Petition for changes to Catalyst Hammer 3

[pyrdyCZ.4123]

Hi, so first of all -> title.

https://preview.redd.it/38orvc4pcpo81.png?width=55&format=png&auto=webp&s=8848ab61bc17ecde22d0ef43b2c93bf3bbc6cd8e

/*Hammer 3 spells (also why does only earth look so different ._.)*/

But let me explain: As a elementalist main I was actually excited for a new two-hander, even tho its semi-melee-range, and I naturally wanted to play it and learn it. But even after the changes to deploying Jade Spheres (which imho made it even more chaotic) the rotation seems not balanced compared to other weapons. And I am not complaining because its hard, I don't mind that because you can always learn something new and be good at it. But this feels either useless in short fights where you really need to use Fire/Air to kill something and skip using the 3 whatsoever, or in long fights with bosses etc. it's like managing a whole airplane with one hand and nuclear reactor with other whilst having to dodge all mechanics in order to survive as a squishy elementalist in melee range.

And I think the solution would be pretty simple: make the orbs you cast from 3 spin around you unlimitedly (only while you remain in combat) and weaken their effect which would reward you for having them for longer time and then releasing them for maybe more burst damage when you want to, not when you have to. This would make it so you don't have to think about speeding through every element just to get some use of them and you could focus more on positioning and other mechanics.

And yes again, I know I can just learn to be bigbrain skillcaster and focus on everything, but I am more of a casual player and I think it should be more fun to use for everyone. I will continue to use the hammer and try to figure out the playstyle that works for me, but I wanted to share my thoughts if there is someone who feels the same.

 

Also to clarify: I am mainly PvE player who focuses most on the Open World/Story content. I get that this would need adjusments for the competitive sides of PvE and PvP, but still I feel like there is a room for making the kit a little bit simpler. I also realize there are some balance changes happening for catalysts right now that got lots of people mad, I don't really mind them that much since I don't play that type of high end content, but if A.net decided to look into it even further, this would be a great QoL change.

 

PS: I previously posted this on reddit but felt it could gain more attention from devs here on official forums since people seemed to agree with me.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/tj7gp1/petition_for_changes_to_catalyst_hammer_3/

[SeTect.5918]

I think the most important change to hammer 3 is that orb should only hit the enemy once per rounding, this wouldve moved the 43-44k benchmark to 38-39k already.

This change basically avoids the totally unrealistic benchmarks.

2nd most important change would be about the orb duration.

Thats my opinion at least.

[pyrdyCZ.4123]

3 minutes ago, SeTect.5918 said:

I think the most important change to hammer 3 is that orb should only hit the enemy once per rounding, this wouldve moved the 43-44k benchmark to 38-39k already.

This change basically avoids the totally unrealistic benchmarks.

2nd most important change would be about the orb duration.

Thats my opinion at least.

 

Even that, then they could make it spin unlimitedly without any concerns. If you want to spam through them to unleash them as many times - you can. If you want to just cast them and focus on other stuff - you can. Now we are stuck with: either use them properly but have your brain explode, use them but fail midway because you had to dodge, use other spell etc or not use them at all.

[wolfyrik.2017]

I just think it would be better to remove the bloody awful things from hammer. Move skill 4 to the 3 slot and put a block on every 4. A different additional effect for each element. If they're determined to keep the orbs for some bizarre reason, like that awful hat, just make them appear when swapping element and last for 5 seconds or something. Make changing elements a threat to melee range opponents on this supposedly bruiser spec.  

[tykel.6073]

So I also hate hammer 3 a lot, but I do like this idea of spawning the orbs on attunement swap. Would at least give the spec some consistent mechanic outside of dropping a well that isn’t attached to the hammer. Granted I still hate the spinning balls even then cause they are useless if not in melee range and I’d rather player weaver or support tempest if I have to be in melee range but alas. At least then the hammer could be made a complete weapon set up as it’s current state is just…. Useless. So many abilities just just do damage with no other effect. No conditions, no cc, no combo fields, with the only the 5 skill and some of the 4 skills being interesting (well and air 2 but that’s still probably not the best in any pvp scenario). 

[Flori.2194]

Or, even better, we remove the orbs and the sphere, put combo fields for hammer on 3 (because they forgot to give hammer combo fields, that's why they probably added F5), change hammer to a different weapon, remove the aura traits, stat stick traits and sphere traits, give it some powerful, unique and interesting traits, remove the augments and give some usefull utilities, add a really interesting and class defining spec mechanic and bada bing, bada boom: You have an elite spec, baby...

[Mithos.9023]

I completely agree, the hammer 3 feels awful to use, as it forces an unfun play style. Either ignore them completely or focus entirely on them and rush through the elements as fast as you can. That just feels forced, as if the hammer does not work with itself.

