[how about a Stunbreak on Legend Swap in Salvation tree?]

3 hours ago, Knighthonor.4061 said:

which is why I believe it would be better balanced in the Salvation tree instead of Invocation, which DPS builds use. 

   For WvW/PvP and even solo PvE Salvation has become prety much what Defense is for Warriors: it provides so much value in terms of defensive abilities and self sustain that is almost mandatory unless you're playin in a party in which other allies provides the support. You could do ok running against pure power builds and not having Salvation, but if you face hybrids or heavy condi builds you'll miss a lot not running Salvation.

  Take also in consideration that the removal of breakstun at legen swap in Rev was made at the same time it was nerfed across all the professions in the game, in a time in which was considered that having more than 2 breakstuns at our dispossal was unhealthy. Now take in consideration that we have already power creeped close to the past: Vindi can use up to 3 breakstuns in a row, and albeit is not as easy and cheap as just swapping legend (you need to spent energy) those breakstuns provide more effects that just removing your impairment.

[Are core builds completely irrelevant?]

In coordinated teams core Guardian is still very, very strong, as the last MAT showcased.

Some other core builds as Necro can do well, albeit the power creep nature of the specs means that usually the latest additions have advantages over the older designs, yes.

[Power vindi build update]

5 hours ago, Nekrodreamer.1427 said:

Do you guys use reaver's curse since nov 28 instead of song arboreum? I think you can upkeep Forerunners death and get more damage. Am I missing something?

(Is there other professions that significantly benefit from vigor that would miss it bad?)

  Talking of PvP, some people is running Angsiyan's to get more energy to enable combos. Personally in WvW I'm still running Song because in find the extra endurance more useful (but I don't use it). In PvP I run that trait column empty. Invocati'n's Spirit Boom also provides vigor, but at WvW falls from 4 seconds to 1, so is almost nothing and Rapid Flow or Incensed Response are stronger options.

   Mirage and Dadedevil also get special benefits from vigor, since as the Vindicator they both have special evades and traits and skills playing with it.

[Next Vindicator nerf]

14 hours ago, Esufer.8762 said:

Beginning to get the vibe that the majority of forum users don't like change.

   Well, changes in short bow made it viable, but at the same time changes in Coalescence of Ruin botched that weapon and changes on staff, Shiro or Retribution made me abandon Herald. Changes not always means "nerfs" but oftenly means "you no longer will have fun with this build", so overall yes, I'm sceptic to changes. 

[Next Vindicator nerf]

1 hour ago, Kalydon.6739 said:

Also if anyone has a better idea to replace the lost precision, im running berserkers with accuracy sigil, ranger rune and assassins GS.

  Marauder gives more precission than Berserker. Eagle runes provide precission and ferocity and Ranger runes provide even more precission and some ferocity.

[28 November 2023 Hammer change discussion]

   I've tried the hammer in a beta character with marauder weapons + armor and dragon trinkets (one marauder to cap the crit chance), with force sigils and a pure dps PvE Vindi build (100% cc and ~230% cd). Tried the damage in the starting area (the shore near the waypoint) in Siren's landing. The attacks hit high and albeit not as high as my Deadeye with F1+kneeling + rifle #3 the autos pushed near 4k against the zombies. So maybe not as fast, but you can delete trash mobs in a couple of autos at no energy costor a single higher cooldown skill (#3, #5). So in PvE has some farming usage.

   Now what intrigues me is the WvW: obviously you need a power build since the hammer wastes any stat related to conditions, and that means no celestial, so you can get good HP with around 22k in marauder + dragon and still cap crit chance and have like 220% crit damage with ~2450 to ~2650 power in WvW depending on rune (Dragonhuner or Scholar; you can also run Surge for mobility at the cost of lower crit chance and crit damade but still cap cc swaping some infusions from power to precission). 

   But to reach high damage numbers you need to run Invocation for Roiling Mist and Devastation for the damage traits. That will mean no no Salvation for the defensive buffs and cleanses unless you take the PvP approach: since you can't max crit chance there some players run vision sigils for granted crits on swap (but only for 3 attacks). So that leaves me with some questions which I would to ask to some hammer enjoyers, as Shao, Azaroth or even Justine:

* Which mele weapon/s to run? I'm slanted towards greatsword due the mix of mobility, block and high burst...

