Aurawind.8429

Herald isnt that intricate for power... Its like oldschool herald where you pop everything in herald to get the damage buffs and shiro is just Impossible Odds. If you are trying to boon herald, you maintain Fury and Prot boons and pop everything else (assuming your other boon partner is covering might).

Even with my suggestions tempest would play out the exact same. In fact, my first suggestion would buff/aid Heal Tempest. You ever try reacting to severe damage while you are overloading and/or your Heal skill is on cool down? Its complete desperation. You would just gain access to Overloads(which is essential for its kit[Water especially]) sooner or back to back for short bursts. Imagine Channeling Fire/Air/Earth Overload with some foresight that things might go wrong and prepare a water overload in advance while channeling the previous(suggestion 2).

This is the exact point I am trying to make

On paper it sounds OP. But looking at damage logs. Overloads are never that high on the board because the limitations to accessing them(the 2 overloads combined are like 8% of a pure dps alac rotation). They should be a little more rewarding for having to channel so long for them. Besides they are decently under competitive sources on a much more strict rotation. A slight nudge to accessing them more frequently could just put them in the right spot.

I like the idea of having ways to actively shave cooldowns. But I am not a fan of camping an element. Ele is designed to use/cycle through all the elements for different tools/scenarios (does this happen practically yet? No, not really. Especially not in PvE. But here's to hoping for the future!)

I see where you care coming from. Though I still think Tempest will keep its feel even with my suggestions. Tempest will still inevitably spend more time in its given attunements given the nature of Overloading in general. My suggestions are trying to limit clunkiness and over all awkwardness mid fights.

The thought crossed my mind today about why Tempest feels so uncomfortable compared to the other specs. The conclusion that I came up to is that Tempest is the only Ele spec that plays differently in terms of pace and flow. What I mean by this is: Core Ele/Weaver/Catalyst go in to an attunement, use crucials skills, and swap out quickly(within a few seconds). Tempest is the only class that forces you in to an attunement for long periods of time like 6 - 10 seconds roughly (which is arguably at least double the time of every other spec) depending on Alacrity or Quickness boons. Suggestions1: Make the charge up on Overloads going IN to an attunement much quicker (down to like 1-2 sec charge up time). This would lower the amount of time you need to spend in any given attunement, and it would give you slight breathing room to not accidentally double click the attunement right away, and you have a brief window to use vital skills going in to the attunement and you could use whatever after and switch right away. Possible Cons: Overloads are insane and do too much Certain Traits would be too good (Example Fresh Air / Harmonious Conduit) Answers/Solutions: Tempest traits in general need to be look at as a whole but. . . Functionalities could be tweaked. For example, Give internal cooldowns to the Stability trait if it becomes a problem. As for Fresh Air, make Attunements and Overloads have separate cooldowns. The Attunement can still go on a longer cooldown after Overloading which is fine, but Fresh Air trait should recharge the Attunement but NOT recharge the Overload skill. Overloads could have an internal cooldown of 10 seconds so you could still semi spam Air Overload alternating with another if that is desired for the damage attunement. Pros: This could provide quicker and more reactive gameplay for boon supports without sacrificing boon uptime. Making it more competitive with other sources (Renegade literally just hits 1 button off cooldown) You wouldn't have to panic about having large down times if swap out of an attunement before overloading(3-5 seconds) because you had to react to a scenario and having to wait for additional charge time (3-5 seconds) to begin re-booning (this mistake could cause 6 to 10 seconds of Alacrity downtime which is a problem for fluid/reactive gameplay). Suggestion 2: If they charge up on Overload times stay the same; Make it to where you can swap attunements mid cast of Overloading without breaking the overload. Possibly allowing back to back Overloads if you start an overload and swap attunements while the previous Overload is casting. The next Overload would likely be up in time at the end of the previous Overload cast. Possible Cons: This could result in the Ele upfronting too much burst or boon uptime. Attunement swapping traits could be very powerful Answers/Solutions: Do I personally think this is a bad thing? No. I think this still promotes quicker more efficient game play. Being able to dump off whatever it is you need to do quickly and effectively if timed right while still being able to deal with a mechanic elsewhere is a good thing in my book without worrying about down time. Don't allow Attunement Swap traits to proc on Overloads. (Further separating Attunements Swapping and Overloads skills) Pros: I still believe this would provide quicker/more reactive game play without sacrificing functionality. Being able to pair 2 overloads back to back could lead to interesting scenarios. I didn't expect this post to be this long haha Your Guys' Thoughts?

