Volcanis.4872

Even after using Scorched Earth and/or Combustive Shot, they will trigger Heat the Soul because the fields they leave behind still counts as a burst skill. Just tested my quickness condition build with 50% quickness duration (Firebrand runes and concentration sigil) and it seems that with Scorched Earth (4 second duration) and level 3 Combustive Shot (3 pulses, 9 second duration), I can maintain 100% quickness uptime with decent DPS. Soul Pastry and Potent Lucent Oil can give me a little bit more leeway.

With the controversy of the Scourge changes, what if we give Reaper group alacrity and keep Scourge as is? I understand Reaper is the DPS spec, but the same could be said for Berserker and Bladesworn and they both got group quickness and alacrity. Here's my suggestion: Blighter's Boon (grandmaster trait) is now "Terrifying Speed" - Gain life force when you apply a boon to allies or remove a boon from an enemy. Skills that inflict fear will now also grant allies boons (alacrity in PvE) warhorn 4, staff 5, reaper's shroud 3, lich form 3, spectral ring, and downed skill 2 all grant fear Augury of Death could be reworked to grant an additional effect for all shouts. For example: "Your Soul is Mine!" siphons health "Nothing Can Save You!" inflicts fear "Rise!" grants allies fury "Suffer!" inflicts weakness "You Are All Weaklings!" grants allies more might "Chilled to the Bone!" inflicts slow What are your thoughts?

Give Reaper alacrity instead of Scourge. With the controversy of the Scourge changes, what if we give Reaper group alacrity and keep Scourge as is? I understand Reaper is the DPS spec, but the same could be said for Berserker and Bladesworn and they both got group quickness and alacrity. Here's my suggestion: Blighter's Boon (grandmaster trait) is now "Terrifying Speed" - Gain life force when you apply a boon to allies or remove a boon from an enemy. Skills that inflict fear will now also grant allies boons (alacrity in PvE) warhorn 4, staff 5, reaper's shroud 3, lich form 3, spectral ring, and downed skill 2 all grant fear Augury of Death could be reworked to grant an additional effect for all shouts. For example: "Your Soul is Mine!" siphons health "Nothing Can Save You!" inflicts fear "Rise!" grants allies fury "Suffer!" inflicts weakness "You Are All Weaklings!" grants allies more might "Chilled to the Bone!" inflicts slow

Instead, Berserker should provide group alacrity and Spellbreaker should provide group quickness. Here’s why: Berserker depends on alacrity to enter Berserk as often as possible. Even open world and competitive Berserker builds would appreciate some alacrity. Core Warrior will still be able to provide group quickness with Martial Cadence and Warhorn 4 Charge mainly for support Spellbreaker builds in competitive modes. If the balance team wants support Spellbreaker to provide quickness, simply make it the group quickness spec. One argument is Berserker is more thematic to provide quickness, but I would counter that Willbender and Renegade are more thematic to provide quickness - and they both provide alacrity. Also, with the right balance, quickness heal Shoutbreaker could be meta in all game modes providing Warrior with a good support option. Daring Dragon doesn’t make intuitive sense to provide group alacrity. I’m sure Anet can make up a reason why it does, but I think slashing with a gunsaber should not spit out boons to the party. Therefore, here are my simple suggestions: Heat the Soul will now provide group alacrity instead of quickness (but on skill activation, not on hit) Revenge Counter will now provide group quickness instead of resistance (Full Counter will provide quickness on skill activation, not on hit) Revert Daring Dragon One critique is these boons will only provide quickness and alacrity in combat (like Willbender). My additional suggestion is to increase the amount of adrenaline of skills and traits that grant adrenaline. For example, Mace 2 and Sword 5 Adrenaline Rush could provide 15 adrenaline (15 to account for decay out of combat) so Berserker and Spellbreaker can use F1 and F2 respectively in preparation of combat after using Adrenaline Rush.

