Guild Wars 2

Greetings all!
Exuse my bad english, and i know there are many clas suggestions out there alredy, but in my opinion, right now classes are quite narrowed in. Either they need to get a LOT of skills and weapons, or we need to get a lot of classes.
Its not abaut, class mechanic, or balance, its abaut the theme of the class you want to play.

I was quite inspired today, i started reading a Warhammer 40k book : The thousand sons, but had no time to finish it, but i also had it in audio so i started listening to it, and realized how amazing feeling it its to imagine the characters of the book.

It inspired to realize Gw2 does miss a third plate class. Not only that but there are barely any real long ranged, direct damage nukers. (by that i mean casters)
Besides ranger and Elementalist there are basically none.
-Side note : Since there are 3 of every tipe of armor class besides Heavy, it would fit right in to complete the Heavy armored classes to 3. Besides it would also outbalance the defensive Guardian, since it would be offensive.

I also realized why Guardian became so popular and fun. It can do many things, its hybrid, and trough the concept is boring ( a tipical paladin) it was implemented awesomely. (Unlike the Necromancer).
The third thing i realied was, that noone uses staff as a combat weapon. Even trough you get skill list from weapon’s, there are no melee skills. (i willget back to this later)

Realizing those i pictured a Plated warrior like class, with strong destructive powers, that can combat in melee, or cast spells to blow the enemy from long range.
Besides its a concept of psykers and sorcerers,librarians in Warhammer, its alredy existing in the game : Look at the priests in Divinity’s Reach.

I also dont undertand (trough i can see trough it) why Anet didnt implement a divine class to begin with. Or atleast somehing that is like 1.
There are no gods? Ok currently, but there are actually billions of proofs they existed, and besides that, noone cares if they do or not, there are thousands that pray to them or cast spells in there names. The gods beeing absent means basically nothing

Norn and Chars dont believe in them? Not togather as a race, but clearly there are many who do beliave in them. Picking the class would clearly mean you do, nothing special. Its a personal pick, just like the ones you make at character select.

I dont concrete skills or class mechanic yet, but i do list some of my ideas on it for example later on :
Till then, some pictures i found fitting, and how i imagine the class.
(if you played Guardian and used tome of wrath you know how awesome feeling this class would be)

Sooo anyone any opinions ideas on this?

A lot is said in this post so I will try to just talk about the third Heavy Armor class you propose.

First, they will add classes to the future and I am sure another heavy armor class will be made (since there are only 2, compared to light and medium which have 3).

Second, Right now the heavy armor classes are fairly balanced. Want a burst damage class ranged or close…choose warrior. Want a defensive/ support melee class…go with guardian.

To create a class that you propose that is excellent both offensively, defensively, close range, and ranged expert is a bit of an imbalance. If all you are asking for is a version of a WARRIOR that uses magic instead, I think it will probably happen in the future.

You are right, I think i would stick to the plated “caster” concept.

Guardian’s are paladins…their magic is that of the gods and spirits. Hence the spirit weapons, the emphasis on support and buffing rather than debuffing, and the prayer book weapons. The guardian is the class that is directly linked to belief in something higher than yourself (gods, spirits, etc). It is this reason why you get poked fun of (something most likely don’t even get/understand unless they play the same story with a different class) if you make a Charr Guardian, after all they hate the very idea of religion.

A heavy armor wearer that uses magic exists, the Guardian.
A heavy armor magic user that is basid in offense and debuffing rather than buffing however does not exist. However the class would need an inherent flaw/weakness. Warriors have limited condition removal and self healing (and if you trait to solve this your damage output is far lower than other wars). Guardians are VERY limited in their access to ranged weaponry (and no way to solve this problem either). Meaning the class would need an inherent flaw that other classes can exploit in pvp, be it a weakness in melee (weak melee skills in term of raw damage) or perhaps just a total inability to buff themselves.

If you want them to consider an idea seriously, give a serious balanced class idea, including inherent weaknesses that are like giant red target signs on ways to exploit and slaughter said class. Yes, every class has such a weakness.

I like how 5 out of 6 of the pictures are space marines

Runiir.6425:

Guardian’s are paladins…their magic is that of the gods and spirits.

Runiir, thank you for poiting this out. I will keep this in mind and try to think of a flaws that can outbalance the class.