Shift Signet is overly disgusting. Make it ONLY teleport the Mech. Not the player. They really don't need a teleport at all what so ever. Buff Lightning Flash (in PvE), It's a joke compared to other teleports Buff more power specs Reaper, Core Warr, Some Ele stuff, Update Ele utils to be less selfish (most of them are). Make conjures function like Kits Buff Alac Chrono Buff Alac Temp provides smaller bits of Alac while Pulsing Overloads. Give "Eye of the Storm" like 3 stacks of stab rather than 1 (it really has to compete with the other supports)

With this in mind, you actually gave me a pretty cool set of ideas. My thoughts on defined Roles via traits. Fire = PDPS / Burning / Condi DPS Air = PDPS / Crit / Crit Dmg Earth = High Sustain / Condi DPS / Bleed Water = Healing / Boons / Support Arcane = Utility (could help Glyph skills with Arcane skills) / Boons / Auras Tempest* = Moderate to High (if going full dps) DPS whilst being a defensive support / Alac Weaver = High DPS / Moderate to High Sustain (in PvE) [PvP Sustain is fine] Catalyst* = Moderate to High(if going full dps) DPS whilst being an offensive support. Could also use Augment Support. *Note* These classes should have a DPS variant with comparable numbers to other classes BUT you should sacrifice damage via traits that aren't just "do -10% outgoing damage". For example, like having the choice of a damage trait that DOES damage VS simply picking a more support oriented trait instead. This would result in you ''losing'' damage for not picking the dps trait. I don't think Tempest should be exclusive to Aura Share. Aura's were originally a very unique thing to Core Ele. Tempest just happened to provide a trait that ended up making Aura's heal. In my opinion, Arcane would be a nice place to put Aura Sharing for class diversity. This would open up other Elite spec's to Aura share too. However, Tempest would still be unique for having Healing Aura's and/or more traits that react with Auras. I would not want that to change since I believe Anet intended Tempest to be Defensive Support in nature. Traits in general need to be look at across the board in hopes of class diversity.

Firebrand does need a lot of work in PvP. The problem is, It would literally needs its own split PvP balance no matter what. Elementals are an interesting thing to look at, however in my opinion, Elementals are arguably stronger than Necro minions AND Eles have an easier way of keeping them up with AoE healing (unironically I do have a minion ele build that works quite well). I'm not against permanent elementals, but they would need to have their own summon skill and not all come from ONE glyph. As for Dragonhunter, along with a lot of other classes, simply going over the traits would be the foundation of bringing it up in line with other specs.

Yea, it really does need to be an all out glass cannon that is selfish and ANET should NOT be afraid of it's numbers or damage output OR be a melee barrier support provider along with some damage.

Weaver does not necessarily need to be "more rewarding" than scourge. Giving a little more for a 'harder class' wouldn't be a bad thing. Answering your question the best way I can. Question: If they fundamentally do the same thing, why not just pick the easier of the two? Answer: Yes, likely, the general populous will go to the easier option, BUT this would OPEN the door to Build Diversity and play style variety for THOSE who SEEK it. If this brings even slightly more of an audience that in itself provides a healthier state of the game. Worse case scenario: People just stick with scourge `\_o_/`

In a way, Yes. It should be a 'kind of' support class. Scourge = High Dmg, High Sustain at RANGE Weaver = High Dmg, High Sustain(in the same way) at MELEE range. Different flavor play style, similar effect.

Genuinely appreciated your response, I think I am going to add a clear segment about a lot of your points.

