Routa.4136

Why, yes it is. I was lukewarm to the idea of gaining flat % recharge on all of my utilities instead of a total reset on one at random, but I was willing to give it a fair shot. Unfortunately Anet pre-emptively clipped its wings by shipping it with a very aggressive and needless competitive split. Seriously, 25 % would have already been a considerable downgrade from what we were used to. So now, almost two weeks later, I just can't find any reason to pick Deadly Arts over Shadow Arts if I'm running D/P, or Acrobatics over Deadly Arts if I'm running S/D. What hurts most is that it no longer encourages an aggressive, dynamic, and unique playstyle. Instead, Deadly Arts playstyle has become exactly like those of the other trait lines, but worse. I do not understand how this trait became an issue after only minor adjustments over the last eight years. Sure, I can understand them wanting to lower the amount of RNG, but this is a case of a misguided attempt at balance at the cost of fun. I'd also argue that the RNG wasn't a big factor of this trait, as it strongly encouraged thief to pick three of the strongest utilities they had in their arsenal, to the point it wouldn't much matter which one got recharged. Broken? Maybe so, but far less so than the other alternative. Further, the old Improvisation was what grandmaster traits should strive to be: high impact, gameplay defining, and above all else, FUN traits. Ask Fresh Air elementalists how they would feel if FA was removed, and that the strongest pick in the tier would be Bolt to the Heart going forward. They would laugh at you and put on their best celestial gear, because that is the message they would be getting. The message we're getting? "Run SA lol" no.

Nobody ever cared about Improvisation's lack of viability in PvE, as it's a trait that directly competes with Executioner and Potent Poison. I doubt many will care about the trait even after the change, either. Where it hurts are the competitive modes, where most thieves struggle to find any reason to run Deadly Arts over Shadow Arts, an objectively far stronger trait line. As one of those stubborn Deadly Arts knuckleheads, I won't knock it until I try it - the new Improv could be good. If it isn't, well, I guess Shadow Arts it is. Everyone loses in this situation, the five people who still favour Deadly Arts over Shadow Arts will be forced to switch and enjoy the game less, and the rest of the competitive community will have to make peace with facing more SA thieves. It isn't like Deadly Arts is new to good competitive traits being neutered on the altar of "but it's better in PvE this way", see Exposed Weakness. Your call.

Could we have a new ectoplasm gambling shack for End of Dragons as a gold sink and a source for Supreme Runes of Holding? Maybe even have a meta achievement for getting the 100 rolls achievement for all: Tarrktun, Sandstorm, and whatever the third one is going to be. I really want something productive to do with my gold. That would do. I honestly cannot think of a better way to earn two achievement points and the envy of my friends.

How is it suddenly easier to tell your initiative after nine years of getting used to the old initiative bar? Sure, with the old one, you did not necessarily count the initiative, but you didn't have to. As your initiative was all in a single row, you could tell at a glance how much you actually had. 5 initiative? A third of the row was lit up, and your brain (assuming you have one) would immediately go and correct it to 5 initiative. Just past the halfway point being lit up, okay, 8 ini ready to go. The reasons to why it works on Firebrand are because 1) Guardian didn't have resource bar like that before, and 2) It only has 5-8 pips, making it easy to read at a glance. Unfortunately, 12 and 15 are both greater numbers than 5 and 8, and each thief weapon skill besides auto attack and stealth attacks uses a different amount of the resource. This isn't something people are not going to get used to, but I feel like we shouldn't even be having this conversation. When Anet goes about changing something that people have grown accustomed to over the whole lifespan of the game, they should at the very least have the courtesy of adding the option to change it back to how it used to be. Ideally allow for much greater UI customization, but that is wishful thinking on my part.

A couple of days ago I set foot in WvW after two months. Certainly the frustration that had motivated me to go on a break was only in the heat of the moment, and Warclaw would be fixed and actually not bad by now? After all, roamers have always found some way to create their own fun. No. Snoreclaw is still a tone deaf addition by Arenanet, and I feel no amount of adjustment can fix what it has destroyed. On Thursday evening, at EU prime time, fights were nowhere to be seen. People were ignoring their enemies left and right, and most of the skirmishes I could find were at the north camp. Maybe I am wrong and Warclaw isn't the one to blame, but then the fault falls on the dwindling playerbase (which is probably because of Warclaw.) I could hardly nibble at the toes of an individual player, let alone the enemy zoneblob. I felt powerless and while not irritating, it was very boring. I felt like a beggar, but instead of money, I wanted people to get off their mounts to fight me. Those who dismounted were the generous ones, shout out to you all, you're awesome. The idea that Warclaw reduces downtime after death in WvW is correct, but I'd hardly call it an improvement. In a gamemode that has Player vs. Player combat, downtime and the run back is the punishment for dying. Take it out of it, and fights become more predictable and stalemates more common. That's also what has been happening. The old problem of getting ganked on your way back was certainly annoying, but it actually helped the enemy server and was a risky move to the roamer(s) doing it. In a gamemode that is about Mist War, it feels counterintuitive to have players of all sides peacefully coexist and farm the rewards. There's another release with "War" in its name that caters to that kind of playstyle live right now, War Eternal. If you this fun, I can't imagine how miserable your boredom must be.

It depends on the way they implement the mount, but why not let the playerbase test it out first? For the longest time, Edge of the Mists has been deserted because of the lack of rewards. Maybe reintroduce rewards to EotM, while implementing the mount to that map only? If the playerbase still ends up hating it after the testing, you could repurpose it to be a PvE mount to ensure that the work done on it wasn't in vain. I do have a horse in this race - being a roaming dash Daredevil, I dislike the idea of a mounted blob being able to intercept an individual whose build was built around mobility. This change would effectively kill profession and build identity in WvW - why choose between things when you can pick the best, while receiving mobility for free? Please think this through.