-to-use. That's its main niche. Anyone can run around a map like Drizzlewood Coast or Verdant Brink as a Mechanist and they will be totally fine. You can run all signets and still just melt normal mobs. You'll still have to run kits if you want the most out of Mechanist. But, totally fine to just slap the signets on and go for something like open world pve. I only worry it will garner a reputation similar to Dancer in FFXIV of being the easy-mode choice. Despite all of that, I do kind of like it. You're not really doing anything and the elite spec doesn't ask a lot out of you. But, it looks cool. Feels cool. I think out of all the elite specs we have, it's fine to have something like that. It needs customization. Even just some dye channels would be huge. Skins would be amazing. If I had a choice, I'd much rather some kind of Zoid-looking tiger/wolf mech. I'd pay gems for it since it would require animation work. It's own pet window would be very nice, as well. For customization purposes and perhaps moving the minor traits that are really just tooltips to the new pet window and then giving the Mechanist real minor traits.

This is a common theme on the feedback forums and I understand it can be kind of annoying to read since it kind of it for me on my mains. But! "I don't really play too much Thief and I really enjoy Specter." It has issues and bugs. But, it's a theme and playstyle I've been wanting on the Thief for since early-HoT. I've played classes like it on other games such as the Operative in SWTOR. This might actually be my favorite elite-spec based on these betas. And, I don't even have the gear I want on it because I'm a dumb-dumb that forgot to plan ahead! - The Wells are kind of "meh" outside of the trait that gives Shadow Force and Alacrity. Running around on a DPS build, I'm only using one utility well and the elite. The elite one could be replaced in the build. I feel like the range in PvE could be extended up to 900. Even 750 would be great. They're so close to being useful for movement, but feel more like Jaunt on Mirage due to the cast time. The advantages they provide without the Traversing Dusk trait are relatively small. Maybe lasting longer with one or even two more pulses would help. Especially with the whole "if they have all [boons/conditions], [x] happens" tooltips. Removing the cast time is also another option. They're just so close to being perfect in so many ways! Just a single tweak away. Shadowfall is probably too easy to accidentally cancel yourself. Well of Tears is kind of lame. - The Shadow Shroud is fun. I have issues with Shroud 4, Eternal Night. Numbers aside, it feels very underwhelming. It's slow and the animation is difficult to notice. I've seen people mention that Shadow Shroud doesn't feel very Thief-like and I believe it's largely due to Eternal Night. Shroud 2 and 3 are fine. Shroud 1, Haunt Shot, teeters on the side of being fine but I'm sure something more interesting could have been done rather than copying core Necro Shroud 1. Shroud 5, Mind Shock, is too slow. I wouldn't be bothered by it if it wasn't a source of Stability. The cast time needs to be nearly halved at least. Even at the cost of a slightly longer CD. Overall, I like the Shroud! It's just a little too slow in some areas. - Traits! Most of them are great and as edgy as this may sound, probably the best named traits out of any of the elite specs. Kudos to the person that named them, lol. Second Opinion on the adept column could maybe be changed out for a DPS trait. The adept line has no DPS-specific traits and honestly Second Opinion isn't needed thanks to competing against Consume Shadows, an extremely strong trait. Maybe once/if Consume Shadows gets nerfed Second Opinion would be more appealing, but I still think a DPS adept trait would make the elite spec more appealing to people that don't want to play support. Amplified Siphoning is "fine", but boring relative to the other two choices. The GM traits are mostly great. Hungering Darkness feels like a "oh yeah, condi-cleanse!" last minute kind of thing but is still fine. I think a GM trait that allowed some form of minor AoE tether (perhaps around the tether target) would be much more appealing. Or a GM trait that reduces the range of the tether by like 50%, but allows you to spawn more tethers. - Scepter Specter! It's fun to say. I really enjoy the AA on this even though I don't typically care too much for AAs. It's so quick though kind of wonky on the third cast because it seems to clip into the cast time of other abilities. Including it's own AA chain. I love chasing people with it and having scepter battles with other specters. You can't mount while doing it making it kind of annoying. Shadow Sap is fine. The dual skills are great, but Measured Shot might be too strong as sad as it makes me to admit. Twilight Combo has a fun animation and is also quite strong. Overall, I'm really enjoying Specter despite feeling like it was undertuned/baked at first. I haven't tried it in sPvP, but for PvE and WvW it's been a blast. I'm actually really looking forward to using it in ranked sPvP even though I haven't played ranked in years. I think the notion of "it's a caster so it has to be slower" should be thrown away, especially on the Wells and Shadow Shroud. Really looking forward to the refining of this elite-spec because it's so close already!

I think this game should have added optional aesthetics a long time ago. Something similar to WoW's glyphs but actually good. That way people that wanted to swap to racial turrets/kits/golem/ect could do so and those that didn't like them wouldn't be forced to.

Please no Holosmith 2.0 with pets... I'm "cautiously optimistic" at the moment. I still think MH Mace should be a core weapon, so maybe this OH mace choice leaves that open? That's some serious coping on my part, ha. Super excited and slightly scared to see it in action! Edit: Kind of odd that it is green. Jade Tech. Lol, the people that want another Holosmith but with pets really coming out in force. If it does end up being that, I hope Anet puts some kind of fun twist on it.

Ha, no.