Silly sword changes no one asked for [Merged]

[psizone.8437]

5 minutes ago, Zyreva.1078 said:

which locked you in place for at least 1/2s if not longer.

🤨

[kharmin.7683]

54 minutes ago, Zyreva.1078 said:

If it was such a great defensive weapon it would have seen more play in PvP or WvW, yet it didn't.

I'm guessing it didn't see more play because those modes are more interested in DPS.... which is why we have what we have now.

[Duglaive.5236]

The ONLY reason sword is seeing increased use is the buffed damage (which who the hell knows how long that'll last); Ranger now has a MH power weapon.

In the weapon's history, the Ranger player base has always had a love/hate affair with sword's skill mechanics. Some things, as it's said, never change.

[Zyreva.1078]

36 minutes ago, kharmin.7683 said:

I'm guessing it didn't see more play because those modes are more interested in DPS.... which is why we have what we have now.

There are many defensive/utility weapons that see plenty of use. PvP/WvW isn't only about dmg (unlike PvE), but dmg is still relevant ofc.

[Mell.4873]

1 hour ago, kharmin.7683 said:

I'm guessing it didn't see more play because those modes are more interested in DPS.... which is why we have what we have now.

When you boil down pvp a unifying mechanic It would be damage, especially burst damage. 

It forces your opponent to expend resources to heal or evade. When your entire weapon is about evading attacks it does lead you look for opportunities to take damage rather than dealing it. It's why I always thought the smokescale stealth ultimately was a waste of time since it was not on demand. Leading to same problem, oh I'm about to die let's smoke and leap through it. Rather than committing to killing the other player. 

Edited July 24, 2023 by Mell.4873

[Matoro.9708]

3 hours ago, Duglaive.5236 said:

The ONLY reason sword is seeing increased use is the buffed damage (which who the hell knows how long that'll last); Ranger now has a MH power weapon.

In the weapon's history, the Ranger player base has always had a love/hate affair with sword's skill mechanics. Some things, as it's said, change.

I know, it was so annoying that greatsword has been the best condi weapon. Ugh.

[kiwituatara.6053]

Anyone notice sword#3 always applies immob even when the target is not impaired?

[Barabbas.8715]

New sword is garbo. Just like the changes they've made to the other weapons like Ele dagger and War rifle. Anet wants to ruin everything they can.

[Dediggefedde.4961]

I really like the sword changes on WvW support druid.
Much more mobility and evades that can be used to rescue stragglers and catch up with the commander.
The previous 2 and 3 hardly helped me in zerg encounters.

[Lazze.9870]

On 7/24/2023 at 6:36 PM, psizone.8437 said:

Hornet sting was an evade through the entire cast time

You know, it's quite telling how unfamilier some of the stout defenders of the previous sword are when they think Hornet Sting was an evade frame through the entire cast time.

Hornet Sting was particularly bad because it was an evade with a slow as F cast time and the evade was on the back-end of it. It was by far the worst part of the previous version of the weapon.

Quote

I kind of wonder who has been around long enough to remember what that identity was.

Since day one.

Most of that identity you're talking about was swept away the day they normalized the autos. Serpent's Strike hasn't been on-demand since before the previous time they changed the sword.

It's a meamingless conversation at this point. I get why it sucks, but the weapon is good now and that is what matters. It hasn't been good relatively to the meta in years. 

Or, let me put it like this: I THOROUGHLY enjoyed playing sword/warhorn and greatsword power builds long before they did the specialization update prior to HoT. That was with the old AA an everything. And now, I'm playing with that weapon combo again, on multiple different power build setups. It's fun.

Edited August 4, 2023 by Lazze.9870

[Mell.4873]

Again look at the benchmarks, Sword has essentially replaced Greatsword. 

Edited August 4, 2023 by Mell.4873

[kharmin.7683]

1 hour ago, Lazze.9870 said:

I get why it sucks, but the weapon is good now and that is what matters. It hasn't been good relatively to the meta in years. 

 

Some of us don't care about the meta or end-game content (frac/strike/raid).  Your definition of the weapon being good is subjective.  For me, I don't find it as good as it was before this latest change.

EDIT: And as to the original point of the thread, I don't recall anyone asking for sword changes, especially not like this.  That, I believe, is the complaint.

Edited August 4, 2023 by kharmin.7683

[Vulture.9351]

Just happened to try my old Sword Soulbeast today. Instant regret.

Flank is gone, disengage is gone, SB so my pet isn't out, jeez I'm just a really flimsy kitten warrior.

1 hour ago, Mell.4873 said:

Again look at the benchmarks, Sword has essentially really replaced Greatsword. 

I'll be using greatsword instead of sword, if I ever dare to touch my ranger again. Greatsword works, makes sense functionally, and is ironically now the technical weapon.

Edited August 4, 2023 by Vulture.9351

[Zyreva.1078]

1 hour ago, kharmin.7683 said:

Your definition of the weapon being good is subjective. 