Bladesworn should not provide group alacrity. Instead, Berserker should provide group alacrity and Spellbreaker should provide group quickness. Here’s why: Berserker depends on alacrity to enter Berserk as often as possible. Even open world and competitive Berserker builds would appreciate some alacrity. Core Warrior will still be able to provide group quickness with Martial Cadence and Warhorn 4 Charge mainly for support Spellbreaker builds in competitive modes. If the balance team wants support Spellbreaker to provide quickness, simply make it the group quickness spec. One argument is Berserker is more thematic to provide quickness, but I would counter that Willbender and Renegade are more thematic to provide quickness - and they both provide alacrity. Also, with the right balance, quickness heal Shoutbreaker could be meta in all game modes providing Warrior with a good support option. Daring Dragon doesn’t make intuitive sense to provide group alacrity. I’m sure Anet can make up a reason why it does, but I think slashing with a gunsaber should not spit out boons to the party. Therefore, here are my simple suggestions: Heat the Soul will now provide group alacrity instead of quickness (but on skill activation, not on hit) Revenge Counter will now provide group quickness instead of resistance (Full Counter will provide quickness on skill activation, not on hit) Revert Daring Dragon One critique is these boons will only provide quickness and alacrity in combat (like Willbender). My additional suggestion is to increase the amount of adrenaline of skills and traits that grant adrenaline. For example, Mace 2 and Sword 5 Adrenaline Rush could provide 15 adrenaline (15 to account for decay out of combat) so Berserker and Spellbreaker can use F1 and F2 respectively in preparation of combat after using Adrenaline Rush.

Specter has a necromancer-like shroud, Mechanist has a ranger-like pet, Willbender has thief-like shadowstep skills with their virtues. Some elite specializations have a secondary profession theme and while Fast Casting was an exclusive primary attribute of GW1 mesmers, that doesn't mean GW2 elementalists can never have it. Elementalists in Cantha could have learned from mesmers. I'm not sure if I understand this argument. Rotation is limited by attunement recharge. If I'm in fire attunement and use skills 2-5 under "Fast Casting" I'm still only pressing 4 buttons and then auto-attacking (which is 1 button) until I can swap to my next attunement. I think having skills cast faster would be fun, much like having quickness versus no quickness. When I auto-attack with quickness Scrapper, I feel powerful and if I don't have quickness, it feels boring and slow. And if there is any profession that should be complex and difficult, it should be the Elementalist just by the very nature of having 4 weapon swaps at all times. I would argue Weaver focusing on 2 elements (fire and air swapping for power builds and fire and earth swapping for condition builds) is the semi LI build for Elementalist. Cataylst should be true to its name and speed up its skills as much as possible. It should reward the ultimate piano player since Elementalist is the most complex profession and Catalyst should raise that to 11. Even if it's just 10% more than quickness, Fast Casting at least would be Catalyst's identity instead of this weird Energy and Jade Sphere mechanic.

I can understand and agree with your sentiments. There should be builds that don't need to invest in the hypothetical middle ground 40% boon duration, but it should not be 0%. Regardless of the design goal of elite specializations, the reality is not all elite specializations alter how professions are played. Daredevil is just a thief with an extra dodge. I would argue that there is clearly 1 elite specialization per profession that drastically alters how core professions are played. Namely: Warrior - Bladesworn (flow instead of adrenaline) Guardian - Willbender (selfish virtues) Revenant - Renegade (extra profession skills for offensive support) Ranger - Soulbeast (no pet when merged) Thief - Specter (no steal skills, but a shroud form) Engineer - Mechanist (no toolbelt, but now has a pet) Necromancer - Scourge (no shroud, but has extra profession skills) Elementalist - Weaver (double attunements) Mesmer - Virtuosos (no clones, but blades to shatter) With regards to aligning class designs to boon support builds (i.e. warrior elite specializations being DPS focused and not support focused and therefore group quickness should stay in core specializations) I would say it's difficult to make that argument for boon support builds that already have this unalignment (i.e. harbinger is a damage spec, but provides group quickness and deadeye is a damage spec, but will get group quickness). I think the best fun and balance will come with every profession being able to fill every role (but some will do it better than others). Changing the numbers of quickness and alacrity by that much will have major player outcry and require a ton of balance. Better for the developers to assume 5 and 10 player instanced content at the highest level to have every boon and then balance the encounter with that in mind. That doesn't mean just give the boss more HP, but perhaps have bosses corrupt boons or have a slow bubble that makes quickness only provide 25% attack speed. If a boss corrupts protection into an instant kill ability, then the group needs to adapt and NOT provide protection. If a boss creates a slow bubble in melee range, then the group needs to adapt and attack from range to gain the benefit of 50% attack speed instead of 25%.