* Which legends? For core Shiro + Jalis seems the natural choices; Herald opens Glint and Vindi the alliance.

* ...And that brings me to the final question: to the specs worth to be taken? I don't see much value in Renegade with hammer since its damage is hybrid in nature and is reflected in the traits, and alacrity has low impact and small duration in WvW (at least at roaming). Herald increases base HP (probably uneeded) and Glint would provide mobility, easy access to fury and good cc, but I'm not sure if will be enough even against the core (maybe stronger vs power builds, but core would have free car with either Salvation or Retribution). Of course I maybe wrong and Devastation or Invocation aren't needed...   Finally, Vindicator has some tradeoff, but it can absolutely deal vs condition based builds, specially paried with Salvation.

  I don't think that power hammer Rev would be as powerful at WvW roaming as cele Vindicator or even cele Renegade (and maybe condi Herald), since despite the range advantage those builds have more armor, more boon duration and better self sustain. But maybe after this changes could be in a better place, specially Vindi variants due the resilience vs enemy condi builds. Thoughs?

[Chaith back? Is he streaming?]

4 hours ago, Spellhunter.9675 said:

I didn't know getting first place in one NA pro league season makes a team "the strongest"

  Over 3 years top 3 teams in Europe and 1 or 2 in NA traded blows for the first place in annual tournaments; overall numbers favored Europe but I remember that Abjured was unbeatable for almost a year. 

   If getting top place in a moment in which the PvP population was at least x8 times what is now and winning meant to get 50,000 $ doesn't speak strongest to you I don't known what to say. The most you can get nowadays is to became "top wintrader" in the world, which doesn't pay the same, for sure.

[When is the next Wizzard Vault reset?]

7 minutes ago, costepj.5120 said:

If you change now, you will get PvP dailies tomorrow and PvP weeklies from next Monday

  I see, is in the gear at the left of the dailies, thanx!

[When is the next Wizzard Vault reset?]

I chose PvP + WvW goals when the new system of daylies was implemented and I'm bored of the randomness of WvW achievements. When would I be able to swap to full PvP mode?

[Next Vindicator nerf]

33 minutes ago, Warscythes.9307 said:

    What I was talking about is the people saying the rotation is now somehow suddenly incredibly different or difficult or clunky. There is literally nothing that makes the rotation suddenly more clunky or difficult by pressing energy meld.

   You don't do "rotations" in WvW; you react to your environment or you end in a bloody pond in the floor. Again, I have no problem with the F2 changes in PvE, but in WvW is a steaming pile of garbage, the same was was puting a root in staff's #5, decreasing Forced Engagement from 1200 to 900 or changing the mechanics (not the numbers) of Coalescence of Ruin. Those kind of changes (and removing procs from evading is) ends or removing the 6th effect from runes end ruining builds and making everyone either quitting or running the same build (I've spent near 300 gold coins ofther SotO changing all the runes in my 19 characters and guess what: now they only use 3 runes across 55 gear templates...

   Those nerfs (Vindicator traits and Contained Temper) did nothing to enhance Rev's gameplay, and meanwhile they buffed short bow (nobody asked) which was already brokenly op in WvW...

[Next Vindicator nerf]

1 hour ago, Warscythes.9307 said:

Like seriously guys have you ever tried to play with it or did you just read the patch notes and said this is awful? What is so "clunky" or "difficult" about this button compared to literally any other button? It doesn't have forced movement, it doesn't lock you in animation for eternity, it doesn't require some wonky targetting. Is it just because is on F2? 

   Have you ever played a Berserker Warrior and pressed F2? Or a Specter? Or a Dragonhunter, a Spell breaker or a Bladesworn? Those specs have F2 skills with provide impactful effects and have flashy animations. Vindi's F2 has nothing of that: is the same bland generic animation as casting a shout (robbed) and it does nothing. Do you get cc from EM? No. A movement skill? Nope. A major boon as quickness or alacrity? Nay. A new and isntresting class mechanic? No, you don't get anything of that.

