The idea of elite specialization needs to be gone

[Taygus.4571]

@"Anchoku.8142" said:Eoz, if you feel strongly that PoF elites are necessary to zerg in WvW, buy the expansion. That may sound harsh but your post reads a lot like, "I do not want to pay for more content so Arenanet should just give it to me or nerf elite2.

I've bought the content and feel power creep is not the way to sell expansions.Core specs should be on par with elite expansion specs.

Otherwise we end up in a game where everyone plays the same new spec, until the next new spec. How dull.

[sorudo.9054]

i do think they need to fill the gaps, while the warrior hits a wall really fast the engineer barely has anything to show for it. (just 2.5 weapon sets while the warrior has practically all but short-bow and pistol)

[eoz.1834]

speaking of engineer, can you tell major gameplay change between holosmith and old power static discharge build? I feel there is no major change except filling gaps where old power static discharge build had. the old build had some trade-offs but with pof that trade-offs are gone.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMyN3hclRjk

[eoz.1834]

recycling old specs into a "new elite specs" and selling it by $$$$ is kinda scam. do you remember old mesmer clone death build? they deleted it because people complained a lot about it but we have it now thanks to mirage. the same situation goes to old guardian tomes. they removed tomes because they are not happy it as utility and elite skill and now they gave it under f1 f2 f3. I know many people who bought pof because scourge is too strong and core/reaper necro too weak in wvw .

[ReaverKane.7598]

If you really look at it, Elites are actually pretty good. The fact that they feel overpowered is not only due to ANet making them base stronger (which might or not be true), but because they're exactly what their names state. They're Specialized.And usually in MMORPGs the way to be strong is to be specialized, that's why you usually go all in on a build, you don't do a mix of power, condi and healing power, you go all in in one of those three, and specialized.Core professions suffer from the "jack of all trades master of none" syndrome. And when an Elite comes by that focuses on one of those trades, it feels that much stronger, because unlike core, everything in it is built around that specialized area (even all the skills are the same type).

• That's why condi warr became a thing in HoT, because Berzerker focuses on that also it gives you the strongest burst skills, at the cost of extra cooldowns, Spellbreaker focuses on the tanky/anti-boon nature that existed in core warrior, but loses that condi damage.
• Druid was a new thing on himself since heal builds didn't really exist before, soulbeast focuses more on the ranger using the pet as a means to have extra stats, instead of just being there doing its own thing, so it can actually boost all of the core builds, you just pick the right pets, but you lose the defensive aspect of having a tanky pet.
• Reaper focuses on the tanky aspect of necro, and has the strongest shroud, but closes in the range, and SHOULD have been more power focused, Scourge focuses on the boon corruption and condi damage, but sacrifices the second HP bar you had with shroud (although barrier helps a bit, it's not nearly the same thing).
• Dragonhunter is a great burst dps with the longest ranged option for Guardian, but loses the sustained damage of burn guards, firebrand is the opposite, focusing on the burn damage and support abilities of core.
• Tempest focuses on keeping you longer in each attunement and giving you support options, while weaver focuses on "weaving" through different attunements and damage.
• Chrono gives the single-target focused mesmers some aoe options, and some extra support and defensive options (with shield), while mirage is an offensive build focusing more on making illusions even more devastating, and taking evasion from sword and distort and putting it into your "dodges".
• Engineer specs have largely been their own thing, but there's still a degree of that focus in them. Scrapper was mostly the first melee version of an engineer that doesn't have to rely on kits for that, while Holomancer is all about that one kit, the light forge...
• Thief was greatly illustrated already by @Zedek.8932:

For either Daredevil and Deadeye, you have to sacrifice a bit of the core Thief to gain something in the desired direction. For example, I think the stolen skills of the Deadeye are awkward and nothing compared to the actual steal that granted me stealth, shadow stepping, damage, poison, etc. to the victim I stole from, and a random bonus item/weapon that does not run out like the stolen skills when the mark's over. But why would I want to get close an enemy when I am on a ledge, kneeling with my long-range rifle? Of course I had to sacrifice that. Or the 3rd dodge ability - when I am in safe distances, it makes sense that a Daredevil has 3 dodges, but not Core Thief or Deadeye. When I have been a Daredevil, I loved to dash around and punch people in their crotch with Fist Flurry and every dodge caused stacks of agony do nearby guys (and even gave away their position if stealthed when you noticed where the daggers are flowing towards to). That was a button mashing and fast gameplay, but that's self-explanatory with the profession's name. I never used any kind of traps though anymore.

• Revenant is weird, because each legend is its own specialization, and was already built with elite specs in mind from the start, so there's no easy parallel.

While i wish that Core specs would retain their appeal, the more new specializations pop up, the less niches will be left to be filled by core specs, that's innevitable.The only thing we have to hope is that in their eagerness to give us new specs right now they aren't overstepping, like for example Firebrand seems to try and do two things at the same time, which in the future can make it obsolete (if they add a new more support-oriented specialization, firebrand will be left aside for that one, and the same thing will happen if a new more condi-oriented one pops out).And that's mostly what has been wrong with some elite-specs so far, they should have a clear role and be clearly built around that, instead of dallying in too many things at once, which in the future can make them obsolete, just like core specs.And one of the worse offenders are the elementalist classes. They should have made the elite specs focused around single or pairs of elements.Like Tempest would have been way more fitting if it had been a Air specialized Elite, with all it's skills revolving around air, with the other atunements providing minor variations to it's skills instead of whatever the hell that elite spec had to do with storms, and tempests.

