Guild Wars 2

Refer to my third post in this thread for my argument regarding these suggestions. Be warned, it is a recording that’s something like 20 minutes or more in length. At least I put music to it.

GUARDIAN
TOME OF COURAGE

• Cast-time reduced from 1 to 0 seconds (instant).
• Recharge reduced from 180 to 0 seconds.
• No longer has a duration limit.
• Upon activation, now only grants the caster Protection and Regeneration (this effect has a 15 second internal cool-down).
  • Protection duration: 3 seconds
  • Regeneration duration: 7 seconds

Heal Area

• Recharge increased from 0 to 3 seconds.

Purifying Ribbon

• Recharge increased from 3 to 10 seconds.

Protective Spirit

• Protection duration reduced from 10 to 5 seconds.

Pacifism

• Cast-time reduced from 2 to 1 second.
• Recharge increased from 20 to 25 seconds.

Light of Deliverance

• Recharge increased from 30 to 180 seconds.

TOME OF WRATH

• Cast-time reduced from 1 to 0 seconds (instant).
• Recharge reduced from 180 to 0 seconds.
• No longer has a duration limit.
• Upon activation, now only grants the caster Retaliation (this effect has a 15 second internal cool-down).
  • Retaliation duration: 7 seconds

Conflagrate

• Cast-time increased from ¾ to 1 second.

Affliction

• Recharge increased from 3 to 8 seconds.

Smiter’s Boon

• Recharge increased from 5 to 15 seconds.
• Might stacks reduced from 5 to 3.
• Swiftness duration increased from 5 to 8 seconds.

Zealot’s Ferver

• Recharge increased from 15 to 30 seconds.

Judgment

• Recharge increased from 30 to 180 seconds.

Related

• Rune of the Monk 6/6 ability now has a cool-down of 50 seconds.
• Altruistic Healing does not grant healing from boons whose sources are Tome skills.
• The Elite Focus trait no longer affects the duration of Tomes (since they have an unlimited duration now), but rather reduces the cool-downs of all Tome skills by 20%.

ENGINEER
MORTAR

• Skill format and function changed to reflect the nature of an Elite Kit.
• Recharge reduced from 120 to 0 seconds.
• Base skill range increased from 1,400 to 1,800.
• Skill range when traited increased from 1,600 to 2,200.
  • Cast-time increased from ½ to 1 second.
  • While equipped with the Mortar kit, an Engineer’s speed is reduced by 100% (becomes immobile), but gains 2 minutes of stability. The Engineer loses all stability upon de-equipping the Mortar kit.

Launch Mortar Shot

• Recharge reduced from 2 to 1 second.

Launch Concussion Barrage

• Exhaust your Mortar’s ammunition supply to launch a barrage of rounds that pushes back foes where they land.
  • Using this skill forces the Engineer to de-equip his Mortar Kit and sends the Kit into a 60-second recharge.

ELIXIR X

• Recharge reduced from 120 to 100 seconds.
• See attachment.

WARRIOR
RAMPAGE

• Cast-time reduced from 1 to 0 seconds (instant).
• Warriors now automatically shout (roar, ect) when entering Rampage so as to give an audible cue to enemy players.
• Recharge reduced from 180 to 90 seconds.
• Duration reduced from 20 to 15 seconds.
• Stability duration reduced from 20 to 15 seconds.

ELEMENTALIST
CONJURE FIERY GREATSWORD

• Recharge reduced from 180 to 120.

GLYPH OF ELEMENTALS

• Cast-time reduced to 1 second.
• Recharge reduced from 120 to 90 seconds.
• Give this skill an underwater counterpart, you silly devs. Honestly.
• Steam Elemental (Fire; Mist Form model), Ice Elemental (Water; Ice Elemental model), Mud Elemental (Earth; Tar Elemental model), Air Elemental (Air; Lesser Air Elemental skin)
• They all effectively maintain the same corresponding abilities that they have on ground.

TORNADO

• Recharge reduced from 180 to 0 seconds.
• No longer has a duration limit.
• Stability removed.
• Instead of transforming into a Tornado, the player instead simply gains three Tornado skills (the one’s currently in place). Now, activating those respective skills transforms the player into a tornado for the period of their channeled duration.
• While under the effects of Tornado, players gain a buff named Tornado and trail smoke similar to the Omnomberry Ghost food “trailing mist” effect except with more of a solid grey tint. Honestly, the buff icon alone would probably be enough. The goal of the icon (and optional visual effect) would be to give enemy players warning that “Oh, this Elementalist is about to BECOME A TORNADO,” since the Tornado skills themselves have no actual cast-time and therefore can be activated instantly. The Elite itself would still retain its 1-second cast-time.

