Guild Wars 2

In particular, effects such as Banners, Spirits, Trait Buffs, Combo Fields, AoE Buff Granting, etc?

Right now, many skills are capped at 5 players. Increasing the cap of some of these to 10 (perhaps just in raids) could help bring some diversity to raid comps.

We can only speculate at this point, but I doubt they will increase the cap.
I secretly hope they do increase it tho, so ranger finally gets a spot in the meta

Because of the large diversity of encounters, I was prompted to ask whether players will be able to swap out abilities between boss fights. Johanson said that currently players are in combat the whole time they are in the raid instance, so swapping out abilities isn’t possible. But he did say that ANet is still “playing around with what [it] will let you change.” However, he was quick to point out that weapon swapping can easily change a character’s role in the group, and that can be done on the fly.

The development team’s “playing around” also extended to group boons another group support abilities. Currently, Johanson said that it’s still in flux and there will be parts where the groups will be split. But as of right now, boons affect only the five people who are in your group.

Taken from http://massivelyop.com/2015/08/31/pax-prime-2015-guild-wars-2-is-never-getting-a-raid-finder/

I think opening it up to 10 would be a good change. It’d make some of the more powerful effects “less desired” in that you wouldn’t feel the need to stack the professions with that mechanic, while it’d also make some of the lesser ones more desired as you’d have room to slip them into the group and get it. Ranger/War vs 2War for example.

1 guard, 1 mesmer, 2 warriors and 6 elementalists hype

If boons share to the entire 10 man raid then you’d actually see that a Necromancer and Ranger would be brought to every organized run if only for their specialty buffs. That’s something I’d love to see.

bladex.9502:

1 guard, 1 mesmer, 2 warriors and 6 elementalists hype

Ohhh, I’m so, SO excited for this huge shake to the meta.

It will probably be 1 guard/mes(depending on portal usage), 1war, 1 thief, 7 eles.

I wouldn’t count on ele meta, especially at the beginning. Most try-hard eles cannot survive a little pressure and I would assume raids will have at least that.

Rising Dusk.2408:

If boons share to the entire 10 man raid then you’d actually see that a Necromancer and Ranger would be brought to every organized run if only for their specialty buffs. That’s something I’d love to see.

Please yes. This is all I want from raids.

10 man buffs in raids would be nice. Bit i fear it would kick out any profession without specific group buffs (speaking about thief and engineer) and would limit ranger, necro and warrior to 1 only per raid. Other spots would be filled with eles like always, 1 guard and 1 mesmer

Assuming buffs affect the entire raid group Warriors Rangers and Necros could be core in all compositions. Also inb4 Thieves become the abandoned shoe of classes in HoT.

I guess if stealth will be a thing, it will be mesmer. Veil and Mass Invisibility and Portal already affect more than 5 people, unlike thief.

UBcktieDL.5318:

I guess if stealth will be a thing, it will be mesmer. Veil and Mass Invisibility and Portal already affect more than 5 people, unlike thief.

Blasting smoke fields is still faster and affects both parties if they each blast the same field. The nice thing about Thieves is that they may serve a key role in assassinating single targets in encounters due to their unrivaled single target DPS rotations and ability to enter/exit melee range easily. Additionally, it’s possible that their prolific blinds will prove useful if we get tons of adds in an encounter that need to be managed.

just bring two of everything =P

I can see thieves being left in the dust if there are no major trash mob skipping encounters.
I can see eles being left in the dust if boss mechanics have very hard to avoid aoes. If you look at the bosses in silverwaste, or even those 2 plant dragon bosses in living story, most of the aoes are not easier to dodge just because you are ranging it. If that is the case, eles with its low HP and low armor getting 1shotted will probably not be desired for a while until people really get the raids down to a science.

EcoRI.9273:

I can see thieves being left in the dust if there are no major trash mob skipping encounters.
I can see eles being left in the dust if boss mechanics have very hard to avoid aoes. If you look at the bosses in silverwaste, or even those 2 plant dragon bosses in living story, most of the aoes are not easier to dodge just because you are ranging it. If that is the case, eles with its low HP and low armor getting 1shotted will probably not be desired for a while until people really get the raids down to a science.

I’d imagine they’d be the runners, going to activate whatever asap. Their mobility is still very nice which could prove to be quite beneficial.

Personally speed shouldn’t be something people optimize for until they have figured out how to farm the raid. Thief imo is too squishy and can be a liability. Personally i would go warrior and GS rush for anything that requires mobility.

EcoRI.9273:

Personally speed shouldn’t be something people optimize for until they have figured out how to farm the raid. Thief imo is too squishy and can be a liability. Personally i would go warrior and GS rush for anything that requires mobility.

I hope mobility speed is important, from engaging an enemy further away from the defended point, or activating/disabling some mechanism. Certainly an aspect I think should be valued.

Jerus.4350:

EcoRI.9273:

Personally speed shouldn’t be something people optimize for until they have figured out how to farm the raid. Thief imo is too squishy and can be a liability. Personally i would go warrior and GS rush for anything that requires mobility.

I hope mobility speed is important, from engaging an enemy further away from the defended point, or activating/disabling some mechanism. Certainly an aspect I think should be valued.

Necro demands class balance.

Whether buffs share to all 10 or not i guarantee it will be 2+ chronomancers.

Noooo spojski but guardians are sooo much better, everyone knows it! It’s better for pugs so it’s better period, right? /eyeroll
Expect more harsh nerfs before chrono comes out, tho. And after.

spoj.9672:

Whether buffs share to all 10 or not i guarantee it will be 2+ chronomancers.

I don’t really play Mesmer that much. Why do you think that these will be that desirable?

Nokaru.7831:

spoj.9672:

Whether buffs share to all 10 or not i guarantee it will be 2+ chronomancers.

I don’t really play Mesmer that much. Why do you think that these will be that desirable?

Perma slow, quite a bit fo swiftness, plus all normal mesmer tricks.

deSade.9437:

Noooo spojski but guardians are sooo much better, everyone knows it! It’s better for pugs so it’s better period, right? /eyeroll
Expect more harsh nerfs before chrono comes out, tho. And after.

But guardians will be busy hunting dragons so they won’t have time for raids.

Eh.
I kind of think the idea of cap breaking is just too good to not put to work.

Support could use some help.
It favors a lot of simple cyclical upkeep and has few rare moments where the timing and positional elements get sincere. Timing ends up being the most common area of substance, but, actually building into Support can undermine that. It often involves getting longer durations in the form of boon duration or more applications, which just makes things more forgiving to execute instead of compelling to think about.

Oddly, Support can get less interesting the more you try to focus on it.

Breaking the 5 man limit sounds like a good idea, but, I think I’d prefer to see it as a new way to build into support. Specifically, I’d like to see it integrated into certain traits as a reward for skillfully executing something, for builds that are underperforming or lacking in depth.

Generally speaking; I think a raid should all be considered in the same party, so proximity rules apply and positional considerations are a native part of playing support in that format. However, individuals who are performing well on support roles are those that can break the cap reliably, by executing the challenge their trait presents them even in the tough environment of a Raid.

I would prefer most unique passive buffs removed and boon system extended. But that’s not going to happen.