Let's talk about Energy Meld

[Kestrel.8634]

Heya, i've been playing Engineer for almost 3 years and recently switched to Vindicator for a break. I got to say, i love the class design so far. One thing that came across as a glaring issue to me though was the existence of "Energy Meld" and my question is: What is it even for ?   We trade 10 Energy for 25 Endurance on a 20 second cooldown and it even has a cast time which interrupts the combat flow and can be interrupted. I am pretty sure i am not the only one NEVER using it because it is just too weak.

 

My suggestion would be to have Energy Meld have an effect based on which two stances you are combining (for example: using Assassin and Dwarf stance together should produce a skill which reflects the strengths of the two, so either some a mix of Quickness/Fury and Stability/Protection boons or a unique buff).

 

All in all, that would amount to 10 different combinations of stances which shouldn't be too much.

[arazoth.7290]

hi there, I made a simular post about it once and reposted it the february rev patch notes discussion right now. Take a look ^^

 

[Kestrel.8634]

got a link ?

[arazoth.7290]

Oh well here you go.

 

Vindicator needs in the following upsumming a small rework for more identity and better balancing in the future:

 

• 1. Energy meld:  2 charges 15 sec cd each, make it consume then the endurance for 25% endurance bar so it gets converted in 15% energy bar.
  •                                The benefits of the selected dodge traitline gets triggered too for 50% effect because only 25% endurance consumed.
•  

2. Mid row traits:

 

Reaver's Curse

Angsiyan's Trust

Song of Arboreum

this traitline row should work around vindicator switching between archemorus and saint viktor.

 

When you switch between each other, the active side should get bonus effect on the 2 abilities first used.

This way archy can give saint viktor for example some extra cc, boons, damage.

And saint viktor can give archy this way for example some extra support like boons, healing.

 

These bonus effects can be used on allies or enemies, so you can choose where you want to have it hit or spent, this gives some decision and more thinking where and when you want it be used.

 

 

OR

 

 

the alliance stance change could be a 5 second cd, this isn't to abnormal high but also not too low that you can switch on and off, so it still requires thinking which one you want to be in.

 

 

You could make archemorus or viktor meld with another legend. 

that could add 2 options ontop of my idea in mid row traitline. I would though still keep all 3 to activate but only 2 of them can meld according to following mid row traits. ==>

 

•1st traitline mid) archy can meld with shiro, mallyx.

•2nd traitline mid) archy and viktor meld together like described in first post.

•3rd traitline mid) viktor can meld with centaur and jalis.

 

But still on changing stances for both ideas, let it give bonus effect on first 2 abilities used when you switched.

 

The idea to seperate them I wouldn't do, this spec is about melding together alliances in unity.

[Shao.7236]

Energy Meld was fine until they had to deal with the jank they created by splitting the evade.

[Yasai.3549]

Energy Meld was left behind when they gave Vindicator 2 dodges. In case people forgot, Vindi was supposed to be 1 powerful dodge.

 

If I were to do anything with it, I'll turn it into an Upkeep that drains Energy to regain Endurance. At least then it would have a meaningful use with a persistent cost that trades utility and weapon skill casting for increased dodging.

[Virdo.1540]

Imo they should give vindi 2 extra F-Skills. 

One that transfers energy to endurance & one that transfers endurance to energy. Both without cast time.

this way stuff like charged mists could actually be used ,since vindi lacks upkeeps

Edited February 13, 2023 by Virdo.1540

[Yasai.3549]

5 hours ago, Virdo.1540 said:

Imo they should give vindi 2 extra F-Skills. 

One that transfers energy to endurance & one that transfers endurance to energy. Both without cast time.

this way stuff like charged mists could actually be used ,since vindi lacks upkeeps

I feel like another resource micromanagement game will actually turn people off even harder for Vindicator. At best, people leave it the hell alone. At worst, people find all sorts of issues with the two toggles. 

 

 

[Polar.8634]

we can say all todays nerfs are because 2 dodge but we can remember how clanky 1 dodge was. much easier to be cc'd in dodge, and it was fatal since you only had one. weakness spitting classes hard countered vindi and guess what harbs and thiefs are still everywhere. 

i believe it is possible to balance a spec with both one dodge or two. but i am pessimistic if they can actually make something nice on one dodge version, power mirage as example. at least mirage can be played condi, condi vindi was possible somewhat before vassals nerf but it was abomination anyways.

energy meld was useless with one dodge and it is useless now. they ofc should fix it or at least delete it.

[Esufer.8762]

One dodge was absolutely banging, 2 dodges is equally banging (but in a different way, it kind of sucks that a lot of our traits now read as do-nothings or have very minor effects, but I totally get it)

The biggest casualty is Energy Meld doesn't do a whole lot now, but I think it's a nightmare to balance. If you put any boon on it, Energy Meld becomes best friends with Imperial Impact, or gives you something you already have access to, or gives you something you don't have access to and is treated as problematic for giving Vindi too much boon coverage, or whatever.

