AlphaWolvesGamer.5790 Posted June 28, 2023 Share Posted June 28, 2023 Just re-reviewed the patch notes and compiled some information I hadn't thought of before, but I just realized how much of the Alac/Quickness shift for Heal Support classes have shifted towards using their Reactionary Defensive/Healing abilities in order to keep up minimal levels of Alacrity/Quickness... I need to ask, who thought this was a good design philosophy? Defensive and Reactionary skills purpose is to be used when needed, not used on-cooldown. I'm confused why this was even considered in the first place... 15 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crey.5263 Posted June 28, 2023 Share Posted June 28, 2023 Except Barrier, barrier can be a source of boon because it is preventative in nature (assuming you can maintain barrier uptime like mech & scourge) 4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shib.1369 Posted June 28, 2023 Share Posted June 28, 2023 What makes healers fun, interesting, and rewarding is being reactive - using the "correct" skills in order to handle your current surroundings. Hamstrunging (is that a word?) your build to babysitting one boon (current patch druid and HAM from what everyone says) is not engaging (healer) gameplay. Please fix this. 7 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlphaWolvesGamer.5790 Posted June 28, 2023 Author Share Posted June 28, 2023 (edited) 56 minutes ago, Crey.5263 said: Except Barrier, barrier can be a source of boon because it is preventative in nature (assuming you can maintain barrier uptime like mech & scourge) Was more so referring to Druids' being forced to use their Astral Form on cooldown in order to gain Alacrity for their party (Concentration gear gives ~6s spare Alacrity) and Heal Mech requiring to use their Function Gyro F5 or swap weapon sets, which either removes an AoE Revival/Stomp or Protection from your kit. On-Barrier Application isn't bad persay (that being said, how much you need to juggle for Scourge to keep Alacrity is non-trivial...) but I was more so pointing out that they shouldn't make a healers' boon application applied to their main defensive or reactionary toolkit. A healer's boon support should be through their Utility Skills, not their mechanic functions. Imagine if you had to go into tombs to give Quickness to your allies as a Firebrand, and even after going into tombs you only gave a surplus of ~5s Quickness before having to do it again. Edited June 28, 2023 by AlphaWolvesGamer.5790 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crey.5263 Posted June 28, 2023 Share Posted June 28, 2023 (edited) 33 minutes ago, AlphaWolvesGamer.5790 said: A healer's boon support should be through their Utility Skills, not their mechanic functions. I think that would be in direct conflict with the design goal which a lot of the community found favorable. If you tie it to utilities, you force supports to bring 3-4 of that utility to maintain uptime and they also have to be used off-cooldown which means you can't use them for reaction or advanced gameplay. I think what they did with Chrono was a step in the right direction because they tied it to something that is already in their skill rotation; they no longer have to bring 2-3 wells just to keep uptime. Druid is probably the hardest to tie to the profession mechanic because of the nature of it's form. If we compare it to the Harbinger, where they naturally want to go into their form and stay in in it as long as possible, it feels good for that to be the boon application method. I don't know druid well enough to suggest alternatives but, i'd assume if you accept the parameters that have been identified (they want it to be specific to only 1 elite spec & they are moving away from pigeonholing people's utility choices/usage), I think if they wanted something tied to the druid elite spec that doesn't disrupt their game play...they could possibly tie it to the generation of astral force? Maybe every 10-15 % of your astral force gauge being filled pulses alacrity? I think this would still necessitate you to go into astral form every once in a while to empty the gage, but would let you do that at natural intervals in the fight or in reaction. It would also have the benefit of not making you spam something or do something outside of your normal rotation to generate the boon. Edited June 28, 2023 by Crey.5263 corrected a typo. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SlayerXX.7138 Posted June 28, 2023 Share Posted June 28, 2023 3 hours ago, AlphaWolvesGamer.5790 said: Just re-reviewed the patch notes and compiled some information I hadn't thought of before, but I just realized how much of the Alac/Quickness shift for Heal Support classes have shifted towards using their Reactionary Defensive/Healing abilities in order to keep up minimal levels of Alacrity/Quickness... I need to ask, who thought this was a good design philosophy? Defensive and Reactionary skills purpose is to be used when needed, not used on-cooldown. I'm confused why this was even considered in the first place... I get your frustration, but where did people think the boons move? People wanted free utilities. 