Guild Wars 2: End of Dragons Discussion Thread: Gameplay and Elite Specializations [MERGED]

[robbie.7806]

First I wanted to say that I really enjoyed the live stream today. I was hoping to see some gameplay content but regardless, it was a fun live stream.

What killed it for me at the end was the so called "pistol necro".  I am going to wait until more info is revealed but I am not going to lie - I am a little unhappy about this whole pistol necro thing mainly because I can't see how pistols fit into the necromancy fantasy class. To make matter worse, the picture you used during the live stream was a huge turn off for me. A pistol wielding "necro" asura with a ridiculous looking hat.  To me, it felt more like a thief than a necro. 

I really encourage the game designers to revisit this because it feels a bit disconnected from the necromancer fantasy class. 

 

peace

[Skyroar.2974]

33 minutes ago, Magek.4718 said:

Thematically, it doesn't feel like an illusionist. You can't just make purple translucent effects and call them illusions!

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think Virtuosos are meant to be illusionists. Not all mesmer magic is illusion-based, and this one is clearly more about psychic and reality-bending powers and less about mind control. It's basically a further take of what Mesmers already did with a greatsword, and it's no wonder that they were shown together and complement each other.

Edited July 27, 2021 by Skyroar.2974

[Elrey.5472]

We can see all elite specialization icons at the website

https://i.imgur.com/cm9UxvR.png

 

My guess is: Mesmer, Ranger, Thief, Elementalist, Warrior, Revenant, Necro, Engineer, Guardian.

[Xanadrine.4352]

Omg pistol necro gets a yes from me. I see people worried about afk fishing, how? Everygame I played with fishing you have to cast, reel and fight the fish. How can you go afk outside of running a bot program which will get you banned.

[AXLIB.8425]

20 minutes ago, robbie.7806 said:

First I wanted to say that I really enjoyed the live stream today. I was hoping to see some gameplay content but regardless, it was a fun live stream.

What killed it for me at the end was the so called "pistol necro".  I am going to wait until more info is revealed but I am not going to lie - I am a little unhappy about this whole pistol necro thing mainly because I can't see how pistols fit into the necromancy fantasy class. To make matter worse, the picture you used during the live stream was a huge turn off for me. A pistol wielding "necro" asura with a ridiculous looking hat.  To me, it felt more like a thief than a necro. 

I really encourage the game designers to revisit this because it feels a bit disconnected from the necromancer fantasy class. 

 

peace

I mean, any necro's "icon" will be a male asura, just like every mesmer's icon is a female human, every engi is a male charr, and every warrior is a male norn. It's been like this for years.

[hugo.4705]

46 minutes ago, Elrey.5472 said:

We can see all elite specialization icons at the website

https://i.imgur.com/cm9UxvR.png

 

My guess is: Mesmer, Ranger, Thief, Elementalist, Warrior, Revenant, Necro, Engineer, Guardian.

I would invert guardian with engineer. The last icon is a flask to me for alchemist. Alchemy is an engineer traitline. And the canthan jade scientist arr make me think this is elite spec.

[Legion.4198]

52 minutes ago, Elrey.5472 said:

We can see all elite specialization icons at the website

https://i.imgur.com/cm9UxvR.png

 

My guess is: Mesmer, Ranger, Thief, Elementalist, Warrior, Revenant, Necro, Engineer, Guardian.

 

I think the the Necro is not the bullet one but the flask one. It has "evil eye" sort-off feel like just screams necromancer with a flask of souls to me. The Guardian could be the bullet one. 

[Tseison.4659]

Not much to talk about if you only showed one elite and one teaser of the next one….disappointed that you guys didn’t show teasers for the others. As a Mesmer main, I think other people deserve to be just as hyped for their next elite specs instead of being left in the dark and having to wait a couple more weeks.

[Sigz.6943]

I like most of you can not wait to see the remaining elite specs. If I was to guess what new spec fit those icons it would be like this Mesmer ,Ranger ,Thief ,Elementalist ,Warrior ,Revenant ,Necromancer ,Guardian ,and Engineer. Granted this is just my opinion on the matter. Regardless I really hope that one of the elite specs. is some sort of a pugilist/martial arts of some kind. The only reason I hold out hope for this is during the stream it was mentioned that they broke a lot of the rules when making the new specs ,and heavily influenced them on Canthan society. 

