EoD Weapons for new specs [Speculation]

[Panda.1967]

My speculations...

 

Guardian: Warhorn

With us finally going to Cantha, it makes sense that we will see some GW Factions inspiration in the elite specs for EoD... so Guardian will likely get a bit of a Ritualist spin to it and the most Ritualist weapon that the Guardian doesn't already have is a Warhorn. It will almost certainly be a Support weapon and might even be used to summon temporary spirits.

 

Revenant: Scepter

I guarantee they are going to go full swing on the Ritualist theming with the Revenant... and there is no better weapon than the Scepter for that. This new weapon will give the Revenant access to creating a Combo Field: Lightning.

 

Warrior: Staff

Likely one of the least Factions profession inspired elite specs, the Warrior will borrow inspiration from the Monk... more specifically the popular WaMo style build from GW1... Since the Warrior practically has every weapon already as is, they might as well get an iconic monk's staff as their new weapon. Like the Daredevil Thief, the Warrior will use the staff as a melee weapon, with a largely defensive combat style.

 

Engineer: Main-hand Mace

Honestly, we all know this is the only thing that makes any sense... and it's still a great mystery as to how the Engineer even got released without a main-hand mace in the first place...

 

Ranger: Focus

I know this sounds like an odd choice for the ranger, but it makes the most sense. I know many out there are expecting a Rifle for Rangers, but I just don't see it happening... instead I think we're going to get something that focuses more on the mystical side of the ranger though not a full-on caster style elite spec so, we'll just get a Focus offhand that provides personal buffs rather than attacks.

 

Thief: Off-hand Sword

Yup... Off-hand Sword... You can thank Shiro Tagashi for this... despite being an Assassin, he wielded SWORDS...

 

Elementalist: Main-hand & Off-hand Pistol

Canthan elementalists were always toying with new ways to use magic back in Factions... so it only makes sense that they would be the ones to fuse firearms with elementalist spells... We might only get main-hand Pistol in all honesty... but I'm banking on them going dual wield on Elementalist this expansion since Elementalist has yet to get a new 2-handed option and I just don't see them adding Greatsword, Hammer, Rifle, or Bows any time soon to Elementalist...

 

Mesmer: Main-hand & Off-hand Dagger

I've got this suspicion that the Mesmer elite spec will be an evolution on Canthan Assassin's... seeing the advantage of illusions in their line of work it would only make sense that many Assassins would blend their abilities with that of a Mesmer... (Besides, the Thief already has dual daggers...)

Edit: With the announcement of the Virtuoso we now know it is only main-hand dagger.

 

Necromancer: Shield

Honestly it's either Shield or Off-hand Axe... and I just can't help but feel like it's going to be shield...

Edit: The necromancer elite teaser silhouette we now have clearly has a pistol.... so Guess I had this one wrong...

Edited July 28, 2021 by Panda.1967
Tracking confirmations

[LucianDK.8615]

I just had this revelation..

You guys remember the dual specs from GW1?

 

Elite specs is pretty much dual specs returned. But with set skills and abilities of their own, that is much easier to balance and not undermining its parent class.

Like Scourge being a necromancer/ritualist. Or the Reaper being necromancer/dervish

Edited July 9, 2021 by LucianDK.8615

[Lan Deathrider.5910]

On 7/9/2021 at 6:21 PM, LucianDK.8615 said:

I just had this revelation..

You guys remember the dual specs from GW1?

 

Elite specs is pretty much dual specs returned. But with set skills and abilities of their own, that is much easier to balance and not undermining its parent class.

Like Scourge being a necromancer/ritualist. Or the Reaper being necromancer/dervish

Yep. DD is Thief/Warrior, Spellbreaker is Warrior/Mesmer, Weaver is Ele/Warrior, Holo is Engi/Warrior. They basically just slapped warrior with the other e-specs for the most part when making them.

[Emberheart.8426]

1 hour ago, Lan Deathrider.5910 said:

Yep. DD is Thief/Warrior, Spellbreaker is Warrior/Mesmer, Weaver is Ele/Warrior, Holo is Engi/Warrior. They basically just slapped warrior with the other e-specs for the most part when making them.

Weaver is ele/thief actually. Look at those evades on sword and those dual attacks, which resemble the thief dual wield skills.

[Kodama.6453]

5 hours ago, Lan Deathrider.5910 said:

Yep. DD is Thief/Warrior, Spellbreaker is Warrior/Mesmer, Weaver is Ele/Warrior, Holo is Engi/Warrior. They basically just slapped warrior with the other e-specs for the most part when making them.

