Drakonhammer.2148

I was looking forward to hammer but it really does feel like catalyst is the leftovers from tempest and weaver without feeling fun. And hammer in its current form doesn't synergise well with most of the talents, it has too few auras or low CD finishers. Dagger seems to work better but then I prefer tempest or weaver's kits over catalyst's so why would I not go for one of those? It also feels weird seeing untamed get vitality outright from minor traits (as if ranger has survivability problems), meanwhile catalyst gets advertised as a close to mid range brawler and does not. I feel much tankier with dagger or weaver or aura tempest than I do with hammer or augments. The spec needs a distinct identity. Going more into auras or rapid attunement switching (since the orbs last for such a stupidly short duration) would be a mistake - the way tempest and weaver handles those is great. If they want the spec to focus on combos they need to provide more fields and finishers on hammer itself. Half of hammer's skills feel like they should be finishers (or fields) but aren't - especially hammer 2. The hammer #3 projectiles really feel like they should be an F mechanic to open up the third skill slot on hammer and so you can use them in other weapon sets.

If they halved the cost and just doubled the amount people who already bought some have they'd at least be an okay deal compared to character slots, as it stands right now you're better off with more characters. System still sucks compared to GW1. Build template slots are a joke, I can understand charging some gems for equipment tabs as it saves you inventory space but builds don't offer you much - especially since you can't fiddle with traits and then choose whether or not to save it to a template, it changes the 'template' automatically as you tweak.

The main problem I have with Acrobatics from playing around in the BWE is that it is a very selfish traitline with little payoff - in solo play it's weaker than Daredevil and on Specter why take it when I can take Shadow Arts which offers initiative/sustain + group support? My only complaint with Shadow Arts was Leeching Venoms not seeming to work with Rot Wallow Venom, which is a missed opportunity as it forces us into Shadow Saviour, but even so Shadow Arts remains flat out better than Acrobatics for group support. Acrobatics offers just initiative/self sustain which is counterproductive if you're going with a group support build and can take Shadow Arts which offers initiative + group support. If Acrobatics offered alternative group support to Shadow Arts e.g. if the boons and maybe a few extra traits like Guarded Initiation, Endless Stamina etc perhaps (at least partially) were provided to the group I could see myself taking it on Specter, as it stands now there's no point imo. It'd be great if Shadow Arts, Acrobatics and Trickery were all more or less on par. On condi Specter I suspect I'll be taking the standard condi Deadly Arts + Trickery for the most part as Specter can spam out poison very well this way and Lotus Poison + expertise means very high weakness uptime for solo content too. Maybe Shadow Arts would be good for solo sustain due to life siphon from venoms, but I don't see myself taking Acrobatics on condi Specter at all. Trickery: Honestly, as much as Preparedness helps with opening bursts and phases, I feel Kleptomaniac does most of the leg work on Thief - it is a huge source of initiative especially combined with Trickery's lowered steal CDs. Having either Preparedness or Kleptomaniac in an already good traitline means it is even more compulsory, and this applies for most builds even outside Specter.

As much as I'd like the thought of dual swords Thief or gs Thief, I'd prefer they save that for a 4th espec. We finally have a support spec now. Just a shame warr didn't get the same, Spellbreaker is a fun support in sPvP but in PvE so far there's bannerslave which you do on DPS builds anyway and that's it. I'm not so sure convinced Bladesworn will be a viable support in PvE using shouts or shouts/banners even with its elite. Catalyst I was most disappointed by, but that's more down to the fact it isn't more bruiser-y than Weaver can be and the whole aura aspect feels like a weaker Tempest. I'm even someone who likes having the hammer, but I'm not happy with the espec as it stands, too many trade offs and contradictions for too little gain. I'm hoping ANet can get it into a good place sooner rather than later.

One, two, three uses most a match aren't training wheels though, that doesn't help new players or veterans. Either these traits need new functionality or a rebalance with lowered CDs. A quick fix (as other users gave in the thread in the Thief subforum) would be dropping the CD to 60s across the board and a bit longer (more in line with elite skills) for the handful of stronger ones. Reactive Lenses on engi has no place being over 60s CD; none of the traits have a place at 300s CD. I'm hesitant to name the odd ones out that have reasonable CDs for what they give as they'd all suck too if they got updated to 300s.

One use every fight is a bit (very) optimistic, at 300s CD that's one, two, at most three activations a match. They'd be better at 60s as others have said and then 90s for the handful of ones that really provide a lot while active.

