Bladesworn Feedback Thread

[Argamir.3651]

Agree with others that this spec is currently not in a very good spot (pvp/wvw wise). I'd love to see fast hands baseline, would mean you're not shoehorned into discipline on every build. I also liked the suggestion from someone else to make f2/f3 ground-targeted, would give you so much more flexibility. I also think F3 needs more projectile speed and aoe in competitive gamemodes. Damage overall is also not good. 

Also please give back stability on flow stabilizer, just add it to what it currently does really 🙂 

[Malus.2184]

After having read the patch notes and how the devs describe Bladesworn I now understand the issue. The way the spec plays is an interpretation of an interpretation and, as opposed to the other specs, it started with the narrative first and then tried to fit that around the gmae instead of going by how to fit the narrative around the already existing game mechanics. This can be seen in hoiw people talk about Bladesworn. Their focus is always on the "you're already dead" or "nothing personal, kid" memes. The issue with going by narrative first, especially in an MMO is that due to the repeting nature of the gameplay the player sees the story so many times that at some point it stops having any meaning to them and all that matters is the actual experience. And in the actual experience, once everything of memetic nature is purgd from Bladesworn the spec is boring, dysfunctional, and unable to function in the gameplay environment of GW2. GW2 has fluidity and kineticism as the core of the combat gameplay. This is especially appearent in any PvP environment where mobility is key. To use the core combat gameplay feature of the Bladewornm they have to root themselves. This will never ever work no matter what is done unless Dragon Trigger is made gamebreakingly OP as it's directly opposed to how the rest of the game functions.

The people who've made the original interpretation have no idea how kenjutsu works either. What they see and how they interpret what they see just makes for a cool looking cost-cutting measure. 

A katana is the most brittle weapon made of steel out there. The steel one is made from is extremely unpure and the folding process is just a measure to remove that impurity. However, doing this also leaves the blade extremely brittle. That's the reason the katana is used for cutting instead of slashing. If you slashed with a katana you'd end up with a bent steel rod with the texture of splinters and salad. For this reason, prolonged combat is ill-advised as one would end up with a broken weapon. For this reason kenjutsu is about observing the opponent and then attacking in a blur of motion when an opening is spotted. For people who know nothing about kenjutsu this is seen and interpreted a a run by attack after great deliberation.

How this is represented in the gameplay is an interpretation of something that's already an interpretation.  In essence a copy of a copy, and just as flawed.

To better represent this interaction of kenjutsu in the game the Gunsaber F1 would have to be replaced with something that represents that intense focus. This state would use flow since no one can remain focused forever. When in the focus state getting an Evade would grant Vigor and/or grant Endurance. It would also activate a special "exploit opening" where the next skill used would have an additional effect. Only some skills would have the "Exploit Opening" ability.

This would naturally create the samurai-style gameplay, real samurai-style gameplay instead of what's shown in fiction, which is just an erronous interpretation of something that the people doing the interpretation have no understanding of, that would interact with the gameplay of the core combat design in GW2 in a way that would be different and create a more deliberate fighting-style as opposed to the frenetic style of the Berserker or regular Warrior.

 

*The reason katanas have been reported as cutting swords is because said swords were Chinese mass-produced ones. Those were made of impure iron and mold-cast. They were incredibly fragile to steel. If a katana was used on a European longsword in the same manner the results would be a bent and splintered katana.

Edited December 4, 2021 by Malus.2184

[Shadowghost.6025]

blade still need rework, it much better then the 1st beta, however this one still lacks damage. Expecially on the charge up dragon slash skill. I love the improvement on the charge speed, but the damage in pvp still is way to weak to be worth charging. it need to at least hit 10k damage on a fully charge dragon slash in marander or zerker set at least to make sense. Also there need to be a build in 100% crit chance when using this skill. It sucks to land it and there no crit... add in a 100% cirt trait or something similar to hidden killer from thief would be nice. 

 

I also hate the change of the unitliy skill why make it give furry now? stablity is how you are able to avoid being interrupted when charging. You guys remove this from the skill making it really useless to use any of the new unlity skill at this point in the game. 

I think fixing these issue will make bladesworn a more high risk high reward type of gameplay character then what it is now. 

[Jzaku.9765]

There should be some kind of more obvious Flash or Sound Effect accompanying reaching fully charged Dragon Trigger so I don't have to keep looking at my UI. 

On a similar train of thought, there should be the revenant energy pip display to tell us how much flow rate+ we're racking up currently.

[artharon.9276]

so Anet, looking at the poll, reviews, pretty much everybody hated bladesworn.

 

guess we're done here. now it's your turn to sort it. 

 

[Loboling.5293]

I gave a longer review of things that could be addressed, but having played even more time in pve with it and I'll say this.

 

Please give us the ability to stow the gunsaber, we have a sheathed model, please let us put the blade away.

Redo pistol (even if current skills look amazing) and add some ranged option. Allow us to draw our shealthed gunsaber at any point. (dragonslash activation from normal weapons).

Improve the custimization/look of the gunsaber. 

Improved base flow regen.

Improved utilities.

Heal and elite are good. (although maybe a trait for condis would be good)

[Ovark.2514]

Dragon's Roar (pistol 5) Should have each ammunition spend count as an explosion, that way the Guns and Glory trait has better synergy with it. 

[anbujackson.9564]

On 12/3/2021 at 7:09 PM, Infusion.7149 said:

It seems most of the prior feedback is based off of the older ridiculous damage it had in PvE modes. PvP/WvW players were able to see the flaws already because it didn't have broken damage there. That's why I think it's important to separate damage issues from actual functionality problems.

Functionally bladesworn is still the same at its core, you have a DPS spec that relies on burst that has an obvious tell. Since you can only go into Dragon Trigger from Gunsaber it means it is the main weapon and there is near zero flexibility. Even if it becomes usable it isn't exactly engaging gameplay to charge a burst and just use it , that's about as exciting as Gun flame Berserker , rifle deadeye, or full zerk Sic Em longbow Soulbeast.

As maximum charges went down in PVE for the Dragon Trigger skills yes it does less damage on hit but you also get to use it more often. People joked that after the novelty wears off you realize you're basically spamming a button.

People complaining about PvE DPS must not have seen 36K Banner bladesworn: given some classes are 36K as full pDPS with more skill use than just spamming a burst skill , PVE isn't going to be the major problem for the spec.

 

Well still the same problem as berserker. So you have a high benchmark with banners again because your utilities and traits dont change much at all. On a pure dps berserker the added rage skills increase your berserk uptime at least. I watched Nikes latest feedback video and he mentioned that the full dps version sits at something like 38k (didnt see a video for that yet) but it makes sense since the utilities are pretty worthless. 38k for this clunky mess? You cant even reach this dps easily, it will fall behind berserker (~37,5k) in actual scenarios since he can keep moving all the time and wont suffer a huge dps loss from an interrupted burst. The penalty of getting interrupted for any reason is just insane.

Then there is the fact that you have 0 cc as banners, which is one of the warriors trademarks, and bulls charge if you have a free slot as pure dps maybe. I rather play my fluid berserker. Specs competing with each other in roles is an issue btw since neither berserker nor bladesworn do anything else but damage.

Edited December 5, 2021 by anbujackson.9564

[Nukk.3492]

It just doesn't work.

