TheAgedGnome.7520

In my view, this etching gimmick is not a rotation, it is bureaucracy masquerading as a rotation: Enter your cubicle and do step 1 of task. Fill out and submit 3 TPS reports before lunchtime while not leaving your cubicle, even for a bathroom break. Hope you don't get laid off from Initech. I appreciate the effort toward the class fantasy aspect for ele, but the implementation doesn't work. A suggestion: Etching provides a 6 (or 8?)-second duration buff The buff amount starts high and decrements in strength every 2 seconds. Leaving the etching area removes the buff. E.g.: Fire etching provides immediate increased strike damage, with the added amount (or percentage) decreasing every 2 sec. Water etching provides immediate high regeneration for 2 sec, then decreasing regen every 2 sec. Air etching provides immediate increased ferocity (and superspeed?), with the added amount (or percentage) decreasing every 2 sec. Earth etching provides immediate increased damage reduction, with the added amount (or percentage) decreasing every 2 sec. These particular buffs are just examples off the top of my head, there could be better ones. The main point is that this changes etching in these positive ways: The etchings provide immediate benefit/feedback/dopamine. The decreasing benefits over time reduce the negative impact of being forced to leave the etching area due to enemies, mechanics, etc. There are tactical advantages to knowing when to cast the etching to both maximize benefit and reduce risk of incomplete etching use. I.e., it is not "cast etching off of CD". The arbitrary "use 3 skills" APM gimmick is eliminated. NOTE: There could still be a way to interact with skill use and etching area: if the base duration in the etching area buffs was, say 4 sec, but using spear skills while inside the etching area extended the duration up to 8(?) sec. As long as its not made so onerous that it is just an APM-fest, which ruins spear for less-skilled players.

Had fun trying a Zealot's stat build hybrid support/DPS variant of the build this morning for open world. Still felt strong (was just exotic armor), and could provide some good boons, auras, and decent healing.

Something is very wrong: this build is fun, effective, flows pretty well, felt like a spellcaster, and wasn't a PITA to play. How can this be GW2 ele?? In open world, this feels similar in effectiveness to my lovely sw/sw power Harb. I used Marauder trinkets and a Jade 10 core, giving me 20k health. I swapped out Glyph of Storms for Eye of the Storm for a stun break.

Etching is just an APM trap. Way too short a time Especially with ground-targeted skills (golems may not move, but mobs do, so ground-targeting isn't so instant). Glass-cannons can't stand still, so I often need to reposition too. No countdown (e.g, maybe like a mantra/ammo recharge?) What is "full potential"? Why do I want it? (Not on the tooltips) How will I know when I have it? At first glance, this seems unfun, and I'm not seeing the potential in it for fun. When is the staff rework? EDIT: Etching makes things like Mordrem hammer area yellow warnings on the ground invisible. Probably does the same to Chak Lobber head slam AOE warnings, etc. EDIT2: Get rid of the Etching skill mini-game. This is ruining the potential for spear: spear should be a tool for the player, the player should not be a tool for the spear.

FWIW, as I've gotten more comfortable with staff Daredevil, I've changed my build to use Deadly Arts instead of Acrobatics, and to use Assassin's Signet for better damage. I'll also use Fist Flurry instead of Signet of Shadows when movement isn't as useful.

I rarely see Daredevils in OW, and I can't recall the last time I saw another one using Bounding Dodger, which seems a shame, because I find it a rather fun build. In particular, I find it infinitely more fun that the condi D/D Daredevil. I'm using a variant of Snowcrows OW power Daredevil build, with some Marauder pieces, P/P offhand set, sigil changes, and trait variations. [build - still being tweaked] I find it most useful to think of the Endurance and Initiative systems as dual "energy" bars: While burning down my initiative with staff2 spam, endurance is refilling. While bounding until endurance is empty, initiative is refilling. So by managing these two alternating "energy" sources, its usually possible to keep up a good pace and rhythm of attack. Never thought after 11 years that this would be the class I currently gravitate most toward.

