SRMorgan.6124

Thanks guys, didn't know that you get more benefits from the masteries! Off to do collections I guess! 😄

Hi everyone! Just a quick question for those who already have the skyscale unlocked, is there a way to skip doing 'A New Friend' partially (or entirely)? While I support them making skyscale more easily accessible, having to do all these collections for an achievement after already investing hours in the original acquisition method feels very redundant... and, well, sh***y. I thought those of us who have it will instead have the skin collection to do, but I can't access that yet, so I am wondering if I am doing something wrong? Do you need to talk to an NPC? Thanks for any insights in advance (the Wiki was not helpful)!

I may be biased, since Elite Specs are my favourite part of a new expansion, but I am definitely hoping we will see another set in a few expansions. While I don't think it is reasonable to expect them to make new ones every year-year and a half, once every four years as they've done in the past feels like a good pace. Also, expecting us to play the same specs/builds (and I do mean builds, plural) indefinitely is just not sustainable. If you're a veteran player, sooner or later you will get tired of the same old-same old. So new specs every third mini expansion feels like a reasonable solution/expectation/request. But that's just my opinion!

I for one would welcome a more dps oriented Druid build, since it is my favouirte of the Ranger specializations, but both it's dps/cdps versions are presently inferior to Soulbeast. Only issue is, very soon all the specializations will be able to cover all the roles, which will then bag the question - what is the point of specializing at all?

I've been wondering if they won't just open both the elite spec weapons and underwater weapons for general, core profession use, with certain skill reworks to balance them out. Technically speaking, this will cover all of their hints at the blog post, since theorycrafters will be busy deciding if staff/trident mirage is better than staff/staff mirage 😂 Perhaps they can amend some skills to have overland versions, much like some of the current ones have underwater ones. And if, for Warriors/Thiefs especially, they change spear to a one hand weapon, that will open possibilities for builds... It also means they can add legendary variants to the underwater weapons, which will then cover their legendary requirements for the ex pac. It's a bit of a lazy solution, but also one where they can easily point out that every class now has access to tons of new skills and builds. If they also give us a new traitline and/or Elite with the weapons, that can relatively easily be sold as expansion level content, even though it technically is just rehashed old content. P.S. At least the 10 people who have legendary underwater weapons can then laugh at the rest of us and salute their foresight!

I really hope they've the foresight to know that if they try to sell an expansion with nothing new professions/specializations wise - no new weapon, utilities, elites or anything - they'll have a massive backlash on their hands. It's one thing to say, 'No new living world so we can deliver expansions quicker', and a wholly different thing to try selling us a living world episode as a 'smaller expansion'. They tried that with Icebrood Saga, it didn't work. I love my tempest, don't get me wrong, but endlessly playing the same 5 builds on new maps will get boring... and I am a lot less picky than most players, so boring me is not easy. Basically, keeping expectations to a minimum... and if they miss the mark on that, see how many sorcerers one can make in D4! 😅

I think you're spot on overall, but I also think that this whole 'no more elite specs' thing will depend on community reception. If whatever it is they're doing doesn't land well, and player engagement and/or sales aren't as good as EoD, I'd wager we'd be back to elite specs for expansion 5. Generally, I'd prefer if they outright say whether they plan on having specs every 3-4 years, or will try with new professions... The overall vagueness is meant to build speculation, but it's mostly annoying so far.

This is what I'd love to see in future gameplay updates too, whether as part of expansion 4 or not! Give Elementalist an actual special mechanic, since all three specs can do the swap, buff core necro, revenant, etc., so that players who don't want to play the specializations can play the core classes and feel as powerful. If they want to focus on core professions, this should be on their rader!

Have you considered Catalyst? You can go more dps-y or more tank-y and still do plenty of damage, if you don't mind rotating across twenty skills. (Otherwise, Scrapper is my vote!)

Just to clarify, I agree with you and wasn't advocating for it! While I think they can buff the numbers on weapons and so on, unlocking the specialization utilities throughout will be harder to balance than new elite specs! I do like the idea of them adding new utility traitlines to core professions, so that collecting Hero Points (or having some 200 spare ones) doesn't feel like a waste of time. It could be an interesting way of expanding available kits/builds, while maintaining the three previously introduced mechanics. I am barely holding onto hope for it myself, but if we're not getting new specializations, I think it's more likely than not. They do know hammer was not ele mains preferred weapon choice, and promoting the next expansion with new weapons for each profession will ultimately generate more excitement/interest, then just saying 'And now you have new utilities to never use because you already like your builds!'

What I get from this announcement is that, first, they will remove the limit on weapons for specialisations, so a monstrosity such as sword/warhorn catalyst will become possible... and then they'll have a whole cycle of the expansion to change half the skills so the new meta is not too frustrating! Joke aside, I don't know how I feel about this - I like that each specialisation comes with a specific weapon. (Although hammer tempest might be fun!) The second thing I am reading in here is that they will give professions (core ones) access to new weapons - so, instead of designing whole new specs, they will let us play the old ones with new weapons. My guess is that they will try to give the community what it's been asking for so: Elementalist - bow (long or short) Necromancer - one-hand sword Mesmer - off-hand dagger (perhaps main-hand pistol) Ranger - rifle (or shield) + new pets Thief - off-hand sword Engineer - sceptre Warrior - staff Guardian - warhorn Revenant - sceptre They might also extend the utilities bar, so we can have 5 skills + heal and elite, and/or add new elites. But I don't think there will be anything more than that. If this is correct, however, I wonder how they will compensate for a class like Weaver getting new weaves, rangers getting new pets, etc. I mean - if you just get an off-hand sword + weapons you've already played + a new Elite, is that equal to the above two? No answer, just questions! P.S. I also suspect this means the 5th expansion will deliver a new Profession. Profession + three specialisations seems easier in a year, than 9 new specialisations.

Totally agree there. It will be Icebrood Saga all over again. Initial hype, quick fall from grace, extreme indifference. [And I actually liked IBS for the most part!]

3 specs over 3 patches makes sense to me, at least, and I like the new masteries idea! A mastery that allows you to get a new weapon and skills, maybe with a variant or two, sounds pretty cool.

I think you might be onto something here, support-oriented warrior will be something different and exciting, depending on balancing. I'd say if they go down that route, first expansion will likely be support warrior, greatsword thief (power dps?), and necromancer... so it sells. My gut says main-hand sword vampire necro, and I am sticking with it! Not exactly fair, perhaps, but with an overhaul of skills for older specialisations, they can definitely make it work!

I was listening to WoodenPatotoes yesterday, and am thinking he might be correct in suggesting they won't release full Specialisation sets. Though I disagree with his assessment of only doing two per mini expansion - realistically, I think if they went that route they'll do three, one for each armour class. Which, I guess, works, considering that most of us play multiple, if not all, classes. Though it will also mean that if you're a, say, diehard Necro and dislike everything else, you may end up waiting, whether you're in the first round or the last. My growing suspicion is that since this is a new era, so to speak of the story, we'll start getting a new profession per expansion, with specs added in follow up patches, kind of like with Revenant. This way they can keep tinkering with traits in classic 9, while promoting new expansions with the likes of Ritualist coming back, or something similar. One new profession/spec at launch and two specs over the quarterly patches should be doable, if they really want to go in on this model.