The goal of this post is to be a master discussion about the general scope of the Classes/Elite Spec Roles and their identity while bringing some sort of balance to the game. It's common knowledge that GW is not in the most popular state, and I was hoping that this could bring some creative discussion as to how certain classes can be brought up in line with the current meta and constructive ways to tone down over performing classes. I've played this game pretty consistently since closed beta weekend 1. And by far this balance patch has hit the most controversial boundaries. And as a consistent player, I wouldn't mind shaking up what has been meta or standard for years now. Things need to get changed around for the over all better health for the game. Disclaimer: There may be many "Hot-Takes" to come, so here's to hoping for constructive discussions. One thing I would like to mention before getting in to how classes could be changed around. I am not in agreeance with giving "vital" boons like Quickness and Alacrity to Core Specs. I believe it's more reasonable to go in to an Elite Spec for the "trade off" to provide such support/utility. Classes/Elite Specs who provide these boons/utility need to do in their own UNIQUE class specific way. With this idea in mind, there needs to be LESS passive buff application and MORE reactive buff applications. Example: All the pulsring fury and might traits are just a "copy pasta" of one another. Guild Wars is on the road to homogenizing classes already, and they want the game to be accessible to as many people as possible. For those who play fewer classes could hope to fill more roles than what is currently available to them in game. With that in mind, a class like Warrior(for example) should have its own unique way of providing vital boons IN ITS OWN WAY(this is VERY IMPORTANT to keep in mind. And no, I am not talking about Banners. This will be explained later in the warrior section). With this in mind, that leaves the problem of Core Specs being less desirable than Elite Specs. You can't just go buffing all Core Traits because that intern will just buff Elite Specs as well. One possible way around this could be the ability to applying a buff to Core classes for BEING a Core class that could bring its DPS up a little bit (or something of this nature). They can still provide the unique core mechanics of their class and not be underwhelming to Elite Specs (I just thought of this on the spot [probably a hot take]). There needs to be a CLEAR indication of intent for each Elite Specialization. Warrior: (It's no surprise this class got hit the hardest most recently AND in the past) I believe ANET's view of warrior is to be a Frontliner who is sustainy and in the thick of things providing morale boosting buffs. Like any other Warrior MMO Archetype. I genuinely don't have a constructive way of working with the banners the way they are. My question to Warrior players are whether they even want to be a "Banner Slave" anymore or just do away with those skills and mechanics for new things? At the very least. Banners could have support skills while ACTIVELY holding the banner. This could make it slightly more interactive. The best that I could say is that at the very least the banners need to be buffed up in terms of better pulsing boon application. Community Suggestion Summaries: Banner Mechanics changed to a facet-like system with skill flipping function or a kit like system. Providing Alacrity through "Tactics" traits under the theme of a War General/Warlord. Providing quickness through "Shouts" under the theme of morale boosting a fight via commanding. Homogenizing Warrior Specs: Berserker: In My opinion. If ANET wants to give Quickness applications to Warrior. This is the Spec to do it on. It has good access to both Power and Condi Dmg. Quickness in AoE around the Warrior could be achieved in ways like using Rage skills while in Berserk Mode OR causing Reactions while in Berserk Mode. Reactions for example could be like the "King of Fires" trait that detonates Fire Auras with Berserker Skills. Community Suggestion Summaries: Critical Hits in Berserk Mode causes AoE Quickness via use of a reworked Fatal Frenzy trait. Spellbreaker: It's common knowledge that Spellbreaker is not popular in PvE, and it could probably use a bit of tweaking in PvP. This class likely could use a bit of work. I can't imagine any way that Spellbreaker would be a DPS utility in a PvE setting. So why not consider it a Tank Support Class? It could still have access to Banners and it can bring its own self sustain utility to hold its own. What it could attempt to provide is Alacrity possibly? Maybe consider a possible Alacrity source from a Spellbreaker (in small application) at the start of Counter Blow and a bigger REWARDING Alacrity burst upon activation of Counter Blow. Or maybe just a Big pay off for effectively using Counter Blow in general (Others could elaborate their ideas on how Spellbreaker could provide alac). Meditations are another way of considering an Alacrity source. It IS ok if the primary focus of this class is PvP, but it could use a little buffing in my opinion. Post writing thought: It's not unthinkable to find ways of it being a DPS alacrity source, but of course this would require a lot of adjustments to Damage numbers and modifiers. Bladesworn: I don't have much to say about this spec. It's new and in a decent spot in terms of both PvE and PvP. Others could probably elaborate better than I when it comes to this spec. Personally from a PvP perspective, I am not a fan of the stability spam on Dragon