bearshaman.3421

I think this is an interesting concept that we are discussing. An elite spec that uses a battlesuit in some fashion would be pretty awesome, however we don't have a ranged spec (aside from pistols, all of our range requires turrets or kits). I think staff would work well as the weapon (even though I would like to see mace, not really my idea for a ranged weapon unless we go throwing hammers). As for the mechanic, I'm thinking maybe we keep the toolbelt, but each toolbelt skill changes into a different battlesuit version of itself when the suit is active. (kinda how the thief's stealth attacks are different when in deadeye). Still keep it support focused, Still call the utility skills augments, works with existing toolbelt skill traits like SD, makes the suit customizable by what utility skills you are using. Just a thought.

Also just because something isn't meta, doesn't mean it isn't good or fun. I get worrying about that stuff for raids, pvp, high end fractals, and somewhat for wvw, but you can use whatever you want for most pve content (OW, map events, dungeons (non-speedrun), lower half of fractals, etc) and be fine. I used celestial for a ranger and an elementalist very effectively for a long time.

It won't work. The norn elite skills override the class mechanic entirely. So no Soulbeast mode while being a werebear.This is true for other classes too. It overrides guardian virtues, warrior burst skills, engineer's tool belt, etc. If this wasn't the case, I'd have rolled a norn soulbeast at launch.