Elemental Auras: Critique and Suggested Re-work

[Swagg.9236]

AURAS IN GENERAL:  THERE ARE TOO MANY, and they're all downright bad, inconsequential or extremely annoying due to their inherently passive nature (they give out rewards for letting someone hit you).

• Light Aura:  Flawed and forced implementation.  It doesn't need to exist; super narrow purpose that feels very arbitrary and flavor-based.  It's only remotely worthwhile now because a flat -33% decrease to a certain type of incoming damage is going to make anything undeservedly strong.  It would still make far more sense to just make a better light-leap combo effect.
• Dark Aura:  Exactly the same as Light Aura—except even worse off—since there is basically no way to gain Dark Aura except through dark-leap combos, and it shares neither synergy nor conditional trigger with anything else in the game:  an utter dead-end mechanic.
• Chaos Aura:  Effectively same boat as Light and Dark Auras, however, anet made the extra mistake of making this a weapon skill (so unless you truly want a different/more engaging Mesmer Staff 4—the better alternative—you're stuck with this forever).  "Gain random boons when hit; inflict random boons on attacker" is not "unique" or interactive in any way, and if you really wanted to, you could just jam this uninspired effect onto any weapon set or utility bar without really messing with any profession's "flavor."

ELEMENTAL AURAS:  These can be salvaged, but only because the Elementalist was (halfway) built with them in mind.  They currently aren't good in a gameplay sense, but they could be re-worked into a decent and unique suite of support effects without breaking the game (if anything, turning auras into more active effects would be the goal since they are so low-effort and thoughtless as they are now).

ELEMENTAL AURA GLOBAL FUNCTION CHANGE SUGGESTION

• All auras now use the stack mechanic.  Aura stacks cap out at 10 for each respective aura (i.e. it's possible to simultaneously maintain 10 stacks of Fire and Magnetic aura respectively, but never 11 or more stacks of any single aura).
• In the case of aura stacks exceeding the max 10 cap, the oldest instance(s) of an aura will be replaced with the most recent instance(s).
• Ideally, the damage calculations for any damage effects associated with aura stack loss or usage should be calculated respectively based on the individual players affected rather than all of the calculations tying back to the originating source.

ELEMENTAL AURA WEAPON SKILLS

Spoiler

[Frost Aura] (Dagger OH - Water 4a)

Gain stacks of Frost Aura.  Each time you receive strike or burn damage, you lose 1 stack of Frost Aura.  When stacks of Frost Aura expire naturally, they shatter, damaging and chilling nearby foes.

• Frost Aura|5| (3s): -25% Incoming Strike Damage, -25% Incoming Burn Damage
• Number of Targets: 5
• Shatter Damage: [PvE] (0.5) | [PvP/WvW] (0.25)
• Chilled (½s) per Shattered Frost Aura Stack: -66% Skill Recharge Rate, -66% Movement Speed
• Radius: 240

A stack-based, chill version of [Shield of Wrath] that maintains a defensive aspect.  A single stack of Frost Aura grants -5% Incoming Strike Damage and -5% Incoming Burn Damage, and this effect stacks additively (hence the -25% reduction in this example of the Elementalist Dagger Off-hand 4 skill).

[Shocking Aura] (Dagger MH - Air 3a)

Gain stacks of Shocking Aura.  Successful strikes against foes apply Invoke Lightning, marking them for a delayed lightning strike (only once every 3s per target).

• [PvE] Shocking Aura|5| (5s): Successful strikes mark targets with Invoke Lightning (only once every 3s per target).
• [PvP/WvW] Shocking Aura|3| (3s): Successful strikes mark targets with Invoke Lightning (only once every 3s per target).
• Interval: 3s
• Invoke Lightning (3s): Lighting strikes you when this mark expires.
• Lightning Strike Number of Targets: 3
• Damage: [PvE] (1.25) | [PvP/WvW] (0.7)
• Lighting Strike Radius: 180

Potentially strong burst assist, but provides best returns against clumped enemies.  Strike damage can be dodged, and its potential damage output can mitigated with spacing.  The cooldown on [Invoke Lightning]'s application is global and applies to all potential incoming sources of said debuff.  Considering that the debuff's cooldown and duration are both 3 seconds respectively, this means to say that, if a target is marked with [Invoke Lightning], then that instance of [Invoke Lightning] must expire before any other player can apply another instance.

[Fire Aura] (Focus - Fire 4a)

Gain stacks of Fire Aura.  For each stack, deal increased strike damage against burning foes.  Successful strikes vs non-burning foes inflict burning and consume 1 stack of Fire Aura (only once every ½s per target).

• [PvE] Fire Aura|5| (5s):  +7.5% Strike Damage vs burning foes.  Successful strikes burn foes who are not already burning (only once every ½s per target).
• Interval: ½s
• Burning (2s): [damage]

Each stack of Fire Aura grants a +1.5% Strike Damage bonus vs burning targets.  Strong and reliable means of consistently boosting personal or party-wide DPS.

[Magnetic Aura] (Staff - Earth 3a)

Gain stacks of Magnetic Aura.  Reflect incoming ranged attacks.  Each time you reflect a projectile, you lose 1 stack of Magnetic Aura.

• Magnetic Aura|10| (4s): Reflect incoming projectiles.  Each time you reflect a projectile, you lose 1 stack of Magnetic Aura.

This aura is now granted in stacks which each reflect 1 projectile.  Retains its current role, but no longer allows players to chain several auras together for 10+ seconds of (really boring) projectile immunity in places like PvP.

