Did Anet go bankrupt interms of ideas for cool elite specs?

[Rayko.9136]

Is it just me who finds the new elite specs extremely boring gameplay-wise except maybe for mechanist and spectre out of the expansions ES to date, did Anet staff ran out of ideas for cool new specs.

I find that EoD Elite specs are just added pew pew attacks with mostly same animations, the new necro is a proof of that ☹️.

Now I understand that some play this game to flex their damage and new rotations/meta and what not, but for me it's about having cool looking innnovative moves that stand out, I have Bezillion (I'm gonna get trolled for this word) of ideas for cool specs and move animations and what do we get instead? 5 potion skills? more wells? just to name a few, I hope that I'M IN THE MINORITY FOR PEOPLE DISSAPOINTED by the new specs because I frankly play expansions only for this reason.

[yoni.7015]

I like most of the new specs. 

[kharmin.7683]

You don't have to play the newest e-specs.

[shafter.2576]

Buddy, the best description of what you don't like is "just added pew pew attacks"... c'mon

 

[Yello.3406]

Well, let's see..

Catalyst is just a core Ele with hammer. Not outstanding enough.

Virtuoso is a great, distinct spec. Lots of fun.

Harbinger also fun. Distinct enough for my taste. Shroud 1 with quickness is like machinegun of doom. I like!

Specter is the best e-spec in my opinion. Very nice class-fantasy and (of course) very fun to play!

Mechanist, while overpowered, has a very good design and playstyle. I just wish the mech was customizeable. (And I somehow still like holosmith more).

Untamed is just ugly. I didn't even try it yet, because the slimy/gooey optics of the "untamed"-state just throw me of. Who designed that? Why?

Bladesworn saved warrior for me. Never was interessted in playing it until this came along. So much fun! I took my warrior out of retirement and it is now in my top 3 classes.

Vindicator is meh. Not bad but i couldn't get myself to play it very much. The evade-leap is nice but that's not enough to engage me.

Willbender is also a highlight for me. Lot's of speed, teleport and martial arts. Really well done.

 

So, this is just my opinion but we have good, bad and ok. Others may think different but overall the picture is that EoD specs recived mixed feelings just as the ones from HoT and PoF when they came out. So I don't see any downward trend here.

I just want to add that now, as we are aproaching the 4th e-spec, Arenanet really should avoid redundancy and try to fill a gap for each profession. How about, for example, a ranged weapon/spec for elementalist? 😲 Crazy, I know...

[Ashen.2907]

2 hours ago, Rayko.9136 said:

Is it just me who finds the new elite specs extremely boring gameplay-wise except maybe for mechanist and spectre out of the expansions ES to date, did Anet staff ran out of ideas for cool new specs.

I find that EoD Elite specs are just added pew pew attacks with mostly same animations, the new necro is a proof of that ☹️.

Now I understand that some play this game to flex their damage and new rotations/meta and what not, but for me it's about having cool looking innnovative moves that stand out, I have Bezillion (I'm gonna get trolled for this word) of ideas for cool specs and move animations and what do we get instead? 5 potion skills? more wells? just to name a few, I hope that I'M IN THE MINORITY FOR PEOPLE DISSAPOINTED by the new specs because I frankly play expansions only for this reason.

Odd, the exceptions you list, Mechanist and Specter, are two of the more boring elite specs in the game in my opinion.

[Eekasqueak.7850]

I actually really liked most of the elite specs this time around. Virtuoso finally got me to really like playing mesmer, bladesworn is goofy and fun even if i don't like warrior too much, untamed is the only one I don't like the idea of all that much. 

[TrollingDemigod.3041]

I think it's more of a problem with the elite specialization system and overall game limitations than the lack of ideas.

[oscuro.9720]

I dislike most of the new specs, but in terms of ideas they are all very interesting. The only one that I find conceptually lazy is catalyst. I just don’t enjoy how they play, which is different than conceptual ideas, so I stay on my spellbreaker (still the best designed class in the game IMO). Not every cup of tea is for everyone /shrug 

[otto.5684]

While I do think the EoD elites are less innovative than PoF, couple of them have pretty neat design. 

[Dadnir.5038]

Personal opinion:

- Catalyst: 1/10 Tempest 2.0 except it's selfish.

- Mechanist: 5/10 I didn't want a golem spec but it's far enough from the ranger to be original.

- Willbender: 8/10 Original, a commendable effort.

- Virtuoso: 5/10 While it's far from core mesmer, I can't help but feel that the spec is a bit bland.

- Harbinger: 4/10 The spec feel like there is to much that's been stuffed into it.

- Untamed: 4/10 Sold as "the pet spec". It's not!

- Vindicator: 3/10 Hate to many things on this spec.

- Specter: 9/10 Actually quite nice. Lose a point because it's a single target healer.

- Bladesworn: 2/10 I hate that the main mechanism is a greatsword and that you are forced into a sword-draw gameplay.

