SlayerXX.7138

True! So let me be more specific. The extra power that extra utility's provide, in the context of Boon Dps would force the developer to fundamentally change how trait lines and/or utilities work. As non numerical changes seem to be somewhat bottlenecked for a while now, I don't think the current balance team, with the current resources could handle a change with as big as scope as this. They would need to do a lot of nothing changes on boon dps in the progress. For example Alac Specter will just slot venom for each free slot it got. So they would need to nerf damage somehow on alac specter without affecting Dps specter. Even if they succeed in it, they just tinkered with a spec for no gain to the spec. And all that over multiple Patch cycles oh boy. Or I could be wrong. It just seems to be a lot of work to give free choice to a Game mode as restrictive as instance PvE content.

The difference in squad dps is that freeing up utilities will increase dps for offensive boon provider. These actual utility choices will just be the one who does the most damage(Defiance or normal). At least for Boon DPS. Freeing up utilities for normal supports will over tune Boon dps. I don't have any faith in the balance team to handle that.

That does sound like power creep with extra steps. In Your specific use case maybe not, because Legends, but ever other profession will just replace the Utility with damage. Making boon Dps, to pure Dps that also pulse boons. Having that implemented for herald wont brake the class, but i could see that design concept getting out of hand real quick. I absolutely agree, but we the player base would ruin it. The new meta would be 4 DPS, 4 DPS that do 10% less damage and 2 healer increasing Player power by a lot. And with balance as its is you would end up with dozens of DPS builds getting outperformed by boons DPS. Just quickly looking at the snowcrow benchmarks, Quickness Berserker is dangerously close to pure dps. Not by being a Op Dps, but by virtue of having cheap Quickness. In a Perfect world the Balance team and class designer should be managing it, but we don't live in a perfect world.

Well nothing gonna stop your from leveling, so the better questions is which class is faster. Thief is faster, double pistol just pulverized level content. You have to keep in mind Daredevil and Virtuoso are both elite Specs you can only unlock at level 80, so you won't level with them. Same with Specter, Deadeye, Mirage and Chronomancer. But at this point I would just try thief out, equip a double pistol and press the 3 button. If you get bored by the fact that your best Weapon skill is the thing you press all the time, pick Mesmer.

Both classes suffer for similar reason in PvP, which makes them not really beginner friendly professions. Mesmer is good in a one vs one. So you would probably be often be in a Situation where you end up getting +1 by your opponent, with escape being unlikely. Powercreep is high enough you can solo almost anything, even things that weren't intended to be soloed, with the right build and gear. Mesmer should have a higher celling for what you can solo, but that's only relevant if you want solo stuff that was designed for a group of people. Daredevil is fun and easily handles all solo content you will come across, quite fast mind you. Physical Aoe damage speeds up things quit a bit. If you value Endgame group content a lot, Mesmer could be better as Mesmer's has an easy and strong endgame build with virtuoso. Which is a quite un-Mesmer like Elite Spec so it depends how you value that. I would suggest thief, but I'm playing thief so take that with a grain of salt.

"Commander come back in 2 hours" "Commander wait 2 days to feed your skyscale" 🤡

Well from talking to mine they were not common enough to be owned by mine, who were born in a similar timeframe. Anyways why exactly should you or I care if they remove stupid "content" like the time gates?

We devolved into defending time gates now did we? Hilarious.

What exactly would you lose if they for example they remove the time gate on treats? Your Parents/grandparents probably washed their cloths with out a washing mashing, are you taking away from them because you bought one in your twenty's instead of waiting till 50 to get one. Like I'm close to finishing my skyscale, why the kitten would I care if they removed stupid kitten like the time gate? Bunch of hoarding boomers.XD You got the fun experience didn't you?

Really? because I have the feeling I only get bombarded by confused if I give an honest answer. But here it goes: Most MMO's have baked in catch up mechanics. Vertical Progression system often reset per expansion naturally. But besides the normal adjustment WoW for example lifted some of the grinds of their systems to ease the burden. Profession like tailoring could be skilled expansion specific so you didn't have to grind all the low levels. System like azurite got adjusted mid expansion to ease progress for Alts/Returning Players. BDO has server with faster exp rate if I remember correctly. Obviously not equal rewards, but standing somewhat on equal footing. Knew it:).