 

What I like:

I like the pistol offhand, I also like skills 3 and 5 on the Gunblade in normal mode.

 

What I don't like:

It doesn't "flow". The switching in and out of Dragon trigger in combination with weapon swapping feels really rigid, almost confining.

The rooted while charging is a gimmick that doesn't fit into PvP.

Technically we lose weapon swapping so we lose the utility of weapon swap sigils.

Some utility skills are really underwhelming / useless while others are slightly overpowered. The barriers are terrible and the skill that provides increased flow pretty much has to be on your bar and has zero extra utility. The healing and the elite in combination with shouts are pretty much the best part of the specialisation.

 

Final thoughts:

I like the mid range aspect of the pistol and the some Gunblade skills (skill 3). I feel the specialisation would have been better if it was worked around mid range mid damage and leaned even heavier into the ammunition aspect of skills.

I won't be playing it in its current interpretation.

[Smoosh.2718]

2 hours ago, Nukk.3492 said:

What I like:

I like the pistol offhand,

Colour me shocked and surprised, you are probably one of the minority that likes this abomination of a pistol, which rightfully should be ranged and mainhand.
Replace the pistol with Axe and realise how lackluster it is as an offhand, or try to survive incoming damage from afar without a Sword, warhorn or shield in the offhand. Its going against weapons which are fundemental to warriors sustain or damage, Yes you can say it feeds warriors 'Flow' however with the new changes flow is, dare I say so rapid to fill up with the right traits anyway. It almost feels like the Greatsword 2.0 was designed to fill up flow not the pistol.

This is and has been my biggest gripe of the class, by providing only an offhand pistol AND made it melee, it has provided nothing new (now before Kodama comes in here trying to justify that its all new mechanics to the warrior.) I say yes but in colour alone. The mechanics and actions are no different from normal warrior gameplay, we're using a greatsword with explosions, very simular to how Greatsword 1.0 works, we are yet stuck in melee combat unable to take up a mid range possition (Meme rifle doesnt count till that whole weapon is reworked, it too suffers from Mass Effect 3, 3 different coloured endings syndrome on all its skills)

The only thing which will change the way this class is played is by allowing players to finally have a mid ranged 1 handed weapon (i'm sorry engineer mains if this treads too much on your class, but every class has borrowed enough mechanics from warrior in every expansion (reworked and functional i dare say)). This will allow players to opt in for a mid range support/bruiser/ambusher type gameplay, wittling down the health of the other before switching to its melee weapon for the finishing blows.
I see more class synergy with the weapon being mainhand than I do with it offhand, look at the utilities for example, all of them, designed for a ranged style play (there is no questioning it) You're not going to take a bullet proof barrier as melee for fighting (stomping someone in PvP maybe but that only prevents a small fraction of CC skills cast by the downed player.)
Electric fence is clearly designed for a ranged player trying to keep its distance and slow down the approaching player, Dragon mine, a gap maker with an evade and slow, all if this kit screams as if it was designed for ranged play then suddenly dropped in favour of making none of it compete against the already boring core utilities (Spellbreaker syndrome).


Do I believe this elite spec is broken beyond repair? No.
Do I believe Anet has the ability to rework weapons, change animations and create a spec that is needed and not made to suit the tickly itch of a homage? Yes I do... however if history has taught us well, the highest likely thing to happen is that the warrior will once again be forgotten by the dev/design team and defended by certain balance team members as 'balanced'. Prove us wrong.

If however this does not change and warrior is released with this terrible offhand weapon with no mainhand to marry up, I honestly dont think i'll turn the game on for release yet alone make an attempt to play it.

[CalmTheStorm.2364]

Dear ANet, thanks for all your hard work on EoD!  Keep it up!

 

Bladesworn Pros:

-Neat idea/concept

 

Cons:

1.  Lacks a dedicated niche.  

As others have mentioned, Bladesworn is yet another Warrior DPS spec that needs to compete with Berserker and SpB for PvE and Competitive, respectively.   There currently isn't anything that BS does better than Berserker or SpB, esp on the competitive side of things.

 

Solution: focus on making BS a mid-range fighter.  This means adding a lot more range to BS, both on Gunsaber and especially on pistol.  Speaking of...

 

2.  Pistol definitely needs to be mainhand.

OH axe is better damage, and warhorn or shield is better defense.  And given that pistol offers no other practical utility...I doubt it will ever see use beyond some casual role-play.  Please, please, please make pistol mainhand...and give it a burst skill!

 

3. The utilities are terrible.

I doubt any of them will see any significant use in their current forms.  Warrior currently leans very heavily on Bulls Charge, Endure Pain, and Shake it off because Warrior so desperately needs mobility and CC, stun breaks, and damage mitigation/condi clear.  BS's utilities need to compete with that, and should aim to offer similar benefits (in different ways, of course).

 

4.  There is no realistic way to play a condi version of BS

This is a serious design flaw, one that essentially shuts BS out from an entire style of gameplay (and greatly reduces the usefulness of certain weapons like sword and longbow).  Several traits in the BS tree should ABSOLUTELY be dedicated to making a Condi (or at least Hybrid) BS possible.  Explosions could inflict bleeding and burning, Pistol auto attacks could inflict bleeding, etc...

 

5.  The core mechanics of BS are just....wonky. 

And herein lies the most important problem to solve.  Everyone knows that standing still (even for the reduced 2.5s) in DT is a huge liability, and no amount of number tweaking is going to fix that.  I humbly re-submit the following ideas from an earlier post below.  I think this is by far the easiest way to salvage the spec while still capturing much of the feel you were going for.

 

Quote

1.) Scrap Dragon Trigger altogether.  Instead make the Dragon Slash skills (Force, Boost, and Reach) be the burst skills available while on Gunsaber and make them available F1-F3.  Either make swapping to gunsaber just use the regular weapon swap key or reassign this mode to F4 or something so as to preserve muscle memory for us Warrior mains that F1=burst.

 

2.) Scrap Flow and return to 3 bars of adrenaline.   The old adrenaline system is tried-and-true, and it "flows" much more effectively/fluidly than Flow does (in part because max adrenaline =30 instead of max flow =100).  It also provides better continuity between Bladesworn and the other Warrior specs.

 

3.)  Return F1 bursts on your non-gunsaber weapon set.  This will be made easier by returning to the old bars of adrenaline as well.

 

These changes would solve all of the issues surrounding the clunkiness of DT (including the weapon-swap CD, standing still for an exorbitant amount of time, and having to hit essentially 3 buttons to get off 1 burst (F1, F2, 1-3)) .  Returning the burst to the non-gunsaber weapons allows makes this weapon set have much greater value and offers more dynamic play rather than relying on the gunsaber for the vast majority of offensive skills.  And returning to adrenaline makes the spec integrate so much more easily into all the traits and skills that Warrior has had up to this point.  

 

In short, adopting these changes would allow BS to offer a brand new weapon with 3 new burst abilities while no longer being bogged down with clunky DT mechanics or a different profession mechanic (flow) that does not mesh with the rest of the profession.  

 

Related skill change suggestions:

I realize that anime-style "charge up for your big attack" is part of the idea behind BS, but that feeling can be preserved by tweaking the Dragon Trigger skills.

