Catalyst Spheres Clunky

[Druten.4296]

Even with the change for quickness to be applied on all spheres, anyone who has played the build in real content can agree that the energy mechanic makes consistently keeping quickness up can be needlessly cumbersome on fights with invuln phases or between packs in fractals.

I would love if energy for spheres either recharged out of combat, or was removed. I think it would go a long way to make catalyst feel better and pave the way for more viable PVE weapons than just hammer since you don't have to rely on the orbs for energy.

[RazieL.5684]

it is amazing how they went through so many iterations of druid energy filling passively and out of combat yet the cata issues remain exactly the same...

[Batalix.2873]

I think the energy idea fits, but is just implemented really poorly.

1) It should have clearer interface. It's too tiny as is.

2) I think it would actually be MORE intriguing to be able to place jade sphere fields for no cost and then *extend* their duration with energy. More energy required for more active wells.

3) Either way, you should be able to generate energy with more triggers than just hitting things. What thoroughly dissonant, uninspired design. Let us "reattune" to elements to pump up energy that way. Maybe give augments some energy charging.

Put bluntly, there is a LOT they could have done to make Catalyst work better as a geomancer/shaman/summoner concept. What we got is just the worst, janky, non-design.

[zeyeti.8347]

It's an ele , you expect to have any easy build with ele , the class has always been a burden to play in 75% of the encounters , the class is obviously designed for a minority of hardcore players (esêcially catalyst)

If i have to compare quick cata with someone it would be herald , herald you pulse 1.75 sec (without any BD , full zerk) every second in a 600 range , + pulsing healing ...  , you maintain 16-17 stacks of might by just pressing 1 button every 10 sec and the rotation .... press 2 , 4 , 5 off cd , and AA , not to forget if you play dwarf , you can get your group -10% damage for a mom + stab , and brill can easily maintain a good chunk of regen , prot. , fury , while busting BD of all your group.

Now look at shitalyst ... i can't go trough all you have to do , my fingers are already tired just thinking of it , remove the freaking energy , that was understandable with sphere on a 5 sec cd , but now they are on a 15s we can get rid off this clusterfu*** , or at least give us a trait who help manage this cluncky mechanic , 2/3 energy per sec , 2 energy on attunement switch ... thats way of the bottom...

3 hours ago, Batalix.2873 said:

It should have clearer interface. It's too tiny as is.

Have some numbers on it and make it twice bigger , managing energy feel like a visual test but with a barely see trough napkin on your face

Edited July 25, 2023 by zeyeti.8347

[scerevisiae.1972]

My take as a game designer is that energy is an almost pointless resource. it doesn't need to exist because the only balance function it achieves is preventing too many fields being dropped in succession, and this could be done with simple cooldowns. 

Simple fix:

• remove energy
• add a CD to each element's F5 of 10sec (to match attunement CD, also affected by arcane attunement CD reduction)
• dropping a new field makes any previously-dropped fields expire 2sec later (ie: 5sec default duration -> 3sec)
• F5 fields drop at the catalyst's location, are no longer manually placed (QOL change to remove clunkiness)

 

these changes remove the annoyance of having to farm energy before encounters but continue to limit the ability to spam endless F5 fields.

 

[ZloyMakak.1429]

Don't agree with placing spheres at cata location. Playing quick heal cata since eod release and it is so cool that I can buff my team ftom 1200 range while doing mechanics. Right now cata is the only healer that can do that. Before anyone asks - I generate energy via frostbow (2-3 autos+ skill 2=full energy) 

[Helgaley.3619]

On 8/1/2023 at 3:44 PM, scerevisiae.1972 said:

My take as a game designer is that energy is an almost pointless resource. it doesn't need to exist because the only balance function it achieves is preventing too many fields being dropped in succession, and this could be done with simple cooldowns. 

Simple fix:

• remove energy
• add a CD to each element's F5 of 10sec (to match attunement CD, also affected by arcane attunement CD reduction)
• dropping a new field makes any previously-dropped fields expire 2sec later (ie: 5sec default duration -> 3sec)
• F5 fields drop at the catalyst's location, are no longer manually placed (QOL change to remove clunkiness)

 

these changes remove the annoyance of having to farm energy before encounters but continue to limit the ability to spam endless F5 fields.

 

Yeah I think the issue is that already has a cooldown. It has a cooldown AND the energy mechanic, and we've been asking for one or the other to be removed since the EOD specialization betas. What's worse is that you can't build energy when a sphere is already down, so it's basically multiple limiting mechanics layered on top of each other when 1 would be more than sufficient. To me it's just further evidence that most of the EOD specializations were just cobbled together at the last minute without any thought as to whether they were fun or even made sense. 

[Junkpile.7439]

Main problem is that spheres doesn't seems to do anything. You play staff ele, stand in sphere and not much happening. It's like anet forgot that there is other ways to play ele than just spam finnishers 24/7.

Edited August 14, 2023 by Junkpile.7439

[Juniper.8197]

On 7/24/2023 at 1:10 PM, RazieL.5684 said:

it is amazing how they went through so many iterations of druid energy filling passively and out of combat yet the cata issues remain exactly the same...

Simple answer to that is that you have different teams working on different specs, blissfully unaware of each other; right hand not talking to the left hand.

[RazieL.5684]

21 hours ago, Juniper.8197 said:

Simple answer to that is that you have different teams working on different specs, blissfully unaware of each other; right hand not talking to the left hand.

even if that would be true it all ends up in the same patch list of changes and if the communication is absolutely 0, which would be below intern level of quality, just skimming through the same patch notes that everyone has should have raised some flags in every single team...