Catalyst needs a redesign. Looking at primary attributes in Guild War 1, Fast Casting caught my eye. Similar to other elite specializations that have inspiration from another profession, Catalyst could be an elementalist/mesmer elite specialization. Like Chronomancer’s Improved Alacrity (+50% faster skill recharge instead of +25% with alacrity), and Warrior’s Aggressive Onslaught (stackable +25% movement speed), Fast Casting can be a unique trait for Catalysts that can stack with quickness. For example: Fast Casting - while you have quickness, your skill activation time is faster Faster can be any percent amount (5%, 10%, 15%) that can achieve a good balance. This could also replace Elemental Empowerment as a damage buff trait since attacking faster can deal with same damage as attacking harder with the right balance (and no more inopportune aggro with increased toughness). Casting spells faster than any elite specialization is a great theme for Catalysts in my opinion. What do you guys think?

How can you say the changes to Willbender and Mirage were not about running more boon duration when they decreased their alacrity boon duration? While I can agree that in some cases providing group quickness or alacrity should not require boon duration gear, I'm not sure if that can be done with appropriate balance. It's much easier to limit group quickness and alacrity duration and allow 100% uptime with boon duration gear.

That's a fair point, but I haven't seen a core profession in an organized and serious PvE instanced content. If you want to bring core Warrior to a Fractal, it's likely a casual group and not being able to bring group quickness is probably not your concern. I felt Scourge was the obvious choice for the next alacrity support build since it already has a support role with barrier support. Also, not including Warrior and Ranger, necromancer is the only profession that does not provide group alacrity. I believe ArenaNet want builds to require an investment in boon duration to provide high uptime of important boons. Look at the most recent Willbender and Mirage changes. I'm not sure if this is a controversial take, but I like how some professions are better and easier at certain roles. Guardian should be a great support profession (Firebrand quickness is relatively easy) and Warrior should be a great damage profession (recent Berserker update was a great buff to damage, but maintaining berserk is not trivial). Also, within your favourite profession, you should be able to do any role, but that doesn't mean you will be as good as another profession at that role. If I'm a Necromancer enthusiast, I would like to provide damage for my group as a Reaper or provide quickness with Harbinger. Now Harbinger is not the best quickness provider, but in a casual non-CM pick-up group, it should be sufficient to clear content. Another possible controversial take, but balancing difficult content with the assumption that a group will have all boons is probably easier than balancing content with limited boon duration for certain boons. Now it is up to the group composition to ensure there is a high uptime of important boons in order to clear content with relative ease. There should be a difference between a pick-up group with little to no coordination and a serious static group with defined roles. Boons are also an easy way to make a skill or trait feel stronger and more altruistic.