First impressions: 1. Weapons. I like scepter, especially scepter/dagger - this seems more the condi and general support weapon. Scepter/pistol is a bit more odd (to me), it feels more like the mobile support + quickness weapon with the extra (totally necessary, cough lol) shadowsteps, but it really could use a 4 target cap on the quickness from the chain skill on #3. I can live with not getting self quickness but it's a real downer not being able to give quickness to the fourth party member in Fractals. The duration is very generous if you get a full beam cast off, especially with boon duration, perhaps a bit too generous - I could live with a slight reduction if it meant being able to give the entire party quickness at the same time instead of having to micromanage who I left out the first time (especially if everyone is dancing around in a tight cluster). I can live with just the quickness being 4 man even if the rest stays 3 man - I'm okay with healing and barrier being more focused but with essential boons (that are anyway aoe) it's nice not to have a man left out in small groups. But this was more a minor issue for me since, again, the durations are very generous. 2. Shadow Force. The gain on siphon feels a little steep for an ability I anyway use off CD, conversely the gain from initiative use feels a little scant. Even blasting out initiative skills earns me very little so it is almost wholly down to waiting on Siphon recharge and this pushes the Trickery traitline even more. I'd like to see the gain from Siphon reduced a little bit and the gain from spending initiative increased a little bit. Larcenous Torment (lol at the name) helps a bit but even then the chain skill on scepter/pistol #3 (the channeled beam) is really the only place where it generates a lot, I scarcely notice it on scepter/dagger #3 which did surprise me. I'm good with siphon providing a decent bump and skills(/torment) being a slower source, but as it stands at the moment I barely feel the force gains from initiative(/most torment sources) by the time I'm in shroud thanks to siphon casts. Imo this needs addressing. 3. Conditions. The class is a little torment heavy off of mainhand pistol, it has good access to on-demand poison which is nice as it synergises with the Deadly Arts trait but I'd like to see some more bleeds here and there. This is another minor issue for me as I guess bleeds would push Trickery more (although that traitline anyway needs to be addressed so it's hard to judge, right now it's default for almost every build), but as it stands it's a bit onesided with torment. Shroud #2 at least could've used some bleeds for flavour. 4. Shadow Shroud. Enjoyable but does not feel super rewarding, it has some nice abilities but with support Specter I feel it's better to go in then exit immediately for Consume Shadows and with condition Specter it mostly helps me apply more torment + top up on other boons, nothing exciting apart from barrierfear and stabstun after which I'll anyway duck out of shroud unless I need it to stack torment for me on a condition build. I'm not sure how to remedy this. It's good but it doesn't blow me away. No matter its final form, Shroud #1 could use being set to autocast by default. 5. Aesthetics and sound. I love this espec aesthetic, with one exception: Shroud skill #1. What in the name of skritt is that? We fire off these tiny projectiles all of a sudden, total contrast to the big balls of shadow magic we hurl with scepter, and the sound... just sounds off for casting shadow magic, as if we're shooting enemies with a gun (a weaker sounding gun, more a peashooter than the actual pistols we have). Other than that I love this espec's aesthetic. 6. Slot skills. I love wells so can't really go wrong here and these wells have interesting mechanics, what I'm not such a fan of is the boring Well of Tears that does power damage and that's all folks. I'm not sure what it's doing on a spec geared towards condi or support so I don't really understand this one's inclusion. As far as the condition wells go, the main flaw I see with them is they tend to apply conditions you already have easy access to - for Well of Silence with scepter you have easy access to weakness on #2, chilled on #3 with dagger and cripple on #4 with dagger (or on Shadow Shroud #2 or the well heal aka Well of Gloom), and Slow you anyway have extremely easy access to on siphon (along with having more weakness and chilled on Shadow Shroud #4). If you take Deadly Arts (standard for condition builds) you inflict weakness whenever you inflict poison (Lotus Poison), which coupled with Serpent's Touch, Deadly Ambition and Panic Strike means siphon, any/all dual wield skills and immobilises (eg scepter/pistol #3) can refresh weakness. Shortbow #3 if taken as a secondary provides crippled too. This largely reduces this skill to more torment stacking. For Well of Sorrow it gets even worse as again, you have truckloads of Torment, bleeds you can get from pistol MH but I guess it has some value for double scepter MH builds, meanwhile poison you can once again get from scepter/dagger #3 (or Shroud #4 on any build). With Deadly Arts (again, standard for condition builds) you get even more poison from siphon, any/all dual wield skills and from scepter/pistol #3 due to Serpent's Touch, Deadly Ambition and Panic Strike respectively. If you take shortbow as a secondary you have all the conditions to begin with - Torment from scepter or at the very least Shadow Shroud, along with poison and bleeds from shortbow. This again reduces the well to more torment stacking, so the same situation as with Well of Silence. Maybe this is how ANet want condition Specter balanced, I just found it a bit odd that the boon well has a big emphasis on what boons are already in play and the condition ones seem to exist largely to pump out more torment. It wouldn't bother me if they stayed as is but I did find it odd, the higher priority for me is seeing the weird and largely useless Well of Tears go, I'd rather see a fourth well with interesting uses take its place. 7. Builds. I like the Specter traits a lot, although on condition builds I find it a little weird the Adept tier has no strict condition/offence trait (or at least a hybrid trait with some offensive use for strict condition builds). Don't get me wrong, I like the traits there, but it's odd they're all support and/or defence oriented. Beyond that, I find Strength of Shadows a bit weird, as it increases the torment from Rot Wallow Venom but on a strictly condition build you're targeting enemies and it doesn't seem to proc off of self barrier? I can see it working for hybrids but I don't see it being very satisfying for pure condi DPS if it stays this way. In general: Trickery feels mandatory again, as it is on almost every thief build already, due to Kleptomaniac (ini sustain so very important) and Preparedness (opening burst, imo secondary to Klepto but handy for phases etc.). This together with Trickery upping bleed damage for condition builds and in general providing lower siphon CDs means once again Thief feels locked into this traitline. I'd at least like to see Kleptomaniac and Preparedness be added to base Thief and then adjusted from there, as it stands at present not taking them gimps your burst and your ini sustain which we have few other ways of augmenting. I felt this even harder on Specter with the lower initiative pool. Healing builds more specifically: In Shadow Arts the synergy Leeching Venoms seems to lack with Rotwallow Venom (hopefully an oversight) pushes you to take the heal on shadowstep trait and that alone, which is a shame as it'd be neat to have a lifesteal alternative to the heal on shadowstep (Shadow Saviour) builds. On separate note, I was hoping Acrobatics might be an option/alternative for Spectre, but the traits from that line are too selfish for group support (apart from boon duration which imo isn't enough to warrant taking over Shadow Arts and even less so over Trickery), I'd love to see these traits get some more party oriented components to give support Thief more options. Also it'd help Acrobatics find a niche that isn't just inferior Daredevil or Shadow Arts but with less stealth and utility.