    When I play Warrior I want to press F2 because makes "cool things happen", is appealing in both the visuals and the changes you get; when you press energy meld nothing happens, some numbers may vary but is nothing relevant. I can stand pressing F4's Orders From Above because albeit is a boring  and insipid skill at least provides meaningful effects (specially with others) but Energy Merde is waaay worse. F2 is not Vindicator's game mechanic; in fact can be argued that Vindi has no game mechanic: developers had to cover a hole (lack of tools in AoE power builds from Revenant) and then the lack of ideas about how to implement it made them to stole the jumping animations from Dragon class at FF XIV. Initially, the evades were different and provide different effects from damage dealing to defensive boons to support; and they linked evades and vigor/andurance recovering through traits. Then they nerfed the damage, the support, the cleave and now they cut the ties between evading and getting vigor and said "hey, this nothing F2 skill that does nothing is now your class mechanic", as if it were like a Necro's Shourd or a Warrior's Berserker mode or Holo's Photon Forge. Is not. Is a nothing which replaces something already nerfed but valuable with a cimmick.

   That didn't use to be the case; ANet used to be original and flashy, but ran out of ideas with EoD. Take a look of how other games as BDO keep adding new classes to the game without repeating the same gameplay, animations or effects and see how is going here. In my opinion, if you want to add a skill or weapon or trait which does nothing, don't do it, specially if you have to change things that are already working. CmC: stay on Ele. Don't waste time and resources from ANet in a class which bores you to tears as Rev, because we can see it from a mile. You're ruining professions you don't even play to game modes most players don't even touch and in which you won't play a Revanyway.

   So please don't ask me to press your lame F2 in my Vindi; I won't.

 

  Edit: by the way, Contained Temper is another masterpiece in redesign: 5 energy units gained in in WvW and PvP after breaking a stun... It doesn't even covers half of the cost of our cheapest breakstuns and of course has a internal cooldown because Lord forbid us of gaining back 10 energy afterspending 40+ in two stunbreaks...

[I want to give this game a proper go (Sorry if it's a long post)]

   GW2 has plenty of vertical progression, since in one hand each expansion keeps adding masteries and specs which makes your character and builds sttronger, and also because when you already have your main in full ascended gear you discover that it will require different sets fir different game modes and roles, so instead of crafting more ascended sets you'll probably want to move to craft legendary gear, which is also shared with your alts and is int¡finitely more convenient than ascended but also way more grindy. So the game has PLENTY of things to do if you want a character which is not only capa¡ble but also wants to swap in a blink or change skins, runes and sigils at 0 cost.

[Chaith back? Is he streaming?]

21 hours ago, MoZing.1594 said:

Who?

  I think was a member/leader of Abjured, at the time the strongest PvP team in the game, in rotation with 55 Dragons and The Extraordinary Gentleman for the top spot when Anet used to spent ~400,000 $ at prizes in PvP tournaments in Guild Wars 2. He mained Engineer, and at the time as known as Rom, Sindrener, Helseth, Tage, Misha, etc. At those times tournament views used to peak around 10k in Twitch, and the game has enough players to had a matchmaking which worked. 

 

[Next Vindicator nerf]

8 hours ago, UncreativeGreen.2019 said:

I mean they just got rid of our vigor being 25% stronger AND didnt revert the "only when vindi is equipped" restriction to Enduring recovery in retrib.... so yeah, just usual Anet things.  

   I want to clarify one thing: I don't care about the change in PvP since in PvP vigor lasted 1 second so the 25% efectiveness increase was irrelevant, and currently I'm just running 1-0-1 in Vindi traitline. I don't think the change affects Vindi in PvP since Rev was already near the bottom so you can't do much to make it worse, arguably.

   My gripes are mainly about how the changes affect the WvW builds. PvE is less important since you have way more margin for mistakes there, so less boons have impact but aren't as critical as in player vs player environment (again: in PvP doesn't matter since the three traits were already a joke). But in WvW very small changes can move builds from being meta to the discard bin.