[Golvellius.7856]

27 minutes ago, Sigz.6943 said:

I like most of you can not wait to see the remaining elite specs. If I was to guess what new spec fit those icons it would be like this Mesmer ,Ranger ,Thief ,Elementalist ,Warrior ,Revenant ,Necromancer ,Guardian ,and Engineer. Granted this is just my opinion on the matter. Regardless I really hope that one of the elite specs. is some sort of a pugilist/martial arts of some kind. The only reason I hold out hope for this is during the stream it was mentioned that they broke a lot of the rules when making the new specs ,and heavily influenced them on Canthan society. 

 

1 hour ago, Legion.4198 said:

 

I think the the Necro is not the bullet one but the flask one. It has "evil eye" sort-off feel like just screams necromancer with a flask of souls to me. The Guardian could be the bullet one. 

 

2 hours ago, Elrey.5472 said:

We can see all elite specialization icons at the website

https://i.imgur.com/cm9UxvR.png

 

My guess is: Mesmer, Ranger, Thief, Elementalist, Warrior, Revenant, Necro, Engineer, Guardian.

 

Me and my kids guessing pretty much the same... 

 

Last 3:

 

The bullet is the Necro.  The livestream showed a silhouette with an Asura holding a pistol, wearing a witchy looking hat, with green highlights...  Then looking at the icon itself, there's some creepy/icky stuff dripping off the bullet.  Gotta be a necro spec lol.

 

The next thing is the Guardian.  I can't figure out what it represents, but it's proper looking and balanced.  Looks like a dude in between two energy shields so...  Dual shields...lol ? Or maaaybe....could be flames on top of a torch.  Guardians off-hand torches so MH torches? Dual torches? rofl duuude.

Last icon is engineer.  Looks like a bomb.  So, like gunpowder, fireworks, explosions...  But eng's already do something with bombs don't they?  I have an engineer but can't remember.  I haven't played him much - I did his elite spec in HoT and nothing else.

Edited July 27, 2021 by Golvellius.7856

[Abies.8754]

People need to keep in mind it was FIRST look.
Even though i'd like new raids/wvw map(I believe they might surprise us with one eventually) I might give a chance on the reworked strikes and hope they are rewarding. A legendary tied to the new strikes would also be good.
The legendary weapons. I hope they are not all same looking auras and stuff. Yea, Aurene themed but do not make em all look alike. Change few stuff so each one represents a different aspect of aurene or something.
Once again I repeat, it was FIRST LOOK  people should stop being toxic and crybabies and wait. From the look of it, teh dev team is open to communication. I believe they delayed the expansion so they could get feedback after each reveal of information and add things or change things. Let's be patient. 
To be honest I am already hyped for everything shown today besides the leggies ( which are welcome but not something that gets me hyped).

[Abies.8754]

20 minutes ago, Golvellius.7856 said:

 

 

 

Me and my kids guessing pretty much the same... 

 

Last 3:

 

The bullet is the Necro.  The livestream showed a silhouette with an Asura holding a pistol, wearing a witchy looking hat, with green highlights...  Then looking at the icon itself, there's some creepy/icky stuff dripping off the bullet.  Gotta be a necro spec lol.

 

The next thing is the Guardian.  I can't figure out what it represents, but it's proper looking and balanced.  Looks like a dude in between two energy shields so...  Dual shields...lol ? Or maaaybe....could be flames on top of a torch.  Guardians off-hand torches so MH torches? Dual torches? rofl duuude.

Last icon is engineer.  Looks like a bomb.  So, like gunpowder, fireworks, explosions...  But eng's already do something with bombs don't they?  I have an engineer but can't remember.  I haven't played him much - I did his elite spec in HoT and nothing else.

The next spec teaser shoes a necro with a gun AND grenades on the belt ( green ones. could  be ammo for the pistol tbh and not grenades)

[Doni.3402]

I hoped for Ritualist as elite spec for the Necro. Theme wise it fits the Necro best.

Yes Revenants also channel their power from the mists and wear blindfolds but Revenants are fighters with heavy armor no scholars.

