Spear livestream thoughts?

[Assic.2746]

3 hours ago, Kuya.6495 said:

Did they mention in the stream that helio rush doesn't heal you (only allies)?

The description says it only heals allies you pass through. 

Edited Monday at 08:30 PM by Assic.2746

[Kuya.6495]

18 minutes ago, Assic.2746 said:

The description says it only heals allies you pass through. 

I think there are other skills in the game that refer to allies but still apply the effect to you.

[Gaiawolf.8261]

11 minutes ago, Kuya.6495 said:

I think there are other skills in the game that refer to allies but still apply the effect to you.

I don't think the mention of allies precludes the guardian for reasons that you say, but how does one pass through himself?

[Batalix.2873]

I like it. I like that they at least tried to make a support weapon for the GUARDIAN class. I also like that we finally have a new Guardian weapon that isn't about kitten burning things.

[Assic.2746]

As a Guardian main since release I have to say I am excited about spear. It looks way better than pistols which turned out to be all damage and no utility.

Daybreaking Slash

1. It can hit 3 allies and 3 enemies so 6 targets in total.

2. It's great in WvW, good in PvP and decent in PvE if you slot in Permeating Wrath.

3. Also 350 range is what Guardian was lacking. In competitive modes it will allow to keep the pressure while being off node.

Helio Rush

1. Movement skills are something that only Willbender had easy access to and it was its major strength. It is also something that Firebrand desperately needs to be more competitive.

2. Illuminated version seems weak. I think it should make the dash longer distance. Using it twice in a row could let us travel 600 units with the first use and then 900 units with second.

Gleaming Disc

1. That's a really interesting skills. We have to get up close to get the initial hit. The shockwave though is more forgiving as it has higher radius.

2. A lot of boons can be applied with a proper positioning. But it all relies on allies and enemies being tightly packed together as the radius is only 300. It will work well as a self sustain if you pick Altruistic healing.

3. It is a whirl combo finisher. Which means additional condition cleanse for most elite specs. Firebrand can play with it more as depending on which tome we use it with it can also apply burning or healing.

4. Overall it feels like a more offensive rework of staff #4. It applies half the might but does a lot of damage, blinds and most importantly doesn't lock us in place.

5. I think its illuminated version is also weak.

Solar Storm

1. It is an amazing skill. It's great to initiate the fight with.

2. Condition cleanse doesn't fit this skill. I would rather have this effect swapped with the previous skill - Gleaming Disc. As I said this skill is great for initiating combat so it would be better if it granted us and our allies might and fury and for Gleaming Disc to cleanse conditions.

3. Illuminated version is actually good. I quite like the condition we have to fulfill for the next attack to be illuminated. It works well with the theme of Guardian's spear to constantly keep enemies and allies in close range but not full on melee.

4. It has a lot of synergy with disabling effects: cripple, immobilize, chill, slow, wards. Interestingly Dragonhunter can utilize it greatly with Hunter's Ward, Dragon's Maw and Soaring Devastation or even when using Solar Storm on ourselves and pulling the enemy in with the Spear of Justice.

Symbol of Luminance

1. It is weakness overload and I love it. It allows Guardians to counter bursts of power damage coming from close range. It is also weakness which will be constantly reapplied.

2. It's good even without using Writ of Persistence. I think the symbol's radius is more important than its duration. Slotting in Writ of Persistance will allow Guardians and especially Firebrands to negate power damage not only from close range but also from mid range.

3. It's a knockback that can interrupt but doesn't push the enemies off the symbol.

4. It can have a lot of synergy with Glacial Heart, Weighty Terms, Stoic Demeanor, Mantra of Truth. A build which buffs allies by blinding, chilling, immobilizing, weakening etc. enemies can be interesing. But also it is easily countered by condition builds.

5. As for the illuminated version. I have mixed feelings. On the one hand it kinda breaks the idea of chaining skills to empower them. On the other it enables spear on non-stationary Guardian elite specs - Willbender. And it also requires you to have it illuminated first. The value of the illuminated Symbol of Luminance will vary greatly on the elite spec used.

Summary

In short I look forward to Guardian's spear. I can see it being used more in competitive game modes. But depending on the damage scaling it may have a place in endgame PvE as well.

After looking at all of the spear skills I can see similarities to the Thief and Ranger in terms of mechanics - using a certain skill will flip others into a more powerful versions of themselves. It looks like Guardian's empowered spear skills though can be easily accessed and thus are balanced to be weak (unlike Ranger for example who has to fulfill additional condition to empower spear skills).

It worries me that spear gameplay will rely on placing Symbol of Luminance and then spamming all other skills in their illuminated version followed by weapon swap. I hope that ANet will make a revision on illuminated versions of spear skills.

[Supernova Starr.2069]

5 hours ago, Assic.2746 said:

Daybreaking Slash

Cone AOE heal in a range worst than mantras which already are bad enough

5 hours ago, Assic.2746 said:

Helio Rush

Slow animation, unclear on how far the heal goes, forced moviment which is bad for heal FB since positioning must always be in check to make sure everyone is getting quickness.

5 hours ago, Assic.2746 said:

Gleaming Disc

Long cooldown, illuminated version is bad

5 hours ago, Assic.2746 said:

Solar Storm

Spread aoe damage, even a stationary golem will not take all of it's damage

5 hours ago, Assic.2746 said:

Symbol of Luminance

20 seconds cool down for a symbol which is one of the main points in PvE power builds

 

Guardian spear seems far from a consistent support weapon, and far from a consistent dps weapon, apperently supposed to do something inbetween like hammer, but we already had hammer and hammers aren't popular for a reason ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I'd like to point out that besides pistols in condi builds and axe in hfb, every other build is sitting on core guardian weapons, PvE wise. Off hand sword was designed around WvW/sPvP and even there we have better options

I could, and I hope I'm wrong, anyway beta is here in a few days, we can all test it out how this looks and how it feels

[Eekasqueak.7850]

I like how the skills look, just uh not sure what use the spear will have over similar weapons yet.

[phandaria.4891]

Symbols are heal generators for heal guardian builds, yet on spear it is put on a long CD skill 5.

Not a fan of mantra shape (pun intended), yet the main healing skill 1 is done similarly.

Seems to me the idea is skill 5 activates the "illuminated" burst for big heal/boons every 20 sec or so, not sure if I am a fan of this. 

Edited Wednesday at 10:33 AM by phandaria.4891