New Professions or Elite specializations.

[draxynnic.3719]

13 hours ago, VocalThought.9835 said:

Hence, my earlier suggestion, I think there is truely room for one more elite specialization along with another weapon for each profession.

I'd argue that some professions don't just have room for one more elite specialisation, they need it. Elementalist has been saddled with three elite specialisations that have all been primarily designed for melee, with varying potential to be adapted for ranged, despite being a profession that a lot of people would like to play ranged. Engineer is in a similar boat. Warrior support builds would probably be much easier to facilitate if warrior actually had its own support elite specialisation rather than having support elements bolted on the DPS elite specialisations after the fact. Revenant could probably do with the reverse - ArenaNet has insisted on making ever elite specialisation at least somewhat supportive to the point where they destructively compete with one another.

Most other professions don't have such a clear need but players still have some distinct thoughts on would-be-nice-to-have.

[Panda.1967]

8 hours ago, draxynnic.3719 said:

Most other professions don't have such a clear need but players still have some distinct thoughts on would-be-nice-to-have.

Ranger is in the same boat as Elementalist… it lacks a distictly ranged elite spec, both Soulbeast & Unleashed were designed for melee and Druid is was designed to be a pure support spec.

I think there is also room for some especs that build ip on some core designs for the professions… like a Necromancer espec that puts a greater emphasis on summoning minions, or a mesmer espec that doesn’t shatter their clones…

[Gaiawolf.8261]

17 hours ago, draxynnic.3719 said:

Most other professions don't have such a clear need but players still have some distinct thoughts on would-be-nice-to-have.

This is the way. Thank you.

My personal top picks would be a ranged caster for guardians (preferably a ranged smiter), a mesmer that cast illusionary monsters, and a ranged elementalist.

[draxynnic.3719]

8 hours ago, Panda.1967 said:

Ranger is in the same boat as Elementalist… it lacks a distictly ranged elite spec, both Soulbeast & Unleashed were designed for melee and Druid is was designed to be a pure support spec.

Not to the same extent. I guess neither soulbeast nor untamed are explicitly designed to be ranged, but I don't think either of them have traits that don't work on a melee build. Soulbeast doesn't have any utility skills that require being in melee, although 3/5 of the merged F3s, including all the DPS-oriented pets. Untamed cantrips are a bit more melee-oriented. Condi druid exists, and didn't require a complete redesign of the elite specialisation to happen.

Compare to that: Tempest requires you to be within 360 or less of the enemy to get full benefit from the primary mechanic. Catalyst, at least in PvE, requires you to be close enough that both you and your enemy are within a sphere. Weaver you can make work, but one of your traits requires using a melee weapon, the weaver heal, elite, and one of the utilities all assume you're close to the enemy, and the way weaver interacts with core elementalist traits means you probably want to be in melee unless you're running an Air/Arcane power weaver.

Which is not to say a ranger elite spec that goes fully into ranged DPS with no features intended for melee would be redundant, and they might actually be on a similar level to scrapper and mechanist. But I think elementalist elite specialisations are being forced into melee considerably more.

8 hours ago, Panda.1967 said:

I think there is also room for some especs that build ip on some core designs for the professions… like a Necromancer espec that puts a greater emphasis on summoning minions, or a mesmer espec that doesn’t shatter their clones…

Oh, definitely. We could probably keep throwing ideas at the wall until the cows come home.

[VocalThought.9835]

On 5/14/2024 at 11:55 AM, VocalThought.9835 said:

Warrior: Weapon Master- These Warriors have 3 weapons sets instead of 2. Your normal weapon swap (~) will goto the next weapon where your F3 will toggle back to the previous weapon.  The adrenalin would be one bar and the F1 will still be the burst attack. An F2 ability will mark a combat area called "Battle Grounds" which will buff the Warrior when in it or attacking a foe that' in the marked area. The new weapon will be either Dual Focuses (Foci) or Main hand Shield. Their skills will be similar to Elementalist Augmentation, which will add buffs to the Warrior and additional buffs when their in or attack a foe that's in the Battle Grounds.