-The idea of “no self buffing” sounds good, trough a heavy armor class would look strange without self perservation.
-Atleast my guess is, that most heavy armor classes are implemented for first lines,(trough we are talking abaut a ranged class actually)whole idea behind “picking” a heavy armor is to be “fighter” like. And without atleast regen, aegis, or protection would be hard to stand in front lines, but still might work even with only armor.
-Not to mention, if we are talking abaut an offensive class, it wont really need self perservation, atleast in a form of boons.(at best it could steal life in some way)
-Besides self buffing is not that important if you can outkite things, since you can go ranged. and lets not forget many classes can buff you, (like Mesmer with Signet of Inspiration) and there are many “main support” builds for many classes.
As final word, i think taking away the most buffs would be good.

The second flaw i can come up with is : The lack of mobility.
It actually fitting for a heavy armored, caster class. Besides, it also fits the low selfbuffing availability.
Trough it might cause problems if wants to use melee skills, but i guess its still not a real issue, since will only have a few melee skills, like any other caster has, close range skills.( even Ele has lightning whip and Necro got dagger, or Mesmer Swords )

What you think?

I was thinking on Weapon selection ( with the current ones) and Besides staff (whitch would be the symbol weapon of the class), i came up with :
-Main or offhand -Sword , but cant be dual wielded. Why? Whell basically i did not want to give him a dagger, because it requires a swift and agile character, and this is not one (mostly because of the heavy armor).
Since it does need atleast 1 melee weapon, to melee atleast in some way if needed, i think sword would fit for that.
-Main or off hand pistol, but cant be dual wield the perfect support for sword, you can keep your ranged setup, dephending on where you equip it, you deal raw damage, or just support damage.

I am not sure on the rest, but still thinking, if anyone has any suggestions, go on.

No one uses the current staffs for melee combat because the current staffs aren’t built for melee combat.

Look at most of the staffs in the game. You try smacking someone with one of those twiggy staffs with a crystal on the top and either the crystal is going to shatter or the staff is going to break in half (or both). They aren’t suitable for melee combat at all.

They should add actual, proper combat staffs to the game as a new weapon type if they want to go the route of physical combat staffs.

Whell i dont fully agree. did you alredy see a combat staff? In life or in fantasy game?
Its basically a simple wood staff, that has a steel or iron, lining or filler. (mostly for weight)
1, A combat staff can break, yes…that is why items have endurance? ( and can be repaired) In real life, when you used staff for combat, it was because it can be replaced easy actually.
2, You cant replace it because its a rare magical item? If its magical, then it wont break…so simple.

Besides, even if you are right, it means not that an class and combat aspect and mechanic should be neglected, only because some dont think the current items cant be used for it.
I dont want to get you down, but they propably wont implement another staff type only for anothe aspect of combat. (trough it would be resonable, since it would expand all staff classes) But keep in mind many would complain “why can an Elementalist use staff for combat?” In other hand, they are trained with that weapon…thats the reson they can use it. If they are trained with it, why should they not be able to use it for melee combat?

And as ending side notes the following staffs are surely fit for melee combat : Forge staff, Flame staff, Peacemaker staff, Quaggan staff, Lionguard staff, Kodan staff, Krait staff…and so on…Why? They are massive, and look like they are made from tough material.
Besides, you judge them, to breake when you hit with them….on what? From the look of the material they are made? Or How slender they are? Or they have a criystal in them? How can you tell they are not superdurable materials? They are supposed to be made for combat, they propably are.
I dont think this should be a topic to discuss, but if you have any more thouts on this i will listen, but dont assume theoratical lore please. Thank you for your feedback and interest anyway.

PS : I know what you are talking abaut, but the staff you are thinking abaut are “martial art” staves. They do need to be durable, and slender to be swift, but we are not talking abaut a martial artist class. It more like : hit them few times somethimes.
and let me add, even a martial artist staff is a simple pieace of wood, the Gw staves are magical, dont think they can be compared at all.

Ok a few skill ideas, and a list of class mechanic ideas.
As we discussed on other topic, lets keep to the Bloodstone lore, where magic is categorized to schools : Destruction,Agression,Denia, Perservation …

I guess, as best Destruction fits the class. TroughAgression would be also fitting. I did not decide yet, but its free for discussion, whitch spell represent whitch….trough, there is not detailed description on the web abaut them.

Arcane missiles : A good skill for 1 (or auto attack) at first cast the character swings the staff shooting 1-3 bolts of energy missiles at target.
-Second attack : Holds the staff like Elementalist at lightning surge and shoots 3-5 bolts
-At third attack the character stops moving (dodging-moving interupts this) and slams the staff into the ground ( gandalf style) and releases a dozen of small missiles araud hitting the target – Only for the totally cool look, all the missiles are homing.
(some pictures under the post abaut this)

Force of Will : The character pounches the air in front of him, with the staff and an invisible force knocks back foes in front of him. Also removes poison and a movement imparing effect.