Trigger being on such a short cooldown. Along with Aegis spam and its High Self sustain, It is really hard to counter pressure. Elementalist: (Arguably the most controversial class in the community with both "Non-Ele Mains" and "Cringe Ele Mains") I believe ANET's goal is to make Ele a versatile class with adaptive/reactive skills to different scenarios. The Ele is arguably the "Mage" Archetype which stereotypically follows the pattern of Low Armor, Low Health, and High Damage output. In My experience, They are consistently afraid of Ele's doing really good Damage (like if the game is balanced off of the top 1%/perfect world scenarios or so that's how it feels). Mind you, Ele CAN DO Damage numbers in the current state of the game, BUT Is it worth the risk playing Ele over other classes that could do comparable damage or better all the while being way more safe? Likely not. So In my opinion, If Ele does incredible Damage (especially in a perfect scenario) I find that being OK. They deserve the reward for the risk. With the introduction of the new Ele specs, One could argue that, especially in pvp, they all favor "bruiser" play styles. They are close to mid range play styles which promotes "tankier" play styles. Am I alone when I think Ele's damage adjustments are taken a little too far? Community Suggestion Summaries: Elemental summons being permanent. (In my opinion this cannot be done through one skill. They would need their own summon key) Redefining Ele Trait focus. Fire = PDPS / Condi DPS / Burning focus Air = PDPS / Crit / Crit Dmg Earth = High Durability / CDPS / Bleeding focus Earth trait lines are too selfish and don't promote team aspect the game is trying to achieve. (Ex. Stone Heart / Diamond Skin) Water = Healing / Boons / Support focus Arcane = Utility / Boons / (Auras)? Tempest* = DPS (and/or) Defensive support / Alac Weaver = High DPS / Moderate to High Sustain in PvE (PvP sustain is fine) Catalyst* = DPS (and/or) Offensive support / Quick Staunch Auras affecting party * Note * Tempest/Catalyst should have damage variants but should have the CHOICE to go in to DAMAGE related traits there by "sacrificing" damage choosing the support traits Improve Auto Attacks Rework Arcane Skills / Conjures Make utility skills less selfish. Outside of possibly just conjure skills most utility skills are very selfish. At the end of the day. All trait lines could be looked at for build diversity. Elemental Conjures I believe Conjured Weapons should act more like Engi Kits. Obviously they would need to be toned down significantly in effect and cool downs be worked out accordingly, but having access to a Conjure Weapon kit could help fill in small gaps in Ele's skill rotations whether it be offensive or defensive in nature. Homogenizing Elementalist Specs: Tempest: So recently Tempest was given Alacrity. There for it's competition is Mechanist, Druid, Or Renegade. Since it has to choose to have Healing Auras OR give Alacrity via Overloads, It is arguably more favorable to do a DPS Alacrity source variant. The question still persists? Why bring an Alacrity Tempest over the Other competitors when they can provide incredible boons like Stability or have really good support and healing options with NO sacrifices? The answer is, you likely wouldn't when the competitors are clearly better. Hot-Takes: Possibly give more Stability sources to Earth Attunement line or to something like Aftershock (this would not be a good idea for PvP to be clear). Or make healing Auras a Water trait-line which would open up Heal Alac Temp. PvP Perspective: The most common Tempest build runs "Stone Heart". Which, In My opinion, is an incredibly overpower trait. It is frustrating to deal with in the sense that All the Ele needs to do is camp Earth Attunement and have great sustain with little effort. This trait also PREVENTS on hit crit traits AND makes Ferocity totally moot. I think toning it down to doing less % critical damage taken would be fine. After several tests in both fractals and raids, I personally have come to the conclusion that it is semi difficult/challenging to upkeep perma alacrity if you CANNOT complete an overload. This is especially a problem for HEAL Alac Tempests. I could be mid overload and the team may need emergency healing. Reactively if you swap to water mid overload you do not get your completed Alacrity proc AND you have to wait ~4 seconds to even channel the next overload which would take another 2 to 4 seconds to cast. This results in a significant gap of Alacrity uptime. It is a HUGE set back for Heal Temps. It isn't too much of a bother for Alac DPS Tempests, but it is still sort of there. The simple fix would be to do a lower alac proc on pulsing overloads. That way an Alac Temp can still get a little benefit after not completing an overload. (some would say this is a trade off or have better timing. You can have better timing for emergencies AND other classes actually don't have this problem at all). Note: It is very easy to upkeep perma Alac in a PERFECT WORLD scenario. Weaver: Does this spec need to provide "Vital Boons"? No, I think it is fine as is. Though I believe Weaver could play with the barrier share effect a little more. I'm pretty sure when Weaver came out, ANET's intention was for this to be the "Glass Cannon" DPS Spec. And did they succeed with that at launch. However, Over the years, the constant adjustment has left it being lackluster over other specs. One thing to note, since Barrier is a unique effect to Weaver. They should have more ways of utilizing it so that they could stick around in a longer