Firebrand mantras need to be rerolled

[jul.7602]

Now they're basically just shouts. Mantras used to be unique and tactical in WvW. Yes in PvE the meta was to never use the third charge, however in WvW you absolutely did use the final charge. It was situational depending on whether you needed immediate relief. I think the patch is a giant step backwards in game design that didn't consider the impacts in WvW. At the very least the mantra changes to Firebrand should be split between the game modes with the WvW version being the older one. In the current state, firebrand is just god awfully boring and bland to play.

Edited May 17, 2021 by jul.7602

[kamikharzeeh.8016]

many oldies did prefer to not play firebrand even before bc its rather "boring". yet the newbie firebrands often have zero clue and mess up 80% of any engage by spamming random tomes or dropping light fields in stealthblasts...

 

its a big mess.

 

and i think also that this was no issue. everyone knew about third mantra charge. it was kinda "all-in" button. completely pointless to removing this and - once again- showing that Arenanet needs to learn their own game. over a years of changes for the wastepaper bin mostly.

[JusticeRetroHunter.7684]

It's true that they are now more like shouts, but tbh, I disagree...that original mantras wasn't exactly good gameplay...it was clunky design and changing it to what we have now makes the class WAY more fluid in combat. It did lose some identity but it made up for it in terms of gameplay improvement.

[jul.7602]

Just now, JusticeRetroHunter.7684 said:

It's true that they are now more like shouts, but tbh, I disagree...that original mantras wasn't exactly good gameplay...it was clunky design and changing it to what we have now makes the class WAY more fluid in combat. It did lose some identity but it made up for it in terms of gameplay improvement.

In what ways was it clunky? I don't see how it's more fluid, it's just more spammy.

[JusticeRetroHunter.7684]

38 minutes ago, jul.7602 said:

In what ways was it clunky? I don't see how it's more fluid, it's just more spammy.

long cast times make everything clunky. Meteor Shower, the longest cast time in the game, is one of the most clunkiest skills to use and nobody plays it for that reason. People who play meteor shower are extremely good at basically exploiting instant cast skills in order to use the skill in the first place.

 

Taking away the cast time of meteor shower definitely alters it's identity...but it doesn't mean that it's former identity wasn't bad gameplay design anyway.

Edited May 17, 2021 by JusticeRetroHunter.7684

[ArchonWing.9480]

Firebrand was always boring and bland. They should never make a pure support spec again.  I mean when asked what Guardian needed, they said more stability. What?

 

As is, little can be done because buffing firebrand is a questionable idea. Cleansing and stab mantras should obviously not be touched. The other mantras are pretty bad though, especially the heal which only healed for anything on the last charge. What is up with the 1s of quickness on potence?  I also hear mantras are horrible in pvp with lore only cleansing 1 condi (lol?) so they need to look at it.

 

The other thing they should have done was mix defensive and offensive abilities in the tomes. As is, the answers are cut and dry on which page to use.

 

I guess this will help the medicore guardians that always blew the last charge when panicking. But that is offset with not having to constantly recharge them so maybe roamers will feel less annoyed.

Edited May 17, 2021 by ArchonWing.9480

[Some Call Me Tim.2319]

49 minutes ago, JusticeRetroHunter.7684 said:

long cast times make everything clunky. Meteor Shower, the longest cast time in the game, is one of the most clunkiest skills to use and nobody plays it for that reason. People who play meteor shower are extremely good at basically exploiting instant cast skills in order to use the skill in the first place.

 

Taking away the cast time of meteor shower definitely alters it's identity...but it doesn't mean that it's former identity wasn't bad gameplay design anyway.

Not sure if anyone ever noticed but the male ele casts meteor shower quicker than the female ele.  

 

 

 

[Talindra.4958]

Agree. I prefer it before. 

[TrollingDemigod.3041]

On 5/17/2021 at 6:41 PM, JusticeRetroHunter.7684 said:

long cast times make everything clunky. Meteor Shower, the longest cast time in the game, is one of the most clunkiest skills to use and nobody plays it for that reason. People who play meteor shower are extremely good at basically exploiting instant cast skills in order to use the skill in the first place.

 

Taking away the cast time of meteor shower definitely alters it's identity...but it doesn't mean that it's former identity wasn't bad gameplay design anyway.

Huh? How is "risk vs reward" balance thing considered as "clunky" ? The only clunky thingies I've found so far is Reapers Greatsword skills and some shroud skills and pretty much whole Weaver is clunky af. It's unresponsive as hell and it's not a lag issue.

[JusticeRetroHunter.7684]

19 minutes ago, TrollingDemigod.3041 said:

Huh? How is "risk vs reward" balance thing considered as "clunky" ? The only clunky thingies I've found so far is Reapers Greatsword skills and some shroud skills and pretty much whole Weaver is clunky af. It's unresponsive as hell and it's not a lag issue.

 

That's exactly it. Long cast time stuff is clunky just like your examples... You can view that as Risk vs Reward...but it's also bad game design because there's other ways to implement risk and reward. Why is everyone's thought process here so binary? There's more then 2 ways to balance a game or change a mechanic.

[Justine.6351]

Probably doesn't need a revert, just should have never been made in the first place.