Black lightning/WarpBolt : The character blurrs and slides sideways ( random direction if you are not moving-apllyes distortion for a sec) and shoots out a cracling bolt of energy from his nonstaff hand. On hit it deals damange, blinds, and on final hit explodes dealing burning to targets cought in blast.

MagusStrike : The character slams the staff in front of him with a swing starting from above his head, ending on the ground (like when you try to split someone in half). Dealing moderate dmg, and stunning-interrupting foes in the area.

Desintergrate : The character channels power trough the staff for a few seconds (channel- interupted on move and dodge) after the time is passed unleashes a long range high damage ray of pure energy. (deals more dmg to burning foes) . Its a long Cooldown skill.

FlashBlood : The character throws the sword from his main hand (with only a slight motion, like throwing a card from wrist) that hits the foes stomach, then returns. (applying bleed)

BLoodforBlood : After the activation, the character blocks the next attack within 3-4 seconds, while blocking with the sword in main hand, casts a painfull spell from the other (since the enemy lets his guard down to attack and is vulnerable meantime).

Snapshot : the character holds the pistol high with offhand and shoots out a fast 3 bullet barrage that is aimed for the head. The character has to stop for this or it gets interrupted by movement or dodge.
Deals moderate dmg, and apply confusion or will interrupt foes.

CrawlBeforeMe : The character hits the enemy with the pistols grip in offhand, that knocks the target down. On Second activation (can only be used on foes on ground) the character will use the current main hand weapon on the helpless target on the floor.
A few ideas on this : Sword – stabs in chest, like a finishing blow (dealing more dmg when the foe has less healt.
Focus : Kicks the foe on the floor a few times, applyes weakness.

Vacum : The character puts away weapons and casts a terrible spell with both hands on target location. An orb of spinning dim light, that sucks in foes in area and detonates after that, dealing massive dmg.

War: The character holds up the hammer in his hand to the air, and a giant hammer will strike the taget area. This will knock foes down. ( good sinergy with CBM)

Rain of Death : The character holds his hands up, and summons an Ball of Energy on his location, that will shoot bolts at foes and slows thme down near the ball itself.

As for Class mechanic i was thinking abaut 3 themes, but i am open to suggestions.

1, The first theme is based araund the divine part of the class. A 2 part bar called favor.
You fill the bar with casting spells, that hit enemyes.
But unlike the warrior, you dont deplete the bar, or can use skills with it. But your skills get an additional efect based on your Favor state.

For example : Arcane missiles on favor 0 do what it described.
At favor 1 they apply poison.
At favor 2 they deal a slight aoe with each hit.

Rain of Death at favor 1 can be placed
At favor 2 it will immobilize at first hit.

2, The second theme is centered araund “casting with bare hands” .
The class would get an icon (like death shroud) that can switch him to “bare hand” mode. (that would only look like weaponless, but the character would keep the stats of the before equipped weapon).
In Bare hand mode, the character could ignore the “channeling” effect of skills, and move araund and dodge without interupting channeled spells, but would loose an affect from skills.
Like : ForceOfWill removing poison. Or Rain of Deaths area slow.

Or would remove some skills, like “CrawlBeforeMe,Snapshot,” and so on…skills that use weapons.

I will soon add the third idea on mechanic. Till then anyone ideas? I would love to see some opinions on Class mechanic.

I personally would like a monk type class. The primary weapons would be glove type things of some sort, like brass nuckles or some sort of martial arts type glove. They would have high defense medium attack and lots of knockbacks/knockdowns. Like a guardian with more damage and a little less defense that can deal cc to enemy instead of giving buffs and supporting allies.

I like the concept of a heavy armor caster but you’d have to give them a inherent weakness. If it was up to me I’d make that a minimum range on their abilities, making it mandatory to keep distance between you and your opponent.

The issues with heavy armored casters are all centered around balance, function and lore.

A heavy armored caster, especially at range, would cause all kinds of mayhem with balance issues, and you would be seriously stepping on the toes of the Elementalist’s core function… to make such a thing balanced, it would be an ele wearing plate armor but not having even the already harsh restrictions the ele’s have on self buffs/heals vs dps.

A heavy armored caster at medium to melee range is already filled by the guardian class in many ways, the only place I see going from the guardian is making a magical warrior in simplest terms.

As to the idea of “Divine magic” or some other faith based system, this sounds like the warrior’s adrenaline system, or possibly like the thief’s initiative in some ways.

