Za Shaloc.3908

Oof, I posted this nearly two years ago. Please let this old thread rest, I gave up on any hope of ANet improving it (though I still do admittedly like my ideas a lot).

This only happened to you since EoD launched? What kind of alternate reality are you playing in? EoD hasn't changed anything for the worse because at least people are experimenting more with (subpar) builds again. The fewer Cele Scrappers and Renegades in the game mode, the better. For myself, roaming got notably worse with the Warclaw, got a lot harder with the big 2020 balance patch, and then the nail in the coffin was the buff to Cele. The balance patch in and of itself wasn't a fully bad thing, but the lack of followup for it has been really unfortunate.

HoT > PoF > EoD. Hard for anything to beat HoT for me honestly. Although I put EoD last I am still enjoying myself a lot. The maps for all expacs are exquisite (seriously, the environmental artists for this game are outstanding), but the sheer intricacy of the HoT maps takes the cake for me. PoF rates above EoD because the mounts are phenomenal and I think the elite specs were generally more polished. Also the night skyboxes.

It would be nice too if ANet remembered that downstate was not adjusted in the big balance patch and cleaving a body now is even harder. Makes outnumbered fights even more of an uphill battle. Reduce downstate health and damage. Ranger pet rez should be disabled after the pet is interrupted.

It's sad that after all this time Mirage has had one dodge, they still thought it was a good idea to implement it on a new elite spec.

ANet made the correct choice with the nerf to the heal dodge: nerfing it at base value while still enabling support builds to profit from it to an impactful degree by buffing the coefficients. Nothing should ever give you that much sustain at base value except for your own personal healing skill. The middle dodge is still good if you build it correctly and the prot it offers will still offer you sustain. IMO with the heal dodge nerfed to a healthy degree, it will also be easier to balance the elite spec. I hate to say it, but the heal dodge was a big bandaid to the elite spec that covered up some of its flaws. With the sustain nerf and the GS5 (over?)nerf, hopefully the issues Vindi faces will become more apparent.

Personally I'd run cleansing/x on sword/sword and cleansing/energy on staff. IMO cleansing is worth a double slot now considering the spec doesn't have much inherent cleanse. The other slot is pretty flex and to your liking.

Been no-lifing Virtuoso because I have had a lot more free time than usual lately. Mostly been playing power and have generally been enjoying myself. In solo roaming I have been faring decently, but I'd rate it probably like B- tier or so as it just doesn't hold up to the top tier stuff. Dueling I have been losing a kitten-ton of fights, not gonna lie, but I am still a pretty new Mesmer player so that is probably a big factor. In small-scale it feels a bit weak but it is still enjoyable and you can have impact there. It feels really bad in large-scale. My damage is neither high nor consistent enough to have a significant enough impact. Randomly dodging in AoEs in order to proc the unblockable trait feels awkward but is basically the only way you'll do damage. I see absolutely NO reason you'd ever want one in a squad over other dps options. Honestly I am majorly disappointed that ANet didn't work on the specs more. The fact that there are still bugs that have existed since the first beta that are EXTREMELY easy to test is such a shame. I was expecting major polish to happen between the last beta and EoD launch, but there was barely anything done. The balance team really dropped the ball with this and the fact that we have to wait til summer for a balance patch that may barely even impact WvW is the icing on the cake. A lot of the specs feel like they are still in beta. They UI is still horribly unaccmodating to support Specter and there is so much to juggle and micromanage when playing it *because* the game and UI were not built around it. The allied tab targeting system is still scuffed. No, I don't want to heal your kittening mini llama. With all that negativity aside, I 100000% prefer the WvW balance landscape of EoD launch over PoF launch. Even the most egregious of EoD builds right now aren't even that bad at all. What I have noticed in my very lengthy time dueling many different specs is that they are all actually pretty enjoyable to fight (aside from Mechanist, but the spec is totally unfit for WvW as a whole so the least it can be is an okay duelist). Harbinger is probably the best example of this: it does absolutely massive damage but it also die so much more quickly. The fights are fast-paced and exponentially more fun than the dumb core Necro bunker builds. I much prefer this over the absolute toxic fun-killing nightmare of PoF launch condi Mirage and the total gamemode-breaking abomination that was Scourge. Fighting the EoD specs doesn't make me want to quit the game like PoF did. Not to say that things are where they should be in terms of spec balance and polish, but just that I appreciate that they weren't so outlandish with some of their design principles. I just hope that they put in the effort to polish their work more. It doesn't really bother me much at all that none or few of the specs will change the large-scale meta, but I do want to feel like I am playing a complete product and not a half-baked project.

Although there may be another way, they are craftable and tradeable. You can buy the armor recipes from the trading post or from Chin-Hwa in Seitung Province (just east of the Daigo Ward waypoint) for unusual coins. The recipes are for all weights as the skins are the same. I believe all of the recipes require the Jade Insignia of the Harrier, which is *also* purchasable via Chin-Hwa or TP. Unlocking one skin will unlock it for all armor weights.

