Guild Wars 2

Seriously. Rather than go through the effort of making skills for each class, for every weapon, and then letting us pick a type when we spec, apparently each class gets one crappy choice and that’s it.

Case in point:

Mesmer – Shield, Because the guy in light armor really needs a tank offhand (Mainhand pistol would be nice, since we don’t have another ranged primary and scepter skills are terrible for phantasm use)

Ranger – Staff, Because what? I Get the druid aspect of it but with pets still being pretty terribad for both rangers and necro’s i don’t see the appeal of this choice. (AKA: Fix pet AI&Controls First, boys.)

Engineer – Hammer, Okay, i’ll concede, this is pretty cool and at least “Feels” thematic to the class (Especially if it has skills that help your constructables and teammates in big AOE combo-friendly skills) But the same could be said for other things as well.

I’d rather see this:

All classes that only have one slot of a weapon that can be dual-wielded, can dual wield it now (Mesmer pistol is the only one i can think of off hand and may be the only one)

Spec’s, if they don’t allow it already, allow you to pick a weapon class/type (EG: Picking axe doesn’t just pick main or offhand, but both hands, same with 1h swords, daggers & Pistols)

Reasoning: We don’t have enough choice as it is. With the removal of old-style trait manuals it’s harder to make customized builds and with the amount of effort specializing for that weapon unlock is probably going to take (Knowing the direction the game has taken as of late) it’s not going to be worth unlocking unless we can do some totally crazy things:

Dual-pistol elementalist
Staff engineer
Greathammer Mesmer
Greatsword Necro

Etc. we’re clearly proficient in many varied weapons already (Anyone can pick up and use conjured elemental weapons/world weapons, no matter the type) so why not put that extra effort forward into the x-pack? That would be a massive selling point.

Or heck, even go further and make some totally oddball things dual-wieldable as well, like torches & Foci.

My .02

Well we also get new utilities, elite and heal skills with the specialisation and also seemingly new class mechanics (in the poi recently the warrior had a f2 skill)…not just a weapon. I also doubt you will loose the access to the “old” weapons. Lets just wait and see how its even gonna be when they release some footage of a specialisation and the new features we get with it before we call bs on it. Well i do got my torches and pitchforks at the ready…but id rather have a reason to use em rather then going nuts.

" Evolve your gameplay. With profession specializations, you’ll unlock access to a weapon previously unavailable to your profession as well as new traits, skills, and unique mechanics – all of which will transform your profession into something new."

Thats the quote from the official page and everything that we know about it…cept what the devs and the trailer told us. Lets just wait man and see

They’ve leaked or shown weapons on other sites. And it’s so underwhelming it’s annoying.

Weapons are your main skills, and so far the apparent “Choices” are just disappointing.

Personally, i’d rather break out my torches and pitchfork now, and have a dev or article prove otherwise, rather than wait and see, and have the concern not voiced -BEFORE- they “Finalize” everything and then refuse to listen.

Zerethon.2153:

They’ve leaked or shown weapons on other sites. And it’s so underwhelming it’s annoying.

Weapons are your main skills, and so far the apparent “Choices” are just disappointing.

Isn’t that a personal opinion thing though?

As it is, I’m looking forward to having a greatsword on my Necromancer.

TheDaiBish.9735:

Zerethon.2153:

They’ve leaked or shown weapons on other sites. And it’s so underwhelming it’s annoying.

Weapons are your main skills, and so far the apparent “Choices” are just disappointing.

Isn’t that a personal opinion thing though?

As it is, I’m looking forward to having a greatsword on my Necromancer.

