End of Dragons elite spec preview

[Dadnir.5038]

6 hours ago, Sea Wolf.7368 said:

New necro spec looks nice but I disappointed about alchemy and elixirs maybe Anet should named it in another way. Alchemy is a core engineer specialization. This violates the class thematic boundaries.

 

While I don't disagree that a spellcaster having to rely on consumable is very strange, I don't think it violate the engineer class boundaries. If anything thief already use plenty of "elixirs" via stolen skills and I believe that elixirs are something that isn't an issue to share thematically with the more "physical" professions (thief/ranger/warrior and even revenant). I'm more skeptical for the spellcasters (elementalist, mesmer, necromancer), thought.

 

6 hours ago, Sea Wolf.7368 said:

Lets create warrior based on soul reaping specialization.

 

The whole necromancer design from the very core is based on GW1's warrior's skill endure pain. From the very beginning GW2's necromancer feel more like a warrior with necromancer as it's secondary class than the opposite. So, in fact, a warrior based on soul reaping specialization is a GW2 necromancer. Reaper enforced this fact even more.

 

Personally, I wouldn't find it out of place to have an engineer, elementalist, ranger, revenant or a warrior having a specialization that focus on "blood" despite the necromancer owning "Blood magic".

- Engineer could be an hemato-whatever with skills that increase/reduce bleed duration via technology.

- Elementalist could be a sorcerer drawing magic out of it's bloodline with a single set of blood weaponspell instead of the 4 they have and they could infuse theses weapon spell with the different element so that they either burn, chill, vuln or poison the foe struck.

- Ranger could draw upon the blood of it's pet to fuel blood spells/skills.

- Warrior could drown into a blood frenzy the more blood he spill... etc.

 

Elixirs aren't the main trait of the engineer. Engineer's main trait is it's toolbelt which offer a "2nd" utility bar to the engineer in a  very different way that legends offer a "2nd" utility bar to the revenant.

[Sea Wolf.7368]

31 minutes ago, Dadnir.5038 said:

If anything thief already use plenty of "elixirs" via stolen skills and I believe that elixirs are something that isn't an issue to share thematically with the more "physical" professions

It's a stolen skills not profession CORE specialization

31 minutes ago, Dadnir.5038 said:

Elixirs aren't the main trait of the engineer.

Elixirs and Alchemy is a CORE specialization of engineer. You do not get my thoughts. I mean that any class should use their thematic abilities not copy other classes core specializations. Necro should use new mechanics in another way, not elixirs and alchemy maybe some bottles full of souls whatever.

But in reality Anet do not care.

[Lincolnbeard.1735]

I get what Sea Wolf is saying I'd be pissed off if someone else got mesmer's Portal...oh wait someone else got it. 

Let me rephrase it, I'd be pissed off if someone else got Moa...oh...

Alacrity - someone else got alacrity... Goddamnit...

Clones - that is it, clones.

[Genesis.8572]

31 minutes ago, Sea Wolf.7368 said:

It's a stolen skills not profession CORE specialization

Elixirs and Alchemy is a CORE specialization of engineer. You do not get my thoughts. I mean that any class should use their thematic abilities not copy other classes core specializations. Necro should use new mechanics in another way, not elixirs and alchemy maybe some bottles full of souls whatever.

But in reality Anet do not care.

I'm not following you at all. Elixirs are a skill type rather than a core specialization of the Engineer. Alchemy is the name of the specialization. The Harbinger Necro is getting Elixirs, and the e-spec will likely be called the Harbinger. This is par for the course for other e-specs getting a variety of core skill-types from other professions (e.g., stances, wells, cantrips, glyphs, meditations, deceptions, etc.). 

[Dadnir.5038]

33 minutes ago, Lincolnbeard.1735 said:

Clones - that is it, clones.

You're not safe yet... Thief can still get shadow clones...

[Dadnir.5038]

1 hour ago, Sea Wolf.7368 said:

It's a stolen skills not profession CORE specialization

Elixirs and Alchemy is a CORE specialization of engineer. You do not get my thoughts. I mean that any class should use their thematic abilities not copy other classes core specializations. Necro should use new mechanics in another way, not elixirs and alchemy maybe some bottles full of souls whatever.

But in reality Anet do not care.

 

Look, I don't want to be mean but:

- Nobody know whether or not the necromancer will use "elixirs" (using this specific denomination) yet. We just know that the symbol look like a bottle and the footage show him drinking something.

- Ranger got glyphs with Druid, Thief got cantrip with deadeye, Mesmer got deception with mirage, guardian got mantra with FB... etc. No skill type is bound to belong to a single profession.

