Catalyst is Clunky and needs Combat Flow adjustment

[Sunshine.5014]

Catalyst is very clunky at the moment

- Hammer #3 only last 5 seconds, and you need to activate the next hammer #3 within 4.5s due to latency. This means just using one dodge can put your rotation and DPS out of whack.

- Not only the player has to keep track of Hammer #3, they also need to keep track and refresh Elemental Empowerment and the Aura Empowerment stacks, make sure it doesn't run out.

- Then they also needs to keep track of the Jade Sphere Energy level, make sure you have enough for your future usage, but not wasting the energy when it's max.

- Oh, and remember to count that hammer #3 so you know you casted 4 of them; and remember to cast a Jade Sphere before you launch those hammer #3 projectiles.

- Then they also need to watch and track the Augmentation cooldown and cast them with the matching Jade Sphere field

- Then they need to watch for boss animation, make sure you dodge all the red circles, make sure you predict the boss phases well so you line up the Air attunement with breakbar phase so you can CC

- Oh, and make sure your Water attunement is right after that breakbar phase so you can Water #4 leap back, because Air #4 is a leap backward not a leap forward!!!

Catalyst is clunky beyond comparison. There is not one spec on GW2 history that the player has to do this much mental math. It's not even the number of key presses (or Ele piano). It's about shaving too many things to keep track of.

How to fix this?

- Energy should restore slowly by itself, like 0.5 per second. That means if the Ele wait a whole minute it should be restored to max. It's not even OP, waiting a whole minute for it.

- Hammer #3 should last 7s, preferably 10s. Reduce its damage to balance it.

- Aura Empowerment should last 5s longer

- Hammer Air #4 should leap forward, and not backward.

Make the combat flow better, less clunky, and less mental stress. Remember, it's not the number of keys you press, it's the number of things you need to keep track to even perform.

[SlitheSlivier.1908]

7 sec on hammer 3 still wouldn't be enough time. Def should be 10sec.

 

Also hammer needs more mobility or at least the traits need a way to proc swiftness more often. I'd like to see swiftness added to the gm minor or "swiftness on combo" to either of the other minor traits. 

[Shiyo.3578]

Ranged weapon doesn't need mobility. Hammer is just a PvE weapon. 3 is fine and without it being such a low duration the spec would be boring.

Air #4 self knock needs to be removed.

Edited March 1, 2022 by Shiyo.3578

[SlitheSlivier.1908]

One more thing...

I think haven't to keep track of many things is totally okay and fun. However, there needs to be enough time to do it all along with dodge, get cc'd, and use your long cast-time skills along with other ones. Currently there isn't remotely enough time to "tick all (or even half) of the boxes". ALSO there needs to be a payout for being able to actually keep track of it all and maintain the upkeep. Other Specs also have damage modifiers but don't need to keep track of several timed features to maintain it. The reward needs to balance the effort. With all this effort... there needs to be a much better reward. 

[zabandija.9623]

This is so much truth, and you easily feel this after a few hours of play when you realize you never achieve what the spec suposedly encourages you to do, plus you got no advantage on the field.

[fuzzyp.6295]

I really haven't found it too clunky to be honest. The biggest change I would want to see if fields just appearing around your character instead of having to be placed down.  Even if the fields don't move from when you activate the F5, having to place the field is kinda messing with  my flow a bit. 90% of the time I'm just placing it around myself anyway so its just an unnecessary step.

And Hammer 3 Skills, just lose the stat boosting effect and increase their projectile damage and have them last longer (8 seconds maybe). That way Eles don't feel obligated to rotate through like crazy to get all of them up.

Edited March 1, 2022 by fuzzyp.6295

[scerevisiae.1972]

I think the 3 skills should just be deleted, or at the least triggered by something less obnoxious like on element swap. Already a lot of negative feedback on hammer 3s and hammer in general since beta1 but no substantive changes.

