Why hasn't Whirlwind Attack had this QoL change?

[Oglaf.1074]

Making it a targered ability so that you don't have to spin the max distance all the time.

This would make it sooooo much more useable against things like Raid bosses and the like.

[Choppy.4183]

To guarantee all four strikes in the target? It would almost certainly lead to a damage nerf.

Also, while maybe not a problem for pve, it would be an unwanted hit to the valuable mobility the gs brings, and it would limit the value of the evade too.

In other words, for a lot of players it would reduce QoL.

[Oglaf.1074]

@Choppy.4183 said:To guarantee all four strikes in the target? It would almost certainly lead to a damage nerf.

Also, while maybe not a problem for pve, it would be an unwanted hit to the valuable mobility the gs brings, and it would limit the value of the evade too.

In other words, for a lot of players it would reduce QoL.

No it would not. Of course you would not do the full spin on the spot if you targeted it at your feet - you'd do as many hits as the distance travelled would dictate according to how the ability currently works.

It would simply mean you'd have the option to use it in situations where you could not otherwise use it at all - and in those cases, one or two hits is more damage than zero hits after all.

[Darkhydrox.8560]

@Oglaf.1074 said:

@Choppy.4183 said:To guarantee all four strikes in the target? It would almost certainly lead to a damage nerf.

Also, while maybe not a problem for pve, it would be an unwanted hit to the valuable mobility the gs brings, and it would limit the value of the evade too.

In other words, for a lot of players it would reduce QoL.

No it would not. Of course you would not do the full spin on the spot if you targeted it at your feet - you'd do as many hits as the distance travelled would dictate according to how the ability currently works.

It would simply mean you'd have the

option

to use it in situations where you could not otherwise use it at all - and in those cases, one or two hits is more damage than zero hits after all.

I was going to post about this idea would botch the ability but I didn't quite understand at first glance you essentially want us to be able to dictate the distance of the ability. I still think I prefer it like it is though because I can just hammer my key for it and be sent flying forward. I would need to not only aim direction but distance if it worked as you describe.

Besides, I can't really think of anywhere I wasn't able to make use of whirlwind as it works now.

[Choppy.4183]

It might be that I just don't understand the raid context, but I use the skill against players (and npcs) on sometimes tight places and am still able to retain pretty tight control over my distance. Then there's the ol' abusing the terrain to spin in place for max damage, which I imagine you do already.

So I'm not sure how much of the issue you want addressed is already controllable vs specific to the pve environment, but I can say for sure that making it a targeted skill would make it much worse in pvp and wvw. There'd be an outcry for sure if Anet went with it.

[Phantom.7903]

@Choppy.4183 said:It might be that I just don't understand the raid context, but I use the skill against players (and npcs) on sometimes tight places and am still able to retain pretty tight control over my distance. Then there's the ol' abusing the terrain to spin in place for max damage, which I imagine you do already.

So I'm not sure how much of the issue you want addressed is already controllable vs specific to the pve environment, but I can say for sure that making it a targeted skill would make it much worse in pvp and wvw. There'd be an outcry for sure if Anet went with it.

I think his use case is more along the lines of when there are AoEs all over the ground, zoning you out from being able to use Whirlwind Attack, you're losing a significant amount of DPS where other builds (condi) can just keep smashing max DPS. His QoL suggestion is intended to help improve Power/Greatsword Warr DPS uptime, which has always been an issue for us.

[TheSlothArmada.6709]

Why does it seem like everybody here isn't understanding the OP?This change would make whirlwind a ground targeted skill. Meaning, in PvE everybody would target at their feet to get the full damage value,whereas in PvP you would likely target the maximum distance for mobility; Having it ground targeted would actually lead to better use aroundall gamemodes, since there are times where you wouldn't want to spin the full distance in a multitude of scenarios.

[Oglaf.1074]

@Choppy.4183 said:It might be that I just don't understand the raid context, but I use the skill against players (and npcs) on sometimes tight places and am still able to retain pretty tight control over my distance. Then there's the ol' abusing the terrain to spin in place for max damage, which I imagine you do already.

The majority of raid bosses are rather cheaply designed with "don't step in this AoE or bad things will happen to you and/or everyone" and as such a skill that sends you flying, always max distance, across the arena just isn't viable to use in them.

Likewise very few bosses are fought in a location/style that you are able to whirlwind against a wall. The only one I can think of at the moment would be Keep Construct but even so that is just part of the fight - the DPS-phase of the fight is still in the middle of the room. Meanwhile you have fights like Xera where using it would mean insta-death to either falling off the ledge or into the AoE scattered all over.

All that aside, there is the fact that even if you can survive spinning away from the boss, it is a significant loss of DPS as you have to make your way back there again.