I can agree with your point, but I think ArenaNet is focusing on making everyone having all the boons the norm in instanced PvE based on their balance updates. If you think about it, it actually makes balancing encounters easier if you know your players will have all these boons. I think some professions should be able to provide some boons better than others, which would create team diversity. I'm not proposing all especs to have quickness and alacrity tied to their profession mechanic. My suggestion is to move away from using weapon and slot skills on cooldown and allow players to choose situational slot skills. The easiest implementation would be selecting a trait that is tied to a profession mechanic, but the trait could also modify some weapon and slot skills (like Chronomancer). I think some professions should be better (depending on the situation) at providing quickness and alacrity than others. Firebrand is quite easy, whereas my Scrapper Function Gyro would not be as ideal. However, Function Gyro has other effects and Scrapper brings superspeed, so if there is a situation where the encounter is largely static, Scrapper might be the better pick than Firebrand. I think all professions should be able to provide quickness and alacrity depending on the elite specialization, but that doesn't mean all professions in all scenarios will be as good as another. As described above, depending on the scenario, one profession may be better than the other even if they both provide quickness because they can bring other things to the table.

After reading the latest studio update and balance philosophy from Oct 2022, I’ve come to 3 conclusions on how PvE boon support builds should be improved: 1. Granting allies quickness and alacrity should be constrained to elite specializations (no more banner quickness and spirit alacrity) Easier to balance and better role definition 2. All professions should be able to grant allies quickness and alacrity Debatable, especially with the balance philosophy of “Holes in Roles”, but given that Deadeye will now have a quickness support build, a Scourge alacrity support build seems like the next logical step 3. Granting allies quickness and alacrity should be mostly dependent on traits and/or profession mechanics and not exclusively weapon or slot skills Situational weapon and slot skills should stay situational To simplify the balance discussion, let’s assume all builds invest in 40% boon duration for 100% quickness or alacrity uptime. In reality, some elite specializations should be better or worse than others. PvE Quickness Support Changes Spellbreaker - stun and daze grant quickness with No Escape No Escape immobilize is great in WvW and PvP, but we can split this trait (skill split) to grant quickness to allies in PvE Firebrand - no change, except Liberator’s Vow should grant a defensive boon (not quickness) to allies when using a heal skill Mantra of Potence and Stalwart Speed should grant enough quickness to allies by tweaking the numbers Herald - Facet of Nature - Dragon grants quickness with Draconic Echo Instead of “using a consume skill grants boons to allies around you” it should be “Facet of Nature - Dragon grants quickness to allies” Untamed - grant quickness when you or your pet unleashes with a new trait that replaces Nature’s Shield Nature’s Shield can be combined with Cleansing Unleash to make room for a new trait Deadeye - Fire for Effect grants quickness (in addition to its other effects) Either One in the Chamber or Improvisation should be required for 100% quickness uptime with hypothetically 40% boon duration Scrapper - Function Gyro grants quickness with Kinetic Accelerator Instead of “when you grant superspeed to a target, also grant boons” it should be “Function Gyro grants quickness to allies” Harbinger - no change Catalyst - no change Chronomancer - no change, but see Chronomancer below PvE Alacrity Support Changes Berserker - berserk grants alacrity with a new trait that replaces Last Blaze Last Blaze can be combined with Heat the Soul to make room for a new trait Druid - Natural Stride grants alacrity with an aura that pulses each interval when you have no movement-impairing conditions The movement-impairing duration reduction can be removed for balance Specter - Siphon grants alacrity with Shadestep (in addition to its other effects) Instead of “Wells grant alacrity on their initial impact” for Traversing Dusk it should be “Wells last 1 second longer" (Well of Bounty will provide alacrity on pulse 2) to help with alacrity uptime Scourge - Manifest Sand Shade grants alacrity with Sand Savant (in addition to its other effects) Competes with Demonic Lore grandmaster trait for those worried about power creep Tempest - attaining singularity grants alacrity with Lucid Singularity Can increase time to attain singularity for balance Chronomancer - Well of Action and Tides of Time grant alacrity with Stretched Time Instead of "the first pulse of a well also applies alacrity to allies near the well" it should be "Well of Action grants alacrity to allies" Seize the Moment could also be "Well of Action grants quickness to allies. Tides of Time now also applies quickness in an area when cast" so Chronomancers can swap between Seize the Moment and Stretched Time to grant either quickness or alacrity with Well of Action and Tides of Time Willbender - no change Renegade - no change Mechanist - no change Mirage - no change Thank you for reading and please let me know your thoughts.