I Main mesmer & Engi, so it’s underwhelming to, after all this time, still not have a good ranged dual wield set for mes (Scepter autoattack and counter spawn clones, which makes 1h combo setups with the pistol impossible because clones can replace the stronger phantoms)

And rather than give us a good new choice (Bows, mainhand pistol, heck, rifle even) they give us Yet another pointless melee offhand™

Again, where’s the harm in giving us -MORE- choices? (By letting us pick the specialization weapon)

Some classes have almost every weapon available already, but engineers for instance have to totally give up a skill slot to use different weapons (in the form of questionably useful for the most part kits)

Again, no real harm in coming up with skills for all the weapons on all classes and then offering us the choice to pick a set we can’t use yet

Hell, i would tell friends who quit to get the xpack and get their backsides back on the game because that would be Cool as all hell

But instead, what gets told is “Meh, newschool dervish and some other relatively uninteresting news.”

We don’t know if Specializations get unique weapon skills from the parent class or not.

Zerethon.2153:

snip

If they wanted to added every weapon to every class it would take a long time to develop every skill, animate it and make it not be stupidly overpowered and invalidate the sets that are currently available to each profession.
Adding one weapon per class with added utilities and elites in the form of specializations makes them able to work on it and as times goes by add more as more specializations come out.
Yes it would be cool to have everything now but that’s just not realistically possible if we want the xpac to come out anytime soon.

Zerethon.2153:

I Main mesmer & Engi, so it’s underwhelming to, after all this time, still not have a good ranged dual wield set for mes (Scepter autoattack and counter spawn clones, which makes 1h combo setups with the pistol impossible because clones can replace the stronger phantoms)

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Illusion

A mesmer can maintain up to three illusions at a time, with the most recently created illusion replacing the oldest one. Phantasms always have priority over clones; clones will always be replaced before phantasms whenever possible, regardless of the order they were summoned.

I’m pretty sure the Wiki is right, though I’ve not really played my Mesmer much lately.

Palador.2170:

Zerethon.2153:

I Main mesmer & Engi, so it’s underwhelming to, after all this time, still not have a good ranged dual wield set for mes (Scepter autoattack and counter spawn clones, which makes 1h combo setups with the pistol impossible because clones can replace the stronger phantoms)

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Illusion

A mesmer can maintain up to three illusions at a time, with the most recently created illusion replacing the oldest one. Phantasms always have priority over clones; clones will always be replaced before phantasms whenever possible, regardless of the order they were summoned.

I’m pretty sure the Wiki is right, though I’ve not really played my Mesmer much lately.

With scepter, you spam clones rapidly, and if the phantom takes even one little poke of damage, a clone will replace it (Because the clone has full health and the phantom doesnt)

This is -ENTIRELY- because the freaking auto attack summons a clone on the 3rd hit, as does the counter, so after you spend 20+ seconds dropping phantoms and fields to set up the combo… only to have a random autoattack remove half your phantom damage because it decides a full health clone is better than a 99% health phantom.

note that this has been going on since day 1 with phantoms, but pets in general die too easily (And since phantoms/clones only last until the enemy dies, it’s not generally a problem except for in harder instances)

I think you’re complaining about nothing.
I assume the actual “end-goal” is to open up almost every weapon to every profession, but specializations is the means by which they will tackle that. Given how they’ve coined the system their long-term goal seems to mean adding more sometime between HoT release and the end of the universe.

Samhaim.8956:

Zerethon.2153:

snip

If they wanted to added every weapon to every class it would take a long time to develop every skill, animate it and make it not be stupidly overpowered and invalidate the sets that are currently available to each profession.
Adding one weapon per class with added utilities and elites in the form of specializations makes them able to work on it and as times goes by add more as more specializations come out.
Yes it would be cool to have everything now but that’s just not realistically possible if we want the xpac to come out anytime soon.

Soooo, expecting them to put a large amount of effort into a paid-for expansion is bad? Especially when it’s the first one and it hardly lives up to the GW1 ones? (Y’know, how some added 2 fully fledged classes with skills and everything?)

I suppose, in the end, Since Day one complaints are -still here- Day one balance issues are -still here- and expecting them to fix any of them is a fool’s errand, that i shouldn’t be suprised.