[Mesket.5728]

Lol, again the same pattern:

 

"I like bladesworn, because i always hated warrior".

 

While warrior mains mostly hates bladesworn. Its far from what warriors are supposed to offer.

 

Cool ideas =/= playable ideas. 

 

BS idea was to be a one shot kind of character. In reality it ended up being a mix of things who screams a lot to heal himself. One judge from here the dev team skills to create especs.

 

6 hours ago, kharmin.7683 said:

You don't have to play the newest e-specs.

 

Id love this to be true but in general they keep nerfing core and old specs just to buff the new sellable ones. 101 marketting that is fooling noone. Lets hope they correct and remediate this attitude after the latest fiasco.

[Labjax.2465]

Hmm. I haven't messed with all of them, but of those I have, they've been pretty interesting. Some are a playstyle that is not very appealing to me, but that I still find creative. Like Bladesworn, I have a really hard time with the "stand in place huge attack" mechanic, but I still find the concept interesting.

[Artificer.3468]

I dont think their ideas are uncool, execution of the ideas is where my gripes come from 

[Hashberry.4510]

I find mech and spectre to be pretty dull. I enjoy Bladesworn, but then I enjoy all the warrior specs. Forums are mostly going to be complaints, can’t really trust them.

[DanAlcedo.3281]

I dislike the new elite specs. But not because of what they are but what they are not. If that makes sense. 

For me, the goal of elite specs was always to give a class a new tool. A way to fix a problem with a class. But for Anet, theme seems more important. 

For example. Warrior needs 2 things, a support spec for PvE and a Spec that is actually usefull in Wvw. No, SpB was not it because it was just a bubble bot and is useles outside of it. 

So you would assume that Anet give Warrior what is needed. 

Berserker for PvE dps. 

SpB for PvP

And a support spec for Wvw. 

But we got Bladesworn. 

Simply put Bladesworn would be fine if the rest of Warrior is fine but we all know, Warrior is far from OK. 

And that's mostly true for all the other Classes. 

Giving us "We had a cool idea" elite specs are ok  I F the rest of the class isn't suffering. 

 

 

[draxynnic.3719]

My thoughts:

Catalyst is a waste of some good animation work, and feels like they just combined ideas that were left on the cutting room floor after tempest and weaver. They're trying to get it into a better place, but any success they have will be despite its initial design rather than because of it. And hammer with fire and air REALLY needs to be more functional at range. 

Mechanist I tend to regard as 'okay, now the golem spec is out of the way maybe we can get something more interesting next time'. It's reasonably well designed, but probably still overtuned a bit in PvE.

Willbender is a lot of fun. It's good to have a spec that rewards actively using all three virtues and gives them a short enough recharge to make that practical. Having the mobility to bounce around between targets is also fun.

Virtuoso hits an important niche of being useful in situations where relying on clones is a liability, and getting those 'bladesongs' off is very satisfying.

Harbinger isn't really my cup of tea, but that's entirely subjective. It's a different way to play necromancer and it's fun enough. 

Untamed is the most fun I've had with ranger in a while. A lot of moving parts to keep running, but if you can keep track of them, there are just so many things you can do. It's also nice to have an elite whose mechanics work with the pet rather than marginalising it in some way.

Vindicator I just don't enjoy, even though I've tried (and Sigil of Stamina dragoon-jumping is very satisfying when you can pull it off). I also don't see how the dragoon-jumping is connected to the alliance pair. Mainly, though, going to one 'dodge', which is often used offensively and which behaves very differently to a normal dodge, is difficult to get used to. There are people who make it work for them, though.

Specter is pretty fun as a different way to play thief, although I do find sometimes that being so focused on scepter and 3 spamming can be a bit dry, and the shroud really is stealing necro mechanics (but on the other hand, it offers a different combination of mechanics). Single target support might not be the best for PvE but it works well as auxiliary support in sPvP, and I'd love to see some of the existing support skills receive ally-target mechanics even if they're AoE skills.

Bladesworn... I have mixed feelings about. It IS fun, but on the other hand, it's REALLY not what Warrior needed. On the gripping hand, if they were going to introduce an iaijitsu-themed elite, the Cantha expansion was clearly the time. I just hope they have something good planned for the next round.

 

Which, allowing for the acceptance that 'I don't like it' and 'it's bad' are not actually the same thing, means that there are only a few that I really have problems with.

[Wolfshade.9251]

I like the theme of harbinger - an alchemist with a gun. They should've stopped at that, but nooo it's Cantha so there has to be a random martial arts thing thrown in the mix as well.

[Zaret.1450]

mmm you do understand that mech and spectre are probably the 2 most boring and braindead elite specs from this expan right?

I mean i like thief, but it already uses little skills, also now with its shroud it doesnt even need to position itself that much as it has a necromancer 2 life, again i like it but its not an amazingly engaging, fast and funny spec.

