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thetwothousand.5049

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Everything posted by thetwothousand.5049

  1. First off, if I'm responding to someone complaining about benchmark totals, then yeah I'm only going to address the difference in benchmark numbers. Particularly in cases where someone is trying to act like a different build is wildly outperforming the one we're discussing and the reality is the difference is not even statistically different. Second, literally all that changed in this patch is the numbers. So if power weaver was fine mechanically for people before this patch, then its going to be fine for them this patch. Literally the only thing that changes was how much DPS this build was doing, and bringing a build with an upper ceiling of 52K down to 44K is not something to panic about.
  2. But they didn't do that this time, which is why warhorn is still going to be a good pick, best pick a lot of the time. They more than tripled the initial damage of strikes but slowed the speed of hits and put a cap. So it's actually better now on smaller hitboxes where it used to be quite bad, and on large hitboxes that eat every hit its no longer an absurd DPS outlier like it was. Sitting at 42-44K for dps is great and that what warhorn puts you at.
  3. After getting almost a week with the new version of Lightning Orb I have to say its fine. I admit the diminishing return effect is not my favorite thing to see in balancing, but the buff they gave to the initial strikes is more than enough to keep it competitive. Ultimately that is what I wanted in the first place, to have Lightning Orb have a place in the meta but not just be uber strong on large bosses. This change keeps it competitive in the meta, likely BiS for any boss that doesn't move too much for condi and power builds, and is roughly as effective on small bosses as it is on large ones. Overall I'm fine with where the skill has ended up.
  4. It does a resounding LESS than 200 dps more than power weaver now. I don't really think we need to act like the sky is falling. Scourge may be absolutly nuts right now, but that won't last. They'll get bopped hard in the next balance patch or sooner!
  5. The Shared Destruction mechanic in Skywatch Archipelago is a real headache right now. Like most people I saw the green circle and knew, intuitively and from previous encounters, that I needed to stack with as many other people as possible. Looking at damage its clearly not scaling right, or has been significantly over tuned for encounters with lower population counts. I've also noticed that certain encounters indicators are off by a wide margin. The Tiraeus the Everlasting for example has a forward cone attack that will hit me even when I'm standing directly behind the boss. Very irritating to have the game tell you visually what you're margins are and then have the reality be completely different, especially when you are trying to play melee.
  6. Maybe its because they got help, or maybe its because OP is exaggerating. Regardless the runes pets were weak as anything other than handy fluff to have around for RP reasons. They weren't tanky enough to survive anything but trash mobs, and the dps increase that they brought was negligible. IF ops roommate really does need exactly one AI unit to to take aggro there are plenty of class based options that provide significantly better options than the rune golem or rock dog were capable of. Elementalist elemental summons, necro minions, mechanist, mesmer illusions, and ranger pets would all provide the same benefit and then some over what the golem gave. OP's roommate even gets a new better rune+relic combo out of it! But honestly most of the complaints about missing runes are way overblown. Are there missing runes? Yes, but we've known that was going to be the case literally since the relic announcement, anet was very clear that they were going to take this opportunity to remove bad options. They've also been clear that they're going to try and bring back every unique option that is currently missing, like the golems and rock dogs, after workshopping them so that they are less of a trap-pick for new/uninformed players.
  7. I mean, its just swapping dagger for wh? if you could handle that for weaver before then you can handle it now. And I personally find sword rotations to be easier to manage than hammer, so from my pov cata is easier than ever.
  8. After popping into a testing discord, doesn't seem to be the case at all. Weaver and Cata still both look to be benching around 42-44K. Still waiting on finalized gear and rotations, but looks like sw/wh is still on.
  9. Well RIP to this endeavor. Lightning Orb: Reduced the number of projectiles fired per interval from 2 to 1. Increased power coefficient from 0.36 to 1.0. This skill now deals 10% less damage on each subsequent hit against the same target, down to a minimum power coefficient of 0.05. I haven't played with it yet, or seen any concrete numbers from SnowCrow types, so we'll have to see if this a nerf that brings LO in line with the meta or takes it into unusable territory.
  10. I actually think we're in luck in that department. People don't play catalyst in the most important game mode, pve. I pug exclusively and see other elementalists all the time, but I never see catalysts. People only play weaver and tempest, and I'm no different. Catalyst is just not fun to play in pve, and until it is I won't and I think a lot of people feel the same. So between that, the negitive focus it pulls in pvp/wvw, and the fact its ele's quickness spec I think an actual overhaul is plausible in the nearish future. I wouldn't bet on it this year with the launch of the expansion, but the first major balance patch of next year I could see.
