achronis.3597

I've added my main thoughts earlier and agree with most others that the sphere needs some major changes, especially around charging and maintaining it. Why not simply remove the sphere and have the players commune with these ancient magical creatures instead? They could provide the elemental fields and could tie back to the Canthan lore. The utility skills need some love and need to be more synergized with the specialization more.

OMG totally agree that the catalyst theme is a jumble of ideas. I quite like the "ancient" elementals theme and could see eles increasing their power from magical creatures. Why use a sphere when we could maybe summon the creature for the elemental field? I feel like the team is forcing jade tech on the ele when it doesn't really need to. For other classes it would make sense, like Engie etc. The sphere to me needs some work, as it takes too long to charge and too short to get any lasting benefit from. I agree, that most of the skills for hammer should be ranged, although I like the idea of some melee skills to bring variety, along with some mobility, like lunges and that crazy hammer air 4 skill that knocks the player back. I agree though that the spec needs more synergy with the weapon, utilities, and mechanic overall.

Totally agree with you on the Sphere mechanic being very conservative and not bringing much benefit to the player, and the utilities not being that useful. It's very frustrating to charge up the sphere and then when you finally do, it starts to lose charge quickly. Plus, when you use the kitten thing, it doesn't last long! Totally annoying and really doesn't make me want to use it. The utilities were a bit meh considering that they are buffed by the sphere we can't use much of. Hope Anet listens to all the feedback and changes these things. Other than that, I like the catalyst and can see potential.

Well, I've tried out the Catalyst for a few hours and although I really like it, there are several opportunities for improvements. 1. The jade sphere mechanic takes way too long to charge and doesn't stay long enough in battle to reap any lasting benefit. Improvement: Reduce the amount needed for the sphere to charge. And once charged, the skill is available whenever the player wants to use it. Remove the mechanic where the charge decrements over time. 2. The augments are interesting but need to be more synergized with the sphere more. I found myself not using the augments as much as I expected.

Great idea to pair with greatsword!

Really liking the virtuoso so far. Very fluid and good damage. I did notice that some of the flashier skills made the combat lag for 1-2 seconds, which could be critical in PvP and WvW. I don't quite understand the trait 'Mental Focus' and the short distance needed (600). The spec seems to be set up better for long range but this trait is forcing players to get up close to activate. Increasing the distance on this trait would be a more viable option for long range.

I don't see how skiffs could be a player's "home". IMO, it looks more of a group mount. For me, I could totally see an overhaul to the home instance making it player housing. The decorating feature (from guildhalls) could be introduced and home nodes could be an active "decoration" where a player could move where they want. This would make players more interested in scribing and building decorations for their homes.

So would we have different rods and bait to use?

Remember that this was the first look and is not showing everything the expansion is bringing to the table. The point of the livestream was to get us interested. Anet is slowly building the hype starting now until Feb 2022, and will be showing off features along the way. They are already doing that with the specializations first. I am sure they will have a final "main" trailer showing all the specializations and features around November/December.

I was kind of bummed about it too. Was hoping to hear something about new weapon type(s). But virtuoso looks interesting

I think Anet should expand on the mount system and make combat mounts a major feature. Siege turtle sounds great but why bring combat to the other mounts? As for new playable races, it's definitely a huge undertaking for sure but one that would make the community very happy and be used to get new players interested, IMO.

I think the livestream went pretty well with some interesting features, like the siege turtle and fishing. The environments looks great and the music is fantastic (as usual). My thoughts are the following: 1. Legendaries are beautiful but look more like a Black Lion skins collection. We work very hard to get these Legs and I would want them to be unique from each other. 2. Was hoping to hear something majorly big, like playable Tengu. Each expansion thus far had its "thing", HoT=gliders / PoF=mounts. What is the "it" thing with EoD? 3. A new guildhall is great, but what about adding player housing? We have home instances, but why not change them into something more unique where the player can decorate (feature already in guildhalls) and place their harvesting nodes where they want? This would boost the interest in scribing, improve the overall economy, and give players a feeling that they own a piece of Tyria.

For me, this looks more like a Black Lion weapon with Legendary tendencies. I was hoping and expected each Legendary to actually be unique. That is what is so awesome and cool about Legendaries! Don't get me wrong, the Aurene skins look beautiful, but a whole set that looks similar to me is not what these weapons are all about. I do realize that it takes a lot of time and effort to design these weapons and develop the collection around them. However, Legendaries should be singularly special and unique in my opinion.

I'd love to have a bookcase in my home instance where I can store all of my books I collect and read later. I don't want to delete them from my inventory but inventory space is critical.

I've been suffering with this since Dragonstorm came out. Every day I jump into the public event and every day I end up angry from doing all the work while others sit and don't participate. This type of behavior doesn't help the community and is very disrespectful to the other gamers that are working together. Anet, please put in place a participation/damage meter or something that would prevent these afkers from getting loot they did not earn.