They insist its not a requirement, fine maybe. Not having a Skyscale makes a lot of Metas weaker then they should be for non-Skyscale owner, for the reasons listed above. Before you type yourself in a frenzy how I backpaddled or whatever. I have to explain something to you. With real People you face you normally have a discussion to come to a Conclusion or a mutual understanding. So sometimes in the pursuit of getting on with it you drop a point that is not necessary to not devolve in a unproductive mess. First of all I demand nothing as I'm doing the skyscale right now. I try to be as clear as possible. I think some aspects should be made easier for new players in a 10 Year old game. They are missing countless hours of progress for the crime of not having played yet. Being behind in Legendarys, Skins and general Wealth is absolutely fine. Movement is so central to the game. You feel the lack of Account Progress in your bones, when you walk behind mounts. When you have to stop because of the lack of Springer. So you invest multiple single player games worth of time into the game. You finally can move WITH the squad. Just to lag behind the squad again on Map Like dragon stand, Dragonfall, drizzlewood etc. But maybe your right people shouldn't play this game if they don't want to invest 100 hours to move with the squad. And a couple more to be able to do that on all maps. Also kitten my life it is the weekend and I have to wait for Treat timegate.

Metas. Like i wrote in the post. I hope for your sake you here to win an argument and not actually lack that much reading comprehension. With so many people having skyscale it can be either Almost required Dirzzelwood or irrelevant Octovine. But a lot of trains/metas will have player without skyscale lagging behind the rest of the squad, while still catching up to tag stuff. Which makes metas as content weaker overall. With the number of skyscale owner reaching a critical mass it has shifted from becoming more mobile with skyscale to becoming less mobile without it. In a lot of metas Mounts are a must have and already demand a lot of time of a player to unlock the normal ones. Skyscale is a nice to have, but they are so nice it can feel quite crippling to not have them, if your Squad is stacked with Skyscale owners even if you catch up eventually. Metas are a central part of the game as such revisiting some of the skyscale requirement or finetuning some stuff to soften to blow of acquiring a skyscale seems reasonable.

I never said that. I even repeated it multiple times so that people in their Rage can't miss it. Skyscale could need some fine tuning. No Gem shore talk from me. Again how are you guys so unable to think about this from another perspective. You had years to accumulate stuff you have. You played the game for a long time. A new player has to play through 100 of hours of content to just hang in there(Mounts/gliding) in metas if he doesn't want to skip the story. Or skip the story detracting from the story and still play tons of hours of content that just became weaker because the story got skipped. And after all that they still lag behind on a lot of maps. Sure they make it in time, but lagging behind because everybody and their mother has a skyscale doesn't feel good. But no Problem there is more catch quests to get the mount, which are basically the lowest kind of WoW quest in a worse interface. A lot of content didn't age well. Having to do content retracts a lot the the enjoyment it can bring. Its not about accomplishments, it about lagging behind in one of the core features of the game, after countless hours invested. Sure it is no reserved for vets, but it also isn't really feasible for "new" players. The fact alone I have to classify people with 50+ hours as new is absurd.

Hilarious. Instant gratification? I said some stuff could need some tuning. You clearly play the game to long. Tell me pls what are the requirements to farm Drizzlewood without crippling yourself. But you can't because it would detract from your point. I should after playing for a long time, in an activity as plebeian as farm trains. I don't even argue for me as I'm in the progress of my skyscale. It is just bad design for the game. Do not worry, Design decisions like these will protect your accomplishments from the greedy hands of newcomers who want to play as equals. They will just choose another game and your accumulations stay untouched. From the southwest boss flying east needs skyscale, Griffion or Jackal with IBS.

Skyscale map boss train does too. Gryphon would be nice. But that's another long grind for a "new" player. That is the whole POF story I have to play + the Gryphon quest. Not a problem for people who played PoF as it came out I guess. That's what I am trying to point out. If you come after stuff is introduced you have this long list of thing you should catch up on. In less civil terms: "Skyscale grind to hard, just use your Gryphon lol"

Because I responded to someone unable to comprehend an argument which opposes their own. Might as well entertain myself. Because you clearly unable to understand my point. It is clear as day you play 5+ years, probably with an above average per week playtime. Skyscale is one of these thing that are almost required. On top of all the other things that are almost required. Mounts, Masteries, LW in some cases(EMP) etc. Which makes player who played the game for a god dam year still "new" players in some sense. Obviously not a problem for veteran player like you with your playtime, but normal people getting into the game right now or the last year gonna struggle. There is no real substitute for Skyscale. Jackal + Endurance mastery and griffon are alternatives, but both also demand a investment.