 

Dragon Slash-Force: self-root with 1s activation.  Keep the 300 range.  T3 burst should do as much damage as Arc Divider

Dragon Slash-Boost and -Reach:  1/2s activation time; no self-root

 

This will make DS-F, the hardest hitter, be situational and likely require a CC to land.  But that's 90% of Warrior skills anyway, so we're used to it.  Moreover, the 300 range will keep it relatively useful.  And the self-root and 1s activation will offer plenty of counter-play.

 

Yes, the damage in PVE would have to be adjusted down to less eye-popping numbers.  The the greater ease of access of these skills and ability to use them without huge charge-ups should more than compensate for that.  Besides, I'd wager that people doing 350-450k in a hit isn't actually all that healthy for the game mode.

 

What about Triggerguard and Flicker Step?

Not needed anymore!  Their existence is predicated on the idea that you'll be standing rooted for up to 5s (which I think the vast majority of people realize is a very bad idea, especially in competitive modes).  Now that you're able to move freely and have at most a 1s activation time, these skills aren't needed.  They do offer some interesting abilities, though, and I could see them being recycled into BS utilities (most of which are pretty useless), especially flicker step.  But that's beyond the scope of this post.

 

What about Burst CDs?

Now that the bursts are no longer locked behind DT, they ought to have regular Burst CDs (8s customarily).  However, I would propose this one variation:

-When using a gunsaber burst, the skill used goes on 8s CD, but the other 2 burst skills that weren't used go on a 4s CD.

-Example: You use Dragon Slash-Force.  It goes on 8s CD.  DS-Boost and DS-reach go on 4s CD.

-This prevents you from bursting back-to-back on the same weapon, but it does allow you to use the un-used bursts faster.  Combined with judicious use of Lush Forest, and you could see rapid bursting from the gunsaber, which I think would be a neat dynamic--one that requires a high skill level to pull off well, and thus offers ways for highly skilled players to "raise the ceiling" of what Bladesworn has to offer.

 

What about DT-specific traits like Daring Dragon?

Yeah, they would need to be re-worked.  While a full treatment is beyond the scope of this post, I personally would like to see options for a more condi-oriented way to play BS.  BS's current focus on power-only builds is a serious design shortcoming, one that will greatly limit the variety of ways to play the spec.  

 

[Lan Deathrider.5910]

Anet, listen to ^that^ post.

[Salvatore.3749]

Since the last beta, I decided to play warrior and after over 200 pvp games as berserker and spellbreaker, I believe I can offer some better input. Warrior's specs became one of my favorite classes to play for pvp because it is unique, I know there are some kinks and tradeoffs with pvp for warrior, but I did play both 5v5 and 3v3. I had some epic moments rezzing my team and killing the enemy teams with Spellbreaker full counter ability combined with the elite banner. Thus, when I played Bladesworn for the second time around, I was seeking those epic moments, and I had them. 

Overall:

I had my epic moments. A lot of the epic moments came from the faster flow generation rate as that was an improvement. Using dragon slash and downing a necro while fighting 3v1 was epic. I found synergy with Might Makes Right in PvP (and even pve roaming), as I was able to generate might rapidly when I sheathed my gunsaber and heal while being hit. Plus, the aegis rework was nice. I did find myself using almost a near full charge or full charge more often than last Beta. I also found that utilizing physical skills and the Peak Performance Trait was wonderful for damage output in PvP. Bull's charge combined with dragon slash 1 left foes dazed for days. Dragon wasn't overpowered, but it did achieve several downs. As the main concerns from others was that this changed what a warrior is, I am not sure that is quite right now. This had a unique feel (loved the total concentration voice over from my beta character btw) because it has this unique mechanic that sets it apart from other especs. These updates made it feel more like a warrior than it did last time because the other traits didn't synergize well with it. In fact, some traits and some utility skills still do not feel quite right. I found solace with berserker stance for generating flow even faster. It almost felt like if I didn't bring berserker's stance, I was set up for failure in those matches as I couldn't unleash a full charge. That's not a bad thing as the play style could shift to lesser charged dragonslashes. However, in comparison to Spellbreaker and berserker, I have won most of matches with Spellbreaker (at least 120) using Sw/Wr & D/Sh with Shouts utility and achieved most kills and a good number of wins with Condi Berserker using Sw/Tor & Axe/Sh, this was another damage dealing class that I liked. It did fill another role of Roaming and Dueling in PvP. That was unique as I mostly play as a dps/support with Spellbreaker and aggressive tank as a berserker. This spec had survivability, but mostly if you didn't utilize the armaments. That was kind of a let down as I hoped the armaments would be more useful in pvp, and they werent. 

Also, the pistol synced well when coming out of downstate to achieve more flow. Using 5 and then 4 to just blast opponents felt nice. It added significant damage output that I enjoyed and wanted to see. 

The one thing that I want to see changed is that the Gunsaber be able to use sigils. That was disappointing that I couldn't customize my primary weapon set like I could my other weapon sets. Since you can't weapon swap fast, you don't get the benefit of weapon sigils. No need to craft legendary weapon sigils if I can't use them on my Gunsaber. Then Gunsaber could potentially be weaker than other weapons due to lack of sigil of force or sigil of battle. Maybe having the sigils activate on the dragon slash mechanic would be a fair tradeoff so we don't have Greatsword+?

For the cons:

There are some kinks with the Gunsaber that I am sure others noticed when playing.

1. In pve (with the little roaming I did) flow was not stored while mounting? That was kind of annoying to start flow over again. 
2. Can we get the ability for Gunsaber to use sigils?
3. Can we get the ability for Gunsaber to use sigils?
4. Can we get the ability for Gunsaber to use sigils?
5. Did I mention Gunsaber needs to use sigils? That was odd. We could equip 2 weapons, but only swap between Gunsaber and weapon set 1. It would be better to see sigil of hydromancy used while pulling out the Gunsaber or Sigil of Water that could heal our allies near us. 
6. Also, customizing the look of the Gunsaber is not a thing right now. I don't mind the way it looks, I actually like it, but since I know the shiny newness may fade, I would like to see that option. The ability to make aesthetic changes is a big part of GW2 and I think that option would be a nice to have since it is the primary weapon of the Bladesworn.
7. No ability to customize Gunsaber as defensive or offensive. I am not sure where the power coefficient comes from for the gunsaber, but I noticed that my power didn't change when I equipped the Gunsaber. So in theory, I can only make my gunsaber stronger by having another weapon equipped in PvE say, twilight with trinkets/armor. While it seems to be balanced now since the damage output on the skills is high (but not as high as before), that will be a problem if the skills are ever nerfed rendering Bladesworn weaker.
8. Also, a shorter cooldown time from the time Gunsaber is equipped or weapon swapped. 8 seconds was a bit too long. Maybe 6 seconds would feel more fluid. 

Pros:

1. Smoother playstyle this time around, especially for pvp. 
2. Flow generation was an improvement.
3. The improved Bladesword traits allowed for synergy with some traits Strength, Defense, Discipline, and Tactics. I liked that. Arms didn't seem to work well, but I liked the thought of attacking faster with the gunsaber..
4. Better damage output in pvp. Loved the stuns

Otherwise, well done. This felt like a different take on the warrior and I did like it. I know there may be other comments, but these are only what I saw. 

 

[Red Haired Savage.5430]

Looking at the bladesworn concept as a whole and how it operates they didn't create anything that warrior isn't already doing. 