[Burnfall.9573]

@"eoz.1834" said:why do you feel salty about it? recycling old specs into a "new elite specs" and selling it by $$$$ is kinda scam. do you remember old mesmer clone death build? they deleted it because people complained a lot about it but we have it now thanks to mirage. the same situation goes to old guardian tomes. they removed tomes because they are not happy it as utility and elite skill and now they gave it under f1 f2 f3. I know many people who bought pof because scourge is too strong and core/reaper necro too weak in wvw .

'From DarknessTo LightThere It IsThe Truth '

' For their is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed and everything that is concealed will be brought to light and made known to all '

Speak the truth

[BlaqueFyre.5678]

The whole Elite Specs are supposed to be side grades was stated in forums post on the old forums by Karl McLain which are deleted so no one can reference those, the only thing that points to them are articles written by different companies speaking about the Elite Specs being side trades, it may have also been stated on and AMA they had or a Guild Chat.

[Henry.5713]

Some of the new specs just happen to fit WvW rather well. The same can be said about HoT elites and PvE. Druid, chronomancer and berserker are still the musthaves there. Different builds simply shine in different places. Heralds are heavily used in WvW, renegades are heavily used in PvE. There are many cases such as this one and PoF specs are hardly the only ones in use if you look at the bigger picture.

[Crossaber.8934]

@BlaqueFyre.5678 said:The whole Elite Specs are supposed to be side grades was stated in forums post on the old forums by Karl McLain which are deleted so no one can reference those, the only thing that points to them are articles written by different companies speaking about the Elite Specs being side trades, it may have also been stated on and AMA they had or a Guild Chat.

No matter how side grade elite spec is, the elite spec usually provide something to cover up holes on core while also enhance a certain aspect, as a result it will be always better than core as a result.

But if saying core vs elite is literally zero chance to win that’s straight up lies. Elite spec is about 10%+- stronger than core to me, better yes, but core spec is still competitive in most way.

I am okay with elite spec slightly stronger than core but elite spec should be more balanced with each other in pvp/wvw aspect.

[eoz.1834]

@Crossaber.8934 said:

@BlaqueFyre.5678 said:The whole Elite Specs are supposed to be side grades was stated in forums post on the old forums by Karl McLain which are deleted so no one can reference those, the only thing that points to them are articles written by different companies speaking about the Elite Specs being side trades, it may have also been stated on and AMA they had or a Guild Chat.

No matter how side grade elite spec is, the elite spec usually provide something to cover up holes on core while also enhance a certain aspect, as a result it will be always better than core as a result.

But if saying core vs elite is literally zero chance to win that’s straight up lies. Elite spec is about 10%+- stronger than core to me, better yes, but core spec is still competitive in most way.

have you played weaver in wvw? is the damage %10 difference? did you see any decent support firebrand videos? they literally can do 2 core support guardians job + ele waterfields at ease. do condi/power necro/reaper does %10 less damage/support scourge? herald works now because of glint. when they give revenant or some other profession an alternative way to generate fury, renegade will take its place. everything works in open world pve but not in competitive way. this stuff hurts the game mode especially where you can't control others build. you can't kick people from the map unlike pve raids. since guardians/eles/warriors/necros/revs are backbone of wvw squads and their meta build shouldn't be locked on $$$$$.

[BlaqueFyre.5678]

@Crossaber.8934 said:

@BlaqueFyre.5678 said:The whole Elite Specs are supposed to be side grades was stated in forums post on the old forums by Karl McLain which are deleted so no one can reference those, the only thing that points to them are articles written by different companies speaking about the Elite Specs being side trades, it may have also been stated on and AMA they had or a Guild Chat.

No matter how side grade elite spec is, the elite spec usually provide something to cover up holes on core while also enhance a certain aspect, as a result it will be always better than core as a result.

But if saying core vs elite is literally zero chance to win that’s straight up lies. Elite spec is about 10%+- stronger than core to me, better yes, but core spec is still competitive in most way.

I am okay with elite spec slightly stronger than core but elite spec should be more balanced with each other in pvp/wvw aspect.

I was just stating where the whole Elite Specs are supposed to be sidegrades came from and why people can’t find the Dev posts on that statement anymore.

[Tasida.4085]

@"Anchoku.8142" said:Eoz, if you feel strongly that PoF elites are necessary to zerg in WvW, buy the expansion. That may sound harsh but your post reads a lot like, "I do not want to pay for more content so Arenanet should just give it to me or nerf elite2.

@"Anchoku.8142" said:Eoz, if you feel strongly that PoF elites are necessary to zerg in WvW, buy the expansion. That may sound harsh but your post reads a lot like, "I do not want to pay for more content so Arenanet should just give it to me or nerf elite2.

This!

