A broken lemma of empty tomes

[Antina.5973]

I'll try to keep it brief, so it's readable and not a huge rant. A few assumptions first.

Assumptions and givens

• focusing on PvE here
• I assume 100% alacrity uptime
• I assume that FB has 5 pages, not taking the Archivist Trait
• Page regeneration is unaffected by Alacrity and gives exactly 1 page per 8 seconds

Proof why current implementation is dull

Let's try dps or quickness Firebrand. Your best damage skills in Tome of Justice are Ashes of the Just (skill 5), Scorched Earth (skill 4)... and skill  Igniting Burst (skill 2). The first two cost 2 pages for a cast. If you want to cast all 3 of them it's a total cost of 2+2+1 = 5 pages and you have 5 pages total, you end up with 0 plus 1 for casting 3 skills in the same tome (Swift Scholar Trait). In the next 8 seconds you will get one more page, resulting in 2 pages total. After another 8 seconds your total pages will be 3 and it is at this time that ALL the skills in Tome of Justice will be available again (Ashes of the Just has the longer CD of 20 seconds, with alacrity 16sec). So about 16 seconds in the fight you enter Tome of Justice with 3 pages and can cast Ashes of the Just... and will probably just quit here.You don't have pages for anything else. Worst thing yet to come, the moment you get your awesome 2 pages (16 seconds later) Ashes will come off cooldown again, so you will use those 2 pages on it and quit the tome again. If the fight has no cool down you will end up doing just that until boss encounter is over. Sounds fun?

Let's break it down on a timeline:

Fight time 0s: 5 pages, we cast Ashes, Scorched Earth, Igniting Burst using 5/5 pages, gaining one from Swift Scholar

Fight time 8s: we get one regenerated page, now 2/5 total

Fight time 16s: we get one regenerated page, now 3/5 total, all skills in Tome of Justice are available, we go in and burn 2 pages on Ashes of the Just, ending up with 1 page left total. We can't do anything else

Fight time 24s: we get one regenerated page, now 2/5 total

Fight time 32s: we get one regenerated page, now 3/5 total, all skills in Tome of Justice are available, we go in and burn 2 pages on Ashes of the Just, ending up with 1 page left total. We can't do anything else

If you haven't noticed, this repeats after opener, every step of 8 + 8 * K seconds is getting a page, every step 16 + 16 * K seconds is getting another page and using it on Ashes of the Just which just came off cooldown. You CAN'T use anything else, be it for damage or utility, by Ogden's hammer, WHAT PAGES?!

K is a natural number, with zero

Therefore the current implementation is very restrictive, boring and shall be changed. E.g. refund more pages after using 3 skills in a single tome, or at least bumb up the page regen.

⬛


tl;dr

Pepe the frog enjoyer wants to learn something easy giving quickness, since there is a huge need for those in all the groups for strikes and raids. Pepe tries QFB, since others said it's easy. Pepe hits this glowing button with a person in flames every time it lights up and then clicks this book and and axe icon. Pepe is happy cause it's just 3 clicks for damage and another 3 clicks for quickness. Pepe once asked what are all those other book skills doing, but he was told not to care then because dps would go down the drain. There is yet another commotion on a nearby plaza, like everyday since the memorable patch. They say that their spirits go to a distant world, where dragons yet fly. But Pepe doesn't listen to surroundings, he wants to win that duel with a frog in Verdant Brink.

Edited December 1, 2022 by Antina.5973

[Gaiawolf.8261]

6 hours ago, Antina.5973 said:

Ashes of the Just (skill 5), Scorched Earth (skill 4)... and skill  Igniting Burst (skill 2).

I agree with everything you said. Tome 1 feels extremely underwhelming, boring, and clunky to play. This is before we even get to any balance issues. I sincerely hope this gets addressed and changed so we can actually use the beautiful skills in this tome.

But... I really came here to note how you called Scorched Aftermath Scorched Earth. I loved that game! Thanks!

[zealex.9410]

I get sharing pages to nerf fbs access to utility while doing dmg or not but this rework destroyer the playstyle and rotation that tome 1 had and has made dps firebrand much less fun.

At this point id rather pick a gm for a tome and keep the old playstyle or each gm reduces the page cost for its respective tome.

Woth either option id also lower the recharge to 6 seconds with trait reduction taking it to 4.

[RUS.9265]

Depends on playstyle. Lucky me, always loved scorched and unbroken lines. They are basically my top favorite skills. With new mechanic i can use them twice as much as before. Was playing  all day (roaming, pvp, fractals) and noticed that my average dps, sustain and even mobility (thx to page refund for using 3 consecutive skills in one tome) are grown even higher. 

Edited December 2, 2022 by RUS.9265

[RUS.9265]

But no more valiant bulwark for cata and ram protection against disruption in wvw. With current cooldown it's dead:'(

Edited December 2, 2022 by RUS.9265