• PVE
  • In high end PVE content it was a BS before and it'll be a BS still, which doesn't really take any CC capabilities.
    • Yes I know the burst is a CC if you trait, but it's wasted to use it on a breakbar unless you have no other options, looking at you Samarog.
  • Open world PVE most mobs are dead before you get to use the "super cool" dragon trigger, I mean seriously I actually struggled to get to kill a veteran without it dying before I had enough of a charge to do some meaningful damage or someone would come along and finish off the "almost" dead veteran while I'm charging the skill.  And honestly my lazy spellbreaker build killed them faster than I could on bladesworn while trying to use the dragon trigger and that's mostly auto attack.
• PVP
  • In PVP I can't comment as I don't do a ton of that but from reading a bit of the feedback it's rather lackluster it'll be stuck side node dueling, which it doesn't do that very well from what I heard. 
• WvW
  • For WvW about the only thing that it "might" do better is maybe shout heals, but that's purely because of the elite skill which warrior has better elites if you're shout healing because warrior's shout heals don't make up for enough of what other support classes bring to the table. 
    • Guardian for example brings staff support which has heals on it, mace/shield which has heals aoe blocks projectile absorb. Group AoE stability, area denial.
    • Firebrand has tomes which are broken as a profession mechanic, mantra boons on demand.
    • Scrapper brings lots of condi conversions, different kits for heals, condi cleansing/conversions. Mobile AoE stability and projectile block, barrier, super speed, stealth.  Ranged AoE res/finishing.
    • And in general they're both more of a constant heal pressure than warrior, which is more of a "burst" of healing which compared to other's bursts that they can push out for heals is really lackluster.
    • One thing a warrior can do about on par with scrappers is condition cleansing and the tactical reload could mean more potential condition removal.  Which we only remove the conditions while engineers convert them to boons, so us just removing conditions means less boon potential for the squad.
  • If you're trying to be damage in a WvW zerg then you'd have to be doing your bursts to do any decent damage which about the only one that's not easily avoided is the melee burst which means you'll be in the thick of things charging the dragon slash which if one thing I've learned in WvW if you're sitting still (especially in the front line) you're dying.

One thing I haven't said much about is the utility skills and honestly other than flow stabilizer they're all just cheap knockoffs of other profession's mechanics. 

• Electric fence is just a cheapened version of temporal curtain with no pull ability which is a big reason why mesmers use it. 
• Dragon spike mine is just a cheap knockoff of lightning reflexes on a longer CD that doesn't remove immobilize or give vigor, the damage is even the same with the same damage modifier, and they have to hit the mine to get the damage/cripple. 
• Bulletproof barrier is just wall of reflection (didn't even try to make it look different) without reflect, has a lower duration, on a shorter range about the only thing better about it is you have 3 charges of it but they're on a longer CD.

[Deckard.4120]

Anet missed the opportunity to do a better version of Yasuo (League of Legends) like hurricanes, insane critics with boons and knockups.

[Matt H.6142]

Beta 4 - Feeling much better, more fluid, less clunky.

[oscuro.9720]

I took my time compiling this feedback to be sure that I had at least most of what I could gather. I will keep this in the theme of my previous feedback post with a clear scope, limitations, etc. 

Scope: 

This is limited to competitive modes, predominantly dueling. I dueled virtually only players who are plat 1+ tier, with most duels being against a handful of friends who sit plat 2-3. This was against both current meta specs, off meta specs, and beta classes, with the majority of duels being against meta specs. There was also a small amount of wvw roaming and no pvp conducted during this beta on bladesworn. 

Time Played:

14 hours. 

Limitations:

Dueling is not a real game mode, actual game mode experience was limited for a variety of reasons I won't get into here. Therefore, this analysis is only of the mechanical ability of the class in a fight, not its ability to fit into a meta in the current competitive game modes. 

Critical Issues

These issues are critical and need to be addressed for the spec to compete with the good especs released and meta builds in my opinion. 

 

Problem 1: There is no stow on gunsaber.

This is critical for the spec being mechanically competitive in high-tier competitive play imo. 

 

Problem 2: The spec has low melee pressure (and low damage overall). 

This can heavily stem from blooming fire being hard to land, and not having a damage payoff that justifies a 3/4 second cooldown. With no might, it will cap out at 3k on glass targets in full zerk gear. Landing Blooming Fire on a CC'd target is very fluid, but very depressing, as the work spent setting up the CC is essentially wasted (and no, dragon slash doesn't charge fast enough to land a melee slash before a player sunbreaks if they are a half way decent player). Realistically, it should have nearly identical numbers to Maul in terms of damage and range, another 3/4 second cast time, damage only skill that has more range, more damage, vulnerability, and a unique buff to the next attack on a short cooldown. This would look something like consistently hitting north of 4k unbuffed with a 240 range. 

In fact, the whole gunsaber should be compared to ranger greatsword when looking at balance. It is markedly behind (for a few reasons that will be further enumerated later) ranger greatsword, and it is very clear. 

 

Problem 3: The spec has low melee sustain/mitigation

Warrior has been playing an in-and-out style for a while now due to low levels of mitigation. The gunsaber does little to address this. It gives ranged attacks, which is great, but it provides no security to melee pressure, despite have a melee auto attack and two melee damage skills. It gets out dps'd in melee by the majority of classes because they can mitigate the incoming damage and deal damage that Warrior has no means of mitigating. Normally, this mitigation would come from Whirlwind providing an evade out, but this spec has no such ability. 

Some specific examples of how to build mobility into the kit would include: Blind on Blooming Fire, Weakness on Artillery Slash instead of cripple, changing the projectile block on Cyclone Trigger into a regular block, and an evade frame on Break Step. Each of these would build in small amounts of mitigation that could help Bladesworn be able to actually exist in the melee space for some amount of time, and not get completely railed while doing no damage. 

 

Problem 4: This spec is SLOW

The movement speed changes left the spec feeling very slow. I can understand the change to Dragon Trigger - Boost because of the collision physics and the alternative changes being highly intensive, but break step was slowed down and the class feels like its stagnated because of it.

There are some specific things Break Step needs, like not stopping movement when casting, which makes the skill feel very clunky. Additionally, it either needs to cover more ground (600 range), or be faster and have an evade frame. As it is now, its a lackluster mobility skill that doesn't give it the necessary mobility to kite effectively on a weapon set that desperately needs it. 

 

Less Critical Issues

These issues are less critical and won't make or break the spec, but would be welcome changes. 

 

Problem 1: Reach doesn't reach

The range on Dragon Trigger - Reach is short. It should be more around 1200. It is already easy to avoid moving side to side at 600+ range (maybe shorter than that) with fairly mundane damage. 1200 would reach a few more of those people running away in a straight line that it comes up just short of. 

 

Problem 2: Flow feels like an unnecessary burden on Dragon Trigger. 

I address this in my post titled "How to use Flow?", but Dragon Trigger already has multiple barriers to use. Flow seems like it is placing an additional undue burden on its use at the beginning of the fight, especially when Dragon Trigger would be an extremely potent opener. My suggestion would be to remove the Flow requirement from charging Dragon Trigger and have it amplify Gunsaber skills for a set flow cost per skill. This would be more in line with the theme of flow (being more effective when you are in a flow state), and remove the block to using dragon trigger throughout the fight. 