[Orpheal.8263]

The problem with this game right now is in many ways splitted up by now:

1) Conditions and Boons are totally too much effect clutter - it absolutely needs to be reduced, many of them are so totally obsolete, that they can easily be merged into various classes skills and traits to strengthen the roles and unique specifics of each individual class and their Elite Specs better. Too many Conditions and too many Boons beign accessible for all classes is BAD, it hurts massively the game balance and just leads to unneccessary effect clutter, which in return leads to lags and lesser game performance as well, especially in WvW when lots of people run into each other and spam their skills as fast as possible at each other.Both sides needs to be drastically reduced - of both sides get drstically reduced, that will make Condi Removal and Boon Removal so much more impactful for Combats, because it will help those mechanics to better keep up with the applied Boons and Condis and it will help balancing Condi Spam and Boon Bunkers more.

2) The completely ridiculously outdated Health System of GW2 needs a complete redesign and rework, because this stinking cheese is by now 5 years old and never has been at all for once been adapted by ANet to all the changes anet did for 5 years meanwhile to all the rest of the game. Peiople are dishign out already like tripple as much DPS, than what we were able to do 5 years ago, and you seriously don#t requestion yourself here, why it is so stinking easy to 1hit kill people, when we run still around with such ridiculously low Health Numbers, which can't even withstand at all these ridiculous high DPS numbers?? When I see people dealign with 1 attack/1 hit like 28k Damage, then should be ringing at Anet all god darn ALARM BELLS how pathetic the balance of this game has become!!!

3) The next contributor as to why this game could become so patheticly balanced is the outdated Attribute System, which is in like 65/35 percentage in favor for playing offensively, because only playing offensive in this game provides attribute based SYNERGY between the attributes, which the defensive attributes just play simply said SUCK BALLZ and have no synergies between each other at all.. you get the impression in this game just simply, that the defensive attributes just exist in this game as freaking DECORATION, because they kind of have no real impact on the outcome of battles..You can have like a Million Toughness, it won't help you at all against Conditions, because Conditions just completrely IGNORE DEFENSE..how ridiculous is this please?And even if used agaisnt physical attacks, you get the impression that you can have like basicalyl as much Toughness as you want, it absolutely doesn#t significantly decrease the amoutn of damage you take - it feels like, as if the attribute is for like 5 years now bugged and simply doesn't functionize at all!.Otherwise it is absolutely not explainable, how you can take even with like 2900 to 3k+ Defense Values still hits, that can easily bring you from 100% Health in 1 Hit to like 25-30% Health if you have luckIf ANet would rework the Attribute System finally to a more balanced out Dual Effect Attribute System that is designed around factoring equally offensive as like defensive Effects in a morre balanced 50/50 relationship where both sides have attribute based synergies, then this would also help in reducing some Effect Clutter, because there exist easily some completely obsolete Boons, which would work miraculously much better for this game's balance, if they woudl get redesigned into secondary Attrbiute Effects, so that people have to put points into Attributes instead of just having to use Skills actively or getting the effects passively from traits

4) After Points 1-3 have been done, should get reduced the overall DPS Range from all Classes down by approx 25-33%, so that everything in this game will deal again lesser Damage and becomes closer again to the Game balance State DPS of 2012 for which the Game was originally created and balanced around with.

5) After that comes the next point, which is long overdue to become rebalanced and partially eventually redesigned based on the making Attributes have Dual Effects now, which is adapting and rebalancing the complete Upgrade System, while also removing alot of totally obsolete Sigils and Runes from the game and rework the whole System based on a reduced amount of numbers of Sigils and runes, which actually are really impactful and build definign Upgrades, which don't feel useless or massively weaker, than other Upgrades, which is the reason why there exist upgrades, that aren't worth a piece of toilet paper, like 1 silber or so, and why there exist expensive meta upgrades for which you have to pay multiple gold, because theres simply such a huge load of crap upgrades which aren#t in any way or for in an equal and competitive design of beign useful for the player compared to the ones, which people see as useful and are seen to this by the masses as meta upgrades that are then rated as highly valueable, cause everyone naturally wants to have only useful upgrades and not run around with garbage with that you stand no chance in combat against peopel which use the more useful upgrades. And do the game a favor, remove the completely useless junk that is minor and major forms of upgrades, nobody, absolutely NOBODY needs or uses this.Upgrades should always come in a perfect form with effects that are useful for the player from the begin to the end of the game.They should GROW and progress with the player together as the player becomes stronger, so should do also automatically (or with a simple process that costs a bit money/materials) should grow also as well your equipment as you refine it, upgrade it and so on - thats NATURAL CHARCTER PROGRESSION, not this craftign based junk that exists only in the game to serve as money/material sink and to annoy the playerbase with artificial slowdowns in which low level stuff becomes basicalyl completely useless for the player, once you reach Max Level/the Endgame State of GW2, which is also the reason, why Endgame Stuff is so much more valuable to players, than lower tier stuff, unless the lower tier stuff is much rarer/slower to receive than endgame stuff

---

Once these 5 points would have been looked it, then its time to rebalance skills and traits from the Classes to ensure, that the Core Classes become more equally balanced with the Elite Specs. Most of the E-Specs feel all like massively overpowered Upgrades just of the Core Class, without that you lose anything for exchanging your gameplay elements and gainign the Elite Specs Skilsl and Weapon ect.Elite Specs as System need to be merged with the Mastery System to make it possible to not only just learn an Elite Spc, but also to fully MASTER it to unlock partwise the features of an Elite Spec also to become useable for your Core Class (Weapon, Healing Skill ,Utility SKills), while Traits and Elite Skill stay unique to the Specialization.This will help in balancing out Core Classes to the Specializations to make them a bit more equal to each other, while also improving the Character Progression Aspect of both Systms through the merge of both Systems with each other, while stil lgiving people a reason to play as the Specialization, if you want to have full access to all of its features, the E-Skill and its unique Traits that affect the Gameplay and Healing/Utility Skills of the Specialization positively.

