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Usagi.4835

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  1. Yes, as combo fields and finishers fell by the wayside, so too did real conscious choices. If you look at the main supports, firebrand and scrapper, they have so much stuff baked in for free that they're not forced to be selective about what they bring. Maybe I'm overestimating WvW. You used to have to be tactical. Wall of Reflection lasts so long as well and on such a short cooldown. I think scrapper is pretty overloaded at the moment, hence why tempest is a second-rate support especially after they reduced the target cap on overloads back down to 5 again. Edit: Not to beat a dead horse but it says quite a lot about how lacking core ele is, that the extra dual skills and two or so traits on weaver make such a big difference. You can play core or tempest staff but you won't make much of an impact.
  2. I'm so silly, I was just about to add that. I totally forgot about Tempest. Re: your second paragraph, that's precisely the point and I agree. Immobilise is one possible hard counter to superspeed, except the sheer amount of cleanse either through removal or conversion - again, scrapper - means that it's not reliable or realistic. Yes, IoL is easy to see on a buff bar if you manage to target the player. I don't have any problem with things like Signet of Undeath because it's single-target and casting it puts the necro in a precarious position. Ele Glyph is okay and it's standardised across all attunements: all with a 900 range, 2-second cast time, and 90 second cooldown. I think IoL could do with having its cooldown increased and the range shortened to 900. When you compare all of the rez utilities (cast time, base cooldown, additional effects from traits, range, target cap) IoL is by far the best and with none of the drawbacks for the caster that the others have. If I'm honest, I don't like rez utilities and think they should be removed entirely. Skills/traits that help or enhance rezzing, fine. But skills that instant-revive are just another crutch for 50-man squads who don't need any more help.
  3. No other class besides mesmer can provide group-wide superspeed reliably anyway (hence why we leave druid out of this). And without even looking at boons or other mechanics, my question is given 1) the sheer strength of superspeed and 2) the fact there is no counter, should it really be so accessible and so frequently applied? With enough scrappers, 100% uptime from utilities, not elite skills, with a 20 second cooldown. That doesn't sound busted to you? As for rez utilities, I won't get into it because the poll is more about what other people think. But it's worth pointing out that they're not equal at all: Illusion of Life has the shortest cooldown of all of them, alongside Signet of Undeath, at 75 seconds untraited, but revives 3 allies, not 1; has the shortest cast time of them all at 1¼ seconds; and lasts 15 seconds. There's no counter for that either and it can easily swing fights.
  4. TO START, this is lengthy and I know this topic has been done to death, so sorry. But if you do read it all, much love and many thanks... This post largely reflects my experience playing elementalist for the last 4 or 5 years and focusses largely on staff on weaver in largescale WvW. Some of it may be relevant to PvE too, I don't know. I've made far too many posts saying the same thing over and over in the hopes of gaining more traction. I think it's normal to disagree and often, when I see thoughtful suggestions about reworking staff, I do disagree because I think there are simpler solutions that just involve tweaking numbers and reverting damage nerfs. (That's not to say there aren't skills that could use an update or refresh to make them feel more impactful or relevant in the game as it stands now.) For those of you who know Solemn from his YouTube videos, I partly agree with him: staff weaver is decent/pretty good at times. It used to be the case, prior to HoT and long before PoF brought Weaver to us, that staff was a multifunctional weapon: it offered group utility and area control with soft and hard CC; it provided water fields for combo finishers and condition cleanse; and, of course, it brought kittening bomb damage. WvW, as it was then, is a thing of the past, long gone. In the same way that many core builds were rendered less effective or even impractical by elite specs, many staff skills have diminished in their value and are now largely useless. That is to say, there are other external reasons besides staff's damage coefficients which illustrate why it can sometimes feel meh and unimpactful, even when you're using berserker/marauder gear and your role is primarily to DPS (which, in a sense, is its group utility): Staff is frequently and easily mitigated. Projectiles in this game suffer a lot. Projectile destruction or reflects are everywhere in WvW. Tempest aurashare reflects, mesmer Feedback, scrapper Defense Field, and Guardian/Firebrand's tome reflect and Wall of Reflection, a long duration reflect wall on a short cooldown. I can't tell you how many times I've pressed Pile Driver and immediately thought, "This is going to get reflected..." And it does. Lol. barrier, protection, aegis, damage reduction food, rez utilities like Illusion of Life - a skill I loathe - and so on. But the worst offender BY FAR is virtually permanent AOE superspeed. There was a recent post on Reddit about boons and how strong and prevalent they