I like some of the suggestions here, but I have several ideas I would like to present as well:

Overall, I would change the orbs in all suggestions to work like the revenants spinning hammers. I think that would overall make it more cohesive.

First idea: Make the timer of the hammer 3 stack, for example up to 15 seconds, so that the timer is not refreshed but added each time an orb is cast. Then the orbs would be easier to juggle, and it would maybe not feel any more like you have to decide between using hammer 3 or the rest of the weapon. But even then, I think the timer could need a small update 6s or 7s.

 

Second idea: Let's integrate the orbs into the class mechanic of catalyst.

I would add it to one of Adept traits to gain an orb based on your current element when entering combat. That way, we would have a new option to gain the orbs outside of hammer only. As well as add to one of the grand master traits, the option to gain an orb on the switch of an element with some kind of cd. That way hammer could theoretically gain 3 orbs up rather fast and other weapons had a chance to gain them as well. Now you could only choose to use grand finale on hammer, therefore I like the idea to move the jade sphere to hammer 3 and move grand finale to F5. This change could theroreticlly integrate together with my first idea of stacking orb time.

 

Last idea and my true favourite: I think we also could work over the energy system as well, as currently it only functions to frustrate players. There is no gain in having it. My idea would be to change it a little in the way of GW1. You have 100 energy now and a permanent regeneration level of +4. Your new F5 now is a skill [Placeholder] that need activation and gives you -1 regeneration and would cast a single orb. As long as the skill is not cancelled, the orb stays up. You could use hammer skills or traits as above to add more orbs to it. Each orb would again decrease energy regeneration by 1. So, with four orbs as maximum and the base degeneration of the skill, you would end up with -5. If you hit 0 energy, the skill ends. Or you could forcefully end it with a grand finale. This could be a flip over on F5. Hammer sills would then only add orbs, but would need an additional effect, as these skills would be worthless unless you have [Placeholder] active.

Now what about the jade sphere? First, I thought about an F6, which could work, but while writing I had another idea. I would add them to the arguments. Each jade sphere is activated together with its corresponding augment. Augments would cost energy now, but would have lower recharge to accommodate for the energy use. To have more choice to redeploy the fields, I would change the augments/jade spheres to be castable even when on cooldown, but with one condition. When the argument is on cooldown, only the field is generated and the energy cost would be calculated as Overcast. As an example, if the fire augment Relentless Fire costs 25 energy, casting it while on cooldown would reduce your maximum 100 energy by 25 to a maximum of 75. This effect would wear off slowly while in combat. So, you pay a price for relocating your field by crippling your maximum energy, but gain the option to have the jade sphere effect multiple times. Balance could be achieved with different energy costs according to the effect. As the air jade sphere with quickness is regarded as the most potent one, it would have a higher cost.

And last and not least, please add a proper energy bar!! The current version under F5 is terrible on all accounts. There is literally nothing good about having it that small.

 

 

 

[Arimas.3492]

Personally I would just prefer they remove the 3 skills on hammer entirely and give each attunement a new skill. Orb mechanic is a worse version of Weaver's Weave Self and the only difference is its spinny orbs that do very minor damage. 

 

Removing those orbs gives hammer 4 additional slots for better skills where they could add more needed options like another gap closer or more damage options. I like hammer but the current orb skills really just aren't fun. Even if they were to extend the timer on the buff so you didn't need to fast swap it would still be not fun. 

 

Also the range on some hammer skills just doesn't feel good. 600 range doesn't belong anywhere in game IMO because its just too short to really be "ranged" but also not far enough to really be worth it to stay at 600 range and not just move into melee range. The AoE skills are also just small. I would have thought that the AoE's would at least be 360 for some of the bigger skills because its a hammer, but most of the ranges are literally the same as dagger's. I'd basically just add 120 radius to every AoE skill on hammer right now and it would be better balanced. Then I'd get rid of the weird 600 range skills and make them just PBAoE's that are either 240 or 360 radius depending on the skill. Example: Hurricane of Pain should be a PBAoE skill that works generally in the same way now just centered on character but it should also pull enemies closer to you, like a real tornado!

 

Also another cool idea I had was make it so every attunement's auto attack/1 skill was a 3 chain attack but then make it so you can continue the chain even after swapping attunements. That would be neat. As of right now only water and earth attunement autos are even fun or effective to use. air and fire are legit the same dang thing and still do bad damage.

 

Basically Catalyst just needs a significant rework. There seems to be a really cool idea behind what the class could be but the execution is all over the place and also copy/paste. Definitely feels like the last thought-of elite spec.