Sure skyscale at home(jackal with ibs mastery) is often times enough to follow skyscale over valleys, but not all the times. Skycale is one of these thing you should have together with dozen of other things which becomes this gigantic hurdle for "new" players. Skyscale at home still needs you to have a bit of time invested in IBS and PoF. If you play for 5+ years and did accumulate these thing in a steady pace it's fine. But for newer players the game kind of forces your hand to play the whole game again, like everyone else. Just you started in 2021 and the rest in 2016 and before.

Shoes are also optional. With so many people having skyscales some meta trains are a real pain with the lack of skyscale. I wouldn't suggest to put it in the cashshop like a madman, but finetuning some of the requirements wouldn't hurt. Waiting in the academy for an event is downright rude design. It was designed to be THE content as it came out and it shows. Some things are just there to keep you busy, instead of being engaging. Fine on release, but now couple of years after the fact its just aged design. Especially if you play on a fresh account a bunch of stuff is just longer then it needs to be. P.S. Midway in my skyscale so I wouldn't profit from a change anyways.

I Absolutely agree. BUT, we are long past the point of no return. Boons centralize instanced content for to long. Its to late. Besides drastic measures like new encounters neutralizing boons or boss room wide boon weakening there is not much there can be done. Range is basically there to do extra dps between mechanics.

In which context? OW core Thief is as good as it gets right now. Core Thief is a build I run in OW just because it so fun and has the thief feel to it. Instanced content is too performative to feel like anything. At best you play with some flavor. Competitive has to much actual humans in it. You know the kind who doesn't want to be killed by a skilled assassin. Daredevil utilities are all fine. Bandits defense should maybe revisited with the power creep going on and be adjusted for PvE. If you would want to buff them that is easy. Big dagger in 3 small ones with 1/3 of the duration for each. Increasing burst. Ulti should be an aoe Knockdown on the second strike. Think Leg swipe instead of uppercut. Block should stay weak in PvP, don't want balance cascade because we suddenly have access to a strong block. And the interrupts dagger are just weak in concept, but should stay as they are not everything needs to be optimized.

Your are talking about be quick or be killed? I too want buffs, but we can do better then that.

They don't want to destroy the class lol. Thief is just a challenging class to design with all the GW 2 Quirks. The developer just lack the will and skill to tackle this challenge in a meaningful way. PvE: Initiative makes PvE design a nightmare. There is 1 best skill all the time. That is probably the reason each elite has to have a gimmick. GW lacks unique debuffs and threat management both potential sources of in fantasy thief support. Balancing DPS with complete disregard for factors like Healthpool makes a class like thief a little less appealing for casuals. Like devs who play their own game. PvP: Thief is build for PvP. Which sounds great till, you remember in practice there can't be a best class in a competitive mode. GW2 is 10 years old. Enough people are skill capped. Which means even if you play as "unfair" as possible as thief it needs to be an even fight against good players. And the devs just have no idea how to handle that. Thief was good in PvP for ages, because the tools we have are just good tools in PvP. Your are a thief, you basically come with a gun to fist fight how do you balance that? Make the gun shots weaker, don't give a full magazine or increase the reload time it is still a gun, but this time the devs took the bullets out. To much honestly. Why kitten on shadow arts rework? Arguable a buff to thief. I Do like my cleanse, imitative and superspeed thank you very much. To be fair i also would like more then 2 stack of Venom in PvP, but we cant have it all I guess. But it is not helpful to kitten on the dev for something that was at worse mediocre. Stuff like this, i why i understand why dev don't listen to "feedback" often. Tldr: I'm pretty sure the devs don't hate thief. There is just nobody who has passion for thief on the team.

I don't think that should be a concern in they year 2022, when we normalized the PvE/PvP split. All they have to do is take a step back from the auto dodge. Endurance gain, boons, Health regeneration and condition cleanse all can be downscaled easily if it becomes a problem. They could give self quickness to the nimble acrobats and it would be fine with the the split. Without the auto dodge it should be comically easy to balance. As OW balance is almost irrelevant and Instanced content never gonna take a defensive traitline. Even if they insist on keeping the extra dodge frame just placing it in a tier that with another valuable PvP trait will mitigate the problem by a lot. But then again, its the thiefless balance team so your concern might not be completely unfounded. I just wish acrobatic would be viable in something, even if it just ends up being a good OW trait.

The took the worst Traitline in the entire game and made it worse. They nerfed acrobatics. They actually did it. I didn't think it was possible.

Is it? That text changes go through coders seems abnormal to me. Even if it is normal, there still seems to be not enough actual programmer on the Anet team to implement the changes the balance team might want to do.