Maybe they’ll suprise us in the end as info comes out…..But with all the annoying F2P Focused changes that add massive grind to a game they used to say “Won’t make you grind to have fun” i won’t hold my breath.

Zerethon.2153:

Soooo, expecting them to put a large amount of effort into a paid-for expansion is bad? Especially when it’s the first one and it hardly lives up to the GW1 ones? (Y’know, how some added 2 fully fledged classes with skills and everything?)

I suppose, in the end, Since Day one complaints are -still here- Day one balance issues are -still here- and expecting them to fix any of them is a fool’s errand, that i shouldn’t be suprised.

Maybe they’ll suprise us in the end as info comes out…..But with all the annoying F2P Focused changes that add massive grind to a game they used to say “Won’t make you grind to have fun” i won’t hold my breath.

They are putting effort in the xpac, what you were asking was for them to become inhuman and basically add a whole new freaking game combat-wise, and that takes too much time and resources, y’know, things that they might just not have right now.
There’s was one xpac in gw1 which was eye of the north, nightfall and factions were both campaigns that did not need the base game to run, so with that clarified eotn did not add any new class and HoT will be adding a whole new class with 9 specializations, and no one knows the full scope of every feature being added with the xpac yet so saying it doesn’t live up to some other xpac is just baseless assumption.
The only complaints and balance issues that are still here from day one relate mostly to wvw, tho they did make changes to try things out over there, none seemed to do much aside from the ppk which they hopefully will bring back.
I would love to hear about this massive grind to have fun that you talk about, because i have yet to grind for anything to be able to have fun. But y’know, ppl have different opinions and all…

Am I the only one remembering mesmers get Greatsword and treat it entirely as a ranged weapon? Hence, calling the shield a tank weapon seems weird considering mesmers probably will have something different to do with shields.

As for rangers and staff, I’m curious as all heck for what that will mean.

Lastly, engineers and hammer feels weird since they’re kinda . . . well, warhammers. But I’m not an engineer, I just play one on TV.

Samhaim.8956:

Zerethon.2153:

Soooo, expecting them to put a large amount of effort into a paid-for expansion is bad? Especially when it’s the first one and it hardly lives up to the GW1 ones? (Y’know, how some added 2 fully fledged classes with skills and everything?)

I suppose, in the end, Since Day one complaints are -still here- Day one balance issues are -still here- and expecting them to fix any of them is a fool’s errand, that i shouldn’t be suprised.

Maybe they’ll suprise us in the end as info comes out…..But with all the annoying F2P Focused changes that add massive grind to a game they used to say “Won’t make you grind to have fun” i won’t hold my breath.

They are putting effort in the xpac, what you were asking was for them to become inhuman and basically add a whole new freaking game combat-wise, and that takes too much time and resources, y’know, things that they might just not have right now.
There’s was one xpac in gw1 which was eye of the north, nightfall and factions were both campaigns that did not need the base game to run, so with that clarified eotn did not add any new class and HoT will be adding a whole new class with 9 specializations, and no one knows the full scope of every feature being added with the xpac yet so saying it doesn’t live up to some other xpac is just baseless assumption.
The only complaints and balance issues that are still here from day one relate mostly to wvw, tho they did make changes to try things out over there, none seemed to do much aside from the ppk which they hopefully will bring back.
I would love to hear about this massive grind to have fun that you talk about, because i have yet to grind for anything to be able to have fun. But y’know, ppl have different opinions and all…

The “standalone campaigns” were expansion. I don’t care what anyone says. They expanded on the story of Guild Wars and the world it was in. I digress, the one expansion that guild wars had, eotn, included a whole new game’s worth of content. Sure no classes but new skills new areas and of course, new races. If you compare any of the “Standalone Campaigns” to this one, then yes this will seem lacking and kind of lame. Compare it to eotn and you get the same. I’m very excited about the Revenant. I’m very excited about specs (unless thief becomes a sniper…). But honestly beyond that I don’t care about it. I don’t care about being able to glide around a few vertical maps. I don’t care about being able to jump on mushrooms. I don’t care about being about being able to level up a system that is only available in those few vertical maps.