Tunnel May 30th based on Gorrick's Research Journal recordings and from the Studio Update "That storyline will conclude a few months later with an update that introduces additional playable space to the map, adds meta-events and boss encounters".

The summer 2023 roadmap is right around the corner and in anticipation, I came up with what I think is a reasonable roadmap until the next expansion: May 30 - Fractal and conclusion to What Lies Beneath June 13 - Dragon Bash June 27 - Major profession balance update July 11 - WvW Alliance beta 1 July 25 - Fractal challenge mode August 8 - Festival of the Four Winds August 22 - 11th birthday week event September 5 - Minor profession balance update September 19 - WvW Alliance beta 2 October 3 - New story content (prologue for next expansion) October 17 - Halloween October 31 - Major profession balance update November 14 - WvW Restructuring release November 28 - Announcement of next expansion release date December 12 - Wintersday January - Entire month previewing the next expansion February 6 - Lunar New Year February 27 - Next expansion As for beyond, I’ll separate my thoughts between the 3 game modes and what I think is 1. realistic, 2. hopeful, and 3. delusional: PvP Reality - profession balance updates for PvP will be the only “new” content Hope - reward active participation (similar to WvW objective scaling rewards) and add weekly achievements to hopefully counteract inactivity from players and bots and increase player base for better matchmaking Delusion - new map WvW Reality - WvW Restructuring will release in late 2023 or early 2024 and profession balance updates for WvW will be the only “new” content Hope - improve WvW progression (add new tracks, adjust ability point costs, etc.), especially for new players (give new players auto-loot and gliding) Delusion - new map (can replace one of the 2 Alpine Borderlands) PvE Reality - new story, masteries, rewards, 3 maps, 2 strikes, 1 fractal, and challenge modes with each expansion Hope - new core weapon proficiencies with each expansion (see my post: Ideas for Future Expansion Combat Features) Delusion - underwater combat rework Thank you for reading and please let me know your thoughts.

Thanks for your comment. I'll tackle them in no specific order: 1. Warrior only have 5 weapons left (you forgot scepter and main hand pistol): If an expansion cycle is 1.5 years, then after 7.5 years Warrior will finally be "masters of weaponry" that can use any and all weapons - I think that's pretty sweet. 2. Utility skills as skills 1 through 5? I don't think that will ever happen. Weapons and weapon skills are far too important to core combat. Play gw1 if you want that kind of combat.

If that's what we get, ArenaNet will find themselves losing a lot of players. You may be right that we get combat features that can only be used in the new expansion area, but expansion content should have some combat features that can be used game wide. Even Icebrood Saga had the United Legions Waystation Synchronization mastery. If we get something closer to Icebrood Saga, then they should not call this an expansion and start preparing for maintenance mode, especially if these combat features are not available in WvW or PvP.

Mechanist Rework Infographic Core Engineer slot skills are underpowered without their corresponding tool belt skills. Mechanists should be able to use tool belt skills F1-F4 when the Jade Mech is inactive and Recall Mech/Crash Down should be moved to F5. This aligns with Scrapper and Holosmith where the elite specialization profession mechanic skill replaces F5. This would create more combat decisions, similar to weapon or pet swapping. A Signet is a material that contains magic. In my opinion, Engineers should not use magic and therefore should not have Signets. Instead, Mechanists should have Command skills similar to a Ranger. Signet passive effects can be added to traits and the new Command skills will have corresponding tool belt skills. My proposed tool belt skills tried to stay on theme with the Mechanist, but in general, they should provide ranged combat options for the player. With the new Mechanical Genius effect, melee combat is ideal when the Jade Mech is active to maximize damage. If an encounter forces you to attack from range, dismissing the Jade Mech and gaining access to tool belt skills may be the correct decision. My proposed Command skills also provide ranged combat options when the Jade Mech is inactive. I imagine the inactive Jade Mech is in the air and can receive a command from a Mechanist headset to send down a: 1. repair bot for “Repair” 2. force field for “Deploy Barrier” 3. explosive blast for “Use the Force” 4. teleportation beam for “Evasive Maneuvers” 5. electrical bomb for “Discharge” When the Jade Mech is active, Command skill effects would originate from the Jade Mech. Thank you for reading and please critique my ideas if you have time.