are. That applies here too. As those of us who take One With Air know, superspeed on its own is incredibly strong. Thanks to Master of Manipulation not only granting AOE superspeed but also reducing cooldowns on those utilities, bunker chrono drivers provide it more often. And here, scrapper excels. Gyroscopic Acceleration grants 5 seconds of superspeed on scrapper wells which, on their own, are really good! And it synergises with Kinetic Accelerators which grants 2½ seconds of quickness (again, really strong) on superspeed application. How is this okay? And why is AOE application so accessible, so easy, so frequent? This brings me to my other point. Besides staff weaver having many projectile skills which can be countered, core staff skills have a long wind-up time. Eruption and Ice Spike, which actually deal okay-to-pretty good damage, are oftentimes useless because people run right over them even when you try to be smart about pre-casting and positioning. And Lava Font - which I failed to appreciate before it was gutted - suffers too because it's several packets of damage over time which require your potential bags to stand still(ish). This wouldn't be such an issue but it's compounded by everything in the preceding paragraph. I've some ideas which could improve staff in WvW to varying degrees either together or on their own: Revert the nerfs to damaging skills on staff or increase coefficients on some skills. Many skills on staff, core or otherwise, don't need a rework. They just need their damage back. I don't mind projectile destruction; in fact, counters are good. And I'm okay with pressing many, many buttons but for all of that, I want a payoff. (This was discussed in another thread about what makes weaver fun to play. Sure, it's complex gameplay done really well on a class but that in itself isn't the only draw; it's the reward for all of that effort.) In 2018, Weaver saw successive changes to Elements of Rage. And importantly, core skills like Meteor Shower and later Lava Font also saw significant nerfs that same year and then again in 2020 during the big balance pass, which I thought was somewhat unfair. In no way are they like for like, but I think of staff weaver as like FFXIV's BLM. You're paper, you bring no group utility, you're a slow caster, your kit is moderately complex. The payoff? BIG CHONKY DEEPS. Update and tweak some skills. Flame Burst needs... something. Lahar could see a damage increase, perhaps an additional effect like immobilise at the end of its duration for whoever's still in it. Both Monsoon and Pressure Blast apply regen, the latter heals. But people don't take these skills for healing. Remove the regen on both because it's nigh useless and doesn't play to staff weaver's strengths. Maybe increase the damage slightly, increase projectile speed/reduce cast time etc. Address the aforementioned problems relating to boon generation, rez utilities, and the fundamental problem that group mobility poses. Boons do have counterplay in scourge, which is nigh mandatory. But the latter two don't. The rez utilities aren't even equal. Illusion of Life has the shortest cooldown of all of them, alongside Signet of Undeath, at 75 seconds untraited, but revives 3 allies, not 1; has the shortest cast time of them all at 1¼ seconds; and lasts 15 seconds. This prompts questions about whether the rez utilities ought to be normalised further or even removed outright. Superspeed has no counterplay besides immob, which will be cleansed/converted instantly, and so it's incredibly difficult to pin down squads which have a minstrel's scrapper in every party. In my mind, some combination of the three would help but the third point is the broad central issue and affects everyone. As someone who loves DPS roles, staff weaver is probably some of the most fun I've ever had in-game and once perfectly fulfilled that class fantasy of the long-range nuker. And even before weaver, I could always reliably return to staff ele after big balance passes because I knew it had a place in WvW and was useful. Right now, staff is the only 1200 range weapon that we have. And, in my mind, if you want to deal damage and nothing else, playing it with weaver is the only option. To do this, and to produce respectable numbers, you've got to knit together multiple skills in succession and will press many, many buttons in a loop till something downs. For me, this includes utilities, pre-casting is a necessity, and critically, dual skills are crucial to the rotation. Even then, because of the above offenders, it's difficult to generate downs. I couldn't imagine playing core staff. I kind of want the dual skills to be folded into baseline staff because core staff, like core ele, has fallen behind so much. 20 skills on elementalist weapons and you still need dual skills (including one which is straight garbage, another less so, and then Plasma Blast which is slow and sometimes unreliable) and utilities. I can understand any trepidation about over-tuning. Effectively, elementalist has 5-10 more skills than the other classes. But like those players, I just want the skills to make me want to use them and have real value when I do. Besides levelling the playing field - ele has mostly mid-ranged weapons - I think part of the reason people wanted another long-ranged weapon was because they were dissatisfied with staff. Correct me if I'm wrong. ArenaNet now needs to decide what they want weaver to be and what they want catalyst to be. This post is way too long and I've given up.