I’m in it for the class options and that’s it. Until we know more I’m going to be very….Wary of the awesome-ness of this xpac.

Specialisations are more than just weapons a new weaponset y’know.

Zerethon.2153:

Seriously. Rather than go through the effort of making skills for each class, for every weapon, and then letting us pick a type when we spec, apparently each class gets one crappy choice and that’s it.

From the viewpoints of design, balance and gameplay, it’s far better for the method of execution they chose. GW1’s game balance suffered severely from secondary professions allowing any two sets of skills to be mixed together in any combination, that is fun for builders, but Arenanet learned from this and GW2 uses various systems to prevent them from having to smiter’s boon things. For design, less is more, one polished weaponset is worth much more than five half- kitten d ones. Then for the player at the end, if every weapon doesn’t have a unique purpose then the weapons will compete with each other for the same role, less weapons means less overlap and confusion as to what they should use, which was the whole point of the weapon skill system in the first place.

With new content, there’ll always be combination creep looming. But with the specialisation system, they’ve carved out a wellspring of design space that they can push without having to worry about the long term consequences of combination creep. Combination creep is what build enthusiasts crave for the experimentation freedom, but, as a wise man keeps telling me, restrictions breed creativity.

Mesmer – Shield, Because the guy in light armor really needs a tank offhand (Mainhand pistol would be nice, since we don’t have another ranged primary and scepter skills are terrible for phantasm use)

Actually, yes. All professions get active defence, the mesmer’s however is mind games. Warrior, Guardian, Ranger, Necro, Engineer, even Thief and Ele have their own ways of protecting themselves and perform a tank/dodge-tank/control role. Particularly in PvE, the Mesmer doesn’t really have that option since they use trickery with clones to protect themselves and trickery often doesn’t work against a death field.

Besides, didn’t you want every profession to have every weapon a minute ago?

Ranger – Staff, Because what? I Get the druid aspect of it but with pets still being pretty terribad for both rangers and necro’s i don’t see the appeal of this choice. (AKA: Fix pet AI&Controls First, boys.)

That’s not a related argument. Do you want us to NOT have any new weapons now? Anet have also said that specialisations don’t just change what weapons you can equip. We don’t know details yet, so all we can hope for is Mr Fuzzbutt does his job in the way we want. Personally, I just want Zero to stick to my leg when I press return to me, so I don’t have to worry about what side my pet is on or how far they consider returned to me is today.

I’d rather see this:

All classes that only have one slot of a weapon that can be dual-wielded, can dual wield it now (Mesmer pistol is the only one i can think of off hand and may be the only one)

Ranger mainhand Dagger, Ranger off-hand Sword, Necro off-hand Axe and Thief off-hand sword are also in that list. Oh and a quick look reveals Guardian off-hand Mace and Sword as well. Do you just play Mesmer or something?

Spec’s, if they don’t allow it already, allow you to pick a weapon class/type (EG: Picking axe doesn’t just pick main or offhand, but both hands, same with 1h swords, daggers & Pistols)

Reasoning: We don’t have enough choice as it is. With the removal of old-style trait manuals it’s harder to make customized builds and with the amount of effort specializing for that weapon unlock is probably going to take (Knowing the direction the game has taken as of late) it’s not going to be worth unlocking unless we can do some totally crazy things:

Dual-pistol elementalist
Staff engineer
Greathammer Mesmer
Greatsword Necro

Etc. we’re clearly proficient in many varied weapons already (Anyone can pick up and use conjured elemental weapons/world weapons, no matter the type) so why not put that extra effort forward into the x-pack? That would be a massive selling point.

Or heck, even go further and make some totally oddball things dual-wieldable as well, like torches & Foci.

