Guild Wars 2

If there is already a related topic send me the link please!

I personally have fun creating alternative skills for existing weapon sets (skills 2-5) or inventing the skill set a weapon could have if used by another class (e.g. staff for ranger). Maybe you would have as well? This thread is about sharing your ideas and giving feedback! In case you need some inspiration: I already provided a lot of skills; however, you don’t have to read through all of them if you want to contribute! Also, if you have an idea it’s optional to formulate the complete skill. I.e. it is perfectly legit to post something like: “I feel like there should be a rangerskill where you have to coordinate your attack so that you attack at the same time as your pet”.

Notes regarding my own posts

To make it easier to balance I stuck with skills being bound to slots of your weapon. Feel free to use or break this structure in your own posts.

I gave many skills quite a lot of depth and thus unfortunately complexity. Thus, if my skills were to be implemented, this would require the addition of a skill tutorial for new skills which would provide you with information and let you test the skill in authentic yet controlled situations.

Numbers like “grants 3 seconds protection” or the number of might/bleedstacks are not definite but should only give an idea – more often than not I will leave numbers completely up to balance.

I use mechanics new to the game at some point or another:
-some skills might target allies
-hold down a key to keep it going/charge it up (could also be retrospectively applied to e.g. 100 blades or Ride the Lightning)
-”Charges” for Skills: some skills might grant charges of others, if you have at least one charge for a skill you can use this skill even though it is on cooldown, using up one charge
-reduce x seconds of recharge for skill x
Note: Why I would propose this mechanic is the reason that it is a great way to reward players for example for the correct use of a defensive skill, as this is more visible than dealing let’s say x more dmg when you have to go back to autoattacking afterwards. However, I believe to remember that Anet stated (maybe an interview prelaunch with Izzy?) that they didn’t want any manipulation of skill cooldowns since that lead to problems in gw1; however, I can only vaguely remember the reason they gave – afaik they said that you could profit of having a long cd. But I could only imagine very few of <a href=“http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Enraged_Lunge_%28PvP%29”>such cases </a> (so it would be great if somebody could remind me if this was really the reason). I honestly see no drawback to recharge reduction in gw2 since it has a more controlled environment (which is one of the reasons why I would personally bind additional weaponskills to fix slots) than gw1.

Toreducethewordcount I also use some new phrases:
-(e.g. target) is isolated = (the target) has no allies in a radius of 180 (pet counts as ally)
-stats provided by your build = the difference between your current and base stats

Ranger
(my following posts will all be about the ranger weapon sets)

Tip for anyone who intents to invent rangerskills:
Keep in mind that you are, due to the fact that the skills must make sense whether the player uses a melee or a ranged pet, limited in what you can have the pet do. You want to make a skill depending on pet positioning? You have to add another skill first which will let either the pet come to you or you to the pet. You want to provide a gapcloser? Provide an alternative since ranged pet don’t love to be right next to the enemy!

Problems I tried to address while working on the Ranger:

Pets:
For me there is not enough interaction between ranger and pet right now. The pet feels autonomous but hardly a part of me.

Combo Fields
Not exactly a ranger problem but right now most of the combo fields are to be positioned at the enemies position due to the skills primary functions. This makes the whole shoot/leap through a combo field less interesting. Thus, I changed/provided combo fields so that it makes sense to position them between you and the enemy.

Greatsword (GS)
old role: tanky melee; new additional role: offensive support + tanky condidmg (though that would be a niche I reckon)

• (2a) Maul
  (old) reduce standard dmg; add: if the enemy is crowd controlled: also apply [offensive condition]
  comment:
  -the reason why I use an offensive condition instead of bonusdmg is this. Also, together with Runes of Perplexity there is the potential for a condition build

• (2b) Claw
  locks player in place; attack 3 times dealing dmg and applying vulnerability
  comment on (2b):
  -I stuck to the bear theme to provide some consistency
  -Claw should take about as long as Pistol Whip

• (3a) Swoop
  (old) stays the same

• (3b) Air-Strike
  Leap finisher; Leap in the direction of your foe delivering a mighty overhead swing, dealing damage. An eagle will assist you, extending your range in a line, crippling foes and dealing (low)dmg
  comments on (3b):
  -I stuck with the eagle theme, again, for consistency
  -range of leap should be comparable to that of Mighty Blow
  -the GS should have a decent range in a small line forwards
  -the second halve of your GS should be a sweet spot where both the GS and the Eagle will hit
  -the damage shouldn’t be too high, as this is a rather defensive skill since it provides an attack before your enemy is in range, as well as utility
  comment on animation:
  -The eagle should emerge while you are at the highest point during leaping and will follow the movement of the GS but continue flying a bit
  -after the ranger leaped: remain about 0.3s(econds) kneeling with the sword on the ground, pointing forwards

