Please note that this is not a topic discussing how thieves are OP, or how elementalists should be more powerful. In fact, I believe Arena Net has done well so far at balancing the classes. This is a game play mechanic vs game play mechanic topic. This topic is mainly about the issues of how the game was programmed that makes it very unfair for certain players. Which is why we need these changes.
And please don’t say “you just suck” because this is untrue. Despite these disadvantages and emphasizing on playing the elementalist, I have often found myself at the top of the player list in structured PVP.
With all that said, I hope that the following problems will be fixed in the near future:
Targeting problems:
These problems are even more problematic when you consider the fact that some skills REQUIRE the correct target in order to be of any use at all. And some skills have long cool downs, so if you use them on the wrong target by accident because of these problems, chances are you’re done for. And also, because of these problems, players are constantly having to look up at who their target is. This distracts them from the fight and makes them very vulnerable.
1. When a player goes invisible, the target lock on them drops. This is fine. But once the invisible character becomes visible again, the target lock does NOT return! This is a HUGE advantage for those who can go invisible and a HUGE disadvantage for those who cannot because now you have to click all over the screen to try to target them again while they’re constantly attacking you.
2. While trying to target nearest players, you have to cycle through pets and summons! This is a HUGE advantage for those who have summons and pets, and a HUGE disadvantage for those who don’t. When I say “summons and pets”, I am NOT including mesmer clones because they’re supposed to be a distraction. But its extremely difficult to not accidentally target pets or summons. And in some cases, you do so without even realizing with until its too late.
3. There is no option to use a custom key bind for deselecting your target! Big problem when trying to flee. You have to constantly press the escape button to deselect the target, but then the game menu pops up! Now you have to exit out of this. And by the time you did, you’re dead.
4. Because left clicking is used to target players AND move the camera, while trying to move the camera, often you accidentally click on a player, now you’ve changed your target accidentally to something you don’t want.
UI problems:
The main problem with the UI and where the razor naga users have a HUGE advantage over non razor naga users, or non users of similar devices, is the ability to place your skills where you need them on your skill bar. For a razor naga user, all they have to do is key bind skills in a certain order of buttons on the side of their mouse. Now they can run, jump, and use their skills without ever having to look at the skill bar. But for non users of such devices, we constantly are having to look down at our skill bar to see which skill we want to use making us extremely vulnerable. Huge advantage for users of such devices, huge disadvantage for others. This is what makes Guild Wars 2, a PAY TO WIN game. Why should players be forced to have a fixed skill bar when every other mmo allows you the flexibility of a dynamic skill bar? You may think that using key binds such as shift+[insert key] solves this problem. That sort of key binding increases your chances of hitting the wrong skills! And worse yet, you would have to change ALL of those key binds every time you switch characters or builds! The way key binds for weapon skills in Guild wars 2 is set up is simply not viable, unreliable, and obsolete. And it makes playing the game very frustrating and unfair.
Changes that should be made:
1. Auto-Retarget visible players who are coming out of invisibility if they were targeted before they went into invisibility, and if the player targeting them had not changed their target while their target is invisible.
2. Option available to never allow key binds to select summons or pets (this should NOT include mesmer clones).
4. Option to toggle a lock target feature via key bind so that the target cannot be changed unless you press the same key bind once more.
5. Option to key bind deselection of your target.
6. Option to disable targeting via clicking and/or Option to allow right clicking for targeting.
7. Option to allow positioning of weapon skills on the skill bar in the skill slots where you want and need them to be. Their positions on the skill bar needs to be saved per character and per weapon combination so that it does not revert on character change or weapon change.