GW1 Fast Casting for Catalysts

[Volcanis.4872]

Catalyst needs a redesign. Looking at primary attributes in Guild War 1, Fast Casting caught my eye. Similar to other elite specializations that have inspiration from another profession, Catalyst could be an elementalist/mesmer elite specialization. 

Like Chronomancer’s Improved Alacrity (+50% faster skill recharge instead of +25% with alacrity), and Warrior’s Aggressive Onslaught (stackable +25% movement speed), Fast Casting can be a unique trait for Catalysts that can stack with quickness. For example:

Fast Casting - while you have quickness, your skill activation time is faster

Faster can be any percent amount (5%, 10%, 15%) that can achieve a good balance. This could also replace Elemental Empowerment as a damage buff trait since attacking faster can deal with same damage as attacking harder with the right balance (and no more inopportune aggro with increased toughness). Casting spells faster than any elite specialization is a great theme for Catalysts in my opinion. What do you guys think?

[the krytan assassin.9235]

I really dont see any reason why this would be a good idea. First of all fast casting doesn't fit the class thematically since it was linked in gw1 to mesmer (and it got replaced by quickness in gw2). 

2nd of all there's an incredible amount of players already complaining about the complexity of catalyst in general and reducing cast time will only result in higher APM peaks, and more complex rotations in general. Since PvE balance is mostly determined by build capacity instead of avg dmge output, this would make it harder to deal good dmge

Currently almost any ele rotation already incorporates some sort of autoattacks in the rotation. Reducing casting time will therefore most likely only increase the amount of time that you're autoattacking, which isn't really enticing. 

Last but not least the burst potential of ele is already very good. (Just look at the complaints about scepter cata in pvp from a couple months back and f.e. the Weaver opening 20% benchmark of like 48.5k or something. There's no reason to further increase it. 

If anything id say most builds need more simplicity. Compared to the start of the game classes have become more intricate, rotations have become harder to follow &alot longer, quickness& alac already increased total APM for quite some builds by more than 50% and bosses tend to have more mechanics & tend to be more punishing. Literally 90% of the instanced PvE playerbase is already running around with LI or semi LI builds. No need to add more complexity if the majority of the playerbase wants/needs more simplicity. 

 

[Serephen.3420]

I like the spirit of this idea, even if I'm not sure about this exact implementation. 

[Volcanis.4872]

On 6/2/2023 at 11:33 PM, the krytan assassin.9235 said:

I really dont see any reason why this would be a good idea. First of all fast casting doesn't fit the class thematically since it was linked in gw1 to mesmer (and it got replaced by quickness in gw2). 

Specter has a necromancer-like shroud, Mechanist has a ranger-like pet, Willbender has thief-like shadowstep skills with their virtues. Some elite specializations have a secondary profession theme and while Fast Casting was an exclusive primary attribute of GW1 mesmers, that doesn't mean GW2 elementalists can never have it. Elementalists in Cantha could have learned from mesmers.

On 6/2/2023 at 11:33 PM, the krytan assassin.9235 said:

2nd of all there's an incredible amount of players already complaining about the complexity of catalyst in general and reducing cast time will only result in higher APM peaks, and more complex rotations in general. Since PvE balance is mostly determined by build capacity instead of avg dmge output, this would make it harder to deal good dmge

Currently almost any ele rotation already incorporates some sort of autoattacks in the rotation. Reducing casting time will therefore most likely only increase the amount of time that you're autoattacking, which isn't really enticing. 

I'm not sure if I understand this argument. Rotation is limited by attunement recharge. If I'm in fire attunement and use skills 2-5 under "Fast Casting" I'm still only pressing 4 buttons and then auto-attacking (which is 1 button) until I can swap to my next attunement. I think having skills cast faster would be fun, much like having quickness versus no quickness. When I auto-attack with quickness Scrapper, I feel powerful and if I don't have quickness, it feels boring and slow. And if there is any profession that should be complex and difficult, it should be the Elementalist just by the very nature of having 4 weapon swaps at all times.

On 6/2/2023 at 11:33 PM, the krytan assassin.9235 said:

Last but not least the burst potential of ele is already very good. (Just look at the complaints about scepter cata in pvp from a couple months back and f.e. the Weaver opening 20% benchmark of like 48.5k or something. There's no reason to further increase it. 

If anything id say most builds need more simplicity. Compared to the start of the game classes have become more intricate, rotations have become harder to follow &alot longer, quickness& alac already increased total APM for quite some builds by more than 50% and bosses tend to have more mechanics & tend to be more punishing. Literally 90% of the instanced PvE playerbase is already running around with LI or semi LI builds. No need to add more complexity if the majority of the playerbase wants/needs more simplicity. 

I would argue Weaver focusing on 2 elements (fire and air swapping for power builds and fire and earth swapping for condition builds) is the semi LI build for Elementalist. Cataylst should be true to its name and speed up its skills as much as possible. It should reward the ultimate piano player since Elementalist is the most complex profession and Catalyst should raise that to 11.

On 6/3/2023 at 12:06 AM, Serephen.3420 said:

I like the spirit of this idea, even if I'm not sure about this exact implementation. 

Even if it's just 10% more than quickness, Fast Casting at least would be Catalyst's identity instead of this weird Energy and Jade Sphere mechanic.