Good point. I had some original ideas that Revenant would a focus. I could also see a scepter on Revenant as well. You could combine 2 existing traits that are rarely chosen to make room for a new one or add to an existing trait to include something from the new legends. Great points. I agree Traps or Preparations would fit with Engineers. And yeah, choosing which kit to remove is tough, but Grenade, Bomb, and Mortar Kit are three different explosive kits and I feel like they can be reworked into just 2 somehow.

Universal elite specialization is interesting, but I worry it would dilute profession identity a bit. While some players have 1 of every profession and so a universal elite specialization is just another toy to play with, some like to play mostly or exclusively a single profession and now it doesn't matter they are a Warrior, a group composition may suggest to switch to Ghostbuster to clear the content most efficiently. I do like the concept through, just playing devil's advocate. I think new core legends could work because the trait lines are not named after the legend they focus on. Salvation and Retribution could have traits specifically for Tengu stance and Corruption and Devastation could have traits specifically for Scarlet stance. I agree, but this could be achieved with regular balance updates. Thanks for your comment. I do agree it has a vibe of completionism. I'm not too sure if I understand your statements, these are not elite specializations, just weapon proficiencies mainly (which I understand is still a lot of work). Are you saying that with future expansions ArenaNet does not need to add anything to existing professions and what we currently have is enough if fine tuned? If so, I believe future expansions would not sell many copies. Thanks for you comment and great points. In general I do feel there are gaps in roles and playstyles for all professions and new weapon skills could fill in those gaps. I don't have any firm ideas at present, but your points are certainly valid. I agree wholeheartedly. I hope the balance team can address these concerns before we add new toys for each profession.