[Scatmanicus.4582]

So the expansion has an additional Shared Inventory Slot.  Does this mean I can upgrade from 24 slots to 25 slots?

Also, in the Gem store, the EOD Preparation Kit has a Bag Slot Expansion and I can buy up to 3 of these.  Does that mean that I can add 3 more bag slots to my current 10 to a max of 13 (not counting the shared slot)?
 

[Ashantara.8731]

https://i.imgur.com/lhqaIde.jpg

 

1. Mesmer (The Virtuoso)

2. Ranger

3. Thief (Assassin?)

4. Elementalist

5. Necromancer

6. Revenant (Ritualist?)

7. Engineer?

8. Warrior?

9. Guardian?

 

I miss a symbol that bears resemblence of any kind to "Monk". 😢

 

Edited July 27, 2021 by Ashantara.8731

[NorthernRedStar.3054]

7 hours ago, DanAlcedo.3281 said:

The only "bad" part was the legendaries.

 

Thats it. Everything else was on a expected level.  Very good.

And, to be fair, we haven't seen the other legendary weapon sets. There might be a couple of surprises and distinctive features.

[Matt H.6142]

Karl, I've said before you rock my socks, but the fashion sense on your Virtuoso... it's a no from me, dawg.

I get it's still early, but let it be said, the dagger swing and effort noises need to be absolutely replaced when this goes Live, or it's going to sound really bad, certainly at least on humans.

Speaking of noise, those skill effects.  It is definitely a departure for mesmer which has generally been very subtle.  That bright white explosion the projectiles shoot from has got to go from every skill.  If that explodes from your character every time, again it's going to be bad.  (And that's saying nothing of the flashy pink dagger projectiles themselves baked into 6 of those skills with warmup and/or cooldown animations.) 

Messy.

I do like the rain of sword skills.  Flashy, but quick and in a fixed location.  It makes mesmer's lack of quick aoe damage in the other specs apparent.  (1 second pulses on Chrono don't cut it.  {Love Chrono wells though.}) 

Hoping this will feel better in my hands.

[NorthernRedStar.3054]

3 hours ago, Owatatsumi.5038 said:

People need to keep in mind it was FIRST look.
Even though i'd like new raids/wvw map(I believe they might surprise us with one eventually) I might give a chance on the reworked strikes and hope they are rewarding. A legendary tied to the new strikes would also be good.
The legendary weapons. I hope they are not all same looking auras and stuff. Yea, Aurene themed but do not make em all look alike. Change few stuff so each one represents a different aspect of aurene or something.
Once again I repeat, it was FIRST LOOK  people should stop being toxic and crybabies and wait. From the look of it, teh dev team is open to communication. I believe they delayed the expansion so they could get feedback after each reveal of information and add things or change things. Let's be patient. 
To be honest I am already hyped for everything shown today besides the leggies ( which are welcome but not something that gets me hyped).

No, no no. Ignore all the good signs that showcase Anet learning and building on pre-existing, enjoyable features and mechanics. 

"You showed us nothing!1!" - so you didn't watch at all, or weren't paying attention.

[Lizardguard.2860]

Virtuoso looks fine to me. A bit sad to see no traits yet, as those are arguably even more important than its weapons or utility skills.
Pistol necro could be really cool. Looking forward to its skills.

I know fishing has its own dedicated Thread, but since this is gameplay here, i have to mention again that i´m not looking forward to fishing.

Since people are talking about the leggy here (even though its kinda offtopic, but there has not been a dedicated thread for that, i believe?) I´m as disappointed as most of you guys. If all the weapons will have the same footfall, you will see these tracks EVERYWHERE.
And hey, i like Aurene. She´s pretty, she´s powerful and so on... But one or two leggies would have been more than fine. This... just, nah.

I liked some of the sneakpeaks at terrain. Looked like you had lots of ways to make use of glider and mounts. Really hope they continue to integrate past masteries like jumping shrooms and updrafts where they fit.

Which brings me to the last part: Masteries.
I´m a bit sad that this xpac doesn´t seem to have such a clear direction in masteries as the last two had. (that said, HoT wasn´t that clear either, but still, i feel it was clearer than what we have so far)
Turtles, boats and fishing all seem to be so independent from each other.