  5. Look at the traits: By contrast, the Tempest line has 3 traits relating to auras. Sure, Tempest can provide AOE auras without taking Powerful Aura and, in a support role, it synergises well with Catalyst. But Catalyst is also about aura augmentation and aura generation, except here you have to combine fields and finishers rather than pressing a button. Sure, I agree that auras on Catalyst are more selfish, more versatile, and more offensively-oriented depending on your trait setup. At the moment, Catalyst isn't great at generating its own auras using combos and finishers... if you take hammer and are relying solely on F5 as your only field. If you take dagger/focus or dagger/dagger, you're better off. But I'm assuming that's not intended and if the devs rework Catalyst and add more fields/finishers, they won't really be so dependent on Tempests or other people's fields. So then what separates the two in this regard (aura generation/enhancing the effects of auras)? What else is really that new besides the sphere, stat boosts, and the emphasis on fields and finishers as a mechanic? That said, I like Staunch Auras. And in the interest of being fair, respectful, and more balanced, it's probably worth pointing out that Catalyst and other e-specs can be worked on and will likely see more changes even after EoD launches.
  6. Last thing to add for now re: Augments. In their current state, they are not fun, they are not exciting, they are not rewarding. Looking back at previous elite specs and their utility skills, I can't see people thinking, "Wow, that augment is really strong, I'm going to spec Catalyst just for that, it's such a good skill." But moreover, they're hamstringed because the bonus effects are contingent on setting them up with the F5; they're tied to the Jade Sphere (which has its own problems). I was trying to think earlier: what utility skills have we seen in the past that have been so limited in their usefulness because they revolved largely around the new mechanic? Tempest shouts are worthwhile on their own and aren't reliant on overloads to get the most out of them, Scrapper wells function well and don't need to be synced up with gyro usage, Weaver stances offer great utility whether you're using staff, sword, or dagger etc., Reaper shouts are good on their own, Soulbeast stances are good on their own and see play in lots of builds. Core utility skills continue to be valuable for every profession and almost every build. In this case, they're better and more appealing than the Augments. When I was playing Catalyst earlier, I really struggled with the Augments and looked instead at core utilities. The list goes on. Utility skills should be flexible and beneficial in a range of builds, settings, and applications. Augments could do with being freed from the F5 and overhauled.
