Silinsar.6298

I think you missed my point, I agree Holo, Spellbreaker, Soulbeast has asymmetrically high healing & damage features baked in. Another observation, Thief & Mes have asymmetrically high avoidance & in combat mobility. You have to look at the PvP tier lists, pick priority, these things primarily to determine what to tune down. Tuning down holo, Spellbreaker & Soulbeast sustain, adding tradeoffs, that's cool, but if we're smart and looking at the tier lists, that makes Scourge, FB, and Revenant even more dominant unless they get equally nerfed too. Balancing for overall performance & desirability >>> balancing to normalize all the classes damage, sustain, etc. I don't really know how you can say Mesmer has asymmetrically high mobility. Trama Spellbreaker and even Dagger Spellbreaker have higher in combat and out of combat mobility than any mesmer build. Mesmer has access to shadowsteps that let them traverse up certain ledges instantly that not ever class can do, but warriors are much faster overall. If a mesmer is keeping up with a Trama Spellbreaker it's going to have to run Sword for ambush, mimic for double blink, illusionary ambush and this assumes it has a target, and jaunt and at that point you're veering way off meta. So Spellbreaker has asymmetrically high healing and damage and mobility. Holo has asymmetrically high healing and damage and stealth up time and B tier mobility though rocket boots builds which puts them up to A tier aren't bad at all. I'd argue there's a case for differentiating ports and leaps (and even super speed up time) when discussing mobility. Ports not only allow better jukes, they can provide a free disengage or at least a couple of seconds free of pressure (against classes that can't follow up ledges with a port) and save you from melee attacks, wind ups and channels. Instant ports also enable openings / attacks that are harder to react to (enemy out of sight totally, animation harder to spot, or just not knowing to which ally the teleport will go) and don't lock you in a punishable leap animation that prevents dodging. This point also ties into the stealth uptime: a mesmer or thief can stealth and cover ground while stealthed in better bursts of speed, most of the time an engi needs to stealth from further away and walk/leap to the point of engagement which requires the stealth to be longer for this particular usage. If an engi stealthes to disengage you can bet you'll hit him if you lay down AoE where he stealthed, while a mesmer or thief can instantly port to any spot far enough from their last known position to prevent this.Ports might not always perform the best in "run from A to B" but they provide much more utility with less counterplay overall. Leaps are much more obvious and easier to deal with in fights. I agree holo has some ridiculous numbers, both in damage and in healing, but other classes have a ridiculous number of ports, evades, damage negation, resistance, range damage, support, boon removal, stealth, ... And mind that some strengths and drawbacks in all these areas just don't show due to the meta. E.g. I feel much more vulnerable as holo when there's heavy ranged damage around or just any 1-2 offensive builds that focus you while preventing counterpressure. Due to only having Elixir S and dodge as iframes it relies on having the time to perform heal combos or the possibility to force enemies into playing more defensively with it's own attacks. The maps and the game mode also enforce and favor certain playstyles and builds especially when it comes to mobility and range/melee. I'm in favor of cutting the extremes (for all professions) a bit and maybe giving something back in the areas they're lacking in. Rough examples: cut holo damage and healing, give it better ways do deal with focus fire (alternatives to slotting Elixir S, like a little better emergency elixir proc or more reliable inventions proc), give mesmer and thief more options to recover health (outside of bunker builds), but reduce the frequency of clones / ports / evades etc. etc. Taking the "more than enough" edge off some combat mechanics that came with all the power creep would do the game good in my opinion. Bottom line is balance is complicated but despite my subjectivity (which I can't help but have): I think holo has some very high numbers numbers but never was a profession that felt unable to counterplay. It's telegraphed, has limited instant shenanigans, it's melee mode is susceptible to CC (hard & soft), ranged options are there but not overwhelming and can be negated with any kind of projectile hate (no unblockables). (Re-)sustain is strong if you give it time but avoidance is low. Mobility is good but punishable (compared to ports and leaps with iframes attached). It can be devastating in group fights but groups will also quickly drive off or kill a holo in the process. It has ranged and melee capabilities (assuming rifle) but you'll neither want to stay at range vs a dedicated ranged build nor at melee with a dedicated melee build.I'd understand some number shaving but I hope they don't gut it. Because it's a fun profession to fight with and against.

It's only a few builds that can do this without risking their own life. You basically need range, fast, high damage, unblockable+piercing (there's so much projectile hate in a zerg), stealth and disengage. If they annoy a zerg too much and get IC mounts might hunt them down anyway. And for a zerg it takes little time to get one up from being dead. Also it's only half as bad if you pay attention and stay close to your group.