lasting fight in a PvE setting. Post publish HOT TAKE: Compare Weaver to Scourge (as a unique barrier giving class). Scourge is a very safe and RANGED class that is extremely effective at giving AoE Barrier. Ele should get a way of providing a decent amount of barrier for the risk it takes for being a low armor low HP frontline spec(main-hand sword in mind). Close-range risk for higher payout reward. Weaver's PvP sustain is quite good. Could it use tweaking in some places? Sure. Possibly. But "Fire Weaver" build would need to have an eye kept on it for any sudden changes. Catalyst: So I believe the intention of Catalyst was to be the Offensive Boon Support Spec. They recently adjusted Spectacular Sphere to do Quickness ONLY when traited at the cost of -10% over all damage. This looks and feels bad. Willbender was a prime example of how awful feeling this mechanic was because it had ALL those trade offs at the launch of EoD, and it was just bad. Other classes like Firebrand monopolize boons and do comparable damage. It boggles my mind why ANET is so afraid of giving a Higher Risk class the pay off it deserves? Am I crazy in thinking this way? For the record, I am ok with A DPS Catalyst just doing DPS and NOT providing Quickness. Choosing to Trait and THEN apply Quickness is a GOOD Thing. Ranger: (Very versatile class, could use a bit of touching up. New weapon buffs in most recent patch helped out a ton.) I believe the general philosophy of this class is achieved. Wide range of damage sources and weapon options. Sure some damages sources could be toned up, but it is for the most part alright. HOT TAKE: Drop the idea of spirits applying alacrity(later explained down below), and bring back the ability to trait for them to move around like Season 1 of GW2. With the overall power creep, I honestly don't believe that mobile spirits would be an issue at all. Not even in PvP. I mean, Minion Master existed for a long period of time, and Ranger spirits don't even attack. Homogenizing Ranger Specs: Druid: Obvious intention of Druid is simple a support/healer role. It definite lives up to that expectation. Going back to my previous statement, where I disagree with Core Specs getting "Vital Boons". I believe Druid (or even SoulBeast) have a good opportunity of applying a source of Alacrity. This can be achieved via a unique way that only druid has like ancient seeds. There could be a trait where the detonation of seeds could apply AoE Alacrity. You can sprout seeds via glyphs or CA mode, and it would not change the functionality of druid and ALSO not force someone to run FULL spirits witch is over all LESS Versatile. SoulBeast: SoulBeast can go several ways. It can be a great DPS option OR a unique support class via stance sharing. Depending on whether SoulBeast is considered for Homogenizing or not, It can simply provide a unique boon application (quickness or alacrity) upon stance sharing since stances are the most unique factor to SoulBeast. Update: With the Axe changes, Power SB is in a terrific spot. If it's goal is JUST a dps class we are going in the right direction Untamed: Untamed is a complicated spot. I personally am not sure if it is designed to be more catered towards PvP and it just falls under in PvE. This scope is fine, I am not against something being good in one mode more than another. I am just trying to go about figuring how to make it more inclusive on both modes. Regardless, I personally wouldn't want this to be anymore than just a DPS class. It can do unique boon striping and projectile blocking as well as being able to manually control pet skills for more support. I feel like that is enough, though certain pets and pet skills should be adjusted accordingly. Guardian: (The Golden Child, not much else to say here besides it monopolizes most all boons and provides so much support with on trade off) It's obvious that the generalized scope of the class is a Support Frontliner and it does that job incredibly well. The issue lies with it being FAR TOO GOOD and over excessive. (Hot Takes Incoming) Homogenizing Guardian: Dragon Hunter: I think the generalized scope of Dragon Hunter is Area Control and Damage. It could be tweaked a bit to bring it in line, but for the most part it does what it was designed to do. I wouldn't recommend any additional support as this should just be a DPS spec. (A Hot take idea post-writing Willbender. Dragon Hunters could be a source of Alacrity for the sake of homogenizing via Trap Triggers) Firebrand: The God Tier class that has reigned supreme for years. Hot Takes incoming. First off I want to start off with... This class just does far too much of just about everything. It really needs to be toned down. The versatility is so great in one package that almost no matter what you do to OTHER CLASSES this one will always reign supreme. Before you rebuild and raise the foundations, you must first tear and raze the ceiling and structures. My Hot take would require a pretty big/hefty rework to the traits of Firebrand along with merging certain existing traits together and further defining how the role you want to achieve is made within the first set of Major traits. Most people may dislike what I am about to say, but here's a shot towards constructive criticism. Hot Take: Make Virtues Core again HOWEVER This could change with your choice of a Major Trait option within the first set of Major traits. The result could be acquiring a Tome of your chosen Virtue. Example: Top-Line-Trait: Justice Tome. Get access to Tome of Justice and it's powerful damaging spells. (This defines you as a DPS role [could still provide quickness]) The trade off is you lose out on your support capabilities because you chose the damage role. Mid-Line-Trait: Resolve Tome. Get access to Tome of Resolve and it's powerful healing spells. (This defines that you are a healer/support role[could still provide quickness]) The trade off is that you lose out on Damage Spells and other forms of support like more access to stability and projectile denile. Bottom-Line-Trait: Courage Tome. Get access to Tome of Courage and it's powerful support spells. (This defines you as a different variant of support through reaction and mitigation of mechanics via Stability and Aegis. [could still provide quickness]). The trade off is that you lose damage and have less access to powerful healing. The result is protection through mitigation and healing from weapons skills/utilities. While Choosing your Tome Trait the other traits just respond like regular Core Guardian Virtues. Again, the overall problem with Firebrand is that has access to WAY TOO MUCH. It literally just needs to be restricted to what role it wants to fill. Willbender: I think the intended scope of this was simply a very mobile DPS class. I am mostly OK with the design scope even though it was quite oppressive a little while back in PvP. It has since been toned down for the better. It does have a form of Alacrity generation, but I am not totally sold on the fact that Guardian should have access to Alacrity because the Class as a whole has a monopoly on every other boon in the game. I'm OK with it just being a different flavor DPS spec, But for homogenizing sake like other classes Alacrity could go to Willbender or Dragon Hunter. I don't have any current/immediate ideas for Willbender applying Alacrity upon initially writing this (this can be adjusted if others comment with interesting unique ideas Core Guardian: (Hot Take post publishing) Give Core Guardian a "bullet system" on their virtues. All other Guardian Elite specs have more appealing virtues. This could be considered a "trade off" going in to those specs since he Elite Specs bring more potent virtue effects and/or mobility options. Why not give Core 'some' kind of advantage. Necromancer: (Another "GOAT'd" Class) I believe it's over all design intention is achieved across the board. It achieves area control, boon corruption, and great sources of damage that mostly favor condition based builds. With that in mind power variants could be bumped up a notch. Homogenizing Necromancer Specs: Reaper: I believe the overall goal for this spec is to achieve good sustainable power damage. In it's current state it is alright. Could be toned up a tiny bit to bring it in line to an acceptable level. I would not homogenize this spec in the sense of providing "Vital Boons". It should stay as a DPS spec. Scourge: Scourge is in a powerful spot. It has access to incredible support capabilities already. Giving it access to "Vital Boons" would be a bit excessive. There is not much that comes to mind about changing this one. It could however use a tiny bit of tweaking in PvP(but extremely carefully) because it can potentially spiral out of control quickly. Harbinger: So this class on paper is unique and interesting, BUT the play-style is bleak and uncreative. The Trait choice of pulsing application of power damage, condi damage, or quickness is incredibly underwhelming. In my opinion we need to look at what makes Harbinger unique as opposed to other classes. Right from the get go, Its elixirs. If the Harbinger chooses to play or fulfill the Quickness role, you should have to spec in to elixirs and elixir potency. It should not be capable of permanent or near permanent quickness as a full Viper's loadout. Simply put, The Grandmaster traits probably need to be look at. Possibly take a step back and define whether Harbinger should be more catered to a particular Damage type over the other. It does not have to have a power line, a condi line, OR a support line. The PvP problem: Easy access to quickness is too oppressive. Easy and effective Team quickness is also an issue. Mesmer: ( The unique one, compact versatility with great support abilities) I believe the overall design of Mesmer is done well enough. Certain trait compatibilities could be adjusted and numbers tuned. These changes are likely beyond my scope. Others could probably elaborate better than I. Side note: Inspiration Mesmer could use some love. Homogenizing Mesmer: Chronomancer: It's clear that ANET wants Chrono to be the support boon role. With the recent change or Choosing to do either Quickness or Alac is a fine choice. Sure its not perfect and could use some adjustments, but overall I think it is going towards the right direction. Damage numbers are severely lacking, and could use a tune up. Mirage: I would like to see a decent spec revolving around Power Damage, but I guess that was supposed to be Virtuoso. Its Condi potential and Support variants are unique and function well enough. I'm also Ok with this being another source of Alacrity beside Chronomancer. Others could probably elaborate on updates or changes. Virtuoso: I'm certain the design scope for this was just to be a damage source and It definitely accomplishes that. I do wish for a more elaborate trait line. One that's not this is the power line, this is the condi line, this is the support line. Personal preference, I would like it being favorable towards Power Damage. Engineer: ( The Jack of All Trades medium class ) The overall steam-punk gadget vibe is accomplished well enough. It brings a unique archetype with turrets and kits