Fixing Vindicator with (hopefully) low dev hours

[Oldyoung.6109]

As the title suggests these changes shouldn't be difficult but anet might have some bureaucratic or code based CM .

 

 

The main problem with Vindicator is the removal of dodging which is a core part of GW2 combat with the specialization mechanic; obviously removing the mechanic would bring us back to the drawing board but we don't have to go that far.

 

So our first task is have our cake and eat it too.

I feel the best way to do this is to decouple the leap from dodging while keeping the mechanics in place by putting the leaps on the F-bar either as an F3 or replacing the F2.

This of course opens up our regular dodge play however the leaps should still cost endurance to use, creating a choice whether to use a leap or a dodge.

 

Time for some armchair trait development.

Forerunner of Death: gives you 3 dodges.(Death Drop has a faster animation/cast but is otherwise unchanged)

My reasoning here is Death Drop is (with some slight tweaks) your main damage boost so choosing between dodging and waiting longer to refresh your damage buff is a very impactful decision.

 

Vassals of the Empire: gain 10 endurance for each target hit by Imperial Impact, enemy's and allies included up to 10 targets total.

My reasoning for this is right now Imperial Impact feel much less impactful than your other choices but with this change it would reward skilled positioning and it's not like you're consistently gonna hit 10 targets in a boss fight.

 

Saint of zu Heltzer: is honestly fine the way it is with a little extra endurance the barrier and healing can make a scourge blush.

This particular leap is incredibly strong already even losing your double dodge doesn't slow it down so yeah removing the reduced endurance in favor of 2 dodges would just mean nerfs later.

 

Reaver's Curse: Functionality removed replaced with: gain a stacking buff for every 50 endurance spent for 10 seconds each stack increases damage (you could conceivably split strike/condi here) by 5% stacks up to 5 times.

Reasoning for this you would never take Reaver's Curse over Song of Arboreum unless you were like me and didn't see that it was a max of 5 targets and thought it would be good with Imperial Impact.

Also a 25% damage buff seems like alot but keep in mind 3 stacks will be easy in a true dps build 4 stacks doable but 5 will be hard within 10 seconds without some extra endurance.(besides all that vindy is only benching around 30k atm)

 

Leviathan Strength:reduce the cooldown of legendary alliance skills by 2 seconds when you use a leap. 1-2 second cooldown.

If we nuke the F2 in favor of dodge this seems like a reasonable tradeoff the icd is just there for Saint's Shield.

 

Otherwise skills traits that rely on the F2 could easily just use the leap i only focused on the one's that needed a rework if it goes away and Angsiyan's Trust could do with a bit of a buff but it's a solid enough trait.

 

Time for more armchair development this time with skills.

Scavenger Burst: increase Quickness duration from 4 seconds to 8 seconds no longer gives duration on hit instead removes 1 condition per target hit.

The main thrust here is to make the utility skills always do the important part (movement,condi clear,stun break) regardless of the flip while keeping the flavor of aforementioned flip.

 

Urn of Saint Viktor: increased cast time to 1 second

 

Drop Urn of Saint Viktor: removed cast time.

I saw someone suggest this on a yt video to improve the feel of the skill and also it would be closer to GW1 functionality so i figured I'd mention it.

There's also something to be said for reducing the upkeep or letting self heals in since you can't do much else while you're holding the urn it wouldn't hurt to reward some basic foresight.

 

 

Now then onto the Greatsword:

Increase the auto attack range to 180 from 130 so when i open with the 2 (240 range) i don't feel like a moron hitting air.

the GS feels great to me i don't mind the dps is a bit lower than sword/sword when i can hit 5 targets, it's a different tool for a different job not a worse one.

Although the animation for Eternity's Requiem could maybe be a tiny bit slower for flavor, function i don't have an issue.

 

 

I saw a bunch of other people playing armchair developer and thought it looked fun, but tell me; what do YOU think of my ideas?

 

 

[mdrave.3145]

I'd love a choice between leap and dodge in fight.

[MatyrGustav.6210]

I like the new dodge. i use the healing version, and i like that its based on endurance. It has good synergy with Ventari.

 

What i would like is if it was done similar to the Daredevil and we had 3 different looking dodges depending on the trait selected. 

[Kidel.2057]

There can be really much less effort. There is really no need to change the spec so drastically. The dodge is fine, it just needs some number tweaking to be faster and more useful. Saint's Shield is already pretty good, they just need to make the other 2 dodges more similat to the good one. 

The biggest effort honestly is on F2 and Urn. Urn has to go away, simple as that, be changed completely into something else entirely that doesn't kill you and can't get interrupted. F2 needs to be split in F2 and F3 to have a dedicated button for loadout management. I also think that the flipover has to go away or at least be simplified. 

As for the rest, it just needs better numbers and CC. And bugs fixed. 

Edited October 8, 2021 by Kidel.2057