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Alacrity: Time for a Change


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@Robert Gee.9246 said:

@Sephylon.4938 said:Since alac is becoming a boon, will other classes gain access to the alacrity boon as well or will it still be chrono and rev that can give alac?We don't plan to add alacrity to other professions at this time.

I'm not trying to criticize but what exactly is the goal of changing alacrity?

It will basically be completely locked to chrono and rev and is reasonably only feasible for builds with high boon duration uptime anyway. Why make it a boon? Why nerf it when it still will be such a must have requirement for organized content anyway? If the goal is to remove chrono as a 'must have' how is this going to change? Why not let other classes access it?

We saw changes to warrior as it was such a meta pick - its still a meta pick in fractals and in raids you now have 1 instead of two warriors but warrior is as meta as ever.We saw changes to druid as it was such a meta pick - druid is still so far ahead of other supports in terms of viability that nothing has changed.Now we are seeing changes to chrono/mesmer - is it still going to be as stupidly required in the future as it is today?

Mesmer in the form of chronomancer has been stupidly over represented in group content for more than 2 years. Now you can do content without these meta classes but the difference between raids with and without a chronomancer/alternatives is so stupidly different that it is not even funny. Not even PoF changed this. The issue is how much better these classes/specializations are compared to the alternatives in every single way. Are you doing anything with regards to this effectiveness gap?

I hope these changes will be positive but the best indication of the future is the past.

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Alacrity changes sound interesting, but why are you trying to nerf quickness so hard?! Add Alacrity to Tides of Time if you must, due to alacrity getting lessened elsewhere, but why instead of Quickness? Why is Quickness even involved in this change?

Which raid builds were you looking at? Please look at one of the raid builds with a shield, Well of Eternity, Well of Action, Well of Recall, Signet of Inspiration, and either Gravity Well or Signet of Humility for elite. Often the very first moments of quickness start as a Tides of Time, followed by casting other wells. Your proposed change limits the initial Quickness to the finishing of Well of Action pulses, not only delaying its initial application but completely removing a valid quickness source from a perfectly defensive weapon (shield) that doesn't pose a danger otherwise.

If a chrono is not running the Inspiration line, so without Illusionary Inspiration grandmaster trait, then there really are no more sources. Time Warp is an uncommon elite to take.

TLDR; why are you getting Quickness involved in an Alacrity change?!

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Do you have any plans for making support renegade actually meta? Or is it gonna stand below druid's shade forever? The only "acceptable" (meaning, begging a commander to actually let you play it instead of a common dps for an arguably safer try and getting kicked) way to take a support renegade to raids right full viper or with some marshal, and any build using boon duration is going to decrease its dps far lower than it is. At least with the current stats we have.

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@Titan.8215 said:Chrono received several nerfs along HoT, some of them huges, and now this. Nerfing alacrity from 33% to 25% feels bad. I think that converting the alacrity from class only to boon was fair enough. I need to see the changes, but at this moment I'm disappointed. This big rework to the class (not only alacrity, the phantams changes) have to be done carefully, because you are changing a class for a lot of people that they liked it from 2012.

33% as a boon is way too OP.. having it at 25% still means high up time. Chrono is NOT bye bye.. or even RIP.Way to over react

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@HardRider.2980 said:

@"Titan.8215" said:Chrono received several nerfs along HoT, some of them huges, and now this. Nerfing alacrity from 33% to 25% feels bad. I think that converting the alacrity from class only to boon was fair enough. I need to see the changes, but at this moment I'm disappointed. This big rework to the class (not only alacrity, the phantams changes) have to be done carefully, because you are changing a class for a lot of people that they liked it from 2012.

