UsagiShinobi.2597

Okay, second beta event time! I provided feedback the first time around for Virtuoso, and now I'll do the same with Bladesworn. I'm a warrior main and I don't really play revenant nor elementalist, so I'll give my feedback just for Bladesworn rather than the other two. I'll put the same disclaimer here that I did on the Virtuoso feedback: As someone who mains gunlance in Monster Hunter, the moment I saw Warrior getting a melee weapon combined with a firearm, I started squeeing and drooling like an idiot. I LOVE the aesthetic of gunblade stuff, and I already know which of my warriors I'll be using this spec on. So I'm already hooked. Does this spec need work? Absolutely. But that's what the beta is for, yeah? I apologize if I'm being overly verbose in my feedback and clogging up the screen with text, but I'd rather be thorough than vague. So let's get into it. First, the pistol: - Dragon's Roar has a nice little burst, but I think the range should be extended a bit. Maybe 300-ish, rather than 240? I think it should also have a Blast finisher if you have over 3 or 4 ammo stacks. - Gunstinger may also need a little extra range, maybe bumped up to 400 or 450. A quick entry dash with aegis that grants ammo is nice for setting up Dragon's Roar, but I'd probably rather use Savage Leap (sword 2). Give Gunstinger a leap finisher as well! Now, how does an offhand pistol pair with mainhand weapons? Sword has some more mobility, mace has some CC, and axe is the poster child of DPS (and the axe throw using ammo helps a little with Bladesworn's whole ammo schtick). But I think I'm gonna have to parrot what a lot of other folks have been saying here... ... Make the pistol a mainhand weapon as well! Spellbreaker got daggers for both hands, so why not Bladesworn? A mid-range (900-ish) skirmishing weapon is much-needed for Warrior's repertoire, since longbow and rifle are (in my opinion) more of a "slow and steady" sort of weapon. The main draws for me using Longbow/Rifle are its burst skills -- a big condi AOE for combo finishers, or a giant burst of DPS damage. While Rifle does synergize well with the Lush Forest trait -- that 1 second cooldown for Rifle ammo skills is huge! -- I feel like I'm using a rifle on my Bladesworn out of necessity (needing a ranged weapon) rather than because I wanna go pew pew. A mainhand pistol would help, I think. Quicker shots than Longbow/Rifle, meant for close-to-mid-range skirmishing. Sort of like ranger Shortbow, and how it encourages evasion and flanking. Whether pistol/pistol would be more for power or condi is a good question. Rifle is power-centric, and Longbow is condi. Having pistol/pistol be between the two (DPS bursts with Dragon's Roar alongside maybe some burn/bleed attacks) is probably the most obvious answer. Okay, on to the Gunsaber. Firstly, yes, please give us more skins. I mean, don't get me wrong, it does look cool as hell! But fashion wars is the real end-game meta 😛. I realize there isn't a precedent for kits/transforms having skins, but I think that's just untapped gold right there. Kit skin sets for Gunsaber, engie kits, etc.? Trust me, my wallet is already emptying out at the thought of that. Also, the sheath for it only appears when you have it equipped. Since it's such an integral part of the spec, I think the blade should be permanently shown on the character, even when not wielded. (For the purposes of fashion wars, you could "hide" it through the equipment screen, just like helmets/shoulders/gloves and other sheathed weapons). Yes, I know clipping would be an issue, but it's just a thought. The base Gunsaber skills do need reworking. The damage seems too low, and the ammo recharge times are very high. I frequently find myself a few seconds into combat with literally every weapon skill (other than the autoattack) on cooldown. And while I'm fine with it being more power-focused rather than condi damage, it's still severely lacking in conditions. A little bit of cripple and that's it. Not even vulnerability? Heresy! - The autoattack is decent. Nothing fancy, and lets you keep Guns and Glory up. The animations are too similar to base greatsword in my opinion. - Blooming Fire should affect more than three targets, and have a longer range/bigger radius. Maybe around the 