This is obviously a fairly expansive change, so its kind of a pipe dream. Making those alterations to the skills baseline, as put above, would probably serve the purpose, and Flow isn't really killing anything. This was just more of an idea I had xD

 

Problem 3: Lack of Explosion traits

It would be cool if explosions served a real purpose other than being a skill designation. 

 

Problem 4: Traits have some lower-utility functions that could be improved. 

Some examples;

Swift as the Wind; Superspeed would be more useful for a kiting spec that struggles with Chill. 1s on a 5s ICD or 2s on a 10s ICD would be really nice. 

Fierce as Fire: Needs a higher multiplier or an easier way to maintain max stacks (such as having acquiring a new stack refreshing old stacks)

Unshakable Mountain: More barrier would be nice, given the cost of achieving it (last charge of an ammo skill) is costly. 

 

Problem 5/Bug 1: Dragon Scale Defense currently has a bug in that the 60s ICD doesn't apply. PLEASE don't fix this, that one stack of stability on DT use was a difference maker. 

 

The Good Things from this Beta

Good Thing 1: The damage on Dragon Trigger was much improved

The traits implemented (predominantly the might on Unyielding Dragon) made a massive difference. Capping at 12k consistently on Tower Lord golems with no additional buffs is much better. The range could probably be a little tighter (bring up the lower end), but it was definitely better than the first beta. 

 

Good Thing 2: The charge speed change helped get off higher charge slashes more reliably

This increase in speed was also quite impactful. Definitely a positive change. 

 

Good Thing 3: Trait Changes

The trait changes were great! Definitely positive changes in the first alterations. 

 

Thank you for reading my feedback if you did Anet! TY for your continued work on the only MMO I play (even if I take month long breaks, can't keep it up forever ;) ) :)

[Katary.7096]

Here is my feedback for the Bladesworn from beta event #4.

General

- The Gunsaber needs the ability to "stow weapon", primarily for gameplay purposes, since that command is often used to cancel skills. Given the fact that the Bladesworn has a sheath for the Gunsaber it would obviously be great if the Bladesworn were to actually sheath the Gunsaber when "stow weapon" is used.

- Personally I would like to see sheath/ unsheath Gunsaber work like Engineer's kits do. In combination with that I would also restore the Warrior's ability to weapon swap in combat. Assuming that the current design of Bladesworn/ Gunsaber is permanent it should at least be possible to switch back and forth between Gunsaber and the second weaponset with the weapon swap key bind.

- The positions of the "sheath/ unsheath Gunsaber" and "Dragon Trigger" buttons should be swapped. That way the F1 key bind is used to access Bladesworn's version of burst skills and is consistent with other Warrior specializations.

- Accessing "Dragon Trigger" should be possible while the Bladesworn is on the second weaponset. Having to unsheath the Gunsaber just to immediately resheath it while charging a Dragonslash is such nonsense.

Traits

Unseen Sword: The attack triggered by this trait should be unblockable.

Dragonscale Defense: In addition to the current effect this trait should grant 2 seconds of Protection and Resolution.

Master tier major traits: The traits in this tier all share the problem that they are promoting gameplay in which various ammo skills are being spammed for the express purpose of activating the trait's effect. The effect of the actual ammo skill in question is often completely irrelevant. The best example for this are probably the Dragon Trigger skills "Triggerguard" and "Flicker Step". I suggest to find other requirements to activate these traits that are widely available to different kinds of Warrior builds. The "Fierce as Fire" trait was notably improved from it's beta event #2 version, while "Lush Forest" has been nerfed far too harshly.

Pistol

I would like to see this weapon changed to a primarily mobility focused off-hand option, as it currently fills the same niche as off-hand axe. With Bladesworn having only 1 non-Gunsaber weaponset it is impossible to use both of these options in a power damage focused build which means that the superior choice will simply crowd out the weaker one.

Gunsaber

As long as the Gunsaber is a mandatory weaponset for a specialization which cannot access their normal weapon swap in combat the tools it provides need to be seriously impressive. This is unfortunately not the case right now.

Gunsaber Skill #1 Chain: There is nothing special about these skills. They don't inflict conditions, they don't provide the Bladesworn with boons, they don't have increased critical damage, they don't have a requirement to generate additional flow, they deal damage and that is it. The skill #1 chain on Warrior's axe does the same thing and it happens to be better at it, why is the cornerstone of the Bladesworn gameplay, the new shiny weapon mechanic so disappointing?

Gunsaber Skill #2 Blooming Fire: This skill deals damage with no secondary benefits and the damage isn't even that high. The recharge of 25 seconds is way too long.

Gunsaber Skill #3 Artillery Slash: It's a melee attack that is also a ranged attack, has decent damage output and even inflicts 2 seconds of Cripple. In stark contrast to skill #2 this ability is actually interesting and by far the best the Gunsaber has to offer, please give Gunsaber more skills like that. 35 seconds to restore a charge is taking too long though.

Gunsaber Skill #4 Cyclone Trigger: How about some bonus when this ability actually blocks incoming projectiles? Also upgrading the projectile block to a reflect would be nice. Needs a shorter recharge time. (PvE, maybe even competitive modes)

Gunsaber Skill #5 Break Step: Longer range, faster ammo recharge. Add a rush component to this skill that can hit a single opponent to daze/ stun them. Apply blind to enemies at the starting location, single application only, no pulsing.

Armaments

Combat Stimulant: Taking lethal damage while in "Stim State" should negate the death blow and remove the "Stim State" buff. The delayed healing would not activate.

Flow Stabilizer: Should grant Stability. The flow rate bonus is weaker now that Dragon Slashes cost 50% less flow compared to beta event #2. Perhaps this could grant a damage bonus instead of even more additional flow rate when the boon is already present?

Bulletproof Barrier: Blocked projectiles should explode when colliding with the barrier, damaging enemies in close proximity to the barrier.

Electric Fence: Instead of applying Immobilize to foes who are already crippled make it so that crippled foes cannot pass through the fence at all. (Similar to Guardian's "Line of Warding".)

Dragonspike Mine: The skill's description doesn't state the range for the backward evade. I'm not sure how useful the recharge on "Dragon Trigger" is on this skill, it is a pretty cool effect though. Decent skill overall.

Tactical Reload: Is a good skill. Probably the best Armament.

Thank you for reading.

[Lonecap.4105]

8 hours ago, oscuro.9720 said:

I took my time compiling this feedback to be sure that I had at least most of what I could gather. I will keep this in the theme of my previous feedback post with a clear scope, limitations, etc. 

Scope: 

This is limited to competitive modes, predominantly dueling. I dueled virtually only players who are plat 1+ tier, with most duels being against a handful of friends who sit plat 2-3. This was against both current meta specs, off meta specs, and beta classes, with the majority of duels being against meta specs. There was also a small amount of wvw roaming and no pvp conducted during this beta on bladesworn. 

Time Played:

14 hours. 

Limitations:

Dueling is not a real game mode, actual game mode experience was limited for a variety of reasons I won't get into here. Therefore, this analysis is only of the mechanical ability of the class in a fight, not its ability to fit into a meta in the current competitive game modes. 

Critical Issues

These issues are critical and need to be addressed for the spec to compete with the good especs released and meta builds in my opinion. 

 

Problem 1: There is no stow on gunsaber.

This is critical for the spec being mechanically competitive in high-tier competitive play imo. 

