Guild Wars 2

I know, a day late, meant for this to be last night, but RL issues.

Anyway, My primary focus for the first day was working with Warrior’s Berserker and Daredevil, testing different builds and combinations. I also avoided other posts at the time so my impressions weren’t tainted.

I’m also going to note something that will most likely NOT be fixed before release, but it’s something I think Anet needs to look at for future builds and specializations (and yes, this will mostly talk about Builds at the end).

Berserker

• Entering Zerk-mode itself
  Not that hard really, you can gain the adrenaline pretty fast if you spec for it, and use the new Rage skills. But then, that’s where the problem is. I can figure Anet doesnt want you in full zerk mode all the time, but the 15 sec CD just seems so long to be out of it. I think a few seconds need to be shaved off, 3 at minimum, 5 at the most.

And the attack speed increase seems just “eh” for what it is. To me, when I think of someone going berserk, they are pushing their natural boundaries, gaining inhumane strength, speed, and endurance. I’m getting the speed part mostly (I think the attack speed could be increased a bit to maybe 15%), but other than that, not really. I’m thinking, maybe a 5% damage boost, but, this goes more with something else I will talk about a the bottom.

• I’m not sure how many people were able to figure out to right click to go over what the F1 skills changed to.
  As mine says “Mouse 2 : Show more info” perhaps like “: to scroll through, or something”

• Are the Zerking F1s suppose to deal less damage than normal F1s?
  Going through the burst skills, yes, they all seem to do less damage than their normal forms. Example, zerk decapitate = normal axe burst lv 2. And I understand this is probably for balance reasons, since you only need one bar to fill, and its on shorter CD, but at most you are going to spam it twice with one weapon, maybe 4 with weapon swap and traits.

• Torch attacks still seem too slow, even in zerk mode.
  They just seem too long to activate to attack with

*Sundering Leap
I think the distance can be increased. Maybe 800?

*Dual Wielding Talent (Arms, T3)
- Add torch to list possibly?

• Blood Reckoning
  Heal seems weak. Can’t really tell if even healing a lot with conditions, especially in large group battles with more conditions applied.

*The voices for charr in zerk mode are laughable
I’m sorry, I laughed at them when any emotes of “No!” (I think that’s what was said), it just sounded so…deadpan and unemotional. And “I’ll destroy you all!” wasn’t any better. I’m sorry, but I didn’t feel my character was sounding like a raging berserker.

Daredevil
Wow, where do I begin with this…just…I had so much fun with this. I honestly wasn’t expecting this with this class, as I don’t even main thief, but just…wow. Its active, fun, and STUPID GOOD. And I thought “ok, they have to nerf this somehow” and that’s when it hit me.

Daredevil is so stupid good, because it can synergize with every other talent tree, giving you the perfect unique character creation for yourself.

Look at Daredevil itself:
*Enforcer Training – more dodge, sure.

• Evasive empowerment – yep, can work in other builds, flat damage bonus when dodging.
• Weakening Strikes – weakness on crit, yep, works in other builds
• Heal when dodge – sure
• Escapist’s Absolution – yep, works with other builds
• Pulmonary Impact – probably least likely to work well, but can still work
  *Endurance thief – good for any spec
• Impaling Lotus – Oh god yes
• Dash – great for escapes
• Bound – deals more than the warrior’s version

I found my favorite to be Acrobatics, trickery, daredevil. I was using a staff, but really, I didn’t HAVE to. I could go dagger/sword, dagger/dagger, or pistol (though, imo pistol weapons need redone, since not many talents working for them). And it would be MY playstyle.

When I realized this, I was shocked. It was like I was suddenly playing a whole new game with customability with a class. I had to stop myself from changing to so many different builds.

And I know someone here will post about “well max damage and…” I’m not talking about damage by the numbers, I’m talking about when I say “I want my thief to do this”, I can almost find the exact build I want there.

Let’s go back to berserker. The first minor trait. Some of the primal burst are fine, like the axe, hammer, and mace. They at least add the effect “hey, you may lose some damage, but you gain some neat effects!”. While the others are “yeah, you get some unique effects, but FIRE FIRE FIRE!”