Ok, this is pretty fun in OW! Mirage Advance seems kinda fun as a utility instead of Illusionary Ambush, and I generally am using Jaunt instead of the moa signet. I've got Marauder trinkets and Deadeye runes, and it still seems quite potent. Lack of condi cleanse seems the big weak spot.

EDIT: Logged out of, and restarted, game client. This appears to have resolved the issue. Hopefully it was only a freak glitch.

This is my open world support Chrono, which uses Marshals gear. Some of the choices were inspired by Emi's great heal chrono video. It works great for metas and such, and while low DPS I still often use it for solo open world: http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?PiwAYtzlZw8YWsG2Je0TptXA-DSRYuRNnPSQBlRiZQ6lgu/CAoC-e This my open world power build, using Berserkers and Marauders. Mostly I use dagger/sword, with GS for tagging. Inspiration trait line certainly detracts from DPS, but adds to survivability, and its a tradeoff I'm comfortable with: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PiwAEhzlJw8YbsO2ImSXWtfA-DSZYBRNbLoAxg8PjIkCVoCM7ZBAqA-e

In TD, while doing the Chak Gerent meta with my experimental heal chrono, I noticed this in my healing chat: That's very sporting of me, lol. Is this a new bug? I don't recall seeing this before and there is no note about it on the wiki. Just using staff, no rifle. So not a beta weapon issue. Traits: Chrono 3-2-2. Inspiration 2-2-2, Chaos 2-2-3

Pistol should never have been on ele. Boring, low-feature, clunky, and unfun. Graphics and sounds are hopefully placeholder, because they only compound the unfunness. I feel like this weapon was designed and tuned on the golem with full buffs, and then the unbuffed solo play was not examined. Unbuffed, I feel like this is the painfully slow playskool version of a pistol, not a fast-paced, fluid instrument of death. Ground-targeting on fire3 is clunky. I'd rather have it enemy-targeted, with splash AOE. Air3 repositioning is too short and slow. Suffers also the same terrain issues as so many repositioning skills in GW2. Bullet mechanic is BAD 'Consume bullet' mechanic is impractical; it may work in certain pre-planned rotations, but the two-step requirement of create bullet + consume bullet is not adding value for most situations, as the attunement swaps and CDs to pull the particular 2-step sequences you need at that moment make most of the consume features unavailable when needed. This is also reducing flexibility, not enhancing it. Bullets get deleted on weapon swap or mounting. I suppose if they didn't then if one wep-swapped, the bullet(s) would stay there forever until map swap or logout, which could be annoying. But this just reiterates that the bullet mechanic is not good. Hammer already exists; don't make hammer 2.0. Scepter/staff/focus/dagger/warhorn/sword don't need orbs/bullets, so don't put them on pistol. I can't think of when I would choose pistol over scepter.

The thing I take away from the article is that the boons granted by consuming the elemental bullet (EB) are not shared with others ("If an earth bullet is available, it’s consumed to grant the user barrier if the projectile successfully strikes an enemy.") Therefore, this is probably not a support weapon in the sense of boons. I also doubt that this has any combo fields, so unless a skill specifically grants an aura on consuming an EB, this weapon will not be useful for traited aura sharing. I'm sure by 'condi' they mean [condi + power] damage on the skills. It's just a question of how skewed the numbers are toward condi. I also hope the EBs do not evaporate after 4 or 5 seconds, but instead hang around until used (or logout or map change).

The Daily "Participate in 1 Kryptis Rift Event" was not recognized in Wizards Vault after completing Tier 1 rifts in either Sparkfly Fen or Sandswept Isles. Although I did do rifts earlier this week in Sparkfly, I have never done them before in Sandswept. Only by completing a Tier 1 rift in Skywatch was the daily achievement recognized in Wizards Vault.

Straits of Devastation rifts (any type) also do not get recognized for today's daily "Participate in 1 Kryptis Rift Event".