Electified Tornado

• Recharge increased from 0 to 150 seconds.
• Now grants 4 seconds of stability.
• Now has a channeled cast-time of 4½ seconds.
• Strike the ground with a mighty bolt of lightning that damages nearby enemies. Shape-shift into a tornado that damages foes.
  • Initial lightning strike damage: 600
  • Damage: 450
  • Radius: 240

Dust Tornado

• Recharge increased from 0 to 150 seconds.
• Now grants 4 seconds of stability.
• Now has a channeled cast-time of 4½ seconds.
• Conjure dust, forming a smoke field and blinding foes at your location. Shape-shift into a tornado that expels blinding dust devils.
  • Damage: 327
  • Radius: 240
  • Blind: 5 seconds
  • The smoke field that you summon at this skills outset is identical to the one created by the Thief skill Black Powder and has a duration of 4 seconds.

Debris Tornado

• Recharge increased from 0 to 150 seconds.
• Now grants 4 seconds of stability.
• Now has a channeled cast-time of 4½ seconds.
• Rip debris from the ground, launching foes away from your location. Shape-shift into a tornado that cripples and weakens your enemies with debris.
  • Initial blowout: 600
  • Damage: 163
  • Weakness: 2 seconds
  • Cripple: 1 second
  • Pulse: 1 second
  • Radius: 240

MESMER
MASS INVISIBILITY

• Cast-time reduced from 1¾ to ¾ seconds.
• Stealth duration increased from 5 to 6 seconds.

ELITE SKILL SLOT OPTIONS
Players can now equip a 4th Utility Skill in their Elite Skill Slot. A player cannot equip more than 3 of a respective Utility Skill type at once (i.e. Cantrips, Weapon Kits, Consecrations, ect). Healing Skills and Elite Skills are exempt from this count (for example, as a Warrior, you can still have 4 banners if you take 3 Utility Skill banners and the Elite Skill Battle Standard).

http://www.mediafire.com/?wnlgtla2e2mat1d

The link above leads to my verbal defense for my suggested changes. Get some popcorn ready because it’s something like 31 minutes long. Do you know why? Because that’s how many issues there are with current Elite Skills in GW2.

I’ll be brief here: so many GW2 Elite Skills are bad because the concept of an “ultimate” does not translate well into GW2. This game is all about rotations. This is not really an argument. A player’s rotation is nearly all there is to his or her play-style aside from timing and the occasional adaption to unforeseen circumstances such as another player entering into a fight and blind-siding someone. A player’s rotation (and thus, his or her play-style) originates from a respective player’s base skills. A player’s base skills are his or her home. The home set is the skills that you have available to you right from the gate in tPvP; it’s the skills you have while roaming about in overworld PvE with no real goal; it’s the skills you have equipped when running from place to place in WvW. These skills determine your play-style.

There are certain Elite Skills that are almost invariably chosen over others in this game. Among those are included Supply Drop, Glyph of Elementals and Signet of Rage. Why are these good? Because they do not remove a player from his or her home skill set. That’s why they’re so good: a player gets to stay optimized within his or her home set while also receiving a powerful bonus. GW2 Elites should function more as items integrated into a player’s base rotation as opposed to what they are now—which is something more like an interruption in a rotation.

The whole discussion pretty much comes down to speed. Get in to your elite skill, use what you need to use, and then flip back to your home set. Nobody wants to be outside of their home set. Doing so severely limits one’s utility and sustainability in a fight. By redesigning Elite Skills into things that slip more easily into a player’s rotation, we will see an increase in Elite Skill choice variance among the classes and also breathe new life and new dimension into Guild Wars 2.

I agree there needs to be a bit more parity in elite skills so that some are not overwhelmingly chosen over others, however I don’t think you need to reinvent the wheel here. Some select buffs/nerfs would be just fine.

I heavily disagree on rotations. A good player does alot more than stick to a rotation unless you are only looking for max DPS and are not facing a challenge. In which case builds, specs, and skills are really only flavoring.

