Specializations
Herald: Still felt good as it had last BWE. I don’t feel like the Glint stance changes overall gameplay as much as it adds a stance that complements pretty much any play style. Because of this, I have a hard time seeing a situation where I’d play revenant w/o Herald. If I’m a tank, I’ve just got dwarf stance relevant to me. If I’m pwr dps, only Shiro. If condi, only Mallyx. Taking the herald tree is a meaningful change, but I don’t think it changes play style so much as makes things better for the existing revenant play style. I don’t have a problem with this myself, but I know I’d never play rev w/o herald.
As far as changes, I can only speak about demon stance. Displacement was missed, especially in the raid if it would have done what I think it could. I didn’t miss self-condis too badly, but there are now traits that I will never use as a result. I did very much miss condi transfer on elite. W/o condi transfer, I did not feel there was enough benefit for having it deplete my energy bar quickly. Still like demon stance, but can’t find use for elite.
Reaper: Still felt good as it had last BWE. Changes to shouts made them more desirable, which made me enjoy reaper that much more. Definitely changes play style in a meaningful way. Very well done.
Chronomancer: First time trying it, so no previous reference. Seemed effective and challenging, especially when trying to incorporate the F5 shatter. It changes play style quite a bit while maintaining key aspects of mesmer.
Druid: Didn’t play this in group situations as a healer so much as trying to find other other ways to use it. I liked it a lot, and did feel useful when I happened by some group content and threw out some healing. Worked well as a condi/support for me. Only used dazing glyph, which I found very useful. The others didn’t seem crazy appealing to me. Would like to suggest that staff 3 gives evasion during travel. Druid did change play style in a meaningful way as well.
Scrapper: Buggy gyros were going after enemies when they should be sticking to me, but I loved them anyway! Covering the map with lightning fields that dazed and caused weakness was fun and helpful to other group members. I think hammer needs a small damage boost. After many duels with a friend, we both felt like there was no way to put out enough pressure while maintaining survivability. Neither of us were able to win a match as scrapper against the other as a non-scrapper. That said, it was fun and felt very different from standard engi.
Creatures I heard from someone that it was a bug that cause some creatures to be easier. Either way, I had really liked their difficulty in the last 2 BWE events. Was disappointed at how easy they were this time around. I know that one bug I did notice was beetles able to take damage from all sides rather than only front. Creatures are still fun and very diverse, but preferred where their difficulty was previously set.
World: Events are great. The occasional bug aside, they are all engaging, fun, and pull me into the world more.
Masteries: No complaints here. Felt like meaningful progression with optional yet very desirable benefits. It seems like a good framework, and I look forward to getting into them, especially the lore-related bits.
Stronghold PvP: UI seems fine. Easy enough to understand. The map is nice as a change of pace to the usual point holding maps. Can definitely be frustrating when you’re with a team that doesn’t know the map as well as the other team, but I think that will change over time. Because the experience of this map is so different from the others, I’m worried that it wouldn’t receive many votes when it pops up. This has been the issue with courtyard as well, where people tend to avoid voting for it in favor of traditional point holding.
Bugs: No screenshots taken. Just Faren’s event seemed to stop on the sword-training portion quite a bit, and the aforementioned beetles taking damage from all sides rather than the front.
Raid: Not on the list, but it’s got to be mentioned. I thought this one got knocked out of the park. I loved the fight mechanics that discouraged everyone going zerker and encouraged a diversity of play styles instead. I loved the difficulty, where the solution was often clear, but difficult to achieve. I loved the 3 mobs leading up to the boss that trained you on how to fight it. And I very much loved the journal entries around the map and character dialogue found when exploring it. When I saw that wall, I really wanted to get to it, and there was a way to do so! The fact that my character remark on the wall as well made me grin. Didn’t form a squad myself, but the UI seemed effective from my perspective. Very excited about raids.
TY for the the great work. Can’t wait for HoT to drop!