I strongly believe with this new future expansion model there will be no more traditional elite specializations (new profession name, mechanic, weapon, skills, and traits). Instead, I think they should build on existing elite specializations by improving the core professions. Specifically, adding 1. new core weapon proficiencies, 2. adding missing core healing and elite skills, and 3. replacing bad core traits with new good ones for each profession. This may seem lackluster compared to combat features in past expansions, but with future expansions releasing possibly every 1-2 years and the complexity of already balancing 9 professions with 3 elite specializations, this idea is more grounded in reality. Nevertheless, I believe this idea can create new and unmet playstyles for each profession. I propose new core weapon proficiencies and new healing and elite skills should be tied to an expansion purchase (without the new expansion, these weapons and skills cannot be used). However, replacing core traits should not be tied to an expansion and be free for all players. For example: Future Expansion 1 new core weapon proficiency for each profession new legendary stance for Revenant with 5 new skills new elite skill for each profession (except Revenant) Future Expansion 2 new core weapon proficiency for each profession new legendary stance for Revenant with 5 new skills new elite skill for each profession (except Revenant) Future Expansion 3 new healing skill for each profession (except Revenant) new core traits replacing old core trains for each profession FREE for all players. These new core traits would create new and unmet playstyles for each profession that align with the new core weapon proficiencies and skills added in the first 2 future expansions My idea only spans 3 expansions, which I think is ok since this new expansion model may or may not be successful. At least with this idea, it strengthens the core of the game. Below are specific details and ideas if you want to continue reading further. New Weapon Proficiencies I chose weapon proficiencies that naturally fit with the profession and could be used alongside as many elite specialization weapon proficiencies where applicable. Unfortunately some get 28 new weapons skills over 2 expansions, while others only get 4. Again, these are just my ideas, but the core concept is 2 new weapons over 2 future expansions. Profession Expansion 1 Weapon Expansion 2 Weapon Warrior Staff Main-Hand Pistol Guardian Warhorn Short Bow Revenant Main-Hand Axe (Tengu) Rifle (Scarlet) Ranger Rifle Off-Hand Sword Thief Off-Hand Sword Torch Engineer Torch Off-Hand Mace Necromancer Main-Hand Mace Off-Hand Axe Elementalist Longbow Torch Mesmer Main-Hand Pistol Warhorn New Healing and Elite Slot Skills 7 professions (I will discuss Revenant and Engineer later) have 5 slot skill types adding up to 27 slot skills each (4 healing, 20 utility, and 3 elite skills). If we classify Guardian Shelter as a Consecration healing skill and Mesmer Ether Feast as a Illusion healing skill, then 7 professions are all missing 1 healing skill type and 2 elite skill types. If we add these 3 missing skills for each profession, they would all have 30 slot skills each, completing their set. Revenant only has 4 core legendary stances adding up to 20 slot skills. If we add 2 new core legendary stances, then they would have 30 slot skills. These are my ideas: Legendary Tengu Stance - Talon Silverwing Legendary Terrorist Stance - Scarlet Briar Engineer is in an odd position since it only has 4 slot skill types (Elixir, Engineering Kits, Gadget, Turret). Bladesworn introduced the Armament skill type, which I believe fits Engineers quite well. I propose we rework Engineer slot skills to have 5 slot skill types. For example: Healing Armament - new skill Utility Armament - Stimpack (reclassify Elixir B as an Armament) Utility Armament - Throw Mine (reclassify Throw Mine as an Armament) Utility Armament - new skill Elite Armament - new skill I propose Grenade Kit and Rocket Turret should be removed since Elite Mortar Kit and Rifle Turret respectively are very similar and can be reworked to include important aspects of Grenade Kit and Rocket Turret. I know this is controversial, but the end result would be 5 Armaments, 5 Elixirs, 5 Engineering Kits, 4 Gadgets, and 5 Turrets. Adding a Gadget elite skill would total to 30 slot skills and complete the set. Thank you for reading and please critique my ideas if you have time.

Not really, but almost all recharge reduction traits are on the chopping block. I prefaced my thoughts on it being removed so I can talk about balance of attunement swapping.

I wouldn't say I want to gut hammer. I just want to move the circling projectile buffs to be a profession mechanic. I didn't think about the legendary weapon interaction, and that could still be retained with my suggestion, but it will unlikely constantly rotate around you. To be honest, I found it visually distraction, but that's my personal preference. My inspiration of having the circling projectile buffs to be a separate profession mechanic was the Astral Conduit headgear and how all the elements would rotate around your head. I lean towards not having these projectiles do damage since it was heavily nerfed. Maybe not any time soon, but perhaps redesigns could be a feature for mini-expansions. Deadeye was released in Sep 2017 and had a major rework in May 2018. Yes, the company has less staff now than it did back then, but if an elite specialization is all over the place (which I think the Catalyst is), tidying it up would reinvigorate players to try the profession again.

Good question. The point for the initiative mechanic was for visual clarity - to quickly see if you have 0, 1, 2, 3, or 4 Elemental Catalysts instead of finding that information on your buff bar. Also, consuming more initiative when using Jade Sphere or Grand Finale has added effects based on the grandmaster traits (more barrier, more stability stacks, more damage, more quickness).