Let me give an example of taking my current warriors GS / Axe and mace build, and seeing if it can work with Berserker. Right now, I’m Strength/Arms/Discpline. Most likely, I would drop Arms for Berserker. I’m not looking for condition damage much at all, I’m going for straight up, in your face smashing.

The first minor talent already half fails me. Sure, decapitate is nice, but the fire ring for GS? Eh. Well, arms had bleeds, this should be ok maybe…

Tier 1 – Smash Brawler. Well…maybe in dungeons this could be good, but the new group content, a lot of stuff isn’t dying fast enough to get much use out of it. Last Blaze – condition damage, not looking for this, but I definately want to use Sundering leap though. Savage Instinct – well, its a “shake it off” cept just for me personally. So this tier really doesn’t give me anything I want.

Always Angry – Sure! This is great!

Tier 2 – Blood Reaction – Wow, this is right up my alley! Heat the Soul – well, torches do need SOME talents specific to them at least, but this isn’t for me. Dead or Alive – hm, situational, but I like that if I am having a hard time surviving.

Fatal Frenzy – Sure, works.

Tier 3 – Bloody Roar – Not really, again, condition damage. Maybe if I dropped Discipline and kept arms, sure, but not what I’m looking for. King of Fires – Nope. Eternal Champion – Not bad but…there is nothing for me here.

So, in the end, I’m going to stick to my old build. Sure, I can possibly try a condition spec GS now., but…I’m saddened that other than the minors and one major, there is nothing that could match.

And maybe that is just it. Berserker isn’t meant to be a “in your face, smasher” specialization, but is just that, a condition spec.

Cont….

What I am trying to say is, its not only the Berserker spec that seems so limited, its all of the warriors specs (I am using warrior as an example right now). And when compared to something like the Thief profession, there just ISN’T as much customization. In whole, many of the talent trees across all professions are still a jumbled mess (I was having the same problems with Guardians and Dragon Hunter).

I’m going to do something long and controversial here. I’m going to go over all the talents as a warrior, picking out which ones don’t seem to fit their tree.

Strength - I see this as the damage tree. You aren’t looking so much for conditions, but ways to bolster your strength and deal damage, be it with your body or weapon.

• Building momentum – I hit you so hard I can dodge more…?
• Body Blow – The weakness sure, but the bleeds, I guess I hit them so hard, internal bleeding, but…nothing else in this tree deals with that
• Stick and Move – Not sure how “having less energy” lets me hit harder…

Arms - A spec that seems to focus more on the skill with weapons

• Berserker’s Fury – Doesn’t this seem more for Strength, and not Arms? What does this deal with weapons?
• Opportunist – seems more Tactical than Arms.

Tactics - using your skills to command the field and outsmart the enemy

• Quick Breathing – Seems more for Arms, but at the same time, is like telling your companions to move so…mixed…
• Burning Arrows – Really seems like a skill for arms, as it just deals with how to use a weapon

Defense - I am an immovable object

• Shield master – Perhaps not might, but damage reduction?

Discipline - Training ones body to react to situations through patience and hard work.

• Crack shot – if not for the name, i would say sounds like an Arms talent
• Inspiring Battle Standard – Seems more like Tactics
• Brawler’s Recovery – Would almost say a Defense really
• Burst Mastery – Seems more Strength based.

This is a lot to read, so I am gonna try to do a quick suggestion and summary:

Berserker Suggestions

• Smash Brawler – The less health you have, the more damage you do
• Bloody Roar – Redesign completely a few ways:
  1. Gain Might and fear enemies instead of taunt and bleed
  2. Undying Warrior – Can activate Vengeance immediately upon being downed
  3. Unbridled Rage – Gain increased damage when in Rage

Summary
In the end, some numbers need adjusting at this time. But the bigger problem still lies in the specializations meshing the the rest of the talents available to them. So far, thieves seem to be in a good place for this with the addition of Daredevil, so hopefully other professions can be looked at as well and made more inclusive.