Or, you stick something that isn't a boon on it (for example, Superspeed) and again, not really okay. It's hard to make a button like Energy Meld do more, especially while the balance of Vindicator is still so in flux.

So Energy Meld is likely just stuck as a "feels bad" button until they're entirely happy with the power level of the rest of the spec. I'm not going to wishlist any changes as that doesn't really do anything and I'm not going to pretend I know better than the people that make the game. Energy Meld has to do very little as an ability until it's safe for it to do something. At least it's nice to have an energy dump every once in a while before you swap anyway, I think all Rev specs benefit from having buttons to pop just before you switch.

[Yasai.3549]

Real dumb idea incoming:

 

Make Energy Meld temporarily combine your Healing Power and Power and provide 75% of the total to both after you activate it. Restore Endurance. 

 

 

Edited February 14, 2023 by Yasai.3549

[Anonynja.3172]

Vindicator is an unfinished spec. The community called for major changes since the EoD betas, but the class has seen only superficial changes since the second beta event in November '21. The initial card-flipping mechanic between Alliance stances was removed between the first two betas, rendering Energy Meld pointless. It had functioned like Weaver's Unravel skill. When ANet added the second dodge on Oct 4 '22 and then quickly hotfixed the resulting dodge spamming, they deleted even more of the spec. Today they're deleting chilled on the Vassals of the Empire dodge. All in all:

• Energy Meld
• Reaver's Curse
• Song of Arboreum
• Vassals of the Empire

Are more or less deleted from the spec. You have one viable major master trait, Angsiyan's Trust. You don't touch Energy Meld except to dump energy before a swap.

I am hoping ANet is working on a substantial overhaul of the spec to match their design standards. 

Here is my draft, open for feedback: https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/User:Anonynja/Vindicator_Rework

I'll be adding alternatives later, as there are numerous ways to approach the spec design depending on what you want to preserve and emphasize.

[Buran.3796]

  They should jus remove Energy Meld. The spec mechanic is the dodge jump, not a F2 which uses a valuable space which should be filled with the Alliance swap.

   That's not a imposture: I'm being honest here albeit objetively selfish. I'm used to only care abour F1 and F2, because all is what you need with Rev, Guardian and Warrior builds (you can argue that sometimes you use F3 in Guardians and F3 and F4 in Renegades, but usually you don't spam those buttons. In Vindicator, as soon as The Alliance became best in slot for most of builds, you need to use the F3 to swap, since Selfish Spirit alone is a very weak heal (you need Selfless Spirit also) and your condition cleansing is in Tree Song , and you spam that swap. I had to move from a 110 € Razer Mamba mouse to a 60 € Naga to make room for that F3, only to learn that the ergonomy of that mice sucks to me. So I spent another 77 € in a Logitech G604 (which I found much more suitable for me but still not optimal). 

   So yeah: please delete Energy Meld. No one uses it and anyway does nothing, so is making a bad use of the F2 and made me waste almost 140 bucks for nothing (at the end condi Vindicator doesn't require either Energy Meld nor swap to Kurzik in PvE, and in PvP and roaming I just run Willbender, which has the Herald gameplay with better cleanses but worse cc, and is fine  thanx ANet).

   That's my funny history with Energy Meld.

[lovemghool.7613]

 Energy Meld is useless, you are better off wasting energy on something else entirely. 
only use if you can afford the precious time to cast it and if you were about to swap legends for energy efficiency... even then im not sure it is worth it LUL
somehow I'd rather have Ancient echoes from core instead than energy meld

[ArthurDent.9538]

11 hours ago, lovemghool.7613 said:

 Energy Meld is useless, you are better off wasting energy on something else entirely. 
only use if you can afford the precious time to cast it and if you were about to swap legends for energy efficiency... even then im not sure it is worth it LUL
somehow I'd rather have Ancient echoes from core instead than energy meld

Well ancient echo is actually a good skill so obviously it's better than energy meld.

[Arthelad.5418]

I think they were intending EM to be some extra endurance in case you needed a dodge, but it is absolutely useless since you already got almost perma vigor and scavanger burst. I really like the idea of it doing something with combining giving legend based effects, or there is something like it giving effects based on your dodge or an upkeep that gives you endurance for energy. Would have been cool to see maybe some unique modifier on it that you can share with allies but ANets current design choice wouldn't allow that. 

[JusticeRetroHunter.7684]

On 2/13/2023 at 9:17 AM, Yasai.3549 said:

I feel like another resource micromanagement game will actually turn people off even harder for Vindicator. At best, people leave it the hell alone. At worst, people find all sorts of issues with the two toggles. 

 

 

True. I don’t have enough buttons on my keyboard and mouse for certain classes lol!