NorthernRedStar.3054

Exactly how I feel. Thankfully, we still got the DPS -department. Spirits and stance share are mechanics no other class has.

1) guild vendors offer capes. Second cheapest option is hitting a lucky shot in Black Lion Chests. 2) Chronomancer is still viable as a support for raids, and particularly fractals. 3) Condi revenant has been massively boosted and promoted. Same goes for Ventari. Overall, the class is now more flexible than before. 4) Still Silverwastes, I believe. New world boss Drakkar and good strike rewards from Shiverpeaks Pass + Whisper of Jormag are worthy of note. 2v2's are a thing now in PvP.

Expand a bit. Why are you regretting making a ranger (which includes druid and core, too, btw - and druid is still prevalent in fractals/raids)? You actually have to plan a bit on what pet you want to spend time merged with, now. I.e. wyverns are pretty great against larger amounts of trash mobs which you want to pile up, CC and take out fast - on top of good break bar damage. In terms of single-target end game -content, nothing's changed. You'll still spend most of the time merged with a ferocious pet. The only thing that changed, pve-wise, is the amount of flexibility and ease you'll have soloing champion bosses, really. In PvP, it brought SLB closer to core in terms of how much 'freeway leeway' they got. No more warrior GS levels of mobility combined with druid's burst heal every 30 seconds, on top of all that free damage and CC. So, I ask you, why do you feel that gold went to waste?

The expansions are great value for your buck. Excuse me, if I don't exactly agree with the tone of your post. Different matter, 'course, if you actually bought them for the mounts. The episodes are free for players who keep in touch, and a measly 200 gems per episode for the rest (that's a very low sum of gold if you exchange currency).

Removing "options" is the sole solution when something becomes/is so fundamentally broken they have the tools to deal with everything in every situation - with little-to-no trade-offs. Blindly saying "things should never get dumbed down!" is narrow-minded, and skips an entire section of good game design.

Comparing warrior rifle to DH bow is like apples to oranges. Guardian's bow is very utility-oriented, just like the rest of DH's kit, and allows them to pseudo-support even while going DPS. People used to sleep on Symbol of Energy hard, and still do. That said, DH needs a hard-hitting True Shot because it's literally the only pure damage skill the weapon has.

Thief's utility is completely wasted home. Basi venom, stealth, daze, stun; thief has all of these in spades on top of decent start-up burst. IMO; thief can win 1v1's, but 1) it's not worth the time spent , 2) they can't hold a node while doing so .

You can make gold, fast. You can grind mats, fast. You just have to know how to. You just have to want the knowledge.

Simple - the non-"raid crowd": this is too hard, omg such bad design aoes everywhere. I don't have time for this! (You don't want to put into something to improve, which results in it taking more time than it'd have to. So, you essentially make it harder for yourself by blaming the game.) The "raid crowd": insert exceedingly elitistic phases here despite your mechanical skill being almost entirely reliant on the healer. The end result? Inability to adapt.

I also think either Rytlock or Ryland is going to die by the end of the Saga. Rytlock seems more likely though, very sadly, because his story seems to be over with Kralk, as Almorra's was and I really don't think Ryland would die in <1 season after being given so much attention and character buildup during the season itself. The way I predict things going right now is: Bangar kills Rytlock, Ryland snaps out of his brainwashing and helps take down Bangar, and Ryland continues on with the Commander and DW to atone for his mistakes, while Crecia becomes the new Blood Legion Imperator. Another way I could see it go is Bangar and Ryland go directly to Jormag, one or both get icebrooded, and we have to kill one or both of them. If Anet is dumb enough to kill off Rytlock and replace him with Ryland then they deserve every bit of scorn that gets heaped upon them.Rytlock + Grecia definitely has a ton of potential and comedic relief packed into it. It'd be foolish to kill Rytlock off, since his interactions, imo, are some of the spiciest and most well-written stuff in the story at this point.

Thief isn't tanky to begin with, esp. with zerker's amulet (2-4 hits = dead). Ranger is … Is it any tankier than, say, engineer? Is it really?

I'd imagine one aspect of these visions -missions is exploring the seeds of doubt each of these missions plant in Ryland's mind, regarding Bangar. Previously, I was 90% sure it was Ryland who killed Almorra, but I can definitely see how it'd end up being Bangar himself in the end. Could still go either way, imo.

Not to mention the special action key is often used to give a customized dash/blink to everyone. So even the shadowstep aspect is kinda here and there.

Don't forget the part where they're almost exclusively duo.

Good riddance. Firebrand ruled the game for way too long.

Ah yes, the familiar l2 math argument to ignore a valid point. Let's just use your example of a 30s block, 60s cd, and a 1s block with a 2s cd.Factor in unblockable CC that counters long blocks more.Factor in that most of the value of a block is frontloaded into the first second surprise factor which is your only chance you block key abilities, as no competent enemy will use a big skill into a 30 second block animation. It's amazing you can rationalize a 1.5s block on 12s cd being a nerf over a 3s Block on a 20s cd because it's a nerf in uptime. You obviously know all this, you just think you can fool people, then convince them they're dumb. :joy: You really don't realize where the true value of a long block uptime is, do you? You're essentially gaining (assuming no unblockables) 3 seconds of free recharge time on your other skills, plus can cheat out a quickness'd counterattack in a good window.

Looks great. Good job, Anet!

Might have to wait for a while. Outside DE, it doesn't really occur to me that the devs are allowing thief to be a threat in 1v1's anymore. Which is boring, and making me abandon the class in PvP.

How dare you! This is objectively the best balance patch we've ever had! What did you expect? Being able to outplay someone on any class in a 1v1 and win? Haha, silly you. That wouldn't be fair. Just learn to pick among the playable 3 classes. I could play ~10 PvP games in a row on a good day, before. Now I can just barely muster enough motivation to play one .

Necromancer main defence post waiting room. You could be a potato, and still operate core necro / condi rev / FB just fine right now.

No more waypoint usage for spreading corona bursts. We must save our WvW economy.

Ya this is the problem with the patch imo. Lots of core things were gutted because of elite spec creep AGAIN but this time nobody notices because it’s under the new buzz word “paradigm shift” @"Arken.3725"So what’s the solution? Nerf firebrand now until it no longer functions? Nerf necro now till it no longer functions? I just don’t get how people are happy with changes that make the classes unplayable it’s so sad. Not unplayable. "Unplayable" for people who just picked them up to join the bandwagon, not spending countless hours to master said spec and were rewarded for it; as should be.

Honest? A year. Consistent play time gets you better here, nothing else. Because memorizing skills and understand the mechanics behind them is so important in this game.

As things are currently, I do not think this is better than pre-patch. Sorry, but I like my games where reflexes and setting things up properly in order to avoid getting punished, or in order to punish people, matters. One thing I'm happy about is the lack of stealth OS cheese, though. Give that to the devs.

Firebrand doesn't have a moment of weakness because their can just rotate through their tomes like a fractal god going through their burst rotation and immediately swapping to party-wide 25-might spam support. It's indecisively strong to be able to apply pressure while being on the "defensive". This is partly due to mantras being insta-cast and having 3 charges. Partly due to this tome mechanic been given to a heavy armor class with extremely solid weapon kits that serve both utility, damage and sustain. There's no fix to this; firebrand is the type of design that I like to call 'fundamentally broken'. Broken, in this context, meaning unable to be balanced. it will always either be too strong, or too weak to see play in any shape or form.