The inevitable disappointment of new elite specialisations

[Zacchary.6183]

2 hours ago, Stx.4857 said:

I don't dislike the new elite specs for their number tuning.  I dislike them for playstyle and theme.  There isn't a single elite spec i am looking forward to playing except maybe Harbinger.  Willbender looks kind of cool, maybe I'll try that for a bit.

That is the point of their designs as far as I have seen. And it has done a good job at attracting people to other profession, which was probably the ultimate goal all along. Maybe people will start complaining less cross-profession.

[Gorem.8104]

I'm gonna laugh if Mechanic still doesn't work underwater. Be the best way to fight the pvp wise in wvw, just go for a swim and they lose 

Edited February 27, 2022 by Gorem.8104

[Ausar.9542]

On 2/25/2022 at 4:51 PM, Buran.3796 said:

   To be honest: some of the new specs do reuse tons of older animations from other professions while providing 0 new mechanics (and with large tradeoffs in exchange); so even if the numbers were amazing the bunch of them still would be felt as rushed and unimaginative. 

yeah we can tell that a lot of these elite specs were rushed at the last min. 

[Buran.3796]

2 hours ago, Ausar.9542 said:

yeah we can tell that a lot of these elite specs were rushed at the last min. 

   Which isn't a surprise: ANet fired 1/3 of their work force a year after PoF to save costs, and their plans after that expansion didn't include to develop a new one. But their slow pace of content delivering and lack of hype post PoF while other MMOs kept building momentun trhough expansions forced them to turn 180º. But the reality is that EoD doesn't have behind the same amount of planification and work time has HoT or PoF.

  I would have expected EoD to have housing and a more interesting spec design; instead they are more or less iterations of gameplay already in use and the most shocking part is how much you have to give in exchange of a new spec: you lose virtues and team support to get a faster Guardian wich anyway is frail; you lose weapon swap to get a Warrior with slow charging big hits; you lose the kit belt to have acustomizable pet class; you lose clones and instant casting skills to get magical projectiles, etc.

   That doesn't mean that's terrible, since any nevelty would be wellcomed over no new content, but I'm not hyped about this budget expansion and I'm more interested into playing Cantha maps with HoT and PoF specs than with the terribly handicaped specs which the new expansion offers. Also, being released with almost no commercials just after Lost Ark and Elden Ring seems a problem. I think that the game will have a spike of players for a couple of months as happened with New World to then came back to the current numbers. And waiting for summer for new balance patches, lol!

[Xaylin.1860]

On 2/26/2022 at 3:57 AM, voltaicbore.8012 said:

This pretty much sums it up for me. As a ranger main, the untamed numbers would have to be absolutely incredible for me to... actually like the spec (at least how it was as of last beta). But even after that, all we get is weird ambush type skills and no fundamental solution to pet pathing/animation/AI issues.

This is a very subjective thing. But personally, I do like the Ambush mechanic. And while I'm very irritated by Hammer changing completely when swapping "stance" (major design fail, plus, didn't make sense without the other Ambushs unless they had made Hammer a forced weapon pick like on Bladesworn), I think the way to trigger Ambushs on Untamed is way more balanced and incorporated into the class in a more reasonable way than on Mirage. Another thing is that I personally enjoy disruptive gameplay so Hammer and some skills really tickle me.

 

The visuals on the other hand are a bit to muddled down for my taste. I'm not familiar with GW1 lore but I would have preferred an ember focus on the Untamed like they did with the Bladesworn. Would also make it easier to distinguish from Soulbeast.

 

The critic towards pets and AI is valid but not really something that should be fixed via an e-spec.

[Mell.4873]

This thread I made is most relevant topic on all the complaining about the new elites.

[HotDelirium.7984]

On 2/28/2022 at 1:01 AM, Xaylin.1860 said:

This is a very subjective thing. But personally, I do like the Ambush mechanic. And while I'm very irritated by Hammer changing completely when swapping "stance" (major design fail, plus, didn't make sense without the other Ambushs unless they had made Hammer a forced weapon pick like on Bladesworn), I think the way to trigger Ambushs on Untamed is way more balanced and incorporated into the class in a more reasonable way than on Mirage. Another thing is that I personally enjoy disruptive gameplay so Hammer and some skills really tickle me.

 

The visuals on the other hand are a bit to muddled down for my taste. I'm not familiar with GW1 lore but I would have preferred an ember focus on the Untamed like they did with the Bladesworn. Would also make it easier to distinguish from Soulbeast.

 

The critic towards pets and AI is valid but not really something that should be fixed via an e-spec.

IMO when you have the short bow ambush skill be ground targeted but have less than 2 seconds to drop it....that designer hasn't played a Ranger. Longbow has a few and revenant shortbow does but none of those are timed.

[Xaylin.1860]

Yeah, the Shortbow one is weird. But the time frame isn't such a big issue when using fast-cast ground targeting. Regardless, the implementation is better than on Mirage (but worse than on Thief, of course). 😉