Short end of it, at the moment I don’t see a role for a third heavy armor class except perhaps to allow some different graphics (as the magical warrior concept) without making something either far too powerful, or something unwieldy or shoved too far into niche roles to be accepted. And actually some of those thoughts could be fixed with the current system by adding weapons of the same type, but that attack differently, so a guardian carrying a special type of staff weapon that focuses more on single targets…even melee, or a warrior picking up a type of greatsword that has less dps related skills, and more along the lines of parrying (so basically sub-classing weapons rather than making whole new classes)

Ideas for that line of thought:
Swords: short/long sword, falcion/scimitar, rapier, etc
greatswords: hand and a half, claymore, katana, etc
daggers: knives (slashing), thrusting, parry
pistols: dueling, combat (dueling pistol vs soldier’s sidearm type)
rifles: sniper/hunting, assault, shotguns/hand cannons/blunderbuss
staves: quarterstaff (melee), mage (ranged)
scepters: wand (ranged/caster), scepter (melee)
foci: tome (defense), focus (offensive)

all I’m pointing out is no need to reinvent the wheel, as many of the things you’ve suggested are or could be done without need for something brand new

Yes, i also miss a monk class, but something like a healer-melee hybrid. A mix of combat and gw1 monk style.

Lets not even talk abaut cc and support. right now i am not satisfied with the non trinity concept. I am looking for 40 mins for party anyway…longer then i am usually looking with trinity based games. So the whole point of it is lost.
If you ask me i would give all classes all roles, (but heals had longer cooldown, so they cant be spammed, and it still matters when you cast it), instead of taking away all roles. THe cc and support are not really roles on there own. . but lets keep that to another topic.

Hmm the minimum range idea is actually quite good. I might think araund that.

Hmm ok i try to anwser to that and also thik abaut what you say. But i wont abandon the idea of Heavy armor, long range, caster anyway.

Lets see.
1, Balance issues are 100% dephending on devs. The skills, and mechanic’s i mention are examples, to show how the theme of the class looks like. In the end the devs implement it (or not) and they are the best to know how classes, mechanic’s work. Besides Dota was 10 times more fun when it was unbalanced, then League of Legends, where all heroes try to be equal, and they feel totally the same for the exact same reson.
On second thout, if you run some dungeons you know….Heavy or Light armor means really not moch. The mobs and exspecially bosses 2 hit you no matter what you ware.
The 80% of the combat is decided on boons, conditions, stats, mastery and how well you can dodge. Not no armor.
If you ask me its more like a cosmetic. atleast thats my opinion. ( the early lv 20-30 iswhere it mosty matters i admit it) I dont think it would make a drastic imbalance.

2, You say Heavy armored mediun to close range caster is filled, but we are talking abaut a long range offensive caster.
Guardian = melee-medium tank caster XY = Long range nuker caster

3, In some ways? Only because its a bar and it fills? The machanic is not the same trough. Your alredy existing skills that get additional effects based on how moch the bar is filled. I dont recall any other class with even like this.

On the trout of having more of the same time of weapons is good. I alredy mentioned it in many posts.
But this is not the same. The Guardian can not take a nuker role. Exspecially a long range one. And it has the theme of “goody goody pally”. And not of a Sorcerous master of war.

I dont agree, new things need to be invented. It is what drives things forward. But i do agree, if there are to many of the same kind it becomes chaotic. But you must admit, Guardian does not fill all the themes, and roles of “plated caster” -s. It has way to many aspects, to be able to be filled with only 1 class.
(atleast with the current game)
Even if we take the idea you (and i also had) have abaut weapons, and let Guardian be able to fill a “long range nuker role” it will have a ‘goody goody’ theme, and not an evil -ish tone to it.
I do think its a theme worth to be implemented.

Been working hard before Xmass, but will soon continue.
Any suggestions re welcome till then.

Not sure if they will implement it, although I do hope so but you want a fully heavy armor class that is a magic caster and nothing else, Chronomancer. They were a class that was supposed to be introduced with the Summoner in Utopia.

http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Guild_Wars_Utopia

Waoow, nice artwork…Whell that would be really totally awesome.
I had serious problems picking a class, because i wanted to play something long ranged nuker, and support, like guardian, but it lacked a really decent long range viability.
I nominate Cronomancer. Thy for the info on that class Kai!

Anyhow i will still detail a bit more on “plated, long range, caster” class still. Devs might get some feedback, on the topic, without revealing anything.

Ps: Btw Summoner? Araund the engineer and mesmer reveals i was looking blankly at the wall….What? Cosidering pictures and stuff there supposed to be a summoner class. There ware so many pictures indicating it.
All the races with differeant “pets”. Now i see it was an class they DO wanted. My intuition was not bad at all then. What a relief.

yeah Dervish if and when they introduce them cross fingers will probably be a medium armor class as they were in GW1

Kaimick.5109:

yeah Dervish if and when they introduce them cross fingers will probably be a medium armor class as they were in GW1

Perhaps they’ll revamp the Dervish into having Heavy Armor, while maintaining a sense of speed and mobility?

