Jijimuge.4675

If it is guardian (and I think it is), the stance is quite a dynamic one, so I suspect that the spec could focus on mobility....would be an interesting take. Edit: Re thief, I think Anet may embrace the double-meaning, and make the new thief spec a life-stealing spec...thus stealing life-force.

I still play one of my elementalists (the first one I made - an asura) as a staff weaver in PvE - I just like the flavour of it. Also. for flavour reasons, runes of the Golemancer are welded to that character, so he's a tiny and rather techy elemental mage with a (somewhat) trusty golem companion. He wears a combination of cultural and aetherblade armour, so it all has a theme that hangs together for me, even if he's one of my less effective characters on the whole. If Ele gets a suitably techy weapon (perhaps pistol or rifle) in EoD I might move him across to that, however.

The icon that most conjures up the feeling of dragonjade for me is number 4 (the one that many people think is Ele) . Rather than the diamond shape thing being the point of a bodkin arrow, I now think it could a dragon jade crystal with some kind of fiery conflagration coming out of it - perhaps a burning oriented condi spec? Not sure of the weapon though - could be a lot of things. I wonder if traps could be the utility skill type that engis get? Having an engineer able to rig up some kind of technological trap would be thematic, I think. If number 4 were the engineer spec, that would IMO mean that number 7 (bullet with stylised lightning or directional arrows) was the Ele spec instead (as 4 and 7 are the only ones I can see relating to Ele)

I agree that the bullet icon is too clean and linear for a necro icon. I had originally thought that it was a warrior icon (can see guardian too), but can now also see the shapes either side as being stylised lightning bolts, so ele would fit as well? Regardless, the weapon is clearly quite important to that spec as it's central to the icon. In the case of necro specs, I'd argue that their specs' weapons have been of relatively lower importance compared to the shroud mechanic; IMO this makes it less likely that the bullet icon relates to necro.

If you look at the stream of the virtuoso, you can see how the test character spawned 2 phantasmal berserkers, and had mirror blade bounce extra times so I'm pretty sure they had the trait "Bountiful Blades". If they had that, then I think it's odds on that the effect you're seeing of 25% extra damage and +50% against inactivity is because the test character had the trait "Mental Anguish" and not because it's a feature of the Virtuoso specialisation.

My guesses in order 1 - Mesmer/Virtuoso (obvs) 2 - Ranger - looks like an animal's head/mask 3 - Guardian - there aren't many options left for guardian re weapons, and the 3 dots suggest the 3 virtues to me 4 - Elementalist - could be a flaming arrow seen from the front (credit to lLobo.7960 for this idea) or could also indicate a torch 5 - Thief - (not sure though) looks like a kabuki mask or perhaps a vampire or a shadowed face - seems ambiguous to me. I'm really unsure re this one. 6 - Revenant - the classic revenant icon is sort of reversed with the shadow forming the central pillar and what look like daggers to me on either side. The daggers plus reversal of light and dark suggests stealth to me. 7 - Warrior - Icon is of a bullet with a spiral (presumably indicating speed) and some linear shapes either side pointing upwards in the manner of directional arrows. Suggests structure (and perhaps buffing given the upward directionality) and that the weapon is very important to the spec. I'm going to go with a warrior spec that uses pistols and applies buffs. Even though the new necro spec is getting a pistol, this icon doesn't scream necro to me. 8 - Engineer - icon looks like a golem or perhaps a Kurzick Juggernaut. Maybe some dragonjade development? 9 - Necromancer - icon looks like a potion/elixir of some kind. In the teaser silhouette it looks to me like the new necro spec has some potions or grenades or something like that. I doubt this is engineer as engi already has an alchemy traitline.

If it's daggers, Vizu would be another possibility - and is strongly linked to the history of Cantha.

The skill type for the Virtuoso's utility skills was "Psionic" IIRC, so that similarity is perhaps not too surprising.

I think that's exactly how it will work. I expect it'll lead to the ability to do some quite hard spikes of damage...e.g. build up one's daggers over the length of a fight then unload all 5 in one instant

I wonder which Canthan lore they're linking it to? The Afflicted perhaps? Maybe via the Am Fah as they were quite keen on corruption IIRC

Depends which mode one's talking about. In PvE, Mantra of Solace heals for 1478 + (0.54 x HP) In WvW/PvP, it's 199 + (0.1 x HP)

Thanks for the update - it's nice to have communication like this. I really enjoyed the marionette fight, especially the regulator elements - was a nice throwback to the days of GW2 when people had to be more self-sufficient with their builds/setups. Great ideas re starting the event only after there's a degree of readiness (or at least sufficient numbers) amongst the players doing the event.

I very much doubt that we'll get a new race option for our PCs to be Tengu as I don't think the amount of work involved (e.g. adding voice acting for all living story steps - would be very costly and labour intensive IMO) would be justified by the amount of revenue it would earn the franchise. However, what is pretty likely IMO as a way of "scratching the itch" of having Tengu PCs is maybe some story step or the like in which we get to play as Tengu NPCs for a while; it certainly wouldn't satisfy everyone calling for a new race, but it may be a more cost-effective approach.

Just for fun, yeah, I think it's likely that necro will get a long range single target option (probably power as scourge seems to cover condi so well, even if more mid range). Both ele and necro have a "vacancy" for a long range single target power weapon, and rifle or longbow are the most obvious weapons to cover this. To my mind, necro staff is more area denial and support. Ele seems more "technological" than necro IMO, so I'd go for Necro getting longbow and Ele getting rifle. I'm probably wrong, but I'll be interested to see what Anet have come up with! (and yes, like you, I'm sadly ruling out 2-handed pool cue and main hand feather duster)

https://www.guildwars2.com/en-gb/news/arenanet-studio-update-july-2021/ No other silhouettes as yet...but I suspect that this will be their way of generating a degree of hype re the other professions going forward, so it's likely there'll be more.