Revenant and its Specs needs to become completely redesigned, the whole class is from begin on so completely out of touch whith the complete rest of the game and its other classes due to Anet wanting just to make on wahetver cost it woudl take a overunique class to the point, that they completely ignored for its design other gameplay mechanics for which all classes need/should be the same, which is Racial Skills and the ability to freely exchange out Utility Skills out of Combat, which are both thigns, that don't work with the Revenant and its E-Specs, settign the whole class from begin on in a design disadvantage compared to all other classes, which is why I keep saying, that this class is ANets black sheep among 8 white ones - it just doen't fit to the game, and will never do under this terrible unthought out design.

theres also alot of Combat Mechanics, which needs to be reworked and rebalanced.. there still exist Combat Mechanics, which have until now 5 years later absolute NO COUNTER MECHANIC, which is completely absurd and laughable, that an experienced game company like ANet has a Game, with so many non counterable Combat Mechanics, that you begin to request yourself, if the persons responsible for the Combat System even do play their own game??

• Blocks... no block should be a permanet guaranteed GOD MODE.. there neeeds to exist a Counter Mechanic, with that a player should be able to force an enemy out of the Blocking Status - for that should be Skill Effects like Daze good, which should be skilsl that need to IGNORE BLOCKS to force an enemy skillfully out of their God Mode.Obsolete Boons like Aegis also block for you only once, and not infinite amounts of hits within a timespan of x

• Banners .. there exist no counter to the Buff Effects of Banners... Banners need to become DESTROYABLE ENVIRONMENTAL SKILLS.. the moment a Warrior puts down a banner, I as his enemy should be able to attack and destroy the Banner to cause its effects to end quicker!! THIS IS COUNTERPLAY!!!!

• Traps .. there exists no freaking counterplay to traps in form of Trap Control Skill/Trait Effects, that Classes like all the medium Classes should have - Classes which can use Traps/Mines, should also be able to DETECT & REMOVE THEM so that they can support this way their allies, which can't see them, cause other Classes aren#t as expenrienced with these and wil lrun blindly into them naturally, while Rangers, Thieves and Engineers are expertised Trappers/Minelayers, they know their dange,r they know how to detect and destroy them safely!! MAKE FINALLY USAGE OF SUCH SENSEFUL GAMEPLAY that should be a no brainer and helps in game/combat balance!

• Hard CC Spam .. you have made yourself effort to implement a Breakbar System into the game and for what this all? Just so that Enemies have it then only?The Breakbar System would be the perfect solution in fact to finally have a better counterplay mechanic, that helps in rebalancing all this stupid Hard CC Spam Anet added with HOT into the Game fro mthe first set of E-Specs which you gave to the specs, because they naturally needed to receive it so that the E-Specs are useful for the Story of HOT and general PvE/Raids, while all the rest of the game and its balance had to take therefore the massive blow of becomign more unplayable!!. Seriously?For the sake of the game balanc,e HARD CC Spam must get toned down again - its absolutely not fun at all to battle in this game anymore, when everythign and their mum just simply can stun you permanently to death in a matte of seconds, without that they exists some kind of counterplay.Yes - Stun Bresakers help naturally, but you can#t use them infintely and as often/quickly as you get spammed ful lwith CC in this game by now. Whenever you get HARD CC in GW2, this should happen first ,after the Player(s) have to break first your Characters "Will" so to say by bringign their Breakbar to 0, the first Hard CC after that point should go through first and after that should be your character for the time it takes your Breakbar to refill up be immune to any other more Hard CC, so that you can't get perma stunned basically anymore!!

• AOE Overlayers - a serious thing that needs to be looked into and fixed.. that there must get implemented finalyl a LIMIT to how many AOE skilsl are allowed to be basically be put over another onto the same ground target. is is also one big reason, why WvW has become such condi cancer, because you can just put layer over layer of AoEs over each other and their all for together for the same ground target area, without that there is a limit.There needs to exist a limit.. if an ao has been already put somewhere, into the same area of the same size should be put only maximum like 1-2 other AoEs, nut not like an unlimited amount as much as like players are there to basically put all of their AoEs onto each other so that the moment a player runs into it, gets basically toasted instant by a massivel damage burst that nearly no one can survive.... which is also the reason, why defensing walls is siuch cancer in this game, you simple cant , because the walls get immmediantely plastered ful lwith so much aoe, that you simply can#t stand on them anymore, without dieing quickly from all the aoe/condi spam of aoes that are layed all on top of each other stacked. Players simply shouldn't be able to put their AoEs limitless into already layed AoEs of other players. Point.