As for the words above about battle-staves…they’re called scythes. Boom, you’ve got yourself a third heavy class that uses a combat staff: the Dervish cometh once more!!

Then add the scythe to some of the other classes:
Guardian (for mobile burning, possibly ranged physical damage?) —> Angel of Death
Ideas: PBAoE burning spin (where the weapon spins around you on its own), burning slices, launching uppercut, Symbol of the Flame, leaping-dash that grants Might, fear-wave

Necromancer (for close range AoE melee?) —> Fear the Reaper
Ideas: Ghastly swarm (sweeps the scythe sideways, summoning ghosts that seek targets), blood cloud (bleeding), rapid sweeping attacks, life-draining downward slice-and-drag

Elementalist (D/D-esque damage, now with a longer handle!) —> Shaman’s Fury
Ideas: Electric reverse-wave that pulls and Dazes, Earth bleeding eruption-sweep, Fire burning horizontal-boomerang, Water chilling PBAoE pummel-ground-stomp

Thief (2Handed offense support?) —> Stalker of the Shadows
Ideas: Shadowsteps toward/away from target, throw the scythe down a line, chilling wave, Smokecloud spin (causing blindness), Daze-ing pummel-smash, stealth-sweep

Done and done

Note: Pictures provided for brainstorming reference. It was harder than I thought to find usable images of scythe-combat; an under-appreciated weapon, I suppose (although its impractical nature in real life might have something to do with it). The final picture below is a joke-pic in regards to Necromancers, along with a nostalgic scythe-reference

And while we’re speaking in hypotheticals, I want to play as a polar bear!

I will be a Kodan heavy-Dervish named “Frost of the Morn(ing)”, utilizing a scythe for medium-to-close AoE physical attacks and a Staff for close-range chilling and interruption effects! My build will emphasize rapid weapon-switching, relying on the Staff for CC and keeping my enemies close with knockdowns and chills, and swapping for the scythe to quickly deal chunk AoE damage through spin attacks and sweeps. His stat allocation will focus on Emeralds (Prec, Tgh/Pwr), and his colors will be white, icy-blue, and black.

(spaces out in day-dreaming) Yes…I can see it now….

Agreed. Dervish would be nice. trough i didnt really play it in NF. But i would love to see a Ritualist if we are at that topic.

Necro has alredy way to many melee and medium range skills, i would propably reroll totally. If i play a caster class i want to be ranged. It is quite bad sour for my taste alredy anyway. No thy.
(trough i dont mind expanding any character or class in anyway as long as there are options for all)

But lets stay on the topic of Ranged Heavy armor class.

I agree lets stay on topic, ( side note ) not downing you on heavy armored dervish but when you read anything on them ( not just GW) D&D, Mythology ect ect they have always either been outfitted in light or medium leather. NOT saying they can’t be in Heavy armor, but just doesn’t seem to feel right though.

Now Heavy range I am still standing by the Chronomancer I have read a lot on them as far as what Arena net projected to do with them and the Ideology of them and I think if we do get a heavy ranged class it will be the CHronomancer.

I like the idea but PLEASE dont make a single new class until the old ones are balanced, fixed and bugless >_<

(this might go too much kung fu panda style but i’d like to play as that class as a tengu)

Not to be a buzz-kill, but the idea of the Chronomancer making an appearance in Guild Wars 2 has already been shot down

http://www.onlinewelten.com/games/guild-wars-2/interviews/arenanet-im-interview-teil-2-4666/seite-6/ —> About a third of the way down the page

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Professions_reveal —> Italicized for emphasis

I like the battlemage-concept of a heavy who uses spells and long-ranged attacks, but I think they’re well represented in the lower armor categories; the ability to effectively attack at range is balanced by wearing lighter clothing, for maneuverability and positioning. A battlemage in this game could nuke you from a distance with offensive spells, single and AoE, while simultaneously tanking return-fire through her heavy armor. Cool in theory, but that doesn’t sound particularly balanced.

That’s why I am rather partial towards the heavy-Dervish idea. Dervish rely on close-range speed and almost a dancing-style of sweeps, spins, and acrobatic assaults. Does it make sense for that to be in heavy armor? Not entirely, but you could argue that an isolated group of monks hidden away in the Shiverpeak Mountains had discovered through rigorous training how to move so effectively in heavy adornments. They are balanced by a lack of ranged (as the other Heavys rightly are), while focusing on speed/grace (versus the Warrior’s physical power/defense, and the Guardian’s magical support/righteous fury).