to the genre and is currently successful in fulfilling vital roles. Homogenizing Engineer: Scrapper: I believe the general scope of this class is to be a unique offensive support role, and this class for the most part is in a great spot at accomplishing that goal. Gyros are a cool and unique way of doing AoE buffs and support. However, I would like to see a less "spammy" way of playing(not dumping all wells and F skills all in one go to accomplish perma quickness). Other than that, the only issue that I had in the past was the overall damage conversion to barrier which seems to have been toned down. No current ideas from my end on a fun and constructive way of hitting that issue. Post writing idea: Consider giving Scrapper getting the function of "machine like things" a pulsing quickness effect. What I mean by this is: if a Scrapper chooses to bring either turrets or gyros the quickness radiates from the "machine" in an AoE effect. Give this effect a 10 or 15 second interval PER ability. This effect would not change the way the gyros currently function because it would radiate FROM the Scrapper, BUT a Scrapper could strategically place down a turret in an area that would periodically pulse a small quickness proc. You could choose to keep a turret there, or pick up/destroy it and move it somewhere else. (just a weird idea that I thought I'd mention) Holosmith: I assume the scope for this class is to simply be a damage dealer, since the other elite specs occupy a support role variant. Low-key I think Holo is a great damage class. It brings an awesome class mechanic that requires a little bit of attention to perform well. Personally, I would prefer it staying/being a Power class. With that in mind, some damage numbers and modifiers could be looked at. Mechanist: The new god-tier class. It is in an incredible spot. Can fulfill multi-versatile roles in all damage and support types. And with all the Quality of Life changes recently, it accomplishes it's goal as an Alacrity source exceedingly well. It could probably be toned down a tad alongside Firebrand to bring up the newcomers. Thief: ( The Risky Rogue ) Thief is the stereotypical deceptive Rogue class. It accomplishes just that in it's own unique way. It is a higher risk class consider its lower HP values. Along with Ele, I wouldn't mind this class bringing higher damage values with it's low survivability. Core Thief issue: Every thief spec HAS trickery. It is 99% necessary to run it just for the initiative alone. The initiative gain from Trickery should just be base line so that it may give way to class diversity. Homogenizing Thief: Daredevil: I'm sure the design scope for this is just a close-range damage class. Let's be honest, it is just core thief with an extra dodge. I wouldn't do too much to this class besides bringing up some values and maybe it being able to provide endurance regeneration (not necessarily through vigor) to the team. Deadeye: Again, the design scope for this class is damage, but at a longer range. I think this is perfectly fine. It fits a unique niche for the Thief archetype. Others could elaborate better on changes or Quality of Life functions. Specter: I find this class to be in a good spot for a unique concept perspective. Dedicated this class to be the Thief support class is a fine idea. I do however think, like with Mesmer, they should have the option to choose to invest in either Alacrity OR Quickness. Personally I am on the fence about how well it goes about dealing damage. It's numbers are really high for being a "support" role. Revenant: (The embodiment of lore) I was impressed with the class design of Revenant when it first came out. Super unique spin on a heavy archetype class. Closely related to the stereotypical "Dark Knight" archetype from the MMO Genre. Homogenizing Revenant: Herald: With the recent patch and the attempt to make Herald an offensive boon support with Quickness capabilities is the right way to go. However, the Quickness output/sources are less than ideal. The values are too low for the quickness output circumstances. I honestly wouldn't be upset if they overtune elite specs so that they can perform up to par with Firebrand and Mech which EASILY over cap on their boons. It sort of boggles my mind that these underdogs have to fight tooth and nail to barely get by. Over tuning and bring down later is a better feeling than releasing underwhelming. Renegade: The Original Alacrity bot. I still think it functions at that role quite well. It might need some raising of values to keep up with Mechanist and/or Mirage, But for the most part it is still a decent class. Vindicator: Truthfully this class I know the least about. I've seen support roles(earlier on) and as of now, I assume it is catering more towards a damage role? Since Herald and Renegade are capable of accomplishing support roles, making this the damage specialization is an alright way to go about it. This post was quite lengthy and it took up a bit of time. I will continue to update EVERY Profession category to include PvE and PvP Comments throughout the post. Also, I didn't have the time to edit and proof read upon posting. TLDR: Firebrands and Mechanists need to be toned down and/or other classes need to be raised up to a comparable level. If homogenizing is the future of GW2. Classes need to be given access to vital boons HOWEVER each class should have their own unique way of applying buffs. Preferably less passive and more active gameplay. Vital boons should be given to Elite specs, NOT core specs. Cheers! Let's spark some interesting conversations and ideas!