ELEMENTALIST TRANSMUTE SKILLS

Spoiler

[Transmute Frost] (Dagger OH - Water 4b)

Activation: ¾s | Recharge: 10s

Consume all active frost aura stacks on you, then heal allies for each stack consumed.  Cure 1 condition on affected allies for every 2 stacks of Frost Aura consumed.

• Number of Allies: 5
• Healing per Frost Aura Stack: 260 (0.125)
• Conditions Cured per 2 Stacks of Frost Aura: 1
• Radius: 180

[Transmute Lightning] (Dagger MH - Air 3b)

Recharge: 10s (instant activation)

Consume all active stacks of Shocking Aura on you, then grant superspeed and endurance to nearby allies for each stack consumed.  If you consumed aura stacks that equal or exceed the threshold, then you also stun and reveal nearby foes.

• Number of Allied Targets: 5
• Superspeed (1s) per Shocking Aura Stack: Movement Speed is greatly increased.
• Endurance per Shocking Aura Stack: 10
• Static Aura Stack Threshold: 3
• Threshold Number of Targets: 5
• Threshold Stun: ½s
• Threshold Revealed (4s): You cannot stealth.
• Radius: 240

[Transmute Fire] (Focus - Fire 5b)

Activation: ½s | Recharge: 3s

Consume all active stacks of Fire Aura on you, then grant quickness to nearby allies for each stack consumed.  If you consumed aura stacks that equal or exceed the threshold, then you also burn nearby foes.

• Number of Allied Targets: 5
• Quickness (½s) per Fire Aura Stack:  Skills and actions are faster.
• Fire Aura Stack Threshold: 3
• Number of Targets: 5
• Threshold Burning (6s): [damage]
• Radius: 240

[Transmute Earth] (Staff - Earth 3b)

Activation: ½s | Recharge: 15s

Consume all active stacks of Magnetic Aura on you, then cripple and blind nearby foes for each stack consumed.  If you consumed aura stacks that equal or exceed the threshold, then you also knock back struck foes.

• Number of targets: 5
• Damage:  [PvE] (0.5) | (PvP/WvW) (0.01)
• Crippled (½s) per Magnetic Aura Stack: -50% Movement Speed
• Blind (½s) per Magnetic Aura Stack: Next outgoing attack misses.
• Magnetic Aura Stack Threshold: 4
• Threshold Knockback: 400
• Radius: 240
• Unblockable

SKILLS RELATED TO ELEMENTAL AURAS

Spoiler

["Flash-Freeze!"] (all modes)

• Recharge set to 25s.
• No longer grants regeneration.  Instead, now grants 953 (0.125) barrier to affected allies.
• Now cures up to 3 conditions on affected allies.
• Chilled duration set to 2s.
• Frost Aura granted is now 5 stacks for 3s.

["Feel the Burn!"] (all modes)

• Recharge set to 15s.
• No longer grants might.
• Fire Aura granted is now 5 stacks for 5s.
• Burning adjusted from 2 stacks (4s) to 1 stack (6s).

["Eye of the Storm!"] (all modes)

Recharge: 5s

Grant superspeed and endurance to nearby allies.  Recharge your attunements.

• Elemental Attunement Recharge: 100%
• Number of Allied Targets: [PvE] 10 | (PvP/WvW) 5
• Superspeed [PvE] (5s) | [PvP/WvW] (4s): Movement speed is greatly increased.
• Endurance: 25
• Breaks Stun
• Radius: 600
• Ammo Count: 2
• Count Recharge: 40s
• Breaks Stun

Ideally, this ought to affect an attunement's initial overload cooldown period, allowing a player to attune to an element, activate this utility, and then immediately begin casting an overload (or recharge a recently used one).

["Aftershock!"] (all modes)

• Recharge set to 30s.
• Immobilize duration set to 2s.
• Magnetic Aura granted is now 5 stacks for 3s.

["Rebound!"] 

• Auras granted have individual stacks and durations:
  • Fire Aura|5| (5s):  +7.5% Strike Damage vs burning foes.  Successful strikes burn foes who are not already burning (only once every ½s per target).
  • Frost Aura|3| (3s):  -15% Incoming Strike Damage, -15% Incoming Burn Damage
  • Shocking Aura|3| (3s):  Successful strikes mark targets with Invoke Lightning (only once every 3s per target).
  • Magnetic Aura|8| (3s):  Reflect incoming projectiles.  Each time you reflect a projectile, you lose a stack of Magnetic Aura.

[Throw Enchanted Ice] (Thief PvE Steal Skill)

• Frost Aura granted is now 2 stacks for 3s.

[Coolant Blast] (Engineer Utility)

• Frost Aura granted is now 2 stacks for 3s.

TRAITS RELATED TO ELEMENTAL AURAS AND THEIR BUILDS

Spoiler

TEMPEST

[Unstable Conduit] (Tempest Adept 1)

• Auras granted have individual stacks and durations for each overload:
  • Overload Fire Fire Aura|2| (5s):  +3% Strike Damage vs burning foes.  Successful strikes burn foes who are not already burning (only once every ½s per target).
  • Overload Water Frost Aura|2| (3s):  -10% Incoming Strike Damage, -10% Incoming Burn Damage
  • Overload Air Shocking Aura|3| (3s):  Successful strikes mark targets with Invoke Lightning (only once every 3s per target).
  • Overload Earth Magnetic Aura|5| (3s):  Reflect incoming projectiles.  Each time you reflect a projectile, you lose 1 stack of Magnetic Aura.