Finally someone who acknowledges that holosmith is an engineer/warrior hybrid instead of necromancer (too many people thinking "photon forge is basically shroud"). Thank you.

[Dadnir.5038]

On 7/10/2021 at 12:21 AM, LucianDK.8615 said:

I just had this revelation..

You guys remember the dual specs from GW1?

 

Elite specs is pretty much dual specs returned. But with set skills and abilities of their own, that is much easier to balance and not undermining its parent class.

Like Scourge being a necromancer/ritualist. Or the Reaper being necromancer/dervish

 

Personally, I don't think it work like that.

 

I believe ANet look at the core elite skills and and create elite specs that expand on their theme.

1. Reaper expand on the theme of lich form, being a different kind of messenger of "death".
2. Scourge expand on the theme of Plague/plagueland, being a moving area denial.
3. Tempest expand on the theme of Tornado, being a moving area of effect.
4. Weaver expand on the theme of glyph of summon elemental, having more "freedom" with mixing elements.
5. Berserker expand on theme of signet of rage, sacrifice some passive effect (toughness) for an increase of other effect (offensive stats)
6. ... etc.

 

As such, I believe that:

1. Elementalist will expand on the theme of conjured weapon in the next e-spec. Which could mean many things, like fixed weapon skills despite elements being switched for example.
2. Warrior will expand on the thematic of Battle standard in the next e-spec. My favourite theory being that the warrior will get a "banner weaponkit" occupy one of the weaponset slot of the warrior.
3. Ranger will expand the thematic of entangle in the next e-spec. I can totally picture an offensive nature mage with a scepter (AA: similar to elementalist's impale but 900-1200 range, skill#2: a "shield" similar to elementalist's rock barrier, skill#3: a random ranged Well that root and bleed foes within)
4. Necromancer will expand on the thematic of flesh golem in the next e-spec. Either by becoming a flesh construct himself or by having a focus on summoning minions.
5. Guardian is less clear following this train of thought, but I think the next e-spec might expand on the concept of the elite signet, making him sacrifice some passive for some temporary strength like berserker does.
6. Thief will expand on the thematic of thieves guild in the next e-spec. Maybe it's weapons skill#3 will be modified into skills that summon different kind of minions.
7. Engineer will expand on the thematic of elixir X in the next e-spec. Maybe he will get drugs that mutate it's body for a short duration.
8. Mesmer will expand on moa signet in the next e-spec. The current clues allow me to hypothesize that he will sacrifice the misdirection of it's clone by transforming them into illusory blades.

Revenant is outside the scope of my theory due to it's specific design... Or not if we liken Herald's consume skills to ventari's energy expulsion, sacrificing a semi permanent effect to achieve an immediate one and if we liken Renengade's summon to Mallyx's embrace the darkness and/or Jallis rite of the great dwarf AoE effect. Which would leave us with a theme expansion on Jade wind (A great fit for a canthan e-spec).

 

Again, this is just a theory, probably far from the truth.

 

[Lan Deathrider.5910]

8 hours ago, Ganathar.4956 said:

Weaver is ele/thief actually. Look at those evades on sword and those dual attacks, which resemble the thief dual wield skills.

True. I was thinking more about the stances there.

[Kodama.6453]

8 hours ago, Lan Deathrider.5910 said:

True. I was thinking more about the stances there.

I don't think the skill category the class gets access to necessarily represents the hybrid class.

 

Spellbreaker, for example, got explicitly mentioned as a warrior/mesmer hybrid by Anet, even if their new skill category are meditations, which are guardian skills.

They probably just go with what fits the fantasy of the spec itself the most, even if it doesn't hit the class archetype they are aiming for.

[Lan Deathrider.5910]

2 hours ago, Kodama.6453 said:

I don't think the skill category the class gets access to necessarily represents the hybrid class.

 

Spellbreaker, for example, got explicitly mentioned as a warrior/mesmer hybrid by Anet, even if their new skill category are meditations, which are guardian skills.

They probably just go with what fits the fantasy of the spec itself the most, even if it doesn't hit the class archetype they are aiming for.

I know I know.

[Bomboed.5697]

16 hours ago, Kodama.6453 said:

Finally someone who acknowledges that holosmith is an engineer/warrior hybrid instead of necromancer (too many people thinking "photon forge is basically shroud"). Thank you.

To be honest, I really want an Engineer/Necro hybrid with true shroud like second health bar.
Maybe a Machinist elite spec that builds up steam or something like that to summon a pilotable Mech that has 5 abilities and uses this steam as health bar.