Sword is now objectively stronger in every single game mode and for every type of content.

1 hour ago, kharmin.7683 said:

For me, I don't find it as good as it was before this latest change.

If you don't like the stronger version for whatever reason, THAT is subjective.

[kharmin.7683]

2 hours ago, Zyreva.1078 said:

Sword is now objectively stronger in every single game mode and for every type of content.

If you don't like the stronger version for whatever reason, THAT is subjective.

Yes, my opinion is subjective which is why I stated it as such.  That the sword is now stronger doesn't make it better for many players.  It was the play style and movement of it which many enjoyed, and now that is gone and replaced by more power.  Which, again, no one really asked for.  Anet just decided to do it.

[Zyreva.1078]

1 hour ago, kharmin.7683 said:

Which, again, no one really asked for.

There have been plenty of requests to make sword an actually useful weapon.

[Mell.4873]

On 8/4/2023 at 11:55 PM, kharmin.7683 said:

Some of us don't care about the meta or end-game content (frac/strike/raid).  Your definition of the weapon being good is subjective.  For me, I don't find it as good as it was before this latest change.

EDIT: And as to the original point of the thread, I don't recall anyone asking for sword changes, especially not like this.  That, I believe, is the complaint.

I don't think anyone did but I'm glad they did. I never liked Sword before this patch because it never made any sense to evade back and forth and then around an enemy. 

Whenever I saw this in PvP I could easily just kill them condition damage. Evade frames where only on part of the skill channel so it never worried about missing my attacks. 

The new Sword is just is realy scary with is high damage and ability to chase you. 

On 8/5/2023 at 12:49 AM, Vulture.9351 said:

Just happened to try my old Sword Soulbeast today. Instant regret.

Flank is gone, disengage is gone, SB so my pet isn't out, jeez I'm just a really flimsy kitten warrior.

Why not leap through the Smokescale Smoke Cloud. That is Infinitely better than a few dodge frames. 

Edited August 6, 2023 by Mell.4873

[Vulture.9351]

30 minutes ago, Mell.4873 said:

Why not leap through the Smokescale Smoke Cloud. That is Infinitely better than a few dodge frames. 

because that forces me to use a specific pet to do something I used to be able to do inherently. I can also heal using a bear, doesn't mean they should remove Ranger's healing ability.

[Barabbas.8715]

7 hours ago, Zyreva.1078 said:

Sword is now objectively stronger in every single game mode and for every type of content.

No, it isn't. It's garbo. And it's not fun.

[Mell.4873]

2 hours ago, Vulture.9351 said:

because that forces me to use a specific pet to do something I used to be able to do inherently. I can also heal using a bear, doesn't mean they should remove Ranger's healing ability.

Let's push this further, Healing Spring + Two Leap finishes is an amazing heal in any game mode.

Fire field from either Torch or the Trap can give you Fire Aura for great Might uptime while applying burning.

You can even use the Electric Wyvern for an electric field for some amazing chain stun potential.

[Matoro.9708]

14 hours ago, Mell.4873 said:

Again look at the benchmarks, Sword has essentially replaced Greatsword. 

Lovely, instead of buffing greatsword for that niche, they killed it and the original sword at the same time

[Levetty.1279]

5 hours ago, Barabbas.8715 said:

No, it isn't. It's garbo. And it's not fun.

Yes, it is. It's strong. And it's fun.

[Mell.4873]

1 minute ago, Matoro.9708 said:

Lovely, instead of buffing greatsword for that niche, they killed it and the original sword at the same time

I mean Greatsword was always superior in PvP. The only reason it was ever used in PvE was to use Maul to set up other skills.

Regardless of Snowcrows it can still work, I run Sword + Axe and Greatsword rather than Longbow. I open with less damage but I can regulate my Damage much better during a fight. The result is I switch to Greatsword for exposure/cc purposes then preform the default rotation with damage boosting utilities. This idea works for both PvE and PvP. You can also trait both at the same time even with the Snowcrow build. 

[aymnad.9023]

I never managed to see the appeal of the previous version. The mobility was superior but the rest of the kit was not great. The damage skill was not good enough and the dodge was locked behind the damage / mobility skill. So when playing it you could not use the defense reactively because you had to go through the animation lockdown of the hit or the backward move and when fighting it you just saw people spamming their abilities trying to refresh the evade. Now each skill has a clear goal and can be used immediately.

Edited August 5, 2023 by aymnad.9023

[Vulture.9351]

8 hours ago, Levetty.1279 said:

Yes, it is. It's strong. And it's fun.

It's stronger but what exactly makes it fun now?

 

The thing that truly ticks me off about the people that love this is that at some point the damage will be nerfed. You'll just switch to another weapon but those of us that cared about sword-Ranger will be left with a weapon that is weaker AND bland af.