[Harmonious Conduit] (Tempest Master 2)

Gain aegis and move faster when starting an overload.

• Aegis (4s): Block the next incoming attack.
• Superspeed (2s): Movement speed is greatly increased.
• Swiftness (8s): +33% Movement Speed

Still provides a small amount of effect/damage mitigation while adding spacing potential, but the substitution of aegis for stability now puts more value into [Overload Earth] as the primary means of escaping bad CC situations or pushing through hazards.  As it stands, giving stability to every single overload (especially in the case of Fresh Air) lets a tempest casually walk through most PvP/small-scale exchanges with relative impunity.  This puts more onus on tempest utility opportunity cost and risk-assessment when using overloads.

[Hardy Conduit] (Tempest Grandmaster Minor)

Grant barrier to allies whenever you grant an aura stack.  While under the effects of barrier, you take less incoming strike damage and deal increased outgoing strike damage.

• Barrier per Aura Stack: 89 (0.05)
• Barrier Increased Outgoing Strike Damage: +3%
• Barrier Decreased Incoming Strike Damage: -3%

Barrier is granted per aura stack without a cooldown.  Giving tempest an easy, instant access to a means of nearly halving all incoming strike damage is frankly pretty absurd.  By moving this minor trait's damage mitigation impact into the Water Grandmaster line, it increases opportunity cost, forcing tempests to make more decisions on party support options.

[Elemental Bastion] [Tempest Grandmaster 3)

Heal allies whenever you grant an aura stack.  Grant Frost Aura to nearby allies when you use a healing skill.

• Healing per Aura Stack: [PvE] 110 (0.25) | [PvP/WvW] 87 (0.1)
• Number of Allied Targets: 5
• Healing Skill Frost Aura|3| (3s): -15% Incoming Strike Damage, -15% Incoming Burn Damage
• Radius: 360

 

WATER

[Soothing Ice] (Water Adept 1)

Recharge: ½s

Whenever you grant a stack of Frost Aura, you heal affected allies.

• Healing: 392 (0.2)

[Flow Like Water] (Water Master 3) — name changed to [Ice Spikes]

Frost Aura stacks you grant inflict increased damage and bleed foes when they shatter.

• Increased Frost Aura Shatter Damage: +33%
• Frost Aura Shatter Bleeding|2| (5s): [damage]

[Aquamancer's Training] (Water Grandmaster Minor)

• Increased healing effectiveness to other allies reduced from 15% to 10%.

[Powerful Aura] (Water Grandmaster 2)

Recharge: ½s

Whenever you gain an aura stack, you also grant stacks of that aura to nearby allies.

• Number of Allied Targets: 5
• Fire Aura (5s):  +1.5% Strike Damage vs burning foes.  Successful strikes burn foes who are not already burning (only once every ½s per target).
• Frost Aura|2| (3s):  -10% Incoming Strike Damage, -10% Incoming Burn Damage
• Shocking Aura (3s):  Successful strikes mark targets with Invoke Lightning (only once every 3s per target).
• Magnetic Aura|3| (3s):  Reflect incoming projectiles.  Each time you reflect a projectile, you lose 1 stack of Magnetic Aura.
• Radius: 360

Instead of outright copying the stack totals gained by the user, this now assigns fixed stacks associated with whatever aura the user gains.  This is to help curb excessive aura stacking in order to achieve a stifling level of party support.  Radius reduced to make it SOMEWHAT more positioning-based (360 radius is still relatively enormous).

[Soothing Power] (Water Grandmaster 3) — name changed to [Armor of Frost]

Frost Aura stacks that you grant have improved defenses.  Whenever you gain a Frost Aura stack, you recharge your Water Attunement and also grant a Frost Aura stack to nearby allies.

• Water Attunement Recharge per Frost Aura Stack: 2s
• Number of Allies: [PvE] 10 | [PvP/WvW] 5
• Frost Aura (3s): -10% Incoming Strike Damage, -10% Incoming Burn Damage
• Radius: 240

Increases the damage reduction against strike and burn damage from -5% to -10% respectively.  [Overload Water] might need a number adjustment to accommodate for the increased potential access to the skill's healing output (most likely just a reduction to the final healing pulse if anything).  There is no cooldown on this trait's recharge effect, so gaining, for instance, 5 stacks of Frost Aura would amount to a 10s recharge reduction on Water Attunement.  Moreover, this trait copies however many Frost Aura stack totals the user gains when applying them to nearby allies.  This more active, aura-juggling trait is the effective replacement for the current, excessively passive version of tempest's [Hardy Conduit].

 

FIRE

[Smothering Auras] (Fire Master 2)

• No longer grants increased Fire Aura Duration.
• Now has a ½s internal cooldown on the initial condition removal effect (upon gaining an aura stack).

[Sunspot] (Fire Master Minor)

• Fire Aura granted is now 2 stacks for 5 seconds.
• Fire Aura is now only granted to Weaver upon fully attuning to fire.

[Persisting Flames] (Fire Grandmaster 1)

Fire fields created by weapon skills last longer.  Executing blast finishers on fire fields grants Fire Aura to nearby allies.  While you are at or above the Fire Aura stack threshold, Fire Attunement recharges faster, and attuning to elements blasts the area around you, burning foes.

