Guild Wars 2

I couldn’t help but feel the adrenaline system as it stands does not fit in with the ideology of the Warrior being a class that takes time to get up to it’s full potential – there are limited traits that allow adrenaline to buff your damage (but not your survivability oddly?) and then add to that the F1 skills all seem to be weak compared to normal weapon skills (I know, the amount of crying if they were better would be immense… see Eviscerate beta nerf). So I would like to propose the following;

1) Remove all of the F1 skills (read on before going gasp rant rant rant)
2) Assign F1, F2, F3 to stances; Offence, Balance, Defence
3) Adrenaline grants boons (and conditions) based on level
4) Swaping stance breaks the warriors momentum and resets adrenaline to 0 (or reduces by x%)

Offence; Each full bar of adrenaline grants 1 x might, 1 x attack speed, 1 x vulnerability
Balance; Each full bar of adrenaline grants 1 x balance
Defence; Each full bar of adrenaline grants 1 x toughness, 1 x regeneration, 1 x weakness

The idea here is that offence would increase the amount and speed of damage done with an increase in damage taken, defence would do the opposite, reducing damage taken and damage done while balanced stance does not affect damage done or taken instead reducing duration of CC effects (balance boon could say reduce CC duration by x% per stack), the way this is different is that the effects would increase the longer the warrior is in combat.

This could be further emphasised by changing the way adrenaline is granted, instead of a linear scale an exponential scale could be used, so say there were 5 bars of adrenaline in the new system;
1) 10 strikes of adrenaline
2) 25 strikes
3) 50 strikes
4) 100 strikes
5) 250 strikes

Combine this with a flat x% per second drop off of adrenaline both in and out of combat would produce a playstyle that rewarded a warrior for staying in combat and sticking it out rather than the current hit & run tactics we are forced to use in a lot of circumstances.

I honestly love the idea of stances.

First of all, I agree some Burst Abilities are way too weak, compared to our other attacks, the burst don’t really feel like a burst, but just another auto attack in come cases.
Next. I do NOT want to be a a Stance Dancer, which your idea will bring into the game. And yes, While I think that is bad, some might like it. But I don’t like to dance my night way.
The idea about gaining a perma buff per bar, seems a little overpowered. Especially if you are not going to use your Adrenaline, as for my current build I am trying not to use Adrenaline, for 1 reason, It’s just not worth it.
You mention that Adrenaline does not help your survivability? I disagree, “Defense – Trait 15” And for some weapon it gives a stun. Of course these are nothing major, but it is something. However I like the idea about adding 5 bars instead of 3, if it scale appropriately it might be worth using some Burst abilities.
Overall I agree with you that Adrenaline does not feel like anything special, and that it need some tweaking. But I do not want stance dancing in this game. (Why?: No macros) It’s a chore, and not fun.

Thanks for the input there! And I totally agree the warrior should not be a stance dancer (hence switching stance interrupts warrior momentum and wipes all adrenaline), the idea here was to avoid stance dancing and instead pick a stance that was appropriate for what you are trying to do.

I just get the feeling that adrenaline currently makes the warrior feel more like a traditional rogue… build up combo poi… errrr adrenaline and then unleash a finisher, rinse & repeat.

I like this idea very much!
The only problem is people would think it was similar to world of warcraft but if we could get past that it would be perfect.

In that case, ditch the stances and just make it so the points you put into the different trait lines affect which boons you get as you build adrenaline?

So if you go heavy into VIT you would get regeneration, heavy into POW you get might, heavy precision then swiftness etc…?

I do not like this idea, for the following reasons:

1. This idea is a throwback to the warrior class in “that other MMO” by a company named Blizzard. The way to success for Guild Wars 2 is through INNOVATION, not IMITATION.

2. “Stance dancing” as some people call it – or frequently switching from one set of skills/bonuses to another is a game mechanic that is already present in a Guild Wars 2 profession: the Elementalist with its four attunements. Guild Wars 2 does not need a second profession with that mechanic.

3. The idea of giving the warrior a passive combat bonus with some degree of choice/customization is also already present in a differen Guild Wars 2 profession: the Guardian with its virtues. And honestly, having three passive bonuses that can be temporarily sacrificed for an immediate effect sounds a lot more fun and interactive than a building up a passive bonus that you are unable to lose until the current combat ends.

4. The Warrior’s current (acutal) adrenaline mechanic is simple and flavorfull, as it allows a steady build-up of a special powerful attack as long as your are actively engaging an enemy, which can then be unleashed upon enemies. This builds suspense, is climactic if timed well, and is essentially a very warrior-like thing.
(Remember, I’m not talking about game balance, but about profession design. So whether or not Adrenaline Skill X is powerful enough is not the point. The point is that it is MEANT to be a skill with significant impact on the combat.)

I can agree with all those points in part but would note the following;

1) Compare current adrenaline skills… it’s a copy of the traditional (read: WoW) rogue combo point system but with a charging mechanic instead of straight combo point generation, innovation and imitation can be and have been linked and are not mutually exclusive.

2) Elementalists were designed to stance (element) dance during combat, if you read the description the combination of stances and adrenaline is made to dissuade the warrior from switching stance mid-fight instead choosing and fighting with the stance most appropriate for the fight they are in.

3) Guardians have effectively got 3 free signets, this system would be 3 various level buffs that scale with adrenaline rather than giving fixed static buffs or activatable effects on cooldowns.

4) Yep, the skills do work well and can be very useful situationally. My issue here was the description that warriors build in power as they fight which is not really the case. Maybe this is just a personal thing but I would be happier with the way warriors work if they were a little weaker with no adrenaline but a little more powerful with full adrenaline – I was merely trying to suggest ways this more evident scaling could be presented, and that would be a unique feature amongst the classes.

Idea sounds good, but it’s copying other professions already.
And some points I would make have already been pointed out.

Or possibly add another burst skill, so warriors have 2 burst skills to choose from.
2 handed weapons have 2 by default.
Or 2 handed weapons just have 1, making 1 handed weapons and shield have extra burst skill as a perk.
Main-hand 1 handed weapons have only 1 burst skill. (same Sword-Flurry, Axe-Eviscerate and Mace-Skullcrack)
2nd burst skill depends on off-hand weapon or shield…
And is not same as main-hand, if 2 of same weapons are equipped. (Like Shield burst skill and off-hand Axe, Sword and Mace burst skills.)

Both skills use same adrenaline pool.
Doesn’t change too much but adds more variance to Burst skills in general.

Or, throwing ideas around still; 2h weapons get 3 finishers, one that takes one bar of adrenaline, one that takes 2 and one that takes 3 bars. Main hand weapons get a 1 and 2 bar finisher, offhand provides the 3 bar finisher. Would add extra flavour and synergy to the offhand slot and would allow you to use a finisher without clearing out your adrenaline completely.

There are a lot of different possibilities for what could be done to liven up the adreneline system

Agree. Give us a better adrenaline system, make some of the attacks there usefull at least.
I mean, I do not see any reason to use my great sword attack, less damage and no effect at all.