• Stealth needs a complete redesign into a Boon. Reveal should get removed as Effect and become a Condition instead, Stealth becomes a now removable, stealable, corruptable Boon. if you are Revealed you wil lstil lbe able to use Stealth, but your Stealths under Reveal will make you not 100% invisible, but only 90% invisible and make your Stealths last 1 second lesser, while your Stats also get meanwhile decreased. Revealed gets renamed into "Analyzed" Traits like Revealed Training will get reworked based on this Change, or simply remove it and exchange it with a better and generally more useful Trait, than such junk thats only useful while being in a very specific combat state for a few seconds. and Stealth needs to become again a better and more unique specialized trademark mechanic of the Thief.. all this watering down of Stealth by splittign it up to other classes wasn't good for this game, nor the Thief Class, as you pretty much stole (no pun intended) the identity of the Thief Class by givign Stealth way too easily to other Classes (especialyl with that crap like the Trapper Rune, so that even a Class liek the silyl DH was able to massively profit from stealth, which is absurd...)

  ---

Elite Specializations per see, were and stil lare a great addition and idea to be added to the Game. its a huge project feature, which not many game developers dare to seriously touch at all and even try to give with it their game drstically more build diversity depth... Most other game develoeprs oftenly already stop after like 2 "Sub Classes" and then don't continue at all, because of the fear, the game could become too complex, if it provides really alot of way to specialize your original class. One reason, which I'd love from the Dev team in their upcoming plans for biweekly Forum Chats, how much planned out their designs for Elize Specializations actually really how, how many Specs they intent to do for this Game - there must be some kind of red draw line where they think its enough - I would say 5 to 6 maximum, but maybe Anet just wants to make only maximum 4, who knows, until Aner telsl us, what their plans are for the future with E-Specs, how far/long this should still continue.

Fact is, E Specs are a pretty good Expansion Seller as a Feature.. as long as they help in selling the Expansions very good, I guess ANet will continue with them..The question is only, how long they are willing to do so, before they think even self that it will make the game for them balancingwise too complex to handle, when we see that they even have now with just only 2 E-Spec Sets already massive problems to keep the game balanced - but not due to the problem of the E Specs self existing, but more due to all the listed up points I named here above, which are the piled up mistakes and design issues from Anet over the last 5 years of ignorance for always putting effort mostly only into makign changes to Skills and Traits, while putting no efforts at all to keep all the rest of the games combat systems up to date as well and adapted to all the changes they do to the Skills and Traits.

All things, which wouldn't be by now such big mixed up problems, if ANet would have done for these things over the last 5 years more to keep them checked and in line with the rest of this game. The real root issue I think why they didn#t do for all these things somethign earlier is, that Anet simply doesn#t have in any way or form the required ressources for all of this to fix.. they seem to barely just have only the ressorces for it to make every 3 months some sparely made changes on skills and traits, cause they just don't have neither the money, nor the people for it, to do just more for their game - and should i be right with this assumption, then this would be a really sad statement.

[Leo G.4501]

@Orpheal.8263 said:

• Blocks... no block should be a permanet guaranteed GOD MODE.. there neeeds to exist a Counter Mechanic, with that a player should be able to force an enemy out of the Blocking Status - for that should be Skill Effects like Daze good, which should be skilsl that need to IGNORE BLOCKS to force an enemy skillfully out of their God Mode.Obsolete Boons like Aegis also block for you only once, and not infinite amounts of hits within a timespan of x

There exists counters to block, it's called unblockable. Unblockable is an effect that makes all your effects ignore block. Also blocks aren't permanant godmode because they have limited usage. Perhaps you're talking about Invulnerability? Invulnerability has no counters but if it had a counter then it kind of wouldn't be invulnerability. Not saying invulnerability should stay the same but taking all your changes into account, I don't see a reason invulnerability (a status the system also uses to protect itself from being broken by the players, i.e. insta-down a newly revived player, pause combat for NPCs or using the environment to trick the AI) needs a counter.

@Orpheal.8263 said:

• Banners .. there exist no counter to the Buff Effects of Banners... Banners need to become DESTROYABLE ENVIRONMENTAL SKILLS.. the moment a Warrior puts down a banner, I as his enemy should be able to attack and destroy the Banner to cause its effects to end quicker!! THIS IS COUNTERPLAY!!!!

There is also a counter to banners. It's called limited range. Banners cannot move unless you pick them up and when you pick them up, your skill bar is changed. I hardly think the stat improvement provided by banners is so great that it needs a counter specifically for it.

@Orpheal.8263 said:

• Traps .. there exists no freaking counterplay to traps in form of Trap Control Skill/Trait Effects, that Classes like all the medium Classes should have - Classes which can use Traps/Mines, should also be able to DETECT & REMOVE THEM so that they can support this way their allies, which can't see them, cause other Classes aren#t as expenrienced with these and wil lrun blindly into them naturally, while Rangers, Thieves and Engineers are expertised Trappers/Minelayers, they know their dange,r they know how to detect and destroy them safely!! MAKE FINALLY USAGE OF SUCH SENSEFUL GAMEPLAY that should be a no brainer and helps in game/combat balance!