 

Problem 2: The spec has low melee pressure (and low damage overall). 

This can heavily stem from blooming fire being hard to land, and not having a damage payoff that justifies a 3/4 second cooldown. With no might, it will cap out at 3k on glass targets in full zerk gear. Landing Blooming Fire on a CC'd target is very fluid, but very depressing, as the work spent setting up the CC is essentially wasted (and no, dragon slash doesn't charge fast enough to land a melee slash before a player sunbreaks if they are a half way decent player). Realistically, it should have nearly identical numbers to Maul in terms of damage and range, another 3/4 second cast time, damage only skill that has more range, more damage, vulnerability, and a unique buff to the next attack on a short cooldown. This would look something like consistently hitting north of 4k unbuffed with a 240 range. 

In fact, the whole gunsaber should be compared to ranger greatsword when looking at balance. It is markedly behind (for a few reasons that will be further enumerated later) ranger greatsword, and it is very clear. 

 

Problem 3: The spec has low melee sustain/mitigation

Warrior has been playing an in-and-out style for a while now due to low levels of mitigation. The gunsaber does little to address this. It gives ranged attacks, which is great, but it provides no security to melee pressure, despite have a melee auto attack and two melee damage skills. It gets out dps'd in melee by the majority of classes because they can mitigate the incoming damage and deal damage that Warrior has no means of mitigating. Normally, this mitigation would come from Whirlwind providing an evade out, but this spec has no such ability. 

Some specific examples of how to build mobility into the kit would include: Blind on Blooming Fire, Weakness on Artillery Slash instead of cripple, changing the projectile block on Cyclone Trigger into a regular block, and an evade frame on Break Step. Each of these would build in small amounts of mitigation that could help Bladesworn be able to actually exist in the melee space for some amount of time, and not get completely railed while doing no damage. 

 

Problem 4: This spec is SLOW

The movement speed changes left the spec feeling very slow. I can understand the change to Dragon Trigger - Boost because of the collision physics and the alternative changes being highly intensive, but break step was slowed down and the class feels like its stagnated because of it.

There are some specific things Break Step needs, like not stopping movement when casting, which makes the skill feel very clunky. Additionally, it either needs to cover more ground (600 range), or be faster and have an evade frame. As it is now, its a lackluster mobility skill that doesn't give it the necessary mobility to kite effectively on a weapon set that desperately needs it. 

 

Less Critical Issues

These issues are less critical and won't make or break the spec, but would be welcome changes. 

 

Problem 1: Reach doesn't reach

The range on Dragon Trigger - Reach is short. It should be more around 1200. It is already easy to avoid moving side to side at 600+ range (maybe shorter than that) with fairly mundane damage. 1200 would reach a few more of those people running away in a straight line that it comes up just short of. 

 

Problem 2: Flow feels like an unnecessary burden on Dragon Trigger. 

I address this in my post titled "How to use Flow?", but Dragon Trigger already has multiple barriers to use. Flow seems like it is placing an additional undue burden on its use at the beginning of the fight, especially when Dragon Trigger would be an extremely potent opener. My suggestion would be to remove the Flow requirement from charging Dragon Trigger and have it amplify Gunsaber skills for a set flow cost per skill. This would be more in line with the theme of flow (being more effective when you are in a flow state), and remove the block to using dragon trigger throughout the fight. 

This is obviously a fairly expansive change, so its kind of a pipe dream. Making those alterations to the skills baseline, as put above, would probably serve the purpose, and Flow isn't really killing anything. This was just more of an idea I had xD

 

Problem 3: Lack of Explosion traits

It would be cool if explosions served a real purpose other than being a skill designation. 

 

Problem 4: Traits have some lower-utility functions that could be improved. 

Some examples;

Swift as the Wind; Superspeed would be more useful for a kiting spec that struggles with Chill. 1s on a 5s ICD or 2s on a 10s ICD would be really nice. 

Fierce as Fire: Needs a higher multiplier or an easier way to maintain max stacks (such as having acquiring a new stack refreshing old stacks)

Unshakable Mountain: More barrier would be nice, given the cost of achieving it (last charge of an ammo skill) is costly. 

 

Problem 5/Bug 1: Dragon Scale Defense currently has a bug in that the 60s ICD doesn't apply. PLEASE don't fix this, that one stack of stability on DT use was a difference maker. 

 

The Good Things from this Beta

Good Thing 1: The damage on Dragon Trigger was much improved

The traits implemented (predominantly the might on Unyielding Dragon) made a massive difference. Capping at 12k consistently on Tower Lord golems with no additional buffs is much better. The range could probably be a little tighter (bring up the lower end), but it was definitely better than the first beta. 

 

Good Thing 2: The charge speed change helped get off higher charge slashes more reliably

This increase in speed was also quite impactful. Definitely a positive change. 

 

Good Thing 3: Trait Changes

The trait changes were great! Definitely positive changes in the first alterations. 

 

Thank you for reading my feedback if you did Anet! TY for your continued work on the only MMO I play (even if I take month long breaks, can't keep it up forever 😉 ) 🙂

This is really great and accurate feedback, I agree with you on every point. Hopefully CmC sees this.

[Lan Deathrider.5910]

8 hours ago, oscuro.9720 said:

I took my time compiling this feedback to be sure that I had at least most of what I could gather. I will keep this in the theme of my previous feedback post with a clear scope, limitations, etc. 

Scope: 

This is limited to competitive modes, predominantly dueling. I dueled virtually only players who are plat 1+ tier, with most duels being against a handful of friends who sit plat 2-3. This was against both current meta specs, off meta specs, and beta classes, with the majority of duels being against meta specs. There was also a small amount of wvw roaming and no pvp conducted during this beta on bladesworn. 

Time Played:

14 hours. 

Limitations:

Dueling is not a real game mode, actual game mode experience was limited for a variety of reasons I won't get into here. Therefore, this analysis is only of the mechanical ability of the class in a fight, not its ability to fit into a meta in the current competitive game modes. 

Critical Issues

These issues are critical and need to be addressed for the spec to compete with the good especs released and meta builds in my opinion. 

 

Problem 1: There is no stow on gunsaber.

This is critical for the spec being mechanically competitive in high-tier competitive play imo. 

 

Problem 2: The spec has low melee pressure (and low damage overall). 

This can heavily stem from blooming fire being hard to land, and not having a damage payoff that justifies a 3/4 second cooldown. With no might, it will cap out at 3k on glass targets in full zerk gear. Landing Blooming Fire on a CC'd target is very fluid, but very depressing, as the work spent setting up the CC is essentially wasted (and no, dragon slash doesn't charge fast enough to land a melee slash before a player sunbreaks if they are a half way decent player). Realistically, it should have nearly identical numbers to Maul in terms of damage and range, another 3/4 second cast time, damage only skill that has more range, more damage, vulnerability, and a unique buff to the next attack on a short cooldown. This would look something like consistently hitting north of 4k unbuffed with a 240 range. 

In fact, the whole gunsaber should be compared to ranger greatsword when looking at balance. It is markedly behind (for a few reasons that will be further enumerated later) ranger greatsword, and it is very clear. 