33% as a boon is way too OP.. having it at 25% still means high up time. Chrono is NOT bye bye.. or even RIP.Way to over react

Well, why 25% then? Why not 15 or 10 (like other modifiers -- now dead grace of the land). Primary problem will be "change every rotation that was impacted by skills reduction" (which is anything that involves timing of non-auto-attack). It's not world ending, but will gimp a lot of flow. I wonder if big reason for this was to indirectly nerf ele as well -- slow down frequency of burst skills, lower speed of attunement switching, lower top dps

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Ok, here i am, from the phantasm trait directly to the alacrity trait....

Soo, wait a second, you think, changing the alacrity into a boon makes it better....i just dont think so, when you change it into a boon it can be corrupted....

Also: really? I (as a solo player and shield lover) have feeled the alacrity just tickle a little bit on the CD from my traits...and that with 33% CD reduce...now your argument is: you have it easier to keep it up so we nerfed it again, remember at the beginning alacrity was mesmer only, 66% CD reduction, that was to much, that is what i honestly say, but you nerfed it to 33% and that nerf was too much for me too....now you reduce it further to 25%??? Really?

Also you take away quickness? i really loved quickness.... my question simply is...ok honestly i have no question i am speechless......

Then also i have hoped for some shield changes....i really, really love to play shield, but the Cooldowns make it (compared to other offhand weapons) not really worth it for a solo player...and since i saw that every other weapon has a CD Reduction trait i was hoping for "we are adding CD reduction to an existing trait, maybe Seize the Moment"..

And maybe a general: " since we reduced the effectiveness from alacrity some time ago (from 66% to 33% as the chrono was still in balancing phase) we now have decided to reduce the shield CD a little bit more.....no really, have you seen what tides of time does when you cast it against a mob that stands near a cliff? Remember you need to "catch" the wave when it comes back to reduce the 40 seconds shield CD to a 30 seconds CD? Well it is indeed nice that the wave comes back when it hit walls, but dodging a attack often brings you out of range, and you need to decide if you wanna catch it and take the enemie hit, or you dodge and take 10 seconds more CD...but now here is the joke: you will never be able to catch that wave....if the enemie stands near a cliff..because the wave....FALLS OF THE CLIFF....and since HoT (and sometimes PoF) has many cliffs, you will often have the 40 seconds CD....

Also now with this change i need to change my stats again, since i dont have any concentration on my armor /weapons.....but with this change i see that it now is a must have for chronomancer..... but wich stat should i give up? Answer is: not a single one, i was happy with my stats, finally i can solo some content......and with the reduction from 33% to 25% alacrity is now just a side effect that i think will feel with no concentration like a joke or....a pretty but harmless butterfly...oh wait we are mesmers we cast butterflys...

So my biggest question is: will you add a 20% CD reduction to a shield trait? And will you reduce the shield CD in general?(also see phantasm thread: changes to scepter, sword and staff (my biggest hope) maybe?)...Also: since it is now a boon, i think the rev is maybe better with it, and what is with Superior Sigil of Frenzy, that change wil affect it too, right?...

I really have the fear that you change the mesmer too much, i will test it, but i play just mesmer, no other class feels so good for me...(also have you seen the poll in the mesmer forum: https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/15815/poll-which-mesmers-mh-weapon-do-you-think-needs-the-most-buffs-updates-redesigns-in-pve ???)....

greetings, i will test the changes and then jugde.....maybe they aren´t so bad like i now think...but 33% to 25%...i dont think i will play another class with the story, the crafting, the map exploration...i was and i will be always mesmer....

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I... actually like that, a lot.

Was super worried things would just get nerfed, but this sounds like a super-sensible rework. I'm not too happy with how boons/conditions work overall in Guild Wars 2, but given the current system, making it a boon and reducing its power and adding more sources is a good change to go hand in hand with the Phantasm rework!

Two thumbs up!