I agree, It flat out just needs to reduce crit damage taken. This trait nullifies traits with On-Hit Crit passives AND makes ferocity completely moot. This is far too powerful when all you need to do is camp earth attunement.

I was about to make a post on this. I am in favor of Ele Kits. If and Ele has constant access to a weapon kit. It could fill the small down times on Ele rotations as well as have access to a possible defense when necessary. The moment you pull out a conjure, you HAVE to use everything that is useful in that very moment to just drop it and move on until you pick up the other summon or wait 1 minute for cooldown. -You would have to make some of the skills less good because you would constantly have more access to them. PvP Earth shield cooldowns would need to go WAY up in correspondence to such a change. And possible damage coefficients would need to be looked at because you would have more uptime on using the skills.

WTF is up with these Ele changes? Nerfs hammer? Do they hate Ele power classes? The jade sphere change is so frustrating. So Ele has to trade off to bring boons(Sure I get that they want a trade off for support classes to not do as much damage, but they didn't change any other supports in this way. Where are the Mech and Firebrand sacrifices? Ele also got a coefficient nerf ALONG WITH -10% outdoing dmg? WTF IS THIS?!) Willbender came out with those Positive and Negative trade offs and it was MISERABLE. Also... Weaver is... unnoticed? Nice slight AoE barrier share. That'll make it viable. PS They made Mech Life easier (the already best support class in game) Harb wasn't touched. And Death Magic will continue to easy mode dominate Pvp

I was super excited! And all of a sudden I was not. This is the biggest flop I have ever seen on a Birthday in regards to GW ever.