[Expanded Weapon Proficiencies Beta Feedback: Revenant]

P E R F E C T I O N

[Next Vindicator nerf]

10 minutes ago, Howluffu.7259 said:

Vindicator is dead, now dps herald will occupy it's place.

   Dps Herald will never be a thing. And I won't play Herald again (for two years and still strong), and I'll keep ignoring F2. Vindi plays the same in PvP, since Song of Arboreum wasn't working there anyway. The most  damaged builds are the Vindis at WvW; in PvE is still a nerf but that just means that instead of facerolling the keyboard with the two eyes closed now you have to keep one open, just in case. Energy Merde can still be skipped.

[Saddened]

   I'm sorry for your loss, and for the unfortunate interaction with that player. My latest interaction with a player near a jumping puzzle was very different: circa September I was trying to do the Chalice of Tears achievement to get the legendary trinket Aurora, and a mesmer saw me and asked me If I wanted help, since I was messing with the control points. I said "sure", and he/she teleported me to unlock the whole path, including the las tp to the chest. It was a lovely experince since it took like 8-10 minutes of his time, for entirely altruistic reasons. At the end I rewarded the mesmer with 50 gold coins, because it was not only kind and nice, but also saved me from struggling with the jumps for days/weeks (I was already familiarized with the final stages, and had the rewinder, but still I was in a loop due fails, you get the point). The mesmer was pleased, but I was even more.

   So, don't be bitter due a isolated rough interaction: is not the norm. Most people usually like giving a hand to other players.

[Suggestions on main]

On 11/26/2023 at 5:42 PM, Delinquee.4513 said:

 I love mixing ranged and melee. supporting is fun but stressful I've found in other games not sure if its the same here.

played most classes at least a little and found i hate classes that are super slow or feel slow  not just in combat but in general movement. don't mind pets but I found most times in games they are just more  annoying than useful. 

In wvw I loved being in the zerg mostly sniping with weapons like the bow or rifle,
Ideally I want something that's not too hard to play

Something with good damage , and reasonable survivable skills is good for me as I tend to play solo a lot and taking on some of the more elite or harder mobs in open world can be grr when you are super squishy

Any suggestions would be great thanks

 Lets take a look:

* Warrior: the stronger build in PvE is power Bladesworn, plenty of damage and tankyness but a bit hard to use and is not as mobile as other Warrior specs due the gunsaber mechanics and the weapon restrictions. Very good self sustain in PvP but the movement is clunky. Second strongest PvE solo build is condi Berserker, which as BS mixes mele and ranged but is not the fastest (quickenss access feels good, tho). For WvW/PvE power builds (with high burst or plenty of cc) work better and have plenty of mobility, but they are usually full mele and in PvE don't work well (you trash regular mobs but they are squishy vs bounties). Hambow is the second easiest core class to level to me, tho.

* Guardian: all build lack mobility except Willbender; Willbender is very strong at WvW roaming in both power and celestial builds and is very mobile, but mostly mele; at PvE Willbender damage and self sustain is ok but the gameplay is demanding because requires to constantly activate your virtues, which moves you across the terrain (sometimes for worse) so the gameplay is frentic. Firebrand and DH are nice to play but slow paced and low in damage. Third easiest core class to level, to me.

* Revenant: the celestial Vindicator build is the tankiest thing at PvE, can solo anything, with moderate damage; runs both mele and ranged weapons (mace & axe + short bow). Not very fast tho. The WvW roaming build is very fast and mobile and runs greatsword + short bow, extremely strong, specially regardless self sustain. But you need to unlock Vindi and play like an hour in SotO for the weapon mastery to get access to short bow. So leveling with core Rev is safe but slow with either Jalis + Mallyx and condis or Shire + Jalis in power for speed but more chances to get mogged. I would place it 7th as core leveling but if you already have weapon mastery is a 1rst or 2nd. Fully unlocked is god tier.

* Ranger: very versatile in weapon choices, solid mid tier along necro in leveling, can play power or condi mixing both mele and ranged. Has very powerful cele builds for PvE and extremely tanky and mobile WvW ones. Fairly easy to play in the Soulbeast and Druid specs. Getting the pets can be a bit annoying but can be done in less than 2 hours. I think is the closest contender to Rev given your tastes.