 

Hammer fire 2 is broken and frequently misses targets that are right in front of you. Bug reported in beta2 but still not fixed.

 

2/3rds melee 1/3rd short-range with 2 melee elements and 2 ranged is a frankly stupid combination that restricts hammer to pve-only.

 

Which means sceptre/staff are still the only ranged options made available to ele in 9 years. Just want to restate that out loud cause still can't believe this is the best that anet can come up with. 

 

 

Edited March 2, 2022 by scerevisiae.1972

[Serephen.3420]

After playing it for almost an entire day, there were good and bad points. I Definitely agree there is way too much to keep track of compared to any other ele spec. I do think hammer 3 needs a serious rework. The fields feel smoother in pve than wvw/pvp. 15 second cd still feels excessive. Other than quickness not being so reliable anymore I otherwise enjoyed the other aspects in ow pve. 

Edited March 2, 2022 by Serephen.3420

[Shiyo.3578]

1 hour ago, fuzzyp.6295 said:

I really haven't found it too clunky to be honest. The biggest change I would want to see if fields just appearing around your character instead of having to be placed down.  Even if the fields don't move from when you activate the F5, having to place the field is kinda messing with  my flow a bit. 90% of the time I'm just placing it around myself anyway so its just an unnecessary step.

No ty. They can be used to tag mobs at range.

[Avatara.1042]

Yep.  Too many stupid timers supported by stupid traits.  They did not listen to anything.

[Khalisto.5780]

i don't know, i agree, hammer feels clunky not catalyst, i'm currently running the classic scepter/focus fresh air, in fact it's so fluid that i get lost in my rotations

Edited March 2, 2022 by Khalisto.5780

[fuzzyp.6295]

2 hours ago, Shiyo.3578 said:

No ty. They can be used to tag mobs at range.

I mean, sure but isn't that a massive waste of a field? They do virtually no damage on their own and the energy required, while not hard to get, isn't really worth the pay off? Fields are better used for comboing, enhancing your Catalyst's stats and giving the buffs than tagging. Why not just use Triple Sear or Hurricane of Pain to tag? Not to mention that change would go a decent way to making Catalyst across the board a more competitive class in other modes if the fields worked like scrapper fields and followed along which means Catalyst isn't stuck playing around a field.

Maybe ANet could just give an option to allow fields to be cast on you like how they have the option to cast automatically on target. Or I guess maybe I could try running a target self button and using that option see how it runs. Ah well. Still hoping ANet will give us the option.

[The Great Al.2546]

2 hours ago, Khalisto.5780 said:

i don't know, i agree, hammer feels clunky not catalyst, i'm currently running the classic scepter/focus fresh air, in fact it's so fluid that i get lost in my rotations

Catalyst is nothing without hammer. It’s literally an extra combo field plus a min/max stat trait line. 

[scerevisiae.1972]

3 hours ago, Khalisto.5780 said:

i don't know, i agree, hammer feels clunky not catalyst, i'm currently running the classic scepter/focus fresh air, in fact it's so fluid that i get lost in my rotations

Agree. It's really hammer that is the real suck, though having to think about energy and having to place field (instead of point-blank) are both unnecessary.

[scerevisiae.1972]

42 minutes ago, The Great Al.2546 said:

Catalyst is nothing without hammer. It’s literally an extra combo field plus a min/max stat trait line. 

Agree and it's why I'm so incredibly angry and disappointed with hammer being yet another melee bruiser weapon. A super clunky one at that.

[Vissarion.6509]

I am starting to like hammer, but there are some skills that are just useless:
 

Fire #2 and #4 are completely garbage and serve no purpose. At least make #4 a field or something.

Air #2 is my favorite of the hammer's skills. I wish it had 4s CD so we can spam it and continue to spin, that would be the best change ever.

Air #4 is just so bad the pushback always throws you out of place or cliffs, it's very bad.

Fire #1 and Air #1 auto attacks. Why don't they have ANY aoe, like hit 2-3 targets. They feel so bad autoattacking in fire and air.