  7. I mainly play WvW (and sometimes PvP) and so I've posted my thoughts and impressions with that in mind. Currently, there's a whole slew of things wrong with Catalyst, many of which have probably already been mentioned in this thread: Augments range from worthless to flawed. Both the base and bonus conditional effects tied to lingering around the Jade Sphere are underwhelming. The cast times make them clunky and inconvenient to use and fit into a rotation: for instance, Relentless Fire has a limited benefit for skills with long cast times like Meteor Shower and is very easy to cancel-cast when you're trying to fit as much as you can into that 5-second window. I thought Shattering Ice would function like One Wolf Pack but the strikes hit for like 176. Invigorating Air is a stunbreak with a cast time and a longer cooldown than Signet of Air. The elite is okay, I suppose, but the cooldown is kind of long given that it's dependent on you actively hitting something; I'm quite tired of seeing the same traits (gain boon based on attunement) and it's pretty weak. Hammer sucks. From the press kit: Where's the damage? Why are the cast times so long? Why are there no fields or finishers on a weapon that's supposed to synergise with the mechanics of the specialisation? If you're going to have long cast times to fit in with the theme of hammer as a slow, lumbering weapon, that's fine. But can we get damage to compensate? Even in full zerk, you don't do any damage. I watched Phantaram play hammer against a Bladesworn. The other guy's health didn't move at all from 100%. Phanta couldn't even break the tiny amount of barrier he had. Hammer suffers from the same problems that Virtuoso dagger did and that's without taking into consideration the range discrepancy (600 vs 1200): the autoattacks projectiles are too slow. If you're chasing someone or they're strafing, they're unlikely to even connect with your target. I think the earth auto could do with getting a bleed stack tacked onto it. Sure, that's boring but that would bring it in line with other earth autos; the single block on Immutable Stone is weak. It's already been said many times. The orbs are interesting and actually present something new. But the durations are so short that you're very restricted as to what you can do and how you can play with them. Moving onto the Jade Sphere, from the press kit: With the Jade Sphere, there is no sense of area control because it's so infrequent, the damage is so watered down, and the effects are not only very weak but dependent on being stationary. One stack of pulsing might sucks. Pulsing protection is better, more readily, and more safely provided by Tempest. There's little incentive to use it. As mentioned before, Catalyst's mechanic is basically just a complementary combo field. Its fixed stationary nature makes it limited and risky to use. Besides that, there are two more problems: the cooldown - around 17 seconds if you've taken Arcane, otherwise 20 seconds - the new energy cost which you need to maintain your sphere, and then the fact you have to generate energy at all. Pick one. You're basically locked into an attunement if, say, you want a specific buff e.g. quickness in air, which is easily the best and most useful of the four. And why is Arcane Fury, previously a minor trait, being sold back to us as a 'new' adept major trait? Is this a joke? To conclude, it's too much work for too little in return. Like staff weaver, if I have to work hard knitting together multiple skills, I want to see a payoff for my effort. I'm curious what other people think: is Catalyst encroaching on Tempest's niche? Should these new aura traits be folded into existing traitlines? Since people were asking, one could argue that's the trade-off since aura traits are all over the place and ele players have to choose what they want out of their auras. The only thing that's new is the focus on combos and finishers, and weapons which don't have enough fields and finishers will struggle to take advantage of Elemental Empowerment at all. With Tempest and Weaver, all of the weapons are decent. Personally, I'd be happy with a straightforward ranged damage spec. This is all over the place.
  8. To add to FrownyClown's comment, the press kit is also on MassivelyOP.
  9. Thanks for the clarification. Re: certain skills like Flame Burst, I think it's possible that ANet are willing to let some things slip through the cracks if no acceptable solution can be implemented. Food for thought, is total consistency even possible? Probably not. Some time ago, I remember reading complaints about the instant-cast aspect of Lightning Strike (Ele, scepter air 2); like almost everything else, it had its coefficients shaved down such that the lack of a cast time became a non-issue. If it doesn't do silly damage, people are less inclined to bring it up. On reflects, I believe there is currently a thread on their removal. If ANet changed the function of reflect skills, making them block projectiles, and even doing away with reflects altogether, this could solve the jankiness. But I like reflects and think they're fine. Radius increase sounds like a good solution. I made a scrapper tonight and have been playing around with it. It's fun and you get to do some silly damage between the mortar, grenade, and flamethrower kits. Because mortars/grenades are arcing projectiles, I'm not sure if it's possible to 'get around' reflect walls, was trying to figure it out earlier.
  10. I think my central point still stands. There should be proper telegraphs on all skills. I agree. You've raised another excellent point that someone brought up in-game yesterday, which is that although grenades can be reflected, the way it currently works is very janky such that one cannot rely on reflects as a counter.
  11. No torches, Jski.............. Bad Jski!
  12. It would just be nice because I'm really sick and tired of having to manage my placement/movement as is in a zerg fight, where there are already tens of red circles to keep track off, and then you get engis who just strafe and spam grenades. This game is full of visual clutter. And you can't even see them until it's too late. You certainly feel them though. PLEASE, ANET. ADD RED CIRCLES TO GRENADES. AND WHILE WE'RE AT IT, CAN YOU 'NORMALISE' TREBUCHET, CATAPULTS, AND MORTAR DAMAGE TO PLAYERS? You've already done this with arrow carts.
  13. ...If not, can we get red circles added to all engi grenades please and thank you?
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