240 range mark? - Artillery Shell is nice. Gunsaber desperately needs that 900-range attack to ensure you maximize flow before/between battles. - Cyclone Trigger should reflect projectiles if you have the Shield Master trait (Defense). It should also have a slightly longer block duration. Giving it a whirl finisher would be nice, too. - Break Step isn't great -- Bull's Charge has a longer distance, has CC, evasion, has a leap combo, and has less cooldown! Have Break Step damage enemies along its path and give it evasion and leap finishers, at least. It also needs a tooltip for how big the blast is at your location. Onto Dragon Trigger. (Gosh, I'm talking a lot, aren't I?). Well, since I'm playing open-world PvE, I'll be saying something that a lot of other folks have been saying: I'd have more info on Dragon Trigger if I could activate it more often! Flow caps at 100, but so many skills that grant adrenaline are like a drop in a bucket. If I ever want to use Dragon Trigger, I have to have Flow Stabilizer and Berserker Stance to even think about getting maximum Flow! And with how quickly it drains, I'm essentially only using Dragon Trigger against bosses/champs. I have to dedicate two utility skills to keeping up my main ability that I might not be able to use. Flow generates too slowly, period. Skills that grant adrenaline should grant double or even triple the amount when converted to Flow. And there is something absolutely painful about being CC'd during Dragon Trigger and losing it all. Hugest oof ever. Because of how long it takes to build up Flow, there isn't really any point in picking anything other than Daring Dragon. Unyielding Dragon for CC? I'll just do core warrior hammer. Immortal Dragon's healing theoretically seems nice (8% of a burst attack sounds like a lot!) but to get good use out of it, you have to sit there for all 10 charges to build up, making you a sitting duck. Daring Dragon at least lets you make use of all the Flow you worked your butt off to build up! (Which... full disclosure, the dash attack is SUPER cool and so satisfying to cut through a group of enemies with. As much as I've been griping about stuff, every time I use Dragon Slash - Boost and slice through a bunch of foes, I get the stupidest, giddiest smile on my face. I love it. I absolutely love it.) The other traits are a bit underwhelming for the most part. Lush Forest is essentially a requirement for using this spec with how long the ammo count cooldowns are. Unshakeable Mountain's barrier should probably be coupled with Resistance and/or Stability, and Fierce as Fire's flame shell has a tiny AoE and does barely any damage. Unseen Sword was hard to work around, as was Swift as the Wind because of egregious cooldown times. River's Flow was the only one I could reliably work with, because I could use it with Shake it Off with Vigorous Shouts (since I needed a stunbreak/condi cleanse). Guns and Glory's 250 Ferocity boost is excellent, and I have nothing bad to say about it. Dragonscale Defense, I think, should pulse Protection and perhaps also Stability, since Dragon Trigger makes you the biggest target in the world, even more so than a Deadeye using Kneel! (At least Deadeyes can still dodge!). Like... on one hand, I get it. The aesthetic of a master swordsman in that classic poised-to-strike stance, before unleashing a deadly attack... it's awesome. Chef's kiss. Reminds me of those wonderful and cheesy old samurai movies from the 50's and 60's. I feel like you can't not have an homage to that with a Canthan-themed warrior elite spec. But, again, sitting duck. I'm just playing PvE, I can't imagine how easy it is to CC and pick off Bladesworns in WvW zergs! Okay, now the Armaments. (Phew, I've been writing a lot! Please forgive me and my wordiness 😅) Combat Stimulant is interesting. It's like Defiant Stance imo -- you need to time it well, or the payoff will be punishing. Roughly the same healing as "To The Limit!" but spaced out and without "TTL!"'s adrenaline-to-flow conversion. Consuming a second charge to gain boons is a cool concept, but if you time it poorly, you could be dead in the water (perhaps literally). I think, instead of consuming a charge for the boons, it should briefly grant you access to a second skill that gives you the