Guardian: Summoner- Guardians now have mystical mythical spirit animal companions that morphs based on the virtues the summoner attunes to. F1 will be Chimera, F2 will be a  Caladrius, and F3 will be a Spirit Fox. The Summoner will always attune to one virture when the animal spirit is active and only has the passive of the unattune and off cool down virtures.  The F1 - F3 will Summon the corresponding spirit animal and mark their destination. The spirit animal will attack in their area while also pulsing out their corresponding virtues. F4 will dismiss or re-summon the animal spirit if it dies and when it's not on cool down.  Their weapon will be the War Horn. Their skills would be similar to Necro's Punishment Skills.

Revenant: Remnant- These Revs use the F2 to  transform to an Avatar of the Mist. Like a necro shroud, it changes all their weapon skills and reducing the energy cost for using their right skill bar while loosing the ability to weapons swap while in this state. They're new legend could be the first master of the mist or a legend from the Future, since the mist knows not time. Their new weapon would be Focus. Their skills would be similar to Theif's Preparation Skills.

Rangers: Shapeshifter- Simply put, these Rangers can finally merge into their pet, opposite of the Soulbeast. The F5 will transform the Ranger into their pet and change the weapon skills to their pet skills, where while their in animal form, skill 1 will be the pets first attack,  2 will be the second, 3 will be the third, 4 will be the known beast ability, and 5 could be the soulbeast's archetype skill or a new skill altogether. Their new weapon would be the Shield. Their new skills will be Meditation Skills where they can call animals or plants to damage enemies or buff them and their allies. 

Engineer: Mastermind- These Engineers are master planners that professional mechanics change from "Tools" to "Tactics" against their enemies. Like the Thief's Steal ability, Engineers' F1 Surveys an enemy granting an engineer an F2 and F3 tactical skill based on the enemy surveyed. These Tactical ability can be an attack that damages/conditions foes (F2) or a buff for allies (F3) Their new weapon is the Focus. Their new skills would Traps.

Thief: Raider- These thieves have a new mechanic called Intuition, when 5 intuition points are maxed, generating a point/sec, they get Aegis, blocking the next incoming attack.  Their new weapon would be Torch. Their new skills will be Improvisations, similar to Engineer Exceed Skills, which would have a different intensity based on how much Initiative there is when cast.

Elementalist: Archemage- These Elementalist F5 skill is a Arcane, the 5th element, that relies on a energy bar that builds with Arcane magic as the Elementalist switch between the Core Attunements , and allows them to use the 5th element, "Arcane" to go into the Arcane Shroud. While in this Shroud they can't use any other skill, but when they attune to any other element, it goes on cool down. Their new weapon is the offhand Scepter. Their new skills are Mantras.

Mesmer: Doppelganger- These Mesmer have only one clone instead of three, that has a health bar and regenerates health every time a skill is used that summons an illusion, instead of summoning a new clone. The F1 causes damage around the clone and command the clone to attack a marked area, F2 causes confusion around the Mesmer and the clone and they swap places. F3 Dazes those around the Mesmer and clone. F4 causes Distortion around you and summons the clone back to your location. The clone will always use the same weapon as the Mesmer and will swap weapons either at the same time or after it lands it's last attack. If a Phantasm is summon, the clone will be replaced by the phantasm and will convert back to the clone after the last phantasm attack. If the clone dies, than the next clone skill will summon the next clone but at a low health. Their new weapon will be a main hand focus. Their new skills will be a new type of Illusion call Poltergeist or Phantom. Like minions, these are horrid illusions cause a range of conditions when they attack, while also, like the phantasm, replacing the clone when summoned.

Necromancer: Warlock- F1 is a Shroud that allows their life force to be used as a second health bar, but provides no new Shroud skills, but F2 is now a Burst ability where when the life force bar builds up they use energy to cause a major attack based on their offhand weapon or Two-Handed weapon. Their new weapon will be the Shield. Their new Skills will be Glyphs that change when their in Shroud.

I'm surprised based on the recent comments that this post didn't get more "likes". How else you guys think Devs are going to add ideas like this if people don't show them what we're looking for. 

[serow.6524]

No need for new professions, but I definitely want more elite specs. Just getting new weapons isn't as interesting/exciting.