Guild Wars 2

Did this topic get deleted or something?

EDIT: There was a bug, I fixed it by commenting.

Dirame.8521:

Did this topic get deleted or something?

EDIT: There was a bug, I fixed it by commenting.

Oops, sorry, I didn’t mean to hit the post #49 bug by double posting.

Dirame.8521:

The thing I noticed about GW2 and I think they mentioned this at some point, is that, they are going for a very free-handed skill interaction system. What this means is, they don’t want to dictate the way you combine skills like they did in GW1. Where most builds dictated the order in which you pressed buttons.
Most of the fights were not reactionary, just press buttons in a sequence and kite whilst the Monk does the real reactionary combat.

One thing that is definitely missing from GW2 is reactionary combat. Whilst the “no monk/healer” system in GW2 is quite groundbreaking and interesting, I feel that Anet dropped the ball in regards to putting in reactionary combat in other ways into the game for the professions. Mechanics like Ripostes/Blocks, Reflects, Walls, the Protection boon, Aegis and such; as I’ve mentioned in a previous post, aren’t fully explored by the Trait system. Nor is there a proper “riposte” system for Boons, Conditions or CC/Interrupts. I feel that traits that enforce reactive play can replace a lot of the RNG or passive %HP trigger or %on hit or %on Crit triggers to create a more transparent, easier to play/counterplay system.

As an example, let’s take Engineer’s Transmute . Previously, it was an RNG trigger that “rolled the dice” more often the more conditions were spammed. As of the December 2013 patch, Transmute is more reliable in that it guarantees a Conversion per 15 seconds, but is also less reliable in that you cannot convert multiple conditions into Boons with a good dice roll.

Let’s put all that aside in favour of a mechanic that promotes reactive play:

• Transmute: For the next 2 seconds after you use a Toolbelt Skill, the next incoming Condition is converted to a Boon. ICD: 10-15 seconds.

What does this mechanic mean? Well for one, it enforces player prediction – to “read” the situation and judge when it is best to use a Toolbelt skill to “block” that incoming Condition. It’s also potentially extremely strong, as it converts the first incoming condition.

• Therefore, high application priority Conditions, such as Incendiary Powder Burning that is applied first, also happens to be Converted. Warrior’s Pin Down Immobilise gets converted instead of the covering Bleed. Necromancer’s Immobilise from Tormented Shackles gets converted instead of some crit-proc Bleeding; and so on, and so forth.
• Note that pre-existing conditions keep on ticking. Transmute therefore becomes a tool to stem the attrition by acting as a “riposte” of sorts against potentially life-ending Conditions like Immobilise, Burning, Chill, Fear or Chill. Used skillfully, it can turn a fight. But used thoughtlessly on a Bleeding autoattack it’s useless.
  • This then leads into play, counterplay, counter-counterplay as now an Engineer with Transmute up has to decide when to pop a Toolbelt. On the other side, opponents up against Transmute can elect to keep pressuring with just autoattacks, or use a “junk” condition applying skill to bait out the Transmute.
  • The downside to this system is that there needs to be a slight delay pending a telegraph that Transmute has been activated. Instant cast skills like Surprise Shot suddenly become extremely powerful if Transmute were to be activated instantly, without delay, as a clutch against conditions like Immobilise or Fear. It may be necessary to have a Transmute “windup” before it kicks in after using an Instant cast skill; so the skill fires without a problem, but the Transmute is only active 0.25-0.5 seconds after the TB skill was cast.
  • Even so, implementing a proper telegraph – even without regard to an ICD timer – would do much to make the trait a lot more readable when it does kick in.

MonMalthias.4763:

Dirame.8521:

Did this topic get deleted or something?

EDIT: There was a bug, I fixed it by commenting.

Oops, sorry, I didn’t mean to hit the post #49 bug by double posting.

Dirame.8521:

The thing I noticed about GW2 and I think they mentioned this at some point, is that, they are going for a very free-handed skill interaction system. What this means is, they don’t want to dictate the way you combine skills like they did in GW1. Where most builds dictated the order in which you pressed buttons.
Most of the fights were not reactionary, just press buttons in a sequence and kite whilst the Monk does the real reactionary combat.

One thing that is definitely missing from GW2 is reactionary combat. Whilst the “no monk/healer” system in GW2 is quite groundbreaking and interesting, I feel that Anet dropped the ball in regards to putting in reactionary combat in other ways into the game for the professions. Mechanics like Ripostes/Blocks, Reflects, Walls, the Protection boon, Aegis and such; as I’ve mentioned in a previous post, aren’t fully explored by the Trait system. Nor is there a proper “riposte” system for Boons, Conditions or CC/Interrupts. I feel that traits that enforce reactive play can replace a lot of the RNG or passive %HP trigger or %on hit or %on Crit triggers to create a more transparent, easier to play/counterplay system.

GW2 is all about reactionary combat. Yes they have a bit of RNG inside it but the very nature of the dodge mechanic is all about reacting to what you can see so I really can’t say that this is missing from GW2.

There are also plenty of Riposte-ish skills and traits in GW2 and you did mention quite a few of them. I guess exploring them more in traits would be a good idea.

Dirame.8521:

GW2 is all about reactionary combat. Yes they have a bit of RNG inside it but the very nature of the dodge mechanic is all about reacting to what you can see so I really can’t say that this is missing from GW2.

There are also plenty of Riposte-ish skills and traits in GW2 and you did mention quite a few of them. I guess exploring them more in traits would be a good idea.

There’s also a distinct lack of punishment in GW2. With the overwhelming focus on the positive only, Anet has neglected some triggers that could absolutely act as “punishers” for greedy plays. The current Riposte system as it stands has several flaws:

• Often melee-centric, such as Counterblow and Counterattack applying only in melee. Against Ranged attacks they are merely Block Frames.
• Often single target focused, which is fine and dandy in duels, but terrible everywhere else
• Lack CC for followup damage on the punish.

So here’s a few extra triggers that reward skilled, defensive play:

• On successful dodge, gain X effect.
• On successfully Blinding an attack, gain X effect
• On losing Aegis, gain X effect – would have to apply to cooldown-based skills that apply Aegis instead of something like Guardian Virtues
• On interrupting an enemy attack (as in, something that deals damage, not just a heal skill)
• On striking a Stealthed Target
• On Destroying/Deflecting projectiles

A lot of these triggers can replace the passive RNG procs or “on being critically hit” or “on %HP” to bring in a skill floor to using these traits.