At a glance: 1. I think the increased control over pet skill activations should be given to at the very least to core ranger, if not all specs, as it'd go a long way to improving the usability of the underlying class (while obviously keeping the Unleashed skills on Untamed and Untamed alone). Edit: Additionally, ideal would be to let the player choose which core pet skills should be manually cast by the pet and which skills the pet should autocast off CD (at least let it autocast them again when not Unleashed). 2. I'd like the attack my target and return to me binds back, as they are using core ranger, then have the new skills start after that - imo using F6 and higher would be fine as we can rebind these keys or add extra binds to them). 3. I wish Unleash had some interaction with other weapon sets, even if it e.g. alters skill 2 and skill 2 alone on each weapon, or something like that if you're not going to have it affect the entire weapons. As much as I loved Holo, I was always sad that heat never interacted with engi's other weapons, even if it was just a few skills (for flavour). That always felt like a missed opportunity to me and it would help to make unique espec mechanics feel more nuanced, I have the same feeling here.

At a first glance: 1. Please make the master and grandmaster traits affect other parts of the mech's appearance the way the first tier traits do, this feel likes a missed opportunity if it is not already in the works. Also please let us dye the mech's carapace at the very least to set them apart from other players' mechs - rangers have a whole load of different animals to choose from, I feel like this change'd help seeing as engineer have just the one mech + a handful of trait variations to choose from. 2. I'd like the attack my target and return to me keys like with core ranger, then have the new skills slot in around those on the F bar. 3. The loss of toolbelt skills really hurts many slot skills, either a) there needs to be a way to access them with a downside or b) maybe this espec should get weapon swap to compensate? c) would be giving access to toolbelt skills while the mech is gone (but that won't make some specific skills such as the med kit feel much better while the mech is out. Could add an interesting skill juggling dynamic for those that want the option however, so maybe this is best?). 4. Adding my voice to those saying the mech needs to work underwater too.