You’ll get that greatsword Necro and we don’t know the full extent of specialisations yet. But if it lives up to the hype Anet is making for it let me reiterate.

Specialisations are a safer space for game balance that allows the designers to give you more than just a new weapon, but a new spin on the profession mechanic with a new traitline and utility skills to match. Possibly at the cost of a weapon, set of utilities, traitline or one of the many other toys the balance team has to play with. At least, that’s what I’ve learned from the drops of info we’ve gotten so far.

Do we know if weapon skills for existing wield-able weapons will stay the same? For instance will the main-hand sword that was shown with the shield have the existing abilities it has currently while the Mesmer is specialized? If those skills change then it would be a way of giving an existing weapon new skills too.

EDIT: Also they said they will be changing how trait unlocks work to make it simpler than it is now. So OP, your point about traits being too hard to lock now shouldn’t be an issue once the expansion hits.

Mar.4839:

Do we know if weapon skills for existing wield-able weapons will stay the same? For instance will the main-hand sword that was shown with the shield have the existing abilities it has currently while the Mesmer is specialized? If those skills change then it would be a way of giving an existing weapon new skills too.

I seriously doubt it. That would make it a lot harder to balance specializations. Furthermore, I think they would have hinted at that if that was the case.

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Am I the only one remembering mesmers get Greatsword and treat it entirely as a ranged weapon? Hence, calling the shield a tank weapon seems weird considering mesmers probably will have something different to do with shields.

As for rangers and staff, I’m curious as all heck for what that will mean.

Lastly, engineers and hammer feels weird since they’re kinda . . . well, warhammers. But I’m not an engineer, I just play one on TV.

Well being a vet and being a combat engineer in real life hammers are not weird with engineers even in modern day breaching we do have and use hammers to take down doors if the explosive doesn’t do the job.

I so want to see a giant monkey wrench skin for engineer hammer.

HotHit.6783:

Specialisations are more than just weapons a new weaponset y’know.
snip

Besides, didn’t you want every profession to have every weapon a minute ago?

Snip
Ranger mainhand Dagger, Ranger off-hand Sword, Necro off-hand Axe and Thief off-hand sword are also in that list. Oh and a quick look reveals Guardian off-hand Mace and Sword as well. Do you just play Mesmer or something?

Snip
Specialisations are a safer space for game balance that allows the designers to give you more than just a new weapon, but a new spin on the profession mechanic with a new traitline and utility skills to match. Possibly at the cost of a weapon, set of utilities, traitline or one of the many other toys the balance team has to play with. At least, that’s what I’ve learned from the drops of info we’ve gotten so far.

So, in order:

1. I Get that they’re hyping the heck out of specializing being this uber-cool thing that also gives you a new weapon, the problem is, we have so many limited slots as-is and our weapon attacks are -still- our main source of murderizing things, so the few choices we know of come off as more than a bit odd

2. See above, Yes. I Get that some people would love a shield as mesmer, but think about it thematically. we already have a defensive phantom (Guardian) and about 4 different ways to cloak or ditch aggro, and many defensive skills on weapons already. We need more damage skills. And most likely we’re just going to get an engi-esque shield toss and a defensive clone or a buffing clone….that we already have. Hence, it doesn’t come off as an interesting choice at all as the first big “New” one

3. I do main mesmer, but i also have my 80 ele & engi and i’m working on a thief, i just didn’t jump back in-game or on the wiki to go through my chars and make a full list of missing dual-wields. Thanks for that, by the way.

4. And lastly, for the first paid expansion, expectations are INSANELY high, i don’t want to see a single rushed new map, a reworked old-school class, and some recycled skills on weapons with new particles. I want to see an actual serious expansion. If Maguuma isn’t at least the size of orr or much larger, i’ll be massively disappointed

Basically, we’re getting 1 PVP map (which is neat) a new WVW Map (eeeeh) a re-hash of the dervish (Revenant, those staff moves man.) and one zone, + the very hush-hush nature of specializations.

