Short version: I find our current list of elite skills rather anaemic; racials are mostly considered useless for anything other than personal amusement, and even a fair amount of profession elite skills are considered duds. I’d like to see a new set of elite skills, one for each weapon type (though this may lead to a skewed distribution because some classes have few weapon sets *cough*engineer/ele*cough*)
Long version:
- One weapon elite skill per weapon type (possibly ignore offhand weapons)
- Possible minor mechanical variations based on profession
- Possible graphical variations based on either profession or having a legendary equipped
- Can only be used with the matching weapon type
- On weapon swap, switches to the new weapon’s elite skill if unlocked
- Either: Global cooldown for all weapon elite skills OR each of a character’s weapon sets has a separate weapon elite cooldown (but balanced in some way such as very high-length cooldowns on each individual skill, or the skills only being a slight step above utility skills)
- If off-hand elite skills exist, remember whether mainhand or offhand elite is equipped for a given weapon set
- Possible give elementalists Attunement elite skills and engineers Kit elite skills to boost their numbers, though that would essentially give them profession-specific elites.
- Affected by traits for the weapon type
Unlock requirements:
30-50 skill points
Either:
1) X progress in [weapon] master achievement track
2) X kills to “develop” the skill after paying the skill points (similar to unlocking core weapon skills)
Possible example:
Giant Cleave
Greatsword Elite – [Some casting time] [Some high cooldown time]
Description: Summon an oversized greatsword and cleave through a large area.
Mechanical effect: High damage attack with a large radius (300-600 range)
Possible graphical variations:
Warrior: Character model increases in size, including weapon, before the attack.
Guardian: Uses a giant spirit weapon greatsword and simply commands it.
Ranger: Giant green spirit-style sword wielded by a giant green spiritual bear.
Mesmer: Attack is performed by a giant phantasm.
Twilight/Sunrise: Sword used is a giant Twilight/Sunrise, including all of the regular special effects for those.
Class-specific bonus:
Warrior: Wield an enlarged greatsword for X amount of time (or ends on weapon swap, or both), doubling each attack’s radius.
Guardian: Heal self and allies the attack passes through / places a symbol of greatness which pulses might to allies.
Ranger: Pet evades attacks during its own attacks for X amount of time.
Mesmer: Creates a phantasm wielding a giant greatsword / causes a bunch of confusion stacks on victims.
Anyways, the class-specific bonuses and graphical variations are optional. The core of the idea is having an elite skill set tied to weapon types – preferably done so that each is a viable option