  11. I don't want to touch on the rest of your suggestions, because this is really the key piece that needs to be solved first and I think you've got it wrong here. The single biggest problem with catalyst is that it doesn't have a specific wheel to reinvent in the first place. Compare it to weaver and tempest that have clear mechanical differences between themselves and core ele, and those mechanics specifically bring additional advantages and disadvantages. It makes them play differently and have specific strengths and weaknesses that develop into balanced builds. Catalyst on the other hand has absolutely none of that. If you ask somebody what the mechanic of catalyst is you're going to get a multiple answers. Is it the jade orb itself? Is it the energy? Heck some people point to the orbs on hammer being the mechanic, which should tell everyone how big a problem the class has. Even if you can get a solid consensus on what the mechanic is then you start to ask what is the trade-off for getting access to this beneficial mechanic and there really isn't one. So with no specific mechanic that changes how the elementalist plays, and no drawback for taking it anyways, what you're left with is a basic elementalist with a bunch of goodies in the form of stats and boons piled on top. That's impossible to balance in a way that is fun to play and play against. I honestly thing catalyst should be the number one balancing priority for the team right now, and I don't see how they get it balanced properly without fully developing an actual mechanic for the spec.
  12. With the upcoming expansion Secrets of the Obscure every class will be able to undergo Weapons Training to gain access to elite specialization weapons without having the spec equipped. This, as pointed out directly by anet in their marketing, is going to allow for a wide number of new build combos to enter the game. Now that we've gotten out of the beta we've seen that there will be several new interesting combos that will likely become the new meta. Some performed well enough that people are already predicting that they will be severely nerfed prior to the expansions release to avoid overpowered builds entering the game. For elementalist sword/warhorn is that combo, and I want to talk about solutions now that will help preserve it without adding to the games power creep. So first lets talk about the combo and why its being assumed that it will be nerfed to the core of the earth. Simply put when combined with either the Weaver of Catalyst the numbers first being reported out of the beta were off the charts; Snow Crows discord had more than one tester report back bench's at 50k dps. For a game where the average dps is ~40k, the current highest is 43k, and the balance teams statements and actions show that's the upper range they want its clear that a 50k is not going to make it into the game long term. Some people will point to sword as part of the problem, but given that it is the weapon generating the current top benchmark anet is clearly ok with where it is at. It's only when combined with the powerful skills of warhorn, particularly Lightning Orb, that it becomes over powered. So if that weapon is adding 10k dps to a class the obvious answer is lets nerf it. But in this case that is the wrong answer, because the problem isn't being framed right in the first place. That 50k bench that everyone is excited about IS ONLY ACHIEVABLE ON HUGE HITBOXES because of Lightning Orb. Lightning Orb is a unique skill that launches a projectile forward and rapidly hits targets when in range. This means it can hit anywhere from 1 to 42 times depending on the target, vastly changing the amount of damage it will inflict on a target. Huge hitboxes, which are rare in actual game scenarios, that will take all 42 hits will see bloated and unrealistic logs. Normal and small logs that were done during the beta on the other hand were clocking in at ~44k dps, a new high to be sure but not ground breaking compared to the current high of 43k. I point all this out because Lightning Orb isn't going to work in its current form, but a basic numbers reduction will not resolve the issue. Any number they nerf Orb to that makes it acceptable for huge hitboxes will make it unplayable in any other scenario. This is unacceptable given that said scenarios make up the fast majority of content in the game. Instead Anet needs to look to redesigning the skill, something like capping the number of hits per target or making it function like Barrage. Warhorn is a fun weapon that could provide a lot a unique build options for elementalists in the future, and Lightning Orb is a key skill that makes it that way. It would be a shame to see the weapon get sent to the garbage because of a benchmark that is not even possible in most scenarios.
  13. It was clear from the first beta that cata didn't have enough time in development. You can just look at the history of how energy has worked in the spec to see that it was not created with a clear and useful vision in mind. At this point the balancing team just needs to go all in on this spec the way they did with FB a few months back. Frankly it needs even more work than FB did. FB has a clear mechanically distinct vision with clear drawback and advantages and cata simply does not have that in anyway. Its a combo field with juiced with boons and stat bonuses and that just doesn't work. You end up with a spec that either doesn't provide enough boons and stats to be worth playing, or it does and it overshadows everything else. Catalyst is a boring spec that is actively hurting the balance of the entire rest of the profession.