If I could adjust the shatters, I would: F1 - Bladesong Harmony: Increase velocity by ~20-33%. Possibly reduce cast time to 0.5s like you mentioned OP. F2 - Bladesong Sorrow: Remove the piercing effect. Instead, each blade explodes in a 240-unit radius around the target. Gives it a reliable AoE component as the piercing effect is awkward due to how the spell works and where the blades travel from. F3 - Bladesong Dissonance: Give it 2 charges. Now behaves like Elementalist's "Comet" rather than a poorly-tracking projectile. The current iteration is a total joke. F4 - Bladeturn Requiem: Either massively increase the damage or give it a condition cleanse per blade used. I'd like to see GS2 gain a unique functionality like Sw3 as you get no bounce from it if you use it on a solo mob out of bounce range. Would be nice to see Thousand Cuts get an increased size. is Prime Light Beam size too much to ask for? Possibly lol, but it is so thin right now. Would also be nice for Psychic Force to get an evade component to cover the cast time. Still don't know if I'd use it but at least that way you can't be CC'd mid-cast. I don't think a short stack of stab would be enough to justify slotting it over another stunbreak, but an evade may. Rain of Swords & Sword of Decimation I agree both feel undertuned. Max I have gotten while nearly full glass is like 5k Sword of Decimation on a downstate, but generally it's between like 1.5k and 3k which is super weak for a skill that has an interaction with downstate. Rain of Swords should be close in strength to Necro's Well of Suffering as @Infusion.7149 mentioned.

Probably hammer Catalyst and Untamed. There are a lot of moving parts and things to micromanage. I don't think it is a bad thing just any means, just that there is a learning curve. Supporting on Specter without a squad to see health bars has been challenging too 😅.

Would love for F3 (Bladesong Dissonance) to function like Elementalist's Comet and be given 2 charges. That way it can bypass the projectile hate while still remaining blockable. I understand you are really considering counterplay to elite spec design now, but the current iteration is really horrible for interrupting anything and easily misses moving targets. I would also like to understand better what your goal is with F4 (Bladeturn Requiem). If it is intended to be used as a source of damage, the damage should be significantly buffed (at least in competitive modes, but even in PvE I'd argue it could be buffed) so it can actually be used for PBAoE cleave. If it is not, perhaps consider adding a condition cleanse per blade used.

I tested a handful of different festival-based food and none of them seemed to be salvageable, though I did not test extensively.

I'll go in order of what I've played the most so far. I am a Rev main for what it's worth, so my analysis on other specs probably isn't as informed. -Virtuoso. Played pretty extensively during the beta. On live, have spent a lot of time on it: roaming/smallscale-fighting in WvW. Ran through the entirety of the EoD story and all open world content with it, and have run it on about 6 or so EoD strikes so far. I have been enjoying myself, but in WvW I wouldn't call it a "good" spec in terms of current power level in the game; there's a ton of counterplay to the spec and The F3 and F4 hurt my soul with how horrible they are in comparison to core shatters. Beyond the animations, the spec feels very uninspired, as do the traits. -Vindicator: Played a ton during the betas. Mostly have played it as a support in WvW, including one EoD strike (as support). Fun. Likely overtuned in terms of numbers. I have said this multiple times before but I am so happy I feel like I can more effectively play support in WvW. The spec is not without its flaws and the legend itself is a bit awkward to get used to, but it's probably the strongest/most powercrept elite of the expac (at least in WvW it feels that way). I greatly dislike ANet's vision of specs having one dodge; it really ruins the flow and a core combat aspect of GW2 and I wish they'd stop. I like this infinitely more than I liked Renegade on release. -Specter: Played pretty extensively in the betas but not too much live yet. This was the spec I was most hyped for and I am extremely bummed that they didn't further iterate on it. While amazing in concept and innovative in terms of what it brings to the game of GW2, its style of support just doesn't mesh super well with the rest of the game. Scepter is decent but exclusively single target, which makes it lackluster to use in group PvE content (spamming sword 2; such gameplay). I absolutely *hate* the way support works via shroud and how it is only single target, yet we are incentivized to use tether on enemies due to all the trait interactions that DO NOT EXIST when using it on an ally. The UI still does NOT accommodate the Specter playstyle. During the beta I roamed a bit as condi Specter and found it a bit boring and slow, which is also how I feel about it in open world PvE content. Things felt like they were dying really slow. Overall I still have a lot of hope for this espec, but I am massively bummed that ANet didn't do more for it. Seems to perform very well as power in PvP/WvW, but I am only interested in at as support. -Harbinger: Honestly a lot of fun. Haven't played it too much. Just some really casual open world PvE events as well as a couple EoD strikes as a quickness boon support. It feels very fluid and hits like a truck. I love the added mobility and the elixirs are pretty neat since the changes. The shroud/elixir animations are great. Sound animations for pistol should be more ghastly sounding and icons for elixirs need to be straight up redone. I enjoy the playstyle more than I do Core/Reaper/Scourge. I did *not* try this out in WvW at all but it can get hilariously high damage. I am assuming the power damage will get nerfed, at which point I don't know if there will be much of a reason to run Harbi over Necro's other options as it has a MASSIVE tradeoff of not having the second healthbar. I hope ANet is *very* careful about how they decide to adjust this espec because it could very quickly be dead in the water. The rest I have barely played at all. Willbender and Bladesworn straight up do not interest me, but Guardian and Warrior are my two least played classes so it is not a surprise. Catalyst felt disappointing from the little I played of it and I think hammer 3 ruins a lot of potential for the weapon...that is FOUR weapon skills that the hammer has to sacrifice for this lackluster mechanic in PvP/WvW. Untamed is interesting in theory, but like a lot of these especs, just doesn't seem quite there. The ambush and unleash mechanics are interesting in theory, but they don't seem fully fleshed out. Mechanist seems neat for PvE and I honestly think I'll enjoy it there a lot, but as a WvW main, the spec seems totally useless unless you are trying to do some super smallscale 1v1s/2v2s/3v3s/etc. On the topic of WvW, I was really hoping ANet was going to try more to make some of the specs help break the current meta that has been plaguing the game mode. But listening to comments from CMC during the betas about having a bunch of Specters in a squad to spam the tag (because muh single target barriers) and Untamed being a good spec for zergs (because muh hammer has AoEs) makes me lose a lot of hope for the game mode's balance diversity because it shows that the balance team is totally out of touch with how WvW works as a game mode. And that is a big bummer for me.