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@Ben K.6238 said:

@TwilightSoul.9048 said:While I like this change there is something about alacrity that bothers me, and should probably bother you (ANet) as well.Do you realize that Chronomancer is irreplacable due to its access to Alacrity like no other class? I think you've once stated that you value Build diversity but there isn't much diversity when there's a class that is entirely irreplacable. Druid is in a similar position although Ventari Revenant can actually Heal better but lacks some other advantages of the Druid.This Alacrity change is very good but I sincerely hope that we will get access to a meaningful replacement for Chronomancer in Raids & Fractals.

A bit like what happened to the Herald, I suspect that if the Chronomancer was replaceable in that role, you'd never see them anymore in any role.And since they're about to receive a dps nerf as well, it's a non-zero possibility that you will never see them again in
any
role.

@Robert Gee.9246 said:I am guessing you are talking about uptime for a raid group and not personal quickness uptime? When we checked current raid builds we found that quickness uptime was already higher than 100%.Did you check the highest potential, the uptime in the best groups, or in the average ones? Because i almost never see 100% quickness on even
one
of the subgroups.

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I can understand why Alacrity has been changed into a boon, and I know why people want it to be added to other classes. But I feel like it shouldn't because it takes away the unique feel of the Chronomancer. With the Chrono being all to do with 'Time', alacrity makes sense for it and fits perfectly. Adding it to other classes will make the Chrono just feel plain and is just another standard specialisation, when it's supposed to be 'Elite'. I know it has been said there aren't any plans to add Alacrity to other classes but that's only the present, there can easily be future plans for it, and I really hope it won't be added to other classes. If Alacrity is important and makes the Chrono outshine all the other Tank classes, then can't those other classes simply be buffed in some way without taking away the unique feel of the Chrono?

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I think it's an exciting change overall but I believe chrono should keep quickness on tides of time and instead make it do no damage OR give some other sources of quickness with the new phantasms.

Would like it if you keep dropping bits of info when you can until the patch actually hits so people can discuss and tinker with the info you give.

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Exactly like @"Valexia.8041" said it, if you want to make it a boon, that's fine, I don't see a problem in that, but you're already pushed it for the Renegade and now the Thief and you claim "other classes won't get it". Sure. I don't get it, you are trying to make the game so shallow for the players, what's next? Legendary Stances for Warrior? Thief maybe? Go for it. Why not give everyone all the same skills and say "There, stop complaining now." This game is starting to get more and more shallow, why can't you keep to the roots? Make one class good at something and the other class good at something else. Chronomancer, Chrono stands for time, let them play with time, don't kill their fun, like you kill everything else in this game.

@Robert Gee.9246

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Please reconsider the changing of quickness on Tides of Time into alacrity. Two chronos giving 10 raid members quickness using ToT is crucial for upkeep in realistic scenarios and is also essential for "jump starting" any quickness rotation from scratch. To add some alacrity to other parts of the Mesmer repertoire, please consider one or more of the following solutions:a) increasing the duration of alacrity from All's Well that Ends Wellb) Changing one of the now defunct phantasm traits (eg. chronophantasma, phantasmal haste, phantasmal force) to help with alacrity uptime.c) Make tides of time give quickness AND alacrity

IF the ToT quickness into alacrity change has to go through, then at least change Seize the Moment to give party-wide quickness instead of just self quickness. May be a pain to balance in PvP though.

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I don't know for sure how I feel about this. Reducing alacrity from 33% to 25% means we are going to be auto attacking even more, which hardly qualifies as active gameplay. Power holosmith probably becoming even more meta.

Maybe power dare devil is helped a bit by this (relative to everyone else being hurt). By the way, when your doing a giant overhaul of how alacrity works, dont you think now would be the time to fix how alacrity affects thieves (in that currently it doesn't affect their weapon skills). Especially since you went out of your way to tell us that thief is gaining alacrity through consume plasma now. Just seems messed up to give alacrity to a class that barely even can utilize it.

This will probably really hurt condi bs quite a bit, and remove 1 scorched earth per rotation. I would say discipline + more weapon swapping might overtake tactics trait line, but flaming flurry is so weak, burning arrows autos may still be better.

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