…and they used scythes in the last game, and I really want to see them make a return!

I shall not be denied!!

Edit: …I went off-topic again, didn’t I? Sorry :/

Nekroseth.5186:

Necro has alredy way to many melee and medium range skills, i would propably reroll totally. If i play a caster class i want to be ranged. It is quite bad sour for my taste alredy anyway. No thy.

Good call. I was just throwing out ideas; whatever came off the cuff.

A Necro wielding a scythe could also be a long-ranged offensive weapon, versus their Staff skills (which are more support based; I really do not like the Marks, and that’s all the Staff is). This would provide you a window into a ranged-nuker, as you preferred.

Rifle warrior… no heavy armor and range damage, eh? Clearly it just breaking the game to have such a thing.

You can have a heavy do ranged damage and still balance it… you don’t give them the damage of the light armor or you don’t give them as much control/avoidance that way both have high survivability (albeit different methods) or high damage and low survivability (depending on stats/traits.) Play a heavy armor class without much toughness/vit the armor doesn’t do so much in that case.

edit Also casters aren’t limited to ranged only… D/D elementalist isn’t nuking from the back. Can be fun and survive crazy amounts of people coming after it as well, not the easiest to play though.

linkblade.6093:

Not to be a buzz-kill, but the idea of the Chronomancer making an appearance in Guild Wars 2 has already been shot down

http://www.onlinewelten.com/games/guild-wars-2/interviews/arenanet-im-interview-teil-2-4666/seite-6/ —> About a third of the way down the page

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Professions_reveal —> Italicized for emphasis

I like the battlemage-concept of a heavy who uses spells and long-ranged attacks, but I think they’re well represented in the lower armor categories; the ability to effectively attack at range is balanced by wearing lighter clothing, for maneuverability and positioning. A battlemage in this game could nuke you from a distance with offensive spells, single and AoE, while simultaneously tanking return-fire through her heavy armor. Cool in theory, but that doesn’t sound particularly balanced.

That’s why I am rather partial towards the heavy-Dervish idea. Dervish rely on close-range speed and almost a dancing-style of sweeps, spins, and acrobatic assaults. Does it make sense for that to be in heavy armor? Not entirely, but you could argue that an isolated group of monks hidden away in the Shiverpeak Mountains had discovered through rigorous training how to move so effectively in heavy adornments. They are balanced by a lack of ranged (as the other Heavys rightly are), while focusing on speed/grace (versus the Warrior’s physical power/defense, and the Guardian’s magical support/righteous fury).

…and they used scythes in the last game, and I really want to see them make a return!

I shall not be denied!!

Edit: …I went off-topic again, didn’t I? Sorry :/

I thank you and hate you all in one for you link on the chronomancers. Although I am not really sure why they are not deciding to use them, I wouldn’t mind finding out a definite answer

D/D Bunker Ele’s is a hard class to play properly, and takes a lot of skill to do, with that said they are broken, no bunker class should be able to kill with 75% of the proficiency of a spiker

I must state, that based on history Dervish do wear light armor. Basically no armor at all, they ware simply clothed up.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dervish

Second, i dont want to get in a quarrel abaut this, but balance? Whell i dont think there is anything to base on it. Some might say “it would be to powerfull or unbalanced” , but in fact, Necromancers are bugged to insanity, Guardians are half immortal. Bunker builds win the 70% of PvP matches. Thief-s have an insanely op Heartseeker. And so on.

There is no balance yet, so i dont agree on the topic it would be to powerfull only because it has higher armor then an Elementalist, but can nuke in a similar way.

Besides elementalist can switch in combat 4 skill sets, the Class we are talking abaut cant.

Might also add (atleast thats my opinion but i alredy mentioned it above) armor does not count as souch a powerfull thing. The things usually matter are dodge,and boons when talking abaut surviving a battle. (exspecially in pve)

I agree, Scythes must be brought back ! There are so many pleas abaut them they propably will. And if they will, they will make a dervish for sure.

“I really do not like the Marks” cant agree more. Besides Necro currently ( as totally wierd it sounds) lacks range direct damage a LOT.

Agreed on that Kuraikoto. A lot also dephends on Traits. You can be a lot more squishy then a cloth if build so.

My thouts on those news are not so gloomy. The more and more i see feedback from Anet and from players, A net will surely make big changes araund classes. Might even reworks some totally.
There are insane ammount of unhappy players, and there are quite large numbers that play less and less. (trough wont quit, free to play has its good points).
but wont leave the game totally. Thats there luck. Many are just waiting for a class they find more fitting the current ones. Or wait for more content, balance and things.