One consideration in favour of spears is that, so far, all of the terrestrial spear-like weapons in GW2 have been 2-handed staff weapons; the "spears" in GW used by paragons were 1 handed thrown weapons more akin to javelins. There are already some "javelin" type animations in the game with the "loyalist paragons" etc from Istan and the image does look rather like a spear being held 1-handed in the main hand. Adding a new weapon type would involve adding additional art to the game, which may be quite labour-intensive relative to adding daggers to mesmer, although they could perhaps "cheat" some art in by simply scaling the models for the current spear-like staves to work as javelin-type weapons to fill out the visual options? That does leave open the question of what the off hand is doing. It doesn't look like it's gripping the haft of a spear, but instead looks (from the raised shoulder position and slightly tilted upper body) like the person is pointing towards the viewer, but whether that's with a weapon or an empty hand I can't tell. Frankly, both daggers or spear/javelin would be good, though I presume a 1-hand spear would end up being main-hand only?

Wild speculation, but I wonder if the daggers above the head may be quite literal, with some kind of charge-like mechanic similar to that used for Enchanted Daggers or the elementalist sceptre skill Stone Shards. If the spec is based around an idea of illusionary weaponry, then Spirit Weapon utilities could be right. I could also see Anet wanting to expand this away from just Guardian, as the Spirit Weapon skills would provide an opportunity for some fancy graphics, and it's certainly not a heavily used skill type. Frankly, I'd be fine with that, and interested to see how they implement it. If I had to guess, I'd imagine this will be a mid-range power spec. I doubt it'll have great AoE - partly because it seems (to me at least) against theme for daggers and also because greatsword already partly covers that (kind of). If so, I'd expect one of the skills to be something like Splitblade IMO (but for power rather than condi) As an aside, this may make more sense of the decision to add alacrity/might to mirage, if this spec will be low on support. My reasoning is that, if they hadn't and this spec is low on support, that would have left only chrono with notable group support. So, giving some support to mirage would mean that at least 2 mes elite specs would have some support options. All supposition on my part of course...

Another way to get Obsidian Shards is if your guild has the "Windswept Haven" guild hall - the ore synthesiser there can give them randomly when you mine it.

I'm actually kind of surprised that the creator of this leak didn't use "Tree Singer" as a class name - that has some Kurzick lore attached to it. If the leak is false, then this would have been an easy step to take to make it sound more credible.

Yeah, I agree, seems OK, but field tests will tell. I kind of expected them to go with the sceptre/axe approach (i.e. clones' condi applications are halved for sceptre ambush (duration), or thirded for axe ambush(no of stacks)). I'd like to see sceptre having a role in PvE, but I suspect it won't as mirage staff may still overshadow it - we'll see I guess.

Yeah, I can see your tweaks to Seraph and Plaguedoctor as being very appealing to scourges too - condi damage and lots of barriers...what's not to like! Re your "Constrictor's" idea, that combo already exists in game (!), but as a PvP-only one with the prefix "Wizard's". I once tried (pre the recent change to bleeding for thief) to make a poison daredevil D/D build using a rune of Thorns. Wizard gear would actually have been OK for that character setup, but I made do with carrion. It was....passable...but not great. Now, of course, with the thief bleed changes, going for a traditional condi+expertise sets works better than my idea would have. Regarding the addition of more sets to PvE, I wonder if Anet will use some of the PvP-only sets in PvE. I'd probably find a use for Sage's (Power+Condi, (Vitality+Healing)) on my tempest.

Your positions are very far apart and the conversation is somewhat at cross-purposes. You (Zef) are trying to address a question of what changes need to be made to achieve balance re Herald (and your specific suggestions in particular). Obtena appears to be arguing that balance is not necessary. Anet appear to believe that at least some degree of balance (in general) among professions is desirable....simply by virtue of the comments in their balance patch notes where they give reasons for their rebalancing. See the references to "overperforming" and the like - they seem to regard having diversity of builds as desireable.

FWIW, if people are genuinely interested in the status of beauty, Stanford Uni maintain a useful encyclopaedia of philosophy. The subjectivity or objectivity of beauty is (as I understand it) not a settled question (when is it ever in philosophy?!), though my understanding in this area is limited. I personally prefer understated looks without too much flashy stuff going on, so I tend to mentally "gloss over" the gaudy characters and pay more attention (when appreciating a look/design) to looks that seem more low-key. There's a useful resource for those interested in more looks at https://www.gw2style.com which has looks ranging from the coordinated to the jumbled, but I don't believe the site is as active as it used to be. Personally it strikes me as odd to use dyes etc to show off when there's a mastery counter/PvP rank sign/toggleable title above the head of every player! Sure, I get it that an "Eternity" or the like is more visible and "in one's face" (and I guess that has value for some), but some titles are harder to get than legendary gear...

Just a quick FYI., though perhaps a bit of a side issue. If you're factoring in "Pact of Pain" from Corruption, this trait effectively allows one to exceed the normal 200% max duration for conditions - it's an increase to the base duration of condis apparently. I'm not too familiar with revenant, but I did a quick test and it does seem to work this way as far as I can tell. The post from Virdo in this thread explains -

Not all video games include loot boxes. And, yes, of course companies will seek to monetise their product - businesses will seek to maximise their profits for the most part, so many companies will sell loot boxes if the local laws permit it. However, several legislatures do seem to be moving towards (or have already enacted e.g. Belgium) restrictions on the sale of randomised virtual goods (loot boxes) by having them fall under the regulations covering gambling. As I understand it, this has encouraged some game suppliers to focus more on direct item purchase than loot boxes.