 

Problem 3: The spec has low melee sustain/mitigation

Warrior has been playing an in-and-out style for a while now due to low levels of mitigation. The gunsaber does little to address this. It gives ranged attacks, which is great, but it provides no security to melee pressure, despite have a melee auto attack and two melee damage skills. It gets out dps'd in melee by the majority of classes because they can mitigate the incoming damage and deal damage that Warrior has no means of mitigating. Normally, this mitigation would come from Whirlwind providing an evade out, but this spec has no such ability. 

Some specific examples of how to build mobility into the kit would include: Blind on Blooming Fire, Weakness on Artillery Slash instead of cripple, changing the projectile block on Cyclone Trigger into a regular block, and an evade frame on Break Step. Each of these would build in small amounts of mitigation that could help Bladesworn be able to actually exist in the melee space for some amount of time, and not get completely railed while doing no damage. 

 

Problem 4: This spec is SLOW

The movement speed changes left the spec feeling very slow. I can understand the change to Dragon Trigger - Boost because of the collision physics and the alternative changes being highly intensive, but break step was slowed down and the class feels like its stagnated because of it.

There are some specific things Break Step needs, like not stopping movement when casting, which makes the skill feel very clunky. Additionally, it either needs to cover more ground (600 range), or be faster and have an evade frame. As it is now, its a lackluster mobility skill that doesn't give it the necessary mobility to kite effectively on a weapon set that desperately needs it. 

 

Less Critical Issues

These issues are less critical and won't make or break the spec, but would be welcome changes. 

 

Problem 1: Reach doesn't reach

The range on Dragon Trigger - Reach is short. It should be more around 1200. It is already easy to avoid moving side to side at 600+ range (maybe shorter than that) with fairly mundane damage. 1200 would reach a few more of those people running away in a straight line that it comes up just short of. 

 

Problem 2: Flow feels like an unnecessary burden on Dragon Trigger. 

I address this in my post titled "How to use Flow?", but Dragon Trigger already has multiple barriers to use. Flow seems like it is placing an additional undue burden on its use at the beginning of the fight, especially when Dragon Trigger would be an extremely potent opener. My suggestion would be to remove the Flow requirement from charging Dragon Trigger and have it amplify Gunsaber skills for a set flow cost per skill. This would be more in line with the theme of flow (being more effective when you are in a flow state), and remove the block to using dragon trigger throughout the fight. 

This is obviously a fairly expansive change, so its kind of a pipe dream. Making those alterations to the skills baseline, as put above, would probably serve the purpose, and Flow isn't really killing anything. This was just more of an idea I had xD

 

Problem 3: Lack of Explosion traits

It would be cool if explosions served a real purpose other than being a skill designation. 

 

Problem 4: Traits have some lower-utility functions that could be improved. 

Some examples;

Swift as the Wind; Superspeed would be more useful for a kiting spec that struggles with Chill. 1s on a 5s ICD or 2s on a 10s ICD would be really nice. 

Fierce as Fire: Needs a higher multiplier or an easier way to maintain max stacks (such as having acquiring a new stack refreshing old stacks)

Unshakable Mountain: More barrier would be nice, given the cost of achieving it (last charge of an ammo skill) is costly. 

 

Problem 5/Bug 1: Dragon Scale Defense currently has a bug in that the 60s ICD doesn't apply. PLEASE don't fix this, that one stack of stability on DT use was a difference maker. 

 

The Good Things from this Beta

Good Thing 1: The damage on Dragon Trigger was much improved

The traits implemented (predominantly the might on Unyielding Dragon) made a massive difference. Capping at 12k consistently on Tower Lord golems with no additional buffs is much better. The range could probably be a little tighter (bring up the lower end), but it was definitely better than the first beta. 

 

Good Thing 2: The charge speed change helped get off higher charge slashes more reliably

This increase in speed was also quite impactful. Definitely a positive change. 

 

Good Thing 3: Trait Changes

The trait changes were great! Definitely positive changes in the first alterations. 

 

Thank you for reading my feedback if you did Anet! TY for your continued work on the only MMO I play (even if I take month long breaks, can't keep it up forever 😉 ) 🙂

I'm going to second all of this, though I personally feel that the ammo use traits should be on any ammo use rather than the last charge/first charge as pegging them at last/first charge only leads to bad gameplay. Balance accordingly.

There also needs to be more explosion traits. As it is now it just seems tacked on for fluff, which is a shame and a missed opportunity. You guys added explosions to some core weapons, so please consider also adding some explosion traits to Arms, Discipline, and possibly Strength so that the spec has more synergy with core trait lines.

Oscuro 100% nailed what needs to change on the Gunsaber skills functionally. I'll also add that the PvE CDs are way too long and that you should consider using the PvP/WvW CDs on PvE at release and tweak them from there if needed.

One last thing that I would add would be for Blooming Fire's explosions to have a range component to them so that the skill strikes in melee and at range similar to how Tremor works. That coupled with Artillery Slash would let the Gunsaber switch hit which would be important considering how much the spec is forced to stay in Gunsaber.

[Malus.2184]

Addendum:

After the beta event I got full Deadeye for my Thief.

As Deadeye I can Kneel easily. I can Dodge in Kneel and remain in Kneel when the Dodge finishes.

On Bladesworn if I go into Dragon Trigger and Dodge I lose Dragon Trigger and Dragon trigger is a lot more to difficult to get resources for.

The self root of Dragon Trigger is already a massive mistake on a melee attack. This interaction just makes it even worse and objevtively inferior to a ranged mechanic where the self root can at least be justified.

[Vancho.8750]

So I was thinking about Tactical reload It is excessively simple and ridiculously OP on paper and a future balancing nightmare.
I think it doesn't actually "Flow" (Ha puns) well with bladesworn, feels like a tack on.
So how can it be part of the elite but still keep the idea behind it. 
Ill turn it little bit complicated but it will be cool and powerful and even might god forbid "balanced' .
So to go with the specialization it should go along with the new system of Flow and dragon trigger.
You press the elite it gives Distortion, it fills the flow to max and the character starts to cast dragon trigger, the distortion last enough for full charge.

All cooldowns(or the ammo skills if it supposed to be boring) are reduced by x amount based on target hit by the trigger of course without reducing the CD on the elite. The CD part can be cut actually, being able to go into dragon trigger whenever you press the elite with distortion seems fine enough.

The other utility skills Electric Fence should take the projectile block from Bulletproof Barrier and Bulletproof Barrier should be made into Explosive rounds or something like that 5 6 stacks on fast recharge that is something like grenades on engi not as good but with some finisher to combo with stuff. Maybe they give different debuff or buff based on how many of them are used.   

[Ovark.2514]

On 12/4/2021 at 4:12 AM, Argamir.3651 said:

Agree with others that this spec is currently not in a very good spot (pvp/wvw wise). I'd love to see fast hands baseline, would mean you're not shoehorned into discipline on every build. I also liked the suggestion from someone else to make f2/f3 ground-targeted, would give you so much more flexibility. I also think F3 needs more projectile speed and aoe in competitive gamemodes. Damage overall is also not good. 

Also please give back stability on flow stabilizer, just add it to what it currently does really 🙂 

I think fast hands is fine as is, but the baseline weapon swap speed on warrior should be like 7-8sec. That way it would flow better with burst cd and the Discipline traitline wouldn't feel so mandatory.

[Ovark.2514]

1) Gunsaber should be on normal weapon swap as if it were a real weapon.