I see, thanks! I'll see if I can give it a spin on the new strikes some time this weekend to see how it goes.

I can totally envision this build in its pieces but I am curious about the rotation. Any vids or rotation guides on it? And for weapons do you need mace for might blasting or is all the might based on the dodge?

Yeah, I agree that rezzing is its biggest benefit, but unfortunately it's hard to justify otherwise. At this point if they don't want to give it any interactions due to the cooldown being too short, I'd prefer they just decouple the ally portion from Siphon and make it into another F button. That way, the Specter has more control of *who* they want to tether in order to better manage shroud interactions, rather than holding onto it and have it tether someone at random due to wanting to use it on an enemy.

Yeah, I can understand the logic behind the change and looking past my personal bias, I do agree with it to a certain extent, but the biggest issue I have with the change is how they call it a bug after all these years. To take away something that Rev has had since its inception under the guise of it being a bug just doesn't sit well with me. The change was for sure a big nerf and it has made sigil selection much more boring (or fair? lol), but it was definitely extremely strong in WvW especially and when fighting something like a condi/hybrid Rev, it was very unfun to fight against. Feels surreal to even consider dropping hydro sigil now on pRev lol.

Yeah agreed, it is adorable!

Praise Joko for the Tormenting Runes nerf. Yes, this was an absolute gutting, and yes it was well-deserved. They trivialized content and super-powered any class that has access to large amounts of torment to the point of absurdity. Being able to faceroll through content without having to use your heal skill is bad design. I say this as a Rev main who has exploited these since they were reworked. There are still stat spreads like Trailblazer to help ease players through harder content, so it is not like these builds are unplayable now. They are just back to being at a reasonable level. And it's nice to feel like I'm not hard-locked into one rune set without feeling like I'm massively crippling myself by not taking it. With all that said, the actual trait nerfs did seem a bit harsh for some of the classes.

Yeah not gonna lie I am big bummed about this. Even if the runes aren't meta, it is still nice to have options. Always cool to have a new rune interact with with a different class, like how Harbinger runes could have given Engi another option by giving it an Elixir bonus. Fingers crossed they add them later, but there isn't really any reason to believe they will. Just seems a bit odd that they are missing.

Axe 4 still does great power damage and hits multiple targets in the line, which you can easily line up with axe 5. It also has chill and slow, which will further contribute to breakbar damage. It's a very good weapon.

Some of the replies in this thread, holy kitten. It's almost like axe doesn't exist and reading tooltips is too hard.

Ran Cele Mallyx/Alliance, Minstrel Jalis/Alliance, and Minstrel Ventari/Alliance in WvW today. All felt really good but WvW was a ghost town so good fights were lacking. In general I really enjoyed myself a lot. Alliance Swap not having a cast time makes the legend feel really strong, at least on the builds I tried. Urn got me killed a couple times but...well I got myself killed for using it when I shouldn't have. Only tried power in open world PvE and it felt like a behemoth. Will eventually provide a more comprehensive review on the spec, but for now my feelings are generally positive despite my disappointment with so few changes occurring, and there being bugs that have been present since beta 1 still persisting.

From the patch notes. What the kitten does this mean? They sayin this is a bug now? LOL