Also, lets not forget its an Nc soft game. They do make quite the quaility games,, exspecially on mmo market. They have experiance and will expand the game rapidly if they see the need for it.
Take Aion. In 3.0 they got like 20% of game content. and in 4.0 they will give 2 new classes.
In korea they alredy did.
Or Blade and Soul. Its not evne out here, but it alredy has an expansion.

Lets not even forget the Gw1. It had the (i dare to say) BEST expansion out there. You basically got a whole new game and it could even be a stand alone game. What mmo can say that? The cultural themes ware extremely intense, and it introduced not 1 but 2 new class. Take wow, 4 expansion 2 class.
Lets not forget Alliance battles. A brand new dimension of pvp. (i still find it the best after daoc). Nigftall and so on. If they make expansion even remotely like those, this game wil blow. And i am sure they wont make the mistake of leaving out classes many players want now.

For example (trough i like both) Mesmer was waited by many players, so it was introduced (propably instead of another class). But cosidering there own server statistics Mesmer and Egineer ( that is walking in the same boots) are the least played classes. They propably write them down as slight mistakes. (thats my opinion)

So dont get down. If you ask me the game has Extreme potential. It all dephends on ….how hard they work.
If you check out how awesome things the game wanted to implement you will see, the thing we currently have is not even the half of what it supposed to be, but to lack of time we have this…..but belieave me it wont stay so.
Back on topic.

Nekroseth.5186:

I must state, that based on history Dervish do wear light armor. Basically no armor at all, they ware simply clothed up.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dervish

Perhaps it would be easier if I didn’t call it a Dervish; the theoretical heavy-Dervish could readily be called something else in the process of its overhauling; the Assassin isn’t exactly around anymore, but we have the Thief to take its place, right?

But anyway…

“Balanced” is a strong word, and it comes with certain large expectations. I by no means am saying that a battlemage concept cannot be done; in Skyrim they’re rather enjoyable to play, and if such a class existed in GW2 I would try it out for sure. But I don’t have to worry about balance in Skyrim because it’s a single-player game; in GW2, the opposition needs a (in a perfect world, equal) fighting chance of besting such a class. And I do not readily see it.

Kuraikoto.1957:

Rifle warrior… no heavy armor and range damage, eh? Clearly it just breaking the game to have such a thing.

You can have a heavy do ranged damage and still balance it… you don’t give them the damage of the light armor or you don’t give them as much control/avoidance that way both have high survivability (albeit different methods) or high damage and low survivability (depending on stats/traits.) Play a heavy armor class without much toughness/vit the armor doesn’t do so much in that case.

I don’t think I said heavy + ranged couldn’t be done, but a Warrior’s rifle is a single-target weapon, and dropping people is not its primary purpose. If we are talking about a long-range nuker-esque class with heavy armor, their primary purpose is death-at-a-distance, and the heavy armor tips the scales in their favor. They would have the ranged offensive potential of a Staff-Elementalist (or better), without the lighter armor; that doesn’t seem particularly fair.

Kuraikoto.1957:

edit Also casters aren’t limited to ranged only… D/D elementalist isn’t nuking from the back. Can be fun and survive crazy amounts of people coming after it as well, not the easiest to play though.

I don’t think I said caster are limited to being singularly ranged characters, either, but this demonstrates part of my point:

If a caster wearing lighter armor engages in melee-combat, they are doing so at bodily risk by way of less defense; a light caster versus a heavy soldier in melee combat would be, theoretically, an uphill battle; the armor difference would tip the scales toward the heavy, unless the caster had additional offense to compensate. This is designed-as-intended, for the most part anyway, because a heavy cannot effectively compete against the caster at a distance, with their greater mobility and higher ranged damage. There are exceptions to this, of course, but the general layout of a perfect-world balanced game is: light versus heavy, close = heavy; light versus heavy, far = light.

But if the caster was also a heavy, then you’ve upended the system. Now a caster can stand his ground at close range, his chances of a success increased by removing the compensating-weakness the lesser armor created. But the ranged-battle remains in the caster’s corner, as well (and perhaps even more so), because he has not lost anything in the process. A melee-heavy cannot win against a heavy-caster from a distance, and he’s lost his defensive advantage when he closes said distance. And remember: a close-ranged fighter cannot use his melee abilities at range, but the truth does not hold in reverse. A battlemage can cast a fireball from 1200 just as easily and readily as she can from 20; the warrior cannot swing his sword at 1200 as he needs to at 20.