The game is too fast for this to be a useful mechanic while also undermining the use of traps (only effective when a target moves within range of them). You'd be better off using a player with invulnerability to trigger traps instead.

@Orpheal.8263 said:

• Hard CC Spam .. you have made yourself effort to implement a Breakbar System into the game and for what this all? Just so that Enemies have it then only?The Breakbar System would be the perfect solution in fact to finally have a better counterplay mechanic, that helps in rebalancing all this stupid Hard CC Spam Anet added with HOT into the Game fro mthe first set of E-Specs which you gave to the specs, because they naturally needed to receive it so that the E-Specs are useful for the Story of HOT and general PvE/Raids, while all the rest of the game and its balance had to take therefore the massive blow of becomign more unplayable!!. Seriously?For the sake of the game balanc,e HARD CC Spam must get toned down again - its absolutely not fun at all to battle in this game anymore, when everythign and their mum just simply can stun you permanently to death in a matte of seconds, without that they exists some kind of counterplay.Yes - Stun Bresakers help naturally, but you can#t use them infintely and as often/quickly as you get spammed ful lwith CC in this game by now. Whenever you get HARD CC in GW2, this should happen first ,after the Player(s) have to break first your Characters "Will" so to say by bringign their Breakbar to 0, the first Hard CC after that point should go through first and after that should be your character for the time it takes your Breakbar to refill up be immune to any other more Hard CC, so that you can't get perma stunned basically anymore!!

I agree here. When I first experienced the implementation of breakbars and the devs thoughts about how they can further use them, I thought they were going to actually give them to the players too. How awesome would it be if some of our skills gave us a breakbar instead of stability? Stability now, is rather pathetic since it can only protect you once per stack but the kicker is, as a boon, it can be stripped or corrupted. If you replaced half of our self-stability sources with breakbars and leave mostly stability as support that can be applied to allies, this would be a lot more useful. Also, have breakbars effectiveness calculated off of toughness!

@Orpheal.8263 said:

• AOE Overlayers - a serious thing that needs to be looked into and fixed.. that there must get implemented finalyl a LIMIT to how many AOE skilsl are allowed to be basically be put over another onto the same ground target. is is also one big reason, why WvW has become such condi cancer, because you can just put layer over layer of AoEs over each other and their all for together for the same ground target area, without that there is a limit.There needs to exist a limit.. if an ao has been already put somewhere, into the same area of the same size should be put only maximum like 1-2 other AoEs, nut not like an unlimited amount as much as like players are there to basically put all of their AoEs onto each other so that the moment a player runs into it, gets basically toasted instant by a massivel damage burst that nearly no one can survive.... which is also the reason, why defensing walls is siuch cancer in this game, you simple cant , because the walls get immmediantely plastered ful lwith so much aoe, that you simply can#t stand on them anymore, without dieing quickly from all the aoe/condi spam of aoes that are layed all on top of each other stacked. Players simply shouldn't be able to put their AoEs limitless into already layed AoEs of other players. Point.

While I can definitely see your perspective, I will say that it would make the game far more boring. You might as well cap how many players can play at once in a given space.

@Orpheal.8263 said:

• Stealth needs a complete redesign into a Boon. Reveal should get removed as Effect and become a Condition instead, Stealth becomes a now removable, stealable, corruptable Boon. if you are Revealed you wil lstil lbe able to use Stealth, but your Stealths under Reveal will make you not 100% invisible, but only 90% invisible and make your Stealths last 1 second lesser, while your Stats also get meanwhile decreased. Revealed gets renamed into "Analyzed" Traits like Revealed Training will get reworked based on this Change, or simply remove it and exchange it with a better and generally more useful Trait, than such junk thats only useful while being in a very specific combat state for a few seconds. and Stealth needs to become again a better and more unique specialized trademark mechanic of the Thief.. all this watering down of Stealth by splittign it up to other classes wasn't good for this game, nor the Thief Class, as you pretty much stole (no pun intended) the identity of the Thief Class by givign Stealth way too easily to other Classes (especialyl with that crap like the Trapper Rune, so that even a Class liek the silyl DH was able to massively profit from stealth, which is absurd...)

  ---

All those changes just because you think stealth should be unique to Thief? For one, Thief already has a plethora of unique capabilities on top of several other lesser-distributed mechanics. For two, I don't think your changes would have a positive effect on the game as a whole.

Not being confrontational but, to all those that want to abolish or completely change the specialization system:

What are you going to replace it with? Describe that and we'll tell you if you're on to something or now. So far, I haven't seen anything that would warrant such a change. I'd much prefer the elite specs to stay.

[babazhook.6805]

I do recall a statement made that the Elites were not intended as an avenue towards power creep , but rather a supplement to existing lines. The intention of that was always vague and not as clear cut as some suggest.

Were the Specialization lines meant to be the same as core as to what they offered in the way of power etc, it would seem to me they woud not be made mutually exclusive to one another. There very real reasons one can not take both DE and Daredevil and one of these is because what these traitlines add to core is in fact powercreep and allowing two of them to be used at once would be exponentially so.