2 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaz.8572 Posted June 28, 2023 Share Posted June 28, 2023 So we all agree that using utilities or button mashing as a way to give anything feels bad. so scrapper changes have given me an idea on how we can maybe change classes that require high apm or button mashing that we dont want to allow the class to perform. Scrapper boon application relies on a trait and a few key items such as application of finishers from the class kit, using key abilities is a great change however it just needs a bit more tweaks, knowing that we will be getting advanced weapon mastery which would allow a lot more diversity in the future, you will notice that some weapons have baked in finishers already. my point being that if they can tweak the trait and include maybe some additional finishers and adjust the default boon times, this will allow better flexibility in how the boons get applied. Same can be said for alac druid, the trait currently feels bad with tying it being in celestial stance, maybe change to trait to require the druid to leap or blast finish as this is ALREADY included with in a lot of skills. The goal would be similar to applying the class being required, however it WOULD free up the class mechanic to actually be used when required and NOT spammed which no one likes. I feel that this would go a long way to preserving the class identity and freeing up the need for spamming skills with a solution that we know is possible considering another class has it technically implemented. I would say that herald has this feel implemented as its moved away from needing to button mash beyond playing the class, some numbers need to be tweaked and fixed but the class feels a lot better to play. Have yet to play warriors but apparently they apply the boons as part of their rotation anyways which feels superior than just button mashing utilities. Hope fully some one tries this change to see if we have a viable solution to resolving the no skill button mashing that no one likes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Celeste.9135 Posted June 28, 2023 Share Posted June 28, 2023 This has been an issue in my eyes ever since the Tempest alacrity update with the Elemental Bastion trait being essentially dead in PVE meanwhile Alacrity on overload is a restrictive design overall. Since a healer that doesn't provide alacrity or quickness doesn't fit meta compositions having a healing trait compete with an alacrity trait is nonsensical, no one can choose this trait. Forcing players to use their supportive resources to provide boons is no better than forcing us to fill up on utilities to spam it just shifts the problem elsewhere. How is this balance team so incompetent to keep repeating the same mistakes over and over again? Why does Druid which was mostly fine outside of a few tedious/buggy interactions with spirits now feel absolutely awful to play and barely function? Why do I have to keep dreading what new fresh abomination is going to come with every "balance" patch? Do better. 2 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruisenior.6342 Posted June 28, 2023 Share Posted June 28, 2023 7 hours ago, AlphaWolvesGamer.5790 said: Defensive and Reactionary skills purpose is to be used when needed, not used on-cooldown You could make more noise but not be clearer 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlphaWolvesGamer.5790 Posted June 29, 2023 Author Share Posted June 29, 2023 16 hours ago, Ruisenior.6342 said: You could make more noise but not be clearer To clarify: Druids should not be forced into Astral Projection Form simply to provide Alacrity with a 6s cushion (while also getting Carpel Tunnel as Mukluk put it). Scrappers shouldn't be forced to use their F5 Function Gyro used for Stomps/Rez just to meet ends meat on their Quickness bar. Tempest shouldn't be forced to pick between providing Alacrity OR providing decent healing numbers. I feel like Anet unintentionally kitten a lot of healers by forcing them to use their reactionary abilities just to meet bare minimum Alac/Quick uptime. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bomboed.5697 Posted June 29, 2023 Share Posted June 29, 2023 The whole 100% uptime thing is terrible by itself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jski.6180 Posted June 29, 2023 Share Posted June 29, 2023 Anet seems to be moving away from utility as the main scores of these strong boons but say an stun brake should give you stab of some type. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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