• Fire Field Duration Increase: 2s
• Number of Allied Targets: 5
• Blast Finisher Fire Aura (5s): +1.5% Strike Damage vs burning foes.  Successful strikes burn foes who are not already burning (only once every ½s per target).
• Fire Aura Stack Threshold: 5
• Threshold Fire Attunement Recharge Increase: 50%
• Number of Targets: 5
• Damage: (0.25)
• Burning (2s): [damage]
• Radius: 240
• Combo Finisher: Blast
• Combat Only

The Fire Attunement recharge speed increase mechanic operates identically to Alacrity's effect except with a higher recharge rate modifier.  Blast finisher interaction returns because it's the most effective means of balancing the mechanic while also giving the player the most agency with resource management and build design.

[Pyromancer’s Puissance] (Fire Grandmaster 2)

• This trait now also lowers the cooldown of Fire Attunement based on the amount of Might stacks consumed for [Flame Expulsion].
• Fire Attunement Recharge Reduced per Might Stack Consumed: 1s

Gives the user a consistent route back into Fire Attunement for another option to potentially increase Fire Aura application.

 

AIR

[Zephyr's Boon] (Air Adept 1)

Recharge: ½s

Whenever you grant an aura stack, you grant swiftness and fury to affected allies.

• Swiftness (5s): +33% Movement Speed
• Fury (3s): +20% Critical Chance

EARTH

[Elemental Shielding] (Earth Adept 3)

Recharge: ½s

Whenever you grant an aura stack, you grant barrier to affected allies.

• Barrier: 523 (0.125)

OTHER SOURCES OF ELEMENTAL AURAS

Spoiler

• Fire Field Leap now grants 2 stacks of Fire Aura for 5s.
• Ice Field Blast now grants 2 stacks of Frost Aura for 3s.
• Ice Field Leap now grants 2 stacks of Frost Aura for 3s.
• All Rune-derived sources of auras now grant their respective auras in amounts of 2 stacks for 3s.

 

Edited March 16, 2022 by Swagg.9236

[Shao.7236]

* Light is actually quite buff now with Resolution, wouldn't scratch it as useless.

* Dark could be used more, thematically it fits Mallyx. Pain Absorption should grant the user and allies around Dark Aura along side resistance really after how weak the Legend is.

* Chaos being random is nice I guess, but not really useful for how often it can be generated.

* Magnetic is really useful, probably one of the strongest.

* Shock is definitely the strongest.

* Frost is extremely underrated, the chill can throw off a lot of people.

* Fire is probably the worst and undesired unless you have particular buffs that works with it.

[Downstate.4697]

Only thing I agree with is they should have an affect on initial application. Like aoe burn, daze, cripple, chill. Light would cleanse 2 condi on allies around you, chaos would corrupt 2 boons on enemies around you and dark aura would do an aoe lifesteal.

[Sunshine.5014]

I think you hit the point. Aura relying on "being hit" is not a good mechanics. It's just like Retaliation, which they have reworked. Retaliation was useless in PvE but strong in WvW. A PvE boss similarly couldn't care less if you have an Aura on. I hope they will rework Aura too.

 

In general, relying on the "being hit" mechanics is not a good thing for gameplay.

Edited July 30, 2021 by Sunshine.5014

[JusticeRetroHunter.7684]

I agree. Auras in and of themselves are not complex. They are very inconsequential, very passive or very uninteractive like you said. 
 

Magnetic aura is probably the most useful aura. But it’s passive nature single handily removes a subset of classes from WvW…just because it exists and not that people actually take it either.

 

there’s a lot of things in the game that should be more interactive and less passive. But I would go a level above that and say that skills lack complexity…you hit a button and your done thinking about it for 30 seconds till you hit the button again.

 

conceptually, auras as a mechanic is a great idea and it clearly works to create fun and good builds which is what I love about them…but the actual aura effects are by and large very mediocre. 

Edited July 30, 2021 by JusticeRetroHunter.7684

[Avatar.3568]

Idk why all talk about passiv, you need to do a leap or explo finisher in a combo field (outside of ele) to get this aura, seeing things like a magnet or shocking aura, requires eyes and reaction to not attack them (you can stow your weapons you know?) 

 

Complains like this sounds like "ouh man this ele gets shocking aura and I don't know what to do, attacking doesn't help, ah kitten ouh man anet pls changes this" 

[Swagg.9236]

15 hours ago, Avatar.3568 said:

Idk why all talk about passiv, you need to do a leap or explo finisher in a combo field (outside of ele) to get this aura, seeing things like a magnet or shocking aura, requires eyes and reaction to not attack them (you can stow your weapons you know?) 

 

Complains like this sounds like "ouh man this ele gets shocking aura and I don't know what to do, attacking doesn't help, ah kitten ouh man anet pls changes this" 

I'll grant that using a leap combo through a specific field is technically an active means of participating in combat, but give me a list of actual builds/professions which regularly do that specifically for a type of aura?  Berserker?  And how many King of Fires builds do we see running around being effective and feared?    Combining a leap finisher and an aura-granting field isn't so much difficult or interesting as it is entirely dependent on arbitrary factors like whether or not an effective build has leap finishers already built into it alongside certain combo fields.  Auras (outside maybe one or two weaver builds) are never the principle thought process for build-making; it's always far more passive or instant-gratification mechanics.

 

As for your "it takes eyes to play against an aura" opinion, noticing the aura isn't really the problem; the problem is that once somebody activates an aura, there is no way to remove it, and there is technically no counterplay to it outside of ceasing all action against the aura player.  I understand that giving somebody 2s of resolution or a stack of might might not really be that huge of a deal from a power-scaling perspective, but the fundamental behind the mechanic is the antithesis to interactive and creative gameplay.  Forcing an opponent to just stop doing whatever they were doing and wait for 2-4s is NOT a fairly balanced exchange (especially when the mechanic in question is self-applied so easily as most auras are in GW2).  Also, I play Elementalist, so go and get off your hill; even I know how dumb it is to see people explode themselves because I instantly pop mag aura with no real warning for them.

