BigEvs.6971

They're not gonna stop until Fire Grab is a 10s cooldown lol. That said I'm loving these changes

You need to chill dude. You're not trying THAT hard not to be a downer, you went to like one of the few threads in the ele forums that isn't trashing Catalyst in the OP to act like you're saying something different than what's already been said in the feedback sticky and in several other threads. In fact this thread is where I've posted pretty much my only positive feedback about Catalyst. We know it's jank, we know it's uninspired in its design overall. D/D cata doesn't need to be broken good for a possible return to be kinda exciting, considering the weaponset has been more or less dormant for half a decade.

Yeah D/D felt like the strongest it's been since Pre-HoT with Cata. I still want Hammer buffed and some more inspiration put into one of the traitlines, but I can't act like I didn't enjoy D/D feeling good again.

Thank you. I just think that since Anet is kinda branching away from old design philosophies like targeted healing with thief, Catalyst could get a unique identity this way. Like imagine in wvw/PvP and a catalyst field spawns under you during a big fight, and you just KNOW the enemy plans on rushing you. That has to be kinda interesting. Everyone could leap in on the water field to sustain themselves while attacking the enemy, or the air field to daze the target and gain quickness. It also lets Jade Sphere remain useful for melee and ranged styles. Obviously it's potentially problematic, because no mechanic exists to strip the field from yourself once it's cast on you. But the Jade Sphere isn't immediately impactful, and it's not terribly easy to maintain, so that could mitigate imbalance.

Pardon me I should've been clearer. It should stick to an enemy the way scrapper fields stick to the scrapper.

Primordial stance is strong, but pretty boring. You just sweat condis. The tempest shouts are very very uninspired for the most part. The stunbreak is interesting and the elite sorta I guess. They'd be more impressive if, again, we didn't already have aurashare in core. Compare them to "Guard!" on ranger, where your pet takes damage that normally goes to allies and grants the ranger might. Maybe not super viable now, but it had its moments and it's way more interesting than Tempest shouts. I think the stunbreak augment is alright, as is the block. The elite and heal are meh. The fire/water augments are just dps buttons for sure though. That all said, Jade Sphere is a greater offender than augments in making Catalyst feel lame. I still think it should be a field that is casted on a targeted enemy.

Yeah I'm not sure tempest needs that change but I think the Jade Sphere could stand to just track an enemy so that it gets incidental use from the Catalyst and Allies. Placing it on yourself is okay too, but I think that limits the utility somewhat. OP did say their two ideas are mutually exclusive

Yeah something like this to shake things up would at least give Catalyst some sort of identity. I've been shamelessly bringing up a similar idea, but just centered on Jade Sphere. I think it'd be unique for it to be a field you'd apply to a target. This potentially rewards both melee bruisers that stick to their targets and ranged builds. It's also a good way for the catalyst to dictate how an engagement starts... Like an actual catalyst. A field that targets an enemy is potentially oppressive, but the Jade sphere isn't particularly impactful (no slows, low damage, etc) and it's hard to upkeep even in its current state.

Thank you, I don't feel this is stated enough because Tempest shouts disappointed me so much when they were revealed. I know ranger shouts are now commands but just thinking about how creative those were vs "Aura share but without the trait, and makes the trait slightly redundant" always saddened me. Weaver stances never impressed me either. I think I'd agree augments are nearly better stance concepts.

Yeah so I won't pretend my suggestion is perfect, but this is exactly what I kinda hope a Jade Sphere that sticks to your target would alleviate. Hammer would suck but the field is so underwhelming and hard to maintain that the least it could do is reward you and your allies for sticking to your target or firing projectiles at it with finishers. As far as I can remember it hasn't really been done before unless you count Vindicator GS 5, and that's not even really a field. I also agree that longbow/rifle would've been an ill fit. A "Sticky" field wouldn't fix hammer though. I'll admit idk where to begin with it. This spec just really lacks ambition and I think a field that sticks to a target could help inspire new ideas.

Please consider doing something new with this class like you did to Specter. At least no one can say you weren't ambitious with that spec. It completely goes against the philosophies this game was built on for nearly a decade now, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. Jade Sphere is better, but it's still very finicky and difficult to get value out of when the fight is mobile. It also, like everything else in the spec, doesn't "Catalyze" anything and outside of PvE is a pretty weak field despite the work needed to upkeep it. I ask that you consider making Jade Sphere a field that sticks to your target. It makes Catalyst a potential shot caller that signals to everyone who your target is. It allows ranged weapons to utilize the field using projectile/blast finishers, and rewards allies for aggressing on targets. Literally the Catalyst to an engagement.

From a PvP/WvW standpoint: Voted "Bad" for now. Changes recently pushed the spec in the direction of viability, but the overall concept still feels like an afterthought. This spec isn't the catalyst of anything. Make Jade Sphere a field that sticks to your target if it's gonna be this finicky to use. At least then the spec can be the "Catalyst" of an engagement by visually signalling to allies what enemy is being focused. Cata is probably a 4-5/10 rn for me. Gains some points for working well with old weapons, but traits are kinda boring and hammer is miserable without an organic field or more auras. Also some of the augments are almost better than cantrips, especially untraited cantrips. The heal could function more like Vindicator heal IMO. For my personal reference: Tempest was a 5-6/10, for pigeonholing ele into a healbot for as long as it did. Also because warhorn. Weaver was maybe 7-8/10 for strong viability but flowing poorly outside of like 2 weaponsets. Why does everything need some huge windup?

Yeah I have to emphatically second the need for another pass on fire grab. Even if all they did was buff the conditional damage and make the non-burning damage even worse.

Yup, same rules as peak DD Core Ele: as long as you can keep moving you'll generally only die to your own greed. I'll try power overwhelming sometime soon, but I run nearly this exact build. In a smaller group the aoe heals, clears, and CC chain together really well to enable teammates. The burns stay on longer thanks to condition duration prolonging the burns and the other condi's to cover them. Combined with a modest power burst I think this build has decent pressure to capitalize on the CC. I may experiment with removing some cele, but full cele with antitoxin is working surprisingly well. Leaves room for spiteful amounts of condi removal using Smothering Auras too.

Like some others have mentioned, go core ele for D/D or weaver if you feel like it. The (semi)recent changes to the kit like Earthen Rush put core in the best state it's been for a while, as in it's actually playable.