From playing more I've refined my thoughts on this espec, for me it boils down to: 1) Hammer isn't crazy damaging so, while I like it, it doesn't really warrant taking as you're not tankier than Tempest or Weaver to compensate for hammer's slowness and lack of defences. The lack of whirl finishers feels like a missed opportunity, but really if this is meant to be a less mobile brawler setup then Catalyst needs some inbuilt damage mitigation/tankiness. Harbinger got extra vitality to offset lacking shroud/barrier, imo Catalyst could stand to get some innate durability to offset losing Tempest's aura and heal sustain or Weaver's evades/barriers. Right now I'd rather run Daggers on Catalyst than hammer since they at least keep me mobile, like how they're used on core ele, and they have good access to fields + blasts + auras. Hammer relies too much on F5 for fields and the utilities don't help you out at all there. It needs fields, e.g. on #4. I'd support a range increase to 750 for fire/lightning too. 2)The heal/utilities/elite feel like half a slot when used in the wrong element or outside the sphere. In it, they feel like one slot's worth, but don't really provide that much of use - core abilities at least provide consistent value in any case. The earth utility, while I can see its use in PvP, gives very little barrier for using it in the field, and the Catalyst heal honestly seems worse than Tempest's or Weaver's. At the very least they should provide fields of their own too for comboing off of. 3) F5 has too little impact to function as area denial, relegating it to boon support instead. If it's going to stay this weak outside of the boons it provides, it really should follow the Catalyst around (even slightly slower movement like the scepter phoenix would be okay, could make for fun movement/positioning). That or let recasting F5 teleport the sphere to the Catalyst. 4) Durations on hammer #3 and most traits need to be extended so you aren't forced to burn cooldowns to keep them active for little payoff vs e.g. Weaver's traits. Elemental Empowerment needs to ramp up faster or have more active, proactive ways to get it that aren't talent dependent, as it is right now many fights are over by the time you hit max stacks (for the GM talent).

Further impressions: when swapping around the utilities in their slots, the icons should be split down the middle so new Rev players can see what they look like for both Archemorus and Viktor. That or Awakening needs a figure standing behind the sword like the Reaver's Rage icon, it's odd how the other icons' forms fit each other so closely, but Awakening and Reaver's Rage don't (apart from the swords). I'm guessing the current Awakening icon is a placeholder? GS feels a bit too familiar somehow. #5 should have its own animation, not Reaper's, and with its chill, vuln, movement skill and block (analogous-ish to evade) it feels like it treads on dual swords' toes a bit too much for my liking (even if the target cap is higher). GS #2 reminds me too much of S/S #4 too. To me it doesn't feel like GS offers enough uniqueness to set itself apart from S/S as it is right now.

Agreed with the posts saying F2 needs to have an effect on other legends too, not just Archemorus&Viktor. It doesn't have to be gamechanging, just some bonus specific to which other Legend you have equipped so that it has a use outside Legendary Alliance that isn't just 50 Endurance. Could add for some nice flavour with Shiro equipped too. As for the dodge mechanic, I like it, but it really needs (at least slightly) different visuals depending on which GM you have equipped - if players are expected to counterplay this in sPvP, they should know if they're about to get spiked or not. This'd give the balance team wiggle room to up the damage too as it'd still allow for counterplay.

Another point I forgot: the icons of the first three skills in Dragon Trigger look too similar, it'd be nice to be more clearly able to identify what they do differently from a glance, not just the skill descriptions and the small icon differences they have now. OH Pistol is fun but not having a MH pistol too as an alternate ranged option for warrior feels like a missed opportunity.

Not giving the other Armaments the same mechanic as the heal where activating them again gives another effect feels like a missed opportunity for the skilltype overall imo. Flow Stabiliser and Electric Fence kinda have that, but I feel like the other two utilities - Bulletproof Barrier and Dragonspike Mine - could use the flavour too to really set them apart as this new skilltype. (Dragonspike would need to become an ammo skill for this).

I'm by no means an ele main, but from my first impressions: I personally like the hammer, it's a little clunky but enjoyable apart from juggling #3's short duration (haven't tried the weapon anywhere too serious yet). That said, a) Hammer has way too little access to fields and combos for a spec that is supposed to emphasise those heavily, I expected the #4 skills to at least provide fields but they don't. Leaving it to a solitary, unmoving F5 field isn't enough, at the very least the utilities could provide fields too, but really there need to be a few more on the weapon itself. Dagger dagger has much better access to combos as it stands right now, simply by virtue of having access to fire fields (along with the blasts in ice and earth), hammer lacks fields of its own and is thus too reliant on F5 alone. b) Catalyst feels extremely squishy, even for elementalist, especially if you take Catalyst utilities and not standard elementalist ones. Running zerker gear, I feel far more survivable on Tempest with dagger + warhorn or focus with the healing + hard CC those combos provide. Even Weaver with Twist of Fate + some of its dual skills fare better. I'm really not feeling the brawler vibe here using hammer with how glassy it is - I'd rather not have this spec become Weaver but with a hammer. Perhaps some inbuilt tankiness like how Harbinger gets extra vitality to offset not having deathshroud or barriers, albeit in this case to offset ele's reliance on mobility (which hammer lacks) and other mechanics (Tempest does aura spam better and Weaver has better evasion/barrier)? c) Heal, utilies, elite: The payoff for these, e.g. the earth utility that gives you barrier if in the correct attunement, is very, very bad. For most of these, it feels like standing in the correct sphere gives you what the skill should give you in the first place, not a bonus on top of an already okay skill. With the sphere in the wrong element, I feel like I'm getting half a slot's value in several cases and would just be better off taking core skills for consistent, higher value and flexibility. Comparing to the other especs, Weaver's heal for example feels flat out better for a melee brawler than Catalyst's does. d) Timings. The #3 skills on hammer force you to attunement swap very fast to capitalise and several traits have such low refresh durations they similarly force you to spam out skills just to keep them active, all while not really having a big payout (this goes for comboing #3 and stacking traits). The traits need higher durations, as does hammer #3 (so you aren't forced to just burn through attunements). Elemental empowerment takes too long to ramp up in many fights as well.

