Racial skills should only be buffed for PvE only. In WvW, they can stay weak as Anet wants to. Why should PvE racial skills get buffs? Because buffing those skills will buff flavor.
Racial skills:
Artillery Barrage: Needs higher range. I want to feel like I am calling down a barrage on my enemies. Who calls a barrage on their feet?
Warband Support: Higher Duration and Lower cooldown so it will match. I want to feel like I am the Legionnaire/Centurion who has a army to lead. I want to summon companions and walk around with them.
Battle Roar- Make it a complete FGJ clone. Same duration, stacks of might, and cooldown. My Charr warrior will happily benefit from not hearing “FOR GREAT JUSTICE!” but rather, multiple varied shouts. Some restriction: A Charr warrior can’t use FGJ and Battle roar at the same time.
Summon 7-Series Golem/Summon D-Series Golem- Higher duration and lower cooldown. I want to feel like I have a robot walking with me.
Summon Powersuit- Remove root on attack and unlimited duration. I want to walk around with the powersuit as if I built it myself.
Become the (Spirit of the wild)- Reduce cooldown to 150 seconds to match rampage. 4 minutes is just too long for an elite skill.
I would love to see this happen, but I doubt it will.
I’d also like it if you can do stuff to unlock, and then use your skill points to buy, all the racial skills with a character.
They kept the racial skills weaker than others because they wanted people to play the different races. If, say, it turned out that the human’s racial trait for, say summoning the Hounds of Balthazar was incredibly OP next to the charr’s racial trait of the Charrzooka, then everybody would play human.
Obviously, people might gravitate in the majority towards any race for any number of reasons, but they wanted to make the racial skills less of a determining factor, I believe.
However, if they were buffed right across the board, then I would support this. I’m not sure how easy it is to balance that though.
Before this could happen, something needs to be done about all the QQing regarding the lack of a race change facility. I’m not saying I support race changes at all, but if race actually made a difference in PvE, there’d be even more crying from people who can’t handle re-making their characters.
Artillery Barrage: Needs higher range. I want to feel like I am calling down a barrage on my enemies. Who calls a barrage on their feet?
Before this could happen, something needs to be done about all the QQing regarding the lack of a race change facility. I’m not saying I support race changes at all, but if race actually made a difference in PvE, there’d be even more crying from people who can’t handle re-making their characters.
Racial skills should make a difference because of flavor. In PvE, the only thing that matters in balance is how high is your dps. Nothing else really matters.
I don’t think Artillery Observers call Artillery Barrages where they are standing. Have you tried the Elite skill?
They kept the racial skills weaker than others because they wanted people to play the different races. If, say, it turned out that the human’s racial trait for, say summoning the Hounds of Balthazar was incredibly OP next to the charr’s racial trait of the Charrzooka, then everybody would play human.
Obviously, people might gravitate in the majority towards any race for any number of reasons, but they wanted to make the racial skills less of a determining factor, I believe.
However, if they were buffed right across the board, then I would support this. I’m not sure how easy it is to balance that though.
If you noticed, most if not all, is mostly cosmetic changes. There is no request to increase damage, there is no request to make racial skills more dangerous.
All I want is that pets get a lower cooldown so I can walk around with it and transformation gets a lower cooldown as well.
If I get into a battle with my Warband support, they will mostly perish within seconds. But I am still okay with that. At least the high duration lets me get bodyguards.
Racial skills should make a difference because of flavor. In PvE, the only thing that matters in balance is how high is your dps. Nothing else really matters.
That’s kinda not true but whatever. Would it still be balanced if engineer auto attacks applied AoE Aegis and inflicted a 10s KD? Neither of those would directly affect DPS…
I don’t think Artillery Observers call Artillery Barrages where they are standing. Have you tried the Elite skill?
I have, and I admit that the range is too short – I just wouldn’t want it to be anything ridiculous. Have you done the charr storyline Operation: Bulwark? It could be like the Signal Mortar skill in that – a good range and good damage, but an obvious animation and long delay to make it less effective against players.
They kept the racial skills weaker than others because they wanted people to play the different races.
Care to explain why all current dungeon videos of guardians use the human racial heal?