[Swagg.9236]

20 hours ago, Shao.7236 said:

* Light is actually quite buff now with Resolution, wouldn't scratch it as useless.

* Dark could be used more, thematically it fits Mallyx. Pain Absorption should grant the user and allies around Dark Aura along side resistance really after how weak the Legend is.

* Chaos being random is nice I guess, but not really useful for how often it can be generated.

* Magnetic is really useful, probably one of the strongest.

* Shock is definitely the strongest.

* Frost is extremely underrated, the chill can throw off a lot of people.

* Fire is probably the worst and undesired unless you have particular buffs that works with it.

I didn't say that Light Aura was "useless;" I said it has a "forced and flawed implementation" which it does.  Light Aura was jammed into the game randomly in 2014 without any real justification, and it only has any impact now because it passively generates "condition protection."

The fact that you use the word "thematically" when speaking about Dark Aura is exactly the root of the problem I'm discussing:  auras are often inconsequential bloat in GW2 because they're more tied to flavor rather than function.  It would be a much better solution to either make auras uniquely beneficial and interactive rather than just slapping them onto skills as passive effects; or giving them some free, no-effort buff by means of some background mechanic like traits (or just deleting them outright and replacing them with something better).

Chaos being random is NOT nice because it doesn't provide predictability, and therefore legibility, to combat.  It's been nerfed over the years because sometimes randomly giving people certain boons and inflicting others with random conditions can be really frustrating when those conditions and boons give way too much payout for being just instantly slapped onto somebody without any real warning.  This is why Chaos Aura has been neutered into its current form, and also why the concept of auras being reactive, on-hit buff dispensers isn't healthy for any sort of PvP interaction.

 

I'm not debating the effectiveness or usefulness of any given aura here.  Everybody already knows that reflecting every projectile at you for a protracted period of time is stupidly strong while the effects of Dark Aura are laughably inconsequential.  The point of this discussion is to lay out how auras, at their fundamental design level, are low-effort, annoying bloat that don't promote any sort of interactive gameplay (since the only effect they have is granted when the user is struck repeatedly by an opponent).

Edited July 30, 2021 by Swagg.9236

[Swagg.9236]

17 hours ago, JusticeRetroHunter.7684 said:

there’s a lot of things in the game that should be more interactive and less passive. But I would go a level above that and say that skills lack complexity…you hit a button and your done thinking about it for 30 seconds till you hit the button again.

 

You're also getting at my main criticism of GW2:  the game really is just incredibly shallow.  No resource management or time investment into skills on the whole has rendered most of its combat environments little more than muscle-memory spam-fests.  There is never really any huge consequence for just rotating through skills in most situations (in PvE or PvP), and the game plays much of itself for the player simply by means of activating any given skill.  If an attack isn't already an automatically guided projectile, it's an AoE that covers the entire objective area or a skill that just tracks your character right up to its selected target without any need for orienting your character or timing much of anything.  GW2 is painfully simple--which is a shame considering the cool things that are trapped in the game's code (like weapon-swap canceling movement animations mid-air, the mount movements they've added, a few subtle movement mechanics based on attack positioning, and what used to be a whole lot of air movement control that the game had waaaaay back when during things like the betas).

Edited July 30, 2021 by Swagg.9236

[Shao.7236]

56 minutes ago, Swagg.9236 said:

I didn't say that Light Aura was "useless;" I said it has a "forced and flawed implementation" which it does.  Light Aura was jammed into the game randomly in 2014 without any real justification, and it only has any impact now because it passively generates "condition protection."

The fact that you use the word "thematically" when speaking about Dark Aura is exactly the root of the problem I'm discussing:  auras are often inconsequential bloat in GW2 because they're more tied to flavor rather than function.  It would be a much better solution to either make auras uniquely beneficial and interactive rather than just slapping them onto skills as passive effects; or giving them some free, no-effort buff by means of some background mechanic like traits (or just deleting them outright and replacing them with something better).

Chaos being random is NOT nice because it doesn't provide predictability, and therefore legibility, to combat.  It's been nerfed over the years because sometimes randomly giving people certain boons and inflicting others with random conditions can be really frustrating when those conditions and boons give way too much payout for being just instantly slapped onto somebody without any real warning.  This is why Chaos Aura has been neutered into its current form, and also why the concept of auras being reactive, on-hit buff dispensers isn't healthy for any sort of PvP interaction.

 

I'm not debating the effectiveness or usefulness of any given aura here.  Everybody already knows that reflecting every projectile at you for a protracted period of time is stupidly strong while the effects of Dark Aura are laughably inconsequential.  The point of this discussion is to lay out how auras, at their fundamental design level, are low-effort, annoying bloat that don't promote any sort of interactive gameplay (since the only effect they have is granted when the user is struck repeatedly by an opponent).

The effects of Dark Aura are far from "inconsequential" mind you, probably you never really get to make use of it but 33% is basically Resolution but cannot be stripped and also can be paired with Resolution and other modifiers that makes total condition damage immunity accessible in different ways.

 

Chaos is not the only random boon giver in the game yet players are putting up with this RNG. A better way of having it is giving the user random boons no matter rather. The access to boons and conditions should also be expanded a little.