I’m already worried, as is obvious, they’re hyping up the PVP maps and things constantly while showing very little of what the new specs/masteries entail And that should be the biggest thing, front and center. as it has the BIGGEST EFFECT ON THE ENTIRE GAME.

Especially with how the 80 content currently is. Go look at the queues for Arah sometime.

Zerethon.2153:

2. See above, Yes. I Get that some people would love a shield as mesmer, but think about it thematically. we already have a defensive phantom (Guardian) and about 4 different ways to cloak or ditch aggro, and many defensive skills on weapons already. We need more damage skills. And most likely we’re just going to get an engi-esque shield toss and a defensive clone or a buffing clone….that we already have. Hence, it doesn’t come off as an interesting choice at all as the first big “New” one

I doubt mesmer shield will do what you think it does. The whole point of Mesmer is illusion and misdirection. When Mesmer got greatsword, it wasn’t just a copy of some other class’s greatsword. It was literally the opposite of what other people do with greatswords, requiring as much range as possible. Likewise, shield may be hyper offensive. You’re making assumptions about what the skills will be, and then saying it sucks because those assumptions are boring. In fact, we don’t even know if specialized mesmer will have phantasms, since they claim they are changing the core mechanics a bit in specializations..

Tharinock.9306:

Zerethon.2153:

2. See above, Yes. I Get that some people would love a shield as mesmer, but think about it thematically. we already have a defensive phantom (Guardian) and about 4 different ways to cloak or ditch aggro, and many defensive skills on weapons already. We need more damage skills. And most likely we’re just going to get an engi-esque shield toss and a defensive clone or a buffing clone….that we already have. Hence, it doesn’t come off as an interesting choice at all as the first big “New” one

I doubt mesmer shield will do what you think it does. The whole point of Mesmer is illusion and misdirection. When Mesmer got greatsword, it wasn’t just a copy of some other class’s greatsword. It was literally the opposite of what other people do with greatswords, requiring as much range as possible. Likewise, shield may be hyper offensive. You’re making assumptions about what the skills will be, and then saying it sucks because those assumptions are boring. In fact, we don’t even know if specialized mesmer will have phantasms, since they claim they are changing the core mechanics a bit in specializations..

Actually OP this guy is right. In the trailer it shows a mesmer with a shield use time magic(?). I’m assuming it will definitely NOT be defensive.

Merchant Of Shadows.1526:

Tharinock.9306:

Zerethon.2153:

2. See above, Yes. I Get that some people would love a shield as mesmer, but think about it thematically. we already have a defensive phantom (Guardian) and about 4 different ways to cloak or ditch aggro, and many defensive skills on weapons already. We need more damage skills. And most likely we’re just going to get an engi-esque shield toss and a defensive clone or a buffing clone….that we already have. Hence, it doesn’t come off as an interesting choice at all as the first big “New” one

I doubt mesmer shield will do what you think it does. The whole point of Mesmer is illusion and misdirection. When Mesmer got greatsword, it wasn’t just a copy of some other class’s greatsword. It was literally the opposite of what other people do with greatswords, requiring as much range as possible. Likewise, shield may be hyper offensive. You’re making assumptions about what the skills will be, and then saying it sucks because those assumptions are boring. In fact, we don’t even know if specialized mesmer will have phantasms, since they claim they are changing the core mechanics a bit in specializations..

Actually OP this guy is right. In the trailer it shows a mesmer with a shield use time magic(?). I’m assuming it will definitely NOT be defensive.

re-watching it, it shows her drop a clock-marked circle on the ground that explodes a few seconds after. so a delayed explosion.

Given that time magic is already a mesmer thing (Looking at you, Time warp) it’s not that big a suprise.

at any rate, it’s still disappointing to get yet another offhand focus item, instead of a mainhand or 2-handed option. (Mainhand pistol, dual daggers, bow/rifle, hammer all would have been far better and more interesting options)

It even -LOOKS- boring in the trailer, she drops a thing on the ground, it cinema zooms overhead to show the clock mark….and then it makes a little poof of magic that kills some bugs.