* Thief: has very strong and easy to play DE PvE cele build which is mostly mele and a bit repetitive, but works. In WvW there's more variety mixing both mele and ranged weapons, but is hard to play; good Thieves either win fights or disengage, because mobility is usually top tier, but mistakes are expensive. Leveling is... bad. Feels like a glass canon minus the canon part, because until your skills and traits and gear aren't in place your burst are weak and you're squishy.

* Engineer:Mechanist is very powerful and easy to play in PvE, but weak in competitive game modes.Scrapper makes a very good tank but has crapy damage at PvE; Holosmith is very good at competitive game modes but hard to master, and is a bit squishy in PvE. Holo is particulary good at mixing mele and ranged attacks, but you have a very limited selection in weapons and instead of weapon swap you have kits. For me felt weak while leveling.

* Necro: easy to level, along Ranger, initially feels lacking in mobility like Guardian but a bit better due access to 25% passive signet. Very good survability thanx to shourd and minions (if needed) plus high base HP. In PvE has very strong and easy to use PvE solo builds; Reaper is maybe the top. Has good mixes of ranged weapons and mele attacks, but much of the gameplay is mostly stationary and based in strong AoE cc; Harbinger bring up the mobility, but is mostly a sniper and shines at competitive game modes (Reaper feels more rounded to me, and Necro also has a very strong support build if needed).

* Mesmer: in my opinion the easiest core profession to level, but mostly at range (staff + gs) but sword can also work (less safe). Celestial Mirage is god tier at PvE (higher damage than Vindi but less tanky) but is mostly a ranged spec; Virtuoso, Chrono and Mirage have good WvW roaming builds and mobility is good but the gameplay is mostly at range. So very strong class but not quite the gameplay that seems you're asking for.

* Elementalist: is hard to play and more fast paced than a caffeinated Willbender skritt. Very good mix between mele AoE skills and ranged ones. S tier in PvE but a bit squishier than the top dogs and requires more effort to do the task (good if you want a challenge). Mobility can be great of bad based on your weapon choice, which entirely dictates the gameplay (you don't have swap but 20 skills instead). You can run it tanky, or have high dps, or have tons of mobility, but usually not all at the same time (unless PvP, sometimes 😛 ). I think taht most of people which mains Ele knew it inmediatly.

   So: based in your description:  WvW Vindi is mobile, tanky, mixes mele and ranged attacks, but in PvP is squishy, and you need a different build (not gear) in PvE, where is strong but paced slower. Ranger has very good mobility, is tanky and sometimes bursty; can be played as Soulbeast or Druid, with power, condi or hybrid versions. For solo the condi builds are stronger at PvE, for WvW both works (with tradeoffs), for PvP the power builds are usually better.  Necro is slow unless you run Harb, which is good in competitive but weaker at PvE; is always tanky and has a good mix of ranged and mele options. The other professions heve even more tradeoffs: Thief, Engie and Ele are complex to master, Guardian is usually slow and plays better in groups; Warrior is very mele oriented, Mesmer is very ranged oriented. 

[Next Vindicator nerf]

  Some preliminary aftermaths of the Nov 28th balance I've noticed testing the waters a bit (only Vindicator) while playing alone:

* We lost vigor, permaregen and permafury while playing a cele build. Those still proc, but aren't consistent. Vigor never procs unless you run Retribution (the dead traitline), and is not the same since it only procs on evades which actively avoids an attack, is not shared amongst allies and the most important thing: last 1 second in PvP, so you'll never have vigor again. A Vindicator with no Vigor access, holly molly!...

* Reaching 25 stacks of might is almost impossible with condi builds unless you run Devastation, most I got without was 20; with Snow Crow's power build is almost impossible to get 5 stacks. Power builds are significatively more affected by the fury/might nerf than hybrid/condi ones, since condi only benefits from crits indirectly.