• (4a) Counterattack → Crippling Throw
  (old) stays the same

• (4b) Hunters challenge
  single target, 900 range, 1 second cast time
  grants might; if the enemy is not looking into your direction when done casting: fear the enemy for 1 second + nearby allies and you gain fury
  comment on the animation (4b):
  -during the cast time this skill should spawn two images of a stylized ranger (cf. the style of Call of the Wild)
  -one over the head of the ranger who speaks the challenge: beckoning
  -one over the head of the enemy: pointing in the challenging ranger’s direction

• (5a) Hilt Bash
  (old) stays the same

• (5b) Expert’s Dexterity
  you block for 2 seconds, grants might to allies when blocking

Longbow:
refined the old role of a long range power choice, potentially even further away from the enemy; the associated problem when it comes to might/fury sharing in groups would have to be met via a trait or utility skill (e.g. boons your pet gains →copied for ranger with a shorter duration / spirit of garnering: ground targeted; 1200 range; every boon the spirit of garnering receives has a 35% (70% with Vigorous Spirits chance to be applied to you; active: grants might + fury to the ranger)

• (2a) Rapid Fire
  (old) stays the same

• (2b) Adaptive Arrow
  single target, combofinisher: projectile
  dmg; if projectile travels through combo field: extra dmg

• (3a) Hunter’s Shot
  (old) stays the same

• (3b) Point Blank Shot
  (old) moved from (4) to (3)

• (4a) Barrage
  (old) moved from (5) to (4)

• (4b) Explosive Arrow
  1.5 seconds activation time; groundtargeted aoe; slow moving projectile, blast finisher
  aoe dmg; leaves two small fire fields diagonally to the rangers and the arrow’s destination
  comment on (4b):
  -the long cast time + slow projectile is meant to provide a synergy with (3a) as you will not break stealth for a long time
  -the “weird” positioning of the fire fields is meant to encourage intelligent positioning
  -in the animation the firefields are caused by sparks which are launched together with the Explosive Arrow. They have a very low velocity and catch fire on the ground with a delay of 1 second (in order to avoid instantly blasting the fire fields). The firefields are not meant to deal real damage maybe give them comparable damage to the fire field of burning retreat
  -to make the position of the fire fields a bit clearer:

        a                                a

     f    f                          f   f
        r                            r
     a= aoe; f = fire field; r= ranger

.

• (5a) Expert Focus
  self inflict: immobilize 3 sec + 15 stacks of vulnerability; grants might + fury; raise attackspeed for 6 seconds; recharge (2) instantly

• (5b) Ancestral Ward
  creates a ring of water inhabited by spirits which vanishes when you leave it; if an enemy crosses this ring: recharge (3)
  comment on (5b):
  -radius = 180 range
  -the effect should only trigger twice with an internal cd of 1 second (up to balance)
  -only the edge should be a combo field (water)
  -one could add additional buffs for party members within the circle or additional bonuses for projectiles flying through the field
  -the effect of the skill might not have much to do with a longbow but I need the function for the skillset
  comment on animation:
  -bluish wraithlike “ancestors” stand tall within the waters; arms crossed facing outwards
  -alternatively one could go for the theme of “spirits of the wild” instead of ancestors

Shortbow
old role: close-medium range control/condi; new additional role: medium-far range support/condi

• (2a) Poison Volley (old) shorten poison duration, add bleed [to make it compatible with more frequent uses – cf. (3a) (3b)+(5a)]

• (2b) Chain: Read the Wind → Impatient Shot → Opportunity Shot
  1. Stage: Read the Wind (instant)
  1 second after skill usage a window of 1.5 seconds will open during which the player randomly receives the buff “Favorable Winds” which will last for 0.5 seconds
  2. Stage: Impatient Shot
  single target; 0.5s activation time;window for usage closes after 1 second; ends chain; dmg, applies poison, vulnerability
  3. Stage: Opportunity Shot
  window open for 1.5 s, functions like “Impatient Shot”; if you have the buff “Fortune Winds” when activating this skill: additionally hit up to 2 targets within a 240 radius of the target enemy
  comments on (2b):
  -I wanted to supply an alternative to Poison Volley that allows being farther away from your enemy, in order to allow better positioning for other new skills (namely (4b) + granting overview for (3b));
  -impatient shot is for situations in which there is only a single enemy
  - the cooldown of this skillchain should be anchored to the start of the sequence (the use of Read the Wind) and 3 seconds longer than that of (2a)
  -the animation of Impatient Shot and of an Opportunity Shot (without buff) should be the same: the ranger shoots 3 arrows of which 2 stray away (because the winds are not favorable)