Catalyst Redesign Infographic This is my high level, but detailed suggestion on a Catalyst redesign. I’ve read the community’s suggestions and I’ve made some in the past, but now I would like to bring some common ideas together. If the community likes my redesign, I can draft a more detailed version focusing on numbers and balance. Energy is a vestige from when the recharge for Jade Sphere was 5 seconds. Now that Jade Sphere recharge is 10-15 seconds, the energy mechanic serves little purpose. Instead, initiative, most recently seen in Firebrand can be an interesting mechanic that is easy to implement and balance. The circling projectiles from hammer skill 3 are very powerful and using a hammer is almost mandatory. Instead, these circling projectiles should be a profession mechanic to allow Catalyst users to use other weapons competitively. Maintaining 10 stacks of Elemental Empowerment is difficult to achieve consistently. Instead, offensive and defensive bonuses should be tied to a profession mechanic that is easier to maintain. A few more balance discussion points: Elemental Enchantment should no longer reduce attunement recharge. The balance team has made it clear they are planning to remove these kinds of traits. Therefore, swapping between all attunements as fast as possible takes 6 seconds (6 seconds to gain 4 Elemental Catalyst initiative points). However, you only need to swap between 3 attunements to gain 4 Elemental Catalyst initiative points every 10 seconds. I would like to briefly go over 3 different play styles with this redesign: PvE DPS quickness with any weapon (all bottom traits) - opening rotation involves swapping through all attunements, casting Jade Sphere, and then gaining 4 Elemental Catalysts initiative points every 10-15 seconds to maintain permanent quickness and other boons (with the right balance and gear). PvP power DPS with hammer (all middle traits) - opening rotation involves swapping through all attunements, using Grand Finale for massive spike damage, and then maintain Fire and Air Catalyst bonuses at all times for maximum offense. WvW support with staff (all top traits) - grant stability to allies, can take Powerful Aura to share auras, and then maintain Water and Earth Catalyst bonuses at all times for maximum defense. Thank you for reading and please critique my redesign if you have the time.

If we are increasing the cooldown for Deploy Jade Sphere, I think we need to rethink the energy mechanic for Catalyst and its overall theme. I think energy should be removed, it's not a fun mechanic. I also think that catalyst is not 'there' yet in terms of an elite specialization. These are my thoughts: Hammer 3 skills should be different skills. The circular orbs should be a part of the specialization and not specific to a weapon. Instead, when swapping attunements, a circular projectile should summon. Balancing the cooldown for attunement swap and how long the projectile lasts can be discussion points. Once a circular projectile is summoned and after it gains enough centripetal force (again, the time required can be a subject for balance discussion), Deploy Jade Sphere for that element can be activated. For example, when you swap to fire, Flame Wheel will activate and after let's say 10 seconds, you can use Deploy Jade Sphere under the fire attunement and summon a phoenix and fire field. Arguably this is similar to Tempest where you can choose to stay longer in an attunement to do an overload or swap to different attunements. BUT, my idea is if you have more than 1 circular projectile active, the Deploy Jade Sphere skill will provide quickness or superspeed (these can be a traits). This is very on theme for the name "catalyst" since the circular projectiles act as a catalyst to speed up your actions. For example, if you swap to fire, Flame Wheel will activate. Then you swap to water and Icy Coil will activate (for balance reasons, it can refresh the durations of all circular projectiles). If you then use Deploy Jade Sphere in water attunement, it will summon the kirin, a water field, and provide quickness to allies. Another fun idea is if you have all 4 circular projectiles active, the quickness duration can be longer. For example, 1 active circular projectile will provide no quickness, 2 will provide 5 seconds of quickness, 3 will provide 10 seconds of quickness, and 4 will provide 20 seconds if quickness (all subject to balance). Ideally if you swap to different attunements on cooldown and with the right traits and gear, you should be able to maintain quickness for allies. I can see at least two different playstyles with this mechanic (which can have associated traits). 1. Swap attunement, wait until Deploy Jade Sphere can be activated and use it for the combo field (associated traits for this playstyle can focus on combos). I imagine for balance reasons, the duration of the circular projectile will expire shortly after Deploy Jade Sphere can be activated. 2. Swap attunements quickly until you have 4 circular projectiles and then activate Deploy Jade Sphere for a long quickness buff (associated traits for this playstyle can focus on boon support).