 

2) The Gunsaber skill icons and Dragon Trigger skill icons should be much more visually distinct from one-another

 

3) Lush Forest needs the ICD removed. It's annoying to feel like you need to wait after using each skill to make sure to get value from lush forest.

 

4) All Warrior utility skills except Stomp, Bulls Charge, Kick, and Rampage should be useable without canceling Dragon Trigger. OR at the very least every Armament skill should be useable in Dragon Trigger without canceling it.

 

5) Immortal Dragon needs to heal for much more in sPvP and/or the protection it grants must last longer (3s Min)

 

6) Dragon's Roar should trigger Guns and Glory for EACH ammo used.

 

7) Dragon Slash should not be so easy to sidestep or jump over.

 

I will update this list as I think of new things.

[Artimex.4172]

As a warrior main with nearly 2000 hours into the class, I feel like I should add my two cents here. Lots of good changes have been made since we first got our hands on the Bladesworn, but there are still a few I feel should be made. It's worth noting that I only played Bladesworn in PvE and that I actually quite like how this spec plays.

First off I'd like to talk a bit about the changes I thought were really good. Setting it so that Dragon Slash no longer triggers the weapon swap cooldown was a fantastic change, as I personally wasn't a fan of essentially being forced to camp the gunblade to keep up DPS. Now, with Fast Hands, the weapon swap cooldown is short enough that I can swap off of the Gunsabre to use my weapon skills after a Dragon Slash and have the weapon swap cooldown end a bit before Dragon Slash comes off cooldown. Mixes up the Bladesworn's playstyle a bit and gives me a reason to swap off of gunblade. The increased charge rate and reduced flow cost of Dragon Slash are pretty great changes too, as it makes Bladesworn play faster and more fluidly (which I like due to my preference for faster-paced playstyles), even though it now kinda feels like Berserker with extra steps. Not sure how that could be fixed though.

 

Now for some changes I think would be great:

 

-The biggest one I'd like to suggest would be the ability go straight into Dragon Trigger regardless of if the Gunsabre is drawn or not. It's a bit clunky having to draw the Gunsabre first before Dragon Slash can be used.  

-Being able to stow the Gunsabre doesn't sound like it would make that much of a difference, but it's a change I would actually quite like to see.

-It would be fantastic to be able to access our core bursts while the gunsabre is not drawn, even if they were just tier one bursts.
-It would be quite nice for Dragon Slash - Boost and Reach to receive ground or camera targeting functionality so they can be aimed manually.

-I would also really like to see Bladesworn be able to swap weapons in combat, or at least have Fast Hands made a baseline warrior trait, as Fast Hands makes the warrior in general flow (heh) so well thanks to the all the short cooldowns on the warrior's weapon skills.

-Warrior burst skills have always been on F1, so it's jarring to have Dragon Trigger be on F2. Out of muscle memory I keep trying to press F1 to Dragon Slash and end up swapping away from Gunblade. Perhaps swap these buttons around? Or if Bladesworn weapon swapping just isn't happening allow the weapon swap button to swap you to the Gunblade when pressed while in combat, if possible, and have F1 be for Dragon Trigger.
-Perhaps the ability to set it so that the Gunsabre is always visible on our model? 
-I would also love to see the ability to move during Dragon Trigger, even if just at a slow walk, or at the very least a fix so that the slightest press of a movement key no longer causes you to exit Dragon Trigger and consume your charges.

Finally, some other things I feel are worth talking about:

-The Bladesworn's damage has been hit a bit too hard. I understand Dragon Slash was pretty darn powerful previously, but currently it feels far too weak. The Gunblade itself is also rather pathetic, and with absurdly long cooldowns to boot. I feel like those cooldowns should definitely be lowered. I know Tactical Reload affects the Gunblade skills, but 25-40 seconds seems a bit high, especially if you don't run Tactical Reload. Perhaps some sort of interaction with flow where high flow reduces Gunblade skill cooldowns? Most of the skills themselves seem fine, they just need to do more damage. The projectile reflect on Cyclone Trigger also seems a tad short, but not sure if a full 2 seconds instead of 1.5 seconds would be too much.

 

-Break Step could really use an evade attached to it, as I feel the skill just doesn't do enough to warrant such a massive cooldown. A slightly longer range would be nice too, perhaps 600 instead of 450, but just a short bit of evade would help immensely.

-It would be great if charges were not immediately consumed while charging Dragon Slash, and would only be consumed after Dragon Slash connects/misses/whatever happens. With how it works now, getting knocked out of Dragon Trigger or moving even an inch causes all of your stored charges to be lost even if you didn't swing, which just doesn't feel good. Perhaps charges that will be consumed by a slash could be highlighted on the interface, marking that they will be consumed, and are only consumed after slashing.

 

-To be honest, I'm still rather disappointed with pistol. It doesn't really bring anything to the table that another off-hand doesn't. Sure, it can stack the explosion buff, but the gunblade already does a pretty good job of doing that. Pistol has no CC like off-hand mace or shield, less damage than off-hand axe, and it's lunge is rather short. I'm also not even sure why Dragon's Roar has pushback on it, the amount is so miniscule that it may as well not even do it. Honestly wish warriors just got dual pistols, or at least main-hand pistols, because warrior did not need another melee weapon, and that is essentially what off-hand pistol is. Warriors have no mid-ranged option, which is why I was hoping for at least main-hand pistol. I understand it might be a bit late in development for it, but it would be great to have access to main-hand pistol as well, so we have more choices. Warriors are the weapon masters after all, and Spellbreaker got dual daggers, so it would be great for Bladesworn to get dual pistols.

-One idea I have for the pistol is giving Dragon's Roar additional effects based on how much ammunition is fired when activating the skill. Expending 1-3 shots could also inflict cripple, 1 second per bullet. Expending 4 or 5 shots causes a 1-2 second daze. Expending all 6 shots causes the daze to be upgraded to a stun. This way Dragon's Roar could potentially be used to setup for a Dragon Slash and it would give Pistol more of a reason to be picked over shield or off-hand axe/mace.

-Most of the utilites seem rather lackluster to be honest, and they don't really synergize with anything. The only ones I feel are even worth talking about are Flow Stabilizer and Dragonspike Mine. Dragonspike Mine either needs to count as an ammunition skill with one charge so Tactical Reload can reset it, or a shorter cooldown, because 35 seconds is a bit too much. 25 seconds seems fine to me, if it's CD were to be reduced. Now Flow Stabilizer. Not really a fan of this skill mostly due to how required it feels. To me it feels like Bladesworn can't function without it. I tried several times in the ~8 hours I spent testing the spec to play without it and it seemed like it took forever to build up flow. Seems to me like it's functionality should be moved to a trait, or Flow gain from other sources should be increased so Flow Stabilizer feels less like a required skill. Tactical Reload suffers from this same problem honestly, but that's pretty much a product of the Bladesworn's reliance on ammunition skills.

-The only trait I feel like is worth mentioning is Lush Forest, which is also... not great. It encourages not using the second charge on any of the ammuntion skills, and isn't that the same reason why you guys changed the Firebrand's mantras?

-Swapping to the Gunblade really should count as a weapon swap for the Purposes of the Superior Sigil of Vision and other similar sigils. You want it to be our secondary weapon after all, so why remove that functionality?

 

Conclusion: Bladesworn is a conceptually solid spec that is good fun to play and only really needs a few more changes before it becomes great.