• (3a) Quick Shot
  (old) add function: if successfully evading an attack -2 seconds recharge for 2

• (3b) Seeking Arrows
  locks in place, lasts 3 seconds
  shoot at all projectiles traveling through a radius of x range around you, negating them;
  if you successfully negate a projectile: gain a charge of (2)
  comment on (3b):
  -could be made into a whirl finisher with an according animation

• (4a) Chain: Blinding Shot → Crippling Shot → Concussion Shot; = revamp of old Concussion + Crippling Shot
  1. Stage: Blinding Shot: dmg, if successfully hitting an attacking target: blind; if not: end chain
  2. Stage: Crippling Shot: dmg, if successfully hitting a moving target: cripple; if not: end chain
  3. Stage: Concussion Shot: dmg, daze
  each stage has its window opened for 2 or 3 seconds

• (4b) “Got your back”
  target ally, grant 3 seconds of swiftness; if the ally is isolated: shoot a salve of arrows which will hit and immobilize all enemies surrounding the ally in a 180 range radius

• (5a) “Calm Superiority”
  buff; lasts 6 seconds, ends if not hitting a target within 2 seconds or when being hit
  every 2 seconds you will gain one stack of (2) and 2 stacks of might

• (5b) Companionship
  buff; lasts 6 seconds; every 2 seconds remove a condition and grant regeneration and might to allies (and to yourself) within a 180 radius; ends when being isolated

Scepter (new weapon)
-power, mid-far range, single target
-my approach to provide a beastmaster-playstyle (combo with horn)
-I would have used staff as it would make more sense for a ranger but I decided against it since rangers already have 3 two-handed weps but only 2 mainhand weps +4(!) offhand weps. In addition, scepter fits better in the range spectrum I wanted to provide

• (1) Throw Sticky
  Deals dmg, apply 2 secs of swiftness to pet
  comment on the animation of (1):
  - could use the skin of the scepter as the thrown stick

• (2a) Chain: Feral Aggression → Strike as One → Lend Strength
  1. Stage: Feral Aggression: no activation time; lets the pet use “Feral Aggression (Beast)”
  Feral Aggression (Beast): activation time: 1.5 seconds; leap finisher; the pet charges forwards (maximum: 140 range); if it collides with an enemy it will come to a stop, dealing damage to said enemy
  2. Stage: Strike as one: 900 range, instant; your pet is shadowstepping to the enemy (or to you if no enemy is selected)
  3. Stage: Lend Strength
  1 seconds casttime; self inflict: weakness, cripple; your pets next attack deals extradmg, cleaves/shoots multiple projectiles at adjacent targets and heals your pet for each target hit
  comment on (2a):
  -Strike as One does not interrupt Feral Aggression
  - if you want to reduce the damage your pet can take: delay the use of Strike as One for up to 1.5 seconds
  -Strike as One can be used defensively in order to get the pet out of a big attack
  -if Strike as One is used without target and the pet shadowsteps to your position it will be facing the direction of the closest enemy
  -the cooldown of the chain should be bound to the use of Feral Aggression; thus Lend Strength is optional (window for skill usage is open until the cooldown of the skill is finished)
  -Feral Aggression (Beast) is in its animation not a leap but a small charge forwards (clarification because I made it a leap finisher)

• (2b) Never Rampage Alone
  You and your pet perform a whirl attack. Your pets whirl takes place 1 second later. You knockback enemies while your pet deals damage, healing slightly for every enemy it hits.
  comment on (2b):
  -each whirl radius is 130 and counts as a whirl finisher
  -the delay allows you to knock enemies into your pets range
  comment on animation: for the duration you have the appearance of your pet and perform the same whirling move.

• (3a) Predatory Bond
  Ranger and pet fuse for 8 seconds becoming a giant version of the pet which is controlled by the player. For the duration of the fusion you gain [offensive and defensive boons].
  comment on (3a):
  -for a “giant version” I envision the effect of Signet of the Wild doubled or tripled – might be problematic in terms of hit boxes tho
  -The boons and conditions of both pet and ranger are taken over into the fused form
  -The fused form has the combined stats of ranger and pet times 0.75
  -The fused form starts out with a percentage of the max hp based on the current percentage of pet and ranger hp – the formula changes, however, depending on how long the pet was not swapped (timer resets when entering combat). The formula changes from (9x %hp ranger + %hp pet) /10 to (2x%hp ranger + %hp pet)/3.
  -The last point is necessary to avoid making (3a) potentially an additional healskill
  -When defusing pet and ranger have the same percentage of health as the fused form had at the end

• (3b) Fertile Season
  Summon your second pet for 4 seconds. It will follow your commands as does the first.
  comment on (3b):
  -your skills like (2a) profit both pets.
  -I would leave it up to balance what happens to the 2nd pet if it dies/ whether or not it is full healed if swapped in after the 4 seconds.