 

Retaliation under any amount of time would utterly destroy any multi hit class HP so it's debatable whether Light Aura was useless or not but it definitely is now.

 

Even if Aura's are thematically more fitting to certain classes, it's the same thing with utilities that tend to be unique themselves, just let them exist. You want them to be more significant which in turn will make them less prone to be seen in the end and yet for what reason exactly? It's a passive buff, let it be passive.

Edited July 30, 2021 by Shao.7236

[Eddbopkins.2630]

Imo there are only two auras that are effective, all other auras are just inconsequential compaired to these to...shocking aura, and reflect aura. 

 

These are the only two auras that are effective in pvp

Edited July 30, 2021 by Eddbopkins.2630

[Swagg.9236]

20 minutes ago, Shao.7236 said:

The effects of Dark Aura are far from "inconsequential" mind you, probably you never really get to make use of it but 33% is basically Resolution but cannot be stripped and also can be paired with Resolution and other modifiers that makes total condition damage immunity accessible in different ways.

 

Chaos is not the only random boon giver in the game yet players are putting up with this RNG. A better way of having it is giving the user random boons no matter rather. The access to boons and conditions should also be expanded a little.

 

Retaliation under any amount of time would utterly destroy any multi hit class HP so it's debatable whether Light Aura was useless or not but it definitely is now.

 

Even if Aura's are thematically more fitting to certain classes, it's the same thing with utilities that tend to be unique themselves, just let them exist. You want them to be more significant which in turn will make them less prone to be seen in the end and yet for what reason exactly? It's a passive buff, let it be passive.

Passive buffs are bad because they're, at their least offensive, just boring and inconsequential (and therefore better off not existing for the sake of combat legibility); at worst, they're annoying and frustrating because they disrupt play without any active or sustained input.  By writing out the effects of the auras (which we already understand how they work), you're straight up just reinforcing my points about why auras are bad.

 

I'll ask you the same question as I did the other guy:  which class (aside from a single weaver build) actively seeks to gain specific auras for a defined benefit?  Moreover, which class or build intentionally uses combo finishers in order to consistently gain or provide auras?  If people are, more often than not, gaining auras passively through traits, by means of skills introduced outside of the fact that aura combo finisher moves already exist, or just entirely by accident while using skills in combat, then auras are probably not an appreciated or truly functional aspect of the gameplay.

[Swagg.9236]

19 minutes ago, Eddbopkins.2630 said:

Imo there are only two auras that are effective, all other auras are just inconsequential compaired to these to...shocking aura, and reflect aura. 

 

These are the only two auras that are effective in pvp

You're not wrong, but that's also not at all the point of this thread.

[Shao.7236]

46 minutes ago, Swagg.9236 said:

Passive buffs are bad because they're, at their least offensive, just boring and inconsequential (and therefore better off not existing for the sake of combat legibility); at worst, they're annoying and frustrating because they disrupt play without any active or sustained input.  By writing out the effects of the auras (which we already understand how they work), you're straight up just reinforcing my points about why auras are bad.

 

I'll ask you the same question as I did the other guy:  which class (aside from a single weaver build) actively seeks to gain specific auras for a defined benefit?  Moreover, which class or build intentionally uses combo finishers in order to consistently gain or provide auras?  If people are, more often than not, gaining auras passively through traits, by means of skills introduced outside of the fact that aura combo finisher moves already exist, or just entirely by accident while using skills in combat, then auras are probably not an appreciated or truly functional aspect of the gameplay.

Revenant, Warrior, Guardian and Elementalist. Which are those I played the most. Engineer and Thief more or less.

 

It's down right to the players fault for neglecting them because apparently their effects are not valuable enough.

 

If you're not willingly getting Dark Aura as a Revenant, you're probably not even playing the legend right in the first place. 33% on top of all the options the profession have is extremely beneficial, Reaper sees also great numbers with Shroud Armor combined.

 

Warrior can get damage increase with Rune of the Fire with longbow/sword classic combo, but overall with Berserker which is more significant because you can get permanent 10% instead of being forced into Berserker mode for 15%. Elementalist also has great synergy with it for a multitude of options.

 

Light Aura is basically beneficial both ways, to Radiance users in offense as well as general defense against conditions with the low health pool given how Guardian as of late are extremely weak to poison. All healing skills don't remove conditions until they are over.

Edited July 30, 2021 by Shao.7236

[JusticeRetroHunter.7684]

10 hours ago, Swagg.9236 said:

You're also getting at my main criticism of GW2:  the game really is just incredibly shallow.  No resource management or time investment into skills on the whole has rendered most of its combat environments little more than muscle-memory spam-fests.  There is never really any huge consequence for just rotating through skills in most situations (in PvE or PvP), and the game plays much of itself for the player simply by means of activating any given skill.  If an attack isn't already an automatically guided projectile, it's an AoE that covers the entire objective area or a skill that just tracks your character right up to its selected target without any need for orienting your character or timing much of anything.  GW2 is painfully simple--which is a shame considering the cool things that are trapped in the game's code (like weapon-swap canceling movement animations mid-air, the mount movements they've added, a few subtle movement mechanics based on attack positioning, and what used to be a whole lot of air movement control that the game had waaaaay back when during things like the betas).

Ya my thoughts exactly. We basically share the same criticism of gw2 right now. Auras is a great place to start with that criticism because of their benign place in the game. 
 