- Is "thematic" something that fulfill a "theme", if the theme of the e-spec is a necromancer that drink poison to gain something, so be it. It is as valid as a mesmer focusing on deceiving it's foes thanks to "deceptions" just like it would be valid for a mesmer who would live his own delusions through "corruption" (GW1 featured quite a few mesmer skills that inflicted self ailment and this could have been carried to GW2 through an e-spec, after all).

 

Also, GW2 devs do care, contrary to what you think. Otherwise, Scourge wouldn't use "punishments" but "consecrations".

 

One last, but very important point is that having other professions sharing the same skill category with you through an e-spec is often the very best thing that you could hope for. Because those e-specs will get a runeset that can have bonus effects on this specific utility use and believe me, Engineer with his 18 skills classified as elixirs would benefit greatly of such runeset.

[Kodama.6453]

19 minutes ago, Dadnir.5038 said:

One last, but very important point is that having other professions sharing the same skill category with you through an e-spec is often the very best thing that you could hope for. Because those e-specs will get a runeset that can have bonus effects on this specific utility use and believe me, Engineer with his 18 skills classified as elixirs would benefit greatly of such runeset.

That is not guaranteed, not every elite spec rune set gives benefits for their utility skill type. Engineer is the best example, since none of our elite specs gave us rune sets to improve our utility skills.

 

Other examples besides scrapper and holosmith are: scourge, spellbreaker, daredevil, herald, firebrand, renegade, berserker, soulbeast, mirage, tempest

 

Quite a long list.

Especially because engineer has many elixir skills, I doubt that they will let us use a rune of the harbinger. They will either disconnect it from elixirs entirely or make the rune mechanically in a way which disables us from using it.

[ThrakathNar.4537]

33 minutes ago, Dadnir.5038 said:

- Nobody know whether or not the necromancer will use "elixirs" (using this specific denomination) yet. We just know that the symbol look like a bottle and the footage show him drinking something.

Did the voiceover for the harbinger trailer not literally say the word "elixir" in it?

[crewthief.8649]

How/where do I watch the trailer?

[ThrakathNar.4537]

3 minutes ago, crewthief.8649 said:

How/where do I watch the trailer?

You mean this thing? It's on the official GW2 youtube.

[Dadnir.5038]

18 minutes ago, ThrakathNar.4537 said:

Did the voiceover for the harbinger trailer not literally say the word "elixir" in it?

Do you believe blindly what GW2 teasers/devs say after 9 years of GW2? GW2's communication say so many things in a misleading way that it's best to even doubt your eyes and ears before they give you anything to truly play with.

[ThrakathNar.4537]

9 minutes ago, Dadnir.5038 said:

Do you believe blindly what GW2 teasers/devs say after 9 years of GW2? GW2's communication say so many things in a misleading way that it's best to even doubt your eyes and ears before they give you anything to truly play with.

Well I guess we'll see next Tuesday, then.

[Dadnir.5038]

33 minutes ago, Kodama.6453 said:

That is not guaranteed, not every elite spec rune set gives benefits for their utility skill type. Engineer is the best example, since none of our elite specs gave us rune sets to improve our utility skills.

 

Other examples besides scrapper and holosmith are: scourge, spellbreaker, daredevil, herald, firebrand, renegade, berserker, soulbeast, mirage, tempest

 

Quite a long list.

Especially because engineer has many elixir skills, I doubt that they will let us use a rune of the harbinger. They will either disconnect it from elixirs entirely or make the rune mechanically in a way which disables us from using it.

 

Does any of this make the opportunity of potentially getting a runeset that affect elixirs less valuable? I don't think so.

 

Anything is good to grab, the specializations that you listed may not have a runeset that benefit the utility skills but it doesn't mean that reaper, chrono, druid and DH aren't enough of a proof that the possibility exist. It also doesn't mean that there isn't a lot to reap out of the more general runesets of the other e-specs.

[ChronoPinoyX.7923]

Here ya go

[Dadnir.5038]

5 minutes ago, ThrakathNar.4537 said:

Well I guess we'll see next Tuesday, then.

I'm all for being wrong, but at this point I don't trust GW2 devs for what they say. You just need to look at the patch notes and the way they describe the state of the different professions and their intent before a round of tweak. From memory they said that berserker was in a great place with great support in every gamemode for example. They also said that thief had the least build diversity in PvE and proceed to remove some of this diversity... etc.

[crewthief.8649]

43 minutes ago, ThrakathNar.4537 said:

You mean this thing? It's on the official GW2 youtube.

Thanks a lot! 

[ThrakathNar.4537]

6 minutes ago, Dadnir.5038 said:

I'm all for being wrong, but at this point I don't trust GW2 devs for what they say. You just need to look at the patch notes and the way they describe the state of the different professions and their intent before a round of tweak. From memory they said that berserker was in a great place with great support in every gamemode for example. They also said that thief had the least build diversity in PvE and proceed to remove some of this diversity... etc.