This is followed by Rytlock Revenant beating the hell out of a horned monstrosity with a staff and an engineer smashing a horde of enemies with a giant flaming hammer. so excuse me for being underwhelmed by a skill that only looks marginally better than existing mesmer AOE’s (In that it’s not just another purple bubble, circle and/or purple Line on the ground)

Also, engi in the video is shown with flying turret-bots so the hammer actually makes sense (If we can summon weaker turrets that can’t be destroyed and follow us, going smashy mode with a giant hammer seems A-OK to me.)

Overall though, it looks disappointing. i can’t wait to see what the other classes get. Maybe thief will get a hammer as well. that’d be hilarious.

The mesmer one is most disappointing so far. Engi, Necro, Ranger get a weapon with at least 5 skills.

Mesmer gets an offhand with 2 skills.

Lame.

Devildoc.6721:

The mesmer one is most disappointing so far. Engi, Necro, Ranger get a weapon with at least 5 skills.

Mesmer gets an offhand with 2 skills.

Lame.

Think about it though. It’s a whole new spec! It’s not just 2 offhand skills it’s probably completely different!

Merchant Of Shadows.1526:

Devildoc.6721:

The mesmer one is most disappointing so far. Engi, Necro, Ranger get a weapon with at least 5 skills.

Mesmer gets an offhand with 2 skills.

Lame.

Think about it though. It’s a whole new spec! It’s not just 2 offhand skills it’s probably completely different!

“Specialization: Mesmer tank – your flashy statstick offhand AOE’s make it so you die in 3 hits, instead of 2. however your damage output is reduced by 500%

You’re welcome!
-Anet"

the more i think on it, the more worried i get about the whole mastery/spec system, it feels like it’s going to shoehorn various classes into very specific builds, rather than let us expand on existing ones.

Also, the classes that are getting 2h 5-skill weapons? they’re getting specs too, or did you forget that already?

Zerethon.2153:

“Specialization: Mesmer tank – your flashy statstick offhand AOE’s make it so you die in 3 hits, instead of 2. however your damage output is reduced by 500%

You’re welcome!
-Anet"

Who’s to say that the shield will be a weapon with defensive skills?

After all, Mesmers use a Greatsword as a ranged weapon.

Zerethon.2153:

Merchant Of Shadows.1526:

Devildoc.6721:

The mesmer one is most disappointing so far. Engi, Necro, Ranger get a weapon with at least 5 skills.

Mesmer gets an offhand with 2 skills.

Lame.

Think about it though. It’s a whole new spec! It’s not just 2 offhand skills it’s probably completely different!

“Specialization: Mesmer tank – your flashy statstick offhand AOE’s make it so you die in 3 hits, instead of 2. however your damage output is reduced by 500%

You’re welcome!
-Anet"

the more i think on it, the more worried i get about the whole mastery/spec system, it feels like it’s going to shoehorn various classes into very specific builds, rather than let us expand on existing ones.

Also, the classes that are getting 2h 5-skill weapons? they’re getting specs too, or did you forget that already?

You’re not required to use your specialization if you do not like it, it’s just a new way to play your character which btw is expanding on existing ways. You’ll most likely be able to still use your beloved pistol off-hand for your mad dmgzzzz output if you specialize or just don’t specialize at all it won’t matter.
At this point you’re just complaining because you’re not getting what you want, so just deal with it and wait for more info on the kitten system to come out so you know the full scope of it before bashing mindlessly on it like a spoiled kid who didn’t get their favorite candy when they wanted it.

We dont know if the Chronomancer uses Cloans like Mesmer yet….

I’m pretty tired of seeing the GS on any non-heavy class. Now the necro too? this blows.