boons, before flipping back over to the original Combat Stim skill if you choose not to use it. (Sort of like Daredevil's Fist Flurry). If you choose to get the boons, you don't get the secondary heal, BUT it won't consume an ammo charge of the heal. You'll still have two recharging uses of Combat Stim, and you just decide whether you want to pop it for boons or for actual heals. Does that make sense? I hope it makes sense 😅. Flow Stabilizer is essentially a requirement. You can't not have it on your skill bar, so long as Flow charges as slow as it does currently. The stability is nice, at least. Bulletproof Barrier was definitely made for PvP/WvW. It's hardly useful in open-world PvE. Very little damage, so there are better ways to get an explosion for Guns and Glory. Electric Fence also seems like it was made for PvP/WvW (anything that creates a line effect has "chokepoint denial" written all over it 😛). I can't see many PvE uses for it, unless you're really desperate to escape from a group of enemies. At that point just use Bull's Charge or some other long-range leap ability. Maybe if it caused a bit of Daze/Stun, or Knockdown on crippled enemies? (Side note: Bulletproof Barrier and Electric Fence look too similar to me. I think Electric Fence should be, instead of a tall barrier, look like scattered "electrical caltrops" with sparking arcs of electricity between them.) Dragonspike Mine is the obligatory stunbreak, and the evade is nice (a little bit of "insurance", since a flat stunbreak can end up meaning nothing if you get stunned right afterwards!). Quite a long distance dodge too! The dodge does need a skill fact for it, and the skill also says it has no channel/activation time, but it very much does. The mine it leaves behind is much like Fierce as Fire's flame shell -- tiny and useless. Also, recharging Dragon Trigger isn't really useful with how slow Flow is to gain. A 35-second cooldown stunbreak/evade should have more than a puny mine and a useless recharge. Tactical Reload is, like Flow Stabilizer, basically a requirement. With how long the cooldowns are for the Gunsaber and the armaments, I've found myself using this elite skill more than any other Warrior elite skill! I think it shouldn't have an activation time, and simply 'happen'. Other than that, it's not great, not terrible. (insert Chernobyl reference here). To me, it's less of an ultimate ability like Battle Standard, which can change the tide of battle, and more of a required part of the ammo-recharge rotation. Recharging every ammo skill is huge, and that can make it hard to balance. If you're using, say, sword-sword and not using many ammo-based utility skills, then this elite won't mean much. But if you're using a rifle, shouts, armaments, and swapping to the gunsaber a lot, then this elite can mean life or death. One little skill can carry so much on its shoulders! Finally, on the topic of weapon swapping, being locked to one weapon + gunsaber, Dragon Trigger, and so on. I agree that, at least, you should be able to enter Dragon Trigger without needing to equip the saber first. And because your core bursts are gone, you're relying on the gunsaber and Dragon Trigger to dish out your big hits. The issue is the low damage of the Gunsaber, the slow buildup of Flow, and the fragile nature of sitting in Dragon Trigger. I think, like Spellbreaker, you should still have your core bursts, but they only perform their Level 1 bursts (consuming 33% of the Flow bar). Combine this with a higher/faster Flow gain rate, and you'll make my warrior main heart happy. Okay, I've spent over two entire hours writing up this whole rambling spiel. I won't blame you if you only skim it. In essence: the aesthetic is awesome, and when I can use it, Dragon Trigger makes me feel like a kitten. The spec just needs an all-round buff on damage/cooldown times, better Flow mechanics, and a main-hand pistol to round out the warrior's ranged weapons. Thank you for giving us these Beta tests, and I hope you find some valuable information in not just what I've said here, but in all the data you collect here on this thread. I hope the road to finishing End of Dragons goes well for all of you at ArenaNet. PS: The next Guild Chat stream better feature even more water bottles. A comical amount.