I am not trying to tear down this idea with malicious abandon, nor am I trying to dismiss it solely for the favor of my tangential-idea above. But the critical question of balance/fairness comes into play when “that would be a cool idea” starts entering a competitive gaming system. All things being equal, without additional compensation or the introduction of balancing-weaknesses, a primarily-ranged nuker-heavy readily wins against a primarily-melee soldier-heavy. A ranged nuker-heavy would also readily win against a ranged nuker-light as well. That is what I mean when I say it is not balanced.

This idea is great in theory, but in my opinion it is not compatible with Guild Wars 2.

Honestly it might not be that hard to balance. The heavy armor alone doesn’t mean you are hard to kill, I haven’t seen how much %dmg is reduced by x amount of armor but it seems very little from having leveled various armor types to 80.

If they added an offensive heavy armor mage, it will be like guardians and have the loweset HP. Despite what people think, guardians armor isn’t why they have high surviability… that low HP can be a nightmare compared with their limits at range. It is their various healing skills and typically using power/toughness/vitality stats. For the record, I was refering to D/D ele when I talked about casters in melee/short range. They are by no means low on survivability, they hit hard and have high mobility with heals and CC to support it. [Then again, the D/D ele’s I’ve seen tanking ungoldy amounts have been in power/toughness/vitality armor.]

You won’t get a mage with heavy armor, good healing, CC, and “nuke” range dmg. They still could do a heavy armor caster, probably wouldn’t be the best damage nor near the survivability people daydream of… but that wouldn’t be very balanced. Personally, I hope they rework some of the existing weapon skills before they add another class though.

Nekroseth.5186:

Second, i dont want to get in a quarrel abaut this, but balance? Whell i dont think there is anything to base on it. Some might say “it would be to powerfull or unbalanced” , but in fact, Necromancers are bugged to insanity, Guardians are half immortal. Bunker builds win the 70% of PvP matches. Thief-s have an insanely op Heartseeker. And so on.

There is no balance yet, so i dont agree on the topic it would be to powerfull only because it has higher armor then an Elementalist, but can nuke in a similar way.

I am not trying to be combative, either, but the perception of no-balance should not be cause for the dismissal of a balance-based argument.

Even if Guild Wars 2 lacked said balance, I don’t think it would help to let another unbalanced class enter the fray. That would seemingly add to the problem; you shouldn’t take a sledgehammer to an already-cracked foundation.

I am not arguing that Guild Wars 2 is or is not balanced, but that I believe my points maintain their justification regardless.

Kuraikoto.1957:

I hope they rework some of the existing weapon skills before they add another class though.

I think that is the penultimate point I would like to demonstrate; the OP can have the ranged nuker he wants through the retooling of existing weapons, or the introduction of new ones. Adding this theoretical new class would be damaging, in my opinion…

…although I would like to see a third Soldier profession eventually
(OCD number-balancing: 2/3/3 messes with me lol)

The rest of your post made some very valid points, but I’m going to hold off for now and let some of the others weigh in on what I’ve said as well.

Valid points linkblade.
I wont get offensive or something, dont worry. This is supposed to be a costructive post, opinions are free to post. Might as well say , i was the one asking for them or not?

I must state trough, i didnt mention when to implement, just that i would like play it sometime.
Trough in my theory Anet will soon, near the end of 2013 or early 2014 rel. an expansion, in the similiar way to Gw1 exansions, considering how big sucsess they ware, in the way they ware inplemented.
And that means 1-2 new classes. Lots of skills, weapons, races and things i can barely imagine.
If you ppl read patch notes and wiki you see we get housing and guild halls in jan-feb. And that means, they DO listen to community, and they do wish to fill in the gaps they left in the game.
This gives me hope, that even trough the game lacks a LOT of things, and even trough i like Gw1 at this point a bit more, Gw2 has the insane potential of modding. Unlike many static engine games. Its easy to modify, add or take, or even ramake.
Gw2 can be and shall be (considring recent news and upgrades) the best of the era MMO.

Fair enough, Nekroseth

Since I’ve been busy tearing down your idea, it seems only fair that I give you the opportunity to tear down mine:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/suggestions/Detailed-New-Profession-Suggestions/first#post1064250

I would greatly appreciate your (or others’) opinion on my ideas, and encourage you to add your own! (Although I guess that would be a double-post lol)

As you’ve said, it does appear that they listen/read what we have to say, so the only way to have our voices heard is to speak up. And despite what I’ve said regarding your suggestion, I can still hope that you (or I) are lucky enough to have our ideas brought into the game

nerf offensive caster OP….