* Using the middle trait (AT) for F2  means barely gaining a bit more than 1 extra energy unit x second in PvP and a bit less than 1 in PvE/WvW. Absolutely meaningless, and yet better than the other two (but not as good as runniung with the mid tier traits empty and just forgetting the existence of F2).

[I dont find any benefit in choosing vindi over rene]

6 hours ago, Vennyhedgie.5369 said:

Using the Boon dodge + Endurance refill on kill sigil will make you feel like an absolute beast.

   That doesn't work vs bosses, in PvP or WvW.

   And won't be particulary notable at trashing weak mobs either: tried Phandrel's magic dust farm in branded maps using both pure power Vindi and pure power Deadeye and Deadeye is faster: both can one shoot (or two hits or three at most) yet DE is better because you can do it at 1500 range. The patch trades useful traits across all game modes for useless traits amongst most game modes which also requires an anodine new mechanic ir oder to do something in niche departments of the game.

[For future legend, between Mage Sorcerer and Stealth Rogue, which would you prefer 😉?]

  Please no stealth for Rev; stealth is a lame boon which have been proved brokenly overpowered outside PvE and had lead to massive nerfs which destroyed build viability in professions and specs built around its use. The last of those victims was the Dragonhunter which moved from not viable at MATs but a very solid choice in ranked games to just dissapear from PvP. Stealth also doesn't fit in the Rev lore (unless you're using a legend which had access to) since the motto of the class has always been a heavy plated guy with either teleports or attacks which cross though the mist, but not to use any kind of stealth.

   We also would never be as strong in the stealth game as classes which were designed to grant access to it, and in PvP will be abused to either frame heavy burst/cc chains or to disengage, and will be broken until gets nerfed and then became irrelevant (as is already happening to some specs and weapons).

[Vindicator Balance Feedback]

   I mean...  Is not like the power build for raids is that special anyway. I've tried the Snow Crows meta for Vindicator in OW and you have lame amounts of might stacks and you can lose fury sometimes. And of course you have 0 procs of regeneration and protection, no cleanses in evades, and you must use evades as attacks, which is not bad but is not like you do amazing damage when you're alone.

   ANet already removed fury from Fireworks and Pack runes, didn't provide anything similar with relics, and is now butchering fury access to every Rev build (which means that condi based ones are less impacted). Yes, the patch improves shield and hammer, plus short bow (largely uneeded) but outside that everything else is nerfs. And that's after nerfs in greatsword damage, greatsword cleave and base damage values of several other skills across the whole class.

   Honestly I would chose to not have this patch: it won't do anything beneficial for any build I would use. They already made Renegade a useless redundant simp, and Herald has been nigh unplayable from me since the pre-EoD nerfs. Keep messing with Vindi and you'll lose me in no time...  And I generally won't play alts that much.

[Vindicator Balance Feedback]

  Most of the changes are just nerfs, outside buffs to a couple of weapons almost no one uses.

[The ultimate representation of what's good - or S-Tier]

3 hours ago, Tanuki.4603 said:

Wrong. He did not stream the last 3 mATS and they are not on his youtube either ( since he didn't stream them).  And he said that he cannot be bothered hosting them anymore, he always had a drop off in viewership so you can tell there is no interest.

   While is true that didn't showcase the last ones I'm not sure about the real reasons, since A) He hosted 2 raid tournaments in the last 2 MAT, so maybe it was just a conflict schedule and B) He has been steraming WoW (World of Addons) for a while, losing 2/3 of views compared to his regular numbers, so I'm not sure/convinced  "lack of views" is a real argument about why is not hosting the MATs. 

   What I would argue is that He has not streamed any match playing himself at PvP for more than a year, and I think that is not due He lost interest in it (hard to believe since they still play other dead competitive games as Starcraft II) but because the regular experience (lack of balance amongst specs, lots of afks, difficulty to progress in solo q... ) will probably deliver a sour taste of the state of the game to the audience.

[Rev scepter animations....]

16 minutes ago, arazoth.7290 said:

I think he meant greatsword auto cleaving, not sure

A two handed mele weapon only cleaves 3, but a main hand pistol cleaves 5. Very consistent, indeed...