Best auto is definitely earth#1 but misses some bleeding but definitely a great skill.

Other than that i have to say traits and utilities are garbage and don't help with the class/hammer flow at all. Most traits feel useless and they don't do anything. They need REWORK at best.

Edited March 2, 2022 by Vissarion.6509

[SlitheSlivier.1908]

On 3/2/2022 at 5:00 AM, Vissarion.6509 said:

I am starting to like hammer, but there are some skills that are just useless:
 

Fire #2 and #4 are completely garbage and serve no purpose. At least make #4 a field or something.

Air #2 is my favorite of the hammer's skills. I wish it had 4s CD so we can spam it and continue to spin, that would be the best change ever.

Air #4 is just so bad the pushback always throws you out of place or cliffs, it's very bad.

Fire #1 and Air #1 auto attacks. Why don't they have ANY aoe, like hit 2-3 targets. They feel so bad autoattacking in fire and air.

Best auto is definitely earth#1 but misses some bleeding but definitely a great skill.

Other than that i have to say traits and utilities are garbage and don't help with the class/hammer flow at all. Most traits feel useless and they don't do anything. They need REWORK at best.

Fire 2 and 4 are good damage dealers. However 2 requires you to be close if in a 1v1 or if you don't want your damage to spread elsewhere. Fire 4 should def leave a field behind tho and it'd be good to see 2 have a whirl or blast finisher.

 

Edit after more testing: Fire 4 needs like a 1/4sec cast time to be effective. I start casting and since my enemies don't stay still or move in predictable directions, I'm lucky to hit with 1 zone let alone all 3.

Edited March 3, 2022 by SlitheSlivier.1908

[Ace.1784]

Just now, SlitheSlivier.1908 said:

Fire 2 and 4 are good damage dealers. However 2 requires you to be close if in a 1v1 or if you don't want your damage to spread elsewhere. Fire 4 should def leave a field behind tho and it'd be good to see 2 have a whirl or blast finisher.

Fire Hammer 2 can only hit a target once. They mentioned this in one of the betas. You get no benefit from being up close and hitting all projectiles.

[Tabootrinket.2631]

Just one thing for me :

Air #4 should be renamed "suicide"

[fixit.7189]

catalyst feels clunky and unfun to play so i just went back to my tempest/weaver builds instead. i can't forsee using this elite unless things change drastically in the future. 😞

[Shiyo.3578]

7 minutes ago, fixit.7189 said:

catalyst feels clunky and unfun to play so i just went back to my tempest/weaver builds instead. i can't forsee using this elite unless things change drastically in the future. 😞

CAT feels as smooth as sword weaver which is silky smooth.

[Kreator.3701]

I agree on everything, except I would simply remove the energy behind Jade Sphere + add radius to the boons given by JS or even make them move with you. It's rarely golem fights in the wild.

Edited March 3, 2022 by Kreator.3701

[Stallic.2397]

Hammer feels clunky and I agree it's mostly cause of hammer #3. The flip over should have a 5sec CD at max. Irritating when you get your orbs all executed, but then you can't even shoot them cause the flip over skill is on CD. 

 

I get the orbs are a buff in them selves, but this is supposed to be a ranged weapon and just getting the range done effectively is a nuisance. 

 

Catalyst in general feels good though. Huge buff to core. Even a conjure build that works well with Stab and Prot on auras. 

[Lalaboompoo.1289]

18 hours ago, Shiyo.3578 said:

CAT feels as smooth as sword weaver which is silky smooth.

care to elaborate why you think that?

[Shiyo.3578]

4 hours ago, Kreator.3701 said:

I agree on everything, except I would simply remove the energy behind Jade Sphere + add radius to the boons given by JS or even make them move with you. It's rarely golem fights in the wild.

Half agree with this. Jade sphere should last forever, follow you, be 600-900 radius and drain energy so you have to DPS to keep up energy and can't just afk buff.