[Panda.1967]

On 7/11/2021 at 5:36 PM, Bomboed.5697 said:

To be honest, I really want an Engineer/Necro hybrid with true shroud like second health bar.
Maybe a Machinist elite spec that builds up steam or something like that to summon a pilotable Mech that has 5 abilities and uses this steam as health bar.

Golemancer... I'd absolutely LOVE to see a golemancer elite spec for Engineer...

[MrForz.1953]

1 hour ago, Panda.1967 said:

Golemancer... I'd absolutely LOVE to see a golemancer elite spec for Engineer...

Sigh. Steam creatures I could understand. Even more so since it's Scarlet's legacy as an engineer.

 

But golemancer? 🤢

 

Well that's not very canthan either way.

Edited July 13, 2021 by MrForz.1953

[Kodama.6453]

14 hours ago, Panda.1967 said:

Golemancer... I'd absolutely LOVE to see a golemancer elite spec for Engineer...

Golemancer would literally be the worst case scenario for me as an engineer main since launch.

It brings absolutely nothing desirable to the table.

 

Lore is uninteresting, since it is not new. We knew golemancers in GW1 already.

 

Aesthetics? Would be Asuran based again, we already have holosmith with heavy Asuran influence when it comes to visual designs.

 

Gameplay? Most likely AI based (because what else do you want golems to be). AI generally is pretty bad in this game, evidenced by turrets from our class and also the former version of gyros. Anet failed to implement another AI type for engineer, I hope they learned from it and just let it be. Also it is redundant, we already have AI pets with turrets, why do we need a second set?

 

Our next elite spec should be condition based, so I hope they explore our alchemy theme more for it. Alchemy is really fitting for a condition playstyle, since it can utilise acids, poisons, burning chemicals and other stuff.

Edited July 13, 2021 by Kodama.6453

[Lan Deathrider.5910]

13 minutes ago, Kodama.6453 said:

Golemancer would literally be the worst case scenario for me as an engineer main since launch.

It brings absolutely nothing desirable to the table.

 

Lore is uninteresting, since it is not new. We knew golemancers in GW1 already.

 

Aesthetics? Would be Asuran based again, we already have holosmith with heavy Asuran influence when it comes to visual designs.

 

Gameplay? Most likely AI based (because what else do you want golems to be). AI generally is pretty bad in this game, evidenced by turrets from our class and also the former version of gyros. Anet failed to implement another AI type for engineer, I hope they learned from it and just let it be. Also it is redundant, we already have AI pets with turrets, why do we need a second set?

 

Our next elite spec should be condition based, so I hope they explore our alchemy theme more for it. Alchemy is really fitting for a condition playstyle, since it can utilise acids, poisons, burning chemicals and other stuff.

That post you quoted was referencing a 'pilotable mech' type spec like the Asura elite skills becoming the core mechanic of Engineer using 'steam' like a Necro's Life Force and wasn't a reference to a minion type ability.

[Kodama.6453]

32 minutes ago, Lan Deathrider.5910 said:

That post you quoted was referencing a 'pilotable mech' type spec like the Asura elite skills becoming the core mechanic of Engineer using 'steam' like a Necro's Life Force and wasn't a reference to a minion type ability.

Meh, still not a good idea in my opinion.

 

Lore and aesthetic reasons still stand and having a mecha suit with steam resource.... it would then just be a combination of holosmith and scrapper mechanics.

 

You get a transformation as a class mechanic with a resource (photon forge basically is that, just that it generates a resource instead of using it) and get temporary hp (which is what scrapper does with the passive barrier generation).

 

I just don't see any interesting potential in golemancer as an elite spec.

 

I like the idea of the combination of engineer/necromancer, but I wouldn't copy the death shroud mechanic for it.

Edited July 13, 2021 by Kodama.6453

[Lan Deathrider.5910]

9 minutes ago, Kodama.6453 said:

Meh, still not a good idea in my opinion.

 

Lore and aesthetic reasons still stand and having a mecha suit with steam resource.... it would then just be a combination of holosmith and scrapper mechanics.

 

You get a transformation as a class mechanic with a resource (photon forge basically is that, just that it generates a resource instead of using it) and get temporary hp (which is what scrapper does with the passive barrier generation).

 

I just don't see any interesting potential in golemancer as an elite spec.

 

I like the idea of the combination of engineer/necromancer, but I wouldn't copy the death shroud mechanic for it.

All true statements.

 

Something more focused on debilitating conditions and poison would be cool. Though engi needs at least a MH weapon out of it.