Happy with your specialization?

[MrForz.1953]

Can't say that I'm happy with Mechanist, I experimented with it on all manners of content with a lot of different stat combinations. It functions well in the roles it's been shoehorned in, alac/buff bot and disgustingly high condi damage. It's mostly carried by Shift Signet in sPvP and the results will vary depending of what your jade mech feels like doing, and it's atrociously bad in WvW by default and there's nothing that can be done about it.

 

The design is just so backwards. Sure, Asura players can pretend to be golemancers now and many people rarely get past Engineer as "they build bots and turrets", but the AI being the spec itself and sharing a large portion of your power makes some core issues unfixable by default, in PvE it has to be overtuned to meet one's expectations in group content. In PvP the mech either carries you or it's completely dead weight because you're not holding the reins on its behavior.

 

Oh well, it's done anyways, that's still two equipment/build tabs for the pec.

[TheQuickFox.3826]

As long as I don't raid, I'm quite happy with my Tempest.

[Shiyo.3578]

5 hours ago, MrForz.1953 said:

Can't say that I'm happy with Mechanist, I experimented with it on all manners of content with a lot of different stat combinations. It functions well in the roles it's been shoehorned in, alac/buff bot and disgustingly high condi damage. It's mostly carried by Shift Signet in sPvP and the results will vary depending of what your jade mech feels like doing, and it's atrociously bad in WvW by default and there's nothing that can be done about it.

 

The design is just so backwards. Sure, Asura players can pretend to be golemancers now and many people rarely get past Engineer as "they build bots and turrets", but the AI being the spec itself and sharing a large portion of your power makes some core issues unfixable by default, in PvE it has to be overtuned to meet one's expectations in group content. In PvP the mech either carries you or it's completely dead weight because you're not holding the reins on its behavior.

 

Oh well, it's done anyways, that's still two equipment/build tabs for the pec.

Mech is literally stronger than Firebrand. IDK what to tell you if you're unhappy with the best elite in the entire game.

[Mesket.5728]

So unhappy with bladesworn after first beta that not only i did not buy the expansion, it was the last time I logged in. I decided to part ways with the current direction of the game after 9 consecutive years of playing (since closed beta).

[MrForz.1953]

1 hour ago, Shiyo.3578 said:

Mech is literally stronger than Firebrand. IDK what to tell you if you're unhappy with the best elite in the entire game.

Be more vague please.

Edited March 16, 2022 by MrForz.1953

[Dr Meta.3158]

Will bender: Its a cool concept but its been done already by Herald and also Vindicator. And to a certain extent renegade. Actually this is basically a shiro/Kalla renegade. Solid, done to death concept with terrible execution in all game modes. 1/10

Bladesworn: Cool concept, a little clunky but not nearly as bad as it used to be. Its obscenely powerful in a few hands and terrible among most of the player base that uses it. Maybe be an indicator of it not being exactly intuitive to play in an effective manner. 6/10.

Vindicator: power herald but better in every way except slightly slower and allergic to gravity. Herald was also supposed to be a support spec too which is the sad part that all the power revenants converge on the same build. 1/10.

Untamed: Its a great concept as far as making a ranger build that is usable in teamfights and AOE situations for all game modes. It just needs more tuning on the class itself and way less laziness on the pets. 5/10

Mechanist: Druid but better. I don't think making another AI class was the way to go. There was the whole accessibility argument but I think that's a weak argument and also possibly a lie. We have ranger and minionmancer already. Its also a mess in pvp. 1/10.

Specter: Same as bladesworn. Absolutely busted in a few hands and only average among the player base rather than terrible like bladesworn or other thief specs. Their existence is also a giant middle finger to legacy necromancer players. I also don't think single target support is a good idea for an MMO nonetheless how guildwars is setup. 3/10

Catalyst: Another tempest. Also damage being nerfed into the ground like tempest. And somehow even more boring than tempest. Elementalist as a whole needs a rework. 0/10 

Harbinger: Its basically the extreme end of what reaper was being pushed to be since reaper got quickness and moving from the slow inevitable death bruiser to the slow, easily kited, easily killed, but will kill you if you sleep on it bruiser that did its job worse than core necro. Only this time they learned their lesson. Melee does not work on a necromancer chasis. The class is too slow both mobility and animation speed wise. Harbinger is a good fix for this while still having the necromancer crutch of slow, obvious animations that makes up its kill potential. Oddly still, it's a glass cannon that's also the slowest necromancer spec in the game while also being the most convoluted in a bad way. 2/10.

Virtuoso: Takes the not really unique as you'd think dungeons and dragons bard design and dumbs it down both flavorwise and power wise. 0/10.

 

In summary: yeah these new elite specs weren't good... except bladesworn. Bladesworn fits the bill of new and unique design and playstyle that works well.  It just needs to be a bit more intuitive so more of the playbase catches on to what its capable of and bring warrior back into the lime light. 

