StormCleric.2843

Did catalyst really need that? What was the thinking behind those changes?

I think the changes made to catalyst were amazing. I actually had a blast while playing it and I think part of the issue last time, for me personally, was that I just didn't really understand what it was trying to do but I totally get it now. I only have a couple of issues with it still. The biggest one is that every other spec got so much mobility and jumps and gap closers. Catalyst only got one on one singular attunement. Compared to both off hand and main hand dagger and sword, both of which have pretty good movement skills. I get that a hammer is a lot heavier than either of those weapons, and personally I'm not super bothered by it. I just think with at least one more movement skill on another attunement would be great. Also, gaining energy without the Energized Elements trait is SUCH a pain. So some more traits or some other ways to gain energy would most definitely help. Just a quick note, I mostly played in open world with catalyst, so this may not be the most helpful comment, but still.

I don't know why but I'm kind of enjoying Untamed. There are some things with the pet's unleashed skills like how they are all the same that bother me but I actually find it kind of fun.

Okay. On day 1 when I spawned into the world and went somewhere to test it out, I had so much fun. It totally just clicked with me. And then, I started seeing everything wrong with it. But before that, I'll start out with the good. I love the hammer. It was so fun to just run around and smash things with two different sets of skills for one weapon. I also loved the fact that we got real lore behind the spec and how it came to be, and that lore was interesting too. The concept of the spec was also really intriguing, with the fact that we get a pet focused spec that bounces this primal energy between ranger and pet. All that being said, I think the untamed just fell really short of where it could be. I think the actual mechanic of it is where my biggest issue lies. While you are switching between skills with the unleashed form and getting new skills for your pet, it just doesn't feel like we have that pet-centered spec we've always wanted. It almost felt as though when the ranger was unleashed, they had this cool mode like druid's celestial avatar. But then, it switched to the pet and it was as if we were saying "Here, hold this for a second." I felt like the pet had no real interaction with the mode other than a few skills. It should've gotten some kind of buff or something to make us want to switch the unleashed to the pet, besides the reason that we want to use different skills with the hammer. Going back to the pet skills, with soulbeast, the pets were classified into types to determine what kind of skills would be available. I think that same concept should come back so that each type of pet has a different skill set so we can really customize our gameplay. Circling back to the profession mechanic (I know, this is super hard to follow), but I HATE the fact that unleashed only applies to the hammer. I mean, if you're gonna do that, at least give us some kind of buff to compensate. And it could literally just be one skill for the other weapons. Now, I get that with these elite specs, it's supposed to add something unique to the table. But it just didn't click with me. Cantrips were fine. I didn't love them, but I didn't hate them. Overall, I think this spec has SO much potential, and it felt really nice to play with and well-tuned (to me, at least). It just needs more work on the concepts and execution of the profession mechanic.

Specter was great. I love support roles (even though I suck at them), so this was right up my alley. When I first heard that it was single target healing, I kinda had a panic attack because in my mind, multi-target healing was easier. However, I didn't really have much issue with that. Of course, I've heard that there are a lot of issues with the allied targeting hot key and that stuff, but I haven't really used that. But overall, it's a very interesting spec at it's core. The only thing that I think fell short was the shadow force. To me, it was kind of hard to acquire. Siphon did help with that, but only when targeting an enemy. Normally, I'd think that's okay, but this spec is designed to constantly target allies, so when you use Siphon on an ally, I think some amount of shadow force should be gained. Cool spec, though.

No, I didn't, but I probably should have... I was just saying that I didn't have much trouble defeating champions and such.

I had a blast with the mechanist. It was super fun and simple. I don't really play engineer much because of how many skills there are and how many buttons I have to press, but this spec was super easy to follow and keep track of and I loved that. The only problem with this spec I'd say is that the mech is WAY to strong. I could literally solo anything in PvE and most of the time I could just stand back and watch as my mech did most of the work. I get that it's trying to make up for losing the toolbelt but it desperately needs to be tuned. I had a lot of fun with the signets and the whole "if you're mech is active, the signet activates around it" whole deal. Not to mention, the concept and aesthetics of the spec were very intriguing and interesting. I would like some kind of option to customize the look of the mech (such as dye or model, but mostly juts dye), but even if that doesn't become a thing I will still love this spec.