I think there’s…so many ways the auras could go from being the extremely dull mechanics that they are, into extremely deep and complex skills that they could be…Anet when they introduced dark aura somehow managed to make the most dullest and most passive mechanic they could think of and gave it as an aura that’s incredibly difficult to access.

 

I think this introduction of more increasingly dull mechanics has been getting more popular post Feb. Can’t name examples at the top of my head but mechanics are losing their uniqueness for straight up +damage or -damage kind of effects.

i think at some point anet devs though up, that this is how to better balance a game or something. It’s as you said…a game with so much potential and it’s always squandered by these really lame, passive fire and forget abilities

Edited July 31, 2021 by JusticeRetroHunter.7684

[Arheundel.6451]

12 hours ago, Swagg.9236 said:

I'll grant that using a leap combo through a specific field is technically an active means of participating in combat, but give me a list of actual builds/professions which regularly do that specifically for a type of aura?  Berserker?  And how many King of Fires builds do we see running around being effective and feared?    Combining a leap finisher and an aura-granting field isn't so much difficult or interesting as it is entirely dependent on arbitrary factors like whether or not an effective build has leap finishers already built into it alongside certain combo fields.  Auras (outside maybe one or two weaver builds) are never the principle thought process for build-making; it's always far more passive or instant-gratification mechanics.

 

As for your "it takes eyes to play against an aura" opinion, noticing the aura isn't really the problem; the problem is that once somebody activates an aura, there is no way to remove it, and there is technically no counterplay to it outside of ceasing all action against the aura player.  I understand that giving somebody 2s of resolution or a stack of might might not really be that huge of a deal from a power-scaling perspective, but the fundamental behind the mechanic is the antithesis to interactive and creative gameplay.  Forcing an opponent to just stop doing whatever they were doing and wait for 2-4s is NOT a fairly balanced exchange (especially when the mechanic in question is self-applied so easily as most auras are in GW2).  Also, I play Elementalist, so go and get off your hill; even I know how dumb it is to see people explode themselves because I instantly pop mag aura with no real warning for them.

Shall we give ele few ways to remove stealth and blocks then? What ele can do when somebody goes stealth or start his block rotation? Let's make this a fair fight then for everybody....

Edited July 31, 2021 by Arheundel.6451

[Quadox.7834]

12 hours ago, Swagg.9236 said:

and what used to be a whole lot of air movement control that the game had waaaaay back when during things like the betas).

what is this referring to?

Edited July 31, 2021 by Quadox.7834

[Quadox.7834]

1. Shocking aura should daze instead of stun

 

2. Dark and light aura overlap

 

Those are the only big problems. Maybe Chaos aura RNG.

Edited July 31, 2021 by Quadox.7834

[Ragnar.4257]

17 hours ago, Swagg.9236 said:

Passive buffs are bad because they're, at their least offensive, just boring and inconsequential (and therefore better off not existing for the sake of combat legibility); at worst, they're annoying and frustrating because they disrupt play without any active or sustained input.  By writing out the effects of the auras (which we already understand how they work), you're straight up just reinforcing my points about why auras are bad.

 

I'll ask you the same question as I did the other guy:  which class (aside from a single weaver build) actively seeks to gain specific auras for a defined benefit?  Moreover, which class or build intentionally uses combo finishers in order to consistently gain or provide auras?  If people are, more often than not, gaining auras passively through traits, by means of skills introduced outside of the fact that aura combo finisher moves already exist, or just entirely by accident while using skills in combat, then auras are probably not an appreciated or truly functional aspect of the gameplay.

What are you talking about?

 

You're defining any kind of buff as passive?

 

If you're going to be so loose with the definition of "passive" that anything that does not require constant button-mashing constitutes "passive", then you can extend this definition to any buff, de-buff, or channeled skill, or even any non-instant skill.

 

Man, Meteor Shower is such a passive skill. You just hit the button once and then you can go afk and keep doing damage passively. Right? Right?

 

Man, Maul is such a passive skill. You just hit the button once and then 0.5s later the game just passively does damage for you. Right? Right?

 

Man, Stability is such a passive boon. You see your enemy is going to CC you in 1s, so you activate stability, and then the game just passively prevents you from getting CC'd. Right? Right?

 

This is such a non-useful definition of passive.

 

The only useful definition is one where there is no input required from the player at any point. Observing that your enemy is about to come and burst you in melee, that they don't have stability, and therefore activating shocking-aura to negate their burst, is not passive play. It is active play. It would only be passive if the shocking-aura just activated itself due to a trait or whatever, with no intention from the player at all.

 

It sounds like what you want is a XBox 360 quick-time event, not an MMO. Mash 'X' to draw your weapon! I can really do without that, thanks. 

Edited July 31, 2021 by Ragnar.4257

[Genesis.5169]

12 hours ago, Shao.7236 said:

Revenant, Warrior, Guardian and Elementalist. Which are those I played the most. Engineer and Thief more or less.

 

It's down right to the players fault for neglecting them because apparently their effects are not valuable enough.

 

If you're not willingly getting Dark Aura as a Revenant, you're probably not even playing the legend right in the first place. 33% on top of all the options the profession have is extremely beneficial, Reaper sees also great numbers with Shroud Armor combined.

 

Warrior can get damage increase with Rune of the Fire with longbow/sword classic combo, but overall with Berserker which is more significant because you can get permanent 10% instead of being forced into Berserker mode for 15%. Elementalist also has great synergy with it for a multitude of options.

 

Light Aura is basically beneficial both ways, to Radiance users in offense as well as general defense against conditions with the low health pool given how Guardian as of late are extremely weak to poison. All healing skills don't remove conditions until they are over.