As for mec.... the pet does all the job, or almost, you can just select target, spam auto and use the 3 pet skills off cd, and youre good to go.

Maybe youre a bit biased because theyre your favourite classes, or bwcause theyre 2 of the strongest new elites, but i dont think theyre the funniest nor the ones with the best designs, theyre literaly improved versions of the ranher pets and necro shroud, improved because they have more dmg and do more things, but the mecanic is the same almost, heck mecanist is just a mega untamed, just that untamed pets are a pest XD.

if i had to choose the more... funny or unique elites id say harbringer and virtuoso, both of them take their core mecanic but give it a 360 change, blades make mesmer more ranged, but at the same time you dont have clones to diverse attention, harbringer on the other side is the exact opposite to necromancers, shroud doesnt save you anymore, it puts you on a tight position where you loose life and get dmg.

both virtu and harbrin force you to change your way of playing the class and the game mecanics in a new way, willbender gives more movement freedom to the usually bulky slow guard, while vindi and sworn are nothing new nor revolutionary, untamed, and mec are the same thing basicaly, one overpowered and the other underpowered but the same thing more or less, and spectre is a necromancer on medium armor.

 

[Zaret.1450]

9 hours ago, DanAlcedo.3281 said:

I dislike the new elite specs. But not because of what they are but what they are not. If that makes sense. 

For me, the goal of elite specs was always to give a class a new tool. A way to fix a problem with a class. But for Anet, theme seems more important. 

For example. Warrior needs 2 things, a support spec for PvE and a Spec that is actually usefull in Wvw. No, SpB was not it because it was just a bubble bot and is useles outside of it. 

So you would assume that Anet give Warrior what is needed. 

Berserker for PvE dps. 

SpB for PvP

And a support spec for Wvw. 

But we got Bladesworn. 

Simply put Bladesworn would be fine if the rest of Warrior is fine but we all know, Warrior is far from OK. 

And that's mostly true for all the other Classes. 

Giving us "We had a cool idea" elite specs are ok  I F the rest of the class isn't suffering. 

 

 

warrior suffered from fan service sindrome, trust me revs are usednto it by now, vindi is more or less the sameXD

[DanAlcedo.3281]

2 minutes ago, zaswer.5246 said:

warrior suffered from fan service sindrome, trust me revs are usednto it by now, vindi is more or less the sameXD

Seriously. I have no idea what Anet was smoking when coming up with vindi.

 

[Zaret.1450]

1 minute ago, DanAlcedo.3281 said:

Seriously. I have no idea what Anet was smoking when coming up with vindi.

 

well we DID ask for a power gs revenant, and using canthas legends isnt a bad idea, the problem is.... implementation, the energy mecanic works awfully, it makes no sense and is incredibly punishing and restrictive, and all the 2 legends swap... well is like having another 2 sets of weapons to swap between, because you cant choose your skills and they work like weapon skills almost, so now imagine with 3 legends instead, a dissaster, also no more sigil on legend swap, because it would be overpowered, were smart enought to know it wasnt a bug.

Warr is getting a revenant threatment, and i can only wait to see guardians when they get it too, the laughts will be epic.

 

[DanAlcedo.3281]

5 minutes ago, zaswer.5246 said:

well we DID ask for a power gs revenant, and using canthas legends isnt a bad idea, the problem is.... implementation, the energy mecanic works awfully, it makes no sense and is incredibly punishing and restrictive, and all the 2 legends swap... well is like having another 2 sets of weapons to swap between, because you cant choose your skills and they work like weapon skills almost, so now imagine with 3 legends instead, a dissaster, also no more sigil on legend swap, because it would be overpowered, were smart enought to know it wasnt a bug.

Warr is getting a revenant threatment, and i can only wait to see guardians when they get it too, the laughts will be epic.

 

Legend: Talon Silverwing

Weapon: Greatsword

Role: Power DPS.

Theme: Samurai.

 

And give Warrior a Support Spec.

[Dadnir.5038]

5 minutes ago, DanAlcedo.3281 said:

Seriously. I have no idea what Anet was smoking when coming up with vindi.

It's a patchwork of players idea... A chimera of some sort...

I don't even understand why there is only archemorus and saint viktor. After all, they wouldn't have been able to beat shiro without Vizu. Worse, they would have wiped the floor without her...

[Dadnir.5038]

12 minutes ago, DanAlcedo.3281 said:

Legend: Talon Silverwing

Weapon: Greatsword

Role: Power DPS.

Theme: Samurai.

 

And give Warrior a Support Spec.

They could have unearthed anything for greatsword. A giant canthan beast, a spirit of death (since there is no scythe and bound spirits are a canthan thing), they could even have used a the purity ministery as a legend (because legend shouldn't only be living things that died, but entity driven by a goal that they share with the revenant.)

 

As for warrior, I tend to wish for a ranged aoe spec instead of a support spec. Support can be sprinkled on all specs after all.

Edited August 2, 2022 by Dadnir.5038