They kept the racial skills weaker than others because they wanted people to play the different races. If, say, it turned out that the human’s racial trait for, say summoning the Hounds of Balthazar was incredibly OP next to the charr’s racial trait of the Charrzooka, then everybody would play human.
Obviously, people might gravitate in the majority towards any race for any number of reasons, but they wanted to make the racial skills less of a determining factor, I believe.
However, if they were buffed right across the board, then I would support this. I’m not sure how easy it is to balance that though.
If you noticed, most if not all, is mostly cosmetic changes. There is no request to increase damage, there is no request to make racial skills more dangerous.
All I want is that pets get a lower cooldown so I can walk around with it and transformation gets a lower cooldown as well.
If I get into a battle with my Warband support, they will mostly perish within seconds. But I am still okay with that. At least the high duration lets me get bodyguards.
I think cooldowns aren’t exactly cosmetic changes?
But it doesn’t matter – I wasn’t really disagreeing with what you suggested, I was simply providing another reason why the devs probably made racial skills as uninteresting as they currently are.
They kept the racial skills weaker than others because they wanted people to play the different races.
Care to explain why all current dungeon videos of guardians use the human racial heal?
Lol, I didn’t say they got it perfect!
But also, the fact that there are many guardians of other races means that in this case, for my particular point, they did in fact get it right. You don’t choose to play a human simply because you want to play a guardian. You are equally viable as an asura, or charr, sylvari or norn as a guardian.
This is what ANet were trying to achieve, so I’d say that it works. If I’m a human and I have access to the human racial healing skill then if I think it’s better than the others available then of course I’ll equip it. However, I don’t feel limited to playing a human only just because I want to play guardian.
Now that I see all those vids, I actually look at the racial before creating a new char. For an experienced guardian, it makes absolute sense.
With 300 healing power (popular Anchor build)
Healing Breeze: 6825 heal for 40s cd ~= 170 hps
Shelter: 4765 heal for 30s cd ~= 159 hps
Signet of Resolve: 8525 for 40s cd ~= 213 hps
Prayer to Dwayna: 6775 heal for 30s cd ~= 225 hps
With 0 healing power:
Healing Breeze: 6525 heal for 40s cd ~= 163 hps
Shelter: kitten heal for 30s cd ~= 152 hps
Signet of Resolve: 8150 for 40s cd ~= 204 hps
Prayer to Dwayna: 6520 heal for 30s cd ~= 217 hps
So for much less personal hps, you can get either group heal or block, but hey… everybody’s got a heal skill and I can dodge. So you have the choice: 220 hps or 210 hps (averages). What do you choose? Oh yes, when you don’t use 210 hps, you can get 1 condition removed every 10s.
To hell with the condition removal upon no use of the skill, I have enough already; let’s take Dwayna’s: I can trigger it every 30s.
(edited by Fror.2163)
Racial elite skills are basically cosmetics atm. They arn’t strong, and they have a loooooong cooldown. Very few racial elites have a place, kinda sad.
Idk about matching Become the _ to 150 but atleast 180. Or make completion of the personal story reduce racial elite cooldowns by a respectable amount, giving an incentive to redo the personal story (not as fun the 3rd time)
Now that I see all those vids, I actually look at the racial before creating a new char. For an experienced guardian, it makes absolute sense.
With 300 healing power (popular Anchor build)
Healing Breeze: 6825 heal for 40s cd ~= 170 hps
Shelter: 4765 heal for 30s cd ~= 159 hps
Signet of Resolve: 8525 for 40s cd ~= 213 hps
Prayer to Dwayna: 6775 heal for 30s cd ~= 225 hpsWith 0 healing power:
Healing Breeze: 6525 heal for 40s cd ~= 163 hps
Shelter: kitten heal for 30s cd ~= 152 hps
Signet of Resolve: 8150 for 40s cd ~= 204 hps
Prayer to Dwayna: 6520 heal for 30s cd ~= 217 hpsSo for much less personal hps, you can get either group heal or block, but hey… everybody’s got a heal skill and I can dodge. So you have the choice: 220 hps or 210 hps (averages). What do you choose? Oh yes, when you don’t use 210 hps, you can get 1 condition removed every 10s.
To hell with the condition removal upon no use of the skill, I have enough already; let’s take Dwayna’s: I can trigger it every 30s.
Well in that case for you it didn’t work. Like I said, I never claimed they got it right on the money in every case.