For instance on my Ele I have an AOE DPS rotation worked out with variables and additions/subtractions based on critter type and situation. However rarely do I actually run the rotation, I’m always adjusting to the needs of the group and myself.

Ralathar.7236:

I agree there needs to be a bit more parity in elite skills so that some are not overwhelmingly chosen over others, however I don’t think you need to reinvent the wheel here. Some select buffs/nerfs would be just fine.

I heavily disagree on rotations. A good player does alot more than stick to a rotation unless you are only looking for max DPS and are not facing a challenge. In which case builds, specs, and skills are really only flavoring.

For instance on my Ele I have an AOE DPS rotation worked out with variables and additions/subtractions based on critter type and situation. However rarely do I actually run the rotation, I’m always adjusting to the needs of the group and myself.

Variables to a rotation is like variables to a build: the foundation is effectively the same, you’re just changing a trait or two around. Everyone has rotation variables, it’s how we naturally play the game—that is to say that we react to incoming stimuli and respond appropriately in a way that we think will earn us a victory. By “Elite Skills being more incorporated into rotations,” I mean to say that Elite Skills should give us more of those rotational variants. Did your opponent come in close; get distance between you and him; attack in a different patter than you anticipated? Well, now thanks to revamped Elites, you have more and different options to deal with those situations than you did before.

Also, wow, sorry that I didn’t reply either. You probably won’t even care about this argument anymore.

Furthermore, I play a lot of Engineer. You don’t need to tell me about rotations and how flexible they can be.

I like some of the changes, but personally I prefer the 20 second rampage. What I’d rather see is the cd dropped to 150 seconds. 180 just seems too much. All in all, I love the skill especially in wvw/spvp.

NinjaEd.3946:

I like some of the changes, but personally I prefer the 20 second rampage. What I’d rather see is the cd dropped to 150 seconds. 180 just seems too much. All in all, I love the skill especially in wvw/spvp.

I could see the duration going up to 15 seconds, but Rampage is so very much like simply having another weapon set that it honestly just doesn’t deserve any triple-digit recharge. Maybe a 90-second recharge or something. I honestly regard Rampage as my favorite Warrior elite by far. I barely play the class, but it’s just so very dynamic-combat-oriented. It’s something to which Warriors should have access more than once every two minutes. You’re right, though, 10 seconds might actually be too short. It’s been a while since I’ve glanced over this thread.

I WOULD LOVE TO HAVE TOME ELITE YOUR DESCRIBING
But this here idea is defenetly not reasonable from a perspective view of a designer because
1 time and money
2 balancing (this will throw moust of previous balances made away wich means money waisted)
3 they listen to ounly post that have a large amount of replies or a very contravershial topic

Sorry to brake your spirit but it how it is.

Just want to use utility instead of useless ele elites.

I agree with rhodoc, most of the time the regular utilities are more useful than the elites, especially due to the longer cooldown on the elites. Id rather run around with a 4th utility than the elite that rarely benefits me.

rhodoc.2381:

Just want to use utility instead of useless ele elites.

Rick.5781:

I agree with rhodoc, most of the time the regular utilities are more useful than the elites, especially due to the longer cooldown on the elites. Id rather run around with a 4th utility than the elite that rarely benefits me.

It’s really the simplest change and it would probably have the biggest impact. Despite the fact that something would probably have to be done about 90% of all Elementalist running 3 stun-breaks, having a fourth utility slot would breathe SO much life into this game that it really boggles my mind how it isn’t an option. I play a lot of Engineer (maybe I’ve said that before), but even though Supply Drop is really good, I often forget that it’s there. I’d rather just have another kit, stun-break or combo finisher. Things like that are what keep battles interesting and keep them going.

Yes, supply drop is the only elite I find useful on my engineer as well. Part of the problem is that most elites are useless. All of the ones that summon allies are useful for giving you breathing room when overwhelmed, and can help you DPS things down faster in PvE, but the allies are useless in dungeons. The ally summons that require you to be standing still to use are also useless seeing as youre probably going to be using them in a pinch, and when you are in a pinch you cant afford to stand still for 2 seconds to channel the casting time. The cooldown on the elites is also too high, Id rather have a skill I can use every 30-60 seconds than be able to summon allies every 3 minutes.