Actually as a (roamer before the advent of the mount) I never attacked anybody under the rank of bronze. I feel they should at least have learned the game by bronze rank. And I even go as far as to just ignore the low rank unless they make it absolutely hard to ignore them then I have to delete them but i dont stomp i just walk away. If they are unlucky some guy will come by and stomp them and i get a "Small Loot Bag" If you all gave out precursors you better believe id be at your spawn all day. That's very nobel but we can't rely on self imposed rules here. What we need is damage reduction for lower ranks. A diamond player for example should do max 70% damage against an platinum player.People would just smurf to gain an advantage. Imo, what would help new players and classes usually unwanted in zergs would be removing rallying of enemy players. Or downed state in general like this week^^Because rallybotting is the reason commanders don't want certain classes / players in zergs (for a reason, they are a liability). If rallying wasn't a thing a player might not add much to a zerg anyway, but at least he doesn't take away from it (put into a seperate group so boons aren't leeched).

While they're at it I'd love if people who throw siege on your body after chasing you 5vs1 would just randomly get killed and teleported back to spawn without warning. And about blocking: could just take a few min to take effect (if someone spams you a lot the auto spam filter kicks in anyway) and you should not be able to contact enemies when the block is in effect. It seems odd that people are allowed to emote all over the place, be condescending etc. (hard to negate that, thrash "talk" always finds its way) but a chat message that can actually start a civil discussion can be blocked (it can also be toxic, but you can actually get banned for serious insults / threats).

Don't sarcasm on GW2 forums, devs might take it seriously.

Again, it has been a while:

The number is a result of the skill specific modifier, the default armor for tool tips (2600), the default power at level 80 (1000) and the average exotic weapon strength of the weapon used. There is no skill specific base damage. https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Damage#Direct_damage I disagree. Skill like worldly impact and jump shot should hit if the target's in the radius despite the elevation. That aside, I'd still like to here your thoughts and reasoning behind the radius decrease and damage buff. As stated, I think there are better ways to nerf the skill and make the interactions with it more interesting. 25% would maybe be too much, 10%-15% would be a better start. Just asked for a value because your suggestion was oddly specific about one part and vague on the other.

Reasonable. Overall some core TB skills could use CD shaves. Seems odd the Holo's the best TB trigger machine.Agree.Agree.This one I don't understand (beside the fact that it often gets complained about). Restricting the axis would make it buggy. There are already enough skills in the game that are frustrating to use because they don't hit when someone's 1mm below or above you in certain places. These should be cut, not added to. Adding a LoS check would make more sense, though other skills should get treated equally then. 240 range would mean you have to be on top of moving when starting to use it and/or quickness will be a even more important factor to hit with it, introducing another reason to stack / abuse high quickness uptimes on holo. Damage is what Holo really doesn't need anymore and shockwave already auto crits. Also there's no base damage for skills, just scaling damage, so I don't get what you mean by "damage and scaling". The problem with shockwave is that it's a high impact AoE that doesn't get its radius properly visualized for the enemies. At the edge you can never sure if it'll hit you or not and the effect doesn't drop off with range. I'd either make the shockwave deal less damage and only a KB over 300 range or make it only hit beyond 120 range (and display the radius with a circle) so you can counterplay it by either sticking to the Holo or outrunning it. Another way to nerf it in less of a whack-a-mole style would be to just tone down its speed slightly. Anyway, nerf the skill by enabling more counterplay, not by reducing utility on an almost solely damage-focused skillset. Would start with 15% and fixing the healing gained by the heat loss through TRV. Also, what'd you change the scaling to? Hard to gauge the impact of a nerf without having a value for the countermeasure.

Traits similar to Juggernaut and the current BPR are the best way to buff up core without overtuning Holo, imo. Both require and boost performance when camping kits for a longer time. Holo picks kits for utility, if FT or TK auto become worthy of a good weapon, core engi will benefit but for holo they will overlap with its in built kit. Egun could have it's Acid bomb damage nerfed and the AA effects / damage increased. Though there's a risk of making it a decent range swap so holos could use Sw/Sh more easily. Also, buff the hell out of Elite TB skills which holo can't use. No way for holo to benefit there. And don't make them 60-120sec hit or misses but frequently usable skills that noticeable improve the capabilities of a build in certain areas.