Sword Mainhand
added offensive skills; control whether to apply conditions or deal direct dmg through skill usage

• (2a) Moment of Weakness
  melee attack; deals dmg; if your pet attacked your target within the last 0.5 sec: deal bonusdmg; if not: if your pet attacks within the next 0.5 sec it additionally applies bleeding

• (2b) Chain: Gather Mice → Unstoppable Force
  1. Stage: Gather Mice:
  lasting aoe bound to your position; range: 180
  after 1 second these mice start applying poison and [damaging condition], in the aoe every second
  2. Stage: Unstoppable Force
  usable within a 1 second window; charge in a line forwards (240 range); deal dmg while pushing back enemies; activation ends the effect of “Gather Mice”;
  comment on animation:
  -Gather Mice: some mice show up during the first second, more appear within the next second; they just run around in the radius
  -Unstoppable Force: thousands of mice running over each other carrying you quickly (Gryllen anyone!?! / Malazan Book of the Fallen insider)

• (3a) Hornet Sting/Monarch’s Leap
  (old) moved to slot 3 due to its defensive nature; add: grants 2 seconds of protection to your pet;

• (3b) Serpent Strike added: if you successfully evade an attack also apply vulnerability
  comment on (3b):
  -a problem will be that you often dodge by not being at the position of the attack anymore instead of using the invincible frames which makes this addition less effective than it could be

Axe Mainhand
new additional role: close-medium range (old: medium range); still: condition dmg

• (2a) Chain: Splitblade → “What savings!”
  1. Stage: Splitblade: (old) add cooldown; if none of the axes hit the pet’s current target: end chain
  2. Stage: “What savings!”your pet pulls out the axe eviscerating the enemy applying [damaging condition] and will then proceed carrying the axe to you – reduces recharge of Splitblade by 2 seconds when the pet arrives
  comment on “What savings!”
  -the name of “What savings!” is referring to the high prices of axes that are avoided by getting your pet to bring at least one back to you
  -ok ok I guess this reference is a bit far fetched so if you have a proper name suggest it please (the problem is I already use “sticky” for scepter so I cant say “get sticky”, nor “fetch!” since I use that in (3b))

• (2b) Sundering Attack
  melee hit, applies [damaging condition]
  comment on (2b):
  -the function of the (2) skills is to get close to the pet; while this is more obvious with (2a), (2b) also serves that purpose if the pet is also in the frontline

• (3a) Winter’s Bite
  (old) stays the same

• (3b) “Fetch!”
  leap finisher; leap backwards and throw an axe that will deal damage and apply [damaging condition]; if your pet is within 180 range of you when throwing the axe it will apply cripple with the next attack

Axe Offhand
your ranged, direct damage option

• (4a) Path of Scars
  (old) stays the same

• (4b) Mighty Throw
  single target, 900 range; projectile finisher; charge up a Mighty Throw. Deals damage depending on how long you charged it up.
  comment on (4b):
  -hold the button of this skill to charge it up (3 seconds max). If this is difficult to implement just fix it at 3 seconds (in order to maintain synergy with longbow (3a) and Axe (5b) )

• (5a) Whirling Defense
  (old) stays the same

• (5b) Chain: Gift of Life → Timber!
  1. Stage: Gift of Life: let a seed fall to the ground which will grow a tree within 1.5 seconds
  2. Stage: Timber!: cut down the tree – it will fall depending on from which side you hit it and deal dmg to enemies it falls on
  comment on (5b):
  -the tree has a hitbox + lifebar; breaks line of sight
  -the tree should be slim without branches to the side or a huge crown; maybe something like a poplar

Dagger offhand
new additional role: a 100% melee range option

• (4a) Stalker’s Strike
  (old) stays the same

• (4b) Severe Sinews
  melee attack; deal dmg; if you attack from behind: torment + cripple

• (5a) Crippling Talon
  (old) stays the same

• (5b) Chain: Step in → “Didn’t Learn, huh,”
  1. Stage: Step in: leap a short distance towards the enemy; if he is attacking: daze him for 2 seconds; if not: end chain
  2. Stage: “Didn’t Learn, huh”: melee attack; deal dmg + blind the enemy

