Day 1 of Playing QDPS Catalyst (qCata)

[Merloin.4816]

Although I had been playing Elementalist since the beginning, never found myself interested in playing Catalyst in PvE endgame. However, yesterday I felt like I could give quickness build a go while raiding with my friends and oh dear Lord, I am full of mixed feelings because of 2 main factors:

Toolkit problems - now, there are always issues with toolkits and it is not about GW2 only. Also, those problems are mostly minor and not really confusing. However, would you look at the difference between Spectacular Sphere and Deploy Jade Sphere (idk why imgur flagged it as mature, as I did not mark the box)? Why it does not register Sphere Specialist traitline? Where does it even this data come from?
Another toolkit issue is not having any information about not producing energy while having an active field anywhere. If it is a very important part of the specialization, why it is hidden from everyone? I literally was trying to understand why sometimes the same ability fills my energy bar and sometimes it does not give single energy. Thanks to google and some redditors for shouting it out, I guess.

Energy management - it is straight up painful, especially after the latest patch. However, I don't think removing energy altogether unlike many other people, as I assume this is how the specialization is balanced and prevented from being played like a dps spec with off-cd sphere spam (as sometimes you need to keep your fast hitting abilities to generate enough energy). Not like it is not a sphere spam fest, though.
The main problem with energy management is not being able to produce energy while having an active Jade Field. Honestly? I like the last change, but at least give us the opportunity of generating energy while having a jade sphere. It is not even necessary to have 1 hit = 1 energy. Generating 1 energy after each 3 hits will be enough to completely nullify the struggle. Catalyst really needs some relief point with its rotation and overall gameplay, and helping it with energy generation will solve this issue. Make the spec satisfying to play, not more spammy than it already was. New energy issue is not even something to be solved with 100% boon duration, as you will not be gaining energy for the next 5 seconds and you will only have 3 seconds to restore enough energy for the next jade sphere. It is too tight and really a fun killer. Enabling a little more energy generation will also make quickheal Catalyst more reliable and quite enjoyable.

[DEL.9468]

Single target quickness upkeep with any interruptions is where the spec falls apart without perfect (group)play.

I'd at least like some sort of out of combat regeneration. Feels epicly bad to have to end up in a situation where you start a single target fight with 0 energy and be a dummy for however many seconds it takes to have energy for at least 2 fields at once.

Wasn't that much of a problem when you had to use only one field for quickness, obviously.

[the krytan assassin.9235]

I always thought the normal qcata build was abit to clunky. It works against a target dummy, but as soon as there are any mechanics involved it usually turns to kitten. That being said, Sc/d qcata doesn't have most of the problems that hammer qcata has. It offers a ton of extra goodies at the loss of just a tiny bit benchmark dps (currently have 30.4k dps on Golem and im by no means a benchmark God). Energy Management on sc/d qcata also is alot easier due to a steady high amount of hits, ranged dps, FA and energized elements.

[soulknight.9620]

Short answer is - energy has to go. Like literary there is no reason for it to exist. A competent cata player can drop all 4 sphere in one loop. So the limiting factor is not a thing. Each sphere has a 15 sec cd which is already enough to limit its play. Right now the only way energy affects players is: it puts pressure on new cata players until they learn the rotation and makes it harder to upkeep quickness in fights with trash mobs (like fracs). Removing energy wouldnt even affect dps at all. So i dont see a single reason why it has to stay (well at least in pve). 

Edited July 3, 2023 by soulknight.9620