Anyway, thx for the stream.

Had to edit it with the following (i forgot those parts):

Challenge Mode Strikes. kitten, yes. I hope they´re not too easy, but I´m defenitely looking forward to those.

Giving Elites more abilites over veterans: Very good. As with everything, gotta see if you actually notice the difference, but the concept is very very good imo. Hopefully you can add this to some old opponents as well.

 

Edited July 28, 2021 by Lizardguard.2860
Added some positive stuff.

[Donari.5237]

As long as we're speculating on those icons 🙂

I'm thinking:

Mesmer (dagger dagger dagger), Ranger (sort of a cat face), Thief (the diamonds around the swords look like initiative pips), Elementalist (fireburst around a gem), Revenant (Canthan mask to represent a new voice in the head), Guardian (process of elimination, not sure how the eye fits in), Necromancer (bullet shape for the pistol user), Warrior (muscular bare fists), Engineer (bomb/flask shape).

[Tyson.5160]

52 minutes ago, Donari.5237 said:

As long as we're speculating on those icons 🙂

I'm thinking:

Mesmer (dagger dagger dagger), Ranger (sort of a cat face), Thief (the diamonds around the swords look like initiative pips), Elementalist (fireburst around a gem), Revenant (Canthan mask to represent a new voice in the head), Guardian (process of elimination, not sure how the eye fits in), Necromancer (bullet shape for the pistol user), Warrior (muscular bare fists), Engineer (bomb/flask shape).

Eye kinda looks similar to Rev eye and kinda like old ritualist symbol.

[Golvellius.7856]

5 hours ago, Owatatsumi.5038 said:

The next spec teaser shoes a necro with a gun AND grenades on the belt ( green ones. could  be ammo for the pistol tbh and not grenades)

 

So...I don't think it's grenades on a belt...
https://imgur.com/Yrbgd4X

I think that's either a scepter or a focus...and more likely a focus because it's in his off hand.  Also, when they do these reveals they always highlight the new class weapon.  They're highlighting the pistol...not grenades (which isn't a weapon option for non-ENG's) or ammo for the pistol.  If it's a necro holding a pistol, the ammo will be some kind of...wicked necro-junk lol. Death energy, souls, darkness, rotten risen entrails lol...it's not going to need physical ammo.  Lastly, you can see the hand holding whatever it is.  It's not on a belt.  It's a focus in the off-hand, considering scepters are MH weapons.

 

I also think it's also a caster because there's some kind of mystic energy/smoke coming from the eyes and they're glowing.  The tattered clothing SCREAMS necro as does the color.  Also the green looks like a plague cloud around him/her.  It's a necro...with a gun....and that symbol is a bullet dripping with necro-juice and I'm gonna run it on my guy...right after I put a sword in my Thief's offhand...zomg 😵

 

[Golvellius.7856]

2 hours ago, Donari.5237 said:

As long as we're speculating on those icons 🙂

I'm thinking:

Mesmer (dagger dagger dagger), Ranger (sort of a cat face), Thief (the diamonds around the swords look like initiative pips), Elementalist (fireburst around a gem), Revenant (Canthan mask to represent a new voice in the head), Guardian (process of elimination, not sure how the eye fits in), Necromancer (bullet shape for the pistol user), Warrior (muscular bare fists), Engineer (bomb/flask shape).

 

I think that mask is an armored samurai oni mask: https://imgur.com/iQAqaEs  Which could be revenant? But more likely, I think it's going to be like a demon/samurai/warrior. The symbol next to it though looks too much like the revenant symbol for it NOT to be the revenant.  

[Tyson.5160]

15 minutes ago, Golvellius.7856 said:

 

I think that mask is an armored samurai oni mask: https://imgur.com/iQAqaEs  Which could be revenant? But more likely, I think it's going to be like a demon/samurai/warrior. The symbol next to it though looks too much like the revenant symbol for it NOT to be the revenant.  

Yeah, and looks like maybe dual daggers 🗡 🗡, which I’m a little disappointed about, but we’ll see.

[Frostfang.5109]

Finally a GOOD LOOKING SERIES of legrndaries!!!!! TY A-net!!!