I don't think I've ever posted on the forums but figured I may as well for the feedback! Something to note: I only play open-world PVE. I'll do dungeons if it's the daily, but I don't do raiding (since I'm awful at it). I also only do WvW for Gifts of Battle when I'm making a Legendary, and I only did PvP to get the Warlord armor skins. So for the past four-ish years, I've been a OW-PvE player. I have no comments on what others have been saying on PvP/WvW/raiding stuff. I'm also not some min-maxing player who cares about getting those last 20 points of Power to increase DPS by .05% or whatever. I'm just here to have fun, beat up world bosses, and play fashion wars 😛 Overall: I love the concept! The whole aesthetic of psionic blades floating around you is *chefs kiss*. I think some more can be done with their mobility, however -- not just mechanical mobility (in terms of blinks/shadowsteps, leaps, etc.) but also in terms of animation. I mainly play Warrior, and the stacks of blades honestly reminds me a lot of Warrior's adrenaline. I like that the new shatters can be used on any target, not just the one you're attacking. Mesmer doesn't have a whole lot of target-change skills for their clones (Mirage adds a couple, but that's a different elite spec altogether). There have been times when I've wanted to move my clones over to a new enemy to deal with a new threat, but most of the time it's: primary target dies > my clones disappear > new opponent appears > I have to rebuild my clones. Yes, I'm fully aware that other players (who are more competent and aware of how to build their traits) will probably have combos to get back to full clones within mere seconds, but I am but a Warrior main with hardly any brain cells to clap together. But, I digress. I like the blade-stacking, though. As a Warrior, I can use a burst on a new target mid-combat -- maybe I'm smacking someone with a mace, and a nearby enemy is charging up an attack. I can just swap focus to them, give 'em a mace burst on the head to interrupt, then go back to my previous target. No sweat off my back. And the blades are like that, to me. I can be focused on one target, apply a burst of blade damage to another target, then return my focus. And I can keep the blades outside of combat, unlike adrenaline? Score! As some other folks here have said, the blade-summoning doesn't seem to be fully integrated into the other traits, skills, etc. yet. Scepter's auto-attack stops at 3 blades, rather than going to maximum, and I feel like there were some core mesmer traits that weren't activating when summoning a blade or casting a bladesong shatter. Mainhand dagger is cool (and in terms of fashion wars, I can't wait to pair it with Binding of Ipos!), but the projectile seems slow, especially for such a long-range attack! Maybe, and hear me out: make the dagger work like necro axe -- ranged, but instant-strike rather than a projectile. 900 range, summons a psionic blade that strikes from a random direction, and it still stacks up charges to do its multi-strike. The issue with Flying Cutter's long range is that it doesn't seem to mesh with the rest of Virtuoso. Its other two attacks require targets to be close to you for maximum effect, and the Mental Focus trait doubles down on needing you to be close to a target. And that brings me to the issue of mobility. If you're going to get up close to an enemy, you better have a good plan for when the proverbial poop hits the asuran bladed-air-transfer device. None of the Virtuoso abilities provide mobility of any kind, so I'll have to rely on Blink to get out of sticky situations. This seems odd, because a knife-juggling trickster seems like the perfect choice for mobility! Willbender gets some impressive mobility (much-needed for the sluggish movement of Guardian), combined with all the awesome martial arts animations. Now, Virtuoso doesn't need to suddenly become Thief-levels of shadowstepping dodge nonsense, but I think some cool flips, dodges, and short-range blinks could be neat. The attack animations could use some more life as well. Go crazy, go nuts! Have them literally juggle the knives, or add some pompous flourishes. Their autoattack animation just feels like the regular dagger autoattack for Thief, Spellbreaker, and Necro. For the actual skills themselves, there isn't much I can really say that hasn't already been said by others. Get rid of the "you need to be facing the target" stipulation for bladesongs. Their utilities are flashy but a bit same-y and feel "safe" rather than "outside of the box". Their stunbreak has a ridiculous cooldown! And the elite skill either needs to be buffed out the wazoo or changed entirely to be useful -- even in PvE, where enemies usually stand still! And I can definitely see how lots of Virtuosos popping their abilities off could tank people's FPS -- I have a mid-range rig with decent graphics settings and saw no noticeable frame drops out in "regular" open-world, but I bet Drizzlewood Coast's zerging will turn my FPS to mush with these effects! Basically, a lot of the traits and skills feel "safe". I'm worried that the devs were afraid of making them OP right out of the box and disappointing everyone with nerfs. I say, lean into the aesthetic more. We create our mesmers by giving them theatrical masks, and hold the power of the mind at our fingertips! Make Virtuoso feel more like a knife-juggling trickster a**hole with martial arts animations. Make them literally walk the razor's edge of zen concentration versus chaotic madness. There's potential, for sure. There's an awesome aesthetic. There's a neat change to the usual clone-summoning. But there's work to be done, for sure. I wish you luck!