@reapex.8546 My ping is <50ms though, unless it's some quirk with EU servers. @Rayti.6531 might be right that it's packet loss, but it's weird that it's centered on dodgejumping and not general GW2 gameplay.

No, only that it tends to kick in more often if I haven't dodge jumped for a few seconds.

I'm not 100% sure when this problem arose, but dodge jump seems to outright fail 10% of the time, often several times in a row before working again many times in a row. I don't remember having this problem before - it occurs both with manually dodge jumping (hitting space + dodge with my thumb or hitting simultaneously with two different fingers) and with a dodge jump macro (which I don't recall ever failing before). The times when it fails my character simply performs a normal jump despite having enough endurance. With manual dodge jumping I can understand this happening, but it's happening with macro too. My ping is mostly <50 (EU). Did something get altered that affected the reliability of dodge jumping?

This would be good for all the lorebook collections in the game too, unless they give us a library at some point (which would be awesome)

Add the PoF music boxes to the music novelties section.

Item: (Medium) Blossoming Mist Shard VisageRace : HumanGender: FemaleClass : RangerDescription: On characters with larger noses, the nose clips through the face mask and is visible at all times, in game and on the character select screen.https://imgur.com/caLMwwx

I wasn't a fan of the <3s burst meta we had for a while, quite some time ago, but yeah, there needs to be a middle ground here. Some builds are stupidly durable without needing the skill to back it up atm, on the other hand there are trapper runes where you can bounce around in super speed and stealth to constantly break targeting on a specialisation that should not be able to do that as well.

I think part of the problem with lich form is the tells for when it starts are pretty inconsistent, at least on my end. Yes, it turns you into a giant lich for its duration, but I have noticed half the time my game is slow loading the new model and the enemy necro player model just disappears for one second, two or even three for me, meanwhile I am getting hit for big chunks straight away, then the lich model finally loads in. As someone who has played both with and against it, it is easy to lock down if you save up projectile blocks or boonstrip + CC / two CCs you can throw at it in under the 3s stability refresh interval, you will likely have one of those three options at least (or terrain etc. to block LoS), but the delay between the necro model disappearing and the lich model appearing has gotten me burst down several times before I can even realise it has been activated/react. Particularly vs quickness lich form. If they can't resolve the model swapping issue, adding a new particle effect on the necro as they begin to cast would go a long way towards making room for counterplay, or maybe as the cast begins having a temporary model hidden within the player/lich models that disappears after the cast is over. Just something so you are not getting hit by an 'invisible' necro/lich. That will always be annoying. I wouldn't be against it getting blunted and having a lower CD and/or higher duration, or getting otherwise reworked, but please no Plague form -> Plaguelands-style rework, Plaguelands is hands down one of the most boring elites. Whatever the case, lich form definitely needs to be addressed (mainly in PvP, it can stay as is in PvE).

I agree with your post but the throws at that point are more common than many people would think, I think. Not so much on account of having a team that is amazingly good at comebacks, but because the enemy team starts to make mistakes and the losing team still plays alright. Especially when both teams don't have the best communication, many teams get overconfident and over extend at that point, and sometimes the lagging team winning a team fight or two against them at point throws the leading team completely off. Granted often when you have that kind of a gap usually the winning team will win, but last season I'd say a good third the games I was in (gold ranking) where there was a 300-350 pt lead got flipped. 400 or more was almost always a write off, I don't know anymore if we won any of those, I don't think we did.

I have seen many games make a comeback or get thrown away with a 350 pt lead, beyond that is very unlikely. I don't get why teammates give up after losing one team fight, but then I don't ever give up until the match is over, might as well get some practice surviving and fighting a better team in before then.