[Mara.6782]

I'm happy with all but Catalyst and Specter. Specter seems slow but maybe i need to learn it more and we all know about Catalyst not much damage anymore and almost zero survivability. I's easy to do big numbers when enemy don't move or hit back. One hit and it's a dead catalyst that deals 0 damage. On to the Next balance patch with more ele nerfs if there is any left. Maybe tempest and weaver. I'm Happy i don't main elementalist.

[Buran.3796]

  No, after testing it in PvP/WvW I won't run Vindicator in those game modes, and in PvE I'm still looking at how it performs, bu so far both Renegade and Herald feel and work better for me. The same with Willbender. Bladesworn looks a bit more promising, but Warrior isn't my main. I'll give Harbinger and Spectar a try, but later. Currently too busy farming PoF maps to take advantage of the high prices of the stuff.

[Lethion.8745]

No, absouletly not. I even regret buying the expansion since 4 out of 5 meta events fails anyway and I despise Virtuoso to my core. It doesn't repleace any of the builds Mesmer have in any game modes either. I would refund the expansion if I could, I hate it that much. I am completely fine with the idea of cloneless ranged Power DPS. Hecks, that's exactly what I was wishing for so I was extremely excited when it was announced. But the dissappointment I have after playing it for hours and hours is just immesurable. I won't explain every problem since it will take too long but to sum up it's so bad that you are nerfing yourself by playing it. For PvE, Power Chrono does some DMG while providing Quickness or Alacrity. For PvP, Core Shatter deals more damage and have better mobility around the map. For WvW you just kill yourself to projectile reflects. I think it's the most garbage elite spec they've ever made after the Catalyst. 

[Atomnium.1532]

I think the most precise word would be unimpressed.
I remember being super hyped and in love with the theme and ideas of PoF specs and both my Harbinger and Mechanist do not feel very fleshed-out or thought-out.

Those two identities, the chemist archetype and the Golemancer archetype are everything I could ever have hoped for and the execution fell so short that I'm hanging around as a reaper/scourge just because it's either painfully uninspired or a design faceplant.

Recycled animations, every spec feeding boons that are honestly uninteresting and redundant. There is no button on the new spec that I feel the impact of, it's just a mud of unimpactful things. Comparing that to the holosmith elite skill or the all-new scourge barriers is... well I'm not impressed.

Edited March 18, 2022 by Atomnium.1532

[Halbarz.3854]

The untamed is the worst e-spec in the entire game I would say. The hammer skills are lackluster, the new utility skills are questionable at best and the spec doesn't play well with other weapons. The traits are horrible and non of the older traits have been adjusted to benefit this new spec. 

 

People gave feedback months in advance ... and nothing was done. Makes me wonder why we had beta's in the first place

[Xenash.1245]

Yeah I've been enjoying everything I play so far, since as long as the possibility for creative builds is that I'll have a good time. That's not to say some of the specs aren't a bit off balance wise as that's a given, but they're still fun for me to play irregardless of that.

 

Untamed has probably been the funnest spec for me so far, since I just really enjoy having full control over my companions skills.

[Hashberry.4510]

I like them. Its a lot of fun figuring them out. I don’t really care if another spec is better, the game does not require high performance.

[SeTect.5918]

1 hour ago, Hashberry.4510 said:

 the game does not require high performance.

mh I think that very much depends on the game mode and content you are playing right?

I dont think Catalyst for example is welcome in any group content at the moment. Damage and sustain are far too low.
But especially Elementalist requires fairly high performance unless u are running full celestial or trailblazers because it has so low sustain and u gotta dodge almost every attack.

Also WvW and PvP require high performance, except if you are fine with dying all the time.

Edited March 19, 2022 by SeTect.5918

[Sunshine.5014]

I quite like my new main: Mechanist

It's amazingly OP in open world PvE. As OP or even more OP than Staff Mirage.

It's immortal in strikes. 2% damage reduction per boon, and you always have a lot of boons.

It's the best side noder in PvP (Fire Weaver will lose 100% of time to Mech kiting)

Haven't tried WvW, but I probably should play Guard for WvW.

 

 

[Puck.3697]

Imho on the majority, core of the problem isnt the new elites. 

The problem is EoD has to try reverse power creep. Where they've done this and decided to seperate the core / prior elites balancing patch / changes it's shown how weak core proffessions have gotten over HoT and PoF.

Elites have carried proffessions for years now, to suddenly remove a elite from carrying the proffession has allowed the thousand band aids put on proffessions to fall off at the same time. 

The changes to core and prior elites should have been made before the expansion, even at the cost of a further delay. I feel if the damage to the current core proffessions was undone and prior elites were handled correctly. These new elites could have been far more successful. 

Catalyst is the most concerning elite currently.