Guild Wars 2

It should be more like: an" elite skill slot" can equip an elite skill or a normal utility skill. I just hate the long boring cooldowns of elite’s. I rather equip my elite skill slot with a normal utility skill. Any thoughts about this?

Great idea! It would add another layer of customization, but I can see some serious balancing issues with this.

This has been asked for months, especially by elementalists whose elites are useless, or close enough, compared to utilities – pvp wise.

I didnt know it was asked before, but since its still not in the game, ill ask for it once more. Its also not only elementalist. If this was implemented, ill probably use for almost all my classes and builds. It just adds a little more choice to your build, and since all classes can do this, i dont really see the big deal, it would just be another skill with more player control instead of usually stupid elite’s you can only use on very special occasions.

As others have mentioned, this idea has been brought up before. Multiple times, in fact. I don’t recall ever seeing a response from a designer on the idea. But the idea normally raises an argument regarding the nature of elite skills, and whether or not it would be OP to enable use of a 4th utility skill.

The question is this: Should elite skills be single-use skills that grant a minor boost that might turn the tide of battle, or should they be more potent and grant a greater advantage based on the timing of when you use it? And secondly, is it appropriate to replace the elite skill with a utility slot skill instead?

In my opinion, some builds could easily become OP if they were allowed to equip a 4th utility skill instead of an elite. This is particularly the case with classes that have a lot of skill synergy. But this could theoretically be compensated for by making it so that any utility skill loaded into the elite skill slot would have an increased cooldown while in that slot. But that does nothing for those classes that do not have good skill synergy, because they wouldn’t be OP with having a utility skill in the elite slot with normal cooldown. I think that skills would need to be individually evaluated to determine what their cooldown would be while equipped in the elite skill slot, as some might justify an increased cooldown, while others might not.

Other than that, I personally believe that elite skills should live up to their name, and feel elite. That is to say, I think that elite skills should not be skills that give a minor advantage that might turn the tide, but should be skills that when used with appropriate timing can make a significant impact on the advantages you have over your opponent (assuming they don’t use their own elite to counter you).

That’s my 2cp.

Wouldn’t that cause all sorts of balance issues?
I mean as an engineer sign me up for a 4th kit!

BUT. . . .

All the traits that work “upon activating an elite” would be far too powerful for example because that ability is tied to activating the key representing all elites. Etc.

I don’t see this happening without a lot of headache. Id love it. Just don’t think it would be balanced or easy.

Bombsaway.7198:

Wouldn’t that cause all sorts of balance issues?
I mean as an engineer sign me up for a 4th kit!

No way man, Supply Crate is way too good to not have in PvP/WvW

In Guild Wars 1 (yup, I’m going there) some of the best elite skills were simply buffed normal skills. Sometimes all you need is just one more utility skill to round out your build.

With that said, I don’t think they should allow any utility skill to take the elite skill slot. What they should do is create more elite skills, with low cooldowns, and better synergy with other traits and skills.

My elite skill at any given moment is usually an afterthought right now. I honestly wouldn’t care if they just removed them all for the game…

I think that rather than requesting this, we should be asking why the ‘elite’ skills feel so underwhelming in the first place.

Black Box.9312:

I think that rather than requesting this, we should be asking why the ‘elite’ skills feel so underwhelming in the first place.

THIS. Most elites are very boring, and most classes really only have one (maybe two depending on spec) viable option. In my opinion this is a real shame. Elite’s need to have a more powerful effect. There are many possibilities to work with: high damage but slight charge/telegraph animation, damage with a lingering effect, on-hit or proc effects on a timer. There simply needs to be more options to choose from. I do not think that the elite skill slot should be able to have an extra utility skill fit into it, but considering the long cooldowns of these ‘elite’ skills, the effect just ISN’T that impressive.

Black Box.9312:

I think that rather than requesting this, we should be asking why the ‘elite’ skills feel so underwhelming in the first place.

exactly. elite skills should be the keystone in the build we use instead of a high cooldown ability which sometimes isn’t even worth using it. In GW1 your whole build was wrapped around the elite skill and defined your play, in GW2 i could cut it off and woudn’t even notice it is missing

increase cooldown x4 times for any utility slot spell equipped into elite slot.

OneManArmy.9732:

increase cooldown x4 times for any utility slot spell equipped into elite slot.

Tbh I’d go further, have each slot on the right have a 50% 100% 150% 200% cooldown (for example), so the order of your utilities is also build defining.

emikochan.8504:

OneManArmy.9732:

increase cooldown x4 times for any utility slot spell equipped into elite slot.

Tbh I’d go further, have each slot on the right have a 50% 100% 150% 200% cooldown (for example), so the order of your utilities is also build defining.

Oh god no imagine the endure pain/berserker stance spam, or even balanced stance for 50% stability uptime.
So many people would slot one of the first two for 5/10 seconds of invul to one type of damage every thirty seconds.