With the Vindicator, it's just kind of meh. I like that you can really fill a support role with this plus Ventari or a damaging role with Shiro. That was really fun to me. However, I wasn't the biggest fan of the fact that your utility skills were constantly switching from support to damage. That made them unreliable. The F2 did help a little bit, but I would sometimes press it to get a certain skill back, but then switch the rest of my skills even though that's not something I wanted to do. Part of that was just me not being very smart, but it was still a pain. I would've enjoyed it a lot more if there was a way to "lock" what skills you used (possible F3) that way they just stay Archemorus or St. Viktor skills. Or even, if we're trying to break the rules here, just have two separate legends. Going back to the F2, it was kind of useless outside of the Alliance legend. Of course, there's the endurance bonus which is useful, but that's all there really was and that was kind of underwhelming. The dodge rolls were cool and all, but I just wish that it didn't take so long to recharge, but I think that's something that I'll just have to get used to. I loved the greatsword though. That was extremely fun to play with, although I felt like it was a bit too powerful, so maybe look into that...?

When I first saw the teaser silhouette, I was so excited. And then the whole thing came out and that hyped me up even more, and then trailer came, and I'll be honest I wasn't blown away with it, but I was still excited. Then I watched the livestream, and my excitement died down a little bit because of the profession mechanic. I felt like it wasn't... synergizing... with the rest of the spec. But then I actually started playing it, and pretty much all my excitement disappeared. 1. The Jade Spheres are the profession mechanic, but honestly, it feels like and afterthought even though it's literally the thing that makes the Catalyst a Catalyst. I actually think that it could work better as utility skills or something. Also, the animals that appear with the Sphere field? I thought they were very visually appealing, but I would've enjoyed it a lot more if they did something more than just float there. 2. The hammer. I was THRILLED when I heard that Elementalists would be getting hammers because the idea of it aesthetically and conceptually was so cool. Watching the livestream, I was super hyped to try it out, but lo and behold, I hated playing with it during the beta. I'll be honest, the air attunement is pretty good, and water isn't terrible, but fire and earth are what I struggled with. Fire just doesn't feel as rewarding as the other attunements (besides earth) and skill 5 is a melee skill which I'm not a fan of. I get that it's supposed to be a finisher, but it just doesn't work with the rest of the skills. Earth was SO underwhelming. I feel like it should be really good because earth + hammer is like the perfect combo, but it was so clunky and unrewarding and slow that I almost NEVER switched to earth while playing. And then we have skill 3. I hated it across all attunements. It was too much weaver vibes and it was so hard to maintain and build up the orbs while trying to use your other skills to not die. Honestly, this in itself could be the profession mechanic. I think that too much thought was put into the hammer overall and not enough into the profession mechanic. 3. Augments are pretty much stances, but weavers already have stances. It gets really hard to cast them inside the Jade Sphere area during combat. On top of that, they aren't as rewarding as the others. I will say though that the earth shield skill (I forgot what it's called) is actually pretty useful. 4. I think that the Catalyst was trying to take on a tanky approach, but actually, I think this was the squishiest ele spec of all. I died SO easily and the heals just weren't enough to keep me alive. So overall, the Catalyst was just disappointing. I hope that it gets some serious reworks because this was my least favorite out of all six specs so far. Now that all the negativity is out of the way, I will say that the concept was REALLY cool and the animations were pretty too.

I feel like the Bladesworn is a REALLY cool concept, and honestly, the execution wasn't awful. I just feel like the Dragon Trigger mode is so clunky and its almost impossible to get a full charge, especially in competitive modes because someone is gonna stun you or knock you down or something and so it just kind of feels useless to me. I had no problems with the gunsaber or utilities or traits though.