As such , while I feel there still balance issues to address , the fact that this specialization exist and are deemed as power creep is not all that big an issue to me. We are all bound by the same rules , that being one spec line and two core or three core lines with no Specialization. Given you can only take one Spec line in any case there no real need to buy every expansion pact just as long as some semblance of balance kept between the Spec lines versus one another. Ideally this would mean that from a competitive standpoint , buying just HOT thus allowing just one added elite spec would allow for "Balanced gameplay" when compared to persons who purchased both expansions thus gaining access to two spec lines , while only "losing out" when it game to the variety of builds they could access.

Where failure would occur would be if each iteration of an added specialization line is more powerful then the last.

[Crossaber.8934]

@BlaqueFyre.5678 said:

@Crossaber.8934 said:

@BlaqueFyre.5678 said:The whole Elite Specs are supposed to be side grades was stated in forums post on the old forums by Karl McLain which are deleted so no one can reference those, the only thing that points to them are articles written by different companies speaking about the Elite Specs being side trades, it may have also been stated on and AMA they had or a Guild Chat.

No matter how side grade elite spec is, the elite spec usually provide something to cover up holes on core while also enhance a certain aspect, as a result it will be always better than core as a result.

But if saying core vs elite is literally zero chance to win that’s straight up lies. Elite spec is about 10%+- stronger than core to me, better yes, but core spec is still competitive in most way.

I am okay with elite spec slightly stronger than core but elite spec should be more balanced with each other in pvp/wvw aspect.

I was just stating where the whole Elite Specs are supposed to be sidegrades came from and why people can’t find the Dev posts on that statement anymore.

I agree they should be side grade, the problem is on boon and condition, both of them should have a cap on apply and reciver side.

[Crossaber.8934]

@eoz.1834 said:

@Crossaber.8934 said:

@BlaqueFyre.5678 said:The whole Elite Specs are supposed to be side grades was stated in forums post on the old forums by Karl McLain which are deleted so no one can reference those, the only thing that points to them are articles written by different companies speaking about the Elite Specs being side trades, it may have also been stated on and AMA they had or a Guild Chat.

No matter how side grade elite spec is, the elite spec usually provide something to cover up holes on core while also enhance a certain aspect, as a result it will be always better than core as a result.

But if saying core vs elite is literally zero chance to win that’s straight up lies. Elite spec is about 10%+- stronger than core to me, better yes, but core spec is still competitive in most way.

have you played weaver in wvw? is the damage %10 difference? did you see any decent support firebrand videos? they literally can do 2 core support guardians job + ele waterfields at ease. do condi/power necro/reaper does %10 less damage/support scourge? herald works now because of glint. when they give revenant or some other profession an alternative way to generate fury, renegade will take its place. everything works in open world pve but not in competitive way. this stuff hurts the game mode especially where you can't control others build. you can't kick people from the map unlike pve raids. since guardians/eles/warriors/necros/revs are backbone of wvw squads and their meta build shouldn't be locked on $$$$$.

I think damage is not the only measurement here.

And i mean elite SHOULD be about 10% more or less stronger than core, and i agree some of the elite spec now is so much stronger than core by a lot and require a tone down, especially on the condition application and boon generation aspect.

[Xibalbar.7459]

@Crossaber.8934 said:

@eoz.1834 said:

@Crossaber.8934 said:

@BlaqueFyre.5678 said:The whole Elite Specs are supposed to be side grades was stated in forums post on the old forums by Karl McLain which are deleted so no one can reference those, the only thing that points to them are articles written by different companies speaking about the Elite Specs being side trades, it may have also been stated on and AMA they had or a Guild Chat.

No matter how side grade elite spec is, the elite spec usually provide something to cover up holes on core while also enhance a certain aspect, as a result it will be always better than core as a result.

But if saying core vs elite is literally zero chance to win that’s straight up lies. Elite spec is about 10%+- stronger than core to me, better yes, but core spec is still competitive in most way.

have you played weaver in wvw? is the damage %10 difference? did you see any decent support firebrand videos? they literally can do 2 core support guardians job + ele waterfields at ease. do condi/power necro/reaper does %10 less damage/support scourge? herald works now because of glint. when they give revenant or some other profession an alternative way to generate fury, renegade will take its place. everything works in open world pve but not in competitive way. this stuff hurts the game mode especially where you can't control others build. you can't kick people from the map unlike pve raids. since guardians/eles/warriors/necros/revs are backbone of wvw squads and their meta build shouldn't be locked on $$$$$.

I think damage is not the only measurement here.

And i mean elite SHOULD be about 10% more or less stronger than core, and i agree some of the elite spec now is so much stronger than core by a lot and require a tone down, especially on the condition application and boon generation aspect.

Needs core to be a own spec himself? I dont think so, they are basic traitlines and options for a spec. Maybe in the past and beginning of game it was different. I dont see why core needs something unique.

[Aeolus.3615]

the issue is not the model of the elite traitline the issue is Anet is making it an excuse to unbalance their game towards a very lame combat every expantion, so the newbs and bad players feel more comfortable on all game modes, since the game is not about rock/paper/scizor nor even player skill, but play and stack what is broken.