Torch
ranged supportive option, providing combo fields

• (4a) Throw Torch
  (old) change: reduce burning duration a bit, add confusion; make it a small ground targeted aoe comparable to Mind Stab; adjust velocity

• (4b) Clash of Stars
  buff; 4 seconds; you and your pet have only access to the skill “Turn up the heat!” and your pet starts moving towards you; if you and your pet touch: cause an explosion (radius 240, combo finisher: blast) which will apply conditions

“Turn up the heat!”: casttime = 1 second; no recharge
apply burning in an aoe (radius = 140) and gain +20% movement speed for the duration of Clash of Stars;

• comment on (4b):
  -pet uses “Turn up the heat!” automatically
  -the explosion should apply conditions depending on how often you had used “Turn up the heat!”
  -this should be balanced in a way that encourages you to dodge your pet until you used “Turn up the heat!” 3 times; my approach:
  1x = burn 2 seconds
  2x = burn 2 seconds, 2 stacks of confusion
  3x = burn 4 seconds, 4 stacks of confusion, blind
  -I feel like this name/theme of “stars” would fit better for ele, but I can’t think of a more ranger appropriate theme/name that will explain the concept of this skill. I decided to use the idea for ranger nevertheless because it works well with the pet mechanic. Alternatively this skill could be used for elementalist with the 2nd “star” being summoned with a ground targeted aoe at the beginning.
  comment on animation:
  2 options for the animation for pet and ranger for the time until the explosion takes place
  1. something comparable to the aura which the predator supplies
  2. something comparable to Light Dash (Sanctum Sprint (2))

• (5a) Bonfire
  (old) new function: every two seconds the bonfire will now apply boons to allies within the radius (120/180 if traited); the fire field (and visual bonfire) is reduced to a 40 range radius

• (5b) Ancestral Succor
  line, passive at start; activates when you run through it; active effect: combo field fire; when you or allies run through it: gain boons + clean 1 condition, if an enemy crosses it: applies burning, cripple; recharge reduces for every second you stay within 120 range of Ancestral Succor
  comment on (5b):
  -unless activated the passive line vanishes after 10 secs
  -I will leave it open if the recharge reductions already work while the line is still passive
  -the recharge function is implemented in order to make this skill viable as a combo field drop for ranged rangers
  comment on animation:
  -while passive the fire burns low and the inhabitant spirits lean towards you, reaching out with their hands
  -while active 2 lines of reddish wraithlike “ancestors” stand back to back; arms crossed facing outwards
  -alternatively one could go for the theme of “spirits of the wild” instead of ancestors or use this as a guardian torch skill

Warhorn
is meant to
-maintain the beastmaster theme if used with scepter be used in combination with Scepter
-provide a missing gapcloser for Sword + option to stick with the theme of actively choosing whether to deal condi or direct dmg
-provide support for the group if wanted

• (4a) Chain: Ready Up → Hunter’s Call
  1. Stage: Ready Up
  Your pet will position behind the enemy from your perspective
  2. Stage: (old) Hunter’s Call:
  new function: your pet charges towards you dealing damage and knocking back enemies in the way
  comment on (4a):
  -the pet only deals damage on the first contact
  -knocking back means in this case that if an enemy is standing between you and your pet he will get transported (via several small knockbacks) to the ranger
  - if you don’t want the enemy being transported to you you can move to the side so that the pet will “loose grip” of the enemy during the bend
  -I leave it open to balance whether the charge of the pet stops if you use “Strike as One” (Scepter (2b)) together with this skill
  Comment on animation:
  -animation could resemble the warriors Rush
  - the animation of the old Hunter’s Call animation (birds) can be reused; e.g. in a runeset or as a mistlock instability as it had been datamined – alternatively the old Hunter’s Call could be left as a skill option. The new Hunter’s Call would have to be renamed then.

• (4b) Predatory Season
  Ring in the predatory season. Grant aoe vigor [short duration]; Your pets next attack will
  -apply [damaging condition(s)] if the enemy is over 75% hp.
  -deal bonusdmg if the enemy is below 50%/33% hp (up to balance)

• (5a) Call of the Wild
  (old) stays the same

• (5b) Frenzied Defense
  your pet starts moving towards you, gaining superspeed for the duration. When it reaches the player, for 3 seconds…
  -the pet gains superspeed [again – workaround since the time the pet needs to get to you may vary]
  -it will neither leave a radius of 180 range around the player nor attack enemies on the outside
  -it will be locked to a new skill: “Defend Master!”

