The problem, as I see it, is that you are vastly more rewarded by speed clearing and running the “zerk meta,” and that is bad game design. In a game where aesthetics is the primary progression, achieved by earning more gold and rewards, it’s fair to say that players are forced (no, not physically, but reasonably) to run in berserker gear. There will always be less efficient builds, or traits that don’t synergize, but for the most part, PvE should reward any group of players fairly evenly, regardless of how they play. That’s not to say that defensive gear should do as much damage as dps gear; rather that encounters should be balanced around rewarding damage, control, support or other playstyles. Too extreme a change and we will end up with another trinity system where groups require different roles, so it’s not an easy problem to fix.
It’s also true that passive defensive stats support non-skilled play, perhaps ANET can tie in defensive stats to how active defenses work in an interesting way. I don’t know, just a thought.
PvE rewards the same thing for every group. Speedclear groups don’t have more gold per dungeon, or better RNG than the others. They are just more efficient and have more gold per time spent in dungeons. If crowd control and support are fun to you, it is rewarding by itself. If high end aesthetics are the goal for you, then efficiency is more rewarding.
Active defense exists in a full zerker group. How would a zerker survive, without dodging, blocking, blinding enemy, reflecting attacks, retaliation and so on and so forth? A zerker ele would die if placed in the hands of a clerics guardian who only knows how to heal. Vice versa, a healing ele is only detrimental to a zerker group by replacing the might source (fire field) with unnecessary healing (water field).
Players are not forced, they tend to follow what works best to them.
“Raids are like fortune cookies. You eat the cookie and then read the paper scraps.”
They are just more efficient and have more gold per time spent in dungeons.
That’s what I meant, and I see it as a problem. In a properly balanced game (in my opinion), gear, traits, and play style would have little effect on how greatly or quickly you are rewarded – only to the extent that some builds would have better synergy. The disparity between zerk builds and anything else is far too large (in regards to being rewarded for your time). This is assuming that most players care about currency rewards, which I believe to be true. If you play for the combat and social experience alone, and don’t care about how your character looks, more power to you.
I said nothing about active defenses being unavailable or unused, I happen to like the skillful play that they promote. I simply meant to say that defensive stats, as they are now, add nothing skillful to combat, and in fact promote bad/passive play.
Edit: I also favor very difficult content, so as to the “play style would have little effect…”, I mean that in the RPG role sense, not as how skilled or intelligent a player you are.
Why should a group with no dps be as fast as a group that focuses on dps and uses skill to survive? There is no logic in that.
Why should any other player of equal skill gain substantially less than the zerk player by building something else? Berserker builds should just be one of many play styles that are fun AND rewarding, not THE ONLY ONE. This game fails to reward other build types, and it’s lesser a game because of it.
Other builds shouldn’t do as much damage as zerk, of course not, but why is most of the PvE game broken down to “more/faster damage = win”? It’s shallow and repetitive combat, helped only slightly by active defenses. There needs to be more use and need of defensive/supportive stats, and thus more varied and interesting builds and group dynamics. That’s what I want from the game.
If they are equal skill then they don’t need to run another gear set. If they are lesser skill then they do. Not seeing the problem.
Defensive stats as a buffer against bad play, used solely as training wheels on your way to pure damage, is not something I enjoy, but I realize many of you are fine with this. Personally, I enjoy combat employing RPG like roles, I find it to be more fun and long lasting, but seeing as they did away with the standard trinity, perhaps it was the right approach for this game.
At any rate, I’d like to see the effectiveness of berserker builds reduced, not by nerfing damage numbers, but by increasing what other builds bring to the table. This would likely involve a massive rewrite of the AI system, something that probably won’t happen. To all of you that like things the way they are, I’m glad you’re having fun at least. I’ll be sticking w/ WvW.
What about if a zerker ranger yoinks your hammer. I’m pretty sure rangers stand to gain the most when using the hammer compared to any other class since their base dps is the the worst due to pets, so them picking it up would be an overall dps gain compared to giving an ele more time to see bigger numbers on their own screen. 800 dps to 1600 dps (hypothetical ele) is less than 400 to 1400 (hypothetical ranger) (random numbers, principle stands).
I let rangers take my hammer, and also mesmers, as long as they put up 3x phantasms first. What I really hate is warriors stealing my hammer. There is absolutely no reason for them to; they have 100b, and they vuln-stack with axe/mace.
with those stats in CLERIC’S gear why would anyone use zerker kitten? i’ve never seen any zerk build with that much power and precision and crit damage, don’t even know why people always say it’s the best for DPS…..
10/10 would read again Thank you for the information. Btw I have a (probably really dumb) question. Why are we not supposed to pick up the lightning hammers? I never picked them up but Im curious
10/10 would read again Thank you for the information. Btw I have a (probably really dumb) question. Why are we not supposed to pick up the lightning hammers? I never picked them up but Im curious
without a lightning hammer the elementalist does pathetic DPS, whereas most other classes have pretty strong normal weaponsets (e.g. warr, guard)
in very short fights it isn’t as important since the elementalist shouldn’t run out of charges, but in prolonged fights like the golem in COE hammer downtime destroys the ele’s DPS, so don’t pick it up.
10/10 would read again Thank you for the information. Btw I have a (probably really dumb) question. Why are we not supposed to pick up the lightning hammers? I never picked them up but Im curious
without a lightning hammer the elementalist does pathetic DPS, whereas most other classes have pretty strong normal weaponsets (e.g. warr, guard)
in very short fights it isn’t as important since the elementalist shouldn’t run out of charges, but in prolonged fights like the golem in COE hammer downtime destroys the ele’s DPS, so don’t pick it up.
Would a thief running the meta build + the 10% dmg with bundle trait (30/30/0/0/10 in this case) do comparable dmg to the ele or even if this is the case is it still better to leave the hammer alone to not mess up the ele’s rotation?
You already know the answer, don’t pick it up in prolonged fights. Anyone can stack might using a LH, but only an ele can stack fury with it. You can take it if you know the upcoming encounter will take less than a minute to clear, but if the ele says no, he means no.
A remnant of times past.
“Memories are nice, but that’s all they are.”