Started playing again last month after a longer break, here are some clips from early june:

Really liking most of the suggestions. Consider everything I don't comment further on as something I'd like to see implemented :) I wouldn't add another condition on top, 3 different "minor" conds rapidly getting reapplied just devalues condition counterplay (yeah we see it on other class but I'd not like to go down that route any further). To increase the usability / viability I'd instead add a little direct damage that applies to people moving within the field. I'd also like to see a projectile block on it (makes sense too) and with the shortened duration it might be balanced. Might get out of control in combination with other block / reflect skills so I'm not sure, maybe with a slight CD increase. MedKit #2-5 should also get a slightly bigger pick up zone and be unblockable (afaik thrown bandages, just like thrown elixirs get blocked by enemies with a block up and projectile hate). Would you have this trigger on detonation too? In that case it might be a bit too much to get it for free (used to be on an Explosion trait). I'd love to see it back but it would reinforce HT as default healing skill. Maybe let it only apply to the utility turrets. Also, auto overcharge on placement. With the reduced CD and CD start on placement I'd cut the shield duration to 2-3sec but leave it out when the turret gets destroyed. The overcharge on the end of the turret's lifespan might also require to increase it's lifespan (otherwise e.g. Rifle Turret won't have time to perform it). Another problem with this skill (especially since the last patch with 90sec CD) is that it can be put on CD with a blind, preventing it from working as auto-stunbreak. Split the trait into two procs (similar to Lock On), one for the stunbreak alone and one for Fury + debilitating condition immunity. Do you mean on every pulse? I'd just have it apply it once when it explodes. 3 times stealth is too much. I don't like the regeneration interaction due to Inventions being a line that no longer has innate regeneration access. I'd make it increase healing to all targets (including yourself) depending on the target's missing health. 5/10/15 % increase when below 75/50/25 % of health. Awards holding your heals back / playing risky and has a good synergy with AED. Ammo mechanic on bomb #1 would play really well with this idea, the trait could then make bomb #1 a blast finisher without further restrictions. While I like SD flinging lots of bolts towards the target, having access to more TB skills with lower CD and PF, SD results in a lot of attack "spam". I think SD hitting an enemy without a projectile (similar to Lightning Strike) whenever you actually hit an enemy with a tool belt skill would do it good in terms of combat readability. The damage could be increased a bit more then. This would also enable stronger area denial with pulsing TB skills. I get the idea but having the mechanics, and not just numbers, of a skill change by proximity is not something I'd do. And ANet doesn't even like to do different skill mechanics in different game modes. The bandaid fix would be to make it shoot "hard light lightnings" that don't count as projectiles (a la mesmer beams). Just for clarity, would you keep the condition removal? Also, since the CD increase is a hit to the "stickiness" you get with a 2sec CD mobility skill when you already are at mid or close range, I'd make it apply 2sec superspeed when you hit someone with the attack. Heat adjustments to non-holo weapons shouldn't just be extras. Sword was balanced with a varying heat score in mind, other weapons not. To get a bonus from high heat, weapon skills should be a bit weaker with low heat. Otherwise holo would provide a straight upgrade to core weapons while also providing a strong melee transform "kit", does not seem fair compared to core or scrapper. Other things I'd like to see addressed: Thrown elixirs should be unblockable, to prevent projectile blocks (which are meant as defensive tools) blocking access to cond removal, stealth, stab etc. (including EGun and Mortar #5)Automated Medical Response: Once a very good trait, this doesn't feel like it is up to the speed and power creep of the game anymore. Rarely, when you're already under 25% and take another hit you have the time to cast a heal skill. This makes it very unreliable compared to other defensive procs. My suggestion would be to make it trigger a "lesser" AED that does heal 50% of the original skill and only when brought to 0% HP within 3sec. Comeback Cure: this seems underwhelming and is too reliant on Inventions being used in conjunction with it to do anything noticeable at all. Maybe make this trait replace the lost functionality of cleaning conds with elixirs?Cauterize: This should have a short casting time (1/4 - 1/2 sec). It's a condition removal that does nothing else besides it other than harming you, it just feels too slow.

@Tools trait:I'll stick with Streamlined Kits, I like the reliable and full time swiftness access. Plus immobilize puddle is a decent CC.

5 is out, focusing on outnumbered fights. Next one will probably feature more duels/1on1s:

Some of you might have watched my old videos, some might not have. Well, I've been running SD for years with a bit of a HoT break in between and now I use it in conjunction with Holosmith. Enjoy. If you want to point out specific mishaps please do so in the video commentaries with a time tag (I just don't like people saying "But this or that was not perfect and also these were probably bad players" without any context). Pointing to specific mistakes helps me improve. General nagging does not.