Defend Master!: attack; 0.5 second activation time [0.65 for ranged pets]; knocks down/back [up to balance]
[animation = standard attack with adjusted speed]

Summary

Range spectrum
only estimations; estimated distance to the enemy (where I guess you would be most of the time)

(Great)sword: melee range; axe: melee-600 range; shortbow: 300-900 range; scepter – 600-900 range; longbow – 900+

Condition and power weapons

Conditionbased weapons:
shortbow, axe mainhand, dagger, torch

Powerbased weapons:
Longbow, Scepter, Axe offhand

In between:
Greatsword, sword, horn

Here is an idea for a quite distinct playstyle for warrior provided via axe/axe.

Axe Mainhand
added an alternative playstyle where you control your own hp to deal the most damage, and which gives the stat “healing power” an offensive use (used instead of precision), this requires a new grandmaster-trait:
“To the Limit!” – your non-crit attacks deal more damage depending on your critical damage and current hp; while in Vengeance mode your hp will be calculated as if they were 0
formula:
bonus damage in % = critical damage% * ((100-current hp%)/100) * balance-factor
sample calculation: critical damage = 156%; balance factor = 1 (no balance-factor)
bonus damage at 90%hp = 156 * (1-0,9) * 1 = 15,6% bonusdmg
bonus damage at 0,01% hp = 156 * (1-0,01) * 1 = 54,4% bonusdmg

• (2a) Cyclone Axe
  (old) stays the same

• (2b) Burst of Aggression
  buff; instant; 2 secs cd; you gain bonus ferocity for your next attack and the attack will transform your fury boon into might; you loose x% of your health;x% of the lost hp will be added to your “Inner Reserve” (Inner Reserve = when you hit 0 hp you will be healed by the number of hp gathered in your inner reserve)
  comment on (2b):
  - both the percentage of hp lost and the percentage of hp which will be added to your “inner reserve” scale with healing power
  - it might be necessary to have the fury -> might transformation effect only if the “To the Limit” trait is used

• (3a) Throw Axe
  (old) stays the same

• (3b) Primal Rage
  buff, you receive swiftness and fury as well as immunity to immobilize, chill, cripple for x seconds; if your hp go to 0 while Primal Rage is active you do not go into the downed state but directly into vengeance mode.
  comment on (3b):
  -The vengeance mode triggered through Primal Rage will unlike usually not stop you from being eligible to contest a capture point in pvp and your rally chance is 100% (might require a rework of the trait “Sweet Revenge”:http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Sweet_Revenge to give a bonus in this situation)
  -The effect of Primal Rage overrides that of “Inner Reserve”, instead of healing the stored hp will lengthen the duration of your vengeance mode

Axe Offhand

• (4a) Dual Strike
  (old) stays the same

• (4b) Axe Storm
  pbaoe; throw 6 axes in all directions (300 range) which will deal damage and cripple foes they hit before they return to you. If you are using a whirl finisher when they return they will once again fly off dealing 50% less damage each time they bounce off.

• (5a) Whirling Axe
  (old) stays the same

• (5b) Warriors Cunning
  buff, receive swiftness for x seconds, the next x healing you receive (which source is you) during the next x seconds will instead be dealt as damage to enemies within 180 range,
  comment on (5b):
  -if you heal for more than the cap the rest will heal you
  -the cap scales with healing power (more healing power -> higher cap)
  -if you are poisoned this will reduce the damage you will deal below the cap
  -if you would be healed over your max hp the damage cap should be reduced by a percentage which scales with the amount of overheal
  -the heal you receive at 0 hp through “Inner Reserve” (cf. (2b)) does count for this

I would hate for this thread to be locked for necroposting.

I’ll post some of my ideas soon

Have more than one variation for each skill..

Example….

Shortbow 3A Quick Shot
(old)Fire a quick shot in an evasive retreat. Gain swiftness if the shot hits.

Shortbow 3B Seeking Shot
Fire an arrow that will seek out the nearest stealthed target. Removes stealth from target if shot hits.

Shortbow 3C Vine Shot
Fire an arrow that creates Entangling Vines along its path of travel (3s duration). Foes that get caught in these vines are immobilized (1s).

Shortbow 3D Swarm Shot
If Shot hits, target is attacked by an angry swarm of bees (9s duration). Bees will deal damage every second and apply torment every 3 seconds.

Shortbow 3E Sapping Shot
If Shot hits, steal health and a boon.

Hey guys, thx for your support! Actually I had lost hope to create a dialog via this thread and, being unaware of regulations concerning necroposting, only posted my most recent idea for the sake of future reference (in case the topic of alternative weapons skills would have been brought up in the future). That said, I feel like coming up with some weapon skills for mesmer & elementalist now.

