Aylpse.6280

I came to check the forums to see how things were going. Last I played it was a dying toxic hellhole full of miserable, emotionally unstable players, wintraders and other assorted matchmaking abuse. It seems the meta is pretty bad as well. Unfortunately, when the top players, who should be exemplars for the the community are toxic themselves, everyone else is going to follow suit. Without new blood, you only lose players. A lot of the old guard has moved on to greener pastures as far as pvp is concerned. It's a shame because I love this game but pvp, in it's current state, is unplayable, and has been for a few years. It looks like things have only gotten worse over time.

Wait, what? They still haven't fixed that Soulbeast build from a few months ago?

I tried to get into PvE multiple times, as a support mech, running the meta build... no one is running it. I got into a single normal mode strike mission, that was it. Every group for raids, fractals or anything else that would get me more ascended weapons or armor wanted people who already cleared. I tried discords, lfg, map chat, everything. I already have a hard enough time reaching out and talking to people, it's basically hopeless.

Ranger's reasoning for not having guns is a muddled mess, "guns aren't natural" despite iron and gunpowder being either things found directly in nature, or a chemical mix of things found in nature. (Carbon and Saltpeter, which is also used as fertilizer oddly enough.) It might have something to do with industrialization, or being seen as a thing about hunting, but in real life, as humans have killed many natural predators, many prey animals cause chaos in the ecosystem. The reasons hunters have "seasons" is to fill this void and cull the overpopulated prey animals. I think this could be twisted as a lore reason for Rangers to use rifles, especially as "hunter snipers". It's a clean quick kill, a painless death, where as if an arrow misses it's mark it's extremely painful and slowly bleeds the animal out while it runs away in pain. Of course, being Rangers, make them just as quick to turn their scope on poachers. Perhaps include solarpunk (technology and nature in harmony) into it some way. If Anet is going to be stringent on "no guns", then Shield. LotRO has a "Warden Class" which is basically a dodgy ranger tank. Pair shield with greatsword and flavor it as a martial defender of the forest. Similarly, an argument is to be made for scepter, would be nice to get more nature magic. I still strongly recommend Rife however. Thief is harder, it's my least played class. I'm going to go with what most of the community has asked for, either greatsword or offhand sword. Engie shortbow could be neat, truthfully, especially if it's an alchemist lobbing elixers like how thief shortbow lobs bombs. I doubt it's going to be something like that though. Expecting a ranged power weapons with a very generic skillset based on a modern composite bow. Torch or Axe would be cool, seeing as they are tools. Rather engie get a main hand condi weapon or a pistol rework though.

Ele longbow should have been a given, there is no argument against it and the lack of ranged options on the "traditional wizard" is frustrating. I knew my mesmer pick would be a hot take, warhorn, for a "minstrel" callback to the initial class reveal. But I figured there would be overlap with tempest, and they could take inspiration from FFXIV's bard with a shortbow that doubles as a string instrument. Not surprised to see mainhand pistol being the most in demand, if any of the light armors should be a gunslinger mage it's mesmer. Which is another reason I am miffed about pistol ele. All three casters use guns now which should have been part of Mesmer's identity imo. I voted shield for necro so I can hide behind necro players easier. Not surprised people want swords, necro is lacking in power weapon options from what I have been told.

Why was Medkit's healing nerfed again? It makes no sense.

Anything to shake up the support meta? Or still same old same old Firebrand and Mech/Rev?

Yeah this is bad. I was hoping Druid would get buffed, but this ended up a nerf and took away class flavor on top of it. And to think, all the confused reactions I got when I expressed concern. Perhaps over the wrong things, but the class is still going to suffer from this patch regardless.

Patch notes completely unchanged. Even after all this uproar.

