I’m not enjoying it so much. While a proper challenge is a breath of fresh air, the change also shows a few terrible design choices. For one, aggro mechanics don’t make any sense. I did all three explorable paths in CM and there were times when I switched to melee weapons, spammed clones and practically jumped on a boss’s back in an attempt to get him off a downed teammate. He absolutely refused to acknowledge my existence.
There’s the part with the rocket cannons where my teammates and I were downed often. This I blame on us for a lack of coordination but when I was down, I tried using my 2nd ability. Even though it’s a phase retreat with a cloak and I was facing the cannons, it actually teleported me closer to them and didn’t give me the cloak! >.< Then was another time when I used the same skill, timing it so a boss’s attack should have missed. Instead it did a 90-degree turn, in midair, and hit me anyway!
And then there’s the part with all the cannons and snipers. I swear every last one of them were shooting at me, even though I was behind all my teammates and sometimes behind cliffsides when I needed to heal. This I can understand because I was very aggressive at the start of the fight but I never seemed to lose aggro! Two teammates were downed during that fight but I was downed no less than 5 times, even when I stopped attacking halfway through so I could hide and heal. In fact, my team’s lifebars barely moved when I broke line-of-sight so that tells me they were focused mainly on me.
Then the stupidest thing ever happened. I summoned an iWarden and tried to pull all the snipers towards it. Every freaking one of them popped up with “immune” status! I give props to the company that made my desk because it survived a vicious round of facefaults!
And archers that can attack WHILE blocking?! NO! Just…. NO!!
On a sidenote, I need someone from anet to explain to me how reviving an ally while no enemies are around is considered, “in combat”.
And last but not least, there’s the plague guy. Once he picks someone, he just doesn’t let up. That round was my turn. I used blink, phase retreat, nullfield and all my dodges (vigor is often on me because of my build) and he still downed me! Then as soon as I was downed, I had no less than 3 aoes spawn right on top of me. My team didn’t even have time to get close. Worst part about it all is he dropped absolutely nothing.
Don’t get me wrong. I actually like the waypoint change as it promotes more skill and adds tension to battles but there is a dire need for related systems to change to accommodate. First, we need a way to properly manipulate aggro so we can draw fire away from teammates that are downed. Second, if we are considered exploiting if we get free hits on bosses then there should NEVER be a situation where bosses can hit us and we can’t do jack about it. Either allow us to knock that boss out of deathshroud or the opportunity to stop him from entering it. For now, it would be a blessing to at least take his ridiculous speed buff away! If you won’t let us damage him for 10 seconds then running should be valid and encouraged option. Third, downed skills need to work right, period! When I blink, in air projectiles shouldn’t be able to follow. And if you won’t let me choose where I blink to then at least put me full range away from the enemies attacking me. Fourth, every single boss should drop a reward, especially main bosses. Fifth, block or attack, not both! Finally, what’s the point of having knockback and knockdown powers if, late game, everyone and their momma has stability?! That is booty! That is pure, hot, wet, nasty, stinking, standing-up-in-the-middle-of-the-road booty!
Exhales hard Okay, my rant is over. I feel better now.