[Crossaber.8934]

@Xibalbar.7459 said:

@Crossaber.8934 said:

@eoz.1834 said:

@Crossaber.8934 said:

@BlaqueFyre.5678 said:The whole Elite Specs are supposed to be side grades was stated in forums post on the old forums by Karl McLain which are deleted so no one can reference those, the only thing that points to them are articles written by different companies speaking about the Elite Specs being side trades, it may have also been stated on and AMA they had or a Guild Chat.

No matter how side grade elite spec is, the elite spec usually provide something to cover up holes on core while also enhance a certain aspect, as a result it will be always better than core as a result.

But if saying core vs elite is literally zero chance to win that’s straight up lies. Elite spec is about 10%+- stronger than core to me, better yes, but core spec is still competitive in most way.

have you played weaver in wvw? is the damage %10 difference? did you see any decent support firebrand videos? they literally can do 2 core support guardians job + ele waterfields at ease. do condi/power necro/reaper does %10 less damage/support scourge? herald works now because of glint. when they give revenant or some other profession an alternative way to generate fury, renegade will take its place. everything works in open world pve but not in competitive way. this stuff hurts the game mode especially where you can't control others build. you can't kick people from the map unlike pve raids. since guardians/eles/warriors/necros/revs are backbone of wvw squads and their meta build shouldn't be locked on $$$$$.

I think damage is not the only measurement here.

And i mean elite SHOULD be about 10% more or less stronger than core, and i agree some of the elite spec now is so much stronger than core by a lot and require a tone down, especially on the condition application and boon generation aspect.

Needs core to be a own spec himself? I dont think so, they are basic traitlines and options for a spec. Maybe in the past and beginning of game it was different. I dont see why core needs something unique.

I never said nothing you’re saying.

I said elite spec is fine, but the overall strength should be tone down to about 10% better than core spec and that’s it.

And actually i am agree core should be just basic traitline. Maybe you are not meant to reply me, pal?

[Laila Lightness.8742]

@Taygus.4571 said:

@"Anchoku.8142" said:Eoz, if you feel strongly that PoF elites are necessary to zerg in WvW, buy the expansion. That may sound harsh but your post reads a lot like, "I do not want to pay for more content so Arenanet should just give it to me or nerf elite2.

I've bought the content and feel power creep is not the way to sell expansions.Core specs should be on par with elite expansion specs.

Otherwise we end up in a game where everyone plays the same new spec, until the next new spec. How dull.

Core should actelly be better for other wise so is expansions pay to win for i dont see a core necro able too do better than a scourge ore reaper ore even get close too them

[eoz.1834]

same gameplays under of "new" elite specialization. nerfed ele too much?

[babazhook.6805]

I can not see why CORE should be more powerful then SPEC from a balance point of view. We are locked to 2 CORE lines versus 1 spec wherein 66 percent of our traits come from Core Core specs still form the "majority" of ones build.. I see no issue with Spec being more powerful versus core for that reason. Taking a core line does not preclude you taking any other traitline. That in and of itself is advantageous.

[Xibalbar.7459]

@Crossaber.8934 said:

@Xibalbar.7459 said:

@Crossaber.8934 said:

@eoz.1834 said:

@Crossaber.8934 said:

@BlaqueFyre.5678 said:The whole Elite Specs are supposed to be side grades was stated in forums post on the old forums by Karl McLain which are deleted so no one can reference those, the only thing that points to them are articles written by different companies speaking about the Elite Specs being side trades, it may have also been stated on and AMA they had or a Guild Chat.

No matter how side grade elite spec is, the elite spec usually provide something to cover up holes on core while also enhance a certain aspect, as a result it will be always better than core as a result.

But if saying core vs elite is literally zero chance to win that’s straight up lies. Elite spec is about 10%+- stronger than core to me, better yes, but core spec is still competitive in most way.

have you played weaver in wvw? is the damage %10 difference? did you see any decent support firebrand videos? they literally can do 2 core support guardians job + ele waterfields at ease. do condi/power necro/reaper does %10 less damage/support scourge? herald works now because of glint. when they give revenant or some other profession an alternative way to generate fury, renegade will take its place. everything works in open world pve but not in competitive way. this stuff hurts the game mode especially where you can't control others build. you can't kick people from the map unlike pve raids. since guardians/eles/warriors/necros/revs are backbone of wvw squads and their meta build shouldn't be locked on $$$$$.

I think damage is not the only measurement here.

And i mean elite SHOULD be about 10% more or less stronger than core, and i agree some of the elite spec now is so much stronger than core by a lot and require a tone down, especially on the condition application and boon generation aspect.

Needs core to be a own spec himself? I dont think so, they are basic traitlines and options for a spec. Maybe in the past and beginning of game it was different. I dont see why core needs something unique.

I never said nothing you’re saying.

I said elite spec is fine, but the overall strength should be tone down to about 10% better than core spec and that’s it.

And actually i am agree core should be just basic traitline. Maybe you are not meant to reply me, pal?

Excuse me, maybe i did wrong!

[mtpelion.4562]

For balance purposes, one of each profession's core trait lines should be made into a core elite spec, which will prevent it from being used along with an expansion elite line.

Ideally it would be the trait line that currently modifies the profession mechanic. One weapon should also then be tied to this trait line, preventing a HoT or PoF elite from being able to use that weapon.