I've mostly rated these on class fantasy and flavor, things I value in MMO classes more then balance. S Engieneer - Engineer was unique, I picked up the class just because even in vanilla, I saw all the weird things it could do. At first I hated the theme, why was a technology based class in a fantasy game? Then the archtype started to grow on me, the clever inventor with a trick for ever occasion. You don't need devastating magic or mastery of martial combat to succeed. As someone who has been healing for almost two decades, a unique archtype of healer really stood out to me: Traditional medicine. Salves, injections, first aid, surgery. It's bizarre that in games filled with holy magic for whatever reason I was drawn to this. Engineer happened to have this theme for most of it's support, along with alchemy which is amazing. Mechanist allows me to run around and be a combat doctor with a giant robot helper. Mesmer - While a lot of Gw1 fans lament the gw2 incarnation of Mesmer, it pulls off the illusionist bit better then any similar class or school of magic in nearly any game even a decade later. Similar to Engie, Mesmer isn't about brute force and raw power, it's got a bag of tricks, utility and support. I really do wish Mesmer had a "Minstrel" or "Bard" healer spec with support illusions and a focus on glamors, but perhaps in the future. A Ranger - I like Ranger. I have more time put into Ranger then any other class. The only fighter-type fantasy is the forest hero who roams about the land with his animal companion, but every game always forces you to use a bow! Gw2 at least got it right, I can run around with a greatsword, a giant lizard and nature magic. Druid is my third favorite healer archtype behind a traditional doctor and FFXIV's Astrologian (Star healers, which is cool.). Better yet, Druids in Gw2 use starts as well! I'm also thankful for a Druid that doesn't use shapeshifting . It really sucks when you want to play a nature mage but think shapeshifting is stupid. Elementalist - Command the forces of nature, turn into a living natural disaster, summon meteors and living flames. Elementalist is unique in that it doesn't neglect the benevolent aspect of nature, and adds the option for support on top of being fireball man. At the end of the day, it still lacks the oomph and uniqueness Mesmer has, save for Weaver which gets S- for exceptional class fantasy, spellblades are amazing. Warrior - Not a fan of the archtype, but I respect Gw2's Warrior for not being "large ape man with beat stick". Warriors, the art of a fighter, requires strict discipline and years of practice. Battlefield knowledge and mastery of tactics. Berserker excluded, which I'd put in D tier for just being "large ape man with beat stick BUT ON FIRE". B Guardian - I want to like the class, the class fantasy is good, a Paladin adjacent archytpe unbound by gods or holy magic, just raw willpower. However I think Monk in Gw1 was way more unique, and Guard feels so braindead to play. Even Firebrand puts me to sleep. It doesn't help I've been playing Firebrand for so long. It's the definition of average. Thief - It exists I guess, while I like sneaky rogues that rely on cunning and tricks, slip into places they don't belong and snatch all the loot, Thief feels... eh? The shadow magic is cool, not big on the assassin aspect, it's fine but I have no strong feelings one way or the other. Necro - I'm not a fan of the archtype, but it would be unfair to call the class bad or poorly designed. Understandably, compared to Gw1, Minion mancer is a bit... lacking. Reaper gets A rank for class flavor, when Anet introduced it, they claimed it was designed like a slasher killer from a horror film, and they nailed it. Inexorable death, slow, but drawing ever closer by the moment. C Revenant - I simply don't like the class. The themes, the flow, the way it plays. It's not for me. I would have much preferred Ritualist.

Personally, PoF. I liked the big open maps, the introduction of mounts, and while I wasn't happy Balthazar was the main antagonist, the story was very good and I liked the way it flowed. Elona is beautiful, the concept of a sea drying up into a desert (can happen in real life) and the aquatic life adapting to living in a sea of sand rather then water (can't happen in real life) makes the brain happy. Kralk was also my favorite dragon by the end of it all. HoT wasn't bad, and gave us Druid, unique landscapes like the glittering Auric Basin, cool races the rainforest Hyleck and Chak, but the rest of the maps, poor espec balance (in pvp, no idea what pve was like) and the introduction of rev left a sour taste in my mouth.

I don't use the forums much, but I don't think I have ever seen anet take back or change proposed notes, feel free to inform me if I am wrong.

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Druid seems like, on paper, it's eating good. My question is now, will Druid actually be able to compete with HAM and Quickbrand? I much prefer the nature magic thematics, but I'm very much worried Druid still is going to lack the "omph" HAM and Quickbrand have that lets them dominate the healer game.

Chrono healer would be a dream come true. God I wish Anet would do this... if I can just have one tiny class change out of everything this would be it.