I once posted a thread for a ‘system’ to implement more skills for your bar here . The goal was to require fewer animations (but still some), wide customization and some ways to help balance them against existing systems.

It’s an old suggestion though so some of the examples have since changed. Also not imploding you to adopt such a system, just sharing because it was fun to imagine and write it up.

I’ll write/post up some more ideas and try to critique others later.

Thx for the link Leo – I had a good read! You had asked for input on “how to upgrade” and I think at that time my suggestion would have gone in the direction that Anet chose when they implemented the “scavenger hunt” for traits. Speaking of traits… pre-launch I had imagined that traits would fulfill the role of your skill-upgrade-system and drastically change the effect of specific skills – like warden’s feedback does.

Something else I noticed is that we have rather similar ideas as to how elementalist skills could be spiced up. This includes manipulating combo fields and changing the way skills work depending on which attunement you used last. Apparently these ideas are not too far fetched and I will feel more secure using them once I get around to making ele skills.

I don’t really want to go through the effort of going through Guild Wars 1 skill names to start compiling a list of alternate skills for weapons – but virtually my idea would just to create a dropdown list and choose between 2-3 different skills (mostly depending on the usefulness of the particular “slot”) for 1-5, similar to how utilities work but you’re somewhat more limited for the sake of damage moderation.

But realistically you could see like, perhaps, Dragon Slash making a comeback as a warrior MH sword weapon skill. Determined Shot for a ranger longbow that deals +damage and renews instantly if the target blocks/dodges or something. Could also have Energy Surge for mesmer (possibly a staff or a scepter skill?) – ignoring the bundle with the same skill name.

Really I imagine they could expand every weapon and set of traits to be more accompanying to power, DoT and defensive roles without breaking the game aside from usurping the artificial throne some builds have been given. I don’t see a downside to letting warrior with a sword have the same power basics as a warrior with a greatsword provided they keep the skills balanced enough that it doesn’t provide them with any advantage over greatsword.

Hell, another option is to just simplify animations and just let you use any weapon set you want and choose your own MH/OH/BH combination of the selection of skills. Use scepter on elementalist with Fire Ball and Dragon’s Tooth? Perhaps. It’s PvP that’s more troublesome to balance than anything else.

I decided to give mesmer skills some thought and here is what I came up with.

Problems that I perceive with mesmers currently and which I tried to encounter:
- the damage curve of mesmers in pve feels awkward since your damage depends on the number of phantasms/duration of the fight and can be through the roof or subpar
- phantasms miss out on potential in terms of being interesting as there is hardly any interaction with them

I tackled the problematic damage curve via creating 2 new play styles that allow for a more consistent damage curve:
- playing without any phantasms
- playing with a single phantasm

As for phantasms, I tried to avoid proposing mere “deals x damage every x seconds” phantasms but instead tried to give some more play to them.

Problems I encountered during the process of creating new skills:
- the shatter mechanic works counterproductive to potential play styles like many dying clones or a strong clones play style.
- it is hard to make weapons which stand for different playstyles compatible with each other as players can use 2 weapons (and I am not sure if I have really grasped that problem yet)

Because I am lacking time I decided not to drill into weapon sets of which I think that they have already distinct roles which should be merely be expanded upon. Thus, I will not provide specific new skills for greatsword, staff, mainhand pistol and scepter but summarize what I perceive to be their “distinct role”. That way you can see the framework in which my new skills would move if I had come around to make them. I will also give suggestions for phantasms for GS and Staff (pistol and scepter do not offer any).

Greatsword:
Role: deals ranged, physical damage while removing boons, best versus small groups, minor defense
Phantasm: illusionary highlander -> stronger if the only phantasm, gets stronger if an enemy dies close to him

Staff:
Role: continue with the provide boons and/or conditions theme, best vs large groups, good defense, damage is a mix of physical and condition damage
Phantasm: phantasmal commander -> cf. ascalon leader finisher aoe atttack, stronger for each boon you provided to allies

Mainhand Sword:
Role: high autoattack damage, minor defense, melee physical damage, skills 2&3 provide a gapcloser and some kind of defense

Scepter:
Role: condition damage, moderate range, good defense (maybe the new skill 2 could be a bit more offensive)

Now to the formulated skills:

Pistol:

• 4(b) Phantasmal Sharpshooter
  gain increased damage with every successful interrupt of the mesmer

in conjunction I propose this new trait:
“Clone Wars”: when you use a shatter skill you will not shatter phantasms within 180 range of you but heal them instead for x health

