Guild Wars 2

Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to test much this time. All I got to do was jump on the Chronomancer real quick. So, here we go.

Chronomancer

Build:
Weapons: Greatsword, Sword/Shield
Utilities: Well of Eternity (Heal), Mantra of Resolve, Blink, Well of Calamity, Gravity Well (Elite)
Trait Lines: (1 being the top chooseable trait, 3 being the bottom)
Domination 2 1 1
Dueling 2 3 3
Chronomancer 2 2 2

This is the exact same build I had for BWE1. Overall, I felt nerfed, and I was sad. T_T Still love the chronomancer and how it works, but the cooldown on Gravity Well felt a lot longer (I think it was just 60s last BWE?), as did Well of Calamity’s. It also seemed like Gravity Well got smaller in size while Calamity got a bit larger, so they appeared to be the exact same size overall.

I didn’t like that. I liked Gravity Well being this huge, terrifying circle of DOOM. O_O I felt really kitten last BWE, but this time around, I just felt average on the underpowered side, and I was running full zerker gear. The size for Well of Calamity felt correct, and the power, too. But Gravity Well was underpowered, and its cooldown felt too long. That’s my main complaint.

P.S.
Please keep in mind I am very tired today, so don’t take the feedback too harshly. All I could really notice was basic stuff, and the Gravity Well nerf bothered me. I think ya’ll got the rest balanced okay.

Just an idea for the future, but if I were to make the PERFECT weapon skill set on mesmer, I’d replace the block on shield with the focus’ speedboost. One day, if we can ever use whatever weapon we like, and whatever weapon skill we wanted, it’d be super cool.

Thank you for all of your hard work, ANet.

Daredevil
Very fun to play. It did feel different from the regular way I play my thief in that I was dodging more on purpose. Loved the lotus dodging and the elite skill. Will probably not go ‘complete’ Daredevil skills as I probably want at least one stealth skill.

Herald
Felt different. Liked playing it. Liked the symbols underneath showing the facets currently up. Using AoE regen and swiftness was great for guildies on a Guild Rush.

Berserker
Loved the torch. Liked the new F mechanic. Not completely sold on the skills. Felt I’d be better off running some of the old skills. Noticed that I got a torch with the Berserker. Not just a skin, but a torch with the new look. A torch that was ascended. A one-handed torch that had two sigil slots and two infusion slots. Not sure if the double slots were an error or not. If not, then something needs to be fixed as I did not have an option as to which sigil to overwrite as sigil slotting was working as for a one slot item (no choice) and not a two slot item (choice as to where the new sigil goes).

Thank you!

My feedback is from a balance line of thought. Were they fun to play? Certainly, but they weren’t balanced.

Chronomancer:
Very heavily based on shattering, it would appear. There’s not even really a need for the F5 skill if you’re allowed to take both chronophantasma and illusionary reversion. You can easily 2-illusion-shatter twice without spawning anything else. Without even swapping weapons. To balance, make these two traits mutually exclusive (put in same tier), or face massive gimmick builds. Even deceptive evasion doesn’t spam quite so many as these. However, F5 has too short of a period… There’s no counterplay if the rift is only open for a whopping 2-3 seconds, and if you then allowed players to go 10+ seconds before snapping back to their original timeline, wouldn’t that also add 10+ seconds to the cooldowns of any skills they had used before activating the rift? That’s even more risk.

Daredevil:
Probably the most creative, and only slightly less powerful than the vanilla backstab thief, but with more clever combinations. This is probably the best balanced elite spec I saw, with it’s strengths lying in utility. I saw a few cool options, the hardest-to-catch slick-slider, the leaping perma-stealth pistolier, and the double-death-blossom. Interrupts were a breeze on my favorite, dual pistols with distracting daggers, dodging through my own smoke field for unconditional ranged stealth, which worked for nice bleeding bursts.

Herald:
Too passive. Too strong for passive play. Too powerful a gap closer in the sword makes it super powerful for a glass cannon. I did not play revenant hardly at all, but those that did made me facepalm.

Berserker:
Loved the torch. I totally loved the elite rage skill, and the 10s cooldown stunbreaker. The thing that worried me was it’s potential application in PvP. It’s supposed to take time to store up adrenaline for a burst, not be spammable. I understand what you’re trying to do with the theme, but from a gameplay standpoint, going berserk lasts for such a short period and headbutt has such a low cooldown, that it just takes all the fun out of it. I’d rather be going ragey for 20-30 seconds after building up for 20-30 seconds, making for clearer tactical decisions rather than just spamming F2 on cooldown.

Reaper:
Pretty balanced, I thought, but just scary to go against xD. Kinda hard to comment since I didn’t spend much time on it aside from learning the shroud skills. I liked to see the ice field get more play, and giving necro access to whirl and leap finishers makes sense for the playstyle, which is more selfish than usual. Strong for PvE, somewhat balanced for PvP, and useful.

Tempest:
LOL, way to improve D/D ele. Seriously should be looked at because of the gross amount of auras and d/d-style enhancing warhorn skills, like spreading boons. It’s like another dagger offhand, in a way, but with aura-shouts instead of instant cantrips, and it makes it even more detrimental to fight against a teamful of these. How many tempests does it take to blow away the competition? As many as you like.