I, however, don’t choose to play a human just because I want to play a guardian. But also, by your example, you wouldn’t choose any other race if the human skill is so good? I can’t believe that. And THAT is what ANet are trying to avoid – a racial skill being so good that it eliminates all other elements of choice. They don’t want it to be a situation where everyone who plays the game only ever chooses human because they have a skill that simply eclipses any other but only humans have it.
So, using either your example where in a specific instance it doesn’t work, or mine where it does, it doesn’t matter. The point is that not everyone is playing only one race, so they got it generally in the right direction with their decision to downplay the racial skills.
If they do buff racials, I would like the following changes to a few of the charr ones (since I’ve only played charr really and know the weaknesses of these).
Shrapnel Mine: Give us the ability to detonate it at will and make it a Blast Finisher.
Artillery Barrage: Give this a higher range so it’s actually useful. Maybe a 1500 range? It wouldn’t be too broken with that considering the 4 minute cooldown.
Warband Support: The NPCs this calls need to be buffed so they’re as powerful/useful as the Thieves Guild NPCs.
Most people don’t make character creation choices based on whether or not they’ll get good skills… otherwise nobody would make a ranger. People make rangers because the playstyle appeals to them (although obviously quite a few end up disappointed when they find out what it’s really like… myself included) – to some extent it’s a cosmetic thing if you like the medium armour, but for anyone who knows how bad racial skills are, race selection is ENTIRELY cosmetic, and that kinda sucks. It’d be nice if the skills were at least usable so I could consider putting them in my build.
Most people don’t make character creation choices based on whether or not they’ll get good skills… otherwise nobody would make a ranger. People make rangers because the playstyle appeals to them (although obviously quite a few end up disappointed when they find out what it’s really like… myself included) – to some extent it’s a cosmetic thing if you like the medium armour, but for anyone who knows how bad racial skills are, race selection is ENTIRELY cosmetic, and that kinda sucks. It’d be nice if the skills were at least usable so I could consider putting them in my build.
Idk if the op is suggesting make the racial skills better (although some really do need a slight buff) its the fact that they suck AND have a long cooldown. One or the other please, not both. Norn racial skills arn’t bad tbh, but the racial skills have an abusrd cooldown for not being all that great. Charr racial skills are more for fun but they deal very low damage. Human elites are just… sad.. Asuran elites are tolerable except the golem suit, which actually lowers your survivability significantly due to its mechanics. Sylvari, idk as I havn’t really touched up on one but I do see the seed turret one used often. The other 2, not so much.
(edited by NinjaEd.3946)
The way I see it, if they don’t do enough to justify replacing some better skill in your bar, they might as well be doing nothing at all. They are purely cosmetic skills, and their only problem as far as that goes is the long cooldowns so you can barely use them, and when you do you have to wait 16 years to put your proper skill back. You know in GW1 Bear Form lasted for 60s and had another 60s to cool down after that? What happened to the norn to make them so weak??
Anyway, turning them into skills you only use to RP would be kinda lame but better than what we have now. What I’d prefer is to fit them into the game as valid skills that people will seriously want to use in their build – then we’ll actually experience the racial variety instead of just knowing that the possibility exists.
Most people don’t make character creation choices based on whether or not they’ll get good skills… otherwise nobody would make a ranger. People make rangers because the playstyle appeals to them (although obviously quite a few end up disappointed when they find out what it’s really like… myself included) – to some extent it’s a cosmetic thing if you like the medium armour, but for anyone who knows how bad racial skills are, race selection is ENTIRELY cosmetic, and that kinda sucks. It’d be nice if the skills were at least usable so I could consider putting them in my build.
Idk if the op is suggesting make the racial skills better (although some really do need a slight buff) its the fact that they suck AND have a long cooldown. One or the other please, not both. Norn racial skills arn’t bad tbh, but the racial skills have an abusrd cooldown for not being all that great. Charr racial skills are more for fun but they deal very low damage. Human elites are just… sad.. Asuran elites are tolerable except the golem suit, which actually lowers your survivability significantly due to its mechanics. Sylvari, idk as I havn’t really touched up on one but I do see the seed turret one used often. The other 2, not so much.
OP suggesting that they get buff in duration and cooldown.
Because they suck but at least it feels right.
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