The future of GW2 might no longer have Elite Specs. Where does that leave Warrior?

[Jzaku.9765]

This thread is about Warrior's available gameplay options. This means that the specific state of Balance at this point of time should be completely irrelevant to the topic at hand. 

In case you missed the discussion surrounding it - in the Feb 2023 Studio Update, Anet announced that we are moving to a <2 yearly "Mini-expansion" content cycle.
Assuming they follow through with it, and with an intentional dodge on using "Elite Specs" anywhere in the description of said content cycle, it's very possible that EOD was our last wave of Elite Specs.

That said, I've been holding off on a lot of criticism about the Class design over the past ~6 years (since HOT), because there might always have been an Elite Spec on the horizon that would expand Warrior's toolbox and open up the gameplay options available to it. 

But now we're staring down at a future where our class profession mechanics will never expand to support more gameplay archetypes.
An example of what I mean by this is like how Druid gives Celestial Avatar to Ranger to explicitly support a Healer/Support archetype. Trying to shove Warrior into the Healer/Support archetype without an espec providing an equivalent of Celestial Avatar would be akin to imagining a Healer/Support Druid without Celestial Avatar. 

So we get to current Warrior where they have tried now and again to offer it more Gameplay options by shoving it into the Core spec, leading us to great hits such as:

• "You have to slot 2+ Banner utilities to be an offensive support"
• "You have to slot 3+ Shout utilities to be a healer with 0 trickle healing"
• These are mutually exclusive with each other
• You can't be a healer anyway because modern healers are the complete package of Heals and Boons, the latter of which Warrior still has 0 access to Prot 

What are your thoughts on how Warrior can move forwards into this future with 3 Elite Specs, all designed to be the same melee bruiser archetype? 

Edited February 19 by Jzaku.9765

[Shinja.3451]

Nothing, when anet hires competent people to balance and design both skills and traits to fulfill certain functions, the warrior will even be able to fly if you want, if you wish the bladesworn will become a guardian 2.0, but they don't have competent people for that.
Or leaving bad jokes and nonsense aside, I doubt that anet will take the time to see how things really work, partly because they already lost much of their original design of many weapons, traits etc. and, on the other hand, trying to "innovate" usually destroys many things, and if you add to that the bad habit of the same developers that I don't know what they have with nerfing my build A/A, you end up with absurd nonsense like not long ago the 1 of the engineer's rifle that the animation was ridiculous just like its functioning, but it goes to show that some things just get overlooked if a developer gets half dumb and craves to make silly and over-power, does that make anet incompetent to balance the game?, not really, they try, but it's quite discouraging how mediocre the balance patches are for all the time it takes them to do it and how stupid some of the changes are, after all there are worse balanced games. I would say that they lack quality control for these balance patches, if they have any.

[Fueki.4753]

It'll leave Warrior with only being able to do DPS. And that is almost exclusively melee power DPS.

Despite many MANY ideas proposed on the forums, They have never even shown a sliver of wanting Warrior to do otherwise.

On top of that, last year they even went out of their way and turned Warrior's best supporting capabilities into heavily underperforming generic boon application.

Given all that and Warrior not even being the top DPS should tell enough about Warrior's intended place in this game.

At this point, the fun playing it is the last viable thing Warrior has left.

Edited February 19 by Fueki.4753

[draxynnic.3719]

My interpretation of their caginess is that they don't want to commit to a set of elite specialisations with every mini-expansion.

 

In the hypothetical case in which that does happen, though, I think there are some professions that would definitely be winners and losers. Some professions have a wide range of capabilities and playstyles among their elite specialisations - guardian and mesmer are good examples (note that both have some elite specs, and roles within elite specs, that are a bit scuffed at the moment, but the assumption would be that balancing will continue so they will eventually be brought up). Others have not been so lucky, and have had the same roles or other themes continually repeated in their elite specs. Warrior is probably at the top of that list.

 

Seriously, love it or loathe it, the only excusable reason I could see for Bladesworn being the third DPS-oriented spec out of three would be that they are planning to release a warrior support spec, but that they wanted to make sure they got the iaijutsu theme in the Asian-themed expansion. It'd be unforgivable to make that decision if there was a reasonable expectation that Guild Wars 2 would continue active development but that it would be the last elite specialisation that warrior ever receives.

[eXruina.4956]

i've already given up since last june. just making the most out of it now. balance is hopeless and they've killed the only thing i truly enjoyed about wvw. 🤣 rip solo roaming. 🥺😓

 

i'll probably devolve into an open world pve'er hunting down skritt for their shinies. 🤩✨

 

hope they at least spend time developing a class/race change token. or make map exploration account wide. just some stuff at the top of my wishlist. 🤔

 

i mean they could always make gift of exploration purchasable after completing map exploration once. 😁

[cryorion.9532]

It would be reasonable to release another set of elite specs in like 2-3 years from now if things go according to their plan. Nothing stops them from doing a bit bigger mini-expansion with elite specs when they are ready to do that and it's meaningful for the game.

Right now, do we really need/want new elite specs or we would rather have properly balanced professions with all their current especs, including new builds and variations?

In my opinion, having more options in already existing specializations, like greatsword tactics spellbreaker and defense hammer spellbreaker is good enough. If they continue making nice variations for each specialization like this, we could have plenty of builds to choose from and have fun with before new especs are released.

On the other side, probably a bit naive to expect "Anet's awakening", it is very possible we are experiencing another It's a saga, not a season moment.

[Grand Marshal.4098]

Personally, I can only hope more skills are reviewed and are ideally updated, in order to start having more fun adn variety in competetive play.

My personal favourite rn is getting Shattering Blow to become a Hammer Shock on steroids.

[eXruina.4956]

11 minutes ago, Grand Marshal.4098 said:

Personally, I can only hope more skills are reviewed and are ideally updated, in order to start having more fun adn variety in competetive play.

this. ideally they polish the gameplay, address balance issues, work on fixing outdated traits and skills that piled up over the years and improve the older outdated content and game modes.

 

if they just keep adding stuff, and pile the clutter it really hurts the quality of the game.

 

as for replayability, mmorpg endgame has always either been about the fashion wars and pvp modes. i've never played an mmorpg that hasn't hit this wall.

 

i loved the implementation of living story by the way, their storytelling and delivery has improved drastically since core gw2, sad to see it go but maybe something better will take its place.

i specially loved path of fire and icebrood saga. and end of dragons was awesome, just a bit rushed probably because of the pandemic issues.

 

also might i add, i feel the horizontal progression has truly helped maintain the playerbase, people still come and go, and are really incentivised to come back when the gamestate improves or new content is released.

 

overall some balance and gameplay issues aside, they have done a truly great job maintaining this game over the years. i'd call it the best and most long lived mmorpg experience i've had and still having, and i play many mmorpgs.

 

i hope the new directions maintains and improves in keeping this a very great game. 💕

[Raykael.2734]

I don't know where it leaves the warrior, but I know where it leaves me as a warrior player: uninstalling the game for good. 

 

I would understand if they would say that elite specs will arrive later, but like this? No thanks, I'm done