Oh yeah, those patch notes were utterly hillarious to read. Apart from the gems you picked out, I also found the "This change unlikely to create a Renegade power build for high-end PvE content" when prene is already played in fractals, and the fact that they were "making improvements to Tactics to make it a more viable alternative to Discipline" before making Discipline mandatory for banner builds equally funny to read.

 

However, I would say that this is probably a different situation to that one, since it's not really them failing to make effective balance changes, but rather them using a word with a very specific meaning in the context of the game, and then somehow not using it. It's not guaranteed that necro's utility skills will be called elixirs sure, but it's definitely better than even chances of it being the case.

[crewthief.8649]

25 minutes ago, Dadnir.5038 said:

I'm all for being wrong, but at this point I don't trust GW2 devs for what they say. You just need to look at the patch notes and the way they describe the state of the different professions and their intent before a round of tweak. From memory they said that berserker was in a great place with great support in every gamemode for example. They also said that thief had the least build diversity in PvE and proceed to remove some of this diversity... etc.

Yeah, that Berserker comment was completely baffling to me as well. 

[Lincolnbeard.1735]

26 minutes ago, Dadnir.5038 said:

I'm all for being wrong, but at this point I don't trust GW2 devs for what they say. You just need to look at the patch notes and the way they describe the state of the different professions and their intent before a round of tweak. From memory they said that berserker was in a great place with great support in every gamemode for example. They also said that thief had the least build diversity in PvE and proceed to remove some of this diversity... etc.

"we wanted to help mesmer sustain damage" proceed to give 300 damage on phantasm summoning whose only real purpose was to nerf remaining on stealth after summoning. 

[draxynnic.3719]

3 hours ago, Lincolnbeard.1735 said:

I get what Sea Wolf is saying I'd be pissed off if someone else got mesmer's Portal...oh wait someone else got it. 

Let me rephrase it, I'd be pissed off if someone else got Moa...oh...

Alacrity - someone else got alacrity... Goddamnit...

Clones - that is it, clones.

Thieves Guild would basically be a better Mirror Image if it wasn't an elite with a long cooldown... and then you meet the deadeye build that can keep it running permanently as long as it racks up kills fast enough.

 

On the elixir topic... it does strike me that the crafting profession for potions is Artificer, which is otherwise primarily associated with crafting spellcasting implements. So spellcasters having elixirs doesn't seem too out there. We'll just have to see how everything shakes out in the end.

[EdwinLi.1284]

The necromancer elite spec focusing on necromancer using Blight elixirs to empower themselves is something I was 50/50 on because we have the Am Fah in GW1 with their most well known factor being trying to weaponize the Plague through their alchemy. One of their aspect for making their Alchemy possible was to use Necromancy as part of their Alchemy to create their elixirs back in GW1.

The Harbinger brings up the possibility that the knowledge of Am Fah was not fully lost and may have been restored and/or reformed into the Harbingers. A Necromancer Elite Spec using the left over knowledge of the Am Fah alchemy which even back in GW1 focused on partly using Necromancy knowledge is expected in my view.

Edited August 12, 2021 by EdwinLi.1284

[Jski.6180]

So far every thing seems to be a thf like class lets see if this holds up with a full thf like fast dps expansion lol.

[Luto.1938]

2 hours ago, Jski.6180 said:

So far every thing seems to be a thf like class lets see if this holds up with a full thf like fast dps expansion lol.

Makes me worried for thief in this expansion. Thief relies so much on being a mobile class and not a duelist. 

[Xaylin.1860]

I don't think there is a need or reason too upset about Elixirs. While I don't necessarily see Necromancers as Alchemists, I can easily see them mixing Potions in a more occult or magical way (which is implied by the Jade-part). But what would be the point in naming their skills Potions? Why unneccessarily create new classifications?

 

This was to be expected. Thiefs got Physicals. Mesmers also got Wells. And so on. That aside, I don't see how this is worse just because of the Alchemy traitline. Does Elementalist have dibs on Fire? No! And if we don't look at themes, it's even 'worse'. For example, Air hardly does anything different than Critical Strikes.

 

Now, if the Harbinger traitline turns out to be better at anything Alchemy does - which would be outrageous considering how strong Alchemy is - then we can be salty. Like I personally was when Spellbreaker turned out to be way better at removing Boons than core Mesmer. The shade.

[Lincolnbeard.1735]

21 hours ago, Dadnir.5038 said:

You're not safe yet... Thief can still get shadow clones...

Wouldn't be surprised.

And like portal it would be a better version of clones.