  14. This was a really bad balance patch for elementalist, and frankly none of the nerfs that happened should have. Virtually every nerf targeted the FA variant of cata that was well in hand in pvp and wvw, and has been for months. After two rounds of heavy nerfs it was well positioned in both metas to be a strong build, but able to perform its role and excel in skilled players hands. With its current state this build is nothing but noob bait. You won't have the sustain to handle any fight you cant insta-burst someone down on, and after these damage nerfs I think you would have to find someone afk to pull that off. The build people were complaining about was the new condi/cele full signet build. That got barely bopped by the changes they pushed through, and really the only reason it got so strong in the first place is because they added auras to the signet trait. There was no need to add auras to that trait in the first place and if they had just removed that interaction the OP signet build would no longer be a problem and FA catas would have been fine. No other build is benefiting from the trait having auras anyways so I dont understand this decision. The next patch should remove auras from signets and undo all the nerfs to scepters and catalyst from yesterdays update. In the meantime I guess I'm off ele for the foreseeable future. I'm sure the signet build is still good enough, but I never found it fun and if it is still strong people will moan until its nerfed into the ground too. I'm better off playing something that is healthy for the games balance like harbringer, willbender, any thief build, or that stupid druid immobilize build. Getting the signal loud and clear from Anet that those builds are totally balanced and I should have no problem roaming with those.
  15. In this expansion specifically? Nothing, they are actually rolling out everything that I thought that they would need for a perfect debut for their new style of expansions. They promised new masteries, content, rewards, and combat mechanics that would push the meat of the game forward, without bloating it with new one off systems, and it looks like they are going to deliver on that promise. We already knew what content was going to look like and I was sold on it. What they described last week for masteries and rewards sounds excellent, and is exactly what will energize the player base for the lifecycle of this expansion. I was pretty confident that expanding weapon access was going to be the combat mechanic,. and now coming out of the beta weekend I'm sure that it was the right choice. Giving so many new options that were already in the game is a win-win for players and devs. Doing minor reworks on three weapons per class had to have been the easiest option for the devs, but its also going to great a ton of new and really interesting combos for players over the next ~12 months. So what would I like to see in the next expansion to continue pushing the ball forward? I think the game is overdue for a content "squish" like WoW did recently. Basically there's too much content, produced over too long of a period, in response to too many different levels of player power. Arah used to be the most challenging content in the game, and players with meta builds and basic game knowledge can brute force any path in about 10 minutes. Use the story as a chance to reset player power (like should a dps build cap out at 30K or 50K?) and content difficulty as a great way to re-engage old metas and instanced content that just isn't fun right now because they're far too simple and under-tuned for what players are capable of will. It would also be a good way to develop new strikes for bosses players are hungry for, like Zhatian and Balthazar, without pushing budgets too far. Rewards would be easy to tackle too with what they currently have to offer and the new Wizards Vault system. I'd also like to see a full revamp of what the LFG is capable of. Frankly the current LFG is the bare minimum of what a game should launch with. Updating it to make it easier for players to jump into content they want to play should be a system focus of the next expansion no matter what else they have planned. It needs to be easier for players without a commanders tag to find groups to play content if they missed the reset times for that content. The last big thing that I would like to see is "grandmaster" trait lines, basically do a reverse of the Elite trait lines. I envision it being marketed as your character fully mastering the fundamentals of their profession. So your first trait line becomes fully unlocked, can only slot core trait lines, but you're able to have all nine traits active at the same time. This is obviously a HUGE power creep, so its not something I would want to see until the final expansion as a final hurrah to go out on, but it would be a very satisfying way to give players a final expansions worth of power to challenge whatever that final boss ends up being. Like imagine a Weaver that has full access to the air trait line getting Lightning Rod, Fresh Air, and Bolt to the Heart all at once. A ton of extra synergy and fun ways to experiment.
  16. That's a good point to consider, but I'm not actually sure how much an impact it would have. Would getting lightning orb and quantum strike twice every 90 seconds outweigh FGS? For people like myself that hate conjures that's obviously a better way to go, but for benchmarking purposes or high level play it might not be enough. I've done zero math and my gut reaction is going back and forth on which is better. A good example of what possibilities makes this an exciting change!