 

This is the only quality post here.

[Swagg.9236]

5 hours ago, Quadox.7834 said:

what is this referring to?

You used to be able to do a weird sort of bunny-hop for momentum boosting way back during the early game betas.  Anet removed it because it could cause desyncing with bad connections, but the way that they did it basically made it way more sluggish to wiggle around in mid-air, and it also made you fall a lot faster than the game's earlier builds.  Consequentially, it also radically increased fall damage and led to weird instances where going down (certain kinds of) staircases too quickly could outright kill you from fall damage.

Edited July 31, 2021 by Swagg.9236

[Swagg.9236]

4 hours ago, Ragnar.4257 said:

What are you talking about?

 

You're defining any kind of buff as passive?

 

If you're going to be so loose with the definition of "passive" that anything that does not require constant button-mashing constitutes "passive", then you can extend this definition to any buff, de-buff, or channeled skill, or even any non-instant skill.

 

Man, Meteor Storm is such a passive skill. You just hit the button once and then you can go afk and keep doing damage passively. Right? Right?

 

Man, Maul is such a passive skill. You just hit the button once and then 0.5s later the game just passively does damage for you. Right? Right?

 

Man, Stability is such a passive boon. You see your enemy is going to CC you in 1s, so you activate stability, and then the game just passively prevents you from getting CC'd. Right? Right?

 

This is such a non-useful definition of passive.

 

The only useful definition is one where there is no input required from the player at any point. Observing that your enemy is about to come and burst you in melee, that they don't have stability, and therefore activating shocking-aura to negate their burst, is not passive play. It is active play. It would only be passive if the shocking-aura just activated itself due to a trait or whatever, with no intention from the player at all.

 

It sounds like what you want is a XBox 360 quick-time event, not an MMO. Mash 'X' to draw your weapon! I can really do without that, thanks. 

Things like Lava Font and Meteor Shower are definintely passive in nature after their casts resolve, but the respective differences between these two cases and auras (or personal buffs in general) is that Meteor Shower requires a legitimate time investment in order to deliver a worthwhile payout (far longer casting time than anybody else has to field, rooted casting and no free evasion period) and both of these things are also fixed AoEs; they don't travel around with a target like ranged attacks (or personal buffs with their users).  Players can use WASD to avoid hits from them.  Passive player buffs are often instantaneous and follow the user around, often reducing counterplay to a boring binary decision between "pile on more damage" or "stop attacking that guy."

 

Maul does feature an extremely passive effect.  The hit already went through, however, it just generates an extra hit (no user aim, timing or investment required) after the first one connects.

 

Stability is perhaps one of the worst boons for GW2, yes.  Being able to passively negate opponent effort or set-up with an (often instantly applied) buff is very destructive for dynamic PvP interaction.  If it boils all possibilities down to binary choices, then it's not good.  That's what stability does; turns combat into a flow chart:

- Target has stability?  ->  Can't use [all these moves]; possibly just time to run away.

- Target has no stability -> Spam CC while also layering on damage for easy wins.

 

Honestly, GW2 PvP is already a console quick-time event.  All you do is run around, watching a minimap that gives you all the information you will ever need; hunting for the easiest fight or interaction possible and then, once you find it, you literally just sit still while a point ticks into a different color or you spam everything on a vulnerable target (that's probably already fighting somebody else).  GW2's skill ceiling is INCREDIBLY LOW because it's combat is so homogenized and shallow.  If you want your game to evolve past a glorified quick-time event, then you'd rather have less passive, player buffs and more risk/investment for every attack.

[Dadnir.5038]

Some auras need buff, other might be to strong. Some aura are easy to gain while other aren't.

 

I think there is a lot of work that could/should be done on and around auras but as it is, the mechanism seem more or less outside the scope of the devs priorities. And I must say that, PvP wise, I think there are more urgent things to work on than auras.

[Swagg.9236]

7 hours ago, Arheundel.6451 said:

Shall we give ele few ways to remove stealth and blocks then? What ele can do when somebody goes stealth or start his block rotation? Let's make this a fair fight then for everybody....

While you're not wrong that blocks and stealth are also super boring mechanics which typically deny combat interaction, this thread isn't about making any class "better" for the purpose of any particular matchup; it's about discussing how GW2 is fundamentally a very passive game because of how its combat is so littered with effects that have no consistent interactions.  If anything, along with auras, it'd be better to see a big culling of protracted damage negation effects (i.e. blocks, invuln, evasion, ticking/passive blindness and stealth) across the whole board.

[Swagg.9236]

7 minutes ago, Dadnir.5038 said:

Some auras need buff, other might be to strong. Some aura are easy to gain while other aren't.

 

I think there is a lot of work that could/should be done on and around auras but as it is, the mechanism seem more or less outside the scope of the devs priorities. And I must say that, PvP wise, I think there are more urgent things to work on than auras.

All the "urgent things" that people want changed in GW2 PvP ultimately just perpetuate the same cycle of boring interactions that rule your dying gamemode.  You never get more than number adjustments most days, and yet everybody always seems so obsessed or satisfied with doing no more than that.  You're convinced that the solution to making GW2 PvP into an engaging, creative experience is just to subtract a second here, add 2 seconds there, throw on some passive damage negation here, give that guy slightly less effective HP.  You'll never see a viable competitive PvP scene with that sort of trash management.  You aren't changing lanes at all, you're just varying the speed on the same old, gravel road.

Edited July 31, 2021 by Swagg.9236