• 5(b) Spirit of Failure
  shoot an enemy, for x seconds target enemy suffers from crippled, weakness and vulnerability. If this enemy dies Spirit of Failure spreads to all other enemies within x range
  comment on 5(b):
  - as an explanation: the skill you will most likely use with 4(b) is Magic Bullet (=5(a)) so this is just another defensive skill which is control oriented

Focus:

• 4(b) Bend Ether
  line; teleports allies who pass through it forwards, teleports foes who pass through it backwards
  (functions a bit like phase retreat (staff 2))

• 5(b) Lyssa’s Balance
  create a clone with low hp and x confusion stacks; your cry of confusion is recharged and has only 2 seconds of cooldown for the duration of Lyssa’s balance
  comment on 5(b):
  - this is the slot where usually the phantasm would have been
  - nope there will never be a focus phantasm that deals proper damage; NOT ON MY WATCH

Sword offhand:

• 4(b) Fragility
  create a clone, your recharge for your shatter skill “distortion” is reset
  whenever you have the distortion effect this skill changes to: “calculated risk”
  you loose the distortion effect but deal damage in a line forwards (maybe in connection with relocating forwards), the damage scales with the duration of distortion otherwise lost

• 5(b)Ether Lord
  you gather phantasmal energy for 0,33 seconds then you release it in form of phantasmal blades that originate from your position outward in a star shaped manner, the effect depends on the number of clones you have active
  comment on 5(b):
  - the more clones you have active the bigger the radius of the attack; however, the smaller the damage
  - this is the slot where usually the phantasm would have been

Torch:

• 4(b) Reabsorb Power
  incinerate all illusions within 180 range, taking back their energy; for every clone you kill you heal for x and reduce your recharges by x seconds; double the effect for each phantasm you kill
  comment on 4(b):
  -it is up to balance which skills are affected by the cooldown reduction (weaponskills, utilities, shatter skills)

• 5(b) Phantasmal Pyromancer:
  location is bound to a position determined by the mesmer; the pyromancer suffers from hp degeneration; when the pyromancer dies it explodes in an aoe

Now as a bonus:

Random phantasm ideas I could not incorporate in weapons:

Phantasmal Patroller:
patrolls in a line which location is determined by the player, when he walks through an enemy… (effect to be determined)
Phantasmal Worshipper:
location is bound to the mesmer – as long as the worshipper is alive.. (effect to be determined… but stat increases or cooldown reduction might be options)
Phantasmal Standard Bearer:
buffs your clones, when he dies/gets shattered a clone will be created to catch the standard before it falls on the ground
Phantasmal Gates to the Abyss:
location is bound to a position determined by the mesmer; your illusions start walking towards the gates to the abyss where they disappear, once x illusions disappeared, Phantasmal Gates to the Abyss turn into: Phantasmal Demon which totally melts faces

Hmm, Mesmer is a tough nut to crack, IMO.

When it comes to phantasms, the problems you tend to face (in PvE at least) is that they tend to be limited in various ways. They attack the target you summon them at and if that target dies, so does the phantasm, some of the phantasms are rather fragile as well although you can use traits and utilities to boost that, their AI can be quite kitten y resulting in them not connecting with their attacks or wasting a lot of time between attacks.

With all the other limitations on phants and clones, it seems tougher to make any sort of variation that doesn’t feel gimmicky.

Playing with only one phantasm probably won’t work. For one, having other phantasms around provides other bonuses such as through traits or simply having a certain phantasm around (such as phantasmal defender)…so having just one phantasm could techincally work but it’d feel more like a gimmick when you could be applying more conditions/boons/take less damage/get more trait bonuses with more than one phantasm. For two, there’s the whole “if the phantasm’s target dies” deal which can be a bummer. For three, all the other junk like shatters and getting killed because of the AI. It just makes the prospect of a single phantasm less attractive.

Using no phantasm or only clones sounds interesting though. I guess it would depend how they are used. Maybe they sit back, running away and passively give the mesmer more damage and reduce damage taken (but self-shatter when the mesmer takes a certain % of damage)…I dunno.

Another idea I just thought of is “Phantasmal Traps” which count as illusions but are limited to the location you summon them and have different ‘ranges’ for their shatters.

For example: Rather than Phantasmal Pyromancer, how about Phantasmal Backdraft which summons a bout of pink flames at your location that persists to burn those that stand inside it but allies gain random boons. If shattered, it will apply the same shatter damage and radius as a clone but also apply a blowout in a slightly larger radius. These illusions can’t be destroyed but they have limited duration and require no target to use…so kind of like Chaos Storm but also an illusion…

The other ideas seem pretty interesting though. The Gates to the Abyss sounds sick as kitten :P