  17. While you're right that sw/wh weaver is going to be quite good, I want people to start pumping the breaks on the 50K+ numbers. While it is true that that total can be achieved, its happening exclusively with Huge Hitbox enemies. These are pretty rare to find in game these days, and theirs only a handful that are instanced content. Most instance bosses are normal or small hitboxs, on which sw/wh weaver is putting up ~44K. Certainly great numbers, but generally in line with what pure dps classes are currently doing. I think its also worth pointing out that in SCs discord there is back and forth if warhorn will actually even replace offhand dagger for most small enemies. Because of the way they tend to move its likely OH dagger will still be the better choice in real gameplay because it will be much more consistent than warhorn will be able to pull off. And personally I think that's a best case scenario where warhorn and dagger will both have encounters that making them ideal to use, without either being directly forced out of the meta.
  18. I don't know if sword tempest is going to be good, but I've been waiting almost 10 years for it and I'm excited to finally be able to try it out!
  19. Yeah, this was a very poor showing for the first mission, really killed my desire to continue playing through the content so I stopped. These were mostly small side characters that the commander has little or no actual involvement with. Cinder? I literally had no idea who this character was until the flashbacks started, and then the game is trying to guilt trip me about her death? She was a traitor that joined a megalomaniac in a quest to try and turn one of the oldest, most dangerous creatures in the world into a war machine for the explicit purpose of conquering the world for "one charr". Why the hell am I moping around thinking about how terrible it is she died, she literally deserved it. And the whole time I'm having this conversation with Chul-moon, another person I dont know at all but I'm apparently down to have a heart to heart with him? At least have Rytlock or Braham be the person I'm talking to, they make sense in the role. Then they also limit the number of people you can recollect without any indication? So I save the people I'm interested in see, like Aurene, for last so it hopefully ends on a high note but instead I'm just locked out of that content unless I replay it. I really hope that the product they are putting forth here is because their top people have all already switched to working on expac 4 otherwise they're going to have a rough time.
  20. I just lost my entire participation progress because this game makes zero sense. I was in a duel for literally 15 minutes straight defending a camp only to die and lose because they got lucky a team mate shows up. but now I've gained no rewards and lost them. 30 minutes of my time wasted BECAUSE I HAD THE AUDACITY TO ENGAGE IN A FIGHT IN WORLD V WORLD MAKE IT MAKE SENSE
  21. I dont understand how Catalyst is getting nerfed in WvW when there is so much worse stuff making roaming impossible to deal with. Catalyst in its current state is barely able to compete with the broken stuff out there. Stuff like cele harbringer, willbender, the entire engineer class, and soulbeasts are all significantly more problematic in the roaming scene, but catalyst gets nerfed even harder????? I dont even know what to say.
  22. Frankly I am not having a good time in this map. The constant need to reset filters, consistent ambushes, and waypoints be unavailable 90% of the time makes it a complete slog to move through. For enemies its like they went through and grabbed every annoying mechanics in the game and gave it to them. Working through it solo trying to complete the story mission has been a chore.
  23. I actually don't hate this is my initial reaction, and I'm someone that was vocally in favor of it being a pulse over a single drop. With this set up in pve your alac is much safer, and the cc/dodges that you'll need to contend with aren't going to be enough to mess with the party's coverage. After 2 rotations you have a hefty amount of alac stocked, enough to make it to your next overload. The real QoL for pve is that the alac hits immediately so your party members rotations can benefit from the boon right away, instead of causing awkward delays. For spvp and wvw this definitely a good example of have your cake and eat it too. An ele player now doesn't feel completely robbed if they are not able to complete the full channel, but there is still a significant result for an enemy player that is able to force the reduced channel time.
  24. And I totally get where you're coming from, and believe me if I thought this was just a naked cash grab I'd be first in line with torch and pitchfork in hand. But the details that they have laid out, combined with the management changes they've made and my own operational knowledge leads me to firmly believe that this is the best course of action for the game and the studio. I'll also repeat something I said in my first post; this is a new Anet team steering the ship now, and in the year or so they've had control of the game they have made specific promises of deliverables to the community and followed through on every single one. They've done the same thing today, and I trust that they will deliver on these promises and that the game will better off for it due to their stewardship.
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